Sovereignty

Well, I got your attention, right? Hehe. No, we are not getting it... yet. This is not a dirty trick though, I really need your help.

The Alliance is setting its sights on sovereignty with respect to the winter expansion that CCP has said will contain updates to the mechanic. Basically, the moment the sovereignty mechanic changes, it will become a virtual land grab. You might as well call it the Great Sovereignty Rush.

And we want to be prepared for it. To do this we need one thing, POSs. Sure we can hope that with the new mechanic, there will be less POS spamming, but that will not change the fact that the backbone of any 0.0 alliance is its ability to support and maintain permanent infrastructure, esp. moon mining and capital production.

To do this we need MINERS to participate in weekly ICE mining operations both in Empire and 0.0 space.

This coming week there will be an alliance sponsored ICE mining operation to get fuel stockpiled for POS we presently have and those we will have in the future. Please read your corporate and alliance mailers for the dates and locations of these weekly gangs.

Do not just join some alliance that has already done all the work, making you a mere afterthought in the history of the game, help us make it happen so you can be a chapter in that history. You may not become the next Chribba, but to your friends you will always be a hero.

AU-F Tournament

AU-F Tournament
Saturday August 1st 2009


DATE Saturday August 1st 2009
TIME 02:00 EVE | 10pm EST
LOCATION Test Server
FORMAT Team Deathmatch
SHIPS Mixed
RESTRICTIONS Podding
REWARD Medals, Bragging Rights, Grab Bag
SPECIALS First Blood Prize

Instructions on how to connect to the test server will be posted here after I go through the steps myself tonight or tomorrow.

Team Deathmatch

Teams will consist of 1-3 pilots
Teams may only have one officer*
Each team sponsors a Squadron Commander
Team Commander may be anyone
Audio communications optional during the event
Fleet audio only is advised
Fleet may comprise of any mix of ships
Podding is not allowed
Pods must dock and stay docked
Last team standing wins
Deathmatch timer lasts 20 minutes
Timer starts when first player is eliminated
First to lose ship announces in tournament channel
Timer resets when teams are eliminated
Last team standing with the most kills wins
Commentary will consist of a tournament channel
Commentator will be Mendolus
Mendolus will announce minutes remaining 20,10,5,4,3,2,1
Commanders announce when their team is eliminated
Commanders do not reveal who eliminated their team

*Officers: Cmdr GAT, Kuroda Tsu, Mendolus, noldevin, Mia Dandoro, Varian Knight



That's it. Those are the rules. Start looking for teammates now. Prepare for the bloodletting!

The Soldier

The Soldier
At Heart And In Mind


What makes a person a soldier? What type of baseline personality leads to traits, qualities, actions, behaviors, and values that lead to a person who has the wherewithal to jump into the fray, guns blazing, cigar smoldering, and lips curled?

After Zee's recent exit from stage left, searching for something larger and greener than what we can provide in his eyes, am I curious to explore the notion of the soldier. What is this notion that human conflict, domination, and competition are somehow bred into people or born from the start? I am a philosopher, hell I am even majored in it, though the slip of paper means relatively little to me. The things I ponder when these questions come to mind lead me from one vast extreme to the other of the collective notion of human hubris and valor both.

What is a true soldier? I am a true soldier. Plying my secret trade in small, miniscule, and calculated steps one foot in front of the next, I am the epitome of one who by nature embodies the hunt. Though I may not seem it, the ultimate bloodsport to me is the hunt itself. The kill is a hollow easy thing. It is the anticipation, the hunt, the great divide between predator and prey. I am always calculating, everything I do ingame is a calculation, I even make mistakes on purpose, for my own reasons. Sure, no one is perfect, I mess up plenty, hell I never intended to get podded like I was, though I knew I was taking an action that had a higher degree of risk that I would be. I woefully assumed that my targets might have their overviews improperly setup. Wow, was I wrong. But I learned more. But some of my mistakes are an experiment of their own put into play for a reason. This is about learning, taking calculated risks, to better understand your opponent. Pushing the envelope.

What I am hunting though? Am I on LSD or something or is this some sort of sick joke? No.

I used to love the hunt in Warcraft. PvP in Warcraft was a dying art. You had to really search for it. The best PvP? Solo.

I would go to Stranglethorn Vale, stealth up, and just hunt. No, killing lowbies is easy, you are right. What is not easy, is hunting them, nurturing that animal in your breast that has thousands of years of hunter instinct built into its every fiber. Learning to channel that instinct is the key to nurturing an effective competitive spirit in nearly any virtual or real competition or actual conflict. Tapping into the understanding required to manage the fear, anticipation, apphrensive, situational decision making, critical thinking, and the like in sometimes ridiculously complex and dynamic situations where there are mere seconds to make the right choice. What do you think they do to train the Navy Seals? They train the instinct out of them, amplifying the fight response, and numbing the flight response. They train Navy Seals to manage or negate fear. And that is the key. Clear and critical thinking.

So, right now you are thinking, okay so you went to a lowbie zone as a level 60 and hunted easy prey, this is the biggest slop of shit I have ever heard, how does that make you a hunter?

Did I not follow my prey for ten or fifteen minutes, observing their patterns of movement in a zone known for constant hostilities? Did I not kill them once in a situation where I could quickly dash behind objects to belay my actual presence and encourage them to lack a full understanding of what was going on? Did I not follow them again after they returned to their body, not killing them, but simply observing their next move, how far would they run, would they stay, would they hearth, would they call in help, would they stand and wait for my inevitable return? Again, and again, and again I tested them, learning how they reacted, putting a pattern to their behavior. And I did not do this just in lowbie zones, I did this everywhere. This is not the mind of a gamer, this is the mind of a hunter, slowly categorizing, profiling, and analyzing his intended prey to perfect the hunt. I used to wait in crypts, stealthed up, for a half an hour, just for the one lowbie who wandered down there solo, busting his way through 10-20 mobs that were 2-3 levels higher than him, finally getting to the bottom level, and then I would gank him, repeatedly, again and again until all the mobs respawned, then I would simply stealth up, leaving him abandoned, alone, deep inside a crypt with mobs that were too tough for him to begin with, just to see if he hearthed, or was emboldened by the conflict to fight his way back out. And you know, I would let him, all the way to the top, and I would not pursue him further. Yes, yes I was an ass, but I was learning, perfecting my understanding of what the average player would and would not do in the game, from the bottom to the top, from the lowest to highest level. I would even form packs with a few trusted friends and go into the starting zones where the lowbies were not flagged to us, just to see what we could accomplish. Just how many 60s would show up, how many lowbies would flag themselves, how many would run back to their town, how many guards would we be able to take on and for how long. How did they behave, what did they do, how could we most effectively dispatch them. We were hunters. The point was not to drive them out, or overpower them, that was easy and to be honest I consider it a base and lowly initiative to simply gank lowbies or defenseless players for the sake of it alone, without some driving force behind it. The point was to hunt, and perfect the hunt. To learn about our prey.

One time in particular comes back to me when I think about it.

"I'll never forget the one time that I convinced my friend Candwe to come out to STV to see this solo hunting I kept telling her about. I made her follow me while I stalked this lowbie for 15-20 minutes, just watching him quest and shit, no interaction whatsoever, but I went and I ganked 2-3 people right in his area, then I stealthed up again, and waited for the inevitable, someone reported in alliance local that a 60 was ganking, so this guy gets scared, and he runs back to the town right."

"I follow him there, and I sit there, and then I start /wave /greet /grin at him and stuff"

"he can't figure it out, he's like ???"

"finally after about five minutes of walking around the town trying to see who was waving at him, he musta realized he should do a /who, then he figured out it was me (because the opposing faction does not register with a /who), the 60 that was reported, so he runs into the inn really quick "

"I stealth into the inn, top level, and I gank his ass and dash out of the town and run off into the night"

"Candwe was o.O o.O o.O o.O o.O"

"I think I honestly scared her, she refused to go hunting with me anymore, lmao, I mean she thought it was hiliarious how the guy couldn't figure out who the hell was waving at him, but I think she was like 'oh wow this is too evil for me' HAHAHA"

So, yea, big deal right, again, I have a point I hope, you're thinking right?

Well, my point is, I'm tired of losing members every month or two because they think we do not have enough opportunity for competitive gameplay for them, or that the grass is greener somewhere else. I can assure you, you will find few people capable of the levels of depravity I am ingame concerning human conflict and PvP. You should have seen some of the sick things I did to people in Warcraft in the name of the hunt. There are a few people like this already in the alliance as it is, I am not unique in this respect. Uriella for one comes to mind, or Psyclone, Maximus, Logic, Varian, or Staigor. We are all depraved f*%ks who love to strike out on our own
randomly into the depths of space and just pound on a f&%ker because we can, and learn how to do it better the next time.

So, people want PvP, and I am going to give it to them, but this may be one of those be careful what you wish for situations, because up until now we have been fairly straight forward in our approach to PvP. We bring out a gang, we go out, we try to find a solitary or small group of hostiles that we either out match or are on the same level as and we give it our best, otherwise we make best speed in the opposite direction.

No more.

At least, not in my fleet, the Gremlin Squadron. Our fleets serve a very specific purpose that is critical to our residency in Providence space. We are the guard patrol that goes out at night, checking the fences and the tree lines, ensuring there are no lurkers in the bushes, and chasing out or destroying anyone who does make it across the fence. But this is not the entirety of the PvP experience, and far from it. And I am all for turning us more into a soldier's outfit than sentry duty at the fences or border cops.

You know all those reds that float around in Providence in small stealthy or swift boats that can easily escape a situation that goes south, slowly moving from one system to the next, waiting for just the right moment to strike, those are hunters. We are prey. Blobs in Providence are an anomaly of a broken mechanic. EVE was never intended to be nothing but a Primary Fest but it is. You join a large fleet, all you get is a numbers game. Who gets off the first few rounds of shots and knocks out half a dozen crucial ships before the other blob can. It's simple.

But the hunt, the hunt is not. And I am going to train hunters, not prey, nor cannon fodder. Big fleets are fun, but after awhile it dawns on you that big fleets are for big politics, and unless you have something at stake personally or within your organization beyond the principle of the matter like us, there is really no reason to participate.

Competition is a fickle unforgiving beast. One minute you are about to hammer the nail in the coffin and the next minute the coffin is laying on the ground with the lid busted off and you are dead in a pool of your own blood. This is the reason we hunt. To learn about our prey, perfect our mastery of an art that has been bred into our bones for millenia. This may all sound too abstract, too over the top, too tongue-in-cheek to you, but after I'm through training the Gremlin Squadron, you will be grateful for the experience it brings.

What does this all mean?

I have decided to help us both financially and structurally at least in respects to PvP as it continues to be a flash point for our corporation. The next member we lose will be because we have TOO much PvP, and not the other way around.

I will be privately funding the fuel, operation, and progress of the manufacturing POS myself from now on. I will be using the Ark to ferry goods to and from low security space. I will be ratting. And I will be PvPing. That's it.

You are talking to the guy who when he made the decision to get into PvP the first thing he did was go straight to Syndicate 0.0, the shithole of the universe, and run around for a week, busting gatecamps, and following people around, observing how they operated and lived, learning about my future prey. I don't mess around.

Anyone who joins me, will be trained to be a hunter, and nothing else. You want to be a hunter, you come to me.

Where will the Gremlin Squadron go to train in the hunt? Where won't we go?

I am tired of hearing about PvP, so we are going to go find some. Better grab your sack and clench your teeth, because it will be a sleigh ride in hell. Just ask Jacob, I took him out there last summer, to Syndicate, he got podded. Heh.

Chris (Varian) once told me that he had never quite seen someone fly a ship like that in EVE when it came to our corporate tourney that we had in February; the one I won by the way with a Kestrel of all ships all the way to the last round when I had to sacrifice it to pop Varian, and then was forced to hop into my Caracal. He was being sincere, and though it is rather obscene of me to pander my own compliments or the fact that I won the tourney, if you have something to share, you should share it. And I have something to share with anyone who flies under my banner in PvP. I have been so long in the administrative role since I formed this corporation that sometimes I forget that I am a sonofabitch when it comes to PvP and I know a thing or two. Heh. Time for me to share. Hope you have a strong stomach.

Btw, we are going to start the tourney system up again, it'll happen every other weekend. The first tournament will be Saturday the 1st at 02:00 EVE on the test server.

See you there, prey.

:)

We Will Rise

Transmogrification

Some weird stuff is coming down the line in Providence and I am a little more than apprehensive about what I am seeing. I am a particularly good watcher when it comes to things like this, and even with the limited amount of searching I do, the information still seems to trickle down to me one way or another, whether from a close associate or just an itch on the back of my neck that I have to go out and satisfy.

I just wanted to make everyone aware that some flak is zinging about out there and that I am making sure we do not get hit with any of it. I am a little concerned about the null region we have come to depend on so greatly. Good thing we are getting an Ark in thirteen days, eh? It will allow us to have options, if and when things go south out there in the promised land. I adore Providence space, but... there is some weird stuff floating downstream.

SO, who likes Frenchie space? *coughs*

Impetus

Impetus
Laissez-Faire Versus Imperial

So, without going into too much detail, I am asking that everyone goes to the corporate forum and votes on one of two financial directions for the corporation to take. But first, you must read what is at stake as listed below:




Casual Hardcore
Laissez-Faire System

As a casual first, hardcore second corporation we would continue much as we have thus far, relying on group participation on a mostly voluntary basis to ensure that corporate services, progression, interests, and integrity are best served when members themselves have an interest in these things at the time. This system means that we will frequently go through periods with a lull in activity levels which result in economic, social, political, and structural deviations from the normal day to day run of the mill. But this system also means that members themselves dictate at just what pace the corporation moves day in and day out, and that members have the freedom to participate to whatever level they feel appropriate without fear of repercussions for their personal activity levels or lack thereof. This system progresses in stages, sometimes forward, sometimes backwards, and requires the meticulous attention, observation, maintenance, and regulation of a greater majority of member players, as a system that fluctuates over time must be constantly monitored for downtrends or changes in overall momentum and corporate services, and the like will frequently go through periods of downsizing or inactivity.

Example: A structurally transitive, voluntary flat tax, and publically traded system.

Structurally Transitive - Subject to random unpredictable change in relation to the changes in interest, focus, and participation within the corporation as a whole.
Voluntary Flat Tax - You want a corporate service, you pay a flat tax per month to have unlimited access to that service while the corporate tax is raised to 20% to guarantee that as long as majority of players pay the voluntary tax, the corporate tax will attempt to compensate for those who do not. The many suffer the few.
Publically Traded - The members, regardless of their participation levels, by majority, decide what they want, whether it be living in Empire for months accumulating ships and dust, or diving into deep hostile null and pitting ourselves in bloody battle against the powers that be. This would be a democracy, the common majority rules, with no regard to individual level of participation or contribution .

Positives: Relaxed and mostly casual gameplay
Negatives: Sovereignty, Capital and T2 construction, large member base, are all virtually impossible.




Hardcore Casual
Imperial System

As a hardcore first, casual second corporation we would take on drastic changes that focus on rewarding those who reward themselves. The focused, diligent, impetus driven players would reap the greatest rewards from a system that directly reciprocates every ounce of energy that they put into it. This means that corporate services, progression, interests, and integrity are served by only those who have its interests in mind whether at the public or private level. This system means that the corporation itself will remain active, persistent, and progressive at no slower than its most productive member group. This also means that those who are not able to keep up with the most productive member group will have little to no access to the benefits that lie therein. However, the spoils of productivity will be greatly amplified by an imperial system as the productivity of the corporation's most active members never stalls for lack of initiative the way it would in a laissez-faire system. Whether publically or privately funded, corporate incentives and initiatives will always be moving forward so long as the most active member group or core impetus of the corporation moves forward.

Example: A quota, involuntary flat tax, and private venture capitalist system.

Quota - Same as what has been done already for months behind the scenes, individual corporate services are available depending on how much aggregate income the corporation is generating as a whole.
Involuntary Flat Tax - You pay a monthly flat tax, regardless of whether you use a particular corporate service or not, but on the bright side the corporate tax is only 10%. The flat tax guarantees the corporation receives an exact stipend every month regardless of participation levels. The few suffer the many.
Private Venture Capitalist - The members in regards to their participation levels, but regardless of the majority, decide what they want, whether it be living in Empire for months accumulating ships and dust, or diving into deep hostile null and pitting ourselves in bloody battle against the powers that be. This would be an oligarchy, the uncommon minority rules, with every regard to those who participate and contribute the most.


Positives: Sovereignty, Capital and T2 construction, large member base, are just a stone's throw away.
Negatives: Intense and focused gameplay that requires a great investment of personal time.



Cast your vote here!

Sharks & Kneecaps

Sharks & Kneecaps
Butter Versus Guns Debate
For The Modern Age

So the discussion on the corporate forums this week has been finances. After posting a fairly straight forward plea to my brother's in arms here in the blog, the response has been resounding. Everyone wants to pitch in with a little bit of what they have so that we are all a little better off than were before.

The catch? Figuring out how to do it and not send anyone to therapy in the process. So here goes, quotas. Yep, one magical word to save all the kneecaps, hehe. How does a quota work in an MMO? The same way it does in real life. The quota is met, services keep running, the quota falls short, services are postponed until the next period.

So, what will the quota be, and what services will hinge on it? Here's a list, and some explanation to go with it.

Quota: Aggregate income generated by the corporation from taxes, donations, and sales.
Frequency: Weekly
Gradations (in millions of ISK): Class 1 (25), Class 2 (50), Class 3 (100), Class 4 (200)


Group Services (by overall performance):

POOR
Frigate Program
(ESC)

AVERAGE
Cruiser Replacement, Public Research, Manufacturing,

EXCELLENT
Battlecruiser Replacement, Chemical Reactions


Personal Services (by overall and voluntary performance):

POOR
Member Rank

AVERAGE
Limited Intelligence Roles, Soldier Rank

EXCELLENT*
Medium Intelligence Roles, Senate Roles, Starbase Roles, Manager Roles


*Note: These roles assigned to eligible parties only.


Divisional Layout
by Class Performance Versus Weekly Quota

Dynamic quota for set performance assigned by projected income in tandem with present estimated net worth in solvent assets both liquid and structured. Dynamic quota calculated once every two weeks or on the first and third week of the month. The quota must be met weekly, but it will remain in effect for two weeks. Thus a Class 2 quota of 50,000,000.00 ISK/wk set on the first week of the month will not be evaluated or changed until the third week of the month even if the quota is not met on the first week but is met on the second week.

Estimation of group services rendered based on dynamic quota as well as the service goal. Quota met means service goal remains in place; quota is set to meet a projected goal results in designated services remaining in place.



EXAMPLE
Overall Performance

Corporate net worth is estimated at 200,000,000.00 ISK and the projected base operating cost for the coming two week period is 250,000,000,00.00 ISK.

Battlecruiser program is short on minerals by an estimated 50,000,000.00 ISK worth and cannot continue to operate without an influx of mineral stuffs or liquid income.

Class 2/3 quota is set at the corporate level with an EXCELLENT performance projection of services available as the stake.

Scenario A: Corporation fails to meet Class 1 quota on one or both divisions of the two week term meaning the corporation has received less than 25,000,000.00 ISK in taxes, donations, or indirect income of any means. Mendolus is driven to drink, GAT goes postal, and Varian's capillary on his forehead explodes. Corporate services basically shut down for the next two week term.

Scenario B: Corporation reaches Class 1 quota on one or both divisions of the two week term meaning the bare operating cost has not been met at all. POOR performance evaluation means that the battlecruiser, cruiser, reaction, public research, and manufacturing services are shut down for the following two week term.

Scenario C: Corporation reaches Class 2 quota on one or both divisions of the two week term meaning the bare operating cost has been met but only with an AVERAGE performance evaluation. The battlecruiser replacement program shuts down for two weeks as well as the chemical reactions program available at both the public and corporate level.

Scenario D: Corporation reaches Class 3 quota on one or both divisions of the two week term meaning the goal operating cost has been met and all services remain in effect.

Penalties: Failing to meet a quota will almost always result in a loss of service as some of these things like the ship program simply cannot operate without meeting a quota and I cannot fudge or forgive a failed quota as there is nothing to fudge and forgiving will not put minerals in the assembly array, hehe. But for example, if we are at war and no one rats for a week straight, I am gonna try to squeeze every last drop out of the minerals we have, rather than shut the program down, etc.

EXAMPLE
Voluntary Performance

Personal services are eligible on a voluntary basis. Obviously this corporation is a place where anyone from the casual player with a family and kids to the hardcore teenager in his mother's basement can experience, enjoy, and explore the game with a group of like-minded individuals.

That being said, if you want to be casual, log on once a week, shoot a few tools in 0.0 with us, and then disappear into the night again, we will miss your ass when you are gone for the next six days but it will be no skin off our back. If you want access to performance related services you must meet a voluntary quota per two week period to do so. These are soft requirements. Think of it like the IRS, as long as your math adds up we just ignore the discrepancies, but if the math does not add up we break out the enormous magnifying glass and determine just what you are really up to. For instance, Falgoria rats all the time, when he logs on, he logs on in the same 0.0 system a majority of the time. I will not even bother to scrutinize whether he donates ISK to the corporation, or count the junk loot he donates, or suppose that he is not meeting an EXCELLENT performance rating every two weeks. Others, who may play once a week have what may be a POOR performance rating, thus I will need to take a closer look at their participation.

This is how voluntary performance will work. If I come to you and say, "Hey, look, everyone likes you here, you are never going to have to worry about your place in this corporation, but I am just not seeing the kind of participation out of you that leads me to think we can continue to offer you the services we currently do. Please step up a bit more if you would like to continue receiving these services at a personal level."

What does that mean in practice? Factors. Divide Class performance by a factor of five and you have what I expect from everyone in the corporation for them to be eligible for services and roles. If you wanna be a member role, get free frigates, and have me haul your shizzle with my Ark, I wanna see 1,000,000.00 ISK out of you every week if the current quota is Class 4 meaning we are really strapped for income as a corporation. How do I figure? Well, you want to meet a POOR performance rating, to be eligible for corporate hauling, but you could care less about any other services, so you are really telling me that you want to meet a Class 1 performance quota when we are at Class 4, so I say fine... 25 a week by five by another five is a million a week. If I am hauling your ratting loot out of 0.0, you could have popped all of 10,000,000.00 ISK worth of rats in 0.0 that week to have met that quota via taxation. You are good to go. But if you want a battlecruiser at cost of insurance, I expect Class 4 performance on top of the fact that we are already at a Class 4 quota, meaning I expect 200 by five by a quarter which is 10,000,000.00 ISK into the corporation per week. This ship program is not a one time deal, if you buy a battlecruiser at cost of insurance and lose it the next day it gets built again, and you get it again at cost of insurance. So a higher quota is not really that bad since the quota is lower than the cost to build the ship anyways.

I do not care how it gets there, taxes, donations, your sister's phone number, etc. I just wanna know you are earning it. If you do not want free frigates, or secure hauling because you do not think you want it, so be it, just let me know, I want to know, and there will be nothing further for me to worry about. You play casual, I have less to worry on, easy. You have become eligible for the role of a manager (like Meatay) and that means you have volunteered for a role of responsiblity. That means I expect to see 40,000,000.00 ISK out of you in some fashion every week. That is in anyway shape or form. If you lead a single mining operation that yields 400,000,000.00 ISK worth of minerals, and taking into consideration that the corporation buys those minerals at 90% market value, making a 40,000,000.00 ISK profit, guess what, there could have been ten people mining and it may have taken you all of two hours to mine that ore, but you just met your voluntary quota, and you are still a top notch manager.

Math. Personal quotas are an agreement between you, me, the officers, and the wind when it comes to deciding if you have met it each week or not. It is an honor system more than something you need to worry about day in and day out. If I have to do the math, there is a problem, you know what I mean? So do not worry above the above statements wherein the math is just kind of sprinkled over each paragraph rather than laid out in stone. I am not anticipating I will ever once have to break out the calculater to determine if someone is asking for services that they have not earned the right to utilize. I will know right away if they have or not, in what I am anticipating will be 95% of circumstances.

Penalties. Well, I am going to assume I will not have any problem whatsoever with people meeting the quota both overall and on a voluntary basis since I have laid it out but in the rare event I do, I will play it by ear. Pretty much, you can assume that if you miss the quota, I am going to either just ignore it the first time, or let you know, and if I ignore it the first time I may let you know the second time, or ask you if you do not want the responsibility anymore, or I may even wait for the third time. If I know you are motivated by other things have come in the way, you are gonna get the benefit of the doubt.

Real Life. Hey, this entire post is just a way for me to reciprocate what YOU guys all deliberated on in the thread on the forums. You guys said you are willing to chip in more, and I developed the only way I think we can do it without breathing down people's necks or tightening up control over your free time both ingame and out of game. Not only that, but this is a game, and you have a life outside of it that is more important, at least I hope you do, so if you find out your sister has the clap and you need to go give her some emotional support for a few days and miss that quota somehow, you are off the hook, promise. Just please remind me to throw her number away now, after you bartered it to meet the last quota. *wink*

So, the basic idea is, yes, some of our core members are extremely active and may very well account for half our corporate income over time, but they will also receive the most benefits. And if you do not want to help carry the torch yourself for whatever reason, no one is going to fault you, as you may have real life commitments or priorities that take precedence, or you may simply not care whether you get battlecruisers at cost of insurance or not, and that is your choice. If you want that service in the future, it is available to you pending various factors both of overall corporate performance but voluntary performance as well.

Please also keep in mind the reason quota remains in effect for a two week period while it is measured on a weekly basis is so I can decide whether or not the quota from one week offsets the quota from another. If we only pull in 50mil the first week during a quota period of 100mil a week but 150mil the next week, then I may consider it a break even rally factor.

Capice?

ESC

Empire Service Courier (ESC)
Final Rendition - The Promised Land

The ESC program has a rich history going all the way back to last fall when we first arrived in Domain, with our griefer WTs nipping at our heels the whole way, having already planned this exodus before they even declared war on us, we found ourselves out in low security space a majority of the time, nervous, apprehensive, and unsure of how to get materials from Empire to low security safely. This was when I began training towards Transport ships on Mendolus. Shortly after Christmas last year, I dinged Transports I. The rest is history.

Seven months later after working myself to near exhaustion doing well over half a billion cubic meters of hauling every month in the recent past with a ship that can only carry 12,000 m3 per trip, I am looking towards the future, where goods are jumped back and forth with relative ease, and I can breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Okay, so in less than twenty days, our corporation is going to be capable of jumping goods from Mista to Misaba and back at a cost of around 8,000,000.00 ISK round trip via the Ark, a Jump Freighter.

What does this mean for all the massive amounts of painstaking, debilitating, infuriating hauling that we have all had to do time and again? A majority of it will go up in smoke! Yes, you may rejoice. We will soon reach the Promised Land of hauling.

But, what does this change, per say? Everything.

From the moment the corporation acquires an Ark the following guidelines will replace all previous ones for how the corporation handles hauling jobs:

All goods for PERSONAL COURIER you need jumped from Mista to Misaba or vice versa, originate in these two systems ONLY. That means if you want goods delivered from Empire to Misaba, go out and purchase them, haul them to Mista, then set a courier contract from Mista to Misaba at the corporate level. 50,000,000.00 ISK collateral is still the rule. If ten people set couriers at max collateral, it will cost me 500,000,000.00 ISK to jump them all at once, I think you see where I am going with this. I may be relatively loaded, but go easy on my wallet okay? Thanks! If you want goods delivered from Misaba to Mista, those goods need to be contracted at Misaba. Yes that means you now have to haul your stuff from H9-J8N all the way to Misaba. Do not worry, there is a silver lining listed below.

All goods for CORPORATE COURIER will be handled at the corporate level and you will probably only know about how the process works if you are somehow involved in either the acquisition of those goods or facilitating the hauling of those goods.

Here comes the best part:

Cost: FREE!
Schedule: Weekly
Volume: Up to 50,000 m3 per courier
Collaterial: Up to 50,000,000.00 ISK per courier

If you notice, the volume limit will allow you to have packaged cruisers and battlecruisers delivered straight to Misaba. In addition to that, please also notice the schedule, it is going to start out as a weekly thing, one jump per week. If demand increases for this service, there will be two jumps a week, or three. If it really gets to that point, a small service fee will be taken out of corporate taxes to pay for my fuel, so you will NOT have to pay directly yourself for a courier.

*PLEASE NOTE: This service does not go into effect until the day the Ark hits my ship hangar and Maduin is able to pilot it.

AU-F Bazaar

AU-F Bazaar
Solar Ships

The ship replacement program is taking on a more streamlined form and function. Details below.

Okay so you want a ship built by the corporation? I thought about making a detailed, formatted, and professional list of all the options available to you, but I think I will just word it out. Here goes.



You want a frigate, guess what those are FREE! So you fly to MISABA, you post a contract at the corporate level at the only station in the system, and you make that contract for an Item Exchange, add the frigate you desire, and set no prices.

You want a cruiser for personal use, guess what those are AVAILABLE AT COST! So you fly to MISABA, you post a contract at the corporate level at the only station in the system, and you make that contract for an Item Exchange, add the cruiser you desire, and set that you will pay the same cost as the ship is in Empire.

You want a cruiser for corporate use, guess what those are AVAILABLE AT COST OF INSURANCE! So you fly to MISABA, you post a contract at the corporate level at the only station in the system, and you make that contract for an Item Exchange, add the cruiser you desire, and set that you will pay the cost of platinum insurance on that ship.

You want a battlecruiser for personal use, guess what those are AVAILABLE AT COST! So you fly to MISABA, you post a contract at the corporate level at the only station in the system, and you make that contract for an Item Exchange, add the battlecruiser you desire, and set that you will pay the same cost as the ship is in Empire.

You want a battlecruiser for corporate use, guess what those are AVAILABLE AT COST OF INSURANCE! So you fly to MISABA, you post a contract at the corporate level at the only station in the system, and you make that contract for an Item Exchange, add the battlecruiser you desire, and set that you will pay the cost of platinum insurance on that ship.



Rules And Guidelines
Oh hey look, there is fine print!

Personal Use - Fly it, ride it, smash it, sell it, lend it to your buddy, do whatever you want with it, it belongs to you, you paid for it after all.

Corporate Use - Do not take it out of low or null security, do not package it, do not insure it yourself, do not let anyone borrow it. This ship is corporate property and you have received it for cost of insurance. This is a company car dude, take it out and get it demolished, but only if you are the one driving!

Contract Duration - You need to set that contract to last for two weeks, I ain't a friggin magician, I need time to work this kind of magic, it is definitely not easy like Sunday morning.

Role - We are going to have T1 fittings out the turd launcher any day now, if you want to have your ride pimped be sure to list a role in the Description field of the contract you issue, such as PvP, PvE, Ratting, Salvaging, Womanizing. I will try to throw on a good fit for any role you list.

Cost Of Insurance, WTFBBQ? - It's easy, pop open EVEMon, open a plan, go to the ship browser, look at the first line on the ship description, oh base price! Platinum insurance is 30% of base cost. I am gonna leave the ball in your court on this one. Have fun!

Eligibility, I can haz? - Well, I hate to be a curmudgeon, but some of these ships eat up a lot of minerals to manufacture even with perfect manufacturing, so only certain people will be eligible for them. Who? Anyone can have frigates from day one, even that bug-eyed stranger lurking in the shadows who somehow slipped by Varian's screen of impenetrable interviewing! Cruisers, only those with the Member role. Battlecruisers, only those with the Soldier role. Do not fret, roles will be updated soon, as at the time this blog was written few people had the Soldier role.

The Culling

The Culling
A Time For Blood


I have given some serious thought in the past week to Providence space. I have come to the conclusion that I cannot fathom living in any other space. Why? I mean, these boundaries were founded on unsavory roleplaying terms of a storyline involving religious zealots who plied in human trade. How could I want so badly to live here? Let's be honest, EVE is a rich storyline, full of vast ever farther reaching and encompassing plots that are meant to entertain not preach morality. Much like any good novel, there is always a mixture of grays, and few true black and whites. By making our own way through this region, we are simply playing and entertaining ourselves, in a way we sit fit as well. Let Ushra'Khan and CVA roleplay as they desire, if they even still do so by majority (more by proxy now I am assuming from the evidence I have seen), we are here for our own reasons, and none of them involve roleplaying or storyline tales.

So, that being said, what does keep drawing me to Providence space? It is the NRDS, or at least, the semblance of it, given recent events that have given most of our veterans a rather sour taste in their mouths.

Nowhere in EVE can you exist in null security with relative freedom to grow and develop as you please, within a few mostly benign parameters, that the NRDS dictates, or as CVA doctrine says, concerning POS in 0.0 space and such.

Giving much credit to the irony of it all, CVA has provided a wonderful means by which alliances, corporations, and players such as ourselves can have the freedom to experience 0.0 space ourselves and make what we will of it. They want Providence to act as an extension of Empire space, only we the players, we are the CONCORD of Providence. We have a freedom here that is unique in a sense that we are not beholden to any particular power bloc. While UK may do their damnedest to convince Providence residents that they are merely pets to CVA, the reality of the situation is that so long as we do not have any sovereignty in this region, we are a free agent, answering to no one, except the NRDS itself. Isn't it grand? I think so. Ajax gets to do his research, HuffDaddy gets to do L4s in Mamet, Sarah Tuttle gets to mine sweet ice in 0.0, Rayth gets to utilize our PvP trained members to pursue a Wormhole project, Cmdr GAT gets to dabble in reactions, members get access to ME/PE research at no cost, members like William Amato get access to manufacture their own goods, we get to explore ratting, 0.0 combat, PLEXs, the wide expanse of player policed space, the deep roams into hostile regions where we are constantly on the verge of annihilation and pitched battle against overwhelming odds, where our members can both do missions in low security, bring out their new ships and test their mettle in PvP combat, and in general get to live as they please, experiencing every aspect of the game that they choose (besides piracy obviously). Isn't that great?

But what if anything is required of us in return for this grand scheme? That we protect it. And we shall.

So what is the point? Well the point is Providence is going to the dogs, the dogs of war, in particular guerilla warfare. There are reds, everywhere. Every night. And it does not seem to be getting any better. What are the reasons for this? I cannot say here, too many intelligence and security issues that I keep to myself to protect Providence. What can we do about it? A lot. And when I say a lot, I really mean it. What would we have to sacrifice in order to do this? We would have to begin relying more on each member's individual will to expand their gaming experience on their own two feet than what we have now which is a system based almost solely on collective efforts towards multiple goals. We would have to have one goal, that goal would be to clean up Providence. Will it come to this? Only time will tell. I can tell you that if Providence remains as blast oven hot as it has been for the past week or two, by the time I get my Ark, that we will likely have to make some tough decisions about what we want to do. I can guarantee you that the newly reawakened Gremlin squadron will get kills though, and frequently, but it will require some sacrifices. How will it get these kills, and how can I guarantee something when I so infrequently lead PvP gangs of my own? Trust me. I'm an old salt when it comes to leading operations. Been doing this since '97. I just do not make a big deal out of it because I like to see others excel and make their own way to the top without me hovering over them wagging my finger like a doting father.

There will be a culling, and it will either be us or them (the reds), and I am certain you can guess which one I am going to choose.

Is it not strange how for the first half of the year our PvP operations suffered greatly because we so rarely were able to find hostiles to engage on a nightly basis and now we cannot go two or three systems in any direction without finding hostiles bearing down upon us? My how times change. In a morbid sort of way, I hope this trend continues, Providence is much more entertaining when there is adversity and challenge than when we roam in fleets of half a dozen or more for hours only to find ice crystals of condensation and fading ion trails from hostiles who have long since moved onto other regions.

The first half of this year was so quiet you could hear a pin drop in most systems between 8-12 EST every night of the week. Things are so vastly different now. While the notion of driving these hostiles back to the rock they crawled out from amuses me, it will require a lot of focus and attention from alliances just like ours to do it.

Synthesis

Synthesis
Mind & Body

So, I took a miniature vacation from all things MMO this weekend and dabbled in a bunch of console games I have not yet beaten or just wanted to experience again. I was probably encouraged to do this since I got podded for the first time on any character in the game since I started playing last April. Pretty good record there I think, especially since I have spent the past nine months floating around in PvP gangs out in low and null security. But it was a good experience, now I am not so soft on the idea as I was previously, thinking podding was some horrific experience, when in reality it was just a huge nuisance; lost 120,000,000.00 ISK in implants, but I had them for nearly a year and I had a spare body with a full array of +4s anyways prepared for just this eventually, so money well spent. Providence has been a death trap for a week, our Empire war was a joke yet I did not have the energy to expend doing L4 missions while anxiously watching local for any bruhaha coming my way, and corporate administrative duties were weighing heavily on my mind as I realized, we're not making money.

Staigor (Jay) has generously donated 500,000,000.00 ISK towards our Ark project and I found myself dipping into those funds last night to purchase Hydrogen Isotopes for the Minmatar POS. This means we are scraping the barrel, literally.

This summer has been vastly different than last summer was, and we had less members then. I guess that is the way it goes though, I should probably be spending a bit more time outdoors myself as I think it scares the cats when I turn on the light at night and all of a sudden there is this huge pale monster looming above them. Hehe. I think people are having fun though, both in real life and ingame, and that to me is a story of success. At the same time, it leaves me feeling like we are on a rollercoaster with no arm guard and we are holding on for dear life hoping it does not toss us off at any moment.

I had a bunch of bullet points of how we can address this issue but I think what is likely to happen is that when we acquire the Ark in twenty days, I may have to turn around and use it to ferry out a few hundred million ISK worth of minerals, and we may have to take down one of the POS until we can afford to fuel it again. I do not like this idea, but I think at this point we may have to do this in order to keep two of them operational. The people who have stepped up to the plate to assist us in acquiring minerals we need for production, isotopes we need for fuel, hauling fuel and goods for me so I do not go insane, and etc. have been thus far invaluable in keeping this train moving forward, but I am afraid given the level of activity right now, we cannot keep up with our expenses unless more people step forward.

I may be jumping to conclusions just from the nervous apprehension that rolls over me when I see we have hit empty on the fuel gauge, but I think given the circumstances it may be our only choice for now to scale back our operations for a bit. Logic and the alliance as a whole keep gearing up for more and more wars constantly without cessation and I keep looking at our fuel tanks and tapping on the gauge hoping there is a fume or two left. Not a good outlook in my opinion. Hard to fight a perpetual war when our war machine is rubbing the E on our fuel gauge like it's a hot prom date at the after party in a secluded hotel away from the chaperons.

So what do our POS do for us at present, and why are they so important?

The first one is our Research POS, undoubtedly the most valuable project we have at the moment, it is able to generate consistent income with little overhead.

The second one is our Manufacturing POS, able to produce any goods and materials we would ever need up to battlecruisers. This POS may not seem as valuable to you at present, but when you imagine a war to end all wars where there is a No-Fly issued for all of Empire and you are stuck out in Providence with little access to the Empire market, you will be grateful for a POS that can spit out not only a battlecruiser for you, but a complete T1 fitting for it, so you can utilize it from the moment it pops out of the oven.

The third is our Reactions POS, able to take simple and complex materials and mix them up, and cook up some amazing materials. Now, these materials may not really mean much to our corporation at the moment although they do generate consistent income, but in the longterm, when we want to produce complicated ships, especially T2 or Capital ships, these resources will be invaluable beyond belief. Take Capital Armor Plates for instance. On the open market, you can only find them for 3-4mil a piece, yet they take only regular minerals to produce, and they actually cost more like 500k-1mil to produce a piece. That is a staggering price difference. The only way we can get a hold of some of these T2 components required for T2 ship construction is to make them ourselves. Reactions have an invaluable long term yield once a majority of our members are using T2 ships regularly. Just ask Logic how he supplies his members with cheaper T2 ships by reacting some of the build components on his own, and having an engineer build the ships for him.

Now, which one is likely to be taken down in a few weeks? I do not know... all I know is that I would prefer not to take any of them at all down.

How could we make it so none of the POS must be offlined?

1) Rat more.
2) Mission more.
3) Use corporate ships more.
4) Ice mine more.
5) Recruit!
6) Market PvP!
7) Switch Minmatar tower to Amarr tower (connects to point 4 above)
8) ...and last but not least, participate more in general.

HuffDaddy, is a Mission monster, he listed the bulk of salvaged materials he has accumulated in the past few weeks or more and it was a staggering amount. Staggering. If you see him online, go help him out! It cannot be that fun to do L4s on your lonesome absolutely all the time, give the man some company, the L4s will go faster, the corporation will get more tax revenue, and those scrap modules he refines may even end up at our manufacturing POS, fueling the war machine.

Night Theifs, is a PvP monster, the Night Theifs corporation could never satiate their lust for blood even if they wiped all of Catch clean with a vengeful hand. They do roams nearly every night, so grab one of those cruisers contracted (soon to come fully T1 fitted) at the corporate level and go out and blow shizzle up with them or be blown up trying! Seriously, if we throw hundreds of million into insurance on these T1 cruisers and battlecruisers only to have the insurance run out on them cuz no one uses them, we have lost that money when those ships are blown up. Your tax money, up into thin air, with no more money to replace the ship you just lost. A horrible fate.

Mendolus, (Hey that's me!), is an Administrative monster, but is still struggling to keep up the pace with all the corporate duties he has taken on, so please do not take offense if I seem to forget a conversation we had an hour before, or log on the next day and you see virtual ?s floating above my head as you inquire whether I took care of what you had asked me to do. So please EVEMail me! Spammy spam spam that inbox of mine to remind me that you need something done. I think half the reason I feel stressed out every other day ingame is that I cannot remember all this stuff off the top of my head, and I have partial photographic memory, so you know it has got to be bad. Not only EVEMail me, but READ THE MAILERS, BLOG, FORUMS, ANYTHING! O-M-G, I feel better now. Hehe. But yes, I spend hours writing these blogs, and editing them, and worrying over little tiny phrases to make sure they make sense, so that you can find the answers at will, and I do not have to repeat myself 75 times, because I have dozens of other things I need to do as well. I know it sounds stupid, and a few people may question whether or not it is elitism (though I highly doubt it) for me to request you read here first before just talking to me directly, but I mean, sometimes I am hauling on two characters at the same time through low or null security space, and then someone in chat is like "We haz war?" and I'm mumbling to myself incoherently, "Please don't hurt him please don't hurt him please don't hurt him!" I know it is not really that bad overall, but sometimes it can be, so please, if it is something basic like, what did we do last night or what is new with the corporation, check here first, because I may be neck deep in doodoo hauling priceless baubles or administrative stuff and if I stop to type out a paragraph I die. Now, this is not to say in the least that I do not like being privated and asked a quick pertinent question, but try to check the information available to you first.


So, I guess that is it for now, and I know I am probably overreacting as I see our funds hover around the bottom of the tank, as thanks to the invaluable and endless efforts of some of our members, we have made a blazing comeback on our mineral reserves, and our logistics hauling is nearly perfect save the remaining contracts that I have marked as Priority that are not quite done yet. Hey, it was a nice weekend, I am glad people went out and did stuff in real life, but last night I looked at the fuel levels on our POSs and a brick dropped in my pants. Hehe.

You guys never let me down though and when things get rough I just remind you guys we are struggling a bit and it seems like people start coming out of the woodwork with good deeds and assistance of all kinds. I cannot thank you enough for that, it is such a vastly different experience than I have had as a leader in any other MMO. When things get really bad, everyone in this corporation seems to take a step up to the plate and come to bat for what we have going here. That's priceless in my opinion.

I think the most crucial point is that the Ark project is completed (twenty days until I can fly it). This will add an entirely new dimension to our corporate operations and capabilities, and I think that it will be best for me to wait to form a general synopsis of our projected future goals once I know more of what it is going to be like for us in the fall with the ability to jump goods in and out with relative ease. Should the Ark provide me with the leverage and freedom I so desire to devote more energy into other projects, I may very well do a 180 on my opinions thus far on how much our present member base can support in terms of projects, goals, and investment. So for now, I wait, and watch.

Ratting - The Good Life

So I spent a few hours ratting tonight, and to be honest, it was the best. I have been so overwhelmed with administrative stuff lately even after the Logistics wing took a ton of the pressure off, that it has been nearly four or five weeks since I did some serious ratting. It could not have come any sooner.

There is nothing like hopping in a battleship, undocking, zipping from belt to belt, and melting rats for juicy bounties. What did I make, probably twenty million almost in an hour or two just from bounties? Another can or two filled with loot and salvage, a True Sansha Battleship rat that had a whopping bounty but lousy loot, and a few laughs and good times with my ratting buddies, and I feel like I am on top of the world!

This is the life man, we have a whole region of 0.0 space as our personal playground, and no one is out there telling us when to jump and how high, unless we break the few rules there are, namely the NRDS. Who could ask for more? We get to play as we see fit, set our own goals, and leisurely rat in the deep recesses of null security where there are no can flippers, ninja salvagers, empire griefers, scammers, and other various forms of vermin to pester us incessantly. Just a few stray reds now and then and nothing but adventure and the vastness of space between one belt and the next. This is the life.

Warfare - Gremlin Squadron

Warfare - Gremlin Squadron
Skirmish Versus Conventional

Well, after the ten months I have spent in the Domain and Providence regions I can say without a doubt that most of the wars I have seen or witnessed have been fairly mediocre, uneventful, and somewhat disillusioning.

This is not to say that we cannot find wars that will keep us entertained twenty four hours a day seven days a week, but to say that given the variable factors, size of our own alliance, experience level of our pilots in PvP, and etc. we are kind of in PvP purgatory. We cannot yet field blobs on the fly yet we can field enough pilots to make the encounter of crucial importance. So declaring war against other major alliances will usually put us on the defensive beyond the borders of Providence at least.

Now before I go into any more tactical details which I have purposefully tried to avoid in this open blog medium, I want to go over what war seems to have shown me in EVE thus far. It shows me the same old story I learned in Warcraft, people are afraid to put their hard earned work on the line for the exact reason they worked so hard. Meaning, most people are all talk, and when they are actually faced with the dangerous scenario they so claimed to be prepared or even eager for, they tend to shut down and begin making excuses why they need a little more time to prepare, or some other rather frivolous reason. In one war we had, showing up with maybe half a dozen pilots with one or two battleships, and a smattering of T2 cruiser hulls, our war targets with a fleet of nearly a dozen battleships all docked up and refused to fight. How is this possible?

The unfortunate reality of EVE Online is that conventional warfare where the conflict is formalized through a declaration in order to hunt your targets in any and all space is rather one sided a majority of the time, at least when it comes to alliances of our size. We either vastly outnumber and experience our enemies, or are vastly outnumbered ourselves, though I have seen very few gangs that seemed as experienced as our flagship fleets are. When outnumbered, those same players who spent countless hours grinding ISK in some repetitive way will dock up at the drop of a hat and huddle like nameless masses seeking shelter in a storm. Thus, what do we find a majority of the time in Empire when trying to actually fight a conventional war? We find boredom. It is true that we could declare war on potentially bountiful targets such as Industry corporations or alliances, fledgling corporations, or just carebear entities in general. I just vastly despise the notion of hunting helpless prey, as I like my prey to have some fight in them; besides it being morally perfunctory to hunt prey solely based on the fact that they choose not to or do not for whatever reason fight back I find it a hollow pursuit that shows a lack of imagination and mental fortitude. This being within reasonable precluded parameters, however, as I would willfully and mercilessly hunt my assumed enemies to the ends of the game be they the ultimate carebear or not.

What then is the alternative if conventional warfare is a rare gem we are not likely to find in the game given the present size and scope of our alliance brethren? Well, skirmish warfare is the name of the game. However, this presents its own wide variety of pitfalls, shortcomings, and frustrations, just like conventional warfare. Whether it be darting into the sovereign territory of our enemies only to be chased back out minutes later, sitting around for hours hoping for enemies to show up, or chasing little groups of reds from one system to the next and playing the numbers game on whether or not we can snag even one of them, skirmish warfare presents its own unique set of challenges not all of which are like the glorious warfare we had imagined when subbing that first month on our accounts.

Now, don't get me wrong, defending or patrolling Providence to ensure it remains a relatively safe region for us to live and dwell in is of utmost importance, and we cannot patrol enough, in that respect. But I grow weary of chasing ghosts or being thwarted by blobs we cannot compete with, so I am going to reawaken my fleet, the Gremlin Squadron.

What are we going to be doing? What our enemies do. How are we going to do it? Like our enemies do.

How do most reds die in Providence? They either go down in flames in a fleet engagement, or they die after being snagged in asteroid belts or mission pockets they have engaged pilots at and gotten stuck in. Sure, sure some of them die at stargates after being trapped in bubbles, but unfortunately for us or any other defense force, when a red pops through a gate in an interceptor, stealth bomber, Vagabond, or any other myriad of cloaking or fast ships, the sole content in the game they are then focused on is survival. The propensity for error increases the more they split their focus on the purpose at hand, as opposed to survival as a whole, thus I see a majority of solo or small group reds dying as they engage targets and are then trapped in the process.

How do most reds kill in Providence? Fast and furious. They seize the opportunity to engage someone who they are likely to destroy within less than a minute, and they run for the hills when they see the cavalry closing in on them. Why are we not doing this? Well, we lack the potential targets to do so, but between Staigor and myself, we are going to change that. Staigor has a guerrilla gang planned for when he returns from vacation. My gang will be up and running within the week. We will operate in different areas and in different timezones (EST and PAC) but the theory and practice will be the same.

Now, granted, the Angel Squadron, led by Varian does more than a superb job at thwarting smaller gangs of red interlopers who come into the depths of Providence to cause us trouble as well as heading out to sovereign systems held by our enemies to spit in their eye even if we have to run for the hills on occasion immediately thereafter. All I am concerned with myself, is finding that font of warfare where we can get frequent action at a fairly disposable term of time and money. So while Varian keeps the home fires burning, so to speak, I am going to be planning how to on occasion turn our combat gangs into a pack of wolves. I encourage everyone who is interested in getting a head start on this kind of combat, to participate in Devin's Skunkworks gang to get a feel for guerrilla warfare ahead of time. Just please be advised only Stealth Bombers, and other covert ships need apply to fleet for Devin's gang.

These are the things I am able to focus on now that the Logistics division has split the work amongst themselves and saved me countless hours every month. These are going to be exciting times, I have a feeling, and my instincts are usually right when it matters.

Better tell the wife you are being deployed, give her a wild night, then hop in the cab, because this ship is about to sail.

Ship Grimoire - Battlecruisers

Ship Grimoire
Chapter 2 Battlecruisers

So, you have all no doubt hopped onto EFT at some point, and built a dream boat, wondering whether that 30,000,000.00 ISK for a Drake for instance, is worth the hassle. Should you rig it, will it perform in PvP, and will it make the neighbors dog choke on his bone in surprise as you fly by thus ridding you of one more nuisance? Well, this comprehensive list will give you the bottom line on all those ships you wish you had a good excuse to buy, undock, or rig.

*Note: If you do not see your favorite ship listed here, it is either A) Flying Scrap Metal, B) Just Not Listed Yet, or C) I honestly do not have enough experience with it to do more than repeat what I have seen or heard.

Ratings: Between 1 and 10, 1 being very poor performance, 10 being the best possible performance.
Gangs:
Small - Around a half dozen pilots
Medium - Around a dozen pilots depending on fleet composition
Large - A dozen or more pilots depending on fleet composition





BATTLECRUISERS

Prophecy
Preferred: Medium to Large Gang PvP - Low Security
PvP Rating: 4 PvE Rating: 6
Strength: Tank
Weakness: Damage

Other than being a sexy devil the Prophecy's main claim to fame is its unnatural ability to create units of EHP. Before even unwrapping this beast you will find it crooning about how tough it is to break in PvP combat. Easily sporting a tank of well over 150k EHP with trimark rigs, the Prophecy is the epitome of buffered combat. However, this leaves it with a rather lackluster damage output that puts it at a tactical disadvantage versus its sister ship the Harbinger. After all, killing your opponent before they kill you is more important than all the EHP in the game. This also makes it an ideal ship for completing most L3s as it has a broad range of tanking ability that can fulfill the requirements for any L3 in the game.


Harbinger
Preferred: Medium to Large Gang PvP - Null Security
PvP Rating: 6 PvE Rating: 3
Strength: Damage
Weakness: Tracking

The Harbinger is a PvP celebrity and is often flown by multitudes of pilots in the Providence area. Sporting damage statistics that put the most hardened pilot to shame, the Harbinger is a gunboat to the extreme. However, given the nature of combat in Providence, frequently being pitted against small frigate or cruiser sized hulls esp. Recons and now Stealth Bombers, the Harbinger is at a significant disadvantage. You will likely find most professional Harbinger pilots fitted with multiple tracking and sensor boosters to offset this. Having relatively little tanking ability it is best left to null security space as opposed to low security where sentry fire comes into play. This is also why the Harbinger is slightly ill-suited for L3s in PvE much like the Brutix.


Brutix
Preferred: Large Gang PvP - Null Security
PvP Rating: 5 PvE Rating: 2
Strength: Damage
Weakness: Tank

Someone screwed up when they made such a beautiful ship with so little survivability. The Brutix is the classic killmail whore. Stealing your juicy top damages, killing blows, podkills, and the like, the Brutix is a beast with a zest for blood. This is also what makes it deceptively futile in low security combat situations, and quickly primaried in large gang combat. Like a moth to the flame, Brutix pilots are forced to close in deep within an enemy's tactical position, not likely to return, but likely to take a few out with them on the way. The Brutix is a relatively lesser PvP companion now compared to the Harbinger due to relying on blasters as opposed to pulses. The Brutix's poor tank is also the reason why it is very badly matched for most L3s with any moderate amount of incoming damage.


Myrmidon
Preferred: Medium Gang PvP - Low Or Null Security
PvP Rating: 5 PvE Rating: 5
Strength: Drones
Weakness: Weak Variant

The Myrmidon has a little bit of everything, tank, damage, drones, versatility, and the power to put them all to use. The only thing it does not have is any real significant advantage over battlecruisers of any other shape or size, nor the staying power to back up the field. Though good at everything, the Myrmidon suffers from the classic middle child syndrome. Not nearly as agile as its smaller counterpart, the Vexor, and with the tracking issues that come with medium sized weaponry, as well as lacking the EHP or variable fittings of the Dominix, the Myrmidon typically falls short of being anything more than average. But there is something to be said about being good at everything and worst at nothing not to mention the fact that it makes the Myrmidon proficient at completing any and all L3s in the game.


Ferox
Preferred: Medium Gang PvP - Low Security
PvP Rating: 2 PvE Rating: 2
Strength: Range
Weakness: Everything else...

The Ferox is an oddity in the field of battle as it rarely fills any role besides sniper. Given that sniper gangs are highly specialized, this means that the Ferox is relegated to infrequent operations and the back burner. And due to its ship size, the damage yield on its weaponry is subpar at best, leaving it pale in comparison to ranged ships such as the Rokh or Cerberus. Due to this, the Ferox is a poor substitute for almost any other battlecruiser in the game for L3s with the exception of the Brutix.


Drake
Preferred: Any Size Gang PvP - Low or Null Sec
PvP Rating: 8 PvE Rating: 8
Strength(s): Numerous
Weakness: Alpha Damage

One of the most common ships in the game the Drake has just about everything going for it except damage output. Versatile, agile, tough, and dominating, the Drake is an asset in any gang, at any time. Sporting anything from a capless, hybrid, or even active tank with missile ranges that are unmatched for its class and weaponry system, the Drake out classes most other battlecruisers. However, the nature of shield mechanics means that the Drake is especially weak to alpha strike damage. Despite it's generally average damage output, the Drake is a mainstay of PvP combat; just do not expect it to dominate any killmails except in small to medium sized gangs. The Drake is considered the only battlecruiser in the game that can solo L4 missions, though the speed of completion leaves something to be desired.


Cyclone
Preferred: Medium Gang PvP - Low Security
PvP Rating: 2 PvE Rating: 2
Strength: Tank
Weakness: Everything else...

Much like the Ferox the Cyclone suffers from having only one thing going for it, its tank. The Cyclone generally performs well below average in every other way, thus leaving it more of a distraction in PvP combat rather than an asset. With a bonus to artillery damage, which merely brings them up to snuff with regular weaponry due to artillery's already low damage output, one should not expect much out of the Cyclone in combat. Though somewhat manageable for L3s, the Cyclone is a poor substitute for its bigger brother, the Hurricane.


Hurricane
Preferred: Medium to Large Gang PvP - Low or Null Security
PvP Rating: 4 PvE Rating: 5
Strength: Speed
Weakness: Autocannons

The Hurricane, formerly one of the most well renowned battlecruisers in the game, has lost some of its flair since the nano nerf and other subsequent changes to the game mechanic. Being mostly reliant on a natural speed and better than average tank, the Hurricane performs a role comparable to the Harbinger but without quite the punch, placing it somewhere in between a Brutix and Harbinger in performance. In L3s the Hurricane easily out performs most other battlecruisers and holds its own.

Ship Grimoire - Cruisers

Ship Grimoire
Chapter 1 Cruisers

So, you have all no doubt hopped onto EFT at some point, and built a fantasy boat, wondering whether that 5,000,000.00 ISK for a Vexor for instance, is a total waste of ISK. Should you fly it at all, will it perform in PvP, and will it make the ladies throw their bras and panties at you as you fly by? Well, this comprehensive list will give you the bottom line on all those ships you wish you had a good excuse to buy, undock, or fly.

*Note: If you do not see your favorite ship listed here, it is either A) Flying Scrap Metal, B) Just Not Listed Yet, or C) I honestly do not have enough experience with it to do more than repeat what I have seen or heard.

Ratings: Between 1 and 10, 1 being very poor performance, 10 being the best possible performance.
Gangs:
Small - Around a half dozen pilots
Medium - Around a dozen pilots depending on fleet composition
Large - A dozen or more pilots depending on fleet composition





CRUISERS

Omen
Preferred: Small Gang PvP - Null Security
PvP Rating: 5 PvE Rating: 3
Strength: Damage
Weakness: 15 Mbit/sec

Frequently overlooked and underrated the Omen is much like the Thorax; high damage output, paper thin tank. The downside is that the Omen cannot field five medium drones like a Thorax, which is likely why it is easily considered the underdog of the Amarr cruisers. However, being a T1 variant of the Zealot, its damage output scales greatly with skill points and weaponry. It performs noticeably well in L2 missions as it is able to quickly deal with incoming alpha before it is overwhelmed.


Maller
Preferred: Small Gang PvP - Null Security
PvP Rating: 2 PvE Rating: 1
Strength: Tank
Weakness: 0 Mbit/sec

The Maller, often lauded for having a serious tank for a cruiser, is nothing more than a floating asteroid in a small gang. Although good for adding weight to a smaller gang, the Maller merely delays the inevitable realization that without even moderate damage output or some secondary role to play, it is rare that you will see this ship in a PvP setting. Fielding no drones whatsoever, this cruiser is a flying coffin in any PvE mission above L1 difficulty.


Arbitrator
Preferred: Small Gang PvP - Null Security
PvP Rating: 5 PvE Rating: 4
Strength: Drones
Weakness: Turrets

The Arbitrator, much like the Vexor, is a drone boat that can field up to five medium drones with a bonus to damage per skill level in racial cruiser. However, the Arbitrator plays more of a logistics role in that it receives a bonus to tracking disruptor effectiveness. This classes it in a role that is not filled by many other cruisers, both dealing significant drone damage and having a utility bonus. The Arbitrator is not seen in small pitched combat very often, but those who fly it will quickly find it adds a layer of protection to the entire gang. Having comparable capabilities compared to the Vexor, the Arbitrator comes in as a close second in dishing out the pain in L2s missions, and will still easily complete them.


Vexor
Preferred: Small Gang PvP - Null Security
PvP Rating: 6 PvE Rating: 5
Strength: Damage, Tank
Weakness: Utility

The Vexor is a staple in standard small gang combat and you will usually see at least one stray pilot floating around dealing death in a cruiser gang with this damage heavy cruiser. Being able to both field five medium drones and dish out blaster damage via a bonus to hybrid turrets, the Vexor is versatile in the way it can take out its foes. This ship is a miniature Dominix in every way and is very popular among newer pilots. It also doubles as an excellent mission runner and will effectively neutralize any L2 on the map.


Thorax
Preferred: Small Gang PvP - Null Security
PvP Rating: 5 PvE Rating: 3
Strength: Damage
Weakness: Blasters

The Thorax, like the Omen, is a damage dealer. It has the added bonus of being able to field five medium drones however, which puts it a class above the Omen in versality. However, being a far cry from the range that a Vexor is capable of it is easily kited by hostile pilots and dispensed with from a distance. Thanks for nerfing blasters CCP, btw. Still a staple in almost all gang combat where sentry fire is not a factor, the Thorax is well loved and likely holds this spot more out of a sense of legacy than usefulness.


Caracal
Preferred: Small Gang PvP - Null Security
PvP Rating: 3 PvE Rating: 2
Strength: Range
Weakness: 10 Mbit/sec

The Caracal, or "Crapacal", as some of us like to call it is the black horse of cruisers. Not really fitting in an ideal role in any way, it is more of a hanger-on in gang combat than a useful asset. Though it does have the added advantage of ranged damage like its T2 variant the Cerberus, it fields a poor tank and useless drone bandwidth. This ship though good for training purposes, should be left in the hangar once the pilot becomes accustomed to combat operations.


Blackbird
Preferred: Small Gang PvP - Null Security
PvP Rating: 4 PvE Rating: 1
Strength: Electronic Warfare
Weakness: Tank, 0 Mbit/sec

The Blackbird is a surprisingly good ship for PvP but is often overlooked or ignored by pilots seeking more pew pew than jam jam. Unable to do any significant damage on its own, the blackbird is a floating liability in space that performs a role that most gangs could greatly benefit from. Given the recent nerf to the jamming range of such ships as the Falcon, the Blackbird has become a perfectly viable alternative due to being cheap and disposable. Fit T2 jammers on this puppy, and you have a miniature Falcon for around 10,000,000.00 ISK. Unfortunately, due to having no drone bandwidth, damage, or tank role bonuses whatsoever, this ship should never see the inside of a mission pocket unless it is in a wormhole where Electronic Warfare is effective against Sleeper rats.


Stabber
Preferred: Small Gang PvP - Null Security
PvP Rating: 3 PvE Rating: 1
Strength: Speed
Weakness: Everything else...

The Stabber. To be honest, I only see pirates flying these, and these are cheap pirates who cannot afford a Vagabond. Why do they fly them? Because they are afraid to lose a ship, even a cheap one. These speedy devils have a few advantages as a relatively heavy tackle in null security, but other than that, I would not expect to perform much of any other kind of role in a ship of this low caliber. Even in PvE it will perform poorly due to low artillery damage and a laughable 5 Mbit/sec bandwidth.


Rupture
Preferred: Small Gang PvP - Null Security
PvP Rating: 6 PvE Rating: 5
Strength: Tank
Weakness: Artillery

The Rupture, suffers from the curse of relative anonymity among newer players still under the impression that all things Minmatar perform poorly with low skill points. The Rupture, lovingly nicknamed the "Ruppy" by veteran pilots, actually performs exceedingly well for a ship of its size. Having a naturally high tank and base speed, versatile damage range, and able to field five small drones, this cruiser has the best of both worlds. In small gang combat, a Rupture will be able to effectively engage and often speed tank any target larger than itself, and take quite a few hits to boot. In PvE it performs on par with a Vexor due to its versatile nature and speed.