Crucible 1.2 – more client optimizations
With Time Dilation introduced on Tranquility, Crucible has brought a substantial number of improvements to EVE Online. TiDi was quite successful at reducing module lag in fleet battles, with response times reduced from as much as 40 seconds to just 1 s. This time devs have focused their efforts on the client performance as well.
In a recent dev-blog, CCP Veritas has described a new set of client optimizations, which will result in increased window drawing performance. To achieve that goal devs have focused their efforts on what is rendered most often: fonts. Additional improvements have been done to the Overview, which is by far the most commonly used tool in EVE.
Overview is much more responsive now, and because of the performance gains, devs have decided to make it refresh every 1 second instead of the current once every 2,5 seconds. Because in-space brackets share the same code, their performance has been increased as well.
Let's hope these improvements further reduce lag in these huge 1500+ fleet battles, so favored by many New Eden pod-pilots.
Killing noobs is good (for them)
First off, there is a big difference between killing new players in EVE Online and griefing. Griefing has only one purpose (frustration), and I am not playing EVE to humiliate others repeatedly. Shooting new players is not a real challenge either, but it can serve another purpose: teaching them a lesson. I actually did kill a newbie for that purpose not long ago.
Real life kept me busy lately, so I was only logging on breifly to change skills, chat with friends and start industry jobs. Last thursday I had a longer timeslot available, so I have decided to have a look at nearby systems. I've planned to fly solo, so I've chosen HAM fitted Rook (430 DPS with Rage missiles). My usual hanging place had several neutrals from the same alliance, so my chances at catching one of them were rather slim (compared to them catching me), but I've scanned the system anyway. Finding no suitable targets, I went through Orvolle to check Oulley and Aubenalle, but haven't found any lone pilots either. PVP didn't work well, so I came back to Orvolle and scanned for anoms to pass the time. I was almost done with a Serpentis Hideout, when a Caracal warped in. He immediately started shooting the NPCs and I wouldn't mind it (I quickly checked him and his corp, also made sure there is no one from their corp in the system). Out of a sudden he'd become blinky red, and my wreck near his boat shown empty. "This is a tarp!" I thought immediately. But it would take anyone more time to arrive at the scene, than for me to kill him, so I have immediately scrammed, ECMed and rained missiles all over his boat (not even bothering to change ammo from Inferno missiles which I have used against the NPC Serpentis). 20 seconds later his Caracal was no more, and his pod on the way to the nearest station.
Most of you know why I killed that noob, but in case you are new player yourself, here is a list of what this guy did wrong:
- He warped to my anom and decided to give it a go even though I was almost finished with it,
- He stole from my wreck, thus become agressed towards me,
- His fitting was a complete lol with mixed t1 weapons and a mixed tank,
- He didn't run after stealing from my wreck.
If he warped away after finding an occupied anomaly, his Caracal would be unsctached. If he killed the remaining rats, I wouldn't bother attacking him. But he put himself in the position where the only immediate reaction was to pull the trigger.
Social aspect of emergent gameplay
...and metagaming.
Blogging, emergent gameplay and metagaming
I am neither a psychology nor sociology professional. I am merely an observer, but I try to keep a close watch as much on myself as on others. Most players agree, that massive multiplayer games are addictive (this is one of the bases on which online games business is built). Two main factors account for the addictive effect:
- it takes time to achieve goals in the game,
- people socialize and form online friendships in the game,
It's the second factor, which dominates for most people. Leaving a game is hard not because of the game itself, but because it will most likely sever the connection with the people one was playing with.
This is one of the reasons CCP and other online game developers strongly encourage people to join player-owned corporations and other kinds of groups. Some players who know about this psychological effect of MMO games try to limit their engagement with other players, to limit the amount of time spent in the game.
I was at this stage once, only doing skillchanges, PI production and manufacturing in EVE, talking to my old colleagues, but not actively playing with them.
At some point I have started my own blog, which was a natural place to write about my hobbies, including EVE Online. This introduced me to a yet another part of the EVE community, a bit more loosely connected than inside a corporation, but at a somewhat higher level. You most likely have heard about Chribba, haven't you? Is he known for things he did in game? The answer is NO. He is famous because of his online tools he have developed and actively maintains, performing an excellent service for the playerbase. You have probably also heard about an individual called Somerset Mahm, who is currently maintaining one of the biggest flash lottos in EVE (this service is known as "SOMERblink"). Again, he is not famous for his in-game deeds, but rather for his out-of-game service. This is what is known as emergent gameplay.
After Wikipedia, emergent gameplay has been defined as:
Emergent gameplay refers to complex situations in video games, board games, or table top role-playing games that emerge from the interaction of relatively simple game mechanics.
More recently game designers have attempted to encourage emergent play by providing tools to players such as placing web browsers within the game engine (such as in EVE Online, The Matrix Online), providing XML integration tools and programming languages (Second Life [and EVE API]), [...]
Emergent gameplay is often called as "metagaming", but for the sake of accuracy, metagaming is a broader term, including emergent gameplay, but also strategies and tactics based on understanding of game mechanics and/or real life knowledge and experience, rather than in-character knowledge.
Blogging is a bit less pronounced than performing services for the playerbase, but is also a part of the emergent gameplay experience. Initiatives like #tweetfleet on Twitter, EVE News 24, Blog banter or EVE blog pack are just a few examples of how blogging enriches emergent games such as EVE Online, performing a service both to the community, but to the developer as well.
So, how "social" adds to all this?
Pretty social graph!
Socializing is anything that introduces human interaction: be it PVP, discussing on the forums or writing your own blog.
Blogging, metagaming and using social networks creates just one more social ring to the already established "corporation" and "alliance" ones. And this ring will get you in touch with individuals considered celebirties of EVE, but with the CCP employees as well. If you are not on Twitter yet, I really recommend registering an account and adding the #tweetfleet channel to favourites.
Plus, you are more likely to go to the Fanfest. Why? To meet these excellent people in person obviously. Since most bloggers are on #tweetfleet as well, they create an international community. To get in touch, one must attend a global event, and Fanfest is just the most obvious one. Corp level meetings are mostly local (be it in players from the same country or continent at best). I have attended a local meeting of my corp, and actually enjoyed it. Having out of game fun with people I spent a lot of time online, playing EVE, killing stuff and chatting on Teamspeak, was a refreshing experience. It allowed me to get to know their "offline" side better, making even closer friends. Unfortunately, no one from my corp ever went to Fanfest. Being a part of the blogging community, I now have a real reason to actually go to the Fanfest and get to know other excellent bloggers, and CCP devs as well.
Obviously, this is very tempting, but "real life comes first" rule will prevent me from going to Iceland. As much as I'd like to go, my RL obligations (work, family) keep me occupied (and I actually enjoy it; boredom is such a nasty thing!). And it's worth mentioning, that blogging about a game is just another layer to the addictive quality of online games (I would stop playing, but what happens to my webiste then?).
Limited spare time leads to another fundamental question: "To write about EVE or to play EVE?" But this is a topic for another post.
Stay tuned!
iOS programming and networked spaceships game
If you're reading this, you might wonder. What this Rox guy is about here? It's actually pretty simple. Apple has published a dedicated App yesterday for it's iTunes University spin-off thing, which allows universities and schools to publish their courses online (and most of them do it for free). So without thinking much, I've signed up for the iTunes U version of Stanford's CS193P course, which is about iOS programming. But how does programming connect to spaceships you ask?
It seems that Paul Hegarty from Stanford University likes networked spaceships a lot:
"You've got the spaceship game and some other client (it's a networkd thing) and some other client shoots your spaceship. Now the model has changed, because your spaceship took damage."
If you own an Apple mobile device, have some object-oriented programming experience and would like to know more about programming for iOS, this course is for you. If you are an EVE player, you will laugh jut a bit more often, when professor Hegarty mentions his internet spaceship game example.
The course covers such areas as:
- The Model, View, Controller paradigm
- Objective C basics
- Cocoa touch UI and various input methods
- Multithreading
- Persistence and iCloud
One question remains: is this a pure coincidence, or does professor Hegarty actually play Eve Online?
By starting EVE Online account you agree to the rules.
This post is a reply to the Blog Banter #32.
This month's Blog Banter comes from Drackarn of Sand, Cider and Spaceships. He has foolishly chosen to poke the hornets' nest that is the non-consensual PvP debate. Whilst you read his question, I'll be finding a safe place to hide.
"A quick view of the Eve Online forums can always find someone complaining about being suicide ganked, whining about some scam they fell for or other such tears. With the Goons' Ice Interdiction claiming a vast amount of mining ships there were calls for an "opt out of PvP" option.
Should this happen? Should people be able to opt-out of PvP in Eve Online. Should CONCORD prevent crime rather than just handing out justice after the event? Or do the hi-sec population already have too much protection from the scum and villainy that inhabits the game?
EVE Online is a game that tries to model the reality, at least when it comes to people interaction. In real life there is no security status, is there? Innocent people get hurt sometimes and offenders go to jail. This is life. Why should a game world be different? Other games let you choose if you want to interact with other players or not, but this is from my point of view completely flawed. Why? Massive multiplayer games are about being massive and multiplayer, right? Then why should people be given the ability to play completely solo? This is against my idea of a multiplayer game.
EVE Online developers decided it is a PVP game in as many aspects as possible. PVP is not just pure combat: undercutting market prices by traders is a form of PVP, because the one with the best prices will get his goods sold, and will make ISK, while the one with higher prices will not make a dime. PVP is present in industry, where players try to minimize their operating cost, so they can compete with other industrialists. Alliances fight alliances over space and a place to have other activities. As you can see from the examples above, PVP is basically another term for competition, about someone being better at the game and someone being not as good. Players with better intel, better ships, bigger numbers, or better business plan WIN.
By starting EVE Online account you agree to the game rules.
By signing up you have agreed that EVE is a PVP game, and that PVP exists everywhere in the game, even in high sec. If you decide to fly a paper thin ship that mines Ice, it is your decision in the first place. You know that someone might come in and destroy it, no matter the security status of the system. If you jump to low sec or null sec, you know there will be others who might want to destroy your ship. You have to accept this fact, embrace it. Treat this ship as already lost, calculate it into your costs. If ships weren't lost, the precious EVE economy would be ruined and irrevocably lost. One of the things that make EVE "real" would be gone. Isn't that why you play EVE and not, say, World of Warcraft?
As soon as opting out of PVP is introduced to EVE, I will ragequit over it think how this affects me and act accordingly.
Miners don't stand a chance
I agree that both Mining Barges and their tech 2 counterparts are paper-thin, which makes them ideal targets for suicide attacks. Miners have everything against them: big signature, low EHP, low speed, low agility, the element of surprise and even the NPCs. Most gankers fit their ships to alpha their targets - kill them with the first volley. I agree that there is no real counter against it, but preventing gank by the game rules is not the way to solve the problem.
If miners want to combat gankers, they should be given a tool for that - better tank, some weapons, or just different ship. For mining ore the best solution to avoid being ganked is mining with a battleship: a Rokh can sport more than 85k of EHP, while easily outmining a Retriever. Unfortunately it will not work for mining Ice, as mining barges are the only ships which can do it.
Orca pilots can easily hull tank their expensive Command Ships. An Orca with DC II, Reinforced Bulkheads II and 3 active shield hardeners in meds has about 194k EHP, compared to 51,7k EHP when fitted with cargo expanders and cargo rigs. Remember: modules (and rigs) used for increasing the capacity of your cargohold reduce hull (and armor) HP!
So here is my solution:
- Make new ice cubes which will be 10 times smaller and contain 1/10 of the isotopes,
- Introduce a new Ice Miner I (and II) turret, which will mine 1 new ice cube per cycle,
- Current "Strip" Ice Harvester modules will mine 10 new ice cubes per cycle,
This will give ice miners the tool they need really: a choice to mine more ice in a weaker ship, or mine less, but in a less vulnerable one.
EDIT: One more idea.
After reading what other Blog Banter participants have to say (both pro and against the "opt out of PVP" button), one more idea came up to me. It's similar approach to Kirith's, but a bit different. The Isolation Matrix is a ship setting, I would see it as a module instead.
I think there are other ways to improve safety of miners and mission runners, like specific "siege type" module that would be increasing your resists to 99% for example (let's call it an Invulnerability Core for the moment), but disallowing you to target, warp, move or dock and makes your drone bandwidth 0 mbit. Or instead of resists, make you untargetable (this one would be called Signature Scrambling Core). It could only be fitted on mining barges (+exhumers and orcas obviously) and would only work in 0.5 and above. What do you think about such solution?
iPad 2 over-the-air screen mirroring using Apple TV
For polish version please go to tabletowo.pl.
This post is not an attempt to review the Apple TV. There is a whole lot of those already on the internet. Instead, I will focus on one of the functionalities which convinced me to buy the $99 black box from Apple: over the air screen mirroring from iPad 2 (and iPhone 4S). The same feature unfortunately turns out to be the Achilles' heel of the device. But let's see why.
Setup
As with most devices from Apple, setting up Apple TV is very easy. After the Apple TV has been connected to the TV set and the network, it's time to turn on mirroring on the iPad 2. To do this, double click the home button and then scroll the multitasking bar all the way to the right to access media controls. You will notice a new button there, press it:
The same menu is used for AirPlay - a feature that allows streaming audio or video content wirelessly form any Apple device (iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad) to Apple TV or AirPlay-enabled speakers. Choosing Apple TV from the list will only set the default output to Apple TV. To enable the mirroring itself, you just have to switch the "Mirroring" switch to ON. Simple, eh?
Performance
Apple did not allow iPhone 3G to set the Home screen wallpaper, because they were worried about performance. Does over-the-air mirroring perform? Yes and no.
It works. It's easy. But it has all the disadvantages of video streaming:
- It introduces latency. There is a noticeable delay between what happens on the iPad screen and on the TV set. This is caused by buffering, which is necessary to keep any streaming connection up. If the buffer is too small, the stream will stutter. If it is too big, it will become even more laggy. Lag is noticeable in games that require reflexes. Even though Real Racing II has very good controls, the lag makes it barely playable.
- Performance is not as good as without mirroring. The A5 SoC CPU is a really powerful piece of technology, but when forced to compress full screen and send it over WiFi, it's processing power suffers. You will not see it in simple programs like Keynote or Safari, and surprisingly, neither in Infinity Blade 2. Most 3D-intensive games will stutter, more or less, as the A5 will try to do its best and run both the program itself and compress the output stream. Real Racing II works, but the animation slows down in more complex parts of the track. Dungeon Hunter III is playable, but the stuttering is more less noticeable.
- Mirroring support is still on the devs side. By default, iPad will stream a 1024x768 image, which leaves black areas on the left and right part of the HDTV screen. If the application developer added further support, the resolution can change to fill the whole screen. For example: in Keynote, the presentation is shown on the HDTV, while on the iPad screen the presenter can see his notes and a miniature of the slide currently displayed. Real Racing II draws the game on the TV, while leaving telemetry (speed, position on the track, stats) on the iPad. Dungeon Hunter III will draw the same scene on both the mirror and the iPad screen, but image on the TV set will match the TV resolution instead of the default 1024x768.
- Touch controls. When you're watching the TV, you can't see if your fingers are on the right parts of the screen. IMHO the best is the dual joystick approach used by many games. The virtual joysticks are usually placed under thumbs, so one doesn't need to constantly watch if the fingers are placed accordingly. Gesture controls like in Infinity Blade are almost as good: you feel where the iPad is, so you just slash the gestures on the screen as usual. Fruit Ninja is a bit more tricky, because you need not only to draw the gesture, but also aim correctly to slash the fruits. Accelerometer control in Real Racing is probably the best one to play games with mirrored screen: all you need to do is tilt the iPad.
When it comes to pressing virtual buttons, matters complicate: you have to peek at the device every time to see if what you are about to press is the button that you really intended to press, and not the one next to it.
Summary
While Apple TV in itself works rather well, including the AirPlay features, wireless mirroring is not that great. It's OK when you want to show a Keynote or a movie from your iPad on the TV set. It just works out of the box and is really easy to set up. Some games are playable too, but the performance is noticeably decreased. Because of this, WiFi mirroring is more of a gadget rather than an actually useful feature.
#2 Market logs can be dangerous, you know
Pemene VI Moon 10, Wiyrkomi Corporation Factory station
Patrie Constellation
Essence Region
"Hey Jonny, have you seen Luke today?" said Altaria Arnolles, the CFO of Torchwood Archives. The implant in her neck also said that she was a capsuleer.
"Nope, haven't seen him since yesterday. Isn't he supposed to be on some kind of mission? He said he wanted to go raid some Serpentis base or something." replied Jonathan. Even though a Caldari, Jonathan Khan didn't let the racist propaganda of his government come between him and Rox. They have been through a lot together, and the fact the he was a Caldari and Lukas was Gallente, did not affect their friendship even the slightest bit.
"He would have told me, if he were to be gone for a while." replied Altaria, trying to reach her missing boyfriend (and the Torchwood CEO) on the comms. The terminal has remained dreadfully blank.
"I have a bad feeling about all this," she said "first he says there is something important about the Navy, and now he gets missing."
"Didn't he tell you what was this Navy business about?" asked Jonathan.
"He only mentioned there were some unauthorized purchases he had noticed, and said he has to let know someone high at Federal Intelligence." said Altaria, biting her lower lip.
"I'll better go ask that FIO guy," said Altaria "this case smells from ten jumps away."
"If you need anything just let me know, I'll be in the hangar." said Jonnathan, tending to fitting of his new command ship. Altaria wasn't sure, if ship was more important to Jon than a missing friend, or if he was preparing his most powerful ship for a rescue operation. Remembering how Jon and Luke fought side by side in Placid, she dismissed her first thought immediately. Soon the warm feeling of the pod goo was replaced by the feeling of having seven neutron blaster cannons.
* * *
Deep safespot in 31-MLU system
49A-BZ Constellation
Syndicate Region
Even though Rox couldn't see or hear anything, his capsuleer body still had it's built-in instincts working. He felt the distinct tingling of a warp bubble at some point, which then abruptly ceased, as he felt he was in warp again. Knowledge that he was on the move was not helpful in breaking from his prison. He could tell what was done to him: his assailants somehow managed to broadcast a signal that convinced his hardwiring, that he is jacked in. Since there was neither an actual pod, nor any kind of ship, the artificial environment remained blank white, waiting for camera drone input.
* * *
"Are you sure this is the right coordinates?" said the tallest Intaki. "Yup, we just have to wait for the boss now." replied the other thug.
Suddenly the space outside the viewport has distorted and slowly took shape. A Dominix-shaped hull appeared just about three kilometers away from the tiny Nemesis. It was actually the upgraded variant known as the "Sin": a deadly black ops battleship. Seeing a few of these decloak on top of you, while frightening, is not harmful in itself. Onslaught of a horde of heavy drones and blaster cannons however - quite on the contrary.
"Drop the cloak, boss is here." commanded the other Intaki. Fingers of the tallest thug danced on a keypad, and the small craft become visible.
The NEOCOM immediately flashed, signaling a hail. "Do you have our guest?" asked a computerized voice from the comms. "Yes sir, he is ---" tried to explain the Intaki, but the voice interrupted him "Jettison him. In a secure container. We don't want any... harm to our guest.". As soon as the can cleared from the Nemesis, klaxons onboard the small craft sounded an incoming target lock. Before any of the Intaki could take any action, their tiny ship was vaporized, shredded by the annihilative force of antimatter rounds.
* * *
The infinity white prison gave way to a standard secure container, or rather its inside. "So this is why the Damsel was so upset in that can." mused Rox to himself, inspecting the surroundings. Since the container was empty, there was not much to inspect. Lukas knew to be cautious. Without the burning scanner nearby, normally located within the capsule, he was just as vulnerable as any other mortal. He didn't have to wait for long. The loading door opened, allowing three men and a woman to step inside. All of them distinctively Intaki. The capsuleer could tell she was the one in charge, but he didn't say anything. She had an interesting face and blonde hair, although Rox could tell this was only the outside. Judging be her demeanor, inside was cold as steel.
"It is not customary for us to bring outsiders here, neither we abduct capsuleers. Usually it's people seeking refuge with us, not the other way round. Unfortunately you have left us with no other choice." said the Intaki woman.
"Who are you? Where did you take me?" asked the capsuleer calmly.
"You can call me Ancemel Baliaerdt. As for the other question, you're capsuleer, aren't you? Rumor has it that eggers always know where they are." said Ann.
"You're working for the Intaki Syndicate, aren't you?" replied Rox, gathering the facts together. It didn't need a NEOCOM map to know that he was taken through null sec, because there was a bubble on the way. It only took a few jumps from Cat to reach it, and the only null space in the vincinity was Syndicate.
"Bingo." replied the Intaki woman. She motioned her bodyguards towards the capsuleer "Now please escort our guest to his quarters," then she lookad back at Rox and added "we will speak soon."
EVE is no longer an Excel-in-space game
This post is for new players, others please just skip it.
EVE doesn't require a spreadsheet or third party software to play, at least not for most of the playerbase. Developers have simplified many things in EVE, and the new player experience is much less painful. Why am talking about this? A friend of mine refused to take the 60 day free trial from me and I asked him why. So he claimed that EVE is overly complicated and he doesn't want to waste his time to learn how to play a game like that. He bought SW:TOR eventually.
I am here to tell you that EVE Online is much simpler than you were made to believe.
No learning skills anymore
There used to be a Learning group of skills that improve your character's learning attributes. To train effectively, a new player had to learn the Learning skills first, having to stick to the rookie ship until learnings are done. CCP has decided this is unnecessary and removed the skills, granting every character attribute points they would get from maxed Learning skills.
New player can immediately start training for a better ship and weapons, so the fun literally starts on day one.
Tutorial and career missions are enough to learn the basics
EVE GUI can be initmidating at first: most games start with an empty action bar, but in EVE you get a NEOCOM filled with icons right away. Just let Aura guide you and follow the tutorial. You will quickly learn that EVE GUI is basically a few important things to remember:
- overview is your friend - alle you need is to customize filters and columns to suit your playstyle
- fitting window and a basic guideline of "follow the ships bonuses" for fitting ships
- under no circumstances don't take "free" stuff from yellow cans in space
No third party software is needed to calculate tank or dealt damage
Thanks to Crucible, all you need is in the fitting window now. No Excel or EFT (a third party app: Eve Fitting Tool) is needed anymore.
What next? Just join a player run corporation. Other corpies will most likely answer all of your questions (unless they are new to the game as well). Academy corporations are specifically aimed at helping new players - click "People and Places" and search for "EVE University" (or E-UNI ticker).
Player-owned-station maintenance
Before Crucible one needed to buy 9 (sic! nine) different kinds of fuel for their own starbase (of course specific amount of every type). Crucible made it much easier by implementing fuel blocks - just one type of fuel. This makes spreadsheet obsolete again.
Do you need to use a spreadsheet to play EVE then?
I wouldn't say that the industrial side of EVE is easy, copared to other MMOs. Crafting in EVE can take many steps, and the problems start when you want to see if you're making profit or not. Production can be a single step for simple tech I ships and modules, or multiple steps for tech II and tech III. This requires an out of game tool to keep track of expenditures and calculate the profit margins.
If you are happy with just blowing stuff up, you will never make any use of spreadsheets for EVE.
RixxJavix said that "For some [EVE] it is [Excel in space], but I can honestly say I've never ever used a spreadsheet or tracked data in over three years of playing!". He is a known Tusker pirate, so you can rest assured, he is good at what he is doing.
Now, if you're ready for 21 days of adventure in New Eden, just contact me - I'll get you an exclusive extended trial invitation!
#1 Market logs can be dangerous, you know
Cat VI Moon 7, Federation Intelligence Office Logistic Support station
Euston Constellation
Essence Region
Even though it was early, the capsuleer deck was already quite busy. Jita IV-4 for example, is always crowded to a point where it is impossible not to bump into other people. FIO station in Cat was far from it, but still several pilots were to be seen, buzzing around, minding their own business. This could be anything: inspecting trade orders, checking on clone contract in the station medical facility, or trying to get a lucrative deal with one of the FIO agents who were present on the station. Cat system is so conventiently placed, just one jump from Villore, which serves as a staging system for the Gallente-aligned capsuleers flying under the banner of Federation Defense Union.
A tall Gallente capsuleer in a navy-like uniform quickly scanned a doorplate saying "Apiencaron Flothemes, FIO level IV agent for Capsuleer Affairs". As the pilot approached the door, it opened with a slight hiss, showing a typical gallentish inside, with light carbonide walls and green synthetic floor. A big holographic display on the opposite wall was showing a news feed from The Scope.
"Aaah, Lukas Rox! Welcome, welcome, what brings you here old man?" exclaimed the agent, getting up from behind his desk to greet his visitor.
"It's good to see you in a good shape, Apien" said the capsuleer and shook the extended hand of his agent.
"Please have a seat." Offered the agent "Care for an assignment?" asked Apiencaron, as Lukas took his place on the other side of the translucent desk.
"Is this place safe?" asked the capsuleer. "As safe as a Federation Intelligence office can be." replied the agent, switching a small button on the edge of the table "I have turned on the ECM, just to be sure. Go ahead." he added.
"I think the Fed Navy has been infiltrated." said Lukas, "Several of my market orders with 425mm tech two railguns were bought by the Federation Navy. Someone took 96 turrets, straight off the market without any kind of contract, tender or any other military procedures. I've been working with the Navy for years, and no one would ever authorize such a thing without a written contract. But when I asked my contact in the Navy, he was unable to confirm any of these market logs on their side."
"Don't you think it is just some kind of a covert operation?" asked the agent. "Would you sign a transaction with FIO encryption key if you were buying resurces for a covert operation?" replied the capsuleer. "No, I would probably use my middlemen." said the agent. "Then we agree, that someone in the Navy authorized this payment and then wiped all related logs clean on their side. Question is, who did it, and what for."
"I will look into it." replied the agent. "In the meantime, watch yourself and be on the lookout. Maybe something else shows up."
The capsuleer hastily shook the hand of his agent again and quickly strode to the exit. As the door hissed open, he noticed much less capsuleers on the deck this time, but there were three rather thick framed Intaki men in black suits. Just as they noticed Lukas, they headed his way immediately.
"Lukas Rox?" one of the Intaki asked in a deep voice.
"I don't have time for this." snapped the capsuleer, clearly not in the mood for being interrupted.
"You will come with us." the Intaki said matter-of-factly.
"What? You're kidding me---" the capsuleer didn't have time to finish, as the world suddenly spiralled away from him. His falling body was quickly intercepted by the two other thugs, before it could hit the floor. Other pilots were oblivious to the whole scene, too busy to notice three Intaki men hauling an unconscious Gallente capsuleer to a Nemesis-class frigate docked nearby.
Only one person noticed that a capsuleer is being held in the cargo bay of the Nemesis. It was One-eye Chris, a notorious thief and ganker, who was scanning all undocking ships, hoping to loot some faction modules or other precious cargo. He quickly dismissed the unimpressive cargo scan, as capsuleers were not high on his valuable cargo list.
* * *
It felt like falling at first; falling into a white, neverending void. But there was no floor to fall on to. There was just an infinite white nothingness, a perfect holding holding cell for an immortal mind of a capsuleer.
* * *
PF-346 Orvolle stargate
Z-6NQ6 Constellation
Syndicate Region
"Damn, I told them to watch that gate!" one of the Intaki thugs shouted to his comrades.
An almost perfect blue sphere was undulating around the stargate. Electrical discharges were forming at the edges of it, making the big gallente nebula look even prettier. But the warp disruption sphere was just as dangerous as it was beautiful. A group of capsuleer vessels was happily engaging in a fight just next to the huge, regional stargate leading to the Orvolle system. This dreaded place was the last sight of many, be it capsuleers, their crews, passengers or ships. A lone Thorax class cruiser was under heavy fire, which even though short-lived, was just a perfect diversion for the trapped Nemesis. The dying Thorax pilot had no idea that has just served as a decoy. As the unlucky pilot was rapidly freezing to the cold of space, the Nemesis had already cloaked, cleared the bubble and entered warp.
"Cloak is holding steady, and I don't think they've seen us." said the other Intaki "They were too occupied killing that poor egger!" - he said, making his comrades laugh.
"Scanner is clear," said the tallest thug "not even a fly on the radar."
"Good, let's just get it over with. The boss said he's paying extra ISK if we deliver that damn capsuleer tonight."
EDIT: Crucible 1.1 status update
EDIT: Crucible 1.5 1.1 Feature Page is now live! CCP has decided to roll back the number from 1.5 back to 1.1 
That also means:
@webspaceships: @CCP_Manifest @rox_lukas 1.1 just means that there's a 1.5 coming later with MOAR GOODIES 
@CCP_Manifest: @webspaceships @rox_lukas Yes, yes it does mean that.
Crucible has been out for some time and it was rather quiet on SiSi, mainly because of the holiday season. But fear not, CCP crew has rested for a while and now got back to serious work upon our favorite MMO.
Small things first
First off, CCP Punkturis has posted this list on the forum (and later this dev-blog)
- New agents list, it tells you if you've been offered or if you've accepted a mission from an agent
- Watch list can now have 15 people !!!
- Watch list can now be ordered by dragging and dropping pilots !!!
- Chat member list can be made more compact, right click on chat tab and "Show Compact Member List"
- New icons for online/offline, blocked and voice in member lists
- The online/offline notification which pops up when your buddy/enemy logs in is now has standings icon !!!
- Said notificaction can be dragged to chat to info link that pilot and right clicked on
- You can now shift click modules to overload them !!!
- Overload button shows feedback from when it's been clicked until it's activated/deactivated
- You can now filter the skills you see in your character sheet and skill queue to find the skill you want
- Nomenclature Obfuscation Reduction: CCP will be re-naming modules (namely missiles and ABs/MWDs) in a schema that tells the user what they do.
- Autocomplete and search hints have been added to the asset search function
Neo NEOCOM is back
But that's not all. Remember the famous Windows-like "Start Menu" for EVE by CCP Optimal? Well, the new NEOCOM is back. But it is not horizontal as before - it is vertical like the classic one. The main difference is however, the new menu is fully customizable.
When you click the EVE menu it will scroll down with all the possible options. Of course it is possible to drag and pin each menu option to the main "taskbar", so you can access any feature by a single click. The taskbar itself is fully customizable as well -
it is possible to drag and move pinned icons around. By the way, if you minimize any window (be it chat, showinfo or anything else), it goes straight to the taskbar as well. Think of it like a vertical Windows 7 menu.
Assault Frigates got some love - and a 50% reduction of the MWD signature radius penalty:
Make sure to read this forum post by CCP Tallest with all proposed Assault Ships changes. With the additional 200 armor HP and 10% bonus to guns (per level) Enyo will become real killing machine Wolf looks quite interesting as well. The 10% drone durability (per level) bonus on Ishkur will allow its smaller companions much more time to chew on enemies.
When Crucible was being developed, the devs promised us new Deadspace modules. It is then no surprise, that the current Singularity client contains new deadspace shield hardeners:
Fuel Block switchover
According to CCP Soundwave, Fuel Block handover is planned on January 24th. As you remember, CCP has introduced the Fuel Blocks as part of Crucible 1.0, but POSes still burn multiple types of fuel. On the 24th however, they will start using blocks instead. Make sure to have enough fuel of both kinds in your Control Tower for up to 2-3 more days (27th is a good target) just in case the switchover causes any unforseen issues.
Expansion numeration
This blog about the return of Neo NEOCOM by CCP Optimal mentions Crucible 1.1 (the one I have originally mentioned in this post title). However the news item about mass test on Singularity mentions Crucible 1.5.
Try it out yourself!
If you have never ever tried to access Singularity public test server before (or SiSi for short), feel free to try! TG has posted this great Singularity tutorial I really recommend reading it.
The test server allows testing the coming patch, but also allows harmless testing and training, because EVERYTHING costs exactly 100 ISK there. Every now and then the devs make a mirror copy of all active characters from the live EVE server (the Tranquility), so you might be missing a few skills, but most should be there.
@CCP Small things: would be nice to implement a "smart" production/lab autoselect based on location. Choosing the assembly line manually is really tedious when running multiple invention/production jobs.
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