The 11th Hour

As the guns fell silent, the shells ceased their dreadful whistle, and the clouds of gas drifted into a memory, survivors from both sides of a brutal conflict emerged. They walked across territory littered with their comrades, some having fell four years prior in what was the war to end all wars. They shook hands, the allies marveled at the state of their German foe, and the Germans marveling all the same. Despite the joy expressed by the fighting man that the Great War had ceased to drain them and destroy them, war would continue, as it had, with ever increasing and silent dangers.

The 21st Century brought a sincere desire for peace. As the world looked back on a thousand years of history, conflict, bloodshed, toil, and suffering, we were determined to try and shape a new future. Yet embroiled we still are, and embattled we will be, through a time that will outlast us, our children, and their children. War is with us now, though distant to many. In the dark, dangerous, places of the world, men and women still struggle to fight for what they believe in as the conflict around them draws controversy, discredit, and praise from society.

When the rhetoric, the hate, the love, the sorrow that our society projects on our conflict is brushed aside, there are, thousands of miles away in a hostile land, men and women struggling to survive and wondering if today will be their last. There is nothing they can do to determine if the hunter has the hunted in his sights. If the bullet will leave the barrel, follow it’s path, and penetrate their armor. Fate determines the course of life and death and fate knows no names. It is a story all too familiar to the men and women who suffered in the War to End All Wars and to those who now struggle to survive the menace of modern conflict.

They were sent to distant lands, fought against their fellow-man, and brought home scars not visible to any eye. The sound of fireworks harmlessly lit by children causes them to stir, dreadful scenes awaken them in the night. The memories of friends, once whole and full of life, struck down and ended in an instant. The last moment of a young man’s life, wondering what his parents will think. We ask them to stop, we ask them to go, we ask them to desert, to fight. We ask them to remember, to forget. What we need to ask them is if there is anything we can do to express our thanks. Such a simple expression is enough to ease the hail of mortars, the cold and unforgiving terrain, and the sleepless nights of those that suffered because of the inhumanity of mankind.

Docking request accepted

Ladies, gentlemen, capsuleers, carebears, and pirates. It has been a wonderful journey that started nearly two years ago. Alas, it is no longer possible to keep this blog alive and well. It has been one hell of a run. I’ve had the pleasure of working, arguing, and collaborating with such fine individuals as James Egan and Krystalle Voecks at Massively, Crazy Kinux, Mynxee, and Spectre from the blogpack, and countless others who kept me focused through their comments, advice, and criticism. I have enjoyed the experience every step of the way and hope I made a tiny little ripple in the big lake that is the EVE blogging community.

I am going to be focusing on playing EVE with the time I have these days rather than writing about it. My last contribution to the blogging community will be the interview with CCP Hammerhead at a time to be determined. So use the comments in this post to continue to pose your own questions since I would love to get as much answered as I can for everyone. Crazy Kinux is the mastermind behind the meeting so I must give him credit where credit is due. You can get details on the interview by visiting CrazyKinux’s Musing.

Until then, much love, hunt well, fly safe, and thanks to one of the best gaming communities I have had the pleasure of being a part of.

New planets put me in awe

A picture is worth a thousand words. So here is the picture. Enough said.

Compliments of Python Cartel's Photo Division

Assault frigs are getting faster

The Ishkur

Assault frigates have seen a great deal of love lately. The speed changes made the Assault Frigate a bit more viable for pilots and they started appearing in more force in the realm of New Eden. They still had some problems, like speed, that hampered their role and their ability to survive combat. Now changes are being implemented that specifically target the Assault Frigate. In light of the recent announcement pertaining to the Moros, this announcement made me love CCP again.

CCP Chronotis writes, “We will add a 15% afterburner speed boost bonus per racial frigate level. This means each assault frigate will get a 75% bonus since racial frigate V is a pre-requisite to fly the ship.” One ship, in particular, comes to mind with these changes. A small signature radius, a speed boost that makes it easier to close, and 5 lights drones swarming around an unsuspecting target? Ishkur, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Sov changes aim to shake things up

Gone baby gone

Time to hire some labor, sort out construction contracts, and practice your management skills with a few days of Sim City. Sov is changing profoundly when Dominion is released this winter and 0.0 as we know it will be gone forever. The short version for our Minmatar friends is that 0.0 systems will now be Sim City Space. Controlled systems will incur maintenance costs for all of the services those systems provides. Gates need to be maintained and the poor recluses who work them need some form of counseling after all that time alone watching bubble camps. However, realizing that simply charging players for the space they control is folly, the systems now also have the ability to be invested in and improved. More improvements incurs more costs but also reaps more rewards. More resources will be available with improvements, hopefully drawing in more of the high sec population to mine valuable resources in protected space, causing the alliances to strategize much more seriously about warfare, and changing nullsec entirely. Intense, no?

The Now

Capital blobs, not so much fun

In the words of CCP Greyscale, “Nullsec is largely the domain of large, 2-3000 member PvP alliances, grouped up into inevitable coalitions and engaged in not-quite-impossibly large wars. Costs are mostly covered at the alliance level by a combination of old money and high-value moon minerals. Most of the space that’s up for grabs is owned by a clone army of ideologically-distinct but functionally-similar alliances, making the entire political landscape depressingly homogeneous. The state of the military art is not much better – sub-capital fleets are wheeled out for cyno-jammer take-downs and then packed away before they can fall victim to multiple doomsdays, leaving huge capital fleets to park themselves in front of a never-ending procession of starbases.”

The process is quite dull. No one wants to risk capital fleets, the new alliances simply can not compete, some of the space is empty as alliances grab as much territory as possible to buffer the small amount of highly profitable systems, and t2 production materials increase in price steadily. Instead of encouraging people to enter their systems, alliances patrol ratting belts, mining hubs, and profitable moons for profiteers and often carry a Not Blue Shoot It policy. There are also the roaming bands of eager thugs ready to swoop down upon any target they come across regardless of what territory they are in. The dangers and the difficulty for establishing a hold on territory keeps players out of 0.0, especially the carebear types, due to the lack of rewards for the risk involved in mining, ratting, etc.

The Future

“The idea,” writes CCP Abathur,  “is that some areas of space are obviously considered of less worth than others and always have been.  This is going to change.  YOU are going to change it.  Through the investment of time, money and effort at all levels, an alliance will be able to directly affect the value of and develop the space they hold.” Sov, in the sense of planting your banner high upon the hill, will be gone. Alliances will have some justification for sticking to a small portion of territory and improving it before striking out to conquer more. The decision to declare war will weigh more heavily upon them now as well. Risking profitable bastions of power, land they spent blood, sweat, and tears improving, and alienating the folks who come from high-sec to gather readily available resources will be part of the decision making process. The best part for the combat minded? No two systems will truly be the same. The “bring in the capitals! Take out the jammers! Log in trap with Titans!” tactic that never changes will have to change.

For our carebear friends, going to 0.0 will be worth it. The alliances will have a reason to let you there, protect you, and keep you coming back for more. If an alliance controls a small plot of highly developed areas focused on industry, it will mean more profitable resources, much more security, and more profitable returns on your time. The maintenance costs and investments rewards to be reaped from developing smaller bastions of profit and power will open some of the space that is out there, encouraging new alliances to move in and settle. This also means something lovely for the pirate profession; more juicy targets and Mad Max style raids on industrial heavy fringe systems. Finally, the frontier is starting to feel like one.

The new system is intense and game changing. Players obviously agree since the discussion thread is littered with comments, flames, dev responses, and praise. Dominion will, like it or not, change the way many players play and perceive EVE. This intense shakeup of the map is no sleeping dragon awakening from his silent slumber to ruin the lands of a mystical realm, but a true attempt to make EVE more dynamic, intense, and rewarding for those wishing to master it.

EVE, it is too much sometimes

Let’s face it. EVE Online is a time consuming, mentally draining, physically altering affair. Countless hours are required to learn the basics. Countless more are spent tweaking fittings, messing with alts, and financing your affairs. There are plenty of players that quit every day due to the stress the game takes on them. I’ve felt it too. I’ve found myself wondering just what was going on in game, if anyone was fighting something and needed help, and let it all consume a great deal of time. I write about it, read about it, and play it with two accounts. So when someone you know, fight with, and roam with decides to leave, the reasons strike home:

“So I weighed the options,” writes a fellow capsuleer,  “EVE is a very time consuming game, you can’t really log on and have fun for about 30 min playtime. You have to spend hours at this game to accomplish anything.”

The truth does hurt. I wonder how many hours I’ve spent away from my wife, my dog, running, hiking, and finding that job I desperately need. My brain is fried, at times, and my eyes glazed. Sitting up on my two true gaming nights as my wife sleeps and dog snores, the realization that I am wasting an enormous amount of time weighs down upon me heavily. What has my life become? Is it really fun or simply a form of cocaine that I must have? What could I be doing? Would I have been President if I was not playing EVE? Hell, I’m not even that important. I’m not a Goon CEO, Titan pilot, community star, infamous pirate, or even that damn good at blowing people up. I’m just your average gamer trying to enjoy something I think I love. Quite a mind screw to think what I might have accomplished, thus far, if I had never heard of pirates, scams, and glory 3 years ago.

A pirate’s dream

Rewards if the dream comes true

The great four NPC empires battling it out has not had much of an effect on the game world. Expecting some major fighting as the empires fought each other to a stand still, many of us were tingling with glee over the release of Empyrean Age. Things did not really go that way as gates continued to operate, patrols of hostile ships floated nearby to each other, and every day life suffered very little impact. The reasoning behind the lack of total war is understandable, yet it was disappointing. Even with Faction Warfare still carrying on in low-sec, there does not seem to be much of a war out there, especially in relation to the conflicts we read about in 0.0.

Helicity Boson wants that to change. Helicity is a pirate and there are no doubts about that. Eye patches and parrots are on short order in whatever system Helicity decides to make home. This pirate had a dream, an epic dream, that called for some unique changes to the world of New Eden. “In my dream the faction warfare had sucked the empires’ resources, all the furthest systems had fallen to lowsec status, making it very hard to find a high-sec route into another empire’s space. Most routes required at least 1 system of lowsec to be traversed.“

The dream continues to describe a world where the war now being waged hampered the empires ability to control the frontier regions. This situation is not revolutionary and happens often in the real world. However, it is not merely a ploy to bring more bonuses to pirates. NPC Navy vessels would drop new faction loot, missions would be available aplenty with a new and unique twist, and building up reputation with the local forces in this abandoned region of New Eden would grant you safety, protection, and a lack of hostility from the ever present sentry guns.

It is an astonishing concept with major implications for New Eden. It is one that would also provide a much needed shot in the arm to a neglected region of space. A post-apocalyptic world, with new rules, new rewards, and new risks. Another fine example of players doing their best to improve the games they love.

Faction pirate vessels getting a boost

The Gila

Dominion is granting us a boatload of faction ship changes. First, we were greeted with the amazing changes coming to the four Empire’s faction vessels. They were wonderful, especially the Gallente Navy Comet. If you can afford the current prices, you will not be disappointed. CCP sweetened the news with a new announcement that promises a revamp of the current Pirate Faction vessels (Sansha, Blood Raider, Guristas, Serpentis, and Angels).  My favorite so far? The Gila:

Gila:

• Slot layout: 5 high, 6 med, 4 low slots, 3 launchers, no turrets
• Fittings: 350 CPU, 630 powergrid
• Bonuses: pirate: 50% to heavy and heavy assault missile velocity, Caldari cruiser: +5% to all shield resistances per level, Gallente cruiser: +10% to drone damage and hitpoints per level
• Hitpoints: 3188 shields, 2325 armor, 2490 hull
• Capacitor: 1375 capacitor, 491.25s recharge (about 2.8 cap/s)
• Dronebay: 125m3 drone bandwidth, 400m3 drone bay
• Speed: 164m/s max velocity, 0.66 agility, 9,600,000kg
• Sensor: 55km targeting range, 7 locked targets, 275mm scan resolution, 22 gravimetric sensor strength, 150m signature radius

If only they would give those of us with a -10.0 Sec Status a discounted price so we could play the role and fly the role in style. Oh to dream.

Is solo PvP dying? [Updated]

[Update]It always works out. As soon as that post went live I got into 4 solo fights. 1 loss 1 kill 2 retreats. I shall make my next post “When will I kill a titan?” Still open to suggestions to get more solo fights and to hear your opinion about the matter at hand.

The Ishkur is a lovely ship. I have about six of the little devils, all waiting there turn to get some chance in my war against civilization. In 0.0, I would bring a small bubble along and deploy it, hoping to catch interceptors and other ships warping to 0 between gates. It was the only way I could go solo without finding myself the target  of a blob. In low-sec, bubbles just are not possible. Taking my Ishkur out now is like committing insurance fraud. I know I will die unless I’m fighting a mission runner. Every time I have flown solo this week, I have found myself the target of a blob, a large gang ready to warp in, or some battleship buddy of a Wolf coming in with full neuts. Luckily for me, I have escaped.

It is aggravating. I don’t remember things being this bad two or three years ago. Sure, the blob has always been there, waiting to jump upon would be solo pilots. Now a days, especially in low-sec, it is the only way to fly. This has seriously put a damper on my relationship with EVE Online. Tell me your experiences and let me know if you think solo PvP is dying off. If you have any tips for making it work, share. I’m all ears.

Why do pirates get all the hate mail?

Hate Mail?

Sitting on a station, at 0, is not my idea of fun. Station humping is the tactic I loathe, and yet, due to the ever present blob, I am forced to use it for self defense as my scanner pings ships every other two seconds. While sitting bored at the computer, picking off an ungodly amount of Catalysts undocking, I came across one particular man who would not even consider the prospect of being inconvenienced by a pirate. The hate flowed in local. The usual name calling silliness and references to small objects and the male anatomy flowed from his keyboard, onto the web, and flashed brightly onto my screen. I sat back, making sure to take a screenshot, drank some coffee, pet my dog, and finished making my donation to the Friends of the National Park at Gettysburg at that precise moment. Short of helping an old lady cross the street, I was doing a great deal of good at that moment, including trying to pod this guy and save us all his idiocy.

Despite what many of you may think, we pirates are not bad people. Sure, some of us are smacktards, whining our way around low-sec, picking on people with our big ships and bigger blobs. Those guys are not just in low-sec, not just pirates, and they most certainly have nothing to do with me. We in Python Cartel are pretty damn good people. We all work for a living, we honor ransoms, we treat our loved ones well, and I’m pretty sure I heard Spectre mention something about a Python get together to try to make NASA’s new rocket energy efficient. Yet so many people hate us. They really do. I could not believe that a player, who is named LoveCombines by the way, would be so vulgar and rude and tarnish his good name. Naturally, I had to wait six hours and sacrifice my marriage just to pod him, but hey, he earned it.

So why all the hate? If death, destruction, war, and famine are ever present realities in this game, do you really think it won’t come knocking on your doorstep one day? I believe people hate us because we ruin their idea of the game. We break their routine. We destroy their idea of escapism from their real world troubles. We are, therefore, privy to an enormous deal of hate mail and local smack.