Converting Melted Snowballs is a Nightmare Nightmare Nightmare Nightmare

No more than five minutes of effort was put into this design.

L0G0F Xmas Fireworks

No Downtime!

A while back, and finding the actual post is far too much work, CCP mentioned they'd like no downtime (DT) at some point in the future.

This was years ago, and while DT's have dropped from an hour or more to less than ten minutes, often five, DT is still an inconvenient pause in the tempo of Eve Online.

This is especially true in the AUTZ as we've been hit by DT in a major way since the beginning, but now we have bulk Koreans.

Suddenly the no DT experiment comes along.

Coincidence?

Maybe, but probably not as DT now impacts their TZ greatly.

It stops being about the AUTZ and is now all about the KTZ, but AUTZ is happy to gain some love on the side thanks to the current zerg rush of Koreans.

Will that last?  Dunno, but eliminating DT, even if just for every (my hope) weekend, is good for them, which means it's also good for us.

When am I going to shower now though?


https://www.eveonline.com/article/q1wbxb/no-downtime-on-wednesday-december-4th

The TFT Ant & Some Other News

A while back, and a further while back before that, I mentioned an ant had crawled into one of the monitors I use to make believe I'm not a recovering despot in Eve Online.

The remains of that ant have now gone.

I can no longer see any parts of the foul¹ beast that once scourged my vision if I slightly moved my view towards the left.  I "could" have swapped it with the identical monitor over on the right hand side, but I figured I'd just power through the inconvenience.

Plus that would have involved effort, and it would have just moved the problem.

So the ant corpse has gone.

Probably just in time for the next one.

In some other news² the Hypernet Relay has been announced as a future "feature" in Eve Online.

It appears to be some sort of gambling thing, that uses a galaxy wide contract system, people bid something, and then something else happens, a Kraken appears and eats all your gold, something, something.

What it is seems to change every time I look into it.

If you don't like it, don't use it.

Lastly, although more news certainly exists, this will do for now.

We have the Invasion Chapter 2.

"This time it's personal!"

Or some other cheesy eighties tag line.

More Triglavian stuff, and now they have a Dreadnaught that can be made via BPC's that drop somewhere.

It seems to be keeping people happy, and the influx of new ISK is not inflationary at all!



¹  As opposed to the fowl beast over the back that wakes me up from about 5:00am with its crowing.  Assuming of course I've not already been woken by the seeming 4.3 billion Lorikeets³ who decide that 4:30am is the exact moment to start their daily rave party in the wattle not far away from the bedroom window.

² As it has been a few days since these items were announced by CCP my reporting of it should more accurately be called "olds".

³ Actually the Swainson's Lorikeet for those keeping score.

Noisy Little Bastard

Twitch Plays EVE Online

Recently, via various software shenanigans, Eve Online has been played, for a given value of played, by various people controlling a pilot via Twitch.

This is most likely explained better below by Kotaku.

At 2pm AEDT on October 31, Twitch Plays EVE came online for the first time. Johnny Splunk hosted the stream on his own Twitch channel and fielded any questions players might have about the experience, but he did not interfere in the activities of the stream, allowing viewers full control of a character. For the first hour of the stream, an audience of around 100 viewers watched the spaceship under their direct control move back and forth along one of EVE’s most popular trade routes, attempting to get from one end to the other so that they could collectively complete one of the challenges laid out to them by the stream’s moderator team.

Link to the Kotaku article is here.

Initially I thought it was pretty dumb, but when I realised I'd been staring in fascination at the Twitch stream for the last forty five minutes, I had to admit it had a certain appeal.

It'll be interesting to see if the CCP mods allow it to continue.

During the stream I made the fatal mistake of putting a bounty on the pilot TwitchPlaysEve.

The bounty notifications have not stopped since.

FML.

The Odds of South Koreans Becoming Targets For Aussies Improves!

CCP are making Eve Online more accessible to the citizens of South Korea with the impending release of Korean localisation.

"We’re also super happy to let the EVE community know that preparations for the launch of EVE Online in Korean will soon be complete!"

The interesting thing about this announcement is the proximity to our AUTZ time zone.  Ignoring day light saving time, South Korea is in the +9 time zone, eastern Australia is +10, so very close time zones.

Additionally, South Korea has a population of more than 51 million people, who are typically very tech savvy.

Not sure if the tech savvy part is a pro or con for entering the Eve Online world, but let's assume it's a pro.

If we're lucky the AUTZ may soon become busier.

I look forward to the new strategy, "Zerg Rush", becoming more prevalent in the AUTZ.

Your Kill Right was Used!

One of my favourite phrases in Eve Online.

However, first, the back story.

It was a comfortable Wednesday, the wind was still from the south east, the humidity was low, the grass is green from sporadic rain, and my neighbours were not trying to teach me the finer arts of Cold Chisel.

In Eve Online I often use a Leopard to zoom around in.  If you're not familiar with the Leopard it's a relatively expensive shuttle that warps quite quickly, but has very low hit points and is easy to destroy.  As I always use manual flying with the Leopard they couldn't target it at a gate, but it, like most low hit point ships, has a weakness.

Smart Bombs.

I knew eventually I'd lose the Leopard, as they're a high priority target for dirt bags with few resources except time.

I'd visited Jita that day to check on some items, and upon leaving it happened.

When I'm warping, jumping, warping, jumping, etc, I go into a bit of a trance and it took me a few moments to realise I'd not left the system when I should have.  Local was still spewing posts from pilots doing fire sales, promising to give ISK if you follow their bio, or not give ISK if you follow their bio, and the usual manifesto that certain individuals seem to share in trade hubs.

Why do I have a red timer?

I was zoomed out a bit, and shuttles are small, then realised I wasn't in a shuttle anymore.

I was in my pod.

I'd been smart bombed by someone near my out gate, he'd direction scanned me and activated the smart bomb at the correct time, destroying my ship.

Very soon afterwards CONCORD took a close and personal interest in him.

Well then...

Warped off somewhere, and then back to Jita 4-4 and docked up again.  The same place I was only a few minutes before.

Checked the notifications in my bottom right hand corner, found the kill mail, discovered I had a bounty, and looked at the other pertinent information.

First thing I needed was a new ship, but as I knew the Leopard was always a target, I chose something else, fitted it appropriately, and left the station.

On my way out of the system, this time using a dog legged route to avoid the smart bomber just in case he was going to try for a "two for one" deal, I realised I'd have kill rights against that guy.

Left the system, activated the kill right and made it accessible for everyone, and set the ISK amount at one hundred and fifty million ISK.  That would be approximately my break even amount for that loss.  The ISK wasn't the real issue, but as I'm old, it's the principle of the thing.

My safe assumption was the attacking pilot was an Alpha, who now wouldn't login for at least thirty days, or even just be bio massed and that account slot recycled, as the training requirements for such a basic attack are low.

Then I effectively forgot about it.

However the following morning, as I'm doing my daily mission, I see a pop up in notifications, "Your kill right was used".

Really?  Can it be?

Yup!

He must have undocked again much later on, in the same type of ship, with the same fittings, and a pilot called Arch Opir in a rail gun fit Ferox, spent one hundred and fifty million ISK to activate the kill right and blew him to hell!

Sometimes I love Eve Online.

Fleet-Up Shutting Down!

Some will see the announced shut down of Fleet-up to be merely a road bump in the life cycle of Eve Online, for others, it will be yet another sign of the impending apocalypse.

Personally, I found it to be an invaluable out of game tool that I, and my previous alliance, contributed to financially as a way of supporting those types of developers.

It is disappointing to see it disappear, but nothing lasts forever, and hopefully another developer with a keen interest in Eve Online and way too much spare time on their hands, will step in with a new third party tool that duplicates many, if not all, of the functions we enjoyed with Fleet-up.

Fleet-up, and the developer "wacktopia", you will be missed.

News post here.

Reddit reaction here.

Skill Points Avalanche!

With the normal trickle of skill points, and the current "event" of Skilling Spree and finally the Bonus Skill Point Week (BSPW) we are enjoying an uncommon about of usable skill points in Eve Online.

I've not read much negativity about the deluge of skill points this time, but that could be caused by a resigned point of view as it has become a "tilting at windmills" situation these days.

The Skilling Spree adds no enjoyment to Eve Online and just seems to be a way of pumping up login numbers, in return for a minimal amount of skill points.

Surprisingly, CCP have begun the BSPW at the same time, which, at least to me, seems a lost opportunity.  If CCP had introduced the BSPW after the Skilling Spree had ended, it would have extended the artificially boosted login numbers for at least another week.

Hard to see what they're doing with running these "events" concurrently.

It seems to me, at best, an unintentional clash between at least two working groups at CCP.

Works out well for the players, but it's a bit of a head scratcher.

Medium Sized Things Become Faster!

For some reason, probably balance issues, or maybe just pandering to the unwashed masses, CCP have increased the warp speed on a number of mid ranged ships.

While they're at it some other updates and fixes were also released, one of the fixes seems to correct an issue suffered by the hundreds of Apple (almost said Macintosh) users who "play" Eve Online.

Then again I use Linux, who am I to talk?

Details below...


PATCH NOTES FOR OCTOBER 2019 RELEASE - 2019-10-15.1RELEASED ON TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15TH 2019
Features & Changes:
Balancing:


Every Cruiser, Battlecruiser and Battleship now warps faster than before. Ship Warp Speed attributes have been increased for the following Ship Groups:
Cruiser increased to 4 (was 3)
T2 Cruiser increased to 4.5 (was 3.3)
Battlecruiser increased to 3.5 (was 2.7)
T2 Battlecruiser increased to 4 (was 3)
Battleship increased to 3 (was 2)
T2 Battleship increased to 3.5 (was 2.2)


Travelling via autopilot will also be faster now with the warp in distance changed from 15km to 10km.
Defect Fixes:
Graphics:
Fixed defect where certain machines with macOS were unable to render space scenes when post-processing or anti aliasing was enabled.
User Interface:
Fixed defect for popup that briefly displays Triglavian Stellar Accelerator information, when entering a system where the structure is deployed.
Fixed defect where Planetary Interaction was not available via bookmark context menu.
Fixed defect where the context menu for solar systems in agent conversation windows would show several duplicated items.
Fixed defect where map browser's burger menus would not appear when clicked.
Fixed defect where FLEX structures had a "Set Home Station" option in their context menus despite no possibility of being one.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Today I was going to record some vocal audio for some sort of Eve Online post.  However to do that I need at least some quiet, I don't need to hear a pin drop, but something approaching that level of sound would be nice.

My neighbours seem to communicate with each other by coughing.  I know when at least one of them is awake by the commencement of a nasty coughing fit, which often culminates with a final dry heave.  During the day they all cough in one way or another, broken only by the occasional shout of something unintelligible, and then more coughing.

I need to look up the definition of pleurisy.

We used to have a small truck visit the neighbourhood and home deliver ice cream, it had a large brass bell at the front that would clang away as it moved down the road.  It used to annoy the ever loving shit out of me each and every Friday, when this useless anachronism of a bygone time would wheeze its way around the streets, clanging away.  I've not heard it in a while.

I fear the next time I hear a vehicle with a clanging bell it'll stop next door and the driver will shout out "Bring out your dead!"

In addition to all that we also have the dog, sometimes two, next door.

The birds.

The wind chime.

Oh, there is the dog again.

Etc, etc.

I'll give it another go later on tonight.

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeep Safe Bug Squashed & Intel GPU Woes!

As mentioned yesterday, an automated process went a bit awry when Emerging Conduit locations were being spawned almost sixteen BILLION AU away from anything else in the effected system.

You'll need a cut lunch to travel that far.

How long would that take?

Lets find out!

Using my Leopard as an example, with some basic warp implants, my warp speed is 24 AU per second.  In the normal day to day of Eve Online that is quite fast, but rather slow when travelling to our new favourite deep, deep, deep space location¹

Using the post from yesterday as an example, the Emerging Conduit was 15,913,581,488.05 AU away, which is quite far.

Using my speed in the leopard that gives us 663,065,895 seconds (rounded), which is 11,051,098 minutes (rounded), which is 184,184 hours (rounded), 7674 days (rounded), etc.

However in twenty three hours you could travel, at that speed, 1,987,200 AU towards the conduit.

Today CCP have announced, the spoil sports that they are, a fix to this issue and a remedy for those folks who took advantage of the situation.


¹Yesterday an issue was discovered which caused some PVE locations to spawn at excessive distances from the center of their solar systems. This issue has now been fixed.

In the near future a migration process will begin to automatically move characters, ships, bookmarks, structures and other items from these extreme deep space locations to more reasonable locations.

While this migration process is being implemented, it will be considered an exploit to begin deployment of any new Upwell Structures at the deep space locations that only became available due to this PVE location spawning bug.

Upwell Structures that have already began their deployment before this exploit notification will be moved in the near future, but owners of any Upwell Structures that begin deployment after this notification will be subject to penalties including potential destruction of their deep space structures.

In other news, for the dozens of people trying to play Eve Online using an Intel GPU, they have a fix coming to address some graphics issues.

We're currently aware of an issue that some of our pilots using Intel Integrated Graphics chipsets are experiencing which causes their EVE Online clients to crash, typically on startup but also sometimes in other areas of gameplay.

The root cause of this issue has been identified and we'll be looking to release a fix for it very soon once it's been tested fully. Hopefully this will be deplyed in a point release tomorrow.

Apologies for the inconvenience this is causing, we'll have it fixed as soon as possible!

Awesome.

Could Be a Bug?

Good thing we don't use fuel for normal travel.

Yet...

The Not So Hidden Intel

EDIT:  As of about mid October 2019 this issue has been fixed.  From memory this isn't the first time it's been corrected but I cannot remember exactly when.

Black Out & Shared Bookmarks

The Black Out has ended, sadly, but it probably inevitable.  The null sec power blocs can hold their breath longer than CCP can, so now we have confirmation that the tail is in fact wagging the dog.

Null Sec Blackout Concluded

With any luck it will return, but in a limited fashion with perhaps rolling areas of null sec local chat channels reverting to "opt-in" for a short period of time, rather than always on, which is typically the default.

In other news,  CCP are further along with the shared bookmarks concept.  This feature is due to be released soon® in Eve Online by CCP.

Now if we can also have in game notes on pilots shared by corp, alliance, or access list, that would be great.





®  Could be this year, could be the next.  Could be never.

GTX 1050Ti Pre and Post Sept 2019 Update in The Abyss

Wow that title just rolls of the tongue doesn't it?

As promised, here is the video comparing The Abyss from before and after the recent September 2019 update.

I've not been sure if it's "the Abyss" or "The Abyss".

I feel "The Abyss" gives it more gravitas.

I've done some cropping to remove the UI from either side, which means we don't have it all squished up this time. 

Don't say I didn't put in the minimal amount of effort for you guys.

Music: Jogeir Liljedahl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eclMFa0mD1c

GTX650 vs GTX 1050Ti in The Abyss

As I had a couple of Abyss videos from before the recent graphical update, and they also cover my recent interim upgrade from the hard working GTX650 to the GTX1050Ti, I might as well record them for posterity for all to gaze at their wonder.

Given the huge upgrade even a low level card like the 1050Ti made, I'm kicking myself it wasn't done sooner.

The 1050Ti will not be in the main PC for long, in the new year, once the RTX "craze" and Christmas have calmed down it will be updated and then relegated into one of the Linux PC's.

Most likely the one that also runs Eve Online from time to time.

In the next few days I'll run another Abyss site so I can compare the 1050Ti pre and post the September 2019 update, as some important graphics changes have been made.

Of course I'll post the comparison video on this blog for my legions of viewers to salivate over.

Talking about you Frank.

CSM Metagaming Confirmed!

CSM member Olmeca Gold has confirmed, in his view, that none of the current CSM members are using the privileged information provided to them by CCP to meta-game Eve Online.

Nothing to be concerned about then¹.

¹ lol

My Hand is in the Air and I'm Looking Sheepish

Station Adverts

The in station advertisement submission system has always been quite hit and miss.

You would submit the advert, making sure it fits the criteria, and then wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Eventually your submitted advert would start appearing in the stations/citadels.

Or it never would.

Mails to CCP would go unanswered on the subject.

Support tickets would be open for quite a long time, and then they'd just be closed with no resolution.

However we may have a solution appearing in the future.

Recently CCP Falcon posted on Tweetfleet that a new system is in development, and will be (should be), deployed sometime before the eventual heat death of the entire universe.

18th August 2019

So you read it here third, or maybe fourth.

The Triglavian Conundrum

The Triglavian incursion¹ into high security space is generally just a minor annoyance.

However... I needed to move a freighter from high security space through a few systems of Triglavians.

So I spent a small amount of time looking at the killboards for losses of my freighter type to them.

Didn't find any losses, but also didn't look especially hard.  I had things to do!

Decided to give it a go anyway, un-docked, warped to the gate and jumped.

What a surprise, about eight Triglavian ships on the other side, all waiting to lock me up and start shooting as soon as I de-cloak.

Not much choice anymore, gotta do it.

De-cloak.

Align and request warp towards the next gate.

They lock me up and start shooting with very little delay.

Yeah, that's quite a bit of incoming damage.

Various other offensive measures are also used against my freighter.

They web me...

They webbed me!

KTHXBYE!

Immediately into warp, no worries.





¹  Also the reason I had to tank² my Epithals

²  For a given value of "tank"

A Good Start

The null security space black out of local chat needs to become a permanent feature.

The changes to cynosaural fields are wonderful, as amongst other things it means a gate camp no longer has the risk of each and every target potentially being the conduit for a hot drop.  It does make it harder for those folks who need a cynosaural network, but that's what training and skill injectors are for.

However CCP have not gone far enough.

0.5 systems need to become 0.4 systems sometimes, for a day, a few days, or even a week.  Some in game lore can be generated about how it happens, the break down of law and order, etc etc, and CONCORD as their last act in the afflicted systems, anchors an invulnerable cyno jammer ... most of the time.

This would create new, temporary pockets of high sec space.  It would move the usual trade routes, but the time spent as a low security system would not be too long so waiting it out would be an option, but also the brave may run the gauntlet.

The time those systems would spend as 0.4 would not be long enough to destroy citadels, but certainly enough for a reinforcement timer or two.

Then after the amount of time passes the 0.4 system once again becomes 0.5, and a guaranteed amount of time would need to pass before it could revert once again into 0.4.  CONCORD could flood the system with ships to help achieve this from a lore point of view.

Hopefully this would be another step towards making Eve Online feel more dynamic and alive.

HALP!

He just keeps staring at me from the launcher!

It's disturbing.

I feel he needs a white long haired cat though.

The name of the cat is Dave.

Housekeeping!

I noticed, somewhat belatedly, that this site was not notifying me when a comment was made and I then needed to moderate it.  This caused a delay of sometimes a month or two before I remembered to check if any comments were waiting for moderation.

This has now been fixed.

Probably.

Avoiding the Gank

A small quick video to try and help some folks in avoiding the dreaded gank at a trade hub, using Amarr as an example.

The Delayed Opt-In Paradox

CCP are introducing, what they call, a delayed local chat system into null security space.  The bumf suggests this will be temporary as the "stress" on the yada yada yada.

Null security local chat is changing.

However they continue to misrepresent what it actually is, an opt-in system, not a delayed one.

The crutch of many a sports guest speaker, with thanks to the Cambridge Dictionary lets look at the definitions of the two terms.

Seems straightforward.  Happily, they could have also used the term "retardation", which seems appropriate for null sec.

Moving on,  the definition of opt-in.

Clearly the change to null security local chat, as described by CCP, means you will not appear in local until you choose too.  Obviously this is opt-in and not delayed.

I support the local chat change, but at least call a duck a duck.

It Is a Concern

I'm sort of just existing in Eve Online at the moment, not very dissimilar to what's happening out in my real world.  One of the things I've been doing to keep active, for a given value of active, is selling via contract Blue Print Copies.  I've been making the copies in a cheap citadel run by a group of French people who have a very loose relationship with fuelling the structure on time, every time.  I liken it to a good, but cheap, Motel.  Once in a while something just isn't going to work the way you want it to and I just need to find a way around that.  At least it doesn't have thin walls and three hours of hooker sex in the room next door.  Not the good kind either.

I'll be patient and see if they fuel it again after a couple of days.  The citadel, not the other thing.

I've also started, using my recently purchased microphone and additional mixer, an audio/video post about my last twelve months in Eve Online.  Well I say started, closer to the truth would be I've thought about it quite a bit, and I'm busy over the next few days so anything practical happening before Monday is about as likely as the Orange Idiot suddenly gaining some morals.  Next week, maybe.

On a slight segue we talk about Mittens, especially the one in "charge" of goons and, in their minds anyway, all of null sec, even the bits they don't control.  I'm sure they have a poster somewhere that says something like they choose not to control all of null sec to provide content to all goon members, and those lucky enough to be attacked by goons.  Who knows what goes on in diseased minds.  With the recent invasion by NPC's into null sec space, Mittens, and other "lesser" beings, have been moaning about being forced to react in ways, or play differently, or something something.

Fuck Those Guys.

However, it will be worth keeping an ear to the ground about the "protest" they are planning in high security space to somehow show CCP that goons and by extension, null sec space, run Eve Online.

Should be interesting.

I have to find those high, low and null sec space player numbers again.  From memory high sec has the most, but admittedly that's from a while ago and the apparent decline of Eve Online may have skewed them into null secs favour. 

Everything is content, but the quality varies.

The impression I receive from CCP at the moment is of a large business doing very little.

It is a concern.

They Might Be Giants?

Result!

https://zkillboard.com/kill/76892259/

More on why this has made me very happy in a future post.

CCP Guard, Onwards And Upwards?

A Journey of Jestertrek

Hey...

I've not been in Eve Online for a while in any real way, and will not be for quite a while yet.

However I'm still interested in Eve as a concept.

Recently, on the hive of scum and villainy (TM) that is Reddit an older CSM member called Jestertrek, posted an AMA.

Filtered through the usual amount of "truth" and adjust for bias, it makes an interesting read.

So here it is below:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Eve/comments/bo4zed/i_was_on_eves_csm8_i_was_spacefamous_for_a_long/

Things We Would Like To See in 2019

2018 saw the introduction of various things in Eve Online.  I'm not going to list them, but the two that stand out for me was the introduction of the new chat servers, and the Abyss sites, and by extension the Mutators and Triglavian ships.

The new chat servers, which first went live in March 2018, have not lived up to expectation.  Recently, although sadly nine or so months since we first saw the impact of the new chat servers on Tranquility, CCP sent a message to the player base.  Within it was some pretty ambiguous language, but at least they gave some sort of deadline.  So it's quite possible they might sort the issues out one way or another by March 2019, one year after release.

In game chat, especially the local chat channel, is important for at least two reasons.  The first is basic intelligence on who is in your system, not including worm holes of course.  Another reason is immersion.  Seeing other pilots in local makes you feel the server is alive, other pilots are going about their business, and it helps greatly with game immersion.

The Abyss sites, Mutators and Triglavian ships were a huge change to Eve Online, and one that's still being worked out by the player base.  The Abyss sites are a new and massive ISK tap, which is fantastic and also potentially terrible for the economy as it is inflationary.  Mutators bring a random element to ship fitting, which can put some blur around the edges of those tried and true fits.  Finally the Triglavian ships, possibly over powered, certainly interesting, and yet to be fully utilised by the player base.

Are we going to see any huge changes like those above in 2019?

Probably not.

In 2019 we should see the repair or restoration of the in game chat system.  The continuing, and long overdue, re-balancing of the war declaration system.  Various graphical changes, which will be mostly semi useless fluff.  The introduction of the 64bit client, which will not provide any real change from the users point of view, at least initially.  Maybe, just maybe, the replacement, or removal, of the old Player Owned Structures (POS), and the replacement of NPC stations.

What we will see is a slow increase in the amount of pilots online, this has already been happening.  This should start filling up the high sec areas, as a fair percentage are new players to the game.  With luck they'll start branching out into the low and null security space regions, and at some point, although maybe not in 2019, we could be back to the heady days of 2013 and over sixty thousand players online at a peak.

Sounds great!

How many of those were bots back then though?