Lore, EveReader and Hydrostatic.

Today I would like to bring up a topic that often goes unnoticed in EVE, to the point where it feels like most people ignore it.
This could be down to ignorance of the subject or a complete lack of interest, it it's the former then please keep reading, if it's the latter you can stop here.
The subject is lore, yes, EVE has a tremendously rich lore behind it, some is player made and most is from the fine folks at CCP.
It can be something as small as landmarks in space, those weird beacons you can warp to that really does nothing, all the way up to one of the commercial novels written about the game.

I first got interested in EVE lore back when they featured the "Chronicles" on the front page.  The Chronicles, for those who don't know, are short stories and novellas written about the EVE universe we all live in.  The fascinating bit about the Chronicles, and indeed a lot of the lore, is that it's not solely about us capsuleers, it's about normal people and events.
The EVE universe is an incredibly dark and horrible place to live, and the lore reflects this in nearly all the stories, the Capsuleers are detached, inhuman demi gods and the little man is always getting stepped on.
It's not cheerful reading, but it is fascinating to learn about the events that shaped the universe we all indulge in.

The political machinations between the Empires, CONCORD and the various pirate factions are quite interesting and well fleshed out in various texts.  The pirate factions themselves are quite enjoyable to delve into, from drug syndicates and "zombies", to batshit crazy cultists and a space Red Cross with some serious agendas.

If the lore isn't anything you've really gotten into, but you think you'd find interesting, I have some recommendations on where to start out.

• The EVE Reader podcast is a great place to start.  It's basically a narration of the CCP EVE Chronicles and will give you a wide coverage of back stories to the EVE universe. The narrator sounds very professional, sound quality is excellent, guest voice actors and production quality is top notch.  I can not praise this podcast enough when it comes to exposing the player base to the lore in nice, bite sized chunks.
• The Chronicles is the stories written by CCP that the aforementioned podcast narrates.
• The Hydrostatic podcast does an excellent job at dealing with the wider lore of EVE, they'll discuss anything regarding lore, focusing often on present events in the universe.  They have excellent guests and panels on various aspects of the lore.  Highly recommended listening.
• There are also excellent books written in the EVE universe, The Empyrean Age, This Burning Life, Templar One and the EVE Source, there are also various other books floating around on Amazon that might be worth checking out.  Most, if not all are available in both paper and Ebook versions and they are a great read.

While you may not have been very interested or even aware of the lore up to this point, three of the four bulletpoints above are perfectly free, will provide you with hours of entertainment and a more meaningful look into the universe you play in.  

I hope you will take the opportunity to check at least some of these out, the podcasters in particular have put work and effort into this and they've done a fantastic job. 
I wish you hours of entertainment and enlightenment.

Amarr Victor.

New Alt's and a Happy New Year.

New Eden, I wish you a happy new year, may you get plenty of killmails and narrow escapes in the year to come.  May your Killboards be green and your wallets fat, so on and so forth.

I'm sure everyone has seen all the Holiday presents we got from CCP, my personal favourites are the Friend Ship and the Drunk Bodyguard, and I'm wearing one of the jackets currently as well.  There was another gift in there that many may have missed unless you actually read the Dev Blog, it's the FREE 20 day multiple character training.  Yes, 20 days of dual account training for FREE.

This may not mean much to a lot of you, 20 days isn't much after all, there are only so much you can squeeze in on that time, but free is free.
I set me up a skill plan in EVEMON and made myself a station trader alt, just to see if I could do it in time, or how close I'd get.  I can get the most vital skills up and running in 19d 8h with a neural remap, meaning that I have a perfectly viable station trade character for free, courtesy of CCP.

I grabbed an old untrained character on my account and set up the following skill plan:

Trade - lvl 4
Retail - lvl 4
Broker Relations - lvl 4
Accounting - lvl 5

Those skills puts the queue on my character up to over 20 days, but due to an unused remap, it ended up on just over 19 days total. 
I currently have the alt parked in a major trade hub with a few orders already going. 
May not be much, station trading may not even be your thing, but it's a thing to consider since it's costing you nothing.

I expect others might use the opportunity to create hauling or cyno alts, whatever floats your boat, you have 20 days to do it at no cost, providing you're even aware of the offer.

Oh yes, the first fleet of the new year, a fast little frig fleet netted me a nice 1.2 bill pod kill along with some other stuff, very shiny.

Fly Hard, Amarr Victor.

CVA, Providence and me.

I started playing EVE in 2007, I've had a few breaks here and there, but like a lot of people I've always come back. 
I've spent my career in high sec space, mining, trading, running missions and whatever else one does under CONCORD's watchful eyes.  I've been part of a few different corporations and an alliance or two, in one we decided to prepare ourselves for War decs by running low sec NRDS roams, engaging pirates and other characters of questionable moral fiber, but people lost interest.
There was the occasional plan to rent 0.0 space, and a for a while I think we had some systems out east, I at least found a jump clone out there, but I was never fond of the renting idea and never spent any time out there.
Eventually I found myself wanting something more.  That's when I decided to pack up my solo Corp and try to make a living for myself in Providence.
Now, as stated in a previous entry, the stars somewhat aligned for me and I found myself as a member of Corp 54 and CVA.  Now, call me whatever you like, but that's somewhat of a big deal for me and here's why.

Back in 2007 when I undocked from a station for the first time, I had no clue what I was getting into.  I liked spaceships, I had a friend who said I should try this game so I figured I'd give it a go.
0.0 was something I read about early on, it was BoB vs Goons vs NC back in those days, but it was to "scary" and inaccessible to me at the time, that was at least my own opinion on it.  I quickly became interested in all the stories that came out of 0.0, the wars, the MAX campaigns, the fall of BoB etc, it was fascinating even though I had no part in it myself.  It was amazing how much politics, underhanded spying, dealings and massive wars one could find inside a single computer game.
I followed the old CAOD forums, checked the Sov maps and generally tried to keep up on what happened "out there" while sitting in highsec, doing whatever I did.

There was one region, one entity that stood out from the rest.  There was place in the south, where neutrals were welcome, a place that didn't adhere to the shoot first, ask later policy of every other region.  It was Providence, and CVA was the law along with the other Holders.  Back in those days they were locked in a war over Providence with another roleplay based Alliance called Ushra'Kahn, but even so, neutrals were welcome and the Holders did what they could to protect them.

I found the concept of Providence fascinating, and I kept coming back to any news about the region as often as I could, CAOD, Podded Podcast and the likes was something I followed with regularity.  I never took the plunge though, I never moved down there, I just kept going along in High Sec.
I can't really put my finger on why I was infinitely more fascinated by Providence then the other regions, but looking back on it I'd say NRDS had a lot to do with it.  I like the concept of NRDS, I know there are no limits in EVE and it's the sandbox and all that, but I've always liked and respected a measured response rather then mindless aggression and violence.  NRDS is just a concept that suits my playing style.
There's also the fact that Provi Block basically gave the rest of EVE the finger and dared to be different.  They refused to get in line with the rest of 0.0 and follow the "standard" policy, they carved out their own space and ran it how they saw fit, not how CAOD told them it should be ran.

All these things ingrained Providence in me like a near mythic region of space, and I knew that if I ever headed out to the deep dark, it would have to be Providence.
I never did go, but I always had Providence in the back of my head.
Without ever having been there, without ever having seen Providence for myself, it had started to mean something to me.  It was a symbol of how one could turn ones back on the norm, Aura says "Dare to be bold pilot, dare to be bold".  Providence said "Dare to be different" and from a universe away, in a High sec asteroid belt,  it meant something to me.

I found myself defending Providence against the smack talkers.  NRDS sucks, Shit space, LoL RP, I argued in local against those people, not a very constructive thing to do in a high sec local by the way, but I did it.
And still, I'd never set a foot in Providence.

Now here I am, years later, knowing that I have to get out of High sec, break the mold and reinvigorate my game, what shall I do?
In the back of my head, a single word around which I've almost built a myth of it's own, Providence.

It was not without some reverence I jumped out the Dital gate and found myself, for the first time, under Providence skies.  I quickly decided that the region was probably not gonna live up to the expectations I had created for it over the years, that the Holders might not be the same, they'd probably kill me as soon as they caught me, I didn't even have a clue whether or not I could dock.  I also decided that I needed a new game and that I would tough it out no matter what, I was here, in Providence and I would make it work.

I do in no way intend to diminish the other Holders, but from day one CVA was the one I heard about, and so they held a "special" place in how I perceived Providence.  It was quite something to jump into a system and see local full of CVA pilots, fortunately still adhering to the NRDS policy.
When I was contacted by a recruiter from CVA itself after spending a little time in Providence, like I said in the opening, for me, the stars aligned.

I've come here to live, play and laugh.  I've come to defend Providence and NRDS, to defend an idea I've liked since day one.  I've come here to be different in the face of all those who fall in line, I've come home.

The point of this rather long story, Providence holds a special meaning to me and it's hard for me to explain why, seeing as I don't really know myself why Providence has grown in my mind since I started playing.
Either way, here I am, 7 years down the line, finally I'm here, I'm in Providence.
I'm home.

Fly hard, Amarr Victor.

A fool and his money are easily parted.........

And today, I'm definitely the fool.
Have you ever seen those 1 bill sell orders for something and thought to yourself, who the hell is dumb enough to buy that?
Well, apparently, I'm dumb enough.

I just bought me a 1 bill T2 warp disruptor.  Yay.

Memo to self.
When you're tired after a night shift, shopping for some random stuff and looking more at the number of jumps rather then the price.  Step away from the computer, get a cup of coffee and then look at the market orders again.
Don't just click buy and then OK on the, "warning, don't be dumb and spend your money on this, it's ridiculously overpirced", warning box that comes up.
If you do, well, you got yourself one high cost module.

Live and learn, I certainly hope the person who received the money will spend it more wisely than me.
And if anyone wants to buy a warp disruptor, I'll sell you one for a discounted 700 mill.

07

Cloaky Campers, Risk vs Reward.

I've read a lot about cloaky campers on forums, in chats etc, the consensus is that it's all whining, HTFU and all that good stuff.  I really would like this to NOT come across as whining and shall try to present it in a more rational/constructive manner. 
The truth of it is that I don't really mind it at all on one level, it's a necessary evil in 0.0 and an effective means of area denial, while I do have huge problems with it on another level.  I shall endeavor to present my argument as such.

Cloaky campers is something I've not experienced at all until now, seeing as I've only recently moved to Providence, I've heard and read about them, but it's all been second hand experience.
While it should be said that cloaky campers are somewhat of an oxymoron in Providence, NRDS, neuts and all, we do have red campers, and I've made their acquaintance recently.

I pretty much divide my time between the Fleet staging system and a "home pocket" for making money, whenever I'm not at the staging system shopping or waiting on a fleet, I'm in the pocket chatting and making money.  Recently some people started sitting in most of the pocket systems, effectively denying access to the belts and anoms for the residents.  The concept is simple, make yourself visible in local and the residents won't undock for fear of what you might do to them, cloak you're ship so no one and scan you out and you're good to go.
In Providence this is not really a problem seeing as all of Providence is open to everyone, no restricted systems etc.  I also mentioned how cloaky campers are somewhat of an oxymoron in Providence, considering that you will quite often operate with several neuts in local.

I can see how this starts becoming more of an issue in space that's restricted.  You and your corporation has access to a handful of systems, the availability of upgraded systems is limited or something similar, one camper can effectively shut down your income.  You will either stay docked or take the risk of undocking and hoping that he won't drop you or something of the likes.
Nullsec is supposed to be risky, but for the most part it's quite safe to operate in isolated systems, due to the availability of intell and backup a large part of the risk can be negated.  This is why I don't really have a problem with the cloaky campers, they introduce a level of risk and inconvenience one should learn to live with in nullsec. 

The problem I have with the campers is that this level of risk does NOT go both ways.
The camper shares none of the risk of his victims, he/she is completely safe in their cloaked ship and runs absolutely no risk of harm or injury while shutting down an entire system of people.  In my opinion, damage on that level should carry with it a level of risk proportional to the damage you do.  You disrupt a system full of people, you should at least be at risk of loosing your ship, not be completely untouchable as it is now.
I look at the map, find a few upgraded systems within reasonable range of each other, stick a cloaked alt in these and I've forced a lot of people to move or stay docked.  I've either created alot of inconvenience or a lot of risk for a sizable crowd of people and I'm not at risk at all.

The second problem is that you can do all of the above with absolutely zero effort.  You get to the system in a cloaky ship, which isn't all that hard and then you log in after DT, cloak up and walk away.  You're now sitting there for 23 hours, cloaked, disrupting activity in that system for zero effort and zero risk.

CCP has stated that they want to change the current state of 0.0 sov over to something else.  One of the models they've suggested is an occupancy based sov mechanic, where you basically have to use the space to own it.  Now, I don't know how the mechanics of this is going to work at all, so I'm just speculating now, but if you have to use the space to own it, the cloaky camper has the potential of disrupting sov all by himself.  I assume that it's not gonna be that easy, there must be some other mechanics involved to counter that possibility, otherwise you're actally ruining sov for zero effort and risk.  I find it completely unacceptable under those circumstances that you have no way of pinning down and killing the camper due to cloaking mechanics.

Anyways, that was just my observations on the matter, I've no real solution to the problem considering how cloaks work under the current mechanics.  I support the fact that a camper introduces risk and inconvenience into a system that is otherwise very safe if you're even semi conscious.
I just feel that the proportions of risk and effort are very much off between the two parties.

Conflicting opinions and arguments are more than welcome.

Fly hard, Amarr Victor.

Phoebe, So Far.

No more force projection, at least not like it used to be.

I'll preface this with saying I've really no idea of how it used to be either, so take this with a pinch of salt.
As I'm sure everyone is aware, Phoebe, with it's dreaded jump change has now dropped on TQ and it seems as though some love it and some hate it.  Jump drives have been nerfed into the dirt with reduced jump range, they've added the fatigue timer on every jump and deathcloning is gone.

I don't own a capital, so the only real impact this has on me is in relation to jump bridges.  I've only recently moved into 0.0, and have enjoyed the jump bridges immensely in that time, but now the usage of them is somewhat restricted.
The day Phoebe dropped I grabbed an interceptor and headed through the closest bridge, just to check it out, roughly 1 hour fatigue timer from one jump.
Now, I can live with this, it means JB's are no longer a convenience and more of a strategic asset.  I won't be using them for easy, convenient travel anymore, but rather for high value transport and safer routes.
The fact that interceptors are nullified and turns on a dime these days, A - B travel is not really that hard, say from home base to staging system, slightly more of a hassle, but no more than that.

The redeeming factor so far is that they held back on the "industrial" ship nerf, any ship classified as such enjoys a 90% reduction in distance traveled, so the same jump in my Blockade Runner resulted in a 15 minute fatigue timer.  This makes travel in Blockade Runners and Transport Ships more feasible for bringing cargo to trade hubs etc.  Blockade Runners in themselves would make excellent travel ships, rather safe with the align time and cloak, all though somewhat expensive at around 170 mill and up.

I've been looking at other alternatives as well, something like a "poor mans" Blockade Runner and the Wreathe fits the bill nicely.  It's fast, cheap and gets down towards 3 sec of align time with decent skills and some Inertia Stabs in the lows.  Yeah, it gets caught, you're dead, but it's not like it's gonna break the bank.
Caution is advised if you're hauling high value stuff in it, but that's what Blockade Runners and Deep Space Transports are for anyways, and as a taxi it should be pretty ok.

On to some other stuff from Phoebe, bookmark changes and multisell.

Bookmark changes are awesome, hotkey for quick access, visible in space, it can't really get any better.
Making BM's, tacs, bounces and pings are fast and easy compared to pre patch and you can quickly find them via the compass and overlay.  It also takes some of the guessing out of it when the FC asks if anyone has a ping close to that annoying inty above the gate.

Multisell has also proven to be a lot quicker then the old one, all though it seemed weird the first times, I quickly got used to it.  There is a lot less clicking needed to sell things and less clicks are always good.

That pretty much sums up my immediate impressions of Phoebe, overall a very good patch in my opinion, the fatigue is a hassle in many cases, but nothing one can't adapt to.

Providence is still proving to be very kind to me, I'm loving every minute of it and I haven't even managed to die yet, even though I have actually been joining some PvP fleets.
Provi Block is currently in the process of retaking sov in D-GTMI after settling on a very favourable peace treaty with the HERO Coalition and eagerly awaiting the changes coming with Phoebe.
I've been running in some Cruiser defence fleets chasing bad people away from hitting a few towers in a Providence high sec border system and I even got to fly a Zealot around a bit.  I'll get back to my unhealthy obsession with Omen hulls at a later date.

Fly hard, Amarr Victor.

Harpies in Fountain.

I'm approaching three weeks in null sec space, two of which have been with Corp 54 and CVA, and I'm still alive, still flying and can't remember last time EVE felt this good.
Life in New Eden has in many ways turned both harder and easier then ever before, null sec space does provide a set of unique challenges that a former high sec resident might not be used to.  Something as simple as going to fetch some ammo might suddenly become a very interesting trip, whereas the intell networks does actually provide a level of security one is not used to in highsec.

I did actually go on a trip for some ammo, there was nothing of the type I needed for my ratting ship in the pocket around my home base, and so I was forced to run an industrial ship several jumps through null sec.  Now that did wonders for my blood pressure.  There are fortunately these handy things called Jump Bridges installed at convenient locations and they will shave off several unwanted jumps on your trip.
The ammo run turned out all right by the way.

I've set certain rules for myself that I will follow in order to make my null sec life as painless as possible.
I won't fly bling stuff that I can't stand to loose, not that I've done much of it in the past, but definitely not now and here.
I realize that I will have to move stuff, assets, minerals, products etc. around null sec, I also realize at some point that I will loose a haul of something like that, therefore I won't load a transport with more that I can stand to loose.
I will try to have a backup ship for every main money making ship I use, so backup miner, backup ratter etc.
The possibility of loosing a ratting/mining ship is just to large to ignore and I'd hate to be stranded without something.
 Basically it comes down to common sense and not putting all your eggs in one basket.

While null sec is far more dangerous than high sec in many ways, I have the impression that it's a lot safer in general.  The intell channels keep you up to date on the movements of nearly every red/neut in the entire region, probably aided by the population density of Providence.  There aren't many empty systems in Providence, so reds/neuts are usually tracked in pretty much realtime, allowing you to keep close tabs on anything moving around close to you.  Compared to high sec this new level of intell and information does make you feel alot safer, could be a very false sense of security I guess, but by keeping an eye on the proper channels I've avoided many unpleasant encounters already.

Ok, enough of the day to day stuff.  This weekend, I've been PvP'ing, yes, so what, no big deal.  Well, considering my previous PvP experience was a few high sec wardecs and some ill fated trips to low, it was kind of a big deal for me.
Being in a null sec fleet was an entirely new experience in EVE and one that certainly gave me an appetite for more.
The fleet was advertised as a fast Harpy fleet, but seeing as I had no Harpy available at that moment, I instead jumped into an Executioner and headed out to catch up with the fleet.  We headed into a wormhole leading into Fountain and started looking for a fight.
I apologize for not having any sort of detailed account here, I'm still rather new to this whole thing and was mostly focused on following orders and not making mistakes, the kills themselves quickly vanished in a blur of activity.  Suffice to say, we killed alot of ships belonging to Fatal Ascension.
The main enemy fleet we ran into seemed to be mostly made up of FA pilots with some other CFC entities mixed in, they were flying a similar Harpy fleet to us, but we managed to kill most of their tackle and logistics and picked off damage dealers after that during an orderly withdrawal to the wormhole we came from.
I eventually got killed while venturing to close to the enemy fleet on a gate engagement, managed to warp off and self destructed my pod seeing as the enemy was between me and my way home at that point.

The evening was not over however, so upon waking up back in Providence I headed back to F-Y for another Executioner just in time to head out again.  This time it was the people still online from the Fountain fleet, in more of a "kitchen sink" setup, heading into Catch for targets of opportunity.
We found several, amongst them a T4 Loki class Strategic Cruiser, probably the shiniest thing I've ever killed.

During the course of one night, I saw more action than I've seen so far in my entire EVE career, there are actual killmails on my board and I had an unbelievable amount of fun.
So far, heading to Providence is without a doubt the best move I've done in EVE.

Fly hard, Amarr Victor.

Providence Awaits

The stargate shimmers before me, holding a promise of unknown riches and adventure on the other side, a new life, a path I've never walked down before lies before me beyond this stargate..
I activate the gate and jump through, as I materialize on the other side I see before me a whole region of space I've never before ventured into, Providence awaits.

That was the scenario a few days ago after another successfully completed mission, another exploration site that didn't yield much in terms of wealth or excitement, since I returned from slumber it struck me how much everything had changed, and yet remained exactly the same. 
In EVE we make our own fortunes, adventures and narratives, it's our sandbox and if you find yourself bored, well it's probably your own fault. 
I decided to take matters into my own hands and go somewhere new, and somewhere a little further then the next mission hub to shoot the next bunch of red crosses for whoever payed the LP.  I decided to head into null sec, 0.0 security space, the promised land of EVE, where all the stories originate and empires draw their own lines in the sand.
I decided on Providence simply because I've heard about it since I started playing EVE.  A lawless region where CVA and the Providence holders enforced the peace, and a region that was open and welcoming to neutrals, unlike nearly every other null sec region in the universe.

So there I was, sitting on a stargate in my Interceptor, leaving all of high sec behind me and sticking my foot in the deep end for the first time since I started playing in 2007.
I've been in alliances before, in high sec, which rented space, I think I also headed out east on one trip, because I have a jump clone sitting in a system I've no recollection of ever being in.  So it was with some excitement I decided to take this plunge.

I've practically no experience with 0.0 and so expected to die pretty fast, but I've managed to survive for a few days now.  I've been careful, making sure to create bounce spots in warp, setting up scans and tacs on most gates I've passed through.  I've been diligent in creating instas for the stations I expected to use and to be social with the locals I've come across.  The last few days have been fun, I've been flying with a new attitude and vigilance, although I haven't really done much of note, it's still been a breath of fresh air to my playing experience.  I took Evv out there off course, he's the brawny one after all, but after a few days I did find myself seriously entertaining the idea of bringing Evoran out there as well, set up a cheap mining ship and just try it.  I'm not quite sure of how the industry in 0.0 works as opposed to high sec as I've never done it, but the idea is very tempting. 

I was planning on staying in Providence for as long as the Holders would let me, as a neutral, carving out my new life among the stars.
It did not last very long.
The neutral bit, that is.
Today I headed out to rat a little and as I returned from a short AFK there was a convo request waiting for me.  I was certain I had pissed in someones cereal and expected a thinly veiled threat and a prompt retreat from my new lifestyle.  The cereal was however quite unspoiled and instead of being run out of the region, I found myself chatting to a recruiter.
There was a slight issue however, the recruiter, Trisha D'Vaney, represented Imperial Dreams, a corporation that is Amarr exclusive, I'm Gallente through and through.  All was not lost however, I expressed how tempting the offer sounded to me and Trisha was kind enough to promptly connect me with Wildcard Trek, CEO of Corp 54.

So here I am, a new member of Corp 54 and one of the oldest and most historical alliances in the game. 
I've no idea where life in New Eden will take me from here, but I'm sure it's going to be an exciting ride.

I can only extend my sincerest gratitude to Trisha for the initial offer and to Wildcard for the confidence they extended me.  I shall do my utmost to not disappoint or betray that confidence.

Fly safe everyone and Amarr Victor.

Red vs Blue. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

So, when shooting asteroids, checking market margins or shooting little red crosses gets to boring, I turn to RvB.  RvB (Red vs Blue), for those who may not know, are two corporations locked in eternal war over a few systems, currently close to Jita.
The premise is that you join up and you will have instant combat all the time, largely concentrated to a small number of systems to keep the intensity high. 
Red and Blue HQ are separated by a few jumps to have some systems were station games are less prevalent and to allow some gatecamping and mobile action.  RvB will probably give you whatever type of combat you desire on a regular basis, with a few exceptions.

There are a few rules to keep drama and chaos down and from what I've seen so far these rules are enforced by both corporations.
NO Podding allowed, you are under no circumstances allowed to pod fellow RvB members, third party war targets are fair game though.  From what I know, podding without having a darn good excuse for it, will get you booted from RvB.
No ECM, all other types of E-War are allowed, but no jammers.  The idea is on fun fights and jammers aren't.

The following is my experience and opinion only, your mileage may vary.

The Good.

Instant fights, all the time, you undock and there are people to fight.  There's a fleet up nearly 23/7 that you can join for PvP, or you can go out solo and look for fights as it suits you.

You WILL get used to loss, which is rather essential in EVE, RvB will teach you to fly things you can afford fast, because you will loose the stuff you undock in.

Feet first PvP lessons.  There's no easing into things in RvB, you go from peaceful carebear to frothing maniac the moment you join.  You will learn things fast or you won't have any fun at all.

Great community, I've met very few idiots in RvB, the people on both sides are fun loving little hellraisers who will gladly share their knowledge with you.  Questions are answered, fits are critiqued and shared, and the FC's are extraordinary patient with people/newbies in fleets.

Regular events that you can take part in, everything from local brawls to low sec/null sec roams.  The people running the whole thing are simply fantastic at creating content for their members and I can't thank them enough for the time and effort they put in.

Very laid back and relaxed community, no API keys required, registrations everywhere, jabber, IRC etc.
You join, signing up for the forum is recommended, but not required as I've understood it, and use EVE voice in fleets.  It can't really get simpler for anyone who wants to PvP without the politics and all the other things that come with it.  Out of Game voice comms are used for some events I believe, but all of these are 100% optional.

The Bad.

Not really a whole lot here, and keep in mind that this is purely my own opinion on the matter.

You can get poor fast unless you have money on the side or fly expensive stuff you can't replace.  Don't fly what you can't afford to loose.  I believe RvB has replacement programs with some conditions, but I've not used them, so my knowledge on the matter is limited.

Some fights are pre arranged and will seem rather "artificial", if I can use that word about blowing up spaceships in a video game.  If you're looking for a totally immersive war experience there are some fights that will disappoint you.  These fights are there to create content and explosions for whoever wants to participate though, so one really can't complain about them.  You are also free to ignore such fights as you please.

I don't really have any bad experiences from RvB myself, it's mostly what you make of it yourself, and not joining up with the wrong expectations.

The Ugly.

Nothing to really say here.
One would expect a community such as RvB to be full of trolling idiots, and I'm sure there are some, but I've not really met any of them.  The people are great, the organizers are fantastic and there's action all the time.
The quality of the community is probably down to leadership actually doing their job to provide quality content for everyone, and again, I can't thank them enough for it.

So, you want to be a 1337 PvP'er, tired of being the constant carebear, maybe you just wanna learn how to bite back in case of wardecs, Join RvB.  Stick an alt in there like I've done, I can almost guarantee you'll have fun and after a few days it's not so threatening to have people chasing you all the time.
Fly cheap frigates and get a feel for things, be the aggressor on a killboard for a change and have some good times with the rest.

There's not point, no endgame, no lines on the map, no motivation to fight other then the fight itself.
In RvB, we just wanna watch the universe burn.
And kill smurfs.
The more smurfs, the better.

Fly like you stole it.

Back, Again.

Back yet again, after a long time of inactivity now.  New Eden seems to be a place I can't keep away from, it always feels like coming home when you log back in to space.

There's been more then a few changes since I was here last, I was rather confused about all the green and red squares in space first time I saw them, turns out they were part of the new scanning system.  I haven't quite made up my mind about the new scanning system and anomalies yet, seems like a pretty big plus in high sec, but it leaves you less time to bug out of sites in low sec.  Great stuff for people looking to kill folk, but since I'm usually the "getting killed folk" it could get ugly, adaptation required I suppose.

Speaking of low sec, Ventures are my new best friend.  Yes, I'm aware that ISK pr hour is horrible mining in low sec, I'm also aware that mining for your own production etc, is a terrible waste of money, but you can't beat the fun factor.  I've been taking Ventures into low sec for some ninja mining here and there since I came back, and it's fun as hell, it's nimble, fast and the warp strength helps a lot on the safety factor.  I'm looking to get me a prospector next, maybe take it into null sec or some wormholes, the Cov Op's cloak should be ideal for that kind of nosing around.

Evoran's been spending most of his time getting set up again, moved home system, picked the trading back up and been researching some BPO's.  I've been getting to know the market again and trading is currently netting some nice profits all around.  The new Crius industry system seems great so for, I've heard/read all the doomsday prophecies regarding it, but I've got few complaints so far.  EVE is about adapting after all.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see my RvB alt still in Red Federation, I was expecting her to have been removed due to inactivity, but I was able to jump straight in again.  Well, straight in after I'd researched new fittings and tactics.  There's seems to have been quite a few changes in the PvP front aswell.  Frigates, destroyers and cruisers have been reworked, not sure if it applies to more ships, those are the ones I fly, new roles, slot layouts and bonuses, great stuff.  I've mostly been tearing around in cheap frigs, as per usual, sneaking in on KM's and getting back into it. 
The relaxed RvB atmosphere is fantastic though and they do produce great fights, I encourage anyone to stick an alt in there just to try it out.  You can keep it as cheap as you like and still get great fights, there's always a fleet running so you never feel alone or abandoned and there's a lot of helpful people to answer all the stupid questions one might have.

Anyways, Fly safe.

Tech Cartels and Navy Ships

Escalation is upon us and the market is in uproar, the removal of drone alloys and meta 0 drops from rats are pushing prices up across the board.  Pick a random ship or some mineral and check the price development since december/january and you'll see what I mean.  This is probably just the beginning tough, as Goonswarm has more or less decided to corner the economy on as much as they can, the Tech Cartel (OTEC) is gonna run T2 prices through the roof.  The burning of Jita, Hulkageddon and the alleged promise to gank industrialists all over the universe, fear alone will push the market right into Goon hands.  You can say what you will about The Mittani, but the man knows what he's doing and deserves his due of credit for the way he pulls strings and affects the entirety of New Eden.
If all of the above mentioned events goes according to Goon plans, we're going to have some expensive months ahead of us, or good profits depending on what/if you invested in certain things when rumors of this whole thing started circulating.  One things for sure though, stay out of Jita on the 28th and throughout that weekend.

I've spent some of my own hard earned ISK on a new toy, Evv has bought himself a Navy Scorpion.  I wanted a shield/missile Battleship after flying only armor gunboats since the start now.  Yes, I know that the CNR is the shizz and all that, but it's also ugly as all hell, where as the Navy Scorp is one sexy beast.  Great tank, but I'll admit it's a little on the weak side on the damage, probably why everyone prefers to suffer the awful sight of the CNR.

There's even a spinny thing on the top.

Had a few more fights in RvB, nothing spectacular, lost a few Rifters and scored some more kills.  I also took out a Thrasher to a fight and while it does impressive damage it also seems to be auto primary.  I'm trying to keep this as "cheap" or cost effective as possible, get some good fights and good fun for a minimum of ISK, I'll probably start taking more Thrashers out.  They tank less, and gets primaried a lot faster then a Rifter, but they're also good fun and they rain death on anything around them.  The whole Destroyer thing is pretty much like flying a huge bullseye made of wet paper tissue towards a fight, but then again, that has it's own charm.  The thing I need to get a little better at is anticipating the fight and trying to get out before it's to late.  I usually get stuck in there and by the time the warning bells and klaxons and big red "BUG OUT" letters go off in my head, I'm scrammed down by way to many frigs.  The worst part is, every time it happens, I can identify the exact time that I SHOULD have gotten out, but I always stick around for that extra kill.  This is fine as long as I'm throwing away Rifters, but if I plan on upshipping, and I'll have to do that eventually, it's gonna get expensive fast.

Anyways, 'til next time, Fly safe.

Moving house and RvB.

It's been a while since the last post, summer of Rage and some other minor things ended in my accounts going inactive.  I've returned now, once again, brought in by the promise of the new patch and a longing for the open reaches of New Eden space lanes.  I'll be honest, Eve is a game that is hard to kick.  I can turn my back, but I still find myself drawn back to it given time.

Going to keep this one short and sweet.  I've moved, from my previous home around Villore, I've moved to the neighbouring region of Sinq Laison.  The lure of the trade hub (Dodixie) won out in the end, it's easier to conduct regular trades in large volumes from my new home.

I've also dived in feet first with PvP, I've placed an alt in Red V Blue.  RvB for those who don't know is two corporations in a perpetual state of war.  Sign up, undock and fight, it's sort of like an arena brawl thing without the politics and hassle of War.  I've joined Red myself, the character I have there isn't the best in terms of skill points, but I've trained her in between skills here to make her an acceptable cruiser pilot.  I do mostly fly frigates though, it's cheaper that way and they're always useful for tackling anyway.  I'm close to a hundred kills now and 12 Rifters lost.

I'll probably throw in quite a few RvB updates here in the future, it's damn good fun.

Fly safe all.

Hulkageddon starts and the ISK 3.0.

And so the Hulkageddon is upon us yet again.  It's been some time now since I've actually worried about the Hulkageddon, I don't mine that much anymore, it mostly comes through the market for me these days.  I do try to avoid flying freighters/Orcas or other "easy to hit" industrial during this time though, rather opting for my blockade runner to move stuff if need be.  Hulkageddon is really not that much of a problem if you take some precautions and use your head, should you get your Hulk/other highly expensive industrial ship ganked during this time, it's pretty much your own fault.  Saying that, I'll probably loose something shiny myself this time around, should that happen I swear not to whine about it.

I know several "carebears" and industrialists whinge and complain about Hulkageddon and I don't really understand this, as I stated above, staying safe isn't really all to hard if you stay smart.  I understand that you have to switch the "autopilot" mentality off, but in my opinion we're playing a multi player game, Playing being the operative word here.  If your need to play AFK is that high and you find yourself auto piloting a wreck when you return to the keyboard, tough.

Hulkageddon also presents a great way of making lots of money.  There are several new market opportunities during Hulkageddon, and they're also rather obvious if you know where to look.

In other news, EON has released the new ISK 3.0 guide, it's a 80 mb PDF download and it's worth every bit.  It's also FREE and although aimed at the newer player everyone can probably learn something from it, it nothing else it's a great little reference manual.  According to several other blogs around, it's the manual that CCP should have written to accompany EVE and I can agree with that.

http://www.isktheguide.com/

Fly safe.

Overheating racks and new portraits.

And so, the Sansha have descended upon us.

They brought with them an amazing new character editor.  I know some people have lamented the fact that the new ones aren't as good as the old ones.  That they liked the cartoon style, that the new editor lacks diverse and unique characters.  I for one, like it.

The new pictures look great, the options are plentiful and the expressions many.  The few things I don't like, it's hard to see the small, tiny, little photo thumbnail.  Some more clothing options might be nice and some more normal haircuts all around, other then that I'm very happy.

I'm gonna be lazy though, since I've already misplaced the pictures I was gonna link twice, I'll settle for the banner art.  I have created a new banner, my skills at photo editing are somewhat lacking, but it's my own and I'm rather happy with it.  The new banner has the new pictures, it's Evoran by the Iteron and Evv by the Mega.  The old ones are in the right sidebar for now. 

I went for a civilized, office sorta look for Evoran, seeing as he's the official guy with the trading and the building.

For Evv I wanted a "rougher" look, ex Navy, don't want his picture taken sort of thing.

I'm pretty darn happy with how they both turned out.

Now on a different note.  The patch brought with it some nice shortcuts, and in doing so it overwrote all the old shortcuts.  I undocked my Abaddon, warped into a mission, The Assault, yes, the same one that cost me my Apoc a while back.  I'm sitting there shooting away at the serpentis ships waiting for aggro from the last bunch to unleash my drones.  Aggro gained, drones out, ctrl-1 to sent drones to attack.  I hear this "plink" sound and think "hmmmmm".  Then the lower rack overheats.  I quickly turn the heat off and and head for the options, while getting shot at in the mission.  I go to drones, find the shortcut and assign ctrl-1 to attack.  I'm told it's already taken so I go to the appropriate page and turn it off, then back to drones to turn it on again.  Thing is, every time you click it, doesn't matter that you're in a menu apparently, it activates.  Sooooooo, by the time I'm done, I esc out of the menu and intend to finish the mission.  I was just in time to see my hardeners burn out, I check overview and see there's a warp scrambling frig on me, then my armor rep'erapparently activating things through menus. gives out.  I was fortunate enough to get out in low armor this time, repaired in station and finished the mission.  Thank you for overwriting my old shortcuts CCP and thank you for

All said and done though, good patch, I like it so far and now, all that's left is to rally some corp mates and try the Sansha for real.  I still have fresh memories of how that went on SiSi.

Fly safe.

2011, still going!

Happy new year to all and may 2011 rain isk or KM's on you, depending on preference.  Myself, I'll take the isk.
2010 ended quietly for me, bogged down in work and family stuff to attend for the holliday I got precious little EVE time in, such is life.  I've mostly been managing trade orders once a day, neglecting everything else and anxiously been waiting for the next Incursions installement to be deployed.  I'm actually looking forward to the new character creator specifically, and I'm not quite sure why I do it.  It's going to be very wierd to change portraits, I've been running around SiSi for a little bit and seeing that new picture in local is downright unerving.  When I get used to it though, the new creator is amazing and I'm really looking forward to recreating faces that have been with me for years now, I suspect I'll spend a few hours tweaking when the creator drops.

There's another couple of things about the patch, the shortcuts and the new NeoCom.  I love the shortcuts, absolutely love them, they're intuitive, they're quick and they reduce clicking by an awsome amount, BUT, I will not get over the fact that I have to click in the chatwindow to type now.  For that reason alone I will probably not use the shortcuts at all, I'm way to used to just start typing when I need instead of clicking somewhere.
The new NeoCom is also great, it has to be enabled in the menus as some BETA option, the problem though is that I will now have to start playing EVE in fullscreen mode.  Previously, EVEMON centered my windowed EVE for me, now I have to use some "Fixed" window option, the downside of this is that the windows start bar has priority at the bottom of my screen, the new NeoCom is also at the bottom of the screen.  Everytime I go for the new NeoCom the windows start bar pop's up.  Small complaints, I know, but still.  I'll have to find a way to get around it, preferably without going back to fullscreen.

Still, Incursions pt. 2 is looking great, can't say how much I appreciate CCP for holding back, staggering deployment and making it all nice and polished before release.

Fly safe all.

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone, have a happy holliday and fly safe.

Oh Noes, how depressing!

I'm ashamed to write this.
Today...... I lost a Battleship..........To a lvl 4 mission.
It's the first time I've lost a battleship to a PvE mission, I've lost them in PvP but never to a mission.
It was Serpentis Assault, I fielded an Apocalypse class battleship, and it died, horribly in a fire.

I'm not even sure what happened, I'd just moved an old Apoc up to my primary agent and decided to do a mission before calling it a night.  I get "The Assault", check my hardeners and undock, I punch in the gate activation as I land and stuff started happening from there.
I lock up the rats, smallest ones first and start firing.  The destroyer dies in one volley, naturally, but my modules are stuck, I've had guns stuck in a few lag heavy situations before, but never in a highsec system with 77 people in it.
By the time my guns start cycling proper again, everything is on me.  The whole room aggroes for some reason and my tank is failing horribly, I'm pointed and my drones aren't killing the scrammers fast enough for me to warp out.
Apoc goes boom and I'm left staring at my wreck in disbelief.
I did fetch my trusty Megathron right after and headed back for some proper revenge on the Serpentis Corporation, but the damage was allready done.  I suffered a severly bruised pride and my ego took a serious dent.

First Battleship loss to a mission has now come and gone, fortunately, it was an Amarrian ship, I could not bear the loss of my precious Megathron.

On another note,  I've bought a Noctis and set it up for salvaging, was a little expensive as I bought it early, but well worth the investment.  I payed around 58 mill or so for it, but I don't forsee loosing them very often and I'd still have bought it.  I have to say, it's awsome for salvaging.
The tractor range, speed and salvage speed makes cleanig out a mission site a breeze, nothing to it, very little moving around and the increased cargo space you get is worth it by itself.
You can even pick up all the cap boosters and scrap metal without worrying about cargo space or docking up just to clear out the Destroyer.

Fly safe.

Incursions, part one.

Not had a chance to log in much these last days, been a little to busy with things, so today I was welcomed by a new and shiny log in screen.
Incursions has dropped it seems, or at least the first part of it.  I have to say again, I really like the fact that CCP decided to release it in stages with more of a "when it's done" philosophy rather then on time.
Seems there aren't too many drastic changes as of yet, the things I welcome from this first part is the ability to show probes on the overview, that's a long time coming in my opinion.  I never use the "unofficial" way to get them on the overview in the past, I wasn't sure if it was "safe" or not, but this new ability has great potential.

I'm also welcoming in the changes to various T2 ammo, and the rockets among them, or I will appreciate the rocket boost at least when I train up for them on Evv.
The Noctis is looking really sweet, but a little expensive as of yet, I'll either opt to grab a BPO or wait for the price to drop before I grab one.
Either way I'm gonna wait a little bit, I'm sort of asuming that the Outer Ring area is swarming with people right now, I'm also asuming they don't have my welfare in mind.

The addition of a Meta column on items also makes hangar/loot sorting a little easier, it's a nice touch.
Seems the "nice touch" thing is the thing of this first patch, several small things that are not revolutionary, but nice additions.  I will eagerly await the changes to PI, the actuall Sansha content and I'm really looking forward to having my SP from learning skills reimbursed.

Fly safe all.

Nerfing the Drake?

There's been rumors lately about some incoming nerfs for the Drake battlecruiser, pride of the Caldari Navy and cherished favourite of newbies and missionrunners everywhere.
Personally, I don't fly the Drake to often, Evoran has one Drake in his hangar set up for the occasional combat site or mission, the one time a year he does that stuff.  Evv flies armor, armor all the way, he's trained for Gallente and Amarrian ships and shield tanks are'nt really their natural element.  I have trained some shield skills on him recently though, but mostly just for the buffertanked speed/shield extender ships, and mostly just for the shield extenders themselves.  There should be no need to state that Evv does not fly shield tanked ships very often.
I do have some experience flying a drake, and my impression is as follows, massive and impressive tank, not quite so impressive DPS and it handles like a beached whale.  The Drake is in short a massive brick, and quite an impressive looking brick at that.  I do understand the appeal it has to missionrunners as it seems to be a very AFK friendly ship with a big tank, it's also quite an impressive ship considering that it does not take to long to train for.

Recently though, word has come in from the lawless regions of null security space that the Drake has become a very popular addition to alliance fleets.  So popular in fact that CCP is looking at nerfing it.
There are different reasons for the nerf, but the biggest one at the moment seems to be lag, or rather the fact that a hundred Drakes all firing missiles at once starts to create quite a bit of lag.
The popularity of the Drake in null seems to be much the same as in high sec, big tank, easy to get into, cheap and very replaceable, and excellent counter to armor HAC's.  Seems the the change of the old doomsday had some "unforseen" effects on warfare allowing for bigger fleets of smaller craft, along with the changes to the scanning system making it very easy to get hits on BS sniper fleets, the BS fleets are all but extinct it seems.  Armor tanked HAC's with logi and CS support tore things apart in nullsec for quite some time and then people started countering it with Drakes.  Why Drakes one might ask?  they are  a good counter to the AHAC's, they have huge buffers making it easy for Logi pilots to keep up, they have great alpha strike damage in a fleet of them, the missiles have great range and an easier time of hitting AHAC's then BS turrets have and they're cheap.  You can probably loose about four Drakes for every Zealot isk wise and in a war of atrition that accounts for quite an advantage.  You can also commit more pilots to a fight since you can get fresher pilots willing to loose a BC in your fleets.

Now, I'm not a fan of nerfing ships, people have invested time, money and practice in flying these things (whatever ships is the current big thing).  I think it's a little "cheap" to take this away from them and it's not like the Drake trains are some invulnerable death machine that can't be stopped.  This is EVE, adapt or die.

There are several ways, I've heard, of countering these Drake fleets.  Snipe BS does a great job of stopping them, disciplined AHAC gangs, Zealots in particular also rips through them in a lot of cases.  The point is that they're not invulnerable, instead of nerfing I think we should just sit back and wait for the mastermind FC's to come up with an effective counter to the whole problem.  I would certainly not be happy if a ship I've trained for, bought and fitted got nerfed because something that happened in a particular theater of war.
Either way, all you Caldari mission runners, now's your time to shine in the lawless lands of 0.0.  You're beloved Drake is no longer scorned and primaried by friendly FC's, imortality awaits you, take it.

Fly safe.

Skill Training Completed : Exhumers V

I'd say finally, but it's more been a case of not bothering until recently, I have however "finally" completed Exhumers level 5.  I trained it straight to 4 when I first trained for the Hulk's and it's just been sitting there ever since, it was only after my last skill completion that I decided it was about time to max it out, even though I don't mine as much any more.
I usually trade for my minerals these days, buy cheap, sell high or keep for production.  I've been making some decent money since I got my freighter and started some inter regional mineral trades, there are some good deals to be had out there if you look for them.
Can't say I really feel the difference of those last 3%, but I have been hitting some belts lately, zoning out to the "zen" of the strip miners humming.  Either way, it's a skill I feel I should have as a proper industrialist/miner.

I've also spent some time on SiSi with Evv these last days, testing out some of the sansha stuff, or rather getting me behind handed to me by the Sansha stuff.
I've been flying solo so far so I've not gotten into the sites, I did however head off to an invaded system with the intent to check the belts for the new residents.
So, I fitted up a Sacrilege, figured I'd want tank over gank if I wanted to see anything, tanked it up as best i could and set a destination for Lermireve.  The new journal page is rather handy, it shows you the invaded systems, effects present in the system, the influence ratio and buttons for easy autopilot settings to systems or staging systems.
I arrived in Lerm, checked the gate for nasty pirates, even though there should'nt be any, I'm paranoid, and was immediately greeted with the effects thingy on the left saying your tank, damage, and bounty rate sucks now.
I was however not intimidated by some lowly rats and pointed my noble Sacrilege to the first belt i could see.  There were several beacons in the system, but I wasn't stupid enough to solo warp in on them.

I hit belt and I'm greeted by 2 non descript frigates, a named cruiser and a named battleship.  I lock them all up and fire a volley off at the first frigate, asuming they're the ones that will tackle me I want them dead first.
The Sansha was not impressed however and within a few seconds I was jammed out by the cruiser and neuted dry by the battleship.  I did get another missile volley off at the cruiser between jam cycles, but a few seconds after that my tank was hurting bad and I had to bail out.  The Sansha means bussiness I guess.

Incursions should be very interesting and certainly make high sec a little less safe, I've heard rumors of Sansha gatecamps, but I've no idea if they will scram you or otherwise force a fight.  I do know that I will not be taking my freighter through invaded systems without a heavy escort.
I sure will try to check out the sites on SiSi aswell, and maybe even attempt to kill one of the things this time.

Very pleased that CCP pulled the release of the expansion, opting to do it "right" rather then on time, all in all it's looking pretty good as far as I can see.

Fly safe.