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

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.