W-POS Execution

It happened, an event which I had assumed was impossible; a w-POS destroyed by hostile forces. Theoretically this shouldn't happen. I was of the common opinion that, by its very nature a wormhole POS was almost invulnerable because in order to field the firepower required to destroy such a structure, would take more weight than a wormhole would allow before collapsing. Obviously I underestimated the patients of some pilots to maintain firing at a POS shield for an unbearable amount of time. Bravo to those involved.



Related Links
www.planetriskshow.com

Richness in Diversity

The EvE Online blog pack is swelling. Crazy Kinux regularly expands the list of worthy blogs making the blog-pack one of the best and most comprehensive resources for our beloved galaxy available anywhere.

As a member I understand the value and importance of posting often with (relatively) relevant content and contributing to my fellow bloggers’ posts. It’s a real joy to be a part of this dedicated and huge community, and I’m proud to be a member of one of the worlds most diverse collection of people (care-bears included) from across the globe.

For all you bloggers out there take a look at these FREE Blogger templates to enhance your visitors' experience. They will help you easily and quickly acheive a 'look' to suit; spending less time designing and more time creating content, which is good news all round.

Related Links
btemplates.com

Avatar

Witness in awe this terrying display of firepower from the Amarr Titan; Avatar. A tool of cleansing, spreading the word of the emperor for the glory of the almighty Amarr race.

A Noob Niche - Corvettes

There are many vessels operating in the space lanes of New Eden. From frigates to dreadnaughts, battleships to cruisers, all have there roles defined for them which are by no means definitive. However there is a class of ship which has been omitted.

Corvettes are traditionally small agile ships designed to tackle support and harass smaller vessels, or for light escort duties. At present, destroyers are the nemesis of any frigate and some specialist hulls such as stealth bombers can kill a frigate almost instantly, but they do have problems hitting fast movers such as drones or interceptors.

A destroyers’ defences are not very robust; generally they succumb to hostile drone firepower in less than a minute unless the pilot is quick to target them and act accordingly; even so it’s difficult to defend a destroyer from drones. I submit then that corvettes should be a class below frigates and be designed for anti-drone defence. There are currently no specific defences against drones save for smart-bombs which present their own dangers, being area-of-affect weapons.


A corvette would typically own enough rapid firepower to kill drones quickly and have a high enough tracking speed to tag rapid small targets. I appreciate that there’s a plethora of ship classes in New Eden and that another class would complicate operations further, but I think that there may be a niche for such a vessel.

In addition to this I understand that many pilots would not find such a ship empowering, but if the ship was cheap enough on both recourses and skills then it may be attractive to newer players to play an important role in fleet engagements. With such a small signature they would be very hard to track and target with larger weapons which would suit their nature perfectly, allowing less skilled players to remain on the field longer and experience the marvel of fleet combat.

Just a thought…

Camera Drones

Camera drones are unseen. Obviously they are there as we can see there effects every-time we undock, they tirelessly do our biding and orbit our vessels at a standard range and allow us to see the field without compromising our position, even when cloaked.

The use of camera drones is one of passive instruction. None of us give much thought on camera drone operation as they are vital tools to allow us to view the space we occupy. Their speed and agility is unmatched and they are totally invulnerable.

The views they give can be absolutely beautiful as New Eden is full of wonder, but sometimes their operation is something I wish could be enhanced. B13 recently made a comment that the view point should be locked into position if one so wishes. As an interceptor pilot one might wish to lock the field of vision behind the ship so the interceptor could be flown more like an aeroplane through the battlefield.

Tactically I can see little reason for such a feature except that the orientation of the vessel could be constantly observed and could act as a substitute for the lack of a cockpit. There are already instructions in place which allow the drones to focus their views on any object (observe as interest) while orbiting any other vessel within range. There has never been a graphic for these mechanical eyes and there are many reasons why they are not visible. Perhaps the official reason for this is that they are too small to track. Obviously it would be undesirable to have them visible whilst invisible, defeating the purpose of cloaking.

It would be a nice feature to be able to lock the drones into any number of fixed positions particularly on smaller, faster ships to aid navigation. Perhaps next year B13 may have his wish, I doubt it though as there are more pressing issues at hand. Ambulation anyone?

Alien Breed - Evolution

A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away I used to play an Amiga500. The available games were simply brilliant, despite a processing clock speed of only 6Mhz. One of the best co-op games on the system was Team 17's Alien Breed. Set in a dark future where hostile alien creatures have taken over a ship, you must battle to regain control of the vessel and eliminate the Xenomorph infestation.

X-Box Live Arcade has just released an updated next generation version of this classic title called; Alien Breed Evolution. If you have an X-Box 360 then this game is highly recommended. Classic gaming excellence from the Team 17 studio.



Related Links
Team17 (official site)

X-Massness

Traditionally around this time the powers that be grant us lowly souls a gift for the annual celebrations. I’m eager to know whether and what this years prezzy might be. My snowballs have melted and the launcher rusted so an item is needed to let those of us who celebrate, let our hair down and commit social suicide by behaving badly.

Will it be a new shuttle? Or perhaps the stations could become adorned with twinkly lights and snow. Even better would be a giant bearded fat fellow, dressed in red and stood at each gate, laughing and endlessly churning out seasons greetings.

I think the latter option may cause some aggression toward gate staff. We must remember however that New Eden does not share the same religious beliefs, and the multicultural nature of the cluster should be remembered.

For some unfathomable reason I tend to gain an extra tyre in weight, which I duly burn after the celebrations have tired. This year I’m almost out-of-my-mind from all the quafe I’ve consumed. There’s a tradition in my family that asks us to abstain from acts of violence during the celebrations but I’ve decided to make this year an exception.

Whatever your plans this time around I wish you all happy yarr! time, and trust that you will celebrate to the fullest extent of the law, and then some.

Merry hunting…

The Fear Factor

It is wise to choose a vessel because of its abilities regardless of its appearance. However, the design of any vessel brings with it the notion that, although we want to defeat every foe, the way a ship looks is only important in so much that it suits the role it’s intended for. For many, this simply is not the case.

I tend to choose ships based on their appearance first and build from that point. B13 does not; his choices are determined by the abilities of the ship. For this reason his designs are almost always more capable, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable flying a pirate ship which looked like a broken satellite or a lopsided chew toy.

The Damnation was for years my preferred hull. However, I found myself flying an Absolution more often purely because its abilities suited my needs better. I occasionally undock the Damnation and fly her to the moon and back, my camera drones endlessly snapping shots of her wonderfully dark hull but she is quickly becoming a relic.

The Cynabal cruiser is of excellent design. This little monster is hard to fit, but she looks terrific. I adore the teethy grin on her bow and the circular engines mounted on her hide. It’s one of those ships which looks very scary but statistically does not deliver. Many pilots have told me that the revised version is much better than the old, and so I’ve added a Cynabal to my purchase orders to revise this tiny terror.

I own a Nightmare for my own amusement. This ship has lately seen something of a renaissance. She is capable of delivering serious amounts of firepower on any stationary target and her appearance is dark, organic and spiky, like a demonic fly. The ships’ little sisters; the Phantasm and the Succubus also look the part and would make excellent pirate ships.

My favourite has to be the Daredevil because it resembles the bones of a demon. Its abilities make it very capable, but its initial costs outweigh its appearance. I’ve attempted piracy in a Daredevil, but it did not fare well and this idea was relegated to a whim.

It’s a shame that we are not permitted to choose an exterior colour for our beloved vessels, and most must agree that a colour coordinated fleet would appear to be well organised, or that every pirate vessel would be black. Perhaps care-bears should be mandatory pink, I’d vote for that.

Happy hunting…

Hauler Hell

Old Man Star is haulers hell. It’s regularly patrolled by warring pirate factions whom seek all life and civilizations to pillage. I needed to traverse this system or face a lengthy detour along the fringes of Empire which I was not prepared to endure and so a plan was hastily constructed which relied on the eagerness for looting that pirates regularly exhibit.

I’d estimated a years worth of modules for which I would require whilst living on the edge. The modules were split into useful and not, the useful modules I loaded into my hauler and the poorer into Miss NExUS’ to act as bait and as a means of recycling.


My elite slave ventured into Old Man Star without hesitation. She was instructed to propel the hauler away from the gate at the earliest tangent. Using an overheated micro-warp-drive the hauler picked up speed as the boosted ECM burst disrupted the inevitable hostilities’ targeting attempts. With the hauler nearly 30km from the gate and the pirates struggling to bring her down, I jumped into the system.

My hauler materialised and I witnessed fire billowing from my ALTs ship, and soon enough there was a white flash as the vessel exploded spilling debris into the fray. The bulk of the blockade was still swarming Miss NExUS’ industrial wreck picking through the spoils, leaving the gate unguarded. Within moments my pre-aligned hauler warped to a safe spot and cloaked.

Although my ALTs hauler was lost to the pirates, the price paid was much reduced had my vessel been the punch-line. I’ve since replaced Miss NExUS’ clone and her precious hauler and thanked her, personally. Thanks to her sacrifice my realm is that of the lost and the damned and I pray to flourish within these confines, as I vow never to return to Empire…