CSM Election Interview Series: Alekseyev Karrde

Hallan Turrek > My name is Hallan Turrek from A Merry Life and a Short One. Today, I'm interviewing Alekseyev Karrde.
Hallan Turrek > Hello Aleks, how are you doing?
Alekseyev Karrde > I am doing mighty well, thanks
Alekseyev Karrde > yourself?
Hallan Turrek > I'm good.
Hallan Turrek > Lets get this out of the way:
Hallan Turrek > Full disclosure, Alekseyev Karrde is my CEO.
Hallan Turrek > And a real hardass, just FYI.
Alekseyev Karrde > :)
Hallan Turrek > What personal experience do you have that qualifies you for the CSM?
Alekseyev Karrde > I have a degree in international relations and am currently getting a masters in information science. I have significant experience working in groups, traveling internationally, and working with groups made up of many nationalities. Coupled with my ingame experience I think this makes me a strong candidate
Hallan Turrek > So then what ingame experience do you have that qualifies you for the CSM?
Alekseyev Karrde > I've been part of an industrial/pvp antipirate corp as a grunt and as a leader, military director of a small landholding 0.0 alliance, and for over a year and I half I've been CEO, contract manager, and regular FC of Noir. one of EVE's top merc corps
Hallan Turrek > Lets dip right into your platform shall we? What among the items you've chosen to give your attention to would you consider the most important?
Alekseyev Karrde > I'd like to think it's the level of firmness people expect from their CSM reps
Hallan Turrek > Could you expand on what you mean by firmness? Is that honesty?
Alekseyev Karrde > I'd call it an unwillingness to compromise on ones principles
Alekseyev Karrde > I hold myself and those in my corp to a high standard and I don't settle for less
Hallan Turrek > Anyone in particular on the CSM you believe has compromised on their principles?
Alekseyev Karrde > Can't compromise what you don't have I suppose
Hallan Turrek > You're referring to Larkonis then?
Alekseyev Karrde > Pretty much. I don't have any issue with Lark personally, we've been friends and foes. But I do disagree with how he conducted himself as a csm candidate both in the AT7 scamming incident and the eventual insider trading which spurred his resignation
Hallan Turrek > So then you support CCP's recent decision to disallow his candidacy for CSM 4?
Alekseyev Karrde > absolutely
Hallan Turrek > Do you think he should've been permabanned?
Alekseyev Karrde > Honestly no, I think permabanning would've been a little harsh
Hallan Turrek > So you think you could bring something to the CSM that it currently lacks?
Alekseyev Karrde > If elected, I'd be the only mercenary corp representative so bare minimum it'd be a fresh viewpoint
Alekseyev Karrde > I also think that my role as a merc ceo gives me an insight into the many facets of EVE PVP and buisness competition concepts which can give me a more holistic view of changes to PVP, space, and the economy
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > So you're running as a Mercenary candidate then?
Alekseyev Karrde > I won't hide from labels, especially if they aren't wrong, but I'm not the merc candidate or pvp candidate, I'm the best candidate
Alekseyev Karrde > I consider improving the GM department, promoting relevance of small gang warfare post Dominion, removing price ceilings and floors, and improving corporate management tools to be the bulk of my platform.
Alekseyev Karrde > I have something in my platform for CEOs of all stripes, PVPers of all sec levels, wormholers, and industrialists
Hallan Turrek > More on the economy then. You've said you have a distaste for price floors and ceilings, how would you address the problem?
Alekseyev Karrde > I want to identify and eliminate all npc sell orders which can be refined into minerals and I want to remove the insurance payouts for self destruction and CONCORD deaths
Alekseyev Karrde > I know I won't get all of it, especially that first one, but I will try to make the market as free and open for competition as CCP is willing to allow
Hallan Turrek > Would that solve the insurance problem? Can't people just have a corpmate kill them?
Alekseyev Karrde > It won't solve it, no. But I'm hopeful it will help reduce the impact insurance currently has as a price floor
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Lets talk about PvP then, what's the most important issue on your platform with regards to combat?
Alekseyev Karrde > ensuring the changes to Dominion actually do empower small roaming gangs like CCP has advertised
Alekseyev Karrde > and if they really don't give AF a 4th bonus, getting AFs their fourth bonus so they stop being the Pinocchio of T2
Hallan Turrek > You believe then, that AF's are underpowered?
Alekseyev Karrde > I believe that they are the only tech 2 ships in the game with 3 bonuses instead of 4 and that people still look to the Taranis over the Enyo when they want a frigate blaster boat
Alekseyev Karrde > It doesn't have to be AB speed boost, but they clearly need something to compete or even better DIFFERENTIATE themselves from combat interceptors
Hallan Turrek > How would you fix them then?
Alekseyev Karrde > I'd add race appropriate bonuses to give each ship a little bit of a different flavor while fixing their shortcomings/giving them a new edge
Hallan Turrek > Like that?
Hallan Turrek > Give me a few examples.
Alekseyev Karrde > k. Enyo: second damage bonus
Alekseyev Karrde > Ishkur: 10% drone hitpoints and/or speed
Hallan Turrek > Any concepts in mind for something that isn't Gallente?
Alekseyev Karrde > heheh
Alekseyev Karrde > Retri: 5% rof
Alekseyev Karrde > Vengeance: 5% rocket rate of fire
Alekseyev Karrde > I'm not a dev tho, these numbers will need testing
Hallan Turrek nods
Alekseyev Karrde > the AB boost was a great idea but it overpowered some ships and I knew it probably wouldnt make it through
Hallan Turrek > Lets move on, you've talked a bit about changes you'd like to see to ECM, what's the main problem with it right now?
Alekseyev Karrde > Because of the mechanic that one ECM module can completely disable an enemy ship for 20s it is overpowered vs other ECM and leads to a frustrating gameplay experience
Hallan Turrek > You'd fix that how?
Alekseyev Karrde > I'd bring them in line with the burst and ecm drone mechanic where it just breaks lock or I'd at least reduce the duration from 20seconds activation/lockprevention to 10s
Alekseyev Karrde > 5s would also work ^^
Hallan Turrek > So you'd like to see them with reduced time of jamming? Any compensation for it on the ECM pilot's side, or do you advocate a straight nerf?
Alekseyev Karrde > Reduced jam time is partnered with reduced duration
Alekseyev Karrde > the idea is to get more attempts in so instead of being blocked out of an enjoyable fight for a big chunk of time there's more chance for failure of not eccm'd and success from their side in terms of ships which are eccmd
Hallan Turrek > Won't that have a seriously adverse affect on ships with slow lock times?
Alekseyev Karrde > yeah, it may
Hallan Turrek > And you're alright with that?
Alekseyev Karrde > Small ships in large numbers backed up by EWAR should be an appropriate counter to large ships
Alekseyev Karrde > 10s is a good compromise in my opinion
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Do you have a problem with current cloaking mechanics?
Alekseyev Karrde > I do. I do not think non cov ops/black ops/recons should be able to inficloak
Hallan Turrek > Why not?
Alekseyev Karrde > AFK cloaking a rifter alt in someone's 0.0 just to mess with them should have a counter besides taking the risk it's not a rifter alt
Alekseyev Karrde > not to mention the stealth buff to macro hunting in 0.0
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > What changes could do that?
Alekseyev Karrde > Add a cap drain, cool down timer, those two are my favorite
Alekseyev Karrde > *cap drain or a cool down timer
Hallan Turrek > Cool down timer?
Alekseyev Karrde > aye, instead of infinitely repeating, extend the activation time to X minutes and then have a period of time during which it cant be activated
Alekseyev Karrde > like they do with doomsdays
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > RR mechanics seem to be an issue that is important to you. Is it broken?
Alekseyev Karrde > It's one of the two things ruining empire PVP
Hallan Turrek > How so?
Alekseyev Karrde > Neutral logistics ships or rr fit bs can be deployed to the field without your opponent being able to challenge their presence, they can then rep and turn the tide of the fight, and then instantly dock or jump (depending) the moment their tank is in
Alekseyev Karrde > danger of being broken
Hallan Turrek > You'd prefer an aggro timer then?
Alekseyev Karrde > aye
Hallan Turrek > Would that solve the problem?
Alekseyev Karrde > It'd allow players to solve the problem. With guns.
Alekseyev Karrde > There's little you can do about alts being on the field if they haven't revealed themselves to be helping your wartargets, but if you can make them pay for getting involved then that's good enough for me
Hallan Turrek > So what's the other issue that's ruining empire pvp?
Alekseyev Karrde > The unrealistic docking radius' of stations in EVE. This applies to lowsec and 0.0 as well
Alekseyev Karrde > Some caldari stations permit you to be over 50km from the actual skin of the station model before you read 1m away or greater on overview
Hallan Turrek > Can that be fixed?
Alekseyev Karrde > CCP has altered the spatial displacement of stations before, they can do it again
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > I believe that wraps it up then.
Hallan Turrek > Any links you'd like published with this interview?
Alekseyev Karrde > My forum campaign thread with updated links to everything in my campaign blog.
Hallan Turrek > Alright it was nice talking to you then.
Alekseyev Karrde > I'd also like to plug www.planetriskshow.com where I'll be making an appearance with other csm candidates for a debate soon.