where the frack is my ship?

Got Corp?

2011-07-30T17:43:00.005+01:00

SoTF has opened its doors to new recruits so I thought I'd give them a little shout out here. If you like being drunk and shooting stuff in the face all night then they might just be what you are looking for :) >Eve-O thread here with more details<

In addition; to help with the recruitment drive I have put together a little promo vid... enjoy!

o/

Sand Cider and Spaceships – a new blog

2011-07-19T20:05:00.002+01:00

Hello all. I hope Internet spaceships is going well for you.

I wanted to take a moment to introduce a new blog, written by my good pal and SoTF comrade Drackarn.

Drack is a carebear turned PvP addict and in real-life recently emigrated from the sleepy Westcountry, UK, to the Middle East. He has been entertaining us on the corp forums for some time with both his Eve musings and his tales of jumping headfirst in a completely alien culture.

I think starting a blog has been long over-due and his ponderments and battle reports may appeal to the people who were reading my blog.

There are already plenty of posts to read and his most recent one debates the question of sexism in Eve. Enjoy!

sandciderandspaceships

VandV Podcast Interview: Eelis Kiy

2011-07-04T10:18:00.004+01:00

Hello all

There is a new Voices from the Void podcast up featuring yours truly. I talk a bit (a lot!) on Faction War and also why I left Eve.

www.voicesfromthevoid.net/2011/07/04/vandv-podcast-interview-eelis-kiy

This interview had been planned some time ago but it has taken a while to sit down and do it. So there was plenty of time to practice all the sensible coherent things I would say when it happened.

Then it happened... and I was quite nervous and it was way past my bed time, so I missed a lot of sensible stuff out and blabbered on a bit!

Nevertheless it was great fun and Arydanika is lovely to chat to.

Enjoy o/

ps - my twitter account is now twitter.com/KazzLenton

The wonderful offline community of Eve Online

2011-06-06T21:00:00.004+01:00

I'll cut to the chase. I have decided to take a looong break from Eve. My sub ran out last week and I have no desire to renew it. I might be back in a few months, a year or maybe never.

I had a post all drawn out on my reasons for leaving but it was all mopey and depressing. In a nutshell, after 5 fun filled years of playing Eve Online it is time to move on.

Of course not playing Eve will make blogging about Eve pretty hard to do and so this is probably my last blog post on wtfims.

To that end, I thought I would share a few of WTFIMS's vital statistics from Google Analytics...

Total visits: 17,220
Page views: 29,006
Absolute Unique Visitors: 9,608

After the homepage, the most viewed individual blog post was: Confessions of a carebear with 1450 views (incidentally my own favourite post).

Most random search engine keywords that some how lead people to my site:

Qcats Eve Blog: 36 hits
eve online gay corp: 25 hits
carebear corps: 6 hits
grow some balls: 4 hits
eve online lexx: 2 hits (haha you have a stalker lexx!)
balls that grow in hands: - 1 hit (wtf...)

Most disappointed visitors have got to be these peeps:

eve online where is my ship: 6 hits
i can't see my ship eve: 3 hits
eve how to find my ship: 2 hits

Most disturbing statistic: 14% of visitors are still using Internet Explorer. C’mon now people, it’s time to let go..

People from over 60 different territories have found their way to my little site. I love that, mmos unite the world!

The top 5 countries for visitors were:
1. America
2. Great Britian
3. Australia
4. Canada
5. Germany

My fav location stat though is the "2 visitors" I get from United Arab Emeirates... my eve friend emigrated there a couple of years ago, so I'm guessing he's read my site at at work as well as at home haha!

Now then, onto the sort of point I am slowly trying to make here. Yes there is an actual point I promise.

65% of all my visitors have come via referring sites. After Eve-O, Google and my corp's forum the biggest referral sites were Life in lowsec, Crazy Kinuxs Musings, evebloggers.com and Antiquityinspace.

When I saw this I decided to count up the total number of referring sites that were fellow eve bloggers or player made websites – I gave up when I got to 100!

Eve Online has an absolutely fantastic offline community. When I first made this blog I did not anticipate how many people I would get to know or become friends with, just through blogging, and how this would greatly enhance my last 12 months in New Eden. I would encourage everyone to give it a go.

One thing I learned quickly was that the more you interact with others on the blog-o-sphere and the more generous you are with your own promotion of other people the more others will interact with you. And when this happens up go the number of people coming to see your site.

And so I'd like to say a HUMONGOUS THANK YOU to everyone who has enjoyed reading this site and to everyone who has pimped the blog or a particular post. Especially mucho thanks those who talked CK into adding me to the blog-pack. This was a huge honour for me, I hope I was worthy.

I would also like to send out some internet hugz to Laedy, Lexx, Drackarn, Mynxee, Crazy Kinux, Arrhidaeus, Kuan, Jarred, and CCP TonyG. Whether for pimping my posts, encouraging me to carry on, being generous with your comments/cross-linking or simply because you are a total Factional Warfare fanboi noob, like me - I thank you!

And last but not least - because she won't have access to my corp forum and I cannot drop an Eve mail now - Dian, I really enjoyed your company (thanks to the WGOE channel). I regret that we never got to fly together or have a 1v1. I think we could have had a right giggle noobing it up together. I enjoyed our little chats and I hope you continue to have fun in Eve, even if you are a dirty squid :P

If anyone would like to keep in touch I will still be hanging around on twitter.com/EelisKiy and you can always reach me at eeliskiy@googlemail.com

Fly wasted o/

Doing lots of Eve stuff, whilst not doing any Eve stuff o_0

2011-05-31T20:49:00.008+01:00

Well that is the only title I could come up with. It's been a long day...

New blog project
I have been rather tied up of late with my new project; The Alliance website/blog for Shadow Wolves [.NET]

Just because we have a shit name doesn’t mean we have to have a shit website right? :D So here is the current look, the header is temporary (yes I know its w@nk) www.shadowwolves.net

It's been a while since I attempted anything with Wordpress but it is starting to take shape at last. Hopefully the site will become an interesting blog site as well as an Alliance info-site.

Clear Skies 3
If for some reason you didn't know this already, it's here, NOW!

Go get --> clearskiesthemovie.com

The Laedy speaks
The latest VandV podcast includes an interview with Laedy (interview starts around 31:00) which includes some info on the WGoE channel.

That’s it for now. Never know I might actually get some pewpew in to write about soon :P

What would Ratchman do?

2011-05-23T21:21:00.006+01:00

Another new dawn for SoTF has commenced :)

Earlier this year we tried the 0.0/big established Alliance thing... and it didn’t work out. Well now we're trying it from a different angle.

We have teamed up with a like-minded corporation, of similar numbers, resources and experience, and started our own alliance from scratch. That corp is Wolfsbrigade, from the Caldari militia.

As can often happen with people you pvp against quite regularly a mutual respect has grown between our 2 corporations. In addition we've had plenty of time to test our working relationship by flying together frequently during the past few weeks in Factional Warfare (mostly roaming to 0.0 in an effort to stem complications with our respective militias allies).

We've picked a reasonably busy low-sec area to base from, not too far away from null, and already the fleets are rolling out and the new neighbours successfully irritated. So far, and sadly I have to say this as someone who’s not actually been able to fleet up since the move, it does seem to be going very well.

By working together and building from the ground up we've got the makings of something quite perfect for us both here. We can do what we want to do and our combined force is pretty kickass, gives us a lot of pvp options and helps us cover the time zones far more effectively than we could alone. Our corps have similar histories and play styles and, unlike when we joined RAGE/NC, we have nothing to prove to each other.

I think great things are possible for both corporations and I am genuinely very excited to see how this new stage progresses.

So, onto the Alliance name.

Something bold and brassy....

A name that spells the future...

A word that defines this glorious new age for W-BR and SoTF...

A battle standard to wave in the face of our unwary targets as we journey to new glorious heights of pewpew...

A label that will become notorious amongst the pvp greats of New Eden! YEAH!!!!

That name is...

-.-

I can only liken my feelings on this subject to if my other-half had gone to the Council Offices with our firstborn and had her official name registered as "Noobface McTurdburger" behind my back. Seriously. I have pure, teenager level emo-rage-emoticons about this situation. UGH!

You would honestly not believe (well you probably would) the dramas and threadnaughts that have erupted over choosing our Alliance name and tag and I've probably been the instigator of most of it. To the point where I did actually spend some time thinking about quitting Eve and whether or not this made me a total bellend or not.

But of course, that would be silly. And here is where I explain my post title.

Ratchman is a quality corp member. He's active, in a lot of fleets, flies allsorts, is steadfast, reliable, helpful and fun to hang out with. Whilst he has an opinion and gets involved with discussion he's also never in the middle of the drama bomb.

Ratchman didn’t like the Alliance name much either, but he got over it and moved on. End of story and on with the pewpew. And Ratch isn't the only corp member like this, but he's got a cute Westcountry accent. So I've named my new personal mantra after him:

"What would Ratchman do?"

So to help me to stop taking cheap shots at the powers-that-be and making myself feel worse about Eve in the process this is what I now say to myself when the emo-rage starts building up. I’m also considering getting a WWRD bracelet so all can see that I am on the path to non-emo enlightenment …IN THROUGH THE NOSE *sniiifff*, OUT THROUGH THE MOUTH *breeeeath*…

At the end of the day even if my other-half had done such a deed with our child’s name I would still love the child regardless. The same goes for the Alliance. I'm not the biggest lover of change at the best of times but I do believe in this relationship and I fully understand the good things that could come out of it.

So I shall take a note from Mr Ratchman and move on.

End of story. On with the pewpew.

(But omg… wtf!)

>>Edit: Eve-O Forum Thread on our Alliance formation<<

Goodbye

2011-05-19T22:35:00.006+01:00

Eelis dropped the case onto her bed and flicked open both catches simultaneously. The lid lifted with a light hiss as compressed air escaped from inside.

She pushed the lid back into its resting position to reveal the spongy grey cushion that filled the entire inside of the case. Slowly and carefully Eelis began to pack her personal items, gently pushing them deep into the protective cushion, whilst wondering if everything would actually make it to its destination without getting damaged.

For a Gallentean she had a surprisingly sparse amount of possessions in her quarters but what was there tended to hold some deep personal relevance. Amongst the documents and clothing currently strewn across the bed were her Federation rank medals, a simple silver ring and an odd looking black fragment of metal, about the size of a fist, which had been collected from the gutted wreck of her first Ares loss. There was a holotape entitled "Conga", a glass bottle with a crude engraving of Empress Jamyl on the side, a small glinting badge in the shape of a 5 point star and a dusty trophy with a colourful skull-and-crossbones logo on its base.

One thing Eelis did have a lot of were holo stills; clipped and framed into small flat glass cases which had once adorned the wall above her dresser they were now littered around the bed. The largest was a formal SoTF corporation photographical shot and the rest records of a great deal of drunken revelry. As she packed them away the image from one particular "still" caused an involuntary grin. The miniature 3D picture of a rather worse for wears Caldari male came to life, hugging a bottle of Triple Z Minmatar Ale. Nasty stuff at the best of times. Poor Drack, he never did quite get over that dreadful evening she chuckled to herself, whilst burying the image into a free patch of cushion.

To anyone else these items would have been a worthless bunch of knickknacks but to Eelis they were all memories of her time in Black Rise over the last 3 years. Even during her corporations' recent foray into Vale she had continued to maintain her base in Nisuwa. This station had been home for such a long time now. It was hard to let go.

"So, when do you leave?”

She looked up, startled from her thoughts as Rashmika came into the room. Although officially he had moved his own stuff out some time ago he still stopped by from time to time.

“Hey you. Well if all goes to plan, just a couple more days.”

“You're definitely going then?”

Eelis sighed. “Well, I don't really see a choice right now. Besides it might actually be fun. I take it you've not changed your mind then?”

“Heh, I think it's better this way don't you?”

It wasn’t a question that required an answer but Eelis still felt a need to feign greater concentration in her packing.

When the last of her treasures and other belongings were safely sealed away she closed the clasps on the case and carried it over to the door where 3 other cases, of similar design but different shapes, already sat.

Hands on hips, she turned and studied the room. Just a dark shell now with its built in bed and cupboards. Simple, grey, practical. So dreadfully Caldari. The ever present planet outside looming in through the porthole. The only out of place item now was Rash, sitting cross-legged on the bed, lost in a holopad.

He didn't look up but seemed to sense her mood. "You going to miss it?”

“What’s to miss now? There’s nothing here anymore. Black Rise is not what it used to be. “

“Too many people moved on. The Governments don’t care. Capsuleers are wasted on this war now.” He replied, matter-of-factly.

“I guess so. So what about you?”

“I dunno honey. Come what may. There’s still plenty work for me in High-sec.” He sighed. “Hell, we’ll probably all be back in the Militia in a few months.”

“Yeah maybe!” she laughed. Though deep down she couldn’t escape the feeling of finality that surrounded this next move. Whatever the future held she knew that Nisuwa was a part of her past now. For a wistful moment her sentimentality got the better of her.

“So is this... you know..?”

Rash looked up now. Then stood and walked over. As he embraced her Eelis dropped her head on to his shoulder. She took a deep breath and relaxed.

“We’re never really that far far away you know.”

“Yeah, I know.” She replied wistfully “Maybe I could leave a clone behind here for you to visit when you’re bored”

“Hah! Now I like that idea.” So what were your plans for tonight anyway?

“Uhh, well. A bunch of unexpected alliance stuff, the last of my ships need sorting too. Oh and a bunch of mods to move out for trading…”

“I’ve got a better idea.” He interrupted

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“How ‘bout some final docking games instead?”

Eelis laughed and allowed herself to be lead onto the bed. As she lost herself in the moment her eyes glanced briefly up to the porthole. She couldn’t help wondering if this would be the last time they made love in front of Nisuwa VII.

Escalations, pvp style!

2011-05-17T21:07:00.003+01:00

I've been meaning to write about this fight since it happened last Friday but rl and some new developments in corp have not allowed for much blogging lately. Lock out wrote a spiffing battle report on failheap so I've asked permission to plagiarise that instead:

----------------------------------------
[Posted by Lock out]

Ok, long story long on the Quam supers.

As FW is literally dead cos we know each others tricks too well after 2 years, SOTF has started roaming nullsec with our esteemed opponents from caldari militia, Wolfsbrigade. As we were forming up for a shield roam in to Syndicate, we got intel on a Quam gang of faction BS with only a couple of guardians. The smal number of logistics made it plain obvious that they had a hotdrop prepared, so we figured if we can escalate, we would get them to drop some supers, especially knowing that it doesn't take much encouragement for Quam to field some Nyxs ;)

We reshipped in to BS with logi, I hopped in a triage archon well knowing that if things go according to plan it will be a sacrificial lamb, got some HICs for good measure and proceeded to batphone Raiden. who were out bashing a station. As moving the supers in to jump range of Black Rise/Essence/Placid was gonna take a while, our BS fleet had to dance with Quam for a while, staying close enough to keep them interested but far enough so they are not forced in to a fight when we didn't have the backup in place yet.

As they were getting bored and heading towards Heyd , we got word that backup is in place, so we proceeded chasing. With them making best speed to Indregulle it was looking like they either figured that we took too long and we had a tarp or they just got bored and were heading home. Our scout was instructed to let them know in local that we will fight, and to our delight we instantly got reports of them holding on murethand gate in indregulle.

We primaried a Vindicator and lit the cyno, I jumped my archon in and triaged. Within the next 10 seconds they replied with a cyno of their own, but much to our disappointment, all that came in were 2 archons. Even bigger of a surprise (and bit of a mistake if I may say) was that both their archons triaged simultaneously. At this point in the fight we had the upper hand due to our superior numbers, the fact that we had 7-8 guardians in addition to the triage archon and not least the great work of our falcon pilot who kept the Bhaalgorn jammed, ensuring I stay cap happy. The only issue we had was that we could not break their reps either, the Vindi and the Navy Geddon we switched to at some point beeing repped up in no time. But that was all about to change within the next minute.

Reports came on comms that we managed to neut dry one of the 2 archons, so taking advantage of the fact that triage did not allow him to be remote repped and lack of cap prevented him from self repping, we proceeded to primary him. As he was entering structure, they decided that they should do the same to us, so they started shooting my archon. Fortunately, with a fat capacitor, I was able to rep till the end of the triage cycle, exiting triage afterwards and getting reps from our logis. Their archon exploded , probably seconds before finishing his triage cycle, and by now it was clear that they either escalate further or lose at least a second carrier if not some faction BS too. Our HIC pilots who waited a jump out are getting impatient due to missing carrier kills and are asking if they should come in, they are beeing told yes, then 2 seconds later are beeign told to hold, Raiden. are also getting impatient and would like to come in to at least get some kills, but are persuaded to wait some more, and indeed half a minute later everyone's patience pays off when 3 Nyxs pop up on our overviews. We light a new cyno, the Raiden. supers come in, my Archon has fulfilled it's purpose so it's now exploding to the Quam nyxs, those nyxs explode to Raiden Nyxs and everyone except for Quam has a happy friday night.

Mad props to Raiden. for forming up and moving so quickly and also for reimbursing the carrier loss, to SOTF and W-BR for making things go exactly as planned in the beginning and to Quam for going down fighting.

Original Post: http://failheap-challenge.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=256&p=57999#p57999

Slightly squiffy Battle report: (will update shortly when eve kill is back up)

----------------------------------------

And I'll add to that my own massive props to W-BR and our FC. It’s the first time I've been in a proper fleet lead by dirty squids. Whilst I've seen some fun pvp "escalations" before with baits, batphones, cynos and surprise buttsecks, I don't think I've ever seen such a fight put together and executed so quickly and perfectly before.

For my own part, I had been geared up for the originally planned shield fleet that night and when the call to ship to armour went out I was ill prepared. I think I had the only BC on the field when it first kicked off and despite sterling reps I of course did not last long. As I ran my pod next door to dock up I was chuffed to find an abandoned Vexor in the station hanger all ready to undock... yes of course I went back and ninjad, oh it was such joyful whoring.

Some purdy pics, albeit my graphics are down low at the moment:

Another escalation of sorts is about to kick off for me and my corp mates as SoTF will leave the Gallente Militia again in a few days. Off we go to our next adventure in our ongoing quest for glorious pewpew. I shall tell more of this soon (tm).

o/

Still alive. Now with added tweet.

2011-05-09T18:49:00.004+01:00

Yes I am still here but aside from one recent blob incident and one recent being blobbed incident (karma eh hehe!) I have not been doing much Eve-ing of late. This is largely down to my new job, which is awesomesauce but hurting the hell out of my puny brain and leaving me pretty knackered when I get home.

From what I have seen though Black Rise is as dead as it was before we left to join RAGE and SoTF has actually taken to roaming round 0.0 with one of our war-target corporations, Wolfsbrigade, rather than flying around looking for FW fights. Poor FW :(

Anyhoo. I thought I should let you know that you can now find me on Twitter tweeting randomly about Eelis and Eve. Previously I've had zero interest in tweeting or twitter in general but for educational purposes (have been working irl with social media a lot of late) I have now started an Eve related account.

So, if you'd like to hear all the latest info on how Eelis exploded, what she had for breakfast or how many poops she did today (I'm joking I promise) you can follow me at @eeliskiy.

BBS. Fly wasted o7

Blog Banter 26: Love at first sight

2011-04-29T00:06:00.003+01:00

Welcome to the twenty-sixth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, 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 or so 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 to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month's topic was proposed by @KatiaSae of the much praised "To Boldly Go" blog. Katia asks: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As an astrophotographer, I've found it in the stars and planets of New Eden. Where have you found it? Perhaps you've found beauty in the ships we fly? Maybe it's the sight of profits being added to your bottom line? Or maybe it's the pilot portraits you see in the comm channels? Where ever you've found it, write about it and post an image." Don't be afraid go beyond the simple visual aspects of EVE as well. Is the EVE Community in itself a thing of beauty? What makes EVE the game, the world, the Community, so appealing to you?

----------------------------------------

It is 1993.

I am standing outside the Design & Technology block on a cold and overcast September morning. I am one of about 130 other first year students who have been grouped into 5 lines. We are all awaiting the call to enter our respective classes. I am bored and fiddling with a buckle on my school bag.

As I day-dream my eyes float towards a thin shaft of sunlight breaking through the clouds. I follow it with my eyes from the sky down to where it lands - directly on top of the head of a boy who is standing in a separate line a few paces ahead of me. I am instantly struck with awe.

He is the most beautiful human being I have ever seen in all my 13 years of life.

He was of average height and well-built though still carrying some puppy fat. His smile was wide, sincere and mischievous. As he chatted and larked about with the people around him the sound of his voice, with its hint of “townie” Devonshire, came to me over the din of everyone else and swam like music in my ears. He turned further towards my direction and I became mesmerised by the deep pools of dark chocolate which were his eyes, both framed by the most glorious natural lashes I have ever seen on any man, woman or camel. The shaft of sunlight played with his rich brown basin-cut hair and brought to life brief shimmers of vivid red and gold highlights.

I still remember how my heart leapt and my insides churned and how I spent most of the rest of the day feeling quite sick. I later discovered his name. Andrew.

I was completely and utterly besotted with him and I remained that way for pretty much all of the rest of my school days.

I am sure I would not be alone in saying Eve was actually a difficult game for me to find beauty in.

Star Wars Galaxies , Everquest 2 and Age of Conan had some amazing scenery. Lord of The Rings Online in particular was an utterly stunning game. Say what you will about World of Warcraft but here again I found an interesting and unique beauty, albeit within the game's own style. In all of these mmos you could see glorious beaches, sun kissed seas, desolate deserts, lush dense forests and there were always plenty of outcrops or cliff edges where a passing explorer could accidently discover far reaching views of the rich and abundant world around them. They were environments to fall in love with.

New Eden gives us starry backgrounds, pretty planets (more so now anyway), cool sun collusion effects, interesting nebula and fabulously satisfying explosions. I am happy to admit that I have some gorgeous screenshots and fraps footage from my time in this game.

But Eve, by its very nature, is stark, cold and as tough to look at as it is to play. On top of this much of one system is pretty much the same as the next and this is the same no matter where you go in New Eden. So whilst I do enjoy and appreciate the look of Eve (especially since my graphics card was upgraded) there was never really anything that I looked at and fell in love with… with one exception.

One afternoon early in my capsuleer career, when running missions was the entire conclusion of my Eve subscription, I undocked from my home station in Dodixie with the intention of heading to Puchurie for a level 3. But I became distracted by a ship sitting just off the undock point, the like of which I had never seen before.

For a start it was bloody huge, certainly the largest ship I had so far encountered in Eve. It dwarfed my Brutix and even made a passing Dominix (the ship I aspired to one day fly) look utterly insignificant. I was both intimidated and utterly awestruck.

It had a worn and silvery steel texture which gave it a slight industrial edge, but one that made the ship look understated and subtle unlike the blocky and practical greys and silvers of Caldari designs.

It was long, smooth and sleek, perhaps even sexy. Certainly it carried a semblance of femininity in its curious, curvaceous body. Yet it was also dark, cold and threatening, but not in the in-your-face-golden-Amarr-phallical HERE I AM! way. Oh no. This ship gave you a disinterested sideways glare that turned your blood cold. You were almost afraid to look and yet you just couldn't help but stare anyway.

As I gawped on the sunlight played with the stationary ship’s curves and crevasses. I must have spent about 20 minutes tinkering with my graphics settings, looking at it from different angles and taking screenshots whilst one word continually played through my mind "wow". I was captivated and I had a serious Eve-crush on this ship.

I studied the ship's info screen. Machariel it said. Machariel.

Over the years I have continued to admire and find beauty in this ship and have even been able to watch it in pvp action quite a few times, sometimes on the receiving end. I was a tad gutted when CCP gave the Mach a "make-over" (with various other graphics changes) which, in my opinion, left it looking a little less magical than the original format. But I cannot shake off the curse of first love and my affection still remains.

Since that day in Dodixie all those years ago I've seen pretty much every other flyable ship in Eve, all the way up to the Titans, and plenty of other weird and interesting stuff. But nothing else in New Eden has yet stolen my heart away. To me this is the most beautiful thing in Eve.

Now as for actually flying a Mach... well that’s a whole paragraph that doesn’t really fit this banter topic. So let’s just say that boys as popular and good looking as Andrew didn’t ever notice girls as plain and boring as me!

List of Participants:

CrazyKinux's Musing: Beyond nebulas and shiny ships

Freedom: the beauty in EvE » A Mule In EvE

Achernar: The bike and the barbecue

where the frack is my ship?: Blog Banter 26: Love at first sight

BlogBanter 26: EVE … beautiful … « One capsuleer against all

Blog Banter 26 « Mad Haberdashers

» Blog Banter 26: Beauty of EVE – To Boldly Go To Boldly Go

Down By Law: Blog Banter #26: "The Beauty of EVE" (OOC)

Blog Banter #26 – Beauty « Roc's Ramblings

Banter #26: Beauty is in the eye of the markets | Diary of a Garbageman

Progression's Horizon: Blog Banter 26- Carry It With Us, Or We Find It Not

Blog Banter 26: The Beauty of Eve « A Scientist's Life in Eve

Freebooted: BB26: The Beauty Between the Lines

Eve Opportunist: EBB #26 : Beauty is destruction.

Blog banter #26: EVE shines, and not just visually « Diary of a Pod Pilot

Blog Banter 26: Everybody is Pretty - Learning to Fly

BB26: Beauty, in certain conditions | A Missioneer in Eve

Dying in Lowsec (One Hauler at a time)

EVE Blog Banter #26 – Beauty « Evehermit's Blog

EVE A to Z: The Beauty of EVE

Blog Banter 26: Beauty In A Bottle « A Lush In Space

EVEOGANDA: Blog Banter 26: The Ballet of Battle

BB26: Sometimes the sum of the parts … | Morphisat's Blog

Anymore...?

Why SOTF left Vale/RAGE/The NC

2011-04-28T10:13:00.005+01:00

I hope everyone had a super Easter break. I certainly did as it coincided with my 30th birthday celebrations! But having had my fill of chocolate, BBQs, booze and sunshine I felt it was time to crack on with this post.

It's a big one but I will try hard not to waffle on too much...

Well. Joining the 3rd largest alliance in Eve, instantly becoming part of the Northern Coalition and moving a corporation full of casual low-sec pvp’ers over to sov held 0.0 was never going to be without teething problems. We knew this however things did start out pretty well.

We got on well with RAGE itself and have formed some lasting friendships within the Alliance. With a lot of sweat, tears, hard work and help from our new allies we quickly set up home in Vale and established our first station. The majority of our membership threw itself into 0.0 life with gusto. We attended CTA’s, ran a few fleets and tried out different ideas for upsetting Russians and other reds as well as pushing our own suggestions for official fleets and fits.

But as the weeks went on our experience began to deteriorate and there are a number of reasons behind this. The easiest way for me to explain these without a giant wall of text is to simply list them. So here they are;

- Resistance from the NC to our ideas and suggestions and a lack of support for our fleets

- Loss of independence in running pvp fleets

- A lack of small gang activity

- A lack of pvp in general

- Becoming part of the NC at the start of the war with the Russians. Not because we are a bunch of pussies - but because we walked straight into the deep end of constant CTA fleets which did not allow us enough time to do our own thing or fly casually with RAGE (and thus properly settle in).

- A loss of our casual pvp lifestyle in general

This was all pretty bad for SoTF.

Whilst we may not be a sov corp we are a proven pvp corp. We have effective FCs, good leadership, experienced members (including many with backgrounds in sov 0.0) and we work very well together as a team. Our corp is 99% pvp focussed. This is our only interest.

But our good points became diluted every time we were dumped into gigantic fleets, forced to follow the whims and say sos of people who did not (in our opinion) seem to know what they were doing, and forced to fly alongside people who were only present because a capital lettered email told them to be.

My original write up of this post included details of specific incidents and events that p*ssed us off or started causing frustration. But a lot of water has already gone under that bridge and tbh it seems silly to start dragging up the dirt now. I don't particularly want a smack fest and I am not looking to lay blame at anyone’s door. It is what it is at the end of the day and whilst SOTF is very happy to be out of the NC now I think it is fair to say that we are better for the experience and glad to have been invited to take part for a short time.

I will however bring up 2 personal observations that stuck out for me during this episode.

The first observation was the this is how it’s always been done, so this is how it will continue to be done attitude, often present within the Northern Coalition.

In my brief time working with the NC and from the feedback we received from our corp FCs and leadership, I saw this wall of resistance come up again and again. Perhaps we were wrong for expecting our ideas to be listened to or supported when we were so new? I don't really know. But I do know that the wall was certainly there and for us it was not only stifling but also prevented us from showing everything that we were capable of.

My second observation relates to people who pvp because they want to as opposed to people attending a fleet because they have to (and this is surely not just an NC issue).

Clearly not everyone who moves to sov space has combat in mind. You have industrialists, miners and ratters all out there churning up different incomes and goodies for the good of the entire organisation as much as for individual wealth and glory.

But when important assets are threatened then everybody must be ready to add bodies to fleets and save these assets. From my, again brief, experience of seeing this the resulting fleets are peppered with carebears who are not pvp minded and not particularly interested in pvping past clicking on the primary and pressing F1. In addition (and potentially because of these reluctant non pvp’ers) there becomes a misguided need to create a much larger blob of ships than the enemy could potentially show up with.

If this is what saves assets and creates giant empires then so be it. Who the hell am I to say any different. But it is not conductive to enjoyable pvp. So in that way, perhaps SoTF just wasn't suited to the life of sovereignty.

I felt it prudent to include in this post some feedback from a capsuleer who was actually in the thick of what has happened and so I posed some questions to my CEO Gallactica (who probably suffered the most extreme stress and headaches of us all) on his thoughts about what happened and whether or not he had any regrets.

I would like to share some excerpts from his reply:

No, I dont in all honesty have any regrets in making the move we did. Rage was a good choice for us and, despite the intial feeling of the “little FW corp joining” by some areas, they are a very good group who made us feel at home. I have a lot of respect for them and we've probably made friendships that will follow us for the rest of our eve life.

There are a few reasons why I think it didn’t work – The timing of our joining was a big factor. The big fights hotting up with the Russians meant a constant stream of CTA's happening pretty much 23/7 and so we didnt really get a lot of time for ourselves or to look for the small gang action that we specialise in. People quickly got bored of sitting in 500 man+ fleets staring at a pos/titan or whatever whilst the NC lead FC's decided what was best course of action. We basically felt wasted in these fleets and peoples willingness to participate started to drop. We came from a background of “log on, x up, kill stuff, log off”. Maybe we had been spoilt with the simplicity of FW and took this for granted?

We lost a few members who were not interested from the start, and then lost a few more as the weeks went by. We had hoped that by throwing ourselves at this full pelt the corp would get through any initial issues. But unfortunately as time went by the lack of instant fights became too much of a problem, to the point where I questioned whether we would even have a corp left if we carried on.

So any regrets? Hell no, its the people in this game that makes the difference and this just re-enforced to me what a fantastic corp I have. Everyone in it deserves immense credit for sticking through this – we gave it our best shot, it wasn’t for us, time to look at what’s next for us to throw ourselves at.

- Gallactica

So, what is next for us?

Well in Galls response to some of my questions he alluded to several offers we have had from both sides of the NC/DRF conflict as well as from other areas of Eve. There seems to be much to ponder and right now the future is undecided.

But for the time being we are enjoying a period of re-bonding, group hugs and very drunken pvp back in Black Rise :)

o/

/peen

2011-04-27T23:59:00.004+01:00

Forgive me a quick penis wave.

We noticed today that the new issue of EON magazine has listed the top corporations, Alliances and individuals based on kills/value of kills during December 2010 and February 2011.

Well SoTF made it to the number 9 spot for corporations. So I'd like to say YAAAY and go team FW noobs :)

Also congrats to Laedy who is at the number 18 spot for Individual pilots and Loren Gallen who is at number 19. Some other names I recognise are AshenSugar at number 6 and Jarowit at number 20. Kudos to all!!

/End penis waving :p

Killmail Ship Stats - What do yours say about you?

2011-04-19T23:06:00.005+01:00

As you may have noticed SoTF has left RAGE and re-joined the Gallente Militia. I have a detailed post coming on this soon (tm) but suffice to say we are happy to be back in our old stomping grounds.

I was very much looking forward to joining in with the pewpew this evening however my PC is not enjoying the heat-wave as much as my tan is. So whilst my other-half tinkers with my melted CPU (well not quite that bad but almost) I've hopped onto his PC and written a little blog meme to pass the time...

Killmail ship stats
Most killboards have a stats page listing the ships and weapons you have used on all of your killmails. We got talking about our top numbers this evening during a fleet form-up and I thought it would make a fun blog post. I'm going to take a look at my numbers and see what they say about me. Feel free to join in.

Ares : 601 kills
Oh lord, that many? I am not a killmail whore, honest. Tackling for militia fleets was the first thing I worked out how to do well in low-sec. I soon became addicted to scouting and tackling and flew an Ares almost exclusively for about 5 months. So yes, I'm quite proud of my Ares stats!

Dominix : 107 kills
The bulk of these kills will be from flying RR Domis in low-sec. I used to see the Dominix as the staple of RR fleets in big Gal Militia form ups and later in more organised corp fleets. However, as the stakes got higher specialist logistics became the preferred method of RR support and so my Domi collection got a little dusty. My most recent Domi related kills are likely to be from neuting carriers and super caps when everyone and their aunty started hot-dropping SOTF a few months ago.

Ishkur : 101 kills
Although the Enyo is arguably the better of the 2 Gallente Assault Frigs (well so I hear a lot anyway) I have always favoured the Ishkur. It appeals to my kitey-with-drones preference over in-yo-face-with-blasters and has often been my choice for small roaming frigate gangs.

Taranis : 82 kills
Have to say I am surprised to see so many Taranis kills. I have had 1 solo ranis expedition (where I died in a fire) and I never quite got the hang of close up dog fighting. However, being aware that the Taranis is supposed to be a good pvp ship (in the right hands) I have tried to experiment with it in smaller fleets particularly in my earlier militia days.

Hurricane : 72 kills
My first Minmatar entry. I simply adore flying arty canes. Quite a new ship to my repertoire but now a staple of my pvp diet.

Thorax : 42 kills
Another close-up-in-your-face ship that I have tried to love but it was not meant to be. I have experimented with a few fits but never quite had the skill to carry off do-or-die blaster boats.

Vexor : 39 kills
I do love the Vexor, such a versatile ship and often under-rated. I fell in-love with it all over again when I threw out the hybrids and tried it with projectiles. I would like to see this kill number go up now that I am back in low-sec.

Hound : 24 kills
I can fly 2 Stealth Bombers, this is fave. Mostly because it looks like an abstract Christmas tree.

Incursus: 20 kills
These kills will be from corp pvp tournaments and suicide fleets, as well as fleets with FC's I didn't particularly trust :P

Rapier : 15 kills
A new entry to my fleet. I very much enjoyed flying this in null in a supporting role. I hope to see this kill number go up quite a bit more.

Nemesis : 15 kills
My first attempts at Stealth Bomber flying - all these kills are likely to be from "fishing" fleets, aka camping the Nourv gate in Tama!

Muninn : 8 kills
Another new entry to my fleet. Still trying to work out what to make of this ship.

Arazu : 8 kills
This zu is actually a borrowed ship. I am not sure if I will buy one yet tbh, having too much fun in the Rapier.

Catalyst : 7 kills
Crikey. Can't actually remember the last time I flew a Catalyst. I've never been a big plexer but I suspect these are from my early militia days and a few enemy-high-sec faction war fleets.

Enyo : 3 kills
My few attempts at flying an Enyo. If CCP ever revisit Hybrids I am sure I will fly this ship a little more.

Velator : 3 kills & Iteron V: 2 kills
Wine + drunken comrades = lol fleets :)

Rifter : 1 kill
What kind of pvp'er only has 1 kill in a Rifter? A NOOB. What kind of pvp'er has more kills in an Iteron V than a Rifter? A DRUNKEN NOOB.

Tristan : 1 kill
I suspect this was from a corp pvp tournament.

So, in a nutshell; I'm a Gallente noob who sucks with blasters, flies cheap and cheerful and has recently crossed into Minmatar. Sounds about right! I really must get a few shinies on that list sometime.

So, what do your stats say about you?

And if you are wondering where you can get your stats from; On Eve-Kill go to your own page then click on the "Statistics > Ships & Weapons" link on the left. For example:

http://eve-kill.net/?a=pilot_detail&plt_id=190164&view=ships_weapons

The point of Eve?

2011-04-15T18:32:00.005+01:00

I was having a read of some different blog posts today when I came across this one The Point of Eve from Sleepless in Space.

Whilst I quite enjoyed the read I just couldn't resist a little dig at the old "disregard females" slogan...

lol bombers

2011-04-09T10:51:00.003+01:00

Just lol.

Bloody funny evening, our killboard is quite a mess this morning.

Looking forward to more practice at this. Perhaps next time a bit of sobriety would be in order o_0

Piercings...

2011-04-08T15:55:00.007+01:00

...I haz them.

And tattoos too!

Grumpy cow writes a battle report

2011-04-06T16:27:00.019+01:00

If I had an isk for every time someone has nagged me to do a new blog post I'd have at least 4.5 isks by now.

It's nice to be wanted, but in addition to being horrendously busy and hormonal as hell I confess that some aspects of my rl have been a little soul sapping of late which has killed both my desire to log into Eve and my ability to do anything remotely creative.

But OK, I feel a little guilty now for trying to take blog break. So I have cobbled together my memories of the fleet I was able to join last night and can present a battle report for your viewing pleasure.

But I apologise now if there is a hint of angry hormonal cow who needs a holiday, a litre of sangria and a big tub of Ben & Jerrys Phish Food to my post -.-

RAGE v DarkSide - 05/04/2011
My original plan had been to hop on and join a pre-planned corp shield fleet but by the time I actually sat down at my PC the fleet had morphed into a 50 strong, armour based, RAGE Home Defence operation. I pulled out my Rapier and hung about for 20mins whilst not paying much attention to Eve as I was watching Hollyoaks on TV (because Warren is FIT).

Off we eventually went to track down a DarkSide gang that was mooching about nearby causing the locals the drop their tea and cakes. After a few minutes of Benny Hill-ing around Vale we ended up all the way... next door to where we had first formed up. It was here we began a tricky but rather fun little scrap.

Here is the battle report: http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=9311110

Sooo, it doesn’t look too impressive on paper, and that's because it probably wasn't as far as stats go heh! I think it is fair to say that this is mostly Gallactica's fault for loosing 2 ships, one of which was a v expensive Proteus. You just can't get the staff these days eh? Feel free to boo at him in local, he won't mind at all.

DarkSide were in a speedy shield gang and quickly burned out to 100km+ from our fleet whilst we tried to close the gap and pick off any ships that we'd managed to web/scram. Round about now I realised my error in watching Hollyoaks and not keeping proper ears on our fleet forming coms because my Rapier was fitted with an AB and not a MWD. Thus I quickly burnt out all of my mid slots in my efforts to actually be useful with my webs. Tits :(

Overall our Logis were holding us up pretty well but despite a bit of chastising on coms our fleet did end up spread out like butter between the gate and the DarkSide fleet. The result was some folks finding themselves out of rep-range of our logis, which is not a nice place to be when faced with DarkSide's high alpha.

But even taking this into account, it was a pretty entertaining scrap. Coms was light and fluffy, just how we Shadows types like it, and we got some nice kills. Props to all the sharp eyed scramers/webbers slowing down the appropriate targets (whilst yours truly tried in vain to keep up).

In spite of my inappropriate fit I am generally quite enjoying flying the Rapier and last night I also got to experience the newish feature of broadcasted targets moving to the top of the overview. Yay for lazy primary finding (and for non-english speakers in fleet hehe). Now if only CCP would make the "I need armour" buttons detatchable so we could keep them somewhere handy on ones interface rather than squished at the bottom of the fleet window. I digress.

I have to give a virtual "Man of the Match" award to this Drake of doom (and his rr support) which took about 20 dog years die.

I am unfamiliar with the history of DarkSide and RAGE/NC but the general consensus coming over coms from our non-shadows attendees seemed to be yay for them actually engaging and that the engagement was fun, if not particularly graceful.

So, I declare this battle WIN and /up yours to the killboards.

DarkSide eventually left the field and we hopped home for a quick bio before heading out again for round 2, and again with DarkSide.

But sadly rl was about to fry my Eve-ing for the night. Quite literally. Just as the scrap kicked off my PC turned itself off -.-

I've been having a few issues with overheating lately and it appears my pewpew of the past hour had upset the temperature again. This time round DarkSide had reshipped and our plan had been to pop a few ships then GTFO. With that in mind, and the fact I was currently in a bubble, I knew I'd probably lost my Rapier.

I had a brief vision of our logis trying to save my sorry butt in the hope I would log back in soon (as has happened before) so I dropped a quick text to one of the Directors explaining that I would be gone for the night. The reply was somewhat akin to a Doctor-in-the-hospital-waiting-room giving the gravest news we did everything we could but in the end...

WTB New Rapier.

Although on a plus when I logged in again at 2am (don’t ask) I got my pod home. In yo face DarkSide! (medical clones are getting expensive so yes I shall celebrate this small mercy).

So there you have it, a bit of action at last. Now stop nagging me to be fun whilst I am trying to be miserable and mopey -.-

Downtime

2011-03-29T12:42:00.002+01:00

Herro!

Just a quicky post to explain my current state of play (and blogging activity).

This month is a very busy one for me with work and other RL commitments. In addition my other-half's recent departure from SoTF and decision to take a bit of an Eve break is adding to my list of reasons to not be at the keyboard.

And there is one further issue hanging over my head at the moment. When I started my blog it was about Faction War and low-sec. This was something I knew about, enjoyed and an environment I was comfortable in.

But nullsec, its politics, it's history, mechanics and Alliances... well it might as well be a different game to me. It's not something I feel comfortable in writing about and that in turn makes me question whether or not I should continue with my blog.

So whilst I take a little downtime in Eve I'm going to take a break from blogging for a few weeks and see how things pan out.

o/

CSM Results are here!

2011-03-27T11:57:00.003+01:00

Just a quicky - As so many bloggers are at Fan Fest I thought I would do a quick plug for the CSM Election results - Clicky Here

The chrysalis

2011-03-24T10:45:00.004Z

A couple of nights ago my other-half found a moth chrysalis in the garden whilst having an argument with a Holly bush. We put it in a jar, in the kitchen, so that our 4 year old daughter could see the moth when it emerges. I sat with her yesterday, showing her the jar and trying to explain the process.

The caterpillar eats and eats until he is all grown up and ready to change. I explained.

Then he builds a cocoon around his body and he sits inside and turns into a butterfly (well, a moth in this case).

Now whilst she is very familiar with The Hungry Caterpillar story she couldn’t quite get her head around the idea that the change was not an instant process. We had an on-going debate for the rest of the afternoon with my daughter regularly insisting that it was time to go and “poke the cocoon to wake the butterfly up". I had quite a hard time explaining that it takes time to go through such a big change.

I cannot help but see the similarity between this and the current state of SoTF.

It seems to me that we are very much in a “chrysalis stage” right now. We are undergoing a huge state of change ; everything from where we live, to our allies, the pvp we take part in, our rules and ROE.

It takes time, debate, patience and hard work to move from where we came from to what we are becoming and some folks are certainly finding it harder than others. I really don't envy our leadership right now.

I consider myself to be a pretty sensible person in general but even in my own attitude I find resistance to these changes.

In my mind, I am a Shadows of The Federation pilot. These are the guys I've died and fought alongside, got drunk and giggled with, argued against and confided in for the past 2 years. They are my comrades and the respect I have for them is well earned. I'd do pretty much anything in game for them.

But now I find myself in an Alliance; a big pool of corporations, many of whom I'd never even heard of previously. Add to that the whole of the Northern Coalition which we now work alongside; that is quite a list of corps and pilots that we are suddenly expected to have some sort of allegiance to and play nice with. It is a hard pill to swallow sometimes.

And of course this works both ways and I know SoTF's FCs and leaders have done a lot of shouting of late, to make our views heard over a din of pre-conceived opinion.

Slowly, we are adjusting to our new way of life. But it is not easy.

We will shortly pass the one month marker since our move to Vale and I don’t think I’ve seen a more difficult 4 weeks in all my time with SoTF. We've had many ups and downs and for some members it has been too much and they have moved on to pastures new.

But we’ve also achieved a great many things in this month of change. Our 0.0 station is up, we've moved over 1400 ship from low-sec to null, our members are getting settled and we're slowly making the impression we want to within our new circle of allies. At the time of typing we are also in the top 10 corp killers for this month in RAGE.

We always knew this was a massive undertaking and that has not been an understatement. But with a little more hard work, a little more patience and a little bit of luck, that drunken butterfly will be on its way out very soon.

I missed the Titans... more wine please

2011-03-18T14:19:00.007Z

So some clever idiot jumps back to Empire to do some hanger tidying and misses out on the best (and most laggy) CTA ever. Arse.

I do take some comfort in this lovely Thorax v Red Wine picture PSY CHO made for me though (and as a bonus it also looks a bit rude, get in).

PSY CHO's art seems to be getting a lot of attention at the moment, I've seen it popping up all over facebook and different blogs - But if you've not seen his website yet it is well worth a look.

Heroes v Villains

2011-03-15T15:22:00.012Z

As previously explained, when I started out in Eve I was a total clueless carebear who ran missions in highsec for many years and avoided any form of pvp like it was the plague.

When my corporation eventually suffered the trauma of a high-sec war-dec, in which we were soundly thrashed, it never once occurred to me to think of the aggressors as griefers or bad people. I knew, and accepted, that this activity was a part of the game and I went on to learn many lessons about game-mechanics (albeit the hard way) thanks to that war. I may not have enjoyed the experience, but there was nothing wrong, bad or evil about it, no matter how much I hated having my pve ships exploded.

Sadly, amongst the wider carebear community, high-sec war-deccers are regularly accused of being griefers or people who simply don’t have any respect for the way others wish to play Eve. Of course you can add many other people to that list of so called villians; such as suicide gankers, ninja salvagers, corp thieves, scammers and so on.

Loren Gallen is one of the most decent gents you could possibly wish to meet in Eve Online. He is also very well known for blowing up mission running faction war-targets in their own high-sec. I remember Loren once sharing an eve-mail he had received from one such high-sec victim. It consisted of a pretty vile wall of offensive words and accusations. All that from an apparently peace loving individual who took great offence at having his carebearing activity so rudely interrupted.

But if this person had simply done a bit of homework on Factional Warfare before undocking his shiny in complete ignorance, then the whole situation would have been avoided. Exploitation and EULA breaking aside - the same thing could probably be said for most of the people who accuse others of so called griefer activity.

For example CCP have made it very clear, time and again and all over the forums, that salvage has no owner. Yet if you spend some time in any mission hub, you are soon guaranteed to see an argument in local over ninja-salvage activity. This is usually accompanied by accusations and abusive language flying in from the so called victims.

CCP doesn’t want you to log into Eve and feel safe. CCP doesn’t want you to be surrounded by serenity and peace. However so many people fail to understand this and simply expect mechanics to be bent around their own personal desire to keep themselves unhindered by other players.

The saddest part of this is that people who refuse to open their eyes to the full potential of Eve fail to see so many amazing things that are possible within the sandbox.

A few weeks ago my other half was docking up his alt in Dodixie when he drew my attention to something happening on his screen. I scooted over to watch the show on his computer. Here we had a freighter, from an NPC corp, tackled and being attacked by 2 light ships from a player corporation. We assumed they must have had kill rights on the neutral guy and giggled to ourselves as he desperately spammed local for remote reps whilst trying to burn back within docking range of the station.

A couple of people soon started bumping the freighter towards the station, whilst others bumped him away. Then 2 Dominix pilots answered the plea for aid and started remote repping him. The aggressors turned their attention to the Domis and blew them both up pretty quickly before returning their attention to the freighter. So now things start to look even more interesting than a simple case of “idiot about to lose a freighter”.

The freighter goes over half armour but a logistic ship, from a well-known tear-loving-corporation, now undocks, reps him back up and then docks again without being shot at. Then there was the mysterious Macherial pilot from the same corp as the aggressors who would bump the freighter, point it, then dock back up without bothering to shoot him. When questioned in local said he had mysteriously lost aggression rights. Hmm!

Speculation in local comes round to the idea that this is actually an elaborate scam to get people to remote rep the freighter so that they could be blown up. And as time goes on it certainly looks like this is indeed the case and several people fall for the whole thing whilst trying to save the fake freighter victim.

Stuff like this is the gold-dust of New Eden. Hilarious, deceptive and full of mischief. And more importantly – it is good! This is exactly what Eve is all about and the people who don’t get this need to educate themselves and embrace the art of getting even, not the art of whining about their failures.

So, who are the real bad guys in New Eden?

Well even amongst the pvp minded in Eve there are many levels of acceptance on what others deem appropriate or “right” in terms of game play, for example honouring 1v1s.

There are a couple of recent blog posts that illustrate this point further. First would be Laedy’s description of how she has many good friends in-game, but would not hesitate to shoot them in the face if they presented themselves as a target - and how some people cannot quite stomach the idea of this. The second is a post from Helicity Boson on piracy and honouring ransoms, and how some people simply detest being asked to pay one so much they would rather deny the aggressors a pod mail than save their expensive implants.

Another example comes from my own personal experience. SOTF started out as a very “clean” pvp corp, strictly shooting only war targets and flashy pirates. Anything else would have gone against our “good guy” nature. However as time went on shooting neutrals not only became necessary but also more acceptable. We were a pvp corp after all, why should we not be engaging whomever we wish in our low-sec stomping grounds?

As our corp grew in numbers and experience we also began charging local industrial corporations to keep their POSs up in our home systems and even charged several corps for blue status with us. This is something we would not have dreamed of doing 2 years ago; now it simply made a lot more sense and we enjoyed trying out such ideas.

Our perception of the game, and what was “right” for us changed. But through all of this we held true to a certain code of honour. We would always keep our word and stay true to anything we had agreed on. Others may disagree but for us this was how we now defined ourselves as “good guys” rather than the specific mechanics by which we played the game.

So, are we villains because we popped a few neutrals and threw our weight around? Or are we heroes for embracing the potential of what we could actually achieve in Eve?

Spying and Corp infiltration certainly bring the whole grey area of what is good and what is bad into focus. At first I loathed all spies, having seen how it contributed to the downfall of Faction War. But as I learned more, particularly when hearing stories about players engaged in long-term Corp and Alliance infiltration, I realised that this is actually a fascinating area of game play and one which is quite unique to Eve.

CCP clearly wants Eve to be a “grey area” game, with no straight forward right or wrong – simply the choices a player chooses to make on his journey through New Eden.

Mazzilliu of Pandemic Legion recently took part in an Interview (and thanks again to Laedy for highlighting this) in which she discusses griefing and meta-gaming types of activity. She really hit the nail on the head for me when she talked of how much richer our environment is because of this type of game-play. There is no other MMO where such activity is as much a part of the game as the actual in-game mechanics, and we all have a much more diverse and interesting game environment because of it.

So for me the true heroes of New Even are the boundary pushers, the people who think outside the box and the people who are not afraid to upset the applecart in order to pull off something daring, incredible or hilarious.

And the villains? Well they are the ignorant players who expect mechanics to change to shield them from the rest of the community. They are the carebears who don’t prepare for the inevitable. They are the idiots who expect reward with no risk. The villains are the people who fail to understand the sandbox and all that is really possible in Eve.

Historic moment for SoTF

2011-03-12T18:39:00.003Z

Today our very own station, Z'ha'dum, hatched from it's egg and for the first time in SoTF history we have sov on the map. Go team fac-war noobs! \o/

This has come about after a hell of a lot of work during the last few weeks. Finally our move is complete. Now on with the pewpew!

Apart from for me that is as I am feeling too rough to even log in and take screenies of my new home. Bleh :(

o7

Live Dev Blog: Fiction & Content (zomg FacWar)

2011-03-09T15:08:00.004Z

Casiella over at Ecliptic Rift has written up some notes on the Live Dev Blog: Fiction & Content. There are some interesting tid-bits on Tibus Heth and Faction War.

Might be of interest to some of my followers so I thought it worthy of a quick plug.

>>Clicky Here<<

Trawling through the CSM candidates

2011-03-07T14:11:00.009Z

CSM4 was the first year I voted. I gave my vote to someone spamming local with loads of false promises, then realised what a mistake this was when they got elected. Doh.

When CSM5 came up I took a bit more time to considering where I should put my vote, but it was pretty much a no-brainer that it would go to Mynxee, someone I admire and respect in the Eve community.

But for CSM6 there is no one who automatically stands out for me. So today I have had the mammoth task of considering all FIFTYSEVEN candidates.

I've been through the entire list from the Eve website and looked at all the campaign links that were available as well.

And now I have a headache.

I am quite surprised at the apparent lack of effort a lot of people have put into their campaign material and with such a long list to consider I soon found myself quickly disregarding anyone who just didn't feel up to scratch or turned me off for one reason or another.

My own top 10 candidate turn offs were:

- candidates who hate CCP and appear to want to take over the company

- candidates who hate a specific section of the Eve community and use it as a base for their campaign

- candidates who don't know what HTFU means

- candidates with no website/blog

- candidates with only a flamey forum thread as their website link

- candidates who have not discovered the spellchecker or had someone proof read their material before posting it up

- campaign websites with huge walls of texts or underlying images that make it hard to read

- candidates that dedicate long paragraphs talking about themselves but offer little on what they offer you

- candidates who write lots of text about, well, nothing. I need clear info not wishy-washy political spin

- candidates with questionable knowledge of game mechanics and fantastical promises for the future (despite having "done everything in game")

Fortunately they are not all painful on the eyes/intellect, indeed there are a lot of very interesting candidates with well thought out material also.

My own top three potential vote recipients are:

Arden Elenduil
I have a secret love of ninja types and it would be great to see someone from this style of game-play on the CSM. Adren brings up many issues I would love to see addressed but also proposes many changes that I disagree with entirely. Either way I liked his attitude and am tempted to give him my vote to get someone with a "ninja frame of mind" onto the CSM.

Trebor Daehdoow
Well presented info, solid background, proven experience and talks of many issues that I can realistically see him having an input in fixing.

Seleen
I like his blog, I like what he says, I believe what he says and I think he could do good work. He makes a lot of sense. I will probably vote for Seleen.

In addition, two others that stood out for me but didn't feel quite right for my vote, for one reason or another, were Helen Highwater and Meissa Anunthiel.

On a related note - I understand Vote Match should be up and running again soon for CSM6. Whilst I’d still encourage you to do further research on your preferred candidates it could certainly help you short list a few candidates.

o/

(p.s. - I think I saw 3 mentions of Factional Warfare out of all of the material I've read this morning. You all suck!)

A new home, Banter #25 and stepping down.

2011-03-02T20:22:00.006Z

A new home

Earlier this week SoTF joined R.A.G.E alliance and moved into its new home in Vale of the Silent. After 5 years of playing Eve I now find myself in sov-held 0.0 for the very first time.

First impressions are pretty good. I loathe change and have had to really pull my finger out of my backside to get to grips with all the new channels/vents/forums and everything else that comes with being part of such a big alliance and coalition. I’ve also always had a strong aversion to 0.0 and it never really held any appeal for me - so I’m surprised to say I am already starting to feel quite at home.

2 days ago I made my way out to join my corp-mates, using a jump bridge for the first time. Whoa, how neat are those! Since then I’ve been on my first CTA (no combat though) and have done a lot of nosing about whilst taking about a zillion screenshots.

I feel a little like I’ve started Eve all over again; So much to learn, see and do (and read, ugh) but the people I’ve encountered so far seem pleasant enough (more so than I expected) and I am glad to be sharing this experience with my fellow Shadows pilots, who appear to be settling in nicely.

It is early days of course, but it seems that there is much here for us to do, and much we can offer also. Time will tell.

Blog banter 25# - Sovereignty

Oh the Irony. I join the NC and a banter comes along bemoaning power blocs.

I really cannot contribute to this banter, having had no previous experience of sovereignty nor any understanding of how it all works (unless you want me to rant about FW Sov ofc!). But I wanted to plug the banter so here is CK’s submission which includes all of the other banter responses:

http://www.crazykinux.com/2011/02/eve-blog-banter-25-and-by-alliance-you.html

Standing down

Simply because I felt I wanted to record it on my blog somewhere - I have stepped down as a Director in SoTF.

This is purely a personal choice and for no in-game reason. I have much respect for the SoTF Dirs, who work bloody hard to keep everything running smoothly, often in ways unseen by everyone else, and am proud to have been a part of that team for the past 18months. I know Gall and the other Directors will be working very hard in the new trials that lay ahead and I wish them all the best. Love you guys! xx

o/

Moaning Murtles.

2011-02-28T12:53:00.003Z

Wow what a weekend. Largely it consisted of:

- Being moaned at about leaving Faction War.

- Being moaned at about where we are going next.

- Moaning at my CEO for various things regarding our move.

- Being moaned at by corp members about moving their stuff.

- Moaning at people in corp for their inability to read corp mails and forums posts.

- Moaning at other-half for his indecision on whether or not he is actually coming with us.

- Moaning about having nothing to shoot.

- Moaning about being moaned at for being told to stop shooting neutrals.

- Being moaned at by neutrals.

- Being moaned at for drunken local smack.

- Being moaned at on my blog lol

Add to all of this a big bunch of tetchy, tired, bored and stressed out corpies who've been frantically packing up and cynoing their crap from all over the place into position for our big move.

OH MY GOD I had no idea moving home would be so much fun!

Gallactica summed it all up perfectly last night, when (whilst sounding quite fed up at the end of what's been a very long weekend during his onehundredmillionth cyno jump) he said "We're really not cut out for this kind of thing are we". He's right, the monotony of moving systems was certainly bringing out the worst in us all, although I have to say I was impressed at how everyone did pull together and get on with it (whilst moaning of course).

I think even if we hate our new home, we're going to stay there out of spite, because no one wants to move all their crap back again in a hurry!

Evolution

2011-02-26T11:49:00.009Z

In the beginning 3 pvp noobs made a corp and joined the Gallente militia.

They had a lot of fun, flew with many different people, and even started recruiting new members. The corp was relaxed, laid back and full of drunk people. But they learned how to fly well and started making a name for themselves.

They set up their own forums, vent server and started FC'ing their own fleets. Over time they developed procedures and an official ROE to better establish themselves and direct their growing corp. They continued to take in new recruits, even merging a few smaller corps with their own.

As time went by they faced many adversaries and these came in various different guises. Some were within their own militia, some were Caldari targets, others were pirates or war-dec targets. As well as the daily battles there were also difficult decisions to make, "sides" to choose and constant consequences to consider. Friendlies came and went, allegiances and standings changed. This "politically free" environment was often much the opposite. But with each new challenge the corp continued to grow, evolve and learn.

The corp I am referring to is of course Shadows of The Federation.

As we approach our third birthday we've reached a point in Faction War where, quite frankly, we've totally out-grown it.

For every challenge presented we've changed our tactics and risen to face it and, without wishing to sound like an almightily cock waver, now we're now too good for our own good. The bulk of the Caldari militia cannot or will not fight our full strength fleets and there simply isn't enough pirate or war-dec activity to keep us busy.

This problem is not a new one, it's been coming up for many many months (years even) and we've had various discussion and ideas on how we should proceed, such as stopping new people joining, dumbing down our ships types or fleet sizes, changing our ROE to allow some GCC activity, staging out of different areas. But nothing really solved the problem. The problem is that we don't belong here anymore.

So where to next?

An opportunity has arisen. It is the right offer and it is the right time to try something new. So we are going for it.

SoTF has now left the Gallente Militia.

I still cannot quite believe that we're actually leaving, nor what we are about to do next. But I am happy in the knowledge that I'm doing it with a great bunch of people.

As for my blog, I have a few FW posts still to write, which I will carry on with and I am more than happy to plug any new FW bloggers getting started - just shout. But of course I hope to be sharing something of my new adventures soon also.

To the handful of corpies who are not coming with us, I wish you much pewpew and good times. There will always be a spot in SoTF for you if you change your minds.

To the Squids and pirates of Black Rise past and present, thank you for the pewpew o7

To our allies in the Gallente Militia, best wishes, and good luck. Who knows, we might be back with you in a month lol

As for what exactly we are up to next? Well it’s becoming the worlds worst kept secret but I will post more about this soon :)

Announcement posts:

ooc
http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1474165

ic
http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1473984

Wannabe Alliance v FW noobs

2011-02-24T21:09:00.007Z

So they said to us, Do you really want a 1000 man alliance camping you in station?

And we replied with...

Shadows Of The Federation Declares War Against Petition This
From: CONCORD
Sent: 2011.02.16 14:09

Which was followed by...

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=cc_detail&ctr_id=9629

And then...

League of Gentlemen surrenders to Shadows Of The Federation
From: CONCORD
Sent: 2011.02.24 02:14

B4D W0LF surrenders to Shadows Of The Federation
From: CONCORD
Sent: 2011.02.20 06:42

*yawn*

That is the third so called "Alliance" to fail cascade against our little Faction War corp. Not that I enjoy bragging rights (there are plenty of tears and empty threats I could post if I really wanted to) but we arrive ready for pvp whilst they give us the "big boy talk" and then bugger off.

It is depressing.

I always believe that lesson 1 for any new corp in Eve is – no matter what direction you plan to take, you should prepare in some way for the inevitable pvp combat that will come and find you at some point. Either get good at it, or find folks good at it to pall up with.

How the hell do people make it to "Alliance creation" without learning this?

When people joked about 0.0 being full of carebears I didn't realise they were actually being serious :s

Interesting article on racism in Eve-Online

2011-02-23T21:58:00.007Z

I came across this article on eve tribune (which I originally found through the repost on kuan yidas blog) about racism in Eve. Thought it was very well written and worth highlighting.

The article and some of the following comments got me thinking about my own behaviour online. Whilst I'm the most unprejudiced person you could expect to meet in the real world I do find myself using words in Eve that I would never dream of uttering in the real word. Somehow certain terms seem to become part of the fabric of the game and start to feel acceptable to use. Perhaps I should think more before I type?

I also realised that whilst I pretty much always petition racist chatter in public channels I have probably never petitioned anyone for a sexist, anti-religious or homophobic remark. In fact “gay” or “ghey” is a word I use quite often, even though I am aware this is sometimes being said in front of gay players. Crikey am I an evil closet homophobe?

But on the other foot, I myself am often the butt-end of sexist jokes or references. Usually it is from my corp mates and none of it ever bothers me in the slightest because it is said in jest and if anything I encourage it. That said I guess there would be a difference between a friend calling me a whore and some random in local spouting off abuse in a personal attack. But if that did ever happen I would probably print screen and repost it in various forums for the world to see what a twit that person was.

Part of me does find it hard to see how anyone could feel truly offended by a bit of typing by some ignorant unknown entity on a computer game. Perhaps some people just need to grow thicker skins?

Certainly a thought provoking subject!

Recent scraps and a couple of sigs

2011-02-22T10:24:00.008Z

Most of SoTF are currently enjoying a little 0.0 campaign at the moment but for various reasons I haven't yet made it out to join them. On Sunday I found myself station spinning in Nisuwa and ended up fleeting with a small group of friendlies for a bit of camping in Tama.

The Gila was quite fun, we'd chased him around on and off for about 30mins before finally snagging him when he made the mistake of returning to a previously used off-gate safe. But he took it with good humour.

We also had an interesting 5 mins in Norvukaiken (Caldari High-sec) when we hopped in to try and pop a Tengu. Just as we jumped his mates all landed on the gate. Not good! There was a bit of panic but in the end we all made it back into Tama with no losses. To put the cherry on the cake the Caldari fleet then followed us into low-sec and we managed to pop a few of their ships before they turned back to Norv.

A little later, as our fleet was drifting home to Nis, one of our guys got caught by some targets in Kedama. Most of our fleet had logged by now or seemed to be AFK and as such we were a little messy in getting ourselves together - but we did, and ended up having a fun little scrap in Nisuwa.

It's a shame battle reports don't really convay the whole story of a fight because that does look one sided however I think it nearly went horribly wrong for us. I was very impressed with how the targets had flown and also that they had quite willingly engaged us in Nisuwa. Then I realised they were Amarr not Caldari. Well that would explain it!

--------------------------------

Earlier in the week I had a little "marital roam" with the other half (we SOOOOO nearly had that flippin Cerb) but that's about as much pvp as i've managed recently. That said it's been a busy few days just not in the pewpew sense. For example I spent 2 whole nights just sorting out overdue corp medals. That will teach me for not keeping more up-to-date with them :s

I've also spent a bit of time making sigs for corpies:

Other than this it's been a week of forum posting. On what? Well perhaps I can share with you soon...

The bitter sweet road to Incarna

2011-02-19T13:32:00.008Z

The recent dev blog, Captains quarters and the road to Incarna, has certainly got everyone pondering the Incarna topic. Some are excited, many seem wary. I confess I am one of the latter.

When the talk of walking in stations first started I was very excited at the prospect and possibilities. But now I find these feelings are waning and instead I worry about where this is all going to go.

I was one of the people who longed for greater attachment to my avatar and it was certainly something I missed when I first came to Eve. But now that I have been here for a few years I realise that it is not necessary and I would much rather see current content given the love it deserves. I find myself wondering, will Incarna actually add to the game or take something away?

As a corpy of mine recently said on our forums, we want people flying in space for pewpew, not running around a station. Which I certainly agree with. Yes, I would love to embrace "Eve like" spaces with my avatar and discover a whole new level of the game. But not at the expense of the rest of it.

Another friend recently described her disappointment with CCP. She talked of how the dream of what Eve was going to be had changed over the years, how the company had grown and in doing so had diluted its original creativity and how nothing is ever finished properly before the next item of broken content is added. This was a private conversation so I hope she doesn't mind me quoting this sentance, which really struck a cord with me:

CCP used to be creative artists and EVE was their (love) child. Now they are businessmen and EVE is simply their product.

CCP want to create the first complete sci-fi mmo experience. But will this be to the detriment of the Eve that we currently know and love? Yup we’ve just heard of Team BFF’s efforts to tidy up lots of niggles and annoyances. This is great of course and no doubt to the credit of CSM5’s efforts. But why are the players having to nag CCP to death before they fix and tidy up their game? Surely this is wrong?

The recent character creator revamp really drummed home to me CCP’s sloppy attitude to its new content. Why did it take 2/3 fixes for us to get such simple user interface options as a back button and an “are you sure” box?

Eve to me was always "above" other online games. It stood out because it didn’t comply with the normal rules or pander to the masses. It was dark, evil, complex and endless. It was a niche game, not a mass market cash cow. Eve WILL be a success in the future, it would be naive to think otherwise. But unless CCP can find a way back to it’s original values I fear the player base is going to undergo some serious displacement in the years to come.

Of course, I sincerely hope that CCP pull off Incarna and I hope it is bloody amazing when it gets here. But I hope they listen to their current players and don't forget about the rest of their game.

Be all that you can be Aura once said to me. Well I am trying Aura, if only CCP would let me.

Some other reactions to this dev blog that I enjoyed reading:
http://scramweb.blogspot.com
http://teadaze.net/GalNet/?p=349
http://seleene4csm.blogspot.com/2011/02/incarna-will-history-repeat-itself.html
http://www.sobaseki.com/wordpress/2011/02/19/sims-in-space/

o/

The Love Roll

2011-02-14T08:59:00.004Z

Happy Valentines Day!

There are several theories on who the original "Valentine" was but which ever story you subscribe to they all tend to end in death/execution/martyrdom, which all sounds very Eve-like to me. So how about a little Eve themed love "meme" to celebrate the day?

The Love-Roll is your personal list of individuals, corps, alliances or other groups of capsuleers who have had the greatest effect or influence on your time in Eve online. They are the people who challenged you the most, caused you to change your direction or simply made it all worth while.

Here be mine:

The Staunch
Actually I hate these guys. They war-deced my pve corp and blew the hell out of us in an epic tale of carebear tears and failfit explosions. It was messy but also the most important thing that happened to me during my pve days. Although I didn't know it at the time their war dec signalled the start of my journey towards full time pvp.

Mynxee & Laedy
I've not flown with either of these two nor spent any time with them in-game but discovering their blogs has been quite inspiring. I don’t want to get too hung up on the "girl gamer" thing but prior to my interest in Eve blogs I didn't really know much about the other females who pvp'd in Eve. Through the blogosphere I got to read about Mynxee the Hellcat CEO and then of her time in the CSM. Later I discovered Laedy, the roaming pirate nomad. I don't believe ones gender matters at all in Eve but I confess I have found it inspiring to read the adventures of these two women in what is largely a male dominated environment.

Mentally Unstable Enterprises, Wrath of Fenris, Euphoria Released
Whether through my association with SoTF or from the early days of Gallente Militia I've had the opportunity to fly alongside countless different corporations. Too many names and individuals to list but Mentl, E-R and Wolfy stand out for me as being the corporations I've learned the most from.

Annie Anomie
When I first made the decision to train for interceptors I started a conversation with Annie, a pilot I had come across through the Gallente militia, and picked his brains on how I should go about getting started as a fleet tackler. I don't know if he remembers the brief chat we had but Annie's blunt, no-nonsense advice put me on the right track. It was quite some time before I lost my first Ares, despite flying it almost exclusively for many months and still being quite a new pvper.. I feel quite privileged to now share the same corp ticker as Annie and he continues to be a font of, brutally honest, opinion and advice.

Gallactica
Gall is largely responsible for the merger of my old corp into SoTF. This in itself was a game changing experience for me however Galls place on this list is cemented for more personable reasons. He is a first class CEO, stands by his corp members and is certainly the glue that keeps us all together. He has great talent for diffusing difficult situations and whenever any sh!t hits the fan he is the person who does the cleaning up. This is something I had personal experience of when I accidently pointed a pirate who had positive standings with us (and who then lost their ship) due to an overview cock-up - which happened not long after I had joined SoTF. But aside from all of that Gall is one my favourite people to spend time with online and I am chuffed to have found someone in the world who drinks more red wine than I do, comes out with more filth that I do and sings worse than me also.

SoTF
My current corp and the place where I finally shook off my carebear roots (well most of them). I have learned a huge amount, met some interesting people and had bucket load of good times with this corp. Watching the corporation evolve and grow and being a part of this process as a Director has also been quite an educational experience.

Rashmika Clavain
Finally, my other half Rash. I am certain that my time in Eve has helped him to master the exasperated frown that he performs so well. In return I've had a real-life comrade whose in-depth understanding of the game has been invaluable to me from the start. I would have you know that I've never had a charity isk nor a free ship off him, but his advice and assistance as a fleet-mate has been an integral part of my journey through New Eden. We have our ups and downs and don't always see eye to eye but together have shared many years of adventure in New Eden. Missions, war, exploration, faction war, corp dramas and so much more. From Mirelene to Nisuwa, Rashmika has been my constant companion and no doubt will remain so for many adventures still to come.

So thank you Love-rollers. Here's a big virtual smoocheh from me o7

So, who's in your Love-Roll?

Why I hate my corp

2011-02-12T11:49:00.004Z

First time in months the powers of babysitter, cash flow and company align in perfect harmony and I actually get to go out for a night down the pub.

>>And my mean corpies go and spend the night doing this<<

GJ guys. Sucks to be me!

Calling all Faction War noobies

2011-02-10T12:05:00.003Z

Quick request.

I am doing some research related to Faction War and would like to get in touch with anyone who has tried it for first time during the last 12 months. Whether you stayed or not is not so important. It basically involves taking part in a short survey.

If you are interested in helping just drop me an Eve-mail or leave a comment here with your IG name.

o/

Operation: Grow Some Balls

2011-02-09T22:09:00.006Z

I hate soloing. Partially because I very much enjoy the team work and banter of flying in gangs but mostly because I don't have the balls to go out on my own. Previous attempts have led to shaky hands, heart palpitations and physical paralysis. In short, I am a bit of a sissy.

But I'd like to be comfortable in doing it and after 2+ years flying around low-sec it’s probably time I got started. So I've decided to start "Operation: Grow Some Balls", a new project for my blog in which I will keep a record of my attempts at this solo stuff.

I should warn you now that as I bare my soul there will be plenty of fails, tears and words of self-loathing (and words of wisdom are ofc welcome). But by the end of it I shall emerge as a deadly, confident solo pilot terrorising all of Black Rise.

Failing that I will at least get my kill stats looking a bit more ballsy and less blobby.

Fight 1: Vexor v Sabre

On Thursday I got the rare chance to do some Eve playing during the afternoon. I'd been jumping around Black Rise for about 15 minutes in a heavily armour tanked Vexor when I reached Heydieles. There were the usual resident friendlies in local along with a couple of war-targets and flying around my in-gate was a Caldari militia Sabre flown by Madbuster73.

I sat there for a few seconds, under my jump cloak, thinking OK IDK wtf that is tbh and wondering whether or not I should give this a go. We don't see that many Interdictors in my neck of the woods and I didn't really have a clue on what it was likely to do but from what I could see it was smaller than me and I guessed I might have a job hitting it.

I broke my cloak and ambled slowly back to the gate whilst wondering a) if I should go for it and b) whether or not Madbuster would be up for it. As it turns out he starts orbiting me... then comes the yellow box... red box! PHEW I could safely jump and go home now!

But…must…grow…balls… ah frack it, why not.

The Sabre was, not surprisingly, faster than my Vexor and easily able to dictate the range of the fight. Luckily I wasn’t having too many issues with the distance as I had artillery fit instead of blasters (and God I'm so glad I didn’t go out with blasters, ty Rashmika for suggesting the swap) but Madbuster was still proving hard to hit and I was not able to close enough distance to use my webber.

I pulled out a flight of Warrior IIs and sent them to attack... a few seconds later I realise they are all gone. Pants. We are a short way off the gate by now and I wonder if he’s got a small smartbomb on the go.

Even so I have managed to make a nice dent in the Sabre's shield and it continues to slowly drop. I am now out of Warriors (doh) so I sent off a flight of Hammerheads instead but end up having to fluff about recalling and resending as they also start to take damage.

Once the Sabre reached 95% shields I decided I'd better point him up, you know, just in case he now tries to escape as I might actually break his tank soon! But no big hit on his armour ever materialises. Bleh. It crosses my mind that perhaps I am just not doing very well and he is actually armour tanked after all.

By now my own armour is over half way down and I have 4 injured Hammerhead II's left on the field which would probably contribute more if they sat on the side-lines waving supportive banners. My guns are also about to reload, so I decide this would be a good point to write this one off and GTFO.

I was pointed so de-agressed and burned to the gate before setting a 1000m orbit. I crossed my fingers and hoped that I’d left enough buffer in place to keep me alive before the aggression timer ran down and I could jump. It was getting veeery close. I could almost hear Madbuster willing me to explode... but I made it out, firing off a quick "gf" as I jumped.

I limped home, luckily not running into anyone else, and contemplated my first lesson in growing balls.

Result: DRAW

Notes to self for next time:

- Sabres are indeed hard to hit when you are flying a fat lump of rolled tungsten. Ugh.

- Examining the combat log afterwards I noticed that one of the Warriors in my drone bay was actually t1. I'm so ashamed. I hope no one noticed...

- ffs I forgot to overheat >_<

On a plus I appear to have conquered my shaky hand syndrome. Get in!

The past, the present and a challenge for the future.

2011-02-06T22:17:00.005Z

The Past

Before I even started playing Eve I’d begun to garner some respect for the weird spaceship game that my other half kept raving about. Then I tried it, and dam I tried hard, but ended up quitting several times.

And yet, as I returned to the pretty lights of WoW and LOTRO, I still knew in my heart that Eve was probably the best MMO I had ever come across.

When I finally discovered pvp in New Eden I fell in love with Eve Online completely. This was the most grown up, interesting and intricate game I had ever played. I got to know Eve on a whole new level. I was even inspired to try my hand at writing a blog.

The Present

Then I grew up a bit.

The shiny wrapper started to wear off and I noticed new things about Eve and CCP. Not good things. Cracks, flaws, annoyances, empty promises, even lies. Things that never bugged me in the past were now pushed to the forefront of my attention. I started to get fed up with CCP.

I still loved playing Eve you understand, but the environment in a wider sense stopped enchanting me in the way it once did, in fact it started getting on my nerves somewhat. The result of this was that every time I sat down to write a blog post a whole bunch of angry diatribe would come out.

I hate reading rants, unless they are funny rants. But my rants were not funny and I did not want to litter the blogosphere with this banal crap. This, combined with an ever more demanding real-life, left me wondering, was it time to put down the proverbial pen and paper?

I've been soul searching on this subject for a while.

A Challenge

So today I am minding my own business checking some emails when I notice a new blog comment...

Welcome to the EVE Blog Pack. If you could write a little something about it, I'd appreciate! Cheers!

HOLY PANTS BATMAN I'M IN THE BLOG PACK! *cue heavenly music*

The blog pack, as you probably know, represents some of the finest and most active Eve bloggers out there. The hand-picked "short list" of 40-ish blogs is managed by blogging extraordinaire CrazyKinux and is filled with capsuleers writing entertaining and informative posts on all aspects of Eve. Pirates, ninjas, wormholers, scary hardcore 0.0 folks, industrialists... guides, stories, in-character tales, politics and opinions. It’s all in the blogpack.

...and now there is a little ole Faction War nublet on the list too.

The Future

Crikey CK you sure know how to pick your moments. What do I do now?

I returned my thoughts to the past, and why I decided to start blogging in the first place. I read through my early posts from last year and these two sentences stuck out and hit me in the face, like a big hitty sticky thing:

…here I am practicing some self-discipline…

and

…I finally began to feel I had something to give back to the community…

I wanted to be accountable to something. I wanted a personal exercise in sticking with something that I had started because I am terrible for giving up on things real life. If I stop now I’ll have failed again. My blog is not even 1 year old yet.

But I also wanted to help and entertain others along the way. And I still want to do this now.

So. I’ve made my mind up. And here is my promise to anyone reading this. I promise to HTFU, get on with it and stop being an emo. I shall continue to do what I’ve been doing here, and any whiney posts that need to come out I shall try and construct in a helpful and entertaining manner... or failing that I’ll put some rude pictures in the middle of it all.

Thanks very much to CK for putting me on the list. I hope I can entertain some new readers and fly the flag for FW noobs everywhere.

And many thank you's to whomever it was that requested my addition. I think Lexx and Laedy might have put a word in for me, so thanks a bunch you two now I can’t bloody quit! xx

o/

Faction War Interview: chatgris

2011-02-02T22:39:00.008Z

chatgris is CEO of QCATS, the current all-time top killers in Gallente militia. As if that wasn't enough he is also ranked higher than me on "babes of new eden". Pish!

I am pleased to present my first interview of 2011, and thanks very much to chatgris for agreeing to take part.

Name: chatgris

Corp & Role: Quantum Cats Syndicate, CEO

Militia: Gallente

Most likely to be seen: Roaming the caldari/gallente warzone wherever intel has reported wt's

How did you get started in FW and what did you do in New Eden before this?

The person who invited me to play eve was a miner, and I spent the first 7 months of my time in eve mostly running missions. Pvp had always interested me, but I had done my research and determined that against a competent opponent in a 1v1 I would need my support skills (things like overheating, max capacitor skills, good nav skills etc), and as such put off pvp until I had at least 6 months of support skills trained (and this was only to be able to fly a t2 fit rifter).

I always had a revulsion against 0.0 and its politics, so FW seemed like a natural choice for me.

I looked on the killboards to find a corp that looked reasonably active, and started my FW career in Pillowsoft.

What are your preferred ships/fleet types?

Nano bc's with at least a 60km engagement envelope. I prefer fleets where most people are solo, all out trawling the warzone for targets and organically converging when we find an enemy fleet. However, my tastes change rapidly as I am now fully specced for perception and willpower (having maxed out all my support skills) and am able to fly a wider variety of ships.

Your corp, Quantum Cats Syndicate, is one of the oldest active Gallente Militia corps. Can you tell us about the corp and what you currently get up to?

QCATS aims to provide a relaxed and drama free pvp environment, where we don't take any ISK from you or demand that you ever join us in any kind of operation. If anyone has ideas for corp programs/activities (successful examples are corp ship programs, corp tournaments etc), I encourage them to lead the efforts themselves. Most of my directors started by running a successful corp activity.

The only rule with these corp programs is that they must not infringe in any manner upon those who do not wish to participate (no corp taxes etc).

As far as what we get up to... we seek out pvp wherever it may be, and go there. Every now and then I just go in a random direction and keep flying, and then end up with a great fight on my hands causing people to travel 17 jumps (they complain but they're such killmail whores they can't stay home) to come join in.

QCATS has had it's fair share of personal dramas to deal with. The MDP, The formation of SLAPD, various changes in leadership and no doubt other issues I am not aware of. How has the corp changed and evolved over the last few years??

The core values of QCATS, its leadership (I have always been a director from early in QCATS FW history) has remained fairly constant, with the following exceptions: Our recruiting stagnated (and is now far less spy-paranoid) during our time in the MDP, and our ROE has changed from NRDS to almost pure NBSI (no shooting t1 industrials or miners - and for the record I'd be very happy with full NBSI but I follow my corps wishes).

Both of these major changes were heavily influenced by the formation of SLAPD with some of our best pilots. SLAPD basically took all our rules and threw them out the window. It showed me how some of those rules were more trouble than they were worth, and just how precious some of our other rules were (such as our no smacktalk rule).

In the EU time zone we have seen various lulls in war-target activity over the years. At one point early last year my own corp even questioned staying in the militia because things had become so quiet. How have things fared in the US time zone and how has your corp coped with long periods of low war-target activity?

Caldari activity in the US TZ has been spotty at best ever since Gavin left the militia. Some weeks are great, most weeks are slow and the second any kind of activity is reported a mass exodus out of the heyd station occurs. We have coped with the lulls in caldari militia activity in the following ways:

- Playing league of legends. One of my favourite past times, partly because I get to play this game with caldari militia members (who we let on our vent server. The way I see it, it's foolish to think we don't already have spies in there, so why cut yourself off from interesting people?)

- Amarr/minmatar FW. We have been close to changing to the amarr/minmatar side (and have spent time roaming in their space when it's slow in the caldari warzone), and in fact as I type this I have an alt as CEO of QCATS while my main is in the TLF trying out their missions (they are so easy I can run them in pvp ships! love it) and getting a feel for their warzone.

- Becoming NBSI. If I could graph member security status loss against caldari activity, you would see a strong inverse relationship.

You have been present through many "phases" in the Caldari militia and seen many FC's and corps come and go. What is your opinion of your war-targets? Who brings (or brought) the best fights? Do you think the Caldari will ever regain the upper hand in Black Rise?

The bulk of the caldari militia in the US TZ perplex me. When they organize an operation, they can get large fleets out that heavily outnumber ours (and I make a point of going against them regardless of our numbers whenever they leave high sec, even as some of my fellow pilots accuse me of suicide). However, they seem to spend a lot of their time disinterested in combat - and I have no idea what they do in the meantime.

Having said that, there are caldari corporations not much unlike QCATS - they live in lowsec, they regularly roam (albeit in small gangs that are often outnumbered). The4, wolfsbrigade are two such corporations that spring to mind, but I am sure there are others.

"Ever" is a long time - so I think they will. I sincerely hope they do so while the group of pilots I fly with are still active. I sincerely miss the days before Gavin left when we were heavily outnumbered in lowsec in all timezones, and whenever I undocked I could be sure to find large groups of targets that I could skirmish against. From experience - it is far, far more fun to be on the side that is outnumbered.

What are your favourite things about Faction War? What is it that keeps you here?

An environment to pvp, where the consequences don't matter. Once the consequences for pvp matter (losing access to a station or your assets, POS's etc), the game turns into a job. I allow my corporation members to put up POS's, but I state very clearly that I will never wake up to an alarm clock to defend them (and that no-one in corp should ever feel obligated to do so), a threat I have followed through with on a few occasions.

Apart from that - friendship with a lot of my "enemies" keeps me interested in staying in factional warfare. In 0.0, warfare denies your opponent something they have put time and effort into, in FW people are generally just here to pew pew. It has never been my intention to cause anyone grief while playing, and I am guilty of often covering the ship losses of opponents who obviously just jumped into lowsec and have no idea what they are doing, let alone how to fit a ship. The only other place with such concensual pvp that might interest me is RvB.

I am currently writing an article on how the experience for new pvpers, joining FW for the first time, has changed dramatically since FW was introduced. What advice would you personally give to a new pvp'er joining the Gallente Militia for the first time?

Look at the killboards (http://www.gallente.eve-kill.net/?a=alliance_detail&all_id=1330&view=corp_kills) to see the most active corporations in a month. Look at the kills, and see what timezone those corporations are in. Narrow it down to a list, and contact those corporations to learn more. Don't necessarily go with the top killers, try to find out what the corporation is like and don't be afraid to ask questions. Even if you like solo pvp, it's fun to have people to talk to while you do it.

What changes would you like to see with FW mechanics? If you could have CCP fix one thing in particular what would it be?

I love the concept of plexes, and it saddens me greatly that CCP has completely fubar'd the implementation. I cannot give one particular change, but rather I would like plexing to be fixed to facilitate more pvp. My view on that, in no particular order is:

- Remove fw missions or make them count as a plex in terms of occupancy (I'd prefer they were removed).
- Give rewards for plexing
- Balance or just outright remove NPC's from plexes to encourage more pvp
- Fix the bugs that result in plexes being stuck until the next downtime
- Pirate faction ships should be bumped up a category (drams only allowed in cruiser and up plexes etc).

What does the future hold for you?

I'll admit that I am currently restless with eve. A friend of mine from the caldari militia recently quit eve, saying that he'd waited for 2 years for CCP to fix FW, and he's had enough, and I am close to sharing his sentiment. However, on the same note I've seen a few people quit for similar reasons, and then come back after a very short hiatus.

I've tried plexing, but orbiting a button while jammed for 15 minutes didn't hold much interest for me. Thanks to FW missions, I have more ISK than I know what to do with. If it weren't for the FW standing issue when remote repairing, I might try full -10 piracy.

Having said all that - I really like most of the people I share comms with in eve, and will probably stay with them. I expect to be in factional warfare until the end of my eve career, or until a new sci fi game comes out with less balance issues and bugs than eve.

A favourite memory from your time in the militia?

Placing the decision for an on the fly ROE change in the hands of a fellow corporation member and taking down a freighter in lowsec, and the hilarious (and well deserved) ribbing I received from the SLAPD directors who had split away from QCATS largely over the ROE in the first place.

>>Click here for the full list of interviews<<

zooms by

2011-01-27T13:12:00.003Z

Been a busy bee planet side so not much to report at the moment. Just wanted to say that the Christmas Raffle oog-prizes should be posted out this week, possibly next.

I've been working very hard irl so Eelis is docked up with a bottle of vodka and a barman/maid or 2 in Nis station for now. She does have a shiny new forum signature now though hehe:

You like? Humourless but I've been back through the char creator taking various screenies. It was nice to sit down for half an hour and play about with the shots and that evolved into making a new sig.

Anyhoo. Fly safe. I shall bbs o/

New Character Creation - Reaction & Results

2011-01-19T12:19:00.008Z

Unless you’ve been living under a rock in Ironforge for the past few days you will be aware that Incursion 1.1.0 was released yesterday and the new character creation is the first thing you are going to be confronted with.

I found it easier to use than when I last tried on sisi but sadly there are still very limited options on clothing and hair styles and a complete lack of any tattoos, piercings or weird futuristic accessories. Of course, right now we just need the portrait and the rest of the body has little meaning. Fingers crossed that more options for personalising ourselves will become part of the game when Incarna lands.

I noticed that there are less interesting options for “posing” on the final screen in comparison to what I saw on sisi, and the interface is still a little bit frustrating in places. In particular the final screen, where you create your in-game portrait, needs a bit more instruction that what it currently has.

You are presented with 4 slots to fill with a “photo” but only the one you actually have high-lighted when you proceed past this final screen will be seen in game. There are sometimes odd graphical differences between how the picture looks when it is smaller and also the characters blink so you have to time your photo accordingly.

Be warned, there is no “are you sure” pop-up and once you have finished there is no going back. Many players are complaining that they are stuck with a portrait they didn't want.

Bearing these points in mind, the new portrait creator is a lot of fun to play around with and there are some fantastic results. I was also surprised at how “different” everyone looks in-game and I spent most of last night just looking at peoples new portraits on the forums and in my various chat channels.

Here is the new Eelis Kiy:

And the old one to compare with:

Not quite what I drafted on sisi but I am very happy with the results. What you cannot see from this picture are her child-bearing hips and rather bootytastic derriere. I wonder if we will get hawtpants with Incarna so I can relive my SWG glory days… hmm.

Also, here is my alt, who looks nothing like her original picture but now bears a rather striking resemblance to yours truly. Complete with freckles and the odd wrinkle *cry*

Finally. If anyone would like to know how to access a larger picture of their new portrait. Use the steps shown in the last part of this dev blog to obtain the url path and your character ID. Once you have your unique url path just change the number “256” to the number “512”.

Here like this one…

Small - https://image.eveonline.com/Character/868327720_256.jpg
Large - https://image.eveonline.com/Character/868327720_512.jpg

Doesn't seem to work for larger sizes though (i.e. 1024). If anyone knows how to get an even larger version let me know!

Eve Offline - part 2

2011-01-18T12:10:00.005Z

Things to do during patch-day downtime.

1. Give your PC some TLC

2. Upgrade your CPU

3. Get your Eve Fix with some player videos

4. Grab a copy of your "old" portrait for posterity/whining about later

5. Discover some new Eve-Blogs: >>CK's Blogroll<< >>Eve Bloggers latest additions<<

Or in my case, work on some questions for my next FW Interview :-)

o/

Oh what a night...

2011-01-15T11:37:00.005Z

Well, it started with a scrap against SoT in Kedama. We bailed and re-shipped, just as EAK turned up to have a bite at SoT. So back we went to join in! Then a cyno pops and IT drop a few supercaps. A rather funny and confusing cluster-frack all round. A shame battle reports can only cope with "2 sides" heh.

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=8535955

After this excitement we shipped down for a nice relaxing (drunk) roam around the pipes. A few catches here and there, including these guys: http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=8538074

Few things to note on that one.

1. We are at war with BYDI however they are now also shooting Gallente militia pilots (and will probably be out of the militia by the time this is posted)

2. No you have not stepped back in time, Wolfy are back!

3. Rooks & Kings also had a fleet out, gaah...

Next stop was Notoras where a fleet of "neutrals" (which appeared to mostly consist of BC and below hulls) were trying to take down a POS. Rooks & Kings T3 fleet beat us in. We decided to go for it anyway and see what we could pick off. In the end we had quite a turkey shoot, chasing down the neutral gang's support ships as they scattered to beacons and celestials all over Notoras. People were calling points from all over the system, I think these folks might want a few safespots before they come back o_0

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=8539262

So by now it’s gone midnight, it's been a crazy night already and now most of the fleet activity is just drunk chatter on vent. But we still had one more scrap to go before bedtime...

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=8539801

Not our best fight by any means. But even so, the Archon just put the cherry on a rather insane evening.

In other news
I seem to have misplaced some of my sec status and a bottle of Shiraz. If found please return to Bunk 69, State Protectorate Logistic Support Station, Nisuwa, Blackrise :(

Blog Banter 24: Behind the keyboard

2011-01-14T15:43:00.007Z

Welcome to the twenty-fourth instalment of the EVE Blog Banter, 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 or so 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 to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month's Banter topic comes to us from the ever helpful Eelis Kiy, capsuleer behind the "Where the frack is my ship" blog. She asks: How does your real life personality compare to who you are as a character in EVE? Does a good leader of people in the real world make a good leader of pilots in game? Or vice-versa? Do your real-life skills help you with the roles you fulfil in your corporation or alliance? Or do you behave completely differently? Does the anonymity of the Internet allow you to thrive on the tears of others in New Eden whilst you work as a good Samaritan away from your keyboard? Or are you as mean outside of your pod as you are inside it? Have experiences in EVE Online affected your behaviour, skills or attitudes outside of the game?

--------------------------------------------------------------

I was fascinated by the idea of a real life Good Samaritan playing Eve as a complete b@stard when I came up with the idea for a banter question. I am looking forward to reading the other responses to see if there are any such players out there!

I'll break a few of the points down and share my own thoughts:

How does your real life personality compare to who you are as a character in EVE?

For me personally, in-game Eelis is much the same as oog Karen. I do take on a “role” of sorts but it isn’t one that is that far removed from the person behind the keyboard.

I guess it is only natural to loosen a few boundaries when you are shrouded by the, mostly, consequence-free anonymity of the internet. Put that with a game like Eve and it is easy to see how some folks turn to the darker arts of scamming, misleading or blowing up hapless noobs and how others lose their temper and start raging against their antagonists.

But for me personally it is mostly a case of what you see is what you get and as for roleplaying or taking on an entirely new persona, I just don’t get it!

I am happy to respect a bit of role-play style chatter now and then, if I am with someone who is that way inclined, but I’ve never been able to embrace it completely and turn myself into someone else. Similarly, in Eve I have never been able to scam anyone. I sat there one afternoon, in Jita, with my carbon contract all ready to go but my conscience just wouldn’t let me do it. No matter how many times I listened to HTFU on youtube. Am I just failing at computer games or is my moral compass simply too strong?

Does a good leader of people in the real world make a good leader of pilots in game? Do your real-life skills help you with the roles you fulfil in your corporation or alliance?

As I’ve gotten to know certain people in Eve a little better it becomes (not surprisingly) easy to see a strong connection between their apparent “real personality” and how well (or badly) they deal with certain situations or perform certain tasks within the game. My own CEO for example is someone who could walk into a room full of strangers and soon be in a room full of (probably drunk) friends. He’s good with people, pretty patient and also quite the wordsmith which makes him ideally suited to a life of never ending diplomatic incidents of one kind or another. But could someone without these natural talents reinvent themselves online and take on such a role successfully?

For me personally, my previous years of work in legal offices and dealing with office politics and processes have probably helped me quite a lot with my roles as a Director here in Eve although my time in other guilds/corps from previous mmos has no doubt come into play as well.

Have experiences in EVE Online affected your behaviour, skills or attitudes outside of the game?

This was a startling point for me to ponder.

Many moons ago I used Photoshop skills and web design/creation in my job. But when I left that job I had no real reason to carry on using these skills. However, having Eve Online as a muse has helped me to keep my knowledge of these things going. In addition, my experiences with blogging about Eve and reading other Eve blogs has been quite educational and taught me not just new things about Eve but also a lot about blogs and social media.

It wasn’t my intention to do anything meaningful with all the knowledge I accidently accumulated whilst making stupid pictures or writing about how I totally got drunk and died last night but meaningful results have inadvertantly come from it. In the last 3 months my job role has changed dramatically and now encompasses a lot of Photoshop work, web design and social media. So, cheers for that Eve Online!

As for attitudes, certainly my attitude to pvping in mmos has completely changed since I gave it a go in Eve. No more “mrs pve server” for me. I almost have the urge to resub to WoW and go around ganking people. Hmm, perhaps Eve made me a little bit evil after all.

Looking forward to reading other peoples responses to this, and thanks CK for running with my question.

Fellow banter responses:

1. EVE Blog Banter #24: Be, all that you can be, and so much more!
2. BB24:RL + EVE = | A Mule In EvE
3. Freebooted: BB 24: You Talking to Me?
4. where the frack is my ship?: Blog Banter 24: Behind the keyboard
5. (OOC) CK’s Blog Banter #24: I Am Prano. « Prano's Journey
6. mikeazariah » Blog Archive » BB24 Who are you, who hoo woo hoo
7. Drifting: The 24th EVE Blog Banter (January 2011 Edition) - EVE and Real Life
8. Victoria Aut Mors » Blog Archive » Blog Banter #24 – Where Eve Meets Real Life
9. Who is more real?? « The Durzo Chronicles
10. Captain Serenity: blog banter #24 - Personalities
11. Confessions of a Closet Carebear: EVE and Real Life (EVE Blog Banter #24)
12. The 24th EVE Blog Banter - EVE and Real Life - The Phoenix Diaries
13. EvE Blog Banter #24: EVE and Real Life EvE Blasphemy
14. Blog Banter 24: In Real Life « Yarrbear Tales
15. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Alt « the hydrostatic capsule
16. Blog Banter #24 – Me « Roc's Ramblings
17. Blog Banter: Personalities in game and out of game
18. Fiddler's Edge: Game Face - Eve Blog Banter #24
19. Progression's Horizon: Blog Banter 24- Synonymous or Anonymous?
20. More to come....

Punch-ups and other bits

2011-01-11T12:26:00.007Z

I do love a good punch up. Not a turkey shoot. Not a blob catch. But a nice big meaty, head to head slugging match.

I don’t see it as often as I would like, but when it does come around it makes you go "woah" and "ouch" and "gf" at the same time. Saturday night I had the pleasure of 2 such engagements.

http://www.gallente.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=8485084

That's got to be the best fight I've personally seen with the Caldari for many many months, and it was bloody good fun to boot. I have to give big props to our own logistics too, having been primaried about 5 times and then promptly rescued back up to full armour. Although, as was pointed out to me afterwards, the Caldari fleet were likely using me to soak up reps before switching to other targets. Even so, I sat there astounded at totally not being dead yet.

As the fight ended we were all chased off the field by Rooks & Kings. Always a bigger fish eh? Could have been an interesting three way if they had shown up a few minutes earlier. We ran home to lick our wounds and then talk of reforming to take on the Rooks & Kings gang started.

Our hesitation was for good reason, R&K have quite a reputation. But we went for it anyway.

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=8489482

A pretty intense engagement and I enjoyed it, in spite of the outcome. In the end we had no choice other than to bail.

I was the last non-logi on our side, still on the field, being valiantly held up by remote reps. I just needed to make it another 500m to the gate and I was out... but R&K very quickly bumped me 13k off… so I let the logis go home and took screenshots whilst kissing my arse goodbye.

We had some interesting feedback from R&K after that fight and I’d love to be up against them again sometime soon. They are quite a challenge.

Probalicious
In other news, my first attempt at getting back into probing actually paid off.

I had a spare hour to kill on Sunday so I grabbed my Helios and had a look to see if there was anything interesting in Nisuwa. Nis is usually a waste of time as other people quickly find anything of interest. So it was a nice surprise when I found an untouched Mag site, with over 40mil worth of salvage in it! If only all my probing sessions were that fruitful.

Blog Banter 24 incoming.
We’ve just had news of the new banter question for this month, it should be an interesting one, though I am biased on this as it is my question :P

If there are any bloggers reading this who have not taken part in a blog banter before, you don’t need to be in the blog pack to take part or get on the mailing list (for an early heads up on the banter question) – just drop Crazykinux a message and ask to go on the list.

o/

New Year’s (totally unofficial) Resolutions

2011-01-04T17:48:00.009Z

As a child I always loved that first day back to school after the holidays. School uniforms all spotlessly clean, comprehensive matching sets of stationary all neatly packed into brand new pencil-cases (not yet blighted by the need to tip-ex out the etched on names of ex-love interests), shoes so shiny we could see our faces in them and, best of all, turning to the first page of your new work books, into which you pen your most neatest ever date and heading. Of course, none of this lasts past the first week and we soon drift towards our usual vices and bad habits, at least I certainly did anyway.

Old habits die hard and as such I have never been very successful when attempting to keep New Year’s Resolutions. When I made the decision to quit smoking 2 years ago I deliberately started on December 27th.

That said, I do often have a few things in mind for the year ahead and there are certainly a few Eve related goals that I hope to achieve in the next 12 months.

My total kill tally for 2010 was 502, so an improvement on that for 2011 would be my first goal.

Secondly, I am desperate to spend a bit more time flying in smaller pvp gangs, but this goes hand in hand with two things I am not particularly keen on. One is FCing my own fleets and the other Plexing. Perhaps a bit of Dutch courage will help…

Finally, and don’t frowny emoticon me for saying so but, I’d actually like to get back into some pve. YES PVE! Part of me misses the challenge of soloing the odd level 4 mission, something I have not done for probably over a year now. In addition, watching my other-half run some hacking sites over the holiday period made me remember how much fun I used to have probing out and running the odd site. It’s been many months since I did anything like that. So perhaps goal three is to take some time away from pewpew now and then to reconnect with my inner carebear.

Of course, all of this can only happen if I actually log in, and therin lies a problem. This year looks to be the busiest work related year I will have had since I gave up full time work to have my daughter, over 4 years ago. I am looking forward to it, but certainly wondering how this will affect my Eve time. Perhaps my overall New Years Resolution for Eve should be to actually make some time to play.

So, what about you?

Insert humorous and enticing post title here

2010-12-30T15:05:00.009Z

I hope you are enjoying the festive period, I certainly am. But I needed a break from eating my body weight in roast potatoes, playing Fallout New Vegas (thank you Santa!!) and trying to explain to my toddler what "lie-in" means, so thought I would stop by and make one last post before the end of the year.

J!nx T-Shirt Competition
I’m a little bit loath to promote this as out of the 7 or so designs I submitted they only allowed one to go through and it was probably the worst one of the lot! But, there are some fantastic designs up by other people so I’ll HTFU and get on with it. Click here to see the entries. You need to register to vote.

Another milestone for SOTF
Warning. I am going to indulge in a little corp chest beating...

It’s been quite a year for SOTF. We have grown considerably in numbers and dabbled with our first base in 0.0 during the past year. We have also killed just over 11000 ships and, in addition to our usual targets, pewpewd our way through 20 war decs. Earlier this month we also passed the 20k kill mark. Cool beans!

We have upped our game considerably during 2010 and our ability to do this comes down purely to the efforts that the individual corp members make to SOTF, both in and out of the game. I was thinking about all the individuals who do jobs of one sort or another or who contribute to the corp in some vital way and quite frankly there are an awful lot. Whether it's Gallactica's mind boggling powers of diplomacy, the FC's who lead us to our doom/victories, the people who step up to train and fly logistics, the individuals always willing to scout you up a pipe or help you fit a ship or the superb corp shopping service run by one of our members - everyone brings something that has helped the corp become what it is and will hopefully ensure that we continue to do well in the future.

As ships get shinier and more new members join the family then problems inevitably arise. But the essence of the corp remains. It’s still an excellent, laid back and fun place to hang out, filled with interesting people and pilots of all skill levels. And if you see us out in space, we are probably all still drunk too.

So here's a salute to my corp-mates, and to another 12 months of SoTF o7

I r scammer cat
I’ve not yet sat down and sorted the in-game contracts for the lotto prizes but, as I have now heard back from all the winners, I will make a point of sorting this out within the next few days. Sorry for the delay!

Raffle Winners!

2010-12-19T21:01:00.003Z

Raffle has been drawn this evening! Winners as follows:

First Prize - 310/Jared Reidel

Second Prize - 182/The Methatron

Third Prize - 218/Einon Draconus

Fourth Prize - 62/Loren Gallen

Fifth Prize - 238/Laedy

Sixth Prize - 10/NL Jarin

Congrats and thanks to everyone who took part. Winners, I will eve-mail you this week about prize deliveries.

Due to a very busy real life schedule this might be my last post till after the holidays. So a very merry Christmas to everyone, hope that you have a good one.

o/

Happy 1st Birthday...

2010-12-18T15:00:00.006Z

...to Eve Travel, one of my favourite Eve Blogs, which also currently features snowfall!

And thanks to all the raffle entrants. I have a couple of ticket number emails still to send which will be finished this evening. Unless my house collapses under a snowdrift the draw will take place tomorrow at about 8pm.

o/

Mini update

2010-12-15T10:02:00.009Z

Lottery update
I have extended the date for buying tickets till Friday 17th, partially because of the downtime move and partially because I don't know how much online time I will have before the weekend. Lottery will still be drawn on the 19th as per original post.

And, a bit later than planned, here are some pics:

Don't do it kids
It seems some friends of mine have recently been given suspensions/bans for breaking the EULA. I don't know exactly what happened but it is horridly sad news in so many ways and I was pretty gutted to hear about it. End of the day what people do with their own accounts is none of my beeswax and everyone knows knows the risks involved. But the "loss" of these pilots will have an impact on a lot of people, not just because they were awesome pvp'ers but also because they were darn good company. It's a sad, sad day :(

That pewpew thing
Soo, I have a hanger full of shiney new Minmatar ships and no time to actually undock any of them. Christmas is a busy time in our house! We recently had some ex Bi-Po/Wolfy pilots joins us and I'd very much been looking forward to flying with them. I also need just 1 more kill to pass 1000 mails whored onto, but it just isn't happening at the moment.

So I've asked Santa for a baby sitter, a clone to send to work, a cleaner and a quiet room with a lock on it. Fingers crossed eh.

How "War" works in Eve Online.

2010-12-09T22:44:00.010Z

It's totally not meant to be like this, OK?

Sometimes people do make me wonder...

Faction War Interview: Lacco

2010-12-03T19:41:00.007Z

Love them or hate them Draketrain is certainly one of the most well known corporations in the Gallente/Caldari war. I am very happy that Lacco agreed to take part in an interview. Enjoy!

Name: Lacco

Corp & Role: Draketrain, CEO

Militia: Caldari

What did you get up to before getting involved with Faction War and how did you come to form Draketrain?

Before draketrain was launched I participated alliance tournament VIII with Paisti Syndicate. They are very proficient at skirmish warfare, and the group culture had a slight tendency towards elitism. A part of the Paisti group with the support of old good ex-PERVS then decided to roll something totally different for a change, and draketrain was formed up.

What are your preferred ship types and gang set-ups?

Ship types don't play a role, neither the gang setups. The reason why we've choose drakes is because they can fight outnumbered, and almost everyone is able to fly them too.

What are your favourite things about Faction War? What is it that keeps you here over other areas of Eve in particular nullsec or piracy?

Draketrain is actually specialized into 0.0 pvp. Being part of FW adds a little flavor in the action, but alone is insufficient for our needs

Draketrain makes its home in Villore, which is Gallente High-sec and also main staging point for many Gallente Militia pilots, particularly the newer ones. You also make regular forays into Gallente Highsec to hunt targets around popular mission and trade hubs. What challenges do you have flying and basing out of areas with constant NPC Navy agro? Assumingly you have set up a reliable method for dealing with the NPCs and many would say that you use exploits to achieve this. What is your response?

If anyone is part of the FW, he/she should be aware that war is extended to high-sec aswell. The victims of high-sec plundering should keep in mind that if they are killed, it's not wrong. NPC provides some difficulties, and setting up for high-sec takes some time, but the methods we are using are no rocket science.

How would you reply to critics who say you simply hunt in high-sec to "gank noobs" rather than to pvp with the more experienced FW corps who are mostly flying around in low-sec?

It might be a timezone problem as well, but from my experiences gallente has offered a very little fights. Our usual fleet setup in comparison to gallente doesn't provide even matches for both sides, and therefore fights are not happening.

There is a strong belief within my own militia that Draketrain would never engage in a “fair” fight and will only engage when they know the odds are in their favour. Is this true? Do you always have a trick up your sleeve?

We work on principals of skirmish warfare tactics, and we will fight even if the numbers are twice or triple to ours if the ship types are suitable. We are interested in nothing else but fights, and I can blame gallente for having a little understanding on this issue. They have only battleship based gangs that are very immobile, mostly in close range setups too. Drake gang is perfect counter, and if there was a fight, I can imagine how it feels to sit like a duck in a battleship while drakes hammer down the range.

Draketrain, was formed following the closure of Space Perverts and Forum Warriors and includes many prominent ex-PERV members. Are you simply a reincarnation of the PERV corporation or are the two very different in their actions and goals?

Some ex-PERVS continue the traditions of FW in draketrain, but the corporations have a very little to do in the way of how they work. PERVS is a finnish corporation, with specified requirements and good reputation of highly innovative play. Draketrain is benefitting from these factors, but the outline of our corporation is to recruit everyone, become large, and use the power of numbers. Where as PERVS had very precise planning for ops, draketrain is more into weekly operations instead of working everyday for the object.

Your corp is often seen as a separate entity from the rest of the Caldari militia. Do you consider yourself a part of the militia or simply a corp that is doing its own thing? Do you ever work with other militia corporations or the general militia pilots?

The problem is that an open invitation results in badly fitted ships. After a couple of unsuccesful operations with general militia, I announced that if anyone wants to join they must be in given fit. A fleet is like phalanx and if half of the group have no spears at all, the phalanx doesn't work. I've led fleets with fewer numbers of people in the correct fits(even when fitted t1) that fight better than any militia blobs I've come across.

What is the reasoning behind the recent war-decs Draketrain have started against a number of Caldari Militia corporations? Recent forum postings (and I confess I only read them occasionally) suggest it is due to Caldari fleets teaming up with Gallente fleets in order to take down third parties such as pirates in the area. Why is this unacceptable to you?

Caldari fleet commander requested me to leave gallente alone. If this wasn't enough, after I had told the friends of gallente that we are not here to cease fire, I received bullshit mails from the fleet addressing that I'm an asshole. I think the biggest issue is that they are corrupting the militia system by tagging along with the enemy - how am I supposed to know who is on my side really? In addition there is nothing good to say about the behaviour of these heroes. If they want to break the principals of FW, and shout 'fuckoffs' if someone insists, then they have earned the wardec. No doubt about it.

Draketrain contains many pilots who were well known as prominent plexers in the past. The well-coordinated and dedicated efforts of the likes of Damar and Bad Messenger are credited with being largely responsible in the fall of all Gallente systems to the Caldari. Is system taking a goal for Draketrain?

Some ex-PERVS have tradition of doing the plexes, and it's alright with me. Draketrain as a corporation is not interested in capturing FW systems though.

You have some very strong willed and “loud” pilots in your corporation, many are known just as well for their forum postings as they are for their in-game antics. Do you find it difficult to have so many big personalities in your corp or is it all simply part of the fun of Draketrain?

I don't follow the forum posts, and the corporation doesn't have a policy towards what kind of posts should they make. Every member is part of building the image of the corporation. Difficulties that emerge from having big personalities are mostly for being emotional. Rage is untolerated in corp ops. Restricting public anger is keeping alot of group unhappiness away, and avoiding social crisis.

What does the future hold for Draketrain? Do you have future aspirations outside of Faction War or plans to swap militias in the future?

The focus is on 0.0. Latest in the early 2011 draketrain is going to have a titan, and with the jump bridge capabilities we will be able to develop new and more sophisticated ways to travel, cyno on targets, make surprise attacks and most of all have fun. There is no reason to switch or leave militia unless we are offered some very aspiring alliance membership.

If you could have CCP change one thing or make one improvement specifically for Faction War what would it be?

The system capturing system is shit. Nobody benefits from owning systems. I suppose CCP just wants to have made it so that every newb can capture a system and get a certain feel of accomplishment, but it doesn't make the current FW content any good. If the FW mission rewards were adjusted depending on faction system owning, and defending a system would be reasonable, it could add some depth to FW.

>>Click here for the full list of interviews<<

Presenting the WTFIMS Christmas Raffle

2010-12-01T21:43:00.015Z

I am super chuffed to finally announce the WTFIMS Christmas Raffle!

Now don’t be fooled by the title, there is no Victoria sponge or cheap booze on offer here but instead some Faction War themed prizes that I hope will have wide appeal. So without further ado, here are the prizes!

FIRST PRIZE
FW Store Faction Battleship of your choice*
Hardback copy of the Emperyean Age Signed by Tony Gonzalas
Gallente Themed Eve Thermal Mug
50million isk

SECOND PRIZE
Caldari Navy Cruise Missile Launchers x4
“Can I Have Your Stuff?” XXL T-shirt

THIRD PRIZE
Republic Fleet Warp Disruptor x1
Red Guristas XL T-Shirt

FOURTH PRIZE
Imperial Navy Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane x1
Orange on Black Guristas XL T-shirt

FIFTH PRIZE
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer x1

SIXTH PRIZE
10k Caldari Navy or Federation Navy Ammo Of your choice
OR
10k Caldari Navy Missiles of your Choice
OR
15million isk alternative

How it works

- Tickets cost 2mil each.

- Max amount of tickets is per 50 character (100mil).

- Each ticket purchased will be assigned a number. You will be eve-mailed your number/s. These are your raffle tickets! You cannot choose your numbers; they will be auto-assigned in the order they are purchased.

- Tickets must be purchased before 11pm (eve time) on 17th December 2010 (see update below). Any isk received after this time will be returned, as will any odd amounts of isk that do not meet the minimum ticket price.

- Lottery will be drawn on SUNDAY 19th DECEMBER 2010 at around 8pm Eve time.

- Send your isk in-game to CUCUMBER SAMMICHES with "lotto" in the reason field.

Some Technical stuffs

* The Faction Battleships to choose from are, Navy Issue Dominix, Navy Issue Scorpion, Navy Issue Armageddon and Navy Issue Typhoon.

All prizes will be contracted out of either Jita or Dodixie.

T-Shirt sizes are not changeable as they were donated to the lottery.

I have not arranged a "guarantor" for this event, it is basically a corporation Christmas lotto that I decided to expand on. It is completely self-funded and not being done to make profit. I’m sure there are plenty folks who can vouch for my honesty but if you are unhappy with that, well you don’t have to enter :-P

Tickets will be drawn using www.random.org and overseen by my sort of independent adjudicator Rashmika (and if he offers to film me doing the numbers on his new iPhone one more time I am going to shove it up his arse...)

Winners will be announced straight away in Gallente militia chat, The raffletastic public channel (which anyone can join) and then later posted on this blog. Winners will also be contacted individually by eve-mail to arrange delivery of in game items. Delivery of OOG items will take place in January 2010 (don't want things getting caught up with the Christmas post).

I think that’s all the important stuff, so to stop the wall of text if you have any other questions just give me, Eelis Kiy, a shout ingame.

Huuuge thank you to Tony Gonzales for his help with the out of game prizes.

Tickets can be purchased… NOW! :-)

***UPDATE 15/12/10***
Ticket purchasing now closing on Friday 17th instead of the 16th. Some prize photos can be seen here: http://wtfims.blogspot.com/2010/12/mini-update.html

wutwut

2010-11-24T22:16:00.006Z

Have been rather waylaid in real-life doing various work related tasks though I did have the pleasure of being part of this spiffy engagement:

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=8095296

OUCH!

Major props to the SoT remote reppers; it was a pretty insane engagement. You will of course be pleased to know that we did get revenge with an even bigger lolblob a few nights later (and I was bloody afk but watching my other half on his PC, having all the fun without me):

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=8115630

Slightly screwy report but you get the idea. It’s not the first time we’ve teamed up with the squids during the last month and have to say it is refreshing to spend time fleeted with some of the more amiable folks over there. In amongst the RP, forum trolling and smack I think it’s always nice to be reminded that, just like us, there are folks on the other side who just want a good bit of pewpew and don’t have time for drama bombs.

The Saturday fight came after quite a long period of roaming in a bad case of all dressed up with nowhere to go until we found the SoT fleet. I hope this is not a sign that things are going to die down again now that many of our war-decs have ended.

The 8th have moved on to new ventures and MC dropped their dec against us a few days ago. In addition Ta8ula Rasa appear to be disbanding, so whilst we shed a tear for the loss of targets we’re also having quite a childish giggle at being partially responsible for causing the end of an 0.0 Alliance... FW noobs 1, null-sec noobs 0 :-P

Here’s a fun RP thread on the subject if you are so inclined: http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1419335

I hope to be back in the thick of it soon. Some fab new pilots have joined us recently and the corp is buzzing. I am also 10 kills off 1000 player mails whored onto. Woot!

One last thing. I am trying in vain to publish an Eve video that I’ve made but Windows Movie Maker keeps having a mental breakdown and messing it all up. If anyone has any tips on Movie Maker please drop me a message! Alternatively, if Santa happens to be reading this please can I have Adobe Premiere Pro. Go on, I’ve been a good girl this year. Well mostly.

Fly safe, and Happy Thanks Giving to all the American types out there o/

Friday funny

2010-11-19T19:29:00.000Z

Have a good weekend! o7

Remember remember

2010-11-14T17:31:00.013Z

Well in between these...

a lot of this...

and a few nights of this...

...there hasn't been much time for me to indulge in internet explosions. However, last night I enjoyed a traditional, hectic and action packed evening with my corpies which more than made up for the all the fun I've been missing out on.

I hopped into an Ishkur and caught up with our frigate fleet which had been out for some time already, camping various gates. I appeared to have missed most of the action but on our way home one of our 8th Order war targets wandered into us. A nice start to the evening.

We got back to Nisuwa and shipped up to battlecruisers then headed towards Nennamaila in search of a war-target fleet. We knew they were probably heading home through Ichoriya but were hopeful of a catch. Whilst the main fleet did indeed jump back into Caldari High-sec a Moa decided to aggress our forward scout on the Ichy gate, so in we all jumped. Then his friend jumped in from the high-sec side and aggressed too. Not quite the fleet fight we had hoped for but hey it was kinda funny.

We headed back to Nisuwa again for a short bio. I grabbed an Ares and started bouncing round the pipes looking for targets. Found a bunch of various battlecruiser and below types and our fleet started chasing. I lost the target fleet once then found them again, heading towards their Oisio/Oshaima highsec direction. Myself and fellow inty addict Crimper (Evil Doers) eventually overtook some of the war-target fleet and got points on a couple of Drakes but alas we both exploded before our friendlies caught up. Women drivers eh? So no kills there and 2 intys down, doh.

Slightly pissed at realising that I'd just blown up my last Ares in low-sec I headed back to high-sec to fit a new one. In the mean-time the corp fleet headed back towards Nisuwa and got into a skirmish with some SoT pirates. It was quite frustrating to hear the tense fight kicking off, from what I could tell both sides seemed to be having trouble breaking the other's remote repping. Our fleet backed off and I burned back to Nisuwa as quickly as I could, just making it in time to warp to Greg6 as he gota warp in on one of the pirate logi ships.

I landed just as the fight kicked off, two logis went down quickly, I tagged one (yes i'm a whore) and tried in vain to throw a point on the other ships who all warped away, apart from 1... a Loki! He burned for the gate but was quickly webbed and scrammed and soon went down, woot. That was actually the first T3 kill I’ve been a part of.

I ditched the Ares in Nisuwa, got into my Hurricane then re-joined the fleet. A small group of Caldari had been spotted 2 jumps from Nisuwa running a fw complex so we jumped over and headed for the plex gate. They scattered and we lost our point on their Megathron but popped a Raven.

The rest of his mates started bouncing to planets and we got word from Enzlo Kurns when they landed on top of him at Planet 3. The Mega was pointed again and in we all went, yaar! I swear that Cerb insta popped :O

A little later we were in pursuit of an 8th Order fleet consisting of, well mostly Dominix's. It was going to be a tough nut to crack with our current numbers but on the plus side there were another 2 fleets out also looking to engage The 8th.

Cutting a long story short we all ended up on the Tama gate in Suj hammering the crap out of our primary target, but to no avail. Despite multiple jams and the extra fire-power we just couldn’t break their RR. The 8th eventually de-aggressed and headed to Tama station. Bleh.

We started to make our way home but hung about in Kedama for a few mins in case The 8th changed their minds and undocked. Whilst waiting around we were given the go ahead to go pirate on a passing Loki, which turned out to be a known war-target alt. I don’t know why but I just couldn't bring myself to open fire! All that pvp-ing and i'm still a bloody carebear...

In other news our 0.0 adventures have quietened down. Ta8bula Rasa, the alliance we were mostly fighting against, appear to currently have focussed their attention elsewhere and I had heard that they tried to claim sov although I am not sure how much of a serious effort this was.

We recently started a war-dec against them after seeing rather a large amount of their carebears hanging about in Gallente High sec and this lead to a few fun ganks here and there but the corps concerned soon started dropping out of the alliance, im sure this had nothing at all to do with avoiding a war-dec...

So for now we are tentatively awaiting to see whatever on earth Mercenary Coalition are going to be throwing at us. They have war-dec'ed a few Gallente Militia corps and there is much chatter going on about whom (if anyone) hired them out. Not that it matters.

It certainly looks like it's going to be the month for fire-works.

First impressions and a big milestone

2010-11-02T11:15:00.009Z

so we've been out in 0.0 for a week or so now and I've finally had the pleasure of a few fleets in my limited online time. It's been fun learning about bubbles and bombs as well as playing with giant rats though the system names are an utter PITA. Never again will I bemoan someone’s mispronunciation of Vlillirier.

We've also had time to get to know our new associates which has been both interesting and frustrating. I-RED have a completely different mind-set and playstyle to ourselves and I am not sure how our "gung-ho-kill-everything-or-die-trying" attitude is going down. I have heard that we are having a positive effect but I cannot help but feel like the crazy drunk relative who has reluctantly been invited to stay.

Our priority as a corp has always been 100% pvp focussed and our entire corp structure has grown up around this priority. We log on, we kill stuff, we go to bed. Any isk making or logistical efforts are simply thrown in to help us achieve our desire for internet explosions. We also live surrounded by corporations with exactly the same attitude and if the call goes up in a shared intel channel, the x's quickly flow in from all our trusted Gallente Militia allies.

But I-RED is an Alliance with complex goals and strong focus on roleplay and storyline expansion. To put the two together and see our corp against a different background has been interesting. The differences in priorities and pilot attitudes are quickly apparent. They call for patience whilst we scream for more fleet members so that we can get out and get on with it.

One thing I have accidently learned all about from our time with I-RED is the RP history behind their alliance and it's relationship with the Gallente militia. Even though we had a previous war with them relating to the same issues I had not previously paid much attention to the story that was going on. This week I found myself having a history lesson whilst in conversation with wivers from I-RED on the subject of an RP post for the eve-O forums. Can't say this crazy drunken pilot is going to become an intense RP player any time soon but it has been quite a learning experience and I was a little embarrased at my ignorance on the whole affair! Perhaps both sides have something to teach the other in this somewhat unlikely pact.

Overall the experience seems to be going down well for us. There is a new lease of life in the corp and a lot more people to shoot at. It was certainly the right decision to bite the bullet and give it a go.

Cane-tastic

I've used the change of scene as a chance to get out of my Ares and into my first Hurricane. All I can really say is OH MY GOD ITS SO AWESOME WHY DIDN'T I TRAIN THIS SIX MONTHS AGO. It's quite a new experience to be doing actual real dps and not sitting on the bottom of all the kill mails with my warp disruptor...

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=7949745

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=7949900

http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=7949703

Those kills were from quite a messy fight. Out gunned at the time, as we lacked the battleship numbers to meet them head on, we ended up hopping to difference distances off the gates in the hope of popping a few ships before they got a warp-in on us. Perfect chance to test my arti-cane out, it was a lot of fun though pretty intense.

SOTF Milestone
This week we passed 1 trillion damage done. Not too shabby for a bunch of FW nublets! :)

Faction War Interview: BacardiDesire

2010-10-30T11:30:00.012+01:00

I actually arranged this one with my crazy Dutch friend sometime ago but due to real-life had been unable to follow it up. So tyvm BacardiDesire for still agreeing to take part, even though we are now at war!

Name: BacardiDesire

Corp & Role: The 8th Order, CEO

Militia: Minmatar

Most likely to be seen: On your lossmail haha!

How did you get started with Faction War?

I got started with Faction warfare right from the start, looking for a new adventure in my eve career, being in a Dutch sort of training/friendly atmospherish corporation, who i have learned a lot from.

Aside from the night we spent drunk and doing the conga in our ships around Villore, what are your fondest memories of your time in Faction War?

Every time the fleet I fc'ed made a victory in a big fleet battle, those are the best memories.

I remember flying with you many times when you first started FC'ing. Often we did well but there were times, usually against the big pirate corps, where your confidence was shaken. How has Faction War helped to shape you as an FC? Do you think it is a good environment for someone learning to run fleets?

I really think FW, in the beginning when there we tons and tons of people in it, was a good base to become a very skilled FC. It was an area where people didn't care on who was leading them, if just a person stood up to lead them to where the kills where being made :) This gave me a chance to prove my leadership skills even at the age of 16/17 and with a broken mic that made me sound very old lol

What in your opinion are the best things about Faction War over other areas of pvp in Eve?

Undock, kill shit in 5 mins, post killmail, dock, go to the forums to chestbeat, log off. Rinse and repeat.

Your corporation, The 8th Order closed a few months ago. Why did you decide to reform and how is the corporation doing now? Are you running things differently or changed your set-up in any way?

I had some trouble with finding myself into the position of not being a CEO and just be a normal member, apart from that I thought it would be a waste to go apart like that. We still run the corp the same like we used to, no real leadership structure and use it only when nessesary such as diplomatic situations. The only difference with 8th 2.0 that we run far more specialized gangs and nearly always run both command and t3 bonusses in the fleets we run, giving us a huge advantage over our enemies than we did last time.

Would you say there were any major differences between the militias? How do your Amarr war targets differ from the Caldari??

I would like to point out that with the current situation there is no difference in militias. When Core impulse was with the Amarr the difference would be clearly noticeably, very classy gangs and such, now they left, it's militia level of fleets again :) just in my opinion.

You have recently become involved in a number of war-decs with Gallente Militia corporations. Most notable was your war with Bi-Po and I think it is common knowledge that there is no love lost between your 2 corporations. But in addition, your corp recently committed an act of piracy, whilst working with the Caldari militia, against a former corp member and ally in SOTF. This lead on to a number of war-decs with corps you have formerly had a good working relationship with. I noticed that you also had a recent War Dec with Minmatar militia corp, Ice Fire Warriors?

Our corporation does not recognize color, if we can kill it we will, end of story if we want a good fight of course. We are going pirate these days and we thought it was fun to do a roam to Gallente space and piss in someones cornflakes, we had a good time tho :D

On the Bi-po wardec, im not gonna waste words, there are enough threads on the forums where you can spend hours reading fun stuff ;)

Would you ever return to the Gallente militia. Have you thought about joining the Caldari or Amarr?

We will indeed return to Black rise in the near future! on who's side? Surprise maybe?

Doesn’t flying with Adamusmaximus every night drive you insane?

I got banning rights on Teamspeak 3

Is there anything you feel CCP could do to improve Faction War??

Give it a new twist, ban fighter bombers 8)

What does the future hold for you personally and for The 8th Order?

Hopefully we will continue our growth and become an even bigger functioning corporation than we are now, we got very active numbers and we are looking to expand our numbers even more and become a small army :) And get on a lot of killmails of course!

>>Click here for the full list of interviews<<

Blog Banter 22: Home is where the heart is

2010-10-28T12:30:00.008+01:00

Welcome to the twenty-second instalment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux.

This months topic is brought to us by L'Dene Bean of Nitpickin's who asks: Why and how did you pick your corporation? Is your loyalty solid or just until a better placed organization "recruits" you. The shorter version: Who holds your Unshakable Fealty and why?

I first discovered MMO's back in 2004 with Star Wars Galaxies and a few weeks into the game I was invited to join my first ever player guild; STORM.

STORM truly gave me a baptism of fire into the social delights that are possible with online gaming. At its height the guild numbered around 200 members, its underlying ethos was to have fun and be helpful (and arguably to be drunk and filthy at all times). I was absolutely hooked.

I loved them with real feeling and made some wonderful friends. The game itself was pretty awesome but had a lot of bugs and issues along with a development team that often seemed at complete odds with its subscribers. However the social side of it all kept me firmly glued to my PC. Where else could a 22 year old office junior living in the middle of nowhere get to hang out with so many different types of people, of all ages, all walks of life and from literally all over the world?

When the guild eventually closed, after some drastic game mechanic changes, I followed the bulk of its membership onto various other games (WoW/EQ2/LOTRO/AoC) and just as in SWG we kept the same ethos of friendship, fun and drunken antics before epeen waving and private goals. This always remained important to me in the guilds/corps/kinships I have chosen to play with.

Moving on to Eve-Online. I never really had much to do with the first corporation I joined, preferring to keep myself to myself as I found my feet. When Rashmika decided to run Revelation Space as a proper player corp (having initially been a private corporation mostly used for jump clones) it had the same undercurrent theme from our STORM days. We wanted team-players, people who would look out for each other, help each other and work together. I know, it sounds cheesy! Now there was nothing cheesy about Rev Space, but we had values, morals, integrity and a ridiculous sense of humour to go with it.

Then we found ourselves faced with the offer of a corporation merger into the pvp centric Shadows of the Federation. I knew I risked leaving behind not just the corporation I loved and which we had both worked so hard on, but also the essence of what I valued most in an mmo corp. It was a huge risk, especially in a game like Eve Online where the social aspect is, to my mind, often less important than in other mmos. Eve is a much darker environment, with more risk. Betrayal and mistrust are often a way of life.

Not long after tentatively joining SOTF I x’d up for a fleet op, curiously named "suicide roam". I was quite nervous and hoping not to do anything too stupid on my first night out with my new corp. I had little to worry about… everyone was drunk, everyone was filthy and, after a couple of hours everyone was dead...apparently this was the point of the op... I was soo relived!

I count myself lucky to have accidently found a corporation in Eve, that kicks a lot of arse, doesn't take itself too seriously, has a whole bunch of colourful characters in its membership and lives by the same core values that I have always found important in the past (including the obligatory alcohol abuse and filthy humour). Sure the stakes are higher now and being able to fly my choice of ships and pvp in the way I want to IS very important to me. But essentially my decision to stay with a corporation will always come down to the people around me.

Would I leave? Well I know enough about Eve to never-say-never but it would be a bloody hard decision to make.

Fellow Banters responses...

1. Cogito Ergo Yarr - Maybe I'm stubborn
2. More to come...

Fun stuff I totally missed out on...

2010-10-27T11:27:00.012+01:00

NibbleTek have ended their campaign in the Caldari militia and moved out of Nisuwa. The final stats do not look too shabby for us at all, being down on kills but up on isk destroyed. This was no doubt assisted by the carrier kill, apparently Nibbles first ever Carrier loss. Kudos to the QCats and go us! Well I say us, but that doesn't actually include myself, having been tucked up in bed with a hot water bottle and lots of aspirin for much of the past fortnight.

I also missed out on a rather epic engagement with a Caldari militia fleet. The fight apparently lasted for about an hour, with both sides re-shipping to continue the pewpew. Long drawn out engagements like this are so much fun when they come along and I am gutted to have missed it. Stats from the Caldari board as ours was messed up: http://caldari.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=7836835

Our war with The 8th Order is still active however little has gone on in terms of explosions so far. For our own part this is largely due to some recent developments which stem from our need to expand the corps pvp horizons. We have accepted an invitation to assist some old acquaintances out in 0.0 and the past few days have been busy setting up our new second base.

Last night I finally got myself online and out to null to check out the new area. I soon joined a bomber fleet being lead by our new IRed comrades.

We actually had a war with Ishuk-Raata Enforcement Directive (IRed) a few months back over some faction war RP business (srs bzns!) in Intaki. Having a no smack policy and a top diplomat for a CEO no doubt assisted in things going full circle so that we are now working with them. Love how things turn out in this game sometimes.

I only had a short period of time with the fleet last night and to be honest found it all very slow-paced to what I am used to. I did however learn a lot about how to fly a bomber with bombs on it! You cannot use bombs in low-sec so this is a new experience for me. Sadly didn't get to actually fire any, but I look forward to blowing up my comrades by mistake very soon...

I logged after an hour, just as a second fleet was forming to chase some targets down. And what happened? I missed all the fun again! http://sotf.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=7908182. I'm going to have to start giving out my mobile number so I can get a heads up text when fun stuff is going on!

A promising start to our 0.0 adventures and I know my corp-mates are enjoying the new options for pvp and exploration. The move was intended to give our pilots more to do during quiet nights in Black Rise but I wonder if this will slowly drag our corporation away from Faction War for good? I hope not, but I can see many people falling in love with the place already.

In which I try to be all artyfarty

2010-10-20T14:11:00.017+01:00

From the distinctive designs of Rixx Javix to the comical delights of Sassy B there are some truly amazing Eve Online artists out there. Just taking a look through the entries for the Eve Online: Create a Starship Contest it is pretty hard not to feel completely in awe of the talents of those blessed with creatively awakened brains.

Then there are people like me; People who have Photoshop and too much time on our hands but not much in the way of talent. Usually the result of such a combination is "art" like this or this or hmm yes this.

However, every now and then I do try and knock something up that actually looks kinda pretty. So, as I am currently "afk" with some horrid bug thing I thought I would use some time to post up a few of my less wtf? inducing Eve pictures. Hope you enjoy!

This first one one I call The Curse and it was made for a corp competition. It's a bit cheesy but I like it, so much so that it is currently set as my desktop. The full text says and the stars will call to you... hero, warrior, leader, capsuleer... for you are the immortal, though your gift may be your curse. Which in a less RP sense simply means "Welcome to Eve Online, please stand-by to be exploded." (click small pic to view a bigger version)

Here is another version of the Ares picture I used in my previous post. The screenshot was taken using the super zoomed in option you can achieve with the Advanced Camera options. This magnified the distant stars. I then messed about with the contrast/brightness to varying degrees. I shall call this one Ares Waiting because knowing me I probably was waiting for a target whilst I took the shot. (click small pic to view a bigger version)

This one is called Rifter in warp because that is what it is! (click small pic to view a bigger version)

And here is Rifter in warp part 2. This was originally a very dark screenshot so I adjusted the light/contrast/colours a bit and all the details came out. Felt wrong to play about with it much more than that. (click small pic to view a bigger version)

This one is ode to Julius Feoderatus, an old FW buddy who recently quit the game. This is his Enyo, we were sat around waiting for AAGEES for the rest of the fleet to hurry up and meet us at a safe spot. It looks kinda angry with it's "teeth" there, so I've called it Angry Enyo is waiting for YOU. (click small pic to view a bigger version)

Potentially more screenshot than "art" to be honest as I've just adjusted the lighting/contrast very slightly. But it's pretty and it's my blog so I'm posting it. It is called "Camping regional gates is really stupid". (click small pic to view a bigger version)

And finally, I call this one Overdressed because naff all came after our shiney blob. (click small pic to view a bigger version)

And for anyone who noticed... yes I did post this accidently, half way through writing it... I'm poorly ok!

New targets!

2010-10-14T11:36:00.005+01:00

Last week a rather formidable pvp corp, NibbleTek, joined the Caldari militia and moved into our home station in Nisuwa. On the back of this many other Caldari corporations are now growing a few balls and the result has been more entertainment than we've had in a loooonnng time (and ship losses lol). Nibble presents quite a challenge for us and one we are going to have to work hard to face up to, but my gawd it makes a nice change from chasing cloaky Hurricanes and camping dead gates in oversized fleets.

In addition, war appears to be kicking off with The 8th Order (who re-formed recently). I swear it's like waiting for a bus round here, you wait for 1 and then 10 come along at once.

However, even with this new upsurge in mutual explosions, as a corp. we've had to face up to the fact that Faction War has largely been dead for us for far too long. Our member activity picked up as expected in September but our Caldari foe appear to have largely lost their momentum of earlier in the year. It's all been quite disappointing.

After the loss of one prominent member (who no longer considered us enough of a pvp corp, it was a fair point) we opened the discussion on other directions we could take together. Should we go pirate? Move away? Change our tactics?

Change can be good of course, but it can also be a corporation’s death knell. All of our members are united in their addiction to Faction War and there will always be some people who don't ever want to do anything else. But the facts are plain and simple; there is not enough pvp round here to sustain our interest. We either shed more members or we start putting eggs in new baskets. So even with the recent developments in Nisuwa I expect to see the corp taking tentative steps into new directions.

In other news that has no particular title:

- SOTF pilot Lunara Yoshi has a very detailed drone guide featured in this months EON Magazine. I can’t buy the bloody thing but I hear it’s a very good guide! Part 2 of the guide will be in next months issue.

- I will be running a Christmas lottery during December. Prizes will have a Faction War theme and hopefully there will be a few little surprises in the prize pot also… cryptic I know!

- 11 days and I’m in a Hurricane, woowoo!

o/

SISI: Character Creation

2010-10-08T10:00:00.005+01:00

After reading a few posts from fellow bloggers on the Character Creation testing, currently available on SISI, I decided to give it a go. Certainly been a nice distraction from the lack of pvp going on in Black Rise lately.

I was very curious to see how CCP would implement this and I have to say it looks very promising. There is a full body and face “sculpting” mode which allows much customisation and the overall look is very “grown up” and Eve-like.

So after I finished playing about with my tits n arse I decided to try and re-create 2 of my characters. Eelis (Jin-Mei female) was actually pretty easy to do with the options currently available:

I love the new look! I want it now!! But my kooky trade alt (Sebiestor female) was much more difficult to re-create:

Not that I dislike how the character turned out (ginge 4tw!) but it was impossible to create anything that looked like the first portrait (which I will be sad to lose). I also don't really think it captures Sebiestor in any way either now that the "boney-paleness" is all gone.

No doubt there will be plenty of players out there who love their “weird” portraits and will be unhappy at having to “normalise” them. But if it gives you hope I did manage to create this little beauty:

Yees....

Some things I hope will be available with the final set-up:

- Tattoos, piercings & weird cosmetic implants. I’d be very surprised if this wasn't available tbh.

- More extremes of facial features and hair colour options. Obviously they are trying to make a realistic look but I think a lot more could be offered before it got to the “cartoon” stage.

- Fatter body choices and different heights. I imagine capsuleers need to have a certain amount of fitness and physical prowess in order to do what they do but in a world where implants can allow various extremes surely some more variation could be expected?

- More differences between races. Despite what the dev-blog says I didn’t really see much of an extreme between the 2 races I had to play with. All hairstyles/make-up etc are currently the same – of course this may well change in the future, I hope it does.

I’m also wondering if a characters hair will be shown as cropped short if they get podded? I read this happening in the Empyrean Age book; it would be fun if it was implemented into the game!

It is early days at the moment and the system is not perfect or even finished by any means. But certainly looks very promising!

Dev Blog: http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=803

Download SISI Launcher tool: http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1377944

Video posted on CK's Blog: http://www.crazykinux.com/2010/10/eve-onlines-new-character-creator-looks.html

Blog Banter 21: What's good for the goose...

2010-09-29T13:39:00.006+01:00

Welcome to the twenty-first instalment of the EVE Blog Banter, 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 to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month topic comes to us from @ZoneGhost who a few month ago asked "Is Low Sec the forgotten part of EVE Online?" Is it? I'd like us to explore this even further. Is Low Sec being treated differently by CCP Games than Null Sec (Zero-Zero) or Empire space is? Can one successfully make a living in these unsecured systems where neither Alliance nor Concord roam to enforce their laws? What's needed? Or is everything fine as it is?

OK, Faction War probably wasn't what the questioner had in mind when he put this banter forward, but for me it is as much a part of low-sec as anything else could be. I've been flying around low-sec for the sole purpose of pvp for the past 2 years and my home base has been deep in low-sec for over a year now.

It has been confirmed that Faction War will not be receiving any love or attention from CCP for some time. However, what's good for the goose is good for the gander and any improvements to low-sec will by proxy improve and enhance the experience of Faction War pilots because in addition to the rules of Faction War we live and play by low-sec mechanics and have just as many run ins with pirates and "neutrals" as we do with our legitimate war targets.

Improvements to GCC mechanics, probing sites, enhancements to piracy as a profession and indeed anything that encourages more people into low-sec are all good things for Faction War pilots. More people = more traffic = more things to shoot at!

This is part of the reason why I voted for Mynxee in the CSM elections and why for this banter I am going to direct you >>here<<

The Making Low-Sec Matter project aims to bring forward the sensible arguments and ideas, from a variety of viewpoints, and put together a new vision for low-sec which can be presented to CCP. Reading through Mynxee's posts on how it will all come together makes it sound like a second job to me! But it is certainly going to be competent and well managed and if CCP are going to be encouraged into making changes to low-sec then personally I believe this is the best way forward.

Fellow banter replies:
Eveoganda - Blog Banter 21: Friggin' Low
Inner Sanctum - Low Sec = Wild West
Omnis Arcanum - Is CCP Indifferent to developing Low-Sec?

Li'l update...

2010-09-27T14:59:00.007+01:00

Work-family-work-family-work-family GAAAH... don't these people know I have internet spaceships to blow up? Yes real life is kah-pwning my Eve time of late, which in turn prevents any interesting blog writing! However I would like to do a mini update on a few things.

The quest for pvp
Faction War is quiet again, bleh. In my limited online times I have seen two pretty nice Caldari fleets out, being countered by big shiny fleets including Carrier support. But overall there isn't enough going on to keep the corp.’s lust for explosions sated.

There are various discussions on our forums about different tactics or areas of game play we could explore to get our pvp kicks, personally I am hoping for some 0.0 roaming.

I understand that fellow Gallente militia corp., QCats, have decided (or are in the process of deciding, not sure which) on going down the piracy route. Can't say that I blame them, they will certainly have a lot more targets to choose from if they do. It's probably never going to be an option for SOTF though. I have nothing against piracy myself (I love reading pirate blogs!) and nor do most of our corp., many being ex-pirates themselves, but it simply doesn't suit the play-style or ethos of the corp. as a whole. I think a big deciding factor behind it has always been that our CEO wants everyone to know what to expect from SOTF members when they see us out and about and as such it is not often we fire on neutrals in low-sec, unless we know they are hostile in some way.

On a personal note, I have 2 Brutix (Brutixes? Bruti?) a couple of Vexors plus a whole bunch of Rifters just waiting to die in a big ball of solo-fail-explosion. In addition I am just a few days away from Minmatar Cruisers 5, opening the door to lots of new ships to play with... all I need now is to a) not be completely knackered b) time to sit down at my computer and c) join a fleet that doesn’t nag me to fly as tackle!

In other coming soon (tm) news I am still poking about with a big Faction War guide and also working on a few new Faction War interviews.

If we do it in a bubble will she still get a surprise in her drone bay?
You might have seen the Eve-O story on skilltrainingcomplete.com - a rather fun way to procrastinate away your lunch hour and help other Eve-players at the same time. It's a little bit like "Yahoo answers" but specifically for Eve questions. I've been mucking about with it for a few days and have to say I hope it keeps going. It seems to be sensibly managed, well thought out and so far a much less flame-ridden place to ask questions than the Eve forums can be. >>Take a look<<

21st Blog Banter is announced
I mentioned a few weeks ago how you can involved in the Blog Banters run by Crazy Kinux. Well we've just had a heads up on the topic for the 21st Banter. If you want to find out how you can get an early start then click here.

o/

Random Reports

2010-09-21T10:57:00.005+01:00

It's been a frustrating month or so. Real life has turned rather hectic and the result is me having to be more efficient with my Eve time in order to get the most out of the game.

I thought this would result in my missing out on a lot of fleet activity but in fact quite the opposite has happened and I've found myself constantly joining rather fab fleets. Competent FC's, great company and good ol’ light hearted, banter filled evenings. Fantastic!

SOTF has grown a fair bit since I first joined and it is wonderful to now find that more often than not we are easily putting together fleets of 20 or so pilots just from within our own ranks. Of course we still fleet with various Gallente militia corps. and that is not going to change any time soon, but being able to put together decent sized fleets of competent pilots entirely out of our own corporation has always been a goal and it is nice to see this being regularly achieved. But alas I digress.

Now having a great fleet is one thing but finding a fleet fight seems to have become rather a challenge around Blackrise once again. I have no idea where all the Caldari targets have b*ggered off to but they seem to have become an endangered species once again. Several evenings of roaming during August yielded nothing but frustrating pew pew-less evenings for me. Where’d everybody go?

Things did pick up a little as September came along and a few rather entertaining evenings have been had which I thought I would share.

Drunk & Disorderly
Firstly was a rather enjoyable and highly drunken roam out to the Amarr/Minmatar Faction war systems where we headed in search of something to kill with a corp. run fleet of small, fast ships.

We were led by a corp. FC who has a reputation for daring and usually slightly suicidal operations and once again he did not disappoint.

We found ourselves biting at the heels of a rather large Amarr/Caldari fleet, the size of which I have not seen on our side of the fence since early last year. We had neither the numbers nor fire-power to engage head to head but we had quite a night grabbing stragglers and trying to take down (obvious) bait ships before the rest of the fleet turned up to spank us. I won’t lie to you, it was quite a mess; a lot of alcohol had been consumed… we killed a few, we lost a few, we had quite a few laughs and we wandered home again.

Pincered & Probed
Couple of days after our drunken outing I found myself in a Battlecruiser and below fleet being led by another SoTF FC (a sober one!) who took us around Blackrise in hopes of a scrap.

It was dead once again but our little faces perked up like kids on Christmas Day as the news of a war-target fleet out in Heydieles came in through. After being contacted by Julius Foederatus, who had eyes on the targets with his small Gallente Militia fleet, we teamed up and ended up pinning down the Caldari fleet in the system of Indregulle.

Our original fleet sat on one of the in-gates whilst Julius’ guys sat on another and Julius then called in a prober who rather quickly got us a warp-in on the Caldari fleet’s safe spot. The war-targets were Battlecruiser heavy but our newly combined fleet outnumbered them considerably. One squad was sent in to Indregulle, with the honourable task of getting aggression, a task which they performed with gusto.

In we all jumped and the result was, well complete bloody slaughter to be honest.

http://www.gallente.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=7589330

The report is a little messed up but you get the idea. Whilst not a great “fight” as such it still felt good to finally shoot something after an annoying evening of, waiting for targets, merging two fleets together (gaaah always a headache) and setting everything up to try and catch the Caldari.

Epic lolz/fail (delete as appropriate)
Last Tuesday, after being AFK for a few hours, I returned to my desk to log out completely only to find about 40 people on our Vent coms, including several members of Bi-Po. Being the nosey old bird that I am I popped my headphones on to find out what was going on.

Bi-Po were leading a sizable fleet, heavy with Battleships and Logistic support. I quickly grabbed an Ares and joined up with one of the tackle squads who were holding on the Tama gate in Kedama. There was much organisation going on and with strict combat coms in operation I had a hard time trying to pick up on what exactly we were doing, but it appeared a trap of sorts was being set for a pirate battleship fleet that was out on the prowl.

Well to cut a long story short, the trap was sprung and we engaged the pies on the Tama gate in Sujarento.

A friendly cyno was lit… but our “supwize!” support fleet failed to jump through…
…because the Titan did instead >_< style="font-style: italic;">WTF? on vent which was followed by much laughter.

Feeling a little deflated we began to head home when we bumped into a BLADE. alliance fleet in Tama on the Kedama gate – so we took our frustrated evening out on them, then went home for tea, cookies and more laughter over the epic Titan fail.

You can log off, but you can’t hide
Now first I should explain that last Tuesday was one of the most hilarious evenings I have ever had whilst fully clothed at my keyboard. Secondly I need to explain that I also cannot actually remember most of what actually happened, partially because most of the entertainment took place on Vent coms and also because I had had one or 2 glasses of a very nice Australian red wine, in fact I think most of the people flying with us were also relatively well inebriated.

I actually logged off before this incident took place, but it made me chuckle and I wanted to share. I have taken the details from my corp-mate Greg6’s own write up on our forums.

So we’d been running about in various fleets all evening with much shipping up and down going on and this apparently continued after I left. Towards the end of the night one of our guys lost his Navy Comet to a bunch of R.A.G.E pilots… who then logged off with their GCC still going… in the same system.

They were promptly probed out, and revenge was enacted on their helpless ships :P

http://gallente.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=7610387

I do so love it when Faction War noobs get one up on the big boys ;-)

First Blood

2010-09-15T22:57:00.004+01:00

I'm close to reaching 1000 kills on the boards and was having a little reminisce over my mails on Battleclinic and Eve Kill this evening when I found this beauty, one of my first ever losses in Eve and my first ever pvp loss in Faction War:

http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=2037933

A *cough* fine pvp fit *cough* there I am sure you will agree, and what cool folks to hand me my first buttraping… today I spent most of my evening in a MENTL run fleet lol.

In addition, my first ever pvp kill, which was also in Faction War:

http://www.gallente.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=7603503

Whenever I recall this kill it makes me chuckle. Having no particular idea of what we were doing when we first signed up to the militia my corp-mates and I made ourselves a fleet, hopped into Old Man Star and went off to save The Federation.

The first ship we came across was a neutral Dominix ratting in one of the belts, so like all good carebears we closed our eyes and opened fire, yaaarr!

Not only was he ratting for real and NOT baiting for a trap (like every other battleship ratting in OMS I have ever seen since that day) but we actually managed to kill him. It took us sooo long to take him down that passers by were warping in at range to watch and then laughing at us in local.

We didn't mind, we had fun, and it felt good to be the (slightly fail) bad guys for a change :-)

So um, what was your first time like?

Saving pods and session timer tips

2010-09-10T12:01:00.007+01:00

After yesterday’s angry-face post I thought I would counter with a few titbits on saving your pod in low-sec.

Generally, in low-sec, unless you suffer a lag monster incident or are within range of a smart-bombing ship, you should be able to save your pod after your ship explodes.

As soon as your ship starts exploding begin spamming the "Warp to 0" icon on your overview.

Having a handy "escape" style overview tab set up, showing all stations/gates etc. will help you to quickly select something to warp to. Select your object and click the hell out of that warp button, 9 times out of 10 you will be out long before your attacker can lock up your pod.

One very important thing to bear in mind is that there is that you have a session timer when you lose a ship and during that time you cannot dock or jump through a gate. So if you lose your ship at zero on a station don't sit there spamming the dock button - spam warp away instead. The same thing goes for when you lose your ship on a gate, don't try to jump, warp away.

A word on session timers, there is a handy little widget available in options that lets you see a session timer count down in the top left of your screen.

It is very small but can be quite useful, when you float your mouse cursor over it you will see the timer counting down.

I find it especially handy for surviving station camps where you need to re-dock quickly. When you undock from a station you have a 30 second session timer and before this timer ends you will not be able to redock.

In addition you also have 30 seconds of invulnerability, during that time you cannot be targeted by another player. BUT you can remove this invulnerability early if you start moving your ship, begin warp, activate certain modules or even try to re-dock. But because the session timer, preventing re-docking, remains in place you will still be stuck outside the station.

One thing you CAN do without removing your invulnerability is stop your ship (ctrl + space is the default shortcut key for this). So, if you undock and realise you are camped and might not be able to redock before you are popped simply stop your ship, so that you don't drift out of docking range, and watch your session timer widget count down to zero. Provided you don’t activate anything or start moving your ship around you will be safe until the counter hits 0 - and then you will be able to redock pretty much as instantly as your invulnerability wears off - giving your attackers little chance to lock you up and kick your butt.

Of course if you do stuff it up and lose your ship... remember to warp your pod out and don't try to redock it...

...and if you stuff that up too don't forget to update your clone ;-)

o/

*additional info*

Corp mate alexthefox pointed out that my first picture suggests warping to a gate - obviously bear in mind if you warp to a gate with your pod just after loosing a ship and the warp distance takes less than 30 seconds to complete then you still won't be able to jump out of this gate either. You can always bounce to a planet or bounce to another gate. The session timer is 30secs, and you can watch it with the session change timer.

Also, I've not gone into it here but yes you can of course change your warp to 0 distance, just as you can change your orbit distance. Right click on the >>> button to set a new distance.

Don’t fly what you don’t have the balls to die in?

2010-09-09T19:45:00.004+01:00

I've been flying with the Gallente militia for over 2 years and in that time I’ve seen a lot of lame stuff. Fail FC's, smacking, back stabbing, exploit abuse, childish behaviour of all shapes and sizes. We're not golden and I have no deluded desire to put us on a pedestal above anyone else. The bad eggs and failures here are the same as in any other militia or indeed any other part of Eve.

But one thing I've never ever had the shame to witness is a Gallente Fleet Commander ordering his fleet to dock up and pod home. If only the same could be said for our Caldari war-targets.

Now this is something that used to happen fairly frequently, but it was almost understandable six months or so ago. Severely outnumbered and out gunned with absolutely no hope of survival or even a few kills Caldari fleets would often find themselves pinned down by several Gallente fleets leaving them with the option to sit in a station all night, die or pod home. To run home in this instance I can understand. This I can make some sense of.

But things have changed a lot since then. The Caldari have been stomping their way around Blackrise for months. The Gallente do not have the constant upper hand that they used to and have had their fair share of being trounced. So why oh why did this gawd awful "tactic" make a resurgence last night?

We'd been roaming around in a BC and below fleet, had a little skirmish or 2 with some dirty pies out near Ostingele before getting news of a Caldari fleet of similar numbers and ship types in Heydieles. We headed back in the hope of a scrap and ended up jumping after the target fleet into the Ladistier system.

There are 3 low-sec exits from Lad, one leads to Gallente High-Sec but the Aeschee and Old Man Star gates are both in low-sec pipes. We warped to and from the Aeschee and OMS gates, fully expecting to be in combat with the war targets at any moment, why wouldn’t we? We played no games and made no attempt to hide ourselves - we were about as obvious as a lady of the night sat in an Amsterdam window with her baps on display, come get some! But for some reason there was no bite...

The Caldari warped to on grid and off grid safes and we wasted 20mins playing kiss catch between gates before bringing in some probers when the targets flew to a safe spot. Whilst we had eyes on all gates were certainly were not covering them very well, the Caldari could easily have left the system in their entirety, perhaps losing one or 2 pilots snagged by our tackle. But they made no attempt to leave and so we were still optimistic on the chances of a fight.

But as time ticked on news of the war targets and our active fleet attracted more friendly attention and our fleet numbers started to grow. Chances of a skirmish started to drop.

Probers were brought in to try and find the enemy safe spot but the Caldari, probably seeing probes on scan, docked up in the station. Bleh. So now it was station games; a few of our fleet tried to entice them into a scrap. But no, instead they start warping through us in interceptors, stabbed Dramials and... PODS... WAT TEH FUDGE?

Why? Why? Why? They came all this way for a fight and there it was on a plate? Sure they would have lost ships, but so would we and if they'd allowed it to kick off when they first entered Lad (where they could also have been set up at range waiting for us) then the two sides would have been fairly evenly matched. Loosing ships in a "gf" and getting a bunch of kills in the process is surely far less shameful than running home in pods? That kind of demoralising action is more reminiscent of the "old squids" not the "new squids" surely.

This makes me sad. What a waste of two good fleets and a potentially good scrap for both sides. Why go all that way if you don't want a fight when one comes along?

I thought the confidence of the Caldari was high, I thought our War Targets were turning the tables around. Perhaps I was wrong.

/end rant

Nevermore

2010-09-01T13:13:00.007+01:00

My pvp ships are a little dusty at the moment thanks to rl being hectic and a distinct lack of war targets whenever I log in. So instead of pewpew I've been indulging in a spot of carebearing, hanger sorting, the Gallente Epic Arc (rather excellent btw from a pve combat and story perspective plus and you get a nice reward at the end AND you can repeat it every 3 months) and spending time on my trade alt.

I've still not got over the joy of being able to play Eve with all the graphic settings turned up to ze max so I've also been frapsing everything that moves and taking lots of screenshots then procrastinating my evenings away by messing about with the clips/shots in different programs.

Couple of nights ago I was experimenting with the Advanced Camera options whilst filming the NPC Leviathan in the Luminaire system. Whilst there I took a rather nice shot of some pilot's Raven, which I am now using as a desktop background. So until I have some tales of war to share I shall share my nice screenie!

(click image for full size version)

o/

***Sneaky Fake Edit***

Forgot to mention that EVE SOB is putting together an idea for a "Frigate Cage Fight" which sounds like potential for lots of fun and I wanted to give it a quick plug. Check his blog post here:

http://evesob.blogspot.com/2010/08/lowsec-frigate-cage-fight-good-idea-or.html

Faction War Interview: Aurora Nyx

2010-08-27T10:10:00.011+01:00

Back in my early days with the Gallente Militia I often found myself flying with popular scout and interceptor pilot Aurora Nyx. He was a regular face around the militia, a staple member of any decent fleet and good company to boot. When I finally made the decision to return to FW full time I was dissapointed to find out that Aurora had left the Gallente Federation and was now fighting for the Caldari State, his original militia home...

Name: Aurora Nyx

Corp & Role: Inglorious Basterds [I.B.S] Director

Militia: Caldari

Most likely to be seen: Scouting in a Crow, assuming I’m not too busy with Corp business. Directors work hard you know!

Tell us about how you got started in Eve, what did you get up to before Faction War and what was it that first tempted you to join a militia?

Like thousands of pilots before me, I was a miner, deep in 0.0, and working for a Corp that wanted lots of ore, all of the time. Quite incredibly I spent the best part of 2 years 'shooting rocks', keeping the ores my Corp didn't want. Eventually the Corp became directly involved with defending BoB alliance systems, and the mining was feeling like a second job. It was at the time the plans for FW were being announced by CCP.

One night my CEO (a complete idiot btw, like most CEOs of 0.0 Alliance pet Corps) insisted that I jump into a tackling frigate and assist with defence of our home system. The fight was over in less than 5 minutes, and I died horribly while holding down a couple of Goon BS's, but the thrill of the fight and the buzz on the comms was enough to wake me up from my PvE slumber. That night I made 2 new accounts, 2 new characters, and planned the sale of my Miner. I've never looked back.

What sort of fleets and ships types do you prefer?

I have 2 ship-loves in Eve. The Crow and the Drake. Feel free to pod me if you see me flying anything else! The Crow in my opinion is the best all-round Interceptor, it doesn't excel at any 1 thing, but it has a great mix of speed, range, and agility to assist me in what I do. The Drake is just pure awesomeness. Enemy fleets most often leave them until last when it comes to target calling, so the total damage that they can put out over the course of a battle is usually higher than total damage of any other Battlecruiser.

As far as my favourite fleet-type... well ... Wolf Pack of course. A swarm of Frigates have the DPS to pop anything Battleship and lower, and more importantly the agility/speed to out-run enemy fleets. The fleet moves through space at a rapid pace, picking off solo pilots and small enemy gangs, without getting caught. How frustrating that is for our enemies! Also, honestly, Frigates are fun to fly, pilots need to go down a few ship sizes now and again to remember what fun is sometimes.

You've spent time in both the Gallente and Caldari militias - what was behind your decision to switch away from the Caldari? And why did you later return?

Easy question. Despite my lust for blood and action, I'm actually a nice guy. I believe in fair play, and I want my character in Eve to portray that side of my personality. I joined Caldari pretty much by accident. I had created 2 characters, 1 Caldari, and 1 Gallente, so I could have joined either with their standings, but the night I signed up I was in Caldari Empire. It wasn't long before the Caldari with overwhelming numbers and over-powered ECM ships like the Falcon were stamping on Gallente fleets 23/7, and while it was nice to be 'winning' it didn't feel that good. We weren't having fights, we were inviting the Gallente to be slaughtered any time they left their high-sec base. So, a dozen pilots including myself decided to level the playing field a little and we defected.

Moving on a few months, and having had a great time flying with the Shadows of the Federation, the Gallente militia gradually got their act together, started running fleets based on a core of trusted Corps, and co-ordinating their efforts against the Caldari. As a militia 'Alliance' they pushed their pilots into flying real ships with real tactics. I'm afraid that as a consequence of the Mutual Defence Pact that was formed, and the subsequent unintentional 'shunning' of the General Militia, I felt that Gallente FW was no longer compatible with my 'fair play' attitude, so regretably I had to make the tough decision to return to the Caldari. I don't have any regrets, nor do i hold any grudges, changes happen and things move on, you have to be true to yourself, whether you have an evil streak or a Mr Nice Guy attitude. Afterall, this is just a game, and how would you ever enjoy playing if you didn't do what was best for you, good or evil?

Having been active and involved on both sides you have a fairly unique perspective of both militias, do you feel that there are any major differences between how the Gallente and Caldari work?

For sure. If you could strip away any numbers advantage I'm pretty sure that with their great organisation the Gallente would come out on top every time. The Caldari Militia tends to attract many more mission runners than the Gallente Militia. Our FW missions are easier, and the rewards are greater. Unfortunately this means that when it comes to fighting we have fleets filled with pilots in weird PvE / PvP hybrid ships, not knowing how to behave, and not necessarily knowing how to follow orders. Where the Gallente have a core of a few PvP Corps guiding all the action, we have 2-3 Corps struggling to herd the novice masses. It's a challenge, but every victory we take is a victory hard earned, no matter how few our victories may be at times we can say we have pushed, prodded and poked our pilots into shape for the fight, and that for me is worth the effort.

So the Gallente have their great organisational skills, but no one, and I mean no one makes a 'blob' like the Caldari, that unfortunately is the Caldari Militia talent, sometimes the blob wins, sometimes it gets hot-dropped by 300 pirate Carriers, lol.

How easy was it to switch between militias? Did it take long to become trusted once you changed sides? Would you ever switch back to Gallente or do you have any plans to go to the Minmatar/Amarr militias?

Switching to Gallente Militia was easy. I joined open fleets, demonstrated my ability of shooting at any target, and ignored all the taunts and jeers from the militia I had just joined. Luckily I already knew Gallactica of Shadows of the Federation, and many of his pilots from when i camped various gates with a couple of other Caldari. So after a few weeks of killing my ex-militia pilots I asked to join. Gallactica, Shadows CEO ( another Mr Nice Guy ), is always willing to give people a chance to prove themselves, and from there the rest was easy.

Returning to Caldari was difficult. I was effectively exiled, and for a time i was hunted by both the Gallente and a few pilots in the Caldari Militia. It was a long road back. It took 3 weeks just to repair the damage to my standings with both Caldari State and Caldari State Protectorate. I had to fly alone, kill solo (not easy in a Crow) and prove that I had something to offer if they were willing to trust me. My lucky break came when the leading Caldari Corp at the time, the PERVS, stopped shooting me because I was doing plenty of plexing to regain standings, which was their area of expertise. Eventually with around 40 enemy high-sec kills (mainly griefing Gallente miners and haulers), I was allowed to join a Militia fleet, the rest is history.

As far as any plans to join another Militia.... well who knows what my Corp will do in the future, but 1 thing is for sure, there is no way I can withstand another side-swap at my age ! I'm over 40 now, you know :)

Your corporation, Inglorious Basterds, is a very proactive group in the Caldari Militia, can you shed some light on what you guys are currently up to and your plans for the future? Will you stay in FW or do you have other aspirations?

This question arrived at the right time to have a good answer. It's holiday season for most of our pilots, so we have some people coming and going, long periods of inactivity etc. The Corp is working hard to get all of our pilots to live in low-sec FW space. FW is based in low-sec, so it's only right that we live there if we are serious about what we do. Getting hardened industrialists and PvE'ers to agree to raise their risk level isn't that easy, the first step is always the hardest and yet the most important. We have discussed going to help friends in 0.0, leaving Caldari Militia, doing Corp-only fleets, and turning pirate. I expect most corps have given thought to most of those things, and I think we'll probably do all of them over time, but our hearts and minds belong to keeping the momentum in Caldari FW that we have worked so hard to build.

Can you tell us more about the Caldari Defence Initiative, what is the main role and goal of the pact and how do you see it progressing into the future?

The Caldari Defence Initiative (CDI) was actually born a couple of months before it was made official and given a name. It was created out of a few Corps that were being war dec'd by just about every mercenary group in our area, seen as easy pickings because they had low numbers or were new to PvP. It was agreed that we would assist each other with remote reps or logistics, or by joining the war to even up the numbers a little. Over time only the die-hard mercs were still hitting us hard, and at a time when we were getting hammered by the Gallente it was the last thing we needed. So with a bit of prodding and poking, and a lot of behind-the-scenes conversation, the Corps made an official pact.... declare war on 1 of us and the rest will declare war back. The pact was named 'CDI' and Corp info pages started to display the warning. Within 2 weeks most of the remaining war decs against CDI Corps were dropped. These days we get very few war decs.

For the future I see the CDI continuing to be a force for defence, and a source of pilots from member Corps that die. Most member Corps are happy with the CDI as it is. We've gained new Corps, and lost some too, but at it's heart the CDI has 4-5 solid Corps that will stick together whatever the CDI evolves into. We've had plans on-going to use the CDI as a core to form Militia fleets around, so we'll see where that leads us.

The CDI is often compared to the MDP agreement, the former defence pact between some of the Gallente militia corporations. What is your own take on this, are they similar or do you feel that the CDI is quite different?

Quite simply the CDI was never designed to be anything other than a group of Corps rushing to each others aid. We never form CDI-only fleets. Our CDI chat consists of chat about war dec's and ideas about how to help each other and help the CDI evolve. We don't use any CDI-only action for anything other than war decs. The Gallente MDP was an offensive unit designed to keep out the less-desirable elements from fleets, and to work together offensively in a completely organised, secure way. The downside of that is the loss of goodwill and a feeling of resentment from the masses for being excluded, but I can see that the benefits of 'secure' warfare outweigh the drawbacks for the Corps involved. The CDI has a core value in its statement that it will help the General Militia by giving assistance, by forming and leading fleets, and providing a more desirable place to be.

How is the CDI coping with working closely with so many corporations? Your CEO, Hidden Snake is a strong voice in the call for Alliance mechanics being made available to Faction War corporations – would having this functionality help your current pact of corps to work better together?

Hidden Snake is tireless in his desire for a better FW experience for all, not just the Caldari. I've been part of his Directorship and the CDI for a while now, and all the politics can be a real bind. How do you tell a 3-man Corp that they MUST war dec a 30-man merc Corp ? Who gets to make the decisions ? Who takes the credit for the good things, and who takes the blame for the bad things ? An Alliance mechanism would allow all member Corps to vote on war decs, to vote on accepting new members, to vote on member Corps that get kicked out. An Alliance war dec means all member corps are in, and if it has been voted on, then it's the will of the many, and the few have to accept the democratic process. These are just a few of the essential democratic fundamentals that normal alliances take for granted. Fundamentals that we have to work hard to enforce or compromise on. Of course dealing with 200 egos in 15 Corps is never going to be easy, but the 'paperwork' should be, and this is Hidden Snakes point.

You've seen rather a lot of combat on both sides of the fence - any particular moments that really stand out for you?

Yes I have, lol, but not so much since I made Director of Ingloious-Basterds... so much work, so little time :p While I was in Gallente Militia there were so many fights, so many funny losses flying with Shadows of the Federation, I was known for my 'hero-tackling' and that produced some great results, but being honest I would have to say it was when the PERVS (Caldari FW) taunted our fleet FC into flying his support wing into an FW plex. They landed on 6 smartbombing Battleships and were popped and podded. That not being enough destruction, the FC then warped the rest of the fleet into the carnage. Several seconds later we had lost all frigates, all crusisers, and 10 of our 15 Battleships, something like 37 losses in total.

Now... favourite moment in Caldari, apart from all the times I help pop or pod my ex-CEO (Gallactica) .... would have to be our first ever Wolf Pack. We flew in with T1 and T2 Frigates, destroyed over 20 ships without loss over the course of the 2 hour fleet. The Gallente just didn't know where we were or how to deal with us at that time. The cries of 'not fair' or words to that effect made the night even more rewarding. I think that was the turning point for us in the recent struggle to get back to our past form. It certainly showed many of us that warfare is more than just Battleships, remote repping, and 'blobbing'

What are your favourite things about Faction War? What is it that keeps you here?

Although sometimes I am driven to despair with the lack of PvP experience and ridiculous ship fits, the Militia itself is what keeps me in FW. We get them all in FW. The die-hard PvP'er, the carebear, the know-it-all EFT warrior. It's such a great mix. Throw in a few pirate Corps that share our space, and some 0.0 Alliances claiming moons and trying to throw their weight around, and what you have is a unique collection of pilots, and a real sense that literally anything could happen at any time. I love all aspects of FW, I love the fact that 0.0 pilots come to FW for some action, I love the fact that carebears feel that FW is the place to start their PvP ambitions.

If you could have CCP fix or change one thing relating to Faction War what would it be?

I would ask CCP to build a monetary or loyalty point reward into capturing FW plexes. I see plexes as a source of combat. When you open up a plex it shows in everyones overview. If you put a system into 'contested' status it shows up in the star map. Enemy pilots will be attracted by plexing action. The only problem is that there is no real incentive to run plexes in the first place. It's a wasted opportunity for small-scale fights, that could so easily be fixed. I'd also ask CCP to ban the Gallente from living in caldari low-sec space, but that would be 2 fixes :p

>>Click here for the full list of interviews<<

Blog Banter #20 : Think like a Capsuleer

2010-08-22T11:22:00.012+01:00

Here is my response on this months EVE Blog Banter from CrazyKinux.

CK says:

With the recent completion of the 3rd instalment of the Hulkageddon last month, @CyberinEVE, author of Hands Off, My Loots!, asks: "Griefing is a very big part of EVE. Ninja Salvaging, Suicide Ganking, Trolling, and Scamming are all a very large part of the game. What do you think about all these things? You can talk about one, or all...but just let us know your overall opinion on Griefing, and any recommendations you may have to change it if you think it's needed."

There is risk in everything that you do in Eve, no matter how peaceful your intentions, and that is the way it is supposed to be. The real problem with the game in this respect is not scams, heists, ninjas or anything like that – the problem is the people who do not understand or accept this risk. Pilots need to stop thinking like humans and start thinking like capsuleers.

Humans have a limited life span and as such limited opportunity to make money, form relationships and perform activities. But capsuleers have all the time in the world. Death is a minor event and even the loss of an entire fortune can easily be regained in time.

I personally think that education is the key to people learning how to protect and counter all the “darker” traits of this game. CCP’s tutorial covers basic flight and mechanics and to complicate it further wouldn’t help new people get started, it would probably scare a lot of people off! But Eve has a fantastic community which provides guides, blogs and forum help on avoiding the darker pitfalls of the game. This information is freely available, however not everyone will do the reading before jumping into something and so there will always be lessons learned the hard way. The trick is to pick your self up and get on with it. Eternal life remember, think like a capsuleer!

Lets take a look at the specific areas raised in the banter question:

Ninja Salvaging

Salvage has no owner – first come first serve – that is how it was intended to be. Probing out your mission and salvaging it is fine. Get used to it.

If you want to keep the salvage generated by your wrecks then there are of course things you can do such as work in quieter systems for less popular agents or have a friend come and salvage your deadspace pockets behind you. If you are planning on making a long term living from running missions then Marauders are perfect for mission running and salvaging as you go. Simples!

If a ninja loots your can and goes red… and you decide to engage… chances are that you will learn an important lesson in trying to pvp in a pve ship. Ninjas that do this usually have a trick or 2 up their sleeves - it’s an important lesson and if you are going to learn it the hard way it is worth learning early...and not in a Kronos like certain friend of mine (albeit some very nice friends of his did eventually arrive to save his sorry butt with some RR... and despite dipping to 1% hull at one point he eventually got away!).

Suicide Ganking

Again, simple mechanics here that need to be drilled into the minds of people who pick this game up:

1. The undock button is the consent to pvp button.

2. High sec is not safe space it is simply safer.

3. CONCORD is there to punish criminals, not to protect you.

4. You were not given the gift of eternal life with the intention that you would never have to use it!

But again there are often things you can do against suicide ganking such as using common sense when buying and moving expensive items, using the right ship for the job, not being afk or using autopilot.

As for Hulkageddon… this gets SOOO much publicity, in the news, on the forums, adverts on Eve related websites… it is EVERYWHERE. People have plenty of notice that it is coming and that it’s time to dock up the mining barges.

Trolling

I have been a member of various forums, chatrooms and online communities on topics such as parenting, gardening, jewellery making, tarot, weddings, conservation, animal welfare and of course a ton of MMOS. Not once have I found a 100% troll or smack free environment.

The anonymous mask of the internet encourages all of us to at least speak honestly and without fear of repercussions upon our real person. It should be no surprise that some people will take it further and become full on trolls who just want to cause a fuss. Forums full of trolls and games full of smack-talkers is not unique to Eve Online in anyway shape or form, it goes with the territory. Infact in comparison to other MMOS I actually find Eve’s forum community much less antagonistic.

Of course it is easily countered. There is a block option in game and you can simply ignore people on the forums. It’s really not that hard to do.

Scamming

Over the last few years the contract system has had many tweaks which have made it even harder to fall for scams involving miss-promoted items and misleading decimal points. But people still fall for it over and over again. It happens – and because it happens it will continue.

The fact is ALL contract scams can be easily countered by reading things properly. Trade box scams are another one that catches newer players but again and this is something that ones own eyes can always solve. Besides which, legit traders always have room for another contract!

In addition, corp. heists and business/lottery scams are all very much part of Eve and will continue for as long as people fall for them. But they are often easily countered with a little bit of common sense and a small enough dose of mistrust to make you use your head without becoming too paranoid.

Griefing

Well firstly you have to think about how you define griefing. Some people think that griefing is when you get a war dec, others think it is when you are camped in a station. Some people would call piracy griefing, other people would say it was smacking in local. The term gets bandied about far too often to describe perfectly legitimate game mechanics that someone hasn’t worked out how to counter yet.

True griefing involves personal attacks, constant personal harassment and abuse of exploits that prevent you from playing the game (that’s playing the game at all, not playing it exactly how you want to play it). Things like this are petitionable.

Make Eve a safer place?

To take things like scams or ganking out of Eve would be to take away part of the heart of it and if you started there where would it stop? Are you going to ban piracy? Are you going to stop people probing each other out? What about the markets? Many people have no clue of the fierce isk battles going on there; every time you buy or sell something you are unwittingly engaging in someone else’s market pvp!

It’s all part of the game. All pilots should learnt his and then learn how to live smart. Learn to think like a capsuleer – because these things are not griefing, they are just part of Eve’s Darwinism.

Here are some of the other blogger responses to this months BB questions:
1. Blog Banter: SPACE POLIC HARASSMANT- Hallo, can I violence your boat
2. Blog Banter #20: Griefing in EVE - My Loot Your Tears
3. Blog Banter #20: Grieding in Eve - Planet Risk Show

A trip to the unknown

2010-08-18T12:16:00.006+01:00

Last night I had my first proper fleet skirmish in about 3 weeks. Feeling a little rusty (and a teeny bit tipsy -.-) I joined a corp. run Battlecruiser fleet as a fast tackler and off we headed down the pipe towards Tama.

I'd been on and off coms due to RL (why do people phone just when your fleet undocks damit?) but picked up that a fight was about to kick off between the Caldari militia and local pirates Snuff. Our intention had been to land in the middle and slug it out in a lovely big threesome. Once our forward scouts informed us that it was kicking off we jumped and warped to the fight but sadly as we landed they were all leaving. We grabbed one Hurricane but that was it, bleh.

From there we spent about 30mins travelling round low-sec looking for something else to play with but with no success. Then some bright spark suggested heading into the nearby 0.0 entrance for a mooch. ZERO ZERO? SURELY NOT SIR! Yes I guess it still holds much fear for me, fear of the unknown? I have had 3 trips into 0.0 in my entire Eve life and one of those was by accident.

One thing I have noticed about most FW corps. is that they usually have a varied mix of player types and ours is typical in that respect. Some of my comrades were as noobish about 0.0 as myself whilst others had previously lived out there for 2 or 3 years. Spirits were high and our nice little fleet deserved a good scrap so in we went.

We had a peaceful little mooch round 4 or 5 systems with really annoying names, killed a few rats, blew up an abandoned bubble and popped a Viator.

Heading back towards low-sec our scouts spotted a potential scrap on a station where 2 battleships had undocked, these then docked up when we arrived but were replaced by a Chimera which we got stuck into... just as local started to spike and several new pilots undocked.

We bounced away from the station as a scout got eyes on a group of targets now on one of the outgates, headed over and ended up in a rather nice little scrap:

http://www.gallente.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=7386354

Eve-kill seems to have gotten worse lately with mixing battle reports up and the friendly side there has some extra folks in but you get the idea. Props to the FC and our scouts who did an excellent job of leading us out of our comfort zone and into unknown territory. Much more fun than wandering low-sec for invisible war-targets and the decision paid off with a nice little fight. Certainly made a change to shoot neutrals on my overview, I still felt dirty though!

Confessions of a Carebear - a lesson in high-sec war

2010-08-17T13:08:00.019+01:00

I’ve mentioned previously how Factional Warfare helped me bridge the pve side of Eve to the pvp side, but I've not mentioned what happened with my very first taste of pvp, this took place a long time before FW had even been introduced to the game.

In the beginning I was much akin to the pilots whose many cries for help are regularly posted on the Eve-O forums in threads entitled how do we get rid of this flippin war-dec which we never asked for and such like.

It does make me cringe a little to see such threads now, not because I look down on them or feel I can judge but rather because of the guilt and embarrassment I carry over the memory of my own first experience with such a war.

I had a somewhat typical Eve childhood consisting largely of high-sec missions and mining, the idea of soloing a level 4 was a truly God-like achievement, surely this would be the pinnicle of my Eve career. Low-sec was something you had to avoid when setting autopilot destinations and 0.0 was a story people told to their kids so they wouldn't misbehave at bedtime. This was back between 2006 – 2007; Dodixe was a wonderfully quiet system and there was no such thing as salvage or ninjas. It really was carebear paradise, oh how we loved it!

My partner, Rashmika Clavain, ran a corp. called Revelation Space. It was a tight-knit, well run corp. and a pretty fun place to hang out. Our members were a mix of old gaming buddies with a few new faces who had just started playing Eve. We spent our nights chatting, mining, slaughtering npcs and reminiscing over previous adventures in different MMOs. It was a simple existence, unobtrusive and peaceful.

But as our ships got shinier and our activity increased the inevitable happened...

The Staunch has declared war on Revelation Space.

Within 24 hours fighting can legally occur between those involved.

Oh boy were we in for an overdose of Eve reality...

Now Rashmika was not quite the carebear most of the rest of his corp. was. Whilst he lacked direct pvp experience he had been around long enough to know the truth of what Eve was really all about... unlike his comrades, who were mostly playing Freelancer.

Rash did his best to rally the troops. He made contact with our enemy to try and work out why we had been decced (and potentially how we could get rid of it). He called for politeness in chat channels and common sense when out mission running. He made contact with another corp. that had also been decced by The Staunch. He tried to form plans for working together and protecting each other. He did most things that a CEO should do in times of war. Sadly for Rash his "troops" were simply not ready for it.

We had no voice coms what so ever, massive mistake. We got camped in stations and continually fell for docking game ganks. We ran into traps, thinking we were fighting back and not even realising it was a trap. We continued to mission, mine and go AFK in our shiny pve ships. People got caught left right and centre and a fair few ships were lost. And sadly there was some smack going on against our war targets when the boss wasn't around. This obviously didn't do us any favours. Whilst some folks did try and go on the offensive, without support, organisation or proper intel it was just a case of handing our enemy more kills. Our new "allies” turned out to be at least as clueless as us and diplomacy broke down. It was a disaster.

Suffice to say it wasn't long before corp. members stopped logging on and some left the game altogether. No one wanted to play when this "uninvited pvp" had ruined Eve for us all. There was some bickering and bad feeling going around; plenty of blame and no solutions. We didn’t “get” what was happening, and most refused to accept it. We were utterly out of our depth.

With nothing left to kill the war dec ended but by then the damage had been done. Many members left RS and went their separate ways. Some left the game altogether. RS all but shut its doors.

So much has happened since then... I’d love to go back in time and give myself and some of my corp-mates a good slap. Of course I know now that there really is no reason why any carebear corp. should have to find themselves falling apart at the seams when that first war-dec comes in. But if it’s happening to you, if you are that CEO trying to hold it together whilst your members moan and complain and leave you, well take some words of advice from someone who has lived to tell the tale...

Some basic common sense no-nos

- Stop running missions and mining
- No more going AFK in space – even in safe spots
- No undocking those expensive ships or faction fits.
- Consider setting your corp. tax to 50% or more to discourage complacent mission runners.
- Don’t go moving around expensive loot or large amounts of anything.
- If you insist on continuing with pve activity then in the very least use cheap ships. Watch the local channel at all times, but be aware that if war-targets enter your system it is possible they could already have your location probed out with a cover-ops alt.

Why are these no-nos? Well doing any pve and in your shiny ships is probably what your war deccers want. It is not unlikely that they have been watching your members undock for some time already and know what you get up to, where you do it and who flies what. Putting it simply, don’t give them what they want – you need to put your pve activity on hold for a few weeks. Now is not the time for carebearing!

Common sense musts

- Start using voice coms. Get everyone on coms when they log in, even if they don’t all have a microphone to speak. Voice communication is much faster and vastly more efficient for giving intel, warnings and calling for help over typing it out. Typing may have worked well for your pve fleets but it simply won't be effective enough for pvp. Eve-voice is not the best but it will suffice, plus you can all change your voices to sound like girls, neato.

- Keep any contact with the enemy in local/mails/shared channels FRIENDLY (even if your enemy does not). Smack hinders potential negotiation and if your enemy starts goading you in local then by answering back you are giving them what they want, your tears! The least amount of entertainment your members give them the better.

- Contact the enemy CEO, simply ask the reason for the dec and if there are terms for potential surrender. They may choose to end the dec for a fee or they may likely be looking to blow up your shiny ships. But there might also be a specific reason for the dec that is not isk related, perhaps a conflict with one of your members. So open negotiations and keep it pleasant. Obviously they might not shed any light at all, but it is worth a shot. And of course doing so in a polite and neutral manner will ensure you don’t make yourself and your corp. look like a bunch of easily rattled newbies who don’t know what they are doing (even if it’s true!).

- Find out if your enemy is at war with anyone else, perhaps you can work together. You can see current active war decs by going to Corporation tab -> Wars -> Other wars and search for the Corp who have the dec against you.

- Make safe spots, insta undocks and on grid viewing spots for your popular gates and stations.

- Encourage corp. members to set up jump clones – so that if they do get podded they won’t have lost their expensive implants during the war – particularly important if you plan on biting back.

Educating your membership

There is nothing more disheartening than having the corp. members you have invested months of your time in suddenly jump ship when the sh!t hits the fan. Making sure everyone has the right attitude towards war-decs is key to ensuring that things stay together if and when a war dec comes in.

Joining a player corp. in Eve means that you are ALWAYS going to be at risk of war. It is essential that your corp. members know this - and if someone really doesn’t get it then the best thing you can do is encourage them back to the NPC corp. – it is the only way to avoid a corp. war dec. Remember that CONCORD will not intervene in a legal war and that the people who have declared war against you have done nothing wrong – they are playing the game the way it is meant to be played.

Make sure your members know and understand the “no-no” and “common sense” points above and get ready to execute Plan B... yes your Plan B, even the most carebeary high-sec corp. should have one and ALL of your members should be aware of it.

Plan B and forward planning

The first thing to realise is that, even if you are the most anti-pvp corp. in New Eden, YOU DO HAVE OPTIONS. Here are a few suggestions:

- Consider hiring your own merc corp. for defence/counter war dec. – Easily done (use an alt if posting on the forums so as not to alert your war targets) but could be expensive.

- Dock up for the duration of the war and completely ignore your war-targets. Dull as hell but it is completely safe and once your targets realise they will get nothing out of you they will likely move on.

- Research cheap and cheerful pvp fits for your corp. Fleet up and get everyone out pvp-ing. Keep it affordable (and shiny free) so you don’t have to worry about the losses and just get out there and have a laugh together. If you lose 50 T1 fit Rifters, who cares? And you never know you might actually enjoy it. It’s certainly a lot more fun than getting ganked in your Nightmare or sitting in the station crying for a week or three.

- Do the above but also drop your corp. into a Factional Warfare militia and head out to low-sec for a corp. pvp holiday in your t1 gear. Yup it’s pvp and yes your war-targets might follow you BUT hanging out in low-sec is often a sure fire way of annoying high-sec war deccers who simply want to pew pew shiny ships flown by noobs in the safety of high-sec.

- Consider having some of your more active (and loyal) members attend a pvp training course. Learning even a few fleet basics and getting some pvp common sense from experienced players will enable them to advise and educate the rest of the corp. – I know if we had done this in RS we could have avoided many obvious traps in which we lost ships.

- Closing the corp. OK, do you really want to do this? I hope not! But for the sake of this guide I shall cover it as an option - If you close and re-form then there is a chance of your war deccers simply targeting the new corp. The alternative of course is that you close the corp. and all of your members re-join an NPC corp, perhaps with a shared chat channel so you can still work together. This really is a last resort however and to be honest if you embrace the dec and accept the fact that you have to deal with a war now and then it really needn’t be an option.

- Join an Alliance. Being part of an Alliance will not prevent war but it will throw off a lot of opportunistic war decs due to the higher war cost and the fact that any dec that comes in will not be just against you but all corps. within the Alliance. Of course if a War did start out it could likely be with a large corp. or another Alliance... there are up sides and downsides to being part of an Alliance and I would suggest you do your research before entering any such agreement, however it is a popular option for pure PVE Corps particularly industrial types.

- Similar to the above but less formal would be to form friendships with pvp corps - perhaps you can offer them services/items/replacement ships or equipment and in return you get a defence force when you need it?

- To pay or not to pay? Sometimes war-dec corps will drop the dec for a fee –whether or not they will actually drop the dec when you pay is another matter – consider carefully before you do this. Some research on the forums or eve-search can sometimes shed light on how honest the corp. is that you are dealing with and how likely they are to honour such an agreement.

- Set up a war chest fund – encourage all members to donate to it, put part of the corp. tax funds into it or run specific war-chest fund raising events. Aim to build up a pot of isk to cover cheap ships + fittings for if and when that war-dec comes in. That way your members will be able to fly corp. funded ships when they try their hand at a bit of suicidal pvp, which may make them more willing to join in. Also, getting everyone involved in the war-pot donations before such an even occures can help create the right mindset in your members (if they are forward planning for it then it is less of a shock when it actually happens).

- if you are publically advertising your corp. say on the Eve-O recruitment forums, try not to make yourselves sound like a bunch of officer fit faction ship flying mission runners who know diddly squat about pvp – there may be more than just potential recruits reading your thread...

Some things to be aware of

- Making the war mutual (through the corporation tab) will simply allow your deccers to fight you for free (mutual decs do not need to pay CONCORD a weekly fee).

- Surrendering a war (through the corporations tab) does not guarantee the war will be over – the war-deccers would need to accept the surrender, but they don’t have to.

- Do not post on the Eve-O forum asking CCP to change game mechanics - by all means ask for advice but you will not garner sympathy if you start complaining, this is how it is meant to be - embrace the game.

- Be prepared to lose some members, some people just were not meant to play Eve. The ones who stick with you are the ones worth hanging on to!

- It is a cliché but the undock button IS a consent to pvp button in Eve – you risk it every time you are in space, at war or not. High-sec is safer space, but not safe. CONCORD is there to punish, not to protect – and of course, as mentioned above, they will not intervene with a legitimate legal war dec.

Further reading

Friedrick Psitalon's most excellent guide for new players on dealing with war-decs, it's old but still fantastic - read it.
War target guide

Eve Search is handy for checking posting history and getting a feel for the people after you – honourable scoundrels or total asshats?!
www.eve-search.com

Popular Killboards - for checking kill history and what your targets like to fly.
www.eve-kill.net
eve.battleclinic.com/killboard

A very excellent Rifter pvp guide from Rifter Drifter
www.rifterdrifter.com/rifter-pvp-guide

Agony Unleashed pvp classes info
http://www.agony-unleashed.com/wiki

I am happy to report that the war dec on Revelation Space did not actually kill the corp. completely.

Many months later, after separate adventures throughout New Eden, most of the original members rejoined RS. A little older and a lot wiser. The corp. thrived wonderfully and we even started par-taking in some new thing called Factional Warfare a few times a month.

In 2009 Revelation Space merged into Shadows of The Federation, a pure pvp corp. in the Gallente Militia. Not long after this happened myself and Rash found ourselves enacting a little belated revenge when, of all the people in the universe, the CEO of The Staunch meandered straight into the fleet we were out flying with. Turns out they fancied a taste of FW...

http://www.gallente.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=3772665

It may have taken a few years but oh baby that kill still felt good ;-)

ooh a quiz!

2010-08-13T18:50:00.002+01:00

Eelis's Result: Loyal Pony

on quiz: EVE Online - Are you an emo rage quitter?

You most likely have been playing EVE for quite some time.
You have stuck by this game despite all the lag, bugs, imbalances and other
crap CCP never get around to fixing. You may not always be happy with the way
CCP prioritizes things, but you still think EVE is best MMO out there and there
is nothing quite like it. You consist of the majority of players in EVE,
somewhat unhappy with many things, yet you are committed to stay and hope
things get better.

Quiz School

Take this quiz & get your result

EVE Online - Are you an emo rage quitter? » online test

Sums me up well! Nice quiz Laedy :D

Whose side are you on?

2010-08-12T20:30:00.006+01:00

Ahh the summer holidays. Sunshine, breaks from school/college/uni, screaming kids, ice-cream, festivals, barbeques and the season of porta-loos.

For many people it is a time for family, kicking back and taking a break from the normal routine. As such, the summer holiday, along with the Christmas break, is traditionally when gaming gets a bit quieter for a lot of people. I have seen this happen in predominantly EU corps. and guilds in the various MMOS I have played over several years.

Here in Eve-Online SOTF is no different. Traditionally the corp. has a huge downturn in activity in the summer – it was the same last year and the year before and it will be the same next year and the year after. The AFK forum starts buzzing; our fleets and kills dwindle.

However, for some reason this year our current lack of activity seems to be drawing comment and critique from, of all places, the Gallente Militia. I keep coming across mutterings and hearing complaints which appear to show a change in attitude towards SOTF and its current lack of activity.

Now I’m not one for tittle-tattling and if some ill-informed agenda monkeys want to speculate out loud, well it’s their problem not ours – but for the sake of setting straight any non-truths that might be circling about the place I’d like to indulge in a little record straightening.

1. SOTF is not dying, dead, disbanding, arguing, having fallouts or anything of the sort. We are our usual sunny selves, nothing has changed.

2. It’s the summer and we are a corp. that consists of people with kids/families/WAGs and HABs/people who have better things to do than sit at their desk indoors when the sun is shining – as such this is the time of year where we have other things to do. It’s the same every year and it really doesn’t mean sh!t about the status of the corp. (other than that our tan lines are like totally superior to yours).

3. SOTF is currently the top killing corp. of all time in the Gallente militia and yeah it’s something we are proud of. However if we lose that spot we will not cry, we will not have supa sekrit meetings on our corp. failings and we will not emo-rage quit. No, we will salute whoever is above us. Seriously. We spend half our time drunk and doing karaoke on Vent so I really don’t understand why anyone would assume we would be butt hurt over something like this. We're a corp. out for a good time - we don't play to wave shiny killboard numbers around.

4. OH HARRO, WE'RE ON THE SAME SIDE! – So come now, enough with the fail-hate. We're just fine, there's no need to worry about us - maybe get over yourselves and get on with killing the squids and pies? We'll be back with you, in full force, soon enough.

Now where’s that new bikini shot I just uploaded...