I feel like I just received an Internet medal! Joining 51 other people on the CrazyKinux blog pack, which is also featured on the iphone application: Capsuleer, is pretty cool. The blog pack started me off in the EVE community, with great sites like the Rifter Drifter fueling the desire to add something of my own to the realm of EVE stuff.
For the new comers to my blog, I have written a menial slathering of posts on general subjects with the one crown jewel so far being the ECM guide. Part 5 is soon to be released and it will focus on the Scorpion and a recap of all the parts published so far, within a few weeks I will see it put into a refined PDF for easier reading.
EVE stuff is happening more for me at the moment and just having moved alliances I hope to have a bit more of a focus on engagements, emerging fleet tactics and further instructional guides on ships that I fly on here.
Welcome to the other members of the pack too:
Ardent Defender
Tiger Ears
Cogito Ergo Yarr
TooNu
Venoms Bite
me!
Faction Warfare Military Career Center
August 05, 2010
August 02, 2010
EVE bloggers checklist
After reading CK's stuff about writing a good blog I came up with a quick checklist of my own that I will start to follow for all future posts.
Do you like what you’re writing today?
Chances are if you dont no one else will, so if you have an article that doesnt sit well with you right now then save it as a draft and revisit it down the track.
Is the page one big block of text?
If it is then you are doing it wrong, walls of text make it hard for you to grab attention and since EVE has no sound EVE players are used to being drawn towards pretty pictures or red squares.
Does everything look right?
Layout, cohesion, image sizes, text colour and fonts being used can be a harsh mistress if treated disrespectfully. Doll the stuff up but dont dress her up like hooker looking for her first paying customer for the day - unless you are a hooker looking for your first customer...
Does it make sense?
dabbjabazai ...exactly!
So with these few points I hope that my next few posts should be my best yet. For the rest of the bloggers out there what steps do you go through (if any) before pushing that publish button?
Do you like what you’re writing today?
Chances are if you dont no one else will, so if you have an article that doesnt sit well with you right now then save it as a draft and revisit it down the track.
Is the page one big block of text?
If it is then you are doing it wrong, walls of text make it hard for you to grab attention and since EVE has no sound EVE players are used to being drawn towards pretty pictures or red squares.
Does everything look right?
Layout, cohesion, image sizes, text colour and fonts being used can be a harsh mistress if treated disrespectfully. Doll the stuff up but dont dress her up like hooker looking for her first paying customer for the day - unless you are a hooker looking for your first customer...
Does it make sense?
dabbjabazai ...exactly!
So with these few points I hope that my next few posts should be my best yet. For the rest of the bloggers out there what steps do you go through (if any) before pushing that publish button?
July 26, 2010
Character development
Picking up over a million skill points recently in drone related skills I will be able to use Fighters proficiently but not perfectly, training those skills to level 5 can wait until I am in a Super Carrier.
I am currently pumping out Long Range Targeting to 5 so that I can jump into Logistics ships to be a general handy fleet participant, everyone loves a healer! It will also be great for everything else that I fly so the 9 day training time is justified. Having Cruiser 5 for Gallente and Caldari gives me the ability to do armor and shield logistics, with the armor HAC gangs that are popular right now it will be something new to try out.
The plan for the future is spread across 3 months, with plan one having roughly 60 days of carrier related skills to make sure I am well equipped to fly the Thanatos, field a wing of Fighters and be able to jump a reasonable distance by training up my navigation skills.
Plan two consists of getting into Interdictors and Heavy Interdictors, another support role but something that is always handy for any corp roams that comes along.
So with 95 days planned I think that will be enough before I find something else that I MUST TRAIN FOR IMMEDIATELY!
Current EVEMon status looks a little like this:
July 20, 2010
ECM in depth: Part 5 RECON SHIPS
With a long break I am back doing EVE related things, following on from the previous entries on ECM I am a short way from finishing the series off. In part 5 the focus is on Recon Ships and while I have posted a few fits there is at least 5 or more viable fits for each and I would be interested to hear back on fits that you may have used or be using right now. So lets get into it!
I just finished training for Recons, what do i need to know?
1. Recons are expensive loss mails, practice with their cheaper cousin (Blackbird) if your funds are limited
2. You will be the primary target for hostile fleets
3. Train Recon Ships to level 4 and to 5 if you have the patience, ship bonuses are king
4. Fit for your situation, cookie cutters are out, task specific are in. Rigs are cheap, remove and interchange as needed.
5. Based on fitting hard points and ship bonuses Rooks use missiles, Falcons use hybrids - neuts are also an option for the highs.
Skills and Skill Plans
Here are the main skills you will be requiring to get yourself in the cockpit of a Caldari Recon ship:
Caldari Cruiser 5
Covert Ops 4
Spaceship Command 3
Electronics Upgrades 5
Signature Analysis 5
Spaceship Command 5
Recon Ships 1 (train this puppy to at least level 4)
Rook
Caldari Cruiser Skill Bonus:
5% Bonus to Heavy and Heavy Assault Missile Launcher Rate of Fire per level
10% Bonus to ECM Target Jammer capacitor use per level
Recon Ships Skill Bonus:
30% Bonus to ECM Target Jammer strength per level
10% Bonus to Heavy Assault & Heavy Missile velocity per level
I have tried to remain impartial to the choice of weapons for all fittings so far but you are stuck with using the ship bonuses if you want to swat more than flys away from you. Rooks, go with Heavy Assault Missiles (HAMS) for small gangs and gate camps and plain Jane Heavies for anything else. Falcons, stick with hybrids to make use of the bonuses or fit neuts/smart bombs for anti-tackler/drone work.
Fitting the Rook
ECM Fit
Just under the maximum possible fit for all ECM related modules. 10MN MWD and a Damage Control II fitted to keep up with the gang and to help dictate range. Pick your own flavor of drones and overheat your modules as needed, but be careful not to burn anything out.
ECM + DPS Fit
This ship is made for small gang warfare, it packs a punch that is very respectable (around 490dps with lvl 5 skills, 429 with my skills). A racial jam strength of up to 13.4 with the only downside being a very limited tank, so stay aligned or keep 'em jammed! You can drop one of the racial jammers for a Warp Disruptor if your gang needs additional point and considering you will be in disruptor range while using HAMS it wont hurt to much to fit it.
Falcon
Caldari Cruiser Skill Bonus:
5% Bonus to Medium Hybrid Damage Per Level
10% Bonus to ECM Target Jammer capacitor use per level
Recon Ships Skill Bonus:
30% bonus to ECM Target Jammer strength per level and -96% to -100% reduced CPU need for cloaking device per level.
Role Bonus: 80% reduction in liquid ozone consumption for cynosural field generation and 50% reduction in cynosural field duration. Note: can fit covert cynosural field generators
Fitting the Falcon
Prober
You can fit better things than just guns in your highslots! A Covert Ops cloak and a probe launcher is a great combo that any FC would be happy with. You are a force multiplier, scout and prober in one sleek package of scariness. Drones can either be Hobgoblins, Warriors or EC variants. I like using Warriors as they are the fastest and immediate DPS is called for in most situations.
Jamming
This is what you should be doing with your ship! Working with max range in mind to get the best fit possible using rigs and Signal Distortion Amplifiers. Go with EC drones or your favorite flavor of light drones. The 3 x 250mm Railguns add some decent damage to small targets, load up with Spike and Antimatter ammo in case you cannot dictate the range.
Tank
Having invested a substantial amount in your ship and being the designated primary is a health hazard, to help you reduce the risk of a nasty loss mail fit yourself with some tank. 1600mm Tungsten plate is the key here, a Damage Control II is also on the shopping list. The plate does increase your align time though so make sure you are keeping right on the tail of your gang if they are in small ships or you will find yourself a gate or two behind over time. With my skills this fit requires a 1% PowerGrid implant, they are cheap and cant be found at any major market hub, go to a 3% implant if need be or reduce the plate to an 800mm and upgrade the weapons from 150mm to something bigger.
The Falcon can also fit another role and that is the role of a cynosural field generator (cyno), fitting the covert variant will allow you to open up a portal to ships that can make use of a COVERT cynosural field generator. Black Ops, Stealth Bombers, Transport Ships, Covert Ops, T3 (with the right modules) and Recon Ships. There have been some pretty impressive stories out there of covert fleets hot dropping mining ops and ratting carriers to wipe out everyone on grid so with the right crowd it can be something worth doing. YouTube has a few videos covering 'covert hot drops' and 'black ops' that show how quickly a focused gang can tear down a carrier.
So wrapping up, practice with the ships on SISI if you can or failing that option on some willing corp/alliance buddies. You want to hone your locking/jamming tactics based on threat assessments to yourself then your gang, dictating and maintaining range and overheating to get the most out of your setups. By this time you should have some very lean overview settings established, if you dont, configure a tab to show only ships that are not blue to you. You can find overview guides here, here and here and pre-configured tabs here.
Enjoy flying your shiny new Recon Ship and dont forget to insure it! The next and last part of the ECM series will be covering the Scorpion and a recap of everything to ensure all the information is still relevant.
I just finished training for Recons, what do i need to know?
1. Recons are expensive loss mails, practice with their cheaper cousin (Blackbird) if your funds are limited
2. You will be the primary target for hostile fleets
3. Train Recon Ships to level 4 and to 5 if you have the patience, ship bonuses are king
4. Fit for your situation, cookie cutters are out, task specific are in. Rigs are cheap, remove and interchange as needed.
5. Based on fitting hard points and ship bonuses Rooks use missiles, Falcons use hybrids - neuts are also an option for the highs.
Skills and Skill Plans
Here are the main skills you will be requiring to get yourself in the cockpit of a Caldari Recon ship:
Caldari Cruiser 5
Covert Ops 4
Spaceship Command 3
Electronics Upgrades 5
Signature Analysis 5
Spaceship Command 5
Recon Ships 1 (train this puppy to at least level 4)
Rook
Caldari Cruiser Skill Bonus:
5% Bonus to Heavy and Heavy Assault Missile Launcher Rate of Fire per level
10% Bonus to ECM Target Jammer capacitor use per level
Recon Ships Skill Bonus:
30% Bonus to ECM Target Jammer strength per level
10% Bonus to Heavy Assault & Heavy Missile velocity per level
I have tried to remain impartial to the choice of weapons for all fittings so far but you are stuck with using the ship bonuses if you want to swat more than flys away from you. Rooks, go with Heavy Assault Missiles (HAMS) for small gangs and gate camps and plain Jane Heavies for anything else. Falcons, stick with hybrids to make use of the bonuses or fit neuts/smart bombs for anti-tackler/drone work.
Fitting the Rook
ECM Fit
Just under the maximum possible fit for all ECM related modules. 10MN MWD and a Damage Control II fitted to keep up with the gang and to help dictate range. Pick your own flavor of drones and overheat your modules as needed, but be careful not to burn anything out.
ECM + DPS Fit
This ship is made for small gang warfare, it packs a punch that is very respectable (around 490dps with lvl 5 skills, 429 with my skills). A racial jam strength of up to 13.4 with the only downside being a very limited tank, so stay aligned or keep 'em jammed! You can drop one of the racial jammers for a Warp Disruptor if your gang needs additional point and considering you will be in disruptor range while using HAMS it wont hurt to much to fit it.
Falcon
Caldari Cruiser Skill Bonus:
5% Bonus to Medium Hybrid Damage Per Level
10% Bonus to ECM Target Jammer capacitor use per level
Recon Ships Skill Bonus:
30% bonus to ECM Target Jammer strength per level and -96% to -100% reduced CPU need for cloaking device per level.
Role Bonus: 80% reduction in liquid ozone consumption for cynosural field generation and 50% reduction in cynosural field duration. Note: can fit covert cynosural field generators
Fitting the Falcon
Prober
You can fit better things than just guns in your highslots! A Covert Ops cloak and a probe launcher is a great combo that any FC would be happy with. You are a force multiplier, scout and prober in one sleek package of scariness. Drones can either be Hobgoblins, Warriors or EC variants. I like using Warriors as they are the fastest and immediate DPS is called for in most situations.
Jamming
This is what you should be doing with your ship! Working with max range in mind to get the best fit possible using rigs and Signal Distortion Amplifiers. Go with EC drones or your favorite flavor of light drones. The 3 x 250mm Railguns add some decent damage to small targets, load up with Spike and Antimatter ammo in case you cannot dictate the range.
Tank
Having invested a substantial amount in your ship and being the designated primary is a health hazard, to help you reduce the risk of a nasty loss mail fit yourself with some tank. 1600mm Tungsten plate is the key here, a Damage Control II is also on the shopping list. The plate does increase your align time though so make sure you are keeping right on the tail of your gang if they are in small ships or you will find yourself a gate or two behind over time. With my skills this fit requires a 1% PowerGrid implant, they are cheap and cant be found at any major market hub, go to a 3% implant if need be or reduce the plate to an 800mm and upgrade the weapons from 150mm to something bigger.
The Falcon can also fit another role and that is the role of a cynosural field generator (cyno), fitting the covert variant will allow you to open up a portal to ships that can make use of a COVERT cynosural field generator. Black Ops, Stealth Bombers, Transport Ships, Covert Ops, T3 (with the right modules) and Recon Ships. There have been some pretty impressive stories out there of covert fleets hot dropping mining ops and ratting carriers to wipe out everyone on grid so with the right crowd it can be something worth doing. YouTube has a few videos covering 'covert hot drops' and 'black ops' that show how quickly a focused gang can tear down a carrier.
So wrapping up, practice with the ships on SISI if you can or failing that option on some willing corp/alliance buddies. You want to hone your locking/jamming tactics based on threat assessments to yourself then your gang, dictating and maintaining range and overheating to get the most out of your setups. By this time you should have some very lean overview settings established, if you dont, configure a tab to show only ships that are not blue to you. You can find overview guides here, here and here and pre-configured tabs here.
Enjoy flying your shiny new Recon Ship and dont forget to insure it! The next and last part of the ECM series will be covering the Scorpion and a recap of everything to ensure all the information is still relevant.
June 30, 2010
Hiatus - back now
Howdy everyone!
Sorry for such a long break in posting but I had a new member of the family come along not too long ago and all my grand plans were laid to waste. I still have the drafts of my ECM guide in the works and the series will be finished very soon.
If you have not had a look at them here are the links: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5: Coming soon!
Just read Mynxee's writeup on the recent CSM summit, you can find it here, it is always good to read about what is happening to make the game better.
Expect the next ECM article by the end of the week and regular posting will commence from there.
Sorry for such a long break in posting but I had a new member of the family come along not too long ago and all my grand plans were laid to waste. I still have the drafts of my ECM guide in the works and the series will be finished very soon.
If you have not had a look at them here are the links: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5: Coming soon!
Just read Mynxee's writeup on the recent CSM summit, you can find it here, it is always good to read about what is happening to make the game better.
Expect the next ECM article by the end of the week and regular posting will commence from there.
May 18, 2010
What butterfly?
This video explains in 2 minutes and 39 seconds why I play EVE. A wicked clip that while done close to a year ago still remains relevant now, I believe it was done with an inhouse recording tool CCP made for promotional materials. The HUD on the ships is a whole load of shit but it does blip into the actual gameplay windows which is a nice change from the CGI heavy stuff that gets pimped out but does nothing to show what the game is really like.
Was just thinking how funny it would be if CCP released a video from the recent lag fest that was the H-W fight, jump through, wait, wait, wait..... oh new clone. Regardless of the things that annoy us all the video still rocks my socks.
Was just thinking how funny it would be if CCP released a video from the recent lag fest that was the H-W fight, jump through, wait, wait, wait..... oh new clone. Regardless of the things that annoy us all the video still rocks my socks.
May 07, 2010
I have an hour to play EVE
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Recently I have found my free time waning and getting a decent chunk of time locked away is almost an impossible task, being in the Australian time zone I am also lucky enough to have a prime time hour pulled out from under me (2030 to 2130) and the associated wind down and wind up also chews another 30 minutes. So on either side of the scheduled downtime I try to get as much done as possible, but how much can you really do with an hour in EVE?
HEAPS! But most of it is not fun and I don't want to roam around solo all the time, EVE is an MMO not an FPS. I usually end up joining a gate camp or doing some anomalies but recently those gate camps have been very quiet and shooting rats all the time without needing the sec status boost is very stagnant. Alliance CTA's are out as are anything that involves more than 15 minutes travel chews into my hour play time too much.
I have had grand plans of taking on wormholes, installing jump clones in pirate infested space for quick engagements and flying through 0.0 choke points in the hope of fights but they all seems to be empty when I arrive. My corp is always a great source of entertainment and everyone is always willing to try something new but gathering a fleet and setting off in under 20 minutes is a miracle in the making.
So to the time conscience or time restricted EVE players out there, what do you do with an hour in EVE?
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