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!

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.

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.

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

Friday Video: DUST 514 - The Full Trailer and more!

Dust in looking more and more as one hell of a shooter. And looking at the way CCP Games wants to integrate it into the EVE Online Universe, it just makes me want to loose myself in the game just as I did the first time I popped that Halo DVD into that rented XBOX way back when.

Below is the short trailer in HD, courtesy of the fine folks from CCP PR. I've got a downloadable HIGH RES version, but am waiting for them to give me the green light before I can make available to you guys. I'd you're interested, just leave me a comment.

Enjoy!

I've also found these 2 low-res video that provide much more information then the previous trailer. The two-part video goes on for over 10 minutes and gives you a bit of background information you don't get from the previous video. Hope you appreciate!

You can hear both Torfi's and Nathan's comments during both videos. Quite interesting!

A New EVE Online Ship: Oveur's Beership!

Oveur at his best!

Seriously though, I don't know if this little video actually showcases the new graphics for the planets and asteroids that we've been promised, but if it does, I mean OMG!!!!!!! Can anyone who attended Fanfest let us know more about this video?

CCP Games goes balistic - HTFU Permaband!

A pretty slick video from CCP Iceland, Atlanta and Shangai! You've got to see that Icelandic Techno Viking at the 1:54 minute! Love ya Oveur! And Noah, you make the cutest Water Boy!

Nuff said!

(via @Lacrimae)

Ship Setups - The Stealth Bombers, by Hallan Turrek

This is a guest post by Hallan Turrek from A Merry Life and a Short One.

One of the four beasts said, Come and see.

Revelations - Chapter 6, Verse 1

Introduction

Welcome to the second installment of CrazyKinux's Ship Fitting series. Last week, Kirith Kodachi covered PvE fittings for Rifters and Breachers. This week I'd like to do the first of what will probably be many PvP fitting posts. I'll be covering Stealth Bombers.

Most people are unsure as to the role of stealth bombers in a gang. What you have is a highly mobile and cloaked piece of artillery, for better or worse. You can hit at range and hit hard. You can warp cloaked and sit in a safe cloaked. You decide when to engage and when not to engage. As long as you use it wisely, you will very rarely die.

EVE Online Fanfest 2009 Speedlinking

I'm slowly gathering all the good articles and information that I come across in regards to the EVE Online Fanfest Coverage - articles, facts, photos, blog roundups, etc. I'll keep updating this post as I find new info. If you've written something or are aware of a great article I haven't linked too (and there are plenty of these), then please add them to the comments and I'll add it to the list.

What we've learned so far on:

EVE Online

• Ship formations with added bonuses will soon be introduced
• The next expansion, Dominion, is to be launched on December 1st, 2009
• COSMOS social network has been renamed "New Eden"; and some folks just don't agree with the new name
• New Tech III loot as well as Tech III Frigates are coming
• Planetary ring mining (been looking forward to this one for quite some time)
• Comet mining (been promised this way back when)
• @chocolips' take on what COSMOS is - pre-Fanfest

DUST 514

• Will have customizable vehicles. with modules like eve ships.
• DUST 514 is a large-scale multiplayer FPS in the style of the Battlefield 2142
• Will have Microtransactions to allow access to blueprints and stuff.
• DUST Corps and EvE corps can be in the same alliance.
• DUST players act as mercenaries in the pay of EVE Online's space pilots.
• DUST 514 will have microtransactions (aka Micropayments)

From CCP Games

• Dominion Presentation Video

From Massively

• EVE Fanfest 2009 highlights

From EuroGamer (great coverage btw)

• EVE social network site detailed
• DUST 514 to use micro-transations
• EVE: Dominion out December 1st
• DUST 514 preview (a must read!)

From TenTonHammer

• EVE's Economics and "Unholy Rage" Video
• CCP Reveals More Details about DUST 514 at EVE FanFest 2009
• EVE Online Incarna Teaser Trailer
• CCP Unveils DUST 514 at EVE FanFest 2009

From other corners of the Intertubes and Blogosphere

• Roc's Ramblings - Iceland 2009 – Entry #8 & Entry #8b
• Diary of a Pod Pilot - Fanfest 2009 review: Awesomeness
• Hellforge - No Subscription Fees for DUST 514
• Dotlan EVE Maps - Fanfest 2009 Roundup
• ZAM - CCP Presents - Fanfest 2009 Keynote
• DJ Alienhand's EVE Fanfest Party Free track
• The Mondes Persistants' EVE Fanfest 2009 Flickr photo sets - Thursday - Friday - Saturday and Sunday
• @chocolips' Flickr sets - Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 and recap post

INCARNA: an EVE Online Trailer (low quality)

Filmed today by @jamesremuscat this is the Trailer for Incarna, or what was formely known as Walking in Station, originally Ambulation. You're still with me here? Enjoy this little gem of a preview!

Useful links for EVE Online Players

I thought I'd share them with you in effort to get you to share and use them, but as well to get you to start using them for your own blog! Create your own and spread them around the Intertubes!

• For WoW Players wanting to make sense of EVE
• For the EVE Noobs out there - Yes you know who you are
• An EVE Blog Banter on why we love this game
• EVE Blog Pack
• EVE Blog Banters
• EVE Blogroll Lovefest
• EVE Online Speedlinking
• My EVE Online Guides List
• All Massively Overpowered articles on EVE Online

Your thoughts?

[December 2025 Update: I've had to redo this post as all the Tiny URLs that I had created way back then were now being used to point to malicious websites.]