Competitions Downunder

CCP released this video showcasing how one pilot can make a difference in a fleet fight, also the depiction of combat is much closer to the reality than previous efforts.

Well worth a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSxSyv4LC1c&feature=player_embedded

However, in the comments section, linked here, is this text;

"We'll also have two side voting contests on best still image and best video. There will be some freegraphics cards and a high end PC as prizes for those. If you live in Australia, you're not likely to be able to participate - your laws are real damn hard. We promise to do a contest just for Australia at some point though, because their laws are just that damn hard."


At first when I read it I was all "Cool we get a shout out", but then soon afterwards "What the hell!".

We are shafted with DT every night, shafted when patches are released which cause a long DT, and now shafted with competitions.

If it's hard CCP then you need to try harder!

Admittedly our population makes up less than 3% of the total Eve Online numbers but dealing with these issues because of our geography is bloody frustrating at times.

Good thing our dollar is so strong otherwise I'd be really pissed off. :-)

Moving On

In the interests of underlining and moving on from the Noble Exchange fiasco, the Fearless letter and far too much computer internet space ship pilot internet rage we have the responses from CCP and also the CSM.

http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=935

I hope to never speak of this again.

The D-W Turkey Shoot

It had been a busy night.

The first fleet was called to intercept a combined Brick and Morsus Mihi (MM) fleet which had passed through our home systems and was now a few jumps beyond.  We managed to gather a fleet that was slightly less in number than their fleet but was clearly outclassed in quality, they had slightly more logistics and some T3 ships.

When we couldn't wait anymore the fleet left home and headed towards their last known location.  After a few minutes we found where they were and camped the exit gate they had to take to get back home.

We waited.

One of their scouts jumped in, cloaked up, and kept an eye on our gate camp.

Another of their scouts jumped in and did the same, we waited some more.

MM and Brick are not known to take on enemy fleets similar in composition so we were not sure if they would engage or just run out the clock until downtime (DT) and try their luck afterwards.

Surprisingly, at least to me, our scout on the other side of the gate, the side with the red fleet, said they were jumping into us, local started filling with reds.

They broke their cloaks at pretty much the same time and started engaging us, they hit our logistics ships first.  We tried hitting theirs and then switched back and forth to their DPS ships and back again, we managed to kill quite a few of their forces but the tide of the battle was increasingly against us.

I had been pretty lucky so far, only one ship targetted me and the ECM drones took care of him, once his lock was broken they then went back to ruining the day of some enemy logistics pilot.  However the bad guys were dropping warp bubbles everywhere to stop us getting away, I aligned for the jump bridge as the situation was deteriorating and leaving was soon going to be a priority.

Suddenly two thirds of their fleet targets me and I start taking shield damage, with our logistics almost certainly destroyed by this stage, and I've moved out of the bubbles, I warped away to the jump bridge.

My intention was to warp back and re-enter the fight, but just as I'm about to leave warp the FC calls for the fleet to "get out", so no need to go back then.

One third of our ships survived the battle compared to about half of theirs, but we lost the ISK war.

http://aif.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=10070788


The remains of our fleet then went back home but we had an advantage.  Our home is further along the path the red fleet had to take to head back towards their own home systems, so we would get another bite at the cherry.  However we could once again field a full fleet but the red fleet was depleted and no reinforcements were coming.

We camped the choke point and waited.

This time they didn't risk attacking our camp and did run the clock out until DT.

DT finished a bit early and they are making a run for it, but not as a fleet, at least four of their ships are destroyed by our waiting camp going some way towards improving the result of the first battle.

We hang around for a while but it's obvious the remainder are not going to try and leave anytime soon so the fleet stands down.

Soon afterwards it's stood back up again as a T1 cruiser fleet for "goodtimes", essentially a suicide fleet.

I have a spare rupture I can throw onto the pyre, so quickly grabbing some modules to fit it out we undock and head out.

Not far away we arrive at the D-W gate, our scouts are reporting another good size fleet, this time mostly Brick Squad with a few others.

They jump through with their Drakes, we don't engage and after enough Drake's have jumped in we cross jump them into D-W where the rest of their fleet is.

Then their fleet dies.

http://aif.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=10071498
slightly polluted by some reds on the blue side of the kb


It was an intense fight that once again I survived, lets hear it for the letter Y!!!

One of the best nights I've had in Eve Online for a while.

A Mule in Eve

For my two hundredth post I must, unfortunately,  point out the death of a fellow blog.

A Mule in Eve has decided to call it a day, the perceived direction of CCP being the driving force.

Sorry to see you go.

Living with Incarna

It has been a difficult week or so in the Eve Online universe.  With Incarna finally arriving, the fallout from the Noble Exchange, the Fearless document and then fallout from communications relating to those issues, it has been a trying week.

Quite accurately most of the rage is nothing more than mob hysteria, misguided and generally impotent.  Diary of a Pod Pilot has written about it at length, longer than I wish to write so have a read.

Incarna has, so far, been a disappointment.  I know it's a foundation and more will be built but I think CCP should have tried very hard to introduce more than a weird little room with little form and no real function.

From my point of view lets look at the advantages and disadvantages of Incarna as it stands right now.

Advantages:
The new agent finder - this is actually pretty good, and looking at the redistribution of pilots I'd say a winner.  Of course of less use in low and null security space but the bulk of pilots are in empire.

The remodeled weapons - a borderline advantage as they visually look much better (if zoomed right in) but in typical use are almost invisible.  The changing of the weapon images in the hanger has really slowed me down as I now have to check each and every one to see what they are, I knew them visually before and I cannot do that now.

Disadvantages:
The Captains Quarters, at the detail level I wish to run the game at, is slower, everything I do there is slower.

Every time I enter the room the wrong design, the missing items just leap out and scream their absence, not great for the OCD.

About 20% of the time while docking the game crashes.  I suspect this happens during the change over from space to the Captains Quarters.  CCP have mentioned in a previous patch note this was a known issue and has been addressed.  The problem is still there.

I cannot now easily open the cargo hold of my ship.  I do not wish to walk here or there to do this, I just want to click a button.  Now that the game runs slower my process is now to press the ship fitting button, then the hanger button (while the ship fitting is opening), and then click (subsequent to this post a corporation mate reminded me of the ALT+C shortcut to open the ships cargo) on the cargo hold button in the ship fitting tool.  This is rather annoying.

The amount of long Down Times (DT) has also been very disruptive as they push the return from DT well past midnight.  This has happened a few times in the past week or so, makes it very difficult.

I don't know if CCP will fix these issues, apart from the crashing problem I'd say the design direction they wish to align themselves with would not allow it.

I wonder if the new pilots in Eve Online will be as frustrated as I am?