Thursday 12 August 2010

Stealth Bomber Guide

Hallen Turrek has put together a great stealth bomber guide over at A Merry Life and a Short One that is well worth the read.

Monday 9 August 2010

All Ship Shape and Bristol Fashion

Well, that's me back from holiday and ready to go.  I have as yet not managed to get back into my ship but I know for a fact that lots has been happening whilst I have been away.  As Mangala has already commented, we (ACME) are on the move.  I do not know a huge amount yet but I have been reading my corp mails in Gate (which is handy when you cannot log into the game) and know that we are moving.  Whatever the fundamental reasons for all of this I have to say that I think most of the guys I fly with will be pleased with this; why?  Well ACME has grown a huge amount recently and with a total of 13 systems to hand we were pretty full it has to be said.  So whatever story you want to believe change is always inevitable and so I am just going to grasp it and move to whatever system we are pointed.  Change is always fun and keeps EVE alive and it is even better when you have no director roles etc to worry about.  So will keep you posted with what happens.  For now though you will have to wait as I will need to log on to find out what is happening myself.

Thursday 5 August 2010

Politics

On a quick note before I head off for yet more R&R, there are three great sites for raw data on politics and up to date soveriegnty data:
  1. EveMaps contains everything you need and is the central source for the following two.
  2. Verite is the mainstream politic map showing upto date sovereignty data and is mostly widely used
  3. Farlab provides great overall map of New Eden and who currently holds what and is a great alternative to Verite map.

One Grain of Sand Less

If it weren't for the fact that i am actually on holiday i would be logged in right now.  So even though I cannot climb into my ship I can at least send you a small post card whilst I am on relaxing on some small moon somewhere.

It is amazing now how much information you can get, even whilst you cannot climb into your ship.  I logged into Gate and read up on the latest posts which are rather significant from a corp / alliance point of view (more on that later when it is common knowledge).  A quick check of EveMaps and I have a rough update on the political situation that I am slowly getting to grips with (spent too long in hi/low sec and am trying to catch up fast).  A quick run through the latest from the EVE Blog Pack and I am pretty up to date with everything; a main pointer here is that Crazy Kinux is not on the list.  After that I log into EVE Metrics to look through my API and work out what to do with my training next (though my training list is already 470+ days anyway).

Well I will be back on in a few days time and it looks like I am going to be busy.  Signing off for now.

Fly Safe

KT

Thursday 29 July 2010

Tracking Onions

Right then, I have looked at just replacing two gyros with two tracking enhancers, whilst running Hail ammo for the Loki vs Wolf scenario.  the tracking graphs are below:


Loki 4x Gyros Hail Ammo


Loki 2x Gyros 2x Tracking Enhancers Hail Ammo

and the answer is ... use Titanium Sabot ammo for small fast things.  The drop in DPS due to T2 to T1 change is not gonna be an issue for flying tin cans.  So time to test this theory tonight and have some of these graphs handy.

More Onions

Right, I have run the same four scenarios that I ran in The Onion That Is Eve except for this time I have put the Loki up against  Rupture and a Maelstrom.  This is what I got:

Loki vs Rupture

425mm w Hail Ammo



425mm w Titanium Sabot Ammo



220mm w Hail Ammo


220mm w Titanium Sabot Ammo
Loki vs Maelstrom


425mm w Hail Ammo



425mm w Titanium Sabot Ammo



220mm w Hail Ammo



220mm w Titanium Sabot Ammo

The conclusion; well as long as I can set my range the Hail are worth it for the additional DPS, if range, speed (transversal) or signature is an issue then I only need to swap ammo and get my range sorted out.  The next check I need to do is on the benefit of a tracking enhancer against a gyro.  Its also worth noting, in this instance, that if I can fit 425mm autos rather than the smaller 220mm autos then do it, the only difference is range.

The Onion That Is EVE

Damn, just when you think you are getting somewhere it turns out that there is more to learn.  Onions vs Ogres strikes again! Just when I think I might a little closer to the core I find I am just at another layer; I'm disappointed child playing "pass the parcel" who finds another layer of paper under the one I have just ripped off.  Admittedly there is a little sweet in there to keep me going till it is my turn again.

Your starting to wonder what on earth am I talking about right.  Well I have finally got round to looking a little more into the Loki fitting I have and why it cannot shoot frigs for toffee.  So this morning I opened up my favourite program EVEHQ and started to do a little theory crafting.  What the issue is I am not sure but it is time to learn a little more about range vs tracking as I know the level of DPS is fine.

In order to start the test I made three copies of my current fitting, the original remained unchanged with 425mm autos, loaded with Hail.  The first copy had the ammo changed to Titanium Sabot, the second and third copies I changed the guns to 220mm autos and then Hail and Titanium Sabot respectively.  I then set up a scenario in the HQF Damage Analysis section as seen below.


This puts the Loki against a Wolf, the Wolf is doing a steady 400m/s and the Loki I have set to 200m/s.  The Wolf is moving perpendicular (at right angles) to the Loki, this builds in a level of transversal velocity, making the scenario a little more realistic.  I then swapped out the four Loki's and looked at the Range vs Hit Chance graph.  The results can be seen below:


425mm w Hail M Ammo


425mm w Titanium Sabot M Ammo


220mm w Hail M Ammo



220mm w Titanium Sabot M Ammo

For this comparison, the reality is plainly obvious; the guns are not the issue.  Note that there is other areas I intend to look at, but the case in question shows that against a Frigate sized vessel Hail is just not the ammo to use.

I intend to use this ship to run PLEX solo.  I therefore need a ship that can do all size vessels without changing fittings, so I need to run this analysis against cruiser and battleship sized vessels as well as with other weapon upgrade modules like tracking enhancers.  So watch this space for more checks.

Wednesday 28 July 2010

Thanny Taunting

A few of the guys my Corp (Sp4rtans) decided to taunt a Thanny.  The Thanny pilot managed to get himself a GCC timer and so opened himself up for a little fun.

Taking Her Out For A Spin



Well it has been ages since I got a nice new shiny ship for KT.  I always seem to be getting stuff for my alts with KT just doing the same old and raising ISK whilst others benefit.  But not today, thanks to a very good corp mate (for jumping back to Jita), I now have a Loki.

This is my first T3 ship, and rather than savouring the moment and putting the whole thing together slowly and appreciating the moment I acted like one of my kids at Christmas and shoved everything together with gusto without really paying to much attention to the subsystems building process, threw the modules in and then sat there in station and spun the thing round for a while.  I had not really meant to be online last night, but other stuff got cancelled and well, I acted like a giddy school kid as I played with my new toy.  It was only when after a quite couple of minutes on TS did someone laugh at me and ask if I was spinning my ship in station.  I blushed and had to admit that I was.

Back when I started I did wonder if I had picked the right race to be honest.  Minmatar does come under fire for its somewhat Airfix approach to ship design, however after using an alt that flies other races I discovered I was now pretty much attuned to the resilience of duct tape and speed which you can go.  There are some good looking ships in the whole Minmatar arsenal; the Rifter for example is a popular ship, and I am now going to add the Loki to that list too.


Well after getting a good look in station I joined a fleet and ran a few PLEX to see how she handled, check out the tank and also see what the DPS is like.  On paper this thing looked pretty good; the tank held easy, with only the use of the hardeners I could easily manage a full wave aggro in the hardest PLEX, DPS though is uncertain and I am going to have to play around with that for a while I think.  On the whole though a great ship.  I have used a Maelstrom for so long long doing basic PVE that I also have a big game play change to get used to as well so will keep you posted.

Tuesday 27 July 2010

0.0 Perceptions

Well I have just read Manasi's latest blog offering and can say without a doubt that is is true.  Having played and loitered around hi and low sec for a long time with the odd excursion into NPC 0.0 and a very rare dash to 0.0, sovereign claimed 0.0 is one of the most calm and peaceful areas you can be in.  Especially one that is on the rim of New Eden.  I have logged in to find +100 blues in a system, plenty of PLEX to do and lots of ISK to earn.  A CTA (call to arms or other ops) are fun, ok so you might lose a ship and even your implants but you would manage that if you got a war in hi sec.  So stop dithering and move out now.

Skilled First?

Heaven forbid I am actually sitting here skilled up to fly my Loki and the ship ain't in my hanger; now that is a first.  Ok, I am not completely level 5 maxed out yet (though surprising not far away), but I am ready to take my future ship out, so where is it?  I even have the ISK for run a faction / T2 mix until I can afford the real bad boy. I now have to sit patiently until a very good corp mate pops back to hi sec and picks up the parts (a huge thanks for that ... you know who you are), and then I have to wait till I can log on again, which other than the odd skill queue refresh is gonna be a couple of days away ... sigh.  I also have to thank said corp mate for going through my load outs last night and coming up with something a little more nasty, so today will be playing with that fitting to get real grips with what is consists of.

Anyway here is to great corp mates and a new ship fairly soon ...

Monday 26 July 2010

Boosters

I got an alliance email over the weekend with a brief summary of booster benefits which I have never looked at before.  So being the inquisitive type, I decided it was time to educate myself a little more on what they do and how to make them.

In summary boosters are an easy way of boosting a number of your combat related skills without the need for an implant.  Be warned though they do have drawbacks that might leave you in a worse position.  In order for you to use boosters there are a number of skills that are either essential or beneficial for you to train up.
  • Biology; allows you to use boosters, the higher the skill the higher the grade of booster you can use.  In addition to this, for each level you will increase the duration of the booster for 20%.
  • Nanite Control; reduces the effect of side effects by 5% per level.
  • Neurotoxin Recovery; reduces the chance of a side effect by 5%
  • Drug Manufacture; required to manufacture drugs, the higher the level the higher grade drug that can be manufactured.
A good forum guide for boosters can be found here.

The spreadsheet below provides you with the base data for boosters along with a sheet where you can enter your relevant skills and it will show you what the duration and side effects are for your pilot.


As a final entry here I have added a small flow chart that shows you the overall outline for manufacturing your drugs (can also be found in this Dev Blog).


Thursday 22 July 2010

Ship Wish List

Well with too much non-game time on my hand I have plenty of time to work out what I want to get out in 0.0.  Examining my current ships list, looking at what I am missing and the game play out here I have come up with a few ideas of what might be next, I have inlcuded two ships for an alt of mine along with a faction battleship for another toon I have access to.  I have not however included any caps for KT yet as I still need to work out exactly what I want from that yet.


Want:


Dramiel, just because.  Great for fleet fleets for fast tackle and some DPS with the bonus of having a drone bay in there.



Cynabal for fast cuiser with some attitude.  PVP all the way.





Loki.  For general PVE and PVP and just because I want to.




Tengu.  For the pure tank that this thing has.  A real PVE machine.




Rhea for my alt to get some proper hauling capability.  Why the Rhea?  Well simply because it does have the largest capacity of all the jf.



Rorqual, so i can finish of the industry streak that my alt has been stuck in since the day I started it.



Rattlesnake for another alt that can fly a mean Caldari ship and is getting some rather healthy drones skills.

Grounded!

There is nothing more frustrating than a grounded pilot. My online game time has been cut significantly due to unforeseen circumstances. To make the best of this I am now planning my next ships fittings and planning new skill queues (my current one is well over a year and that is just filling in gaps).

The worst thing however is the reduced income that comes with this. If I was still in high sec then any real gaming would be gone ... completely. The only thing that makes this worth still playing is the ISK you can make in a well established and upgraded part of 0.0. One of my fellow pilots recently was saying he had just made his first Billion in a day, which six months ago I would of thought completely impossible, yet dreamed of doing. So here I am with much less playing time but still have the potential to earn more than I ever could in hi sec.

Wednesday 21 July 2010

Nanite Repair Paste

For those of you that have been in the game a little while then paste (or Nanite Repair Paste) will not be new to you, and you may already be spending a fortune on this stuff.  There is some argument about its value vs just repairing in station, whatever your stance on this (and you can comment here or continue the argument out on the forums), however it exists out there, people use it and it is not cheap (EVE-Metrics quote).  Therefore it is definitely worth starting to produce this if you plan on using it in any sort of quantity.

Paste is used to repair modules that have become damaged either through overheating or because you are hull tanking and ran it a little too close to the bone.  To repair this you can get yourself to a station and get yourself repaired up or you can use paste to fix your modules (but only if they have not reach 100% damage, in which case they will need to be repaired in station).

In order to use paste you will need the science skill Thermodynamics (requires Engineering V, Science IV and Energy management III).  This will allow you to use paste with each level reduces the amount of heat damage you receive by 5% per level.  I wont go into overheating in too much detail as there are some great write ups on this already.  In addition to this there are two additional skills that will improve the effectiveness of your paste: Nanite Interfacing (requires Mechanic V and Nanite Operation 3) and Nanite Operation (requires Mechanic V).  Operation reduces the amount of paste you use per level and Interfacing increases the repair amount per level.  These are very worthwhile skills if you are planning on using paste.

Anyhow that is the basics on using paste and skill requirements.  To make paste you will need to get yourself involved in Planetary Interaction which came out with the latest expansion Tyrannis.  There are some great PI guides out there; EVE Online Forum Sticky ... forum post gives a great source for everything PI.  The only thing I found I needed (and you will find this below) was an operational map that said where I should extract what and then where those items needed to be moved to for production.  I still need to optimise the balance of extractors and processors per planet to make sure I can maximise output etc., however the planet orientated map below gives a good production base for paste.

Monday 19 July 2010

Loki Fittings

Well, as many of you know strategic cruisers bring a whole new meaning to fitting; with five sub systems categories and four version in each category you can create a very large number of potential ship base configurations and that is before you have even added fittings.

As I noted before I am looking at obtaining a Loki as I am already skilled for that.  After grabbing a few other fittings from people I have attached my various changes and other make ups.  With officer fittings you get some amazing setups but this will come with time.  I have also put in the Tengu fit I put in previously as an example and to give an idea of where that tank is going and how comparable the Loki versions are.  Your comments for these fits would be appreciated.

Strategic Cruiser Comparison Tables

Friday 16 July 2010

Loki vs Tengu

Well,

I can fly a Loki, but seems like the best PVE PLEX ship is going to be the Tengu, so the plan is to buy a Loki now that I can use for exploration and rating and other complexes whilst I train up for a Tengu.  By the time I have Caldari Cruiser V and the missile skills I willl hopefully have the funds so I can then fit out a Tengu for running PLEX.

Here is a target Tengu fit, note that this is for PVE not PVP and is set up to run Guristas PLEX:

[Tengu, Guristas Plexing 002]
Tengu Defensive - Adaptive Shielding
Tengu Electronics - Emergent Locus Analyzer
Tengu Engineering - Capacitor Regeneration Matrix
Tengu Offensive - Accelerated Ejection Bay
Tengu Propulsion - Fuel Catalyst

5x Heavy Missile Launcher II (Scourge Heavy Missile)
Sisters Core Probe Launcher

Gistum A-Type 10MN Afterburner
Gist X-Type Large Shield Booster
Pith A-Type Shield Boost Amplifier
Dread Guristas Invulnerability Field
Pith A-Type Ballistic Deflection Field
Pith A-Type Photon Scattering Field

'Radical' Damage Control I
3x Dread Guristas Ballistic Control System

2x Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I

The Loki fit here is for solo exploration, so has some tank and DPS but all necessary kit for hacking etc.:

[Loki, Cov Ops]
Loki Defensive - Adaptive Shielding
Loki Electronics - Emergent Locus Analyzer
Loki Engineering - Capacitor Regeneration Matrix
Loki Offensive - Covert Reconfiguration
Loki Propulsion - Interdiction Nullifier

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
3x 425mm AutoCannon II (Barrage M)
Salvager II
Sisters Expanded Probe Launcher (Sisters Core Scanner Probe)

10MN Afterburner II
Codebreaker II
Analyzer II
Pith A-Type Explosion Dampening Field
Pith A-Type Ballistic Deflection Field
Gist X-Type Large Shield Booster

3x Domination Gyrostabilizer

2x Medium Projectile Ambit Extension II
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer II

Also have a PVE Loki here:

[Loki, PVE 003]
Loki Defensive - Amplification Node
Loki Electronics - Tactical Targeting Network
Loki Engineering - Augmented Capacitor Reservoir
Loki Offensive - Projectile Scoping Array
Loki Propulsion - Fuel Catalyst

6x 425mm AutoCannon II

Corelum A-Type 10MN Afterburner
Pithum A-Type Medium Shield Booster
Pith A-Type Ballistic Deflection Field
2x Dread Guristas Invulnerability Field

3x Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Tracking Enhancer
Damage Control II

2x Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I

War ... Again!

Why is it that when I join a corp I get war dec'd.  Well not that I have joined too many corps (2 to be precise) but anyway there you have it; 100% rating so far.

Small corp has dec'd alliance so will see what that brings.  I have no real plans to be down in hi sec atm so unless they are planning on coming out to Branch is gonna be quiet.

Moved!

Well, after 15 months of playing and being in the same corporation (NERF) I have moved.  I have join a few of my old corp mates out in Branch (Sp4rtans) and am now part of the NC (for my sins).  So new times ahead and different challenges but am looking forward to it.

I had been thinking about how a new corp / alliance actually moves out into 0.0 successfully and I had been coming to the conclusion that it can but only with difficulty and that is even more apparent now that I am out here.  This is further backed up in the latest CSM minutes where they talk about the difficulties of getting new alliances out into 0.0.

Anyway, running various ops out here now and enjoying it though at the same time my online time has been cut back significantly so in some ways I think I will be making the same amount of isk I did before.  Anyway lets see what happens; can use the extra time not playing to work on some Loki and Tengu fits.

Thursday 24 June 2010

DIY Charon

Well she's made and sitting in an alts hanger ready to be assembled and flown.  Funny how I always manage to get the ship before I can fly it.  Anyway at least there is no fittings to worry about here.

Freighter seem to fall in to an odd bracket; they are officially not capital ships, yet due to their size you need capital construction to build this ship, along with capital parts, which in turn needs a fair amount of minerals.  However time and effort can see you make one of these for considerably less than market value .. especially if you have access to capital BPC.  Anyway will climb into this beast short and take her for a wallow (could never spin in this thing).

Downtime Again

Crumbs, its been ages since I posted on here ... will try and catch up on things as life is never quiet; well not until CCP decide to move to a newer server room; this is the longest downtime I have ever know in over a year of playing.

So, I have now been flying this capsule of mine around for over a year, and feel pretty comfortable with most aspects of Hi and Low Sec space.  I have yet to really get to grips with Null Sec, sure I flown around a bit, done an Agony Basic course and a few corp roams but as far as I am concerned that does not really cut it.  But will get into that in a little more detail later.

Our new alliance is now over six months too, and it is easy to see why there are only a handful of larger, successful alliances and a lot of smaller ones with burned out leadership.  Being a director changes your attitude towards EVE a lot, and I have to say, I am not sure if that is for the better or not.  The collapse of  BOB and Goonswarm is telling and not a surprise.  It is not all bad however, we have a great group of capsuleers and momentum is building .. watch this space.

Well I would certainly not class myself as rookie anymore, skills allow me to comfortably run all missions, though would always run a logistics alt for level 5s, and this year should see me close out the final set of basic skill training ready for a longer term future, so learning skills max'ed, elite core etc.

We have been pretty much war free now since the last one I talked about and people have settled into their normal routine of missioning and mining, but I have to say that now I have settled down and am looking at some of those rank 14 skills I feel a little more of a pull towards 0.0.  I am happy with most game mechanics and am needing something new and a little less mundane, but always needs to be done as a balance with other stuff, the main thing being isk.  Establishing a steady income is a steady task right now and one that I need to be able to achieve without playing 24/7; see what happens.  Anyway, this gets me up to date, though I will endeavour to throw more regular write ups in even if they are shorter.

Wednesday 17 March 2010

War is over ...

I would love to report that the whole war ended with a huge fight and my ship collection in a matchbox but actually it ended up with them ending the war and the last evening was us camping them at a station and them sending out so much smack talk in local that another PvP corp asked them to try dec'ing them.  Overall probably the worst war we ever had. Oh well, see what happens next, the next war is never to far away.

Tuesday 16 March 2010

Workarounds

Well,

I have already discussed a little bit about game mechanics so far with release of the Goonswarm (RIP) guide for ultra deep safes.  I have also played around the the Grid Fu guide, also release by Goonswarm, but I have more recently found some other more annoying / intelligent actions that use the game mechanics in a way that is not entirely as planned.  I have listed a few below and would be interested to know what other ones people use or loath in the game:

CONCORD Pre-Load
Ok, this is the art or act of pre-loading CONCORD into an area; and driod field for example, so hat they can provide you with a greater level of protection.  Achieved by ganking yourself with a noob ship in an asteroid field so that CONCORD relieve your noob of his ship then hang around for a couple of hours.  Provides you with CONCORD on your door step whilst you mine.

Insurance Farming
Quick way of turning all those low value T1 modules and ore that you get into isk.  Reprocess everything, build a BS, insure it and then self-destruct it.  Will see what happens with this with the changes that are appearing on Singularity right now.

Will add to this list as I find more; I have not gone through the whole list of war / combat issues such as station hugging, lofoffski, etc.

Friday 12 March 2010

War ... again

Well we are at war again.  We got dec'd again about a week ago and though we are no PVP corp we do have a few thirsty souls who enjoy a good roam and fight.  This will be the sixth war I think I have been part of and to date they have never amounted to much; a few roams in the evenings with the odd stand off and fight, but on the whole everyone seems to skirt around each other trying to get some sort of advantage (usually in numbers) at which point the smaller party goes and waits it out in a station.

There are great stories and reports about all the wars that go on in null sec, about the politics and espionage but truly, I wonder how much of this goes on in the rest of space with all the smaller corps warring it out.

We had an instance last night where the war was getting close to ending , various people had talked and agreements had been made but with no agreements on ceasefires or anything else; just left it run it's course and good bye.  Anyway a few of the more excitable members of the alliance had already arranged to wander around and see what happen would happen and to their surprise found a small group of WT nearby all prep'ed and ready in the same way we were.  I would like to point out that the corp that had dec'd us is a PVP corp and aspires to be another Agony Unleashed.  Anyway this small group decides to agress and losses an Onyx in the process.  Polite convo ensues in local and people warp off to lick wounds and prep for the next encounters when the CEO comes online into our public convo complaining bitterly and threatening to continue war, destroy alliance etc.  Now he can do what he wants and that is fine, I have no quarrel at all with that but I do have some questions that I am sure will never be answered; who takes a fully fitted hictor out in hi sec during a war if they are not planning on using or losing it?  Why get upset with a corp doing its best to fight in a war till the end?  We has not exactly come out fighting from the start but certainly had lost a number of ships through the week, so why the bitter response?

All in all I am disappointed again (read last posting ... must be an age thing creeping up on me).  I have been on an Agony course and loved it.  There  is a certain no holds barred, raw feeling to the courses and to take it as it comes.  The thought of a war with something similar or aspiring to that was a little invigorating ... even if we were turned into pulp and handed out wrecks back in a matchbox, we at least would learn something but this has been disappointing.  One thing I did notice as I started to gather the intel prior to the war commencing was some strange behaviour in their killboard and there has been a little more since.  I will talk a little about this in my next post as it is not really anything to do with this war but is more related to the tricks of the trade that people employ in the game to help them along.  Anyway, will see what the next load of diplomacy brings, fly safe.

First Glimpse of Tyrannis

Well if you log into Singularity (Sisi) then you can see the first tasters of what the next release of EVE has in store for you; planetary interaction (dev blog).

Before I go any further I will digress slightly here and talk a little about CCP's last significant release; Dominion.  One of the intents of Dominion was to get more people out in to null sec by making things a little more interesting, which it possibly has done for the large alliances that already had a hold out there.  The reality was though that it was never (ever) going to get new takers due to cost, and capability requires (e.g. freighters in low sec for deploying infrastructure hubs, etc) and the last CSM minutes have confirmed this.  In fact as part of a fairly new alliance that would love to get sovereignty independently (without renting), dominion made it somewhat harder.  The best evidence available to back this up is the recent demise of Goonswarm; if Dominion has made null sec more open then we would of seen a great swathe of new alliances popping up all over the place and we haven't.

So anyway back to Tyrannis and planetary interaction.  The next step sees us now able to install a command module on a planet, build up a network of excavation / harvesting types modules along with processing plants to make nanite paste at present (though I have yet to find anything else but Nitrogen and Aluminium).  For more info on this there is a great EVE university vid up on you tube you can watch (click here to watch).  The set up in general is very simple and requires no additional skills, the planetary command centre is tiny (don't know about cost yet as everything on sisi costs 100isk) but is still no going to meet needs of the budding alliance looking for their own little 0.0 space.  The forum linked to this update (click here) is already alight with calls for skill requirements etc that are all about people protecting their own space rather than opening the game up and I am concerned that yet again there is little opportunity for us players that have been flying internet spaceships for around a year to really develop ourselves.  I would love some of you to correct me in this if I am wrong.

For me though new develops are always good this is definitely a drive towards the implementation of DUST514, and for those alliances that hold good space already this is another income source to bolster yet further their individual spaces.  At first I was rather excited by what I saw but the more I reflect on it I cannot at present see what most of us are going to get out of it.  Maybe that is just Mr Grumpy talking but we will see.

Monday 22 February 2010

Ultra Deep Safes

Well another report has been made available by Goonswarm (RIP) that outlines what you need to do to creating ultra deep safes .  You can get a copy of it from here ... Poseidon Manual.


I have played around with this and looked into how effective it is at making deep safes and now have a couple in different systems that are around 660 AU to the nearest celestial body in the system.  I put together the following notes on creating these safe spots:


  • When you log back in after the Control Q you can make a bookmark as soon as possible. Waiting till your speed has reduced to less than 10km/s (you are still in warp) will only give you a distance of 100k km. Which is not huge when you are looking at getting at least 7AU with each step.
  • A cov ops (I used my cheetah with an aux power core, 400mm steel and 50mm steel plates) will get you 45-55AU roughly with each step.
  • To get the most out of each step you should try and ensure your run up prior to quitting is as long as possible that way there is adequate distance to each top warp speed and be able to quite at a good time (just before you decelerate).
  • Some battle reports talk of deep safes of up to 600AU and I now have a couple at this range though it will take you a couple of hours to make one.

A basic step by step process is as follows:



  • Find two safe locations that are on either side of the system that give you the longest possible warp distance possible. Would suggest you use safes that are not directly on planets or moon warps. Your going to need the map open and on system display to help you here and as long as you are at a safe you should be able to keep this open.
  • Declutter the window and make sure you can see you movement across the map.
  • Warp to the location on the other side of the system.
  • Hover your mouse over your speed and when you have reached your maximum speed (in smaller systems you may not reach max warp speed), prior to decelerating press control Q. Note that if you do this too late you will create a BM that is very close to the one you warped to so do not leave it too late. Also if you do too early you will end up near the point you were warping to anyway.
  • The client will have quite so you will need to start it up again an log in as soon as possible. If you take too long you will back at your original location before you get a chance to make the bookmark. So restart EVE, login and BM asap.
  • Once you have logged in create a bookmark as soon as possible. If you are looking at the map you will see that you have now bookmarked a location that is way beyond the point you were warping to.
  • You will now have to wait as your ships finishes this warp away. Your ship will then warp back to the point at which you quite and will then warp to the point you originally warped to.
  • Go back to your original warp from location and warp to your new deep safe and repeat the process as many times as you can cope with before dying of boredom. Remember that combat probes have a radius 128AU and deep space probes have a range of 256AU. It may take you a few steps to start to get a good distance each step (especially if you are in a small system. However once the steps are good you should be able to go from your end point to the new point and create the next step each time.

Tuesday 2 February 2010

EVE Online Nomenclature

Well there are so many abbreviations that I thought I might try an attempt to get as many in one place as possible.  Here goes (if there are any missing then please comment and I will add them).


Ship Type
AF/AS: Assault Ship
BC: BattleCruiser

BS: Battleship
Covops: Covert Ops Frigate
CS/CBS: Command Ship/Battle Cruiser
DN/Dread: Dreadnought
HAC/HAS: Heavy Assault Ship
HIC/Hictor: Heavy Interdictor

Indy: Industrial
Inty/Ceptor: Interceptor
SC: Supercarrier

SB/Bomber: Stealth Bomber


Ship Name
Aba/Abad: Abaddon (BS)
Apoc: Apocalypse (BS)
Arbi: Arbitrator (cruiser)
Arma/Geddon: Armageddon (BS)
BB: Blackbird (cruiser)
Beagle: Eagle (HAC when fitted with blasters)
Bessie/Stower: Bestower (industrial)
Blasterthron: Blaster equiped mega
Cane: Hurricane (BC)
Cerb: Cerberus (HAC)
Cursus: Incursus (frig)
Cyc: Cyclone (cruiser)
Dom/Domi: Dominix (BS)
Harbi: Harbinger (BC)
Itty #: Iteron Mark # (industrial)
Lach: Lachesis (recon cruiser)
Jag: Jaguar (AF)
Kessie: Kestrel (frig)
Mach: Machariel (Faction BS)

Mack: Mackinaw (exhumer)
Mal/Male/Diction: Malediction (inty)
Manti: Manticore (bomber)
Meal: Mealstrom (BS)
Mega/Thron: Megathron (BS)
Moonin: Munin (HIC)
Myrm: Myrmidon (BC)
NH: Nighthawk (CS)
Phoon: Typhoon (BS)
Pilg: Pilgrim (recon cruiser)
Prohp: Prohpecy (BC)
Pun: Punnisher (frig)
Ranis: Taranis (inty)
Rax: Thorax (cruiser)
Ret/Retri: Retribution (AF)
Ret: Retriever (mining barge)
Rox: Ferox
Ruppy: Rupture (cruiser)

Sac: Sacrilege (HAC)
Sader: Crusader (inty)
Scorp: Scorpion (BS)

Sleip: Sleipnir (CS)
Temp/Pest/Test: Tempest (BS)
Vaga: Vabagond (HAC)
Varg: Vargur (Marauder)

Vindi: Vindicator (Faction BS)


Combat, Warfare and Locations
0.0: lawless/null space (outside of empire and lowsec)
Aggro: Attract aggreviation (damage) from all NPCs or opponents.
Bleeder: A pvp setup designed to outlast your enemy
Blob: Large fleet of ships
Bubble: Interdictor Warp Disrupt Probe or Mobile Warp Disruptor.
Camp: A gatecamp.
FC: Fleet commander
Gank: The amount of damage a ship is set up to do. Can also refer to getting "ganked", or killed.
Lvl4: Level 4 missioin tested
Mission Ops: Mission running, see PVE/NPC/Ratting (lots of similarities)
NPC: Non-Player Character (see PVE)

P
odded: Losing pod. Usually to be avoided at all costs.



Popped: Ship is destroyed.


PVE: Player vs Environment


PVP: Player vs Player
Rat: Pirate NPCs
Ratting: see PVE/NPC
Solo: solo PVP, usually self sufficient with ability to tank, gank, and tackle

Spawn: a group of NPCs, or the act of a group of NPCs appearing
Speed tank/Kiting: The ability to avoid damage through speed.

Tackle/Tackler: To Warp Scramble/Disrupt/Web a target.  Often used to describe ship setup.
Tank: The amount of damage a ship is set up to absorb.  Also refers to character who will take all damage.



Core Fittings
CPR: Capacitor Power Relay
CPU: Co-Processor
MAPC: Micro Auxiliary Power Core
PDU: Power Diagnostic System
RCU: Reactor Control Unit



Weapons
AC: Autocannon

Arti: Artillery
BCU: Ballistic Control System
DD: Doomsday
DLB: Dual Light Beam Lasers
DLP: Dual Light Pulse Lasers

GS: Gyrostabilier
Howi: Howitzer

HS: HeatsinkMag Stab/MFS: Magnetic Field Stabilizer (also MFS)
MPL: Medium Pulse LaserSB/Smarty: Smartbomb


Electronic Warfare
Damp: Remote Sensor Dampener
Distruptor/TD: Tracking Disruptor
Neut: Energy Neutralizer
Nos: Nosferatu

Point:  Warp Distruptor
SB: Sensor Booster

Scram/Jammer: Warp Scrambler
TP/Painter: Target Painter
Web: Stasis Webifier


Propulsion
AB: Afterburner

Istab: Inertia Stabilizers
MWD: Microwarp Drive
Nano: Nanofiber Internal Structure

OD: Overdrive Injector System
WCS/Stabs: Warp Core Stabilizer


Rigs
CCC: Capacitor Control Circuit
Poly: Polycarbon Engine Housing



Armour
50-1600mm: (mm) Reinforced Plates (differing materials)

ARU: Armor Repair Unit
EANM: Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane
Hardener: Armour or Shield hardener, both active and passive
SAR/MAR/LAR: [Size] Armor Repairer


Shields
Extender: [Size] Shield Extender

Hardener: Shield or Armour hardener, both active and passive
SB: Shield Booster
SPR: Shield Power Relays


Factions
DB: Dark Blood
DG/Dread: Dread Guristas
Dom: Angel Cartel (Domination)
Gal: Gallente

Gist: Angel Cartel
Min:  Minmatar
SS: Shadow Serpentis
TS: True Sansha

Item Quality
Faction: A rare faction named version of T1 items

Named: Usually best named variant of Tech 1 item
Officer: The rarest and most expensive mods, dropped by very rare officer rats.
Plex/Complex/Deadspace: An even rarer subfaction type of item, dropped by rats inside complexes.
T1: Tech 1
T2: Tech 2

T3: Tech 3



Location
Plex: Complex or deadspace location in space where NPCs are located.



Forum / Conversations
Bbl: Be back later

Lol: Laugh out loud
OP: Original Poster
Pwned: Owned

QFT: Quoted for truth


Communications
Vent: Ventrilo voice communication software
TS: TeamSpeak voice communication software
Eve Voice: In game comms software

Minerals
Trit: Tritanium
Pyer: Pyrerite
Mex: Mexallon
Iso: Isogen
Nox: Nocxium
Zyd: Zydrine
Mega: Megacyte
Morph: Morphite


Other Items

BM: Bookmark
Cyno: Cynosural Field, generated by ships to be used by some Capital ships for jumping
Deepsafe: A safespot which is very hard to scan out, due to being more than 5AU from all objects
Instaundock: A SS that allows for near instant warp after undocking.

KOS: Kill on Sight
Logoffski: Logging off to avoid being killed.
NBSI: Not Blue Shoot It

NRDS: Not Red Don't Shoot
OP: Outpost

Plex: Pilots extension license providing 30 days of game play.
POS: Player Owned Structure
SS/Safe: Safespot (spot in space that's not directly in line with any 2 objects)