Aug 112023
 

This game, this world, this examination of the human psyche, is 20 years old this year.

Happy Birthday EVE Online.

While I have attempted to return a few times since 2015, my life over those years really did not give me time to balance my gaming needs & work & life itself and each attempt fizzled out. Here I am in post pandemic 2023, I have changed employer, found a great work / life balance and really really want to be roaming the stars of New Eden once again!

So I am doing. All accounts up either on Omega or Alpha (depending on necessity), setting myself up to log in Mangala, and reading up on just how terrible my stuff is now. Not that I was ever any good at EVE, but damn do I feel like a 2004 newbie (I was late to this party I know!).

Jul 162018
 

Roam, event, drunken blunder across New Eden, hideous feed, series of un-explainable victories.

Call it what you will, RvB Ganked or Ganked turns SEVEN years old on the 22nd July, and while Ganked still runs under the aegis of the good people over at Spectrefleet, I cannot very well ignore the birthday of the event that gave the server a bloody terrible drunken FC along with cementing RvB as a content provider for the wider EVE community.

The first RvB Ganked was a two parter, Rifters – FC’d by Manic Miner/Tim Pest and kitchen sink, FC’d by me. Wasn’t too bad to be honest, broke even on the fight that really got me hooked on the drug that is slosh ops. You can read selections from Ganked’s story over the years following 22nd July 2011 on this blog, or check out the many many campaigns over on the Ganked killboard. Hell you can join a Ganked event every week just by being a part of the Spectre community, or come fly with me on Hard Liquor of course!

I was thinking as HL #5 is being held close to Ganked’s 7th, that we would reprise the original setup, a 2 part roam of rifters then kitchen sink, however I remembered that CCP has been kindly giving us ships for major birthdays in EVE, and so HL #5 will fly the Praxis & Gnosis.

Fits are here; We also have prizes that will firm up as the event draws closer so keep an eye on the mailing list Hard Liquor, the RvB forums and discord, and this website. I’ll see you all there this Saturday!

When: Sat 21st July 1930 UTC
Where: Ichoriya
What: Praxis. Logi. Gnosis. Tackle. Logi. Ewar.
Comms: RvB Public Mumble
Address: public.rvbeve.com
Port: 43224
Pass: RvBLives
Name: [Corp Tag] + In game name
In game channel: RvB’s Hard Liquor / OOG – RvB Discord
FC: Mangala

Prizes: Lots of stuff, around 10b isk total.

Nov 122013
 

CSM_LOGO

This coming Thursday – 14th November 2013 – CCP will be streaming more details of Rubicon, the upcoming EVE Online expansion, as well as looking further ahead into the future of EVE. This will be live streamed on the CCP Twitch channel from 19.00 UTC, hosted by the excellent CCP Guard alongside the EVE Development team.

While you can watch this alone, discuss it on the forums, or even brave the stream chat channel, I invite you to join me on the RvB Ganked Mumble on the day to talk about the Rubicon. its features and anything else discussed by CCP. I shall be online from 18.00 UTC for those interested in watching the stream with me. Additionally for those unable to use a mic, please join the RvB Ganked channel ingame to discuss the expansion at the same time.

I am hoping any available members of the CSM will be there as well.

For those of you who play Planetside 2 with me on Thursdays, lets play on Wednesday 13th.  So get downloading that 1.7GB performance patch!!! Everyone else, I shall see you on Thursday.

Apr 052013
 

CSM

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:

voteywotey

 

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.

Apr 022013
 

As with many other Candidates including Trebor, Ripard and the oh so obvious Bloc members, I am going to provide a list of recommended candidates and here we are!

Without any further ado:

1. Mangala Solaris – Well you all know me, are all supporting me, and I would relish the opportunity to represent you on the 8th CSM.

2. Ripard Teg – Very experienced in EVE. Understands many different aspects of the game and its mechanics. Is a damn prolific blogger too so no worries on potential lack of communication!

3. Ali Aras – very focused on the experience of new players in game. Which is something the CSM really needs, new players are important to EVE (and to us in RvB!).

4. Malcanis – While in a null bloc, Malcanis is not officially a bloc candidate as far as I know. I have chosen to recommend him as he has been around EVE for a long time, knows his stuff really well, knows how to put across an excellent argument and has pretty good opinions/ideas on all aspects of EVE.

5. Trebor Daehdoow – When it comes to CSM experience, Trebor is the man here. Has a strong presence in anything CSM related and with CCP Xhagen no longer working on CSM things he will be especially needed by CSM 8. Additionally while his ideas on certain aspects of the game arent to my own tastes, he argues their points well as both devils advocate and actual advocate. Also he makes Poetic really mad.

6. Nathan Jameson – Nathan is the first of my 2 WH picks for this ballot. He is very well grounded in WH’s and in Talocan has founded one of the largest & most stable WH alliances.

7. Mike Azariah – Casual players (and by that I don’t mean bad players which some equate Casual with) need a voice too. Mike would make an excellent rep for people who play as casual and have tried varying aspects of EVE, never finding a single niche. Future expansion releases could give this type of player even more to do, so CCP need some guidance from players such as Mike.

8. Psychotic Monk – A candidate who is for a better “alternative lifestyle” highsec. He has solid ideas, doesn’t have the rabble rabble nonsense that James 315 did and with belligerent undesirables is teaching people to get out and create their own stories in EVE, which is something that drives people to play this game in the ways they do.

9. Corebloodbrothers – Provi guy, who like me wants to see the game keep evolving, and even though he is Provi, has a solid love of PVP. 2 excellent reasons to list him in my book.

10. Unforgiven Storm – Another guy who while in a bloc, does not have the official bloc representative tag. His main platform is industry and improvements to all its forms. He has a solid industry background to support him and the CSM in general in this endeavour.

11. James Arget – my other WH pick. Probably the most likely to get onto CSM out of the WH groups due to his broad appeal amongst those groups, and I think he is the most knowledgeable of the WH candidates when it comes to the actual mechanics of them.

12. Mynnna – Yes the CFC’s main candidate gets a recommendation from me. The guy has a very solid grasp of what the CSM is and should be doing during its term, backed up by a wealth of game knowledge.

13. Steve Ronuken – Totally a “little fish” in the CSM 8 Candidate pool. I like the guy’s perspective on war decs, non-consensual pvp, & his view of null is similar to my own. He would also be a valuable candidate for the 3rd party app community to have representing them on the CSM.

14. Roc Wieler – He wants the 8th CSM to be the best it can for as many as it can and will work to make it happen, and is a very strong voice in the community overall.

Please note, this listing is not in any particular order after the top spot!

Voting that requires a list such as this should start on the 4th April. When it does I will send a mail around, and edit this post with a link that “should” let you just click it, login and vote – either by following my recommendations or voting your own way.

Mar 262013
 

mangala-csm8_zpsafa56c80

 

After a short – and increasingly worrying – 4 day wait, the Pre-election for the 8th CSM has opened.

I am an officially listed Candidate and can be Endorsed by following this link and clicking the big yellow Endorse button once you have logged into the site.

In a week CCP will then open the second part of this Election cycle and allow everyone to list their preferred 14 candidates.  The winners of this section will go on to form the 8th Council of Stellar Management. 

Thanks in advance to everyone who endorses me, and I hope I win enough of your support to advance to the second phase next week.

 

Jan 262013
 

Other wise known as Mangala is on holiday!

This weekend is the Poinen Must Burn RvB FFA, and then on Monday 28th January, I leave for a 3/4 week trip to South East Asia. I will be spending time in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore & maybe Burma. All the while trying to avoid my time out there turning into The Beach or Brokedown Palace.

Ganked will still happen while I am away, please ensure you have joined the RvB Ganked mailing list to keep up to date. 

I am not bringing you lot any presents back!

 

Nov 252012
 

As many of you will be aware, I am currently spending any and all of my free time in Planetside 2, a free to play MMOFPS from SOE.  To quote SOE “PlanetSide 2 is a Massively Multiplayer First Person Shooter that delivers truly epic, massive combat on a scale never before seen in stunning, breathtaking detail. Battles take place not between dozens of troops, but thousands; with air and ground vehicles slugging it out alongside squads of troops. Whether in open fields, tightly-packed urban centers or enormous structures, winning requires strategic teamwork and a quick trigger finger.”

=====================

The premise of the game is that there are three factions in an eternal war over resources on a remote planet called Auraxis, using guns, tanks, planes and more to fight this war. These factions are:

“The New Conglomerate was initially formed on Earth as a mega collective of civilian corporations who worked alongside the Terran Republic until they felt that the Republics rules were too strict. The N.C. feel that any form of control is “oppression” and that they fight for liberty and freedom. The Vanu see them as unenlightened about the benefits harnessing the alien technology their way would bring. The Republic see them as rebels that would destroy their democratic way of life and form an oligarchy under their corporate masters. Its no surprise they will have to fight both for their cause.”

“The Terran Republic was formed by the unified Earth government after global war in the 25th century. Their idea of freedom was a bit more strict than some would like but many argue it has successfully kept Earth without war for hundreds of years. Their time on Auraxis has caused them to rely heavily on their honed military tactics and wide reaching resources. They were the originators of the colonization effort of Auraxis. The New Conglomerate see them as an oppressive and tyrannical government. The Vanu see them as unenlightened about the benefits harnessing the alien technology their way would bring. Its no surprise they must fight both for their cause.”

“The Vanu Sovereignty are a Transhumanist cult of academics, intellectuals, and technology worshipers who believe human destiny lies in the further development and exploitation of the alien technology. They viewed the rules the republic put on their research as oppressive and fight for the freedom to experiment on, alter, and integrate human beings with the alien technology that was found on Auraxis. They believe all this is the key to the future and are willing to do anything in pursuit of this goal. Of course this is at odds with both the Terran Republic and New Conglomerates views that they could end up destroying all of mankind or render us no longer human by all the integration and alteration. It’s no surprise they must fight both for their cause.”

=====================

The combat in this game revolves around thousands of players fighting over various continents and the territories, bases & outposts on them.  Capturing territory gives your faction resources which you the player then spend on guns, tanks & planes to take more territory, or to just harass the other two factions while they try to take territory until it is taken by another faction. Its a mechanic that has worked for 9 years at encouraging conflict, and as it does not involve any PVE, its one that has kept me playing the Planetside for a good chunk of the past 9 years – despite not liking shooters. And now Planetside 2 is here, and its free!!! 

Another draw is that unlike some shooters, this one has thousands of players all fighting at once, with many of them fighting together as Squads/Platoons or Outfits.  These groups are usually more organised than a simple zerg can be and always undertake actions as a group of like minded chaps. For instance the the first Friday after launch saw the outfit, WE FORM PURPLE [RVBP] try its hand at taking an enemy structure, running an armoured column and even attempting to drop MAX suits on top of another enemy base.  Many fights were won (& lost) and some good times were had.  See the pictures here:

 

Guns, Tanks, Planes & Mangala? IM SOLD!

So you like the video, or just want to see why I am making all this fuss over a “simple” shooter, then follow these simple steps to come play with me:

  • Well firstly you need the client, so open Steam and find Planetside 2 (or go to the Planetside 2 website and download direct from there);
  • Once installed, follow the instructions on the new launcher that pops up to create an account – or log in with an existing SOE account if you have one;
  • After that, simply hit PLAY and create a character. Just make sure you create a character that is representing the VANU SOVEREIGNTY;
  • At server selection, choose MATTHERSON. Yes its a US East server, but its very busy (Goons, TEST, Reddit, PL, and many others are here) which is a GOOD THING in Planetside terms;
  • Let me know your name so I can add you to our Outfit;
  • Jump on mumble and join in the fun;
 
WHAT IS THIS S***? I LOGGED IN AND WTFARGGLEBARGLE

On your first log in to the game following character creation, you will be immediately thrown in to a “tutorial”, which consists of your character being “hotdropped” into a combat zone, and also made a member of a random squad with no explanation.  Just die, and then leave using the command “/squad leave”.   It is the worst tutorial ever, even EVE 6 years ago had a better one. However there are various tutorials on the game’s website – they can be found here – as well as this great video by TotalBuscuit that outlines the basics quite well:

After watching those following your first  death, log back in and I will get you an invite to the outfit. Join us on mumble as mentioned above and pay attention to comms.  Hopefully you’ll start to understand things more.

If Mangala is not online to get you into the Outfit, then look up any of the following people:

  • WhyTalana
  • Catalyst XI
  • MourningSouls
  • ShenanigansBus
  • MacgyverIII
  • RashinoZea
  • NyuTrustan
  • Saffy
  • MaximusPowerz
  • MaIgaIad
  • TarganYaken
  • McGoatboy
  • TheOmegaMan
  • RandomDarkness
  • TGL3
  • Thecla
  • Geddonz
  • BunnyVirus
  • RisingStar
  • MarcHDelta
  • Lololol01
  • Siuil
  • PatrickKasper
  • GreenGambit
  • Roigon
  • Certissian
  • AzualSkoll
  • Nutbolt
  • XanDrakov
  • MarcHDelta

We now have a Steam group – so join that as well: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/RvBPurpleside.

NB: Some text and faction images are borrowed from Planetside Universe & a thread on Something Awful.