Tuesday, July 31, 2007

The Post-a-Day EVE Online challenge!

I here by declare the month of August challenge open. For the next 31 days, I, CrazyKinux, of sound mind and body, promise to write one EVE Online related post everyday. And whom ever is crazy enough to follow me in this path of utter creative behavior is more then welcome to do so - this goes out to you The Ancient Gaming Noob, /random, Random Battle, One Tired EvE Pilot, Morphisat, Kill Ten Rats, Just a Girl and Her Thorax, Hardcore Casual and EVE-Pirate!

Summer time is often a difficult time for me to blog on a regular basis. The weather here in Montreal, Canada, is quite nice and I try to spend as much time as possible outside, which is not conducive to gaming and neither to blogging. So in order to kick start August, I've given myself the goal to write 31 posts over the next month.

Now these posts will be of various length, some long, some short and some even shorter! But in the end I want to see at least 31 posts, and one everyday would be ideal.

Over the course of the month, I will need help, from you the reader. I would find it very motivating if everyone would comment as much as possible. So there lies your part in this challenge. Try to keep me motivated with your comments.

Let's see where this gets us!

The Project video series

Here's a series of short videos made by a dedicated EVE player, BenDevin from the UK. They're well put together, not too long, visually stunning and plain good fun to watch. Enjoy and drop by BenDevin's page and let him know what you think! I'm sure he'll appreciate the feedback!


Friday, July 27, 2007

EVE Online Speedlinking for July 27th

Here are links to article of interest on EVE for this week. In no particular order.
Have a great week-end everyone!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Phoenix Labs looking for new members








My corporation, Phoenix Propulsion Laboratories, is currently recruiting. When I rejoined PPL a few weeks back, I had some very good reasons for doing so. Phoenix Propulsion Labs is a small giant, that is, we're not a big corp by any means, but because of our mode of operation we have a much bigger footprint. And how do you do that you might ask, simple, you give everything back to the corp.

Because of this military communistic approach to corporate structure, PPL has several POS, operates in zero sec space as part of the FIX Alliance. We are a manufacturing corp which was listed as one of the top 10 industrial corps in EVE. By providing the corp with all your loot and isks, you get ships, ammunition, drones, skill books and much more. It's a win-win situation.

The support operations we have are also quite impressive. In addition to a well put together web site and active forum, we have a Member Section where a pilot can manage his skills training with defined paths to specific skill sets (see this post on becoming a Gallente battleship commander). This is where pilots request new ships, new clone contracts, new skills and all the benefits of belonging to PPL.

And as with any corp in EVE, we go through cycles. Our ranks rise-up, we pick-up momentum, and then they fall. Currently were operating with a much smaller crew than what we'd like, and what we can afford to, given the size of our assets. So that's where the recruiting, and you come in.

If you're looking for a dedicated bunch of pilots, o
pportunities for advancement to leadership positions, we have a wide range of positions available: manufacture, research, sales, starbase maintenance officer, exploration, invention,capital ship pilot, mission runner, mining and transport. We operate in 0.0 space and still require access to Empire for trade purposes.

We currently have members from most North American time zones, and one mate in Australia (that's you Sapater). European pilots are also welcome of course, though we currently only have one player I believe.

So if you're interested in joining us, come and chat with us on the
SHOP@PPL channel, then head over and apply!

Hope to see you soon in corp channel!

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Customized ship exterior to be added to EVE

In a startling development, CCP has just announced that in a yet to be announced patch, a feature that will let users customize the exterior of their ships will be added to the game. Basically, we're talking about custom paint jobs for ships here folks! Take a look at this following Kestrel in all its beauty!

(Original link to image is here)

Ok, so this isn't exactly true. But you've got to admit this is one feature that a lot of you, including yours truly, would love to have added to the game. Maybe not to the extant of the ship above, but you get my point. I mean corp and alliance logos on ships would be a good start, then maybe color schemes. All of these could be done within certain boundaries or color pallets for each race.

Now, I'm no hardware-bandwidth-tech-whatchamacalit-guy, but I figure that one of the reasons this hasn't been implemented yet has to do with the quantity of new data that would need to be networked if every ship flying nearby would have one of those custom paint jobs. Still, I look forward to the day when the hardware/network/client can handle this and we can start to customize our ships. Until then, we can only dream of Hello Kitty Krestels.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

All the EVE Online Guides you ever needed!


During the week-end I researched all the guides I could get my hands on and thought that I'd share the list with you. I'll start this list of EVE Guides with the ones most useful to beginners and then move up in complexity. Be aware that some of these guides may be old (circa 2004), but since they were the most complete available, I decided to still have them on the list.

Feel free to let me know if you know of any other good ones I may (must) have missed.


Skill Training Complete - EVE Online Q&A <-- NEW

Missions & Complexes:

Warfare & Tactics:

Mining, Trading & Exploration:

Ships and Modules:

Crime & Punishment:

Skills & Training:
Planet Risk Show Guides

EVE Academy's Guides
So there you go. You should have lots of reading to do to learn all this.

[LAST EDIT: August 11th, 2010]

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Are you using EVE Voice?

For many of us, voice chat in MMORPGs is a must. At Phoenix Labs we've been using TeamSpeak as the de facto software choice, despite the recent release of EVE Voice. We use it mainly for important operations such as mining and hauling. It's a simple and efficient way of working together as a team, and that's the main reason why we use it.

But there is also the ability to roleplay, and in turn this creates some interesting problems. Gents playing female characters and ladies playing male characters. Now, my corp doesn't roleplay, so in a way I don't have this problem, but if they did I would have an interesting delima.

As many of you know, my avatar in EVE is female; Treenara Mazouk is a Gallente, one of the for races in EVE. When I play games I create characters of both sexes with no particular preferences - sometimes males, sometimes females. This poses an interesting problem if I were to roleplay her "and" use a voice chat software like EVE Voice. Now I really do not sound like a Treenara and hearing a 35 year male speaking as a female gallente would surely kill the mood.

Which brings me to the following article over at Terra Nova , which referred to this article over at Wired. Go ahead, take the time to read both articles before continuing here. I'll wait for you.

So if I 'was' able to alter my voice while using a voice chat software would I do it? In terms of roleplaying this would surely provide a more immersive experience, but what would the consequence be? Would I need to tell every new player character I met that I was a man playing a female avatar? Would I wait a while before telling them, until, say we had developed a roleplaying relationship and I would feel weird continuing without "coming out". Which bring me to another recent post over at Random Battle, "Wait, you're a girl?" Cameron's article is very interesting and the tests he's done are very impressive. But what are the implications of using them. With these voice altering software the roleplaying capabilities have been expanded. I'd certainly will give it a try, though as a non-roleplay corp member, the opportunities won't abound. But if were doing more roleplaying as part of my EVE experience, I would seriously consider using such a tool with EVE Voice or whichever voice chat software I'd be using.

What about you?


The recent poll I ran on EVE Voice, showed that almost half of you use a voice chat software while playing EVE. Have any of you had a chance to use these voice altering add-ons? I'd love to know if you did. Are you still using it? How was it when you tried? Did it feel weird? What was the reaction from the other players? I'd love to know.

New Mass Effect Trailer

Ok, this has nothing to do with EVE, but it still kicks ass and I still wanted to share it with you. The game is Mass Effect, from Bioware. These are the guys whose games are always top notch in quality, both game play, story, visual and are often innovative. Just look at Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Neverwinter Nights, and oh, remember Baldur's Gate; that's them to.

Anyways, Mass Effect is there latest game, which is coming out on the 360 exclusively and is one of the reason I got mine a while back. This latest trailer will explain better than words why I'm so excited about it. Enjoy.



Oh, and I also got the novel, "Revelation", which is a prelude to the game.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

EVE Player Meet in Montreal this August

If there are any other EVE Online players in and around Montreal, mark your calendars for early August. I'm putting together a Player Meet at the beginning of August. It'll either be the 4th of 18th depending on whose available. Nothing formal, just a get together downtown where we can share stories over beer and some good food (pizzas, burgers, chips and other essential nutriments).

Here's the link to the thread on the EVE-O Forums. Let us know if you can make it. So far we're about 8 or 10.

And players from Ottawa, Toronto and Quebec and everywhere in between are all welcome. I also send out the invitation to our fellow gamers down south - Happy 4th of July by the way. The more fools we are the more fun we can have.

Warp Drive Active - an EVE Online Podcast

So right on the tail of my last post, comes news from VirginWOrlds.com that fellow Canadian Winterblink and Urban Mongral have started a new podcast series fully dedicated to EVE - Warp Drive Active. Lots of news on alliances, PVP, Revelations II features and changes, stealth bombers, triage mode, ew and additional news (with some looping in the end!).

All in all, a good first podcast for these two veterans of the EVE scene.

Looking forward to the series.

Monday, July 02, 2007

EVE Online Podcasts from VirginWorlds.com

Over the week-end I spent a good number of hours going through the last VirginWorlds.com podcasts (there are 74 as of today), taking notes on those which contained EVE Online news. In doing so I discovered a very proficient and entertaining podcaster. Brent has been doing these MMORPG podcasts since March of last year, and I have to say that over the last 15 months he's build up a very entertaining and informative collection of podcasts.

So if you're reading this and are interested in MMORPGs, then you ABSOLUTELY need to subscribe to them, download or listen to all of them. Yes there's a lot of old news, but I still learned a few things, and enjoyed everyone of them - including those not related to EVE.

Now, what of EVE Online I here you say? Well you're in for a treat. Having gone through all the podcasts, I've taken notes on each one that contained information on EVE, even going to the point of taking the time within the podcast where Brent starts taking about EVE. All in all, there are 13 podcasts listed below. I've linked them all back to VirginWorlds.com and have also included links to reference them within this blog.

Have fun listening to them, I know you'll learn something new. Make sure that you go back and subscribe to them over at VirginWorlds.com.

Well there you have it. That's a lot of listening and learning ahead of you! And remember to thank Brent for these great podcasts.

[Edited: In bold and with the * are the podcasts that I found had the juiciest pieces of information: 39, 41, 56 and 66.]

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Moving back to Khanid space to rejoin Phoenix Labs









Well, my stay in Gallente Federation was only brief. After a few weeks away, I recently got back in touch with a few corp mates from Phoenix Labs and decided to head back to low sec space and rejoin them in their manufacturing operation. Even though I had just joined their ranks recently, I left TAKAGI Corp on very good terms and look forward to staying in touch with them.

I traveled back to Badivefi a few days ago, and I'm giving myself a few days to get back into the beat, before going back to Grinacanne one last time to get a few items and my trusty old Vexor. Then it'll be back to normal, doing CAP for various PPL mining ops in 0.0 sec system. Just the way we like them!


Myrmidon sceenshot
Taken while flying back to Badivefi, in my Myrmidon.

EON #008 - Table of Content



















Table of Content - EON 008
  • Page 6 --- E-ON Upfront (News)
  • 16 ---- E-ON Awards 2007: The Winners
  • 20 ---- Postcards from the edge (Screen shots)
  • 22 ---- In Crowd: Gauti Fridriksdsson (CCP Employee Interview)
  • 24 ---- Chronicle: Cut Throat Diplomacy by John Kastronis
  • 28 ---- In Character: Stavros (Player Character Interview)
  • 30 ---- Alliance Profile: Invictus
  • 34 ---- Ten Years of CCP: The Original Plan
  • 38 ---- In Character: Gunhilda Zetter (Player Character Interview)
  • 40 ---- Chronicle: Like Stars by Richard James
  • 42 ---- Alliance Profile: FREGE
  • 44 ---- Testflight: Pirate Faction Battleships
  • 54 ---- In Crowd: Huni Hinrichsen (CCP Employee Interview)
  • 56 ---- Chronicle: Man-Eater by Ivan Thomas
  • 62 ---- Insider's Guide: 0.0 Space (Player Guide)
  • 68 ---- Insider's Guide: Rigs- Part 2 (Player Guide)
  • 72 ---- Insider's Guide: CCG - Part 4 (Player Guide)
  • 78 ---- Teh Funnies (EVE Humour)

EVE TV Episode 2

During yesterday's downtime, I watched the second episode of EVE TV, and I think that you'll agree that those of us who tuned in were all pleased with this one.

The quality of the editing, the presenters and the material covered was above the pilot of last week. Added to the fact that both StevieSG and spiralJunkie seemed a lot more at ease and comfortable in front of the camera, and you've got yourself some quality TV experience.

In terms of content for episode 2 they covered:

  • Game 07 (where an EVE CCG tournament took place)
  • CCP's 10 year celebration
  • PVP Tournament (late August early September '07)
  • Ship Profile - Caldari Rokh
  • BoB's lost titan (video 1) (video 2)
  • EVE Contest (the answer was Valerie "Pann" Massey - see interview here)
All in all, a much improved episode over the first, which was nice to see. I look forward to next weeks!