Diary of a Pod Pilot

I’ve been enjoying doing some legal agent work as of late, and I’d gotten an especially tempting offer from the Amarr Empire to go after a Nation trail running through their ranks. It’d involve a lot of combat versus Nation ships. Ah, if there is something I love, it’s turning them into scrap. So, I enlisted the help of Faber Demaunier, who’s always eager to salvage the battlefield after I’m done, and we went on our way.

Things went well, and as days proceeded, we were making good progress. We’d just ‘retrieved’ an important individual after dealing with the guards, and I was feeling fairly tired. So I hailed the crew and told them I was going to take a rest and so should they. Faber likewise took a rest, and good for her she did so outside of the battlefield. What happened while I was asleep — with all systems muted, because I was too tired to mute only selective communications and other interruptions — is that a backup wave of guards suddenly warped in on my location and opened fire.

Well crap. Not only do I awaken about half an hour later to see my camera drones showing a pod and I get to feel the awful pain in my brain coupled with the loss of a Tengu hull, there’s also this person on board who didn’t have access to the crew escape pods. It was also required for her to be dropped off alive in order to get paid and she’s vital to pursue this trail further. Luckily, a quick scan of the wreckage shows she’s in there somewhere and doing well enough. But I cannot get her out in a mere pod, and the guards will fire on anything bigger.

After informing the Ghosts presently awake about the ordeal, who quickly start to plan a SAR (search and rescue) operation, I decide to take my chance as they get over here and see if I can snatch the lady in a shuttle. Nice plan, but as soon as I slowed down the fragile craft literally evaporated around me. These guys were good with their beam lasers. Not good enough for plan B however.

Velarra asked where I had left the Basilisk previously used to support anti-incursion fleets with. Amarr, I responded, which was pretty near by. So with Nehebkau having his Machariel ready, and Velarra also being a star logistics pilot, we decided that what is good enough to survive the advanced technology of Nation incursions is probably good enough to fend off some overzealous bodyguards. Velarra ended up calling in a friend for aid, so we had a nice triangle formation going.

And we were right. The field was soon cleared and the captive recaptured. Deciding to waste no further time I flew her straight back in my Basilisk, while Faber recovered the remnants of my wreck together with the rest of the spoils.

As for the trail? That’s all been dealt with, as Jev North was kind enough to loan me a new Tengu she’d not be using for a while yet. Naturally, I’ve made arrangements to get her a replacement. While I had hoped to profit from this undertaking, at least the work paid off a good part of the loss, and I’ve learned that next time when there is no station to dock at, powering down at a safespot is not such a crazy idea even when operating in high security space.

This post is going to assume you have read the book, and thus will contain spoilers. If you’re not done reading and don’t want spoilers, bookmark and come back later. For those not owning the book, there is an excellent quick summary in the first post of this thread.

Despite the great skepticism of the RP community, I decided to get the book so I could judge for myself, as I find the RP community often shoots things down because it simply doesn’t suit them and damned if you dare to think differently! Perhaps a bit exaggerated and certainly generalized, but mention Empyrean Age or Tony Gonzales and people start throwing a hissy fit. Granted, I had gripes with that book, but it’s not a bad book by itself. I see it as an author’s first attempt at writing a full novel in a well-established universe, and falling into certain plot traps.

What seemed to annoy people about EA is that the information provided did us no good, yet it has consequences. I think Templar One did better in that it provided more information for the day to day use. Yet, I don’t mind learning more about what goes on behind the scenes, even if it can’t be taken in character. Personally, I liked the insights provided on the Roden Shipyards – Serpentis relationship, as well as the inner workings of Mordu’s Legion. Also, more information on Ishukone, for whom I’ve always had a bit of a personal weakness. For faction loyalists, these are solid cornerstones, since while you can’t directly quote these facts they do give you a general outline of what the faction does, and thus what kind of storyline arcs you could come up with.

I’m pretty sure a great deal of Amarrian roleplayers are pissed off however at how their faction is portrayed, but frankly, I feel it had to be done. I do think it makes a lot of sense for Amarrians, in character, to be in denial or try to spin it. That’s what Amarrians do. But the OOC hate? Meh. It’s EVE Online, you can’t honestly believe your faction is the good guys. Maybe you play a good guy, and that’s your full right, but just like in the real world, there is corruption within all groups, and you will risk being judged for that. You’re just a facet of a faction, so where exactly is your right to say that “TonyG is ruining everything”. It’s not ruining it, it’s revealing a different take than was previously established or assumed. It doesn’t invalidate your take on it, or undo your work.

The whole Sleepers / Jove / Enheduanni / Architects thing is starting to make a lot more sense now. I know this is the focal point of a lot of hate, and it did indeed seem very much up and out there. Now however, it is starting to make more sense. It’s becoming more ingrained into everything. I think what a lot of people dislike is that it seems very much like fantasy and breaks with how the backstory once was very tangible and accessible. EVE was epic because of the shades of gray and the human conflict, and suddenly there’s this ‘alien’ stuff. Except it isn’t that alien, at all. Jove messed with their DNA, and the Sleepers with virtual reality, artificial intelligence and cryonics. But when you look back, they once were both very ‘human’, and I’ve always thought of them as the warning sign of what capsuleers and their technology could bring on. After all, history tends to repeat itself.

What I do miss is game changes based on the novel. Official news posts we could use as storyline hooks, maybe some missions too. There has been a player attempt, but that is hardly believable for other characters, especially since the news source is a sensationalist outlet. I hope we’ll see them closer to the DUST launch, but you can kinda expect as soon as a book is released that people will be all over it, as well have questions on what to do with all this new knowledge.

Unfortunately, I don’t have immediate access to my copy of Empyrean Age, and I did feel that the characters weren’t always sufficiently explained. I also feel that sometimes, a bit more information on who’s who again would have been nice. Granted, I read the book in several small chunks before bedtime, so a second read together with linked material like the Ruthless novella might be in order.

All in all, I had fun reading the book, and I now feel that DUST and EVE will make sense together.

This month’s Blog Banter comes from Drackarn of Sand, Cider and Spaceships. He has foolishly chosen to poke the hornet’s nest that is the non-consensual PvP debate. Whilst you read his question, I’ll be finding a safe place to hide.

“A quick view of the Eve Online forums can always find someone complaining about being suicide ganked, whining about some scam they fell for or other such tears. With the Goons’ Ice Interdiction claiming a vast amount of mining ships, there were calls for an “opt out of PvP” option. 

Should this happen? Should people be able to opt-out of PvP in Eve Online. Should CONCORD prevent crime rather than just handing out justice after the event? Or do the hi-sec population already have too much protection from the scum and villainy that inhabits the game?”

No. NO. ABSOLUTELY TOTALLY NO opting out of PvP or buffing CONCORD. But neither do I feel that we should move strongly into the other direction and take things away from highsec. Instead, I feel what we really need is improvements to the middle ground of lowsec and NPC nullsec.

First, some numbers, with thanks to CCP Diagoras who’s Twitter is an excellent source of statistics porn. Have a look at this sexy pie chart. That’s a lot of people living in highsec. But see how nullsec is second in that? Well, that to me confirms that people like safe space. Highsec is safest by mechanics, and nullsec by what players can do to secure it. I’m assuming that most of nullsec here is sov space, as there is way more of that, and that from personal experience the population numbers I see in NPC nullsec are kind of like lowsec.

Ok, so why do people like safe space? I thought we had this thing of risk versus reward. Indeed, we do, but there is something else to factor in. It’s called effort versus reward. Ever hear people talking about how they pulled a billion in a day out of a C5 wormhole? That seems like something everyone should be doing then, right, because it pays so much that it justifies the risk. Except lots and lots of people prefer to cling to what is often dismissed as safer alternatives. I don’t believe they’re being chosen only because they are safer. I feel that ease of doing them plays a part too.

Ok, so what makes something easy to do and why do players prefer that? Well, a lot of MMO players are in fact quite casual, either because they do not have a lot of time, or because they’re not around that long yet. So they’re not going to want to deal with the logistics of a C5 wormhole when they can get something nearly as good by pugging through incursions, or running missions. Neither are players going to prefer living in other areas of space which simply do not offer the tools to secure them properly. Hence, sov space is a natural option for someone who’s been around a while. Nullsec is the highest reward versus risk versus ease. You can very well get away with logging in a few hours a week and be a productive asset to an industrial group out there. I do believe this can also happen in wormhole space, and I suspect the population there will creep up, but afaik there are in the end more good sov systems than there are higher end wormhole systems.

Now, I am directly opposed to opt-out of PVP, because one thing should always remain true in EVE: Safest does not equal 100% guaranteed safety. If someone really wants, they can screw you over. Even if you are a pure highsec dweller that almost never undocks. You will have to move sometime. Or you will be running market or industry stuff, and market pvp is a very viable option. I can’t think of a scenario where you can not get back to a player, unless they enjoy paying for spinning their ship all day. I believe this lack of total safety is needed, and would change the game entirely if it were removed, because it would break the pvp sandbox. Right now if someone is an asshat, you can always make them pay for being one. It also forces players to have a certain level of ‘smarts’, else they for example get scammed, which in my opinion breeds a better experience for all. It’s like a “you have to be this tall” sign on a rollercoaster ride so everyone can have the wild experience they want, except in EVE, the sign is missing and you find out first hand what happens if you are not tall enough yet!

Highsec fundamentally is fine in my book. A safest area of space. A starting point. A place to go and rest. Or somewhere to do what you enjoy doing when you like the safest option. It’s much needed for many things in its current form and will always be needed. I also believe nullsec and w-space are fine, and are given ample attention. Actually, instead of talking what is fine, let’s talk about what isn’t fine: lowsec, and NPC nullsec.

When looking at that chart, one would think that the safety of space actually goes highsec > nullsec > lowsec > w-space. While the intended idea seems to be highsec > lowsec > nullsec > w-space. And that is how the game is balanced for in terms of rewards. But in terms of ease, well, the former seems almost true, and it has largely to do with the fact that lowsec neither gives players the tools to keep themselves safe, nor does it help you with safekeeping. There, I said it. But Myrhial, there are gate guns and sec status! Surely they- No, stop right there. Nobody pirating in lowsec really gives a damn. There are plenty of ways around what little NPC protection there is, and there are no ways to go around policing yourself. At least in NPC nullsec, you can put up bubbles and camp someone in perfectly. Where as lowsec station camps will always be subject to locking times.

So what do I propose? Either more mechanical safety in lowsec, or give players more tools. And since this is a sandbox, I’m biased towards the latter. Or we could have a mix of both. You see, lowsec systems still have sovereignty. So I’ve always found it curious there is no faction police defending it. Sure, CONCORD not being there because they are way smaller than the four Empires combined, totally making sense. The CONCORD penalty is too hard for lowsec. But faction police intervening when a lawful citizen is under attack? Would make perfect sense to me. Make them tankable. Heck maybe even go as far as if you are -5.00 with a faction, you can still go to their lowsec space, but you lose out on faction police support. And maybe make it so that if you attack someone in lowsec, you take a standing hit with the faction that owns it. As for giving players power in lowsec, faction standings could come into play here as well, give players all kinds of perks like I proposed for NPC nullsec (see link in next paragraph). Or do something like sov lite. NPCs keep sov but share it with a group claiming the system. I’m sure there are other, possibly even better ways of going about this.

As for NPC nullsec, I’ve written about this during the 30th banter, so I’ll leave that article to do the explaining. Again you can see here that I’d like for standings to matter more. Lots of people say they hate grinding for standings, but honestly, if they gave more rewards, I’m sure they’d be more appreciated and better maintained too. Also, a big step was already taken into the right direction by lowering mission requirements. Now all we need is better newbie program education on pirate standings and how they matter, as well as perhaps more things like the SoE arc, where shooting pirates does not give you standings hits to them. Or just other ways for newbies that want to be pirate supporters one day to survive and thrive without needing to resort to missions for easy ISK.

For those who keep an eye on the movements of large alliances, you may be well aware of what has taken place in and around Curse the last few months. What many do not know however, is what becomes of the smaller local groups when things temporarily heat up. In this case, we were luckily. Instead of staying and dealing with it, we were able to strike two targets with one bullet. Stay alive through it all, and come out richer and more experienced.

I’m sure you are wondering how we pulled that off now. Well, it is quite simple. For months on end, the Nation has been doing strategic invasions in several locations at once. While no accurate algorithm predicts where exactly they will strike next, the incursions always include several Empire constellations. While fighting back these incursions has never been a top priority for the Cartel, keeping them at bay is obviously preferred. If not because nobody would like to see them actually succeed in their seemingly endless effort, then because of the proximity of Nation ‘homeland’ to Curse. While there is no evidence Curse is a desired target — else the Cartel would probably care a great deal more! — it is still close by and could become one as Nation gains a bigger foothold.

Thus, here we are, in Empire space. I can tell you, it took some time adjusting. It’s so crowded! And this false sense of security. Not to mention CONCORD everywhere. Nothing is sweeter than the irony of being paid by them to fight back the Nation. As if shooting those creeps wasn’t a reward in itself yet. Still, I won’t lie, my wallet can do with some padding now that providing the market of New Eden with Dramiels is temporarily out of the question.

This has also given me the opportunity to tie up many lose ends. Cashing in on Loyalty Points was especially sweet with the review of hybrid weaponry, causing the price of its ammo to spike. Not to mention Caldari hulls are now more than ever a solid choice to take into combat. Hah, I’m going to have trouble choosing between my options at this rate.

I’ve also visited research I started up months ago, netting me with a hangar full of datacores. Not the ‘ISK printer’ it once was, but still a nice boost to liquidity, or personal stock, depending on if you have a use for them.

And then there is mission work. When I left Empire space behind to first join Ghost Festival, things were a whole lot different. And having connections is useful, you never know when you end up needing them. Although the payouts for incursions, not to mention being used to the payouts in Curse, make the rewards seem a whole lot slimmer. I wonder what Empire agents make of that. Will the corporations consider paying out more? And how will that affect ‘pirate’ missions? Will even more be paid to keep that competitive edge? Time will show, I suppose. Unless CONCORD runs out of ISK first. But for once, we hope that they don’t.

Before I sign off, I just wanted to make record of the New Years dinner we had at The Skyhook. Alliance and friends only, but we had some others join us for the afterparty. Or so I’ve been told. I quietly slipped out as I had other matters to attend to. Still, we all had a great time, and it’s gotten me thinking about having a public event at The Skyhook again. It’s been entirely too long since we had another party, and despite how we don’t really advertise the place, there are visitors a plenty. Got to do something with all that. Stay tuned, and ideas are always welcome in my evemail inbox.

Welcome to the thirty-first EVE Blog Banter, a community conversation between anyone and everyone with an interest in discussing EVE Online. For more information on how this works, check out this link.

“As any games journalist would probably tell you, a true and complete review of a Massively Multiplayer Online game is impossible. MMOs are vast, forever evolving entities with too much content for a single reviewer to produce a fair and accurate review. However, a collection of dedicated bloggers and EVE players (past and present) with a wide range of experience in various aspects of the game might be able to pull it off.

This special ‘End of Year’ Blog Banter edition aims to be a crowd-sourced game review. Using your gaming knowledge and experience, join the community in writing a fair and qualified review of EVE Online: Crucible. This can be presented in any manner of your choosing, but will ideally include some kind of scoring system.

With each Blog Banter participant reviewing the areas of EVE Online in which they specialise, the result should be a Metacritic-esque and accurate review by the people who know best.”

Before we start the actual review, I’d like to mention that I was recently interviewed by a friend (link is in Dutch) for an assignment about internet journalism. Since I’m a blogger who’s been at it for several years, and generate a nice bit of traffic for something quite niche, I was more than happy to answer some questions. The very first question is “What is EVE Online all about?”. As I tweeted while writing my response, one does not simply describe EVE, because it’s massive even for an MMORPG. Unlike the general and as close as possible to neutral introduction given in the interview, here I will try to captivate EVE as close to my experience as possible.

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EVE Online is one of two MMORPGs that for me became a life style. Unlike the other game, World of Warcraft, which I played in a competitive fashion and where I engaged in large timesinks such as raiding and the collecting of achievements, it was the social aspect that gripped me and pulled me in. Not to say that World of Warcraft did not have this, as the last guild I was part of has many out-of-game meetups and landed me friends who continue to care even though I’ve long gone. It’s more that this is an integrated part of the gameplay for me when it comes to EVE. From the things I do ingame, as a CEO, alliance executor and Angel Cartel loyalist to using Twitter, Facebook and Google+ as well as writing this blog for an enhanced social and community experience. And then there is, on top of that, attending Fanfest as well as other player meetups which takes the game right into meatspace.

You see, EVE Online is a “sandbox” MMORPG, where as World of Warcraft as well as the majority of others are “theme park” MMORPGs. The latter means there is a mostly-set leveling path, with areas for each level bracket, quests that lead to more quests so you can quest for quests, and a tier system of equipment. You’re constantly fed with objectives that yield rewards, which are then used to get other rewards and so on. EVE however only has this in very limited quantities, and most of it is optional in one way or another. Don’t feel like doing missions? Well, there’s a ton of other ways to get rich, which draw on a variety of skills and go beyond the scope of what the game offers. You like mining asteroids? You can do just that. You’d rather use your skill as an artist? Well, some do just that and are well loved by the community for it.

The concept of leveling is done away with as well, and while you might not shine from day one, there are those who have challenged this concept and scored great results. Time put into the game is also not required for success, as skills you select will train while you’re logged out. Within days (or even less), you can be a tackler for a fleet, pinning down targets while they’re getting shot down. Also within days, you can be a trader, a salvager, start your first missions or become rich by tricking a careless player with a clever scam.

Scamming, I say? That’s right, EVE Online offers a lot more freedom into what you can and can’t do within the rules of the game, which is a make or break for many players. While some argue it promotes what is called griefing in other games, and that we must all be a big bunch of sad jerks who thrive on the misery of others, actually those scenarios are really a minority. While there is always a risk, and EVE at its core is all about the risk versus the reward, clever players can protect themselves. Not putting all your eggs in one basket, checking that contract really does offer a faction ship and not just a regular hull, not making yourself a target by openly linking your various billions worth ship fitting, doing a background check on who you let in your corporation ect. Some of you may feel this is a drag, that it makes play into work, and then indeed EVE may not be the game for you. But others are thrill seekers, or enjoy that risky things bring such large rewards they are unheard of in all of MMORPG history up until now. And then I don’t just mean some of the record scams, but also iconic players like Chribba, who’s services to the community are living proof that being a good guy in a universe ruled by the shades of grey is very well possible. And then not just by roleplaying a white knight.

Ah yes, roleplay, we’ve got that covered too. There’s a large variety of channels, player-run forums, an official forum section, and the brand new and totally shiny fiction portal which is part of the EVElopedia overhaul (yep, we’re even covered on having a wiki). There’s a few books, and of course the live events, where some players — including me — were recently welcomed into the ranks of those digitalized into prime fiction. And then there’s players shaping the game beyond what could be foreseen, such as the Jita riots leaving a permanent mark with the monument being replaced by a destroyed model.

So is it all sunshine and rainbows? There are features that need to be iterated on desperately, and there are interfaces which are still horrible. And sooner or later, despite all the many things you can do, you can reach the point where the game holds little to nothing new. It’s also a game that has less staff and less funds than some of the large titles out there, which comes with it’s own unique drawbacks. Overconfidence as well as a bursting economic bubble meant that broadening the game from just internet spaceships to dressup dolls online resulted into have to reduce what bases were covered. It happens. It’s a business like any other and sometimes wrong calls are made. But for what it is worth, EVE has proven to be surprisingly resilient thanks to the many people who were, and those who continue to be, so driven to make this game a winner.

To end on a positive note, one amazingly cool feature, and I forgot this in the interview I did, is that EVE is single sharded. There’s no servers per region, or multiple servers to pick from while you have friends scattered all across them. Just one server, with zones of increasing lawlessness, and that’s it. Sometimes, this isn’t so nice, because if the server goes down, well, it’s not like you can hop to your alt on the other server. It also creates unique challenges for lag. But this is something that the developers embrace and strive to perfect, with massive leaps being made where other MMORPGs can draw lessons from.

In short, EVE Online is a pretty amazing and unique game with its own quirks and challenges. It’s got something for nearly everybody, and if it doesn’t, well who knows, maybe at some point it will. You’ll never know if you never try.