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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Being Logical

Those that have read my earlier posts (all two of you) know that I prefer support class ships in PVP.  I’ve created one post already with my opinion of the ECM ships I fly and I wanted to take some time to discuss the shield logistics ships.  

When I first started flying logi ships I read through several different forums to help gain a baseline understanding of which ship is better in which situations, and to what level should skills be trained.  One thing that kept showing up over and over was that if you’re going to commit to flying logi you should train logistic ships to V.  The reason to spend over 20 days training is capacitor stability.  The additional boost to capacitor efficiency is usually the different between an additional Large Shield Transporter (LST) or having to downgrade to a smaller sized repper.  Tank can also be affected due to a requirement to add a capacitor recharger or capacitor booster in a mid slot.  Overall the value of training to Logi V is completely worth the training time for anyone that intends to fly a logistics ship as a primary playstyle.

Taking the longcut to a great fight (AAR)

Task: Conduct fleet operation with shield BS arty fleet
Conditions: Combined alliance group looking to engage WT's around the Rens area
Standards: Get into a fight with the WT's and win  

  Situation:  Enemy fleets ranging from 15-30 war targets have dug in at the Rens star system and send out raiding parties to nearby systems. Friendly force commanders desire to engage and defeat WT's in a system away from Rens thus causing the enemy to potentially lose some neutral support and put the fight on more even terms.

  Mission: Coalition forces assemble fleet and conduct roam through outlying areas in order to engage the enemy in pitched battle.

  Execution:  Assemble in REDACTED with long range shield BS, preferably maelstrom class minmatar battleship, with logistics, recon, and ECM support.  FC will determine route based on scouting reports.

  Service/Support:  Logistics and ECM support will be traveling with fleet.  Stations along the route of march can be utilized for last second module exchange or repairs.  No capital or supercapital support will be expected during operation.  Follow on forces will be dependent upon themselves for movement to link up with fleet, no scouting will be available.

  Command and control:  Voice coms will be located on ventrillo at REDACTED.  FC will be in overall command.  Wing or squad commanders should be prepared to execute individual command over their echelon as needed.

  Summary report:  I logged on late tonite for the planned op but my corp leader linked the system the where the fleet was loitering.  Jark is only 6 jumps if I'm willing to cruise by Rens, but in this war the enemy is turned Rens into a wasp nest of neutrals and spies.  Instead I decide to route through metropolis, back into heimatar, and finally into delve.  I think the total jumps was somewhere around 18, but I wasn't counting because I was trying to get voice to work.  Eventually I realized Ventrillo was required and no matter how much I checked the info in TeamSpeak just wasn't gonna work. I started downloaded ventrillo about the time I was heading through two low sec jumps, in a blackbird, and I had to pay attention to flying.  At last I joined the fleet and was about to switch back to loading ventrillo when reds jumped through the gate.  Battle was upon us and I would just have to fight without coms.