Jump clones in EVE Online: A beginner’s guide to clone mechanics

 

Inspired by “Medical and Jump clones made easy!” by Gildy (see his video guide below) — updated using CCP Games + EVE University sources.

If you’ve ever felt totally lost navigating EVE’s clone mechanics, you’re in good company. The system changed so many times over the years that most “old wisdom” floating around today is either half-true or straight-up obsolete. So let’s walk through what clones actually are now — clean, current, and stripped of all the old baggage.

Jump clones in 2025 — what they're really all about

First things first: today’s clone system is simple. No more clone grades, no more skill-loss anxiety, no more spreadsheets to figure out which body can hold how many skill points. A clone is just your empty body waiting for your consciousness. That’s it.

Looking back on Arcane and the experience of watching it together

We’ve always had a family tradition of watching animation together — Studio Ghibli was our starting point when the kids were little — and Arcane naturally found its place in that same rhythm. Season 1 pulled us in from the start — the MiniCKs and me, all equally curious about where it was heading. The art, the pacing, the characters; everything felt richer than we expected. When we started watching Season 2 at the start of the year, my eldest and I decided to continue watching it together. We went back to Season 1 partly to enjoy the story with fresh eyes, and partly because we’d forgotten more than we realized. By episode three of Season 2, the number of pauses we were taking made it obvious we needed a full rewatch of the first season.

(No actual spoilers here — just reflections on the experience. But you may want to wait to read until you're done with both seasons.)

Watching the show again only reenforced our appreciation for the mesmerizing visuals: Arcane’s quality isn’t an accident. The animation is breathtaking in a way that makes you want to print still frames as paintings. Fortiche didn’t just animate a story; they built a world that breathes. There were scenes where I found myself thinking, I’d hang this on a wall. That doesn’t happen often with television.

But beyond the visuals, it’s the characters who carry everything. Vi and Jinx, especially, sit at the heart of the show. Their relationship is complicated, painful, and believable, and it anchors both seasons. Even when the story branches out into politics, mysticism, and the deeper mechanics of Hextech, it always comes back to the people affected by those forces.

How that twenty-year-old Gears of War teaser still grabs my attention

There’s a moment I keep circling back to.

You’re in a room full of noise, everyone talking over each other, and then you notice there's one kid alone, sitting in a corner, speaking barely above a whisper. And somehow, that’s the voice you end up focusing on.

That’s what the original Gears of War teaser did back in 2006.

The whole industry was in ‘bigger, louder, flashier’ mode, and then along comes this short, almost fragile trailer set to the Donnie Darko-era ‘Mad World’ cover by Gary Jules. A lone soldier. A ruined city. No shouting, no hype. Just a mood that landed harder than all the big-budget noise around it.

It didn’t push itself into your face.

It didn’t have to.

It said what it needed to say quietly, and that was enough.

Caelin Kinotsuki: Caldari survivor. Callsign "Crazy Kinux"

I’ve never been deep into the roleplaying side of EVE Online—not like the pilots who fully live their New Eden personas every time they log in. (Is that still a thing?) But I’ve always liked giving my characters at least a bit of background. The old RPG player in me still enjoys a good story.

With my current character, Crazy Kinux, there was a chance to do something that actually tied the “Crazy” and the “Kinux” together. I played around with a few ideas, and the version below is what I settled on.

Curious what you think. Do you roleplay at all in EVE?

Caelin "Crazy Kinux" Kinotsuki

Caelin Kinotsuki, aka Crazy Kinux or CK for his inner circle, grew up near the refineries of Haajinen, in a family that had worked for Kaalakiota’s Extraction Division (KKeD) for generations. Mining was the expected path, and he took it without hesitation. Though certainly far from the glamorous military career some would hope for, the work was steady, the crews were close, and for a Caldari, it felt like contributing directly to the strength of the State.

For years, Caelin lived the standard extractor’s routine—long shifts, quiet camaraderie, and the simple satisfaction of meeting quotas. 

That ended the day his crew was caught in a Gallente ambush.

They were operating in a contested border system, running a routine extraction. Nothing unusual. But with tensions high between the State and the Federation, a Gallente strike group jumped in and misidentified the wing as a Caldari recon element. They attacked immediately. 

Caelin survived only because his pod was thrown clear during the first pass. He drifted for hours before a State patrol recovered him.

Everyone else in his crew was gone.