I was going to write a post defending the new unified inventory system. I have been thoroughly beaten in that plan however. Who else but Jester has written a very good post about it. We also have a slightly negative but well written post from Seismic Stan highlighting the over-entitled attitude of some of the more active forum posters. I think between both of them they covered everything I was going to say.
For the record I am pretty much in favour of the new system. Yes, it took a little to get used to but this is just because it is different, not because it sucks. Living in wormhole space my biggest concern was the complications in my corp members dealing with several CHAs all appearing as "Corporate Hanger Array" in the sidebar. Today, CCP fixed that my making CHAs nameable. They even dealt with my minor issue of all the POS guns being listed by collapsing them under another level of hierarchy. The only improvement I can think of now is to only display containers within range in the sidebar - I'm rarely within 2500m of the POS guns so why show them at all?
Now, to all the cry babies in the EVE-O forums who've been threatening to quit over the new inventory system. Here's a little tip, either say it and go or don't and don't. A threat like that only works once and that was Incarna. You've had your wildcard now give up with the extreme threats as they have no weight anymore. All repeating this threat does is further dilute it to the point of being comical. Actually, it already is comical. Each time I read it in the forums I have a little chuckle to myself. I suspect CCP forum masters also giggle somewhat.
24 May 2012
16 May 2012
Stealing POSs
It's an accepted defence mechanism in wormhole space to anchor POSs at all the moons in your home system. Obviously this is a more appealing defence in systems with a small number of moons, but even in systems with 20 moons it's still a viable defence. At the risk of stating the obvious, the defence aspect is that anyone wanting to obtain a foothold in your wormhole system would first have to blow up an offline POS before they could anchor their own.
This is a sucky situation to have in EVE and is a result of the game mechanics not providing a mechanism by which to unanchor POSs belonging to others. This is a topic that comes up from time to time in my corp and my answer is always the same: It should be possible to using hacking modules to force an offline POS into an unanchored state. This could be either with the Codebreaker I and II modules or with a brand new module and/or skill.
Personally I would go with a requirement of a Codebreaker II and a new skill of Advanced Hacking to trigger the offlining process. There should be some alert provided to the POS owners in order to allow them to arrange a defensive fleet. There should also be a longer timescale for the unanchoring following a successful hack attack compared to the owner unanchoring the tower. Maybe a base unanchoring time of 10 hours with a bonus of 1 hour reduction per skill level in Advanced Hacking.
Such an attack should be viable in all securities of space. It would be comparable to stealing from a jetcan or looting someone else's wreck with the applicable shootable state persistent for the entire time of the unanchoring process. Cancelling the unanchoring should not be possible by any party.
The resulting situation would allow people to make ISK salvaging abandoned POSs without requiring wardecs in hisec. This would also free up many moons which are currently 'reserved' by people who may not even play any more. The defensive aspect becomes less appealing in wormholes but not entirely gone, just more risky. I can't see any downside to this plan. Can you?
This is a sucky situation to have in EVE and is a result of the game mechanics not providing a mechanism by which to unanchor POSs belonging to others. This is a topic that comes up from time to time in my corp and my answer is always the same: It should be possible to using hacking modules to force an offline POS into an unanchored state. This could be either with the Codebreaker I and II modules or with a brand new module and/or skill.
Personally I would go with a requirement of a Codebreaker II and a new skill of Advanced Hacking to trigger the offlining process. There should be some alert provided to the POS owners in order to allow them to arrange a defensive fleet. There should also be a longer timescale for the unanchoring following a successful hack attack compared to the owner unanchoring the tower. Maybe a base unanchoring time of 10 hours with a bonus of 1 hour reduction per skill level in Advanced Hacking.
Such an attack should be viable in all securities of space. It would be comparable to stealing from a jetcan or looting someone else's wreck with the applicable shootable state persistent for the entire time of the unanchoring process. Cancelling the unanchoring should not be possible by any party.
The resulting situation would allow people to make ISK salvaging abandoned POSs without requiring wardecs in hisec. This would also free up many moons which are currently 'reserved' by people who may not even play any more. The defensive aspect becomes less appealing in wormholes but not entirely gone, just more risky. I can't see any downside to this plan. Can you?
14 May 2012
Leave Quietly
One of the things I notice a lot coming from various EVE bloggers is the need to post about stopping playing. I'm all for blogging EVE related information and stories, things happening in game related to EVE and things happening out of game related to EVE. What I really can't be bothered with is people who feel the need to write a laundry list of why they no longer enjoy EVE and are leaving. Don't care, not reading, won't miss you anyway.
From time to time I reduce the amount I play EVE. I don't particularly dwell on the reasons at those times, I just feel like spending less time in the game. I couldn't say it's even something I plan - it just happens. This past weekend would be a good example. I was up until 3am on Friday night/Saturday morning scanning and chatting with corp mates. Funnily enough we didn't do too much but we were having a good laugh. The result of me spending five continuous hours online until the wee small hours of the morning meant I didn't particularly want to log into EVE during the rest of weekend. No drama, no excitement.
As a game, EVE has such breadth of scope for what you can do in it. A lot of people talk about 'The Sandbox', a term I'm not overly fond of. To be honest I'm not massively fond of calling EVE a game neither. It's something in between. It can't be fully a sandbox because CCP does meddle with content from time to time. Ships are re-balanced for example. It's not truly a game because the content I would consider game material (i.e. the missions and incursions) are limited and repetitive. All the meaningful content is generated by other players. Both the players you fly with and the players you fly against.
If you have 'lost the fire' for EVE then you have a few options. You can slow down, play less, takes walks in the countryside. If your corp doesn't like it then tough - it's your life and your money paying to play. Don't want to take walks? Why not just change what you do in the game? Fed up running hisec missions? Go run incursions; go to faction warfare; try some piracy; go to nullsec; market PvP; make some new niche activity up and recruit people to your dream.
EVE is only a game you can get bored of if you let yourself get hemmed into a single style of play. Use your imagination and set yourself free. If, however, you are unable to follow these suggestions, please just cancel your subscriptions and go quietly.
Oh, and can I have your stuff?
From time to time I reduce the amount I play EVE. I don't particularly dwell on the reasons at those times, I just feel like spending less time in the game. I couldn't say it's even something I plan - it just happens. This past weekend would be a good example. I was up until 3am on Friday night/Saturday morning scanning and chatting with corp mates. Funnily enough we didn't do too much but we were having a good laugh. The result of me spending five continuous hours online until the wee small hours of the morning meant I didn't particularly want to log into EVE during the rest of weekend. No drama, no excitement.
As a game, EVE has such breadth of scope for what you can do in it. A lot of people talk about 'The Sandbox', a term I'm not overly fond of. To be honest I'm not massively fond of calling EVE a game neither. It's something in between. It can't be fully a sandbox because CCP does meddle with content from time to time. Ships are re-balanced for example. It's not truly a game because the content I would consider game material (i.e. the missions and incursions) are limited and repetitive. All the meaningful content is generated by other players. Both the players you fly with and the players you fly against.
If you have 'lost the fire' for EVE then you have a few options. You can slow down, play less, takes walks in the countryside. If your corp doesn't like it then tough - it's your life and your money paying to play. Don't want to take walks? Why not just change what you do in the game? Fed up running hisec missions? Go run incursions; go to faction warfare; try some piracy; go to nullsec; market PvP; make some new niche activity up and recruit people to your dream.
EVE is only a game you can get bored of if you let yourself get hemmed into a single style of play. Use your imagination and set yourself free. If, however, you are unable to follow these suggestions, please just cancel your subscriptions and go quietly.
Oh, and can I have your stuff?
9 May 2012
Still Recruiting
It's been a couple of months since I last posted that my corp was recruiting. We've taken in a decent number of people in that time but the summertime slowdown has started already. Someone tells me this is normal around now due to exams but it's the first time I've experienced it as CEO. There is something very frustrating about logging into find almost but not quite enough people to go raid our neighbouring wormhole for sleeper sites.
Fairly recently we had an ace scanner pilot return to active service. He'd been with us in the old C2 wormhole days. From memory, he was the Security team leader - the team I was placed in when I first joined Z3R0. Each day he's on he's doing a fantastic job scanning down our constellation and bookmarking the sigs for all the sites around us. This makes the reduced numbers all the more frustrating.
So, if you're interested in wormhole life and would like to come help us plunder the riches of our neighbours. Maybe you would even like to mildly terrorise people who find themselves briefly living next door to us. Join the "Z3R0 Return Mining Recruitment" in-game channel and come hang out with us. All we insist on is that you can fly a ship capable of warping cloaked and (to quote the Recruitment Director) "aren't an asshat". If you don't think you're ready for life in a C4 then still come and talk to us. We have plans...
Oh, and the forum link might be useful too.
Fairly recently we had an ace scanner pilot return to active service. He'd been with us in the old C2 wormhole days. From memory, he was the Security team leader - the team I was placed in when I first joined Z3R0. Each day he's on he's doing a fantastic job scanning down our constellation and bookmarking the sigs for all the sites around us. This makes the reduced numbers all the more frustrating.
So, if you're interested in wormhole life and would like to come help us plunder the riches of our neighbours. Maybe you would even like to mildly terrorise people who find themselves briefly living next door to us. Join the "Z3R0 Return Mining Recruitment" in-game channel and come hang out with us. All we insist on is that you can fly a ship capable of warping cloaked and (to quote the Recruitment Director) "aren't an asshat". If you don't think you're ready for life in a C4 then still come and talk to us. We have plans...
Oh, and the forum link might be useful too.
5 May 2012
My son..... a Goon?!
Just noticed this sticker stuck to the wall in my hallway. I've no idea where my son found this, well I have to assume it was my son and not my wife. It bears a little more than a passing resemblance to a certain infamous alliance's logo.
Do they have a junior squad? Should I be afraid? I've heard they have spies everywhere, but this is ridiculous!
4 May 2012
Actors
Tonight started as a quiet night in our home system. With very few people online I decided to process some PI payouts. Thankfully there weren't too many, but during the process a couple of my corp mates went down the following random conversation. I repeat this here in the hope it entertains you as much as I.
Sayeth more? Not I.
[ 2012.05.03 21:54:36 ] Splatus > Oreb, I like your Bio- very true
[ 2012.05.03 21:55:23 ] Splatus > its the unknown where the must not halt. its the unfathomable we must fathom. its wormholes we must explore
[ 2012.05.03 21:55:45 ] Splatus > or would you rather die for some drunk king in a nameless blob on some gate?
[ 2012.05.03 21:56:49 ] Splatus > or pimp yourself to some russian? have 1 am CTAs so that he may shine while you pound away in your shiny ship for hours on some pos?
[ 2012.05.03 21:57:28 ] Splatus > you squire are cast from a different stone
[ 2012.05.03 21:57:50 ] Oreb Wing > there will always be a king. :) whether the king knows his enemy and values the lives of his crew, can evaluate his errors and refuse to succumb to failure and false honor, is the 1st problem.
[ 2012.05.03 21:58:31 ] Oreb Wing > among the stars of Shelley, we don't see these things. but someone has to fight them.
[ 2012.05.03 21:58:51 ] Splatus > amongst the stars of Shelley, we - the brethren - are the kings
[ 2012.05.03 21:59:25 ] Splatus > do you want to be a king or a peasant aspiring to be a king?
[ 2012.05.03 22:00:19 ] Oreb Wing > i am too humble in skill-points to be a king! lol and the crown that is not washed with oil, is washed with blood. without a people and a place, a crown can only rust.
[ 2012.05.03 22:01:21 ] Splatus > a crown. a crown. our poet lusts after cheap gems. the real crown is your kinship. your real treasure are those that stand shoulder to shoulder with you
[ 2012.05.03 22:03:24 ] Oreb Wing > here we share fellowship, and in kinship, who can surpass those willing to die for his comrade? But we have nothing here to stand against.
[ 2012.05.03 22:04:08 ] Splatus > oh we do, squire, we do. we have our bond forged by the compression of endless vaccuum in this here confined Shelley. out of which we will forge diamonds from charcoal
[ 2012.05.03 22:05:03 ] Grit > o/
[ 2012.05.03 22:05:34 ] Splatus > welcome, Sir Grit, Lord of the Bitter Old Vets
[ 2012.05.03 22:05:42 ] Oreb Wing > but jewels and precious stones are nothing, if they cannot adorn the beauty of the queen, seen by us, but known to all. Shelley, dear as she is, is but an island.
[ 2012.05.03 22:06:40 ] Splatus > An Island, you say, an Island? she is more than an island. She is the gem we find in the rock. we - the chosen - hew her from her surroundings and make her shine. She is nothing without us and we are nothing without her
[ 2012.05.03 22:07:19 ] Grit > The C4 doth protest too much?
[ 2012.05.03 22:08:21 ] Oreb Wing > nay, we but haggle intently with whispers, fearing to wake the Sleepers
[ 2012.05.03 22:08:57 ] Splatus > fearing? you are mistaken friend. How many anomolies can yer weary eye scan inside our queen?
[ 2012.05.03 22:09:39 ] Oreb Wing > i thought we were both inside her lonely sister static? :p
[ 2012.05.03 22:09:41 ] Splatus > yes, Sir, a humble 2 or 3 at most. the ones we let live for it pleases us
[ 2012.05.03 22:10:42 ] Splatus > the others we vanquish - together, as one. With you by my side, I can collect their tears, scrape their ribbons from their eyes and rip their salvage from their cold, dead hands
[ 2012.05.03 22:11:33 ] Oreamnos Amric > As I scan this humble comms channel it brings joy to my heart as I realise I do not have to create blog content for the morrow.
[ 2012.05.03 22:12:00 ] Splatus > bless thee, brave knave for you are our minstrel.
[ 2012.05.03 22:12:09 ] Splatus > go yonder and sing our song, for eternity will praise you
[ 2012.05.03 22:12:57 ] Grit > Orea: Is Epi drunk?
[ 2012.05.03 22:13:11 ] Splatus > how dareth he?
[ 2012.05.03 22:13:17 ] Oreamnos Amric > [22:04:45] Splatus > fuckit, pour it, wench for I lust after drunkenness
[ 2012.05.03 22:13:25 ] Oreamnos Amric > not yet I guess
[ 2012.05.03 22:13:26 ] Splatus > not drunk enough. fetch mead, wench
[ 2012.05.03 22:13:59 ] Oreamnos Amric > But sire, I only have the fermented grape of the Rioja form
[ 2012.05.03 22:13:59 ] Oreb Wing > lol if you're drinking, i'll have to join you. give me a minute.
[ 2012.05.03 22:14:51 ] Splatus > I ran in full armor 6.5 miles today in searing heat. I smell like a week old dead rodent. I am parched. where is my servant?
[ 2012.05.03 21:55:23 ] Splatus > its the unknown where the must not halt. its the unfathomable we must fathom. its wormholes we must explore
[ 2012.05.03 21:55:45 ] Splatus > or would you rather die for some drunk king in a nameless blob on some gate?
[ 2012.05.03 21:56:49 ] Splatus > or pimp yourself to some russian? have 1 am CTAs so that he may shine while you pound away in your shiny ship for hours on some pos?
[ 2012.05.03 21:57:28 ] Splatus > you squire are cast from a different stone
[ 2012.05.03 21:57:50 ] Oreb Wing > there will always be a king. :) whether the king knows his enemy and values the lives of his crew, can evaluate his errors and refuse to succumb to failure and false honor, is the 1st problem.
[ 2012.05.03 21:58:31 ] Oreb Wing > among the stars of Shelley, we don't see these things. but someone has to fight them.
[ 2012.05.03 21:58:51 ] Splatus > amongst the stars of Shelley, we - the brethren - are the kings
[ 2012.05.03 21:59:25 ] Splatus > do you want to be a king or a peasant aspiring to be a king?
[ 2012.05.03 22:00:19 ] Oreb Wing > i am too humble in skill-points to be a king! lol and the crown that is not washed with oil, is washed with blood. without a people and a place, a crown can only rust.
[ 2012.05.03 22:01:21 ] Splatus > a crown. a crown. our poet lusts after cheap gems. the real crown is your kinship. your real treasure are those that stand shoulder to shoulder with you
[ 2012.05.03 22:03:24 ] Oreb Wing > here we share fellowship, and in kinship, who can surpass those willing to die for his comrade? But we have nothing here to stand against.
[ 2012.05.03 22:04:08 ] Splatus > oh we do, squire, we do. we have our bond forged by the compression of endless vaccuum in this here confined Shelley. out of which we will forge diamonds from charcoal
[ 2012.05.03 22:05:03 ] Grit > o/
[ 2012.05.03 22:05:34 ] Splatus > welcome, Sir Grit, Lord of the Bitter Old Vets
[ 2012.05.03 22:05:42 ] Oreb Wing > but jewels and precious stones are nothing, if they cannot adorn the beauty of the queen, seen by us, but known to all. Shelley, dear as she is, is but an island.
[ 2012.05.03 22:06:40 ] Splatus > An Island, you say, an Island? she is more than an island. She is the gem we find in the rock. we - the chosen - hew her from her surroundings and make her shine. She is nothing without us and we are nothing without her
[ 2012.05.03 22:07:19 ] Grit > The C4 doth protest too much?
[ 2012.05.03 22:08:21 ] Oreb Wing > nay, we but haggle intently with whispers, fearing to wake the Sleepers
[ 2012.05.03 22:08:57 ] Splatus > fearing? you are mistaken friend. How many anomolies can yer weary eye scan inside our queen?
[ 2012.05.03 22:09:39 ] Oreb Wing > i thought we were both inside her lonely sister static? :p
[ 2012.05.03 22:09:41 ] Splatus > yes, Sir, a humble 2 or 3 at most. the ones we let live for it pleases us
[ 2012.05.03 22:10:42 ] Splatus > the others we vanquish - together, as one. With you by my side, I can collect their tears, scrape their ribbons from their eyes and rip their salvage from their cold, dead hands
[ 2012.05.03 22:11:33 ] Oreamnos Amric > As I scan this humble comms channel it brings joy to my heart as I realise I do not have to create blog content for the morrow.
[ 2012.05.03 22:12:00 ] Splatus > bless thee, brave knave for you are our minstrel.
[ 2012.05.03 22:12:09 ] Splatus > go yonder and sing our song, for eternity will praise you
[ 2012.05.03 22:12:57 ] Grit > Orea: Is Epi drunk?
[ 2012.05.03 22:13:11 ] Splatus > how dareth he?
[ 2012.05.03 22:13:17 ] Oreamnos Amric > [22:04:45] Splatus > fuckit, pour it, wench for I lust after drunkenness
[ 2012.05.03 22:13:25 ] Oreamnos Amric > not yet I guess
[ 2012.05.03 22:13:26 ] Splatus > not drunk enough. fetch mead, wench
[ 2012.05.03 22:13:59 ] Oreamnos Amric > But sire, I only have the fermented grape of the Rioja form
[ 2012.05.03 22:13:59 ] Oreb Wing > lol if you're drinking, i'll have to join you. give me a minute.
[ 2012.05.03 22:14:51 ] Splatus > I ran in full armor 6.5 miles today in searing heat. I smell like a week old dead rodent. I am parched. where is my servant?
Sayeth more? Not I.
2 May 2012
Jita burns us, nasty Hobbitses
Did everyone have fun during the Jita burns weekend event? Did you avoid Jita completely to avoid it? Did you join in on either side and bag a freighter or a Goon? I know I did.
I decided it would be remiss of me if I didn't at least wander along to look at the wondrous sight of Jita in flames at the hands of the CFC et al. I had absolutely no intention of taking part in any way shape or form. Fly in, take some pictures, fly out. To that end I took a completely untrained pilot in a noobship, set his medical clone next door to Jita and warped to the Jita gate.
Arriving on the Jita gate I found it, unsurprisingly, to be rather congested. Being in a noobship I was fairly confident that I would be safe, but then again this was meant to be a 'with us or die' event so I couldn't be sure. After several attempts to convince Jita traffic control to let me through I was able to jump.
Arriving in Jita, it was amusing to note that the gate here was quieter. Had just missed an 'event' and everyone was in station waiting out their GCC timer? Who knows, but now I had made it to Jita I decided that I should set my medical clone here too.
Once I was happy that any clone loss would keep me in the system I wanted to be in I set off to survey the gates. On every gate except the Jita → Perimeter gate there was at most ten ships. That made my voyeurism easier; I only needed to sit at the Perimeter gate to watch the fun.
Sitting around watching was a little boring if truth be told. I watched a handful of freighters come and go without anyone taking a bite. On one occasion a large group jumped into Perimeter behind a freighter. It took a couple of minutes before traffic control let me follow and when I got through there was nothing to see. I've no idea if I missed the kill or they got away. Sticking around for a while more and finally there was a flash of criminal notifications across my screen. Looks like someone's going to die.
I'm pretty sure Concord started dishing out punishment at the same time as the Rhea finally appeared in front of me. The pretty light show was so mesmerising that I forgot to grab some pictures. Almost without thinking I started to lock up the Rhea. Still without thinking I found myself hovering over the trigger for my Civilian Light Electron Blaster, clicking it and accepting the warning about the legality of what I was about to do.
I was surprised by the length of time it took for my ship to be removed from under me by Concord. I flew directly towards the Rhea in the hope I could actually get in range to score at least one point of damage. Sadly it wasn't to be. Equally annoying was watching the Rhea warp off rather than explode.
It wasn't until some time later when I was talking to someone that I found out the Rhea had actually died. It appeared to everyone that the Rhea escaped but apparently as a side effect of Time Dilation it was the pilots on the destination station who got to watch it explode. I guess the stresses of warp can be trying on a hull so riddled with holes. Poor Jeann must have been so happy to get her Rhea away from the gate. I can only imagine how she felt as that elation crashed to despair as her ship collapsed around her.
My only regret is I didn't take Geo into Jita for that kill. A six billion ISK kill would've looked good on his wall. He might even have been able to hit the thing.
I decided it would be remiss of me if I didn't at least wander along to look at the wondrous sight of Jita in flames at the hands of the CFC et al. I had absolutely no intention of taking part in any way shape or form. Fly in, take some pictures, fly out. To that end I took a completely untrained pilot in a noobship, set his medical clone next door to Jita and warped to the Jita gate.
 |
| Perimeter congestion |
 |
| Where's the fire? |
Once I was happy that any clone loss would keep me in the system I wanted to be in I set off to survey the gates. On every gate except the Jita → Perimeter gate there was at most ten ships. That made my voyeurism easier; I only needed to sit at the Perimeter gate to watch the fun.
Sitting around watching was a little boring if truth be told. I watched a handful of freighters come and go without anyone taking a bite. On one occasion a large group jumped into Perimeter behind a freighter. It took a couple of minutes before traffic control let me follow and when I got through there was nothing to see. I've no idea if I missed the kill or they got away. Sticking around for a while more and finally there was a flash of criminal notifications across my screen. Looks like someone's going to die.
I'm pretty sure Concord started dishing out punishment at the same time as the Rhea finally appeared in front of me. The pretty light show was so mesmerising that I forgot to grab some pictures. Almost without thinking I started to lock up the Rhea. Still without thinking I found myself hovering over the trigger for my Civilian Light Electron Blaster, clicking it and accepting the warning about the legality of what I was about to do.
I was surprised by the length of time it took for my ship to be removed from under me by Concord. I flew directly towards the Rhea in the hope I could actually get in range to score at least one point of damage. Sadly it wasn't to be. Equally annoying was watching the Rhea warp off rather than explode.
It wasn't until some time later when I was talking to someone that I found out the Rhea had actually died. It appeared to everyone that the Rhea escaped but apparently as a side effect of Time Dilation it was the pilots on the destination station who got to watch it explode. I guess the stresses of warp can be trying on a hull so riddled with holes. Poor Jeann must have been so happy to get her Rhea away from the gate. I can only imagine how she felt as that elation crashed to despair as her ship collapsed around her.
My only regret is I didn't take Geo into Jita for that kill. A six billion ISK kill would've looked good on his wall. He might even have been able to hit the thing.
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