My Apology to @CCP_Punkturis

I wrote a blog post yesterday about some Hulkageddon experiences. During those experiences I had some issues/complaints about the functionality of the overview window.

I mistakenly attributed those changes to CCP Punkturis. I was sure I remembered her tweeting about them. But I think I got confused with the pinned windows feature that she worked on (or fixed) post Crucible, with the sort locking features introduced in March by Team Gridlock.

So my apology for attributing those UI issues to her.

I tried to make the changes this morning, but was rushed before work, and didn't really have time to do much, other than remove reference to her and replace with the dev I was informed has headed up the team actually involved/responsible.

As an aside, I do take issue with some comments stating that I was both rude and ridiculing towards her. I was nothing of the sort. I was careful to keep it lighthearted. Included a smiling emoticon. And referred to her as a lovely person. Unless viking culture is much different than I imagine, I don't see how any of that can be construed as rude and/or ridiculing.

I've fixed the post and attributed the changes to Team Gridlock as a whole. (Isn't CCP Veritas the head of Team Gridlock?)

Katrín does good work. It wasn't my intention to imply that she did anything other than good work, except to point out one area that could use some additional improvement. Team Gridlock does good work as well, but the UI issue I bring up, if they could find the time, adding a user-defined option would be welcome.

Again, my sincerest apology to CCP Punkturis.

Hulkageddon V - I Blame It On Team Gridlock

I guess it was still Day One of Hulkageddon by EVE time as I was out hunting wabbits again, but a new day for me.

I logged on to nobody in corp channel, and one AFK dude on Mumble.

Oh yeah, fucking Mumble. I forgot to mention that Corelin found The Fancy Hats a Mumble server, and it was great yesterday, roaming about looking for prey, and chatting and arranging shit over comms. I've missed that since my EVE University days.

So, I log in. Not much action online in corp, but I'm keen to get some more kills. I undock and warp between a couple planets in Amdonen, d-scanning. Nothing of note. Nishah, the next system over, is also a 0.6, so jump in. D-scan. Oh sweet fuck, a Hulk. And oh, hey, I know that corporation.

Yesterday when we stole the two Orcas, there were also two Hulks piggybacking. One I killed, Ghostdawg13, and the other, Trintium 6, well he got away. Until now. There he was. Out in a belt, mining away. Orca-less, of course.

I'm alone, and my alt is way up in Hek, so I'm gonna have to do this scout-free. What the hey, he either gets away, because he notices me in the belt with him or he doesn't. If he does, good for him. If he doesn't, then he deserves the death he's going to get.

I jump to the belt. I land 24 km off his bow. My Catalyst has no speed mods to speak of, so I start slowboating over to Trintium's Hulk, at a staggering 340 m/s. EVE Online needs copious amounts of stupidity, otherwise how will the economy function? It takes almost a full minute, but I coast up to a comfortable 2 km, drop my drone. Lock him up. Then proceed to rip him to shreds. No pity. Dude not paying attention, during Hulkageddon, the day after we stole his Orca? Dude deserves to get ripped a new one. Again. What the hell was he thinking? No one to blame but himself. Stupidity, the EVE economy feeds off of it.

There were some more successes during the day, after more of The Hats came online, and you can check them out at my killboard, but I would prefer to talk about the two whiffs I made today.

The first failure, I am partially blaming on Team Gridlock. They're the team responsible for time dilation. They don't normally handle UI issues, but they were tasked with improving the response time of the overview, and while they were doing that, they added a few UI tweaks. I'm not ripping on them (because they do great work on non-UI issues), rather I just want to point out that giving the user control over UI options, rather than hard-coding them into the framework ... good idea. My failure is the result of some hard-coding, that could have been mitigated had I some control over how I wanted my overview to function.

The problem here is the auto-sorting. I set up my overview, like most folks, to auto-sort by distance. Last March, Team Gridlock made a great change, that locked the overview sorting if the mouse was hovering over the window, in motion or not. Some people complained about this, so being the nice development team that they are, they made a further adjustment. The sorting locks when you have the mouse hovering (and in motion) over the overview, but if the mouse stops moving for a full second, the auto-sorting resumes. (It could be two seconds, but test it yourself, seems a lot closer to one second to me.) The change struck me as an opportunity to add in a user-defined option, we could set how long we wanted to overview to remain locked when a motionless mouse was hovering above it. Oh well, maybe she'll find the time to do this, or I'll just have to take an extra second or two to double check stuff before initiating live fire.

I get a warp in on a Hulk/Orca combination from our fantastic scout. I land about 4km off. I select the Hulk and start approaching. Look to my overview and check that my mouse is over the Hulk. As soon as I'm within 2.5km range (my optimal) I control-click to target. Perhaps I should have used another hotkey to target, but I use a combination, depending on what's most convenient, such as all that. Anyhow, I control-click, without looking at the overview. Of course, my mouse had been motionless during the approach, so auto-sorting kicked in, and what I actually targeted was not the Hulk, but the damned Orca. As soon as I got the target lock, I started activating weapons, scram and web. After the first volley, and only a sliver of damage appeared on the target, I knew the screw-up I'd just made. Fuuuuuuuuck. So, loss one. I'm sure it was quite amusing for the Hulk/Orca owner, if he was even at the keyboard.

The second loss, I have to congratulate the miner. He was prepared for Hulkageddon. This time it was a Orca/Mackinaw combination. I wasn't worried in the least. A single Catalyst against a single Mackinaw? No problem at all. I start firing at the Mackinaw, and the Orca pilot slips immediately into saviour mode. Shield reps on the Mack, and he lets loose shield repping drones. I got the Mackinaw 50% into armor by the time CONCORD showed up. Before limping off in the pod, I congratulated the Orca pilot, "Well, played, dude!" Turn about is fair play, after all. He was prepared for potential solo gankings. He likely wouldn't have stood a chance against two Catalysts, but not often are people going to waste two Cats on a Mackinaw.

Another good day of fun. I'm enjoying flying with these Fancy Hat guys.

Hulkageddon V - Because I Won't Be Long For The Leaderboard

I doubt I'll be on the official Hulkageddon leaderboards for long, so might as well crow about it while I can. I was in line for two more solo kills earlier (a Hulk and a Mackninaw), but more on that later.

Hulkageddon V - The Opening Salvo

It was a good night for The Fancy Hats Corporation.

First of all, Corelin recorded first blood for Hulkageddon V, getting a Mackinaw kill two minutes into the official start of the month-long festivities.

The Hats killed another three exhumers while I was enroute with clone #3 from Syndicate.

I recorded kill #5 for The Hats, a solo Hulk gank in my Catalyst. This after Corelin and our fantastic scout stole two Orcas out from under poor Ghostdawg13's nose. Apparently, you mine in your Hulks while keeping your very expensive jetcans (aka Orcas) targeted, and this sort-of kind-of protects them from being stolen (since you cannot board a ship while it is being targeted.) That is, until someone flies in a Blackbird and scrambles targeting with some ECM. Voila! Two strangers jack your Orcas.

We tried to sell the Orcas back to the miners we stole them from, but they didn't seem all that interested. It was a good deal too, under market value.

(Seems like a really silly way to mine. Who the hell isn't going to exchange a Blackbird for an Orca? Although, you don't really exchange ships. Once you're in the Orca, you just toss the now pilot-free Blackbird into your new Orca's hangar bay.)

All told, by the end of the evening, we, of The Fancy Hats, had 12 exhumer kills under our belts. If the damned Goonswarm Hulkageddon killboard was working properly, The Fancy Hats would currently be winning EVE Online.

I tallied up three kills, though should have had five (four of them exhumers). My first attempted kill was on a Retriever. I was excited and wanted to kill something. Unfortunately, I didn't read the instructions on my weapons and ammo, engaging from 4.5km. Opening up the instruction manual afterwards, my weapons have an optimal of 2.5km, a falloff of 1.5km. I was in the second falloff. Was promptly killed by CONCORD. The second loss was at the end of the night. Since I'd solo ganked a Hulk earlier in the evening, hubris decided I could do it again. I was not successful. Catalysts cannot solo tanked Hulks. I should have waited for the backup to arrive. As they say in The Fancy Hats, "Overkill is the best kill."

I'm also down to a security status of -1.22. That could put a crick into plans if people start putting bounties on me.

Poetic Stanziel's Hulkageddon Board

The Fancy Hats Corporation Killboard

Hulkageddon V - Propaganda Posters

(click image for full size)

Whoa Jita!

New Eden Ship Destruction - The Last Twenty-Four Hours
(5150 kills in Jita, alone)

The First of Many

This day, last year, I joined EVE Online. This is the day that Poetic Stanziel emerged from podgoo for the first time. My only disappointment is not having discovered EVE Online years ago. But, better late than never.

Today is also a certificate milestone. By design. A couple months ago, I was redoing my skill queue, and realized that I could have the highest level of Core Competency within my first year of playing. Rearranging my skill queue, I set it up so that I would get Core Competency (Elite) on the anniversary of my first year of play.

Milestone-on-milestone action.

My only regret for this first year is not making a serious effort to get to Fanfest 2012. There is always Fanfest X in 2013, but this most recent Fanfest had a certain appeal after all was said and done. Fanfest 2012 may be the last of its kind.

It's been a pretty good year in EVE. Here is a list of some highlights throughout the year:

• Joined the EVE University nest; learned the fundamentals of the game. EVE University do the fundamentals well.
• Started Poetic Discourse.
• Was given a shove out of the nest, after I bitched about the state of the nest.
• Had a bunch of fun trolling EVE University drama and ineptitude on the blog, Twitter, and EVE Online forums.
• Discovered Sindel's legs.
• Wrote some fiction.
• Circumnavigated New Eden through null security space only.
• Joined the EVENews24 blogger team.
• Ganked my first exhumer in high security space.
• Created my alt, Scottish Play.
• Moved out to null security space; played the solo game.
• Bookmarked all of Stain; sold seven sets of those bookmarks.
• Was added to the EVE Blog Pack.
• Core Competency (Elite) certificate acquired.
• 18.8M skill points.

There's a lot more to look forward to throughout the next year playing this game.

Remember When I Said Alts Were The New Decshield?

With wardec costs based on the target alliance/corporation's membership numbers, it seemed a no-brainer that alts would become the new decshield.

A lot of people scoffed.

Kelduum has announced, on the EVE University forums (members-only section), a new Ivy League corporation devoted solely to alts and ex-members of the University, for no other reason than to pad the membership totals, to increase the cost to declare war on the University.

Woo! Way to fucking go CCP Greyscale, Carebear Defender. Look at all the logged out targets one gets to go to war with when they pay the inflated fee. You did say after all that the costs were a reflection of the war targets you'd get to fight.

I'll let him speak for himself though, because as a CSM member, looking out for everybody, he speaks writes so eloquently.

Hi all,

With the wardec changes coming up in May, the situation where we do what we can to keep the membership numbers down to avoid attention is counter-productive, so we will be launching the Ivy League Hall of Residence in the next few days.

This is an alt corporation for any current/past E-UNI members, recruitment of which will be semi automated - this will require the Unista to decare their alts characterID via a special hidden forum field, which will then be matched to the applications and then accepted/denied.

As members of Ivy League, alts in that corporation will not be given any roles or titles (at least initially), and therefore will have no corp hangar access or similar, but will still be able to fly in E-UNI fleets.

If you have an alt which wishes to join, then please have them apply now and I will post more details later with the full recruitment process when its been completed.

Thanks,
--
Keld

For seven years, Ivy League has not allowed alt characters of regular members into the alliance. Until now.

Goonswarm - The Emperor of Space

I'm not sure why it's being called a leak. The language The Mittani is using, he's actually speaking more to the EVE Online playerbase than he is Goonswarm in many parts of the address. Obviously something meant for public consumption.

I was fearful that with his month layoff from EVE Online, The Mittani, off doing other things -- like wining and dining his wife, walking his dog, creating gourmet meals at home, watching playoff hockey -- that he might not find the will to return to New Eden.

I had nothing to fear.

If anything, the dude is more invigorated about the game, or at least stressing the game, than he ever was before. With the CSM shackles off, he's no longer content with the King of Space moniker. Hell, he's going all out, wanting the Emperor of Space robes and crown.

The Mittani does make this game interesting. He does not think small. Cowboy up or get off the horse.

There are only three things worth talking about from the Mittens update:

OTEC

This is fantastic. It's of course a play on OPEC -- the petroleum cartel that controls 79% of the earth's crude oil reserves. In EVE Online's version, OTEC controls New Eden's Technetium supplies (I would imagine in the neighbourhood of 90% of Technetium production.)

This is going to be a difficult task, getting the parties to agree on quotas and the like. It should be easy enough for Mittens to control the CFC pets (those that don't tow the line, will find themselves reset and out the door). But what of those alliances in Tribute and Vale of the Silent? ISK always gets in the way of good sense.

What will Mittens do if those in Tribute and Vale of the Silent decide to break from the pact? The obvious answer would be for the CFC to go to war, subsume those regions. I don't think it's quite that simple. If the CFC ends up controlling 90% of Technetium production, that will definitely pit Goonswarm and friends against all of space. That's an onslaught I don't think Goonswarm can overcome. They'd be BoBing themselves.


Death Squads

This announcement is super hilarious. All that Stalinesque imagery in their recent propaganda posters makes sense now.

Speak out against Goonswarm? Expect to hit the naughty list. And the new head of the Death Squads, Warr Akini, will be checking it twice.

What happens when you're on the naughty list? Theoretically, hunted and podded, until you either slap on the kneepads, or quit the game. Whether the Death Squads will have the manpower to track and hunt so many naysayers is up in the air. But the idea is hilarious.

CCP

Other than attempting to control the game, to some degree, I think the main motivation here is to force CCP's hand as quickly as possible. Basically, The Mittani is asking Hilmar "What do want this game to be in five years? Do you want this game to continue to be hard? Or do you plan to soften it up to attract the run-of-the-mill risk-averse MMO player?"

The screaming and whining that is going to result from these actions? Reverberation enough to snuff out a sun. CCP will be forced to respond, and how they respond is what most interests The Mittani. It is what most interests me.

Hulkageddon V - Goonswarm Propaganda

After creating The Fancy Hats Corporation poster for Hulkageddon. I figured I'd try my hand at one for Goonswarm. Don't mistake this as a desire to join Goonswarm, or any such thing. I have no wish to join Goonswarm. I respect them as an alliance, for what they bring to the game of EVE Online. But that is as far as it goes. They already have a lot of propaganda posters of their own, so it seemed natural to try my own hand at one. Plus, their logo is exceptionally easy to work with, to integrate into other images.

Hulkageddon V - Fancy Hats, Fancy Guns

So, I have me a goal, a mission, something to do for the next month, and some people to do it with. What was just a conversation request this morning from Corelin, a "Hey, how you doing? You planning on doing Hulkageddon V?" turned into me joining The Fancy Hats Corporation.

So it's good to have a motivator to get back into the swing of things. No Teamspeak or Mumble yet. Maybe I should contact an old buddy from Arrakis Technology, see if he's still running his personal Teamspeak server, and if he wouldn't mind ten or so of us it using during Hulkageddon. I've haven't talked to him in ages, though, so probably not. Corelin said he was working on something in that area himself. So we'll see what we end up with by May 01. It'll be necessary coordinating between the scouts, the Orca, and the destroyers.

Have already built out 20 Catalysts and sent them on down to the staging area. Was expensive, but will also be worth it. 160 Ion Blaster IIs cost 200M ISK alone. In the final week leading up to Hulkageddon V, I'll be in nullsec working on building more of a security status buffer.

This stint in The Fancy Hats Corporation will likely not be permanent (but never say never). I'm thinking after Hulkageddon V, I'll move on to try my hand with Faction Warfare. I have a standing offer from AUTOZ (Hans Jagerblitzen's corporation) to join with them.

My time with EVE Online is looking a little less solo and a tad more social for the next while. Which is good.

2016 Greyscale Devblog - WiS Poker

The date is August 2016. The new Walking in Station expansion was released a mere four months earlier. The expansion released the long-awaited establishments. It finally allowed DUST 514 and EVE Online players to meet in the flesh. And it introduced parlour games, the most popular of which is the Poker Room.

Through a little classic old-school ingenuity, players discovered a method that allowed them to deal cards and to ignore the built-in Poker rules. This has allowed games other than Poker to flourish, such as Bridge and Rummy.

Emergent gameplay makes a return to EVE Online, albeit without the spaceships.

To address this turn of events, CCP Greyscale releases a devblog.

We're exceptionally happy here at CCP that Walking in Stations has been so well-received by our fantastic players. This is not the 2011 so many of us remember. We've all come a long way since then, and by listening to our players we released Walking in Stations the way you wanted it, the way you expected it.

We're also very happy that the Poker Room has become the smashing success that it has. Do any of you remember when CCP Soundwave first announced poker as a future possibility to the old Incarna expansion? That was way back during Alliance Tournament IX, May 2011. It's been many years since then, but it finally arrived. Better late than never, as we all say here at CCP.

Unfortunately it has come to our attention that due to a design flaw, some of our subscribers are not playing in the Poker Room as it was originally designed or intended. This is a design oversight we intend to correct with the next patch.

Some of you will understandably be upset, some of you may question why we would remove an example of emergent gameplay. I am a champion of emergent gameplay, as many of you know, but in this instance, the ability to play card games other than poker in the Poker Room leads to unnecessary confusion among many of our subscribers. We understand that poker is not for everyone, and we would like to correct that in the future. We hopefully, soon, will maybe might release rooms for other card games, such as a Rummy Room, a Cribbage Room, and a Go Fish Room.

For those players that have been playing poker in the Poker Room, we have been reading the many forum threads you've created. To assist inexperienced players, we will be making some changes to the statistical probability of card draws, as well as changing the ranking of hands. For instance, two pair will now be equivalent to three of a kind. We will also adjust the flush, the upcoming patch will only require four cards of one suit to be called a flush, not five as it currently stands.

We are actively planning on revisiting the situation in a few months to make sure we've hit the mark properly, that we've struck the correct balance between experienced and inexperienced poker players.

Thanks for your patience and understanding,
-Greyscale

For those of you confused by this post, please read the following articles by Corelin:

• Greyscale Must Go
• The Last Hulkageddon
• But Don't Worry

Virtual Psychopathy in New Eden

There's a certain amount of virtual psychopathy that exists among the playerbase of EVE Online. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call it healthy, but neither would I necessarily call it detrimental. I'll get to why I describe it as virtual psychopathy in a wee bit.

I like to compare it somewhat to hentai, of the Urotsukidoji variety. (Neither hentai or Urotsukidoji are likely to be safe for work, so no links supplied. Google at your own risk and convenience.) The Japanese have staid and buttoned-down daily existences, so when they let loose in their private lives, they go that extra mile, and then ten extra miles beyond that. Hentai is a reflection of that sort of double-life.

EVE Online has similarities to the hentai phenomenon. People engage in behaviour within the game that they would never dream of engaging in the outside world. And this is okay, because other than some ego bruising, they're not harming anyone. All anyone loses are pixels. Maybe some respect. Considering most everyone is anonymous to everyone else, even that loss of respect can be considered virtual. There's nothing at all wrong with having an arena where you can relieve some stress, act out, or simply roleplay a baddie.

Scamming someone out of the value of a Titan or robbing the alliance coffers or just running around ganking Hulks, many people (mostly of the carebear bent) refer to this as psychopathic behaviour. They claim that it's a reflection on the player in the real world. If they're willing to steal 50B ISK or blow-up a defenseless ship, then they must be a bad person in real life as well.

Phooey.

At worst it could be considered virtual psychopathy. And virtual psychopathy is not real psychopathy. Just because someone is willing to spend a year to bring down some alliance, doesn't mean in the outside world they'd love to run a giant Ponzi scheme, or are actually scamming grandmas out of their pension cheques. Virtual psychopathy is to cause virtual harm. Folks losing only fake items, pixels, stuff that has no worth outside of the game itself. Maybe they lose some time. Maybe they lose some respect from other players. Again, both are meaningless outside of the game. Their boss doesn't think less of them because they lost a Hulk, because the boss doesn't know they lost a Hulk. Nor should/would the boss care. Whatever anguish caused by the loss, it is self-inflicted.

The Mittani used the trusted third-party scam how many times in late-2011/early-2012? Three or four times? Scamming people out of purchasing Titans. 200B-300B ISK worth of losses to the unsuspecting (even though they should have been as suspecting as hell.) Many people have met The Mittani at Fanfest. Did he come across as anything other than a personable and well-rounded individual? Did you check your wallet afterwards? Just because he scams in game does not mean he's not a great husband, a good dog owner, someone who helps out friends and family in need. Virtual psychopathy does not translate to actual pychopathic behaviour. There is zero correlation between the two.

What a player does within the context of the game is exactly that, done in the context of the game. It has no bearing, whatsoever, beyond the game.

Oh no, though, as some will argue that in a few of those massive ISK losses, the ISK might have been gained through GTC purchases, therefore The Mittani did cause real world loss. Therefore he is a real psychopath.

Phooey.

Anyone that buys ISK with GTCs (I have, for instance) does so of their own volition. They aren't cajoled or hoodwinked into it. They do so because they wanted to take the quick path to some instant in-game currency. It's not the onus of the scammer to determine whether the ISK he plans to scam was gained through a GTC purchase or via 80 hours of diligent ice mining. Grifters are not responsible for how the grifted wish to play the game (or not, where GTC purchases are concerned.)

tl;dr: Virtual psychopathic behaviour is not psychopathic behaviour.

****

Now, there was an incident a week or so ago, where a couple of players convinced their target to purchase GTCs so that he could outfit his ship with very expensive modules. I won't link to the threads and posts describing what happened, because I don't think the scammers deserve any more publicity than they've already had.

This, though, would be an example of real psychopathic behaviour. Two individuals going out of their way to cause real-world harm to a victim. Peer pressure is a powerful thing. Especially coming from individuals who a target feels trust towards. So, the blame for purchasing the GTCs cannot be laid solely at the feet of the target. He was cajoled, pressured, bullied (so to speak) into purchasing the GTCs, which were converted into ISK, which were then spent to outfit his ship with billions in modules, so that the scammers could blow up the ship, to then harvest some of those modules for their own gain.

This cannot be described as anything other than real psychopathic behaviour. These two individuals targeted another player with the express goal of convincing that person to spend hard-earned money, money that person likely would not have spent on GTCs otherwise, so that they could profit from his real-world loss. Not too mention that they revelled in their target's losses afterwards, especially the fact that they convinced the player to spend real money on their eventual scam.

That is reprehensible behaviour. It is psychopathic behaviour. Nothing virtual about it.

The Daily Stat with @CCP_Diagoras (Apr 01-15 2012)

PvP

• Tier 3 BCs destroyed in PVP so far: 29,098. 13,514 Tornados, 4,435 Nagas. Losses to CONCORD don't count as PVP.
• 12 Outposts have been upgraded with tier 3 upgrades.
• 1,431 alliances have at least one online starbase.
• The alliance with the most online starbases has 645 of them, #2 has 531 and #3 397.
• There was a request for Jita PVP information! So, for March 2012... 634 podkills, 3612 PVP ship losses total.
• Excluding capsules, rookie ships and shuttles, the PVP loss total was 1,645. 401 frigates, 297 industrials, 226 battlecruisers.
• The alliances who killed the most ships in Jita in March: The 0rphanage (87), Moar Tears (82), Stay Calm Don't Panic (51).
• The alliances who lost the most ships in Jita in March: Test Alliance Please Ignore (93), Goonswarm Federation (44), RvB - RED Fed (22).
• There were 53,485 PVP kills in high security space in March. The top alliances: RvB - BLUE (11232), RvB - RED (10659), TEARS (670).
• That means RvB accounted 41% of high sec PVP losses in March. That's pretty crazy.

PvE

• Tier 3 BCs lost in PVE (which includes to CONCORD): 15,569. 11,492 of them were Tornado class. Unsurprising!
• 14,856 faction control towers in EVE.
• The faction control towers there are the most of: True Sansha Medium (1728), Dread Guristas Medium (1566), Dread Guristas Large (1439).
• The answer is the Zainou 'Gnome' Shield Operation SP-903. 15,398 characters have one implanted.
• There are over 16 billion Scourge Heavy Missiles owned by characters in EVE.
• Damsel in Distress missions were completed 2,806 times yesterday. Or, 1.94 times a minute. She gets around!
• Jita is actually usually #2 on the "most jumps/day" front. Perimeter is #1.

Industry

• 10,211 Shuttle BPOs sold so far this year. Most was Caldari, least Minmatar. The Minmatar one looks the best, why not just build those?!
• 569 Freighter BPOs sold this year so far by NPCs - 277 of them Charon, 153 Providence, 79 Fenrir, 60 Obelisk.
• Wow! 13.2 trillion ISK worth of market transactions yesterday. 1,139,871 different transactions. That's a lot!
• Nocxium trade totaled 543.1bn ISK, with 13,487 transactions.
• Well, there are 1.9 million T2 sensor boosters in the game. 17,798 Shadow Serpentis ones, 2345 FedNavy.
• 89 Cormack sensor boosters in the game.
• To answer another question, there's 5,324,792,991,884 units of Tritanium in the game at the moment.
• There are exactly 100 Chelm Cap rechargers in EVE.
• Tier 3 BCs built so far: 155,485. Most has been the Tornado (69,536), least Talos (26,819).
• In March 2012, 90.23% of Hulks and 84.17% of Mackinaws produced were from invention.
• 67.85% of Sabres and 65.01% of Wolves produced in March 2012 were the from invention.
• 93.95% of T2 Gyrostabilizers produced in March 2012 were from invention.
• In March 2012, 73.19% of Vagabonds and 63.53% of Zealots produced were from invention.
• 89.77% of 1400mm II, 82.00% of Tachyon II, 87.34% of 425mm Rail II, 74.23% of Torpedo Launcher II produced in March were from invention.
• Only 7.07% of Absolutions and 23.62% of Sleipnirs produced in March 2012 were produced through invention.
• 72.27% of the 2,005 Falcons produced in March 2012 were produced through invention.
• 55.25% of Improved Cloaks and 91.93% of Covert Ops Cloaks were produced via invention in March 2012.
• 66.13% of Ishtars and 63.53% of Zealots produced in March 2012 were produced via invention.
• 99.12% of Scourge Fury Heavy Missiles were produced through invention in March 2012.
• 27.60% of Curses and 22.16% of Pilgrims produced in March 2012 were from invention.
• 86.81% of 220mm Vulcan Autocannons produced in March were produced through invention.
• 44.58% of Cerberus and 6.00% of Eagles produced in March 2012 were procuded through invention.
• 20.33% of Eris, 14.15% of Flycatchers, 12.91% of Heretics were produced from invention in March 2012. They're very low quantity though :)
• T2 Light drones, invention %: Hobgoblin 55.61% Hornet 9.91%, Acolyte 9.65%, Warrior 34.87%
• Only 1,001 runs worth of T2 BPCs made in March 2012. T2 BPOs don't get copied very much. Pyro Mining Crystal was most copied, 100 runs :)
• 69.89% of Hammerhead IIs produced in March 2012 were from invention.
• Excl. drones/charges, the most produced T2 items from BPOs in March were: Exp. Cargohold (19%), Rocket Launcher (94%), Cap Recharger (22%).
• 1,071 characters installed a manufacturing job with a T2 BPO in March, and 12,005 installed a T2 BPC.
• There are 3,186 different owners of T2 BPOs.
• Tritanium acquired through refining in March: 1,827,142,004,787 units.
• 392,573,060,532 units of Pyerite produced through refining in March.
• Refining produced 121,376,618,763 units of Mexallon in March.
• 24,153,369,147 - units of Isogen from refining in March.
• 7,303,157,663 - units of Nocxium from refining in March.
• 1,397,519,750 - units of Zydrine from refining in March.
• 667,862,370 - units of Megacyte from refining in March.
• 40,146,724 - units of Morphite from refining in March.
• Isotopes harvested in March? 2.67bn Nitrogen, 1.73bn Helium, 1.70bn Oxygen, 1.18bn Hydrogen.
• Other ice products - 1.89bn Heavy Water, 1.89bn Liquid Ozone, 89.6m Strontium Clathrates.
• 102,721 Mechanical Engineering datacores bought from research agents yesterday.
• 49,599 Electronic Engineering datacores bought from agents yesterday.
• 32,264 Minmatar Starship Engineering datacores bought from research agents yesterday.
• 23,744 Quantum Physics datacores bought from research agents yesterday.
• Highest trade value items in Jita yesterday, #10: Zydrine, 113bn ISK.
• Highest trade value items in Jita yesterday, #9: Mexallon, 133bn ISK.
• Highest trade value items in Jita yesterday, #8: Technetium, 138bn ISK.
• Highest trade value items in Jita yesterday, #7: Melted Nanoribbons, 145bn ISK.
• Highest trade value items in Jita yesterday, #6: Nanotransistors, 147bn ISK.
• Highest trade value items in Jita yesterday, #5: Nocxium, 150bn ISK.
• Highest trade value items in Jita yesterday, #4: Sleeper Drone AI Nexus, 162bn ISK.
• Highest trade value items in Jita yesterday, #3: Hulk. 167bn ISK.
• Highest trade value items in Jita yesterday, #2: Tritanium, 310bn ISK.
• Highest trade value items in Jita yesterday, #1: 30 Day Pilot's License Extension (PLEX), 3,583bn ISK.

Other

• 737,763 EVEMails were sent with 124,956 characters sending at least one in March 2012.
• There are 384,339 currently active insurance contracts in EVE. 80.28% of those are for 100% insurance.
• 10.20% of insurance contracts are for 50%, 2.81% for 60%, 2.12% for 70%, 2.31% for 80% and 2.29% for 90%.
• The max number of moons in a WH system: 108. Minimum: 0. Average: 43.
• # of characters with a learning implant for each attribute: Mem: 296k, WP: 291k, Perc 327k, Int 304k, Chr 245k. Not incl. pirate sets.

How to Suck the Fun Out of Nullsec

I really didn't think I had anything more to say about the EVE University and Test Alliance Please Ignore partnership. Their little team-up out in Fountain. Whereas I like the idea of the University having a nullsec camp, for training purposes, I don't condone that camp being under the auspices and good graces of Test Alliance. I think it's the wrong message for the University to be sending to a) its members, and b) the rest of the New Eden.

But, man, the drama is so juicy. So return to it I shall.

The neutrality issue is still a popular topic. As are the fitting choices for the lead admiral of the project.

The new hot button topic of discussion, though, concerns who gets to go to the nullsec camp. The lead admiral for the project lays it all out.

Note to everyone anticipating a try at the Null Sec Camp: 

The attendance at the Null Security Camp (NSC) Eve University Event will be by individual permission to applicants from either Director of Human Resources Darian Reymont or Director of Special Operations Vice Admiral Gibson Thunderbird.

As this is NOT a '101' level opportunity, a minimum of Sophomore status is required as is an understanding of null sec risks and rewards. The Directors have additional considerations that will be discussed with individual applicants at the appropriate time.

It may be premature to move anything close to the suspected NSC at this time, as the logistics of that move have not been made public, and there are a number of opportunities.

Also, travel through Sov Null (required to get to the NSC) has NOT been granted, so visiting the camp without permission is a violation of University rules. Recent University rules violations are a basis for denial of attendance at the NSC event. I am at the NSC and around the local area and will notice any Unistas there.

Expect more and detailed information to follow. The University Staff have completed their analysis and set the foundation, and are in the process of achieving the remaining infrastructure requirements just now.

We have a great learning opportunity here not only for the student population but also for the University itself. This is the manifestation of our efforts at continuous improvement and adaptation.

Please have a bit more patience and all will become crystal clear.

Talk about sucking all the fun out of a project that Darian has put a shit tonne of time into setting up. Does bequeathing the Admiral title upon Unistas instantly turn them into assholes? Gibson used to be the cool, easy-going dude in the University, kinda everybody's grandpa. The kinda guy that would listen and not judge. The guy you could trust to not have a chip on his shoulder.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown?

Someone gives Gibson some fitting advice and he goes pouty and passive-aggressive on them:

Ya know, I don't really care. As I am unsure what I have done to get your attention or your ire, I just gotta believe that hater's gonna hate.

I don't need to explain myself to anyone, and I have never done anything in the Uni that I would be ashamed to have in print.

Admirals don't make mistakes, apparently. Or at least, it should never be pointed out that they do. It's like Silentbrick all over again.

Eventually Darian, in his good wisdom and diplomacy, steps in to correct the Admiral on a few points:

At present, the only requirement for taking part in the NSC is that you are a sophomore (4 weeks in the uni).

There will be no interviews, no long selection process, no restrictions on skillpoints, pilot experience or ship/fitting requirements. You can have under a million SP and have never PvP'd before and you can still come out to the camp, providing you are a sophomore.

So, less bureaucracy. More fun. You can always count on Darian to cut through the red tape, to beat back the pencil pushers.

One last note. Seems the University is a recruitment channel for Test Alliance. One of the small accommodations that the University is making to Test, for their hospitality, is to push Test as the logical destination for unistas wishing to make nullsec their home, should they enjoy their nullsec experience. No mention of other viable nullsec organizations are to be made explicit.

• If those students who participate in the NSC get their taste and say "yum!" then they are encouraged to complete their experience by joining TEST or (insert any other nullsec alliance here).
• Yeah, some students probably will like it and join TEST (or whoever) ...

I'm still quite critical of the University getting all cozy with Test Alliance. There's lots of NPC nullsec they could have set-up in, without getting too comfortable with any of the major sovereignty players.

With arguments and personalities ready to boil over, not too mention the usual University bureaucratic delays, I think I'm going to be surprised if they get the camp running by May. Not at all surprised if it became a non-starter entirely.

Since Darian wants this and seems convinced it can work, then I'll root for him to succeed. I like Darian. He has a tough road ahead. I hope it doesn't take too much out of him.

He's Changed His Mind Again

That Poetic guy has changed his fucking mind again. Who's surprised?

This may be the very last time I use my The Littlest Hobo image. I have left the Hobos.

Not because they're bad dudes. Far from it. They seem like quite nice guys. Laid back. All that. Pretty much the sort of corporation I like.

The problem is mine. Expectations, more or less. What I was really hoping for was a corporation that used Mumble or Teamspeak. Often. No matter when I logged on, that there'd be five or more members shooting the shit online.

As surprising as it may sound, I don't particularly enjoy typing. Especially when I'm playing a game. I'd rather be talking and asking my questions, not typing them in. If I'm typing, I'm not playing. I can talk and play simultaneously, though.

For instance, the last few days I've been circulating between major trade hubs, in an interceptor, speculating on commodities (for the upcoming Burn Jita and Hulkageddon events.) I hit a trade hub, do the market thing, then set auto-pilot to the next trade hub. While auto-piloting, I'm tabbed out of the Poetic client, doing something else, maybe web browsing, writing a new post, or playing on the Scottish alt. Which means I'm unable to communicate via typing. Which means it's more convenient to voice chat.

There were a gadzillion things I was unclear on. Especially all the fleet doctrine terminology that Against ALL Authorities and En Garde uses. For instance, what the hell is a Powerpack fleet? And, yeah, sure, I could have learned all this via the in-game chat windows. But. So. Much. Typing. I couldn't be bothered.

It goes both ways though. They weren't a corporation that wanted to use voice chat except for fleets and roams. So I wasn't a good fit for them either, since I'm just too lazy to learn via typing out questions.

I guess I've been a bit spoiled by my time in EVE University. While a student, I was on their Mumble server whenever I was playing the game (and sometimes when I wasn't.) The University Mumble server never had less than 10 people on it, and usually thirty to forty. I guess I came to expect that was normal. So when I joined the Hobos, it came as a bit of a surprise that they didn't really use their Teamspeak, except when it was required. That was a disappointing discovery. But disappointment is not a complaint. That's the way they were comfortable playing and communicating with each other. Not my place to convince them to change for my convenience.

Two other small issues affected my decision. The first is that I fly Gallente, and since I'm training support skills for the next year, I've little in the way of skills to fly Minmatar, Caldari or Amarr. The second being timezone issues. I get home at 0:00 EVE time, I get online around 1:00 EVE Time. I'm usually by myself when I log on. There are a couple of USTZ in Hobos, but most seem to be EUTZ. So playing with anyone was always going to be a weekend thing due to timezones not quite meshing.

So I've moved everything out of Stain. Everything. No more Stain. Not in the near future. I think for the time being, I may be better off in empire space.

I still want to find a corporation. I'll look for something in empire. A group that does PvP and industry. I still want to do some planetary interaction, preferably with corporation-owned POCOs. And I want to get into some small-gang PvP. And I want the corporation to be regular users of either Teamspeak or Mumble. And I want them to be mature (none of the n-word, j-word, pubbie, get me a sammy bullshit you'd find with Test or any of those douchebag alliances.) Any suggestions? And please don't suggest groups like The Tuskers. As awesome as they may be (and they do seem to have everything I'd like to belong to in a corporation,) they also have some pretty strict PvP requirements, none of which I have or will have any time soon. So, I'm looking for all of the above, plus a group that doesn't expect me to be a PvP rockstar the moment my app is accepted.

So my apologies, Hong. Hopefully my departure doesn't reflect badly upon you. It shouldn't. Other than the ten minute interview, their perusal of my account via the APIs supplied, and a few questions asked on the forums and in channel chat, I don't think I wasted too much of their time. I do thank Hobos and you for the opportunity. And for anyone that doesn't need or much want to use Teamspeak, except for fleets and roams, then I can highly suggest The Littlest Hobos as a home for your first foray into nullsec.

Proud Member

The EVE Blog Pack is old. Not quite sure how old it is, but old. Originally it was created by Crazy Kinux. He eventually begged off the duty when he left EVE Online and passed the reins on to Rixx Javix. Eventually, Rixx decided to lessen his time in EVE, and the responsibility moved to the current caretaker of the list, Marc Scaurus.

Marc has seen fit to add me to the blog pack.

I feel quite honoured to be a member of such a prestigious group of EVE Online bloggers. I won't list any of them, simply because to list a few would be disrespectful to those I did not mention. And to list them all, well, that's a list of thirty bloggers. Easier for you to just visit the list yourselves.

I will try to uphold the quality inherent in the pack. Many of your believe me to be nothing more than a chucklehead. The rest of you, a little less than a chucklehead. And that's okay. When the pack has thirty members, one of those members should be the resident chucklehead.

Garmon's EVE is Expensive

Garmon launched his new EVE is Easy [EIE] website, and damn if his new service isn't expensive.

For $19 per month, Garmon will teach you PvP via weekly instructional videos. Holy hell. $19 per month. That's more than a monthly subscription to the game itself.

Price isn't the only issue. The butt website also raises some red flags. It looks and reads exactly like any of a thousand Learn to X websites on the internet. Garmon's EIE has everything you'd expect, excessive underlining, the testimonials from regular people, the confidence instilling guarantee, and he successfully sells himself as not only an expert, but as a regular guy who persevered through a difficult game system, over time developing the tools and techniques that gave him the success he enjoys today. Basically a wall of text hoping to seduce you into belief.

EVE is Easy may be legit. It probably is legit. But the website doesn't foster any confidence in the service, not when it tries to replicate the look and feel of the obvious scam is obvious websites. What with EVE being famous for its scams, where real money is concerned you'd think Garmon would have wanted to distance his service from the classic online gaming swindles.

I wonder how many subscribers he'll end up getting?

Hulkageddon V - It's a Trap! (v2)

I'm probably going to write a bunch of different articles leading up to Hulkageddon. It's one of the defining events of EVE. EVE Online would not be EVE Online if something like Hulkageddon could not happen. A kinder gentler EVE-O would have announced the shutting down of the servers back in 2008 or 2009.

Yesterday I posted a Gankalyst fit. Today, I figured I should come at the equation from the other side. Hand out a potential Hulk bait fit that'll cause ganker tears to flow. A spanish inquisition fit, so to speak.

This is the re-edited version. A few people in the comments (here and on Reddit) suggested replacing one of the Power Diagnostic Systems with a Damage Control II. I'm cool with suggestions. I'm still a newb, and learning is part of the game. Always.

Hulkageddon gankers aren't the most well-prepared folks in the world. They're taking part just for the t-shirt. About as prepared as they get is fitting out a bunch of gank ships, moving them to the prime ganking locations. Most of the rest of their equation is assumption. The see a Hulk, they assume it's equipped for maximum mining efficiency. There are not a whole lotta gankers out there that rely on ship scanning alts (for one, it alerts their prey to what is about to happen.)

Folks that make a living out of ganking, they'll scan you down, likely ignore you. That's fine. Means you're not losing a Hulk.

[Hulk, It's a tarp! (revised)]
Small Energy Neutralizer II
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal I
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal I

Ballistic Deflection Field II
Heat Dissipation Field II
Heat Dissipation Field II
Invulnerability Field II

Damage Control II
Power Diagnostic System II

Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I

Vespa EC-600 x4
Hammerhead II x1

This fit assumes either a Brutix gank, or Catalyst gang ganks. Blaster fits. Kinetic/Thermal damage. Overheated, this will give the Hulk 25871 EHP, 65% electro-magnetic resistance, 95% thermal resistance, 92.3% kinetic resistance, and 80.4% explosive resistance. Capacitor is stable at 31%. The Small Energy Neutralizer is to get you on the killmail, if you can lock fast enough. The strip miners are to add some legitimacy to your sitting in an asteroid belt (impossible to fit three strip miners on this fit, simply not enough CPU.) One Hammerhead II drone (another opportunity to get you on the killmail) and the rest ECM drones. Getting on the killmail is for the lols. Watch the WTFs!?! and growling in local. I'm no pro at EFT, so not sure how many Gankalysts it would take to pop this Hulk, but my guess is more than the usual gang of three.

Nothing is ungankable. The goal here is to protect against the current flavour of the month in gank fits. Right now, that's the Catalyst. Some folks still prefer Minmatar over Gallente. If Thrasher gangs are more prevalent in your area, then switch up the shield hardeners to take into account the different damage types.

All that said, don't start locking the gankers until they set their drones on you, otherwise you're giving up the ghost. To make it look really good, when the gankers arrive on grid, you might want to stop mining and making slow 180 degree align, act as though you're trying to escape. Once you've surprised them into being CONCORDed, move on. Don't sit in the same system. You're asking for them to bring a larger force. You've pissed them off, they'll want their e-honour restored.

(All of these numbers based on all skills at V in EFT.)

Hulkageddon V - Market Speculation

So I decided to engage in a little Hulkageddon market speculation. I won't say yet what I'm speculating in, but I'm betting heavily in one particular item.

With mineral prices on the rise, I figure I'd better start buying now. This far out from Hulkageddon, I'm hoping I'll be buying while the prices are still low, before everyone else decides that they should start stocking up on Hulkageddon supplies.

I've set a couple of basic rules. I'm not buying any commodity above a certain price. And I'm hitting all the trade hubs: Jita, Amarr, Rens, Hek, and Dodixie.

In Jita, the buy price for my prime commodity is already 24% higher than what I bought it at yesterday. I'm not going to get too excited just yet. Likely the effect of pretty much clearing out Jita of the item, and every system within 10 jumps of Jita.

Amarr was pretty expensive to begin with, and not much was for sale below my cutoff price point. The buy price is fairly low, so decided, on my second trip to set some buys. I'm curious to see how they do.

Rens, was able to buy quite a bit here.

Hek. The Metropolis region was damned cheap. Well below the Jita price point. Well below my price point. I nearly cleared out all of Metropolis. I left some orders in place, that were in lowsec or required a trip through lowsec to get to them, or if they were more than 10 jumps from Hek. After the buying spree, for the hell of it, I decided to sell 10% of what I'd bought back to the Metropolis residents, but at a 40% markup. It's selling, albeit slowly. Metropolis folks need to get used to the new price point obviously. Not too mention, there's likely already people undercutting me. I'm on my way back to Metropolis to check out what's been going on for most of the day. I'm curious to see how the market rebounded after I nearly cleared out the region. (Turns out the market has not yet rebounded. I'm still the only seller in Hek and within 5 jumps.)

Dodixie was expensive. Didn't buy anything at all in this region.

For this little experiment, I've set a maximum spending limit of 4B ISK. My hope (and expectation) is that if I spend 4B ISK, I'll make back 6B ISK. I'd be quite happy with a 2B ISK profit.

Once Hulkageddon is underway, and I've sold (or not sold) the majority of my goods, I'll report again with more specifics and results. If I lose ISK, so be it. If I make it, better. Go big or go home. No point experimenting, unless I do it with enough ISK to make the experiment meaningful.

Hulkageddon V - The Gank Catalyst

Read the Goonswarm Guide to Highsec Ganking. Bear in mind that it was written before the Crucible expansion. Ignore the section on destroyer gangs. Return here for Corelin's Gank Catalyst fit.

Keep no more than six volleys of ammo on each destroyer, you won't get a seventh off (rarely the sixth) before CONCORD shows and blows you up real good. Remember your implants: Deadeye ZGM1000 and Gunslinger CX-2 for the added damage. Any other implants to fit the ship (depending on your skill points.)

At today's market prices (Jita), the following Catalyst will cost you 5.87M ISK.

[Catalyst, Corelin's Gankalyst]
Anode Light Ion Particle Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Anode Light Ion Particle Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Anode Light Ion Particle Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Anode Light Ion Particle Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Anode Light Ion Particle Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Anode Light Ion Particle Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Anode Light Ion Particle Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Anode Light Ion Particle Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S

J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
'Langour' Drive Disruptor I

Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
[empty rig slot]

You can replace the Anode Light Ion Cannons with Light Ion Blaster IIs (using Void S ammo), but the cost will jump 6.8M ISK. You can also replace the Magnetic Field Stabilizer IIs with Gauss Field Balancer Is to reduce the cost by 1.1M ISK.

The most expensive variant (12.67M ISK) will give 643 DPS and a volley of 1032. The least expensive variant (4.77M ISK) will give 486 DPS and a volley of 794. (All skills at level V, weapons overheated.)

One of these babby's can solo gank a Mackninaw without defensive mods. Two can bring down any Mackinaw, no matter the fit. Two can take down most Hulks, three can gank any Hulk no matter the fit.

So for Hulkageddon, get your small Catalyst gangs ready. For every ten Macks/Hulks you get a killing blow on, Goonswarm will pay you 100M ISK.

Three Billion Richer

Like I've said before, if you're going to buy GTCs, do it through Somer Blink. Buy a GTC, get 100M Blink Credit. Buy 4 GTCs, get 500M Blink Credit.

I decide to buy 4 GTCs. That's 8 PLEXes. On today's Jita market, that's worth nearly 4B ISK. I just won an extra 3B ISK (an Orca and a Rorqual, converted to an ISK payout) with my free Blink Credits. I could have just had ~4B ISK in assets, with the GTC purchase alone. Buying through Somer, I now have ~7B ISK to my name.

(And no, Somer isn't paying me to advertise. Just want to give a heads-up to anyone planning to buy GTCs in the future. Potentially turn those GTCs into much more than they would normally be worth.)

Coming Soon to EVE: Burn Jita, Hulkageddon V

I'm surprised that there is not yet a nifty graphic for the Burn Jita event. There's more than enough talented graphic artists in Goonswarm.

Burn Jita

April 28th is Goonswarm's Burn Jita. An event still swathed in a lot of mystery. Goals. Targets. Length. All we know is the location. The rest, only The Mittani knows for sure.

What we do know is that Goonswarm has 1800 Tornados ready for the event. What they'll be targeting is the question. Freighters? Anything that has thrusters? Ripard Teg figures the event will last a few hours if they target freighters exclusively. If they shoot everything except freighters, Burn Jita could last a couple to a few days. Once word of what is happening starts to spread, Jita will effectively be blockaded.

The markets are going to go crazy. And that's what Burn Jita is really about.

Big sovereignty alliances need ISK. They need lots of ISK. They can never have too much ISK. Goonswarm is one of the largest, in membership and systems owned. With their recent conquest of Tenal, they own ever more space, which requires ever more ISK.

Goonswarm is like Roman society. There are the plebeians. And the patricians. The plebs make up most of Goonswarm. They play this game as would be expected of a Goon. They rip and roar, looking for destruction and tears. The patrician looks to the larger social arena, mayhem on a much larger scale.

The ice interdiction of late 2011 exemplifies these differences. The plebs are satisfied to individually gank ice miners. Small scale mayhem. The patricians use the overall action as an experiment in market manipulation, how to affect and hurt a larger cross-section of the playerbase. And it was successful on both fronts.

As large as most people think ice interdiction was, it was still small scale. It affected regional markets across New Eden, but it affected only a small portion of the overall market. Billions were made by Goonswarm, by patricians and plebs alike, many tears were shed by many different individuals. As a proof of concept of wide-spread market manipulation through terror, it was a success. Time to upscale that bitch.

Jita. The largest, most active trade hub in New Eden. Blockade it for a day, hundreds of billions could be made on the rising prices. Blockade it for two days, New Eden could start spinning out of control. The ultimate experiment for the patricians. How will the game, the industrial strata, how will it all react? The plebs get to blow a lot of shit up (and make some coin as well.) The patricians get to see how Burn Jita affects every single resident of New Eden.

Burn Jita doesn't stop there. Blockade Jita, and Amarr would likely assume the mantle of new trade hub during the interim. So Goonswarm has other alliances committed to burning Amarr, Dodixie, Rens and Hek. How committed those alliances will be is a question that won't be answered until April 28th. There should be little question concerning Goonswarm's commitment to burning Jita.

Blow it up. Blow it all the fuck up.

Hulkageddon V

When Burn Jita ends Hulkgeddon V begins. This is sure to become the Hulkageddon that all future Hulkageddons are judged upon. This will be the first Hulkageddon that rewards you throughout the competition. No longer does the competition stall halfway through, as people realize that they cannot catch the kill leaders, there's still incentive to kill kill kill throughout the event.

For every ten hulks and mackinaws killed, Goonswarm will reward you with 100 million ISK. That is not insubstantial coin for the effort.

Ten gank Brutixes, enough to take down ten Mackinaws, will cost you less than 400M ISK in today's market. Those ten kills net you one quarter of the cost of your ganking. For 300M ISK total cost, you get to take down 1.5B - 2.0B ISK worth of mining ships. I'm not even counting the module drops. My one and only Mackinaw gank, a Gistii B-Type Small Shield Booster dropped, worth 52M ISK in today's contract market. Chances are you won't turn a profit ganking Macks during Hulkageddon, but neither are you going to walk away having spent ISK you'll later regret having spent, not considering the amount of tears that will shed over your activities.

(Word is [see comments] that you can do the same with a Catalyst on certain ill-fitted Macks, costing approximately 5M ISK each. Two such Catalysts can take down a Hulk in 0.6 space. So there is potential profit to be made from the ganks.)

Hulkageddon is narrative. Hulkageddon is EVE Online. By players, for players.

Want to get in on the action? Make sure to read The Goonswarm Guide to Highsec Ganking. Everything you need to know to be successful at taking down Hulks and Mackinaws in highsec. That article helped me get my first gank. If it could help me, it can help anyone.

(The Goonswarm document does not cover the Destroyer upgrades with Crucible. I'll try to locate some Catalyst gank fits and update the document.)

Raph Koster's Dream Was EVE Online

EVE Online is exactly what Raph Koster wanted to create with Ultima Online. Unfortunately, bugs and exploits and the ever-growing din of carebear whining and their rising tide of tears forced him to alter the vision.

Ultima Online was never quite the same once they created rules to restrict freedom of choice. The carebears won. MMOs going forward catered to the risk-averse player exclusively, to those players that didn't like losing stuff.

What could have been excellent societal simulators, instead became theme parks.

Until CCP released EVE Online. A game that was built upon Raph's original vision for Ultima Online. A game in which the players defined the content, where the players decided their destiny. The narrative was from the players, not thrust upon players by some corporate entity.

But this is changing. The carebear voice is getting louder in New Eden. CCP is listening. Investors grow concerned, seem to think that EVE could be bigger, much bigger, if only it were kinder, gentler. And thus the game slowly changes. We're not sure how far CCP will go, because some big names in the company, at Fanfest 2012, proclaimed that EVE will always be about player choice. EVE will always be about a community of choices.

For now, I'm relishing that I get to play in this Koster-like universe. It may change for the worse somewhere down the road. I certainly hope it doesn't, but if it does, I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

How neutral does EVE University get to be?

After the success of the University's lowsec camp in the Hagilur pocket, they've decided to create a nullsec camp. That should prove to be popular with many of the longer term members who don't quite know what to do with all their skill points.

(Some preamble to begin. Scroll down to Neutrality, if you want to get to the meat of the post.)

Caveats

There are, of course, caveats to any such move. The lowsec camp already decreased PvP roams via the Ivy League Navy [ILN] (the University's PvP department) by an estimated 50%. The lowsec camp runs unto itself and is not under the auspices of the ILN. Most of the skilled pilots in the University, including ILN officers and taskforce coordinators, moved to the pocket for the frequent good fights available in the area. The ILN has since became a shell of its former self, its experienced fleet commanders off in Hagilur fighting pirates. The newbs, too new to feel comfortable roaming in lowsec, were left without much in the way of PvP training. Audio classes galore, but practical experience became slim pickings.

Now with a nullsec camp being constructed, every last dreg of PvP experience will either be in the lowsec camp or the nullsec camp. The ILN will be on life support. Practical newbie PvP training will be something folks reminisce about: "Remember back when the Uni used to run fleets out of Aldrat?"

Whereas newbies are quite capable of operating in lowsec, it's certainly not the culture in the University to suggest to any new player to head to lowsec. University members either avoid lowsec for most of their EVE careers, due to fears instilled early on, or the braver ones eventually find out that all the fear-mongering was just a bunch of hooey, discovering the joys of the lower security systems on their own.

There are a lot of potential benefits to the University setting up a camp in nullsec (just as there have been since setting up camp in lowsec), but it all depends on how they handle the situation, the inevitable brain drain that's going to occur. The Hagilur pocket is close to University operations (seven jumps). So it's logistically easy for the experienced pilots to still take part in newbie training. The brain drain, due to the lowsec pocket, while obvious and pronounced it did not damage the newbie experience. The issue that's been affecting practical PvP training for the University newbies is time, not logistics. If you're having fun hunting pirates, you have less time to teach.

The new nullsec camp, though, is going to be deep in Test Alliance Please Ignore [Test] space. Fountain, to be exact. Granted it will be in an NPC pocket within Fountain, but no easy trip in and out. Forty or so jumps from University homebase. (Sure sure, jump clones exist, but with the twenty-four timer, for only a couple hours of lessons nullsec dwellers are going to find it hard leaving the fun, to be locked down in highsec for a full day.) The brain drain will be pronounced and severe. Practical PvP experience given to those remaining in highsec? It's going to disappear entirely.

Neutrality?

So, why set up the first nullsec camp in Fountain? And how does this affect the University's much vaunted neutrality?

The arrangement. The University gets access to all of Test's jump bridge network. They get access to Test's markets and stations. They are free to operate within Fountain, with Test as a friendly blue neighbour. A friendly blue neighbour that is likely more than willing to help the University when overwhelmed by existing occupants (Godfathers and others.) In exchange, Test alliance gets nothing (or so the official stance would suggest.)

Of course, the reality is that Test gets quite a bit. They have a new channel of recruitment. If you're an EVE University graduate, and your intention is to head to nullsec, where might you start your alliance/corporation search? Test alliance, of course.

Test alliance also gets another corporation to help defend the homeland. The official University line is that they will not get involved in any Test conflicts. That may be true with respect to conflicts that occur outside of Fountain space. But let's say that Red Alliance, at some future date, decides to attack Fountain. Is the University going to tuck tail, evacuate all their assets back to safe space, not firing a single shot to defend their new friends and their new home away from home? I would doubt it very much. That's not a particularly grateful attitude.

So, defence of the homeland. Test gets to train up a home defence fleet under the auspices of charity and education. Classes. Guest lectures. Joint fleets. Training according to Test standards. After all that Test has done to accommodate the University in Fountain, it's a tad hard to believe that the Uni would abandon their new friends if a time of need happened to arise.

Test also gets a brand-new partial pet alliance. Not the entire alliance, but certainly all of their PvPers.

The University sets Test to blue standings. Test sets Ivy League to blue standings. That's the given. What of the rest of the Clusterfuck Coalition [CFC]? According to the University, Goonswarm standings will not change (they'll continue to remain as is, which in nullsec means targets.) Exactly how is this going to work? It doesn't happen often, but Test and Goonswarm do fleet together for non-PvP activities. Ripping through missions. Ratting. Incursions.

So, a Uni fleet is out on a roam. Finds a nice juicy Goonswarm target, perhaps a ratting Tengu, and pops it. That Tengu was part of a Test fleet. What does Test do? A couple of those incidents and it won't be long before the University has to set all of CFC to blue standings (if they wish to remain in Fountain, of course.) The University becomes a member of CFC, by proxy.

What exactly about any of that sounds neutral? I don't care if the University is neutral or not, but don't pretend that they aren't compromising their principles. The moment they set any of the nullsec sovereignty alliances to a blue standing, they are doing away with any notion of neutrality. Pretending to the high ideals is just whitewashing the obvious. They've chosen a side in the sovereignty wars. And that side is the CFC.

Syndicate

If the University is serious about its neutral standings, why would they not set-up shop in Syndicate? It's an extremely active NPC nullsec region. It houses some of the most experienced and successful small-gang PvP alliances in the game (Agony, Rooks and Kings, Rote Kapelle, Clockwork Pineapple.) If nullsec PvP experience and training is the goal of a University nullsec camp, then no better place to be than Syndicate.

Life in Stain - Hong Happened

Finally chatted with a Hobo via TeamSpeak. Hong WeiLoh. Got the scoop on some things. Learned a few others. Looking forward to the weekend.

That there are many folks online in the corp during weekday evenings is fine with me. Means, I can relax, when I get home from work. More or less do my thing, until I get up to speed with En Garde and Against ALL Authorities ops. For now, I'll just chill and figure things out as people are available. I'm not going to worry too much about the operations up north for the time being. I'd like to get involved, but for now, not sure how to get involved, or even what ships I should be bringing to the dance.

I'm guessing to begin, I'll be flying interceptors. Basically, I'll be flying out around 200km from the center of the action, acting as a warpable point for fleetmates. Further acting as tackle on whatever escapes the net. Which sounds like a good role to begin with. I can learn fleet comms, get a feel for big fleet fights, while not worrying too much about getting popped and podded. I'll have to start thinking about future roles, and deciding where to apply some skill training. Interdictors? Recon? DPS? Logistics? Considering I'm attribute mapped for perception and willpower, to the exclusion of all other attributes, that will have to be a consideration as well. I might have to just go pew pew, even though recon does sound like a bit of fun.

My suspicions were confirmed concerning -A- operations up north. When I was accepted to The Littlest Hobos, one of the first things I did was to check out the alliance standings. I had just assumed, that since we were engaging in operations up north, that we were there to assist Raiden. (Russians being pals with Russians.) Not the case, since we have them set to red. Same with Goonswarm and Test Alliance. My first reaction was "What are we even doing up there then?" Then I figured, maybe we're just whoring on fleet fights? If you want some large scale action, then go to where the large scale action is happening. Throw up the system map, filter by kills in the last hour, head towards the biggest blooms. So, that's why we're up there. To basically fuck around with folks red to us, and know that we can catch big groups of them.

So if I do end up north, it won't be until Friday at the earliest. And then, I'm only going to take part if there are some Hobos to join. I'm not going to know what the hell is going on, so better to look like an idiot in front of corpmates, than in front of total strangers who expect some competency.

Nullsec fleet warfare might be blobby warfare, but it's a helluva lot different, tactically, then the empire space blobby warfare I'm used too.

Or maybe I'll just go out on a roam with Hong and friends.

So, no more Life in Stain posts until something fun actually happens.

Life in Stain - Now a Hobo

I am now officially a Hobo.

I spent my first evening, just going through all the instructions for getting onto The Littlest Hobos' forums. And then the instructions for getting on En Garde's forums and TeamSpeak. And then the instructions for getting on Against ALL Authorities forums and TeamSpeak.

Unfortunately, nobody was online in the Hobos' channels on either server. And I have questions about a couple things too. I might be able to talk about those questions, but after I get them answered and get the okay. Mainly about ongoing CTAs and our standings. My rule at the moment is, "If I'm not sure if it compromises opsec, then assume that it does and keep my keyboard quiet."

Since there was nobody to talk too, I checked out the Hobo FAQ. Checked out some fittings. And then configured my overview to En Garde/Against ALL Authority standards. (Which wasn't that much different from EVE University standards.)

Scottish is still a lone wolf, for the time being. I may need to use him to get some ships up to staging points, and since Scottish can fly a freighter, and since En Garde has some wardecs against it, well, I'd rather keep that freighter and its cargo safe.

I'll be back on TeamSpeak on Tuesday evening (01:00 EVE time) to see if there's anyone to chat with.

The Daily Stat with @CCP_Diagoras (Mar 15-31 2012)

PvP

• Recon ships being flown by active chars (currently active ships): Falcon 1605, Rapier 1356, Pilgrim 832, Arazu 700, Curse 400.
• Active chars in interceptors by type: Crow 903, Ares 832, Malediction 741, Stiletto 725, Taranis 640, Crusader 559, Raptor 459, Claw 341.
• Assault frigs being flown by active chars: Wolf 1055, Ishkur 1038, Jaguar 989, Hawk 868, Retribution 770, Enyo 525, Harpy 452, Vengeance 403.
• Marauders being flown: Golem 2045, Paladin 1028, Vargur 886, Kronos 709.
• Carriers being flown: Thanatos 3243, Archon 1716, Chimera 1566, Nidhoggur 838.
• Supercarriers being flown by type: Nyx 1579, Aeon 640, Wyvern 296, Hel 117, Revenant 1. Yep, just the one.
• Titans accounted for 0.62% of kills of ships in null sec in 2011. 6,548 of 1,050,130.
• In February, titans were responsible for destroying 823 ships in null security space. Of these, 764 were subcapitals.
• 741 active characters in a titan: Erebus 300, Avatar 257, Leviathan 98, Ragnarok 86. Titans / kills in Feb: 1.1 kills per titan.
• Same for supercarriers: Supercarriers were responsible for 0.41% of ship kills in null sec in 2011. I posted number of each yesterday :)
• Top five killers of jump freighters, final blows: xMartok 56, Emizeko Chai 42, Lord Kami 26, Kubirzar 22, TensionMAN 13.
• In the last year, an average of 111.7bn ISK was paid out per day in insurance. The biggest day: Jan 21st 2012, 216.1bn ISK.
• #2 was 11th March 2012 (214.2bn) and 4th Dec 2011 (193.8bn).
• 61% of all kills between warring corporations yesterday were from RvB blowing eachother up. 489 of 805 total.
• Five Rifter pilots with the most kills since 2008: Yankunytjatjara 1421, Axel Greye 791, Kate Mosh 667, Jarowit 648, Thomas Moroh 594.

PvE

• Active chars with >5m flying destroyers, by type: Thrasher 1751, Catalyst 1175, Cormorant 1097, Coercer 740.
• Logistics being flown by active chars by type: Scimitar 1300, Basilisk 1237, Guardian 892, Oneiros 507.
• 32,083,329,999,805 ISK paid out in bounties in Feb.
• Incursion payouts v. chars? Jan: 13,865 people, 8.9tn ISK.
• The top killer of NPCs killed 3,472 of them yesterday.
• The character was also a titan pilot. In fact, several of those in the top 10 killers of NPCs yesterday were titan pilots.
• Overall, 4.51 million NPCs were blown up yesterday.

Industry

• From a request yesterday, the ratio of built vs destroyed for a few things. Drake, Jan: 1.8 built per 1 destroyed, Feb 2.03.
• Maelstroms built vs destroyed, Jan: 1.92 built per 1 destroyed, Feb 2.17.
• Dreads/Carriers, built vs destroyed, Jan: 2.95 built per 1 destroyed, Feb 3.47.
• Transport ships being flown by active chars (five highest): Viator 3916, Crane 2401, Prowler 1977, Prorator 1728, Bustard 1010.
• Mining barges being flown by active chars: Retriever 7009, Covetor 2981, Procurer 450.
• 297,429,646,855,794 ISK spent on the market in Feb in total.
• 286,469,947,482,272 ISK sent via player donations in Feb.
• The last 365 days saw 1.12 million market transactions involving PLEX, worth a total value of 643tn ISK.
• On average over the last 365 days, 1.76tn ISK changed hands per day through PLEX trades. The peak was 4.3tn on March 24th.
• Most sold BPOs by NPCs this year so far (ISK spent): Erebus (1.3tn), Avatar (1tn), Covetor (550bn), Charon (499bn), Cap. Const Parts (352bn).
• Most sold BPOs by NPCs this year so far (quantity): Scourge Hvy (8,463), Antimatter S (4,668), Antimatter L (3,670), Thunderbolt Hvy (3,556).
• 56,270 Fuel Block BPOs purchased since they were introduced - 578bn ISK worth. Most purchased: Caldari (17,354), least: Gallente (11,452).
• 33.1bn ISK spent on buying frigate BPOs from NPCs this year - 22,047 blueprints! Highest in both qty and val: Rifter (7.9bn isk/3,078 sold).
• 3,831 destroyer blueprints sold this year, total of 27.3bn ISK. Most: Thrasher (1,636/11.1bn)/Least: Coercer (453/3.5bn).
• Most sold cruiser BPO this year? Vexor, 542 sold. 6,140 cruiser blueprints sold total. Least was the Moa with only 228 sold.
• The top two sold BC BPOs this year are actually the Drake (774) and Hurricane (504). The Tornado was third with 311.
• The top BC BPO sold in 2011 was of course the Tornado, with 2,975 sold. Second was the Drake with 2,919. Least? Prophecy with 489 in 2011.
• 814 BS BPOs sold by NPCs in 2012 so far. Most was the Maelstrom with 116 sold, least Hyperion with only 23.
• Carrier BPOs sold in 2012 so far: Archon 156, Thanatos 127, Chimera 81, Nidhoggur 74.
• Dread BPOs sold in 2012 so far: Moros 115, Revelation 101, Naglfar 61, Phoenix 38.
• 4,918 Industrial BPOs sold so far this year. Most - Badger II (726), followed by Iteron V (611). Least - Noctis (105).
• 10,211 Shuttle BPOs sold so far this year. Most was Caldari, least Minmatar. The Minmatar one looks the best, why not just build those?!
• 569 Freighter BPOs sold this year so far by NPCs - 277 of them Charon, 153 Providence, 79 Fenrir, 60 Obelisk.

Other

• Final CSM vote count: 59,109. That's 10,013 up from CSM6.
• CSM4: 21k CSM5: 39k, CSM6: 49k. Good rate of growth!