Thursday 29 September 2011

Because of Falcon (AAR)

Task- Conduct anti-pirate operations in Auner and surrounding systems.

Conditions- Given an operating environment consisting of small gang, a mix of BC and support ships, with voice coms in a two to three system operational area.

Standards- Engage and destroy ships with horrible security standing or that are GCC while maintaining maximum advantage and avoiding unfavorable pitched battle.

Summary-
  I recently moved to the Amo system and part of the motivation for the move was to conduct anti-pirate operations in the Auner system.  I have little experience with small gang warfare as well as little experience with solo fighting.  Last night there was a defense fleet up so I hopped in my Hawk and went join in the fun.  When I found out our fleet composition was mainly BC in size I reshipped into my Falcon and joined the fleet on the gate.  I established an orbit of 30km which provided optimal range for all jammers if/when the enemy came through the gate.

Monday 26 September 2011

Nulling it over (Change suggestions)

  A recent comment from a new reader (up to three now) got me to thinking about how to make null sec more appealing to small alliances.  Let me state up front that I have no experience in null sec although I'm interested in taking up residence one day.  My opinion is from the segment of the population which CCP wants to get moved into null.  You may not like the idea of changing null to be more appealing to bears with teeth, but perhaps the idea of having a chunk of high space dwellers (80% of the population) move into null to take up the fight is appealing.

  That said I'll briefly break down the problems I see with null sec and the influences which have prompted me to stay away from the promised land.
1. Paying rent:  I want to be a homeowner and if I'm going to spend money on a place to stay I want that money to be an investment and not just a monthly expenditure that hopefully keeps the landlord on friendly terms so I don't get evicted when his mistress has a midlife crisis and needs a place to recover from her plastic surgery.
2.  Bringing a pen-knife to a gunfight: My hangar full of super awesome BCs and T2 cruisers won't last very long against cap and supercap blobs.  Even my uber cool BS squadron is of little to no value when going up against the top of the null sec food chain.
3.  Getting lost in the shuffle:  I really enjoy the people in my alliance and I like the small town atmosphere of our chat channels.  I don't want to join a thousand member strong group and become one more cricket chirping in the background.
4.  Fire in the disco:  Sudden and rapid seizure of all assets due to overwhelming force with little to no time with which to flee the area.

  Those are the main things that put a negative spin on null sec for me.  Today I thought of a few possible solutions and wanted to share.  These new structures could only be implemented in a designated home system and when an alliance grows large enough to occupy multiple systems they lose the ability to designate a home system.

1. Capital/SuperCap ship inhibitors.  This isn't the same thing as a cyno jammer.  Instead this is an indestructible structure that prevents all capital or larger combat ships from entering a system.   Additionally this could be tailored to just supercaps and allow the use of capitals.

2.  Population density isolator.  A structure that limits the total number of players in a system.  Numbers allowed are based on sovereign alliance total membership.  So an alliance with 50 members is allowed to have 75 total friendly (dark or light blue) in system while neutrals and below are limited to 50.  The owning alliance can adjust the allowed numbers up or down as they grow or decrease, but there will be a maximum allowed based on membership.


  I think those two changes would be enough to make null sec appeal to small alliances and see a large number of systems become occupied almost overnight.  Larger groups can still take territory using siege tactics and attrition to wear down the defenders.  Defenders would have a home fleet advantage with slightly higher population.  Some jump lines would have to be adjusted to remove possible bottlenecks and there might need to be the ability to jump around a fully occupied system.  As an alliance expands, whether in population or technology, they would have to reduce the safeguards and thus expose themselves to more dangerous situations.

Friday 23 September 2011

Changing the Game

  Recent Dev blog activity indicates CCP is looking to change the game some.  Many people are looking forward to a pending SuperCap nerf to help even the playing field in null sec.  There is talk of long term plans for revamping null into something more friendly and more appealing to the masses.  UI modifications, font adjustments, and more fun with the API have all been talked about.

  What hasn't been talked about though is the idea that perhaps some attention should be paid to the 80% of the population (QEN Q4 2010) that lives in Empire.  Everyone knows that Eve is a game based on PVP and there is no such thing as a safe place.  Anytime you undock there is a chance of getting killed by another player.  This hardcore mentality is not new to MMO's, most games have several servers based on this concept, but Eve is unique in that it has no option to avoid PVP.  Thus the game ends up with a constant threat at all times.

Monday 12 September 2011

War is over (AAR)

Task:  Participate in high sec war declared against us.

Conditions:  Given high sec area in Minmatar space with access to low sec routes.

Standards: Continue to enjoy the game while still participating in war activities and minimizing losses.

Summary:
Three weeks was the total length of wars declared against us.  I was much more comfortable than previous wars, but at the same time I was rather disappointed with how the war was conducted on the part of the antagonists.  The war started when a GCC T3 cruiser pirating in low sec was killed and the alliance leader pilot got upset and declared war on two of the alliances involved in the kill.

Monday 5 September 2011

Black Bird Loss (AAR)

Task: Travel solo to join up with fleet located in low sec.

Conditions:  Using  a Black Bird ECM cruiser travel to and coduct pvp with friendly fleet deployed in low security system.  Travel will be solo and can occur in both low and high security systems.

Standards:  Arrive at fleet location with ship intact and appropriate ECM modules fitted.

Summary:  I was moving to join a fleet in the Todifraun area last night and decided to take my Black Bird as I've had good success moving during times of war and through low security systems with this particular ship.  In addition the fleet was low on ECM support so two birds, one stone.  I opted to travel through low sec along a route I'm familiar with and when I jumped into Eifer a gate camp was in place.

Friday 2 September 2011

Coming Out of the Closet

  Part of my intention when creating this blog was to discuss game topics near to my heart.  Recently I've been participating in incursions as a logistics pilot, and I am exclusively shield focused on all of my characters.  Yesterday it took awhile to get a fleet but I noticed in chat that armor logi's were in high demand.  The Guardian is far and above the logi of choice for armor but I can't fly one.  I could train for Amarr cruiser 5 rather easily but it would mean choosing to endorse the Amarr empire, and that is something I' won't do.

Staying Classy

There are many sites out there that detail the how to's and what not's of most of the ships in Eve.  What I'd like to do is talk some about the general differences in ship hulls and what to expect from the different classes of vessels.

The different classes of ships are:
Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Battle Cruiser, Battleship, Capital, Super Capital and Auxiliary