The stuff of nightmares

Without a doubt the stuff of nightmares: A lesser strain mother, the largest rogue drone I have seen thus far. The battleship-sized defenders seemed so tiny next to her. She must have been the size of a carrier! And she really wasn’t happy we ravaged her hive.

An hour or two before the mother’s demise Heyna and I set off to sweep through a neighboring region in search of signatures. Having wasted quite a bit of time on an elusive signature that turned out to be a wormhole we stumbled upon a drone hive that the DED database rated as a 5/10. Realizing we would condemn our crews to an early grave we called for help and got ourselves some proper reinforcements in the form of Whittenoom, Rathnon and Plumb. Now the odds were properly leveled.

The situation seemed an easy one but from experience I knew it would not stay like this. The first and second pocket were quickly dealt with and nothing went to waste as we loaded our holds full of alloys and salvage. But then the swarms became larger and stronger. As we went on we were joined by Inara, Mortis, Vincent, and an associate of Celia. Rejoicing over the valuable spoils we eventually reached the core of the complex. The structure present here was the size of a large station and had more than one of us gasp in awe. And in the far end one angry mother stared back at us as she commanded her defenders to deal with us.



Being down two drones I had lost in the previous pockets I did my best to not get caught while steering them at the broadcasted targets. Zooming in on the hive mother I could have sworn my camera drones quivered just a moment at the sight of her. She was stationary, grown intertwined with the structure and the tentacle-like arms pulled at Inara’s ship in an attempt to slow her down. A futile attempt however as our focused fire slowly overcame her ability to regenerate.

Now to make the bill of exactly how much worth in minerals that yielded. I know just the buyer for them already.

[OOC] EVE blog banter #9: Because of Falcon

Welcome to the ninth installment of the EVE Blog Banter and its first contest, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

Last month Ga'len asked us which game mechanic we would most like to see added to EVE. This month Keith "WebMandrill" Nielson proposes to reverse the question and ask what may be a controversial question: "Which game mechanic would you most like to see removed completely from EVE and why? I can see this getting quite heated so lets keep it civil eh?"

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The game mechanic I would like to see removed from the game is ECM and ECCM in their current form. In this post I will explain to you why I’d like to see them removed and I even have a proposal for what to replace them with.

First off ECM is the only racial e-war type that has dedicated counter modules. I exclude rigs here on purpose since I feel rigging against a racial e-war type is silly as they are permanent and don’t come cheap. There are – and correct me if I am wrong here – no modules that counter target painting, one module that enhances weapon tracking (versus tracking disruption, so could be considered the only exception), yet sensor boosters form a true counter again dampeners AND weapon range disruption (twice range versus range, once signature versus signature). I have sadly not had the time to hop on SiSi or even search the forums for test results on the effectiveness of all counters but I assume that just like ECCM does not nullify the effect of ECM that a tracking enhancer does not nullify the effect of tracking disruption entirely and so forth, especially when skills come in to play. With all this in mind how is racial e-war balanced? Target painting you can’t do squat about, and range disruption / dampening and signature dampening are ALL countered by the same module providing you have both scripts on hand. And sensor boosters also give you an advantage of having more range and faster locking time against any other target.

But this post was not about the imbalance in racial e-war in general, but specifically about ECM. So why pick on ECM when there is a general imbalance? Because if an ECM cycle hits you can’t fight back. Ignoring the e-war that has a counter this leaves us with just target painting, but with this applied you can still win a fight if you brought superior damage. If I jam your ship that could kill me in three hits, and you get one lucky hit off before you die, you’re screwed. Considering that the bigger ECM ships can hold multiple targets jammed bringing friends don’t help you either.

Now you must think, why haven’t I mentioned drones yet? Simple, not all ships have a drone bay. Granted, Caldari ships suffer from this the most but they also have the most powerful e-war type. But to use an example that springs to mind the Zealot has no drone bay either. So keeping some ECM drones handy for an escape is no option here. And notice how I say ECM drones and not the other types of e-war drones. But that also is a separate discussion overlapping a lot of the racial e-war imbalance.

My personal ship focus lies with force recons and here is what I draw my inspiration from when it comes to an ECM redesign. We all know and fear the falcon even after the recent ECM changes. Solo play in one is still tricky business and in fleets they still turn the tide quicker than any other recon can. A solo setup will typically have a reliable tank and is certainly helped in damage dealing by its new drone bay. But a falcon in fleets will just stack up those ECM jammers (as ECM doesn’t stack, the chance is calculated individually per module) and happily jam from a fair range. Add to that a falcon can now pack ECM drones for even more ECM goodness which is arguably a buff.

So what do I propose then? Let’s review our racial e-war types again: Target painting is an offensive form of e-war. For defensive e-war we have disruptors that work against turrets, and dampeners that cover turrets and launchers just as ECM does. Maybe a little light bulb just popped up over your head just now, but if it hasn’t, there is a no dedicated counter for missiles. And that is what I would like to see ECM changed to. It could be done in different ways, and even work with scripts. Jamming after all doesn’t only mean electronic systems getting disrupted, but also a change getting stuck in the loading mechanism or barrel. Or it could mean the missile itself gets jammed. A bit alike to defender missiles but instead of blowing it up you send a burst to the electronics of the charge so it loses its pre-programmed course.

This does of course not balance e-war entirely. And the whole balancing goes way over my head as so many factors play a role in it. I am sure the observant reader can find a flaw or two in what I have written thus far. To really balance it evenly you need to review the whole thing from the ground up with a lot of statistics at hand. Which is what the people at CCP ultimately have the best resources for. However this could be a first step in the right direction. It removes a “godmode” mechanic and replaces it by something on par with the Amarr equivalent leaving just Gallente and Minmatar e-war to be sorted out.

List of Participants:

1. Diary of a Space Jockey, Blog Banter: BE GONE!
2. EVE Newb, (EVE) Remove You
3. Miner With Fangs, Blog Banter - It's the Scotch
4. The Eden Explorer, Blog Banter: The Map! The Map!
5. The Wandering Druid of Tranquility, "Beacons, beacons, beacons, beacons, beacons, mushroom, MUSHROOM!!!"
6. Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah, Kill the Rats
7. Mercspector @ EVE, Scotty
8. EVE's Weekend Warrior, EVE Blog Banter #9
9. A Merry Life and a Short One, Eve Blog Banter #9: Why Won't You Die?
10. Into the unknown with gun and camera, Blog Banter – The Hokey Cokey
11. The Flightless Geek, EVE Blog Banter #9: Remove a Game Mechanic
12. Sweet Little Bad Girl, Blog Banter 9: Who is Nibbling at My House?
13. One Man and His Spaceship, Blog Banter 9: What could you do without?
14. Life in Low Sec, EVE Blog Banter #9: Stop Tarnishing My Halo
15. Cle Demaari: Citizen, Blog Banter #9: Training for all my men!
16. A Mule in EVE, He who giveth, also taketh away?
17. Dense Veldspar, Blog Banter 9
18. Morphisat’s Blog, Blog Banter #9 – Randomness Be Gone !
19. Facepalm's Blog, EVE Blog Banter #9: What a new pilot could do without
20. Memoires of New Eden, You're Fired
21. Kyle Langdon's Journeys in EVE, EVE Blog Banter #9 Titans? What's a Titan?
22. Achernar, The gates! The gates are down!
23. Speed Fairy, EVE Blog Banter #9: Down with Downtime!
24. I am Keith Neilson, EVE Blog Banter #9-F**K Da Police
25. Ripe Lacunae, The UI… Where do I begin… (Eve Blog Banter #9)
26. Clown Punchers, EvE Blogs: What game mechanic would you get rid of?
27. Estel Arador Corp Services, You've got mail
28. Epic Slant, Let Mom and Pop Play: EVE Blog Banter #9
29. Deaf Plasma's EVE Musings, Blog Banter #9 - Removal of Anchoring Delay of POS modules
30. Podded Once Again, Blog Banter #9 - Do we really need to go AFK?
31. Postcards from EVE, 2009.07.02.00.29.06
32. Harbinger Zero, Blog Banter #9 – War Declarations & Sec Status
33. Warp Scrammed, Blog Banter 9 – Never Too Fast
34. Ecaf Ersa (EVE Mag), Can a Tractor Tractor a Can?
35. Thoughts from an Accidental Minmatar Revolutionary, EVE Blog Banter #9 - Aggression timers, WTs and Stargates
36. Mike Azariah, I don't put much stock in it...
37. Rettic's Log, Blog Banter: Overview Overload
38. A Sebiestor Scholar, [OOC] EVE Blog Banter #9: Slaves
39. Diary of a pod pilot, [OOC] EVE blog banter #9: Because of Falcon
40. Roc's Ramblings, Blog Banter #9 – Taking Things Slow
41. The Gaming-Griefer, EVE Sucks, But I Love It: The Memoir of a Masochist
42. Letrange's EVE Blog, Blog Banter #9: Bye Bye Learning Skills
43. Lyietfinvar, Remove that monopoly
44. Sceadugenga, Blog Banter #9
45. Industrialist with Teeth, EVE Blog Banter #9

Video log: Change of command

The petite Achur is seated in a large and luxurious black leather chair at her desk, a massive crystal plate supported by glossy white side-panels. On the front panel of the desk a large back-lit version of the corporate logo and name are attached. The rest of the room echoes the same sleek black and white glossy design complemented with metallic chrome accents. The light in the room is dimmed giving the cold interior a warmer appearance. A reinforced glass window reaches from the floor up to the ceiling and spans the entire back wall offering a spectacular view of the station’s exterior and surrounding space. As the camera drone zooms in Myrhial sits up and leans on the desk, folding her hands.

No sooner has Aria left us or more changes take place. Yishal stepped down as director of Tactical Command as of this week. A shame, her dedication to her job has brought a lot of good to Ghost Festival. But she is now given the time to focus on her academical pursuits and I have full confidence in Vaden being a worthy follow-up. Being assisted in this task by Mortis I really have a dream team to work with.

It will be nice to have more frequent and planned operations again, both those we are familiar with as well as new strategies. It would be a waste not to use the access we have to the low security systems of many adjacent regions to its full potential. I know I'm feeling eager to roam again. And it will be good for the other Ghosts as well.

Myrhial pauses, sits back and looks thoughtful before continuing on.

I've concluded that extended station-side life has a negative effect on Capsuleers. I do wonder as to why. Are we losing our humanity, or clinging to it too much in fear of becoming emotionless weapons? Is it the wealth and the isolated lifestyle creating a culture of its own? Are we trying to escape our duties and responsibilities, or do we deal with so much we're slowly going insane? And most importantly is this a question that will be answered in time? Who knows ... One thing is certain though, whatever it is, it stands in the way of fully spreading our wings. I may sound like a broken record but moderation, in everything, is the key to success.

The lights in the room slowly begin to fade out and Myrhial nods politely to the camera, before turning her chair to admire the magnificence of the Goinard starscape while lost in thought. The camera drone pans up and zooms in on the stars while the visual fades to black. The PRETA logo and corporation name briefly appear in view before the video feed ends.

Capsuleers and their ships

It is a shame that many capsuleers only ever board their ships through the pod. Recently I've visited two of the Ghosts on board of their homes as well as taken up a semi-nomadic lifestyle, which brought me some new insights.

The first visit was to Inara who lives on board of her carrier Echidna's Daughter. As the stargates were malfunctioning for several days back then and boredom was running rampart she had made me the offer of paying a visit which I was all too glad to take her up on. And what a stunning piece of Caldari design the Chimera is. I had seen carriers before in space through the eyes of my camera drones and knew how big they were, but it was a truly humbling experience to see one docked and board it. While the tour has yet to be finished as I was called back to my office abruptly I did get to take a look at the fighter bay. No crew were active at the time but perhaps on a next visit I can witness one in action.

Then yesterday I went to visit Mortis on board of the Eternity's Shroud, a Navy Megathron he had obtained in a profitable deal with Izo Azlion of Veto. Not quite as large a vessel as a carrier but an impressive sight none the less. The interior was just as beautiful as the exterior, very sleek bordering on organic due to the shaping and hues of green. I was led through the corridors by a crew member and met Mortis at the heart of the ship in his living quarters, which were just how I'd have expected them to be. While the furnishing didn't appear to have changed the background music gave it a distinct Amarrian touch. Being offered a glass of a certain Jin-Mei vintage I was shown the room Mortis claimed to spend far too much time in, called the screen room. A rather obvious name for a room with tons of screens mounted on the wall all displaying different data feeds. He explained me a little about his research and mentioned he had a lab as well and after showing me some examples of how this particular room worked we went to the observation deck. While being educated on the various features of the ship that were visible from up there and continuing our conversation a combat call cut the visit short and I hurried back out to let him get linked in. Sadly that would be the last time the battleship would undock as she was lost in combat. I wonder what ship will become Mortis' next home.

Myself I have been living on and off in my quarters on board of the Mercutio Redux. The Arbitrator class is set up as an exploration vessel which I have been using to comb through various ruins and communication facilities in search for valuables. I've been feeling a great deal of nostalgia while doing this, reminded of how I once did the very same in a Drake while still working for Apex and during my early days with Ghost Festival. Aria is partially to blame for this sudden renewed interest in "treasure hunting". Her departure to take on the role of co-founder in The Synerose Accord awoke that old desire to pursue a scientific and archaeological path of my own. And what better way to fill up a small lull in operations before things kick off again? Perhaps out there alone in the void, while probing and pillaging, I will be able to find that peace of mind I so much need right now.

EVE blog banter #8: Killing in the name of

Welcome to the eighth installment of the EVE Blog Banter , the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here.

This month's topic comes to us from Ga'len at The Wandering Druid of Tranquility. He asks: "What new game mechanic or mechanics would you like to see created and brought into the EVE Online universe and how would this be incorporated into the current game universe? Be specific and give details, this is not meant to be a 'nerf this, boost my game play' post like we see on the EVE forums."

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What I would like to see is an extension of two current game mechanics, namely factional warfare and faction standings + some further balancing to make it all work.

Currently faction standings mean access to higher levels of missions, jump clones, and an LP store. What I would add to that is that +5 faction standings with criminal factions means the rats stop shooting you, just like you need to stay above -5 to enter sovereign space.

Then factional warfare: Make it so that not only the Amarr and Minmatar (for example) fight over a region but also add the rats in that region into the mix. Or expand it even further, make all space that cannot have player sov captureable in the name of any faction you can join up with.
To make up for the cons of joining a faction -- though a huge target list is considered a pro by some -- give each FW corp some unique LP store items. Things that are useful in FW, preferably. Would likely need some revision of the FW missions though as I keep hearing hardly anyone bothers with them due to danger and no unique rewards.

It is possible to get locked out of the outlaw power blocks and this is an issue that should be addressed as well. Sell yourself out as a spy sounds like a nifty mechanic. For balancing issues this would only work with high standings for one faction, and too low to work for another faction.

This is all promoting my own agenda for sure, as I loved our campaign Bold Harvest where we preyed upon the Amarr and Minmatar militia. How neat it would have been if we could have not only destroyed player ships in those plexes but also capture them in name of the Cartel. That aside I feel FW should be expanded upon no matter what. It is too good of a concept to leave it die a silent death or hope it will go on forever in its current form.