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!

The 24th EVE Blog Banter (January 2011 Edition) - Topic: EVE and Real Life

Welcome to the twenty-fourth 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 or so 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 to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!


This month's Banter topic comes to us from the ever helpful Eelis Kiy, capsuleer behind the "Where the frack is my ship" blog. She asks: How does your real life personality compare to who you are as a character in EVE? Does a good leader of people in the real world make a good leader of pilots in game? Or vice-versa? Do your real-life skills help you with the roles you fulfill in your corporation or alliance? Or do you behave completely differently? Does the anonymity of the Internet allow you to thrive on the tears of others in New Eden whilst you work as a good Samaritan away from your keyboard? Or are you as mean outside of your pod as you are inside it? Have experiences in EVE Online affected your behavior, skills or attitudes outside of the game?

---

I will openly admit that I dislike people abusing the anonymity which the internet offers. It is an almost flawless tool that allows griefers and trolls to do what they do. Inside the game, I fully expect it, no question. The EvE Forums, however, wind me up no end. It shouldn't, but it does - even though I do force myself to remember that griefing is a part of EvE outside of the game as much as it is inside of the game. And their are even griefers who I do respect.

So, with that in mind, it would be hypocritical to say that I do not hide behind anonymity. Well, actually, I do. But I do not use it to troll. I've just chosen to make it about Akinesis, not about myself. I refer to what Akinesis is doing, what he has done or his plans. I treat it as a get-away from the real me. I have revealed some information in a few posts (in Function Vs Aesthetics I start off talking a bit about my profession and Persistence Prevails is about my partner) but I do hold back as many details as I can without jeopardising the topic I'm trying to address. In this post, however, I will be breaking that rule in order to discuss the topic.

It should now go without saying that I do not grief. I'm not out to try and annoy people or ruin their game. That is without question a direct reflection of my own personality - I can't hide from that after what I've said so far. I don't get high off of tears. In real life I will more than often try and practice diplomacy towards any situation. Even people I don't particularly like rarely experience a negative approach from myself. I also don't enjoy making people feel like an idiot and like to help out if I can, and all this reflects on Akinesis.

I've also mentioned before that Akinesis is a jack-of-all-trades. If you ever met any of my real-life friends or family I'm sure they will tell I am the same. And, just like Akinesis, I do not particularly excel at those talents. I can do many things to a good standard but I will never be an A+ student at a particular task. Likewise, Akinesis can do just about anything in EvE, but only to a moderate standard due to the broad range of his skills. Giving too many chances is also a trait of mine (perhaps an unwelcome one that I should shake off!) which I mention in the 22nd Blog Banter, and this is also repeated in-game.

At this point it is almost blatant that Akinesis is a digital representation of my true self. That now begs a new question - why am I playing myself in a game? Surely that's boring? The fun thing do is to play as an alter-ego, right?

Moving on. 

My profession in real-life is engineering. Aviation Engineering to be exact (more leaking!). Now, while these skills don't transfer to the game directly, it might explain my fussiness on the design of the ships and my desire to research and build them.

One of my personal traits, however, is creativity. Before EvE I channelled my creativity trait through both illustration and a novel that I never quite finished. I developed those skills enough that I almost got a part-time job drawing for a gaming magazine and my novel (according to a few professional people who proof-read samples) was on to a winner. It might sound foolish to have abandoned those projects, but it was hard to balance such commitments with the career that I have. EvE, however, slots in my free time nicely and accommodates creativity very well, so I'm not losing out completely. My enjoyment of writing is satisfied through this Blog (don't judge this Blog on my novel - it's written in a very different style and I don't write often enough to get back 'on form' - I had to get that in!) and one could argue that creativity is required to expand and further a Corp. My illustration is put to use through my job to a certain extent, but even that could be channeled through this Blog if I wanted.

As for gaining skills from the game, perhaps my own multi-tasking skills have increased slightly with Akinesis living in a Wormhole! But, in truth, if I have gained any skills from playing EvE, I probably don't even realise I have them. Trading in the EvE Market I'm sure holds many useful similarities to the real world.

At the very least I'm optimistic that I would be able to do something fantastic with a large rock, a near-by container and a pick-axe. Thank you, EvE.




Other Blog-Banter Responses:


EVEOGANDA - Real Life & EVE
A Mule in EVE - RL + EVE =
Confessions of a Closet Carebear - EVE and Real Life
The Hydrostatic Capsule - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Alt
Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah - Reflections
A Scientist's Life in EVE - The Other Side of the Screen
The Durzo Chronicles - Who is More Real??
A Lush in Space - Worlds Collide
Captain Serenity - Personalities
Diary of a Space Jockey - I Am Me
Freebooted - You Talking To Me?
EVE A to Z - EVE and Real Life

Carebear Tears and Pirate Blubbing

I use to fear pirates in EvE. I didn't like the idea of getting my hard-earned ship blown up for no reason. Before I revamped my Blog I had a post where I whined about this. But over the last year I have put the game in a different perspective as well as accepting a few truths.

Firstly, I have rememberd that it's a game. It's nothing but a load of electrons whizzing through logic-gates and circuitry to end up as organised light on the very monitor I am looking at. Secondly, EvE is a sandbox game. Pirates, Carebears, Mercenaries - everyone will lose ships and/or their pods throughout their time in New Eden. It is a fact, and there is nothing you can do about it (unless you're a market trader in Jita who stays docked up in a station, of course). I have lost a few ships to gate camps now, but when it happens I certainly don't produce tears. I simply shuffle off quietly in my Pod.

Because EvE is a sandbox game, we all have to accept that there will be a very broad range of players. We play EvE because we like what we do in the game, and people want to do different things. Some want to roam and destroy. Some like the idea of building and selling. Some people like the satisfaction of market trading. So they will all do these things. But I often see person A slating person B for their game-play style in EvE. Well, person B is paying for their account so they have a right to play the game in whatever way that satisfies them. Who is person A to judge person B on how they should play?

Many a time we have all seen pilots sobbing about getting ganked. I won't deny that I have done it. It's funny to the other party. A lot of Empire PvPer's thrive on the tears of the victim. But I saw one particular EvE-Forum post where a pirate was blubbing about finding it hard to gank Carebears. I found this a little amusing. He was annoyed that Carebears often got away and the game mechanics made it too easy. I read this post with interest to see the mixed responses that followed. But what a lot of these people seem to forget is that not everyone wants to fight. This guy seemed to be surprised at that. But then the impression I got from him is that his method of PvP was through gate-camps.

Pilots will have means of getting away from a fight, whether through a good ship set-up and/or shear pilot skill. If they are going to haul through Low-Sec, then of course they are going to take measures to avoid PvP and protect their cargo. Yesterday my CEO managed to escape a gate-camp in his Badger armed with nothing but a cloak and myself as scout. After some time passed with them unsuccessfully trying to de-cloak us I managed to lure them back through to the other side of the gate, leaving my CEO to happily warp off with his cargo-hold crammed full of Wormhole goodies. In fact, my CEO managed to get past them a few times and even started smack-talking them about their constant failure.

If the guy in the Forum really wanted PvP, then perhaps he should go roaming Low or Null-Sec instead of sitting on a gate trying to catch haulers. If someone is that desperate to PvP then look for someone else who is also wanting to PvP. To me, roaming sounds more fun than trying to pick on people who are actively avoiding a fight. Plus, there will be more of a challenge involved if the other party has a vessel built for fighting. Unless the gate campers have a very good set-up at an active gate then, personally, I don't see the appeal of the gate-camping evolution. But I cannot comment too much because, even though I am now delving into PvP, I am by no means experienced. All I can really do is imagine the methods I might prefer.

In a Wormhole, PvP is a constant threat - especially as there is no active local. But it's not as frequent as I first thought. And when opportunity does arise for a 'fair-fight', I have found it hard to engage in PvP. I now know how frustrating it can be when the other side won't play. I was salvaging a Sleeper site in my Noctis when Combat-Scanners appeared on the D-Scan along with a Nemesis. I warped out leaving a few wrecks behind. Some time later I went back again in my more expendable Catalyst. I was expecting the Nemesis to be cloaked around the field somewhere. I warped in and aligned to the star while targeting the wrecks. As I dragged them in the Nemesis de-cloaked. He began locking me as I warped out.

I returned as quickly as I could in my Manticore and dropped two bombs on the two groups of wrecks, hoping to pop the Nemesis. That failed, but I at least denied him all the wrecks. I de-cloaked and hoped the Nemesis would engage. I knew he was still there because he wasn't back at his Control Tower. I waited a while, but he would not bite. I warped off to a planet, and then warped under cloak to his Control Tower just in time to see him warp back in. I felt deflated that he had not risen to the challenge once I presented challenge.

The irony is that I could have popped his Hulk earlier on. While I was scouting the 'Hole out, I had his Tower surrounded with Combat Probes and I was cloaked and watching him, yet he still warped off to a Grav-Site. Had I known he was going to chicken out later on I wouldn't have shown sympathy on his Hulk.

Hindsight...

The 23rd EVE Blog Banter (December 2010 Edition) - Topic: Incarna

Welcome to the twenty-third 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 or so 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 to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

With Incursion giving us glimpses of what Incarna will have to offer (the the Character Creator), this month's topic, by @Minerpewpew, comes just at the right time. He asks "What are your thoughts on how Incarna will effect the current EVE Online social dynamic?" I'd like to see this questioning go a bit further. How will this affect EVE's player base? Who will Incarna attract? New players to the genre? Seduce old players back into the game? Will we see new players come in that will never leave their station? Please explore to the best of your abilities!

There is always talk of Incarna in the Forums, which are littered with the bleats of 'CCP will ruin internet spaceships if they implement this!'. People will always battle change as it comes there way. And once it is here, they will continue to complain until the next change looms over them and only then will their focus shift. CCP, however, need to move forward. They're long-term goal is to amalgamate DUST 514 and New Eden, and (character-wise) Incarna will allow us to better connect with our toons in the game by bringing them to life. I applaud this notion - DUST or no DUST.

However, I recognise that this change is genuinely not important to everyone. For some people, flying space-ships is what makes them kick off their pants. So, from certain stand-points, the expansion is pointless even if they do play in-character. Others that have several accounts might be distanced from the idea of navigating several toons around a station, which could be a pain. Players (like myself) who do have a focused toon are offered a better connection with our space-fairing alter-ego. Being able to have a much more 'alive' character who can wander stations and interact with other pilots physically (as far as sprites go) will improve the experience a great deal more. So this is one of the best steps CCP can take for role-players.

As long as pilots can still function as if the expansion wasn't there, I can't see it being a problem in any respect. And by that I mean trading, selecting missions, creating contracts, etc. If pilots had to 'physically' leave their pod, wander off into the station and track down a seedy figure in a bar to acquire 'Damsel in Distress' everytime, then I can see a lot of subscriptions getting cancelled. However, I am confident in saying that CCP will not do this. Although, it would be nice to have the option to. It would also be nice if agents, etc, would actually talk. I'm sure this would be a short-lived novelty as people would get sick of hearing the same voices say the same things over and over again but, as before, it would be nice to have the option.

So what else would I like to see? How about in-station first-person missions? Why not have the option to 'Stop the Thief' before he even gets away with those stolen reports? And if you don't manage to chase him down through the crowds of fellow pilots before he gets to his ship, then you just have to hop into your Battlecruiser and take him out the old-fashioned way. If the in-station missions were broad enough, then that alone could attract a whole new world of subscribers. Sure, it may drag some pilots out of their ships and reduce the number of folks in space for a while, but that would undoubtedly be off-set by the new first-person subscribers giving 'life in a space-ship' a whirl. The levels of 1-5 will still remain, security status will continue to rise or fall as in 'normal' missions and skills would still be trained (Hand-to-Hand Combat Level-5, anyone?).

So, I guess I'm saying that the mission mechanics in a station would be the same as in space (even 'fleeting up' with other players), but it would be so visually different that it could work. And don't forget with first-person missions - it wouldn't be a case of standing in the middle of the room and tanking the weapon fire, tactics and cover would need to be used here.

In-station missions could also lead into the manufacturing and inter-system trade of skills, medical supplies, drugs, fire-arms and ammunitions being sold in player-owned 'shops'. Yet another commodity to introduce which will please traders, manufacturers, researchers and pew-pewers all in one hit. And while you're waiting for your flame-thrower and it's ammo to be delivered why not stand at a real-time view port overlooking the docking-tunnel of Jita. We could witness the constant flow of ships along with the flashes of turret fire as pirates bring down juicy freighters. All this would surely make activity in station rich and interesting.

Bounty hunters can still attempt to gun down those wanted pirates on foot. It wouldn't be EvE if pilots couldn't shoot or brawl or 'stealth-attack' other pilots - in or out of ships. How about thieves stealing that prized laser-pistol from your very own utility belt? How about 'awareness' skills to reduce the risk of someone successfully depriving you of your treasures? A personal drone hovering over you emitting a protective shield? And, or course, CONCORD would still be present as security guards. NPC characters could offer a lot, too - whether just as background to 'fill' the stations or talking to them to find bonus missions, story-lines, secret locations, black-market sellers, bonus items/ships or even just juicy targets to thieve or gun-down and loot before CONCORD realise what you've done. As always, putting richer rewards in (or rewards that are only exclusive to) Low-Sec might draw more people out there.

But regardless of what it will offer, Incarna won't please everyone. What expansion does? In fact, forget the game for a minute and lets look at real life. What single decision pleases everyone when it is addressed to a large group of people? I'm talking about realistic decisions here. But thinking about it I'm sure even Empire gankers will have a great time popping macro-runners while the 'active' player-base swarms to stations to try out all the shiny new things on the release. So the players that are worried about people dwelling or hiding in stations, don' be just yet - give it a chance. And even if players do take to 'hiding in stations' then so what? After all, this game is for EVERYONE and if there are players who like to immerse themselves into a station-dwelling story rather than being potential pew-pew fodder then let them. However, I trust that griefers will always find a way to break through if such barriers were put up. After all, no-one is safe in EvE, right?

In one of the previous blog-banters CK put forward the question asking why there is a lack of female players in EvE, and (from what I read) it was largely down to the inability to customise ones appearance. MOST women like to decorate their appearance (well, that's no secret) and EvE's lack of this function deterred them from signing up. It will be a good test to see if Incarna does increase the female player-base. And for people who perhaps left EvE due to the void created by the lack of a 'physical character' and story-line to role-play with might now return.

And with regards to it's release, yes CCP probably announced the expansion far too early as we've been waiting a long time for it, but if they get it right and release it bug free then I'm happy to wait for a long time yet. I can enjoy the game as it currently is, and any expansion is nothing more than a bonus.