Goals update update

NB my mid-September note updating some gameplay goals -- or the short, short version below:

• Train up to use tech 2 modules on Eemiv's main mission-running ship
• Clone Eemiv and stick one copy amid the dangers of low-security space
• With Dengar, participate in two RvB weekend events
• Stretch goal, not time-bound: train Eemiv up for flying logistics (i.e., essentially, medic)

I gave myself a two-month window and should've added a fifth goal, to wit: post an update two months later so that I'd have at least one post in November.

I'm giving myself a 60% success rate on these. Here's the breakdown:

• Modules: done and on time. When I began Eve, I decided to wring myself an early advantage by cashing in (rather, ISKing in) Plex to buy more-powerful (than even T2) but easier-to-fit faction modules. However, faction and higher level modules just aren't worth the real or potential expense: the real cost being the much higher price tag without that much more power, and the potential cost coming from carrying around all that bling to become a target for gankers. (There's really no such thing as "solo" play; even if I'm content to shoot NPCs, anyone else can scan my Kronos, do a cost-benefit analysis, and decide to blow me up while compatriots raid my corpse.) Anyhow, I've sold back the faction modules, and it's nice to have back some of that ISK with which to play the market.



Typical jump clones
From Sony Movie Channel

• Clone: I modified the goal a bit and it's still in progress. The biggest hang-up here is that I just didn't invest the time to wrap my head around jump clone mechanics. I had an errant (mis)understanding that jumping between clones requires both the current and target clones to be at stations with medical bays. I was having a devil of time (indeed, utterly failing) at finding a good home base for Eemiv: a station with whose owners Eemiv had good standing, access to level 4 missions, and close to a trade hub to get loot onto market. But, just yesterday I carefully read up on jump cloning and got my facts straight: medical bay only required to create the jump clone; afterward, jumping can happen from non-medbay stations. Eemiv now has a jump clone with a ship -- but, rather than winnowing in on low- or null-security space broadly, I'm going to send him into a wormhole again pretty soon, hopefully better trained and equipped than last time. I like the exploration component of Eve. So, goal amended and delayed, and work continues. As an aside, I like the clone changes coming this week and am curious about the additional clone mechanic shifts CCP has alluded to.
• RvB weekend events: I tried. I logged in for a cruiser event, decked out in a Thorax, but there were no fleets. I bounced between three jump gates in the neighborhood and saw maybe one ship, neither friend nor foe, who promptly jumped out. Weird. I didn't log in for a second weekend event because they were generally free-for-alls, and those just don't interest me right now. Goal not met.
• Logistics: kinda sorta, in that I shifted it from Eemiv to Dengar. I initially envisioned Eemiv as a bit of a free agent, tacking onto missions in local chat as people requested. But, I figure this would be more useful if I did it with Dengar, where logistics piloting for a group can more readily be useful. Dengar is trained up to fly a tech 2 Oneiros logistics cruiser, but I'll try experimenting initially with a less expensive tech 1 Exequror. I definitely need to further investigate good fits for these hulls.

So, what now? By the end of the month, I plan to

• Have Eemiv run a hacking, relic or data site in wormhole, low-sec, or null-sec space.
• Have Dengar fly logistics in an RvB fleet once
• Train Eemiv to fly assault and covert ops frigate
• Assess Eemiv's skill training plan to identify when best to remap his attribute points, thereby adjusting the rate at which certain skills train. The character will be able (but is not compelled) to remap his attribute points come February.
• Report back to the blog my progress on the above!

And the stretch goal: have Eemiv or Dengar join a new corporation. I would like to be more engaged with other plays in blowing up internet spaceships, and I'm starting to feel the confidence now to do that. 

My initial anxiety at doing this was in-game, i.e. not being able to afford to get blown up a lot as I learned the ropes. Frankly, my anxiety about trying to get more involved now involves the real word: I'm going to be a father in February, and I hesitate to jump into a group I soon won't be able to do much for. But, there are large groups out there that I'm sure can absorb "real life" just fine. And, besides, there's only so long as I can go without kicking myself for coming up with reasons not to do something. If fatherhood is going to mean less time for flying around, well darnit I better get in as much flying and pewpew! as I can now.

Goal update

Today's developer updates, particularly the UI one, reminded me of the goals I set for myself a couple of weeks into playing:

• Garner enough funds to buy a cruiser
• Putter around a bunch of level 2 missions 
• Buy blueprints for a cruiser
• Get proficient enough at mining to scramble enough materials to make and sell copies of that cruiser

Done.

It didn't take too long after I bought that Thorax cruiser before I could fly it. I did, and then moved up to a Brutix battlecruiser that got blown up two weeks later. I've moved up to a battleship, which I've decked out to run level 4 missions for more money and better standing with a couple of NPC factions. I had the money to buy an original (as opposed to a less expensive copy of a) Thorax blueprint, and carved out enough ore to provide most of the manufacturing material. This weekend, I popped the blueprint and the refined ore (plus some extras I had to buy) into the queue to manufacture at the Dodixie IX Federation Navy plant.

Overall, this operation still has me in the red, i.e. I haven't recouped the cost of buying the blueprint by selling enough of the cruisers. Heck, the first one hasn't even come off the assembly line. I need to do some poking around to figure out where to sell them: Dodixie has a pretty active market, but it might be worthwhile to put them on sale in some of the starter space stations, where new players (particularly some trying to get a leg up by cashing in PLEX) might buy an overpriced ship in exchange for not having to travel to a different market. I might also discover that I can make more money selling copies of this original blueprint rather than spending the time mining (or the money buying) materials to build them myself.

From eveonline.com

This summer, Eve will get a significant overhaul to its industry mechanics. Some of the changes seem more like they're rearranging and combining columns of figures rather than adjusting their values, so to speak. Simplifying rather than changing mechanics -- and I'm all for that. Something I appreciated from the UI blog is the graphic at right, which visualizes exactly my thinking around taking these first few steps in the industry gameplay. I look forward to the overall UI changes, ditching some of the tabs with tabs and making language more consistent. We'll see how it all plays out.

Spreadsheets ... in spaaaaace!

I did an incognito-mode Google search for "spreadsheets in space," and the top hits are Eve-oriented pages and images. A pair of developer blog posts (here and here) from the last two weeks present seven charts, two diagrams, one table and even an actual spreadsheet. Some of the UI presents tabularized data: contracts, market trends. Easy from quick glances to get clued in to whence the "Spreadsheet Simulator in Space" moniker.

On the flip side, the Polygon article I mentioned last month references but dismisses the label; veteran players report never creating a spreadsheet to help with Eve. One of those Google hits is an article titled "Why EVE Online Isn't The Spreadsheet Simulator You Might Think It Is." The developers partnered with Dark Horse Comics to release a four-issue series depicting players' stories about their game experiences. I've read all four issues (they're free online until 6 June), and there's nary a spreadsheet. Those in-game spreadsheets are for features and gameplay aspects a novice player isn't likely to stumble into, or at least use, until he or she is more vested in the game; mission information, ship-fitting, and the spaceflight UI are much more image-driven.

I work in education, and we often talk about and look for data: program efficacy, student performance, trends in grading and assessment, attendance. To paraphrase Wendy's, "Where's the data?" The reminder we often give ourselves, and to parents around grades and assessments, is that data is useful for influencing and discussing decisions, but it isn't a final determinant. And that notion is what I think comes into play with Eve: data informs decisions, but it isn't the gameplay itself.

Although the notion of playing a stellar (haha) spreadsheet simulator didn't affect my decision to start, I can absolutely see how they can be useful in Eve. I created my first Eve spreadsheet to figure out what it would take to earn enough in-game cash from mining nearby ores to avoid paying real-world dollars for a subscription. Turns out, it would take 2-3 hours of mining every day: that's a lot of time, and mining is not how I want to spend it. So, I've set that aside and jumped into the contracts system, hauling freight from one place to another. In the process, I've had two ships blown out from under me -- I'll write about those lessons learned later -- but it's been pretty fun. Probably making less money, but at least I know mining right now won't yield lots of real-world savings.

And then I created a spreadsheet to help prioritize skills to train. There are nice tools out there: I hear EVEMon is great under Windows, and I still use its Vitality Mac form as a referent. But, I made my own tool to prioritize and lay things out. It helped me solve a conundrum or two and to experiment with  some what ifs other tools don't handle so well.

I like that the folks who make Eve seem so aware of data. They're changing the way drones work based on a stark statistic showing that two of the four races' drones account for the vast majority of shots fired; the other two are rarely used. They explained the rationale behind the change clearly, and the spreadsheet I mentioned above shows how stats will stand once the change is implemented. I've noticed two other queries for data: a survey about participation in a recent tournament, and the aforementioned process of creating the Dark Horse comics. More than other game developers I've seen, the folks at CCP seem to relish the quantitative and qualitative and, like their players, keep an eye turned toward it when deciding what to do next.