The Lachesis finds itself in an entirely new wardrobe.

Others, such as the Crow pictured here are not so dramatic but definitely have more grit and less cartoon.

The Crow keeps its colors thought the markings changed.

I didn’t do extensive cataloging of the ships that had been changed, but here are a few before and after shots.

The Atron now bears a Gallente insignia.

Subtle changes to the Arazu give it a real, gritty feel.

The Keres sports a darker, more sinister look.

Sadly, some ships have lost exciting features — for example the Hawk lost it’s spinny bits, and we all know how important spinny bits are. But overall, things are looking great.

No more spinny bits!

I didn’t see any models that had drastically changed (at least not any that aren’t widely publicized), but the Ishkur’s thruster configuration and front bits have been altered.

Some bits around the Ishkur hull have changed.

I didn’t have to travel far before I ran into a bright red, flashy Rifter on the Agoze gate in Ostingele. Taking advantage of the relative security offered me by the gate guns in this situation, I observed the ship to see what I could learn. I don’t do this often, because I don’t often need the information, but I thought it would give me a bit of information about this potential target. I noted the spinning barrels indicative of autocannons but nothing else useful.

The Rifter pilot, Thestarling, wasn’t doing much of anything and I assumed he was waiting for me to make the first move — so I obliged. I set up an orbit around him at my optimal range and engaged a warp scrambler, stasis webifier and all of my weaponry. I noted, with regret, that he wasn’t firing back — but I didn’t halt my onslaught. When the Rifter was at about 50% armor, he jumped.

I waited for my aggression timer to tick down and jumped after him, assuming he had decided I wasn’t worth fighting and moved on. When I arrived in Agoze he was still in system but not on the gate. I struck up a conversation in local scolding him for fleeing. I warped around the system looking for any sign of the Rifter, but was unable to locate it. So I parked myself on the Intaki gate and continued to chatter.

For a time I was joined on the gate by a Ishuk-Raata Enforcement Directive Taranis who orbited the gate with me. While we flew in lazy circles around the gate a few other I-RED pilots jumped back and forth patrolling for hostile targets. Knowing that I-RED follows the Not Red Don’t Shoot engagement policy, and that I had never initiated hostilities with them, I wasn’t too worried. I was hoping my friend in the Rifter would show up again. And he did.

When he showed up, though, he was at a tactical bookmark off the gate. It wasn’t worth burning up to him to engage, especially with the I-RED pilots likely willing to engage such a criminal. Eventually the Taranis chased him away and I decided I should get moving. I made a few more jumps and then circled back around to Agoze — when I arrived back in Agoze, all the I-RED pilots had left and Thestarling was still in system, so I struck up the conversation again.

I positioned myself at a station and let him know where I was. Eventually he arrived — but again he was far out of reach. So I headed toward him, slowly. He engaged his engines as well and we were both moving toward each other across the 140 km of empty space; though neither of us engaged our speed modules. I didn’t want him to be certain that I was afterburner fit, and I assume he was trying to keep his fitting a secret as well. So we moved slowly toward one another.

With all of the attention Rifters receive, I had doubts about my ability to win the fight and during the long flight out I pondered fleeing the scene. There wasn’t much he could do to stop me with the station guns on my side. But I stayed on intercept course anyway — running would have been a wasted opportunity; this time I was prepared to lose my ship in glorious single combat.

When the distance was less than 20 km I plotted a course for an orbit at what I considered optimal for my ship — about 8 km — which would give me some margin for error with my warp scrambler and stasis webifier and then I engaged my afterburner. And the Rifter was in range of my warp scrambler, I engaged all offensive systems. Very quickly the Rifter was into armor and I knew I was fighting an armor variant, but my Tristan soon dipped past shields as well. Both of our armor repair systems kicked in and I knew the fight wasn’t yet decided. I toggled the overload for all of my weapons, my afterburner and my small armor repairer and simply hoped — we were both fully committed to the engagement.

His hull finally buckled and the little Rifter exploded. I took a moment to note that flames were trailing from my Tristan yet its sturdy Gallente hull was still at 50%. I quickly scooped what remained of his modules and docked for repairs, thanking him in local for a good fight and my first real one-versus-one kill.

With this first solo victory under my belt, I headed for home and pondered how I had managed to pull it off. So when I arrived at my home port, I started analyzing the fight with all the tools at my disposal.

The initial conditions clearly favored me because his negative security status and the ominous station guns meant I could engage when I chose or simply warp off if I didn’t think I could get into a favorable position. With the early position established and both a stasis webifier and warp scrambler, I could ensure I stayed outside of his optimal range while well within my own. Though the Rifter is faster than the Tristan, the disparity isn’t enough for it to claw into a favorable position before being torn apart by railgun slugs and rockets.

An analysis with EFT showed that, under ideal conditions, the Rifter could outdamage my Tristan at less than ~3 km while it’s damage quickly faded past that range while my Tristan’s rockets and railguns could apply steady damage out to 8 km. Even if he had loaded Barrage the amount of damage would not have been sufficient to bring him a win. As long as I kept the Rifter between 3 and 8 km, a victory was the only possible outcome.

After a good fight and a bit of analysis, my confidence level is up and I’m ready to try it again. I just need to find another suitable target.

With the growing realization that players were important to EVE and that they likely had very good ideas about the natural laws within the universe of New Eden, and knowing that conducting discussions on an individual level with every player was impractical, CCP set about establishing a body of advisers to represent the players. This body was created with the explicit goal of giving societal members (players) influence over how society is legislated (read: the order of the ones and zeros that make up New Eden’s laws as ordered by the developers). But this body neither empowered nor burdened with the task of legislation itself.

The goal of CCP is to provide EVE ’s individuals with societal governance rights. In similar fashion to a realworld democracy models, candidates will be selected by fellow peers to be the voice of their interests to the legislator. Once elected, the responsibility of these representatives will be to uphold the society’s views as best they can via direct contact and dialogue with CCP. Central to this concept is the idea that increasing the “utility” of eve’s society will encourage more individuals to join it. (The Council of Stellar Management: Implementation of Deliberative, Democratically Elected, Council in EVE, page 9)

Society, here, refers to all of New Eden’s residents, not simply those who PvP, those who hold sovereignty or those who vote. And from subsequent statements in this charter it is clear that CCP intended this body to represent all players.

The deliberative democracy is a hybrid governance solution which combines consensus decree with representative authority. In this system, every individual is considered equal and has the right to voice an opinion whose relevance carries just as much weight as every other voice in society. Since creating an authentic deliberative democracy is impossible due to the technical means through which EVE is supported, the proposed implementation of this concept will rest more upon representative individuals to steer a common voice. In this way, the consensus of deliberative minds and the open discourse of issues will be the primary vehicle of political change within society. (The Council of Stellar Management: Implementation of Deliberative, Democratically Elected, Council in EVE, page 12)

It is worth noting that the implementation did not match the ideal vision; technical implementation and the real world impeded the idyllic vision. But CCP trudged on secure that human thought and action would drive ever closer to their vision of a deliberative democracy even while the CSM was established as a representative democracy.

The key difference between a deliberative democracy and representative democracies is that Representatives do not rule on behalf of constituents. Instead, they act with the consensus of the entire constituency as they present collective interests to the legislator. Every citizen owes the others justification for the laws imposed upon society; in this way, the theory is “deliberative” because of the social cooperation required to bring issues to “lawful” conclusions before a governing assembly. (The Council of Stellar Management: Implementation of Deliberative, Democratically Elected, Council in EVE, page 13)

The ideas presented are sound when considered in an ideal world where elected representatives are public servants and not self-serving. Sadly, they break down when introduced into a human world — especially one where there are only virtual consequences. CCP attempted to consider the meta-gaming realities that could plague the process but fell far short in their forecast.

There is a metagaming component to the proposed implementation in EVE, particularly where it concerns voting. For example, each real-life individual can hold many game accounts, each of which has at least one virtual persona controlled by a single owner. Although this technically gives more weight to individuals with an external monetary advantage, the impact is negligible in the greater scale of participating voters. Furthermore, the possibility exists that constituents will be apathetic about their voting power, just as in real-world politics but being aware of that possibility is the most powerful weapon in countering it. (The Council of Stellar Management: Implementation of Deliberative, Democratically Elected, Council in EVE, page 14)

Several years later, the landscape looks completely different. The original intent and document are long forgotten. The CSM chair himself has declared that he is not responsible for the cares of the player base, but the cares of his constituents; the constituents that quite obviously have been told to vote and who to vote for. If the mandate is to do what the constituents ask, but you have told the constituents what to ask for, then the society as a whole is no longer served.

The CSM, whether knowingly or unwittingly, have pushed for greater and greater power and responsibility. Along the way they have gained a bevy of willing allies in the most vocal segments of the player base who have become disenchanted with CCP’s direction. What the minds behind many of these voices fail to realize (or fail to discuss) is that the average players are not among them and these voices are not representative of the whole player base. Now, having not quite the power they believe they deserve, the CSM are attempting to blackmail CCP with threats of bad publicity.

Reality is now further from the ideal than ever and there is only escalation on the horizon. While it’s easy to blame the institution, I like to think in more human terms and place the onus on the people. As Marc Scaurus phrases the problem, the current CSM membership has been fostering an attitude of us (the players) versus them (CCP) when instead it should be one society working for the common good.

Player apathy is the other end of the spectrum. Not apathy with regard to the game and its content, but apathy with regard to learning about or influencing legislators and their legislation. Though I write this as if the average player may read it, I know that in fact it is unlikely to be widely read. The readers are most likely other bloggers, forum dwellers or the odd space nerd that arrived here quite by mistake.

So if some players care too much, other players don’t care at all and some players haven’t even started playing yet, what is the way forward? How do we represent players who don’t care to be represented? That is why we pay CCP. The ultimate form of influence will always be with your wallet — but be prepared for the eventuality that you are the only player who voted that way.

Afterthought: I hadn’t written this as an entry for the blog banter — rather it was a foot note in response to Rixx Javix and Marc Scaurus. However, it is a direct hit on the topic put forth by Seismic Stan at Freebooted as he continues to push the blog banter forward. So, here is a list of the other participants as pulled from Stan’s current list.

• Seleene’s Sandbox - Reality Check*
• Jacabon Mere @ Dying in Lowsec (One Hauler at a Time) - The Future of EVE (Blog Banter 28)
• Evehermit’s Blog - Blog Banter 28: “The Future of EVE Online, CCP and the CSM.”
• Suicidal Pancake @ Horizon’s Edge - Blog Banter 28: The Clock is ticking…
• Blastradius1 @ Blastrad Tales - (BB28) Consultant
• Tgl3 @ Through Newb Eyes - Blog Banter 28: “The Future of EVE Online, CCP and the CSM.”
• Shadai @ Sleepless in Space - Sticks and Shenanigans (Blog Banter #28)
• Kirith Kodachi @ Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah - I Was There – Blog Banter
• Drackarn @ Sand, Cider and Spaceships - Blog Banter 28: “The Future of EVE Online, CCP and the CSM.”
• Rixx Javix @ Eveoganda - Blog Banter #28: Space, the Final Frontier
• S.W. @ Confessions of a Closet Carebear - Blog Banter 28: “The Future of EVE Online, CCP and the CSM.”
• Cozmik R5 @ Beyond Space - Blog Banter #28: Here’s My Coffee CCP
• The Silent Bleat - Is EVE dying? & The CSM
• Trebor Daehdoow @ Confessions of a Starship Politician - Behind the Power Curve and into the Coffin Corner**
• TeaDaze.net - Behind the Power Curve and into the Coffin Corner – My Response
• Sessym @ Rants from New Eden - Blog Banter 28: “The Future of EVE Online, CCP and the CSM.”
• Kuan Yida @ Random Posts from Auga - ooc: Blog Banter
• Lex Starwalker @ EVE A to Z - Blog Banter Resurrection: the Future of EVE
• MarcScaurus @ Wanderlust - Blog Banter 28
• Ripard Teg @ Jester’s Trek - All of this has happened before
• Helena Khan @ Aggressive Logistics - This is not the CSM you were looking for…
• Orakkus @ 2nd Anomaly From the Left - Blog Banter: Coal Now – Diamonds Later
• Mord Fiddle @ Fiddler’s Edge - Fever Dream
• A Scientist’s Life in EVE - Blog Banter 28: “The Future of EVE, CCP and the CSM.”
• Col. Roc Wieler @ Roc’s Ramblings - Blog Banter – Truth for the Masses
• Corelin @ Haberdashers Run Amok - Consider This Dead Horse Beaten
• Gilbert Hamilton @ Diary of a Garbageman - So, on this whole CCP “thing” lately
• Seismic Stan @ Freebooted - BB28: Fighting Establishments
• PyroTech03 @ Wandering the Void - Blog Banter #28: The future of Eve…
• Poetic Stanziel @ Poetic Discourse - NDAs, Minutes, Other Stupid Bullshit
• Druur Monakh @ Hazardous Goods - A Walk in a Station
• Mike Azariah @ A Missioneer in EVE - BB28 Political Blues
• Myrhial Arkenath @ Diary of a Pod Pilot - Blog Banter 28: CCP, the CSM and the Future

There, I said it. I’m risk averse. I’ve tried to break myself of this time and again. It’s not that I’m unwilling to lose ships; I fly interdictors, heavy assault cruisers and recon ships with small gangs all the time — and every time a pod pilot goes looking for combat it’s best to be aware that it’s a risky business. But there is something about groups that inspires more confidence than being alone. I don’t trust myself solo.

I consider myself good at small gang combat. I know what to do. I know when the gang is likely to win and how to help bring about victory conditions. So when there are three or more of us, I’m willing to risk more. I also have a lot of faith in the pilots that fly with me and that inspires more confidence.

So now that I’ve established that, while I’m confident in group combat, I’m chicken to engage anything solo we can get back to the story. A few days ago I was reading blogs, enjoying all the solo player-versus-player tales, and decided to give it a go … again. I know a bit more about ship combat than the last time I set out to do this and found all of my existing fittings lacking. I went back to the Eve Fitting Tool and set out to design a few fits to stage in Placid.

I can fly any frigate in the game so the first problem I encountered was choosing a hull. I decided to go with tech 1 frigates because they are cheap. I’m not especially poor, but if I’m going to get over being risk averse, I might as well start modestly. Rifters are quite overdone as I see them everywhere so I wanted to avoid them. Friends have suggested I give the Incursus a try, but I can never settle on a good fit. The punisher seems popular, but I’ve never been a fan of fitting a ship and not using its bonus — which is what all the advice around the Punisher seems to be.

After considering nearly every frigate, I settled on the Tristan and Merlin. Both of these ships suffer from split weapon systems, but they have decent slot layout. Most importantly for me, both are favorites from my early days in New Eden. With a little effort, I soon had two different Tristan fits and a Merlin fit. I resolved to fit two of each and find out which I like best.

Because I’m extremely cheap, I’m building my own rigs and ship components where possible — which is probably silly because the market cost for my first fit was only ~7 million isk. This led to a situation where only my very close range (blaster fit) Tristan was ready to fly. So I was out in my Tristan looking for targets larger than me; sadly, something small found me first.

I was engaging a couple of battlecruiser rats (die Serpentis criminals) when two Hawks appeared on scan. One hawk outmatches just about any T1 frigate setup that I’m aware of, but two was a completely illogical fight. I kept up my engagement roughly 15 km from the asteroid belt beacon until a Hawk landed on grid with me — then I promptly warped to the nearest station.

I hung around outside the station and started up a chat in local with the pilot (Quake590) though it seemed any chance of action had passed.

Quake590 > why’d you run?
Pian Shu > Well, 2 Hawks against a Tristan isn’t much of a fair fight.
Quake590 > well… it would’ve been one hawk
Quake590 > the other one wouldn’t have been able to come in on time
Pian Shu > 2 popped up on scan at the same time, so you can’t blame me for worrying.
Quake590 > hehe
Pian Shu > even one Hawk against a Tristan isn’t much of a fair fight. Think I ought to at least kill something with it before I lose it.
Quake590 > hehe
Quake590 > still worth a shot
Pian Shu > Well You can shoot first under the guns if you fancy your chances
Quake590 > get 2kms from the station… I like a challenge

At this point I hemmed and hawed for a moment as I didn’t think he would actually engage while I was simultaneously afraid that he would engage and I would somehow lose. So I didn’t leave the docking range. After a moment I figured that it was worth a shot because I didn’t actually have much to lose. I was playing on a character that isn’t in my alliance and so nobody could laugh at me on the killboard. It was a cheap ship. I had station guns on my side.

So I directed my ship to orbit his. While I was orbiting, I noted that he started pulling range from the station — I assumed this was to draw me away.  So I let myself be drawn away in what I hoped looked like a rookie mistake. When I was a few kilometers from the station, he engaged with a warp scrambler, stasis webifier and rockets. I quickly applied a warp scrambler and stasis webifier followed by rockets and blasters and I approached him directly — not much point in letting him get out of blaster range if I could help it.

Initially, it looked as if he was going to terminate my brand new ship and warp off. Then I remembered that the Tristan’s real tank was armor and hull and stopped panicking. I had remembered to engage my damage control unit which drastically improves the tank on a Gallente frigate. My ship entered hull before his shields were fully stripped, but I gratefully noted that he wasn’t using a shield booster. From there it was a race through his flimsy armor and hull with the help of the station guns.

I still expected to fall before his Hawk, but when I saw a bright flash and a neutral pod floating in space beside me I was elated. A second later my beautiful, cheap Tristan was engulfed in a fiery explosion as his last wave of rockets found its target.

So ended my first “solo” experience; after the fact, he pointed out that it wasn’t actually a solo experience as the sentry guns had done most of the work. I’m going to count it based on the fact that I have no confidence in sentry guns. Clearly my little ship was outmatched, so I am fairly happy with the draw even if I made several rookie mistakes. I hesitated slightly when he engaged me, one second probably cost my ship in this race. I didn’t make any use of overheating — I could have overheated everything and been fine for the short engagement. And I didn’t launch my lonely drone. Making the correct actions in any of those cases would probably have allowed my Tristan to see it’s way through the battle.

But, I lost my first Tristan. I’m a step closer to kicking my risk aversion problem. Three Tristans and two Merlins left.

Rixx Javix (the player) hit upon an interesting issue when he published a blog post regarding the criminality of Rixx Javix (the pod pilot). The view was quickly rebutted by Logan Fyreite (the player and pod pilot) on his blog. And then countered by Rixx (the pod pilot).

Whether or not Rixx Javix (the pod pilot) is a criminal is unimportant to paritybit (the pod pilot). Clearly Rixx’s actions place him amongst the enemies of humanity. He believes himself above human morality. Many pod pilots believe human values no longer apply because they have capability far beyond ‘normal’ humans. The truth value here is subjective.

Rixx has no regard for human life. He has no regard for the property of others. He cares only for destruction; that destruction causes loss of both life and property. He has no purpose higher than the birth -> death -> re-birth cycle and somehow sees this as outside the realm of human influence.

He is wrong. Without humanity’s technology, he would never have ascended to pod pilot. Without human hands and human-built machinery, he would have no fresh body to wake up in when another capsuleer extinguishes the spark from his current body with a flare of autocannon fire. Without human station dwellers supporting the station services he would have no repairs available when he recklessly allows his heavy interdictor to sit under station guns for too long while the crew inside fights for their very survival.

His mental instability is quite probably the fault of the empire that spawned him and gave him the ability to use a hydrostatic capsule. Perhaps some fault lies with CONCORD who fails to extend its reach to halt his deadly joy ride. Perhaps the amoral corporations that accept his ISK in return for clone services are to blame for his continued existence. But no matter what created or perpetuated his existence, the fact remains that he is a sociopath — caring only for himself and his chosen companions and caring not for the bulk of humanity.

Perhaps paritybit is no better. But at least paritybit understands that when he violates human morality it is to serve the cause of humanity. The empires, the criminals, the opportunists, they all must fall for humanity to thrive – sometimes this is at the expense of human life.

We bypassed a small battlecruiser and recon gang as we entered the cluster even though we knew it was likely they would stay around to camp us in. Two of us groped around fruitlessly for targets in the cluster while the third kept eyes on the gang in XS-XAY — primarily because he separated from us during our manuevers. During that time the gang had grown and now included a Rapier and a Flycatcher (which was of particular concern). As we lingered, the gang moved out of XS-XAY and our third member joined us in the hunt for targets.

When we were ready to leave, we assumed the gang was still waiting for us. Since I was in the least expensive ship, my ‘friends’ elected me to scout us out of the cluster — meaning I would hit any potential remnant of the camp first. As I was in a Taranis, I figured it was no big deal — if I hit the camp I would just re-approach the gate and get out of danger. The camp had doubled in size by this point and it didn’t quite work that way. I’m guessing somebody was remote sensor boosting the Hurricane pilot because none of the other ships appeared on that mail though there was a Dramiel, Malediction and Flycatcher on my pod loss mail.

They blew up my ship and squished my pod — which brings me to the point of the story: I woke up in a clone in Y-DW5K, Curse. I am very careful to never let my clone get out of date for skill points but I seem to have forgotten to put it somewhere convenient after our last trip to Curse. So now I was stuck smack in the middle of Curse; 14 jumps from Sendaya (through Heaven which is usually the most violent constellation of Curse) or 16 jumps from Keberz (going through HED-GP, which has been topping Dotlan’s most violent null-sec systems lately). And all I had in my possession is an Impairor; a spawned Impairor fits no speed module. Alternatively, I could pay to move my medical clone somewhere convenient and self destruct my pod to get there almost instantly. Great set of choices.
Clones with a few years worth of skill points start to get pretty spendy and I’m cheap. So I figured I’d at least try to get the clone out. In the worst case I would just wake up in a new clone near home where I had just moved it. I picked Sendaya because the route is a couple jumps shorter. Immediately upon undocking a fine gentleman relieved me of my Impairor.

I figured I didn’t have much chance without any kind of shell around my pod, but I resolved to give it a try. I have a variety of tactical bookmarks throughout Curse, though the collection is far from complete. I only landed in a bubble once — it took me a full minute to ‘burn’ to the gate with a dozen neutrals in system. I passed a couple of Hurricane’s in another system. And in a third system I landed on gate from a tactical while two pursuing Claws landed in a pull bubble.

I made it out to Sendaya and only had 34 more jumps until I was back home.

The moral of the story is that if you’re undocking, don’t forget to check both that you have the right level of clone and that your clone is somewhere you would want to wake up after your old body meets cold, hard vacuum.

Overall, I was really happy with the content of the minutes. There were a few snippets I thought were very interesting and closely align with how I would like the game to progress.

If you’ve been following the blog since I started, you probably know that I’m a big fan of players being able to do the jobs that NPCs get to do — at least the fun jobs. I also think there ought to be more motivations for players to help one another rather than simply destroy one another; this is all the better if helping one party gives you the chance to destroy another. This idea, briefly discussed in the minutes, is a small step in that direction though with a different mechanic (though it could certainly make use of this):

Soundwave and Greyscale reviewed the current game mechanic wherein NPC customs officers are responsible for confiscating contraband. The change that they envision would see this enforcement fall into the laps of players. A vague mechanic was discussed with the CSM about how the players would scan and enforce “the law”. The CSM response was positive, emphasizing that corruption and bribery amongst player-enforcers should be a viable mechanic. CCP agreed.

There was a glimmer of elaboration on this topic later in the document:

Establishments will be coupled with an iterative feature on contraband. Torfi was concerned that, currently, smuggling contraband & boosters doesn’t feel like the shady business practice it is. Additionally, the fact that NPCs play a large role in policing boosters does limit gameplay. Putting that policing into the hands of players, as well as making Establishments the venue for booster sales, would be a successful iterative feature.

I’ve also been a big proponent of delayed local in null-security and maybe low-security space as well; though I have to admit that after no word on this rumor for so long, I was a little shocked when I spotted this next quote midway through the document. While it doesn’t translate directly into delayed local, I’m hoping it’s a step toward removing local as an infallible intelligence tool.

Conversation then took a bit of a tangent, and Arnar mentioned that local as we know it is going to change in a Winter expansion. The CSM was taken aback by this and let fly a torrent of questions about this new “no local”. Local, as it was explained, had to change because of changes to EVE’s infrastructure needed for future Incarna development. However, it would be replaced by a new, yet-to-be-designed intelligence gathering tool. Local would not simply just “turn off” and turn into delayed mode, such as in wormhole space. It is worth a repeat – local will NOT be simply turned off and/or turned into delayed mode. Arnar and Torfi both emphasized the importance of not feeling alone in space; they reasoned that the game has fifty thousand players and that it shouldn’t feel as though you’re alone. The CSM will be kept in the loop regarding this design when more is known.

This was followed up later with another comment about the same subject:

The CSM was shown a design draft of new intel tools and wanted clarification on a number of things, such as if standings would be visible. The CSM emphasized the need for players to see individual standings. The CSM’s view is that if a player wants no local at all (because currently local acts as an intel tool, showing numbers of pilots and standings), they can go to a wormhole; for everyone else, there needs to be a method to determine if a hostile is in a system, not merely to avoid ganks but such that roaming gangs can find each other and engage in combat. CCP acknowledged CSM’s concerns in this matter and will provide further updates as they become available.

Lately I’ve been giving some thought to how EVE could be accessible throughout my day. There are many aspects of the game that benefit from increased access such as invention (if a job takes 2 and a half hours to complete but you can only log in once a day, the resources of a character capable of invention are only 12% utilized) and marketeering. Apparently CCP has plans to help with that:

CCP then introduced the Unified Service Layer (USL), a new construct building upon the API to allow a web-interface with Eve; effectively the API on steroids. The USL would be capable of allowing end users to buy items from the Eve market without logging in, and a variety of other similar things. If all goes well, CCP hopes to be able deploy the USL soon. This fed into a very brief discussion on third party monetization.

And finally, the statement I am happiest to hear coming out of somebody besides me is this:

CSM emphasized that there needed to be a role for every ship type in a fleet fight.

A role for every ship type. Please make it so. When I ran for CSM, I wrote this statement:

I have a vision of EVE.

My vision of EVE is like the trailers. A handful of large capital ships flash into view; these behemoths are followed by a larger number of battleships and an even greater number of support craft. The capital ships and battleships begin slugging it out while support craft swarm through the mass engaging each other when convenient.

EVE does not live up to that vision.

Instead you have a clump of capital ships and battleships which are engaging the enemy fleet one ship at a time as if they were soldiers in a queue waiting to get knocked down one at a time. One or two people are making decisions and everyone else is following orders — there’s no room for heroism or tactical decision making from small unit leaders. The support fleet may operate differently, depending on what the overall leadership allows, but in my experience it’s been pretty similar.

This reality deters a lot of players from participating directly in the grand strategy of politics.

That’s as true for me now as when I wrote it. I want to see a role for every ship. Homogeneity is boring. That’s why I spend my PvP time doing small-gang warfare instead of fighting for sovereignty in massive fleets.

Note: This has been a shameless plug for all of my favorite old blog entries.

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your recent bulk purchase of Warp Scrambler II modules. We, at the Probability Directive, pride ourselves on our ability to offer high-quality modules designed to maximize loss of capsuleer property. We sincerely hope that you are happy with your purchase.

As a reminder, the Probability Directive also sells Warp Disruptor II and Stasis Webifier II modules. This product line will soon be augmented by Ares and Taranis class interceptors. Should you wish to make another bulk purchase in the near future, please contact me directly — I’m sure we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement without the hassle of taxes and fees.

We are seeking success stories to share with potential customers. If you have had success with the equipment purchased from us, we would appreciate a quick note. You would be compensated should we choose to use your story in our marketing materials.

The Probability Directive is relentless in its pursuit of complete customer satisfaction. Customer feedback is central to this strategy; if you are willing to help us serve you better, please fill out the attached customer survey.

Sincerely,
Clever Innuendo
Senior Directory of Product Marketing
Probability Directive

Please select the option(s) which best describes the reason for your purchase:
[ ] Reseller or redistributor
[ ] Wartime stockpile
[ ] Piratical intent
[ ] Market manipulation

Please rate your level of satisfaction with the purchased modules:
[ ] Extremely satisfied
[ ] Satisfied
[ ] Somewhat satisfied
[ ] Unsatisfied
[ ] Not applicable

Please indicate which modules or vessels you may purchase in the next 30 days:
[ ] Warp Scrambler II
[ ] Warp Disruptor II
[ ] Stasis Webifier II
[ ] Gyrostabalizer II
[ ] Tracking Enhancer II
[ ] Ares class interceptor
[ ] Taranis class interceptor
[ ] Ishkur class assault frigate
[ ] Sabre class interdictor
[ ] Other (please specify) _____________________

Any other comments:

And so my foray into interstellar arms trading continues.

From the Ten Ton Hammer article:

CCP has made it clear that their current strategy involves forcing players to dock into the Captain’s Quarters, performance permitting. Can you explain the reason behind that strategy? More specifically, will Incarna-only gameplay and incentives not be enough to get people to use it?

CCP Zulu: “So: forcing players to dock into the Captain’s Quarters. Yes, that is a form of what we actually wanted to get through, which was making Incarna a seamless part of the EVE Online experience. It’s not so much about forcing people to dock into the Captain’s Quarters or forcing people to use features. It’s more about making it a fully-integrated, seamless part of the world. I think throughout discussions with the CSM last week, we sort of came to a very agreeable understanding of how to give people back the option of having the ship spinning, of having this intermediate stage that still fits within this seamless, fluid transition between flying in space and the Incarna bits. So that’s something that we’re going to expand on a bit through design and iteration over the next month, and hopefully implement some time soon.”

I like the captain’s quarters. I like that I can see my avatar — it gives me a more personal connection to my character.  I like that I can walk around and [someday] interact with the environment. I like that eventually I’ll be able to interact with other avatars in a larger environment.

I don’t like what it’s done to the lore; I’ve gained in one aspect of immersion only to lose in another. We’ve been told for years that capsuleers don’t often leave their pods — that it’s a disorienting or even traumatic experience. Even the earlier Incarna trailers lend credence to this back story. So why make decanting an automatic process?

A follow-up question and answer from the Ten Ton Hammer article:

So we will dock our ship and then get out from the ship and into the Captain’s Quarters?

CCP Zulu: “I don’t really want to comment on specific design at this point since we haven’t really done it. The important part is that the entire world feel seamless and integrated, that’s not a toggle switch in your settings or something that you actively select when you dock. We’ll of course make design ideas available whenever they become available.”

I don’t know that I understand CCP Zulu’s reasoning, but it sounds to me like he’s suggesting you shouldn’t have to take some action to decant from your pod and enter your quarters once you’ve docked; I think that’s ridiculous.

Decanting is essentially the act of flushing yourself down a toilet; as you’re flushed out, you lose the ability to control a starship, it’s weapon systems, defenses — you become impotent. You’re covered in pod ‘goo’. You’re weak from the process. You’re practically naked. You need a shower and some clothes.

If docking a ship into the station is the ‘easy part’ for the capsuleer and we currently have to take an action (select the station and click dock) to do that, why should the ‘hard part’ be easier (or automatic)?

In no uncertain terms, what I would like to see is a two-step process to arrive in the captain’s quarters. The first step would be docking; the result would appear much like the old ‘ship spinning’ interface. The second step would be decanting into the quarters. This, to me, would be closer to ‘seamless’. Shifting from pod directly into the washed, clothed, well-styled avatar requires a pretty substantial suspension of disbelief.

It seems like this would solve the issue for everybody but CCP. It would seem to resolve the performance complaint. It would resolve the lost functionality complaint. And it would resolve the ‘this doesn’t fit your story’ complaint — which is actually the one of the three I don’t feel has at all been addressed yet.

At the end of the day, it’s not a deal-breaker to me. For all I know this is already the plan. I generally like where things are going and I’ll be glad to be around when they get there.

I’ve been working on a special project as part of the unveiling of Probability Directive as a humanist terrorism group. While Pian Shu has had Recon V for some time, I have only recently completed training Amarr Cruiser V. Last week I purchased and fit a Pilgrim for special works in low-security space and potentially for forays into null-security space.

Obviously I haven’t spent much time in the ship. Sadly, Leyndarmál Verkefni (Icelandic meaning Secret Project) has been misused as a transport for a couple of cargo runs. I’m in the process of whipping her and her crew back into shape for some special projects.

I know the theory of the Pilgrim — I just have no experience translating the thinking into acting. A Pilgrim has a very specific niche. It is good at stalking and subsequently engaging turret-based platforms which rely on capacitor to fuel their active tank or apply damage. Depending on pilot skills (both the hunter and the hunted), sometimes targets outside this niche can be successfully engaged. While a lone Zealot would be a good target, a Drake is the antithesis of a suitable prey. The problem is, you don’t find Zealots alone very often.

My dilemma with the Pilgrim lies in the complete disagreement among pilots regarding how to appropriately fit the ship. Eight months ago I decided on a bit of an unorthodox fit. Looking at the fit now I ponder changing it. While mechanics around the ship and fitting haven’t changed in that time, my experience has grown. For now, I’m going to stick with the original fit. I suppose time will tell whether my decision was right or not.

For security’s sake I’m going to keep the fit under wraps. If my secret project is successful, I will share the fit; if not, the fit will end up on a killboard. I suppose that either way, it won’t remain secret forever.