Capital Fleets

Capital Fleets
Scout's Perspective





The Client
Can't See Can't Fight

It is absolutely imperative you setup your client properly before a capital battle. You may be using a NASA supercomputer in some basement in a government complex in Florida, but that still does not mean you are going to have the bandwidth to function in a capital engagement with hundreds and hundreds of ships on the grid at one time.

• Turn off ALL effects.
• Turn down ALL graphics.
• Zoom out!
• Close unnecessary channels.
• Do NOT play in windowed mode.

The Overview
Holy Brackets Batman

You can easily find yourself lagged out for thirty seconds if you so much as flip over to a new tab in your overview that has all brackets showing in space. In addition to that, without a proper overview setup, you'll play hell even finding the primary target regardless of whether it has been broadcast or not.

• Turn off ALL brackets on ALL tabs.
• ONLY reds and neutrals on your primary tab.
• Create the following overview settings*:
  
  
  
  • Planets, Stations, Sun, Control Towers, No Ships
  • Only carriers
  • Only dreadnoughts
  • Only battleships
  • Only interdictors and heavy interdictors
  • Only super capitals

*Note: It is assumed that you will have stargates, cynosural beacons, mobile disruptors, etc. on all overview settings listed above.

The Mechanics
Here's Your Memo

CVA and holders use a spider chain setup for their carrier fleets that is and should be required of all capital pilots in the future. I will post that setup here later tonight.

That being said, one of the most important things to know as a new capital pilot are the following:

• Flying a capital in a large fleet engagement is a lot like being a forward scout, you are going to be alive one minute and dead the next, so get used to it, and do NOT panic.
• As per the note above, pay attention to who the FCs are, and do exactly what they say, and nothing else. If they tell you to eject from your ship, you do it, no matter how crazy it sounds. Anything short of this can wipe an entire fleet. Never panic.
• Know your POS mechanics:
  
  
  
  • You must change your shield harmonic BEFORE initiating a warp sequence to a foreign POS bubble. Not during warp, not while aligning for warp, but BEFORE you click Warp To...
  • You must set your capital ship to KEEP AT RANGE of the control tower to stay within the bubble and avoid drifting or being bumped out.
  
  
• Do NOT activate needless modules before a cynosural jump as it takes a majority of your capacitor to initiate your jump drives.
• People are going to die, you may be next in line, so shake the nerves, and make sure you align, warp, fire, disengage, retarget, cycle your modules, move, stop, or whatever else the FC says the moment they say it lest you get trapped in a sling bubble and are relieved of your ship. Do not think, do. The FC does the thinking.
• Know your fleet window and how it works:
  
  
  
  • To change squads in a free move fleet right click your character portrait and navigate to the fleet drop down menu.
  • To jump to a cynosural field easily, watch the broadcast history for a new cynosural beacon, right click it in the broadcast window, and jump. You may also find all active cynosural beacons available to you through right clicking your character in any channel and using the menu.
  • Carry extra topes in your corporate hangar, you will not be able to jump to a cynosural field farther than your range, and may be forced to take more than one jump to reconnoiter with the fleet. This may or may not cost you extra fuel.
  
  
• Know your game mechanics. There are too many things to emphasize here, understanding that your ship will warp even at 0 cap, or that you cannot jump to a cynosural beacon while scrambled are some but certainly not all of the most important things to know. Without this basic knowledge, you are more liable to go down in a fiery ball of flames undocking from station or getting separated from the fleet, than going down in pitched battle in some epic engagement. We all wanna have fun together, not die alone and miserably.

The Lag
Syrup With Your Pancakes

Lag is the most important part of a capital engagement. Knowing how to operate your ship under these adverse conditions is the difference between idly sitting by as the rest of the fleet pelts hostiles, and watching your own guns light them up at the same time. The fleet commander of the engagement in D-GTMI could not stress this enough. If you know anything, know how to cycle your modules properly.

• Turn off Auto Repeat on ALL modules.
• Remove all weapon groups.
• Engage targeted weaponry and logistics in the following fashion:
  
  
  
  • Target ship; once a lock is acquired, a target box appears on your display.
  • Activate weapons or support modules
  • Double click all module icons next to the target box to deactivate the cycle.
  • Verify you did not double click space and have begun to drift.
  • Rinse and repeat.
  
  
• Engage self modules at will, bearing in mind that they will deactivate after one cycle and you will have to continually repeat each cycle manually.
• Be patient. Just because you cannot see anything happening, does not mean it is, or that it will not start shortly.
• Add your squadmates to your watch list.
• Watch your broadcast window for who needs what. It will be too confusing to watch some channel for squadmate X to announce he needs shields, a message which he may or may not be able to even send with lag.

Wrapping Up
Yes, You Have A Dirty Mind

I had never flown a capital into an engagement prior to D-GTMI nor would I say I jumped into the system knowing what the french toast I was supposed to even be doing half the time. However, knowing basic game mechanics, listening attentively, not talking out of line or spamming fleet chat with frivolous questions, and being patient, calm, and collected, pretty much allowed me to catch up with the veterans the entire time and run with the best of them. Do not be nervous or apprehensive, your fleet commanders are seasoned veterans who will and can explain all the subtle nuances of the engagement to you before you actually cyno into the fight.

It is not the most complicated thing in the world, nor is it really much different in some sense than any other encounter. Just remain calm, listen carefully, and do not over analyze things during battle, just do what you're told and do it right. Most of what you will be asked to do is no different than piloting a rookie ship. It is just on a grand scale. If you ignore the price tag on your ship, and resign yourself to losing it, as it is just pixels on a screen after all, you will be a boon to the fleet, not a burden. I cannot say the same for the few dozen pilots who cyno'd out on our fleet without orders when things got sketchy at the POS in D-GTMI. If I were their FC I would woop some serious ... for how selfish they were. The capitals were being reimbursed by CVA, and those pilots needed to grow some.

Judge, Jury, And Executioner

Judge, Jury, And Executioner
Sometimes Your Choices Are Made For You

We have been cast off, expelled as it were, from the proverbial pool that spawned the corporation we are today, no longer a member of the Apotheosis of Virtue, but still pursuing that long term goal, finding a place to live, be it by the flag over our corporate banner and the people that it entails, or the physical space we reside in, that every member of this corporation can thrive in. Because this corporation was founded on the platform that every person gets their shot at all things EVE, and we do not restrict ourselves to solely PvP, PvE, or Industry endeavors, it makes it rather tricky for us to achieve this lofty goal without an alliance of brethren to make it happen.

For us AOV no longer supported this goal if in practice not if in principle. Content to chase hostiles in small roaming fleets night after night, declare war on neutrals in Empire with some history of hostilities against Providence residents, and play it safe politically, while dreaming of greater glory, the alliance executor offered us every opportunity to rise to our own occasion, wholeheartedly, but unfortunately little incentive to do so in the end. What with half a dozen burgeoning capital pilots, members aching for frequent fleet activities involving more people than you count on both hands, and for strength in numbers, it become more and more of a burden for us personally to support long term goals that we so often felt were all on our shoulders alone , whether this was merely our perception or a reality, which in some sense is one and the same. Our alliance numbers dwindled over the course of a full fiscal year while our goals remained the same. The formula was simply not working.

Four weeks ago when we met with the alliance leadership to discuss plans to move North because the AU-F was struggling under its own weight and it looked like were going to lose a good enough portion of the members that make this corporation what it is that I simply had no choice but to take action, at which time we were told by the leadership a lot of "You cannot do this. You cannot do that." insofar as it concerns gaining ground with the powers that be up in the North. It was not that this was right or wrong, it was the principle of it. Here the AU-F was gasping for breath living in an environment, the alliance, where we were struggling to find reasons to even log on at night, and I was being told we should not do what is best for our corporation, and should instead consider moving everyone in one fell swoop out to NPC 0.0 and make a stand. The ubiquitous chest pumping campaign, as it were. It confused me to be honest. Our corporation, burned out and frayed around the edges, was gasping for relief, to be able to enjoy the content of the game again and be a part of a larger whole not the larger part of a whole as far as activity levels are concerned, and we were being asked to pick up all our stuff, jump into the gaping maw of hell, and fight to the death. We needed relief not fire and brimstone.

Thankfully, we came to an agreement, given that everyone just wanted what was best for the alliance, which in turn meant best for the AU-F as well, that we would continue to pursue a campaign in the North because AOV was not nearly large enough to make any further progress in Providence under its current platform and approach, and too small to entertain and sustain itself and moreso its lofty goals in the ever more bustling and packed Providence systems.

Due to factors well beyond our control, the Northern campaign had to be scrapped merely three weeks after it began, and we started trickling back to Providence. Now, I had told the officers, there would only be two reasons why I would return to Providence and ask them to come with me.

1. The format or environment of the alliance drastically changed in a way that I felt was conducive to the growth we needed to survive as a corporation while maintaining residency in greater Providence.
   
2. The environment of Providence vastly changed so that it became apparent a corporation or alliance of our size and with our particular goals could begin to flourish once more OR would be better off by comparison to NBSI 0.0 space.

Well, we never got a chance to meet with the alliance leadership to discuss the first point, and the second point as you all well know, has come to fruition even if merely by the fact that NBSI 0.0 itself has now deteriorated to the point that I believe our best opportunity to participate in the grand scheme of things and throw our lot in with good people, is now in Providence ever more so, and in some sense, specifically because we are now a free agent corporation, which vastly changes the potential we have to join an alliance that has the numbers, environment, and goals we have so dreamed of ourselves for six months or more. An alliance comprised of corporations like our own; a family environment where everyone knows your name.

Aside from this, because it is all behind us now, and while we wish our former alliance brethren the best of luck in their own endeavors, we have ourselves potentially been given the golden opportunity to join an alliance that is on the verge of everything we have dreamed of, has a wonderful power structure, and a leadership that strives for everything we have in the past six months. Meaning, all things EVE, and all things Providence. It was only when I felt like our alliance could never achieve these things with its present approach in Providence that I had to consider getting out, and finding NBSI, which would be more appropriate for an alliance of AOV's size and activity levels. However, Providence is more than amazing for this potential alliance of more than six hundred members, and by joining them we add to the whole, both bettering them, and being bettered ourselves in return. We will make our own difference, be it small or large, but that difference will not weigh heavily on our shoulders alone, it will be a shared burden.

Though I have interacted directly with the leader of this alliance only a few times in the past, I can tell you right now, if you have ever extended your trust to me as a friend and not just a CEO, you should extend it to him as well. This I can assure you, by my word.

To Fatal Ascension and to Raven Shadows, executor of Fatal Ascension, the AU-F extends its utmost offer and pledge of unity, camaraderie, and resources to better support, defend, and expand upon the interests, principles, and faculties of the greater Providence region, its holders, and its residents.

We who are about to die, salute you.


Disclaimer: Do not toss in the victory towel or start partying and getting excited about a wealth of opportunities opening up to us just yet as I will be formally applying for our membership in the Fatal Ascension alliance this afternoon at 23:00 EVE time pending we are granted final approval of the move. Nothing is as of yet written in figurative stone.

Veteran's Curse

Veteran's Curse
It Can Happen To You

So, I have been milling about since my vacation in October, desperately grasping at straws to figure out, as I say to myself often upon logging on, "After more than twelve months in this game, what the hell am I supposed to do now?"

• Logon
• Undock
• Shoot Stuff
• Drink Beer
• Make Merry
• Share Stories
• Entertain Friends

It sounds simple, right? Well, I had been told previously by a number of old timers, that there would be this wall I would hit, with the scope of the game suddenly laid out before me, and having experienced enough of it, I would then wonder, is there anything left, and why do I keep logging on anymore. This sounds ludicrous right? EVE is a huge sand box, there is no endgame? But at a personal level, there is. We all set long term goals for ourselves in EVE once we have had enough experience under our belts to know how to plan ahead six months or more, and when we finally reach that place we had hoped to be, and are then faced with even more planning, we start to wonder, is enough enough? Now, amazing friends to keep me entertained nightly and vice versa aside, I had always assumed this would not happen to me. There's a wealth of wonderful content to experience in this game, so surely I would not run out of steam right?

I did.

So I decided, I guess it was around the middle of November, or so, that the corporation as a whole should just take a huge load off, as we had been going hot and heavy for almost ten months straight at that point, trying to conquer the world, as it were. This was right about the time BEOR, GRIEV, and friends came on board to the AU-F. Unfortunate for them, though I could not really explain at the time, that half the officers were feeling and acting burned out and needed a nice long break from it all. So we lost them. Okay, shit happens. I can live with that, sad as it may be.

Then Dominion drops, and everyone comes back bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to take on the world, and toss their lot into the grand scheme of things. Oh woe is the pilot and group of players who discovers all that glitters is not gold, quickly, and drastically. Dominion brought change alright, but not the kind of change we can believe in, to be cliche.

However, after mucking around in Dominion for almost two months, and having launched our immense Northern Campaign and seen a rejuvenation of corporate incentives, energy, and motivation, I personally feel as refreshed and ready to take on the game as ever before. Maybe it helps that I just purchased, fit, and dazzled at my very first capital ship in the game, my Thanatos, named Simulacrum, because I still have a hard time believing I can now pilot one, let alone that it is physically sitting in a station with my character on board, even though I have been training towards it since September of last year. Maybe it was seeing everyone rush forth to pursue the campaign up in the far reaches of space more than well enough across the entire universe from where we have lived, breathed, and died for a year or so now.

So, I am back, and I am hungry for all things EVE, but here is the catch...

You are sitting down, right? You did not have a big lunch and you do not have a mouth full of milk at the moment with which to conveniently spew out of your nose?

The Northern Coalition is evidently going to turtle their primary assets, RAZOR and Morsus Mihi space, and retreat from Geminate, in order keep at bay the hounds of Triumvirate.

Our Northern Campaign? Poof.

I already shit my pants, don't worry about me.

So what now? I really do not know, I do know that I am continuing with my own project, the empire project, which I am now calling, the Gremlin Campaign, as I am just enamored with that term militarily, merrily dreaming of a some amazing ship model ingame named the Gremlin. This campaign will base out of Caldari high security space so no one needs to throw up their hands and pick up all their PvE or mining ships and mingle back to Domain or anything. And Varian's VERSA project, being a glorious success in my opinion, will continue as planned, but the scenery may change, though I am not certain on the details as it is all being hashed out still.

So what is the bottom line? More change is on the horizon but no one should panic and pick up all their stuff and retreat en masse back to Providence. However, it is in all likelihood that we will have to regroup there, and figure out what to do next, as far as a corporation goes, esp. since we will have to consider the alliance as a whole in the grand scheme of things too. I will be meeting with the heads of the alliance this weekend hopefully, to discuss options, etc.

The next post, hopefully later tonight, or tomorrow, will detail the various competing factors we may or may not have going for or against us, as it concerns gaining access to NBSI space, or taking what we can get and being happy with it. It will help me solidify my sense of the patterns laid out before me, and with any luck, ease the concerns of anyone who is thinking:

What the french toast? We just spent four weeks on a huge campaign only to have it disappear before our very eyes! Mendolus, your untimely death shall be by my hand! Have at thee!

Hopefully to ease those concerns with calming talk such as:

Well, the campaign was only meant to last 6-8 weeks anyways, succeed or fail, so we simply had to cut it short, due to factors beyond our control.

In the end it seems Dominion has opened some doors to us demographically but closed just as many if not more.

Crossroads

Crossroads
A Fork In The Road


The Path Already Traveled...
There are not very many times either in real life or an online environment where things really matter so much that it is almost palpable in the air. Sure there are tumultuous sometimes violent encounters between opposing forces, ideals, or peoples, but I am talking about times of pivotal decision making.

Last night the corporation convened for a rare but important meeting to talk about what we want out of this game not as corporate or alliance members but as individuals. Though most of the leadership suspected as much, we were all pleasantly surprised and overjoyed to hear that the sentiments were largely unanimous. We want to have fun, and we want to have fun together. Wherever it is, whatever it is, as long as its fun, and we are adhering to our ideals as a group, then we go for it. This is what the AU-F started with, and if I have my scruples, that is what it will continue with. We are here to enjoy an online game and the friends we choose to play it with. It is as simple as that.

The Pause...
Now, the lingering question in everyone's mind is, why are we not doing this now and why did we stop doing this in the past month or so? As per the last post made here an unfortunately long time ago I implored everyone to take a much needed breather in anticipation of a flurry of activity after Dominion dropped. The former happened, the latter, having something to do after Dominion actually dropped, did not. Not because of us, but more so because of the content of the expansion itself. Things did not pan out like we had all hoped they would. So since then we have been trying to apply this same formula (having fun for the sake of fun) to the alliance as a whole. Sparing you the gory details, this has been easier said than done. Our idea of sacrifice versus personal entertainment differs greatly from others, it seems. However, we are giving it everything we have got within reason, without sending the lambs to the slaughter, so to speak.

So because of this, the corporation has voted to not take on the Stain Project after all. And by corporation, I mean, we asked for volunteers to go out to Stain, and got no more than we could count on one hand, and with room to spare at that. This is the AU-F as a whole that has spoken on the matter. And I take very seriously what the majority of the corporation desires as a group at one point or another when opportunities are presented to us. What does this mean? I do not know. But we hope to find out soon after meeting with the leadership pool of the alliance. One thing that is clear, however, is that at this time Providence has gotten just a little bit too crowded for our tastes. CVA itself, sovereign power and one of the most respectable power blocks in the game, have no part in this, per say. They set forth on this path years ago, and could not have fathomed that the changes in the game mechanic and the player base would yield such a relatively inhospitable environment financially, rather devoid of the means which we all need to maintain our personal levels of entertainment. When I can squeeze out an L4 and bank more in fifteen minutes than I can in an hour on any average night out in Providence, then you know it is time to look to the horizon for a time and find another herd to track.

The Fork...
Now, CCP is talking under their breath about looking into adding NPC agents to player controlled space, and I think the reason being, is exactly what has happened to Providence. Providence is like a thermometer for all of EVE. It has both elements of Empire, low security, and null security all wrapped into one. And so you get this sort of massively complicated dichotomy with which if you were to take educated samplings of, you would get an idea of what is and is not working in the game itself, except for capital engagements of course. And so I think at some point in the next six months Providence may be viable again for pilots in our position, loyal to Providence, but unable to make a day's wage out there, so to speak. But I no longer have the patience personally to waste away another six months waiting for something to happen, to give me purpose out here. I want to have fun sooner rather than later, especially after spending the past few months wondering what we are supposed to really be working towards out here in the end.

Bearing this in mind, it behooves the Alliance to take up this initiative and find us space to live where we can prosper and flourish but not directly oppose or risk harming our brethren in Providence space. The AOV leadership has taken up this charge, which is what the Stain project is about. And the charge is, gain standings with the north. The north, comprised of the power block known as the Northern Coalition, with such alliances as RAZOR, Wildly Inappropriate, and Morsus Mihi, are not directly at odds with Providence residents or sovereign powers, and are the most logical choice of a place for us to go prosper and flourish and maybe maintain a long term and permanent residence should we find ourselves liking the space so much that we do not want to return to Providence. Not only this, but in the two years I have been gaming in EVE, I have only seen good from these alliances, rarely bad. In fact Morsus Mihi has always had my utmost respect, because they fly incredibly professional PvP fleets that are awe inspiring the few times I have seen them.

The Decision...
Now, the elephant in the room is, that the Alliance has chosen to take on the Stain Project, but we have not. So what does this mean? I do not know. I want to go back to the drawing board, but I want decisions to be made in days, not weeks, as this has already gone on long enough, the confusion, and lack initiative that is. We are going to convene with the alliance leadership at the earliest convenience, and bring these issues to light. The first order of business is we are temporarily and/or permanently leaving Providence. The second order of business is we do not wish to pick up our pilots, drop them into inhospitable space, and tell them to fight tooth and nail for survival. The third order of business is we want to primarily live in an environment that is conducive to wealth and progress first, and an environment that is target rich for combat fleets second. We had the former for the first six months we came out to Providence. Now we seem stuck in perpetuity with the latter, which is not good for the bottom line. Wars are waged with the dollar not with the soldier, in a philosophical sense. If we cannot fund our operations, what does a target rich environment give us? A whole lot of nothing.

The Path Yet To Be Traveled...
So before us lies two paths. One path leads to compromise between what the alliance thinks it needs and what we think we need. The other path leads to compromise between what we need and what the alliance thinks it needs. Which comes first? I am apt to believe after having devoted twelve months to alliance initiatives thus far that we need to make a few decisions for our own benefit that do not hinge solely on whether or not it benefits the alliance first and us second. I am trying hard to include the alliance in the grand scheme of things nonetheless but only time will tell if I am able to maintain this particular initiative.

The Rock...
So, times are changing and with those changes comes uncertainty. But to give everyone a rock to lean on I would like to announce the advent of the long awaited Empire Project. I have tried, unsuccessfully, for more than half a year, to get a project rolling that provides all pilots, new or seasoned, with a consistent, stable, safe, and lucrative environment in which they can prosper and flourish in every way. So far I have been largely unsuccessful because my time is so micromanaged that I rarely had more than a day every other week to devote to this end. Now, however, having come to the realization that things are not going to get done unless I have help doing them, I have a tactical director, Varian, able to take over the combat responsibilities that I have tried so hard to also maintain over the past six months, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. This leaves me much more time for administrative responsibilities and for infrastructure development, such as the Empire Project. So for this reason, regardless of what we do or do not do as a corporation or alliance, you will find, someday soon, in a system near you (if you live in Caldari High-Sec) a wealth of PvE opportunities with which to pursue both in missions, exploration, and industry. I have little to no details at this time because I have been unable to make a move on the project with all the uncertainty lately, but I can tell you it will happen regardless of all else.

So, if you are uncertain about what we are going to be doing in a week or two, as am I to a degree, one thing you CAN do is start pounding out Caldari missions to gain standings, or moving your mining and exploration ships to The Forge region. As early as tonight. Or sooner if you are bored.

See you in space my friends!
Mendolus

Hurry Up! And wait...

Hurry Up! And wait...
You want relaxation, I've got
your relaxation... right... here!


Hey hey! It's been a long month since I posted here. Wonder why? Well not much has happened to be honest. No that is not a bad thing, it's good. Why is it good? Because Dominion, it is coming. My favorite phrase at times, has always been the tried and true, if you cannot do anything about it then the only thing you can do is hurry up and wait for it. This old cliche could not be more appropriate for our time ingame at the moment and for the past few weeks.

For the past month, if I haven't been on vacation, I have been taking it easy, playing this or that game, hanging out with these or those friends, taking a much needed EVEcation to get my druthers together in anticipation for what I am hoping will be the biggest expansion yet in EVE insofar as its likelihood to dramatically change the landscape of the entertainment experiences possible to us.

Because of this, and because of a number of other issues, namely that lately a significant and somewhat alarming portion of our more active members have had real life issues come in between them and a nightly jaunt through space, I have issued, though not directly until now, a sort of moratorium on hardcore gaming within the corporation. Now is the time for everyone to sit back, soak in all the hard work they have done for this corporation and for themselves over the past ten months since we first deployed a POS, and to enjoy all things non-EVE related. Go out, buy or play a console game, sub again to an old flame MMO, and enjoy yourself. When Dominion comes out there will likely be more things to entertain or occupy us than we can even mention in one sitting, so until then, take a break! That's what I am doing. I have run this corporation since the spring of '08 and rarely taken more than a week here or there to just sit back and relax until this past month. So I highly recommend everyone else do the same to avoid the inevitable burnout of putting one's nose to the grindstone at any one thing for more than six months at a stretch. Just make sure you check in on the game every day or so for emergency dispatch or critical information. For example, the showing we had two nights in a row for the CVA incident was simply amazing.

Dominion releases in December. We have a few more weeks of utter carefree time to simply smell the flowers, so have at it! While you're at it, pick those flowers, give them to your significant other or hopeful flame, and get some! Lord knows you have plenty of free time right now while things in EVE are in a holding pattern and nothing major is going on.

:)

Your friend,
Mendolus

In The News Vol. #4

In The News
Vol. #4

• AFK

Well, I am going away for a bit, and I have left the care of the corporation in the hands of the Senate. I do not anticipate any wild debauchery or occurrences while I am away, nor any critical emergencies, but just in the rare event that something does happen, all the officers and some of the managers know how to reach me.

You know the drill, although I will not be updating the corporate/casual schedule, considering we are at a time of war, and all days are corporate anyways. Pairing up in twos or greater to achieve safety in numbers is paramount during a time of open conflict, not that I expect our WTs to do more than fit officer gear and piss their ships away in pitched 1v1 combat against crazy odds. Seriously, a gankfit Nighthawk worth 1.3bil against an Abaddon? Can we say no contest.

• Instinct; alive and well.

So last night we ganked a mission fit Cerberus. He happened to be coming our way as we went his way. Funny thing is that he nearly got away, but my instinct kicked in. Having done all the intelligence reports myself, I know this guy never flies Cerberus in combat, so I had a sneaking suspicion he was trying to earn some ISK to afford to PvP more, esp. in HAM Drakes, since he seems to like high yield missiles.

So we land on the gate two or three seconds too late to tackle him and he warps off, we pursue, our scouts making best speed to keep up with him. A jump into the pursuit, he warps off first to a gate, then off into a safe. Bingo. I know this game, it's called bait and switch. He was betting on the entire fleet running in a straight line like a hive mind. Only this mind had not one but three wholly capable FCs. So as the report is coming in that he warped off to a safe, I holler over comms that he is doubling back on us, and we should get tackle on the gate we just came through. Sure enough he lands on grid seconds later as our tackle are in route. Needless to say, he left shortly thereafter without his ship, and short 180mil that he had before, and was now relieved of.

Sorry, but bait and switch is the oldest trick in the book, and it does not work if you remain in local and are visibly seen to jump to a safe. He had no aggression, his best bet would have been to dock or log off like a chump. Thankfully for us, he had some nerves, and decided that it was more honorable to give chase and let us have our opportunity to dare and catch him. Good fight, my enemy, good fight.

• Border null, a killing ground.

I have noticed a discouraging amount of losses in the border systems of Providence along the low security pipeline. Please, do not linger in major pipelines, esp. those near capital systems. It is just no good at all. And do not travel more than 3-4 jumps without a scout or stabs if you are in a battlecruiser or larger.

• Suddenly questions...

I am usually a pretty helpful guy and pretty understanding, but there is one thing that gets in my craw every time. Nosy endless questions. Where are you guys? How many ships are you flying? What fit do you have? Who is FC? Who is scout? What belt are you mining? Are you hauling valuables? How much are they worth? Can I join? Can I come? Is there a fleet? Why can I not get into fleet? Why can I not get into your private ventrilo channel? Why can I not know every single tiny security detail about your covert operations? Can I loiter in the system you are trying to operate discretely in and blast all the intelligence reports into alliance chat or warp about and act suspicious?

Okay, so maybe I am exaggerating some but last night was pretty bad. Look, if there is something going on, and you are not immediately invited, there is always a reason, it may or may not be you, but there is a reason. So do not ask. The more you ask, the more I grow suspicious, and I am not a paranoid individual. Only a small handful of our freshest recruits do this kind of thing and I hate to be a hardliner but it needs to stop. No, we will not tell you when we are moving hundreds of mil in various materials, no we will not tell you why we have people in a private channel in ventrilo, and no it is not a fleet, we are just comparing epeens like its the locker room after a winning game and Big Bill has it hanging all out and is talking about the girl he banged last night, and no if we do not answer, it is because you are not privy to every tiny security detail of our alliance, so just chill, the more you ask private and sensitive questions about our operations, the more unsettled and frustrated I get, and I do not easily frustrate.

Capice? :)

• Advocated is back.

The alliance we love to hate, Advocated Destruction is back in low security on and off again. What makes these guys so frustrating? They are like cockroaches. They loiter about, in T2 cruisers, battlecruisers, and T1 battleships, in numbers of typically a dozen or more, and wail on people in low security. Let's face it, these guys have come into 0.0 a handful of times and gotten the holy snot pounded out of them every time within minutes, so it is obvious that they cannot cut it, and simply overcompensate. Oh yea, real tough guys, floating around in more than a dozen ships all tanked to the max, and docking up the moment real trouble arrives. It took them five minutes to gank my single Brutix, and all I had was a DC, EANM, and a single plate, no rigs. I mean seriously, five minutes? Takes the game to a whole new level of pansy ass scarebearing if you ask me. Ooh look at the scary fleet popping solo blues and neutrals here and there, shaking in their own booties because they are deathly afraid of real competition showing up. Sad shit man, sad shit.

• Lessons learned.

Let me paraphrase how our present war came to be and you tell me if this makes sense.

We declared war against a small corporation that was harboring a known scammer who we owed a debt of repayment to, by force. Said player then biomasses a 24,000,000 SP character, in order to hide his main account's identity from us. Said corporation then joins a NEUTRAL alliance. This alliance automatically enters an active war by admitting the corporation. Aggression between our own alliance members and theirs is immediately possible so long as the war was active in the first place. It was.

So, let me reiterate, this alliance executor accepted a warring corporation into his alliance in the middle of the afternoon on a week day. A few of our alliance members pop a Hulk of theirs. Logic goes to negotiate terms with these guys when he logs on to find that they have joined an alliance, because all he wants is the scammer, he is not here to aggress and combat a neutral alliance. He knows nothing of this Hulk as of yet as the first thing he does is convo the opposing executor. Everything seems to be going well, until the executor is alerted of his member's loss of a Hulk. In a nutshell, the guy goes batshit, talking about how he cannot believe that Logic is talking to him about a CEASEFIRE knowing that his guys have been popping his pilots.

First off, wild flailing accusations are pretty facetious, second off, do not accept a warring corporation whose own TZ and that of his aggressors is in the USA in the middle of the day on a weekday and expect the hostile forces to distinguish between one corporate avatar and the next. You have a red background with a white star, you are going to die. How ffs hard is that to understand? Seriously? I bet even a preschooler could understand that. You jump on a Merry-Go-Round as it is spinning real fast, and guess what, you got yourself a nice booboo, ya numbnuts. What did you think was going to happen, "Oh noz, big scary alliance took in our war targets! Cease and desist, we must huddle in the the corner and weep in fear!"

Right.


Anyways, we honored the CEASEFIRE once it was publicly declared, they did not, so who's at fault here?

• Gremlin squadron.

Gremlin squadron flew last night, with a dedicated crew of old salts in fancy ships. We snagged that Cerberus pilot real good; it was a joy. I hope to lead some of these Gremlin gangs here after I get back from vacation. One can only hope this war, and the combat experiences it has thus yielded, never ends.

• The price of war.

What is it, about inexperienced pilots, whose wallets are bloated from carebearing, that makes me cringe every time? Oh, maybe it's seeing damage control fit bombers, or solo gankfit Nighthawks worth more than five of my own, or battlecruisers half-ass fit with plates and trimarks that likely do jack for giving it good EHP, or projector rigged Falcons, or a solo gank fit CNR worth almost a bil, or people mining in an Orca who are in a time of war and are not aligned to a station in the system or warp stabbed, or just undocking an Orca period in a time of war, I mean ffs yo. These guys forced our hand on this war, and now I see them zipping about in daddy's new shoes. Better dig deep in the closet for those old loafers with the hole in the toe, because you are about to run out of shiny pairs of Doc Martins with which to roam about on the unsafe city streets, ya friggin' idiot. Who flies solo in ships worth +1bil when they know we run in gangs? Seriously? How dense do you have to be? But no, please, continue, I am looking to score a 500mil drop myself, so please fit that officer booster, I can haz shinies?

In The News Vol. #3

In The News
Vol. #3

• Taking that big leap.

PvP. I know a lot of people will not PvP without a group to back them up. But it's been my impression that most kills outside of blob warfare stem from small groups of 1-3 players who band together to pound on another similarly small group that literally just entered their area. If you are still apprehensive about your knowledge base or experience in PvP game mechanics not measuring up you need to do one of two things. Get out there and do it, or get on the test server and let a veteran show you. Fear keeps us at bay, but knowledge and experience set us free. I want to see more groups of 1-3 members out there living it up gangsta style in the coming weeks, with or without an official AU-F or AOV Fleet Commander at the helm.

• Longevity, tough job.

There is a hurdle in this game, that most people reach about three or four months in which peaks at around twelve months. If you have ever seen that amusing diagram on the learning curves in popular MMOs, you are likely to know what I am talking about when I say that the cliff face is indeed as high as it seems. I would like to call this hurdle the T2 Slump. About three or four months in you start to think to yourself, "Learning skills, check. Core skills, check. Can fly up to battlecruiser, check. Stable income, check. Now what?"

Well, for some, you start looking at one of two things as I've described at length on the forums. You either go T2 in BC or lower, or you go hog wild in battleship or larger, and whether that means T2 or not depends on your choice in ship. But that Cruiser V, that stupid skill is +20 days! What maniacal bastard designed this game anyways? Okay, well in all honesty, let's look at it this way, what T2 cruiser are you going to be using in anything other than PvP? Maybe an Ishtar or Zealot for ratting, okay, or a Logistics ship in PLEXs or L5s, okay. Is there much else? Not really. So while you wait for that agonizing skill to complete, nothing much changes for you, and nothing much changes in some sense when you get it. So relax, do not dwell on what will be, enjoy the fact that you're still going to be lining your wallet just like you always have, and while you wait on being able to fly those pricey T2 ships, it is business as usual.

What happens when you get into that ship? You get to have more fun, that's about it. It won't make or break you ability to adequately participate in small to medium sized gang warfare, nor will it make you unstoppable, but it will be one more shiny ship you can be proud to fly and learn to utilize. Looking down the line you realize that a lot of ships are like this; one more shiny tool that goes on my belt, along with all the rest I already have. So when you get to the place, where you are like "Why am I spending months training all this junk? I could go play FPS and just find fancy stuff laying around, pick it up, and start blasting folks with it," just think to yourself, that all this training, does not MAKE the game more entertaining for you by somehow making you more capable than you were before. Only your perspective, stance, experience, and effort do.

• Diplomacy paramount.

We recently had a diplomatic incident with a friendly corporation who had been hanging out in our public channel for a week or two. Nice, personable, congenial people can still sometimes take things well out of context, however, as it seems they have done. For some reason, it appears that their sister corporation, built for combat, had a member who fired on blues down the pipe from the PN4 corporation and the Einherjar Alliance. Said corporation was then reported as hostile for the remainder of the day in the security channel. Our alliance executor thus set them red as a KOS was pending at the time.

Let me clarify at this point. That's his job. And he's very good at it. Maybe, maybe once every month or two I will report a red I see in local only to be rebuked for them actually being neutral. So our members take this at face value. If you're red, you're dead. Members of our alliance, other blues, and the Providence residents at large thus began actively hunting, eliminating, and podding our new friends because they were now considered hostiles. Suddenly I am logging onto the game to watch my public channel filled with griping for six hours straight, asking us "Why why why?" over and over. Not my responsibility. Nor the alliance executor's, nor the people who fired on those pilots. Neither do I want to be forced to turn blink off on my own corporation's public channel because it is nothing but complaining and questioning for something that is not even our responsibility. PN4, Einherjar, and said parties should have immediately presented their case in the CVA-Diplo channel and sorted it out right then and there.

Diplomacy is a gentleman's game, and it requires one of two things, transparency or erudition. Our alliance executor is a man of transparent motives. He will tell you to your face what the problem is, regardless of whether you spill your coffee in shock or not. This is transparency, diplomatic relations are immediately out in the open, and the problem is rooted out. I myself use erudition, the artful measure of learned knowledge to the extreme. I will kill you with the facts, and let you come to your own conclusions after you have already been burned beyond recognition in light of the public sphere. Combined, these diplomatic measures ensure A) We always have a clear voice and B) We always cover our asses while laying it on you thick like butter.

I saw none of this in the public channel for hours which creates a sour taste in my mouth. If such a small relatively benign situation causes such upheaval, what of truly momentous events and disasters? If we are already at our peak for something so trivial as a common misunderstanding, how much more volatile can it get for when it really matters? Thankfully our members were gracious enough to explain that it was not our responsibility and if said corporation had diplomatic issues to raise them with the parties in question at the representative level, aka our executor, and the executor and/or CEO of the other corporation and alliance. Not our public channel where we relax and enjoy casual conversation and camaraderie. Do not barge into a poker game, waving a political flag crying foul on everyone in the room for something none of them were involved in while they are smoking cigars, drinking vodka, and dealing cards. You are likely to get shown the door very quick and in a less than gentle manner.

Where is the respect these days? I understand it is an online environment and people are free to mouth off all they want, but from a veteran CEO I would expect much more. I guess I am mistaken.

• Doing most by doing nothing.

Dominion. This expansion seems to be the greatest upheaval in game mechanics yet, so much so that I am not sure that the majority of the EVE gaming populace even has a solid opinion or has even had the chance to gasp yet at the idea that sovereignty will become much more solvent in a few short months.

However, while people begin to suffer egregiously from sovereignty fever the alliance executor and myself have deliberated on the subject and come to a firm conclusion. We are going to sit on the sidelines, not angle or negotiate for sovereignty of any kind, watch as the expansion drops, and we are going to protect CVA's interests first, and our own second. Why? Let's face it, every luxury, ISK, and good time we have had out in Providence has stemmed from CVA members who spent years cultivating, maintaining, and defending the space they worked so hard to conquer. My own gaming experience has been wonderful because they provided an open forum for me, the corporation, and people at large to grow on their own terms without the proverbial ball and chain to restrain us. So let us toast their blood and sweat with some of our own, and ensure that others who decide to try and take that which is not theirs, are stamped out, ever so quickly, when the Great Sovereignty Rush occurs. Trust me, it's in our best interests.

• A few good men.

While it may seem that we are vastly outnumbered when blobs of more than a dozen ships roam around Providence and we are floating around in half a squadron, I would like to point out that we are honing our combat skills to a fine degree, unlike those in large blobs who have the luxury of strength in numbers where whether one person or the next is as skilled as he can be matters little. Be proud of your combat experiences, as a skilled pilot is worth ten who are not.

• SiSi, your fine friend.

In line with the first topic in the news this week, I would like to encourage anyone who is unsure about the basic capabilities of their PvP ship and has not had as much experience testing that ship in real combat situations, to come onto the Singularity server, and test their mettle against any of my combat pilots. I can fly pretty much every ship type battleship or smaller except Logistics, so game on!

• Change is brewing.

Our format is working, we have 95% of our members living in low and null security on a daily basis now, and our combat fleets continue to excel in every encounter. However, we need to continue recruitment. We need combat pilots who are ready to help foster, acquire, and maintain sovereignty if and when we do find ourselves with it. We need 0.0 combat pilots, lots of them, just like the good people we have now who are rich in both skill and personality.

• AU-F Public goes stealth.

The Aurelius public channel has been set to Blocked operation which means it only admits those who have been manually entered into the Allowed list. A corporate mailer has been sent detailing the process to get your friends, our blues, or other miscellaneous people into the public channel.

• Jay (Mia) sells/looks for new char.

Jay is at it again! He has sold his Gallente character, Mia Dandoro, and is pursuing a set of characters with which to ensure he is able to maximize his limited time in the game. With a newborn only a few months old, even as he wraps up the harvest in the next week or two, he will have a baby in one hand, and a mouse in the other, on various occasions. Thus he is acquiring two Hulk pilots, and of course a combat pilot, and merging them onto one or two account. This way he can mine ore to fund his blood thirst, but will be able to simply walk away if his wife or son need his immediate attention. Look for him showing a new face in the next week or two. Let's hope his new character is named Inigo Montoya!

• Vacation nearing for Mendolus.

I am going AFK on October the 2nd and returning the 11th and I will likely not be taking a computer with me. However, the officers and managers know how to reach me in the event of a complete and catastrophic emergency such as Jacob nearly stepping on a bee and getting his junk stung when it flies up his pants in a fit of rage and burninates him.

• Providence space grows some.

Blobs. EVE Online: The Blobby Blob Age. Blobs. The slumbering beast has awoken in Providence, and fleets of dozens spring up everywhere in sight at the drop of a hat whenever there are reds inbound to an area. Providence residents are no longer content to play coy with our enemies and casually form up fleets to take them out as they have overstayed their welcome in the past few months. The fighters are scrambled the moment the blip hits the radar panel and I have seen some amazing response times in Providence in the past week or so. Blood for the blood god!

• War!

Well, we are at war. The reasons have been discussed at length both in private, public, and ventrilo, but suffice it to say, our war targets are carebears and scammers and we are not likely to get much of a fight out of them whatsoever. In fact, to my knowledge, not one of those muggles has logged on since the war went live. Shameful.

Liquid Woes

Liquid Woes
Interminable ISK

Last week went by quick for me, partly because of my frequent and annoying jaw and muscle pain, but also because I've been somewhat floundering on what to do ingame from one moment to the next lately.

I need ISK, and I need it fast, but it seems like every time I go to burn some ol' rats at a belt there are a dozen others with the same idea, or complete a string of L4s only to find some week old rube looting and salvaging my wrecks, which results in a half an hour long private conversation about being careful who he freely loots from because certain alliances are rather bloodthirsty at this time and will use any excuse to open up the flood gates and unleash fiery hell upon others. I am proud of that fact, by the way, as an alliance should have brass balls and nerves of steel. Something we do very well.

But the main idea is I need money, and I needed it last month, let alone this month. How much do I need, you ask?

Well, the skillsheets for getting into a Thanatos cost around a billion. The skillsheets for getting into a Rorqual cost about a billion. The cost of getting both ships is about a billion or more a piece. I am also getting a Golem the first week of January to alleviate the problems listed above ^. I'd like to see the hyenas salvage my wrecks faster than I can when they cannot tractor them and are forced to occupy my grid while NPCs spawn. The Golem will cost a billion, btw. So that is what, oh around five or six billion ISK, no worries, I'll just open up my wal...*gasp* Holy Flappin' Mothras Batman, we have no ISK! Okay, okay, so I'm not exactly broke, but I'm getting to where I cannot afford to replace some of the ships I fly, and we all know what they say about that.

So, big deal right, everyone needs ISK to fund their gaming habit in EVE. Yes, it must be nice to rat 75% of the time, and PvP 25% when there are official gangs and I covet the fact that our corporation is set up so that people can do that if they so desire. There is much to be said about leading a relatively carefree gaming lifestyle and I work myself too hard to make sure others have that luxury. So I could do that too, or could I? Well it would be nice, for sure, but for me it will always be more 25% ratting/missions and 75% administrative. But I think mainly I need to just batten the hatches, cinch up my belt, and use these new casual days the way they were intended. So from now on, on casual days, I do literally nothing but personal stuff, like earn ISK. Sorry random PvP gangs. Sorry last minute manufacturing or administrative needs. Daddy needs a shiny new Golem, Thanatos, and Rorqual and there is only one way to do it beyond selling my left nut, aptly named Wrinkles, to science.

;)

So if it's a casual day and you find some reds who need pounding, please do not take it the wrong way when I say no thanks, I have priorities that I must meet.

Six billion in the next three months is quite a bill and I do not intend to skimp on the tip.

In The News Vol. #2

In The News
Vol. #2

Busy work. I think that pretty much defines most of our real lives at the moment. As the fall season kick starts, a lot of us are having to let that old cardinal rule, RL > EVE, take precedence.

However, things keep moving in game, and while we have this prolonged lull in activity overall, the officers and leadership in the corporation and alliance are brainstorming the winter expansion, with all kinds of entertaining notions of becoming dominant enough to control our own little nook of space someday soon.

Here are some notable events in the past week, and some still to come:

• Dante Fateor leaves legacy.

Dante Fateor, though not as active as some of us, made his presence known through dedicated service, participation, and commitment whenever he had the opportunity to do so. He has, however, decided that EVE is not the game for him. Much to my surprise, and gratitude, he has left the AU-F with a sizable dowry, assortment of ships, and materials. All these donated materials and liquid assets have either been placed in savings, converted into four new laboratories for research, or tossed into the corporate hangar, save the Raven. The ship, originally named Purgatory, has been newly christened Dante's Inferno, and will remain so as one of the flagships of the AU-F fleet, flown by yours truly.

Good tidings to you Dante Fateor, and good luck.

• Fogwlker: Inactive.

Our friend Fogwlker appears to have given into real life pressures and left the world of EVE behind as was expected in the long run, though I wish it could have been any other way. Having lost their respective jobs, Fog and his roommate both slowly dwindled from the spotlight in our entertainment world. Fog hung in there, after I encouraged him to farm for GTCs so he could continue playing, but in the end, grinding for game currency when you are watching your real bank account dwindle is not really that entertaining I imagine. Sadly, I have no idea if this is merely an extended break while he gets his financial situation under control, or if he has given up on the game itself after working tirelessly to research various ship BPOs from his POS. The last word I had was he was closing one of his accounts, and wanted to sell or hand over control of his existing POS in space.

Best of luck to you Fogwlker, if we do not see you again somewhere down the line. This corporation would not be as far along as it is if you had not propelled us into the game with your sizable donation of time and effort to encourage and provide us with the opportunity to place our first POS in space. You will be remembered!

• Providence getting crowded.

Well, in light of recent announcements concerning null security space, I am apt to believe that this problem is only an interim situation, and that once the winter expansion is released it will no longer factor in as it does now. Suffice it to say, every other system in Providence is inhabited by half a dozen or more ratters at all times of day, and it is really putting a crimp in the style of many members of the AU-F. Not only do these ratters often deliberately sabotage the belts in order to drive others away, but they are rarely the kind you see within fleets in space defending the very land which they are milking dry. Neutrals. When I came to Providence they were plentiful and often times very generous and giving when it came to defending the land they lived off. Now all I see half the time are farmers who take their ISK and run; nameless corporations and alliances you never see representation of either in the security channels or in defense of Providence. Sad.

• Bill's RL takes center stage.

Bill's father is signing over one of his restaurants to his son. In the coming weeks Bill is going to be inundated with paperwork, red tape, and new responsibilities. Hopefully somewhere in the mix there will be some entertaining times and stories which will provide him with the opportunity to enjoy himself. However, he has graciously stepped down from his role as a Manufacturing manager for the corporation, or at least, it seems, offered to let someone else fill his position until he has a handle on his real life. I will be filling his position for now, until we know more about whether he will have more free time in the near future or not.

• Mithos' long incubation period over.

Mithos enters the record books within the corporation, as far as I know, for the longest incubation period as a PvP pilot. Some twelve months ago I rolled him, intending to go straight down the battleship tree, and I have succeeded in this endeavor, although he may not be maximized, he has certainly earned his stripes in my mind as a pilot to contend with. Sporting a +900DPS Geddon, and maximum drone damage Dominix build, he can certainly hold his own in the world of battleships. However, this past weekend I took him for a spin, finally, to actually shoot at something! Imagine that. Twelve months old and he gets his first real combat experience. And what an experience! I have to say, I have been more than impressed with how well a Sniper Cane performs and will be using them frequently in the future. Now it's onwards to Thanatos training. Only 110 more days to go!

• Mendolus trains Basilisk/Vulture.

Surprise! I just switched my training. It will be another three months until I even touch Basilisk or Vulture. Why? Well, besides the Nighthawk, which is really king of PvE, but doubles nicely as a meat shield and bait in PvP, I have done nothing but train fleet oriented skills on Mendolus since day one. That was a year and a half ago. It is time for me to take a slice for myself and be selfish with my CEO account. So I am training Golem, which will be a seriously delicious guilty pleasure once I perfect the build at the beginning of January. Sporting variable DPS from 700-950 at a range of 0-45km, with a +1200 permatank, two tractors with 40km range and 1 km/s velocity, and a salvager, and a 1,225 m3 cargo bay, this boat pretty much leaks ISK out of every orifice. Why train it when I have a Nighthawk already? Well the Nighthawk may be king, but the Golem is the Prime Minister, and we all know in most monarchies today, who's boss. The Nighthawk's only flaw is that it does it too well. And while it will punch through nearly any mission, I am still left with that nagging problem of how to mop up the mess I make while I work, as those of us who occasionally do L4s know, the ninja salvagers are only getting worse, as Empire becomes more and more bloated with carebears. Now, while I really should be ratting, I cannot, and there is no telling how long after the winter expansion it will be until the solar systems in Providence have been progressed to the point that they can financially support not only us but the other residents. So I need a money machine, and the Golem is just that. Plus, it's about damn sexy, so why not? We will just ignore the 1,000,000,000.00 ISK price tag for now, okay? Hehe.

• Kai flies it old school.

Kaijusan has come into the corporation like a cowboy through the saloon doors, with a grin on his face, a shot of whiskey in his hand from the last saloon, and a six shooter still smoking in his belt. I have been very impressed with his energy, positive attitude, humor, and initiative. Showing up in a T1 frigate for tackle on our null roam, and hearing him yell out "Point!" numerous times, and then making it through the night without being popped, is what it is all about. I always laud the fact that we have free frigates for all members who want them, and no one uses them (which is fine), but Kai rolls in with a T1 frigate like a champ, so here's to Kai! May he take the small army of frigates I have produced, and turn them into angry hornets, ready to wail on some hostiles!

• Lindsey goes native.

Lindsey has decided to take on a project of his own and turn pirate and has thus left the corporation. His highwayman aspirations are often entertained by many of us, but at the end of the day, we all choose to build things up, rather than tear them down. However, there is much to be said about pursuing one's goals of being a pure gunslinger, and dashing around space solo, picking fights at will. Good luck to Lindsey in his endeavors to define himself within the game as an independent force! Maybe one day he shall return to us, with grit in his teeth, and a glint in his eye, and show our enemies what a real pirate can do!

• DPhentum rejoins AU-F.

Denis returns after a short absence from the game, Myrmidon in hand, hoping to take a slice for himself out of Providence hostiles. Always one for a good time, Denis is a steady presence in null security and is not afraid to mix it up with the hostiles should they bear down on him. Many good times to be had in the future I am sure. Welcome back bro!

• Jay returns soon from harvest.

Jay (Mia), the pilot formerly known as Staigor, has been furiously harvesting his rice crops out in California, and says that soon he shall return triumphant from one of the hardest seasons on record, with nothing but free time until April of next year. That is almost six months straight of nothing but PvP loving from our master combat pilot! Look for him in a fleet near you, guns blazing, tearing into the hulls of every hostile ship in sight, laughing in joy as he watches the shiny explosions and cataclysms.

• A good night.

Varian Knight is back with pizazz. Taking the fleet out for a roam this past Saturday, he shows us all what it means to be a combat pilot in EVE, and gave us the opportunity to rearrange the faces of a few reds in Providence, sometimes in most humorous ways. The fleet was a great success with no losses and multiple kills, and everyone was grateful to have our old FC back at the helm. We who are about to die, salute you!

• Upcoming vacation for Mendolus.

I will be going to Colorado on the 2nd of October and not returning until Sunday the 10th. My grandfather is 93 years old this year and my family and I would like to see him while we still have him in our lives. He is a WWII veteran of Iwo Jima among other notable engagements, and I am very proud of his legacy. Before it was popular to cite the fact that the Iwo Jima flag raising was staged after the fact in order to snap a more photogenic picture he was telling me all about how the real guys raised a flag on a stick when the hill was first captured. Who in their right mind would lug a twelve foot metal pole up the side of a hill during an active engagement anyways, just to put a flag up?

• Providence space cools, relatively.

Well. This is all relative of course, as it comes and goes for no apparent reason these days, but low security space and Providence in general have cooled in the past week. From multiple hostile gangs of more than twenty a piece to a few small roaming gangs every other night or so, it seems our hostile friends are getting bored with staring at bubbled outposts and being chased out by the inevitable bevy of blues bent on their annihilation. I could say more on this, but suffice it to say I believe the real root of the problem is that the game has been divided equally in parts between West and East since the fall of BOB and the only thing keeping these halfwits entertained is taking large fleets into regions like Providence where they will not face greater repercussions for bloodying some noses. If it were up to me, I would lead gangs every other night of more than a hundred, to stamp out these opportunists, and give them something to think about. But that's just me.

• New corporate schedule active!

Although not a pressing matter, and certainly not enforced as much as it could be, we have now implemented the new format for corporate scheduling. As a reminder, here are the basic guidelines.

1) On casual days, the officers and managers get the day off, and everyone is left pretty much to their own devices, although gangs for this and that should and can form for whatever reasons people desire. No, this is not necessarily for them to sit back and sip gin and juice while getting a curious massage from some scantily clad lady, but more so they can get business done. A lot of us in the leadership have responsibilities that simply cannot get done unless we have free time. Hauling, administrating, refueling, planning, discussing, debating, and brainstorming are part of what goes on for us on casual nights. And yes, a little lining of our wallets will go on as well. I myself have about 7.2bil worth of skillsheets and ships on my docket for the next three month period, so I will be sitting down and carebearing pretty hardcore now that we have Varian back to help with the PvP aspect, and Jay coming back soon as well.

2) On corporate days, you guessed it, you are expected to team up with people in the corporation in order to further our interests as a whole. Whether this is by joining mining, combat, carebear, exploratory, or hauling and logistics fleets, you help yourself out by helping everyone else. This is not a hard and fast rule, and some nights we have may events planned, and others we may just all log on and ask ourselves, "What we we wanna do tonight?" but the general idea is that these nights, you should be working together. Those who are found to regularly participate in these corporate activities may also conveniently find themselves eligible for public research access, priority in manufacturing when resources are stretched thin, or even Senate membership.

3) On alliance days, you can pretty much expect much of the same, except at the alliance level. Everyone knows what usually occurs on alliance days already, so there is no need for further examination.

• Merth announces ore program

Covered last week and thus far extremely successful. Once again, Merth proves why he is the goto guy in his boss' restaurant empire, and why he was recently given ownership of multiple restaurants and a big promotion! Go Merth!

• Public recruitment closed.

This is going to be discussed at length, but the basic idea is we have a new recruitment platform and it will be implemented shortly. We have had a problem so far getting the numbers we have always wanted, but this will change. We no longer have the luxury of waiting for members to find us, and we must seek them out more than ever to prepare for the winter expansion. New members like GRIEV, Kai, Blurtie, BJ, and more (you know who you are) are hard to come by and I intend to find them all!

• AU-F Senate sets 3mil SP limit.

This is more important now than it ever has been. We need to recruit only those who are ready, capable, able, and relatively experienced enough to come straight out to low and null and live there with us. Unfortunately, we no longer have the luxury of allowing people to linger around in Empire, if we are going to make a stand in null and become a player in the political arena, and also claim a slice for ourselves, which I believe is a notable goal for a null sec Alliance such as ours, we need to gather about us only those who are ready to undock at a moment's notice and fly our banner in combat.





So, that wraps up this past week, and a majority of this week's business. I wish that I could elaborate more like I have in the past, but I'm feeling pretty drained this week, as I am sure some of you noticed I have been less vocal for a few days. This stuff while extremely satisfying is tireless and I am only human, so please excuse me while I try to lay low for a bit, to catch my breath. Plus, I go on vacation soon, so I need to wind down a bit like I did before my eye surgery, and let you guys run the show (which you do better than I do, honestly) while I am absent for an entire week straight.

In The News Vol. #1

In The News
Vol. #1

September got off to a slow start, with Labor Day weekend here in the US, members returning to classes or just wrapping up their summer activities with a last BBQ or party, and other various factors, which made it seem like everyone was taking a sporting break from the game.

In the meantime, things continue to progress as planned, even though activity levels have been low for a bit now.

Here is a summary of current and ongoing events:

• Low Sec: A Killing Ground

  Low security space in and around the Misaba area has increasingly become a crap shoot. There is almost never a time day or night, weekday or weekend, when there are not reds zipping about, being flagrantly dumb, but still managing to pop inexperienced haulers or people trying to be heroes.
  

  
  
• Systra leaves AU-F, sells account?

  Systra, leaves the AU-F without a word, and proceeds to sell his account, claiming he got tired of Gallente and wants something Amarr. His motivations and why no one was notified of this change? Unknown. But the officers have decided he is not welcome back.
  

• Eclypze joins AU-F.

  That energetic young person who has an endless stream of questions is earning his stripes among our ranks. With an ever fluctuating schedule in real life, look for this new member in your local space port, anxious and willing to join in on operations, to learn the ropes from the veterans.
  

• Rasnow back from vacation.

  Rasnow returns from Myrtle Beach a little more tan than before he left but forgets to bring us back a beach bunny or three. GRR.
  

• HuffDaddy: Rigging Manufacturer.

  Huff has purchased all Small and Medium rig BPOs and can produce them at your request if you provide him with sufficient notice and courtesy.
  

• Mentaz joins AU-F.

  Mentaz, GRIEV's father, is an aspiring and evidently very well adapted manufacturer.
  

• Falgoria flies Ishtar!

  The Failtar will take its maiden flight this week! Much love in a purely platonic way Falgoria.
  

• Upcoming vacation for Mendolus.

  Mendolus will be MIA and off to Colorado starting Friday October 2nd and ending Sunday October 11th.
  

• September off to a slow start.

  Explained in the preamble.
  

• Providence space becomes volatile.

  Suddenly blobs, hundreds of them. What is happening to Providence? The future seems uncertain. Let us hop in the first available ship and lend a hand to our Providence brethren in defending that which is ours together.
  

• Corporate schedule format changes.

  Starting today, the new corporate/casual schedule will be implemented. For instance, today (Tuesday) is corporate.
  

• Maduin flies Prorator!

  I now have two cloakers at my disposal. /joygasm
  

• Merth announces ore program

  See link.
  

• Devin announces [corporate] lottery.

  Details are limited as the finer points are meted on the Senate floor.

Confluence

Confluence
Scheduling


So we have brought in a lot of new friends, have seen some old friends become much more active once again, and with this turn of events a lot of renewed interest in corporate sponsored activities, especially PvP.

The only problem is, and I have to admit that it drives me nuts, is that we are stuck midway between a real schedule and impromptu operations. So let's talk.

I would rather do things one of two ways, for my sanity's sake, and because I think it will be best this way. The first way of course, is to schedule our sponsored activities, the way we did at the beginning of the year, which was good but inconsistent insofar as given a window of only a few hours on a particular night, it was uncertain who would be there from one week to the next. The second way of course, is to throw impromptu operations together, and haul ass to assemble whatever we can scrape together before heading out. I myself prefer the latter. After all, it is not all that grand, to throw together a fleet on a predetermined night, only to find tumbleweeds floating by in space as our ships sit idly at a gate, waiting for reds to appear anywhere at all in the entire region.

I really believe we are too small yet for an official schedule for anything more than industry. If our pilots all flew T2 for 0.0 or BSs for low security, we could certainly schedule regular PvP gangs every week, but they do not, so we cannot, or at least should not. However, I am finding it difficult to throw together operations on the fly, when we provide scheduled operations as well. I just do not have time every night of the week to toss something together for people, and neither do the rest of the officers or managers for that matter.

The problem: We schedule gangs for Industry or PvP, and our regulars show up, but others do not. Then the following evening the others log on, looking for fun group activities, asking if anyone is doing something they can participate in, but our regulars had their fun the night before, and are now doing private or small scale activities to generate income, standings, and whatnot. The Catch-22 is that a gang of 10x people is great fun for L4s but really bad for actually making any money. And while I may be FC, I am also CEO, so leading gangs every night of the week is out of the question.

Now that we have Varian back at the helm for FC operations, I myself have been preparing and leading gangs, and Jay (Mia) is leading them as well, and will be more in the very near future, things are looking good for frequent operations. However, there needs to be some sort of structure, so our PvP leaders are not logging on every night to, "PvP?" because between you and me, as much as I love a good fight, sometimes I just want to log on and mindlessly pound on NPCs as I watch my wallet get showered with ISK.

What I propose is a blackout system. We schedule, but do not exclude, thus meaning certain days each week are set as corporate/alliance days and others are set as casual days. On corporate days, you are expected to group together with an officer, commander, or manager and participate in sponsored activities. On casual days, officers and managers get the day off, and they can either choose to work on corporate projects, or spin their ship in a station all evening if they so desire.

I would imagine setting the week up with as many days that are casual as there are corporate/alliance is going to be best given the present group dynamic we have going on here, esp. since most of the FCs have extremely variable schedules right now anyways. So let's say, 3x Corporate and 3x Casual and 1x Alliance for now.

So let's say it is Wednesday night, a corporate evening and I log on. Looks like Providence is really quiet, well FFS I was hungry for some combat, but there is no sense in flying around shooting at space dust. Instead, I hop in a ratting ship, throw up a fleet invite, and we split into teams, and go pound some ISK out, while we compare PvP setups. Everyone who is able to do so should participate. If you do not participate, and the next night is casual, you may not get in on any fun with others if they have personal goals they are trying to meet or just need some downtime.

So let's say it is a Thursday night, a casual evening and I log on. Looks like a number of our members are itching to shoot some stuff, and Providence has a few strays that we could go after, but you know, I also have 250,000 m3 worth of crap to move, or two or three hours of industry chores to tackle. It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it, or it will literally not get done, so I set out to wrestle the beast that is R&D to the ground, and make him cry uncle. The eager PvPers, will have to join an alliance fleet, or strike out in small teams, and learn to command, which is a valuable skill to have no matter who you are.

The basic idea for me is this:

When we sponsor activities, I expect people who want to participate in them make an attempt to show up. We do not sponsor the same activities on any particular night every week, so I cannot imagine that someone is unable to show up because of something like that. Now, if you are unable to show up that week, that's fine, but I would prefer not to log on the day after a big operation to "Where is the fleet?"

"The fleet was last night, didn't you get the memo?" is my thought on that matter. I am sure anyone who has had an administrative role before at some point in their lives can relate.

So, comments?

The Monk

The Monk
Stoic Philosophy


Well, rather than talk about the corporation, let's talk about me for a bit. Now I am certain that your interest is peaked, after all I am fascinating am I not? Hehe. Okay maybe not, but still, what am I all about?

As early as fifteen years old, I was thrown into situations where I had to lead, or be led. I was given the opportunity to work regularly as a technical stagehand at the theater in my high school which sat +1400 people and brought in such critically acclaimed acts as Marcel Marceau and others. Now, although there were seniors on hand to train me the first year, along with my boss of course, I quickly determined that my actual peers, were up for shenanigans more than experiences, so I took charge once the old guard had graduated. By the time I was a senior, I was the main student help, the stage manager for the fall musical, and pretty much the goto guy for all things student-worker related. The reason for this? Well, as I said, most of my peers just wanted to mess around rather than do honest work, so the only way it was going to get done properly is if I took charge.

During this time, having grown up on the original Nintendo console from the age of 8 and beyond, I got into my first MMO, the original Diablo. Almost at once I found myself gathering up people I met along the way, and protecting them from PKs, God Moders, Teleport hackers, and all other levels of household vermin. I found it was easier to define this group with a name and a website, something they could all feel a part of, so I formed my first social group online. I believe we were called the Shadow Knights. Once again, I was a leader. And you know, I think this is the point at which a trend started forming for me. Protecting people, so satisfying, no matter the cost to my personal life or well being, it was just the bee's knees to watch the fruit of my labors (the social group) frolic carelessly before me, having been freed from the burden of responsibility they would have otherwise had to bear alone and in silence.

The days of Diablo and the online gaming environment it supported came and went after only a short while, maybe half a year or a little more, as during those days, hacking an MMO's gaming environment was as easy as logging onto the game, and turning on your trainer, downloaded straight from some public website. Duped items abounded, even in my own inventory. Those days, no one policed the hackers, and they ran rampant, so you were forced to hack the hackers. Thus the terms PK, PKK, AntiGod, Teleport Hacker, Punting, Flooding, Session Freezing, and the like were all born to a more mainstream audience in a discernibly frustrating way. The social group eventually went its own ways, as of course, being in high school and somewhat transient, I maintained only a loose and infrequent amalgam of hosted games and meetings with my new friends, who just simply stopped logging on one by one over the course of my time with the game.

Then came college, and through living with one of my best friends in a tiny dormitory without air conditioning, and being nervous as all get out about the vast unknown of adult life, we found ourselves playing as a total escape and arguably one of my first multiplayer FPS experiences ever, Rogue Spear. Oh the joy of those days when one would host a game online that you were in complete control of until the round started, sitting in some dark nook in the back of some special spot that you loved popping people off from, setting your fully automatic UMP20 with silencer on single shot, and picking off that hostile who leaned out a window for literally a split second. "Clak clak," goes the trigger on your small unimposing firearm, the only sound emanating from its silencer fit muzzle as it fires off a round. Head shot! Holy crap! And once again forming a player group, The §hadow Clan, my roomate and I valiantly played four to six hours of Rogue Spear a night for nearly half a year, until the hackers took over with their Vertigo and their Heartbeat Hacks, and Auto-Aims to which we had to bid an unfortunate and fond farewell to a game that was so extraordinarily ahead of its time and is so fondly remembered even today by what I am sure are many of its prior players.

Now, at this time, I had enough real life gaming friends, that most of my subsequent activities centered around doing fun stuff with them (as Varian had set out to do a few weeks ago when he and his real life friends left the AU-F to start their own shop). I played untold amounts of Unreal Tournament, Rune, Starcraft, Halo, and other competitive multiplayer online games until I was blue in the face, but I never started another player group. I had not really soured on the idea more than I got caught up with just having fun with real life friends and not being tied to anything in particular. This was college after all, that was kind of the point.

However, around the time I finished up college, got married, and moved into my first real apartment with a new fulltime job, I picked up a little known *snicker* game called Warcraft in the fall of '05 after hearing my new coworkers lauding its amazing gameplay and unimaginably fun content and social landscape for months on end while I was stuck with dial-up until we moved out of my in-law's house and into an apartment, the horror! Thus began a journey through hell in a hand basket, filled with laughter and tears, that is all too voluminous and inexplicably complicated to go into with just the amount of material I am discussing as it is in this post. What had previously been a pastime for me, to lead player groups, to protect them from hackers and other unscrupulous players, to help ensure they were entertained, had a good time, and were less concerned with the why of things and more with the fun itself, now become a part time job. Where I had led groups of a dozen or so to maybe fifty people at any given point, I now found myself within less than a year's time, in charge of almost three hundred people, a hundred active and anxious raiders, countless casuals, hangers on, friends, associates, and yes, some unsavory elements as well. I named the guild Ara Noctis (Are Uh Knock Tiss), which means The Altar Of Night. This. Was. Sparta. And I, and the officers I surrounded myself with, were the line between complete dissolution and unparalleled entertainment and enjoyment of content that at the time was still so revolutionary that everything else absolutely paled in comparison. The release of the AQ gates alone was something to which still mystifies me today, how so many people literally took a day off from their real lives, to participate in the grand opening on their particular server. Madness. Pillars littering the landscape in nearly every zone, spewing mobs with countless riches and treasures, for weeks on end, leading up to the grand opening of the gates, where towering mobs almost too direct to be an allusion to the god Anubis in Egyptian mythology spilled forth and began obliterating the unfortunate few who managed to aggro them in all the chaos and lag on the server, was just the most amazing thing I had seen in gaming up to that date. I found myself leading raids of forty people, almost a different mix every time, three nights a week, for months on end that seemed to stretch out into eternity. This was epic. But like every game that ever came before it, for me, the developers eventually ruined the atmosphere and ambiance of the gameplay experience by either ignoring or not resolving its shortcomings or inundating it with hooks, lines, sinkers, and fillers, to the point that the people themselves, so unable to really pursue alternatives (there were really none at the time) were being led hand and foot from one month's subscription fee to the next. A story for another time, but I burned out, and retired, passing the torch to a trusted friend and co-leader, and hanging up my sword for a year.

So, that leads me up until the early Spring of '08, having come back for a short while to Warcraft to visit with old friends, and unfortunately doing more harm than good when I saw that the game had warped everything I had held near and dear to me and had protected for more than a year with my blood and sweat, I found myself finally disillusioned with the whole MMO process and set adrift and alone in the gaming industry with no place to call home. What is this MMO phenomenon, that eats away at life's precious moments, and leaves you with this untold longing for more and more, even as you morbidly realize that you cannot take any of the pixels with you? Well, it's the people I met, and helped along the way. I do not lead groups because it makes me feel powerful. In fact, I hate power, and the only reason I gravitate towards it, is to secret it away so others cannot abuse or be abused by it, corrupted either willingly or unwillingly. Thus, much as in previous games, I formed the Aurelius Federation to provide one of our longest running members, Jacob (Kuroda Tsu) with a safe place where he could simply enjoy the game and be himself, without anyone breathing down his neck or trying to take advantage of him (like his CEO then was doing). Having found myself, absolutely and entirely without intention, in fact I purposefully came to EVE and fell for its spacey goodness, with the particular hope that it would be a wide and expansive enough gaming environment that I would not get stuck or tied down to any social strata, in charge of yet another player group, I ran with it, and have not looked back since.

And so here we are, having this long discussion, about stuff that matters greatly to me, but with uncertainty to others, about what makes MMOs so captivating for people like us.

There are two things I live by in real life and in an online environment and they are:

[True power is in not having to use said power in order for its effects to be felt]

[...and they will respect a line in the sand more than forgiveness]

I champion your enjoyment and the entertainment value you get out of this and other games, because that is what matters to me. And after having lead groups for a decade now whether in real life or virtual reality, I have come to understand that the only thing we really ever remember or hold onto are the people we meet, and not a single pixel will ever shape our experiences the way the people around us will.

I am unmovable in this respect, like a monk, or Stoic philosopher, and will do whatever it takes to provide every suitable member of this corporation with a playing environment where they can truly enjoy themselves and more importantly feel free to be themselves. Simply a group of friends and nothing more.

So to you, I salute, because in ten years I will remember you, and not the Nighthawk of which I am so fond of.

Fly safe,
Your Friend

P.S. Edited with a WarcraftRealms link to the members who passed through the guild in the year and a half that I led it. Click on the Ex-Members link for a full list.

Anaz = Rasnow
Andolar = Mendolus
Strathelar = Naeisha
Candwe = Rasnow's Wife