Tasting Rage

I've never 'Rage- Logged' until the other day. I don't feel good about it because, to me, it seems like a childish thing to do.

Here was my situation:

We often run Level 5 missions now as a Corp. Ironically, every time I have taken part the Fleet has encountered problems causing us to slam on the brakes and do a U-turn. For all the times I haven't been there, the next day my in-box is flooded with e-mails stating how successful the Op was and I get nice big ISK figure shoved in my face. But irony is not the issue here.

On this particular occasion we encountered our old (and now rival) alliance. This was a particular small fleet and it turned out they were quite happy to ignore us and carry on with their own missions. The FC of our Op was not so convinced and called for a combat scanner. With none present I was selected to go and re-fit my Drake in the next system to start scanning down the opposing mission runners. I complied, got back into system and fitted my Drake with the Expanded Launcher. To free-up the CPU I had to remove my missile-launchers, leaving my Drake defenceless. Plus, I didn't have the time to go and pick up a cloak. Nevertheless, I began scanning.

By this time, their mission-running ships had docked and their salvaging ships were hard at work. When the salvager's returned, our old Alliance buddies suddenly un-docked in PvP ships and left system. Our combat probes most likely gave an indication that we were actively looking for a fight. Our scout was sat on the stargate in the exit-system and announced they had scattered in different directions. Concluding that they were probably checking for back-up on our part, the FC decided that they would probably return as a larger fleet and called it a day.

Then I got disconnected.

This was not uncommon for me as my Wireless Adaptor hasn't proved to be my best purchase. However, when I logged back on and my ship returned to my safe-spot I found myself landing on top of a small group of roaming pirates who had been in local but never seemed to be any threat. Great. They had obviously scanned me down and started warping to me as I was DC'd. Unsure of how I had managed to miss their combat scanners on D-Scan, I started to ask for a re-fleet in Corp chat. Our ships greatly out-matched theirs and it would have been a sure win. Everyone, however, seemed content on ignoring my 'x' in chat.

To my dismay, the Fleet had already started to disband and trickle out of the system. When I came under fire my 'x' quickly turned into 'xxx'. But my Corp mates who were actually watching chat didn't even know what that meant and started repeating what I had put as if it was a joke. I tried the audio, but everyone was audio'd up in the Fleet channel (I now suddenly see the advantage of Vent or TeamSpeak!). My Alt was still logged into Fleet, but my message was also ignored there.

It took a while, but my Drake eventually popped and I warped my pod back to station.

Here was the convo in my Corp:

Akinesis > x me
Akinesis > xxxxx
Pilot 3 > x
Pilot 1 > XxXx
Pilot 4 > allright well dinner time
Pilot 4 > I'll be back in a bit
Pilot 2 > pvp roam is over
Akinesis > No it wasn't I just lost my f***ing Drake
Pilot 5 > what?
Pilot 2 > what
Pilot 2 > how
Akinesis > Jumped. Why wasn't I fleeted???!
Akinesis > Could do f*** all
Pilot 2 > by alliance?
Akinesis > No, by the others in local
Pilot 2 > u got kicked
Pilot 2 > oh
Akinesis > Yeah, and twice I asked for a fleet
Pilot 2 > sh*t sry man
Akinesis > F*** it

At this point I logged.

I was annoyed that I had been left forgotten in a defenceless Drake while everyone else packed up and left. I think it was bad form. Maybe I have perhaps over-reacted to the situation, and I certainly don't want readers to think I'm bad-mouthing my Corp in this post. I'm just venting. But incidents like this shouldn't happen any more, not with the experienced players that were involved in this operation.

Never mind. I pride myself at not getting angry at internet spaceships and here I am ranting.

Just another lesson learned the hard way for Akinesis.

* Cue sad violin music

The Alternative Character

For the majority of my time in EvE I have been running with one Jack-of-all-Trades character. I knew a lot of people had Alts, but never really saw the need myself.

However, before moving into the Wormhole I was one of the few responsible (and able) to resupply the Low-Sec POS using my Crane. When I moved into the 'Hole, there wouldn't really be anyone left to undertake the task back in Empire-Space.

So, I decided to bite the bullet and start training up an Alt. Chrieghten was born (for those who appreciate the good old British humour, Chreighten is in honour of the one and only 'Kryten' from Red Dwarf. Also, the name is very apt, as Kryten is the service droid).

Chrieghten is my Industry and Logistics Alt so that Akinesis can now solely concentrate on weapons and shields. So, to start off with, I trained him up to mine and haul as I was producing my own ships and modules to take into the 'Hole. Once he was able to fly a Hulk, I moved him straight onto the Crane and then the Orca. However, just as I was about to set him down the path of a Charon, I had a change of heart and started him on Logistics early.

I had recently witnessed a logistical Dominix in operation for the first time. Obviously I knew about Remote-Repping (RR) ships, but I had never really had much to do with them. I know this is quite odd, being that I am a 2007 player, but it is just one of those things that I have managed to inadvertently avoid.

Now at 8mil skill-points, Chrieghten is able to fly a Dominix fitted with mainly Tech-II equipment. This means I am able to fit my Nighthawk purely for DPS and use my Alt to rep the 'Hawks shields. Using this method allows me to steam-roll Level 4's even faster. Fleet-Ops can be a bit of a nightmare now as pilots bring pure DPS platforms and rely on the Logi's for defence, so I find myself juggling the RR between three or four ships and trying to manage the Nighthawk on the other screen at the same time. But it certainly makes everything more interesting.

I will train Chrieghten up to a Basilisk before I move him back to Industry. RR is so handy to have around that I want to make full use of the trade. As mentioned, he uses a Dominix (because of it's drone-bay and it's ability to tank damage if it gets aggro'd), and he also has an Osprey for a cheaper option (as well as the range bonuses being very handy on occasion).

Originally, I was running two windows on one monitor. This was fine as long as I had the graphics turned right down, but now I run my Alt on a laptop and leave the main with the desktop PC. This way I can enjoy full graphics on a large screen.

A shot when I was running two window's on one screen. Chrieghten's Domi often tries to eat the Nighthawk:

But having the two characters on separate machines means I can now run the graphics the way they are meant:

As I often run in Low-Sec, another valuable perk is being able to use Chrieghten to scout the systems ahead. This stops me (and others, if I'm in a fleet) running into a gate camp and saving, potentially, hundreds of millions in ship and component losses (and maybe some implants!). Although I have not finished setting it up yet, running PI alone on two accounts racks up a wad of extra ISK. It can also be fun to play in-character with two separate toons.

I can only liken the Alt situation to driving a car - you never need one all the time you never had one, but as soon as you have one you can never be without it. Now, I always run the two characters side-by-side and often have to fight the urge to start up a third Alt.

My only regret about having an Alt in EvE is that I didn't start one sooner.

EvE Online - Game or Hobby?

For a long time I was a casual player. I use to treat EvE as a game. I would log on, swap a few skills, run a few missions with the Corp and maybe do some mining. But after 2-4 hours I would log off and go and do something else in the real world, perhaps not returning to my computer screen for a couple of days.

But then work moved me away from my friends and I found myself with empty evenings during the week. Not content with just sitting and watching DVD's, I started to explore in greater depth what EvE has to offer. So I got a lot more involved with the Corp. I wasn't just turning up to more fleet operations, but suggesting and exploring ideas to expand and move our Corporation forward. I started learning about the mechanics of running a Corp and managing POS's. My involvement continued to escalate as time progressed. Now, in game, I am the Vice-CEO of our Corporation.

Some time ago now, through the wonders of my iPod Touch, I began to take an interest in the Blogs as well as listening to Podcasts. I was learning about areas of EvE that I had not yet explored or even knew about, and my interest and curiosity in the game grew. In one of the Blogs I also read that EvE has the most active gaming-community the World has to offer and I found myself wanting to get involved. I now dedicate time to writing Blogs and I am also a member of the Tweetfleet where I can keep up with other pilots in a real-time fashion. EvE (in and out of game) is so large I find it hard to get bored.

So, I have made it more than 'just a game'. I write to an audience about life in New Eden. I have 'worked' to the position of co-manager of a successful Corporation of which I have an active part in recruiting and expanding as well as the organisation and activities of the members within. I have brought myself to a position where if I were to leave the Corporation I would change the game for many people on some level. As well as all this I have a selection of internet space-ships with changeable armament and equipment to suit a myriad of situations - situations that are both in and out of my control. And I can use the spaceships in any way I choose because EvE is a sandbox game. There are no restrictions on how I can play.

It's not just a case of completing missions any more to get a bigger, better space-ships. I've realised the more one puts into this game the more one gets out, and I actively 'work' at EvE to get the most enjoyment out of it. It's not a game to me now, it's a hobby.

And the best thing? There is no end to any of this.

The Mighty Nighthawk

For the past few months I have been dwelling in our C2 Wormhole. Even with the constant changing tides of luck that comes with living in a 'Hole, it has been by far my most profitable venture in EvE yet. To make money, I mainly run Sleeper, Magnetic and Radar sites and reap the rewards from the salvage gained from the wrecks. So, one way to make money faster is to have a higher DPS ship that can eat targets quicker.

Having heard a lot of great things about the Nighthawk, I figured I would pick one up. I didn't need to train up many skills to qualify, and I was soon fitting one out in our POS.

I decided on a totally passive fit. I knew how susceptible Nighthawks are to nueting, so I decided this was the safest option. It was a PvE mission-running fit that also had good enough resists and defence to tank small-time gankers. It was a novelty for a while. But after one of my Corp mates showed me a good PvP Drake set-up, I went back to the trusty Battlecruiser. This Drake had higher resists (albeit with active hardners) than my Nighthawk with more DPS and was still good enough to be used in Sleeper sites. So I started using this and the Nighthawk got mothballed in the POS hangar.

Yes, I could have easily changed the fit to the Nighthawk to make it far more superior. But I can buy eight Drakes for every one Nighthawk. Drakes are expendable. Losing Nighthawk's would damage my wallet. Also, a 'Hawk is going to go one of two ways in a Wormhole. It might deter would-be-attackers if they were running around in small groups, but larger roaming pilots would most likely jump at the chance to take a N'Hawk down.

So back to the Drakes it was.

Inevitably, and all Womhole dwellers may side with me here, I needed a break from our 'Hole. So I've come back to Empire with two Orca's full of my ships and modules. The first thing I did was jump in my Scorpion Navy Issue (the Navy Scorp is a missile boat, not an ECM platform as some people seem to think) and started running Level-4 missions again. The Nighthawk sat in my hangar for a few days, as I thought it would be useless in Empire. That changed the day I decided to give it a try to see how well it would handle the Level-4's.

Wow. This thing devours L4's.

Now that I don't need to protect it from gankers quite so much I was able to fit a much heavier DPS load-out. The Nighthawk gets bonuses to heavy missiles - and they make such a difference. With my SNI I had to rely on my light and medium drones to handle frigates/destroyers and cruisers/battlecruisers respectively while the Scorp chewed up the Battleships with cruise missiles. With the Nighthawk, the heavy-missiles are good enough to handle all ship classes effectively. I can easily say that I get through missions twice as fast now.

I believe there are arguments as to which is better - a CNR or a Nighthawk. But relating to one of my previous posts I would happily take the Nighthawk any day. A lot of the guys from my Corp who I run missions with use Tengu's, and the DPS seems to compare well with the T3 ships. Where the Nighthawk does fail, though, is it's speed compared to the T3's. To help, I have fitted an After-Burner which allows me to keep up at a moderate pace. However, the NH makes up for this downfall if she gets webbed. I have no worries - the tank, coupled with the insane resists, is enormous. Webbing, for most Tengu's, is game over. As always, swings and round-a-bouts.

The final note I will make about Nighthawk is the active vs passive fits. As my ship will mostly be used in PvE, I have gone for the passive fit with active hardners. However, this fit does not stand too well in PvP. At the moment my Corp is bogged down with a War-Dec, and I lost one Nighthawk (through nothing more than shear ignorance and ill-placed overconfidence on my part). With the passive fit (I used passive amps so I was nuet-proof) she still took a while to bring down, but I was on my own and very well jammed, webbed and scrammed so her fate was sealed from the moment I was locked. There is a good PvP fit that I would like to try, although I don't really see the sense in risking all that ISK when Drakes can do the same job (albeit, a little slower).

So, I have now sold the SNI and will be using Nighthawk's for a very long time. But I will keep her out of PvP if I can!

Damn! I was so close....

My kill-board isn't looking very good at the moment. I can't help but feel that a lot of players might be judging me on my combat skills. If you were to view it, you would see a myriad of vessels that I have lost since my time in New Eden. It's true that a good majority of these have been popped since I have been dwelling in the Wormhole and, considering that I often run solo due to time-zone differences between myself and the majority of my Corp, perhaps this can be forgiven to some extent. However, due to the amount of losses I have incurred I feel that it's about time I got some revenge.

To that end, whenever I get the opportunity to deny someone else their ship, I will grasp the moment. However, I have set myself some moral rules. If I really wanted to, I could have chalked up a few kills. But these are simply Industrial targets that I have found in neighbouring Wormholes. To me, taking out a Covetor isn't fun. It's too easy, and (personally) seems a cowardly act for a first kill. I want to take out a ship in a 'fair' fight.

Not too long ago, I made a post where I engaged a Hurricane. I lost, but only due to his buddy warping in to save his skin. I also shared an engagement with a bomber, but he chickened out. Then, the other day, our neighbouring C2 blessed us with a Russian Corp. Having shared a Wormhole exit with some Russians before, I knew we were in for a bit of action.

Their C2 harboured many sites, so we got to work with our probes. My CEO and I orbited our Wormhole in scan ships and a third Corp-member jumped through in a Drake to help out. As the Drake jumped a Manticore de-cloaked and that familiar bomb-marker in the Overview came speeding towards us. It detonated, taking both mine and my CEO's shields out. We were cloaked, though, so the bomber was unaware of our presence. The Drake, being a Drake, shook the damage off. I told the Drake pilot to warp away and cloak while I stayed in my Covert-Ops Buzzard to monitor the site.

Time passed as the CEO continued to scan down the sites. With no sign of any attempt to set up a warp-bubble around our 'Hole, I told the Drake pilot to 'warp-to-zero' and jump back through into our system. The pilot complied and I followed. I warped to our POS where I picked up my Manticore before heading back to the Russian's system. Bombing is perhaps another form of cowardly fighting, but I was more than happy to play the game.

I orbited our Womrhole on the Russian's side and waited.

And waited.

I knew the Russian bomber was still there. Having previously scanned and observed their POS, I warped my Manti from the 'Hole to their station, and then warped back to the Wormhole at 60km. Maybe, just maybe, the bomber was sat at 30km from to our Wormhole in-line with his own POS. The logic was plausible. I aligned, de-cloaked and fired a bomb.

Nothing. Damn.

I re-cloaked and continued to orbit the Wormhole at 32km. My CEO announced that he had scanned the system and was heading back home to get his Ferox. I saw his Heron warp in and jump through. Minutes later he re-appeared in his battle-cruiser. Surely enough, the Russian bomber de-cloaked and fired off another bomb. And he was only 33km away from me. It couldn't be more perfect!

I approached him and gave an extra couple of seconds to make sure that I was aligned fully. I deactivated the cloak and launched a bomb. I saw from the corner of the screen that the Ferox was in warp before the Russian's charge detonated. I held my breath as my own bomb was right in-line for the Russian, counting down the seconds in my head.

It must have been half a second before the bomb arrived that the target warped off, leaving the explosive to harmlessly detonate in empty space.

I spat abuse at my monitor for a while following that episode. 'Gutted' simply doesn't cover how I felt. Once again, I fail at a bomber-on-bomber fight. Had I remembered the 15km radius the bombs have and not wasted so much time aligning I would have got the other Manticore for sure. I then noticed a non-friendly Fleet Command ship appear on my overview. I cloaked, jumped and logged, too annoyed with myself to carry on.

For about two days after I still wailed out a random blurts of frustration.

Looking on the bright side, I have gained more valuable experience.

My Manti will taste blood one day!

The New Akinesis

I have had a lot of fun in the character creator. I regard myself as one of the lucky one's who got their character(s) right first time. Not only that, but my computer didn't have a problem running the program.

Here is the new Akinesis:

My partner, like a lot of people, did have problems running the program on her laptop. She can run it as long as the graphics are turned down to low, but the in-game results can be very different than what has actually been created in the character program:

Above is a comparison of the high graphics vs the low graphics option. If I created Akinesis with the low settings selected, I would have built the image on the right. But in-game he would appear as the guy on the left. As you can see, they are very different. I have told my girlfriend to wait until this weekend, where I will bring my PC home so she can do it properly.

I originally intended to keep the look of my new toon as close as I could to the original. I did this with little success, although some similarities remain. Regardless, I'm not disappointed at all with the final product. I even decided he looked better with a beard - so I added one:

As my main character is a Jack-of-all-Trades, I wanted to give him an appearance that suggested this. And I think I've done a reasonable job.

I also designed my Alt, Chrieghten, with his background in mind. Originally my Alt looked around the same age as my main. However, the new version looks significantly younger. I did this to reflect the skill-points Chrieghten has in comparison to Akinesis. I figured that my fresh-faced Alt should look younger. And due to the nature of his roles (Science, Industry and Logistics) and with his education-tree branching from Science, I wanted to add that look of a proud and educated individual. Keeping some form of goatee adds that hint of rebel that steers him away from the geeky science-buff that his schooling and tidy appearance might suggest.

When I brought the characters together in an image, I found I had zoomed into Chreighten slightly more. This makes him appear taller than Akinesis. I quite like this idea, as it contributes to that touch of 'realism'. So here is the two pilots standing together for the first time:

For anyone that might not know, CCP are going to allow players to have another shot to recreate their characters during this months 'grace' period. This is due to the very high volume of pilots who petitioned about not understanding the character creator fully and have ended up unhappy with their final designs. I don't think I need to tinker with my toons as I am content with the outcome. Although, (I know it's only for the moment) it does seem a shame that we have created our full-bodied and 'alive' characters only to have them reverted back to a 2D passport-photo.

I'm hoping that once Incarna is here we will be able to change the clothes and hair whenever we fancy. Perhaps even introduce an ageing mechanic. But I'm very happy with the work CCP have done here. It certainly makes me feel a lot more attached to my characters. With the level of realism we now have with our alter-ego's, it almost makes the space-ships seem cartoon-ey now.

Here's hoping that Incarna is just around the corner.

Edit: there is clearly some fun to be had with the Character Editor: http://yfrog.com/h47lenp

Good-bye Pod. Hello Clone!

I have been podded for the first time.

Should I be proud that I have managed to avoid being podded for nearly fours years, or does it just switch on the big 'Carebear' neon light?

Regardless, I'm pleased with the way I went down: fighting.

Our C2 static for the day was very active. There were six POS's, and most of them were full of nothing but industry structures. Their 'home' POS contained an active Tengu and Loki. I sat and watched them for a while, but with all the industry that was going on (I've never seen so many Silo's on D-Scan!) I decided they were too busy to worry about a couple of ships passing through. Their system had a few shiny signatures and anomalies, but it would be suicide to harvest from an active 'Hole. I went ahead and scanned the sigs and found a C1 branching off. It was also active. By this point I'd had enough of scanning, so went on to other things.

My CEO opened up comms with the inhabitant of the C1. They were new to Wormholes, but friendly. He ended up harvesting the Ladar sites there while I took advantage of our static Low-Sec's proximity to Jita. He harvested the clouds into cans and went back in his Badger to collect them. On his return he got jumped by the inhabitants of the middle 'Hole. He managed to warp away, but they had put up a warp-bubble on their side of the Wormhole. He stayed cloaked in the C1 while I charged across in my bomber. There was a Hurricane sat next to the 'Hole for the C1. I got in range (which took me into the bubble) and fired a bomb. His shields dropped and he began targeting me before I could re-cloak. My first priority was to get out of the bubble, so I tried to turn. However, he quickly gained ground and webbed and nueted me. I opened fire with my torpedo's, but with no cap I couldn't use my target-painters or sensors-damps. My speed was also reduced to about 140m/s. However, even through all this, his turrets couldn't track me. I was getting hit for very little damage while my trusty torps stripped his armour.

I was going to win!

With my heart pounding in my chest I abandoned the idea of getting out of the bubble and started to orbit the Hurricane. I was like a puppy around a new toy as I watched his armour-bar turn more and more red. Then a Drake warped in. My hopes were sucked dry from me as his Corp-mate targeted me. Knowing it was going to be over very soon, I started towards the Drake. By now, my bomb launcher was ready to go again, so I hoped to fire one at the Battlecruiser in my dying breath. It didn't happen. My Manticore popped and I was a pod floating in space. I selected a planet and spammed the warp-button. Nothing. I was still in the bubble.

Damn.

After a few alarm's sounded I was back in Ichoriya. I checked my Combat-Log and opened up a conversation:

Hamlox Helmholtz: Howdy
Akinesis: gf, man
Hamlox Helmholtz: Thanks, man. You were wailing on me in that Manticore!
Akinesis: Yup :D
Akinesis: I thought I had a chance, but then the Drake showed up and it was all over =P
Hamlox Helmholtz: I was a bit surprised... all of the sudden it turned into "Oh, S***!"
Hamlox Helmholtz: Yeah... my damned guns couldn't hit you.
Akinesis: I should have got out the bubble to save my pod, but I was too determined XD
Akinesis: =)
Hamlox Helmholtz: Bloodthirsty, yeah!
Hamlox Helmholtz: Good fight to you, see you around!


I'd made a lot of mistakes (as is expected from being so green at PvP), but I had great fun. I learned a lot from that short experience, and I'm glad the guy thought I was a good challenge. But the biggest disappointment was my CEO got disconnected while this went on, making my distraction useless. Still, I feel I gained a lot more than I lost.

After I stroked my mission-running Scorpion Navy Issue a few times in Ichoriya, I set destination to Jita and un-docked. I rebuilt my Manti, plugged in new implants and then went back to the 'Hole 200million ISK lighter.

In a way, I'm glad I got podded. The hard-wire implants I had before were fitted a long time ago when I was still a noob.  I can't even remember what I had, but I most likely had ones that weren't really aiding my character. And I had never thought of going back and upgrading them. After a small bit of research, I bought ones that actually give me bonuses relative to my play-style.

My losses also furthered this very morning. I had some reading-up to do for my course, so I took the Covetor into a Grav site to suck up some ABC ores. I always keep a watchful eye on D-Scan, but as I was reading I was pretty much AFK. At one point I saw some Core-probes pop up, so I got my Buzzard and did a combat scan. With no probes popping up, I made the decision that this WH was no use to the probing pilot (we keep our system very dry). So I pulled my Covetor back out and went back to mining. I even turned my speakers down so the strip-miners wouldn't bother me (!). The rest you can guess. It's times like this that I'm thankful I left the Hulk in Empire.

RIP Covvy!