Roamin’ Rusty’ Roamin’

So The Fancy Hats is in business again.  That’s always good for some fun.  We went on a little roam from Ami to Goniditsa looking for a fight, a gank, or just some fun.

There was so much rust on our fleet that we should have flown straight Minmatar to hide it.  Jaysus it was ugly.  It actually looked like it would be relatively smooth at first!  We got to Amdonen, met up, aligned, warped, I jump, fleet holds.  No hostiles, move on.  Then the misalignments starts, but really what’s the worst that could happen with a blackbird being left behind.  We moved on, bouncing gate to gate, then we catch an Itty V jumped behind me into the fleet.  Of course we only have 2 points in the 4 ships due to some fittings issues, and the one guy with a point where the itty jumped to is on the wrong side of the gate and has a green gumball.  Well crap.  So on we go, with a weird semi-cloaky Loki giving us an interesting chase for a couple systems, unfortunately we couldn’t catch him and of course taking sentry guns, even briefly, in a T1 cruiser is a bit of a strain.

We end up in Gonditsa with no targets.  We also remembered that Gondi was probably not the best place to go for a fight because the warp to the gate was something like 149 AU.  Also about the distance that a Stabber can go without QUITE losing all its cap.  We landed, chased an Algos through and logged.

We were rusty, our ship fits were good, but not polished, our tactics were fine, but our execution and adjustments to the current game mechanics were downright poor.  Clearly my time in null has ground the edge from my instincts, and my friends time away from the game has blunted them as well.  Fortunately I have a solution.

MOAR PEW PEW!  YARRRRR!

I’m using it every time I can

Rape Culture Fucking Sucks

So the battle’s over.  We won.  We won big because we’re awesome.  We’re big manly men flying invincible internet spaceships and we won against carefully stacked odds that look in their favor but really aren’t.  We raped ‘em.

No.  Wait.  We Didn’t.

You know why?  Because internet spaceships are awesome.  AND RAPE ISN’T!  It’s a simple concept but let’s face it some of us in the TL;DR crowd need pictures.  So I got Rixx to make me some.

This poster is also awesome.

By trivializing rape we act permissive towards it.  We pretend that it is not only not a crime, but is, in fact, something to be desired.  No we probably don’t all think that way, but it’s the image we put out and it encourages those who are of a mindset to do this horrible crime, and it’s a deterrent for the survivors of this crime to speak out, to get help.  We tell them it’s trivial.  It’s not a big deal.  You should harden the fuck up and deal with it.

This is wrong.  Rape is a horrible crime, it frequently exacts a lifetime toll on the victims and the victim blaming and shaming can cause even more pain.  And yes saying “We Raped Them” is victim shaming.  It says to rape victims that you are noobs.  That you are bad.  That you should have fought harder.  That you had control of your fate and could and SHOULD have done something.

We need to knock it off.  We are better than this.  We are capable of extolling our victories and coping with our defeats without hurting each other.  We may not always agree with each other but we are one community, the best community in gaming, and we can be better.  We owe it to the survivors in our midst.  We owe it to the survivors among our friends.  We should make ourselves clear to those animals among us that we do NOT tolerate, do NOT condone, and do NOT embrace anything that would comfort and console THEM.

Take it upon yourselves.  Stop using this language.  Stop using Rape as a descriptive term for success.

Gonna use this for a while

Intelligently Gathering Intelligence

So some of my friends are getting ready to toss out a highsec wardec.  Fun times.  They talked to me for some ideas and we went through the intel gathering process.  This used to be an absolutely arcane process that required time, patience, knowledge, and a lot of luck.  First:  A disclaimer.  This is for highsec wardecs.  Outside of highsec, wardecs make no sense.

The process used to be trolling around their stomping grounds with the corp set red and picking up names, searching battleclinic (and eve-kill) and the forums, to attempt to get names, then checking them in-game.  Dealing with the older battleclinic setup, with it’s far more limited information-gathering tools, to attempt to come up with fittings they use, and devising tactics to use against them.

Now you drop the name into EvEwho and start rolling.  Battleclinic and eve-kill are in far wider use, and offer fantastic tools to gather information, as well as the new zkillboard.  Information can be rapidly assembled and prepared, which leads us to the crux of the matter.  Finally you can see how they react to wards by checking out war reports, as well as seeing what kind of allies they can bring with them.  Now you can get all the information.  Now you can get it all together in an eminently usable form for highsec wardecs.  What do you do with it?

There’s several levels you can go to.  Bare minimum – Figure out who uses what ships.  Plan ships to bring when you see those people on to counter them, preferably something totally debilitating.  This involves basically going through each pilots solo killboard and looking at losses and kills and seeing what they used and how it was fitted if they lost it.  Simple stuff.

Next there’s allies.  Checking to see who usually yarrs in on wars declared on them, and seeing what will be the likely end result of a wardec.  This can involve any and all of the surrounding steps, but should at least involve the previous one.

The next level is to go around their stomping grounds, checking moons for POS Towers, or, as I call them, ISK Pinatas.  The goal is to identify assets that you can force them to fight over, and to figure out just how clever their leadership is, as they should take an interest in highsec POS towers as they are a total pain in the ass to replace, and tend to be rather lucrative.

The next level is a bit more onerous, it usually involves your underemployed people, or your drunken australian friends.  First you find their active times on their killboards, see when they killed with what, then you get your friends to stay on, pay attention and see roughly when people log in and out.  This lets you plan when to be active to take advantage of the enemies’ work/rest cycle and to get them into the fights YOU want them in.

The ideal goal of this process is to go into a battle with the people you want on your side, in the right ships, fighting the right enemies, with confidence in both the hostiles numbers and equipment.  The idea is to not fight a fair fight, it’s to make the fight look fair enough to get it and then smash them in as lopsided a fashion as possible.

I’m using it every time I can

Nooblets Guide: 21 Days to Glory

So, one of the things that tends to hurt new players is they can be made to feel really helpless really fast.  I’m assuming that most new players who find their way to this blog will find their way here because they have a friend who plays the game.  I’m also going to assume that their main goal will be to find fun things to do, and while PvE can be a lot of fun, new players who can contribute in PvP tend to do a lot better.

So our goal today is to find a fit that will put the player in the opportunity to fly a real PvP ship, in a fleet towards the end of their trial.  I’m going with the armor version because I’m still working towards a couple of fits that will go well with a shield version.  Here we go:

Finish the Tutorials on day 1, with all the skills you need for that, NEXT:
Racial Frigate to level 4
Small (Hybrid, Projectile, Laser, whatever) to 4
Drones to 4, with scout drone operation to 2
Electronics to 4
Engineering to 4
Gunnery 3
Afterburner 3
High speed maneuvering 3
Racial Cruiser 3
Hull Upgrades 4
Medium guns 3 (again, the one for your race)
Propulsion Jamming 3
Weapon Upgrades 4
Drones to 5
Energy Systems Operation 1

This will get you into something like this:

[Maller, t1]

5x Focused Anode Pulse Particle Stream I (Multifrequency M)

Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I
Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Warp Disruptor I

2x Adaptive Nano Plating II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II
2x Heat Sink I

3x Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

3x Warrior I

If you can find someone to rig it, and while the DPS is, frankly, anemic, clocking in at under 150, it’s a ship that will get a new player into a fight, other alternatives include the more aggressive, but more fragile Thorax:

[Thorax, Cruiser 4 T1 Guns]

5x Anode Electron Particle Cannon I (Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M)

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I (Navy Cap Booster 200)
Stasis Webifier II
Warp Scrambler II

800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
2x Prototype Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane I
Magnetic Field Stabilizer I
Damage Control II

3x Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

5x Hammerhead I

or the Rupture, giving a bit more speed, less tank, than the Maller, but more damage:

[Rupture, Cruiser 4 T1 Guns]

4x 220mm Medium Prototype Automatic Cannon (Republic Fleet Fusion M)

Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I (Navy Cap Booster 200)
Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Warp Disruptor II
Stasis Webifier II

800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II
2x Prototype Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane I
Gyrostabilizer I

Medium Anti-Explosive Pump I
2x Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

4x Warrior I
1x Hammerhead I

These aren’t perfect, refined fits, these are solid “Blue Collar” fits.  They can be handled by a nooblet, and can get them into a fight where they can have fun and see ships explode, including, quite probably, their own.  My next guide will talk about how to get into all modes of PvE in a more controlled, sustainable fashion, building from some of the skills trained here, and some new ones more focused on PvE.

Some notes:

THESE AREN’T POLISHED FITS AND SKILLPLANS I ENCOURAGE AND HOPE THAT YOU CAN AND WILL GIVE ME YOUR CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK.  Constructive feedback means “You can do this with the lasers and this with the plate to get this and this in the maller” not “take a shower you fungal faced wookie dung”

These ships are meant to be used in fleets.  Logistics and ewar support can come from more experienced people.

Yes I want nooblets out pew pewing sooner, this will be sort of a “welcome to week three, grab your diploma, your lasers, and start killing shit” culmination of the free trial period.

I’m using it every time I can

State of the Blog

So for those of you that have been here a while, I’m sure you are heartbroken that I haven’t been more regular with my amateur theatrics and demagoguery.  I promise to be on more, to write more, if not better, and to continue to beat my favorite drums.  Player responsibility, Greyscale working on Hello Kitty Online, More explosions, and less chauvinism and rape culture in the game, and gaming in general.  I’m feeling energized, more willing to play, and very enthusiastic about the upcoming expansion.  I have Real-Life friends coming back into the game, which has me endlessly excited, and our network of contacts now includes some very interesting and heavyweight batphones.

I’d like for you guys to back my STORY if you want to, and to pay attention to this space.  I have a good number of friends from other games taking the plunge this summer and fall on EvE, and we all know nooblets make for great content on blogs.

One of my toons will be in highsec full time, and stirring up a mess at every opportunity.  There’s simply too many changes affecting highsec either in the recent past or the near future.  The pot is well and truly stirred and shenanigans will soon abound with characters like Vinny and Vorg probably using and abusing the denizens of the belt who aren’t lucky enough to be wearing Fancy Hats.

One of the projects I’ll be working on will be to figure out how best for legitimately new players to spend their time, to include training plans, money making methods, self defense, and going on the offense.

EvE is a game of opportunities.  The opportunities look good from where I sit.  Fly Dangerous.

I’m using it every time I can

Pocket Battleships

So I’ve been mulling over ships I’d like to see, and with tiericide there’s become a few distinct classes that have emerged.  Logistics, Attack, Brawler, and Disruption ships.  I don’t think we’ll ever see a real Battleship class devoted to logistics.  I don’t think we should either.  What I would like to see is a disruption Battleship.  My idea for these is to make them ships devoted to disrupting the enemy, taking advantage of the opportunities that create, and then get away.

Historically Pocket Battleships refer to a smaller, slower, generally inferior battleship, particularly German ships like the Deutschland class cruisers.  I don’t want these to be second rate ships in EvE.  To me these ships should be fast, but not particularly agile, capable of zooming in, creating havoc with their disruptive abilities and their weapons, and then racing away equally fast.  They shouldn’t be capable of standing in the line of battle, nor should they have particularly good sustained DPS.  I also want to see them carry both types of racial EWAR.  Not just (for example) target painting for Minmatar, although it makes FAR more sense to have a battleships with target painting than a frigate, but webs as well.

The ships should have limited high slots, perhaps 5 to 6, generous mid slot allocations, 5-6 for armor tankers, 8 for shield, and generally poor low slots, 4 or even 3 on shield, 5-6 for armor.  The bonuses should be a bonus to both types of Ewar, ideally range, to go with a high base speed, mediocre base agility, middling to poor defenses, and possibly a bonus to base weapon damage, not ROF, just damage.  The idea is to emphasize scoring hits on targets that are slowed, crippled, unable to strike back, and give the ships the ability to get in and out, but not to dogfight.  If I could get away with it I’d even give them a tracking penalty.

Finally there’s the designs.  I think all of them should be of the “futuristic-but-unfinished” look.  If you want to get really adventerous I could even see the Minmatar having a Catamaran or outrigger design.  The ships should look like what they are, fast, aggressive, modern, but not sturdy, and very unwieldy.  These ships would add a bigger option to at least show up for fights where a T1 cruiser simply won’t cut it, but T2 ships aren’t a good idea either.  They’d also offer a slightly more forgiving platform for people to learn the skills they need to operate a recon ship effectively.

Obviously the idea needs a lot of work, and it won’t happen for a *while* as I suspect the art department is very behind on old projects, let alone new ones, but it’s always fun to think, and it’s a slow day.

Fly dangerous, score kills!

I’m using it every time I can

A Mind for the Game

So EvE requires a different sort of mindset than many other MMOs.  The fact that you can and will lose something at some point in this game is thoroughly unavoidable.  I’m helping some friends from LotRO in their efforts to establish a foothold in EvE and received a bit of pushback, one quote in particular stands out:

If our newest members get into Eve then They should try not to die for the fact of losing points, gear ships, etc. I know Corelin is supplying the ships, but just be careful. My son has played Eve quite a few years and knows the cost of losing ships , property and other assorted items.

This is, frankly, completely at odds with my own playstyle and mindset.  To me, a PVP ship is dead the minute it’s fit.  Everything it does after is a bonus.  Even undocking.  That doesn’t mean that I want to lose it frivolously, but if it dies in a fire it’s part of the game.  Ships in harbor and all that.  I undock it because I plan on getting in a fight, and with T1 cruisers and frigs being what they are and where they are now, there’s no reason not to go look for a fight, and fight until the bitter, bitter end.

There’s several kinds of ships in EvE, I’m going to focus on three.  PvE ships, PvP ships, and Asset ships.

PvE ships shouldn’t get blown up a whole lot.  To me, every PvE ship that dies; dies because the owner did something really, really dumb.  These ships can be protected very easily, with planning and a modicum of situational awareness.  As long as you aren’t stupid you won’t meet the raging fist of Darwin.

PvP ships are everything from practically disposable rifters up to battleships, T1 and even most T2 ships.  These ships are not meant to be thrown away, but tend to get blown up anyway as the cost of doing business.  In a theme-park they are your repair bills and your consumables every bit as much as ammo, scripts, and cap charges.

Asset ships are ships that are meant for PvP but are only committed when there’s a lot going on, and a lot on the line.  Faction battleships, T3s, Capital and Super-Capital ships.  These ships go out expecting to come back.  Losing one is often a blow to even the most jaded pilots as these ships often have meaning to them beyond their cost.

The overarching mindset for all of these is the same, that’s why it’s overarching.  Ships are lost in EvE.  There’s circumstances where any and all of these ships can be lost.  Pick a ship you can lose, and go.  Don’t count on the ship coming back, or your pod.  Don’t fly what you can’t afford to lose because you will lose it and find out just how well you can afford it.  At the same time, do yourself a favor.  FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE.  If your CEO/Officers/Good buddy is handing out ships to go shoot things in, you can afford to lose it!  That’s why he’s giving it out, to help you with costs and broaden your gameplay.

If you want to try something, try it.  Find a way to try it smart, find people to help you try it smart, but don’t let your worries keep you from trying.

I’m using it every time I can

Ertoo III Moon 14

So Aridia keeps showing up in TheMittani.com these days.  I’m pretty sure even readers of this site aren’t too firm on where Aridia is, why it matters and whether or not they should give a shit.  Short, Short version:  It’s the crossroads of Delve, Solitude, Khanid, Genesis, and Fountain.  It’s a lot like Des Moines, Iowa.  There’s not a lot IN Des Moines, but it’s an easy drive to Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Kansas City, Omaha, and a slightly less easy drive to St. Louis.  Interstates all the way.  If you want to push it you can make Nashville, Cleveland, or Pittsburgh, in a day.  It has an R64 moon in a cul-de-sac.

Long version:  The big deal with Aridia, historically, is as a crossroads.  It is within jump range of nearly half of EvE.  When I lived there we had a guy in the alliance who had known bridge titans in range of us on his watchlist.  He constantly had names logging in or out.  To live in Aridia is to live with the threat of a bridge or a hotdrop as a fact of life.  For a long time Rooks and Kings kept people fairly honest, as they were pretty active in the area, living in nearby Syndicate.  Now they don’t seem to be as interested in the little playground.  Others have moved in and made their mark.  Drunk and Disorderly seems to have made a particular mark on the area.

R64 moons have long been in the back seat behind the Mighty Tech Monster.  This is going to apparently change with Odyssey.  Really it is.  We mean it this time.  If CCP finally delivers, and I think they will, then we will see the R64 moons become real hotspots for fights.  Oh yeah, there’s a Dyspro moon in Ertoo.  I know it pretty well since I managed to whelp a fleet at it once upon a time.  It isn’t the last fleet torn to shreds around that moon and pretty soon I suspect the amount of scrap metal around the moon to grow large enough to build a Ragnarok for every TEST member.  It’s just too tempting.  It’s right there, in bridge range of… everywhere.  Most alliances are smart enough to hold off, but now that Dyspro is going up in price, expect that to change.  That moon is a diamond mine, and Christmas is coming.  I expect battles there, big ones.  If I was running a major news site I’d have a toon logged in ready to start frapsing 24/7 as soon as things start heating up.

Finally, it’s a major crossroads, there’s so many places to drop a gatecamp in Aridia that you will see multiple fleets sometimes camping different gates in the same system.  For a smaller scale alliance it’s a smorgasbord of options.  Genesis isn’t the hotbed it was in the days of [NAWTI] but it certainly has it’s ways, Udianoor is lucrative… the list goes on.   Aridia has a lot of little things, one big thing, and it combines to create the sort of backstabbing morass of villainy that has made EvE famous.  Watch this space people, it might be quiet, but I doubt it will be dull.

I’m using it every time I can

 

 

Fixing Mining Without…. Fixing… Mining

Ok, first off, I’m a fan of about 95% of what I’ve seen come out of Iceland.  I am.  The only real nasty bit for me was the mining “improvements.”  If you had to make a list of adjectives used to describe mining in EvE, I’m fairly certain terms related to “Boring” and “Repetitive” would show up in the top 10.  In fact I’m sure derivatives of them would make up the top 10.  Now CCP seems to be set on fixing this by adding “Lucrative” to the list, which I’m fine with, but damnit, why isn’t there a change to the mechanics of mining?

I’m actually ok with boring.  I work in a bank.  I study accounting.  I write a blog about EvE Online.  I watch baseball.  Boring is not a huge problem, but there’s a LEVEL of boring that is.  Log in to EvE.  Check the market prices.  Update your spreadsheets.  Find a good bookmark for mining the ore you want.  Warp in, click *snooze*.  Seriously.  Warp in, target, wait for the hold to fill, warp away, lather rinse repeat.  It’s actually less interesting than work.  At a bank.

I’m ok with mundane, even routine, but mining isn’t interactive.  Even missions you have to manage your tank, move around some (maybe) and keep swapping targets to shoot what you need to shoot.  Mining… you can do mining more than semi afk, find the right system with the right rocks, and you can go completely AFK till the hold fills.  Warp to your station, warp back.  Start filling the hold again.

Pardon me but this is a bit dull.  Sure CCP could make the rocks smaller, but that’s hardly going to do much other than drive people mad, a skilled player can tune his ship, his skills, and use his knowledge of mechanics to mission faster.  Rat faster, and market games are highly dependent on skills I don’t actually seem to have in game.  There’s no real “player skill” involved in actually mining.  It bugs me.  A lot.  There has to be an elegant solution.  There has to be someone out there that has it.  That has something INTERESTING, interactive, and useful to add to the conversation.

Oh and CONGRATS TO THE NEW CSM!  STAY ACTIVE!  DON’T LET CCP GET STOOPID!

I’m using it every time I can

CSM CSM CSM CSM

So the CSM election is underway.  I haven’t covered it a lot.  Then again I haven’t written a lot.  I’m going to talk about two people.  Mike Azariah and Ripard Teg.  I’m endorsing one.  I’m not endorsing the other.

The guy I’m endorsing?  Mike.

PUT DOWN THE FLAMETHROWER.

TELL HANS TO RELEASE THE HOSTAGES.

There are reason.

I have no doubt that both are eminently capable at filling their place in the CSM.  Both are intelligent, articulate, and dedicated.  I don’t read as much of Mike’s blog as I do Ripard’s.  It just rubs me the wrong way.  I do keep an eye on it and look for “the point” if you will, but he just doesn’t capture my thought the way Ripard does.  Ripard I read voraciously.  Ripard also reminds me of someone.  Mynxee.  He has that same combination of knowledge, dedication, and sensitivity that drove Mynxee to ruin.  She didn’t have a huge blog to maintain.  She didn’t have the stakeholder role and the schedule that the CSM has.  Ripard Teg in a CSM seat is EvE burnout times 20.  I don’t think anyone can keep up the schedule Ripard has NOW.  I really don’t.  Add the CSM to it?  Add the stress of trying to find things to write about without violating NDA.  Now I have had some discussion with Hans that have convinced me that at least for every topic he’d lose, he’d gain insight that could well be invaluable for the community, that is, the muzzle would be relatively loose for someone like him, and that he’d compensate for it well by using his insight to write well about topics he can write about and using his new knowledge to contribute even more than he normally would.

I still don’t see him keeping up with the CSM, his blog, playing the actual game on occasion, oh and his real life job, family, friends, what have you.  I just don’t.  I’m not saying don’t vote for him.  He’s eminently qualified.  He’s completely capable.  I just don’t think it ends well.

Mike offers a perspective of a casual, hisec player.  The guy that logs in a couple times a week.  Maybe undocks, maybe doesn’t.  At the same time he has a deep understanding of the game, the meta-game, the mechanics, and social structures.  He communicates well, he works very hard.  I also don’t worry nearly as much about him burning out and exploding in a ball of fiery ennui.  He may not contribute a lot to the discussion major issues confronting alliances with tens of thousands of players, but he does offer some perspective on the activities on the tens of thousands of unaffiliated players.  Players like myself in the old days.

In general I agree with Hans voting list.  *I* won’t be voting for Ripard.  I won’t tell you not to vote for him, just that I’m not.  I know it’s a big difference, but it’s something to consider.

There’s one other name I won’t have on my list.  Roc.  Now I have a better opinion of him than I used to, but frankly his biggest weakness is in the praise he links on his own video.

Committed to improving discussions and bringing player ideas to the table, even those he disagrees with.
-Ali Aras (emphasis mine)

I can argue strongly and well for ideas I support.  I can argue articulately in favor of things I don’t have a strong opinion.  I cannot argue as well on issues I disagree with.  I couldn’t argue that, say, suicide ganking should be removed from the game.  I also wouldn’t do it.  It would violate my integrity on two points.  First:  I would be telling you something I believe is untrue.  That weakens my standing and it means I am less effective because my detractors could say “Well how about all times you said suicide ganking was awesome, or when you blew up my mining barge you asshole!”  To which I’d have to say “Be quiet I’m suicide ganking to get the taste out of my mouth.”  The second part is that I could not portray myself as capable of arguing against that because someone who actually believes that suicide ganking is bad needs to be stopped.  I would actually be sabotaging the efforts of the people who deserve good representation on their horribly misguided ideas.  It’s possible Roc could argue better than me.  In fact it’s likely.  But if your biggest strength is the ability to argue for things you don’t believe in… no vote.  Sorry, better luck next year.  I suggest you tell me what YOU believe in, what YOU want to see.  Then i’ll put you on the other side of the list.

I’m using it every time I can