It's been a steady time in and out of EvE. A RL family vacation to warmer parts recharged some batteries. A loss of a director and friend in EvE kind of slowed me down a bit in terms of corp. growth. In all things I feel a sense of shifting sails and uneasy decks under my feet. Change folks, change in all things is the taste I find in the winds kiss. I feel the pull on the wheel as my rudder seeks a fresher heading.
For well over a year I've called Kiskoken and it's surrounding pocket of highsec systems home. It's been very good to me and my hermit life style. Cut off from the rest of lonetrek by a small lowsec pipe. I found it to be a very quiet place with equally quiet neighbours. A lot like the sleepy little Country town in North Western Massachusetts where my Prime clone resides in the real world. Kind of the EvE equivalent of the classic North Eastern USA small country town if you will.
Like all things pristine it has found popularity of late. It's a excellent place to set up a R&D and manufacturing corp. It has ample free moons, a number of 0.5 systems, an Ice belt on a dead end system, and large fat belts full of ore. First bounce into the pipe there is a build station with a instawarp to the highsec out gate. It's got a lot to offer for the small corps. looking to poke away at life in EvE. A fact that most of the locals try to protect. Working hard to keep the larger alliances out, as best a small group of loners can. I fear this effort is failing and a lot of new faces are regularly in local. Even the locals have been fighting laterly and the belts are often contested.
I feel more and more that the run is coming to an end here for me. I've personally assassinated entire systems in rocks, several Ice Asteroids, and extracted billions of planet resources. I've researched BPOs till my labs grew tired and built shuttles to jump freighters out here. Yet there is only so long a man can mine ice and keep his trigger finger gloved.
So a move is coming for me in EvE. I cannot say where because well I have not decided yet. Ultimately I can see a few different paths for my 4 accounts. I can see more combat for Zomb, perhaps trying a lowsec corp. or even piracy. For Sob and the HCRND crew, I can see less time mining and more time trading for minerals for builds. With each BPO I buy and research my ship builds yield more profit. I find myself more and more buying rocks over mining them. So it's time to restructure my base of operations towards that. Like wise I am down to 1 medium POS now and even that is larger than my current needs.
We shall see what the rest of April brings, but change if only subtle, is coming.
cheers
EVE SOB
P.S. Rhea build post coming. I am actually taking my time and writing this one less like the crazy crack ferret style I normally blog in. So no holding ya breath now.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
March 2012
It's been a quiet time in EvE. A lot of mining and PI keeping POS online as they tick away. I've been building a rhea over the last 4 months or so. Choosing to react all composites from base moon minerals using 1 to 2 large towers in low sec. I have to say that building jump freighters is a PITA. While I built it for about half the market price. There are far better ways to make/save ISK in EvE. In the end though it does feel good to fly what you build and well if none of us took the time to build jump freighters eventually there would be none to buy.
We had another war in this month. A small "mercenary" corp. decked our alliance consisting a combination of what seemed to be alts and a few older players. It was apparently retaliation for us shooting back when a suicide ganker hit an alliance Mackinaw fleet. Ah well, we might be bears but we also know EvE is PvP based. PvP is a 2 sided coin right?! ;) Such is the way of things...
Anyhow said war was short with only a hand full of kills. In the end the mercs took a thrashing and negotiated an early end to the war. Zombinutz got in on a few kills to boost his sorely underpopulated Kill board in the form of a nice Tengu and megathron kill. I also got to actually shoot at someone with the Manticore I fit up sometime last year for a war that never really saw much action. So I guess there is a good side to this war.
This year the hermits will be looking to add members as we have seen some folks drop off out of the game. RL tends to keep all our active members busy and it's been a good while since we all were fleeted up doing some thing together. Then again the hermits are kind of like that by design. A safe place to do your own thing but have support of a corp. and alliance when needed/desired. All the same I'd like some more warm bodies in the corp. as we poke around in lowsec more and start to get more requests coming out of 0.0 for carrier/dread builds. We have had a few folks after Nyx, but sadly the alliance lacks the 0.0 access we need to build them. We have several skilled builders who can build pretty much anything. We have the mining means to hover up the minerals for these mammoth critters. We simply don't have the ties to a 0.0 system with the sov. to build Moms and titans. Ah well perhaps this will change this year. For now though more active hermits is the goal. So if you are looking for a Indy corp. in a good highsec alliance with plenty of business. Send Zombinutz an evemail/Private chat request or drop in to "HCSH - Tavern" our pub channel for a chat. We are picky because well we like to "know" each hermit as we welcome them to the family, but we accept all people who embrace the hermit way of life.
The real world in the USA is a busy unstable place. The economy is in recession and the job market is kind of hit or miss. I've survived a number of "reorgs" as my current employer shuffles and redefines it's business model to move past a 3 quarter slump. This tends to hamper my EvE time and it is not uncommon for me to disappear for a week or so now. Much the same goes for any of the folks I see online alot as they do what must be done in the real world. Infamous blogger Rixx Javix of Eveoganda last blogged about the pain of closing the doors of his RL business and the uncertainty ahead. It's been over a month since he posted. I fear that EvE has lost a great community champion to RL here. I truly hope he and his family are doing well and we will all read about his triumphant return in his signature style soon. The busy life also seems apparent in my South African Hermit brothers. Seeing them mostly for quick "howzit?" as they steal a moment to set training queues.
On that note, I'll close with glad tidings of prosperity and good health to the EvE community. Until next time.
Cheers
EVE SOB
We had another war in this month. A small "mercenary" corp. decked our alliance consisting a combination of what seemed to be alts and a few older players. It was apparently retaliation for us shooting back when a suicide ganker hit an alliance Mackinaw fleet. Ah well, we might be bears but we also know EvE is PvP based. PvP is a 2 sided coin right?! ;) Such is the way of things...
Anyhow said war was short with only a hand full of kills. In the end the mercs took a thrashing and negotiated an early end to the war. Zombinutz got in on a few kills to boost his sorely underpopulated Kill board in the form of a nice Tengu and megathron kill. I also got to actually shoot at someone with the Manticore I fit up sometime last year for a war that never really saw much action. So I guess there is a good side to this war.
This year the hermits will be looking to add members as we have seen some folks drop off out of the game. RL tends to keep all our active members busy and it's been a good while since we all were fleeted up doing some thing together. Then again the hermits are kind of like that by design. A safe place to do your own thing but have support of a corp. and alliance when needed/desired. All the same I'd like some more warm bodies in the corp. as we poke around in lowsec more and start to get more requests coming out of 0.0 for carrier/dread builds. We have had a few folks after Nyx, but sadly the alliance lacks the 0.0 access we need to build them. We have several skilled builders who can build pretty much anything. We have the mining means to hover up the minerals for these mammoth critters. We simply don't have the ties to a 0.0 system with the sov. to build Moms and titans. Ah well perhaps this will change this year. For now though more active hermits is the goal. So if you are looking for a Indy corp. in a good highsec alliance with plenty of business. Send Zombinutz an evemail/Private chat request or drop in to "HCSH - Tavern" our pub channel for a chat. We are picky because well we like to "know" each hermit as we welcome them to the family, but we accept all people who embrace the hermit way of life.
The real world in the USA is a busy unstable place. The economy is in recession and the job market is kind of hit or miss. I've survived a number of "reorgs" as my current employer shuffles and redefines it's business model to move past a 3 quarter slump. This tends to hamper my EvE time and it is not uncommon for me to disappear for a week or so now. Much the same goes for any of the folks I see online alot as they do what must be done in the real world. Infamous blogger Rixx Javix of Eveoganda last blogged about the pain of closing the doors of his RL business and the uncertainty ahead. It's been over a month since he posted. I fear that EvE has lost a great community champion to RL here. I truly hope he and his family are doing well and we will all read about his triumphant return in his signature style soon. The busy life also seems apparent in my South African Hermit brothers. Seeing them mostly for quick "howzit?" as they steal a moment to set training queues.
On that note, I'll close with glad tidings of prosperity and good health to the EvE community. Until next time.
Cheers
EVE SOB
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Griefer activities: A carebears perspective...
TL;DR: Carebears need to be smarter and HTFU. With some "no shit Sherlock" advice on how to avoid greifers from a career 'bear.
So with a recent Blog Banter being about non-concentual PvP and the common perception that all carebears hate to fight and want to hide and cry. I decided not to write a late blog banter post, but rather compile some thoughts on the matter of Highsec Carebear life and some common types of grief attacks that prey upon us. I'd also like to impart some common sense to the issue and some VERY simple things carebears do that make them easy targets and how to reduce the risks. The truth of it all griefing is a part of EvE and supported by a large percentage of the community and the games maker CCP. EvE is a PvP based game, and like it or not most carebears actually spend most of their game time supporting this. By this I mean every rock mined, every item looted, and every ship built in some way or another feeds into the larger world of conflict that is the guts of EvE. That naga locking up your mackinaw was probably built by one of your corp. mates, or perhaps even you funshine bear. It's nothing personal and simply the circle of creation and destruction at play.
OK lets real it back and validate my carebear credentials. Here is my resume towards the profession of carebear in the form of the 2 main pilots I own(I have 4 accounts, all pilot slots filled):
SonOfBraben was born and named as homage to David Braben, the father of my first Space game love Elite, on October 18th 2009. He sits today at 32M SP with 2 alts sharing his account who add another 8M SP in the forms of PI and indy functions. SonOfBrabens skill pie chart is below, you get one guess to what his life in eve is about, bonus points for what PvP ship he flies:
Suicide Ganker: The practice of seeking to blow up a non-hostile target via means of surprise and pure firepower under the understanding that you too will not survive the encounter. High ISK killed vs. low isk spent, lots of tears and easy way to lose sec status if you want to be flashy red. SoBs WTF?! rating 10/10
Can Flipper: Seeking out jet can miners with the intention to bait them into shooting back so you can then blow them up. Not about stealing ore, but easy kills and tear harvesting with no sec status loss. SoBs WTF?! rating 6/10
Ninja Salvager/looter: the salvager looks to steal from and piss off mission runners by salvaging all there wrecks making ISK and harvesting tears. The looter is much like a can flipper looking to insight rageful retaliation garnering agro and the ability to return and gank. Kills and tears being the gain, but no sec status loss. SoBs WTF?! rating 5/10
Greifer war Decs: Declaring war on soft carebear targets with the goal of getting easy kills and stopping their productivity. Kills, tears, and perhaps the least risk of any greifer pursuit. SObs WTF?! rating 1/10
These are some of the more common activities greifers take part in. Some notable EvE events around the above include hulkageddon and the recent blue Ice blitz by the goons. In these cases they are more about market manipulation than tears to be honest. Also IMHO those caught by them are not doing everything they really should be in terms of avoiding them as well.
In all cases these are legal activities within the game and part of the creation and destruction cycle that is the core of EvE economics. People need stuff to blow up, folks pay ISK for things to blow up, 'bears make ISK building or providing the materials to build stuff to blow up. Here a nice lifecycle picture for ya:
Now that we have defined some common actions by greifers. Lets suggest some common sense around not being the victim, and rather being the proud and prosperous 'bear. Ya know the kind the greifers come to when they want 50 Nagas built for a good price, over the one they gank.
1. DON'T AFK MINE! Seriously if you have to be away from your keyboard, don't leave a mining fleet in space. UM...I might just gank you for the sheer lesson of it.
2. DON'T MINE at 0! The lazy bored greifer loves people who sit at zero. It requires zero work for them to warp to you at optimal.
3. DON'T MINE IN THE SAME SPOT ALL THE TIME! Sure same system and belt, but adjust where you are often through a series of book marks. Mine on the outside of the belts semi-circle one day, the bottom another, the top the next. Chew one end off the belt then warp to the other side. All this makes the suicide ganker have to work harder to land at optimal.
4. ALIGN TO STATION (or GTFO BM)! Yeap, takes 20 seconds, and saves you 20 seconds of "OH shit! OH SHIT!" time.
5. DO NOT BOT MINE! Cheating douche bags deserve to get ganked. If you bot mine in a system I mine in, and I am sure of it, there is a good chance an ALT of mine will land on you in a gank Naga!
6. TANK YA BARGES! A hulk in highsec with orca support should not be fit for max cargo, even then shield tank it. I once tanked a drake in lowsec on a gate for almost 3 mins, concord would have saved my ass in highsec and at least I was a PITA while being dumb.
Avoiding the Can Flipper:
1. DON'T JET CAN MINE! Seriously, if there is nothing to flip there is no can flipper.
2. ABANDON ALL CANS AND WRECKS! Blue is a can flippers least favorite color. It also lets noobs clear the wrecks that honestly most of us litter the belts with.
3. DON'T SHOOT BACK IF FLIPPED! Other than changing to a nice shade of red, they cannot legally shoot you until you flip back. If you do shoot back and you did not follow #2. Log off for the day and go play angry birds. Shooting wrecks extends timers...
4. IF YOU MUST SHOOT BACK! Either be ready for a nice bloody fight or suicide gank them with an alt in a NPC corp, so you can go right on mining afterwards.
1. BE NICE! Honestly in the endless drudgery of level 4's I've ran. 90% of the times where I've had a ninja and opened a private chat to ask the Ninja how there day was going. The Ninja was pleasant and professional, we had a nice chat, and they went on to other grumpier bears.
2. ABANDON YA WRECKS! LOOT BLUE = no agro. Yet you can still loot and salvage them. Boring for most, but an open buffet for the dude who actually wants to just steal ya stuff. Know thy ninja, before doing this.
3. HAVE FUN WITH IT! Honestly the most fun I've ever had doing a level 4 mission was when I played a "get the damsel first" game with a ninja. Yeap, that mission as a level 4. Pretty cut and try blast them and loot the damsel. In the fun game version. I warped in and out. I waited logged out for 5 mins as the magnate could not DPS down the structure the damsel was in that time. In the end I simply warped in my second account in a sentry domi, and my main in a wolf. Warped out and back in, popped the structure, and raced the ninja to the can. Won by 3KM. Seriously the most fun I've had in the 100's of times I've ran that sodding mission.
4. DON'T BE A GRUMPY BEAR! That shit is what they want.
OK no bullet points for this one as it's not quite as cut and dry. It's sometimes not a result of what you have or have not done. There are many dynamics to highsec war decs. Ranging from random selection to revenge and just about everything in between. I've been dec'ed to practice PvP. I've been dec'ed my corp. was an "easy target". I've been dec'ed out of spite (Honestly). Even had an alliance dec'ed when out head got mouthy in local after being ganked. DUMBASS!
In all cases wars are a good time to dip your toe into PvP. All be it mostly station games, hide and seek, or the other side not logging in. It's a great chance for us 'bears to work on our fleet skills, have some major laughs on voice coms., and have some good clean fun. I actually keep a stockpile of T1 battle cruisers and meta 4 mission loot in the corp. hangers just for wars. Mostly the fights are one too many and the greater number typically wins the round. I get folks into a "dead heads" (implant less jump clones) and give them a hull to fit and blow up. It's kind of a QA test of the shit we build in the real world application, for you role-playing 'bears. For me it's an excuse to blow shit up, being a closet PvP wanna be 'bear. I firmly believe ALL EvE players should be able to fit and fly at least a BC for PvP.
Now it does not mean you cannot mine, or run missions, or make large amounts of ISK during wars. Having a simple "non mining in open belts" policy during wars still lets you mine mission rocks and scanned grav sites all day and night. If you are smart and follow some of the suggestions above with some added common sense around local. You can mine open belts too. I did for at least 2 of the dec's on my corps. mostly because I spend a lot of time getting to know the regulars and my HQ is in an island of systems separated from the rest of high by a short lowsec pipe. With one way to fly in just put a scout on it. I have extensive bookmarks all ready in place and a limited number of folks in local, most of which I know. If you be smart, a little paranoid, and don't afk mine chances are you will mine just as much as you normally do.
One thing I will add about war decs. It's VERY annoying when your war dec'ed and the other side station spins or sits in space cloaked. I think there should be a clause in all decs where the war is void if:
1. The aggressive party has more than 50% of its members docked 50% of time when actively logged in.
2. The aggressive party has more than 50% of its members cloaked in space for more than 50% of active time logged in.
That would sort a lot of this out.
As will all things I blog here, they are just my take on stuff. I am sure there are other forms of greifing in EVE. I am sure there are prob better ways to counter them. However in over 2 years I've lost 2 mining barges. One to a drake on a lowsec gate where I was being and idiot. The other was me warping a new Hulk to a belt and answering the phone before turning on its active shield talk. Also being an idiot.
Cheers
EVE SOB
So with a recent Blog Banter being about non-concentual PvP and the common perception that all carebears hate to fight and want to hide and cry. I decided not to write a late blog banter post, but rather compile some thoughts on the matter of Highsec Carebear life and some common types of grief attacks that prey upon us. I'd also like to impart some common sense to the issue and some VERY simple things carebears do that make them easy targets and how to reduce the risks. The truth of it all griefing is a part of EvE and supported by a large percentage of the community and the games maker CCP. EvE is a PvP based game, and like it or not most carebears actually spend most of their game time supporting this. By this I mean every rock mined, every item looted, and every ship built in some way or another feeds into the larger world of conflict that is the guts of EvE. That naga locking up your mackinaw was probably built by one of your corp. mates, or perhaps even you funshine bear. It's nothing personal and simply the circle of creation and destruction at play.
OK lets real it back and validate my carebear credentials. Here is my resume towards the profession of carebear in the form of the 2 main pilots I own(I have 4 accounts, all pilot slots filled):
SonOfBraben was born and named as homage to David Braben, the father of my first Space game love Elite, on October 18th 2009. He sits today at 32M SP with 2 alts sharing his account who add another 8M SP in the forms of PI and indy functions. SonOfBrabens skill pie chart is below, you get one guess to what his life in eve is about, bonus points for what PvP ship he flies:
Next up in my resume for the profession of carebear is my second accounts main Pilot Zombinutz. Born of all the ideals as a Caldari PvP (yes yes, chuckle away) pilot with a side task of hauling for SoBs mining on November 11th 2009. He sits at 36M Skill points with 2 alts adding 2M more SP to the account once again in PI and Indy support. The downside to all this is the significant time he spends in an Orca not a PEW PEW boat. Here be his skills as documentation of the shameful failure of his original creation:
I also have 2 other accounts with a fully trained hulk/mack pilots each. One has a Jump freighter alt the other cyno alts, oh and yes more PI and Indy support alts. I spend a LOT of time boxing all 4 accounts destroying asteroid belts and whoring ice. Honestly I am as much of a carebear as freaking bedtime Bear, the original carebear.
OK, so now that I have validated my claim to being able to speak to carebear perspectives and label myself a 100% certified career carebear. Let's get back to this business of greifer activity and how it effects the 'bear life. To do this lets identify a few definitions of major griefer actions against 'bears shall we:
Suicide Ganker: The practice of seeking to blow up a non-hostile target via means of surprise and pure firepower under the understanding that you too will not survive the encounter. High ISK killed vs. low isk spent, lots of tears and easy way to lose sec status if you want to be flashy red. SoBs WTF?! rating 10/10
Can Flipper: Seeking out jet can miners with the intention to bait them into shooting back so you can then blow them up. Not about stealing ore, but easy kills and tear harvesting with no sec status loss. SoBs WTF?! rating 6/10
Ninja Salvager/looter: the salvager looks to steal from and piss off mission runners by salvaging all there wrecks making ISK and harvesting tears. The looter is much like a can flipper looking to insight rageful retaliation garnering agro and the ability to return and gank. Kills and tears being the gain, but no sec status loss. SoBs WTF?! rating 5/10
Greifer war Decs: Declaring war on soft carebear targets with the goal of getting easy kills and stopping their productivity. Kills, tears, and perhaps the least risk of any greifer pursuit. SObs WTF?! rating 1/10
These are some of the more common activities greifers take part in. Some notable EvE events around the above include hulkageddon and the recent blue Ice blitz by the goons. In these cases they are more about market manipulation than tears to be honest. Also IMHO those caught by them are not doing everything they really should be in terms of avoiding them as well.
In all cases these are legal activities within the game and part of the creation and destruction cycle that is the core of EvE economics. People need stuff to blow up, folks pay ISK for things to blow up, 'bears make ISK building or providing the materials to build stuff to blow up. Here a nice lifecycle picture for ya:
Avoiding the Suicide Ganker:
1. DON'T AFK MINE! Seriously if you have to be away from your keyboard, don't leave a mining fleet in space. UM...I might just gank you for the sheer lesson of it.
2. DON'T MINE at 0! The lazy bored greifer loves people who sit at zero. It requires zero work for them to warp to you at optimal.
3. DON'T MINE IN THE SAME SPOT ALL THE TIME! Sure same system and belt, but adjust where you are often through a series of book marks. Mine on the outside of the belts semi-circle one day, the bottom another, the top the next. Chew one end off the belt then warp to the other side. All this makes the suicide ganker have to work harder to land at optimal.
4. ALIGN TO STATION (or GTFO BM)! Yeap, takes 20 seconds, and saves you 20 seconds of "OH shit! OH SHIT!" time.
5. DO NOT BOT MINE! Cheating douche bags deserve to get ganked. If you bot mine in a system I mine in, and I am sure of it, there is a good chance an ALT of mine will land on you in a gank Naga!
6. TANK YA BARGES! A hulk in highsec with orca support should not be fit for max cargo, even then shield tank it. I once tanked a drake in lowsec on a gate for almost 3 mins, concord would have saved my ass in highsec and at least I was a PITA while being dumb.
Avoiding the Can Flipper:
1. DON'T JET CAN MINE! Seriously, if there is nothing to flip there is no can flipper.
2. ABANDON ALL CANS AND WRECKS! Blue is a can flippers least favorite color. It also lets noobs clear the wrecks that honestly most of us litter the belts with.
3. DON'T SHOOT BACK IF FLIPPED! Other than changing to a nice shade of red, they cannot legally shoot you until you flip back. If you do shoot back and you did not follow #2. Log off for the day and go play angry birds. Shooting wrecks extends timers...
4. IF YOU MUST SHOOT BACK! Either be ready for a nice bloody fight or suicide gank them with an alt in a NPC corp, so you can go right on mining afterwards.
Avoiding the Ninja Salvager/looter:
1. BE NICE! Honestly in the endless drudgery of level 4's I've ran. 90% of the times where I've had a ninja and opened a private chat to ask the Ninja how there day was going. The Ninja was pleasant and professional, we had a nice chat, and they went on to other grumpier bears.
2. ABANDON YA WRECKS! LOOT BLUE = no agro. Yet you can still loot and salvage them. Boring for most, but an open buffet for the dude who actually wants to just steal ya stuff. Know thy ninja, before doing this.
3. HAVE FUN WITH IT! Honestly the most fun I've ever had doing a level 4 mission was when I played a "get the damsel first" game with a ninja. Yeap, that mission as a level 4. Pretty cut and try blast them and loot the damsel. In the fun game version. I warped in and out. I waited logged out for 5 mins as the magnate could not DPS down the structure the damsel was in that time. In the end I simply warped in my second account in a sentry domi, and my main in a wolf. Warped out and back in, popped the structure, and raced the ninja to the can. Won by 3KM. Seriously the most fun I've had in the 100's of times I've ran that sodding mission.
4. DON'T BE A GRUMPY BEAR! That shit is what they want.
Avoiding the Greifer war Decs:
OK no bullet points for this one as it's not quite as cut and dry. It's sometimes not a result of what you have or have not done. There are many dynamics to highsec war decs. Ranging from random selection to revenge and just about everything in between. I've been dec'ed to practice PvP. I've been dec'ed my corp. was an "easy target". I've been dec'ed out of spite (Honestly). Even had an alliance dec'ed when out head got mouthy in local after being ganked. DUMBASS!
In all cases wars are a good time to dip your toe into PvP. All be it mostly station games, hide and seek, or the other side not logging in. It's a great chance for us 'bears to work on our fleet skills, have some major laughs on voice coms., and have some good clean fun. I actually keep a stockpile of T1 battle cruisers and meta 4 mission loot in the corp. hangers just for wars. Mostly the fights are one too many and the greater number typically wins the round. I get folks into a "dead heads" (implant less jump clones) and give them a hull to fit and blow up. It's kind of a QA test of the shit we build in the real world application, for you role-playing 'bears. For me it's an excuse to blow shit up, being a closet PvP wanna be 'bear. I firmly believe ALL EvE players should be able to fit and fly at least a BC for PvP.
Now it does not mean you cannot mine, or run missions, or make large amounts of ISK during wars. Having a simple "non mining in open belts" policy during wars still lets you mine mission rocks and scanned grav sites all day and night. If you are smart and follow some of the suggestions above with some added common sense around local. You can mine open belts too. I did for at least 2 of the dec's on my corps. mostly because I spend a lot of time getting to know the regulars and my HQ is in an island of systems separated from the rest of high by a short lowsec pipe. With one way to fly in just put a scout on it. I have extensive bookmarks all ready in place and a limited number of folks in local, most of which I know. If you be smart, a little paranoid, and don't afk mine chances are you will mine just as much as you normally do.
One thing I will add about war decs. It's VERY annoying when your war dec'ed and the other side station spins or sits in space cloaked. I think there should be a clause in all decs where the war is void if:
1. The aggressive party has more than 50% of its members docked 50% of time when actively logged in.
2. The aggressive party has more than 50% of its members cloaked in space for more than 50% of active time logged in.
That would sort a lot of this out.
As will all things I blog here, they are just my take on stuff. I am sure there are other forms of greifing in EVE. I am sure there are prob better ways to counter them. However in over 2 years I've lost 2 mining barges. One to a drake on a lowsec gate where I was being and idiot. The other was me warping a new Hulk to a belt and answering the phone before turning on its active shield talk. Also being an idiot.
Cheers
EVE SOB
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Fuel blocks...
POS owners be ready for Jan 24th and crucible 1.1! The fuel block cutover is coming.(oh an the other stuff)
Sure hope my POSi swap over gracefully to the new fuel and don't all go offline.
In other news, I'm am still carebearing in highsec. Nearing the end of a long Rhea build.
Cheers
EVE SOB
Sure hope my POSi swap over gracefully to the new fuel and don't all go offline.
In other news, I'm am still carebearing in highsec. Nearing the end of a long Rhea build.
Cheers
EVE SOB
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Blockade Runners: A real life use case.
A while back I posted about the Viator and promised to do a comparison between it and it's Caldari cousin the Crane. Flash forward over a year and I've put quite a few AU on both hulls across mostly high and lowsec uses. I've actually got 3 pilots who can fly one or the other of these two hulls and I use them all almost daily as I ferry stuff about. I can also say that the original Viator that I purchased for the post is still alive and has certainly been placed in harm's way A LOT!
So let's review a little here. Back in November of 2010 my main industry pilot finished training for a super agile Viator fit. I had asked around over blockade runners Vs deep space transports. I got back a solid response "Blockade runners 100%!". Back then I was looking to move goods through lowsec in smaller amounts. In this regard the original fit for "Nothing to see" was perfect and the fit remains the same and unchanged today. It's my go-to cloaky hauler for which I favor more trips in greater safety for those select items one must often truck through hostile space. Here is the fit as it has been for over a year:
FIT: Viator - Nothing to See (Cost ~80M ISK)
HIGHS:
-Covert Ops Cloaking device II
MIDS:
- "Cetus" ECM Shockwave I
- Invulnerability Field II
- Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I MWD
LOWS:
-Nanofiber Internal Structure II
-Local Hull Conversion Inertial Stabilizers I
-Expanded Cargohold II
RIGS:
-Medium Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer
-Medium Polycarbon Engine Housing I
The fit is basically a poor man's 0.0 Viator fit. It's 100% agility with a hint of "OH F**K!" insurance and honestly I've used the insurance more than once. The closets I came to loosing this hull was actually in highsec. I was hauling P3 goods from amarr space to caldari space taking advantage of some truly awesome deltas in SO and BO between both. I jumped into a 0.5 mid way right as a Smart Bomb camp went off. The first cycle of the smart bombs took me from full HP to 23 Hull. I was all ready aligning when it went off and I mashed MWD and the INV field and cleared the radius and warped right as the second cycle fired. I've also used the ECM to save a friend from a gate camp in low. I was on my way back empty. Got a "HELP!" in corp. chat and was 1 system out. Jump into system saw my mate pinned down in a drake by a hurricane a nice 7KM away. I aligned to the best celestial that would take me through the fight. Told my corpie to mash warp too, hit the MWD, ECM in range, then warp. I made it out with just enough cap to hit a safe and my corpie made it out as well. The Hurricane pilot dropped a "OMFG WTF!?" in local and we all had a chuckle over me saving a drake with a 100M ISK BR. I have some friends who fly the same fit who tell me the ECM has helped them shake fast tackle and get away before. So I can attest that the above fit is agile, survivable, and sound.
I also played around with deep space transports a bit as well when I needed to move POS parts around before I got access to a jump freighter. Honestly I can see them being a great shallow space run about at best. Basically a Bustard is a badger MK II with a better tank. The increased warp strength might save you from a solo dude with a disruptor, but it will not break a scram without an additional warp core stabilizer. I tested it with a 'ceptor with a scram and a disruptor. Base hull can break the disruptor but not the scram. Even fit out with 1 WCS, that sole 'ceptor can pin it. With two WCS it can get away from a single duel point 'ceptor. Sorry but that be LAME! Add to that that it cannot warp cloaked and has stuff all cargo space if you fit for agility. I agree Deep Space Transports stink and need some love.
OK! Back on track here. Blockade runners mate! The Viator Vs the Crane and such...
So bonus wise one be armor tanked and the other be shield tanked as one would expect based on race. Respectively they get armor rep or shield boost skill bonus and a -98.5% to -99.25% bonus to cloak CPU needs. Otherwise they get 25% increased cargo and speed as race industrial V is required to fly them. Honestly I don't know anyone who tanks these with active boosters/reppers here. Sure above I fit an invulnerability II, but it really only gives me 650 EHP more. So bonus really does not come into play for the REAL job at hand.
I played around with the Crane and Viator for a more lowsec focused application. No bubbles in lowsec to bust out of means we can get into warp faster. Less fast tackle in low means we can be cloaked a little longer before warping. So we can focus a little more on the max cargo capacity and let the hulls agility get us through.
In this area I mucked around with both hulls with a pair of Medium cargo hold optimization I rigs. The viator had 4,959.4 m3 and the Crane had 5,785.9 m3. Viator was 115m for sig and 0.42x for inertia, while the crane was 125m and 0.36x for inertia. So crane wins round 1 being faster to get moving and more base cargo.
I then went after max cargo capacity. The viator with the extra low slot pretty much topped out at 10,279.2 m3.The crane weighed in a close 2nd at 9,405.8 m3. One might ask what difference 873.4 m3 can make? Well let's consider nanite repair paste at its 0.01 m3 foot print 873.4 m3 means I can fit 87,340 more of them in my viator. If I sold that difference at 24K each, that's 2BN isk more in that cloaky ship. Then again having a full bay of nanite repair paste is not the best way to move around 24.6 BN ISK. So let's look at getting that large tower out to lowsec shall we. Large tower is 8k and it runs 40 blocks of fuel an hour. So the Viator drops the tower and puts 11 hours worth of fuel in it, the crane drops the same tower but only 7 hours worth of fuel. So an extra 4 hours of fuel before I need to bounce out there with a Jump Freighter and fill up the fuel bays and drop the rest of the towers arrays. Viator wins round 2 for giving me 4 more hours for a clear jump window and 2BN more isk worth of nanite repair paste I can cram in it.
I looked at adding a small shield buffer tank to each for those pesky smart bombs. Without getting too silly with SonOFBrabens skills. I can get the Crane to 15.2K EHP, 67/73/69/65, and a sig radius of 135m with 9.4k M3 cargo. The Viator 11.8K EHP, 67/58/79/65, and a sig radius of 120M with 10.2K m3. So the crane wins round 3 being able to use its extra mid slot to punch through those highsec smart bomb gate camps.
Last I tried to blend it all together and come up with a more survivable variant of the 0.0 fit I fly on my original Viator. I did not EFT this or get too silly with faction mods etc. Just named meta 4 and T2 where my alts have skills to fly. They are fit thus:
The Crane: Just Passing By - lowsec/highsec fit.
Highs:
- Covert Ops Cloaking device II
Meds:
- Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
- Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
- "Cetus" ECM Shockwave I
-Invulnerability Field II
Lows:
- Expanded Cargohold II
- Expanded Cargohold II
Rigs:
-Medium cargo hold optimization I
-Medium cargo hold optimization I
The above fit is pretty much how I fly the crane with my Freighter alt. I use it to ferry small goods around high and lowsec when a charon/rhea just does not make sense. It's actually cap stable so the ECM can be turned on and left on if you get de-cloaked. It's 7K EHP w/ 1/61/56/51 without the inv II on and 9.1K EHP 30/73/69/65 with it on. So it can take a smart bomb and GTFO (yes not going to tank for long, but that's not the idea). I has a sig radius of 135M which is so-so. Top speed of 203 m/s and a inertia modifier of 0.36x. Cargo is 9.4k m3 so it can still deliver a large tower with 7 hours of fuel to lowsec.
It's not the most awesome fit ever but it does what I want it to do. Gets small goods about empire and low. I've also dropped towers with it flying in through 12 man lowsec entry gate camps...
The Viator: :) o/ - lowsec/highsec fit (yes the name is cheeky)
Highs:
- Covert Ops Cloaking device II
Meds:
- Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I MWD
- "Cetus" ECM Shockwave I
- Invulnerability Field II
Lows:
- Expanded Cargohold II
- Expanded Cargohold II
- Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Rigs:
-Medium cargo hold optimization I
-Medium cargo hold optimization I
The above fit is pretty much how I fly the Viator with my lowsec PI/POS/cloaky scout alt. I use this fit for everything from moving small stuff to and from the POS to hauling in PI goods. It's NOT cap stable by any means but she is FAST! It's 5.5K EHP w/ 1/41/71/51 without the inv II on and 6.1K EHP 30/58/79/65 with it on. So it might take a smart bomb and GTFO. I has a sig radius of 115M which is a little harder to lock than a barge ;). Top speed of 229m/s with MWD off and 1293 m/s with it on and a inertia modifier of 0.35x. Cargo is 8.0k m3 so it can still deliver a large tower if needed.
Again, nothing stunning here fit wise. Gets the job done and does not cost an arm and a leg.
So really either hull is a awesome blockade runner. The fits above are not perfect and some might feel the need to flame. However they do what I need them too and my pilots can fly them. In all cases this is just my take on how I fly them and how they rate side by side.
Cheers
EVE SOB
So let's review a little here. Back in November of 2010 my main industry pilot finished training for a super agile Viator fit. I had asked around over blockade runners Vs deep space transports. I got back a solid response "Blockade runners 100%!". Back then I was looking to move goods through lowsec in smaller amounts. In this regard the original fit for "Nothing to see" was perfect and the fit remains the same and unchanged today. It's my go-to cloaky hauler for which I favor more trips in greater safety for those select items one must often truck through hostile space. Here is the fit as it has been for over a year:
FIT: Viator - Nothing to See (Cost ~80M ISK)
HIGHS:
-Covert Ops Cloaking device II
MIDS:
- "Cetus" ECM Shockwave I
- Invulnerability Field II
- Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I MWD
LOWS:
-Nanofiber Internal Structure II
-Local Hull Conversion Inertial Stabilizers I
-Expanded Cargohold II
RIGS:
-Medium Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer
-Medium Polycarbon Engine Housing I
The fit is basically a poor man's 0.0 Viator fit. It's 100% agility with a hint of "OH F**K!" insurance and honestly I've used the insurance more than once. The closets I came to loosing this hull was actually in highsec. I was hauling P3 goods from amarr space to caldari space taking advantage of some truly awesome deltas in SO and BO between both. I jumped into a 0.5 mid way right as a Smart Bomb camp went off. The first cycle of the smart bombs took me from full HP to 23 Hull. I was all ready aligning when it went off and I mashed MWD and the INV field and cleared the radius and warped right as the second cycle fired. I've also used the ECM to save a friend from a gate camp in low. I was on my way back empty. Got a "HELP!
I also played around with deep space transports a bit as well when I needed to move POS parts around before I got access to a jump freighter. Honestly I can see them being a great shallow space run about at best. Basically a Bustard is a badger MK II with a better tank. The increased warp strength might save you from a solo dude with a disruptor, but it will not break a scram without an additional warp core stabilizer. I tested it with a 'ceptor with a scram and a disruptor. Base hull can break the disruptor but not the scram. Even fit out with 1 WCS, that sole 'ceptor can pin it. With two WCS it can get away from a single duel point 'ceptor. Sorry but that be LAME! Add to that that it cannot warp cloaked and has stuff all cargo space if you fit for agility. I agree Deep Space Transports stink and need some love.
OK! Back on track here. Blockade runners mate! The Viator Vs the Crane and such...
THE VIATOR
|
THE CRANE
|
Name: Viator
Hull: Iteron Class
Role: Transport
Developer: Duvolle Labs
Blockade runner transports are the fastest type of industrial available. Utilizing sturdy but lightweight construction materials and sacrificing some cargo space, these haulers are able to reach speeds greater than those of a cruiser while withstanding heavy fire - factors which make them ideal for zipping through dangerous territories with valuable cargo.
Gallente Industrial Skill Bonus:
+5% cargo capacity per level
+5% velocity per level
Transport Ships Skill Bonus:
-5% armor repairer duration per level
-98.5% to -99.25% bonus to cpu need of covert ops cloaks
|
Name: Crane
Hull: Badger Class
Role: Transport
Developer: Kaalakiota
Blockade runner transports are the fastest type of industrial available. Utilizing sturdy but lightweight construction materials and sacrificing some cargo space, these haulers are able to reach speeds greater than those of a cruiser while withstanding heavy fire - factors which make them ideal for zipping through dangerous territories with valuable cargo.
Caldari Industrial Skill Bonus:
+5% cargo capacity per level
+5% velocity per level
Transport Ships Skill Bonus:
+5% shield booster boost amount per level
-98.5% to -99.25% bonus to cpu need of covert ops cloaks
|
High Slots
|
1
|
High Slots
|
1
|
Medium Slots
|
3
|
Medium Slots
|
4
|
Low Slots
|
3
|
Low Slots
|
2
|
Rig slots
|
2
|
Rig slots
|
2
|
CPU
|
250
|
CPU
|
285
|
Power Grid
|
135
|
Power Grid
|
125
|
Calibration
|
400
|
Calibration
|
400
|
Capacitor Capacity
|
875 GJ
|
Capacitor Capacity
|
843.75 GJ
|
Base cargo Capacity
|
3000 m3
|
Base cargo Capacity
|
3500 m3
|
Inertia Modifier
|
0.55x
|
Inertia Modifier
|
0.48 X
|
Mass
|
11,150,000 kg
|
Mass
|
11,150,000 kg
|
Shields
|
1266
|
Shields
|
1758
|
Armor
|
1899
|
Armor
|
1196
|
Hull
|
2602
|
Hull
|
1969
|
Signature Radius
|
115 m
|
Signature Radius
|
125m
|
Max Velocity
|
170 m/s
|
Max Velocity
|
165m/s
|
Ship warp Speed
|
9.0 AU/s
|
Ship warp Speed
|
9.00 AU/s
|
I played around with the Crane and Viator for a more lowsec focused application. No bubbles in lowsec to bust out of means we can get into warp faster. Less fast tackle in low means we can be cloaked a little longer before warping. So we can focus a little more on the max cargo capacity and let the hulls agility get us through.
In this area I mucked around with both hulls with a pair of Medium cargo hold optimization I rigs. The viator had 4,959.4 m3 and the Crane had 5,785.9 m3. Viator was 115m for sig and 0.42x for inertia, while the crane was 125m and 0.36x for inertia. So crane wins round 1 being faster to get moving and more base cargo.
I then went after max cargo capacity. The viator with the extra low slot pretty much topped out at 10,279.2 m3.The crane weighed in a close 2nd at 9,405.8 m3. One might ask what difference 873.4 m3 can make? Well let's consider nanite repair paste at its 0.01 m3 foot print 873.4 m3 means I can fit 87,340 more of them in my viator. If I sold that difference at 24K each, that's 2BN isk more in that cloaky ship. Then again having a full bay of nanite repair paste is not the best way to move around 24.6 BN ISK. So let's look at getting that large tower out to lowsec shall we. Large tower is 8k and it runs 40 blocks of fuel an hour. So the Viator drops the tower and puts 11 hours worth of fuel in it, the crane drops the same tower but only 7 hours worth of fuel. So an extra 4 hours of fuel before I need to bounce out there with a Jump Freighter and fill up the fuel bays and drop the rest of the towers arrays. Viator wins round 2 for giving me 4 more hours for a clear jump window and 2BN more isk worth of nanite repair paste I can cram in it.
I looked at adding a small shield buffer tank to each for those pesky smart bombs. Without getting too silly with SonOFBrabens skills. I can get the Crane to 15.2K EHP, 67/73/69/65, and a sig radius of 135m with 9.4k M3 cargo. The Viator 11.8K EHP, 67/58/79/65, and a sig radius of 120M with 10.2K m3. So the crane wins round 3 being able to use its extra mid slot to punch through those highsec smart bomb gate camps.
Last I tried to blend it all together and come up with a more survivable variant of the 0.0 fit I fly on my original Viator. I did not EFT this or get too silly with faction mods etc. Just named meta 4 and T2 where my alts have skills to fly. They are fit thus:
The Crane: Just Passing By - lowsec/highsec fit.
Highs:
- Covert Ops Cloaking device II
Meds:
- Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
- Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
- "Cetus" ECM Shockwave I
-Invulnerability Field II
Lows:
- Expanded Cargohold II
- Expanded Cargohold II
Rigs:
-Medium cargo hold optimization I
-Medium cargo hold optimization I
The above fit is pretty much how I fly the crane with my Freighter alt. I use it to ferry small goods around high and lowsec when a charon/rhea just does not make sense. It's actually cap stable so the ECM can be turned on and left on if you get de-cloaked. It's 7K EHP w/ 1/61/56/51 without the inv II on and 9.1K EHP 30/73/69/65 with it on. So it can take a smart bomb and GTFO (yes not going to tank for long, but that's not the idea). I has a sig radius of 135M which is so-so. Top speed of 203 m/s and a inertia modifier of 0.36x. Cargo is 9.4k m3 so it can still deliver a large tower with 7 hours of fuel to lowsec.
It's not the most awesome fit ever but it does what I want it to do. Gets small goods about empire and low. I've also dropped towers with it flying in through 12 man lowsec entry gate camps...
The Viator: :) o/ - lowsec/highsec fit (yes the name is cheeky)
Highs:
- Covert Ops Cloaking device II
Meds:
- Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I MWD
- "Cetus" ECM Shockwave I
- Invulnerability Field II
Lows:
- Expanded Cargohold II
- Expanded Cargohold II
- Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Rigs:
-Medium cargo hold optimization I
-Medium cargo hold optimization I
The above fit is pretty much how I fly the Viator with my lowsec PI/POS/cloaky scout alt. I use this fit for everything from moving small stuff to and from the POS to hauling in PI goods. It's NOT cap stable by any means but she is FAST! It's 5.5K EHP w/ 1/41/71/51 without the inv II on and 6.1K EHP 30/58/79/65 with it on. So it might take a smart bomb and GTFO. I has a sig radius of 115M which is a little harder to lock than a barge ;). Top speed of 229m/s with MWD off and 1293 m/s with it on and a inertia modifier of 0.35x. Cargo is 8.0k m3 so it can still deliver a large tower if needed.
Again, nothing stunning here fit wise. Gets the job done and does not cost an arm and a leg.
So really either hull is a awesome blockade runner. The fits above are not perfect and some might feel the need to flame. However they do what I need them too and my pilots can fly them. In all cases this is just my take on how I fly them and how they rate side by side.
Cheers
EVE SOB
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