Going forward I have decided to post a regular blog entry that will summarise the past couple of weeks of my EVE time especially the following:

• Ganked Prizes listings for those Ganked’s I do not write about seperately
• Fun things RvB may have got up to since the last of these articles
• Updates about CSM: how I am finding it, the people, CCP and so on
• Videos I have seen that I think more people need to watch
• Anything else I feel you want to briefly read about

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Ganked 69 was held this weekend, and it was a glorious 5 hours in Rahadalon fighting the forces of Brave Newbies Inc, TEST, CVA & Friends, and many others who I forget at this point. Suffice to say the system was rammed.  I had plenty of prizes to award over the evening from both SomerBlink and the wonderful guys over at Angeli Mortis.

First up are the SomerBlink sponsored prizes: 

Fed Navy Comet x15 (1 per) – Bandsaw1961, VALENTLEADER0524, Trinneth, Brutor Adtur, Ian Lemmy Killmeister, Sun Seer, Rexanna Gold, Gyouzac, 2Larmer, Mogubu, Mourning Souls, Melancholy707, Rida Carter, Rasputin1979, Serenety Steel

Eris x3 (1 per) – Local009, Butch Cassidy, Fishysquirrel 

Exequror Navy x1 – Charlotte Winter (A none rep hull for an awesome repper!)

Deimos x1 – Xan Drakov (Because a man should care about the sanity of others)

Vigilant x1 – MirrorGod (BNI POS hates Mangala, so again he came to the fore!)

Navy Megathron x1 - Meirantean (Didn’t want that corp anyway)

The above will be contracted out by a rep of SomerBlink this week.

And now for the prizes generously donated by Angeli Mortis. (Who assure me they are always recruiting new members, so look into them if you are looking for a new home!):

Vulture & Aliastra Catalyst – John Hartley (Excellent Warp-ins)

Harpy & Aliastra Catalyst - Horus H’kaan (Fix Rails Mang!)

Basilisk & Aliastra Catalyst – Charlotte Winter (Love reps)

Sabre – PVDNS77

Wolf & Stabber Fleet Issue – Miss Snuggless

Vexor Navy Issue – TGL3

Keres – Equinox Starborn

Gnosis – Caterpil

Raptor & Taranis – Sascha Naskingar

Daredevil - Irodanis Maricadie

Dramiel – Miri Boirelle

Ishtar – Xallaxa

12 Rifters  - VonSpaky (for asking if he won anything!)

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In RvB news, we are at war with Brave Newbies Inc. Despite appearances to the contrary we have done this for fun, and boy has it been fun!  The BNI guys really are mostly a great bunch and the fights I have had with them have been bloody good ones.  We have a few days left in the current war period and I am hoping for even more explosions before it comes to an end, although it may not end – watch this space!  

For those wondering, RvB are closing in on 2000 kills in 5 days, including a couple of freighters and a rather shiny strategic cruiser.  Neither side has lost carriers yet despite RvB moving a couple over. I have hope for a sweeping capital engagement though! 

Good thing about this war, I get to stop losing sec status from spending time in Rahadalon. Which is good as I am far too lazy to rat to get my sec back up. So roll on Odyssey!

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As you will be aware, I have been a member of the 8th CSM for around 3 weeks now, and for the majority of that period I have spent a lot of time reading super sekrit CSM forums, getting to know both my fellow delegates (many of whom have vast knowledge on parts of the game I only have the most basic conceptual grasp!) & the members of CCP to whom we currently have access, and digesting much of the material released about the upcoming expansion than I normally would, especially anything relating to the changes and additions that I am not very confident on.  I would sooner be able to represent you all by understanding how everything fits together than just spouting something because I feel a need to be seen to do “something”. All of this just ends up with a very quiet Mangala, not the person you are all used to I know.  However, as time goes on I hope to become more vocal, especially if anything happens in the content area’s to which I have concerns or hopes for change.  

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And that guys is the first News Round.  Not much to say, but lets hope I can improve that over time.

While EVE is 10 today – the 6th May 2013 – Sunday the 5th May saw the highest Peak Concurrent User count in 2 years occur.  65,303 pilots logged into the game to mine, rat, ship spin, trade, scam, and most of all pvp.  I myself like to think I encouraged some 250 of them to log in and attend the 67th Ganked.  This was a frigate & destroyer hull themed roam that as well as rampaging all on its own, would be shooting a Nyx piloted by Marlona Sky. 

As the system for the Nyx event was to be announced on the day, I had the roam form up in Rens, which turned out to be very fortuitous in that it was 8 jumps or so from the event system, so we changed plans slightly and moved a few hulls over to Floseswin to allow us to be better prepared for any losses suffered while helping take the Nyx down later. While moving ships we scored a few kills in the low sec systems along the way, and even back in Rens.

Following this, we roamed into null sec, not really getting any fun out of it at all.  A few bombers that got some dudes, and in turn got killed as well but pretty much all we found was dead space.  We then got word from CCP Foxfour that the Devs would be roaming and so we bounced back to Empire and waited.  

CCP FoxFour > How big is your fleet and where is it?

CCP FoxFour > LETS DO THIS!

We did not have to wait for long.  The Dev’s appeared in Brin, and so we moved out that way, tidi-ing every system we passed through severely, 180-200+ pilots will do that it seems in low sec. Watching the Devs stream we saw them bounce into Todifraun and so in we went, to find them already engaged by a MUCH smaller group of frigates. And so we joined the battle.

I called all our favourite Devs and one by one they were caught and they died. Then I did my usual and burned out of range, so House then Mirror and others stepped to the plate and called more of them too. Eventually CCP were overwhelmed by both us and the never ending “others” streaming into the system. I think we did damn well! Yes it shows kills only, and I think some randoms are missing, but thats how Ganked rolls. Also even evekill shows no losses!

Then it was time to head to Floseswin for the main event. 

I can only really say “OH BOY”.  

The system was crammed with over 2000 pilots. Most of whom wanted to shoot the Nyx, and others who wanted to shoot everyone else or even rep the Nyx. All rather interesting under 10% tidi. Eventually the frigate dps could not break the remote reps hitting the Nyx and Marlona set it to self destruct. 20 minutes later, we had two killmails.  Here are some images from the system by RvB member Zibbal:

Brave Newbies had been inviting all of Floseswin local to theirs for an afterparty, so around 80 of the Ganked fleet ran over and played around with them for a while until the day caught up with us and we needed sleep.  All in all yet another awesome day, made even more spectacular by the fight with CCP, the excellent Nyx event and of course EVE being on the cusp of its 10th birthday.

And setting another Ganked kill record too, 300+ kills over the course of the roam!

It was a day I am proud to say “I was there”

While all this was happening, over in “robe & wizard hat” territory, a SOCT representative was addressing CONCORD in Yulai about the past 10 years:

And so, with the strike of ten, it begins.

Children of New Eden. Welcome.

Ten years ago, a sudden advance in technological capabilty heralded a new dawn for the people of New Eden. It brought about a new age for the human race.

The result, was all of you.

Capsuleers. The Empyreans. The first generation of post-humans.

The Society of Conscious Thought has watched your development over the course of the last ten years.

We have watched you, the Empyreans, develop from a small group of promising individuals who sucessfully made the transition into posthumanism a decade ago, into a faction of your own.

A faction strong enough to create your own empires. A faction strong enough to govern and manage yourselves, albeit via methods through which the Society of Conscious Thought has not always approved.

However, in the same respect, the cluster has been witness to how the perception of life and death, and the value of such concepts, can become twisted by those whom become alienated from their grasp.

We have watched you create, build, and nurture, while at the same time we have watched you burn, crush and destroy the dreams of trillions.

The very existance of the capsuleer is a paradox.

You are those who no longer know the meaning of death, defeated in battle only to rise again, reborn.

For ten years, the Society of Conscious Thought has monitored your progress since the flood gates opened at the dawn of the Empyrean Age.

We watched as the immortal children of New Eden took their first steps into the void. We watched as you first spread your wings, and reached for the heavens.

We have watched you colonize, create, and grow, and at the same time we have watched you shatter entire worlds, tear down empires and crush those whom would oppose you.

The Society of Conscious Thought comes to you today with a message, and a gift.

Tomorrow, we will gift every capsuleer in New Eden a Gnosis-class Society of Conscious Thought designed battlecruiser, and with it, we relay the following message:

Our message to you is simple.

Tomorrow, the Second Decade of the Empyrean Age dawns.

Tomorrow, we embark on the next stage of our journey.

Children of New Eden, Empyreans… accept our gift, and realise your true potential.

Before I go into the many & varied prizes, I think you should all watch this video by delonewolf, it really is amazing and expresses so well how many of us feel about this game that has kept us engaged for so long:

And now, prizes.

First off we have the prizes provided by our regular sponsors – SomerBlink:

Scouting Distinction – Inty Pack (1 of each interceptor) x3 (Sarkis Udoka, William Hazard, Jamie Banks)

Most Pods – Purifier x2 (Val ona)

Spot Prizes – Worm x5 – 1 each (Thecla Elarik, Calbary, Zibbal, Cloudwolfe, Little George)

Combat Distinction – Gila x3 – 1 each (tgl3, alphastarpilot, Andre27)  - Generally doing good things like stepping up or scramming CCP Rise!

Combat Excellence – Navy Megathron x1 (Macgyver 3rd) – highest of our fleet on the Nyx & Marlonas Pod!

These will be forthcoming from a representative of Somerblink this week.

Secondly we have the prizes donated by the Angeli Mortis alliance:

2 Navy Comets – 1 each (Fork Off, a1tra Ural) – Fork for being Persistant & a1tra for this image
2 Navy Vexors – 1 each (Calintor, Azula Kishtar) – Calintor for public contracts & Azula for top damage on Fozzie.
1 Navy Dominix (SaintCav) – Final Blow on Marlona’s pod

Finally, Ganked attendee Carathas donated 2 billion isk for prizes related to podding & being the MVP of the roam, here are my chosen winners roughly following Carathas’ conditions:

Quinten Sarn – 1 billion isk for getting the final blow on CCP Fozzie

Andrew Butcher – 750 million isk for the most kills during the roam

MirrorGod – 250 million isk for being pretty damn useful during the day!

FC’s Note:

We had over the course of yesterday some 350 people cycle in and out of the fleet, with maybe 150 of them being people new to RvB Ganked or even PVP in general, and I feel that they all enjoyed the time they spent with us. This is down to all of you who come to ganked regularly and make it what it is. Thanks.

Bigger thanks from me for making the past (nearly) 2 years of my EVE life something really special.

Mangala

As many of you will be aware Sunday’s are normally when EVE see’s the most online users of any day of the week.  A consequence of this is an effort to break the existing Peak Concurrent User record – 63,170 – on the day before EVE Online turns 10 years old, Sunday 5th May 2013. Just for reference, the PCU on Sunday 28th April was 54, 783.

The main part of this effort is an event called Flight of a Thousand Rifters III: Vengeance. This will see Marlona Sky “undock” a Nyx in an incursion jammed low sec system for the playerbase to destroy or defend.  I am hoping that groups will show up to kill it, to kill each other, to protect the nyx and generally be a part of something that is going to be huge.  I know I for one am running RvB Ganked 67 that day, a nullsec roam combined with this event, and that I may be in for a max fleet – really pushing my FC comfort zone.  I would hope that RvB attends in huge numbers for this, and maybe we bring more than 1 fleet, and for those RvBers who do not make it, at least log in!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Now if you cannot make it to Ganked, or even Marlona’s event, PLEASE PLEASE do something. Log on all your alts, tell your corpies and friends to do the same.  Hold dueling contests, burn your local hub, mass run missions, roam nullsec with your alliance, just do anything you can to help us meet the goal of a new PCU in time for the 10th Birthday of this game we all love so much.

If you wish to join the RvB Ganked roam on the 5th May 2013 the details are:

Time: 14.00 EVE/UTC (Form up from 13.00 EVE/UTC)

Theme: Assault Frigates, Frigates & Dessies

Meetup: Rens / Uanzin

Comms: Mumble

Ingame Channel: RvB Ganked

This, the 67th numbered Ganked roam, and 72nd in total, will be both roaming around looking for pew & taking part in the Flight of a Thousand Rifters III event when the target system for that is announced.  We will ensure – as part of the roam – that we have 2 or more hulls moved to the target lowsec system for this event.  We all want to be on a Nyx kill now dont we?!  Once the Nyx is down, and the system is cleared of no doubt a ton of suspects, we will then go back to roaming around nullsec. This event is part of a move to get EVE’s HIGHEST EVER PCU total the day before the game itself turns 10 years old.  So tell your friends, family, enemies, colleagues and even your pets to log in their eve accounts that day and get involved in setting a record at the start of the 2nd decade of EVE Online.

It does a great job of putting over the history of the EVE Online universe, covers the DUST connection, graphically is very easy on the eyes, & features capitals dieing. More importantly it is very much the spiritual successor to the first EVE Online introduction, even though it is not as lore heavy:

Now there was also some talk on the night of an EVE Online TV show, or even a movie and the new video is – I will admit – an excellent prelude to any of that, however why not make this video the introduction movie to both EVE & DUST, as it does show the connection well enough for anyone to understand. Parts could even work for the introduction to a TV show on this very subject, or stretched out and you have a movie, but for now lets stop saying trailer and all say introduction.

Anyway, regardless of my opinions enjoy the video.

I have just seen the CSM election results, and I have been elected to the 8th Council of Stellar Management.

I hope that over the next year I exceed all the faith you obviously have in me. And that together with the other delegates we will keep EVE moving forward. 

EDIT: Mynnna & Ripard Teg are the permanent summit attendee’s, they will go to each and every summit due to winning the most of the voting tallies. See this link.

That is the usual vet refrain when people mention that EVE has sound – be it music or otherwise. Now while I do not listen to it anymore, I did used to back in the day and I found the electronic stylings of Jon Hallur to fit EVE so very well.  Tracks like Below the Asteroids and Smoke from Down Below just created a sense of place when playing EVE. So when CCP announced that at Fanfest 2013, a Symphony inspired by that music would be happening I found my interest piqued.

Wednesday evening came along and well, it was an aural rollercoaster even sitting at home listening via the TV.  I really do not have the words to describe how hearing the performance made me feel, so I’ll leave you with the video of the event and let you experience it for yourselves.

There I was, just sat waiting for something to happen in the “real world” and reading the EVE Online forums, when I saw this thread by ROX Genghis and it made me think that if someone is out there “pimping” RvB Ganked  then I best sit down and put out a rough schedule, as well as a plea for Guest FC’s to take on some of the dates. Especially in light of my recent run for the 8th CSM, which I feel will result in a seat for me come the weekend!

Before I run into what theme’s the summer will bring – when I am FCing at least – I think a quick paragraph on what RvB Ganked actually is, would be helpful to any of the new people directed here as a consequence of ROX’ forum post.  

Im new & what is this?

Basically RvB Ganked – or Ganked as it has become known – is a roam into lowsec & nullsec space featuring a fleet of people all getting their drink on together.  The aim of the night is to kill a bunch of stuff and eventually die to a bunch of stuff. Sometimes this does not happen, other nights it happens over and over again. Regardless of the way it pans out it is a fun night for all.  

It has to be noted this is primarily a FUN roam, so links, logistics and doctrine fleets rarely come into it at all.  The night is usually themed towards a weapon type or ship hull mostly for the look of it on killmails. If this is something that you think you want to take part in then I advise taking a look at the following:

Green Gambit’s Ganked Guide

Mangala’s “New to Ganked” Guide

The RvB Ganked Video Playlist

Additionally, Somer.Blink sponsor prizes for various things during each roam, so not only do you get kills and have a good time, you have a chance to WIN prizes just for showing up!!!  Over the past year they have sponsored over 50 billion ISK in prizes paid out to hundreds of roam attendee’s.

Ganked goes to Summer Camp

Now that is the out of the way, here is a rough schedule for as much of the summer as I feel I can layout.  For dates where I ask for a Guest FC, do get in touch if you think you can give it a go. I would advise attending a few roams first before jumping in feet first with an offer to FC.

And there you have it, a very rough itinerary right up to the end of July 2013.  I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.  And remember join the mailing list RvB Ganked to keep abreast of the official roam announcements and any changes to the above.

To die will be an awfully big adventure.

This weekends 66th numbered RvB Ganked roam was themed on Ventures, mostly because I think the number 66 evokes a sense of adventure for many, mostly thanks to references about the famous Route 66 highway littered throughout pop culture.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

We formed up around 75 people in fleet – the majority in Ventures.  Our initial jump into Akora saw us warp to a cyno when suddenly FCON lands in a BC down fleet, and we have a go.  However their logistics proved too solid for the dps of our ventures to break, so we bailed, reshipped our losses into “mostly” Ventures and went out again.

People who make no mistakes lack boldness and the spirit of adventure.

We burned through lowsec finding random things to shoot, especially this rupture which didn’t try to run or even burn back to gate.  Eventually we rolled into Amamake and mooched around for a while, killing a couple of smartbomb fit BS that we did not actually land on, and had plenty of time to warp out because of our “amazing” lock range. Following this we took a bounce into Seaside (Siseide) and had a good scrap at the FW IHUB there including a reship and a return.  Lots of kills were had for sure. 

Now my plan had been to burn us to Rahadalon to fight Brave Newbies and we still did this, but with less Venture’s present, however this did not stop us getting over an hour of good fights out of the Newbies.  I will let the videos from that section speak for themselves:

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Overall it was a stunning night, we never left lowsec and we had so many fun fights along the way.  A lot of us gave up a bit of sec status but it was worth it.  As for not having our usual 120+ I think that having to train Mining Frigate to 1 put many people off attending – their loss as it turned out!  Oh and that little thing known as Burn Jita.

We set a new Ganked kill record too, 283 kills in a single roam.

Adventure is just bad planning.

Somer.Blink has been – as of this roam – sponsoring RvB Ganked for 1 year & 45 roams. They have generously provided over 50 billion isk in prizes to attendee’s of these roams, although thats not why you all show up right?  Anyway, this roam was no different and we had the following winners:

Scouting Distinction – Inty Pack (Crow, Stiletto, Taranis, Malediction) x3 & Buzzard+Probes+Launcher x3 – (Green Gambit, Major Floor, Combat Mink)

Most Pods – Hound x2 & Sabre x1 – (Fynmar Azaph)

Spot Prizes – Daredevil x5 – (RRISNER, Sascha Naskingar, Weedmasta, Melkor Valor, Jakob Anedalle), Dramiel x5 – (Local009, Codename Par, Andre27, Sally Shepard, Horus H’kaan)

Combat Distinction – Vigilant x2 – (Hackbert, Luckyccs), Cynabal x2 – (Tragot Gomndor, VonSpaky)

Combat Excellence – Vindicator x1 – (Andrew Butcher)

Voting has now started for the 8th CSM and runs until the 18th April 2013.

What you need to do is go to the community voting site, login and then drag and drop your preferred candidates into the numbered slots. While you start with 3 slots as you add candidates more will appear until the 14 are filled. Once this is done, your page should very similar to this:

After this simply click the Submit Vote button and you are done.

Congratulations you have now voted for the 8th CSM.

Should you wish to follow my lead, I posted my own recommendations very recently, so list the following candidates:

Mangala Solaris; Ripard Teg; Ali Aras; Malcanis; Trebor Daehdoow; Nathan Jameson; Mike Azariah; Psychotic Monk; Corebloodbrothers; Unforgiven Storm; James Arget; Mynnna; Steve Ronuken; Roc Wieler.

Every vote matters, so please do not waste your vote by not voting or just picking 1-14 random candidates.

The most beloved of places to Fozzie are the shipyards

As anyone who has been playing EVE since the summer has noticed, there has been a bountiful presence at work when it comes to the balancing of ships, and that presence is CCP Fozzie, and because I have found a new love for EVE due to the gifts he has bestowed upon us, I thought why not run Ganked 63 in honour of his munificence. 

The roam would be a multi part roam involving cruisers, battlecruisers & destroyers changed or added since Fozzie transcended to CCP.

And whosoever puts his trust in Fozzie, then He will suffice him

We started after down time on Easter Sunday with a cruiser roam, which saw a nice mix of rebalanced cruisers take the field.  A run around the Amarr-Minmatar Faction Warfare area got us a small fight with the Amarrians, before we decided low sec space was too quiet for a holiday weekend and made best speed for Geminate & points north. While moving through Geminate, the days ubermencsh scout Roigon suggested that Thecla take a detour into QKTR-L. Thecla then exclaimed he had found a Thanatos in space.  He got to work finding it while the fleet held next door praying furiously to Fozzie, begging him to shine his light upon us.  It was then that Thecla called a tackle on the Thanatos.

Then fight in the cause of Fozzie, and know that Fozzie Heareth and knoweth all things

Fozzie had smiled upon us. The Thanatos died, along with the “rats” he had been killing in his site. He also paid 500 million ISK to one of our members, who tried to ransom the pilot. Shame he told us about the ransom AFTER the Thanatos exploded. 

The remainder of part one was very quiet, until we received intel of a fight in X-7OMU potentially involving lots of capital ships. So we scrambled there pretty fast with a couple of kills being scored along the way. However upon jumping in, it was apparent that Fozzie had chosen to punish us for our hubris over the Thanatos kill earlier. We found many cyno fields with fleet after fleet being bridged in, and only our fleet as a potential target. We sought redemption in the only way we could, and died gloriously in the name of Fozzie.

Those who believe, and whose hearts find rest in the remembrance of Fozzie: for without doubt in the remembrance of Fozzie do hearts find rest.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

After a short break the second part of the roam moved out, this time in Battlecruisers. A slight detour to Rahadalon to visit Brave Newbies Inc did not get any glorious combat for us to demonstrate more of our love for Fozzie, so we moved onto Providence. Where, excepting a few bombers, we really did not find much to shoot. That is until Corebloodbrothers a fellow CSM 8 Candidate contacted me and asked for a fight, to which I agreed. We fought in G7AQ-7, and while we were outgunned & out logisticed, we fought and died with the name of Fozzie on our lips.

The Prophet said, ‘A single endeavor of fighting in Fozzie’s Cause is better than the world and whatever is in it.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The final section of this roam-cum-festival of worship was lead by Greygal from Agony Unleashed.  The theme was Destroyers & Frigates. We wandered into Curse and eventually Catch, finding nothing that would willingly engage our small group of ships.  Even HED-GP was a dead end, until Fozzie provided an aggressed Navy Dominix. However the Dominix had friends who cyno’d in to support it. Yes, Init had arrived to test the patience of the Faithful. Infidels.  Following this Greygal moved us towards NOL- in Delve, with a blinky gang that got in our way in low sec space allowing us to demonstrate the supremacy of our faith once more!  And then before we knew it, we were in NOL- and we found HBC, CFC and others.  We fought a few of each until we died.  

The night was over, our faith had been proven repeatedly throughout all day long with the final tally being 116 souls reclaimed for Fozzie.

Let those fight in the way of Fozzie who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Fozzie, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward.

As usual Somer Blink sponsored prizes during the roam, and here are the names of those upon whom the light of Fozzie shone:

Inty Packs (2 each of: Stiletto, Crow, Malediction, Taranis): Green Gambit, Xenos Wiggin, luckyccs, roigon, kaeda maxwell

Dramiels: Ivoto, Mourning Souls, Astrox Tadaruwa

Daredevils: roigon, Zao Amadues, DocFloyd

Succubii: FishySquirrel, Mal Crichton, Cathach

Cruors: House2Twist, Trinneth, Patchouli Airuta

Phantasms: roigon, Ne’Rubis Tanthalas, Mexicantis

Cynabals: Thecla Elarik, Jim Hammond, Butch Cassidy