Blog Banter 32: Non-Consensual Combat Restrictions

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?"

Oh lord, I'm a dyed in the wool care bear and even I know this would be a "very bad thing".  I will link a post I wrote back in 2009 that I titled Ganked!  In which I tell about the time leaving Jita with a Mammoth full of manufacturing materials for a tech2 research run that I was, well, ganked.  I was a fairly new player and pretty much did everything wrong.  I had made that run a number of times and become complacent, didn't know about Transport ships, quick safes or it seems common sense.

That time being ganked cost me about 1/3 or 1/2 of my on hand cash.  What I didn't do is go to the forums or local and whine and complain about not being safe flying in Empire.  Or open a ticket and ask for my stuff back.  What I did do, was research for a safer (not safe) way to transport stuff to and from Jita.

Now I use Transport ships and quick safes.  It's not foolproof, but it's a hell of a lot safer than what I was doing.

With the adjustment to the insurance to suicide ganking I think non-consensual PvP is just about where it should be.

Blog Banter 32 by Corelin @ Haberdashers Run Amok
EVE Online is Harsh - Live With It by Drackarn @ Sand, Cider and Spaceships

The New Me

Here's my results of the new character generator. I like the way it turned out.

Old portrait


New portrait

Winner Winner!

Well, after all was said and done my entry to CrazyKinux's wallpaper contest, Scenic Category, won first prize of 500M isk. I was shocked, but also quite pleased.

You can see the winners of the Scenic category here. And the winners of the Action category can be found here.

I just want to thank CrazyKinux and all the others that helped with the contest or donated prizes for it!

CrazyKinux Wallpaper Contest Submission

This is the wallpaper that I'm submitting to CrazyKinux's Wallpaper Contest.


Name: Orbit

Looking to the Future

I've been flying my Raven and Navy Issue Raven completely with complete T2 fittings for a while now.  The CNR is a missioning ship.  With the amount of isk I bring in I couldn't afford to use it in PvP.  Yes, I can afford to replace it, a couple of times, but being a Caldari boat with shield tanking, missiles and a high price tag doesn't make the risk vs. reward great for PvP.

So I'm starting to train up for a sniper Rohk.  This will also go to joining a corp that does more PvP.

Right now I have 2 days 4 hours left on Medium Railgun Specialization IV then I start on the 21 days of Large Hybrid Turret V.  Which will take me into Large Railgun Specialization.  I have this planned to level IV, is there any pressing need to do the 33 days of Large Railgun Specialization V?

My gunnery support skills are at 4 or 5.

I haven't really decided what I'm going to do from there.  I've got three routes to consider.

Training for Interceptors.  This would mean increasing my Navigation and tackling skills. 

Then there's training Caldari Cruisers V, which would open up HACs, and Strategic Cruisers, then with go to Battlecruisers V which would open up Command Ships.

Then I could get a bunch of support skills from 4 to 5.

And to be honest I think it just depends an where/what I want to do from here.  So far I've been a mission runner and done some manufacturing with an alt.  But I think it's about getting time for me to leave this corp that I started so I could share hangar space with my alt (the entire reason for creating it) and find a corp that I can help and be a contributing member, but that can also help me, through learning etc.

This will probably prove pretty hard for me as I'm a pretty quiet person until I get comfortable around people, so a friendly group is a good thing.

Anybody I associate with I want them to be mature and present themselves as such.  Also, I have a lot to learn in the realm of PvP and I'd need people to accept that and be able to give good feedback.  And most of all I need people that understand that real life comes first.

Sightseeing

So I was sitting in the station a little bored. Oh, there's plenty to do, ship maintenance on my ever growing fleet, talk to an agent and do some work, exploring etc. But nothing was fitting my mood.

I finally realized I needed to get out of the station when I saw my crew chief giving me the evil eye with a wrench in his hand. My own damn fault for hovering I suppose.

I've often thought about visiting New Eden and the Eve Gate. Visiting humanity's first steps into New Eden has been something I've felt I've needed to do.

"Chief, get Viper ready to launch." Viper is my Buzzard CovOps boat. She's stealthy and has a 13.5 AU warp speed.

"Viper is ready, ma'am." Chief McClure report. I board the ship with barely an acknowledgment. By this point I figure they're just happy to see me go. I walk up to the bridge. I chuckle to myself, for historical reasons this is still called the bridge. Back when people would be stationed here and actually look out through holo pickups or in the old "wet navy" they would look out through actual windows.

Now, there's a locker and the pod. Right now the pod look like a split open egg with a fancy lounger inside it.

I strip off my jumpsuit put it into the locker and climb into the pod. And then comes the part I always hate and can never get used to. I hit the "Begin Encapsulation" button and take a deep breath.

The top part of the pod closes and it starts filling up with a thick, colorless liquid. I've been told what it is, but I don't remember and frankly I don't care. I don't like it, but if breathing it is what I have to do to fly in the deep dark, then it's a price I'm willing to pay.

After the pod is secure I can feel the neural connections start synching up. I can feel the ship's systems coming up almost as if I'm waking up from sleep.

Station control gives me permission to undock, and I do so without hesitation. As I make my way through the undocking tunnel I tell Aura to plot me a course to the New Eden solar system.

The route turns out to be through thirty-one systems, 9 in low sec and one in Gallente space. I'm considered a "criminal" in Gallente space due to some work I did when I was in the Caldari State War Academy. Which really shouldn't be a problem as it takes them a bit to react and I should be gone before they can start shooting.

The trip out was pretty uneventful. Even once I hit low sec. Throughout the nine low sec systems I only saw 4 people in local.

I also went over to Dead End to see the "Black Obelisk" but the beacon seemed to be down as my sensors couldn't pick it up.

The flight back was just as uneventful. Or should I say, relaxing. After I docked and was on my way back to my quarters I noticed my maintenance crews weren't avoiding me, so the trip seems to have had it's desired effect.

Here are a couple of images I saved from the imaging drones.



New Eden I - Storm Planet

Eve Gate

New Toy

So, a couple of days ago I picked up a new toy. This is my new ship a Sansha Phantasm class cruiser, 'Black Angel'.


I've been using it on Level 3 missions. Working on raising my standings with Lai Dai, I want to be able to use some Level 4 Research Agents.

For mission running, this is how I'm outfitting the ship. Damage profile is Guristas.


It doesn't have the tank my Drake does (surprise, huh?) but it has better dps. I went with Beam Lasers instead of Pulse Lasers for range. And the web helps me deal with frigates.

All in all I'm pretty happy with it, even if it was a little spendy.

Blog Banter #13: See the Universe

From CrazyKinux's newest Blog Banter

Welcome to the thirteenth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

The first banter of this 2nd year of EVE Blog Banters comes to us from Zargyl from A Sebiestor Scholar, who asked the following: On the EVE Fanfest 2009 page are pictures of prizes for the Silent Auction that was held during the event. One of these photos was entitled “Design your own EVE mission”. My question now would be what kind of mission would you write if you got that prize? What would the mission be about? Would it be one using the new system of epic mission arks? What would be the story told by it? Feel free to expand upon his questions and put together your very own mission!

One of the things I liked about doing the original Epic Missions arc was the fact that it took you all over the place.

I know that that there are "landmarks" all over the EVE Universe, and I know that I've not gone out of my way to see any of them. There is the EVE Gate, the Black Monolith, a Titan wreck that has been named "Steve". Mynxee talked about a roam she did looking at these plus other sites in a post called A Worthwhile Jaunt.

I don't know how many capsuleers have actually taken the time to go and see some of these sites, but I suspect a large number haven't. Which brings me to what I think would be an interesting mission series.

Mission: L4 - Meeting at the EVE Gate

Your agent informs you that a traitor and enemy agent are going to be meeting at the EVE Gate and he wants you out there to spy on them and get a record of their conversation. You are specifically told not to engage them or get noticed by them. Which means a CovOps ship.

When you warp in you'll see the two ships about 40km away and once you approach to within 20km the conversation will begin. Once they are done talking they warp off. You are free to look around or you can leave and return to your agent.

Once there he'll hand you another in the series and send you off to another landmark somewhere in New Eden.

I don't anticipate these to be difficult in themselves, but there can be some long travel necessitated by this, potentially through low and null sec. And I required a CovOps ship in it. So I made it a Level 4 mission.

As an alternative it could be made into an Epic Mission Arc by trying to hit every landmark. That would probably take a while. Also this would have missions mixed up with combat vs. just spying.

1. CrazyKinux's Musing - Your Mission, should you decide to accept it...
2. Zen and the Art of Internet Spaceship Maintenance - First Blood
3. The Elitist - Guristas Invasion
4. The Wandering Druid of Tranquility - ...It's another episode of Design Star: EVE Style...
5. Level Cap -Epic Battles
6. Roc's Ramblings - The Cave of Time
7. Aether - Teach a man to fish...
8. Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah - Mission: Tangled Webs
9. Adventures in Mission Running - I can haz spaceship?
10. Nuke Thoughts - EVE Blog Banter 13
11. Diary of a Pod Pilot - Distressing The Damsel
12. Guns Ablaze - Dynamic Missions
13. Achernar - Confidential Report
14. More to come...

Ganked!

"Jita 4-4 Control this is Polar Storm, ready for transit out of the station." "Roger, Polar Storm.", a traffic controller reports. I feel the tractor beams tugging on the huge mass of the Mammoth I'm currently piloting with a full load of manufacturing items. Then comes the blackness of the transit tunnel. "Why can't they light this damn thing?", I think for the thousandth time.

As I move out of the station I see the traffic pattern is pretty full, but I'm not in danger of colliding with anyone. I tell the navi-comp to align and warp to the Sobieski gate.

I notice that there are small battle going on all around me. Pretty much normal for Jita. Corps at war with each other, duels of honor, corpmates practicing, any number of reasons for people to commit violence against each other. But I go on naively safe in the fact that I've not pissed anyone off, don't have a bounty on my head and am not at war with anyone.

Then alarms start going off. Shields gone, armor gone, hull to 80%. I actually physically felt that strike, bringing me to reality, severing the separation that the pod connections usually give me.

I give the order to abandon ship and move to start the re-docking process. Before I can even send the request to Jita Control the ship disintegrates around me.

I dock my pod up and start taking stock. I find out that all my crew are safe. I was still a little bit in shock. Not from what happened. Even though this was the first time it had happened to me, I've always known the potential for it existed. I was in shock for the sheer speed at which it happened. From when I recongnized I was under attack to when I was in my pod was probably 3 or 4 seconds.

I realize that someone must have targeted me using a passive targeter, scanned my ship to find out what cargo I was carrying and then unleashed the fury of his Tech II lasers on me.

Looking at the market I find that there's a Mammoth on sale at the station. Once I get it bought, assembled, and get the crew on board we head back out to see if maybe (not holding my breath) I still have some cargo I can save.

Nope, already been picked clean, so there's only one thing to do.

I re-dock the new ship. And tell the crew to meet me at the bar, drinks are on me.

<OOC>
No matter how safe you feel, you're not. Never forget that, never become complacent. They ARE out to get you. No, you're not paraoid. LOL

Between the ship, its fittings and my cargo I lost approximately 240 Million ISK. Oh, well, it's the price of doing business. If ships weren't destroyed all the time I couldn't make money by manufacturing.

Fly safe! Safer than me on that trip anyway. LOL

Non-EVE comment

<rant>

The Blogger.com post editor really f****** irritates me.

</rant>

Nothing else to see here, move along people, move along.