Eve Blog Banter #9: Why Won't You Die?

Welcome to the ninth installment of the EVE Blog Banter and its first contest, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

"Last month Ga'len asked us which game mechanic we would most like to see added to EVE. This month Keith "WebMandrill" Nielson proposes to reverse the question and ask what may be a controversial question: Which game mechanic would you most like to see removed completelyfrom EVE and why? I can see this getting quite heated so lets keep it civil eh?"

Dying is easy. It's living that's hard.
Luke Spencer

Everything in the Eve universe that can kill you can die. A Titan is scaring the crap out of you? A huge NPC spawn from a level 5? A Rifter with a warp scrambler that's holding you down for that gang that's coming for your skin? POS guns? It's all killable in Eve. That's one of the beautiful parts of eve, anything that can kill you can itself be killed.

Well almost anything. Enter the Sentry Gun:

This almost never actually happens.

So that begs the question, why? It's an exception to the rule in eve, and it's also an integral part of living in low-sec. Most high sec dwellers don't even notice or care about sentry guns, but in low-sec, they protect the gates from the predilections of pirates. As soon as a non-criminal is fired upon by anyone, they spring to life and defend truth, justice, and the CONCORD way.

Anyone that runs is a pirate. Anyone that stands still is a well disciplined pirate.

So these sentry guns begin to thoroughly kick ass. They've got huge damage potential across all damage types, and are impossible to kill. In effect, it's a built in advantage for the non-criminals of the game on gates and stations. It can be used to lull people into a false sense of security at times, and at other times it's the tipping point in a battle.

So why not take away their indestructibility? It's at least worth talking about. What would be the advantages and disadvantages?

Pro: Making them destructible would make low-sec more interesting. We're not talking about making them easily killed, at least a battleship should be required to take them down. You could clear them out before an engagement to even things up for your side. In effect it makes things more interesting because it gives you a bunch of options for engagements. On average things stay the same because it takes a special effort to take them down, but eventually they'll respawn.

Cons: Pirates would be getting a boost from this, and a fair portion of the player base don't like pirates. It might make it easier to gate camp, but gate camping happens now.

In the end ask yourself this: Why shouldn't they be killable?

Beneath this mask there is more than machinery.

Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Turrek,

and ideas are bulletproof.

Oh. Totally didn't know. Sorry about that.

Please don't kill me.

Other Banters:

1. Diary of a Space Jockey, Blog Banter: BE GONE!
2. EVE Newb, (EVE) Remove You
3. Miner With Fangs, Blog Banter - It's the Scotch
4. The Eden Explorer, Blog Banter: The Map! The Map!
5. The Wandering Druid of Tranquility, "Beacons, beacons, beacons, beacons, beacons, mushroom, MUSHROOM!!!"
6. Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah, Kill the Rats
7. Mercspector @ EVE, Scotty
8. EVE's Weekend Warrior, EVE Blog Banter #9
9. A Merry Life and a Short One, Eve Blog Banter #9: Why Won't You Die?
10. Into the unknown with gun and camera, Blog Banter – The Hokey Cokey
11. The Flightless Geek, EVE Blog Banter #9: Remove a Game Mechanic
12. Sweet Little Bad Girl, Blog Banter 9: Who is Nibbling at My House?
13. One Man and His Spaceship, Blog Banter 9: What could you do without?
14. Life in Low Sec, EVE Blog Banter #9: Stop Tarnishing My Halo
15. Cle Demaari: Citizen, Blog Banter #9: Training for all my men!
16. A Mule in EVE, He who giveth, also taketh away?
17. Dense Veldspar, Blog Banter 9
18. Morphisat’s Blog, Blog Banter #9 – Randomness Be Gone !
19. Facepalm's Blog, EVE Blog Banter #9: What a new pilot could do without
20. Memoires of New Eden, You're Fired
21. Kyle Langdon's Journeys in EVE, EVE Blog Banter #9 Titans? What's a Titan?
22. Achernar, The gates! The gates are down!
23. Speed Fairy, EVE Blog Banter #9: Down with Downtime!
24. I am Keith Neilson, EVE Blog Banter #9-F**K Da Police
25. Ripe Lacunae, The UI… Where do I begin… (Eve Blog Banter #9)
26. Clown Punchers, EvE Blogs: What game mechanic would you get rid of?
27. Estel Arador Corp Services, You've got mail
28. Epic Slant, Let Mom and Pop Play: EVE Blog Banter #9
29. Deaf Plasma's EVE Musings, Blog Banter #9 - Removal of Anchoring Delay of POS modules
30. Podded Once Again, Blog Banter #9 - Do we really need to go AFK?
31. Postcards from EVE, 2009.07.02.00.29.06
32. Harbinger Zero, Blog Banter #9 – War Declarations & Sec Status
33. Warp Scrammed, Blog Banter 9 – Never Too Fast
34. Ecaf Ersa (EVE Mag), Can a Tractor Tractor a Can?
35. Thoughts from an Accidental Minmatar Revolutionary, EVE Blog Banter #9 - Aggression timers, WTs and Stargates
36. Mike Azariah, I don't put much stock in it...
37. Rettic's Log, Blog Banter: Overview Overload
38. A Sebiestor Scholar, [OOC] EVE Blog Banter #9: Slaves
39. Diary of a pod pilot, [OOC] EVE blog banter #9: Because of Falcon
40. Roc's Ramblings, Blog Banter #9 – Taking Things Slow
41. The Gaming-Griefer, EVE Sucks, But I Love It: The Memoir of a Masochist
42. Letrange's EVE Blog, Blog Banter #9: Bye Bye Learning Skills
43. Lyietfinvar, Remove that monopoly
44. Sceadugenga, Blog Banter #9
45. Industrialist with Teeth, EVE Blog Banter #9

The Ugly

God's not on our side because he hates idiots also.
The Man With No Name - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I've given up on trying factional warfare. It seems that the Gallente are as set in their ways as they can possibly be. They've decided that stupidity is the way to go.

That said, I've still gotta get my security status up.

I've joined a small but growing 0.0 alliance and will shortly be ratting again. It should go faster this time.

There's a bit of bad news here though, and unfortunately it comes in a short post. I'll be switching my update schedule to once a week, preferably on Wednesday. I've taken on a couple of other writing projects that're taking up some of my time. Hope you keep tuning in.

Good Day

Book 'Em

The only men that speak aloud for future times to hear.
E.S. Barrett

Hallan walked down the promenade of the station with his hand on his gun. The Guristas Gauss Pistol made him feel safer out here in Syndicate. Sarah was back in the Hangar, trying to find them a new ship.

Hallan passed by a bar, looked in and smiled. A group of normal pilots were drinking heavily and singing. He kept walking, as he had to be somewhere.

He finally arrived at his destination and pushed a button next to the door. It slid open with a small rush of air and he stepped inside. The light inside was a bit brighter than the outside, with a blue tint, and he closed his eyes for a moment as they adjusted.

He looked around after that, and found the desk he was looking for. There was a line. He fell in behind some gruff looking fellow with a slight tinge of body odor. Hallan closed his eyes and chuckled.

"Next," Came a voice from in front of the smelly man, and he stepped forward.

Hallan watched the man produce his data card from some pocket, almost wondering where it'd come from. Perhaps that non-space between universes, where only pain and agony and data cards exist in solid form, maybe..."

"Next," Came a voice from in front of him, and Hallan stepped forward as the other man walked to his left. Hallan produced his own data card and handed it to the lady behind the desk. He noticed her glasses first, and then her wrinkled hands. He imagined her to be seventy, and she seemed to enjoy the power she held.

"It seems you owe us some money Mr. Turrek," She said in a high pitched voice.

"Yes ma'am, I'd like to pay it," Before he even spoke she was sliding his card through another slot.

"Your fee's paid, please enjoy the library,"

Heh, No?

I got ransomed tonight. Got stuck on a roid while orbiting a battleship out in Syndicate, Ishtar warps in, scrams me, and brings me down. Then he tries his hand at a little piracy, before taking me into structure.

that guy > 35mil pay
Hallan Turrek > Yawn.
that guy > 10
that guy > 9
that guy > 8
that guy > 7
Hallan Turrek > I believe I said yawn.

He got the message that time and finished me off. I was glad to be rid of the Harpy, it's a fine ship, but damn slow at this job. I'm not sure how I intend to go forward, but a frigate sized ship is not ideal for this by a damn sight. Thinking of training for an Ishtar, but that will take a while. I'll figure something out, in the mean time:

Good Day.

Between Shots

We'll be singing

When were winning
We'll be singing

I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never going to
Keep me down
Chumba Wumba - Tubthumping

"Ugh," Sarah was seated to the right of Hallan in the cockpit, her disgust was evident with whatever she was seeing on the screen in front of her.

"What's up?" Hallan asked, looking over.

"We lost,"

"What do you mean we lost?"

"I mean we fucking lost, Heth's having a ceremony and everything,"

Hallan played with his controls for a minute, firing off a final barrage of plasma at the fleeing Serpentis ship, "There is no winning and no losing from how I see it," he said as it exploded.

"Tell that to the squids," She retorted.

"Don't call 'em that,"

"I'll call them whatever I want Hal, I've been fighting them for years while you did whatever the fuck you wanted to do,"

"Nice," He shot back with disdain.

Sarah looked over at Hallan and frowned, "Look, I'm sorry. I know you want to do good," She reached over and grabbed his shoulder, "You're a good pilot,"

"I'm spotting three battleships and two elite frigates," He said, ignoring her.

Sarah pushed a button and pulled back on a lever, "Activating microwarp drive and shield booster, helm and guns are yours,"

"Thanks," He paused as he began to fire and turned to Sarah, "There is nothing in this universe we can't take back. Learned that the hard way. They won't win until we give up,"

What Cannot Be Stolen

Hope you forgive me for my first non-eve related post. I have at least one regular reader who lives in Iran. This is mainly for you. The rest of you may find it interesting and useful as well.

Most of you've probably seen this.

I'll be sticking with the green background for a few days, with the ad at the top for a while.

Freedom will never die.

Good luck guys.

Better Look Out

Children wake up,
Hold your mistake up,
Before they turn the summer into dust.
Arcade Fire - Wake Up

"Mr. Turrek?" A female's voice called from the hall outside Hallan's cell.

"Ahh, Sarah?" He said barely raising his head.

"Do you mind if I come in?" She said while deactivating the forcefield.

"Not at all,"

Doctor Peyroux was wearing more sensible clothing today, a pair of black pants along with a white blouse and white jacket. The jacket was long and reached her knees. She sat down in the chair and crossed her legs, "Lets pick up where you left off yesterday," she began.

"Ahh well, about that. I kinda led you on," Hallan sat up and flung his legs over the side of the bed.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that's the end of the story, effectively,"

"How can that be the end of the story?" She asked, putting a rather strong emphasis on the word that.

"You see, when I missed meeting Pashir the next day, he came looking for me. He picked me up in the desert the day after that. I was pretty badly hurt, and he took me to the hospital. The hospital patched me up and turned me over to Oasis's CONCORD Commander,"

"What happened to your shuttle?" She asked cocking her head to the side.

"Probably sabotage, didn't have the time to find out who. I missed out on my contact regardless,"

Suddenly a voice came from outside his door, "It's gotten alot more complicated than that," The CONCORD Commander walked into the cell with Hallan, flanked by both of his guards, "Ma'am," He said facing the Doctor, "I just got a call from the University of Caile. Imagine my surprise when they said they'd finally found a suitable psychiatrist to send our way,"

Sarah stood up and chuckled to herself. She walked towards the Commander with her head hung low, and then instantly moved her hands from her side to his throat, with a knife suddenly in her hand that even Hallan had missed, "Drop your stuns, both of you," She said to the two guards.

Both threw their pistols to the ground.

Hallan scrambled across the floor and picked both of them up, being sure to give her the time to tell him not to. He pointed one at the Commander as Sarah stepped back towards him. She took the other one and also pointed it at the Commander.

"This is going on your record," He sputtered out to the two of them.

"You don't scare me," She said softly, "And his security status is not going to be any worse for wear, I imagine,"

She motioned for Hallan to move towards the door. All three of the CONCORD officers moved towards them at once, Hallan fired at the Commander, while Sarah dropped the one on their left. Hallan's gun fired once more before the other guard got more than a foot farther.

"Very good," The woman said with a smile, "I can see why they wanted you,"

"Who wanted me?" He said with a raised eyebrow as they both exited the cell.

"Probably not a good idea to talk about it now," She added as she activated the cell's forcefield.

_______________________________

"You know you're not a bad shot yourself," He said as they boarded the Harpy.

"Flattery? I knew I liked you," She said, climbing on board behind him.

"I'm serious, you knocked that guy in the head from fifty feet,"

"It's a gift,"

"From who?"

"The Gallente Military," She said quietly.

"Why would the Gallente be interested in me?" Hallan was legitimately confused, he'd never once contacted the Gallente, and had only mentioned his interest to a few people in passing.

"Because the Minmatar aren't. Thank your friend Alfroren," She hit the latch button for the door and it shut.

Hallan looked around the ship, it was an old design, not built for capsuleers, that meant at least two crew members. He climbed the narrow staircase just behind the woman and both of them arrived in the cockpit. He looked at the controls lovingly, "This ship's a thing of beauty,"

"This ship is your new ride,"

"Couldn't get a capsule piloted one out here?"

"Couldn't spare the capsuleer, and besides, I'm supposed to keep an eye on you,"

"Oh? Where are we going then?"

"We're going to get your security status up the old fashioned way,"

Hallan closed his eyes and covered his face with his left hand, "Syndicate?"

"Syndicate,"

"God damn it," He said with a pause, "You're lucky you're hot,"