Fail of the Silent

I know I dreamt you a sin and a lie
I have my freedom, but I don't have much time
Fate has been served and tears must be cried
So let's do some living after we die
The Rolling Stones - Wild Horses

I believe I may become a permanent fixture in Vale of the Silent for a while after today's events. Noir'd already been staging near there for incursions into Majesta space since they dropped eighteen capital ships on our POS.

Some stuff hasn't gone well for them since then.

Apparently they failed to account for Danny X(which happens sometimes). Seems he jumped into a system with a Rorqual in a belt along with a few hulks. Being Danny X, he realizes this just means some shit is about to die, despite only having a Taranis.

He then proceeds to warp into the belt and tackle the Rorqual. The Hulks ran away and left their friend alone. The Rorqual logs out aggressed. That means Danny X has 15 minutes to kill him. Reasoning that might be unlikely, he calls up a Triumvirate gang.

In a couple of minutes they arrive. The Rorqual then dies. The kind of shit Danny accomplishes just boggles my mind.

He never would've been there if they hadn't provoked us by taking down the POS. Payback is a bitch.

A few days later we got a logoffski Carrier to half structure with a gang of two bombers and two Rapiers. Honestly, I can't make this crap up.

I'm 21 jumps out when it's called and I arrive literally as his fifteen minutes is up. I'm annoyed we barely missed it, but it was a BAD call on the Carrier's part to log out. How about you stay on, keep the reps going, and clean the four man gang off you? All I'm thinking at that point is that Majesta Empire can't possibly do anything stupidier.

But then we come to the Fail of the Silent. By all accounts, Majesta Empire forgot to pay their alliance bill. In 2-3 days, autopayment will go into the game. In 2-3 days, those with Sov already will be converted over to the new system with minimal fuss. It is now of course that they forget to pay the bill, and the Alliance closes.

I swear to god, I can't make this shit up.

Among The Stars Part 3/3

Cause you're working
Building a mystery
Holding on and holding it in
Yeah you're working
Building a mystery
And choosing so carefully
Sarah McLachlan - Building a Mystery

Continued From Part 3

Things got a bit quieter from there, and we began to wait at our positions again. A bit of a rumble came down the pipe about a tech one BC and Cruiser gang. Apparently the Legion of Death had decided to remove us from the gate. A raptor came into local and began to do recon from four hundred and fifty kilometers away. We watched him, and then watched as his gang began to descend on the system, all they saw were our two Drakes, and they landed a Vexor first, to encourage us to engage. Aleks wavered for only a moment before deciding to engage. At this point they outnumbered us Seven to five.

I decloaked and released a volley of torpedos into the Vexor. The Heavy Assault Missile Drakes had already pounded him, and my torps ripped the last of his structure away. A Rupture, Stabber, Ferox, Drake and Caracal all landed just as the Vexor died. The Raptor came down from his perch as well, and began to engage. They began to primary Mon, who was having trouble keeping up with the damage. Aleks called the Rupture as primary, and my torpedos didn't even make it in time before he was dead. Next up was the stabber, who died before I even managed to get him targeted.

At this point rogue drones appeared on the gate and began to gun for me. I warped out and back in, to what was effectively a mess. Mon and Aleks had just managed to break points with their energy neuts and Mon warped out with twenty seven percent structure. As I landed the Ferox was deep into armor, and another torpedo volley ripped into his structure. He lit up just as Mon landed again to apply the finishing touch.

The Raptor pilot reasoned that discretion was the better part of valor and warped away. Time to mop up. We turned our attention to the Drake that was left on the field. His passive fit was entirely unprepared for the volley damage our ships could deal, and again he died before my torps even arrived. That left us a Caracal. He was trying to run, but with a Rapier on him, it was only a matter of time before he died as well. We'd completely demolished the opposition and held the field.

"Alright, lets get this loot back to empire," Aleks said with a chuckle.

New Dominion Trailer

All I've got to say for this one is wow. Also I'm going to leave it at it's current size. It's worth seeing.

Among the Stars Part 2/3

Give us a tantrum
And a know it all grin
Just when we need one
When the evening's thin
Sarah McLachlan - Building a Mystery

Continued From Part 1

My Manticore sat in a position between the bubble and the gate. If anything decloaked on the gate, I could shoot it, and if anything tried to warp to our gate, it would get caught on our bubble, where I could also shoot it. The first few minutes were quiet, until a couple of blues came into the system. They warped to our gate and landed on our bubble. We didn't bother them, and watched as they began to burn back towards the gate.

"I think they're shooting our bubble," Mon whispered over comms.

"Tell them to stop," Aleks said from a system over.

"I did," Mon answered.

"Give them one last warning, then blow them out of the sky. I'm on my way,"

After a listen to the local chatter, it became apparent that the two blues were pretty drunk:

Nutmegpainter > F*** yo catch n**** f*** yo coutch!
MonwrathDisortium > Leave my bubble alone
Hallan Turrek > Hey!
Pistrik > yo
Hallan Turrek > Get off our bubble.
Nutmegpainter > olololololol
Nutmegpainter > RAPIER NEGAGED
Nutmegpainter > GET HIMMM

The annoying part about this was that the Rapier was a member of Noir Academy. They engaged it, sorta. The drake continued to lob missiles at our bubble as he burned towards the Rapier. It became apparent that we were going to have to end these guys. I decloaked, our Hound decloaked, and both of our Drakes engaged the unprepared blues. We primaried the Drake, and my torpedos ripped him apart. We turned our attention to the stunned Prophecy, and he also died in short order. We allowed their pods to go on their way, but they weren't done in local.

Nutmegpainter > WTF?!?!?
darkvadur > WOW GO F*** URSELF
darkvadur > F***IN PIEADE OF S***
darkvadur > F*** ALL OF U
Alekseyev Karrde > Don't shoot blues next time moron
Nutmegpainter > HAHA TAHNKS FOR DECLAIR WAR B****ESS
darkvadur > doucvhes
darkvadur > go f*** urself u f***in tools
Hallan Turrek tips his hat
darkvadur > ya look at ur stocmach u old fat f***
Alekseyev Karrde > Pro pilots, would shoot again.

Among the Stars Part 1/3

You come out at night
That's when the energy comes
And the dark side's light
And the vampires roam
Sarah McLachlan - Building a Mystery

I looked around the bedroom for a moment. A new temporary home. I seldomly missed being based in a single part of New Eden. Today it was a Sebiestor Tribe Bureau around planet nine in Eram. Somewhere in this station my Manticore sat in a hangar, waiting to be used.

Of course, the ringing next to my bed that woke me up hadn't stopped yet. I sat up and pressed the call button.

"Hallan, you awake yet?" My CEO's voice asked through the phone.

"Yeah," I muttered.

"Get your ass down to the hangar, we've got a null sec camp going already,"

"Alek, come on. This is R&R. I'm tired,"

"Alright, just thought you'd be interested. Hold on,"

The line went quiet, and I laid back down on the bed. After a few moments I was already drifting away again.

"Are you snoring?" Alek's voice came back on the line.

"What? No," I said with a snort as I shot back awake.

"Alright, I'm going to let you get some sleep. We've gotta get this Domination Warp Disruptor back to empire anyhow,"

I rolled my eyes and jumped out of bed, "Bringing a Manticore!"

_________________________

As I entered the hangar, I waved the techs off my ship, "Sir, we can't get all of your modules online," one of them said as he left for the control station.

"I know, I have to manage the powergrid a bit for them all to work," I'd answered.

Fortunately this new implant would manage that for me without my having to pay it any attention. Sooner or later I'd need to learn to handle the powergrid on my weapons a bit better, or keep using the implant. For now it worked, and that was the important part.

I walked up the ramp to my Manticore and closed it up. This was a new ship with an experimental fit. I walked into engineering to review the fittings once more. I squinted as the screen lit up with the information.

[Manticore, Ewar With Online Bomb Launcher]
Ballistic Control System I
F85 Peripheral Damage System I

Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
DDO Photometry Tracking Disruptor I
Parallel Weapon Navigation Transmitter
Low Frequency Sensor Suppressor I

'Malkuth' Siege Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Juggernaut Torpedo
'Malkuth' Siege Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Juggernaut Torpedo
'Malkuth' Siege Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Juggernaut Torpedo
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Bomb Launcher I, Concussion Bomb

Small Hydraulic Bay Thrusters I
Small Hydraulic Bay Thrusters I

"It all fits," I said to no one in particular. I was especially proud of the low cost, by aiming for slightly less than perfect equipment, I could build quite a few of these things.

From engineering I walked towards the pod room, passing by the bridge crew's bunks.

"Hey Cap, got a minute?" The Ewar officer asked me. The crew, my nav, weapon, and Ewar officers, were all new recruits. Given that I'd left my last crew with my ship in Pure Blind it was a bit difficult for them to help me now. I'd be coming back with a terrible vengeance for Maru Ka'ge sooner or later, but for now we were bringing our variety of mayhem down on the Legion of Death. Potato, Potahto.

"Yeah," I answered, stopping at the door.

"We just wanted to say how honored we are to be working for Noir," The other officers nodded behind him as he spoke.

"Yeah, me too," I said with a grin before moving down the corridor.

_________________________

I couldn't move much anymore. That was normal. Something flipped a switch in my consciousness and suddenly I was the ship. My nav officer had already requested undock clearance for me, "Good," I thought as I guided the ship through the newly opened hole in the roof.

In a few moments I was among the stars. I thought my cloak on, and my ship disappeared.

Continued in Part 2

Child's Play

Somebody save me,
Let your warm hands break right through it,
Somebody save me,
I don't care how you do it, just
Stay, stay
C'mon, I've been waiting for you
Remy Zero - Save Me

It is without much ado that I point you yet again(I did this a year ago...) towards Childsplay:

Christmas is next month. I thought I'd get this out before Thanksgiving. You know, before you start buying that holiday swag. Now I know it's been a tough year pretty much everywhere for people, but there's a charity run by the guys over at Penny Arcade. It's called Child's Play, and I can't think of a more noble cause to throw a few gaming bucks. They buy books, games, movies, and toys for kids in hospitals across the world.

Check it out.

Good Day

Vote for CSM

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke

Let your voice be heard!

We're about halfway through the voting now, and I'm sure you've been keeping up with my interview series.

That said, I didn't get to interview everyone, so take a good hard look at the people that are running.

I'm not pushing one candidate or another, but I've already made my decision and voted.

Let your voice be heard!

Waiting on the Air

Come on, come on
Put your hands into the fire
Explain, explain
As I turn I meet the power
This time, this time
Turning white and senses dying
Pull up, pull up
From one extreme to another
Thirteen Senses - Into the Fire

Here's a funny thread.

Now

Hallan knocked twice on the door. He heard a shuffling inside but no one called out. He stepped back and nodded to the two heavily built men to his left. They moved forward and smashed their weight into the door, which then came crashing down. One of them fell with the door, and the other pulled a pistol from his side as a laser sight came out of the darkness and painted his forhead.

One silenced shot later, and the big man wasn't standing anymore. Hallan pulled his own pistol out and leveled it towards the assailant. Hallan let loose a few rounds into the couch that served as cover for the man, who flew backwards as his gun slid across the floor.

Hallan walked over to the man and grabbed him by the collar, "We need your passwords,"

The man spit blood into Hallan's face and smiled, "What're ya gonna do, kill me?"

"Not yet," Hallan said as his men filed into the room.

Five Days Ago

"Hey Alek, did you see that Tengu kill?" Hallan said with a grin as they walked down the corridor.

"Yeah," the Noir CEO answered as he chuckled, "But I saw that Ares loss too,"

The group of Noir pilots finally arrived at the Little Sister's Bar.

"Wait a minute," Nidia said, pausing at the door, "Is this a strip club?"

"I think so," Taram answered with a raised eyebrow.

"Fuck yes," Nidia replied.

"That girl ain't quite right," Hallan muttered.

_____________________

"Where the hell are they?" Alek said, looking at his watch.

"There," Hallan pointed at the door.

Alek stood up and walked towards the group that had gathered at the door, "Sickboy?"

The rest of the pilots began to drink and enjoy the show as the Maru Ka'ge CEO and Alek sat down at a table alone.

"Hey Eriskegal," Hallan said pointing at a particularly plump lady in the corner, "I think she's giving you the eye,"

"Fuck you Hallan," Erisk shot back with a laugh.

"I could get used to Pure Blind, plenty of kills, plenty of action," Oxana yelled over the music.

"Who would've thought the Sisters of Eve could be so accommodating?" Risu said as one of the dancers began to give him a private show.

Alek sat down at the table along with his pilots. His face flashed in anger as the Maru pilots began to leave.

"We've got a problem," He began.

Now

"Fuck," The man said as Hallan removed his gag, "TC8453Blue," Hallan nodded to a short man in glasses who was waiting near the door. The man and a few guards left immediately.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Hallan grinned as he put the knife down, "Unfortunately, I couldn't help but notice though you've got some expensive implants in that head of yours,"

"No!" He managed to get out as Hallan replaced the gag. Hallan pulled out his pistol and shot the man in the heart twice.

The man with glasses returned with a smile on his face, "We've cleared out his accounts," There was a pause as he observed the dead man in the chair, "Ok, I'll send some cleaners down here,"

"Yeah," Hallan added, "When his clone gets activated, we'll come back. Clear out the surveillance records and clean this mess up,"

"No problem,"

CSM Election Interview Series: Ashina Sito

Hallan Turrek > My name is Hallan Turrek from A Merry Life and a Short One. Today, I'm interviewing Ashina Sito.
Hallan Turrek > Hello Ashina!
Hallan Turrek > How're you doing?
Ashina Sito waves
Ashina Sito > hello
Ashina Sito > fine, you?
Hallan Turrek > I'm well. Lets dip into your platform here:
Hallan Turrek > Your platform seems to indicate a great interest in 0.0. Do you consider yourself primarily a null-sec PvPer?
Ashina Sito > Well, I do some High sec can flipping/ninja baiting
Hallan Turrek > What does that entail exactly?
Ashina Sito > My focus is on Introductery PvP for new players
Ashina Sito > well, with baiting
Ashina Sito > I have used on an alt a mining bait vexor
Ashina Sito > mining into a jet can to attract flippers
Ashina Sito > moved up to a Hulk later
Hallan Turrek nods
Ashina Sito > she went 18 and 0 in it
Hallan Turrek > You said your focus is on introductory PVP?
Ashina Sito > yes
Hallan Turrek > You mean introductory PvP in 0.0 for new players?
Ashina Sito > That is correct
Hallan Turrek > You believe then that 0.0 is the best place to learn PvP?
Ashina Sito > Well, the reason for the focus on 0.0 PvP is simple
Ashina Sito > no kill rights
Ashina Sito > I trian up new pilots, yougest ever to go into 0.0 was playing for 5 hours
Hallan Turrek > You believe that kill rights are a barrier normally to those wishing to learn combat?
Ashina Sito > if you go and gank someoen in low sec as a newbiw you could be in trouble
Ashina Sito > Not if you go to 0.0 =D
Hallan Turrek > So is that something you'd like to see changed?
Ashina Sito > Not at all
Ashina Sito > well
Ashina Sito > transferable kill rights should be done
Hallan Turrek > What do you mean?
Ashina Sito > well, lets say I kill you in low sec
Ashina Sito > but your not skilled enough, as a pilot or a player, to take advantage of that kill right in high sec
Ashina Sito > the ability for you to hire aonther pilot to attack me woudl allow you some revenge
Hallan Turrek nods
Ashina Sito > it would give Anit- pirates somethign to do.
Hallan Turrek > I didn't see that in your platform. Is that an addition?
Ashina Sito > no, your questions brought it up
Hallan Turrek > So it's not something you feel you'd push for?
Ashina Sito > push, no. Back yes.
Hallan Turrek > Lets talk about the "Incubator Systems" your platform mentions.
Hallan Turrek > What is an "Incubator System"?
Ashina Sito > many stations. with most if not all the usefull services.
Hallan Turrek > You believe the current regions such as Syndicate are insufficent?
Ashina Sito > yes
Hallan Turrek > How so?
Ashina Sito > There is not enough space, that simply
Ashina Sito > there does not need to be a lot, but there is room for some more regions like syndicate
Hallan Turrek > That's a requirement for good 0.0 PvP?
Ashina Sito > it does no good to have a base 14 jumps from the nearest clone bay
Ashina Sito > no, good populations
Ashina Sito > more players, more PvP, more PvP more fun
Hallan Turrek > So a combination of factors then?
Ashina Sito > correct
Ashina Sito > clones, manufacturing and hopefully good refining
Ashina Sito > then anyone, player, corp or alliance can come out and test teh waters
Ashina Sito > after a time, tehy will move on. Ether back to high/low sec
Ashina Sito > or into Player Sov space
Ashina Sito > hopefully with Dominion there will be room for them
Hallan Turrek > So then what would you do to solve the problems of 0.0 PvP?
Ashina Sito > Well, that is an impossable question to answer atm
Ashina Sito > Dominion is so close
Ashina Sito > it will change everything
Hallan Turrek > Does that mean your platform is changing as well?
Ashina Sito > What I can say is that I will use my skills and knowladge as well as principles to make sure that I attemt to make things out there as balanced as possable
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Lets move onto non-0.0 related issues then.
Ashina Sito > ok
Hallan Turrek > Do you believe that ECM is broken in it's current form?
Ashina Sito > Ether ECCM or ECM is broken
Hallan Turrek > Either?
Ashina Sito > since I have expreiance on both sides I woudl say that ECCM needs some help
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > What kind of help are you proposing?
Ashina Sito > The boosting of the ECCM Module by 50-100% and/or the addition of ECCM rigs
Hallan Turrek > So you'd make ECM counterable with just one module?
Ashina Sito > Not really, just give the chance for an ECCM fitted ship to not get jammed rather then soak up jammers and still get jammed. If that makes sence.
Hallan Turrek > You'd rather see a ship with ECCM not get jammed instead of requiring more ECM to jam?
Ashina Sito > Not quite. ECCM should not be a free pass. But in my experience an overheated ECCM BS can still be jammed more then not
Ashina Sito > I woudl like to slide the jam free time to the ECCM ship a bit more then it is now
Hallan Turrek > And that would include doubling the ECCM boost?
Ashina Sito > 50-100% yes, mabe less if CCP added ECCM rigs which would be a great addition
Hallan Turrek > When you say that, you mean all ECCM modules, Passive and Active?
Ashina Sito > I would say all. But don't get stuck on the ammonth of the change. The idea is less a number and more of a concept. A few more jam free cycles for that ECCM fitted ship. At that poijnt I thing that ECM would be well balanced
Hallan Turrek > So your platform seems to indicate that you're unhappy with the way drones currently perform. What are the main problems?
Ashina Sito > they get wilder with every passing year
Ashina Sito > currently the biggest issue is that they will go to an assigned target, then wander off to another target. So you reassign, and they do it again, and again, and again.
Ashina Sito > They still do not stay in a groups
Ashina Sito > group
Hallan Turrek > So you'd propose that they not do that then?
Ashina Sito > correct. They worked well for a while there but sicne Apocrypha they have gone a little bonkers
Hallan Turrek > You platform includes a section on cloaking as well. What does "decloaking friendlies" mean?
Ashina Sito > if one cloaked ship flys within 2km of another firendly cloaked ship they will decloak eachother.
Ashina Sito > This is most problematic with recon/bomber gangs
Hallan Turrek > You'd like that to be less likely to happen or you'd like it not to happen?
Ashina Sito > Movemnt and set up become very difficult
Ashina Sito > It should not happen
Hallan Turrek > What would your solution be exactly?
Ashina Sito never has flone in a cloaker gang... flies with too many noobliets
Ashina Sito > Simplest fix is to make it so friendly cloaked ships do not decloak eachother
Ashina Sito > if that is simple coding wise I do not know
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > You're also proposing to fix the Directional scanner, can you tell me how?
Ashina Sito > Adding an AU or KM option to the directional scanner. Reducing the recalibration from scanning to 1 second from the current 2 seonds. A "cllick to select" instead of click and drag" ability to the angle when using the directional scanner.
Ashina Sito > 3 elements lifted from my CSM blog
Ashina Sito > AU KM conversion is annoying
Hallan Turrek > It sounds like you'd redesign the directional scanner entirely.
Ashina Sito > not really, add a switch for the AU KM
Ashina Sito > the "drag" angle aspect is a real change
Ashina Sito > and peopel are begging for the recalibration timer to be lifted
Hallan Turrek nods
Ashina Sito > In all fairness, those 3 are on the CSM table currently, I left them on as my planks to show people my prepective on things
Hallan Turrek > Besides what we've talked about, what is the number one issue that you'd push for as a CSM member?
Ashina Sito > More monster trucks on space?
Ashina Sito > sorry.... CSM related joke
Hallan Turrek > I see.
Ashina Sito > Tough question.
Ashina Sito > Mabe the removal of insurance for CONCORD related losses
Hallan Turrek > You believe that insurance is broken now?
Ashina Sito > depends on how you look at it
Ashina Sito > but suicide ganking is still cheap and easy
Hallan Turrek > And it shouldn't be, in your opinion?
Ashina Sito > also, if some poor pod pilot gets CONCORDed shooting their friend on accident, they will learn the lesson well if they do not get insurnace
Ashina Sito > In a nut shell, yes. Suicide ganking is too cheap.
Ashina Sito > a couple of thorax's that cost a 3-5 million after insuracen to take out a stationary Hulk mining in high sec
Ashina Sito > Risk Reward, the ganker has no risk and recieves all the reward
Ashina Sito > It's why I take such joy in killing can flippers and ninja's
Hallan Turrek > Are there any links you'd like published with the interview?
Ashina Sito > My Jita Park CSM canidate announcment http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1206974
Ashina Sito > that has a link to my Blog in it
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Alright then, it was nice talking to you.
Hallan Turrek > I appreciate your time.
Ashina Sito > your welcome, and thak you for your time as well
Hallan Turrek nods

Discussing the New Sov Mechanics

Well you've GOT to have an opinion.
Vincent Vega - Pulp Fiction

Costs

It will cost at least 2 billion a month to keep sovereignty in a fully upgraded system. That seems like the most important change. It will force 0.0 alliances to shrink their empires. This can only be good. More unclaimed space means more alliances will take that space. They may not fully upgrade it, but they'll own it and use it.

If you're willing to skimp on the extras(Cyno Jammers and Jump Bridges) you can hold sov for less than a billion a month. This is a much more feasible concept. If you just want to claim a system and that's all, it's only 600 million a month.

These are easily attainable numbers for small but active alliances. Even moreso once they've taken a system and have started to use it. The numbers are not concrete either, and I would wager they'll go down before the go up.

So the empires shrink, and more people crowd into more systems. Negative effects of course include cloakers(like myself) AFKing in a system and putting a hundred people out of work for a while.

Cool.

Upgrades

So now you can upgrade a system. You'll see more mining sites, hacking sites, archaeology sites, gas sites, DED Plexes, Anomalies, and even wormholes when you upgrade your system. I predict the prices on quite a few things will crash over the next year as the items begin to flood the market. I won't mind.

Also included in this is "forced activity". If you're not using your upgrades fully, you lose them. This is a great idea in theory, but it mainly means you won't be wasting money on upgrades you're not using.

Conclusion

I believe alliances that are used to owning multiple regions will be most opposed to this change. Obviously they'd be interested in keeping costs down. To those of us that are not in sovereignty holding alliances though, this is a boon the likes of which we will never get again. I hope to make good use of it. What about you?

Sov Mechanics Dev Blog

This is a pretty full read. I'll discuss it tomorrow after reading some of your comments on it.

Do you have an opinion? Worse, better? Post here.

Pirate Missions are Broken

Don't think, sorry's easily said
Don't try, turning tables instead
You've taken lots of chances before
But I ain't gonna give any more
The Alan Parson's Project - Eye in the Sky

They're hard to run. I mean that's the easiest thing to say is wrong with them. Any amount of mission running tends to break your faction with pirates pretty badly. Once it's below a certain point, that's it. Added to that is the fact that if you don't control the 0.0 that they're held in, you're out of luck.

How would I fix it? Add Double Agents into the game. These would be agents with the opposing factions of the pirates. A Caldari double agent, for example, would give you either Caldari or Guristas missions. The agents would only offer you the missions once you'd acquired a certain personal standing with them. You'd have the choice to pick either mission type. You'd also still have to trek to 0.0 for the LP rewards.

I also think it would be pretty fun to have that added depth into the game.

What do you think?

The X is for Awesome.

Allow me to tell you about a fellow called Danny X. This is a member of my corp who has Carte Blanche to do whatever the hell he wants. I'm going to show you why.

First, he kills a retriever in a reaper. In a wormhole. And he gets the pod.

Then, he comes back hours later, and steals a Drake their industrial pilot has ejected from literally right next to them, and then kills two more retrievers with it.

Then he tags along on a Noir Academy roam and manages to net them this kill.

What's worse is that the guys in the corp aren't even that impressed by this kind of thing anymore. I just hear them laugh and say "Oh yeah. That's just Danny for ya,".

I stand in awe.

CSM Election Interview Series: Jonathan Dawnchaser

Hallan Turrek > My name is Hallan Turrek from A Merry Life and a Short One. Today, I'm interviewing Jonathan Dawnchaser.
Hallan Turrek > How are you doing Jonathan?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Great
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Only a little nervous entering the wider stage of New Eden
Hallan Turrek > Heh, it can be daunting.
Hallan Turrek > Lets get right to it, what out of game experience do you have that you think qualifies you for the position of CSM?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > One moment, I am trying to think of how to best answer that
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I am a graduate student pursuing a degree in computer science, and while my focus isn't on MMO design I am familiar with the scalability issues MMOs have to address. This gives me insight into how new features effect existing products.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > My focus is on Network Security (Data Integrity, Confidentiality, and Authentication).
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Aside from my academic career, I also have experience in mediation, something I think would be useful when trying to bring disparate groups together to accomplish something.
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > And ingame?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I have spent the last nine months in the School of Applied Knowledge, learning the game and then fostering other new players that I have seen first hand how ill prepared many new players are for the barrage of information presented to them.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Today alone, I have helped five new players (some that spent less than an hour in their school corp before being scooped into a player corp that doesn't teach them anything) through some of the hardest "starter" content.
Hallan Turrek > Alright. It seems from your answer and your platform that new content and the new game experiance would be the focus of your time on the CSM, would that be a correct assumption?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > It would be part of it
Jonathan Dawnchaser > We all have heard about the new 11% tax that is going to be placed on the rookie corporations. I think it is only fair that some measure of aggression sharing also be included (obviously not immediately, but eventually).
Hallan Turrek > It seems from your platform so far that would be the only focus, am I missing something?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > If you do a word find for "Aggro sharing across fleets" you will find this
Hallan Turrek > I understand that, but that seems to be a much bigger issue for rookie corps than the normal corps.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Yes, I'm sorry, were you including "rookie corps" under "new game experience"?
Hallan Turrek > I do, generally.
Hallan Turrek > Most would, who weren't in a rookie corp really.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think the new game experience is very important to the life of Eve Online
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > There's nothing wrong with that, but I'm just asking if that is to be your primary focus.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > MMOs live and die by how new players take to a game. And for Eve, the first few days (if not moments) seem to be the most important. A player that has readily available advice is less frustrated and enjoys the game more.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Yes, my primary focus is on the new player experience
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > So what's the most important thing you think needs changed?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think a "primer" would help.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > the tutorials are nice and all, if you figure out which part you need to read
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I don't remember reading anywhere when I first started that "Right Click" was one of the three "easy" buttons of Eve.
Hallan Turrek > So then, you'd include a basic tutorial on that?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I am not sure it has to go that far
Hallan Turrek > What would you do then?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > maybe just a page that can be loaded in the forth coming improved in game browser that has a bullet point list of tips
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Sometimes simple is better
Jonathan Dawnchaser > a list allows a user to go through text instead of tabbing through a tutorial hoping they are in the right one
Hallan Turrek > For arguments sake, couldn't you make that page and try to spread it around?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I did
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I used it have my bio dedicated to that, but current needs have forced me to repurpose it.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > But I am in the process of coding a page to have those tips
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > It comes down to visibility. Most people that know of these lists, don't need them.
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Moving on to your mining ideas.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > The one thing I want for mining is more interactivity.
Hallan Turrek > You support locking bigger ships out of newbie systems? Or are you for creating new systems for newbies only?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think that cruisers, mining barges, exhumers, etc have no place in a Tutorial System's belts
Hallan Turrek > Wouldn't that be meta-gaming for a game that does everything by RP rules?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > It would be metagaming, but there are ways to justify it in game. Shrink the gates going into the stations.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > sorry shrink the gates going into the systems.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > There are so many systems in eve that using those systems is like a slap in the face to new players
Jonathan Dawnchaser > but that is just a small part of mining
Jonathan Dawnchaser > The main thing I think mining as a whole needs is more interactivity.
Hallan Turrek > You'd like normal space to be more like wormhole space?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Partially
Jonathan Dawnchaser > And not necessarily
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Right now a miner: Undocks, warps to a belt (or bookmark), gets into range, cycles the lasers, docks to unload, and repeats
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Or some variation
Jonathan Dawnchaser > But mainly that is it, it isn't fun
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > But in your system he would...
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think including explorations, which admitably take longer to perform, would mix things up a bit
Jonathan Dawnchaser > For example, let's say a current miner takes 10 units of time to mine 100 units of minerals
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I see no problem with a new system that required 5 units of time to find ore that yielded the same 100 units of minerals given 5 units of mining (essentially this ore yields twice as much).
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Perhaps the exploration method yields a slight advantage (110 to 100) to make it worthwhile.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > But overall the current method of going to known belt beacons suspends my belief in the Eve World.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > These sources of great potential wealth are known but aren't controlled?
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Alright, so moving on to the rookie corp extensions then. What were your plans?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Eve is a very social game
Jonathan Dawnchaser > and I know that in real life I made some of my best friends in college
Hallan Turrek > So you'd like to expand that social aspect?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > A character's School Corporation (their first rookie corp) is sort of like their college
Jonathan Dawnchaser > and joining a player corporation means leaving that behind
Jonathan Dawnchaser > yes you can make a public or private chat channel, but then it has to get spread around
Jonathan Dawnchaser > and as veterans leave a school corp it means they can't share their experience with new players
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I believe in CCP's vision for 0.0 and player corporations, but I think that if there isn't a way for people to pass on what they learn, Eve could never evolve into CCP's "Emergent" Vision.
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > So you said you'd like to see aggro shared across fleets. Did something specific make you decide that was important?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Yes
Jonathan Dawnchaser > There are many ways to "wage" PvP in this game, and the one seen most in high sec is commonly referred to as "baiting."
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > The big problem I have with baiting is the inequity of the situation. The baiter has a disparate amount of control of the situation.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > The baiter can decide to only target rookie corp members (and often do so) because they guarantee an isolated target.
Hallan Turrek > Do you mean can flipping?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I am talking about "can flipping" or looting someone else's wreck
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Baiting with the aggression timer.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > the target can engage or not, but whatever they choose they are alone if they are in a rookie corp
Jonathan Dawnchaser > but if the baiter is in a player corp, it could be a situation of a gang verse 1.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > That doesn't seem fair to me.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > If a baiter can have a gang waiting just at warp distance, I feel the target should be able to share the aggression timer with their fleet.
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > This would also address other issues in Eve
Hallan Turrek > Like what?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > such as:- Suicide Ganking- Transitioning players into pvp
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Right now the typical suicide ganking strategy is:1. Wave tries to kill the target before concord gets them.2. An alt warps in to loot/salvage
Jonathan Dawnchaser > That alt is normally in the fleet with the gank squad, if the gank squad hit a small fleet, maybe the hauler is dead, but the others could intervene to stop the looting of the hauler.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > That seems much more in line with the conventions Concord espouses in the context of Eve's story
Hallan Turrek > Then they leave the alt out of the fleet.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Alt still gives aggro when looting the hauler
Hallan Turrek > That happens now, you want concord to stop them?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Right now, the aggression window is given to the person that is looted
Jonathan Dawnchaser > That person is usually in a pod at that point
Jonathan Dawnchaser > If the pilot is in a player corporation their corp mates get a window
Jonathan Dawnchaser > This change would also make outsourcing escort duty a possibility in high sec
Jonathan Dawnchaser > as those fleeted with the hauler would get aggression windows
Jonathan Dawnchaser > This change wouldn't stop the alt from looting the dead gank ships or salvaging anything, but it would help protect the cargo of the victimized party
Jonathan Dawnchaser > in fact it doesn't stop the alt from looting anything
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > it just allows the attacked party (in this case the escorts) the option to fight back.
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Alright, what's the most important thing you want to see changed in Eve?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think Aggression Timer sharing is the top of the list
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Any links you'd like published in this interview?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Just my JPSC announcement thread.
Hallan Turrek > It was nice talking to you Jonathan. Good luck in your bid.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Thank you Hallan, I appreciate the time you spent listening
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Fly safe. o/