Winter Expansion Name(s)

Some potential names to consider. Apologies to those that may have actually come up with a few of these already. Feel free to take credit in the comments.

Click to embiggen baby!

The Haunted Hulk

He awoke with a start, the Captain's Quarters still eerily lit in that strange half-day half-night mode it seemed perpetually stuck in. His back creaked as it always did after a night on the couch. When would the restrictions be lifted and a decent bedroom be allowed by the Stations? He rubbed his eyes and thought, probably not in his eternal lifetime.


The little girl stood on the dais in front of the screens. He didn't see her at first, her presence being outside the normally empty environment of the rented office. She was plain, small and obviously Minmatarian. Her hands raised imploringly and she vanished.


"Huh" he thought as his hand hit the Commlink. His wife answered, she was always up before him no matter how early he awoke. "How did you sleep?", she asked. He smiled. Even though they couldn't share the same apartment, he silently cursed the Station once again, she could still read his mind. "About usual," he replied, "Although this morning I've seen a ghost." "That's interesting," she said in that way that wives have of saying that make you feel insignificant, "What are your plans for today?"


Before he could make a smart-ass remark that he would be forced to regret for the rest of the day, he was interrupted by several apparitions materializing from the walls. About twelve or so horribly dressed Minmatar citizens shambling across the floor. All with that imploring hand-raised plea that the little girl had perfected earlier. "I've got more of them now, with me here in the office. I may have to call you back." They were getting uncomfortably close. "Don't you dare hang up on me with ghosts in your office." There was still a smile in her voice, but it was edged with concern.


The oldest of the group stopped short and the rest waited, the amount of pleading only worsened in this paused state of affairs. "What are they doing?", his wife asked. But he barely heard her as he watched a Giant Secure Container form in the space before his eyes. It spun there lazily and he could hear crying, scratching and wailing coming from within the cargo container. The container burst into flames before his eyes. The leader, for that was all he could think of him as, looked directly into Rixx's eyes...


"They're gone now." His voice must have sounded far away. "Are you ok? Should I try and come over?" He thought about that for a second, knowing how hard it was to make that happen - it would involve a bit of daring do, some scaffolding, a ladder, a few bribes, and a death-defying swing from one gantry platform to another. "Uh, no need.  I have somewhere I need to be. Can you jump into the Impel and meet me at the Rani gate in five? Bring a few dozen med-kits and see if you can scrounge up a medical team or two?" He clicked off the Commlink before she could reply.


He called for one of his Thrashers, he needed something small and cheap. Going into high security space was no easy task, and while his wife could come and go as she pleased, it was a bit more of an issue for him. The dock manager wanted to know if he needed a crew and he waved him off, he'd handle this one alone, no reason to put anyone else at risk.


At the gate he outlined his plan and his thoughts to his wife. Most of the work would fall into her lap, since he'd be shot on sight by the sort-sighted buffoons of Concord. "I still think you're crazy, it's been five days..."  He smiled as he jumped his Thrasher in and she followed, "When have you ever known me to not..."  He became immaterial for a moment and reassembled on the other side, "... be crazy? Warping to the bookmark, follow when you can."


He arrived to an empty belt. He only had a moment, quick d-scan and he saw it, just as Concord started appearing in the belt next to him, he warped off again.  He saw the Impel land as he entered warp.  She'd know what he was up to.


This time he landed in an inferno, way closer to the sun than he liked. The Thrasher sealed up even though he was safe in his pod, automatic protection for the crew that would normally be onboard. Where was his wife? Already the police were landing, he only had a few moments. And then he saw her and the black ship emerge right on top of the can. He smiled as his board lit up like Holy Day and he was in his pod, without a ship around him.


The little girl was with him and she smiled this time. "I've got thirty or forty survivors, they're in bad shape but the meds say it's most dehydration and hunger... most of them should be ok." His wife's voice always in control. He knew the answer before he asked, "What about children?"  This hiss from space wailed in his ears, the little girl kissed him on the cheek, "The story we're getting is the bastards kept the children in another container... I'm sorry, but that one didn't make it."


The little girl, her name was Ran, smiled again and disappeared - like all good apparitions should. He didn't smile. He'd killed them when he ganked that Hulk last week. No indication the Hulk was smuggling slaves to Amarr, none at all. Goddamn nasty business.


He watched the police still circling his pod. Not a single one of them would stop and help. They punished but they rarely showed the first sign of human caring. Certainly Concord's hospitals would be better than the ones in Hevrice, but no help would come from that side. As usual. These were the self-same bastards that allowed slavery in the first place.


He watched the Impel enter warp and he followed it back to the gate.  "It's a goddamn hard universe Ran, honestly... you're probably better off dead."

First Time Ganker

About three years ago I first heard the term "gank" associated with blowing up transports on hi-sec gates. At the time I also heard this was a great way to make some serious iskies. I remember Angor and I jumping into some ships and flying to the nearest hi-sec gate, I believe I was in a Caracal? It doesn't matter, as you can imagine, that trial effort lasted about 15 seconds. No sooner had we locked the first transport thru the Gate, than we were exploded by CONCORD.


Skip ahead three years and I haven't tried hi-sec ganking since that early embarrassing moment. Oh sure, back in the day I fought can-flippers and station camping war-deccers in hi-sec - but that early taste of CONCORD justice was enough. Until yesterday.


No sooner had I logged in than someone in the Corp channel was asking if anyone was interested in some suicide ganking. Of course I am always up for trying something new and we started forming up. The idea was to fit up a nice small gang of cheap Thrashers, fully insured, and then find some unsuspecting Hulks mining in ( they think ) safe old hi-sec. The Thrasher fit is extremely simple, T1 Arties in the high, 2 SeBos, T1 Scram, 2 Gyro and 3 Bullets!  You'll be lucky to get more than one shot off before the Coppers find you.


Key to the operation is coordination and a scouting alt. ( I'm not stupid about ganking, having been a reader of many great Ninja blogs over the years! ) I should also mention that things had already started off on the wrong foot, my comms dropped just as everyone warped off and ganked a Manticore. So already missed out on one kill.


It wasn't long before our first victim was located. Seven Thrashers warped in on top of the poor sod in the Hulk and opened fire! "Are you sure you want to do this?" Oh man, stoopid warning window!! YES! And I got my one shot off and then BOOM I exploded. Sadly the Hulk did not and I watched from my Pod as he warped off in extremely low structure, but very much alive.


Let's try this again. Eight Thrashers now and after waiting out GCC we find some more victims this time even deeper into hi-sec. A bunch of 'em, Orca, couple Hulks, and assorted other ships blissfully unaware of impending DOOM! Muhahahaha!


Rinse and repeat. Land among the sheep and lock up the primary Hulk... "Are you sure you want to do this?" What?!? Not again, I thought I told you to go away?  Oh man, the Hulk exploded already. Lock up the Osprey, cause the others had warped away and the Orca is just a silly thing. Boom! Osprey dead and someone even one-shotted his pod. At least I got in on one killmail. And then back in my own pod again.


By this time a regular gang was forming up to fight some Militia peeps, so that was it for the Suicide Ganking portion of the evening. It isn't a playstyle that I see myself enjoying very often, but I have to admit that it was a lot of fun and I wouldn't mind being completely retarded every so often.


It isn't as easy as you'd think and takes some coordination and good fortune to pull off perfectly. But the rush is worth the risk, and with loots and insurance, well worth the investment.


Yee. Now I can check yet another thing off the list.

Winter Drain Bamage

I haven't said much yet about the Winter Expansion ( and the new ships/balancing), mostly because a lot of other bloggers are talking about it. But I do have what I think is an interesting take on the subject that has been buggering around in my brain this last week or so.


We're about to get Drain Bamaged and Mind Fubbared!


Not only is the addition of four Battlecruiser class ships with Battleship weapons going to pull the rug out from under your feet, but all the other changes on top of that are seriously going to mess with your head.


There are so many aspects of the game that we take for granted in relation to other aspects of the game, the relative speed relationships between ship class, the relative distance relationships between weapon types, the relative damage outputs between classes... the list is long and complex. And all of that is going to be changing.


And no one, no matter what they tell you, truly understands the ultimate impact this expansion will have on the game of Eve. Even with massive scale backs before release, which are of course possible, the widespread changes that h`ve been leaked so far are nothing less than (gulp) game changing. In my own personal opinion, these changes move Eve forward in an extremely exciting and positive manner. A huge step, maybe three or four big steps, towards perfection.


But while many look at these changes one aspect at a time, the truly mind fubbaring way is to consider them all at once. From Capital nerfs to Destroyer re-balancing, not to mention four major new ships, Eve will be undergoing a widespread shift of focus not seen since... well, hard to say really. Maybe never?


From a Flying in Space enthusiast perspective, this is an expansion whose time has finally come. We've weathered industrial changes, incursion changes, mining Orcas, Sov expansions and any number of other changes, including CQ, without much to show for it.  Since the introduction of T3 Strategic Cruisers there hasn't been much for the FiS crowd to cheer about. Other than the Scorpion and Maller re-skins (which are really nice, now get busy on other ships!). 


But I'm cheering now. And I am busy trying to wrap my poor sodden head around what it is all going to mean. Any major shift, like after Aprocrypha, have always had unintended consequences that we've had to deal with. So what will be the fallout from this major paradigm shift?


Looking thru the crystal ball I see some good and some potentially not so good changes ahead. Certainly the new balancing impacts the Capital world, not only thru the re-balancing but also thru the introduction of such powerful Cap Killers to the Universe. So Null Space should be an interesting place following the December expansion. But we're also seeing a re-thinking of several ship classes and weapons systems that could potential shake things up in ways we might not even realize yet. Many people are already anticipating an increase in Hi-Sec ganking, perhaps even so far as the disruption of transportation networks and the moving of assets. But I also see a dark potential for increased Gate Camping in all sections of Eve. With hi-dps, longer ranged, relatively cheap ships at their disposal, the temptation to park a small fleet of these things off a busy Gate seems almost unavoidable. And that's not good for anyone.


And I haven't even mentioned new mods, the details of which we don't have a clue about yet. Although we can make some educated guesses about.  Data Subverter?  If only CCP thought the way my brain thinks that would be the coolest mod ever!


Whatever the details eventually work themselves out to be, this Winter Expansion is shaping up to be a serious shake up of the WAY THINGS HAVE BEEN. A new dynamic will settle into New Eden, one which will fundamentally change combat and the way it is planned, conceived and implemented, for a long time to come.


I say bring it on baby! It is about time things got fun again.

Stoopid Is Stoopid Does

The casual Eve player, having read many blogs about the game, might come to the conclusion that everyone writing a blog about Eve is a Super-Genius. They always seem to have the answers generally, know the best fits, and tend to get into great and exciting fights.


At least here on Eveoganda you know that I am not afraid to talk about the other side of my own personal experience. Oh sure, I'd prefer to spend my time telling you how awesome I am. And I do that when the situation warrants it. But I am also extremely self-deprecating, I'm the first person to say when I'm being an idiot, or when I do something stoopid.


Like yesterday.


Let me set this up for you. I log in and find that my mates are already off on a roam, probably about 6 or 7 jumps away. I think, "Ok, I can probably make that and join up".  So I undock in my Podla fit Drake ( for those that don't know it is HML/2 Webs/Scram or Disr/2 Nano/ the rest as usual ) and load up comms. The fleet is full so I'll tell someone on comms to open up another squad, but at that moment I hear them engaging something and wait. I hate when we're in a fight and some schmuck comes on with some lame ass question, "What system you guys in?" or "What ships you guys need?" just when the FC was about to give an important instruction. So I wait.  I might be headed for stoopid in a minute, but I'm no schmuck.


Just then a Cane lands on the station, flashy red dood. I don't think much of it at the time, but the dood starts yellow-boxing me. So I do the usual Get Info, yeah, yeah, ok nothing weird or SPDR about him. No one else red or neuty in local. Then he starts shooting me for real.


Two smart things to do at this point. 1) Dock up and get a real Drake, (Podla Drakes are great for small gangs and some solo work, but not for a 1v1 versus an experienced Cane pilot in close proximity to a station ) or 2) Ask for some help, there are probably two Tuskers in station that might have come to assist.  So what did Rixx do?


I did none of those smart things, instead I engaged the Cane in probably the worst Drake fit you can have for the situation I was in. Had I been in either of my other two fitted Drakes, no problem (probably, we'll never know for sure).  As it was it was a decent fight, I got him into half-armor before my pitiful tank finally gave way. It was then that someone said not to engage him because he had snakes and boosts.


If my brain had actually been working that would have been obvious. No one comes up to the Tusker station in Hevrice and engages one of us unless they are pretty damn confident. Either they have backup or they know something you don't. Duh.


Later a few of us managed to keel a Proteus ( thanks to superior work by Aliens! ) so that made things a little better. He tried to log off to save his skin, but we even managed to get his pod. Some people need to pay attention.


In the end, no big deal. All this proves is that no matter who you are, no matter how much you try, every once in awhile Eve is gonna show you how stoopid you can be. Welping yourself into a drag bubble, de-cloaking on some piece of space junk, getting probed down while your in the bathroom, whatever stoopid ass thing it might be - we all do it eventually.


And no matter how many times I tell myself that I will "learn from my mistakes" and swear to never do that again... I probably will. Or something else just as stoopid.  Fortunately for me, those moments continue to be the exception and not the rule.


What will happen the next time I undock?

The Pirate Wives Club

Walking through the station this morning Rixx just happened to notice the following flyer amongst chaos of the Community Bulletin board...

Click to Embiggen!

Looks like it might be a long night in the Javix quarters.

Direct Link to the larger version.

Blog Pack Update

Please update your feed links on your blogs.


A couple of additional changes to the Blog Pack today, which will complete the current slate of changes. Hopefully these latest changes will be the last for awhile and the Blog Pack members you see today will constitute the roll for a long time to come.


First of all we welcome The Beginnings of Piracy back to the pack!  Mail Lite's excellent blog was removed simply because he was having Malware issues and those have been resolved now. So it is good to have his blog back in the Pack.


And we also welcome our newest member to the pack, The Altruist  is an excellent blog that gives extremely solid advice on playing Eve for both the new and older members of the community.  Check out his latest post on the upcoming Winter Expansion changes for a great example of this.  He doesn't post all that often, but when he does it is valuable. So it will be a great addition to the Pack.


For those of you wishing to have your own blog become a member the process is simple. Make me aware of your blog! I will add a link to your blog to the Eve Sites list in the right hand sidebar, this means you've been added to my own personal reading list. When a slot becomes available I use that list to decide who to add next.


Remember that ALL BP members should have a link on their blog to ALL other BP members! I've been extremely lax in enforcing that rule, but that will start to change. We're all adults here, so hopefully by the time I get around to you, the list is already up and running on your blog.


Thanks and enjoy the Eve Blog Pack.