The Individual Story

There was another post here earlier. I deleted it because it was leading to some misunderstandings between myself and my good friend Mord Fiddle. I don't enjoy misunderstandings.


So let me be clear. In almost every meaningful way possible, I agree with his post. ( Which you can read here if you want to be bothered, it's mostly tripe. I kid of course. )


No one could argue that more stories are written about the goings on in Null sec than anywhere else in New Eden. You'd have to be an idiot to make that argument. And, by their very nature, such stories get more attention.


My original post was intended to expand on that idea. Mord used an argument in his post that I disagree with. He uses a metaphor to illustrate his point regarding a battle on a spit of sand. And while I totally understand his point in doing so, the argument is fundamentally invalid. A good story exists outside of context. A good story involves people, individuals, characters, engaged in small, medium and large conflicts. But at its heart, all good stories are about people. A good writer can make a compelling story about two soldiers fighting over a spit of sand just as easily as another could make one about the two armies that surround those two soldiers. They might be equally well written and compelling, but just because more people read the one about the two armies doesn't make it better. Just more popular.


So if all good stories are about people, there should be no inherent bias in the QUALITY of stories told about Null sec or Low sec or Worm-Hole space or anything else in New Eden. A good story is, by its very definition, a good story. The only difference then is in the POPULARITY of the different stories.


I look at the Blog Pack and I see a majority of bloggers involved in Low-Sec, NPC Space and other non-sov holding activities. Is that a fluke then? Are all of those bloggers bad at telling stories? Of course not. And while I understand the intent of challenging us to write more good stories about our adventures, I did take some umbrage at the assertion that we're not already doing so. Because I think we are. In fact, I enjoy many of the stories my fellow non-important, less consequence low-sec, worm-hole, npc space dwelling friends tell already.


Heck, to me, most stories about Null sec sound like I'm reading a story on a news channel like the BBC or CNN. While most stories I read about Low sec seem more compelling, interesting and engaging. We can all have our favorites, but I prefer the stories about individuals. People. In whatever part of space they call home.


More good stories? On that point, Mr. Fiddle and I agree.

Gang Tactics: Part One - The Basics

Gang Tactics is a new on-going series in which we explore the fine art of death dealing in small gang warfare.  This series is not intended as a technical exploration, but as more of a guide to the fundamental basics involved in small gang warfare in New Eden. And hopefully, one that is enjoyable and educational.


Small Gang warfare is, in my humble opinion, one of the most enjoyable aspects of playing Eve. Hanging out with your Corp mates, friends, and blowing up enemy ships. It can be very rewarding no matter your skill points or experience level. New players and veterans alike can quickly form up to go on a roam, form a defense, or plunge into the unknown.


So let's start with the basics. What I like to call Catch, Hold and Destroy. This is the basic fundamental tenant of any small gang and you only need three ships to get started.  For lesson one we'll start with just these three ships. The great thing about small gang tactics is the expandability of each lesson, once you master the fundamentals, adding more ships becomes easier and easier.


Catch:  What good is the hunt unless you can catch your prey?  This role is easily filled by a Frigate or Interceptor. The perfect catch ship for your small three man gang depends on where you are, in low sec, null sec or wherever. But there are basic considerations that should be addressed and those mostly concern speed - both in velocity and in locking. A good catch ship has velocity on its side - it is very fast. But it also needs to be able to lock the enemy quickly before he can escape. Two points in the mids are preferred, a long point disruptor to catch the enemy from a distance, and either a Scram or Web to hold him down once you get closer.


Rifters, Crows, Taranis, Ares, Lachesis, Arazu - there are many, many ships that can fill this role depending on your own skill level and where you are in space.


Hold:  Once the enemy is caught, living thru the fight is critical. If you catch him and then explode, this does no one any good. You might think it odd that this is a separate category, once the enemy is caught shouldn't we skip right to Destroy?  That is asking a lot from your Catch ship isn't it?  The role of the Heavy Tackler is something we'll discuss later on, but for now expecting your Catch ship to survive past the tackle is asking for it to achieve more than its role allows.


This is a role that needs to be considered. What is the next ship to arrive on the scene?  Typically this role is filled by Cruisers/Battlecruisers.  For example the Thrasher or the Rupture is a good ship for this role. They can deal damage from a tank that should be able to survive long enough to see the enemy explode. The Drake or Hurricane also fill this role exceptionally well for the more advanced pilot.


Destroy:  The Destroy role can be filled by the Hold ships, you could have a Catch ship and two Canes for example. But it would be wrong to not consider the Destroy ship its own category, because "destroy" can take on many different meanings.  For example, the role of the Destroy ship could be filled by a Falcon or Curse. In that example the destroy ship arrives on the scene last and is the tipping point of the battle. Let's say your Catch ship has tackled a Dominix in a belt. He is holding him down, but his cap is drained and he won't last long. The Cane arrives and starts delivering the DPS, but not fast enough against the tank of the Domi. The Catch ship warps off and now it is the Cane Vs. Domi. The Cane, if he can stay out of neut range and destroy the Domi's drones, might eventually win. But he might not. This is when the Destroy ship arrives. Certainly another Drake or Cane would help tip the balance, but the arrival of a Falcon or Curse (or other role player) would do the job as well.


The CHD is a thought-process that helps you determine the basic make-up of your Small Gang. If you have three Canes available, applying CHD would make you think that at least one of those Canes should probably have a Sensor Booster in his mids, for faster locking speed. It might also make you canvas your pilots regarding the types of points they have, to make sure you have the bases covered. At the very least the SeBo Cane should have a long point.


So it isn't always about the types of ships, but more about the roles each of those ships will be playing in your three man gang.  This is the basic underlying logic behind ALL gangs and fleets in New Eden. From three to three-hundred, once you start thinking CHD the rest becomes only a matter of scalability.


So, now that we've mastered the basics, let's add one more ship:


Hunt:  While you are forming up another Corp mate logs on and wants to join your gang. You already have your CHD bases covered, you have a Taranis, an Arty Nano Cane and a young player in a Blaster Harpy.  So what role do you still need to fill?  You need a Hunter.  Now the Hunter/Scout role is one that can be filled by a lot of different ships and depends on the skill level of the individual pilot. It could be as basic as yet another Frigate or as complex as a cloaking T3 Cruiser.  The perfect Hunter for your small gang would be a cloaking ship with Probes. But beggars can't be choosers and your Corp mate can't fly T3 yet, but he does have a Buzzard. And he'd like to learn to Probe better.  How better to learn than on the field of battle?


Now we're talking. Our small gang is starting to be pretty awesome.  With just FOUR ships your gang can take on just about anything New Eden has to offer, by being smart and picking your targets carefully, you should be able to kill just about any one or two man gangs you happen upon. And brawl with anything your own size. No matter your skill level.


So good three man or four man gang set-ups:
1x Frigate (long point, scram or web, maybe Sensor Boosted or Nano fit for speed)
1x Cruiser (DPS but good solid tank)
1x Cruiser 2 (DPS, with surprise - like a sensor damper, or ECM, or EC Drones, etc.)


+ Tipper = Electronic Frigate, Neut fitted Cruiser, Falcon, Curse, Blaster Thorax, anything that can specifically fill a role that tips the battle to your favor.


For more experienced pilots a good fleet comp could be:
1x Interceptor (Fast speed and lock, long point or Scram depending on how fast)
1x Battlecruiser (DPS and tank)
1x Falcon
(This is a nasty three man gang set-up. Make sure your BC is nano fit or at the very least is carrying EC Drones. In case he gets caught the Falcon is his escape clause.)


The role of the Falcon can be played by many ships, including an additional BC class or even Cruiser. The Falcon choice right now is the obvious one, but choosing something that isn't obvious (or a Falcon!) will probably get you more good fights.


Next time we'll cover small gang DPS, making the most of various types of DPS delivery in a small gang setting.


Fly safe.


Part Two: DPS
Part Three: Travel
Part Four: Track & Kill

Crucible: Features List

Fellow blogger tgl3 has a running Winter Expansion "Crucible" features list over on Through Newb Eyes.  You really should check it out.  It is amazing to me just how much CCP has managed to accomplish with this expansion, and the hits just seem to keep coming.

Idiot's Guide: Being On Gate

There are a tremendous amount of really great, detailed, technical guides available about Eve Online... this isn't one of them. This is another installment of the famous Idiot's Guide series that is specifically written for those that just want to know how to do stuff in Eve. Without all the detailed, technical stuff. This is what works. I don't always know why it works and I'm ok with that.


Let's face it, no matter who you are in-game, you are going to spend a lot of time on Gates. Either running, holding, waiting, dreading, anticipatin', or otherwise wondering what horrible blob is on the other side.  So basic understanding of gates might be nice.


So let's take a quick tour of some of the basic things you might be doing on a Gate, with the primary focus being on:


Tackling something with the intent to explode them dead.


No matter how many of you there are on the Gate, there is only one of you in your ship. Your job is to tackle the incoming gate fire thingie, get point, and hold it, kill it, or otherwise stop it from escaping. 


The first thing to remember is that those idiot's in your gang that are orbiting the gate are idiots. Orbiting the gate is the first sign that the people doing so have no idea what they are doing, they've never been to zero space and have certainly never successfully tackled anything on a Gate before. There is only ONE situation when orbiting the Gate makes any sense (and even that is a bit of a stretch in my opinion) and that is when you know a cloaky ship is jumping into you. In that case, every one orbits at different ranges, drones out and hopes the enemy just happens to land near someone.


So why is orbiting bad? It isn't that it is bad per se, it just doesn't make sense. There is this huge thing called a Gate. The enemy jumping into you is going to land randomly about 12k from that Gate. So yes, there is a slight chance you will be on the right side of the Gate when that happens, but it is also just as likely you'll be going in the wrong direction!  More likely he'll land on the OTHER SIDE of the Gate or at an angle that puts the Gate between you and him. You'll never catch anything.


If you have at least two tacklers in your gang one of you is above the Gate and one of you is below the Gate, each about 10k off. Sitting still. When the gate fire comes turn on your prop mod. There is an honest argument about what to do next, there are two ways of doing this and I have my own method. I have an overview setting that only shows bad guys and nothing else, so when that ship appears on that overview I immediately double click it. This has the effect of shooting my ship off like a bullet towards the enemy. Now here is the tricky part if he cloaks. Once you start off in his direction, swing your view towards him in space and DOUBLE CLICK right next to him. ( Not right on him! ) This is critical, because when he disappears your ship will stop moving and you'll lose him, but not if you've clicked in space next to him.


The other way is to double click in space next to him first. I don't like this method because it assumes you are looking at that place in space already. The overview double click doesn't need that, he could be anywhere.


Believe me, I've done this hundreds of times and it works like a charm. You won't get them all, especially the cloakers, but you'll get more of them than will get away.


What's the Point?


Disrupters, Scrams and Webs. In that order. On a gate.


Stop them from warping first, turn off their prop mod second, and then slow them down so they can't get back to the gate. Depending on what you have, depends on where on that list you start. Except for webs of course, starting there will only allow the enemy to warp away faster.


From an FC standpoint the important thing is to immediately determine and let your gang know, if you can kill the ship BEFORE it gets back to the gate. If you don't believe you can, you have to tell some of your gang not to shoot. They need to get back to the Gate and be prepared to jump after him. To tackle him on the other side and hold him.


Once caught, the enemy really only has two choices. Burn back to the gate or stand and fight, but they can't do both. Burning back requires that they not aggro anyone, so you'll know pretty much right away what they intend on doing. Once they aggro everyone can join in on killing them before help arrives.


Gate Guns


Gate guns in High/Low-Sec reach out to 150k from the gate.  The number of guns on a gate is directly related to the sec status of the system you are in. Each gun can only shoot at one ship at a time. Typically anything less than a Cruiser cannot stand Gate fire for more than one shot.


Now, if the ship you've tackled is of low sec status, say a Pirate, then the gate guns will not fire on you. Nice huh? That's because these people are criminals and of low moral fibre.


There is a whole other guide on how to survive gate guns and this isn't it. Just know that they will explode you unless you are tough, or have Logi on the gate with you.




So there ya go, the three most important bits about being on Gate. Be prepared to tackle, get point and watch out for Gate guns. You should also be keeping an eye on your d-scan, have a scout in the system on the other side, and generally be prepared to get blobbed if you stay there much longer.


Fly safe.


Other Idiot's Guides:
Idiot's Guide to the D-Scanner
Idiot's Guide to Bombing
Idiot's Guide to Bookmarks
Idiot's Guide to Flying in Zero Space


Thanks to Eve News 24 for picking up this story, if you don't read Eve News who knows what you are missing!

KICKED

My good in-game friend and former Lucifer's Hammer member Itsme has gone and formed his own Corporation - KICKED. 


Here is a link to the recruitment thread on the forums.


Itsme was with Lucifer's Hammer almost since day one and I had nothing but great experiences with him in the Corp. There are those that don't like him very much, and those that hate, fear and despise him. But they simply don't understand him.


If you are a fighter, truly a combat oriented person and not just a wanna-be, then Itsme is the guy you want in your fleet. He has a natural ability to tackle really, really big ships. And, most importantly, that weird thing that good PvPers have of finding good fights. Something that I used to have and seem to have lost recently for some reason. Sure, he got us kicked from several >cough< Alliances and sometimes got his Corp mates derped... but hey, it's supposed to be fun isn't it?


I wish his new Corporation well. And if you happen to be insane, or want to become insane, then you should think about joining up with these guys. I can't guarantee anything except that it won't ever be boring. Oh, and that Itsme will be in-game pretty much 23.5/7.


I think they'll be hanging around Amamake.

Write, Win PLEX!

Darth Skorpius needs your help! The poor guy doesn't have any memories and you could be the person to give him some. Do so and have a chance to win some PLEX.


Head on over to The Phoenix Diaries to learn more.

11.1.11

I had a dream.


A dream of an Eve in which obvious holes in balance were corrected on a regular, on-going basis.


A vision of updated ship graphics, where design sensibilities of a decade ago were not considered sacrosanct. Only a good start.


A dream where evolving play-styles were supported by new fixes aimed directly at supporting evolving play-styles. In which existing content was made better.


A world in which surprises often come out of left field, not hinted, not teased, only revealed.


A dream where progress is measured by a truly expanding universe. A universe that only gets larger, deeper and more complex as time marches on.


I had a dream. A vision of an Eve that becomes more deadly, more challenging for the veteran player - and yet simpler, and more inviting for the rookie player. A world in which Eve unrolls itself before you, not behind you.


An Eve that constantly adds new ships, new content and new tools on a regular basis.


A vision of a company that streams, dialogues and engages its player base consistently and openly.


I awoke with a clear understanding that often the best course of action is to shake up the status quo, that the answer "it has always been that way" is not an answer at all.


I had a dream.


I dreamed that Eve had always been this way. That Eve would always be this way. That Eve would evolve, grow and challenge us the way we want it to. For all time.


I dreamed that Eve was.


And I awoke to the possibility that it might be.


Maybe on this day of numerological oddity, dreams might come true.