Ecliptic Rift

So, what’s in your hangar?

Most of my ship names consist of trying to find something that sounds technical and might relate in some (tangential) way to the ship’s purpose. Occasionally, I give them names for specific tactical purposes, like naming a ship after another ship class, to confuse inexperienced pilots who might pick me up on the directional scanner.

Let’s see…

1x Fenrir, “Ootini”: I use this ship when moving bases, though in reality I suspect I may free up the invested capital for other things that have a better ROI. It shouldn’t take a lot of thought to figure out the name’s origin.

1x Orca, “Quantum Heliophase”: I use this ship primarily for POS ops and sometimes as a mini-freighter. This provides a pretty good example of the naming style that has served me for a long time (though I occasionally deviate from it slightly sometimes now).

1x Mastodon, “Normal Vector”: My day-to-day low-sec hauler

1x Hoarder, “Fuzzy Waffle”: I don’t remember how we named this remnant from W-space ops. I can neither confirm nor deny whether alcohol played a part in this.

4x Drake: Several of my exploration ships came from a player no longer with us, and he named all his tank-heavy W-space exploration ships “<adjective> Soul”, like “Unwavering Soul” and “Vigilant Soul”. I retained those names. I also have one named “Asymptotic Security” because of the heavy passive shield tank it carries.

1x Myrmidon, “Meshigator”: I took “Mesh Navigator”, realized it sounded too much like other ships I use for low-sec exploration (see below), and just smushed it together.

2x Cheetah, “Lattice Navigator”: Almost exclusively dedicated to exploration with some light low-sec courier work, using these ships to find deadspace pockets full of goodies led to another faux-technical name.

2x Claw, “Parabolic Series” and “Exotransportation”: These interceptors get used primarily for courier work and sometimes salvaging in lowsec. Sometimes I find a battle, like a gate camp, then wait it out and clean it up. “Exotransportation” should be particularly obvious, I suppose, though I also named it while perusing a blog about exoplanetology.

3x Heron: I use these for exploration on the cheap, often in high-sec. One of them remains unnamed, but the other two are “Neutrino Interval” and “The Seer”. Pretty sure that last one came from W-space as well, probably left over when we had to pull out quickly.

1x Maelstrom, “Meganebula”: I kept the same initial letter, but shield boosters have this odd connection to nebulae in my mind, and since this ship gets a bonus to those, the name just sort of congealed in my mind.

1x Dramiel, “Vikarion”: Named for the pilot and friend who gave me this ship for free. Well, not free. He wanted Casiella’s immortal soul, and she figured she didn’t really need it anyway.

1x Cyclone, “Whirlwind”: This name actually doesn’t refer to the hull type but to its function (gas harvesting). Not my best moment, to be quite honest.

1x Buzzard, “Dark Lightning”: Null-sec courier. You should never see it…

Bleh, clearly I have entirely too many ships.

As I finally got some good time in-pod, I’ve put together a plan of action for the next few weeks. Mostly, it revolves around specific goals I want to achieve, some of which nest within each other. I have written this post as much to elucidate all this for myself as much as to generate conversation with pilots who have similar interests.

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Overview

Everything starts with biochemical gas clouds. Mykoserocin clouds get used for the weakest (and only legal) variety, synth boosters, while cytoserocin clouds get used for standard, strong, and improved boosters. These clouds reside in ladar sites, particularly in null sec but also in some limited high/low sec regions. Harvesting this gas requires you to train one level of Gas Harvesting for each harvesting module you want to equip. Note that specialized mining ships like barges and exhumers cannot use these modules. Generally, you should use a tanked cruiser or battlecruiser for this activity. Mining bonuses don’t generally apply, though those from mining command links (e.g. on the Orca and Rorqual) do.

The Syndicate produces a faction version that has lower fitting requirements but does not mine any faster. It only requires 26 tf of CPU (reduced from 60 tf for the stock tech I version or 70 tf for the tech II). The Gas Cloud Harvester II, however, pulls 20 m³ every 40 seconds instead of 10 m³ every 30 seconds, giving 50% better yield. It also requires 5 MW of powergrid (instead of 2 MW) and the rank 1 skill Gas Gloud Harvesting trained to V (instead of I). No other factions have specialized gas harvesters available.

The Syndicate harvester arose out of a joint research project undertaken by dozens of Station owners across the region. The residents and industrialists of Syndicate appreciated, more than most, the latent potential of the underground booster industry. Although their modified harvesters offered no improvements in yield, they were easier for newer pilots to fit. Their investment in more accessible harvesting technology paid off, when eventually the empires quietly backpedalled and legalized the production and sale of Synth boosters.

Note that some ladar sites actually contain facilities and NPCs rather than gas clouds. These sites provide the blueprints, reactions, and sometimes skillbooks needed for the production post.

Once you’ve acquired gas, you’ll need a reaction and a blueprint to actually produce the booster. Using a biochemical silo and reactor array, you react the gas with water (or other materials, depending on the quality of booster to produce) to produce a pure version of the booster. Producing the final booster requires cutting the pure booster with megacyte in a drug lab at a low-security starbase.

While customs officials will not like standard boosters or better in high-security space, the market administrators don’t mind. So you can either sell the boosters at a market hub (assuming you can smuggle it successfully there) or via alternate methods, including direct trades or in low-security space.

References

• EVE Evolved: Combat boosters – description of each booster’s effect
• Combat booster manufacturing – excellent overview from EVE Wiki (eve-wiki.net)
• Boosters Part 2: The Secrets of the Drug Cartels – older overview by Kirith Kodachi
• Getting high on your own supply – dev blog detailing changes in Apocrypha
• Meanwhile, back in the exploration bunker – slightly older dev blog about synth boosters
• Booster production – support page explanation

Image credit nick_russill

This patch needs a closer look.

I’ve taken several days off of EVE Online to enjoy some time with my family and loved ones (plus, oddly, a lot of work). However, CCP have released the Dominion patch notes so I thought I’d take a few moments to review some welcome surprises (and reminders) found within! In general, this post will address little bits of the expansion that haven’t already received lots of attention, so no talk about sovereignty and factional ships and such.

And post a comment about your favorite bits!

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Well, my earlier predictions haven’t faired entirely well, though the game hasn’t ended yet (so to speak). The next expansion actually has the title “Dominion“, rather than “Burning Life”. As of yet, the expansion site itself doesn’t have anything beyond links to the Butterfly Effect video and the main site, plus an existing picture of the Orca.

It offers a complete overhaul of the current sovereignty mechanics… In addition, we’ll be adding some new epic arcs for pirate factions, offering the first iteration of the integrated social networking platform known as COSMOS, setting our artists free to rebeautify planets and more.

I definitely hope they fix the astronomical data on the planets (gravity, surface temperature, etc.) when they implement the new models and textures for these, by the way. It really grates on my nerves that they generated all that data, and it has no connection whatsoever to reality. Inhabited worlds with 0.06 Gs of gravity and surface temperatures of 26 Kelvin? I don’t think so.

Then CCP Fallout pointed us to a story on IGN about what CCP had to say at PAX 09:

According to [CCP Hammerhead], they are simplifying the way in which you claim space and attack people, and they are also letting alliances upgrade their space and invest in it…

Along with that, they are rebalancing the power of ships, making adjustments so that no one type of ship will be heavily favored. It’s always been thought that the outcome of a battle was more or less settled with the presence of a Titan capital ship, the largest ship in the game, as its doomsday weapon could potentially wipe out an entire fleet. However, in the expansion this weapon is being changed from an area-effect to a single-target one. On the other end of the spectrum, they are introducing fighter-bombers, small ships much like the current fighters but which can destroy capital ships. Also in the pipeline are so-called “speedboat missions” for smaller ships, as most of the existing PvE missions tend to focus on the larger battleships.

The article also mentions some tutorial and other New Player Experience upgrades, to include PVP and exploration! I’d heard about the latter but not the former, so this will hopefully steer people away from just jumping into mission running and mining as they begin their capsuleer career.

I don’t have much to say right now about the Titan changes, as I don’t have anything resembling expertise in that area. I have some interest in the fighter-bombers, though. Hopefully, this means a new tiny ship class for pilots, not just an extra-large drone type for carriers and motherships. I’ve long wanted to jump into, say, a tiny Einherji, maybe even deployed directly from another player’s ship! Balanced properly, this sort of ship could really provide a lot of fun for small-gang warfare.

The mission changes sound good, too. Up until now, mission runners basically just train up to Battleships, and maybe eventually Marauders or Command Ships, and mindlessly grind out missions in their Caldari Navy Raven or Dominix. I hope this means more level 4 missions designed specifically for assault frigates and heavy assault cruisers, where pilots actually have to fly instead of “grab aggro, activate tank, deploy drones, and go brew some coffee.” If they just implement more and more level 1 and 2 missions, they’ll disappoint a lot of pilots.

Also, last week CCP Ytterbium started a thread about their first set of factional ship changes. Right now, they’ve only given us substantial data on empire navy ships (Amarr, Gallente, Caldari, and Minmatar).

For the faction frigates, “we plan to turn them into an hybrid of interceptors and Assault frigate classes” (sic). They also will perform a balance pass on the existing navy tier 2 battleships (Apocalypse, Raven, Megathron, and Tempest), plus add navy tier 1 battleships (Armageddon, Scorpion, Dominix, and Typhoon). Lots of players have given lots of detailed feedback, particlarly about the Fleet Tempest, and CCP has indicated their willingness to listen and tweak. Later this week, I hope to delve into the frigate changes in more depth, if time and other events permit.

Hopefully, fleet cruisers will also get a pass, and they’ve strongly hinted about pirate factions, too. Perhaps some of my remaining predictions about the winter expansion will come to pass, after all.

Image credits bpw via Flickr and Bird of Prey.

Let’s see. Since the last time I took stock, what have I done?

I’ve started a new skill training program, getting all my rank 1 learning skills to V. I’ve finished Learning V already and Instant Recall should complete tomorrow sometime. The +5 memory and intelligence implants I bought the other day help quite a bit. Which reminds me: my first trip to the Traders Mecca, Jita, saved me a substantial amount of ISK. I don’t know that I would really try to sell a lot there, myself: fast turnover but razor-thin margins. That doesn’t fit my style that much.

I’ve spent a good bit of time out in Syndicate. Clown Punchers Syndicate had seven pilots sitting together with me in Poitot 5-14 Intaki Syndicate Bureau. Evidently, they really enjoyed my company and didn’t want me to leave. I offered them coffee, but they lacked the social skills to appreciate the offer. This actually didn’t present much of a problem: a CEO and trader can do her work from just about anyplace.

In fact, I’ve started making financing arrangements with the Intaki Bank. Once I’ve done enough for them, they’ll come around on me for sure. But more on that tomorrow, along with some other corporate-type announcements.

I’ve learned a few lessons out in null-sec:

• Don’t panic in a bubble, especially if you have a cloak. Keep it together and look at the situation calmly. Your chances of getting out safely will improve.
• You have nothing approaching a guarantee at any rate.
• Don’t get lazy and start treating it like low-sec. That way lies disaster.
• Get jump clones or don’t use implants.
• Markets work differently out here. I don’t have them figured out just yet, but I’ll get the secret to the ISK sooner or later.

I picked up a Fenrir the other day, as well. I love this ship already. Not only does she have the tremendous cargo capacity typical of her class, she feels far more niimble than the Orca. That warp speed does get a little tiring but it doesn’t really hurt too badly.

Apocrypha 1.5 will hit Tranquility tonight / tomorrow (depending on your time zone). Basically, it has some nice bits here and there, but nothing that will drastically alter the game.

Fuel and ore bays

Glad to see my lovely Orca getting a boost to its mining support ability, along with dedicated fuel bays for capital ships and the Black Ops. Those Black Ops ships need more boosting but nothing wrong with this for a start.

Small and medium rigs

You can bet I’ll log in as soon as possible after server loading to go get some BPOs started! This should actually boost exploration, too, as we can get more economical Gravity Capacitor Upgrades and similar. In fact, CCP should do more of this sort of thing, boosting both manufacturers and combat pilots. I look forward to additions to the Rifter PVP guide, too.

Epic Arcs

I won’t run these anytime soon, as I don’t have the appropriate faction standings, but I understand that they contain some interesting additions to PF. And hopefully I can run them before the winter expansion…

Factional Warfare

Loyalty points for kills? That won’t help FW, since players hate doing plexing or missions anyway. The lag fix should provide a little boost, and new loyalty point items won’t go unappreciated. But they really need to fix that downtime plex shuffling mechanic. I’ve complained before about the lack of effect of occupancy, but the storyline updates in the Caldari-Gallente conflict and hopefully the DUST 514 stuff may remedy that. I haven’t flown in FW for some time so I don’t know if the boost to control bunker shields and armor will really mean anything.

Miscellaneous

The patch includes a lot of updates to graphic effects, particularly for scanning, warp tunnelling, and mining. I always like typo corrections or fixes to wrong links and such in missions and explorations. A change to the directional scanner (not more than once every two seconds) seems to cause some controversy, but even after reading all the discussion, I don’t know where I stand on this

The Orca pulled into the University of Caille docking bay slowly, as Casiella really had just started to fly it for the first time the day before. Despite all the neural training she’d received, nothing beat actual experience with a ship, and she’d not yet had time to fit it properly.

Given the price she had paid for it — nearly half a billion ISK — it did come with an appropriate shower and such, so at least she could exit the ship itself with some dignity. The local concierge staff showed her to her station quarters and she looked around with disdain at the luxurious appointments. Finally spotting the communications console, she hurried over and pulled up a directory.

During her time at Pator Tech School, she had met a fiery young Gallente woman named Avelle Lournache, who had come to study for half a year under a well-known scholar of Minmatar economic history. They had struck up a friendship and spent long hours discussing the astropolitical future of the cluster, and Avelle had perhaps held even more radical views than Casi’s. She had come back to Bille in the Everyshore region and taken some sort of advisory position. The two had maintained occasional contact since then, though Casi hadn’t actually told her yet about joining the White Rose Society.

The vagaries of interstellar travel, though, meant that Casi’s arrival actually occurred during the night hours according to station time. Disrupting Avelle’s sleep didn’t seem like a very friendly way to go about re-establishing contact, so instead she just sent a quick message asking to meet her for breakfast. She hadn’t had coffee and beignets in what felt like years.

Meanwhile, she could check the local markets and start getting up to speed on equipment prices here. And maybe some background research on the local UC agent for capsuleers, Huvertet Cherore, would help when the time came to get some local work.