streams versus blags

Over at Kane's blag, he posed a question regarding the upswing of live and recorded video media, and the steady downturn of blagging.  I have a lot to say on this topic; I'll try to do my best on addressing each point rather than rambling on about the merits of each exhibition medium (live video, recorded video & journal).  I've copied his query here for review:

Is blogging about EVE still relevant?


My thoughts have been veering towards this more often as EVE streaming picks up steam, eve videos have become almost the norm, is it human nature to pick the easier, more bling route of entertainment? All flashy lights and for the most part crappy music.

Is blogging, like solo piracy becoming something of myth and legend?

Video recordings of fights, often accompanied with voice communication recordings have become a lot more common than 3-4 years ago. I'd attribute this to players having more knowledge and resources available to them on the subject - better recording software, better editing software, ease of encoding and hosting. However, these presentations all to often do not share the story of the engagement, or include any kind of battle reporting. Indeed, I would say there's been a general decline of narration in videos, with more focus on highlighting engagements than explaining the fight. With this in mind, I never thought recorded videos competed with EVE journals.

Streaming's the latest gaming fad that's had some success with EVE Online, similar to journals just a few years ago. However, there are many limitations to streaming as a broadcaster: the need for high bandwidth, a modern computer and viable content. The first two requirements are often only partially met; many would be streamers have one or the other, but not both, due to personal income or regional limitations on internet providers. This alone heavily regulates the population of broadcasters, unlike journals. The final requirement of content is entirely variable, but in my eyes the most important.

There are many different forms of content; these can be grouped into game content and broadcaster content. Game content would be focus on aspects of the game, such as PvE content (incursions, DED sites, mining), PvP content (FW, solo, gang, griefing), highsec versus lowsec versus nullsec, focus on end game high SP/ISK/knowledge related content or novice friendly content. Conversely there is less focus on the game, and more on the broadcaster and viewer community. This includes podcasts, viewer fleets (PvE & PvP), polls, games, themed events and general dialogue.

Successful streams strike a balance between the two forms of content; I'll use mine as an example. My stream is a PvP focused broadcast, which of late is exclusively focused on FW. I roam FW regions and look for fights. My PvP content usually involves low to medium ISK investment fittings, and the broadcast attempts to be new player friendly, while engaging in high SP/skill fights. However, given the common downtime between fights, I do my best to fill the gaps between engagements with music, talk about the game, dialogue with viewers, and quite often take requests for ship/fitting selections.

If a broadcast favors a less balanced approach to content, and heavily favors one aspect or another, it tends to have a much harder time picking up a viewership. This is especially true for unpolished presentations, which throw caution to the wind in favor of getting their content live, similar to submitting a journal entry without editting.

So, with regard to content, live video media tends to mimic journals in terms of scope - there are a lot of broadcasts covering most aspects of EVE. Live video which successfully incorporates the broadcaster is as personal and individually unique as writing styles for journals, and often enough can develop, embellish and portray content as a story as well as a journal entry. However, where the great disconnect occurs, and where I feel journals win out versus recorded and live video is with how the game is portrayed.

When I broadcast, and for the majority of PvP streams I know, I focus on generating game content quickly, versus intelligently. I focus on regions in the game, and ships selections which best deliver consistent engagements, versus what I truly enjoy or how I'd rather take a fight. Streamed PvP more often than not is STAGED: many engagements are knowingly taken in an 'unrealistic' manner for the sake of viewer enjoyment, and many aspects of the game are ignored (cost effectiveness, acquiring and usage of intelligence, use of alt accounts for scouting, gang PvP & voice comms). What a viewer sees on a typical EVE PvP stream, and what they'd experience once they hop into game would likely be pretty different, as they'd have to play the game in its fullest, with all its 'boring' nuances and quirks which so often are hidden.

Conversely, EVE journals often focus on the little details that are left out from live video: scouting a target, history with a target, how an engagement developed, with intricacies such as use of alts, neutral friends, outside forces, etc playing part. Even more glaring is the use of strategy, tactics, ship selection or gang compositions which are too inconvienent, risky, gimmicky, inflexible or otherwise 'not fun' for the immediacy of live content. A personal example is the use of ganglinks - I usually refrain from using them while streaming, as moving the alt and setting up links is a time consuming and distracting process which the viewer can't take part in, and is not in any form fun to view. Conversely, stealthily setting up a link alt before a fight occurs could be a high point in a journal entry.

With all this build up and comparison, I think live video won't, or indeed can't replace journals, as the two mediums are not synonymous for portrayal of content. As long as there are members of the community interested and willing to work each form of media, both will exist. Frankly, what I feel is more disasterous for both types of media is how the game evolves with each expansion. For instance, my stream used to focus a lot on solo BC/BS primarily in lowsec and nullsec entry points. However, due to changes in the game, with sentry mechanics, ship balance changes, and changes to ship warp speed, it is no longer viable to roam solo in BC/BS, ESPECIALLY in a live format. Even if I was willing to endure the stream ghosting, stronger gangs, and weaker sentries, BCs and BS in particular are so slow to move across regions that its not fun to watch or talk about. So, like solo piracy, solo BC/BS PvP has gone the way of the dodo.

To me, the more EVE Online shifts towards group gameplay, and less from solo gameplay, the less you'll have individually created and focused content such as journals and live video. While it'll still be out there, with diehard masochist enthusiasts taking on one or another 'dead' aspect of the game, I feel the media will shift towards community hosting, such as RvB or Mittani streams and blags. Individual blaggers and broadcasters will widen the scope of their craft, taking on other games and pursuits or quit.

Or so it tends to go.

full tilt

This is a response post to a query Miura Bull made over at his blag. I suggest you head over there and read up for greater understanding of what I'm commenting about.

When I first began solo PvPing in ernst, my goal was to be self sustained, to not take what I felt were unintelligent losses, and have as high as of a K:D ratio as possible while taking interesting fights. A lot of what I did back then was belt piracy, defensive PvP (fighting with sentries on my side) around station and gates, and eventually mission and complex piracy. I built up enough experience and eventually skill in the matter that I could reliably identify good engagements to take on, and comfortably walk away from losses where I was outsmarted or trapped. My confidence was such that even while I was beaten regularly, I knew that I was a good player, a notion that was regularly reinforced by more victories than defeats, by making isk from PvP, and by few mistakes made in PvP.

In the past year or so, where much of my time spent PvPing has been with the goal of showcasing solo PvP through video livestreaming, I've lost much of the edge that classicly was so effective for me in winning engagements. That is, I have stopped listening to my experience regarding taking fights, and this has lead to a lot of frustration with PvP, leading to a near constant state of 'tilt' as Miura described it. I've been sucked into the need for quick satisfaction brought on by bad streaming habits. As any veteran PvPer could attest to, hungry and reckless solo players make for great targets, and I don't enjoy being on the receiving end of a loss due to poor decision making.

For the more immediate sense of frustration brought on by getting ganked, or making a mistake in a fight, etc, I find stepping away from the game to do a chore, exercise, play a different game or other distractions are great ways to cool frayed nerves. For my greater issue as described previously, I'm currently trying to manage the frustration by changing my expectations and my goals when playing. Ultimately I'm working toward updating my sense of what's right and wrong, good and bad about a play session of EVE, and finding (or relocating) a sense of comfortable satisfaction when PvPing, whether I win, lose, or take no engagements at all.

odyssey

With the Odyssey expansion in full effect, and factional warfare space moving into full zone control mode between Amarr/Minmatar, I decided to move back to Molden Heath to see how my old home was doing with all the changes.  With Dust 514 interaction, tags for sec and exploration being the in thing at the moment I was hoping there’d be room for an old pirate to ply his trade once more.  I had also heard that Black Rebel Rifter Club as well as possibly Stay Frosty were moving into the area, which hopefully would yield ample targets for some PvP fun.

Stay Frosty hasn’t materialized, however in the past weekend alone I ended up putting countless hours in belt piracy, exploration complex and mission busting, gate and station PvP, you name it, all the old lowsec PvP fixings.  Changes to the region with Dust in particular have drawn so many players into lowsec that the region is reminiscent of years ago, in the 2008-2010 times where piracy was a viable profession in the game.  While I don’t believe there’s enough valuable stuff to be had in lowsec for this kind of activity to be sustainable, between fresh exploration content, Dust offensive and defensive related fleets and tags for sec, there’s at least a reason to be in lowsec in some numbers.  I’ve been glutting myself in action, in part for fear that this will be a fleeting experience gone in but a few weeks’ time.

Related to my previous entry on sentry turret mechanics, part of my experience has been using sentry avoidance as much as possible to explore gameplay options with the current status quo.  I haven’t run into many occurrences with which avoidance was a factor in a “fair” or “equal” matchup, rather enabling my alt to apply sustained EWAR from his blackbird on a multitude of targets with impunity, using gate pounces to only have minimal downtime while warping away and back to the fight.  That said there were an appreciable number of engagements versus passive or reactive PvPers that allowed us to take the initiative by using avoidance, and give up their sentry advantage.  However in these cases fights were usually ganks even with sentry intervention, as our intelligence advantage of being “the locals” meant we were able to form counter fleets to just about everything that flew through the region.

More insidious has been the use of my alt account to apply non-aggressive support effects to myself and other fleet mates during piracy work.  Typically my alt has been flying a Vigil (5 midslots) with meta support modules such as remote sensor boosters and ECCM casters to help us catch fleets or resist EWAR; an incredibly disposable combination for the effect afforded.  With it we’ve been able to catch a few ships that otherwise may have slipped away from our ganking attempts, as well as provide a very inexpensive means of boosting our ships against EWAR.  I’ll probably be trying T1 logistics frigates or cruisers next, as the risk versus reward of friendly support effects, without any sentry interference brings on the notion that you’d be stupid not to be doing this, much like use of off grind boosting alts for PvP.

Flying with my alt in this manner has been a refreshing change of pace compared to the strictly solo approach that I’ve adopted over the past few months for streaming.  It also reminds me of how disconnected I’ve been with your typical EVE PvP of silly notions like flying smart, being patient and application of overwhelming force.  I’ll probably attempt to incorporate some elements of this play into the future with my streaming, as I’m always in an arms race with individuals using my stream to counter my efforts.

Other than that, there’s been some patch woes related to Odyssey, related to interface lag and the new onboard scanner.  While changes to the UI have been positive, something in the patch has introduced considerable desync with myself and everyone I’ve talked to, with effects such as ships having no pilots in space, ships becoming unlocked during combat, warping out under tackle, blackscreen on jumping through a gate or exiting a station, and overall horrific interface lag on the order of 0.5 to a full second of delay on actions. 

Related to the onboard scanner, the graphical effect leaves scanned sites in space as brackets you can mouse over to bring up a tooltip, with various options such as saving the site as a bookmark or warping to it.  If you have onboard scanning hidden, once the initial sweep of the system is complete, the brackets will hide after a few seconds.  The utterly maddening aspect to this feature is that if you’re attempting to mouse over brackets in space, such as to warp to the star, a planet cluster, what have you, is that if a site bracket is next to the bracket you’re trying to interact with, the tooltip will pop up, blocking your interaction with celestials in space.  In simpler terms, onboard scanning is interfering with player’s ability to interact with objects in space, retarding efforts to rapidly conduct actions that are vital to PvPers such as I when time is of the utmost importance in conducting PvP.

I don’t advocate for onboard scanning graphical effects to be removed, however if they have been set to be hidden, I feel these infuriating tooltips should be disabled until the onboard scanner is set back to its “on” setting.  Also,  FFS CCP bring back noticeable stargate jump animations to Minmatar gates.  Not being able to see a gate fire when Gallente gates are just as noticeable as they were in the past is unsettling.

sentry

Current sentry mechanics:

• Sentry aggression incurred due to security status penalty.
• Security status penalties occur through the following actions, against players not under the effects of a limited engagement, suspect, criminal flag or war target:

• Offensive module activation (against players or player owned entities, ship, cans etc).
• Property destruction (ship, cans, drones, structures, etc).
• Capsule destruction.

• Further, flags only occur once per target per PvP flag.

• In that, for the duration of the PvP flag, activating modules more than once on a target will only incur one security status penalty.
• Unknown whether multiple poddings of the same target would incur multiple sec status penalties; likely.
• This means that after initial security status penalty, for the duration of the PvP flag, further aggression against a player will not incur sentry aggression.

• Further, flags carry over through systems.

• In that, a player can initiate a hostile action, follow his target to another system, and continue to initiate hostile actions without security status penalties, for the duration of the PvP flag.

• This effect does not carry into highsec space; offensive actions in highsec space without ‘consentual’ PvP flags (limited engagement, suspect, etc) against the opposing player will incur concordokken.

• Further, any additional hostile actions will renew the PvP flag.
• Non-offensive module activations on players or player owned entities, such as the use of remote repairs, sensor boosters, tracking links and other modules, do not incur a security status penalty.

• PvP status flags will be inherited however, such that suspect, GCC, and weapons timers will be inherited by the supporting player.

How does this affect game play in lowsec?

These changes heavily influence game play around stations and star gates.  Immediately notable is that players engaging other players on stations or gates can remove sentry aggression by leaving range of the station or gate (note: cloaks do not count as leaving range of the defended object).  This mechanic allows for less downtime when camping a station or gate, lessens the need for strong local tanks or logistics ships, and allows players to move through star gates or stations without worry of sentry aggression.  Looked at alone, this makes PvP around stations and gates more casual (less downtime), opens camping to less expensive, tank dedicated ships, and helps promote fragile ship usage in lowsec as low tank ships can now continue through lowsec without a quarter of an hour of sentry aggression on stations and gates gradually destroying their HP pool.

The change to when sentries engage targets brings many nuances to PvP on stations and gates.  When a player engages another player with a hostile action (guns, etc) both players will receive a PvP timer.  If the attacked target shoots back, a limited engagement flag will occur, which enables those two players to fight each other anywhere, including highsec, for 5 minutes.  However, the initial PvP timer is what carries the initial cost of security status for attacking a player.  In that, for fifteen minutes, the attacking player can now engage the defending player anywhere in lowsec without sentry aggression on stations and gates.

This goes far to do away with station and gate games, where the defending player relied on attrition brought on by sentry aggression to wear down his attackers.  Now attacking players need only to incur the initial security status penalty, if done in range of a star gate leave range of the sentries and return to freely fire upon the attacked player without further sentry aggression.

Further, this mechanic promotes the use of highly fragile ships to attack other players in lowsec within range of sentries, where their use in the past necessitated logistics or strong EWAR support to survive.  The burden for the attacking party becomes holding down the attacked player(s) long enough for the attackers in vulnerable ships to leave sentry range and return to destroy the attacked player.  Alternatively, attacking players can chase down players after PvP in other parts of lowsec, and attack them on stations or gates, for the 15 minutes the PvP flag lasts.

Just as important is the derived change to support ships lending friendly logistics or EWAR effects (remote sensor boosters, tracking links, etc): these effects will no longer cause a security status penalty.  This means that regardless of the actions of the players you are lending support to, a support ship not engaging in hostile actions will not incur sentry aggression.

This lends strongly to the use of logistics ships in PvP in lowsec.  Unlike EWAR ships that use aggressive EWAR modules (such as ECM, sensor dampeners, etc), logistics ships will only be threatened by other players.  Indeed, whereas in the past logistics ships were preferred in pairs to keep each other alive under sentry turret attrition, lone logistics ships are viable as long as they can evade or tank player retaliation.

This does not however mean that support ships using aggressive EWAR are less potent with these changes.  Rather, the long targeting range of these ships, coupled with the inability to group EWAR like weapons, means that EWAR ships are very capable of aggressing large groups of targets, from relative safety of range, leave sentry range and return to lend support.  Indeed, the "incur aggression, warp off and back" tactic suits their game play very well, as these types of ships normally use range from other players to mitigate incoming damage.

These are the majority of uses of mechanics, and changes to old game play on stations and gates to the game.  While they spell out how players can use the new mechanics, what do they mean to game play at large in lowsec?

Being able to nullify sentry aggression can be a difficult task to accomplish; in a safe and timely manner, anyway.  Frigates often have difficulty executing this maneuver as their lock ranges are relatively short; they risk being tackled when attempting to aggress their target, then flee.  Larger ships, with their longer locking range are more able to use this mechanic from outside of tackle range, however they are less likely to be able to chase down the target after warping, or have a harder time aligning to warp, etc.

Use of this mechanic also requires much in the way of target selection: players are only able to fire upon the targets they have aggressed previously without sentry aggression.  This is due to the mechanic of attacking a neutral target incurring not only a PvP flag, a weapons timer, but also a suspect flag in lowsec.  Thus if their target is a gang of players, the attacking player(s) must engage all targets prior to dedicating to the fight, else the attacked gang will still eventually have sentry support.  Given that the task of activating multiple modules across multiple targets can be a somewhat arduous task that takes a few seconds, the attacking player is liable to take a round or two of sentry volleys before leaving the station or gate.  Also, if any additional players enter the fight, the attacking player(s) will then have to take sentries to fight those targets, unless they can evade tackle, etc to repeat the process.

In practice, any player or group of players that is looking to use this mechanic to avoid sentries is looking to engage a lone or very small group of players.  It can be difficult or impossible to effectively aggress all members of even a 10 man fleet with a similarly sized group of players to use this mechanic, which is why it is not often done.

Support ships, using logistics and EWAR gain much from these changes.  Logistics ships which are not engaging in hostile actions no longer are affected by sentries, and thus gain for that reason.  EWAR ships are the most common ship to be holding at range from a fight, and from the relative safety of range are able to avoid sentries through the new avoidance mechanic.

Players who take the time to create station and star gate tactical bookmarks further gain tremendously through use of the sentry avoiding mechanic.  Instead of having to warp to celestials, which can be a very time consuming process, tactical bookmarks can be very close to the minimum warp distance of 150km away, enabling players to only leave an engagement for a few seconds, instead of a minute or longer spent in warp.  Tactical bookmarks are especially important when put into context of station or gate camping, as the downtime for campers from the gate if their target is attempting to repeatedly crash to the gate is minimal.

For larger fleet fights where the bulk of players are present in durable ships, or have adequate logistics to keep their ships intact, sentries will still be an often ignored factor in the fight, if the fight would have occurred in the past with sentry aggression.  Fragile ships in this setting, such as frigates or support ships will still suffer, and be required to either have logistics repair them in anticipation of their aggression, or mindful of sentries cycling to their ship to either receive repairs or leave sentry range.  Effectively, little changes in these situations for fragile ships in larger gang fights in lowsec on stations and gates.

All together, sentry mechanic changes most affect smaller gang or solo engagements on stations and gates.  Typically, the party benefiting the most is the party with the greatest numbers, force multipliers, etc, which in the past already had their significant advantage.  The smaller gang or solo pilot will have difficulty exploiting these mechanics, as not only do the larger gangs have more opportunity through numbers to catch players in the act of attempting to avoid sentries, but the attacking player(s) must engage all important targets prior to dedicating to the fight.  Use of support ships, such as EWAR or logistics ships is highly encouraged through these changes; small gangs are less able to lever these assets due to limitations in player count.

Players who do not run in gangs to scout a threat, or with logistics to exploit their immunity, with EWAR ships to exploit their strength in avoiding sentries, who do not have bookmarks in place to exploit their usefulness, or in gangs with ships who can tackle and tank the target, while the rest of the gang leaves sentry range and returns, lose out.  Overall, smaller gangs and solo players lose out.  Players who travel frequently, without the benefit of bookmarks lose out.  Static game play found in camping and dedicating to PvPing in a known, mapped (with bookmarks and scouts) area is reinforced.  Branching away from larger gang combat becomes more hazardous, while gang combat becomes less risky.

Food for thought, proposed changes:

It’s my belief that the previous sentry system, which favored neutral parties travelling through lowsec, which heavily punished static game play found in gate camps, forcing campers to ship up considerably to sustainably tank sentries was a positive system for PvP interactions in lowsec.  Further, I believe current sentry system of cycling off criminal offenders who leave sentry range and return is too a positive system, which can be melded with mechanics of the past to help rebalance the risk/reward of criminal star gate and station PvP in lowsec.

This can be accomplished though several ways:

• Actions that would refresh suspect or GCC timers, or aggressive module activations on neutral targets refresh sentry aggression on offending players.

• Supporting module activations, such as the use of remote repair, remote sensor boosting, tracking links, etc share sentry aggression in addition to other PvP flags.

These two changes retain many of the positive changes to gameplay brought on by Crimewatch 2.0 changes, while helping to reinforce risk/reward gameplay which is so iconic of PvP in lowsec.  Firstly, renewal of sentry aggression aids considerably players who in the past relied on the underdog sentry mechanic to enable (safer) travel through lowsec, which acted as a balancing force against criminal players who preyed upon vulnerable players passing through their space.  Aggressors in this situation still benefit from the ability to warp off and back to ‘reset’ sentry aggression, providing an avenue for support ships to retain more presence in a fight, alternatively in instances of station or gate games allowing the aggressor to minimize damage caused by sentries.

Secondly, these changes would bring into line the use of support ships used in supportive actions around stations and gates.  Currently, these ships are incredibly potent by virtue of their immunity from sentries, out of line with the relative risk of employing aggressive EWAR, damage or tackle modules found on other ship types.  Sharing of sentry aggression not only is sensible (the guy driving the getaway car in a heist is very much a criminal), but provides a sense of risk/reward to their use in station/gate PvP.  Lastly, it helps deny the use of support ships for very cheesy PvP heavily practiced by that jerk Missy Lorelai (skirmish, shield ganglinked logistics and tackle ship duo camping stargate).

shift

Looking back through my past couple of posts, I'm partly amazed that it's been three years since the type of battle report content I used to document with this journal.  I don't think I'll ever move back to or recapture that type of writing, especially with the majority of my PvP documented in video form through my stream.  I love reading EVE through written language: attempting to capture the experience and translate it into writing is an act very similar to making strokes with a paintbrush onto canvas.  Writing lends to interpretation of events that are very unique for every participant, and to this day I relish the new entries made by friends and aquaintences across New Eden.

However, my stream doesn't capture everything that I want to say, or in a form that I wish to say it.  While I'm able to broadcast my PvP adventures, explain minutia, tactics, strategy, mechanics, analyze fights on the fly and enjoy PvP with an audience, there are times that discussion about game features, mechanics and quirks leave more to be said than answered.  I find myself fleshing out issues over and over, debating and refining my opinion to the point where I feel I've reached an apex regarding my thoughts on one topic or another.  A blag is a fine place to list said thoughts, and use the entries as a launching point for further debate and potentially action.

Thus, I'm going to attempt a different approach to EVE blagging and see if I can breathe life into Broadside once more.  After all these years, including the many dark years of content from 2010 to present I've stayed true to the path I'd found most rewarding in small gang and solo PvP.  My preference has still been with lowsec, though I've spent many, many hours roaming though nullsec looking for fights.  As such the focus of entries will likely be with game mechanics, features and issues which revolve around these areas of EVE Online.

for Kane 2

In reply to a journal entry made by Kane,

I feel like I'm in a similar rut to the one you've found yourself in.  I decided to take a break from the game late November after giving Planetside 2 a try, and came back in February looking to see how the rebalanced T1 frigates, dessies and cruisers were affecting the game.  I really hoped that I would see more activity in lowsec and NPC nullsec where I've traditionally found the bulk of my action.

Empowering low cost ships didn't have a lasting effect on the population of solo or small gang PvPers from what I saw.  It didn't drive players into lowsec or nullsec to try their hand at combat.  While the metagame shifted to accommodate these more powerful ships, and established PvP organizations employed their abilities, joe solo/small gang pvper's experience of PvP has remained constant: it's stagnant. 

Piracy, or living off your PvP earnings and ransoms ceased being a viable profession for all but an insignificant population of players around 2011.  Changes to mission running mechanics with agent quality, incursions in highsec, coupled with players migrating to nullsec for cosmic anomalies, better paying missions and ratting removed much of the targets pirates thrived on.  Static complexes were the last bastion where players could find casual small scale fights, and be rewarded, fight or no, with the chance at some deadspace items to keep them going fiscally.  They provided motivation to roam, and a sense of accomplishment regardless of the PvP outcome.

With them gone, the systems that held them and surrounding constellation have become as lifeless as the rest of non-faction warfare lowsec.  The PvP community that based their livelihoods around their existence seems to have the choice of joining faction warfare or ceasing to exist.  Alternative lowsec PvP play styles of camping gates or hunting exploration runners or the odd mission runner, which frankly requires at least one alt account doesn't appeal to many of the static plex PvP community.  These were very small gang, primarily solo PvPers that were ousted by CCP's decision to remove these sites.

I don't know if I'll be able to recapture the magic of moving back into lowsec to try out solo PvP for the first time, and finding myself captured by the challenge for the next 4 years of discovery.  Joining faction war seems like giving up, but I honestly don't see any alternatives in either lowsec or nullsec for my solo/small gang PvP desire.  I'm in regular contact with the MH.net PvP community, talking to others about returning to the game, but the question I can't answer remains: return to what?

PS: Kane, if you're interested, shoot me a PM on the MH.net forums with some contact details.  Perhaps sharing notes will help in finding inspiration for the next EVE Online shindig that will carry us into the game's second decade of life.

the stream effect

So the past few weeks I've been getting some of the most enjoyment out of EVE in months. The reason? My stream!

I was really curious if streaming could work with EVE. It's such an information driven game - most aspects of the game are entirely player driven, and therefore player competitive. This means that by showing the player screen (MY SCREEN) I'd be giving away many of my 'trade secrets' which I rely on to win. Not only in PvP, but my alts, friendly alts, how I make money (niche market info) friendly activities, so on. I've really been afraid that this would be an utter failure, resulting only in people using the information against me.

Yeah, that's happened. In fact, I'd say at least 1/5 of my viewers are people I fly against regularly, or have in the past. There's been a few times where people I'm shooting are actively talking (and mocking!) me in my stream chat! In a way, it's only going to get worse as people examine the stream, or look up old footage with a keen eye to pick up intel. By streaming, everything eventually is made bare, and that sucks.

Has it been worth it? HELL YES!

There's been a huge shift in how I approach the game, how I fly, and how I spend my time in the game. I'm a lot more aggressive: I'm trying to make the stream as enjoyable as possible! I've pretty much abandoned using expensive implants, have taken to roaming frequently in nullsec, and have been getting way more interesting, and perhaps more importantly, solo and small gang engagements. Do I lose a lot more ships this way? You betcha, but I'm rediscovering what made me love this game by trying to show others how to have fun. The aggressive play style is a bunch of fun, though I'm not looking forward to having to build my ISK up again!

When I roam, it's not all explosions. In fact, most of the time I'm just moving through systems scanning for stuff and finding fuck all. To try the pass the time, I explain what I'm doing, how I'm doing it, and try to walk the invisible friend at my shoulder through the ins and outs of the game. I explain scanner usage. I explain how to learn a system, and how to scout quickly and efficiently. I explain why I check some systems, or parts of systems, and not others. I explain why places are busy, and why others are barren. I tell the stream about my fit, what I'm looking to do with it, why it works, the ways it doesn't, and tricks I use to make it better. The narration helps pass the time, and honestly has improved my play a fair amount, forcing me to focus on what I'm doing and why I do it.

When I encounter other players, I do my best to walk the viewers through the fight: often when soloing, I'll explain what I'm thinking, as I'm moving through the process of scouting the target, my approach to the fight, getting the fight, the engagement, and how I felt afterwords. This analytical approach to the game again helps get my mind working about tactics and strategy, rather than the rather dull approaches I've been using towards achieving PvP success in the past. Every fight is now a lesson, rather than merely a gank, a kill or lossmail.

Lately I've been getting burned out logging in only to find pilots working without cohesion; we don't have many FC's, and my guys have come to rely on me leading them about and organizing efforts. It's honestly extremely tiring when all I wanted to do when sitting down to PvP was look for a fun engagement, and end up managing several to well over a dozen pilots on moving around systems, organizing pilots, assigning roles, explaining tactics, so forth. The stream eliminated this: instead of the lengthy wait of all that organization and management, I've just been jumping in ships by myself or with one or two others and striking out. No hassle, no fuss, no bullshit. Just a few guys looking for some honest give and take PvP.

While I've been dreading stream interaction in the form of giving up information, and having it used against me, it's been quite the opposite in practice! I will often have pilots point out glaring errors (evemail: you forgot your drones! you forgot to update your clone!), give support or ask questions about the game. I've had a lot of people compliment me on the informative nature of the stream, on the ease in which I seem to PvP, and have had a lot of really good dialogue with stream viewers. While I'm in combat with those that are using the stream information to 'cheat' in playing against me, I feel I can deal with that well enough while giving the viewer a fun, educational and entertaining result.

All in all, it's been a huge success. I enjoy the game more than ever, I get as much fun and excitement as I ever remember having, and honestly think I see what most people which term themselves 'bittervets' did wrong: they forgot to focus on the things they love, and just have fun.

I'm currently brainstorming ways to improve the stream, mostly on how to get it out there, encourage PvP discourse, and interaction between viewers and myself. I'll write another post with the specifics of what I'm looking for, and let you guys lend your opinions: I can use the help!

stream 2

Just a quick update, you can follow my stream status by following me on twitter, @SardCaid.

I've also enabled Youtube to archive my broadcasts as well as highlights, linked here.

I'll eventually look into putting in a twitter feed on this blag, but that's for another time.

stream

A few months ago I upgraded my PC, and have since been able to do a lot more with my games, such as running several clients on a dual monitor setup, recording fights at 1080p resolution, while running utility programs in the background, music, so forth. More recently I've been trying out live video streaming of my PvP, and currently am able to run at 800p resolution with HD quality.

You can see some of the results of the streaming online at twitch.tv, linked here. This is the highlights section where I clipped out fights from the roaming/waiting. Unfortunately the really interesting stuff that occurred Sunday of last week had bad audio, but I've since solved that problem in recent stream sessions.

I intend to try to stream regularly around 6-9 PM PST doing my normal PvP thing around MH and surrounding regions. Twitch.tv has some social media functions, so I'm going to try to get myself in the tweet fleet, and have the stream automatically post that I've begun streaming there.

I think I might start using these recordings for the analysis I used to do in the past in this blag. I don't intend to have this be a substitute for written content, however given that this is something that's drawing me back into the game, I'll be focusing on integrating streaming into my game play as well as my blag here.

year

Much has happened since my last addition to this journal. RANSM exploded with members, at one point reaching around 45 players, firmly establishing our presence as a dominant force in Molden Heath. Now we have been reduced to a comfortable 25 members, while still maintaining ourselves as the alpha pirate group in our little slice of EVE.

Concluding the summer slowdown period for the corp, I spearheaded PvP efforts, leading nano BC gangs starting in September continuing consistently into October of '11. The result of training for the Drake, encouraging its use in the corp and coupled with ganglink support was monstrous: more ISK damage and kills were had by me during these two months than in the previous 6 months combined. I set a personal record in September as well for both total kills and damage done in a single month.

I can't stress enough how much the Drake affected that outcome. Its ability to absorb damage passively coupled with the 80km range of the HML meant that though gang members were often weaving in and out of a fight evading tackle and jockeying for position, all of our vessels were in range to apply consistent DPS on the primary target. All of our ships were able to adjust their damage type to the tank of the target. In addition to this, PODLA variants in the fleet which sported two webs in the place of invulns supplied vital range control, allowing us to deal with tacklers effectively. I'm happy to say from the results of these two months that the corp knows its own power: we're a very effective small gang organization when we decide to be.

November has been tainted with the urge of several of our top PvPers and FCs, including myself to take a break to carebear, or just from the taxing role of fleet command. This has resulted so far in a lackluster showing on the killboard, but in the end, we're just here to have fun.

Notable occurrences:

Laktos, an AUS member has released two PvP videos since joining the corp, Intolerance 1 and Intolerance 2. Great videos, and hint to those that enjoyed them: the next one in the series will involve plenty of Tempest action.

xxxAlloxxx, a CAN member has also been trying his hand at PvP video production. He's been working closely with Laktos to learn the ropes of solo PvP as well as video editing and production, and I'm looking forward to his growth as a PvPer.

Dirty Protagonist has begun blagging again, and I recommend you peak over to his site to get another view from within the corp. He also hosted a forum signature contest, which resulted in the image below. It's damned suiting.

welcome home 2

(Raxip Elamp warrior saga gw ed)

Raxip's been relatively busy in MH, engaging in belt piracy and 2/10 complex action when able, and occasionally scoring a shiny kill. However that sort of action hasn't been with yours truly, so you're going to have to bother him for any sort of battle reporting.

A day after Raxip Elamp returned to the Heath, we met up once more, this time when I had the intention of making a trip to BRT-. It took some convincing to persuade the pirate that rat bounties are healthy (I told him he can pod my alt scout to -10 when we returned to lowsec) and we headed off, leaving Molden for Etherium Reach as we jumped from Skarkon to L4X-.

The alt scout had spotted some activity near the inbound gate, including two Zealots and a smattering of T1 hulls. Jumping in to investigate, most of what was seen on scan were at tacticals several hundred kilometers off gate or at nearby safes. Raxip managed to snare a Stabber that stayed a little too long on the gate, and we moved on towards our ratting destination.

Upon arriving in BRT-, the locals immediately fled to POSes and we beared out hearts out for over an hour. In this time a TEXN pilot named Devlin joined us, flying a shield tanked arty cane. While I was reasonably sure the locals wouldn't try anything so risky as leaving the POS force field, over time they logged in more members, including a pilot flying a Chimera. About an hour and a half after arriving in BRT-, we spotted fighters on scan, and decided to halt ratting and take a better look around system.

The alt scout bumbled into a Devoter camping our gate leading home, with fighters assigned and bubble running. I had the fleet warp to the HIC, and upon landing we turned around, burning MWD cycles to pull some range from the warp in. While burning, we blasted fighters, the carrier pulling them after two went down to Barrage and Fusion M volleys.

It didn't take too long for the blob to land, fortunately for us they lacked any form of dedicated EWAR. The locals began burning after us, which was exactly what I could have hoped for. As the faster hulls came into range, I began calling primaries and the slaughter began.

First down was a Rifter, the pilot finding out the hard way that an arty cane only needs a volley or two at range to explode a frigate. Next up was a cane, who decided to start MWDing back towards the gate far too late and perished. With the cane down, the HIC had finally shut down his bubble, and hostiles were starting to land on those burning towards us, bridging the distance we had accumulated. However, the locals weren't bringing particularly fast reinforcements to the fight, or warping out/back in fast enough to close the distance we were continuing to pull.

Next up was a Brutix, who managed to tackle Devlin and put him into serious trouble. Devlin, who had been jammed by ECM drones the ENTIRE course of the fight could only mash the lock button helplessly as Raxip and I overheated our weapons to down the Brutix before more hostiles could burn into range. Our efforts payed off, allowing Dev to warp off with most of his structure remaining, however minus his MWD as he burnt it out trying to escape.

Fighters began arriving back on grid, and down a third of our gang, Raxip and I couldn't really apply enough damage to kill any more targets. After a few minutes of getting jammed by ECM drones and with fighters burning into range and applying damage, we decided to warp off, wait down our minute of aggression then warp back to the gate at 0m. We jumped on contact, and took our victory without losses home with us to Skarkon.

Some of the locals who had been goofing off in L4X- were those who engaged us in BRT-, and local was diminished to the pair of Zealots and a Drake. They refused to engage our battlecruisers in L4X-, however followed us into Skarkon, eventually camping Raxip who had docked for repairs while Devlin and I progressed onwards to Ennur. Heading back to the Skarkon gate, Raxip informed us the camper in the Drake was an outlaw as well, and I decided to show these idiots how to gank a BC.

Devlin and I jumped back into Skarkon, aligning to station as Raxip undocked once more. Upon undocking, we warped to Raxip, who was immediately aggressed by the Drake and one of the Zealots. Raxip held his aggression until Devlin and I had traveled the 50au to station, docking as we tackled the Drake. With their outlaw target docked, the situation was reversed on the campers, and they decided to attempt to dock instead of fight. Raxip undocked as fast as he could, and we managed to crush the Drake before it could conclude its aggression countdown.

Raxip logged off, Devlin and I mucking about lowsec for a bit before joining a TEXN fleet chasing a BC gang. We ended up chasing the gang roughly 20 jumps around northern GW until bumping into them in the B-VIP pipe near Egbinger, catching about half of their fleet while the rest fled. Amusingly, it was the same group of pilots who were camping L4X- and lost a Drake to us two hours earlier.

A week passes between the next time Raxip and I head out together, again into the BRT- area to hopefully pull a fight and make some ISK. As usual, the locals POS up while we take our fill of rat bounties in BRT-, killing off the belt population there to move on to JUKO and into V-IH. Upon finishing the rats off in V-IH, I move my alt scout back into JUKO to discover a bunch of pissed off locals camping the gate.

This time they decided to take a page out of our book, bringing three canes, a geddon and a Sabre who held on the BRT- to camp us. We decided to wait a minute for our shields to recharge, warping to the JUKO gate just as one of the canes jumped into V-IH to check up on us. We jumped into JUKO, quickly relaying our positions relative to the gate and breaking cloak to burn downwards, mutually furthest from the camping gang.

The hostiles didn't miss a beat, starting MWDs after us and opening fire on our fleeing ships. Their canes weren't nano fit, and our initial cycle of overheat on our MWDs allowed us to gain a healthy 20km from targets as we continued downwards, picking their fastest cane as primary and firing back. The Armageddon lacked Scorch or a prop mod, and was very quickly a non-factor in the fight.

As one of the canes had jumped through into V-IH, he was a few seconds jumping back in and burning down towards the fight, leaving for a time a level playing field. Raxip and I manage to take our first target into low shields. It didn't manage to alter course and flee before succumbing to focused Barrage fire.

In dying, it did manage to force me to stay close and moving slowly long enough for the second cane to burn into range and apply a scrambler on me. Raxip and I swap damage to the tackling cane, however Raxip had burned to 30km from me, and wasn't doing much DPS at all to the target. Additionally, the third cane was finally coming into weapons range, roughly 30km from me as well opposite of Raxip's cane. We overheat our projectiles, myself applying overheated neuts in a last ditch effort to break tackle and flee.

The third cane burns into tackle range, and my shield buffer melts away, slightly faster than the shield cane next to me. Scanning my UI frantically for something to save me, I make sure I'm aligned out, losing armor rapidly and dropping into hull. I glance at my overview and notice I'm not pointed.

WTFOMGBBQWARPWARPWARPFREEDOM YEEEESSS! The third cane never pointed me, and my last two neut cycles before heat failure must have knocked out the already MWD depleted capacitor on the second cane! I manage to warp out with a third hull remaining, fried neuts and 95% heat damage on my remaining projectiles. Raxip kills the second cane off, who was in similar straights as me before I warped albeit tackled, and tackles the third cane. I align back, wanting to help Raxip out though holding back as it'd take only a volley or two to kill off my crippled ship.

After recharging about 20% shields, I warp back to the fight, landing about the same time Raxip announces he's been jammed by ECM drones. I manage to resolve lock and tackle the cane, finishing the work Raxip started a minute before, ramming Barrage death into the final enemy cane's hull, destroying his ship. We try to burn into range of the T1 gun geddon, but with 60km between us and the BS he has plenty of time to align and flee before we manage point range.

We head back into BRT- to find local diminished as the few who lost ships head back towards highsec to buy more or logged off entirely. We eventually head back to Skarkon to drop off loot and repair, heading back only to find the locals having none of it and leaving us to collect bounties in peace. We leave the area after having taken our fill of NPC bounties, calling it a night not too long afterwords.

interlude

"Void, it's been a long time since I've looked at that light show."

Raxip stood viewing a projection of Egbinger XII, its blue atmosphere occasionally disturbed by lightning, the brilliant arcs spanning hundreds of kilometers across its hydrogen rich skies. Finished with his examination, he returned to his seat, taking a sip from his glass of spirits, only to find the glass depleted. Raising his glass for his host to see, he shook it lightly, eliciting the tinkle of ice cubes against glass. "Story of my life," he said with a grin.

Smiling, Sard set his own glass down, reaching forward to open the squat cabinet set between the two capsuleers. Retrieving a bottle of liquor, he recharged Raxip's glass, who motioned appreciatively and took a sip. Sard topped off his own drink and returned the bottle to the cabinet.

"She's putting on a show for you," Sard said. Still leaning forward, he began to swirl his drink lightly, regarding the amber fluid with some concentration. "Station side the planet hasn't been this active in days, hardly more than a glimmer of lightning."

Raxip chuckled, looking down at his own drink, taking another swallow. "Hah, yeah. Maybe." The pirate frowned slightly, setting the drink down and looked back to Sard. "So ah, do you think you'll be able to accommodate me?"

"You're family, Raxip, in or out of RANSM. The corporate ship stores are open to you, and we'll supply you with any fitting you'd like."

"Great! I think I'll focus on tech one craft anyway, so I won't be taking much. Just a few Cruisers, a Battlecruiser or two and maybe ten Rifters would be plenty."

"Hah!" Sard raised his eyes to meet Raxip's, continuing to laugh as the VETO pilot looked on in confusion. "I didn't say you'd be taking anything for free Raxip. You have the ISK for that small fleet?"

"Uuh, no." Raxip raised a hand to rub the back of his neck, looking down at the floor. "I've lost most of what I had coming out here in a few fights around Bosena," he said, looking back up to Sard, then shrugging. "I was kinda hoping you'd understand."

"Oh, I understand just fine. However brother, you've decided to cut your own path through this galaxy, and in doing so you've got to pay your way." Sard pointed at the glass Raxip set down. "Drinks are on me, but I'm not funding your piracy anymore."

"How am I supposed to pay then?" Raxip furrowed his brows in frustration. "You're the one that invited me out here, saying you'd have ships available."

Sard's eyes twinkled, a particularly brilliant flash of lighting from the projection illuminating the predatory grin formed on his face. "Raxip old friend, it's a good thing I called you over here when I did, because it's obvious life in VETO's made you soft." Waving down reprisal, he rose from his seat, mentally manipulating the projection, ordering the view changed from an image of the planet their station orbited to a map of the surrounding region, shifting from Molden Heath to the adjacent Great Wildlands.

Sard pointed at a particular cluster of dots, which enlarged to display the constellation of systems nearest to Etherium Reach. Several systems glowed a pulsing red, indicating heavy Angel Cartel activity in the area.

"It's about time you were reintroduced to nullsec, my outlaw friend. Between the Cartel, the local Capsuleer population and Concord bounties, you'll have the capital for more than a few sorry cruisers and smattering of frigates." Sard turned slightly to face Raxip, "Easy money."

Raxip stared at the projection for a moment and then glanced up at the Sebiestor. "You're insane." Rising himself, Raxip stepped over to adjust the projection, shifting the hologram to display Capsuleer statistics. "See, look at that," he said, pointing at the BRT-OP system. "There must be a dozen pilots out there battling for those Concord bounties. How am I supposed to score bounties with them around?"

"First off, I'll be heading out there with you." Sard shut off the projection, walked to the door and opened it. "Second, it seems you need a refresher on the art of skirmish warfare" he said, motioning for Raxip to follow him towards the ship hanger. "Are you coming?" Sard asked.

With arms crossed, Raxip kept his gaze on the now unpowered projector. He shook his head, uncrossed his arms and followed Sard out the door. He doubted the ISK would be so easy, but in the few years he knew him, Sard had never let him down.

Walking astride of Sard, Raxip barked a laugh, eliciting a glance from his companion. "I guess it's back to redshirting for me," Raxip said with a smile. Smiling back, Sard gave Raxip a slap on the back, the pair continuing down to the ship hanger.

shield cane

As Battleclinic would tell you, a lot of my more casual small gang and solo PvP of late has been from a shield tanked gank cane. The primary reason for the fitting is that I'm able to get away with it as a ratting fit, though its PvP qualities are unparalleled in its class, for several reasons.

maneuverability

The Hurricane and Cyclone are the fastest, most agile battlecruisers in the game. Employing a shield tank ensures that these properties are retained, which means the Hurricane is able to typically speed past similar sized competition, and attempt to match smaller cruiser sized vessels.

Many pilots opt for some speed fittings, whether they be rigs or lowslot modules, however given the typical lack of significant camps or gangs with EWAR support in my area, I'm able to get away with a full gank fitting. Additionally, the gank fitting allows me to maul those BC variants that sacrifice for speed, provided they don't have support to back them up. It's a big assumption to make, but with good experience of your roam area and a scout, it's not much of an issue.

firepower

The gank cane is nigh unparalleled in range and damage output, as the double damage bonus, triple gyrostab and double tracking enhancers enable the ship to hit hard well outside of scrambler and webifier ranges. This is important, as while the fitting isn't exactly a glass cannon, it's very easy for armor tanked BC variants or your typical drake to have tens of thousands of greater effective hit points (EHP, Eve Fitting Tool [EFT] jargon). If possible to have a scout, always have a gang going to eek out as many EHP from gang bonuses as possible.

utility

Sporting two spare highslots for a variety of modules, the cane is able to dial its fitting to better adapt to the pilot's environment. Missiles can be fit to enhance the damage output, which is critical for dealing with big tank targets such as Drakes or ratting BS. Twin medium energy neutralizers are great for dealing with frigates: two cycles is enough to clean most frigates of capacitor, enabling escape or a critical cycle of MWD to pull range and improve tracking. If gang skills are trained, a ganglink can be fit without the usual fitting hassle other battlecruisers have. I tend to favor the Interdiction ganglink, as 32km/37km overheated disruptor range is an amazing thing for a battlecruiser that's able to strike ably at those ranges.

application

While I occasionally take this fitting into lowsec, I tend to favor nullsec, as the lack of sentries and increased population of tackling frigates means my typical dual neut fit is able to compete in an environment where it excels. I do however have competing goals when I enter 0.0, as I'm usually there to grind security status, and gank ratters/engage PvPers second. Thus the drain on my shield buffer is a constant issue when targets arise, though one I can work with.

Typical targets when solo are other battlecruisers and smaller. This includes virtually all variants of BCs, for several reasons. The maneuverability of the basic hull means most other battlecruiser hulls, T2 and T1, will not be able to match the speed of the Hurricane. Those that can tend to have markedly reduced tank and/or gank to the shield gank cane, and are thereby vulnerable. This means the cane is able to kite shorter ranged, slower hulls, or outrun BCs with similar gank/tank capacity and retreat.

Drakes are where this equation falls apart, as both HML and HAM fits tear the shield cane apart, due to the ridiculous level of buffer and recharge Drakes are blessed with. Heavy Missiles drakes are perhaps even more deadly than HAM fits, as even if you're able to burn away several tens of kilometers away from a gang, the Drake will be doing the same damage, all the way out to 80km. By then, the shield cane's buffer is dangerously depleted, and not much can be accomplished before destruction.

My approach to all similar sized or larger targets is to hold 18-22km from target, and give the target time to react to my presence. When a ship tries to close range, I can gauge from its acceleration and velocity whether its an armor rigged and plated variant, and hold my range. If I think it will be a speed fit or more agile ship, I'll watch my foe's velocity like a hawk to make sure it can't speed away without me applying some overheat to my MWD and warp disruptor to keep up. The golden rule with this ship, and most other lightly tanked gank vessels is to work the range advantage until victory is assured.

I carry Barrage, EMP and Fusion, with a fair bit more Barrage as I tend to employ my range advantage frequently rather than burn into web range for the kill. Warriors are used to help deal with frigates.

victory examples

Virtually all my ship victories that didn't end with a loss involve me keeping a cool head, holding range and testing my opponent's reaction to gauge its fitting, whether it has backup and opponent skill. This does result in losing a few ship kills due to targets breaking tackle range and running, however it's the correct way to go about flying the ship.

My three latest skirmishes with Extreme Predujdice. in BRT- have been fine examples of me instigating locals, pulling them to a celestial of my choosing, dragging out their gang and taking them apart piecemeal.

This 1v1 in B-VIP is a good example of holding range and working my greater range and speed against a slower, tankier armor tanked ship. I didn't rush into range, and the closest to the target I managed was about 17km. There were a few spots where the enemy cane pulled out of normal point range, but good heat management meant I was able to keep on top of him until he went down.

While more of an instance of good anti-piracy tactics, this engagement with INSURGENCY. is also a good example of the psychology of PvP and gauging whether your opponents want to fight. I had just cross jumped this cane and an additional Drake, and decided to reapproach gate, jump and see how they'd react. Upon jumping, the pair of BC had returned to the gate. I took this as a cue they wished to fight, and upon decloaking aligned my ship away, using a burst of MWD to gain some distance from the pair. The Hurricane GCCed and gave chase, and I eventually led him some 40km from the gate.

Pulling the Cane off the gate was a damned good thing, as an Absolution jumped through several seconds after I did, and I was only just able to kill the cane as the abso came within 20km of my ship. While I wasn't able to really dent the Absolution's tank before it was able to burn back to gate and jump, it goes to show that playing an engagement out by following a plan allowed me to survive, kill an opponent and turn the tables back on the pirate gang by forcing them to deaggress and jump.

This Drake kill is just an example of how close this match up is. Coffee managed to probe down and tackle this guy, and held point long enough for me to warp in and land a point myself. Then the typical exercise of fighting a drake took place: Drake realizes its in danger, and begins burning away. Without a scrambler, I'm forced to chase and apply neuts until the Drake loses the capacitor to run its MWD. During this chase, my bloated signature radius means I take painful volleys, while the Drake takes a little less damage due to the 7-10km range it typically holds from me. Once the Drake's MWD is conquered, I have to try to overheat and bash my way through its tank, making sure I time my overheat to defeat its peak recharge period. With everything going right, AND 10% more shield/armor HP from gang bonuses, I finished this fight with roughly 50% hull remaining. If the Drake had ECM drones rather than Hobgoblins, its very possible it would have killed me outright, such as in this engagement: The Hurricane needs all of its damage output applied continuously to kill a decently skilled and fit Drake.

For reference, I've flown the cane a hell of a lot more than this, but I can't recall past engagements well enough to relate here, and not to mention perhaps half of my PvP isn't even recorded: many times targets or myself are forced to flee for any number of reasons, resulting in no killmail/lossmails.

defeat examples

When flying the shield gank cane, I can't stress enough to always begin a fight with a skirmishing mindset. When flying small gang and solo, there is little margin for error. If you get tackled by a ship with superior tank, or the reinforcements arrive, no one is there to bail you out. Unless you manage something incredibly lucky, you're dead. Disregarding the strategy means you leave yourself vulnerable to repeat failure.

In this case, I had scouted the Thorax and Cyclone, and had decided to warp to their pull bubble, with the goal of ganking the Cyclone with EMP while neuting down the Thorax. What I didn't account for is both targets using ECM drones, which meant I was permanently jammed for the duration of the fight. Had I eased into the engagement and maintained range to start with, I either would have been able to kill off the drones, or at least draw out the fight long enough to realize the potency of 10 ECM drones and flee.

This engagement like so many other shield cane losses is an example of both Vasavia and myself not watching our range well enough, getting caught and dying miserably. The engagement should have been a textbook case of autocannons trumping blasters, and instead was a good example of how not to fly a skirmish gang.

Always know your limits: if a target tends to fit heavy neuts, has the midslots for plenty of tackle and EWAR, and has good range, avoid it. You can't rely on other pilots being idiots, or at least you should ease into the engagement to test whether or not that Tempest you scanned down has a good fit or not.

I can't find the other engagement where this pair of canes ripped me to shreds, but its a good example of gauging your opponents: if they seem eager to fight, assume they're not alone and react appropriately. I should have just fled.

One final engagement to show what happens to a nanoless gank fitting when caught in a good camp: they die. I should have tried to burn back to the gate, as I didn't realize how poor their DPS output was, however any half decent nullsec gatecamp with EWAR, fast tackle and DPS will put this shield gank fitting down without much effort. Don't expect to fly one of these into a properly patrolled region of nullsec and live.

welcome home

(Raxip Elamp warrior saga mh ed)

After 20 minutes of guilting Raxip Elamp over his lack of recent PvP and all the fun he used to have in the past, the illustrious brass balls Rifter jock decided to grace Molden with his presence. Given the volume of time since his last appearance in the Heath, Raxip has since skilled for new ships, and upon his arrival home, promptly undocked an artillery fit Hurricane and reported dastardly folk about. The resulting tale takes place over the next 80 minutes.

The ship Raxip reported while on the way to his Hurricane was a Broadsword, the name of which I recognized from a new pirate corp in the area. Undocking a Cyclone from Oddelulf bottom station, I guessed the pirates would remain roughly were they had been reported, which was half way between Raxip and myself, and began heading towards Raxip.

Coffee was already in Heild local, and had eyes on the pirate fleet: two Broadswords, one GCCed, the other not. I arrived on the Heild gate in Bosena a few seconds before Raxip managed the same in Aedald, and jumped in, arriving in Heild 40ish AU from the Aedald gate. I was counting on the fact Raxip was out of my corp and an outlaw to clinch the engagement.

Upon jumping, Raxip decloaked and was immediately aggressed by the outlaw Broadsword. With both Broadswords lacking webifiers, Raxip was easily able to maintain comfortable range, and once I was on grid and had the outlaw tackled, was out of immediate danger. With the scrambler on, the Broadsword was dead in the water and meat for our projectile arsenal.

Not to be outdone, the second pirate Broadsword, who wasn't outlaw, decided to engage my Cyclone, incurring GCC and allowing us to easily primary his ship without sentries ourselves. I land a scrambler on the second Broadsword and we make quick work of the HIC. A third pirate piloting a Hurricane smartly warped off, having arrived after the first was destroyed and the second nearing armor damage.

Raxip scoops the loot, and I decide to poke around Heild, as there were another six or more pilots in local not associated with those we just killed. Landing at planet seven, I end up spotting several ships on scan, including a cane, a Cyclone, a Tengu, and an Arbitrator. It takes a few minutes to narrow down the BCs, but eventually they're confirmed at a belt and we warp to it.

Upon landing, the BCs are identified as dueling 170km off the belt, and the Arbitrator slowly moving out towards the pair. The cruiser initiates warp with the arrival of our ships, however the pair of BCs, a SCONE cane and .GCC. Cyclone remain to finish off their fight. We begin burning out to the pair, giving the two a final countdown to finish their fight before we finished it for them. At about 70km the Hurricane explodes, leaving the Cyclone as the only target left on grid.

It loots the cane wreck, and as our ships power into lock range and closer, surprisingly decides to burn towards us and fight. The .GCC. Cyclone primaries me as we exchange tackle, and the inevitable countdown towards destruction commences. Given that it just had a lengthy fight with a cane which often fit energy neuts, I expect the .GCC. Cyclone to be low on 800's, and the fight to be over in less than a minute.

Except the fight doesn't end, as the enemy Cyclone seems to have just enough repping power to match the combined DPS of my Cyclone and Raxip's arty cane. Given this fact, I confirm to myself who owns the Tengu that's still on scan and it's purpose in local: to provide ganglinks for the Cyclone pilot, who's likely rocking to a Crystal implant set and Blue Pill boosters. Regardless of this fact I inform Coffee to hold off on decloaking his Falcon, as we should be able to power through the tank given time.

The Cyclone's tank finally fails after firing its last cap booster, some five or more minutes after initially aggressing my ship. While it was unable to itself break my tank, I was only just matching its incoming DPS by popping a Blue Pill myself and toggling overheat every so often. With the Cyclone down, we begin looting the field, scooping what what was left of both the Cyclone and Hurricane wrecks, only to have the SCONE pilot who had lost his Hurricane warp on top of us in a Tempest.

I had run into this pilot's pest fit a few days prior after engaging a small gang of SCONEs in Oddelulf, and he favored the dual heavy neut shield gank fit. Fearing its potency and possible SCONE reinforcements, Coffee decloaks and begins jamming the battleship, immediately breaking its lock, but not before the pest scared the shit out of Raxip by alphaing his cap and giving him a few volleys of EMP L to remember him by.

I managed to scramble the Tempest a few seconds after it landed, and with Coffee's ECM cycles was free to pound the gank fit's buffer tank down. Coffee lost jams once, in those 20 seconds the pest was able to assign ECM drones on Raxip and alpha my cap, however a quick 800 boost made sure I maintained tackle. The pest was soon out of shields, into armor, and then into structure.

However, this pilot just gave us a decent fight from the .GCC. Cyclone. And ganking people flying solo with Falcon support is boring for both parties. Some furious discussion in gang while the SCONE pest's armor evaporated ended with us deciding to let him go for the price of a song. While things didn't quite work out as a formal ransom (we let him go as he asked incredulously in local what happened), we did get a bit of song out of him, with him singing a bit of "If you're happy and you know it, pod Amarr!" into local. Satisfied, we waited down GCC, stowing loot in a nearby station.

After five or so minutes of waiting, we were informed by TEXN that a previously spotted T3/T2 BC gang had set up a camp in B-VIP, which was only four jumps away. Ignoring our GCC, we moved hastily over to Egbinger, where I swapped to a Maelstrom and waited for the rest of the TEXN gang to accumulate. Once formed up, I jumped my Maelstrom into B-VIP as bait, with the rest of fleet waiting in Egbinger.

I immediately noticed a few things wrong:
1) With no Interdictors, the campers had deployed bubbles, but they weren't pull bubbles, and they weren't large bubbles either. This meant they just deployed them about the regional gate they were camping at random.
2) They had no fast tackle, which meant I was able to warp to the outbound 9SNK gate to hopefully get caught by a pull bubble and snag the engagement. There was no pull bubble, or any attempt to chase my battleship.

With these facts in place, I deducted through logics that these people were idiots, and warped back to the Egbinger gate at 0m. Upon landing, I tackled and engaged their Sleipnir, and their entire gang fell upon me. With aggression acquired, our gang jumped in, and we slaughtered those unfortunate enough to not leave with the local spike. Given that these folks have been flying their utterly NASTY looking gangs around MH a few times in the past, I have high hopes that they'll bumble along again, as regardless of what I'm flying at the time, I'm confident I'll kill at least one poorly fit and wildly expensive ship before going down.

And with their destruction, Raxip and myself decided to call it a night.

pacing

As hinted in my last entry, Molden Heath has been hopping, and showing no sign of slowing down. Sure, she calms down around 02:00 or so, but before then, the region is rich with targets, either PvPers looking for a fight, or carebears going about their money making way.

capital ships & POS work

RANSM has taken part in quite a few high profile ganks of late. In the month since my last post, RANSM has been a significant factor in the takedown of two POSes and 4 cap ships, a deviation from this small corp's typical target pool of battleships and smaller. This insurgence of kills coincides with a few friendly pirate corporations returning to the area, which means once again RANSM is able to target virtually anything in space and have the firepower to take it down.

The small Blood tower was of special note to me: it was the first tower I have ever taken part in sieging, and spawned the largest fleet engagement I've FC'd in quite some time. It also coincided with Flash's 90's roam, so prod him to get that post back up in some form. I'll write a report about what happened and what I learned soon™, as it was a freaking awesome experience.

ganks

With just two new (active) members, RANSM's activity in MH has exploded, resulting in daily PvP results that mirror corporations many times our size. With this, and the spread of time zones members are active, the corporation has been scouting, probing and engaging some exciting targets in Molden Heath and beyond. Ari managed to demolish a Machariel and Apocalypse Navy Issue within the span of 10 days in Oddelulf, and roughly a week afterwords I joined her to snag the rare mission running Absolution attempting to kill Angel rats. There's been a HELL of a lot more activity than this, however you're just going to have to check the corporation killboard if you're interested, as the dozen or so kills we've been managing a day is too much to cover all at once!

small gang action

Given the abundance of pilots that wish to PvP, a lot of my small gang action of late has been rather one sided affairs where the real question is if we have enough tackle on all targets before they realize the peril they're in. Evolution 112, a French alliance that has recently moved their lowsec base to Egbinger has been finding out the hard way that the local pirates aren't to be trifled with. Similarly, Brutal Deliverence, a nullsec corporation which bases out of BRT- has been given repeat lessons in PvP tactics. Sure, they've ganked me a few times, however I like to think I've learned my lesson and have since made good.

The war with Dragoons. alliance marches on, and every so often we're able to get fights out of them. Recently they've discovered my corporation honor 1v1s, and a rash of them have taken place. There have been a few slipups involving larger scale battles where not all pilots understood the terms of engagements, but overall I'd say the conflict has matured to a good natured give and take, with the pirates doing most of the taking.

Speaking of pirates, it hasn't all been fun in gangs, as there have been a number of skirmishes and flat out brawls between the true denizens of Molden Heath. While there have been a few fights between the old and new pirates who've taken to Molden, SCONEs instigated an excellent fight on the 8th, which coincided only minutes after Coffee fit his first Falcon. SCONE's weren't too pleased with the results of this experiment, though they made a damn good showing for themselves given their composition.

Another alliance, The Hatchery, which I think is an extension of the Starcraft community Team Liquid has been flying around MH and GW, trying for whatever fights their lower SP pilots can manage. I LOVE the attitude their pilots are exhibiting, and think that they'll go very far if they just keep up what their doing and build experience. Until then, they're going to lose a few ships.

Lasty, Electus Matari have been making some serious plays into Molden, and with Dragoons. have been keeping the light burning for anti-piracy in the region. They've been managing some impressive gang compositions, including Artillery fit Tempest fleets with adequate EWAR support in the form of a Bhaalgorn and smaller support ships, BC and logistics gangs with all the niceties (ganglinks, recons and fast tackle), and your classic RR fleets. Unfortunately their Call To Arms (CTAs) times don't typically coincide with us pirates, but hopefully in the future we can have more exchanges, such as the one that occured today.

sunday night disco

A long time friend and pirate Ariartus decided to give up her position in Snuff Box to return to more casual gameplay, and has since found a comfortable niche in RANSM. Since she joined I've lost more ships and security status in the past three days than in a month of gameplay. This girl is FUN, and her aggressive nature is infectious.

The fun started off on in earnest on Friday, with a small Everset Dropbears gang nosing around Istodard pocket. Ari was having none of it, and with her in an Absolution, myself in a Raven and a friendly pirate named Titus Veridius in a Pest we managed to draw an engagement, crushing two BCs and a supporting Falcon, while a remaining Tengu and Drake slipped away. The following day Ari was pulling a long shift at work, and was only around to briefly aid in the demise of an Orca pilot which chanced moving through lowsec and left in a capsule. Saturday saw an usual amount of medium sized gangs moving through Molden Heath, which left the few pirates online with little to do but sit and wait for the area to cool down. One of said gangs attempted to aid the Orca we destroyed, blowing up my Harbinger only just after the Orca went down.

Later on after the Europeans had logged off, Lt Graham had logged on for some action, and it was a short minute before I found a Machariel missioning in Oddelulf. Graham was already a few jumps out in a Raven, and fortunately Coffee was able to swap out his Blackbird for a Cheetah to probe down the faction battleship. While scanning, Coffee reported several ships on scan, noticably a Rapier briefly coming up while probing the Mach. I figured the Recon could tackle the Mach for us, then I would warp my Sleipnir into the site, tackle the Mach, kill the Rapier then finish off the Machariel. Believe me, flying a command ship makes for grand imaginings.

Coffee finished scanning down the battleship and fleet warped my Sleipnir to the result, which powered through the first two rooms to activate the third and final acceleration gate. Upon landing, I was greated with a number of cans and wrecks, but no Mach. Disappointed, I paused for Graham to join me in Oddelulf, a respite which lasted only a dozen seconds before the Rapier Coffee spotted earlier decloaked and tackled me.

I had already loaded Barrage, assuming that I would have to chase down the Mach and perhaps deal with the Rapier, so I was well prepared for the Recon's arrival. With Barrage falloff extending to 33km and faction point range, augmented by the interdiction ganglink I was running extending to 47km, the Rapier was quickly attempting a retreat, then dispatched as the limited AB enhanced speed proved too slow. Graham arrived in system shortly afterwords, and I switched to a Myrmidon for more casual, inexpensive roaming.

Jumping into Bosena, I was greeted by a half dozen outlaw locals, who were on scan in battlecruisers and seemingly waiting down GCC at celestials. Graham waited in Oddelulf on the Bosena gate with Coffee, who had switched back to a Blackbird to even the odds. I decloaked, warping myself to celestials that appeared to have a ship waiting, eventually chasing down a Prophecy from a belt to a celestial. We had warped to the planet 70km from each other, and in the short 30 seconds it took to burn into point range, Graham had jumped in and was in warp to my location. Bokonon and another TEXN pilot had also been informed of the imminent violence, and were on their way from Oddelulf.

Once tackle was established, Coffee jumped in, warping to the fight at 70km. His ECM would be especially helpful, as an enemy Falcon decloaked shortly after all the outlaws had landed, jamming both Graham and myself. Upon landing, Coffee was able to jam the Falcon and one of the enemy battlecruisers, however two of the three on the field, a Brutix and Harbinger maintained their locks and poured the hurt on my Myrmidon. I had allowed the Prophecy to tackle me while attempting to kill the Falcon, and my dual MAR tank was woefully inadequate in dealing with the two heavy hitting BCs bearing down on me. Drone aggression forced the Falcon off grid, however with my tank failing and Coffee unable to jam both of the DPS BCs, my ship was quickly overwhelmed and destroyed. As I went down, Boko arrived in a Harbinger with a arty Pest as support, which finished off the Brutix. The Falcon returned to facilitate the retreat of the two remaining BCs, leaving the field to us.

Miffed at the loss, I returned in a Cyclone and ordered Coffee to grab his covops to attempt to probe down the remaining outlaws in their safes. Fifteen minutes later, Coffee snared the Prophecy, which managed to bump the score to two BCs killed for one lost. We called it a night shortly afterwards.

I logged in Sunday afternoon to find Ari online and talking with a few friends of hers that had recently moved into Atlar. A Fortis Bellator's gang was prowling about lowsec in battlecruisers, and we decided to form a small RR BS gang to ruin their day. Baiting with an Abaddon (we're classy), we managed to kill half their fleet, eliminating three Drakes while the rest fled. Scouts in Atlar located another gang passing through from Gelfiven into MH lowsec, however the BC gang powered through Atlar, Illamur and into Horaka, out of reach of our outlaw gang. Masty, another old friend and new addition to RANSM suggested we head the opposite direction and meet the gang on the other side of Molden Heath.

Heading back around, we accidently jumped into a different gang, again composed of several BCs and supported by a Dominix. Our much heavier gang made short work of those vessels we tackled, and we proceeded further down the pipe towards Egbinger, where I expected to meet up with the expected gang. Again, I was reminded of this incredible increase of activity in Molden Heath as we jumped into Muttokon, only to find fleeing capsules, and in Egbinger a different outlaw gang which had evidently smashed the one we were expecting and promptly docked. Unable to locate any straglers, we headed back to Oddelulf, probing down a Myrmidon and managing to tackle a Legion, which refused a reasonable ransom. He managed to escape with his pod intact.

I took a break to do some homework, and the rest of the pirates took a break as well, as we had been at it quite a while. Returning two hours later, I joined Ari attempting to tackle a Drake in Ennur, which she found to be stabbed and proceeded to frustrate her efforts at catching it for the following 40 minutes. In this time I responded to a lengthy phone call, smiling while Ari reshipped to a Broadsword and futilly chased the Drake around the system. Masty joined us, and a few minutes after my phone call concluded we moved on towards Hegfunden, where the Dragoons. alliance dwells, a group started by the Loki's Marauders folks I mentioned in a previous entry.

In transit, someone brought up Haddaway, and anyone that's flown with me a while knows of my need to stream music over voice comms. After repeating What Is Love to the gang, I eventually set up a 80's disco station on Pandora, and set that blasting over Ventrilo. Over the next three hours we had some very relaxed piracy all over Molden Heath. While we didn't manage that great of a volume of kills, good teamwork and coordination in fleet chat meant we were constantly working on scanning targets, scouting systems, camping gates and generally not wasting much time at all waiting down GCC. Several pilots not even in the fleet, but friends from the area logged in for the tunes and to observe our awesome lack of voice comms coordination. While the op ended (VERY) late in the AM for the euros, everyone from the corp had a blast, with Ari remarking having the most fun in over a year of playing.

The following day Alex Medvedov and Krivas, both in Jaguars kicked off a fight in Hegfunden, culminating in an impressive victory, evening up the score from a previous attempt to brave the Dragoon.'s fleet that failed. I had to do homework immediately afterwords, though the rest of the corp kept on, managing a Maelstrom gank and coming close to tackling a carrier in a level 5 mission, to no avail.

With new blood in the corp and MH hopping with action, I'm looking forward to this fall holding the most fun yet in my EVE career. Looking forward to sharing how it goes down with all of you!

recent

I feel I must put the active tanking examination on hold for a month, as I’ve caved in and looked at what an alt running gang links will do to an active tank, and have since began training for gang link T3 ships on my alt account. Yeah, I could do the analysis now with what I know, but I’d rather my heart be in the writing than not.

So on to what’s been going on in the recent weeks: lots and lots of small gang action, intermixed with solo romps (yay!) and ratting (nay!). The ratting was done as I’ve been getting the itch to do more of my own thing lately, and outlaw status is less than ideal for traveling and larger ship solo PvP.

Some highlights:

Several corporations have taken up residence in Hegfunden, two jumps away from Egbinger. While they don’t often leave the system, they’ve been more than willing to undock and engage the local pirates, which has been loads of fun. They're very good sports about it all, and honestly these links don't do them credit: they've spanked myself and the folks I've fly with a few times between those fights.

Electus Matari has resurfaced, running small to medium sized gangs through Molden Heath and elsewhere. While I've had only a few skirmishes with them, it's good to have some old adversaries in the area. I’m looking forward to conflicts with them in the future.

The Executioners [TEXN] is back in the area, though they're currently focused on mercenary work in highsec. So far they've managed to decimate the population of EDGE alliance, along with the faction fit mission runner population in Emolgranlan, suiciding vessels when war targets aren't available.

It seems I may start hosting gangs from my public channel, Broadside. Last week I started a Raven gang in honor of a regular that bought one off me and admitted that he’d be taking it out to PvP. With two hours notice we pulled together 5 ravens and 3 support ships, not a bad turnout from people that for the most part live very far from Molden Heath. I’m hoping for 10 or better with this Sunday’s roam: if you’re interested and don’t mind losing sec in lowsec PvP, join my public chat and check out the details.

Other than all that, it's been normal Molden Heath shenanigans.