My First Eve Acquaintance

Communication in Eve is essential and is the lifeblood in any group activity.  Most of the time it can make or break a situation, it can be a simple mistake leading to the destruction of billions of ISK or it could be as simple as mentioning that there is a fleet of 30+ cruisers roaming about.  In Eve there are many ways to communicate but the most often referred to is being on comms.  While typing, and broadcasts work in some situations that ability to communicate verbally can be much more informative and quicker.  Being able to talk with people is so important that Eve even includes their own voip type service.

Industrial Tiericide Mark II

Recently the T1 industrials were hit by tiericide which was followed by a lot of criticism on how it was handled.  A little while later we got Round 2 of the industrial tiericide.  This second go around at industrial rebalancing was received with a whole lot more enthusiasm than before.  Even though there are still a few things I don't like about it, it has turned into a far better improvement for the game.  Industrials are a workhorse in Eve and there is no getting around that.  I think most everybody has trained some racial industrial to at least 1 just so that they can move small quantities of things without having to use a courier service.  One of the major problems that haulers had was that they didn't really give a whole lot of cargo space, and the amount of m3 that modules or ore can take up can be pretty hefty.  If you wanted to move anything in semi-large quantities without training an Orca or freighter everyone told you to train for the Iteron Mark V.

Signals in the Void 6

("Signals in the Void" is my attempt at an in character fan fiction revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

As the rest of the science and salvage crews finish transferring over to the station and our small base camp, I move the Arbitrator back away from the station and head towards the group of spaceship wrecks we found earlier, while we wait for our inside teams to finish their preparations.  I think starting with the smaller ships will be a good approach and maybe help determine who was on which side. 

My Killboard Usage

Now that I'm participating in PvP a whole lot more, I am drawn to a tool that was always neglected before.  That tool is the Eve killmail, which can be accessed in your combat log, or your corporations war tab under kill reports.  While these are ways to access your killmails in game, killmails are also processed via api on several sites.  I've found this bit of information to be highly educational, but also misleading.  The way the killmail system works is that if you take some sort of aggressive action towards a ship, even though you may have done nothing damage wise, you will still end up participating on the killmail.  The reason this is very misleading is that the websites that process killmails keep track of your win/loss ratio in regard to ships and ISK.  So it is very easy to skew your killboard to be favorable.  Does this mean it's without its merits?  Nope, it just means that you have to pay close attention when analyzing the killboard for information that you are looking for.

Funding my PvP

I have been in Stay Frosty for little over a month and in that time I have been part of kills, and I have been killed.  What's interesting is that looking at the killboard, since I joined frosty I've lost ~200 mISK in assets.  A lot of which was me derping myself trying to figure out this whole shoot other players thing.  I'm happy to notice that so far I'm losing less and less ships consistently.  Sometimes I might actually go a few fights with the same ship *gasp* but then I end up roaming space in my wonderful pod on my way to reship.  So far I've been having lots of fun and plan on continuing this lifestyle. 

Signals in the Void 5

("Signals in the Void" is my attempt at an in character fan fiction revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

Waiting for my crew to break into the station, I make slight adjustments now and again to keep within a decent range so that they can exchange tools and equipment easier.  The outer hatches always take a minute to cut through but soon enough they should be able to access the electronics of the station and begin override procedures.  This will allow quick access through the corridors and may even give them the layout and the ability to identify which areas of the station have been compromised. 

Quick Fleet And PvP Ramblings

The group or team dynamic plays an important role in Eve.  Having flown solo for a vast majority of my Eve career, I'm finding it to be a different experience right now in Stay Frosty.  The other night I was in a fleet with four other members, and we roamed about shooting stuff that came across our path.  I have never flown in a fleet with more than two people in it, and whenever I did the two man fleet, the other person was always my brother.  So I found it quite enjoyable to be able to fly with some of the more experienced members and get to know them a little bit.  Now I haven't gotten to know a lot of the members of Stay Frosty, but the few I've chatted and fleeted with have been really neat to hang out with.

Signals in the Void 4

("Signals in the Void" is my attempt at an in character fan fiction revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

The journey through low security space has gone smooth so far.  We didn't run afoul of any pirates as of yet and though the systems have a couple stations here and there it has been fairly low in the number of capsuleers that are about.  Of which I'm grateful, there a several pirate gangs who roam the area, not including the factions that are constantly fighting over these systems without making any real headway.  They may fight and lay claim to a system but it's really the pirate corporations that run the show. 

A Detour With Training

Eve online varies greatly from other in games in one major point which is the skill system.  With the kind of system that Eve employs being a real time training process, there is no reward for playing Eve more or less.  Normally this kind of a system does not work because time is precious and people don't want to wait for a skill to train in real time.  To add to that, when you start the game you can't just fly any ship or even use your current ship all that well.  To become perfect in any one skill takes at least a few days and if you try for one of the high end skills you could be waiting several months.  I believe CCP chose this model of "leveling" to eliminate the grind that comes from other games of forcing yourself to get to the next level.  While the skills have a set time which you can affect by implants or attribute changes it is still a set time.  The key to this model is that people are allowed to focus on what they can do instead of grinding to the next level.

Pirate? Carebear? Pirbearate!

Something I've noticed about my killboard is that it contains a lot of losses.  Eve online is one of those games where people devote a huge amount of focus to being efficient.  One of those ways is comparing your killboard by the amount of destroyed ISK versus the amount you lose.  While there are loop holes to the system, it works reasonably well.  What I like about Stay Frosty is that we aren't focused right now on having a good killboard with high efficiency.  While it is a goal for all members to work towards, not because it is mandatory or required but because it gives a good indication of how well you are improving.  If a good killboard was required I wouldn't be in the coolest pirate corporation around.  The reason for this is that I am a "carebear" and players do not react the same way NPC's do.  Unless something happens this is what my current progression looks like.

Signals in the Void 3

("Signals in the Void" is my attempt at an in character fan fiction revolving around my adventures in exploration.)

Having made my call to Captain Erhan, I swing the Anathema around with ease.  It is always interesting, how with a few modifications we can make ships as nimble as air, or into a tough brick.  I tend to prefer the good old tough Amarr armor over the flimsy shield technology that seems to dominate the current trends.  But there is always a balance to be struck, for my journey into low security space I will need to make sure I have just enough armor that I don't impede my maneuverability.  Even though I'll trust my armor in a fight, it's best to avoid the fight in the first place.

Being Civil

One thing I've noticed while playing games over the internet, heck even since I got on the internet.  Which is that people will do strange things when hidden behind the veil of anonymity.  It is just that for some reason previous normal values (that they live by on a day-by-day basis) don't seem to apply.  Eve online is no different.  By providing a veil of anonymity it will breed this type of person.  There is no cure and trying to find one will be wasted effort.  But I find that the Eve online community is actually fairly decent and that there are more people willing to help you if you need it than not.  Having played in other online communities a few good examples of viciousness among the player base include League of Legends, Dota, and Dota 2.  Though I find playing these games very fun, dealing with the players is a long arduous journey of frustration.  Hence why I mostly don't play these games unless I have a few friends who are online at the same time.