Blog Banter #29: Go Deep

"EVE Online is renowned for it's depth. Its backstory, gameplay and social aspects are all qualities that draw players in. What does immersion in EVE Online mean to you?"


( Blog Banter Home Land )




"But whether the plan of immersion Is better than simple aspersion Let those immersed And those aspersed Decide by the Authorized Version, And by matching their agues tertian."
- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary


Undocked into the void scampered across the sea of darkness whimpering metal torn and flung far against the cold empty death, plunged and penetrated, enveloped without and within the very soul foundation of life...  Consider the herculean efforts imposed by a world in which a vast universe of players, developers, designers, and pixels collide across the vastness of the internet vacuum tubes and pulleys, to create a complex, interactive, three dimensional playground. Consider that.


My Great Grand Father appeared to me in a Time Machine that he had built back in 1933, the contraption popped into my studio office in a great clang of Twilight Zone shimmering effects. The young man exhaled and looked me square in the face. He said, I only have three or four minutes before the time vortex pulls me back to my own time! Show me the wonders of the future Grandson!!!  I swung my monitor close and I showed him Eve ( I also told him a black man was President and we had landed men on the moon ) but what better represented the future than a world united in a virtual playground, many nations, many people, experiencing something together. At least in my home studio? Sadly my Grand Father snapped and called me names before that damn time vortex sucked his sorry ass back to lame old 1933. Not sure if it was Eve or Barack Obama that tipped him over the edge.


Flipping through the channels of my youth, the click buzz of wonderous three channel variety, my fingers raw from the serrated plastic ribs on the big dial. Click Logan's Run, Click Planet of the Apes, Click Kolchak the Night Stalker, Click Project Blue Book, Click Battlestar Galactica, Click Buck Rodgers... I ate at the table of science fiction and devoured every fast food meal, the self-indulgent clap trap crap of a generation without imagination and the early wanderings of pure Rod Serling genius. I watched models fly sideways against stain colored planets, die scape oil drug induced trips and polyester skin tight lunacy. I lived it, ate it, and shat it all out on pen and paper. And now I undock in it. I SPIN IT! So damn you nineteen seventies, damn you to HELL! Eat my Eve you goddamn decade of waste.


Jump, splash, swim.


I am logged on. Logged in. Jacked into a virtual playground of the mind, visualized on a pixel level that spins, twirls and twists. Surrounded by the world, my friends from far-flung Scandinavia, Upside down Australia, Vodka swollen Baltic nations, and heat-induced Camel Spider infested occupying forces. Immerse yourself. I owe no one an explanation. I have jumped in. And I damn well plan on swimming further out to sea.




Udder Banter:
Shall We Not Revenge
Eve Hermit
Sand, Cider and Spaceships
Vive Virtual
Amarrian Pilot Blog
Sered's Lives
Ender Black's Pod Goo

WW2 Style Eve Wallpaper

Click on the image to be taken to Flickr where you can download various sizes. This one also has a print quality version available, look around you'll find it.


Thanks to Szilardis for asking me to work on this project for him. And to all those still waiting on me to get around to your project, thanks for being patient. This stuff doesn't happen over night.


Enjoy.

Cooking with PvP

When I first started playing Eve I wanted the answers, how do you do this? How does that work? What is the best fit for this ship? How? Why? Where? When?!!! 


And while Eve is full of answers, there is no right answer. Only wrong ones.


Harrigan said it in his comment on the last post about the Nano Gang recipe, PvP in Eve is not baking... it is cooking.  If you've never had the opportunity to cook for yourself or for loved ones I highly recommend it. There are so many life lessons involved in cooking food for others, that it is an experience not to be missed. I can honestly say, I can't imagine living life without it.  I don't get to cook as much these days as I used to, but I still enjoy it when I can.


Sure there are recipes in cooking, guides, do's and don'ts. But the real joy of cooking comes from trial and error, guess-work, intuition, creativity and pure fun at your craft. ( Like life itself, creepy huh? )  Cooking, like PvP in Eve, is full of answers. But there are no right ones, only wrong ones.


I've been fiddling with my own recipe lately. I've spent some time going back thru my fits and twiddling, tweaking and making changes. This is something that I do all the time. The recipe changes, the flavor, the aroma, the desired mix of ingredients changes. And while the ingredients haven't changed in a long time, the mix, the level, the amount, the heat, the stove itself is constantly changing.  


For example. I've been tweaking my Rifter fit while avoiding flying the ship at all during the last few weeks. Mostly I just needed a break from it, to take some time to enjoy some other food. A constant diet of even the best steak can get old fast. And not that the Rifter is steak, it is more like a Hot Dog. I enjoy a good hot dog. But I also enjoy it many ways and with many toppings. The Rifter is like that. I took it out last night and eventually found a 1v1 with someone.  We sparred, but neither of us was able to deal the killing blow quickly enough. Sadly the other guy managed to get outside my scram range and he ran off.


So I warped back to my station and took the damn scram off in exchange for a long-point. Next time, someone like him won't be able to just warp off on me!  I'm sure I'll regret that decision, which is why I have multiple fits up and running. That's just one of many. Tweaking the recipe. Adapting.


There are no perfect fits in Eve, only wrong ones. And you'll only know you have the wrong one when you need it the most. There was nothing wrong with my Rifter fit, except that it failed me in that specific situation. They will all do that to you eventually.


But only if you cook. Listen to the Masters, learn your craft and then be brave enough to do it your way. You will find success. And the results will be yummy I bet.

The Nano Gang

The perfect Nano Gang consists of several important components:


> Loki - giving bonuses, point range, scan res, etc., sitting cloaked somewhere in system.


> Tackle Drakes - 34k point with bonuses (Pilots need Low Grade Snakes to make it work) Typically Long Point, 2 Webs, very little tank because you won't need it.


> Scimitars - And this is why. With Scimi and Loki Bonuses, you should never be caught, never in range, and faster than anything else on the field that could be a threat.


> Optional - An Arazu is always a great choice as scout. In a pinch the Loki can do it, since it is always good to have bonuses in the system you are going into.


That is the foundation composition for the perfect Nano gang. The great thing about it is scalability, it can work with a minimum of six ships (although it works best with at least eight) and up and up.  In my opinion the perfect gang size would be, 1 Loki, 6 Drakes, 3 Scimi, 1 Arazu. But that can be more or less.


Drakes sit 30k from the enemy, remember they have 34k points, and hammer away with missile spam. They are fast enough (with Nano in the lows and Loki bonus) that nothing on the field can catch them. Except for small stuff and that's what the webs are for. (Anything small that tries will be doomed) Scimis sit 30k away from the Drakes and serve as the Drake tank.


For those that can't fit the Tackle Drake (and it does take excellent skills and low grade snakes to fit properly) the Tank Drake is the next best option. You lose a web and some agility and some range, but it's better than nothing. For those that can't fly either Drake, the Artie Cane is the next best choice. It doesn't need the snakes, but you're losing DPS and EHP.  The Harbi would be the last BC option in this set-up as it doesn't come close to the range, etc., of the other two. In fact, you'd be better off using a Zealot instead.


It is nice having a couple of Artie Canes along if possible and have them focus entirely on Alpha striking small tackle from range. They work great for that purpose.


And no, I am not giving away fits. Or any other specific details on how this all works. There are probably plenty of other sources out there, but for us in Lucifer's Hammer and Burn Away, we've been working on this for a very long time. In fact we sorta became notorious for it for awhile there. Our Alliance name comes from this gang doctrine for goodness sake! LOL. But we don't run these like we used to, like anything they've sorta fallen out of fashion. But that doesn't mean it isn't still a valid fleet doctrine.


And honestly it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it all out.  The keys are the Loki (and really the Loki is the only real choice here, I've seen people do it with the others to mixed results.) the Tackle Drake and having the Logi along. Without Logi this turns into a Nano Strike Gang, which is different in many ways. But that's still something I'd rather keep to myself for awhile.


Can't give away all my secrets now can I?

Fan Art

@BlackArcturus made me a piece of fan art. I don't know what else to say, but I thought I'd share it with all of you.

Click to embiggen if you dare!

3 Doors Down

I was fitting ships, checking old fits (sometimes a ship sits so long in the hanger... but that's another post!), and generally putzing around in the neighborhood. I always imagine Rixx with his sleeves rolled up, grease stains, working on his ships, tinkering in the garage.


I had made a slight change to my Devoter fit and wanted to see what difference it made, so I undocked in it.  I already had some nice kills under my belt for the day and I was waiting around with a few Alliance mates for more people to show up so we could go on a roam.


But sometimes, Eve has other plans. Lo and behold what do I spy with my eye on d-scan? Could that be a Machariel? Along with a Drake, a Domi, a Basilisk, and a Eagle (wtf?! An Eagle? lol).  Man that sure sounds like a level 5 gang to me. ( I only say that because I was told that later, honestly I have no clue what a level five gang is or isn't. To me it looked like a bunch of shit that needed to die.)  And the cherry on top? The gang just happened to be Douchies, a former Burn Away corporation that had left to join Shadow Cartel.  Nothing personal here, but it did make the following a bit sweeter.


We started organizing immediately. Once I got the ball rolling I made a phone call to some good buddies of mine that I hoped would already be out and about. Not only that but they were nearby. In cases like this it is important not to rush, despite the urgency of the situation and your desire to hurry, things have to be done correctly. We merged fleets, comms, Rixx got bumped to FC for a bit so we could work the probes on our end. And we dropped probes.


Devoter, Cane, Drake and Stabber is what we had in system. Certainly they had seen us on their own d-scan and thought nothing of it. We warped in to the acceleration gate and jumped thru. Into a room full of wrecks. Another acceleration gate, burn and jump. Another room full of wrecks. The further we go in the longer it takes for back-up to arrive. Another gate, burn and jump. Right smack dab on top of 'em!


I yell GO, point Mach, point Eagle on comms! My Drake (piloted by Qanzark) Cane (piloted by Torrinar) and Stabber ( piloted by Gordon Rush ladies) also get points. Woooo! This is insane, rats everywhere, explosions, missiles, smoke, crazy pointy rocks and ships flying around every which way! Our job is to hold on, keep points long enough for the back-up to arrive.


I really like the Devoter in many ways. Two infinite points, damn awesome tank (right at 100k ehp with high resists), but it is slow and like almost all Amarr ships it has cap issues. Right off the bat I'm not only getting hammered, but I'm also having cap issues. Everything I don't need is turned off, I'm even cycling my hardener! But I can't keep up with the Mach, the Domi is making that impossible, even with full cap the Mach could outrun me without webs on him. My Alliance buddies are hanging tough, but they won't last long, I'm at half-armor when I finally get some cap back to start the repper!


And like some golden WW2 dive out of the sun fighters, the Tuskers arrive. I had kept point on the Eagle and it died quickly, the Basi shortly afterwards and the Domi in short order. The Mach had run off, but we also caught the Drake. We kept the Drake alive to keep aggro from the mission rats so we could loot the field. We were also hoping the just arrived Tempest and Ishtar enemy back-up would try to save him, but they didn't. Once we secured the loot we killed the Drake.  (Battle Report)


When we got back to station to drop off the loot everyone docked up. I stayed out to see what might happen, when one of their Canes arrived and red boxed me. Huh. Obvious bait is obvious? So I docked and we decided that those of us in Artie Canes (I switched) would undock, lock him up and then Alpha Strike! Then gtfo before his back-up arrived. Believe it or not it worked like a charm, he was actually still there. But not for long. He didn't actually have any back-up because no one came. I don't know what he was thinking. (Oddly, when I undocked my Cane refused to turn and just kept going in a straight line. lol, fortunately that issue didn't end up meaning anything)


Thanks to Suli for answering my call and for my good friends in The Tuskers for coming to help. And to my Alliance mates that hung tough on that Mach as long as they could. Heroes, all of ya!  Much appreciated and I hope you all enjoyed the fight as much as I did.

50m Now What?

This morning as I snapped Interceptor V into the training window, my skill points popped up over 50 million.  I picked Interceptor V, among so many other skills that need trained up, because it felt especially appropriate. Given that I spent such a large portion of my formative time as a Hero Tackle pilot. I don't even fly Ceptors much these days.


I have to admit that all these milestones lately, the 50m, the three years in-game, have given me a natural place to ponder. Wonder, mull, and otherwise consider.  And yes, I know I think too much.


And since I know that, I've decided not to think. Just going to keep doing. Moving forward. Much like the skill train itself, time marches on, and more often than not - decisions are made for us. What to do? What to train? And deeper questions, all seem to resolve themselves eventually.


So I went on a shopping trip and re-stocked my supplies, bought  a few new ships - including a Cynabal, which I realized I haven't flown in over a month. I decided not the replace the Absolution I lost yesterday, not yet anyway. I tend to over-rely on certain ships and that one was becoming a bit of a crutch lately. So I probably won't but another one for a month or so. Time to give some other ships a run. 


I also have a few other things up my sleeve to spice things up a bit. I can't share everything on the blog y'know. Eventually, all things become clear however.


So 50? Honestly I thought it would mean more. All I see are the skills that still need to be finished off, the things I still have to do, accomplish, learn and get better at doing. Eve continues to be a journey and not a destination.


Where will it lead next? Let's undock and find out.