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

The Boys

The Boys
Are Back In Town


Yes, those scallops, those punks, those dirty hooligans, oh wait... I mean to say, our favorite RL crew, responsible for many a fun time in our past, and now once again in our present and future, have returned after setting off on their own to sights unseen and lands unknown.

Of course the officers were notably upset and distraught over having to part ways, in some sense, with friends and compatriots, but I believe we are all grateful that they are returning, and that once more the party will begin anew, with talk of sips and lighting things on fire (Hey Chris!), funny nicknames (Hey Kylie!), random low security splattering, (Yes, Denis, that is you in the Myrm getting owned by a Taranis in low sec!), and new friends we had just gotten to know (Lucas, o7). The unanimous Senate vote to bring them back to the corporation is a testament to that, I believe.

And while our friends did enjoy and were very proud of their journey into the unknown and we hoped for them that they were able to enjoy and be entertained by their continued gaming experiences wherever they may be, I am certain most of us cannot help but be secretly overjoyed, that it led them back to us, for whatever reason.

So here's a shot to you guys; vodka, clean , straight up, and just how I like it, because the boys are back in town!

That Mendolus Guy

That Mendolus Guy
And That Damned News Blotter
He Never Explains To Us!

Ok, so am I like the worst chief editor or what? I always post these updates in the This Week section of the blog and even my officers are uncertain from time to time what the French Toast I am talking about. And, I can only imagine your surprise, when I gain your undivided and entertained attention on my blog at long last, only to frustrate you with vague announcements and little explanation.

So, from now on, when I update the weekly blotter, I will also followup with a short synopsis of what the holy fubar I am getting on about, and why it should matter to you. Also from now on, the blotter will be known as In The News rather than This Week as it has been mostly comprised of past, present, and future events from the start anyways.

So, beginning with this weeks most dubiously cryptic announcements, the following summary is due:

• DUST 512 - What's up with this, an FPS tethered to my EVE? Say it ain't so CCP, say it ain't so. Who pays the price if the FPS flops? Yeah that's right, we do.
• August was a quiet month for the AU-F. A few upsets, a few welcome homecomings, and a pint of beer later, and it ends with rather little fanfare or momentous occasions.
• I haul for the corporation, as do many others, but the smattering of reds in and around all of low security space every night of the week lately has made it inconvenient for any reasonable haulers to do business outside of blockade runners.
• Kane Deckard, a real life friend of EldraNiColarus, joins the Aurelius Federation.
• Gertimus has been appointed a seat in the Aurelius Senate, an oligarchy of our most active and dedicated members who help us make decisions at the corporate level on general or all-encompassing goals, directives, and day to day operations.
• Sometime this week, we are going to undock, and there will be wrecks in 0.0 space, and they will not be ours nor will they be NPCs.
• Varian Knight (Chris) and his real life friends are homesick after experimenting with maintaining their own house, and finding that while fun and rewarding, they would much rather share those rewards with us than amongst themselves as it was a lot of hard work. Hey, let's face it, corporations are hard work, the more friends you have to help you throw the weight around, the more fun everyone can have as a whole. The Senate voted unanimously to reinstate all previous corporate members, a testament to their status as our friends and associates, wherever they fly in space and under whatever banner.
• Devin, officer, friend, and Skunkworks Commander, has started college courses again, with some night classes, and a lot of hard work ahead of him. As such, he may not be as active as we are used to, so please offer your time and assistance to him when able, should he ask you to participate in any activities he is sponsoring or involved in. It may be the one time every week that he has more than a few hours free, so it will mean a lot to him.
• Jay (Mia), the Capsuleer Formerly Known As Staigor, has a planned suicide gang this week to operate within inches of the CONCORD laws, hopefully to wreak bloody burning vengeance on our enemies, somewhere special, in Empire space. Check the corporate mailer for details.
• Public recruitment for PvP pilots is closed. For the time being, recruitment of PvP pilots is only available through invitation or sponsorship from an existing member of the Federation. Public recruitment for Industrial players remains open.
• The Senate voted unanimously a week or so ago to raise the SP limit for incoming recruits to 3,000,000 Skillpoints. Those excluded from this rule are so by invite or sponsorship only. This means, public recruitment of any kind, where an advert is placed, and responded to, can only let in people with 3,000,000 or more Skillpoints unless they are specifically scouted or sponsored by an existing Federation member.

So, that's last week and this week's comings and goings. Thanks for reading!

Uneasy Truth

Uneasy Truth
That Hair On The Back
Of Your Neck Feeling

I typically try to keep these entries fairly upbeat or at least cursory and nonchalant but we have some things to discuss of a more serious nature given the continuing influx of new members. The same members whom thankfully have so far by majority become our new friends and worthy corporate brethren.

SECURITY

Yes, that simple word, which strikes fear into the heart of any person(s) in EVE who have material or liquid assets that are accessible to more than they alone, who have entrusted in their fellow gamers with an informal contract a good portion of their more valuable tangible and intangible possessions. Security is by far half the battle when it comes to player groups whether they be a corporation, alliance, or both.

So, as Jay has pointed out recently, and as Varian is always very concerned with but not always vocal about, security is our primary means of protecting ourselves from the unscrupulous and unforgiving elements outside of our own corporation.

Here are a few ground rules that I expect everyone to follow for the future when talking about corporate business to anyone who has only been with us for a very short while:

• Sure we have POSs, but they are located in the magical land of sugar plum fairies and candy cane roads upon which only the most beneficent of souls may enter upon or have knowledge of. In english, POS locations are private, only managers should be responsible for revealing their location if they so desire.
• Sure we have fleets, but they are comprised entirely of rookie ships and we randomly undock once a week in a swarm of legendary proportions to cleanse the Providence region of the foul stench of filth that hostile alliances bring down upon us by stepping into CVA space. In english, PvP fleet information, scheduling, composition, and common operating locations are private and only myself, Jay (Mia), or Chris (Varian) should ever be responsible for discussing these things with the newest of recruits. A simple we fly a few times a week and these are our FCs should be enough for the curious recruit. If they want to know more, like where we stash our plethora of Titans and the shield harmonic for the POS they are in, there is a problem.
• Sure we have mining, in fact we regularly schedule mining operations in unannounced wormhole space garnered from jumping through twelve distinct wormhole nodes until we are so far beyond the known reaches of space, reason, and location that not even a GM himself could find a way to pinpoint our juicy fleet of Hulks teaming with officer mods. In english, all Industry related endeavors are private, and only those courteously invited to the AU-F Mining channel hosted by our Industry leader Meatay, should ever need to know what we do, when we do it, and where we do it. Our orgies involving hard merciless rocks and long icy objects are a private matter.
• Every member we have, seventy at the time of this blog, goes to sleep at downtime and wakes up maybe an hour later to resume their patrol of our known operating systems, in their T2 ships with all Vs in skills and fit with officer gear, in fleets of dozens upon dozens. To stay awake, our members often drink excessively dangerous levels of energy drinks, snort unidentified and often illicit substances in copious amounts, have quit real life, denounced all women, moved into their mother's basements, and shit in a pan through a hole in their computer chairs. We will not talk about the stench that wafts out of the basement and throughout the neighborhood. In english, our activity levels are our own, and unless you like being snooped by possible spy alts and losing your T2 ship worth a few hundred million ISK, a response of we are an active corporation that operates mainly between 00:00 EVE to 06:00 EVE every night of the week should be sufficient for any new recruit.
• The existence of or presence within the corporation or alliance of any ship or asset worth more than one billion ISK as a whole is a complete fabrication and constitutes libelous slander with which we will petition the known CCP universe in its entirety in order to slam any heinous rumor spreaders with the good book, that is to say, the EULA, straight back into the Commodore days, from which they shall never return. In english, our capital ships, freighters, POSs, and anything else worth more money than your Depression Era grandmother's mattress are of no concern to the newest recruit who just stepped off the boat and onto the docks. If they cannot read the corporate mailers and ascertain what services are available to all members from the start, whether they be services stemming from capital ships, freighters, shiny baubles, or otherwise valuable commodities, you should not be pointing them to the character who owns the most valuable asset in the corporation and when he will undock it next or leave it publicly accessible for a brief but adequate enough amount of time with which the wandering eye might reconnoiter it.
  

Okay, so that is pretty good I believe, and covers most of the pertinent issues concerning security related matters.

Yes, I do of course realize that the new recruit, eager, fresh, green, and willing to supplicate our every desire may read this, or get the sort of cold shoulder as noted above, and get a negative impression of our almost wholly friendly, warm, and welcoming corporation, but we have already been fooled once, so shame on the fooler from hereon out, and not us please. Though a testament to our corporate infrastructure, the tight ship I run around these parts, and the continuing work of our members to protect our corporate assets, and despite the mere fact that this grievance was imparted upon members at a personal level and not a corporate level, we are still vulnerable to the usual espionage of scouting fleet formations, locations, movements, and the like. Whatever undocks into the depths of space or resides in a publicly accessible fashion, becomes anyone's game, so please remember, if it resides in space or a corporate hangar all of or part of the time, protect it not only with your actions but also with your words.

Trust me, those members who join, and may not at first understand why we remain so secretive, will appreciate it when the expensive ship they just bought is not obliterated upon undocking because some new and seemingly perfect and normal recruit was actually a spy who alerted a hostile force of their presence and what they were about to undock into space. This is not to mention the plethora of other such scenarios both at the personal, group, corporate, or alliance level.

Besides, if that new recruit is going to also become our new friend, he needs to show us he has earned it, right? Otherwise what do we want him here for? Shits and giggles? Hehe.

/Uneasy Truth

Welcome

Welcome
New Members


If you are reading this, and you are a new member of the AU-F, congratulations, you are well ahead of the learning curve. Here at the Aurelius Federation we try to give every member the opportunity to step up to the plate, and knock one out of the ballpark. And it is your turn to bat.



What is this corporation about?
The Aurelius Federation is a group of like-minded pilots trying to make their mark in a virtual environment. Sure, maybe we will not conquer all of EVE, but we will have a hell of a good time trying, with that goal in mind every step of the way. After all, that is the point, right? To give it your all, be the best player you can be given your particular set of circumstances, abilities, and desires? You are not paying $15/mo for each of those accounts of yours, just to shoot pixels in missions and fill a hangar with ships that merely collect dust, are you? Trust me, I tried that, after about two or three months you are grasping at straws looking for reasons to log on anymore. Who wants to earn money for the sake of having money? If you were going to do that, wouldn't it be better if it were real money?

We want to grow with players, power, and influence. To do this, we must expand into 0.0, and learn to sustain ourselves unfettered by Empire space, which has now become a bloated shadow of its former self, ripe with boredom, and monotony.

Here at the AU-F we follow a few simple rules:

• NRDS
• Positive Group Dynamic
• Good Personality
• Cooperation
• Respect
• Participation
• Leadership
  

If you can share these things and honor them as well, among your fellow corporate members, you will succeed here. Everyone here is eventually expected to lead the way for others, thus in the coming weeks and months I should be able to look to you, as an example of one who can lead others, in some way, shape, or fashion. You do not have to be the best you just have to give it what you have got. No one here will give you grief if you are not the best Interceptor pilot in the world, and if they do, come to me. You should always strive to learn and get better however, and we will tell you what you can do to achieve that, especially when you mess up. But do not worry, we all make mistakes, so you should feel free to point out ours too. Just do not comment on my skills in the sack, those are above reproach! Besides, everyone knows I have Sexy Manuevering trained to V. *Cough* Ahem...




What are our short term PVP goals in the coming weeks?
We have now assigned groups of dedicated members to each of our POS and they will be responsible for its operation, planning, budget, and income. Now that this has been done, there should be more time for people such as myself, to lead PvP fleets, regularly, more than once a week.

We are also looking to train specialized fleets, be they bomber fleets, battlecruiser fleets, recon fleets, battleship fleets, or etc. But more importantly we need players to focus on roles. A lot of our members are already there, and they can fly highly specialized builds that make our fleets top notch in terms of capability and purpose.

These roles may include:

• Tackle
• Logistics
• EWAR
  
• DPS
• Scout

You may fulfill these roles in numerous ways including:

Tackle

• Interceptors - Fast Tackle
  
• Assault Frigates - Strong Tackle
  
• Interdictors - Mobile Bubble
  
• Heavy Interdictors - Immobile Bubble
  

Logistics

• T2 Logistics Ships - Basilisk, etc.
  
• T2 Logistics Fittings - Large Remote Armor Repair II
  
• Sniping - Rokh, Cerberus, Eagle, Vulture
  
• Tanking - Numerous Ships

EWAR

• Combat Recons, Force Recons, Electronic Assault Frigates
• EWAR Skills (i.e. ECM, Tracking Disruption, Target Painting, Webbing, etc.)

DPS

• Heavy Assault Ships, Battlecruisers, Battleships
• T2 Weaponry and Weapon Upgrades
• T2 Drones

Scout

• Interceptors, Stealth Bombers, Covert Ops, Force Recons
  
• Astrometrics Skills
• Covert Ops Cloaking
• Navigation Skills
• Tactical Knowledge *KEY*

Now you may be thinking, "Bro I just started playing a month or two ago, I have not even decided what T2 ships to start training to and don't know what kind of PvP is my style yet."

Well, that's the beauty of it, everyone can and should dabble in all of these roles, long enough to know what's to their liking.

You wanna try your hand at tackle? Get a T1 frigate from me for PvP (they are free), and I will fit it for you, and you can come to a roam, and try that puppy out.

You wanna try your hand at logistics? Get a T1 cruiser from me for PvP (they are available at cost of insurance), and I will fit it for you, and you can come to a roam, and see how she rides.

You wanna try your hand at EWAR? Train your EWAR skills up to IIIs and IVs for your particular race, let me fit some modules on a T1 cruiser for you, and you can come try to jam some shizzle out.

You wanna DPS, and burninate some fools? Train to a battlecruiser, they are a staple of all PvP combat, good for all circumstances except very specialized gangs. It does not really take much to hop in your first PvP BC, hell we will sell one to you at cost of insurance and T1 fit it before we contract it over to you. You may not be able to lay down the pain train on some poor unsuspecting reds, but you will get a taste for blood, I promise you.

You wanna scout, and scope out the evil that is in our midst? Fit a T1 frigate with overdrives and a MWD, and come join in the fun with an empty clone. After all, if you die, you are out what... a mil?




These are easy things to accomplish, and I am here to tell you that you should not feel like PvP is a Veteran's Game because that could not be farther from the truth. If you choose to focus on roles, focus on TWO, make sure you mix it up, the last thing you wanna do is get caught always flying the same exact ship in the same way.

So, for instance, for Mendolus I chose my main focus as DPS (545DPS 69k EHP Drake) and scout (all sorts of skills, knowledge).

For Mithos I chose DPS (921DPS 135k EHP Armageddon) and Logistics (3977 Omnitank 915k EHP 1296DPS Thanatos).

These are things I specialize in, and I can always bring something to the table when I join a PvP fleet. So can you, just start talking to our veteran members, asking them about these roles, trying them all out, getting a feel for what you prefer most.

Things everyone should have in the short term for PvP:

Webbing (hours)
Scrambling (hours)
Tracking Disruption (hours)
ECM (hours)
Dampening (hours)
Neutralizing (hours)
Target Painting (hour)
Microwarpdrives (day or so)
T2 Drones (week or so)
Prototype Cloaks (week or so, for deep space gangs)


What are our long term PVP goals in the coming months?
Sovereignty. Sovereignty. Sovereignty. When the Winter Expansion is released and the sovereignty mechanic changes, we wanna be there waiting as the gates lift, so we too can rush to claim our own slice of New Eden. And to do this, a number of us are training carriers as we speak, we have been working hard to divvy up responsibility for POS so that a number of our members get experience with them, and we are building the alliance, one member at a time. It looks like the Alliance will have more than a dozen well skilled carrier pilots by Christmas and that is not counting the ones we recruit either. Folks, that is a capital fleet.

Okay, this has been useful information, but I am new, where do I start, who do I talk to, why does there not seem to be an official PvP schedule?
We spent the first two or three months of the year scheduling roams twice a week into Providence. The unfortunate reality of the situation is that in Providence, we are on the defensive, and the reds that roam around are almost always in covert or speed fleets that are incredibly hard to tackle. Some nights there are not even reds to fight. Between 10pm EST and 2am EST all the European and North American reds hit the sack, and it is not until around 2am EST that the Russians come out to play. So, being that 10pm-2am is our most active time, we are usually best off, if we form response fleets on the fly to hostiles that are actually present, rather than scheduling PvP. Months of bored roaming twice a week just warping from gate to gate hoping some neutral tries some funny business with us because there are no reds to shoot have soured our FCs on scheduled roams in Providence (although we still try to do so now and then to provide training and experience). However! To alleviate this, I am going to be scheduling roams in an NPC 0.0 region once a week or every other week, where we will almost be guaranteed to find or cause trouble every single time. Ask me in game for details on the who's who of the AU-F!

What about Industry?
Well, I cannot discuss this here, as I try to keep the blog to intelligence information that is suitable for public record. Suffice it to say, we are making big strides in this department, and with the Ark having taken its maiden voyage recently, we are more prepared and capable than ever before, to build an industrial foundation to fund our sovereignty goals with.

The Old Ways

The Old Ways
Merely Waiting, Not Dead


So, as most of the people who read this blog know, I have been working myself very hard for the past six months to get this corporation working like a well-oiled machine. And while I have been mostly successful, due in large part to the member's efforts themselves, we are still not at the point that I could log off, come back seven days later, and not be afraid that things were at a standstill without me. Not because people are incapable of progressing on their own but more because we are moving in too many directions at once, and without me laying down which thing we need to work on most week by week, no one knows what to do.

I have tried to make this corporation about big dreams and amazing fun for a long while, but I think in the process we have moved more into the realm of hard labor than fun and good times. As Jacob recently said to me, he wishes things were simpler, and could return to the way it was last fall before we were inexorably thrust into the grand scheme of the game mechanic by the sheer necessity of survival.

By virtue, I am a planner, mastermind, someone who loves an arduous challenge with impossible odds, so when given the opportunity I would rather pit myself with a few good friends against the rest of the world than be a nameless face in a sea of people united in a single cause.

This is how I view our corporation. A group of friends, united by their ideals about what online entertainment is supposed to mean to them, striking out on their own against insurmountable odds, taking the entire game and populous at large by the horns and wrestling with it in a game of total conquest. And while it is never going to be as important whether we reach the finish line or not, the mere fact that we are taking a journey together is all that matters to me. As they say, the journey is more important than the destination. And my friends, you and I, are in this together.

This is also why I cannot fault Varian for wanting to take his real life friends, some of whom he has known for more than a decade, and strike out into the vast unknown to tackle his own demons and wrestle them to the ground. After all, this is what we are already doing, you and I, we just lack the reality of being able to drive down the street, and toast a frosty one together. My only concern is that this is the same person who only six weeks ago had so much work, life, and game related stress that he was barely able to function on a day to day basis, was vomiting from stress to the point of exhaustion on a daily basis, and was under the impression that he would have to quit work, the game, and any and all excitable activities in order to get his stress under control. So be careful out there, my friend, while you were here I protected you from that as best as a caring and concerned friend was able to do so. As a new leader, no one is there to protect you anymore. And I cannot begin to describe to you the personal sacrifices leading a social group requires. While the officers in the corporation, the members, and the like do their best to protect me as well from this, to which I am eternally grateful, I am inevitably lead to sacrificing my entertainment and enjoyment of the game so that everyone else can have a good and worry-free time without having to trouble themselves with the millions of tiny little details, tasks, and daily chores that are required to administrate. Hell, I missed a T3 kill because I was fueling POS while everyone else was roaming around shooting at shit. Do not get me wrong though, nothing satisfies me more than knowing that others do not have to stress or worry about these kinds of things and they can just log on and undock for fun and good times. I hope you are prepared for this, my friend, logging on five out of seven nights a week, and toiling behind the scenes for half a dozen hours or so those same nights, every week, week after week, month after month. If not, we left the door open for you and friends, and your seat is still warm. I am sitting in it now, in fact.

We want to change this obviously, as even as stoic as I am, I have my own personal limits, and as we currently lack the manpower to change it through spreading the work itself around, the officers and I are going to get together Wednesday and discuss how to divvy up responsibility for various divisions such that they are not entirely intertwined and co-dependent on one another. Namely, for one, with certainty, I will be taking over the PvP operations entirely, and scaling them up not down, UP. Whatever we were doing before, we will be doing the same, but I will be taking us on roams outside of Providence, and frequently. Whatever I was doing before, such as fueling POS that I am not even really responsible for, will cease, and either certain member(s) will take up the responsibility if they so desire, or we will liquidate those services. Combat squadrons in EVE on average are half a dozen players, give or take a few, and we can easily field this every night of the week, and I plan to do so, two or three times a week.

The rest, is yet to be announced, and will depend on what we feel is necessary to maintain and what is not. What is clear however, is that we need more focus, and I need to give everyone who reads this blog a more goal oriented view of what we need from them, so they have an idea in sight, a finish line as it were, to work towards.

Do not get me wrong though, I live for this kind of entertainment, in fact, the harder it gets on me personally the more I feel that something is going well, because it means I have something worth the effort; you guys. If it did not feel as hard as it does sometimes, it would mean I did not care. Which is not the case. So thank you for that guys, this group has become near and dear to me since I started playing a year ago. I had a very close group in Warcraft as well but it was not quite like this, not quite as potent and meaningful, as really, how valuable can a purple be, compared to sovereignty, or the ships we fly, or the friends we are proud to fleet with that were earned with every sweat, blood, and toil we took upon ourselves to get there.

So, Wednesday, our main discussion will be centered around, making PvP our priority, and whether or not a select number of our members want to head up the Industry side and be wholly responsible for it.

I see simpler times ahead, as we scale back our grand designs to take on projects that are more readily within our grasp, and begin to enjoy the little things, like fleeting for some random care and/or scare bearing, or just to hang out, drink a pint, and share stories.

We who are about to die, salute you! Let fly the banner of war! Gremlin Squad is back in town. Yes, the boys are back in town.

Compton, in my EVE?

Just Another Day
In A Violent Neighborhood


So, as I am sure most of you know, we lost a couple ships while dismantling one of our POSs last night, mostly due to blind luck, but also one key issue: hesitation.

Throwing up or taking down a POS always hinges on one pivotal period of time, being the point at which the shield bubble is not up and you have hundreds of million in ISK floating helplessly not only in ships but in the tower itself. The trick is to know when the timing is right to take these kinds of actions as a tower takes an hour to bring up or down. For argument's sake let us call this window of time the ante bellum period, or before the war as it were, as besides capital fleets or takedown blobs of battleships, there is only one other time where a POS is quite so vulnerable and you never know when the preceding moments may ultimately lead to total chaos, as was the case last night.

Last night, I spent a majority of the evening taking pieces off the POS, and docking and redocking repeatedly in system with the components. Having taken down nearly a billion in assets, I removed the fuel to a day's worth remaining in the tank, but left some EWAR online at the tower, just to snag any would be opportunists, so a fleet could come dispose of them if necessary.

Now there are two sides to POS management, the violent and non-violent. You can either let every one of your alliance brethren, blues, friends, and the like know you are going to be in the critical ante bellum period soon and need their support or you can sneak it in on a quiet night and let only a handful of trusted confidants know what you are up to. With the violent option, while you let your brethren know your business, you also let every spy, boob, tool, opportunist, disreputable, or just damned careless person know when and where you are going to be vulnerable for an entire hour. Much like blue intel in Citadel, I prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to this kind of thing, as an hour is a long time for someone to prepare a hostile fleet and move it to my position so why let the ubiquitous spies have any chance at getting an upper hand on me. So what you get is the second option, you time it right, hopefully, you commit yourself to risking X amount of material assets, and you go for it. This is what I have done since February, without a hitch mind you. I had even thrown a POS up in a system over this past weekend with absolutely no drama. That changed last night.

So, the once research POS, turned reactions POS, has always been a thorn in my side since the first few weeks. Located too close to both pipes, giving little time for warning, and receiving relatively little support in some sense from the residents around us over time, the POS has always frustrated me with its presence. I would prefer it to be a jump deeper, to be perfectly honest. I wanted it down three months ago, but the only reason it stayed was for our reactions project. How I wish I had just taken it down when I had the opportunity to do so, before the area got consistently hot enough to merit me taking the risk I did last night, which in my mind was at the lowest risk point I could have taken under recent circumstances.

Anyways, word to the wise, every time I have lost a ship, and it has been my fault, even if it was sheer luck that landed me in a difficult situation, I have lost it due to one thing, as noted before: hesitation.

What is this seemingly neutral, harmless, somewhat tepid word that can do so much damage? Because when seconds matter, hesitation only escalates the potential for disaster. Such as in fleets, so as in day to day operations, a moment's pause can mean the difference between coming out with the shirt on your back as opposed to hanging onto your frame in tattered pieces.

Quiet. Is the best I can describe the local area when I decided to finally remove the EWAR modules, and offline the tower. Who knew about this? Evidently only myself and the red fleet that would soon make my night one to remember, for better or worse.

At 11:15pm last night I noted three residents in local, one blue, one neutral, and myself. A good start to my plans to take the tower down, right? An hour later, having observed the intel channel for hostile movements, noted the red fleet in the low security pipe was busy camping the empire gate, and still seeing only a handful of people in local, I made the call. Assuming that because the hostile movements in Providence itself were on the outer rim, and that the pirates in the low security pipe where none the wiser, touche, I began taking down the EWAR modules. Bearing in mind I had planned this. So with only a Geddon (120mil), Occator (100mil), Tower (342mil), day's worth of fuel (10mil), and five EWAR modules (50mil) I was playing the odds with well less than a billion ISK worth of things. "Okay, this is not too bad," I think to myself, "I just do not want some random neutral catching wind of this and giving me trouble, the Geddon should be enough for that."

I noted that Devin had logged on a few minutes earlier and was unable to stir the troops into a roam, and thus might be available to give me a little moral support. After all, while I may love taking calculated risks completely solo and unfettered, these were corporate assets I was playing a dangerous but controlled game with. So he came out in his Deimos, and warped to my position, under the jokingly humorous impression that since I would not tell him what he was warping to, that I might have laid some trap for him. In retrospect, I suppose I had.

54 minutes 32 seconds
That was the time remaining for the tower to go down when Devin joined my fleet. As far as I knew no one but the wind, myself, and Devin knew any of this was happening.

45 minutes
I noticed a spike of neutrals in local. I commented to Devin that this made me uneasy. It had been so quiet for an hour or more, why the sudden spike?

38 minutes 27 seconds
There is a spike of reds in local, some seven or eight. I exclaim over ventrilo, "Ah well... fuck me, Devin align immediately." Only here is the key, while I immediately aligned my Geddon, I hesitated on my Occator. I had 400mil floating in space, and this had not once ever occurred to me, what to actually do when it really happened, so I was battling my instincts in this totally new situation, you know, the fight or flight response. Sure, I knew I was going to lose no matter what, so why give it a second thought? Well, like the captain who ponders whether he should stay with the sinking ship or not, I was questioning whether I should just beat it, or if I should align first, and warp away only when the reds arrive, as they inevitably would, my gut was telling me, and that way I could report their numbers and types when they showed their ugly faces. I decided, after only a few seconds pause, that I was in no position to play chicken with a fleet of unknown composition in a ship worth 100mil so I hit the warp button.

38 minutes 10 seconds
Reds begin appearing on the grid as my Occator is in the process of aligning and warping to a station. I warp my Geddon away and dock. My Occator, not so lucky. Devin's Deimos did not fare so well either. This was bad, I made a poor choice, I hesitated for mere moments, and that was all it took. Seconds from warping away in my Occator, and I'm tackled by not one but two HICs with infinite point. So much for Deep Space Transports. The first impression I got after I was popped, and got away in my pod, was that they were after the jetcan of modules I had, any contents within my cargo bay, and the tower itself. But not sixty seconds after I warped away and even before I managed to get to a station to dock my defenseless egg, the reds were leaving system again. "No way that had been enough time for them to scoop and run", I thought to myself. Compton, in my EVE? Was I the homie laid out on the sidewalk after the smoke from the tires cleared or what? I could not escape the feeling I had just been had, for no other reason than that they could do it, and the tower was the last thing on their minds. The only reason I would not otherwise have admired them for such a brazen and well executed kill is if I had not seen them babbling like kindergartners in local only hours before, as if they all shared a single brain cell between them.

35 minutes
Sure enough, as we frantically reported the aggression in the intel channel, I warped to the grid in my blockade runner as valiant men from the alliance began joining my fleet and approaching the grid themselves. I've always liked cloaks better than stabs. Much to my surprise, not only was my wreck, jetcan, and the like still present, but there was a neutral in a hauler scooping my stuff! "Shoot the shit after I warn him in local!" I told our newest member BJ, a friend of HuffDaddy, who arrived quickly upon hearing of our dilemma. *BOOM* the neutral is annihilated after refusing to leave the grid once warned to do so. "At least something is blowing up and it does not belong to myself or the AU-F," I mutter to myself.

33 minutes
I start receiving private conversation requests left and right from fleet commanders of holder alliances, blue alliances, and just anyone you can imagine. They are all on their way. Suddenly fleets of twenties and thirties are being mobilized, I am being asked a hundred questions a minute in private conversations, the intel channel, over audio, in the fleet channel, not to mention the voice in my head going "Stupid stupid stupid, you got impatient and made a poor decision on a relatively quiet night after reds had been active off and on for weeks prior!"

28 minutes
Here comes the cavalry. Blue after blue, neut after neut, are here to save the day, warping onto the grid, making my loss of an Occator pale in comparison to the wealth of ships laid out before me, only in my defense this time. If I were to describe it in any way, it would be to say it was magnificent, just magnificent. Logic had always promised me, and as my members have worried me about from time to time, that this area is well protected, and while minor skirmishes, guerrilla warfare, piracy, and fleet battles may or may not receive universal support from the residents in our space, anything involving a POS immediately becomes everybody's business. How right he was. And so the man with the key to the golden city had delivered on his promise. Our POS was in danger and people were coming out of the woodwork to defend the AOV, and it was glorious. Now I understand, Amarr Victor!

20 minutes
No more sign of our reds, nor our friendly neutral who tried to ninja my wreck and cans. The fleet is on standby, my head is still spinning, and I sit there, tapping my fingers nervously on the desk waiting for the tower to finish going down so I can scoop it and run like hell. Thoughts of red blobs of unimaginable size jumping into local and wailing on my defenders in some epic pitched battle race through my head, which is filmy and hazy from the couple of beers I thought would relax me, that instead now haunt me as I desire to be alert as possible while the weight of a day's work and a few drinks numb my senses.

0 minutes
What an anticlimactic but most fortuitous end to an unbelievable string of events. Not a red in sight, I scoop the tower, the cavalry warps off to pursue my aggressors, and within minutes, what was once our first POS, having stood resolute for five months straight, was just an empty grid, with a few cans floating aimlessly through space, and some of my alliance brethren still hanging around to make sure I made it to the finish line. Now I can take a breath again.


So, in retrospect, what more could I ask for, I got to get rid of a troublesome, hard to fuel, poorly placed POS in a relatively hostile system too close to the pipes, and for all my troubles, I lost an Occator I had owned for four or five months anyways, and a good friend lost his Deimos. But not a single drop of fuel, POS module, nor the tower itself was lost. Amazing. Simply, amazing.

What is the lesson here? Well, I do not think I made an unwise choice to take the path I did as it was quieter last night than it had been in weeks. I simply think that this is proof positive that you can never let your guard down in this game, as just when you thought you had learned exactly how to sneak by unseen, someone snoops you out and all hell breaks loose. My mistake, in all honesty, was simply hesitation. Never hesitate. If you know the odds, but you are having second thoughts, you are going to lose your ship. Thankfully at least the Geddon survived, so maybe I can hop in a fleet with it sometime, and return the favor to our friends, the irksome if not persistent MAVs. I will see you soon, you little bastards.

Big Week, Big Moves

As we say farewell to a good friend, everyone seems to have taken the time this past week to reflect on why there are here, the friends they have made that make all of this virtual tomfoolery matter, and the leadership pool has begun to focus on new changes on the horizon at both the corporate and alliance level. What seemed like it would be the summer of progress has been mostly a lull in the overall game as people desperate for cheap entertainment and escapism spent more time outdoors and about than strapped to a computer and virtual world.

Maybe it was the previous winter and early spring, full of gloomy financial forecasts, tales of near certain doom and tumultuous upheaval of the core fundamentals of capitalism, or just the fact that everyone knows someone who was a victim of the times, but it seems like this summer, everyone just needed a break from it all, even online gaming.

Who can blame us, desperate to escape reality in any way, finding solace in friends, family, and all things cheap and entertaining, we went about in real life and just took in a breath of fresh air around us, enjoying the simple things again for what may have been the first time in a very long time for some of us. But things seem to be taking a turn for the better, both in real life and in the game. Maybe it was news of steadying housing markets, less news about entire countries whose economies are on the verge of collapse, or maybe everyone is just fed up with constant media pandering and talks of doom, but it seems like everywhere you look people are poking their heads up out of the sand to see if its safe to walk about again.

I see more and more people trickling back, online often, seeking entertainment, and the alliance itself sees opportunity on the horizon. EVE is an ever changing landscape of virtual power struggles between blocs of mostly established alliances, thus making it that much harder for us to claim a slice for ourselves. However, with the change in the sovereignty mechanic right around the corner, and the inevitable rush for sovereignty that will ensue, we must act now if we are to be prepared in the future.

What does this all mean for us? We are all here for entertainment, and I would like to believe that all of us, are here to be entertained with like-minded people we can easily consider our friends first and associates second. And so for us to continue entertaining ourselves, we must always move forwards, never backwards.

How are going to do this? Well, I would like to start a recruitment campaign soon, to find more members like you; you know who I am talking about. Mr.WorkHardPlayHard, you are our best friend, and we would not enjoy the game nearly as much without your friendship and constant valiant efforts to make sure all of us benefit from your presence, and vice versa.

But first off, I would like to point to the news list on the right side of this blog, aptly named This Week. As you may note, I have updated the list for this coming week with what we have done since last Monday, or what we are hoping to do, including discussions, planning, and action both individually and as a group.

Some of these events, are pending a description, announcement, or a link to resources, threads, guides, and the like. Please check in before you log in to make sure you are up to speed on the comings and goings of the corporation, its members, adventures, successes, and pitfalls.

We made great progress this past week, but also took a few steps backward, which I am greatly saddened to say. I am sure most of you know to what I am referring. Suffice it to say, I am here as your friend first, and CEO second, so should you find yourself contemplating your responsibilities, entertainment, or future in this game, come to me first, with an honest approach, and I will do my best to work things out with you, no matter where you land when your feet hit the ground. As they say, honesty is the best policy, and I could never fault you for being honest, no matter if it hurts or not.

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!