Friday Video: Gaming on the go with an Epson HD projector

[WARNING: The following post is not about EVE Online] Oh noes!!

Talk about gaming on the go! You thought the DS, PSP or iPhone were the ultimate portable gaming platforms? Think again. The guys at Epson Europe went to extremes to promote their new EH-TW450 HD projector, by strapping the device onto a suit, connecting it to a PS3 Slim and showing off around town!


Anyone interested in placing an order? For the suit, Epson projector and PS3 Slim combo that is!

Phoenix Labs: The Few, The Proud, The Industrialists with teeth!

I've been a member of Phoenix Propulsion Labs for most of my EVE career. I've written in the past how important it is to quickly join the right corporation in EVE in order to enjoy the game to its full potential. Let's face it, EVE is an MMOG, a real Massively Multiplayer Online Game, one where the social element of these game is most prominent. Not that you can't play the game solo, but it's a no easy task, and doesn't provide the support a good corp will.

In my case, that corporation is Phoenix Labs. Shortly after joining the corp, I had a chance to meet these fine folks in person during the EVE Gathering in Vegas in mid-2006. Recently, I interviewed our Human Resources Officer, Isuridae, and gave him the chance to showcase this amazing corp I'm proud to be of! The interview is below.

What is Phoenix Propulsion Labs (PPL)?

PPL is primarily an industrial corp but we are trying to become more balanced in areas of PVP. We have a saying to that regard, “Industrialists with teeth.”

What sort of industry does PPL perform?

PPL is engaged heavily in T2 and T3 manufacturing of items ranging from rigs and modules to starships and drones. We also manage a good deal of capital ship production.

How Is PPL structured?

That’s a good question, I am glad you asked. PPL is a socialistic corp in that the means of production and distribution of goods is owned by the corp. All assets belong to the corp. And our Tax rate is 99%. We have a military rank system with promotions based on merit.

That sounds very restrictive for pilots, how do they make money?

The corps provides its pilots with anything they require, thus the burden of constantly grinding for ISK is relieved. Pilots are then free to pursue the activities they enjoy, rather than wasting their energies. All we ask of our pilots is that they maintain a good level of activity, and participate in corp operations when required.

Is PPL part of an alliance?

At present no, though we do see an eventual return to a 0.0 based alliance. It is our hope that with the Dominion expansion, the alliances will begin to see the worth of a dedicated industrial corp. This corp, working with a couple others in what was then FIX alliance, is responsible for the construction of most of the outposts in the Querious region. 3-FCK, I1Y, and 49U to name a few.

Why would a capsuleer join PPL?

PPL is very much a family of mature pilots that value the principles of teamwork, honor, integrity, and commitment. If you are looking for an experience greater than just being out for yourself, wish to be part of a cohesive team working towards a common goal. And want to have fun doing it. PPL may be the corp for you.

What are PPL’s goals?

First and foremost to provide our pilots with a fun and rewarding experience and secondly to be recognized as the preeminent industrial corp in EVE.

Applications can be submitted on our corporate website. I review the applications and then contact you in-game for an interview.

Mining the EVE Blogosphere for some Brand New EVE Blogs

It's been a long time since I've added new blogs to the EVE Blogroll, though not because there were no new blogs. My good friend Ga'len fastidiously emails me every time he adds a blog to the EVE Player Blogs OPML, which allows me to keep track of new blogs and add them to the ever growing list! Also, make sure to keep an eye on @Alexia_Morgan's latest blog post and to check it out on a regular basis.

So here below are the latest blogs to be added and a few who've moved to new URLs since getting on the list. Welcome to all!

New Blogs:

• Tales of a Low Sec Pirate
• Log of a Black Ops Pilot
• Odinsdagrting
• Out of Sinq
• Sequential EVE
• I will bring salvation to my people
• Wild at Heart
• A Ghost Blog
• I Got Jached
• Guns Ablaze
• Matari Reflections
• Kirith Darkblade - EVE Pirate
• EVE Morning Report
• Deadly Nightshade
• Road to Recovery (The)
• Benny is Hiding
• Kokuryu - An EVE Pirate Blog
• Cogito Ergo Yarr (previously name On Nature)
• Voice of Unity (The)
• Cargo Hold (The)
• Random Drivel
• Im Wurmloch
• Prodigal Son (The)
• Smart Fun with Big Guns
• Freebooted
• Faint Resolution
• Jaralaxle's Holdings
• Bald Buccaneer (The)
• Other Side (The)
• Immortal Capsuleer
• More should come as I clean out my starred emails!

New URLs:

• Helicity Boson
• Captains Log (The)
• A Mule in EVE
• Hands Off, My Loots!
• My God, it's full of Stars!

Now I'm office to New Eden!

Friday Video: Star Wars - I.M.P.S. the Relentless

Out of the 6 Star Wars films, there are only 2 I hold way up high as some of the ultimate science fiction movies: Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. I never liked the Ewoks and Jar Jar can go where the moon don't shine! But, having recently come across the IMPS series, I've gotta say, this is definitely my kind of Star Wars!

Now, if anyone could do something like that within the EVE lore, I'd love to see it! Hell I'd even pay to see it!

Life is a Harsh Mistress for the Gamer Dad

A long long time ago, in what almost feels like a galaxy away, I used to log into EVE Online 40 hours a week, on average. New Eden was a familiar site to me, the music playing in the background was well known, the sound of my ship getting permission to dock or warping was reassuring. I did all this gaming while my better-half, who needed a lot of rest, was asleep. Late at night or early on the week-ends you would normally see me fly the space highways. All these hours roaming the universe barely affected my social activities - My Gaming Life was in balance with Real Life.

Then we decided to produce a half-clone, and thus MiniCK was born. At first, she had very little affect on my gameplay. I would wrap her up from time to time and set her on my desk next to the monitor as I flew across space. Things where the usual. But with time, things started to change. All of a sudden my week-end mornings started to be more about Baby Einstein, or Dora the Explorer than about EVE. And then the evenings started to shorten as MiniCK stayed up longer and longer.

Eventually a MiniCK2 was in the works, which meant even less time for gaming as my better-half worked on various production runs for this future capsuleer. Eventually MiniCK2 made the typical geek "Hello World" announcement, and the remaining gaming activity I had just went out the door.

These days, I'm lucky if I'm able to game 5 hours a week, some of which are spent in New Eden. Since I can't pause EVE in the middle of a combat, whether PvE or PvP, games such as Defense Grid or Torchlight have made their way into my gaming habit these days.

I do know that eventually I'll have more time to myself, but these days I just don't see how I can play EVE, blog more than I'm doing right now, and still be a dad, a husband and make a living, which will always come first.

Just to give you an example, in between the last 2 paragraphs I've had to run back up to the 2nd floor (from the basement where my office is) to try to get MiniCK2, who's still awake and hungry at 11:15 PM, to sleep. And my day started at 5:50 AM this morning with a request from MiniCK to watch Zoboomafoo. Are you getting the big picture here!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to complain, or seek pity here. I'm simply trying to put things in perspective so that you may understand why I'm not blogging as much as in the past, or haven't been policing the EVE Blog Pack as I should. I've also come under fire for the types of post I'm doing and the lack of EVE content on my blog. Understand that it's much easier to blog about the game and my other geeky interests then it is to play the game - the first can be done from work during lunch, or whenever I get a few minutes to myself, whereas the other can't.

But things should change in about 3 weeks, when I start my paternity leave and am off for 5 weeks. Though I'll be enjoying the opportunity to interact with MiniCK2, I'll also have time to catch-up on my gaming, blogging and podcasting. I've got about 2 dozen posts to be polished up before they go live, and many more in the works. I also want to promote my CrazyKinux's Musing Fan page on Facebook, and grow the community there. There are things I want to do with the EVE Banter and the Pack, and so much more.

So all I'm saying is bare with me! This is a busy period of life, one that I want to fully enjoy, even if it means a little less gaming and blogging.

Friday Video: Halo 3: ODST Rap

I bought ODST a few weeks ago, and until earlier this week, it was pretty much gathering dust. Not for the lack of interest, but lack of time and opportunity to play the game. I haven't gone far in the game in the last few days, but so far I'm liking it a lot. There's this sense of claustrophobia and vulnerability that changes the game play from previous Halo games. It's quite refreshing.

Here's a well put together rap video of the storyline for Halo 3 ODST from the guys at JT Machinima.

[Warning: Spoiler alert]

EVE Online Dominion Trailer and Expansion site go Live

About an hour ago CCP Games released the trailer for their latest expansion and launched the Dominion site. Have a look and be prepared to be amazed once more!


I really look forward to this expansion as the end of the year will see me have a bit more time to log into EVE in the evenings and play with my mates from Phoenix Labs; which is something that has been very difficult these past few months for reasons I'll explain in a later post.

As for this expansion, it seems to me that they've out done themselves again if one looks at all the features that will arrive next week. Can't wait for it!

Friday Video: The Rings of Earth

Ever wondered what Earth would look like if it had rings, like Saturn's or Jupiter's? Well someone did wonder, and he created the video below. I wanted to share this video, not only because it's intriguing, beautiful and inspiring, but also because of the upcoming visual change that New Eden is about to receive when Dominion comes out on December 1st.

I've already posted some of the videos of these changes that were taken on SiSi, the EVE test server, but an Earth-like planet with rings isn't something I saw, or even thought of. Maybe this is something CCP would consider and eventually roll out in the next few months. It would truly make New Eden even more majestic if it had a few of these Earth-ring planets!


What do you think?

[Found via Geeks Are Sexy]

"When Worlds Collide" - DUST 514 makes the cover of EDGE Magazine

The latest issue of EDGE Magazine has the upcoming DUST 514 FPS as its cover feature.

I'll be honest, when I first looked at that cover I thought I was looking at Sheppard from Mass Effect. It took a few seconds and a few words to realize I was looking at a character from DUST 514. So is this the look of what to expect when Incarna (aka Ambulation, aka Walking in Station) rolls out, hopefully by the end of next year?

Anyways, getting back to EDGE, here's some more details on the cover feature:

Subscribers are about to receive their shiny copies of the latest issue of Edge, featuring the debut of Eve Online maker CCP's FPS Dust 514. In shops on November 24.

Though Eve itself is firmly based in Iceland, Dust 514, which is set in Eve's universe, is developed by CCP's new Shanghai studio. A MMOG shooter, Dust's battlefields are absolutely tied to Eve, with Eve players' corporations hiring Dust players to fight for control of planets for them.

In other words, instead of the matchmaking being handled by heartless servers, Dust 514's action will be defined by Eve's players. And who better to try such a fascinating experiment than CCP? It is the developer which, in Eve, produced the most fascinating MMOG culture in the world.

[UPDATE: The site seems down at this moment, though it was up earlier today!]

The Oracle of EVE - An EON contest!

Have you ever dreamed of what EVE Online could be, or should be? Ever wondered what EVE could be in a 10 years, 5 years, or even next year? Well here's your chance to prove that you've got that game designer flame burning in you! It's little contest, simple in its elegance, and pleasurable in its rewards!

Looking ahead to 2010, come up with either realistic predictions of new EVE features, or wild speculations of what might happen in game during the course of the year.

What we're looking for here are the best, most accurate and entertaining, well constructed pieces of speculative reporting ever concocted about EVE Online, And the best 10 will make into the next issue of EON magazine, which comes out early January. Not only that, but I've been told that for those winners attending the next Fanfest, the folks at MMM Publishing will even chip in a beer token!

These 10 best articles will be hand-picked by myself and EON Editor, Mr Zapatero himself!

Here are the Rules and Regulations:

• Your article has to be between 350 and 400 words. No more. No less.
• Stick to one prediction / one subject per 400 words.
• No formatting (no lists, bullet points etc).
• Take one in-game screenshot to illustrate your prediction. If it's in-space, please have it as high-res/spiffeh as possible.
• The 10 articles picked will each cover different subject (no more than 1 article about Incarna will be picked. We're looking for variety here!).
• Write your article on your blog, post the URL in the comments below.

The Prizes:

• Your article gets published in the January 2010 EON issue.
• You get a free copy of that EON issue
• One FREE beer token for next year's EVE Fanfest

The contest starts today and ends on November 30th EDT. The 10 winners will be announced the following week!

Here's a limited list of ideas to get your fingers twitching on your keyboards:

• The EVE economy in 2010
• Fanfest in 2010 and why people should go
• Incarna
• What will happen to out portraits once Incarna is released?
• It's been too long since we've had new ships
• The next Summer expansion
• How the political map of EVE might change in 2010
• The CSM in 2010
• Will Chribba still be the King of EVE?
• Who are the rising stars of EVE: The names to look out for in 2010 and why
• Who will dominate in the alliance tournament
• Re-arranging the stage: How the empires might shift in 2010
• Faction Warfare needs some love, or does it?
• Looking forward to Dust 514
• The EVE blogging community in 2010
• etc.

So, are you up to the challenge?

EON Issue #017: DUST 514 - Table of Content

In this day and age of the InterTubes, it's nice to walk away from the digital world, find a nice quiet spot in the house, sit down on a comfy couch with a nice alcoholic beverage (say a Taylor Fladgate port or a Grand Marnier) and start reading a high quality, visually stunning & intelligently edited magazine such as EON.

You may think that I'm stretching the truth here, just for the sake of you the reader, but the opposite is actually the case. EON has become an integral part of my EVE experience. And these days, with the sort of schedule that I have, it's a real treat roam through its A4-sized pages.

This latest issue - "EON #017 DUST 514" - is no exception to the rule. And with the lead article on the new and upcoming EVE console first-person shooter, how could it not be interesting!

IN DUST WE TRUST

For console gamers DUST 514 promises to be the most unique shooter ever

devised, but for those of us already fighting between planets what will it

mean to have hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, fighting on the

ground? A crack squad of E-ON special forces capture CCP to find out how the

EVE FPS will fuse with EVE Online, plus we get the views of players to see

if they are as excited about DUST 514 as they should be.

THREE CHRONICLES

Officially, the early days of Amarrian expansion were a time of glory for

New Eden's largest empire, while today the worlds within the factional

warzones are seen as frontiers that will one day reward the brave pioneers

that have tried to tame them. The problem with official versions of events

past and present is that they are very often wrong, as evidenced by three

new chronicles in this issue of E-ON, which show a very different side to

life on the frontiers of New Eden.

TRUST FUNDS

Players have never been as rich as they are currently, yet the status of

banks in the New Eden economy has never looked bleaker after a string of

high-profile trust issues that have left the industry in tatters. Player

economist and blogger LaVista Vista delves into the history of banking in

EVE to see if it has a future and what it might look like.

PLUS

• News on Cosmos and Dominion from Fanfest 09
• Testflight: Electronic Attack frigates
• Profiles of Pandemic Legion, Dr Caymus and Jeran Tek
• Interviews with CCP Molock and CCP Manifest
• Win signed copies of The Burning Life
• Full round-up of 0.0 activity in Quarterly Report
• Guides to wormholes, modules and EVE: Conquests
• Websites for new players
• Šand all the latest news

Table of Content - EON 017

• Page 6 --- E-ON Upfront (News)
• 12 ---- Quarterly Alliance Report
• 18 ---- Postcards from the Edge (Screen shots)
• 20 ---- Cover Feature: DUST 514
• 26 ---- In Crowd: Ned Coker
• 29 ---- In Character: Dr Caymus
• 30 ---- Chronicle: Word of God, by Nixon Bardsley
• 34 ---- Alliance Profile: Pandemic Legion
• 37 ---- Feature: The Descent of Money
• 42 ---- Chronicle: Invisible War, by Paul Elsy
• 46 ---- In Character: Heath Ledger
• 48 ---- Testflight: Electronic Attack Frigates
• 57 ---- In Character: Jeran Tek
• 58 ---- Chronicle: Broken Contracts, by Douglas McKinney
• 62 ---- In Crowd: Scott Holden
• 64 ---- Insider's Guide: Ship Modules - Part 2
• 70 ---- Insider's Guide: EVE Conquests
• 74 ---- Insider's Guide: WormHoles
• 78 ---- EVE Directory, by Dierdra Vaal
• 80 ---- My 0.02 ISK, by Wormsworth
• 82 ---- Teh Funnies (EVE Humour)

Order yours now!

The upcoming and visually stunning Planets & Moons of EVE Online

From starfields, to moons, to beautiful earth-like worlds, New Eden is getting a much needed visuals boost. Though we can't call this Trinity III, it sure will forever change the visual landscape that capsuleers will soon get to watch as they warp through the EVE universe.

We should get to "Oooooh!!!" and "Aaaah!!!" in just a little over 2 weeks, when Dominion rolls out on December 1st!

The NPE in Dominion - A CCP Eris Discordia Interview

I recently had the opportunity to interview the developer responsible for the New Player Experience (NPE) in the upcoming Dominion Expansion at CCP Games, none other than CCP Eris Discordia. Below is the result of my interrogation. Please feel free to comment and ask additional questions!

Enjoy

What was the main goal of the changes you brought forth with the NPE?

While the NPE is continuously evolving, the goal of the Dominion changes is to teach skills to new players that should make them valuable to any corporation as talented recruits. Aside from that, we also wanted to gain a better understanding of how the NPE is experienced by new players. To do this we added a lot of data logging in the tutorials and career paths, to identify areas for improvement. These areas are indicated by red flags in data--for example, when thousands of people read one tutorial three times we see that spike and know that the there is an issue with the tutorial. It may simply be confusing or there may be a larger problem. Once we’ve identified an area, the idea is that we then focus on it to make it better.

What are its main features?

One new feature is the addition of new career paths to the new player experience. We give beginner pilots a series of options about how to learn the game.. In each career path there are sequences of missions specifically designed to teach skills for that general career category. For example, we have added a path for PvP combat where people can learn about “tackling” (trapping another ship in space) and they can experience the psychological hurdle of mourning the loss of their first ship. Another new path is all about exploration—how to use probes to find the hidden areas and dangerous wormholes in EVE.

A tackling or probing pilot can be a great addition to any corporation and we hope that EVE’s corps will recruit new players with that knowledge. We also lowered the skill prerequisites for the mini professions so that it won’t take months to train for them, because when you are new to EVE that seems like a very long time and we want new players to be able to be able to sample all of EVE’s different game play areas quickly.

Were you able to reach all the goals you had set for yourselves, and if not, what features/items do you believe still need work?

We believe finding a suitable corporation has to be made much easier. The current corporation advertisements window isn’t easy to browse and you can’t tell if a corporation is newbie friendly or not. We’d also like to add the possibility for players to advertise themselves so that the matchmaking process can go both ways. Another item on our list is the addition of suggested ship fittings for new players and their recently acquired ships.

Looking all the way back to launch day in 2003, what are you most proud of with the NPE as opposed to what was available way back then?

From what we remember there wasn’t much NPE to speak off. You started in space and you had to shoot a drone and that was pretty much it. We have come a long way to where we actually explain what to do, step by step. Space is still cold and deadly, of course—so eventually you will have to set your own goals. That we’ll never change.

A lot of new players find it tedious to go through the NPE, what have you done to alleviate this perception?

Instead of having a very long tutorial, you now have the crash course where people learn the basics of EVE, such as how to move the camera etc. The basic tutorial leads pilots to the career paths, where they can choose to learn more about specific systems. You should no longer feel that the tutorial drags, since the new system is designed to give out different levels of information for the curious pilot or the one that’s ready to just go out and shoot things.

Have you ever considered spreading the tutorials throughout the game, rather than one big learning experience at the start of the game?

Like with everything in EVE, you control when, where and how much you get involved; the career paths can be started, postponed and closed at any time. You can run them all, one after another, or just ignore them and then run one a year later. There are also start pages that will explain the function of something when you click on it, and they can be toggled throughout a pilot’s career.

And on a similar topic, have you ever thought of splitting the NPE by trade and spreading it through the world?

A danger of spreading the career paths across the universe is that new pilots would have to travel through low security space very early on to be able to learn more about EVE before they were really able to understand the possible risks of traveling there. Each race has three or four agents per career path in the high-security starting systems, so they are separated already. Having new pilots lose their ships during an ambush on a star gate on their way to their first agent thanks to an ambush at a star gate would be really bad.

What features have you worked on in this latest iteration of the NPE are you most proud of?

A lot of other NPE changes also contribute to the experience of older players. For instance, for Dominion we removed the requirement to be in the station where a corporation has an office in to apply to that corporation. It’s a change that lowers the barrier to join a corporation for new players and for older players it removes making a 20 jump travel just to press a button.

The skill queue benefitted new players in that they can queue up a bunch of skills as they train much faster than older players until they reach 1.6 million skill points. They could finish an easy skill in 10 minutes, and starting a new skill every 10 minutes can be very annoying. So with the skill queue they just queue up a bunch of skills and then they can focus on the rest of EVE. For older players the queue has the benefit that if they queued wisely, they wouldn’t have to set an alarm to get up in the middle of the night to change a skill, as many of the most devoted pilots would do.

How much leeway does the NPE provide to existing player corporations who want to help out new players (EVE-Uni as an example)?

We don’t think the NPE can ever replace actual people answering questions and guide you through EVE. It’s kind of like the difference between a personal trainer and doing exercises on your own with a manual. You are going to get so much more out of a personal trainer in motivation, personal assistance and on-the-spot help. Corporations that mentor new players will really make a huge difference in the understanding that person has of EVE and how they personally can best enjoy playing it.

EVE is, at its core, a social game. That’s why part of the NPE goals is to make it easier for new players to join a corporation and make new players useful in a player corporation so that they will recruit new players.

So what's next? What will you be looking to improve in the next expansion, that you were not able to do in this one?

We will continue to monitor the data we receive from the tutorials and career paths and improve the sections where we see any red flags. We expect that the new paths might need some revision before we perfect them for the majority of players who use them.

EVE Online vs World of Warcraft: The differences, by @tladb

This is a guest post by @tladb which was originally a comment on my original World of Warcraft and EVE Online comparison.

Enjoy!

The biggest difference between the two games is the role of the players. In essence WOW is a solo game with the ability to join up with other players. EVE absolutely depends on the players to make the game.

In an extreme case if you were the only player on a WOW server you could arguably still have an interesting time just doing the quests solo and exploring the world. (Sometimes it feels like this in less populated areas in Azeroth now.) In EVE this situation would be pointless.

WOW is much more directed than EVE is sand-boxed. Basically all your activities in WOW are scripted by Blizzard. In EVE it is the players that direct the activities to a much greater extent. This means that after a new EVE player has finished the introductory quests it is up to them to find a role in the game. In WOW the NPC's will often direct you to the next area for quests. This may be the hardest thing to come to deal with. Are you going to be a pirate, a pirate-hunter, a miner or an explorer or even a corporation director, etc. In EVE these are all possible, but the player has to decide and then work out how to apply those skills. Especially since many of the occupations depend on other people.

This emphasis on player interaction is the major theme within EVE. The economy depends on other players not only in buying and selling basic materials and quest trash but also in making available important weapons systems. In WOW to get the best gear you need to get it from the NPCs either from instance drops (going into dungeons and killing the same NPC again nd again and ..) or PVP grinds.

In EVE, the items are player-built. So if there is a popular item in EVE not only will that be available at a price but in the supply chain to provide that many EVE players could benefit. Even at a relatively early level you could be part of that chain. There is also the point that making and trading items in EVE is much more involved and and potentially more interesting in comparison to WOW.

In WOW player guilds are much more casual with the more limited focus of providing a pool of players for raiding instances. There are no player stations in WOW, no pirate guilds or guilds in WOW with a bigger concept than just loot-runs. A WOW equivalent of a training corp like Eve-Uni for example would be completely baffling. I think it could be argued that the large majority of your enjoyment in EVE is determined by the corporation you join.

One big shock in EVE to WOW players is that getting killed in EVE is more than the two minute inconvenience it is WOW. Your ship, which you spent hours, days or weeks to acquire is lost. There is the possibility that you may have lost weeks of skill training time if you have not kept up to date your clone. Death matters. This is seen as a positive aspect for EVE players, otherwise they would not be playing; but for a WOW player it's a major change.

WOW has more of a physical presence than EVE. The places you visit are more visual so that just wandering around in WOW is interesting. Wandering into Ironforge, the strangeness of Sillithus, the workshow in deadmines, entering Outlands, just riding through Nagrand, the Deathgate sequence to name a few.

Visually space in EVE is a bit bland, there are better NASA pictures, however in EVE the sights need to be created by the players themselves such as the large fleets battles (using my imagination here).

Physically in EVE you are a ship and this ship can change depending on what you need to do so there is really no "you" in EVE. While in WOW you and other players have a visually existence. Neither is better but it is a difference perspective.

WOW has a better mythology and characters. Thrall and Arthas are two characters which I think should be in the literature canon. To interact with those characters really adds to the game and it is something that EVE does not have. If you have played Warcraft and then WOW it feels a big deal meeting with Thrall for the first time or following the Arthas story in Lich King expansion.

WOW is a more convenient game to play. A couple of examples:

In WOW you can send anything by mail. Horses, pets, money, food, complete suit of armors, anything. In EVE you can send money but everything else needs to be physically transported. You can buy an item on the market from a distant station but you need to fly to that station to pick it up. And warping is star-to-star, not instant warp to trade hubs which you can get in WOW. This is by design and provides a more dynamic environment for players; but it's still more inconvenient from a WOW perspective.

In EVE there is no user interface API which allows player add-ons. This is arguably a weakness of EVE. External applications like EVEmon, to help training, or Eve Fitting Tool, ship fittings, would be in game in WOW. Entirely different users interfaces are possible in WOW and not in EVE. It would be interesting and beneficial to see what a mod community should do.

EVE and WOW are two very different games with different objectives and quite different ways to play so it is not a question of better but what can you enjoy doing.

The opinions shared here are those of its author and not necessarily mine. /CrazyKinux

Friday Video: Behind the Scenes Featurette on Avatar

The more footage of this movie I see, the more excited I become. I'm almost tempted to get the game as well. Yeah, I know, that's very fanboy! Then again, who the hell am I kidding EVE Fanboy! :p

Behind the Scenes Featurette on Avatar! - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Ship Setups - Blockade Runners, by Casiella Truza

This guest post comes to us from Casiella Truza, who writes the blog Ecliptic Rift and can be found tormenting the Tweet Fleet at @casiella.


Think industrial pilots and traders don't get to have any white-knuckle fun?

Think again. We operate in the shadows of giants, in the spaces they cannot see nor follow. You might think that waxing poetic about a transport ship sounds slightly insane, and while you might have a point, the fact remains that the blockade runner presents pilots with tremendous fun and opportunities for profit.

This ship class gets bonuses to shield boosting or armor repair, depending on the racial type. But that bonus doesn't mean much in most cases, because this ship can equip covert ops cloaking devices, meaning it can warp cloaked.

In low-sec, a blockade runner pilot is nearly uncatchable at stargates. Once you've jumped through and see a gate camp, just choose your destination, issue the "warp to" command, and cloak immediately. If you do it right, only the Local comms window and perhaps a flash on the overview will signal your presence to the enemy. Your most vulnerable period will come when leaving a station, so if you get caught, keep moving, stay within docking range, and engage your shield booster or armor repairer.

Null sec might give you a little more trouble if you run into a warp disruption bubble, but even then you should generally survive if you keep your wits about you. Zoom out, find the closest point on the surface of the bubble, and align to it, then immediately engage your afterburner and cloak. You might reach the edge of the bubble before the enemy can decloak you, in which case you should align to the celestial nearest your heading and warp. Other typical nullsec navigation tricks may work better for you. Comment below and share your ideas!

Blockade runner pilots typically belong to one of two schools of thought. The first, and the one to which I belong, assumes that you use the ship to move small, valuable cargo (though not so small as to fit in a covops frigate). In this case, your ability to slip through gate camps or other hostile fleets matters most. You'll want nanofiber internal structures in your low slots, which will increase your agility but lower your structural integrity. (Protip: if structure HP matters for a hauler, you've already lost.) Inertial stabilizers can shave about half a second off of your align time, but they also increase your signature radius. With no rigs, I have 4063 m3 of space in my Prowler, or 5373 m3 with a couple of Medium Cargohold Optimization rigs. I also have an EFT align time of 5.8 seconds (5.2 if I use inertial stabilizers). If you feel like an opportunist and can fit it properly, you might throw a salvager in your spare high slot.

[Prowler, Quick]
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

10MN Afterburner II
Medium Shield Booster II
Invulnerability Field II

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
[empty high slot]

The other school of thought wants to increase cargo space no matter what. Replace the lows with Expanded Cargoholds, and you can substantially increase your cargo capacity to 6604 m3 (or 8734 m3 with rigs). Then again, your align time increases to 7.9 seconds, and those two full seconds can mean the difference between a successful run or crying about Tech II insurance payouts.

Have fun space trucking!

The opinions shared here are those of its author and not necessarily mine. /CrazyKinux

Friday Video: Escape From City 17 - Part One - New Cut

I originally posted the video of this short film way back in March. And though I've been waiting for Part 2 for quite sometime now, I've only been able to find this recut of that first part. Still, I can't wait for the follow-up act!

Duvolle Laboratories: Get your Clone, Now!

CCP Games seems to be exploring various new ways to promote your favorite capsuleer MMO. Their previous videos and promos were different from the rest of what was currently being done by other MMO publishers, but they were still "typical marketing material". This somewhat changed when they released "The Butterfly Effect" video, which was actually meant to explain what EVE was.

With the Duvolle Laboratories website though, they're expending their marketing efforts in new and original ways. After answering a few questions to see if you qualify for a clone, you're shown the possibilities of your new clone. Depending on your answers you could be starting a new career in Military, Exploration, Business or Industry.

Interesting promo!

[Found link through this Forum thread]

Ship Setups - A Mission Running Dominix, by Shinzann

This is a guest post by Shinzann from Adventures in Mission Running. You can follow him @R_Javorsky.

Original can be found at The Ancient Gaming Noob

The Dominix is one of the old warhorses dating back to the Gallente-Caldari War. While no longer regarded as the king of the hill, it is by no means obsolete. Its formidable hulk and powerful weapons batteries means that anyone not in the largest and latest battleships will regret ever locking horns with it.

Gallente Battleship Skill Bonus: 5% bonus to Large Hybrid Turret damage and 10% bonus to drone hitpoints and damage per skill level.

With the right skills, a Dominix truly can be a warhorse of a ship. Shield-tanking, armour tanking. Blaster, railguns or drones. Quite a few possibilities exist for kitting out a ship like this. Personally I prefer the active armour tanking drone boat set up. I can tank almost every level 4 mission I run across in Tranquility, all I need to do is swap out a couple hardeners and some drones and I'm good to go.


Original can be found at EVE Journal
The setup I use? It looks a little something like this:

[High Slots]

425mm Railgun II

Neutron Blaster Cannon II

Large Remote Armor Repair System II

Republic Fleet Large Proton Smartbomb

2x Drone Link Augmentor I

[Middle Slots]
Omnidirectional Tracking Link I
4x Cap Recharger II

[Low Slots]
Large Armor Repairer II
Armor Kinetic Hardener II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Mission Specific Hardener II
Mission Specific Hardener II
Damage Control II
Amarr Navy Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane

[Rigs]
Large Anti-Explosive Pump I
Large Anti-EM Pump I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I

[Drone Bay]
5 Mission Specific Tech 2 sentry drones
5 Mission Specific Tech 2 heavy drones
5 Mission Specific Tech 2 medium drones

The railgun and blaster are there purely to draw aggro and to supplement the damage from the drones. The sentries are to snipe further away targets, the heavies for cruisers and battleships that get closer, while the mediums are for smaller targets that get too close. The smartbomb can also be used for small, close in targets as well. During normal operation with just the armour mods active, the setup is cap stable.

As long as you don't bite off more than you can chew, or forget to turn on the armour mods, the Dominix is a very sturdy boat.

The opinions shared here are those of its author and not necessarily mine. /CrazyKinux

EVE Fanfest Giveway: The Two Lucky Bastards!

In the end, putting the contest together was the easy part. I had the EVE Fanfest Swag, the extra magazines and the desire give it all away to some lucky members of the EVE Blogging and Tweeting Community. That was easy. Picking only 2 winners out the multitude of you who linked, tweeted and blogged about this blog, was much more difficult than I'd originally thought.

In the end, I used a dash of subjectivity, a sprinkle of luck, and a few pints of the good stuff to choose these two lucky capsuleers - @starryeyedpod (A Starry Eyed Pod-Pusher) and @ChainerCygnus (Corrupted Datacore)!

Thanks for all that you've done and keep up your excitement about EVE, this blog and the EVE Blogging Community.

Here's a reminder of what you'll both be splitting amongst yourselves:

• 2x EVE Fanfest 2008 T-Shirt
• Some EON coasters
• 2x Random EON magazine issues
• Some EVE Online Postcards
• 1x EVE fridge magnet
• 1x EVE mini-mouse
• 2x packs of EVE Collectible Card Game (CCG)
• 2x Fanfest Schedule
• 2x 1-Year Lonetrek Extended Hosting Plan
• 2 50% Lonetrek Promo Codes

Friday Video: James Cameron's Avatar Trailer

So we're Monday, and though I usually post these sorts of videos on Fridays, with Halloween and a Birthday Party over the week-end, I missed my window of opportunity to post this on Friday. Nevertheless I still wanted to share this amazing trailer. The video isn't embedded since that feature was disabled on YouTube, so just click on the screenshot below and make sure to watch it in HD!

[UPDATE: Found a trailer that works and could be embedded in this post.]


Go see the trailer, then comeback and let me know your thoughts!

The New Planet Graphics Video - You'll need to sit down for this one!

December first can't come soon enough! It'll Christmas earlier this year, again!



And this is the original that I've already posted earlier this year.

EVE Blog Banter #13: Your mission, should you decide to accept it...

Welcome to the thirteenth 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 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 here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

The first banter of this 2nd year of EVE Blog Banters comes to us from Zargyl from A Sebiestor Scholar, who asked the following: On the EVE Fanfest 2009 page are pictures of prizes for the Silent Auction that was held during the event. One of these photos was entitled “Design your own EVE mission”. My question now would be what kind of mission would you write if you got that prize? What would the mission be about? Would it be one using the new system of epic mission arks? What would be the story told by it? Feel free to expand upon his questions and put together your very own mission!

EVE is known as the sand box of MMOs, where PvP is the core and heart of the game, and PvE is but an afterthought. But that would be stretching it a bit. Player versus Environment, or PvE, has indeed been neglected in the past, but in recent times, it has received some much needed TLC from the CCP Devs. One thing is for certain though, it'll take a lot more of that sweet viking love to bring PvE up to par with PvP!

Currently my time in EVE is somewhat very limited, if none at all. So I feel somewhat ill prepared to dive deep into this very complex essay of mission design. As such, I'll give the center stage to the folks below, knowing that they'll do a much better job then I would at this present time in my capsuleer career. I look forward to reading, commenting and discussing everyone's ideas!

List of Participants:

1. CrazyKinux's Musing - Your Mission, should you decide to accept it...
2. Zen and the Art of Internet Spaceship Maintenance - First Blood
3. The Elitist - Guristas Invasion
4. The Wandering Druid of Tranquility - ...It's another episode of Design Star: EVE Style...
5. Level Cap -Epic Battles
6. Roc's Ramblings - The Cave of Time
7. Aether - Teach a man to fish...
8. Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah - Mission: Tangled Webs
9. Adventures in Mission Running - I can haz spaceship?
10. Nuke Thoughts - EVE Blog Banter 13
11. Diary of a Pod Pilot - Distressing The Damsel
12. Guns Ablaze - Dynamic Missions
13. Achernar - Confidential Report
14. Escoce - EVE Trader - Missions with player adversaries
15. Hands Off, My Loot! - Blog Banter #13, no witty title
16. Inanity and Doom - A question of impact
17. Cle Demaari: Citizen in EVE - See the Universe
18. A Starry Eyed Pod-Pusher - Wormhole Extreme!
19. Mike Azariah - Missioneer, not mouseketeer

MicroWarpCast - Special Edition: The Hammerhead Interview

MicroWarpCast was originally launched in the fall of 2008, with 3 shows seeing the light of days that year. Though two additional shows were recorded, lack of time and a suicidal PC eventually put the show on hiatus. Add to that the fact that my co-host, the YoMma, was 4 timezones away, that my better half and I had a second child and that I started a new job in late 2008, and you get to understand the difficulties I faced in trying to get the show back on track! No easy task.

Despite all these setback, I still very much wanted to use this outlet to voice my opinion on EVE and all that surrounds this wonderful sandbox-of-a-game!

When the opportunity presented itself to do a contest and have the winner interview one of the CCP Devs during a podcast, I knew that this was the perfect opening to get the show back on air. What you have below is the result of efforts by a few determined EVE Bloggers, by the winner of that contest, by an CCP Dev and by myself.

I'll admit, I was a little bit rusty and had to work Audacity to its limits in order to get a show of decent quality. Xiphos83 had a chance to ask his questions to CCP Hammerhead, the EVE Online's Lead Game Designer. All 3 of us had a jolly good time! Hopefully you'll enjoy the show as well!

Here is the link to LISTEN and DOWNLOAD the show.

Your comments are, as always, more than welcomed!

Show Links:

• Xiphos83's Blog - A Misguided Adventure
• CCP Scrum Development [Update: the video is not set to private and can't be watched]
• HTFU Video
• HTFU Ringtones
• EVE Forum Thread: CCP Hammerhead interviewed on Game Design - MicroWarpCast

P.S.: Want to thank my friend @Merivel who put together that amazing track! Thanks mate! Sounds amazing doesn't it! :p

Some new EVE Online Blogs

I've been trying to keep track of new blogs as I get folks emailing me or commenting on the EVE Blogroll Lovefest, or through the help of Ga'len and Alexia. The blogs below have been added over the last few weeks, and though I'm trying to add every new blog, there's a good chance I'm missing a few. If that's the case for your blog, or a blog you're aware of, then please let me know!

1. A Starry Eyed Pod-Pusher
2. Alone in a WormHole
3. Caels Caldanhai, Inc.
4. Caldari Piratess (The)
5. Chronicles of Riddick (The)
6. Evebowl Survival Guide
7. EVE Monkey
8. Industrialisms
9. Fury and Fire
10. Lonetrek (The)
11. Me vs EVE
12. Nosce te ipsum
13. Phaze-9
14. Ravings of a Lunatic
15. Rewarp (The) – starting over
16. So there I was
17. Underworld Excavators

Before you wander off visiting all these new blogs to welcome then in the EVE Blogging Community, make sure you update your blogroll for Hands Off, My Loot which recently changed its URL to http://handsoff.myloots.com/.

Fly Safe!

Friday Video: Borderlands Making Of - Part 1 & 2

A first look at Halo Waypoint - Video

We're likely to see a lot more of these "themed-waypoints" in the future on XBOX Live, and I can definitely see one for EVE Online once DUST 514 comes out and it gets integrated in the EVE universe. Until then, you can check out Halo Waypoint when is comes out on XBOX Live on November 5th!

Ship Setups - Crusiers: All Purpose Uglies, by the Gaming Griefer

This is a guest post by the Gaming Griefer. You can follow him @JohnBatDell.

The cruiser class in EVE online is nothing if it isn't the most versatile. It was precisely this versatility which attracted me enough to make a priority of training every racial cruiser skill to V, and has kept my interest over all other ship classes save Assault Ships and Pirate Frigates. A competent cruiser pilot is a welcome addition to any roaming gang, if gang roams are your thing. They aren't mine. I was born in the year of the tiger, so I choose to hunt like one: alone.

As I mentioned, cruisers are my third choice. With to the upcoming changes slated for December 1st, anything I write about the pirate frigates would either be obsolete or theory-craft, and I don't really feel like parting with my favorite AF fits. Nevertheless, I've been fairly successful over my EVE career in cruisers, and if you manage to find me on Battleclinic, you'll see that cruisers are by far my favorite prey. Cruisers it is, then.

Before going into specific ship fits, there are a few things I'd like to prepare you for. The first thing is that I prefer an afterburner + warp scrambler combination over a microwarp drive and disrupter on almost everything. I use close range weaponry, and fitting a MWD is completely antithetical to close in fighting.

The second thing? Buffer tank... buffer tank... buffer tank. I fit a buffer on my ships when I can, with the goal being to give myself as many effective hit points as possible and outlast my opponent. Active tanks generally fail on PvP ships with a few exceptions. Having your lifespan, your damage output, and your tackle all tied to your capacitor is just asking for trouble.

The third thing I must point out is that all ammunition is variable depending upon the situation. I usually use T2 ammo in HAMs, and faction ammo in guns. The actual type… well…

One last thing: I use rigs on my cruiser fits. With the addition of medium rigs, and their lower costs, I just don't see why not. If you're going to roam around on your own, you need absolutely every advantage you can get, and throwing down another 2-9 million on some rigs just seems to add up for me.
With those caveats out of the way, I present to you my collection of favorite cruisers, which I dub my "all-purpose uglies".


Gallente
The Gallente Federation has designed some of my favorite ships by far. The ideas behind their engineering is simple: get in close to unload hell on your target with blasters and drones, and have enough durability to make it into blaster range and stay there long enough to make the other guy die for his corporation rather than you dying for yours. I like to make it personal, so this "in your face" philosophy has always suited me just fine. They've got a couple of decent choices in the cruiser department, but if I had to choose one, it would definitely be the Vexor.

My Vexor Fit

[Lows]
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II (x2)
Damage Control II

[Mids]
Medium Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
Warp Scrambler II
10MN Afterburner II

[Highs]
Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I (x2)
200mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S (x3)

[Rigs]
Anti-Thermic Pump I
Anti-Kinetic Pump I
Anti-Explosive Pump I

[Drones]
Group 1
Hobgoblin II x1
Hammerhead II x2
Ogre II x2

Group 2
Warrior II x5

Some notable statistics:
392 DPS
442 m/s
22,844 ehp with 75/74/74/64 resists
-360 target cap per 12s cycle

The first thing most people notice when they see this fit is how I’ve not only opted for small guns, I've opted for small auto cannons to boot. The reasoning behind this is simple. The Vexor's primary strength is drone deployment, and though I could squeeze out another 125 DPS by fitting medium blasters, the advantages of fitting small guns, 2 medium energy neutralizers and an 800mm plate buffer are just too compelling for me. Though it spits out close to 400 dps instead of the 500+ of a gank-Vexor, it has staying power and can suck the life out of just about anything given enough time. Going with small auto cannons instead of small blasters drops a measly 13 dps for the advantage of guns that don't use cap. I felt this was important since all cap on this ship is earmarked for sucking the life out of my opponent and keeping him there.

The second thing people note is the drone grouping. Group 1 I use for targets cruiser sized or bigger, gaining about 75 dps over a group of 5 Hammerhead IIs. Group 2 is used for smaller targets. Warriors, I'd like to note, have the singular distinction of being the only drones that fly 5 km/s out of the box, giving them the ability to run right over most interceptors.

Minmatar
Minmatar ships were the last ships I trained for. This wasn't because they weren't good ships. It honestly had to do with how skill intensive they really are, and of course because they're butt-ugly.

As uneasy as they are for the eyes, they're even more uneasy on an opponent's hull. What's my favorite? If you guessed the Rupture, you win a cookie.

My Rupture Fit

[Lows]
Gyrostabilizer II (x2)
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Damage Control II

[Mids]
Warp Scrambler II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
10MN Afterburner II

[Highs]
425mm Auto Cannon II, Hail M (x4)
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Hellfire Rage Assault Missile (x2)

[Rigs]
Anti-Explosive Pump I
Anti-Kinetic Pump I
Anti-Thermic Pump I

[Drones]
Warrior II (x5)
Warrior II (x1 - reserve)

Some notable statistics:
532 DPS
509 m/s
22,069 ehp with 75/70/65/58 resists
Cap Stable

I opted for resistance rigs over trimarks, as both give about the same benefits to effective hit points, and I felt that fitting a Minmatar cruiser to fly less than 500 m/s was absolute sacrilege. This fit pretty much speaks for itself. It hits hard, soaks up damage like a sponge, and is very easy on the capacitor. It's fairly easy on the wallet as well. With a flight of Warrior IIs to fend off those pesky interceptors, there just aren't too many ships I don't feel comfortable going toe to toe with in this hull.


Amarr
Amarr ships usually rub me the wrong way. They just don’t seem to be built for my style of play, for the most part. Nevertheless, when I crossed trained for Amarr, I did so with a few ships in mind: the Zealot, the Curse/Pilgrim, the Punisher, the Sentinel, and (drum roll, please)...

...the Arbitrator.

My Arbitrator Fit

[Lows]
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane I
Reactor Control Unit II

[Mids]
Warp Scrambler II
Medium Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800
10MN Afterburner II
Tracking Disruptor II

[Highs]
Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I (x3)
Small Energy Neutralizer II

[Rigs]
Ancillary Current Router I (x2)
Drone Durability Enhancer I

[Drones]
Group 1
Hammerhead II (x5 w/ x5 reserve)

Group 2
Warrior II (x5 w/ x5 reserve)

Some notable statistics:
238 DPS
485 m/s
15,576 ehp with 66/55/48/45 resists
-648 target cap per 12s cycle

I was so happy when CCP introduced small and medium rigs, as it allowed me to construct this monster without a guilty conscience. Though it may not have the impressive tank or nasty bite my other cruiser fits have, this Arbitrator sucks an amazing 648 cap per cycle out of anyone within 6.3 km, and 540 out of anyone within 12.6. Simply put, if they don't have a cap booster fit, they'll be in trouble fast, and even if they do, they'll still probably be in trouble. The longer the fight progresses, the more this boat shines.

Anything I can do to panic the guy I'm trying to melt is gold, and if he needs capacitor for anything, this ship will be a very nasty awakening.


Caldari
Most PvP veterans will tell you Caldari ships, except for ECM specialized ships are crap. I think that's complete rubbish. Though it is true that missiles are underpowered in PvP, and also true that shield tanks usually use up precious mid-slots normally reserved for tackle, like anything else in the EVE universe, there are always exceptions to any given rule. If you were paying attention to my previous fits and what they say about my play style, you've probably already guessed what my Caldari submission to the "all purpose uglies" list is: The Moa.

My Moa Fit:

[Lows]
Damage Control II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II (x3)

[Mids]
Large Shield Extender II
10MN Afterburner II
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II

[Highs]
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M (x4)
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Hellfire Rage Assault Missile (x2)

[Rigs]
Ancillary Current Router I
Core Defence Field Extender I (x2)

[Drones]
Hobgoblin II x3

Some notable statistics:
440 DPS
493 m/s
23,293 ehp 34/48/61/67 resists
Cap Stable

Though certainly not my favorite cruiser, I've taken down a few battle cruisers in one, and more than a few cruisers and frigates. Their strength comes from their penchant for being underestimated, and in the colossal amount of punishment they can actually dish out and take.

There you have it. There are other ships I’d love to add to the list, but CrazyKinux limited me to a total of four. Honorable mentions go to the Stabber, the Thorax, the Maller, and the BlackBird.

The opinions shared here are those of its author and not necessarily mine. /CrazyKinux

Friday Video: "Welcome to the Borderlands" HD Trailer

Looks very Mad Max don't you think? And that's totally fine with me!

87 Bazillion Guns? My kinda game!

Speaking of Borderlands, for those of you who missed, or simply couldn't attend the "Production Consistency Through Chaos" presentation a few weeks ago here in Montreal, the IGDA's Montreal chapter was kind enough to record Lulu LaMer's presentation. Here it is embedded below, and you can find it on MotionBox as well.

And speaking (again) of IGDA, last night I attended their GameCafé Discussion on social media in games. Three different variations of this topic were discussed in small groups; in 20 minute sessions, after which we would change tables and discuss a new topic. It was very interesting to see how the Montreal Game Developers are approaching the social media revolution as it pushes into gaming - see CCP's COSMOS initiative for the EVE Online correlation.

Finally, here's a 30 minute video review of the game from the guys over at Giant Bomb, where you see some of the co-op play.

As I said, it looks darn fun! The game is scheduled to come out on console next week, and on PC the next after (through Steam), and though I'm really looking forward to it, I'll probably won't get it right away when it comes out. I just don't have enough time these days to add another game to my roster.

UPDATE: G4's Borderlands Launch Primer

You realize you play EVE Online too much when... (Part 2)

Back in July when I first ran this list I had a few items on that list. But I got a load of great comments and had promised to put a list together from those. So here goes!

You realize you play EVE Online too much when...

1. You try to run from an accident so you don't get podded, Kyle Langdon
2. You consider buying a new PC solely to play eve on maximum GFX settings, Fluffydave
3. You're driving along and then abruptly get stuck at a red light and the first thing you think is "lag!", Latro
4. Parking your car in the garage you hear "Docking Request…Accepted" in your head. And you like it, Rettic
5. You sign your emails with your ingame name, Flashfresh
6. You go train more charisma skills when you make a social idiot of yourself, Rakanishu
7. The first thing you do on any computer after boot up is launch EVEMon, Kirith Kodachi
8. You don't need to play with the sound on because your brain adds all the sounds for you, SubtleQuiche
9. You wonder how many high slots are on the ship in the movie Wall-E, Phelps
10. Police DUI stop, first thought "Gatecamp!", Zarro Starkiler

Great list guys! Got anymore?

EVE Fanfest Giveway: Hands Off my EVE Online Loot!

On this Canadian Thanksgiving I'm in a very festive mood and wanted to share some of the EVE Fanfest loot I got while attending last year's Fanfest. That's right, I'll be giving away some of the extra loot I brought back from the 2008 Edition of the EVE Fanfest; not this last one which was help in October, but last year's.

On top of the Fanfest loot I'll be giving away 2 random issues of EON magazine and @AnMiTh was kind enough to give away two (2) - 1 Year Free Extended Hosting Plan, as well as two (2) 50% Promo Codes!

In all, I'll be giving away 2 packs of loot from the following items:

• 2x EVE Fanfest 2008 T-Shirt
• Some EON coasters
• 2x Random EON magazine issues
• Some EVE Online Postcards
• 1x EVE fridge magnet
• 1x EVE mini-mouse
• 2x packs of EVE Collectible Card Game (CCG)
• 2x Fanfest Schedule
• 2x 1-Year Lonetrek Extended Hosting Plan
• 2 50% Promo Codes

So what do you have to do get a chance to win such fine EVE memorabilia? It's very simple, I just need you to promote CrazyKinux's Musing and @CrazyKinux, through posts and tweets until the end of the month. All through the month I'll monitor Twitter and the comments of this post - where you'll be putting links to your promotional posts on your blog. Then pull 2 names out of the bucket and announce the winners after Halloween!

Got any questions? Ask in the comments!

Good luck to all!

Ship Setups - Electronic Attack Ships: Hyena, Sentinel, & Kitsune, by Manasi

This is a guest post written by Manasi the Mule of A Mule in EVE.


Skills needs

These are frigates level 5 skills, so on your way to fly interceptors EAS is not a terrible skill to get. Also needed are electronic upgrades to level 5 as well. Aside from that, the skills needed are really for the modules you might fit on these little guys. With a limited number of slots you’re going to have to be careful with both power grid (in the future referred to a ‘grid’) and CPU. Note at the time of this writing I am not able to fly the Keres so it was not included

Slot Layout

• Hyena 3/4/3
• Sentinel 3/4/3
• Kitsune 2/5/3

The one thing to know about EAS (Electronic Attack Ships) is that they are very specialized at what they are intended to be good at. How useful that is to you can be debated…

• For the Sentinel, that is energy vampire and & energy neutralizing. They also tracking disrupt!
• For the Hyena, that is long range webbing and target painting, with some speed thrown in.
• For the Kitsune, they specialize in electronic counter measures. (Referred to as ‘jamming’)

Pro's

Sensor strength

Something to point out is all of these ships have good sensor strengths in this order:

1. Kitsune ~ Gravimetric strength 24… same as the Rokh and Scorpion
2. Sentinel ~ Radar Strength 21…. only 1 point less than the Abaddon
3. Hyena ~ Ladar Strength 21…..Same as the Maelstrom

So their sensor strength is on par with battleships even though they are only frigates.

Speed and Agility

Inertial modifiers and base speeds

• Hyena 340 m/s 2.75 inertial modifier
• Sentinel 324 m/s 2.97 Inertial modifier
• Kitsune 315 m/s and a 2.7 inertial modifier

The Hyena is fastest, but not by a terrible amount and ALL of these will align to warp incredibly quickly. All these ships are given the ability to ‘get out of dodge’ really quickly. They will warp within a second or two of each other, somewhere between 4.6 S for the Hyena, to 5.84 S on the Kitsune.

Benefits

The benefits that EAS ships can bring are numerous. The Kitsune is light and fast and can keep up with small fast fleets that need some ECM support. Realize you will be ‘primaried’ first in a Kitsune for a reason. If other ships cannot lock they will become angry at you. The Sentinel can help you eat up interceptors. Just watch out for the other jammers. The Hyena can help stop people for exiting a bubble with their longer range web.

Cons

Durability

These ships will not last long nor, if they are engaged, will they survive very long, the notable exceptions to this are: The Kitsune and the Sentinel. If the Kitsune can lock fast enough she may survive the fight. The Sentinel has a better chance as tracking disruptors can reduce the tracking speed of turret weapons, allowing you to escape, and sometimes the speed to lock as well.

Lack of weaponry

The primary attack of these ships is the electronic measures they provide to the fleet. These are not damage dealers or solo ships. The majority of their ‘grid’ and CPU is to get them in, do their job, and get out (speed). There is absolutely no ‘tank’ what so ever…if you are targeted first, bail out.

Use

These ships are good for specialized purposes. Let’s look at the Kitsune for example. It is a very fast locker (with a Sensor booster II and scan res script) and can be an effective anti-jammer role. Example: mixed fleet fighting in a system starts getting jammed by a falcon...Bring in the Kitsune and lock up the falcon…if you get the lock/jam first then your buddies are free to fire. Probably to most widely used EAS frigate in game. If the Kitsune is on the ‘field’ first they will be killed….immediately

The Sentinel is a different breed; she gets bonuses to neutralizing and draining cap. This ship is highly effective versus the interceptor class of ships. No capacitor, no MWD…no MWD the interceptor goes boom. This ship needs help in killing the interceptors and the Hyena’s (if fitted with painters) can help in that role. The tracking disruptors allow this ship to close in on anything except missile boats.

The Hyena is not seen very often. The webbing bonus is nice so I have seen them used in gate camps trying to stop folks leaving a bubble. They just die too fast and too easily. I have seen a few used in small fleets and gate camps to good use.

Builds

Kitsune

Slot	Module
LOW	'Hypnos' Signal Distortion Amplifier I
	'Hypnos' Signal Distortion Amplifier I
MID	1MN Afterburner II
	BZ-5 Neutralizing Spatial Destabilizer ECM
	Enfeebling Phase Inversion ECM I
	'Hypnos' Ion Field ECM I
	Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution
HIGH	'Arbalest' Standard Missile Launcher, Caldari Navy Bloodclaw Light Missile
	'Arbalest' Standard Missile Launcher, Caldari Navy Bloodclaw Light Missile
	125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Carbonized Lead S
RIGS	Small Signal Disruption Amplifier I
	Small Signal Disruption Amplifier I

Highlights:

• 10.76 Sensor strength
• 1.1 Second lock time on a Falcon hull
• 1010.13 M/s
• Cap stable

Sentinel

Slot	Module
LOW	Capacitor Power Relay II
	Inertia Stabilizers II
	Overdrive Injector System II
MID	Tracking Disruptor II, Tracking Speed Disruption
	Tracking Disruptor II, Tracking Speed Disruption
	Cap Recharger II
	1MN MicroWarpdrive II
HIGH	Small Nosferatu II
	Small Energy Neutralizer II
	Medium Pulse Laser II
RIGS	Small Egress Port Maximizer I
	Small Egress Port Maximizer I

Highlights:

• 3105.43 M/s
• Nos Range 19200
• Nuet range 18900
• CAP stable with max skills
• Lock time 1.8 Seconds on a Zealot

Hyena

Slot	Module
LOW	Power Diagnostic System II
	Overdrive Injector System II
	Inertia Stabilizers II
MID	Stasis Webifier II
	Stasis Webifier II
	Stasis Webifier II
	1MN MicroWarpdrive II
HIGH	280mm Howitzer Artillery II
	280mm Howitzer Artillery II
	Salvager I
RIGS	Small Auxiliary Thrusters I
	Small Projectile Ambit Extension I

Highlights:

• 3518.27 M/s
• 36.67 DPS EMP S 19K range
• Can web at 20 KM
• Locks interceptor at 2.99 Seconds
• Cap stable

Analysis

Looking at these three builds several things comes to mind:

• Each ship has something specialized that they are very good at. Wither you can USE that bonus depends on what you need the ship to do.
• Gate camp bring the hyena
• Anti-interceptor bring the Sentinel
• Anti- jammer bring the Kitsune

The sentinel can probably be used most offensively. Tracking disruption speed on those that target you plus your high velocity means guns won’t be able to track you well. Missile ships are your problem. 108 GJ of neutralizing per every 6 seconds will shut down an interceptor to be sure. So go after the interceptors neutralize them down and you and your friends eat them up. Your still very fragile though so don’t forget that speed is your defense.

The Kitsune is the most fragile and the slowest but using Bernoulli formula (thanks to Grismar’s EvE wiki for this)

C = J/S * 100%

C=10.76/28 * 100% or a 38% chance with a single Jammer to jam a falcon

Where J is the jamming strength of your jammer, S the sensor strength of the target ship and C the jamming chance in %. The chance to jam a target with multiple jammers is a simple deduction of Bernoulli's formula:

C = (1-(1-J/S)^n)*100%

c = (1-(1-10.76/28)^3 or 76.658 % with a full rack of BZ-5’s

This gives you a fairly decent chance to jam a falcon…you must remember you’re their #1 problem so you will be eliminated

Hyena of the three EAS I am familiar with this one may have been seen the most use probably at a gate camp setup. Yes a Rapier can do the job better, and you may survive better in it CAN be done. 20KM web means you can do a tight orbit around the gate and still be able to lock them down and web them. If you substitute a Warp Disruptor you might be able to do both ‘pointing and webbing’ roles in a small gang but remember you ARE very fragile.

The last word

The Kitsune, Sentinel, and Hyena, with the exception of the Kitsune, are underutilized. They are not terribly expensive, and they can do the job their bigger brothers can do with a bit more speed. Sadly many are not used, as they are quite fragile, most pilots do not wish to die a horrible death, without providing a good benefit to their friends. The Hyena, at gate camps can provide some effective webbing potential. The Sentinel can be used to break some really nasty shield tankers, and can be especially potent against interceptors... but missile fire can eliminate them. The Kitsune is a highly effective anti- falcon/anti rook ship, but tends to get ‘primaried’ and die very fast.

If you like these ships and their abilities combined with a bit more toughness look to the T2 cruisers: The Hyena is replaced with the Rapier, The Kitsune with the Falcon/Rook, and lastly the Sentinel is replaced with the Pilgrim. Bring your wallet with you as these ships are NOT cheap!

The opinions shared here are those of its author and not necessarily mine. /CrazyKinux