Then one day I stopped winning EVE and for a variety of reasons, I returned.
I stepped back into the game just in time for a rather memorable Ganked, in which I even managed to FC for a short while. Followed by another great Ganked the week after. However, this wasn’t so much a triumphant return so much as it was me easing gently into the game. A game that had changed so much in the few months that I was gone.
Then as quickly as I returned, I was gone again. Fallout 4 had released, and all my free time disappeared into the wasteland. I binged on Fallout any chance I got, putting in nearly 70 hours over the past few weeks, despite work eating into my free time as well! Fun thing is I haven’t even scratched the surface of the game yet, I’ve only JUST reached Diamond City….
Anyway, this post isn’t about me failing at failing to win EVE, nor is it about Fallout. Its about my indecision to find something to do in EVE now that I am back.
In the before time
My history so far in EVE is very much intertwined with that of the second iteration of RvB. I, like many others, started off with an alt there until one day I found myself at a lose end with my main, Mangala Solaris. I took the decision to move Mangala into RvB as a place to get some pew pew until I found a new home. It never quite worked out that way as the past five and a half years demonstrated. As RvB grew and changed, so did I.
At first I was just a regular pilot, then I started acting as a backup caller, then fully fledged FC running multiple fleets daily both for RvB activities and against war targets, culminating with me becoming one of the main war time FCs when it came to the very large fleets that RvB was throwing at the world then, especially when fighting the folks over at EVE University and BNI. In conjunction with this, I organised many large events for RvB, and through the aegis of RvB Ganked, the EVE public. From simple roams right up to live streamed tournaments, I had to have a project rolling at all times. Knowing that others were enjoying their game experience kept me going. Until it didn’t.
FC wat do?
Now that I am back, this question is the one that is on my mind. After years of focusing on RvB, and groups connected to it, I am finding it incredibly difficult to decide on what exactly my next steps are. I know for certain I am not going to remain in RvB much longer. While RvB needs all the pilots it can get following some serious upheaval back in October, it is for others to rebuild it. I am content knowing that it will still be there, continuing to provide a home for many pilots I consider good friends.
As someone who has played this game (on and off) for around 9 years, I have experienced quite a few aspects of the game, so it becomes pretty hard for me to narrow down my options to specific path. Despite my prior experiences, there are still parts of the game that I have little experience in – wormholes, FW in its current form, the other side of Empire war decs, piracy, small gang operations and even solo pvp; Additionally there are aspects of my EVE experience that I would love to delve deeper into, notably the support and building of NPSI communities in readiness for the day when CCP give social groups their attention.
Of course I could ignore all the above and finally accept Doomchinchilla’s invite to his corp, and end up in Pandemic Legion.
Meanwhile…
For now I am just going to keep up with some well needed asset consolidation and try to get some minor projects rolling, including FCing again. The environment of EVE has changed enough that rolling around with a few (or many) of you, destroying stuff seems like a fitting way to find some inspiration both for my own future and on how I will provide for you all.
8 years, 7 months. That’s how long I have been playing EVE.
During that time I started playing for the spaceships, then the pvp and eventually I simply played for the people, especially RvB and the NPSI communities I flew with and eventually lead over the past several years.
However, its time to hang up my hat and call it a day.
Yes chaps, I won EVE.
For many of you this may be sudden and gods do I know it is. Please understand that for me this decision was a very difficult one to make considering how involved in EVE I have been during my time playing this game. From being a simple FC in RvB, to leading one of EVE’s larger, more notable communities right up to trying (not very well) to represent you all as a delegate on CSMs 8 & 9.
However, while I have enjoyed being an enabler for you all, getting you that pvp fix and getting into some amazing fights across the years, it is hard to reconcile continuing that role with not even logging in, let alone actually playing the game. It pains me to say this, but regardless of how much I love the community in EVE (easily the best game community I have been a part of), it is not enough to keep myself logging in, even as the game continues to evolve thanks to the concerted efforts of CCP and every last one of you.
To RvB.
I have been a member of RvB for many, many years. I was there for RvB 1.0 and the start of RvB 2.0 on alts, until that fateful day in July 2010 I realised that RvB would be a great place to while away some time on my main, Mangala. Soon after I started FCing, running events and generally being active and visible for years until you all elected me to the CSM on the back of that. Eventually I ceased to be a CSM, but along the way I had also stopped being the guy you elected, the active FC, the pvper, the nuisance with the Firetail obsession and become an administrator.
A pen pusher, a desk jockey.
Worse still, I took on the Red Fed CEO role hoping that I could do you all proud in a more direct way than ever, but I fucked that up. I delved deeper and deeper into the administrator role, never really grasping that you did not need that. Fun thing is, you never needed an administrator thanks in part to the work I had done (and many better people than me) to pretty much simplify the process of “log in, undock, explode some shit”.
Leaving EVE, and therefore resigning as CEO is probably both the worst thing and the best thing I can do just as RvB starts a new chapter in its story within EVE, but you and all the pilots to come will be better served with more engaged people at the helm.
I can say that it has been a pleasure and an honour flying with and against all of you. Even you on the un-dock.
To Ganked.
RvB Ganked was started way back in 2011 as a monthly NPSI roam, somehow I got involved with it and threw myself into making it something else. I never really planned to turn it into one of the best things EVE has to offer on a Saturday night, but there it is. Thousands of pilots have flown with us over the years, many from within RvB, many more from outside of RvB (including many PvP virgins).
We’ve had some amazing fights – Ganked 100, Ganked 150, the first time we used Eagles & Vultures, to name a few; We’ve enjoyed some great stupidity on comms and during our fights including the time I fleet warped us on a Titan, the numerous times Rooks ‘n’ Kings said hi and any time I broke my overview and we had to try and win a fight regardless. Looking back I still cannot figure out how Ganked survived for nearly 4 years.
Anyway, I really want Ganked to continue in EVE once I am no longer a participant of this game. I have spoken to some people and hopefully it will continue in some form or another.
To the community.
I had played MMO’s before finding EVE, I had interacted with the players of those games, but something about the EVE community is special and its really hard to pin down. It could be the insanity of GD, the viciousness when pvping, the altruism towards those newer than us or even our willingness to forget all in game allegiances when faced with the loss of a fellow pilot. Whatever it is, it really is humbling to be a part of.
Having meet so many different people at various EVE meets over the years, its the community that has made this decision so hard for me. I never thought I would say this, but thanks to EVE I have made some great friends. While I am able to say I won at EVE, I will be sad to leave this community behind. Luckily there are still EVE meets, and even if I do not play, I still like a drink. I’ll keep a weather eye out and attend those I am able, especially this years EVE Vegas (Its Vegas ffs!).
CSM Elections are once again upon us, and as with the past few years, I will be recommending candidates for you all to vote for. With this recommended slate, I am focusing very heavily on people that are community focused, and whom care about the overall health of EVE, not just their own little corner of it. A strong healthy game, with a growing community is good for all of us in and out of the NPSI scene.
Now, the CSM is elected using an STV voting system (someone else can try and explain that) but basically instead of voting for 1 candidate, you can select up to 14 candidates from the field. And yes, with a list of 75 to chose from, many of whom have no published platform, interviews or anything, it can be bloody well hard. See the CCP Candidate page here, or this spreadsheet.
This is where I come in. Like many other groups and community notables in EVE, I am providing a break down of the candidates I think you SHOULD list on your ballots. Along with a suggested order for listing them.
However if you do simply want to exercise your rights as players, then get back to exploding one another, mining, missioning, exploring and ganking, here are the 14 I feel will be the best bang for your buck. Click here for a prefilled ballot with this list.
Jayne Fillon
Bam Stroker
Khador Vess
Xander Phoena
Sugar Kyle
Psianh Auvyander
Steve Ronuken
Mike Azariah
Gorski Car
Corbexx
Cagali Cagali
Sion Kumitomo
Manfred Sideous
Endie
Candidates 8 – 14 feel free to mix it up, or out right change them if you wish. After all several of them will get massive bloc support from the CFC, HERO, PL etc, whatever you do though remember Jayne is your number ONE!!!
The following is a break down of these candidates and why I think they are important for the game. The top 7 are candidates who in one way or another sing from the COMMUNITY songbook along with all of us, the 8 through 14 slots are people whom I know deserve a place on your ballots for CSM X. Feel free to change up the last 7, but I really do recommend following my top 7.
Jayne Fillon
Founder of Spectre Fleet – one of EVE’s main NPSI communities; Theorycrafter extraordinaire, excellent public speaker and a guy with as much on focus on content creation as myself. Has a true love for the game and what it can be for as large a number of us as possible through increased social interaction and integration.
Bam Stroker
Yes he’s a dirty Crim, but he lives and breaths community; After all community is at the very heart of why we play EVE. Having a such a dedicated chap on the CSM will be a boon for all of us. Along with this, he is a Sov focused player which is the real hot button topic now, having a front line soldier on the CSM will be as valuable as having coalition level FCs and leaders sitting alongside him. Having met him and seen the passion he feels for EVE, I really want as many votes as possible to go his way.
Khador Vess
Khador is an individual who has experience in many aspects of EVE gameplay and the wider interactions around the game itself. Almost a generalist if you will, and in this age of rapid development such an individual will serve the community well alongside more specialised, narrowly focused Delegates.
Xander Phoena
Despite his work forcing him away from both the game and his CSM duties for a weeks at a time, Xander has given his all to the CSM this year. Yes, some may say having a media personality onboard is not necessarily a good thing, but you know what, Xander is also a great community rep BECAUSE of that media presence. Since COMMUNITY is my song I cannot find it in myself to ignore Xander.
Sugar Kyle
Easily the most hardworking, well respected CSM member to date. Sugar has been stunning to work alongside this term. From her binders full of questions, answers, information and so much more at the summit to her well run and successful mini town-halls in game, she has been on the ball all year. Even better is, while she hails from the often fractious low sec community and therefore holds lowsec closest to her heart, Sugar is as eager to see improvements to the rest of the game.
Psianh Auvyander
Psianh is a member of NoirDOT and is the leader of their Noir Academy arm and so like those of us in RvB, BNI and EUNI, Psianh understands that new bros are hugely important to EVE. Obviously he is also a merc, and unlike other candidates from “that side” of EVE, he isnt on a “grr HS is too safe” trip. He just legitimately wants more gameplay options for mercs, so they truly can be mercs. Finally, he makes it onto the community portion of this slate due to his work as a community manager. Knowing how to be a bridge between developers and players is a valuable commodity for a CSM member.
Steve Ronuken
Steve is an industrial player, but even more importantly he is a third party dev. Having seen him at work over this term, he has been a constant touch stone for CCP in their work with crest and other technical applications. With more third pary apps appearing, and CCP being more willing to work the community on such things, Steve is a must for the CSM going forward.
Mike Azariah
Mike is a tremendous communicator, with a wide depth of knowledge about EVE and a totally steadfast advocate for the casual player regardless of where they call home. I know I said this last year, but I’ll stick by it. On top of all this, Mike is a social player constantly moving between different social groups. Another voice singing from the COMMUNITY hymnal is a bonus!
Gorski Car
Small gang pvper, neophtye – but knowledgeable blogger. Gorski has a wealth of information on ship fitting, balance and how future changes will affect the combat meta at many levels of play. If you love pvp, you have to vote Gorski. It can also be said of Gorski that he lives the Social & NPSI lifestyle without ever being a part of the more well known NPSI communities. He moves easily between different groups with EVE, which gives him a good perspective on the future of societies/social groups/social clubs.
Corbexx
THE wormhole candidate you must vote for this year. As with Sugar he has been a trooper this year, working hard for both his community and the rest of us. He knows exactly how to get what he wants and how to use what he gets to the benefit of his community. As with Steve & Sugar CSM X with Corbexx will be good for EVE.
Cagali Cagali
A member of BNI, head of their recruiting and education section. Cagali lives and breathes new players and their interests. While everyone can claim to have new players as an area of focus, no other candidate can really mean it. New players are a key to keeping EVE alive, so the experience Cagali has will benefit the CSM and CCP greatly.
Sion Kumitomo
While Sion really does not need an endorsement from me, nor your votes (Go Go CFC Ballot), I do feel he is worth the votes of people outside of his obvious constituency. His push for more transparency on the CSM (between CCP and the CSM, and between the CSM and the player base), his ability to see the wider, meta implications of game changes both small and large all point to a guy with the health of EVE as one of his core interests.
Manfred Sideous
With 2015 shaping up to be a year that either makes or breaks null – if changes come it either changes or dies, if they dont, the status quo may well kill it – key players like Manny (as he is known) are an absolute must for a place on the CSM.
Endie
Another “GRR Goon”, but as with Manfred he brings to the table a depth of knowledge on nullsec that is damn well unrivalled. More null viewpoints are 100% necessary for the health of EVE, both for the guys who live there and groups like Ganked that visit Null as a source of content.
This morning a close friend, fellow pilot in RvB and all round top bloke, Dracoth Simertet passed away after a short battle with cancer. This cancer was diagnosed last October and while Dracoth and his friends within both RvB and the greater EVE community hoped for the best, it was not to be.
Personally I am torn apart. I feel like I lost a true friend, and no matter that our friendship was mostly founded in EVE, I considered Dracoth as close as a friend as the people I see every day. His humour, even when directed towards me, was enough to lift your spirits at just the right time. His enthusiasm for everything was contagious, you could never feel down around him, even in the midst of a tremendous welp.
By his passing, and the passing of other members of this community, I feel we are diminished; however I know these fallen pilots will forever leave an echo of themselves in and out of game thanks in to the community they called home. They will travel in the memories of those they touched, even when EVE is no more.
I just know that I’ll miss my friend of the past 4 years.
———————————————————————
Several members of the EVE community asked me for details of anywhere they could donate in Dracoths name, I have been in contact with his family and they would prefer donations are made to The St John’s Hospice on the Wirral. This hospice provided considerable relief for Dracoth in his final days and survives only on donations, so anything you can donate will go to ensuring they continue to help those with progressive or incurable conditions. For ease of use, they do have a Just Giving page.
Every one of us who plays this game gets to know people, be it corp mates, alliance buddies, or those you fly with as part of an NPSI community like Ganked, Spectre or Redemption. People we come to consider friends. Some times those people break contact with us, often as they have left for other games, or because of commitments in real life. Rarely do we hear the sad news I heard recently about a fellow player. A player who at times was a member of RvB, war decced RvB, flew with us on Ganked, fought Ganked, in other words a member of both mine and your extended community.
This player was Lex Fasces and he was well known for flying with his corporation New Eden Renegades in and around low-sec space. You can read the announcement of his shocking and very sudden passing here on Failheap Challenge. Suffice to say his young age makes this more a shock and my prayers and thoughts are with those closest to him in and out of game.
Now, Lex loved his drakes, especially the old school PODLA Drakes and in memorial of Lex, Cyberten and the chaps over at FHC are running a Memorial Roam next Saturday, 21st February. And in a break from our schedule, Ganked will be attending.
So, get your drakes down to Agil ready for next weekend.
WHEN: Saturday the 21st
TIME: 20:00 EVE
PLACE: AGIL (or HED-GP)
SHIPS: Drakes (PODLA STYLE)
Anything else thats not bigger then a bc
INGAME CHANNEL: “Renegades of New Eden”
Please bring LOGISTICS. I will reimburse the T1 Shield Logi that we lose!
Yes, this means Confessor’s are pushed back, but the more I thought about it, the more I want to fly in this fleet on this day for reasons that I hope I do not have to explain. Check the schedule for updated dates and so on.
This is a PODLA Drake:
[Drake, podla 3%PG]
Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Large Shield Extender II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Stasis Webifier II
Stasis Webifier II
Warp Disruptor II
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
50W Infectious Power System Malfunction
Medium Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Warrior II x5
Yesterday, Saturday 3rd January 2015 saw an in-game player organised event take place in the system of Ishomilken. As ever with player events Ganked attended.
The event itself was titled “Titan Smash” and was hosted by Nashh Kadavr with the backing of the folks at iwantisk.com. The event was to publicise the upcoming EVE_NT EVE meet that Nashh also organises. As is obvious from the name, the entire premise was that a titan would be sacrificed somewhere in space with a hefty of prize of 20 billion ISK being awarded to the character with the final blow upon it. Coincidentally this event was to take place on the same day as Ganked 150 and very close to Spectre Fleet’s First Birthday, as a consequence of this fortuitous alignment Douglas Aurelius, Jayne Fillon and myself decided to have our celebrations together and fly something ridiculously special.
Golden Fleet was born.
We asked for our communities to wherever possible bring Navy Apocalypses, Apocalypses, Armageddons and so much more. On the day all three of us were blown away by the response we had received. We ended up with several fleets as Ganked and Spectre’s respective channels hurled x after x at us. Doug took one fleet, I took another, Jayne handled the capitals he had arranged to support us. Other folks started third, fourth and even fifth fleets to come along with us to the event.
The Titan Cometh
Arriving in the event system, we were greeted by the event titan – an Erebus – sitting in a large FW plex (unlike other FW plexes these do not have gates so can be warped into by anything) with a defence fleet consisting of many, many tech 3’s, t2 logistic support a small number of carriers. To our utter surprise (not really) it was our old friends in Snuff along with Shadow Cartel, Dead Terrorists and others. Groups who have in the past proved very tough to fight, but from whom we have never shied when taking that fight.
All our fleets – hostile and friendly – got stuck in to the subsequent engagement and it went back and forth for hours upon hours, with hundreds of ships dying across the grid while the Erebus sat majestically in the centre of it all. NPSI being NPSI we couldn’t quite push them away from the Erebus – despite a tremendous numerical advantage overcome the awesome organisation displayed by the defending force, even though we were inflicting horrendous losses upon them (and any other fleets stupid enough to land around us – say a prayer for CFC Harpies & CO2 Ruptures everyone!) especially their logistics and carrier support.
Now, you may be wondering what I mean when I state we were unable to own the field, this when we had multiple fleets and they had one fleet. Basically, NPSI fleets are often made up of people who do not fly together a lot, who have a vastly different amount of pvp experience and even massive SP differences; and in this case we were engaging a fleet consisting of some of the best that lowsec has to offer, flying a composition they do very well when operating as individual entities, let alone as the voltron they had formed. However, despite this we in the NPSI fleets gave it an amazing try and in my opinion we performed very well considering the patchwork job we had to do for organisation of the multiple fleets. Yes, we yielded the field to the defenders but not without seriously bloodying them.
I have said it repeatedly this weekend, but seeing what the NPSI community pulled together for this event has yet again reaffirmed my faith in our communities and their future in EVE. We have grown so much from small groups of pilots getting together for drunk roams in shit ships.
Drama llama
Now, the titan itself did actually die. Golden Fleet had pulled off – as it turns out a couple of enemy guardians too early! – and the defending fleet turned their guns upon it. Doing so caused tears of rage from so numerous parties, many of whom are part of the NPSI communities of EVE. Claims of “rigged” started to whirl around iwantisk and EVE_NT, especially when the titan died while fitted with civilian modules and the pilot with the final blow was in the defending fleet; Claims that EVE_NT / iwantisk supplied ships to the defenders appeared; Generally a stupid amount of butthurt over people’s apparent lost opportunity to whore a titan/win 20 billion ISK.
With every new claim and accusation I have seen, I have also seen Ganked and Spectre name-checked specifically as being butthurt about how the event ended, which frankly has annoyed me and continues to annoy me. Speaking for myself as the Godfather of Ganked, and for my close friends in Sash/Spectre command, last night was truly spectacular. We took our numerous fleets along to this event fully intending to get you all into a fight, a fucking HUGE one at that and thats what we did. We killed, we got killed, we had fun, we got stressed (sorry Encord!), we came away exhausted but satisfied. Somehow, we all thought you felt the same way too.
Below I address several of the complaints levied at EVE_NT and the defenders by people purporting to represent Ganked and Spectre:
We expected to simply get there, own the titan and leave with our pockets jingling.
Anyone expecting this was – and continues to – deluding themselves. If previous experience has taught us anything is that there is always a defence fleet. Given the chance, I would take you all along as a defence fleet on a similar event (oh wait…)!
Our numbers should have made it easy.
Try herding around 1000 pilots, across several comms setups, and multiple fleets, many of whom do nothing but complain about tidi, or shoot the wrong thing. Yeah….
The defence fleet should have rolled over and let us kill the titan/there should have been no defence fleet.
Originally I “think” Nashh planned to have the titan supported by a few friendly carriers flown by his Bastards, however we threw a spanner in that plan by being the largest groups to confirm attendance shortly after the event was announced. Can you imagine how quickly 1000 pilots would have destroyed the Erebus and its support had he gone ahead with that plan? Then can you imagine trying to find a fight from someone in lowsec for our hundreds of BS and support? As seriously I would have let none of you go home without getting my blood up.
The event was rigged
No one in the defence fleet wanted prizes. They wanted killmails, which they received. They wanted to test themselves against the blob, which they did.
Bloo, Bloo, the titan was civilian fit.
As I understand it the titan was fit out of Nashh or the titan pilots own pocket, so taking the fit off when it was to be killed by its own defence fleet made perfect sense. Especially in an environment where the killmail may not even generate (sounds familiar yes?). Frankly does the isk value of the titan matter when its a god damn titan on your killboard? No. Unless its a Leviathan as those things are like fucking unicorns.
As to whether iwantisk should be accountable for any issues arising from this tiny bit of drama, I really do not care enough to give it thought beyond saying that sort of decision should be between Nashh and themselves. As far as I am concerned, iwantisk provided something fun for an event run by Nashh in whatever way he wanted. Reading his own coverage of the thing, he basically got what he wanted, which nicely dovetailed with my own ambitions for last night too.
As for iwantisk, you guys have heard the saying “Any publicity is GOOD publicity” right?
Everything ends sometime
The tl;dr here is that the vast majority of the attendees in the NPSI community were there to celebrate G150 and Spectre’s birthday. A titan killmail and/or some isk would have been icing on top of icing on top of icing on an already awesome cake. That some people are complaining simply shows they were not there for the fight, they were there to get them dollar bills, which is entirely the wrong focus to have in such events.
Thats enough of that though, let me leave you with more awesome screens from last night and a great video too:
I know the current CSM 9 term still has 5 months and change left to run, however it has been asked in recent weeks, most notably during EVE Vegas as to my intetions regarding CSM 10.
I will NOT be running for a third consecutive term as part of CSM 10. That’s not to say I will not attempt to run again in the future, but I will certainly not be running for CSM 10.
Tl;dr of why is I want to play eve again. I want to login to do more than answer EVE mails or FC / Admin Ganked. I was elected to CSM 8 on the back of massive name recognition (Single largest number of votes regardless of ballot position) and a huge level of activity in RvB. I barely scraped onto CSM 9 – and while folks have assured me it was down to voter assumption I was a lock, I am working on the idea that my visibility where it matters was not sufficient.
Its time I did more to reinvigorate my EVE experience, and that of others both inside and outside of RvB. So many projects I want to get off the ground. Things I cannot do while CSMing and working heavily in RL. Somethings gotta give, in this case my career in Space Politics has to make way for actually playing with spaceships.
I will for the rest of my term as a CSM member continue to represent you all to the best of my abilities, just after that, its time to shoot you all instead.
This weekend I am hosting a 5v5 Tournament for RvB. This tournament is to be live streamed (on Twitch) and commentated. Currently RvB’s own Thecla Elarik, and the great Ceofore Aideron are signed up to commentate. We did have two more, however apparently studies and getting your insides cut open are more important to those people.
Anyway, this is a VERY last minute call to anyone who would fancy joining Thecla and Ceofore in commentating the matches. Check out the rules, prizes and so on below. Schedule is here, get in touch if this interests you with a slot you can fill in to commentate.
You can get an idea of what you are in for by watching a tournament from earlier this year, that was ran in the same way. Videos are here and here.
Points: We will be using a points as with the AT, SCL & NEO. This will make for more interesting matches as the points & rules do not allow you to just bring 5 mallers!!! Teams are responsible for providing their own ships and fittings. Teams have a maximum of 33 points to invest in the following ships:
Fittings: Tech 1 & 2 modules are allowed Faction and officer modules are not allowed Tech 1 Rigs are allowed NO T2 Rigs Only one local repair module per ship Only a logistics cruiser or logistics frigate may use remote repair or capacitor transfer modules or RR drones No Pirate Implants are allowed. EVEBoard will be used to check this. All boosters (drugs) are allowed Faction ammo is fine Pirate ammo is not allowed Faction drones are fine Augmented drones are not allowed ECM Modules are allowed ONLY on a hull bonused for ECM. ECM target jammer drones are not allowed No smartbombs No links in any way NO Deployables. Only the Referee will have one out, and thats an MTU.
Rules: Teams will field a maximum of 5 pilots. A MAXIMUM of 2 of the same ship types are allowed per setup. Ie 2 caracals, or 2 moas or 2 harpies (Skinned ships count towards these totals) etc etc etc Only one T2 logistics cruiser OR T1 logistics cruiser per team OR 2x T1 logistics frigate per team. One (1) EWAR Bonused Cruiser or Frigate Hull is allowed. The arena will be have a diameter of 200km (so a radius of 100km). Leaving this arena bubble will mean disqualification if you do not rectify this within 30 seconds. Teams will be allowed to warp to the arena before the match starts. However only at a range between 0km & 50km. NO podding – do so and your team will be disqualified. NO warping in the arena. NO prelocking the other team. Only lock them once the match countdown has started. Matches to last 10 minutes. No more. (In the event of a points tie, an extra 3 minutes sudden death combat will be added and the arena will reduce by 50km. First side to kill a ship wins the match). If a team is more than 2 minutes late to a match, it automatically forfeits that match. Team that goes into the Finals as the Victor of the Winners Bracket, will be allowed to issue 1 ship ban in the 1st and 3rd “Best of 3” matches. Team that goes into the Finals as the Victor of the Losers Bracket will be allowed 1 ship ban in the 2nd “Best of 3” match.
The leaders/FCs of various NPSI communities in EVE are currently discussing a brawl to be had between fleets lead by FCs from all of those groups.
Would this be something you are interested in? Answer the poll so we can get a read on things.
[poll id=”8″]
Notes: Fleets limited in numbers around 50 per fleet – maybe more if the interest is there; Most likely in lowsec; Close Range fits so we’re all in each others faces. All fleets are NPSI to one another and so on.
Those of you who joined in the first CSM 9 Town Hall back on June 22nd will have heard me say that I wished to run a project relating to any potential future corporation/alliance revamp, and how such a thing could benefit the numerous social groups in EVE.
Well here I am.
First up what do I mean by “social groups”. Usually these are 2 or more individuals with a shared interest coming together to undertake that interest outside of other ties, familial or employment related. Borrowing from wikipedia (I know, I know), I found this list of definitions which works even better:
Common motives and goals An accepted division of labor, i.e. roles Established status (social rank, dominance) relationships Accepted norms and values with reference to matters relevant to the group Development of accepted sanctions (praise and punishment) if and when norms were respected or violated
In EVE terms, the following are what I would class as the prime examples of social groups:
Incursion communities such as Warp to Me, Incursion Shiny Network or The Ditanian Fleet and many many more.
NPSI / Open Roam groups like RvB Ganked, Spectre Fleet, Redemption Roams or Stille Gewalt
Groups from outside communities that wish to enjoy EVE’s content together without leaving the potentially disparate corporations they are in. Examples being the SIG’s famous in the CFC, forum based groups like those in the Teamminmatar channel, shared language communities and so on.
For those interested in my current thoughts on the issue have moved beyond simply allowing the creation of truly public fleets. Currently I would love to see social groups/communities in EVE be more than a chat channel and potentially a mailing list. This could be done by merging both of those as the key systems the group coalesces around, with membership of one granting immediate access to the other. Combine this with greater granularity of roles for those assigned them by the community. Roles that potentially allow some people to moderate the chat, some to moderate the mail systems, or others to form fleets that any members of that community can access just like they would a corporation fleet, fleets that can inherit standings from their FCs, that have built in kill logs, allows some people to post operations in a group calendar (rather than relying on outside sites and tools) and so on and so on. Effectively a corporation without the shared assets, hangars, taxes, and all the other useful aspects that cause people to come together under a corporate banner.
This is where I need feedback. I have my own ideas, some of which I have wrote about above and in the past on my weekly Crossing Zebras column, but the larger the level of feedback the better.
When providing feedback try to use concise explanations, with plenty of obvious keywords, this will make it easier to scan and get that feedback centralised for when and if the time comes.
NB: Feedback is welcome either in the comments on this blog, or in the matching thread on EVEO.
