Donnerstag, 30. Juli 2009

EVE Blog Banter #10: Butterfly Effect

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

This month's banter leans a little, OK a lot, on the academic side. It comes to us from xiphos83 of A Misguided Adventurer, who asks the following: " Victor Davis Hanson argues that western culture, comprising of ideals such as freedom, debate, capitalism, and consensual government, are what make western society so successful at waging war. These ideologies create a warrior who's direct participation in government, ability to think freely, and desire to remain free, fights harder and is willing to suffer more than his conscripted foe. Though a military must remain a structured oligarchy to fight a war effectively, why in a world where military conflict is as familiar as breathing are there so few alliances that embrace these ideologies when governing their members?"

A scholary banter, just the thing for Zargyl I guess, will try to stay IC this time as well:

Capsuleer culture is probably not the most traditional culture as it has only recently emerged with the technological breakthroughs possible through Jovian "seeding" of their Capsuleer technology to Caldari scientists and the adaption of said technology in all four empires.

This tech makes us capsuleers effectively immortal while flying in a capsule-equipped vessel. With the threat of violent death looming at us taken away, quite a lot of things do change. One of those things that change is motivation. The most vital human motivation changes from survival to something else. That something can be as varied as we as humans are varied. Examples would be: duty, honor, friendship and fun. These new motivations supersede survival.

Another thing that must be taken into account that for those planet-bound cultures and governments are much more ingrained into society than for those that can travel near instantly between stars. This makes it easier as well to just fly to the place/culture that is most appealing to us capsuleers.

Alliances as well are for the most part "just" the sum of their member corporations. Meaning a capsuleer can become a member of a corporation. And corporations are probably not the culture or government that the above mentioned Victor Davis Hanson mentioned in his theory. So the question is probably: How do capsuleers choose their corporation? That depends on 3 factors:

Firstly it depends on their personality. For the most part capsuleers will just chose a corporation that fits their style of living (be that industry minded or more combat orientated, be that more peaceful or more aggressive).

Secondly it depends on their friends. Friendship is always a powerful motivation and friends do like to spend their time together and therefore will quite likely join the same corporation.

And thirdly it depends on their motivation. And only in this – last – part does the actual style of government in said corporation fit in at all. One such motivation is Fun. And if the corporation-culture can supply that to its specific capsuleers it will prosper.

So for capsuleers standard ideologies are not as vital as in planet-bound culture and their governments therefore have to provide different necessities than for planet-bound cultures. Hanson's argument therefore is applicable only in a different way. Those capsuleer corporations or alliances that do bring forth warriors who fight harder and are willing to suffer more are those that hold true and support their member's motivation (like Fun and Friendship).

One thing I would like to mention as well that can also make quite a difference is: Luck/Fate. Just watch the cool Butterfly video. The hero of which most likely found himself a corp. He did so not by anything as complex as trying to find the corporation/alliance with a corporate-culture that fits him the best, but found his by pure and simple luck/fate:

Butterfly Effect in EVE - YouTube Video

PS: Allow me two questions please: Any ideas how best to post that long list of other bloggers and not having to link to all those pages manually? And with what code do I embed that video directly?

If you like to see how others have answered that (quite a few not too dissimilar to my answer I saw, just go to CK's bookmarks.

Mittwoch, 22. Juli 2009

Rogue drones



Yesterday evening I was able to fly together with corp mates and for a few missions. The most memorable part there for me was the fight against the drones of a quite huge and awesome-looking hive. What a sight! I was quite awed by it and felt really tiny in my small Cane.

I was happy not to be there alone but with friends. Below you can see our stalwart mission commander approaching the hive quite fearlessly in his Vulture.



After that frontal assault another corp member flew a bombing run in his Caracal against the drone bunkers flying dangerously close to the gigantic structure.



One sight especially gave me the creeps: The use of a pilfered Domi hull which probably got invaded by drones, got its crew annihilated and got converted into a horrific and somehow shadow-like [1] looking huge drone body.



*shudders*

These drones really are a danger to civilized Gallente space. I hope to soon be able to help my corp mates again safeguarding civilians from such a threat.

[OOC] 1) As quite a fan of TV-Series Bablyon 5 I especially like the look of those invested ships. They do look quite similar to the shadow-invested ships from that series. (BTW if you haven't seen B5 already: watch it! Its the best sci-fi series there is that tells an epic, compelling story spanning all five seasons!)

Donnerstag, 16. Juli 2009

My first travel into 0.0

As mentioned previously I am a peaceful scholar and not really interested in aggressive actions against fellow capsuleers. I do wish to help friends and civilians alike against aggression and possible criminal activities by other capsuleers. To do that it has become quite clear that I have to get to know more about ship to ship combat against possible aggressors. As the Agony Unleashed University came highly recommended for just that I applied for a course there. It wasn’t easy to get a free place in those sought-after trainings, but I managed to get my first (and likely not my last) training course (a basic training one) last Saturday.

It was quite an experience! Agony Lt. Commander TeaDaze was our instructor for the first part that involved a bit theory coupled nicely with examples and tips. And this was "just" his first time as primary instructor! I am quite looking forward to hear from him as a commentator during the next Alliance Tournaments.

After that part we were handed over to Agony Commander Caldak for a roam into the fast reaches of lawless space. It was the first time I was in such a huge fleet. Even though the ships flown by us students were “just” frigates it was quite a sight.



Under the quiet but assuring and commanding aegis of the FC Caldak I felt quite safe even though it was my first travel into the lawless reaches of space. I was quite happy that this first trip was into the Great Wildlands. As a Minmatar I already have heard a lot said by our nomadic breathen the Thukkers and I was eager to visit their lands. Sadly though I didn’t see any of their nomadic caravans. Instead we had contact with other capsuleers who weren’t seemingly not too happy to see us being lead to their territory (though that is actually Thukker territory) for training.

Well to be fair I have to mention that we did get a friendly wave in local communication channels saying: welcome newbies - which was quite nice. When our brave scouts reported seeing an Avatar Class Titan though, excitement grew. Sadly that epic monstrosity of a ship was piloted away and I had to leave the class to head for a station to catch up on sleep. Adrenaline alone can only get a poor scholar so far. It was only later that I heard that the same Avatar made an appearance. Looks like it used its colossal array of weapons against the frigate fleet (in the process though also damaging his own support fleet quite severely). I have to admit that I am a bit sorry that I haven’t seen this sight – even though on the receiving side. I would really have liked to see this ship and have made a few measurements during the activation of its weapons.

T'was quite a night!

For more information you might consult the Agony University student communication system boards.

Mittwoch, 8. Juli 2009

My first death

I was hoping I could stay in my original body a bit longer, but sadly that wasn’t the case. Well I have to admit that first death didn’t feel too bad – strangely so. I was thinking that the feeling of dying would be an experience that would alter me forever. But it was over quite fast and I am not much changed. Quite intriguing this Jovian cloning tech. You might ask how did I die? Well it was my own fault and my inexperience as it was my first real combat fight as well. I ordered my tiny Rifter off to help a corp mate whose Chimera carrier was under attack. I went to take point against a Falcon that was jamming him. I guess we were hoping to take that ship down with the help of two Dominixes so that the carrier might be able to get out. The opposition was too tough though and it was over quite fast (not too much chance against 2 Redeemers, a Hurricane , 2 Thanatos’, a Chimera, a Falcon and later on a Moroes as well).

Being me I also was more oogly eyed looking at all those huge ships and not paying too much attention to the status reports my crew gave me. I feel quite ashamed because of that. I couldn’t even escape in my Capsule as I tried to warp to the wrong stargate (the near one were we fought and not the other one farther away). Anyway I should have better tried to warp to a planet.
Still quite a loss for the corp but also quite an interesting experience for me seeing so many colossal ships!


Above the evidence that I was more engrossed in collecting data on the other ships instead of watching the combat.

In conclusion I would like to say that I am atm preparing to participate in a PvP Basic course from Agony University soon so that – even though I am no combat pilot – might help defending my corp better in the future. I am quite looking forward to the training course :-)

Sonntag, 5. Juli 2009

[OOC] EVE Blog Banter #9: Slaves

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

"Last month Ga'len asked us which game mechanic we would most like to see added to EVE. This month Keith "WebMandrill" Nielson proposes to reverse the question and ask what may be a controversial question: Which game mechanic would you most like to see removed completely from EVE and why? I can see this getting quite heated so lets keep it civil eh?"

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Being quite a newbie I am not yet too engrossed in many of the game mechanics, so this is quite a difficult question for me. Lately I was able to destroy the ships of Amarrian Slavers in a mission. As slaves are illegal (and quite rightly so) where I live, I couldn’t take them with me and set them free at a station, which I found quite unfair (especially to the poor slaves). So I would propose to take away the game mechanic that makes them effectively un-freeable. Instead I would like to propose that it should be possible to free them. As most of these poor souls are probably addicted to Vitoc, a mission where you could get a possible antidote would be nice (could be a storyline/epic arc even as the Vitoc antidote ties in quite nicely to the events described in the Empyrean Age novel). When said antidote is applied to the unfortunate slaves, they could be changed to “Freed Slaves” (that are legal in Minmatar and Gallente space but perhaps not anymore in Amarr space).
Well just a though.

If I were to judge I would btw vote for the idea set forth by Morphisat about taking away the randomness of T2 blueprint invention.

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A list of all the participants can be seen in CrazyKinux's post about the banter.

The Blood Stained Stars

It was quite an experience to set out for such a huge undertaking as to help Sister Alitura up in Arnon with her investigation. I would try to persuade everyone to try it out, as the mystery unfolds quite nicely. It also starts with quite a bang.



Above the explosive start can be seen.

Such a start did get me hooked immediately. But first things first: If you do happen to do combat missions for the agent of your choice and that agent is rated by the authorities as level 2, your chances are quite high that you might get the mission named: Humble Beginnings. This is the start as the evidence found in it points you directly to Sister Alitura of the Sisters of EVE Bureau in Arnon.

Quit early a connection between unknown and quite mysterious rogue drones and these events are made.



Only much later do you get to know more what happened, as the search for an eye witness gets quite complicated. To read more about the events immediately prior to your involvement I would suggest reading the report called Depth of Field (but only after the missions and better in the right order: starting with chapter 1 and reading up towards chapter 4).

The investigations lead to quite interesting sites which I – your humble Scholar – found quite fascinating and breathtaking. Below you can see my stout Thrashy exploring one of those.



One of the highlights of those investigations was the breathtaking site of a proud Minmatar Carrier, that somehow got stolen.



I have to admit that I didn’t engage as that isn’t needed. But it was quite a sight nevertheless.

Even though just a humble explorer I still had to captain Thrashy and its crew into combat, which went quite well (even it got tight in a few cases). The site of the most difficult battle can be seen below.



When I was able to finally corner the villain the fight against him was also a fitting conclusion to my trobles.



Dagan disembarks the station heading to his last engagement.

I don't want to spoil your investigation, but I can reveal that this is not the end. The meeting afterwards as well as quite an interesting revelation regarding Dagan and Alitura "concludes" the mission with quite a cliffhanger.

So I conclude in full hopes to see the story advance and to find more clues in the future!

If you like to know more and get tips for each step in the investigation I would recommend the writings of Keith Neilson.