I dropped off a bit suddenly on Sunday afternoon, something died in my PC, I think it is memory in my graphics card
symptom:
1. main monitor switched off
2. the bios loading screen is covered in '('
3. the window splash screen loads
4. the screen where you must select a user fails to show and switches off the monitor
things tried:
1. took off the second monitor
2. swapped the monitor leads (blue plug and white (DVI?) plugs)
3. started up in safe mode
4. ran the test programmes in the hidden hard disk partition
5. initial bunch of tests showed nothing wrong
6. individual tests on the graphics showed problems in the video memory
solution
1. ordered a newer bigger graphics card (GForce 8400) as the one I have atm (GForce6800) wasn't available.
2. the slot if right (PCI express)
3. not sure about the power load, the old card had a fan on it, the new one has a heat sink
4. can't find documention anywhere on the specification of my current power transformer
One way or another I'll plug it in when it arrives and wait for something to blow up. If it doesn't then I will hopefully be back in Northrend this week, if it doesn't, it is time for a new computer.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Eirebull hits level 71
Eve over, I logged onto Eirebull and started knocking out the Borean Tundra quest hubs. Everything south of Warsong Hold is now finished and I am helping out the druids of DEPTHA. I must say two things have struck me about WotLK.
Firstly
There is a sense of humour. The bloodthirsty animal rights activists (the druids) want the crazed looters wiped out. The Crazed looters all work for Nesingwary and spout of things like ‘only 40 more horns to get that new gun’, a direct poke at players and grinding. You can’t talk to the druids for 3 minutes after killing an animal or they try to kill you, the debuff says, don’t talk to the druids for 3minutes or until you find some way of washing off the blood’.
Secondly
The visuals are great. Yes they are cartoon like but they still look excellent. I am thinking about Warsong Hold, the Mist with the Viking like raiders, the flaming bonfires and the spider lair instance. As you can see I haven’t got that far yet.
Eirebull hit level 71 last night, she isn’t shy about killing anything that gets in her way and taking every quest that is going. Apart from the 2 instances I played the night I started I haven’t been back into an instance. There has been very little ganking though you see it mentioned in general, I certainly haven’t been the focus of it, whenever I meet and alliance player or indeed any other player there is usually no problem about sharing a quest node, usually a boss type mob.
I also note that Eirebull can kick out huge amounts of damage. When I use all the cool-downs (wolves, fire elemental, earth elemental, bloodrage, shamanistic someorother) nothing survives. In fact single boss mobs go down disappointingly easily. Where Eirebull gets into trouble is when she takes on several at the same time.
Firstly
There is a sense of humour. The bloodthirsty animal rights activists (the druids) want the crazed looters wiped out. The Crazed looters all work for Nesingwary and spout of things like ‘only 40 more horns to get that new gun’, a direct poke at players and grinding. You can’t talk to the druids for 3 minutes after killing an animal or they try to kill you, the debuff says, don’t talk to the druids for 3minutes or until you find some way of washing off the blood’.
Secondly
The visuals are great. Yes they are cartoon like but they still look excellent. I am thinking about Warsong Hold, the Mist with the Viking like raiders, the flaming bonfires and the spider lair instance. As you can see I haven’t got that far yet.
Eirebull hit level 71 last night, she isn’t shy about killing anything that gets in her way and taking every quest that is going. Apart from the 2 instances I played the night I started I haven’t been back into an instance. There has been very little ganking though you see it mentioned in general, I certainly haven’t been the focus of it, whenever I meet and alliance player or indeed any other player there is usually no problem about sharing a quest node, usually a boss type mob.
I also note that Eirebull can kick out huge amounts of damage. When I use all the cool-downs (wolves, fire elemental, earth elemental, bloodrage, shamanistic someorother) nothing survives. In fact single boss mobs go down disappointingly easily. Where Eirebull gets into trouble is when she takes on several at the same time.
Eve when tired
Last night I had the opportunity to play as much as I could take. So I started off with Eve to check skills, re-organise things a bit and while I was at it, took a mission and got a level 3 Serpentis Extravaganza.
I almost fell asleep.
For me to enjoy Eve I need to be awake, on the ball and not tired after a day at work. I need a goal, interaction and excitement. At the moment I only really log on to change skills. Perhaps when the excitement of WOW dies down and the guild has it’s first tiff then I will think differently but until then I think the only reason I will log on is to show my face in the corporation and change skills.
I almost fell asleep.
For me to enjoy Eve I need to be awake, on the ball and not tired after a day at work. I need a goal, interaction and excitement. At the moment I only really log on to change skills. Perhaps when the excitement of WOW dies down and the guild has it’s first tiff then I will think differently but until then I think the only reason I will log on is to show my face in the corporation and change skills.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Quantum Rise
As a result of WotLK, Eve has come to a temporary stop, I log on to change skills and that is about it. Handy for Slayfoe’s Bull that should have nice gunnery skills by the time I get fed up of WotLK. I have been trying to get a handle on why Warcraft is more appealing in the immediate and it must simply be that actual humanoid avatars are easier to relate to than spaceships.
A new expansion, Quantum Rise came out in Eve and apart from 2 items I haven’t really seen a change:
Splash screen
Certificates – greatest waste of time and yet strangely compelling
The certificates will make it much easier for a new player to get on in the game by effectively giving them a syllabus of skill-ups to follow. They can then claim a certificate and work towards the next level. Unfortunately I have been quite scatter gunned and yet focused about my training so I don’t qualify for many certificates. These certificates are then either private or public which I presume will help in application to corporations.
I will be back, as I suspect that Eve is better in the long term, it is just that WoW provides more immediate gratification for the moment – we’ll see how that changes once guild drama and raiding starts up.
A new expansion, Quantum Rise came out in Eve and apart from 2 items I haven’t really seen a change:
Splash screen
Certificates – greatest waste of time and yet strangely compelling
The certificates will make it much easier for a new player to get on in the game by effectively giving them a syllabus of skill-ups to follow. They can then claim a certificate and work towards the next level. Unfortunately I have been quite scatter gunned and yet focused about my training so I don’t qualify for many certificates. These certificates are then either private or public which I presume will help in application to corporations.
I will be back, as I suspect that Eve is better in the long term, it is just that WoW provides more immediate gratification for the moment – we’ll see how that changes once guild drama and raiding starts up.
Wrath of the Lich King
It is the middle of November and WotLK has been out for 5 days. Even before it came out I was back in Azeroth levelling Flutter. I bought my copy Thursday and Eirebull came back to life, the quest log was cleared out, the bank ruthlessly sold off, the bags emptied, the action bars started anew and talents reselected.
Then it was hop on the zeppelin and off to the frozen north. First stop - Warsong keep. My impressions are that Northrend is beautiful, it is full of vertical surfaces, cliffs, lift shafts, vertical dungeons and northern lights. They really have done a very good job with the setting, it is visually very special.
My first evening was two instances with the guild, Utgard Keep and some Spider instance which was the more impressive of the two. It didn’t cause us any difficulty with Kara/ T5 level gear. The loot is similar though with a lot more haste type stats that will take a while to understand. The second session was getting a feel for the south of the starting zone round Warsong keep. The mobs were HARD and it took a while to adjust and stop biting off more than I could chew. The rewards are not yet good enough to replace purple gear, I suspect it will be the next area quests that will do this.
Then it was hop on the zeppelin and off to the frozen north. First stop - Warsong keep. My impressions are that Northrend is beautiful, it is full of vertical surfaces, cliffs, lift shafts, vertical dungeons and northern lights. They really have done a very good job with the setting, it is visually very special.
My first evening was two instances with the guild, Utgard Keep and some Spider instance which was the more impressive of the two. It didn’t cause us any difficulty with Kara/ T5 level gear. The loot is similar though with a lot more haste type stats that will take a while to understand. The second session was getting a feel for the south of the starting zone round Warsong keep. The mobs were HARD and it took a while to adjust and stop biting off more than I could chew. The rewards are not yet good enough to replace purple gear, I suspect it will be the next area quests that will do this.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Burnout mark 2
Games have a certain magic about them, they can be used for relaxing, laughing, challenging, escaping or simply an excuse to meet with friends.
I use games for a mix of the above but without doubt the biggest draw is that they allow me to plan something controllable. I enjoy the figuring out then sorting out that a new game brings. As long as the game has unfulfilled promise then it will entice me to keep playing. As soon as it becomes overly repetitive then my interest wanes.
Eve Online has this depth that defies immediate understanding and hence keeps me interested. I have wandered through the game setting myself medium term goals that are reachable within weeks and avoided goals that require longer to bring to fruition. Up to now these have been a mix of learning to fly a ship, getting a jump clone, having enough reputation with a corporation to use a particular agents and most recently, learning how to invent tech 2 BPC.
This last goal is actually a double goal though I didn’t understand that at first. I want to be able to participate in the corporation tech 2 manufacturing by helping research BPC into Tech 2 BPC. This is largely a skill learning exercise that has taken me away from my learning to fly fast and hard with lots of guns. A side advantage of the invention is that you can carry out research projects of your own that produce data cores that can be sold. To do this you need to get reputation with a research company, MNEE uses Duvolle, a Gallente corporation so I stuck with them.
What I hadn’t figured out was that you don’t need all the skills required for invention to do the research. So as soon as high energy physics is trained to level 3 tonight I will be seeking out a Duvolle agent and asking him to do some research and hopefully riches await!
What I really wanted to say was that I am boring again with Eve or at least the grind rep with Duvolle Labs. I need another goal!
I use games for a mix of the above but without doubt the biggest draw is that they allow me to plan something controllable. I enjoy the figuring out then sorting out that a new game brings. As long as the game has unfulfilled promise then it will entice me to keep playing. As soon as it becomes overly repetitive then my interest wanes.
Eve Online has this depth that defies immediate understanding and hence keeps me interested. I have wandered through the game setting myself medium term goals that are reachable within weeks and avoided goals that require longer to bring to fruition. Up to now these have been a mix of learning to fly a ship, getting a jump clone, having enough reputation with a corporation to use a particular agents and most recently, learning how to invent tech 2 BPC.
This last goal is actually a double goal though I didn’t understand that at first. I want to be able to participate in the corporation tech 2 manufacturing by helping research BPC into Tech 2 BPC. This is largely a skill learning exercise that has taken me away from my learning to fly fast and hard with lots of guns. A side advantage of the invention is that you can carry out research projects of your own that produce data cores that can be sold. To do this you need to get reputation with a research company, MNEE uses Duvolle, a Gallente corporation so I stuck with them.
What I hadn’t figured out was that you don’t need all the skills required for invention to do the research. So as soon as high energy physics is trained to level 3 tonight I will be seeking out a Duvolle agent and asking him to do some research and hopefully riches await!
What I really wanted to say was that I am boring again with Eve or at least the grind rep with Duvolle Labs. I need another goal!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Deltole
Needless to say my current reading has diverted me from Eve. On Wednesday night we all gathered together to explore the depths of the local non-event dead space pocket in Deltole, Sinq Laison.
We were disappointed. I went along in an Exqueror armour reppar to ensure Draconica’s Myrmidon stayed healthy. Need not have bothered. All the mobs dropped the same loot (laser crystal, tech 1 drone and cap rechargers). To get into the final room you need to get keys from some of the spawns but there was nothing more interesting here. There are name cargo containers that you can’t open, we assume that if your have the archaeology skill you might be able to loot them.
This took the evening and took me away from the Duvolle Labs grind. Both characters continue to work towards the necessary skills to do the researching required for the corp
We were disappointed. I went along in an Exqueror armour reppar to ensure Draconica’s Myrmidon stayed healthy. Need not have bothered. All the mobs dropped the same loot (laser crystal, tech 1 drone and cap rechargers). To get into the final room you need to get keys from some of the spawns but there was nothing more interesting here. There are name cargo containers that you can’t open, we assume that if your have the archaeology skill you might be able to loot them.
This took the evening and took me away from the Duvolle Labs grind. Both characters continue to work towards the necessary skills to do the researching required for the corp
Die the Fire
My current reading material is not going to be winning the Man-Booker prize. I picked it up on Wednesday evening while waiting for a friends to turn up and to my surprise I have not got to sleep before 01.30 either night.
Pulp fantasy fiction end-of-the-world scenario, electricity and gun-powder stop working, no one knows why though they argue over whether it was giant space bats that turned of the toys. Set in the west of the USA, civilisation quickly recesses into the medieval ages, cue chain mail swords and arrows everywhere.
Entertaining and very light.
Pulp fantasy fiction end-of-the-world scenario, electricity and gun-powder stop working, no one knows why though they argue over whether it was giant space bats that turned of the toys. Set in the west of the USA, civilisation quickly recesses into the medieval ages, cue chain mail swords and arrows everywhere.
Entertaining and very light.
Monday, October 13, 2008
In Life
Funny weekend. One of my sisters phoned on Friday to say Mummy had tests done that returned a tumour. We were all meeting up in Dublin as a sister was coming over from London with her partner. We all met up on Saturday night and had dinner together which was wonderful. We then when to our grandmother’s for breakfast on Sunday before dropping Mummy back to the airport on Sunday.
It will be said to Roisin and her future cousin that the end of the Celtic Tiger was when their grandparents spent 1000euro to fly over for dinner.
On Friday night we went for dinner with friends that had lost a baby at six months. The mother was very upset and emotional. The night was a rollercoaster but it is only since have the implications hit home and have affected my wife, who is 4 months pregnant, quite visibly.
Mummy’s tests are today, results tomorrow and operation Wednesday or Thursday. We don’t know is chemotherapy or radio will be required.
Starting my yacht master theory course tonight.
It will be said to Roisin and her future cousin that the end of the Celtic Tiger was when their grandparents spent 1000euro to fly over for dinner.
On Friday night we went for dinner with friends that had lost a baby at six months. The mother was very upset and emotional. The night was a rollercoaster but it is only since have the implications hit home and have affected my wife, who is 4 months pregnant, quite visibly.
Mummy’s tests are today, results tomorrow and operation Wednesday or Thursday. We don’t know is chemotherapy or radio will be required.
Starting my yacht master theory course tonight.
In Eve
In Eve the Duvolle Lab grind continues. Unlike with previous corporation grinds (FIO and Chemal), I didn’t have to start with level 1 missions seeing as how my Gallente Federation reputation is high enough to get me a level 2 agent. I do still start at 0 reputation with the corporation but the reputation flows in much faster with higher level agents. Against this, I am sharing the reputation between two characters. However this reputation is not shared evenly, the handing in character gets the lion’s share of the reputation while the fleeting members get only a fraction of the main handout. Soon, I’ll have enough Gallente Federation reputation to start a corporation grind with a level 3 agent. I just checked, Chemal Tech has a storyline mission agent in Sukanan.
What has fallen behind is the research skill path, I really need to sit down with EveMon and work out a plan for both Slayfoe’s Bull and Carraig naTairbhe.
Slayfoe Duvolle Research 2.something
What has fallen behind is the research skill path, I really need to sit down with EveMon and work out a plan for both Slayfoe’s Bull and Carraig naTairbhe.
Slayfoe Duvolle Research 2.something
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Far too much research time
Things are a little slow this week at work so I have taken the opportunity to read up on my favourite pastime, Eve Online, and more specifically, manufacturing and research. I suspect that it would be possible to pick out the players that come from other games by which route they naturally take. Like a lot of people I entered MMORPG through World of Warcraft. I loved it but in the end it was all a bit shallow. Eve isn’t, at least not yet.
My first paid up character is Slayfoe’s Bull, a Gallentean special forces pilot and a bit handy with a small gun. He is as close to one dimensional as a first time player would get, by this I mean that almost all his skills are about flying ships to shoot other ships. Nothing wrong with this, it makes good money.
There is another approach, that of the industrialist, the maker of ships (and probably encourager of people who shoot up ships – good for business). Simple manufacturing is simply a matter of getting together materials and a blue print (BP), finding a factory and asking the factory to put it all together for you.
Above the simple (tech I) manufacturing is advanced manufacturing (tech II). This requires the player to invent an item (by researching a tech I BP) and combine a tech 1 version, more materials (some of them moon minerals some of them mined minerals) and R.A.M. (Robotic Assembly Manufactory?). it sounds simple until you realise what is required to research (invent) the tech I BP.
This process requires a character to either buy data-cores from the market or have them researched by an R&D agent for a company that has a research department, in Gallente space these companies are Creodrone, Roden and Duvolle. To use their agents you need to build reputation with them then ask them nicely to head us a research project for you that produces data-cores.
What I can’t figure out is why you don’t just research the data-cores and flog them on the market, the whole tech II research and manufacture seems to diminish returns, or I am missing something.
The up shot of this is that I’m thinking of availing of the ‘Power of 2’ promotion. This gives you a 2nd character for 6 months for 50€. I would make this character a researcher and grind rep with Duvolle using Slaybull. That way both would be able to use research agents and make a nice nest egg on the side while doing other stuff.
My first paid up character is Slayfoe’s Bull, a Gallentean special forces pilot and a bit handy with a small gun. He is as close to one dimensional as a first time player would get, by this I mean that almost all his skills are about flying ships to shoot other ships. Nothing wrong with this, it makes good money.
There is another approach, that of the industrialist, the maker of ships (and probably encourager of people who shoot up ships – good for business). Simple manufacturing is simply a matter of getting together materials and a blue print (BP), finding a factory and asking the factory to put it all together for you.
Above the simple (tech I) manufacturing is advanced manufacturing (tech II). This requires the player to invent an item (by researching a tech I BP) and combine a tech 1 version, more materials (some of them moon minerals some of them mined minerals) and R.A.M. (Robotic Assembly Manufactory?). it sounds simple until you realise what is required to research (invent) the tech I BP.
This process requires a character to either buy data-cores from the market or have them researched by an R&D agent for a company that has a research department, in Gallente space these companies are Creodrone, Roden and Duvolle. To use their agents you need to build reputation with them then ask them nicely to head us a research project for you that produces data-cores.
What I can’t figure out is why you don’t just research the data-cores and flog them on the market, the whole tech II research and manufacture seems to diminish returns, or I am missing something.
The up shot of this is that I’m thinking of availing of the ‘Power of 2’ promotion. This gives you a 2nd character for 6 months for 50€. I would make this character a researcher and grind rep with Duvolle using Slaybull. That way both would be able to use research agents and make a nice nest egg on the side while doing other stuff.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Standing of 4.99 with Chemal Tech
Well, after 2 nights in some good-forsaken end of Lonetrek working for a L3Q-9 Chemal Tech agent I got my standings up to 4.99. Tonight I make the long travel down to Sukanan and my new home working for the L3Q20 agent down there in low-sec space.
It means some re-organising of my trusty myrmidon to make it able to escape any pirates that come poking round my deadspace area - fitting warp core stabilisers really gimps your guns, fortunately they are only really there to show the drones which way to go :)
Some notes of interest in missioning for a Gallente corp in Caldari space. I had done 16 L3 missions and got a storeyline. The nearest storyline agent happened to be the other Chemal Tech station in the system. How many times had I hoped for this to happen, that the rep gain from the storyline mission would help towards the main goal! To explain further, when I mission out of Meis I get sent 3 times out of 4 to Halle to find some scordite or to Balle to help the Centre for Advanced Studies. I don't WANT any more rep with the Centre for Advanced Studies! i want rep for Chemal Tech.
Moral of the story: find an out of the way system with a mission agent and a storyline agent in the same corp.
It means some re-organising of my trusty myrmidon to make it able to escape any pirates that come poking round my deadspace area - fitting warp core stabilisers really gimps your guns, fortunately they are only really there to show the drones which way to go :)
Some notes of interest in missioning for a Gallente corp in Caldari space. I had done 16 L3 missions and got a storeyline. The nearest storyline agent happened to be the other Chemal Tech station in the system. How many times had I hoped for this to happen, that the rep gain from the storyline mission would help towards the main goal! To explain further, when I mission out of Meis I get sent 3 times out of 4 to Halle to find some scordite or to Balle to help the Centre for Advanced Studies. I don't WANT any more rep with the Centre for Advanced Studies! i want rep for Chemal Tech.
Moral of the story: find an out of the way system with a mission agent and a storyline agent in the same corp.
Monday, October 6, 2008
A New Alliance - System Shock Initiative
MNEE was part of an alliance called the New Eden Research Alliance when I joined. Unfortunately a bunch of pricks decided that the alliance was easy pickings and paid for an official war declaration. This allows one corporation to attack another corporation or alliance in Concord space. Needless to say this makes taking out expensive mission boats a bit tricky. After 2 weeks of this Smint, the effective corporation director, grabbed the bull by the horns and quit the alliance.
For a week we were a corporation without an alliance. We are still part of the Sukanan gang and have access to CVA Providence but that was it. Now to be fair, New Eden Research only existing to provide customers for a POS controlled by Smint and help pay the POS fuel bills. Not sure what is happening about Smint’s POS now.
On logging on over the weekend we all found some mail from Smint. He had negotiated access to a new alliance called System Shock Initiative. Will have to do some research on these boys, see where they are based out of and see if they do any alliance operations.
For a week we were a corporation without an alliance. We are still part of the Sukanan gang and have access to CVA Providence but that was it. Now to be fair, New Eden Research only existing to provide customers for a POS controlled by Smint and help pay the POS fuel bills. Not sure what is happening about Smint’s POS now.
On logging on over the weekend we all found some mail from Smint. He had negotiated access to a new alliance called System Shock Initiative. Will have to do some research on these boys, see where they are based out of and see if they do any alliance operations.
A flirt with Warhammer Online
I am blaming the slight pause in posts because of the issue of Warhammer Online. I succumbed and bought it, played it and got fed up with it. It is a great setting but I find it quite lonely after FWE. In the end it is the people you play with that makes a game rather than the game itself. I’ll play round with Warhammer till the end of the month but I won’t be taking out a subscription. The truth be told, after 1 week of Warhammer I logged back into Eve and started missioning again. I quite like the slow pace of Eve, the freedom to be on your own or to join corporation missioning. So good bye to my Ironbreaker, I got him to rank 14 or 15 and had fun with him.
The future still lies with internet spaceships and a capsuleer called Slayfoe’s Bull and his Myrmidon, Second Chance. Everyday I come into work and have a look at a scrap of paper beside my desk that has the skills priority list on it. This has many lines through items, many modifications and additions. As my mood changes so does it.
Currently my medium term plan is to get Chemal Tech rep high enough to go do level 3 missions in Sukanan with a Myrmidon. I finished Hull Upgrade V over the weekend (Tech II hardeners) and am debating which direction to go, medium tech II’s or more drone skills. Medium tech II’s allow me to maximise my Myrmidon skills so would be of more benefit short term, drone skills are for level 4 missions that I need to use a Dominix battleship for. When I see this written down there really isn’t any contest, medium guns it is.
So, level 3 missions in Endahoe until my Chemal Tech rep is 5.00 then the big move down to Sukanan and all the fun that will entail. While in Sukanan I’ll start the battleship L4 mission skills training programme.
It looks like my Ishkur assault ship is going to live in it's berth for a while.
The future still lies with internet spaceships and a capsuleer called Slayfoe’s Bull and his Myrmidon, Second Chance. Everyday I come into work and have a look at a scrap of paper beside my desk that has the skills priority list on it. This has many lines through items, many modifications and additions. As my mood changes so does it.
Currently my medium term plan is to get Chemal Tech rep high enough to go do level 3 missions in Sukanan with a Myrmidon. I finished Hull Upgrade V over the weekend (Tech II hardeners) and am debating which direction to go, medium tech II’s or more drone skills. Medium tech II’s allow me to maximise my Myrmidon skills so would be of more benefit short term, drone skills are for level 4 missions that I need to use a Dominix battleship for. When I see this written down there really isn’t any contest, medium guns it is.
So, level 3 missions in Endahoe until my Chemal Tech rep is 5.00 then the big move down to Sukanan and all the fun that will entail. While in Sukanan I’ll start the battleship L4 mission skills training programme.
It looks like my Ishkur assault ship is going to live in it's berth for a while.
Friday, September 19, 2008
A New Game
It isn’t that I am bored with Eve and it isn’t that Eve is too much of a reputation grind at the moment. It is more that Warhammer is so easy. So a certain pod pilot is learning some skills in the background while the new incarnation of Slayfoe is crushing (or more accurately, being crushed) greenskins, gobos, orcs and snotlings.
WarHammer Online launched yesterday, it took FOREVER to load, patch and figure out the details. I tried to re-register Slayfoe but it turns out that the system remembered my name, email address and password from Beta. So I just pressed play and it allowed me to play. It appears that there are different US and Euro websites with different info on each – I haven’t found out how to register my CD key yet so I fully expect not to be able to play when I get back from a weekend away on Sunday evening.
Can’t believe that I am off sailing in Collanmore the weekend that Warhammer launches. I wasn’t going to play it but the temptation got too much during the week when Aileen phoned me up from town and asked if I needed anything. I eventually got into the game at 21:00 last night and went with the advised realm and side. So Slayfoe is an Ironbreaker, a dwif tank on Karad-Kharaz.
I am not sure my system is fully up to the requirements, it can get a bit jerky from time to time but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the experience immensely – I only got to bed at 02:35. I participated in a public quest (everyone can join in towards a goal) and a scenario (battleground in WoW speak), did lots of questing, unlocking parts of my Tome of Knowledge (brilliant idea) and not enough looking round.
I must say I am really looking forwards to Sunday evening and having a little go before bed.
WarHammer Online launched yesterday, it took FOREVER to load, patch and figure out the details. I tried to re-register Slayfoe but it turns out that the system remembered my name, email address and password from Beta. So I just pressed play and it allowed me to play. It appears that there are different US and Euro websites with different info on each – I haven’t found out how to register my CD key yet so I fully expect not to be able to play when I get back from a weekend away on Sunday evening.
Can’t believe that I am off sailing in Collanmore the weekend that Warhammer launches. I wasn’t going to play it but the temptation got too much during the week when Aileen phoned me up from town and asked if I needed anything. I eventually got into the game at 21:00 last night and went with the advised realm and side. So Slayfoe is an Ironbreaker, a dwif tank on Karad-Kharaz.
I am not sure my system is fully up to the requirements, it can get a bit jerky from time to time but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the experience immensely – I only got to bed at 02:35. I participated in a public quest (everyone can join in towards a goal) and a scenario (battleground in WoW speak), did lots of questing, unlocking parts of my Tome of Knowledge (brilliant idea) and not enough looking round.
I must say I am really looking forwards to Sunday evening and having a little go before bed.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Grand Plan…
…continues. Some days are just about finishing all the small training times left over from when you swap out of a nearly complete training in order not to waste valuable training time while you are away at work. Last night was one of those days. I also had to wait for the jump clone timer to tick away in order to get a new implant-free jump clone to fly down to Providence in my target, also known as an Iteron III.
I have decided that all the loot lying round unclaimed in Providence is a crime and that things would be neater if someone cleaned up the belts. I am going to loot and salvage the wrecks that infest the belts and drag all the salvage up to Tash-Murkon.
Think I’ll start by hauling the gear I have already collected to Tash-Murkon and bring back some salvage and tractor beams. Suddenly hauling is exciting.
I have decided that all the loot lying round unclaimed in Providence is a crime and that things would be neater if someone cleaned up the belts. I am going to loot and salvage the wrecks that infest the belts and drag all the salvage up to Tash-Murkon.
Think I’ll start by hauling the gear I have already collected to Tash-Murkon and bring back some salvage and tractor beams. Suddenly hauling is exciting.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
First trip into 0.0 sec
The Surkanan Alliance that MNEE (Slayfoe’s corporation) joined is friendly with a 0.0 space alliance called CVA. They control a part of the Providence Region at the south end of Amarr Empire space, not far from Tash-Murkon. The nice thing about CVA is that they have an anti-pirate policy and allow anyone into their space that obeys their rules.
So I fleeted up with Jayden and Smint on Sunday, jump cloned down to Surkanan and travelled south to the edge of Empire Space. I took Hazelnut II, a blaster fit Thorax with cloak, stab and inappropriate tank. Unusually, Providence space edges onto high-sec space in a system called Kish or Kesh or some such name. It turned out that the adrenaline of travelling towards 0,0 space was worse that actually jumping out of empire. No one was waiting there or anywhere up the short line of systems to Deliverance, a CVA outpost in Providence. They charged 22,400ISK to dock, repair doesn’t seem extraordinarily expensive but they don’t have a market.
With the station bookmarked we wandered of to a dead-end tube and went ratting (killing pirates for bounty). Where the largest pirate I have seen in low-sec was a battle-cruiser, we were treated to battleship spawns in 0.0 space. The spawns are Sansha Nation ships – delivering E/M and thermal death – hence my need to refit a decent tank against these damage types. The spawns come in various sizes:
1 battleship with accompanying 3 frigates
2 battleships with accompanying 3 cruisers
2 cruisers (possibly battle-cruisers) with 3 accompanying frigates
1 cruiser with 2 frigates
5 cruisers/ battle-cruisers
I can handle spawn 1, 3 and 4. Battleships are not a problem once you get up close and orbit them – they simply can’t hit a cruiser. Cruisers and battle-cruisers are a real problem though – they can melt me. The battleships have bounties of between 500k and 950k. It really makes sense with this sort of return to rat by yourself or with no more than 1 other person. You can make money quickly but can’t get rid of the loot, there are a lot of un-looted wrecks floating round space waiting to be salvaged.
Once I get some decent money together I am thinking of coming back with a battle-cruiser. The cruiser is too small for some of these spawns though once I get it properly fitted out things might become easier.
So I fleeted up with Jayden and Smint on Sunday, jump cloned down to Surkanan and travelled south to the edge of Empire Space. I took Hazelnut II, a blaster fit Thorax with cloak, stab and inappropriate tank. Unusually, Providence space edges onto high-sec space in a system called Kish or Kesh or some such name. It turned out that the adrenaline of travelling towards 0,0 space was worse that actually jumping out of empire. No one was waiting there or anywhere up the short line of systems to Deliverance, a CVA outpost in Providence. They charged 22,400ISK to dock, repair doesn’t seem extraordinarily expensive but they don’t have a market.
With the station bookmarked we wandered of to a dead-end tube and went ratting (killing pirates for bounty). Where the largest pirate I have seen in low-sec was a battle-cruiser, we were treated to battleship spawns in 0.0 space. The spawns are Sansha Nation ships – delivering E/M and thermal death – hence my need to refit a decent tank against these damage types. The spawns come in various sizes:
1 battleship with accompanying 3 frigates
2 battleships with accompanying 3 cruisers
2 cruisers (possibly battle-cruisers) with 3 accompanying frigates
1 cruiser with 2 frigates
5 cruisers/ battle-cruisers
I can handle spawn 1, 3 and 4. Battleships are not a problem once you get up close and orbit them – they simply can’t hit a cruiser. Cruisers and battle-cruisers are a real problem though – they can melt me. The battleships have bounties of between 500k and 950k. It really makes sense with this sort of return to rat by yourself or with no more than 1 other person. You can make money quickly but can’t get rid of the loot, there are a lot of un-looted wrecks floating round space waiting to be salvaged.
Once I get some decent money together I am thinking of coming back with a battle-cruiser. The cruiser is too small for some of these spawns though once I get it properly fitted out things might become easier.
Friday, September 5, 2008
The grind that is Chemal Tech
Aim
I would like to be able to move to Surkanan semi-permanently and mission there in-between the pirate hunting fun. There is a poor quality level 1 agent there and top quality level 3 and 4 agents in Surkanan. So I have moved Slayfoe back to Gallente Space to grind his standing up to the required level to use the Surkanan level 3 agents.
Slayfoe currently has a standing of 1.56, as modified by his social skills, with Chemal Tech.
Slayfoe is currently using L2Q-11 marketing agent in Meis (Hourbane Bolmolie).
There are more marketing agents and an internal security agent in Oursulaert that Slayfoe can use as upgraded agents as his standing improves.
Level 3 agents
Target: L3Q20 agents in Surkanan space – require standing of 5.0
To get there Slayfoe can grind the internal security agent in Oursulaert from 2.8 to 5.0. Chemal Tech seems to have a large jump in the level 3 agents between a L3Q-9 agent (3.55 standing required) to a L3Q16 agent (4.8 standing required). This seems like an awful lot of grinding level 2 missions, little money but easy.
Level 4 agents
L4 agents are spread all over the place but the ones in Surkanan are L4Q20, just like the L3 agents. This means grinding the L3Q20 agents until standing is 7.0 and access to L4Q20 agents. Being low-sec should mean a nice reward per mission though. Being admin I suspect a lot of the missions will be courier.
Synopsis
Chemal Tech is a bitch to get going, but once using the high level three agents in Surkanan space the rewards should be good. To help I should concentrate on leveling Slayfoe’s social skills – both social (for better rewards) and connections (for standing improvements)
I would like to be able to move to Surkanan semi-permanently and mission there in-between the pirate hunting fun. There is a poor quality level 1 agent there and top quality level 3 and 4 agents in Surkanan. So I have moved Slayfoe back to Gallente Space to grind his standing up to the required level to use the Surkanan level 3 agents.
Slayfoe currently has a standing of 1.56, as modified by his social skills, with Chemal Tech.
Slayfoe is currently using L2Q-11 marketing agent in Meis (Hourbane Bolmolie).
There are more marketing agents and an internal security agent in Oursulaert that Slayfoe can use as upgraded agents as his standing improves.
Level 3 agents
Target: L3Q20 agents in Surkanan space – require standing of 5.0
To get there Slayfoe can grind the internal security agent in Oursulaert from 2.8 to 5.0. Chemal Tech seems to have a large jump in the level 3 agents between a L3Q-9 agent (3.55 standing required) to a L3Q16 agent (4.8 standing required). This seems like an awful lot of grinding level 2 missions, little money but easy.
Level 4 agents
L4 agents are spread all over the place but the ones in Surkanan are L4Q20, just like the L3 agents. This means grinding the L3Q20 agents until standing is 7.0 and access to L4Q20 agents. Being low-sec should mean a nice reward per mission though. Being admin I suspect a lot of the missions will be courier.
Synopsis
Chemal Tech is a bitch to get going, but once using the high level three agents in Surkanan space the rewards should be good. To help I should concentrate on leveling Slayfoe’s social skills – both social (for better rewards) and connections (for standing improvements)
Friday, August 29, 2008
End of the Summer
The evenings are getting shorter, the sun is shunning Ireland and the next round of games are nearing completion. Funnily though, I am less inclined to play than I used to be. Evenings are being filled with watching DVDs with my wife or going out to get the last of the light, seeing people or sailing. When I do get round to switching on the computer it is late and I am tired. As such, EVE Online isn’t getting a fair trial, I get bored and wander off into Medieval TW2 and Homeworld2. I was even thinking about getting a FPS WW2 game for the change.
Then I get a quiet day at work and I look through the sites and the old WOW flame kindles. FWE seem to be doing well, the guild has lifted itself up and is back running Kara with all the attendant headaches that brings (the usual lack of healers). Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK) is due some time this autumn and I am looking forwards to the exploration aspect of it, I’ll level both Slayfoe and Eirebull in an easy manner without rushing to L80.
While looking through the sites I found other aspects of Eve that I haven’t really given much time to; manufacturing and invention. The way into 0,0 space is to have a stock of BPOs, head out there, make friends, break all loot down into component materials and use these to build your own modules using your own BPOs. Now I am still chasing a competent level as a combat pilot (HAC with Tech2 railguns) before I branch into manufacturing. I figure that this should take till October.
I have jumped back to core Gallente space and am missioning out of the Chemal base in Meis to get my standing up with them. The medium term goal is to be able to use the high level Chemal agents in Sukanan. I currently have a standing of 1.04ish with Chemal and am using a L2Q-11 agent. Unfortunately she is a marketing agent and I keep getting sent on courier missions which just put me to sleep. Once I have a standing of 2.5 I get access to a L2Q16 internal security agent in Oursulaert VI. That should speed things up. The LOWEST level agent after this in Sukanan is L3Q20 for which you need a standing of 5. That might take a while.
Skill wise, I have trained up to cruiser 5, electronics 5, engineering 5, mechanic 5, drone 5 and MWD. For basic combat competency I want frigate 5, weapon upgrades 5 (for tech2 guns) and hull upgrades 5 (for tech2 armour). After this I have other skills that I want to invest in: science 5, industry 5 (for manufacturing and invention) and social 5 (to speed up reputation grinding).
I really should start with social 5, this would speed up the day to day progress.
Then I get a quiet day at work and I look through the sites and the old WOW flame kindles. FWE seem to be doing well, the guild has lifted itself up and is back running Kara with all the attendant headaches that brings (the usual lack of healers). Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK) is due some time this autumn and I am looking forwards to the exploration aspect of it, I’ll level both Slayfoe and Eirebull in an easy manner without rushing to L80.
While looking through the sites I found other aspects of Eve that I haven’t really given much time to; manufacturing and invention. The way into 0,0 space is to have a stock of BPOs, head out there, make friends, break all loot down into component materials and use these to build your own modules using your own BPOs. Now I am still chasing a competent level as a combat pilot (HAC with Tech2 railguns) before I branch into manufacturing. I figure that this should take till October.
I have jumped back to core Gallente space and am missioning out of the Chemal base in Meis to get my standing up with them. The medium term goal is to be able to use the high level Chemal agents in Sukanan. I currently have a standing of 1.04ish with Chemal and am using a L2Q-11 agent. Unfortunately she is a marketing agent and I keep getting sent on courier missions which just put me to sleep. Once I have a standing of 2.5 I get access to a L2Q16 internal security agent in Oursulaert VI. That should speed things up. The LOWEST level agent after this in Sukanan is L3Q20 for which you need a standing of 5. That might take a while.
Skill wise, I have trained up to cruiser 5, electronics 5, engineering 5, mechanic 5, drone 5 and MWD. For basic combat competency I want frigate 5, weapon upgrades 5 (for tech2 guns) and hull upgrades 5 (for tech2 armour). After this I have other skills that I want to invest in: science 5, industry 5 (for manufacturing and invention) and social 5 (to speed up reputation grinding).
I really should start with social 5, this would speed up the day to day progress.
Friday, August 22, 2008
New Low-Sec Home
Once I got back from my holiday and saw the possibility of defending low-sec space I logged on and got right down there! With the 2 reliables in the vent Pew-Pew channel we wandered from belt to belt killing True Sanshas.
I even switched off the warning that says - you are about to enter a low sec sector - do you want to continue?
The trip down was easy, only saw one person flash red while transisting a low-sec system, apparantly everyone's autopilot is NOT the same. I jump cloned before coming down here so that there would be no great loss if I got podded.
I brought my trusty Thorax set up for gank - with 5 Hammerhead II and blasters I can kill 3 belt rat cruisers before they get me. If I end up chasing a pirate then I hope to hide in the crowd!
What I have noticed is that most my ships are 20 jumps away so I will have to build a secondary depot down in Sukanan. That gives me something to spend money on at the local supermarket. I'll have to check out how this compares to Dodixie.
One of the good things abut the move is that there is a Gallente corp called Chemal in the constellation. The same corp has a presence back in the Gallente home-systems. In Sukanan they have L1, L3 and L4 agents, mostly administration. Note the missing L2 agents. To make things worse, the L3 agetns are quality 20. I suspect that it is going to take a lot of grinding L1 missions in Sukanan to get access to the L3 agents.
I noticed that the local alliance channel is full of pirate chasing - at least I hope they are pirates and that the system for setting a corp to red is reliable. A bit more investigation into this required.
I even switched off the warning that says - you are about to enter a low sec sector - do you want to continue?
The trip down was easy, only saw one person flash red while transisting a low-sec system, apparantly everyone's autopilot is NOT the same. I jump cloned before coming down here so that there would be no great loss if I got podded.
I brought my trusty Thorax set up for gank - with 5 Hammerhead II and blasters I can kill 3 belt rat cruisers before they get me. If I end up chasing a pirate then I hope to hide in the crowd!
What I have noticed is that most my ships are 20 jumps away so I will have to build a secondary depot down in Sukanan. That gives me something to spend money on at the local supermarket. I'll have to check out how this compares to Dodixie.
One of the good things abut the move is that there is a Gallente corp called Chemal in the constellation. The same corp has a presence back in the Gallente home-systems. In Sukanan they have L1, L3 and L4 agents, mostly administration. Note the missing L2 agents. To make things worse, the L3 agetns are quality 20. I suspect that it is going to take a lot of grinding L1 missions in Sukanan to get access to the L3 agents.
I noticed that the local alliance channel is full of pirate chasing - at least I hope they are pirates and that the system for setting a corp to red is reliable. A bit more investigation into this required.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Hitting 3m skillpoints
Slayfoe’s Bull recently hit 3m skillpoints. A pittance say many an old player but quite a threshold for me. I understand the scale of the game much better. It is quite carefully balanced between giving quick access to lots of ships but requiring time to be able to fly these ships well. My current strategy to rush to BS to be able to do L4 missions and make money seems flawed. When I discovered that my shell of skills was quite hollow (and my 1st BS blew up!) I went back to learning the basics – Electronics, Engineering, Mechanic, Gunnery, Frigate and Cruiser. These are all (cruiser excepted) rank 1 skills, with my current level of attributes it takes about 5 days to get level 5 in any of these skills. The exception is cruiser V that will take 20 something days and will be perfect to learn while away in Turkey on holidays.
Where is all this leading you might ask? Well, there is a lovely Gallente techII cruiser called an Ishtar. It is a drone carrier and as hard as nails hence it’s classification – Heavy Assault Cruiser. It is also expensive and will make a perfect ship to take on Serpentis.
To get there I need to train skills that will allow me to fly other little babies on the way… to get the names I got sidetracked into on evewiki and realised how many small ships are available to fly and how many ways one can specialise.
Hmm priest…er…logistics (Oneireos – techII logistics).
While I am here I will give a list
Frigate
Tech I – EWAR, mining/trading, combat, improved combat
Tech II – assault ships (hard frigates)
Tech II – Covert ops (generic and stealth bomber)
Tech II – Electronic attack ships (remote sensor dampening)
Tech II – Interceptors (also known as tacklers)
Destroyer
Tech I – frigate killer or salvager
Tech II – interdictor (interdiction spheres to stop warping)
Cruiser
Tech I – EWAR, support, blaster boat & drone boat
Tech II – Heavy Assault Ship (blaster and drone versions)
Tech II – heavy interdictor (interdiction sphere centred on ship)
Tech II – Logistics
Tech II – Recon ships (cruiser versions of covert ops)
Then it just goes on into the larger ships which, frankly, are a little expensive for me to be playing with atm. As I said above, getting the skills to fly them is one thing - getting the skills to fly them well is another proposition entirely. I can fly a BS but I can't fit (or shoot) a large gun... The same will apply to recon ships (few EWAR skills), logistics (need remote armour reppers) or anything else on the list.
Then there is the ability to do something with tech I modules vs the ability to do something at Tech II.
Where is all this leading you might ask? Well, there is a lovely Gallente techII cruiser called an Ishtar. It is a drone carrier and as hard as nails hence it’s classification – Heavy Assault Cruiser. It is also expensive and will make a perfect ship to take on Serpentis.
To get there I need to train skills that will allow me to fly other little babies on the way… to get the names I got sidetracked into on evewiki and realised how many small ships are available to fly and how many ways one can specialise.
Hmm priest…er…logistics (Oneireos – techII logistics).
While I am here I will give a list
Frigate
Tech I – EWAR, mining/trading, combat, improved combat
Tech II – assault ships (hard frigates)
Tech II – Covert ops (generic and stealth bomber)
Tech II – Electronic attack ships (remote sensor dampening)
Tech II – Interceptors (also known as tacklers)
Destroyer
Tech I – frigate killer or salvager
Tech II – interdictor (interdiction spheres to stop warping)
Cruiser
Tech I – EWAR, support, blaster boat & drone boat
Tech II – Heavy Assault Ship (blaster and drone versions)
Tech II – heavy interdictor (interdiction sphere centred on ship)
Tech II – Logistics
Tech II – Recon ships (cruiser versions of covert ops)
Then it just goes on into the larger ships which, frankly, are a little expensive for me to be playing with atm. As I said above, getting the skills to fly them is one thing - getting the skills to fly them well is another proposition entirely. I can fly a BS but I can't fit (or shoot) a large gun... The same will apply to recon ships (few EWAR skills), logistics (need remote armour reppers) or anything else on the list.
Then there is the ability to do something with tech I modules vs the ability to do something at Tech II.
Losing my first battleship
Slayfoe made the jump from battle-cruisers (BC) to battleships (BS) in the last week and promptly got it blown up. It was a shiny new Dominix, the standard of Gallente Drone missioning and it managed 3 L4 missions before KABOOM!
I had moved everything to Auvergne and the Q18L4 FIO agent in the one and only station in the system. With great excitement I took my first mission which turned out to be against drones. It was a real adrenaline thrill which, when approached carefully was quite manageable, so I promptly took a second which was also fine – nice standing gains and nice payouts.
The third mission was a shock that I escaped from and asked for help with. Mono and Jorgi volunteered to help out. This was when the trouble started, I was main tank and feeling quite nervous about them losing their ships, the first room complete we jumped to the second and Jorgi aggroed a group I wasn’t fighting. He took the heat as long as he could before jumping out, I got the aggro and before I knew it, was in need of jumping. I called out to Mono to run for it and lined myself up. Nothing happened. I can only guess that the frigates in the second group had scrammed me in the excitement and I hadn’t noticed.
Jorgi very generously contracted me a brand new Domi for free. It is safely parked in Auvergne until I have better skills. The insurance payout was for 60m so I went and got myself a new Myrmidon that I felt safer and more capable of flying competently.
I have since only helped out in other peoples L4 missions. I now realise how carefully balanced the game is. The difference between standard modules and tech II versions or even named versions is quite high. I have since fitted out my new ships with capacitor rechargers II and armour repairers II, next up are the armour hardeners II and with this new improved tank I should be able to get back into the new Domi safely.
I had moved everything to Auvergne and the Q18L4 FIO agent in the one and only station in the system. With great excitement I took my first mission which turned out to be against drones. It was a real adrenaline thrill which, when approached carefully was quite manageable, so I promptly took a second which was also fine – nice standing gains and nice payouts.
The third mission was a shock that I escaped from and asked for help with. Mono and Jorgi volunteered to help out. This was when the trouble started, I was main tank and feeling quite nervous about them losing their ships, the first room complete we jumped to the second and Jorgi aggroed a group I wasn’t fighting. He took the heat as long as he could before jumping out, I got the aggro and before I knew it, was in need of jumping. I called out to Mono to run for it and lined myself up. Nothing happened. I can only guess that the frigates in the second group had scrammed me in the excitement and I hadn’t noticed.
Jorgi very generously contracted me a brand new Domi for free. It is safely parked in Auvergne until I have better skills. The insurance payout was for 60m so I went and got myself a new Myrmidon that I felt safer and more capable of flying competently.
I have since only helped out in other peoples L4 missions. I now realise how carefully balanced the game is. The difference between standard modules and tech II versions or even named versions is quite high. I have since fitted out my new ships with capacitor rechargers II and armour repairers II, next up are the armour hardeners II and with this new improved tank I should be able to get back into the new Domi safely.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Losing my 3rd ship
My wife is away in France at the moment so I have more time than I usual to indulge in my current MMORPG fixation. The current focus of my time and energies is Eve Online.
I have fallen in with a corporation of nice English lads by accident which has given me a pool of experience and people to talk to in the evenings. Though I entered the game with the intention of giving PVP a go I have never really felt ready – always a skill short or money short and on top of this the guys are really pleasant and I don’t want to hurt any feelings by moving on. So, as a natural liberal democrat, I chose the Gallente and was bashing away at improving my Federal Intelligence Office (FIO) standing. I was undertaking level 3 missions in my pride and joy, my Myrmidon and had risen to a standing of 5.8ish.
I was beginning to bore of logging in and sending my drones off in another round of kill the rat when I found out about Cosmos missions on Monday evening. It was described on another BLOG as an attempt to ‘questify’ Eve. I carried out one of the missions which gave me some blueprints (for meta level 7 gear!) and serious amounts of standing. I now stand at 6.61. I need 6.90 to use the quality 18 agent near the corporation base. Unfortunately I don’t have a ship to do them in. So rather than hang round getting bored, I went and helped out Smint get his rating with Quafe up a bit then wandered over to Chi and Harkennen to help them out.
In the mistaken belief that they where playing in frigates, I bought myself one to go and play on even footing. Seeing has how my drones skills are high, I settled on the Imicus with it’s drone bay of 15 cubic metres – or 3 scout drones. I then picked up a level 2 mission (The Seven) which was done before you even realised it had started. As the two of them looted the place I went off and got another mission.
This one went rather pear-shape. In an enthusiasm I warped in, picked up all the aggro and before you could blink, my pod was floating in a cloud of dust. Scratch one new Imicus and tech2 Hobgoblins. Notes for self. The cap in the Imicus is tiny – the guns and armour repairer chewed through it in no time. Point the frigate away from the rats, AB on and let the drones chew everything up.
My skill training is focused towards flying an heavy assault ship – the Incursus (October 08 - I think I meant Ishtar). Never mind that I don’t have the money to buy one! It requires a whole pile of basic skills to be level 5 (Engineering, Gallente Frigate, Mechanical, Weapon Upgrades) which will be good whatever I end up flying. Before this though I am working on electronics 5 – this should allow me to train up cloaking! Each of the level 5 skills takes bout 6 days to train so it will be autumn before the Incursus is gracing the skies with me at the helm.
I have fallen in with a corporation of nice English lads by accident which has given me a pool of experience and people to talk to in the evenings. Though I entered the game with the intention of giving PVP a go I have never really felt ready – always a skill short or money short and on top of this the guys are really pleasant and I don’t want to hurt any feelings by moving on. So, as a natural liberal democrat, I chose the Gallente and was bashing away at improving my Federal Intelligence Office (FIO) standing. I was undertaking level 3 missions in my pride and joy, my Myrmidon and had risen to a standing of 5.8ish.
I was beginning to bore of logging in and sending my drones off in another round of kill the rat when I found out about Cosmos missions on Monday evening. It was described on another BLOG as an attempt to ‘questify’ Eve. I carried out one of the missions which gave me some blueprints (for meta level 7 gear!) and serious amounts of standing. I now stand at 6.61. I need 6.90 to use the quality 18 agent near the corporation base. Unfortunately I don’t have a ship to do them in. So rather than hang round getting bored, I went and helped out Smint get his rating with Quafe up a bit then wandered over to Chi and Harkennen to help them out.
In the mistaken belief that they where playing in frigates, I bought myself one to go and play on even footing. Seeing has how my drones skills are high, I settled on the Imicus with it’s drone bay of 15 cubic metres – or 3 scout drones. I then picked up a level 2 mission (The Seven) which was done before you even realised it had started. As the two of them looted the place I went off and got another mission.
This one went rather pear-shape. In an enthusiasm I warped in, picked up all the aggro and before you could blink, my pod was floating in a cloud of dust. Scratch one new Imicus and tech2 Hobgoblins. Notes for self. The cap in the Imicus is tiny – the guns and armour repairer chewed through it in no time. Point the frigate away from the rats, AB on and let the drones chew everything up.
My skill training is focused towards flying an heavy assault ship – the Incursus (October 08 - I think I meant Ishtar). Never mind that I don’t have the money to buy one! It requires a whole pile of basic skills to be level 5 (Engineering, Gallente Frigate, Mechanical, Weapon Upgrades) which will be good whatever I end up flying. Before this though I am working on electronics 5 – this should allow me to train up cloaking! Each of the level 5 skills takes bout 6 days to train so it will be autumn before the Incursus is gracing the skies with me at the helm.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
How to beat stagnation
I have managed to get things together and my medium term goal of flying a Myrmidon has come to fruition. Not only that, but while away for a long weekend in Prague, I got my skills together to be able to fly Hammerhead II drones.
Now I find myself meandering through missions and rapidly boring of them. They are simply to repetitive and not hard enough to interest. My skill training is meandering as well as I decide I want to fly Iteron V’s then Gallente battleships then Ogre II drones. This all comes down to not really knowing what I want to do. The corporation are lovely and interesting people but don’t appear to be keen on the fractional warfare (FW) aspect of the game and getting into PVP was the main reason for getting into Eve. There are 2 lads in the corp that go off and do their own thing on 0,0 space – I might have a chat with them over the next few days and kit up a frigate or two in the expectation of loosing them. Some excitement would be good and might be the solution.
Some Eve-online blogs are really funny, here is one that I enjoy http://www.ironfleet.com/2008/01/04/score-point-to-ac-me/
In WOW I gave notice to FWE that I would be taking the summer off, after all the fun and games of the latest guild split I really can’t be bothered to log on. Nexxuss (the GM) got defensive about my post but hopefully it can all start over come autumn, Dougal might have some time by then as the baby becomes more independent.
Now I find myself meandering through missions and rapidly boring of them. They are simply to repetitive and not hard enough to interest. My skill training is meandering as well as I decide I want to fly Iteron V’s then Gallente battleships then Ogre II drones. This all comes down to not really knowing what I want to do. The corporation are lovely and interesting people but don’t appear to be keen on the fractional warfare (FW) aspect of the game and getting into PVP was the main reason for getting into Eve. There are 2 lads in the corp that go off and do their own thing on 0,0 space – I might have a chat with them over the next few days and kit up a frigate or two in the expectation of loosing them. Some excitement would be good and might be the solution.
Some Eve-online blogs are really funny, here is one that I enjoy http://www.ironfleet.com/2008/01/04/score-point-to-ac-me/
In WOW I gave notice to FWE that I would be taking the summer off, after all the fun and games of the latest guild split I really can’t be bothered to log on. Nexxuss (the GM) got defensive about my post but hopefully it can all start over come autumn, Dougal might have some time by then as the baby becomes more independent.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Drones
Trying to figure out drones for my new Myrmidon, Slay's Nuts, has cost me half a day of work – I did have a headache so maybe that also accounts for the lost time. Anyhow, it appears that CCP has changed the way drones worked last year sometime by introducing bandwidth. Before this a Myrmidon could control 5xheavy drones. Now it can’t. There is a lot of talk on various forums about whether the ship is worthwhile now. Unfortunately the type of person that posts on forums has a huge amount of skill points and cash that allow them to post loadouts with only Tech2 gear in them.
For ordinary mortals the upshot is this. Myrmidons can now launch 2xheavy, 2xmedium and 1xscout drones. A typical flight of drones would be 2xOgre, 2xHammerhead and 1xHobgoblin, also known as a gank set. This set up takes up the whole of your bandwidth but only 85m3 of your drone bay (leaving 40m3), allowing you to carry spares or other types of drones. After being ganked the other day I am tempted to carry ECM medium drones in the hope that these will kill the lock the other ship has on me allowing me to warp away.
Once I get the Gallente Drone Specialisation I can refit to carry 5xHammerhead II (75m3) and 3x ECM medium drones and 1x scout drone. I am told that 5 medium techII drones are a nasty bit of work.
My goal in drones is to be able to fly tech 2 medium drones.
Drone V - done
Scout drone operation V – at IV – another 6ish days training to get V
Gallente Drone Specialisation II – need to buy and train
For ordinary mortals the upshot is this. Myrmidons can now launch 2xheavy, 2xmedium and 1xscout drones. A typical flight of drones would be 2xOgre, 2xHammerhead and 1xHobgoblin, also known as a gank set. This set up takes up the whole of your bandwidth but only 85m3 of your drone bay (leaving 40m3), allowing you to carry spares or other types of drones. After being ganked the other day I am tempted to carry ECM medium drones in the hope that these will kill the lock the other ship has on me allowing me to warp away.
Once I get the Gallente Drone Specialisation I can refit to carry 5xHammerhead II (75m3) and 3x ECM medium drones and 1x scout drone. I am told that 5 medium techII drones are a nasty bit of work.
My goal in drones is to be able to fly tech 2 medium drones.
Drone V - done
Scout drone operation V – at IV – another 6ish days training to get V
Gallente Drone Specialisation II – need to buy and train
My shiny new Myrmidon Battle-cruiser
A battle-cruiser is a souped-up cruiser that stands half way between a cruiser and a battleship. My cruiser (a Thorax) could never fit everything on it due to lack of CPU and Power. The battle-cruiser (a Myrmidon) has CPU and power to burn. My main damage is currently caused by my drones (Train for Tech II drones while in Prague) with my gunnery coming a very second place – so the idea is to aggro everything and tank while the drones demolish the rats. As such my fittings are all about keeping my capacitor from emptying and shutting down the armour hardeners. My guns, AB and drone range extender are all secondary and designed to stay outside the rats range as much as possible while the drones do their business.
The ship is sitting in bubble-wrap waiting for it’s first outing and I must admit, I am scared to use it following my first PVP encounter last night. I am down to 1m ISK, should I lose it then I’ll almost be starting again.
I notice that it is slower than the Thorax which means slower travel (takes longer to get to warp speed) and slower at sub-warp velocities. I am very impressed that I haven’t managed to use all the power or CPU yet though I am only sporting 4no 250mm railguns, 1no salvager and 1no drone range augmenter. If I could swap a gun for a tractor beam I would be tempted to make cleaning up easier.
I have fitted it out in a very traditional missioning spec:
Lows (6 slots)
Medium armour repairer
Medium armour repairer
Energised Adaptive Nano
Armour hardener (generally thermal)
Armour harderer (generally kenetic)
Capacitor Power Relay
Mids (5 slots)
Capacitor recharger
Capacitor recharger
Capacitor recharger
AB
Sensor booster? Forgotten what I fitted here.
Highs (6 slots)
Drone Augmenter
Salvager
250mm railgun
250mm railgun
250mm railgun
250mm railgun
I will have to work on electronics and gunnery to allow me to fit a greater range of guns (425mm for tea anyone?)
The ship is sitting in bubble-wrap waiting for it’s first outing and I must admit, I am scared to use it following my first PVP encounter last night. I am down to 1m ISK, should I lose it then I’ll almost be starting again.
I notice that it is slower than the Thorax which means slower travel (takes longer to get to warp speed) and slower at sub-warp velocities. I am very impressed that I haven’t managed to use all the power or CPU yet though I am only sporting 4no 250mm railguns, 1no salvager and 1no drone range augmenter. If I could swap a gun for a tractor beam I would be tempted to make cleaning up easier.
I have fitted it out in a very traditional missioning spec:
Lows (6 slots)
Medium armour repairer
Medium armour repairer
Energised Adaptive Nano
Armour hardener (generally thermal)
Armour harderer (generally kenetic)
Capacitor Power Relay
Mids (5 slots)
Capacitor recharger
Capacitor recharger
Capacitor recharger
AB
Sensor booster? Forgotten what I fitted here.
Highs (6 slots)
Drone Augmenter
Salvager
250mm railgun
250mm railgun
250mm railgun
250mm railgun
I will have to work on electronics and gunnery to allow me to fit a greater range of guns (425mm for tea anyone?)
My first PVP experience
My goal for the weekend was to buy myself a Myrmidon (Costs 32m). I have been running L2 missions for Federal Intelligence Office (FIO) to get my standing up with them and almost without noticing had a standing of 4.91 – almost enough for Level 4 missions and me without the ship to do level 3 missions – or so I thought!
Sunday evening came about and I was still short a few bob and getting fed up with the level 2 so I looked up L3 FIO agent and found one (quality 15?) I thought appropriate in Essence. I flew my trusty Thorax now named Hazelnut (tough little fecker) over there and was asked to go next door to a 0.4 security system. I must admit my heart hammered a bit harder as I jumped in but no one was there so I moved on to do my 1st L3 mission. I quickly found out that it was well within the ability of a 2m skill point pilot with a Thorax. I had to warp out once to repair and had almost finished when the bad thing happened.
A new ship popped onto my overview. It took me a few seconds to realise what was happening as he appeared just as I was picking up the loot from the last downed rat. He had me scrambled before I realise it stopping me from getting away then he dropped 4 or 5 drones on me. I tried to target but he had ECM – my armour disappeared disturbing quickly and before I realised it, my pod was in space and I was warping out as fast as I could.
My insurance company wrote to me and had a velator waiting for me with a free pressie of 1unit of tritanium (what were the developers thinking?) before I docked. I had some militants from a previous missions that I picked up to complete the mission (about 8k ISK + bounties). The level 3 certainly do pay out better than the L2s if you bring your ship back in 1 piece!
The insurance paid out 6m as did the corporation (thanks Smint and Jayden) leaving me loaded with enough for a new Thorax (Hazelnut II – about 6m as backup) and my Myrmidon (32m + fittings).
I won’t dignify the pirate that killed me with a mention – it taught me something I suppose I needed to learn – only go into 0.4 space with a PVP fit-out, particularly Warp Core Stabilisers (Stabs). I’m informed by the corporation that no one will do the same in high-security space as Concord will arrive to your rescue – you only need to survive long enough for Concord to do their work.
I have found a L3 FIO agent with no close-by low sec systems near the corporation base to continue my L3 career!
Sunday evening came about and I was still short a few bob and getting fed up with the level 2 so I looked up L3 FIO agent and found one (quality 15?) I thought appropriate in Essence. I flew my trusty Thorax now named Hazelnut (tough little fecker) over there and was asked to go next door to a 0.4 security system. I must admit my heart hammered a bit harder as I jumped in but no one was there so I moved on to do my 1st L3 mission. I quickly found out that it was well within the ability of a 2m skill point pilot with a Thorax. I had to warp out once to repair and had almost finished when the bad thing happened.
A new ship popped onto my overview. It took me a few seconds to realise what was happening as he appeared just as I was picking up the loot from the last downed rat. He had me scrambled before I realise it stopping me from getting away then he dropped 4 or 5 drones on me. I tried to target but he had ECM – my armour disappeared disturbing quickly and before I realised it, my pod was in space and I was warping out as fast as I could.
My insurance company wrote to me and had a velator waiting for me with a free pressie of 1unit of tritanium (what were the developers thinking?) before I docked. I had some militants from a previous missions that I picked up to complete the mission (about 8k ISK + bounties). The level 3 certainly do pay out better than the L2s if you bring your ship back in 1 piece!
The insurance paid out 6m as did the corporation (thanks Smint and Jayden) leaving me loaded with enough for a new Thorax (Hazelnut II – about 6m as backup) and my Myrmidon (32m + fittings).
I won’t dignify the pirate that killed me with a mention – it taught me something I suppose I needed to learn – only go into 0.4 space with a PVP fit-out, particularly Warp Core Stabilisers (Stabs). I’m informed by the corporation that no one will do the same in high-security space as Concord will arrive to your rescue – you only need to survive long enough for Concord to do their work.
I have found a L3 FIO agent with no close-by low sec systems near the corporation base to continue my L3 career!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The end has come
Was in Luxembourg for Jimmy’s 60th birthday at the weekend and came back to carnage in FWE. From what I can make out Nexuss wanted Loctite out of the guild so he left and took with him all the raiders. This includes Ynys, Revenbo, Nagar, Noxius, Voxon, Korut aswell as the usual Loctite gang of Smarties and DPP. There is less than skin and bones left, the forum is dead, the guild had 6-7 people online last night and there is certainly no opportunity to raid.
As it turns out, I had cancelled my subscription last week with the intention of stopping till Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK). Fortunately I had got my T5 shoulders and head the week before so I will go into the expansion with a matching set of armour even if it is T5 not T6. I have mixed feeling about the whole thing, having moved from Dublin to Cork the guild was a place to meet and talk with people that I knew, a place of continuity. Now it has gone and I felt bad about it. On the other hand it neatly allows me to play Eve without feeling like I have left the team down. So I logged onto WOW last night, whispered a few people then went and logged into Eve where I was allowed to loot a level 4 mission (one piece sold for 2.5million!) and finished the evening about +10million on where I had started and I haven’t finished selling the loot.
The corporation will build me a Mymiddion if I get the materials required together. I suspect this involved going to Dodixie, buying an industrial to move stuff and then shipping it all to the corporation hanger. A straight buy for this ship would be 30ish million before fitting it out (though I am sure the corp hanger is full of stuff that will help) with another 10million on insurance. A Mymiddion should certainly get me into the level 3 missions, all I have to do is learn Spaceship Command, Gallente Frigate to L4 and Battle-cruiser to as high as possible.
So as one thing shuts down another opens up! The king is dead, long live the king.
As it turns out, I had cancelled my subscription last week with the intention of stopping till Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK). Fortunately I had got my T5 shoulders and head the week before so I will go into the expansion with a matching set of armour even if it is T5 not T6. I have mixed feeling about the whole thing, having moved from Dublin to Cork the guild was a place to meet and talk with people that I knew, a place of continuity. Now it has gone and I felt bad about it. On the other hand it neatly allows me to play Eve without feeling like I have left the team down. So I logged onto WOW last night, whispered a few people then went and logged into Eve where I was allowed to loot a level 4 mission (one piece sold for 2.5million!) and finished the evening about +10million on where I had started and I haven’t finished selling the loot.
The corporation will build me a Mymiddion if I get the materials required together. I suspect this involved going to Dodixie, buying an industrial to move stuff and then shipping it all to the corporation hanger. A straight buy for this ship would be 30ish million before fitting it out (though I am sure the corp hanger is full of stuff that will help) with another 10million on insurance. A Mymiddion should certainly get me into the level 3 missions, all I have to do is learn Spaceship Command, Gallente Frigate to L4 and Battle-cruiser to as high as possible.
So as one thing shuts down another opens up! The king is dead, long live the king.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Back to Raiding
I noticed my name on last nights raid list last night and turned up for my first raid in 2 weeks. On the menu were Lurker, Vashj , Alar and Void Reaver . By 11.30 they were all looted and Slayfoe was fully kitted out in T5 goodness with the 4-piece bonus (Starfire does +10% damage when the target is affected by Moonfire).
With all of Serpentshrine Cavern on farm the Lurker is an anachronism and only taken to get everyone focussed and to make the water safe for the runs back from the graveyard and all the racing antics people use to get back first – SSC makes an interesting obstacle course with different options for druids and hunters – Korut with his aspect and me as a Sea-lion come about equal.
Vashj went down with surprising ease – she does take full focus and did require 4 tries before succumbing to FWE, but after all the fuss – she seemed quite easy. Being near the top of the table the Nordrassil Headpiece fell to me. The Prism of Inner Calm that reduces threat from crits also fell and was assigned to Wrangler – much against his wishes I suspect – it certainly didn’t stop him dying.
The raid then rolled onto The Eye (via token person and auction house for the new hat and gems to go in it) where Alar and Void Reaver went down. To my delight 3 of the Warrior, Priest, Druid shoulder tokens fell. To my surprise I was assigned one of them. Back to the token man, the Auction house and Slayfoe is now decked out in 4 pieces of very handsome T5. Pity I am in Boomkin form so much!
With all of Serpentshrine Cavern on farm the Lurker is an anachronism and only taken to get everyone focussed and to make the water safe for the runs back from the graveyard and all the racing antics people use to get back first – SSC makes an interesting obstacle course with different options for druids and hunters – Korut with his aspect and me as a Sea-lion come about equal.
Vashj went down with surprising ease – she does take full focus and did require 4 tries before succumbing to FWE, but after all the fuss – she seemed quite easy. Being near the top of the table the Nordrassil Headpiece fell to me. The Prism of Inner Calm that reduces threat from crits also fell and was assigned to Wrangler – much against his wishes I suspect – it certainly didn’t stop him dying.
The raid then rolled onto The Eye (via token person and auction house for the new hat and gems to go in it) where Alar and Void Reaver went down. To my delight 3 of the Warrior, Priest, Druid shoulder tokens fell. To my surprise I was assigned one of them. Back to the token man, the Auction house and Slayfoe is now decked out in 4 pieces of very handsome T5. Pity I am in Boomkin form so much!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Eve – A Venture into Trading
While selling some rat loot the other night I found that someone wanted to buy my Capacitor Coil for 0.01ISK. That is taking the piss I thought and went to the trouble of having a look at the buying side of the market. I noticed two things.
Firstly that there is a huge mark up between the buying and the selling and secondly, there is a wide variety of prices in the buying side. Certain commodities have an ‘agreed’ buying price and others vary wildly. John encouraged me to have a go and place a buy order with a view to making a mint.
With 3million seed capital I placed a buy order on capacitor rechargers – something that is useful on Gallente Armour tanks, I have at least 2 of them on my ships to keep the armour repairer going. My buy order is for 200 Capacitor Rechargers being bought at 6k (the highest buy order in the region). There were broker fees and other similar fun bits (taxes) but the end result was a 1.2m down payment to the brokers. The same item sells for about 18k in Essence. If my buy orders fills up then I need to sell the 200 units for more than 6k to make a profit. I figure that if I sell about 18k I’ll be doing well by tripling the investment.
Then came the crunch. After placing the order I noticed that though I had selected region wide buying, my trading skills did not allow the buy order to go further than the station I placed it in. As a result the buy order might not fill up. Glancing through the trading skills I notice that it might not hurt having a second character with another skill set.
There are simply too many areas that I want to play in!
With a trading character with some money the market is ripe for profit for a patient player. You wouldn’t ever have to fire a shot in anger to make a fortune. The market in Essence does not appear ‘mature’ by which I mean that the price difference between buy and sell orders is large enough to make big bucks. I do notice that the usual commodities have a much tighter margin (ammo) which would indicate more trading in these areas.
It will all come out in the wash as the week progresses.
Edit Well that was a disaster - I ended up with small amounts of goods spread all over the region - only a fraction of what I anticipated was actually bought - certainly not enough to set up a sell order.
Firstly that there is a huge mark up between the buying and the selling and secondly, there is a wide variety of prices in the buying side. Certain commodities have an ‘agreed’ buying price and others vary wildly. John encouraged me to have a go and place a buy order with a view to making a mint.
With 3million seed capital I placed a buy order on capacitor rechargers – something that is useful on Gallente Armour tanks, I have at least 2 of them on my ships to keep the armour repairer going. My buy order is for 200 Capacitor Rechargers being bought at 6k (the highest buy order in the region). There were broker fees and other similar fun bits (taxes) but the end result was a 1.2m down payment to the brokers. The same item sells for about 18k in Essence. If my buy orders fills up then I need to sell the 200 units for more than 6k to make a profit. I figure that if I sell about 18k I’ll be doing well by tripling the investment.
Then came the crunch. After placing the order I noticed that though I had selected region wide buying, my trading skills did not allow the buy order to go further than the station I placed it in. As a result the buy order might not fill up. Glancing through the trading skills I notice that it might not hurt having a second character with another skill set.
There are simply too many areas that I want to play in!
With a trading character with some money the market is ripe for profit for a patient player. You wouldn’t ever have to fire a shot in anger to make a fortune. The market in Essence does not appear ‘mature’ by which I mean that the price difference between buy and sell orders is large enough to make big bucks. I do notice that the usual commodities have a much tighter margin (ammo) which would indicate more trading in these areas.
It will all come out in the wash as the week progresses.
Edit Well that was a disaster - I ended up with small amounts of goods spread all over the region - only a fraction of what I anticipated was actually bought - certainly not enough to set up a sell order.
Eve – First Level 2 Mission
Reading up on a game and actually playing it are two different things. I had read that running missions for a corporation improves your standing with them (reputation in WOW) that leads to better contacts, better missions and more rewards. Actually understanding this while simultaneously trying to understand everything else at the beginning took a while.
So I settled into the Federation Intelligence division simply because they had an agent nearby that was willing to take a chance on me. Since I have looked into things a bit more deeply with a slightly more experienced (haha - 3 weeks experience) view. They have a range of departments (different mission types) and have agents that handle missions from level 1-5 (the highest).
By the end of my first week I was flying a catalyst and easily doing the level 1 missions – I had even run the Worlds Collide mission successfully and my rep had climbed to the heady heights of 1.76! Each mission brought in about 200k between the loot, rewards and bounties. I was working towards a quality -19 agent that would offer me a L2 mission. I took it and flew into a pirates nest and promptly got my ship knocked about, in fact there wasn’t that much of my structure left when the warp engaged. I clearly needed a better ship.
With my 7.9million ISK hoarded and generously donated (more anon) I looked through the possibilities and how these would suit my skill mix. The answer was the Thorax. She is a Gallente gun boat with nice large drone hold and five high level slots. Someone was selling one for a nice 5.5million not too far away. That was the cheap part! I estimate fitting her out set me back another 4million.
Moving from frigates (a destroyer is really a large frigate) to cruisers entailed a whole new slew of skills as the guns and drones are now medium rather than small. The price of them is considerably more as well. A meta level 3 (1-5, 5 being Tech 2) can set you back about 0.4million. I was encouraged to buy Tesco-own-brand for rather less.
5x150mm railguns, 5 drones and with fitted out for armour tanking my Thorax went back for those pirates, and was forced away again, she just wasn’t happy with volleys of about 8/9 missiles striking her. I then started really looking into resistance. It turns out you need Hull Upgrades 3 or 4 for the active tanking gear (+50% resistance when activated) and there is a penalty for stacking resistances (to avoid you getting 100% I assume). I suspect that my ‘base’ station will have a vault with different resistance armour hardeners for the different missions. However, with the right armour fitted my beautiful Thorax was a different beast and tore the pirates apart. Tonight she’ll be dropping the railguns for blasters with antimatter. With the right armour she get up close and personal – time to do some serious DPS!
For the record. The much diminished cash reserves were replenished by 3 things. John (6 million initially, 3 million seed capital for trading), Jane of Infinite Covenant (3 million) and the level 2 missions themselves. The three bosses had bounties of 45k on each of them and the 20 odd guards that took forever to clean up had bounties of between 12k and 19k each. That means each L2 mission makes about 600k (100k reward, 100k time bonus, 300k bounties and about 200k loot). As you can see, well worth getting to the level 2 missions.
So I settled into the Federation Intelligence division simply because they had an agent nearby that was willing to take a chance on me. Since I have looked into things a bit more deeply with a slightly more experienced (haha - 3 weeks experience) view. They have a range of departments (different mission types) and have agents that handle missions from level 1-5 (the highest).
By the end of my first week I was flying a catalyst and easily doing the level 1 missions – I had even run the Worlds Collide mission successfully and my rep had climbed to the heady heights of 1.76! Each mission brought in about 200k between the loot, rewards and bounties. I was working towards a quality -19 agent that would offer me a L2 mission. I took it and flew into a pirates nest and promptly got my ship knocked about, in fact there wasn’t that much of my structure left when the warp engaged. I clearly needed a better ship.
With my 7.9million ISK hoarded and generously donated (more anon) I looked through the possibilities and how these would suit my skill mix. The answer was the Thorax. She is a Gallente gun boat with nice large drone hold and five high level slots. Someone was selling one for a nice 5.5million not too far away. That was the cheap part! I estimate fitting her out set me back another 4million.
Moving from frigates (a destroyer is really a large frigate) to cruisers entailed a whole new slew of skills as the guns and drones are now medium rather than small. The price of them is considerably more as well. A meta level 3 (1-5, 5 being Tech 2) can set you back about 0.4million. I was encouraged to buy Tesco-own-brand for rather less.
5x150mm railguns, 5 drones and with fitted out for armour tanking my Thorax went back for those pirates, and was forced away again, she just wasn’t happy with volleys of about 8/9 missiles striking her. I then started really looking into resistance. It turns out you need Hull Upgrades 3 or 4 for the active tanking gear (+50% resistance when activated) and there is a penalty for stacking resistances (to avoid you getting 100% I assume). I suspect that my ‘base’ station will have a vault with different resistance armour hardeners for the different missions. However, with the right armour fitted my beautiful Thorax was a different beast and tore the pirates apart. Tonight she’ll be dropping the railguns for blasters with antimatter. With the right armour she get up close and personal – time to do some serious DPS!
For the record. The much diminished cash reserves were replenished by 3 things. John (6 million initially, 3 million seed capital for trading), Jane of Infinite Covenant (3 million) and the level 2 missions themselves. The three bosses had bounties of 45k on each of them and the 20 odd guards that took forever to clean up had bounties of between 12k and 19k each. That means each L2 mission makes about 600k (100k reward, 100k time bonus, 300k bounties and about 200k loot). As you can see, well worth getting to the level 2 missions.
WOW – A Burn-out Break
Last week I informed the raid leaders that I would be taking a 2-week break from raiding. The second time in WOW that I have taken a break, the first time was when Dark Horizons disbanded. I have dipped in a few times to run Eirebull through instances and to use her transmute cooldown, she got her first transmute proc when 1 primal earth turned into 4 primal water! 1 of these waters subsequently turned into 2 air so the primal bank is looking quite healthy at the moment (though not so healthy as after a day of dailies).
The guild had got Vashj down for the first time Sunday 11th May, a breakthrough for the guild and repeated the exercise last night. She has gone down twice now and I haven’t taken part in either of them. Funny, as soon as the breakthrough happened I burnt out. The raid last Monday was disheartening, Loctite was in foul form and refuses to consider that the new guildies might not get concepts the first time. There is a lack of communication in fwehealers and without Nessus coordinating the pallies things were a bit confused.
What really hurts is the lack of understanding for the new guys.
Leadership qualities I look for in a raid lead
Demanding yet understanding
Driven yet flexible
Fair and clear
Committed
one bit of good news. Nexxus promoted Revenbo to officer, I think this good for the guild, he has an excellent manner with people and ticks all the boxes above.
The guild had got Vashj down for the first time Sunday 11th May, a breakthrough for the guild and repeated the exercise last night. She has gone down twice now and I haven’t taken part in either of them. Funny, as soon as the breakthrough happened I burnt out. The raid last Monday was disheartening, Loctite was in foul form and refuses to consider that the new guildies might not get concepts the first time. There is a lack of communication in fwehealers and without Nessus coordinating the pallies things were a bit confused.
What really hurts is the lack of understanding for the new guys.
Leadership qualities I look for in a raid lead
Demanding yet understanding
Driven yet flexible
Fair and clear
Committed
one bit of good news. Nexxus promoted Revenbo to officer, I think this good for the guild, he has an excellent manner with people and ticks all the boxes above.
Eve – Setting goals after three weeks.
Last week I paid up for Eve Online. The first time I have continued past a trial account. The creators said they wanted to make a sandpit, and I can say that they have. For a while I have been quite uncertain about what to do. To begin with the goals are quite straight forwards, get into a bigger and better ship. As these goals are achieved and your assets log begins to look like you are leaving old ships by the edge of the road all over the constellation you need something else to motivate you.
I had read about Eve University so on Sunday, I looked them up. Read their ‘How to Apply’ using the in-game browser, check. Found their local office (Duripant), check. Wrote a nice piece on why I should be selected, check. Opened their recruitment channel and there, in the header, RECRUITMENT CLOSED. They are at war and don’t recruit during wars. This morning I got an evemail confirming this. There is no ETA for how long the war is going to last.
Back to browsing the recruitment channel. I notice that Goonfleet has an obnoxious recruiter. One of the other recruiters [BSA] is backchatting so I open a window with the [BSA].
Infinite Covenant was a Fountain Dwelling Corporation until they were kicked out by [BOB]. They avow to be Anti-Pirate and friendly. Perfect for me. Unfortunately they also want 3million skill points. I have 1m having started with about 900k. It is going to take a while… So they are happy to have me in their recruitment channel until I get to the 3m. They have a plan of going back out into 0,0 space as they kept telling me what I wouldn’t be able to do.
So 1 weekend down and I haven’t yet joined a corporation. If you are starting out like me I would advise the following. In your bio (or handy bit of paper) write down a list of your priorities and positions, my would look like this
Fun, not too hardcore
Missioning (for the money)
Anti-pirate (and hunting pirate scum)
Moving out into low-sec space
Moving out into 0,0 space
Taking part in the drama of alliance warfare
Trade
Invention
Mining
This allows people to see what you are about and gives you a focus when pursuing your goals.
Quick note: Character name – corporation [alliance].
[BSA] Black Star Alliance
[BOB] Band of Brothers
I had read about Eve University so on Sunday, I looked them up. Read their ‘How to Apply’ using the in-game browser, check. Found their local office (Duripant), check. Wrote a nice piece on why I should be selected, check. Opened their recruitment channel and there, in the header, RECRUITMENT CLOSED. They are at war and don’t recruit during wars. This morning I got an evemail confirming this. There is no ETA for how long the war is going to last.
Back to browsing the recruitment channel. I notice that Goonfleet has an obnoxious recruiter. One of the other recruiters [BSA] is backchatting so I open a window with the [BSA].
Infinite Covenant was a Fountain Dwelling Corporation until they were kicked out by [BOB]. They avow to be Anti-Pirate and friendly. Perfect for me. Unfortunately they also want 3million skill points. I have 1m having started with about 900k. It is going to take a while… So they are happy to have me in their recruitment channel until I get to the 3m. They have a plan of going back out into 0,0 space as they kept telling me what I wouldn’t be able to do.
So 1 weekend down and I haven’t yet joined a corporation. If you are starting out like me I would advise the following. In your bio (or handy bit of paper) write down a list of your priorities and positions, my would look like this
Fun, not too hardcore
Missioning (for the money)
Anti-pirate (and hunting pirate scum)
Moving out into low-sec space
Moving out into 0,0 space
Taking part in the drama of alliance warfare
Trade
Invention
Mining
This allows people to see what you are about and gives you a focus when pursuing your goals.
Quick note: Character name – corporation [alliance].
[BSA] Black Star Alliance
[BOB] Band of Brothers
Friday, May 9, 2008
Eve Online - Slayfoe’s Bull
I have twice before opened a trial account in Eve Online (EO) and both times I have been fascinated by the depth of the game, the visuals, the excitement of a single server where players form power groups and exert real control.
So third time lucky! As both Slayfoe and Eirebull are now taken (attempts one and two) I went with Slayfoe’s Bull. You are very helpfully allowed to take two names in EO. I tinkered with a Minmater and as his first mission was World’s Collide (more anon) he met a very quick fate. So, as in the previous two tries, I rolled a Gallente. French, democratic, good looking ships, what more can a player look for?
The character generation has been upgraded since I last played. This time I chose to be a true Gallente Military Specialist with Special Forces training. Your insurance company no longer gives you initial training but rather you start in a deadspace complex and get right into the fray – damn pirate scum. The initial tutorial is quick and all the ones that follow are ‘optional’ – read them if you want a fighting chance. Your first agent gives a contact in the next system which has a very nice series of 10 missions. The rewards for these included an Atron that I fitted out as a close range blaster with a drone (this resulted in me running away a lot as I got blasted to bits regularly) and some skill books.
Day two
A quick browse through the forums pointed me towards the Tristan. At first the amount of information thrown at you is overwhelming and it takes a while to learn which traits are important. In WOW terms, the armour and hit points of the Tristan has twice the stats of the Atron as well as more slots for equipment.
There are three level of slots that can be equipped. These are high, medium and low. The high slots are used for guns, missile launchers, miners, nosferatus and other goodies. The medium slots seem to be about shield and capacitor boosters and the low slots appear to be about armour repairers and other specialist equipment. The high slots are specialised into either turret (guns) or launcher (read missile) slots. My character didn’t know how to use missiles so a quick trip was needed to a local university for the skills package.
So at the end of 2 evenings devoted to EO I am in a the best frigate money can buy for a beginner. Last night I even took out a Caldari destroyer, the antics of their navy in Gallente space are worrying but their midshipman insignia find plenty of buyers!
So third time lucky! As both Slayfoe and Eirebull are now taken (attempts one and two) I went with Slayfoe’s Bull. You are very helpfully allowed to take two names in EO. I tinkered with a Minmater and as his first mission was World’s Collide (more anon) he met a very quick fate. So, as in the previous two tries, I rolled a Gallente. French, democratic, good looking ships, what more can a player look for?
The character generation has been upgraded since I last played. This time I chose to be a true Gallente Military Specialist with Special Forces training. Your insurance company no longer gives you initial training but rather you start in a deadspace complex and get right into the fray – damn pirate scum. The initial tutorial is quick and all the ones that follow are ‘optional’ – read them if you want a fighting chance. Your first agent gives a contact in the next system which has a very nice series of 10 missions. The rewards for these included an Atron that I fitted out as a close range blaster with a drone (this resulted in me running away a lot as I got blasted to bits regularly) and some skill books.
Day two
A quick browse through the forums pointed me towards the Tristan. At first the amount of information thrown at you is overwhelming and it takes a while to learn which traits are important. In WOW terms, the armour and hit points of the Tristan has twice the stats of the Atron as well as more slots for equipment.
There are three level of slots that can be equipped. These are high, medium and low. The high slots are used for guns, missile launchers, miners, nosferatus and other goodies. The medium slots seem to be about shield and capacitor boosters and the low slots appear to be about armour repairers and other specialist equipment. The high slots are specialised into either turret (guns) or launcher (read missile) slots. My character didn’t know how to use missiles so a quick trip was needed to a local university for the skills package.
So at the end of 2 evenings devoted to EO I am in a the best frigate money can buy for a beginner. Last night I even took out a Caldari destroyer, the antics of their navy in Gallente space are worrying but their midshipman insignia find plenty of buyers!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Starfire crits for 7490!
Fearsome War Engine raids Serpentshrine Cavern on Wednesday evenings. At this stage of the year we are farming it, taking down the bosses that we need to and leaving those that we don’t need anymore. As a casual guild we are quite far behind on the PVE progression ladder, we 25-man raid three times a week when all the stars and planets align on a blue moon. Sometimes a blue moon is hard to find and nothing happens.
The goal of the raiding team at the moment is to take down Vashj. She is proving to be quite a difficult cookie and since the attunement requirements for Mount Hyjal and Black Temple have been lifted we have been sneaking in there for a look. I must say that Mount Hyjal is a whole load of fun – the mobs come to you rather than the other way round!
Slayfoe’s part in the raiding team is currently to give one group a nice fat 5% spell crit bonus. Naturally this means that 1 group, the raid leader, ends up with all the goodies (Shadowpriest mana-battery, shammy bloodlust goodness and a chicken). Naturally this group die all the time to aggro problems.
But as part of the everquest of perfection and thanks to the badges of justice, damage is being tweaked all the time, upwards. Slayfoe finally got the Idol of the Unseen Moon (Moonfire can proc additional damage for 10? Seconds) and the badge bracers enchanted with +15dmg. Unbuffed Slayfoe has just over 1100 spell damage.
Trinkets used are the Icon of the Silver Crescent (base spell damage + click for additional dmg) and Sextant of Unstable Currents (base spell crit + proc of additional spell damage). Combined with the Idol of the Unseen Moon the following can happen.
First Sextant of Unstable Currents procs (+190 for 15secs)
then Idol of the Unseen Moon procs(+140 for 10secs)
Activate Icon of the Silver Crescent (+155 for 20secs)
Pray that the next Starfire crits (double damage) in the next 2 GCD.
Last night these all added up to a new max damage Starfire crit of 7490. This is the first time the 7k barrier had been broken and obviously won’t happen too often with the amount of procs that must come of in order. Thankfully – Nagar is the highest DPSer in the guild and he spends a LOT of time on the ground waiting for Korut to get lucky with the jumper cables.
The goal of the raiding team at the moment is to take down Vashj. She is proving to be quite a difficult cookie and since the attunement requirements for Mount Hyjal and Black Temple have been lifted we have been sneaking in there for a look. I must say that Mount Hyjal is a whole load of fun – the mobs come to you rather than the other way round!
Slayfoe’s part in the raiding team is currently to give one group a nice fat 5% spell crit bonus. Naturally this means that 1 group, the raid leader, ends up with all the goodies (Shadowpriest mana-battery, shammy bloodlust goodness and a chicken). Naturally this group die all the time to aggro problems.
But as part of the everquest of perfection and thanks to the badges of justice, damage is being tweaked all the time, upwards. Slayfoe finally got the Idol of the Unseen Moon (Moonfire can proc additional damage for 10? Seconds) and the badge bracers enchanted with +15dmg. Unbuffed Slayfoe has just over 1100 spell damage.
Trinkets used are the Icon of the Silver Crescent (base spell damage + click for additional dmg) and Sextant of Unstable Currents (base spell crit + proc of additional spell damage). Combined with the Idol of the Unseen Moon the following can happen.
First Sextant of Unstable Currents procs (+190 for 15secs)
then Idol of the Unseen Moon procs(+140 for 10secs)
Activate Icon of the Silver Crescent (+155 for 20secs)
Pray that the next Starfire crits (double damage) in the next 2 GCD.
Last night these all added up to a new max damage Starfire crit of 7490. This is the first time the 7k barrier had been broken and obviously won’t happen too often with the amount of procs that must come of in order. Thankfully – Nagar is the highest DPSer in the guild and he spends a LOT of time on the ground waiting for Korut to get lucky with the jumper cables.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
A successful day in the Outlands
In his infinite wisdom and generosity of spirit our guild raid leader, Loctite, decided that The Fearsome War Engine would drop in on Magtheridon for a visit on Sunday. Now you might ask how come a guild that is trying to woo the Lady Vashj has never dropped in to free the pit lord from his chains.
Well, we did try before. However, we found that the Fel Summoners holding the pit fiend in place had some rather nasty friends, their infernals. With only 2 locks in the guild people were getting one-shotted before the main show began.
This time, armed with 3 locks and 2 nerfbats, we ventured into the back door with a little intrepidness. Yours truly who is usually unable to raid on Sundays played the entire day to get the trials of the Naruu finished (thanks to current and ex-guildies) and claim a purple ring from Alar after the deed had been done.
The Free-the-demon campaign party turned up in Hellfire, snuck in the back door and tore into the oppressive demon jailors. Somewhere along the way the demon got the wrong end of the stick. What can I say, it must his eyesight from being stuck indoors looking at the same thing all day long. As the last summoner fell, the big meanie turned on the FreeTheDemon campaign. In the confusion someone had shut the doors and in order to keep the long term goals of FTD campaign alive, the campaign was forced to euthanize the big boy.
All was not in vain however, lying in the rack and ruin of the citadel we found some badges of justice, purple gems and other purply goodies with a handy sack to put them all in. Now I think about it, I am not sure where the gems went…
Slayfoe is down to 7/25 quests in his log and epenness is sated with a new title – Champion of the Naruu.
Well, we did try before. However, we found that the Fel Summoners holding the pit fiend in place had some rather nasty friends, their infernals. With only 2 locks in the guild people were getting one-shotted before the main show began.
This time, armed with 3 locks and 2 nerfbats, we ventured into the back door with a little intrepidness. Yours truly who is usually unable to raid on Sundays played the entire day to get the trials of the Naruu finished (thanks to current and ex-guildies) and claim a purple ring from Alar after the deed had been done.
The Free-the-demon campaign party turned up in Hellfire, snuck in the back door and tore into the oppressive demon jailors. Somewhere along the way the demon got the wrong end of the stick. What can I say, it must his eyesight from being stuck indoors looking at the same thing all day long. As the last summoner fell, the big meanie turned on the FreeTheDemon campaign. In the confusion someone had shut the doors and in order to keep the long term goals of FTD campaign alive, the campaign was forced to euthanize the big boy.
All was not in vain however, lying in the rack and ruin of the citadel we found some badges of justice, purple gems and other purply goodies with a handy sack to put them all in. Now I think about it, I am not sure where the gems went…
Slayfoe is down to 7/25 quests in his log and epenness is sated with a new title – Champion of the Naruu.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Slayfoe's life as inscibed on the world tree
Slayfoe is an old Dunemaul bull that has seen the opening of Mauradon, ZulFarak, Quiraj, The Black Portal. He has banished an elemental god, killed some particularly nasty dragons, killed an Old God, explored the inside of Naxxramas (outside scholarly souce).
In his nostalgic moments he still remembers when druids used to wave at each other, not mangle one another.
In the last 3-4 years he has /mooed and /trained with many organised riots. As a young bull he was invited to join ‘Iron Edge’ in Silverpine – admittedly he thought he was joining a party at the time and it took 3 days to find /gquit. His younger days were spent with Satara in ‘The Bastards’ before the name was considered not PC enough. Reformed as ‘Dark Horizons’ under Xylonite we raced with AFGM and Ravenous to kill the Old God. Second to down him we transferred our attentions to Naxxramas before TBC anticipation and DKP changes blew the guild apart.
A more mature bull then joined ‘Fearsome War Engine’ in Hellfire - the nursery of many a successful raid team and more importantly where Dougal/ Eirebull (Slayfoe’s sister) played. Times are a changing again while the easy pace of guild progress is ideal for some, this bull wants some more action.
A leatherworker in his youth, Slayfoe has gone back to the ancestral ways of herbtaster to keep his stock of potions fresh.
As an experienced bull there is only one aspect of druidism that Slayfoe abhors – PVP. All other talent builds have been tried out in his efforts to pull guildies through Kara. Currently equipped in T4 level for healing and feral, Slayfoes most recent equipment is his Boomkin gear armoury.
In his nostalgic moments he still remembers when druids used to wave at each other, not mangle one another.
In the last 3-4 years he has /mooed and /trained with many organised riots. As a young bull he was invited to join ‘Iron Edge’ in Silverpine – admittedly he thought he was joining a party at the time and it took 3 days to find /gquit. His younger days were spent with Satara in ‘The Bastards’ before the name was considered not PC enough. Reformed as ‘Dark Horizons’ under Xylonite we raced with AFGM and Ravenous to kill the Old God. Second to down him we transferred our attentions to Naxxramas before TBC anticipation and DKP changes blew the guild apart.
A more mature bull then joined ‘Fearsome War Engine’ in Hellfire - the nursery of many a successful raid team and more importantly where Dougal/ Eirebull (Slayfoe’s sister) played. Times are a changing again while the easy pace of guild progress is ideal for some, this bull wants some more action.
A leatherworker in his youth, Slayfoe has gone back to the ancestral ways of herbtaster to keep his stock of potions fresh.
As an experienced bull there is only one aspect of druidism that Slayfoe abhors – PVP. All other talent builds have been tried out in his efforts to pull guildies through Kara. Currently equipped in T4 level for healing and feral, Slayfoes most recent equipment is his Boomkin gear armoury.
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
I
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'
II
Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?
'They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
III
'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
Edward Lear 1812-1888
Which goes to show how visionary the man was - declaimed as nonsense rhyme he was just seeing another world in another century! I have this here as an almost perfect analogy of Slayfoe - a bird, a cat and a tree. The piggy was obviously meant to be a bear, the editors just wouldn't stand for it.
Learning to write
These hooves have done much, but using a pen to record deeds is a new experience.
Sitting beside the pipe-of-peace in the Thunderbluff tonight has clouded my head but set my thoughts free, my vision soars above Mulgore like the bird avatar and retraces the strides of life.
Sitting beside the pipe-of-peace in the Thunderbluff tonight has clouded my head but set my thoughts free, my vision soars above Mulgore like the bird avatar and retraces the strides of life.
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