Mumble mumble

Alas, I didn't meet any of the goals I laid out below. Work and prep-time for an incoming baby simply trumped sitting down with Eve. What spare gameplay time I've had I've spent returning to a galaxy far, far away with Good Ol' Games' release of X-Wing and TIE Fighter -- especially the latter. Long live the Empire!

I did last night, though, jump into RvB's frigatus weekend event with Dengar. Frigatus is a frigates-only free-for-all, with a cap on how many folks can band together to join fleets. The highlight for me was the Eve client crashing: when the game crashes, it automatically warps your ship a long distance into deep space; when you log back in, it jumps you back. The problem is, with the client crash I was also booted from the fleet I was in. Logging back in, my former fleet-mates were still around ... and, from their point-of-view, another frigate not in their fleet had just jumped in, or perhaps just de-cloaked They blew me up pretty quickly.

Alas, it was my own fault: RvB uses Mumble for in-game voice communication, but Mumble isn't playing nice with my computer's mic; if I'd taken time to configure it all properly, I couldn't hollered for them to back off.

Ultimately, we all got a good laugh of it: as soon as I jumped in, I heard my attackers planning my demise. I suppose I could've tapped a hurried message into the Mumble text chat window ... but, nah. I could afford to lose the ship. I explained things in text afterward and we all had a good chuckle.

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.

Goals update

In March, I laid out goals that I ended up accomplishing two months later. Along the way, an underlying goal for myself was to figure out what gameplay styles I liked and to identify what, if anything, I'm playing for. Time, I think, to lay out some new goals now that I'm more attuned to the game. Within two months, I want to

• Equip and operate Eemiv's Kronos Marauder with tech 2 equipment. Tech 2 modules have a performance edge over basic "tech 1" modules, but they require higher levels of skill training. For example, to mount 425mm Prototype Gauss Guns on the Kronos, Eemiv needed to train the Large Hybrid Turret skill to level I. To equip the tech 2 425mm Railgun IIs, Eemiv needs Large Hybird Turret to level V and Sharpshooter to level V (about four weeks' additional training time) ...  and when that's done, he needs to train Large Railgun Specialization to level I (just an hour -- but, several more weeks if I decide to bump that up Level V, too). Not all tech 2 modules have such steep requirements; the ship already mostly has tech 2, but there are some holdouts. Tech 2 modules also generally require higher resources from the ship -- power supply, computing power, etc. Fortunately, Eemiv has already trained up most of the core "fitting" skills that affect these systems to level V. I did a quick sketch of the math, and it looks like meeting this goal will require at most a month's time if I plunge right through it.
• Create a jump clone of Eemiv and move one of them out to low-security space. I enjoy high-security space mission running, but it's time to get my feet wet living and playing, too, in riskier low- or maybe even null-security space. Jump clones are a carbon copy of the character and, once every 24 hours, you can swap from one to the other. Therefore, I can e.g. jump over to my high-security clone after work and fly a mission for some ISK, and then on the weekend set out for more lucrative looting in low-security areas.
• Participate in at least two RvB weekend events, including one that involves flying and fighting in cruisers. This is for the Dengar character, and a chance for me to get more comfortable with PvP. Two weekend events might not seem like much, but even this might be a bit of a stretch because of a few competing real-world priorities.

I also have one stretch desire, not time-bound so it isn't a goal per se: train up Eemiv for tech 2 logistics ship piloting, and get experience supporting other pilots. This is a career/skill track I'm increasingly curious about, and even leans toward my playstyle in e.g. Team Fortress II and Battlefield: Bad Company II, where I often was a medic. 

Ctrl Alt

I've created another alternate character to train up and get involved with player-vs-player combat. As I train her up, I'm remembering another refrain I encountered when I started playing and reading about Eve: some folks rush to pilot larger ships, but there's a lot of fun and even wisdom to be had with smaller vessels.

I'm certainly seeing this now. My main character for a while has been running level 4 missions in a powerful Navy-issue Megathron. It's fun to blow up so many pirates and other NPCs, and the loot is good: my station-trading character has made good money on his own, and selling off the loot has been a nice bonus. I've been good, too, about training up support skills to make sure I'm not flying a glass cannon.

But, the Megathron is slow. And in larger missions, I get tired of alternating between grinding down on enemy battleships and then micro-warping away so my big, slow guns can track more nimble frigates (even with drone support). Some missions have taken two hours to complete, and my completionist personality doesn't allow for blitzing missions.

My first forays into PvP with the new alt have been mixed: I enjoy the swiftness of flying Atron and Incursus frigates. Now knowing what I'm doing, the tutorial missions (which I did for some money and faction standing) flew by. It's nice to have a skill-training plan with a notion of what I'm aiming for. And training for small-scale ships and modules will be speedy compared to working away for large ships and modules.

I jumped into Factional Warfare and promptly got blown up twice. First, I went to a friendly industrial complex where my dinky Atron was promptly blown up by an enemy tier 2 (i.e. more kick-butt) frigate. Got a new one, refitted, jumped back in and really screwed up: I flew down a friendly complex, thinking I should just fly around defending it. Alas, I guess anyone flying into a complex triggers the defenses: a "friendly" vessel started shooting me. Oh, well. I shot back for a while. And then an actual enemy arrived and blew up my ship. I warped out in my pod, which his corp-mate promptly exploded. Dang.

Both of these stemmed from some errors on my part: I should have just warped out as soon as I saw trouble in both areas. But, I didn't. I'll do better next time. In the meantime, I've also joined the Blue Fleet [Corporation], in constant (fun) warfare with the Red Fleet. Red vs. Blue has hundreds of members with lots of stuff going on; I could see this as my lever into really figuring out PvB and getting the most out of Eve, especially on the community/group-play front.

I'm reminded of playing Dragon Age: I finished the game with my initial character, a bulky soldier who carried a big sword. But, I got the most from the game -- accessing quests, garnering rewards, leveling up to cause the most damage for my play style -- with my second character, a nimble dwarven sneak-thief. There was virtue in not being a tank and also, in the second go-around, knowing what skills and talents to allocate level-up points to. Ditto my preference for speed over brawn in the X-Wing games: give me a nimble A-wing over the stronger X-wing or lunky B-wing any day.