Author: Lukas Rox

FW changes came early

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games , , ,

Just yesterday Factional Warfare has received the update, which was initially planned for Retribution. Why would CCP resolve to ninja patching in this case? Well, there can be a few explanations.

  • First, market has been quite well unbalanced by militias dumping a lot of LP store goods. Prices for implants and datacores sold by Gallente Federation have fallen sharply after Gallente militia pushed to T5 on October 7th . the same happened to ships like Dominix Navy Issue (it has affected Navy Meathron and Comet as well, but to a smaller degree). Crashed market also means that L4 and L5 mission runners had their income substantially reduced.

   

  • PLEX prices have stricken through the roof again. Similar thing happened when CCP has introduced the Incursions, when a lot of people quickly become rich, PLEX prices went from roughly 350 million to 500. Now the overflow of ISK caused PLEX prices to hit 590 million. High PLEX prices might discourage younger players from sticking to EVE.
  • Factional Warfare had no real meaning; players would push to cash out, instead of keeping space. Moreover, players of one militia would keep alts in their enemy’s militia to flip systems and farm plexes in them.
  • Factional Warfare was supposed to be a fun PVP experience. Instead, it has became a PVE-centric gameplay.

To combat the issues above, CCP has quickly deployed some of the planned features:

  • Replace the LP store price reduction from War Zone Control Tiers with a LP gain bonus.
  • Remove all rewards for completing complexes in a system that is already in vulnerable state.
  • Add LP rewards for defensive plexing. Formula is as follows: LP Gain = Base value of plex * (Contested percentage of the system/100) * 0.75
  • Increase the cost of upgrading systems and decrease the bleed-out when those systems are attacked.
  • It is now required to kill the defending NPCs during offensive plexing.

More details is available in this dev-blog.

Apple’s new iPads very likely to support LTE in Poland

Lukas Rox Hardware, Mobile, Tablets , , , , , , ,

Apple’s press conference on 23rd of October not only unveiled highly-anticipated iPad mini, but also brought a new-new iPad, 13-inch Retina Mac Book Pro, and a slightly tuned Mac Mini.

While for Apple fans this is a great news in itself, for people genuinely interested in mobile technology, this might be interesting as well. A closer look at the new iPad 4th gen and iPad mini specs unveils an LTE module, which is compatible with European LTE bands. The new A6X CPU is just a performance tuning really, as A5X had a hard time powering the huge Retina display.

Two models, namely A1460 (iPad with Retina display, 4th gen) and iPad mini A1455 support LTE bands 700 MHz, 850MHz, 1800 MHz, 1900 MHz and 2100 MHz. All LTE networks in Poland currently use the 1800 MHz band, so the 4th gen iPad as well as iPad mini should work without problems. The only issue, one might encounter, is the nano-SIM standard. Such SIM cards are not widespread yet and migh not be readily available.

It is worth mentioning, that both new iPads can use high speed WiFi using either 2.4 or 5 GHz bands (a/b/g/n), as well as 40MHz channel bonding mode in 802.11n, which can nearly double the throughput.

This is not all. Both models mentioned in the previous paragraph also support CDMA networks (EV-DO) such as American Verizon, or polish Orange Freedom Pro. Unfortunately the latter uses a very specific 450 MHz band, which is not widely used worldwide, and new iPads unfortunately don’t support it. It might however become supported in future, which means iPad with cellular module might in future become The internet tablet, able to use nearly any band and almost any wireless technology. It would give Apple an unprecedented technological edge.

Impact of DUST districts on Factional Warfare in Inferno 1.3

Lukas Rox DUST 514, EVE Online, Games , , ,

While I was busy keeping the Retribution Status Post up to date (hence the lack of new posts, just a lot of updates to the forementioned text), CCP has pushed the DUST integration to Tranquility. While DUST servers are not connected yet, Districts and their influence over Faction Warfare is already deployed on live server. The same applies to Orbital Bombardment ammo and the whole Infantry market group.

This only means one thing: CCP is getting ready for DUST 514. While Retribution might seem lacking any “theme” feature (like incursions or wormholes), the crown feature can simply be the introduction of DUST. Let’s have a look at the initial impact of DUST on EVE (shamelessly stolen from patch notes):

  • Each district owned by a particular Factional Warfare faction affects the number of Victory Points needed to move a Factional Warfare system into a vulnerable state.
  • If a district owner is the same faction than the one controlling the Factional Warfare system, the number of Victory Points needed to put the solar system into vulnerable mode is increased
  • If a district owner is the opposing faction than the one controlling the Factional Warfare system, the number of Victory Points needed to put the solar system into vulnerable mode is decreased
  • Each temperate planet in Factional Warfare space contributes by 12.5% to the System Capture Status Victory Point pool, for a maximum of 50% Victory Points in Factional Warfare solar systems with four temperate planets.
  • Until DUST514 is fully implemented on Tranquility, planetary districts have been set to belong to the NPC faction that traditionally owned the Factional Warfare solar system.

What does that mean?

  • It will be harder to put some systems into vulnerable state, depending on which faction originally owned the system
  • Some players are concerned it might be impossible to attain Tier 5 status with this change
  • Math suggests the changes will be superficial: while “enemy” systems require more plexing to put into vulnerable state, originally owned systems require less plexing to make them vulnerable. This means pushing to Tier 5 should still be possible, but will require a bit more work “behind enemy lines”.

EVE Online app you can send mails from

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games, Mobile , , ,

UPDATE: This post is very old and no longer accurate

CREST API released by CCP Games in 2016 allows sending and receiving evemails in third party apps.

At some point in the past I took some time to test all EVE Online apps available for iOS and Android. Since the publication of that post, many players have asked me about an app that allows SENDING evemails, and not just reading them. I have bad news for you: due to the limitations of the current EVE API, such app does not exist. But I also have some good news for you. It does not exist yet.

With Retribution, CCP is planning to release a new API (called CREST), which will certainly allow you to manage Contats and is very likely to allow sending EVE mails, too.

For the third party developers, the most valuable resource is the current documentation preview, which has already been made available.

Technical details

First big change is Authentication and Authorization mechanism, which the current API is missing (currently you need to authenticate every time by including apikey and vcode in every HTTP request you make). The new CREST API will let your app to log on once, using login.eveonline.com. This login server will grant an OAuth2 token, which will be used instead of api keys or other credentials. Moreover, CCP is adding some POST request besides the already existing GET requests. Data presentation layer will also be changed to utilize JSON, which I think is easier to use on web apps (for example in PHP or JavaScript), and should not give much trouble for other technologies (like iOS and Android). It is still up to CCP to decide which parts of the new API will offer “write” access, like sending EVE Mails or managing contacts.

One more thing

CREST is an acronym of Carbon REST. The Carbon technology is the new CCP framework that has been in use since Incarna, and REST means it’s a RESTful protocol (wiki). It will be released in Retribution expansion, so one might say it is a “Crest of Retribution“. Now this is what I found when googling it: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/item/13375. Coincidence? 😀

Close up on Orbital Bombardment

Lukas Rox DUST 514, EVE Online, Games , , , , , ,

Orbital Bombardment is one of the most spectacular features (but not necessarily the most important one) in the upcoming Retribution expansion. EVE Online pilots will be able to turn the tides in DUST 514 battles by nuking planetary targets directly from orbit.

For example like this:

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF4diq-KlXI”]

EVE Players are not concerned with the ability to shoot DUST-bunnies: they either look forward to it or simply don’t care at all. Pod pilots are however afraid of bunnies shooting back. You see, at first sight it seems that DUST players simply respawn and don’t have to grind ISK to buy ships like majority of us EVE players do. It is not entirely true. You can use cheap tech I fittings in EVE, and you can use expensive deadspace fitted faction ships. The same applies to DUST where you can use cheap and weak gear, or expensive, high quality one that you have to pay tons of ISK or AUR for.

Planetary bombardment already exists in EVE lore

The Dominix Navy Issue’s past is prominently interwoven with history, as it is known to have directly participated in the blockade and bombardment of Caldari Prime along with the Dracofeu orbital-class bomber two centuries ago. Engineered for capsule compliance, and refitted to serve more traditional combat roles, the Dominix Navy Issue today remains an extremely effective vessel and an invaluable asset in close- to mid-range battle situations.

Gallente Battleship Skill Bonus: 5% bonus to Large Hybrid Turret damage and 10% bonus to drone hitpoints and damage per skill level.

Did you notice the fragment in bold? It has been there for as long as Dominix Navy Issue exists, but had no real meaning until DUST 514 Orbital Bombardment feature.

CCP has mentioned several times, that destroyers will be the ship of choice for orbital bombardment, and that a new set of destroyers will be introduced in the winter expansion. Although Dracofeu is a ship from two hundred years in the EVE past, it doesn’t mean the new Destroyer couldn’t bear this name. It would even make sense considering the fact, that the Dominix Navy is a rather “old” design as well.

Destroyers won’t get the bonus right away, however. According to the post I’ve linked above, it will happen sometime after the initial deployment of winter expansion.

Hands on lab

First, you need a Tactical space-to-ground ammo. The only size available is small at the moment,  which suggests the use of small craft with many turrets (Destroyers!) or turret bonuses (faction frigates). It is also worth to notice that each ammo type has different properties: lasers are very precise, high damage appliances, while projectiles are more less anti-shield Area-of-Effect weapon.

Once ammo has been loaded up, we need to go to the planet where the engagement is on. Our DUST 514 friends will provide us with the District they are fighting over. New warpable coordinates are available in orbit of Temperate  planets (a side effect of this is more “ready-to-use” safespots have been created by CCP; if you are warping away from a hostile gate, look for temperate planets).

Once in orbit, you will see the District:

 

Once connected, it’s up for our DUST bunnies friends on the surface to provide the coordinates. Once coordinates have been received, you can activate the bombardment.

It’s worth mentioning, that the satellites, which play the role of warpable beacons are great looking models. I wonder if the Art Departament could improve scanning probes in such a fashion?

Now the same on video, courtesy of @JonnyPew. This vid is a fraps of the recent mass test that took place on Buckingham on September 27th.

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jjpMzMBomE”]

Bookmarks sync bug in iOS 6

Lukas Rox non-eve, Software, Tablets , , , , ,

Help, my bookmarks are stuck!

The Apple Maps in iOS 6 is nothing. Give them enough time, and they will eventually catch up with reality (and maybe with Google at some point). I do have a rather serious issue with iCloud bookmarks sync, though. Since the release on 19th September, my Safari bookmarks have doubled first (breeding like rabbits!), then stopped syncing. Moreover, I am unable to delete them or add any new bookmarks (the Delete button accepts the tap, but then does exactly nothing). Switching iCloud sync for Safari on and off in Settings does nothing either. iCloud tabs keep working even though Safari has been disabled in iCloud options!

As a technical person I would not just sit and wait until someone else finds a solution: I’ve started digging myself. First thing I’ve checked was the Diagnostic Logs (Settings -> General -> About -> Diagnostic & Usage -> Diagnostic & Usage Data).

The culprit is a small lesser daemon

Bingo! This is what I’ve found:

It seems that a process called webbookmarksd is killed by the kernel every few minutes with SIGSEGV. I bet this is eating a lot of battery, because CPU is wasting its time trying to restart the daemon every time it fails (and then wasting even more battery writing the crashlogs).

The next logical step was visiting Apple Support website, specifically the FAQ about problems with bookmarks (TS4001). Unfortunately, after reading through the FAQ and doing all the steps mentioned there – I’m still stuck with the problem.

What now?

For the time being I have filed a bug report on Apple Developer website and wait for Apple response or a working untethered jailbreak for iOS 6, whichever comes first.

You can read more about the issue on Apple Community Support forum: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4313906?start=0&tstart=0

Solution already exists, no jailbreaking required

As I have initially have guessed, the issue was caused by a broken bookmarks file. Other users who have encountered that problem were able to resolve it with the procedure in this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4333351?start=15&tstart=0.

I have followed the procedure from the thread and it worked – my iPad 2 works just like new, bookmarks are syncing fine and they are no longer stuck:

  1. Disabled iCloud backup and did a standard backup to iTunes
  2. Edited the backup with iBackupBot, replaced the broken bookmarks.db with one from this address: dropbox link
  3. Restored the edited backup with iBackupBot
  4. iPad did not reboot and it was stuck at recovery screen
  5. I put the device into recovery mode again, by holding the power and home buttons. As soon as Apple logo appeared, I released only the power button.
  6. “Connect to iTunes” logo appeared
  7. I did a restore in iTunes now, usingthe same edited backup – it seems iBackupBot did something wrong.
  8. iPad has restored successfully, duplicate bookmarks are gone, no more crashing webbookmarksd
  9. Re-enabled iCloud backup and bookmarks sync

Remember, by following this procedure, you do so at your own risk!

PS. I did the iOS 6 update at the same time on both my iPad 2 and iPhone 3GS, which had iCloud sync working perfectly fine in iOS 5. iPhone 3GS was completely unaffected by this issue, even though the same set of bookmarks was used by both devices.

Community spotlight: EVEPortraits.com

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games , , ,

One of the features introduced in Incursion was the new Character Creator. This has allowed new and veteran players alike to create much better character portraits – mainly because the old Character Creator was left untouched since 2003.

I am quite sure you have already seen characters, whose portraits look almost as good as a high quality photograph. And some other people have noticed them, too. A veteran EVE Online player called Reality X has created a website dedicated to character portraits: www.eveportraits.com.

For those of you, who are not too excited about character portraits I have one more word: “Contest“. A contest with some high-caliber prizes. Reality X is running a recurring event for people who would like to test their CG talents  against the new Character Creator. For a small fee of 20 million ISK you can submit your avatar to the contest and get a chance to win an expensive  faction ship. The current sixth iteration of the contest offers the faction variants of Iteron Mark IV, of which the Quafe Ultramarine edition  is currently priced at roughly 2 billion ISK!

Make sure to have a look, it’s well worth visiting!

 

“Supernova” expansion for GoF 2 is finally here

Lukas Rox Games, Mobile, non-eve, Tablets ,

Overdue for about a month (devs from Fishlabs initially scheduled it for 30th of August), the “Supernova” expansion for the best space game for iOS has been finally released. Android version is rumored to follow. Exact date is not known yet.

Galaxy on Fire 2 is the closest thing to EVE Online one can get for mobile devices, including iOS and Android. “Supernova” is the second content expansion, which brings several new ships, weapons and another few hours worth of singleplayer campaign. Some of the features are available for free when you install the update, but the new campaign is a 5.49 EUR in-app purchase. It is also possible to buy both expansions (Valkyrie+Supernova) for 7.99 EUR.

This is what the official patch notes say in the App Store:

# # # SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE SUPERNOVA ADD-ON # # #
• An epic new storyline with more than 10 hours of action-packed sci-fi gameplay
• Eight new spaceships (incl. Most Wanted Ships)
• Dozens of new weapons, power-ups and commodities (incl. cluster missiles and gamma shields)
• New mission types and gameplay modes (e.g. bounty hunting, plasma collecting, hacking)
• Seven new star systems (incl. the spectacular Supernova systems)
• New capital ships and structures (e.g. Vossk Battlecruiser and Mido Mining Plant)

# # # SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE FREE UPDATE # # #
• New arcade mode “Supernova Challenge” incl. iOS6 support
• Six special ships (only available for owners of the Kaamo Club)
• One retro ship (the legendary Gryphon from the original GOF)
• Possibility to modify the stats and capabilities of your spaceships
• Kaamo Club VIP Card (for exclusive discounts on all Kaamo-Offers)
• Four new primary weapons
• Nine new achievements
• Complete German voice-over
• Minor bugfixes and enhancements

The story of Supernova expansion begins with an insterstellar disaster in the Midorian sector, forcing Mido out of their space and creating new ground for a conflict with Nivelians. Mido decide to ask Maxwell to become an emissary of peace to the Nivellians to negotiate treaty and aid. Despite his valiant efforts, the situation only gets worse. Slowly Keith realizes there must be a new, hidden enemy, who tries to make matters even worse.

According to the press information, the Supernova expansion brings about 10 hours of action, and believe me, this is a high quality entertainment. Players can expect new missions, new systems (and new hidden systems as well!) and loads of new content such as space ships, blueprints, weapons and commodities.

Let’s dig deeper

The expansions brings several new ships, namely a heavy battleship “Bloodstar“, which according to galaxyonfire wikia sports 180 cargo space, 1 turret, 4 primary weapons, and 4 secondary weapons. There is limited information regarding other ships, apart from their names (and looks – Fishlabs has published several screenshots).

  • The new ships:
    • Gryphon
    • Rhino
    • Bloodstar
    • Amboss
    • Gator Custom
    • Blue Fyre
    • Ghost fighter
  • Most Wanted – a bounty hunter office. Track and hunt down most wanted criminal bosses to be able to buy their ships in Loma/Kaamo later. These are really tough enemies!

      

  • New modules:
    • Gamma shield – to withstand the gamma radiation after the supernova explosion
    • Repair laser (Large Remote Repairer I anyone?)
    • Leech beam (another mod from EVE: Nosferatu!)

  

  • New primary weapons:
    • Sentry Turrets – similar to sentry drones in EVE. Launch them and allow them to shoot your enemies.
    • Matador TS – new, manually controlled turret
    • M6 A4 “Raccoon” – improved version of the M6 series
    • Mass Driver MD 12 – improved version of the MD series
  • New secondary weapons:
    • Cluster missiles
  • Improvements to mining
    • Gas Harvesting: fire a ionization missile into a gas cloud, then once the cloud has been ionized and starts to disperse, you can harvest it with a plasma harvester (which is basically a turret, so you need a ship that has a turret slot).
    • Mido Mining Plant at Coromesk in Skavac system will happily convert 30 units of ore into a single core.

 

PS. I still wonder if CCP could release an EVE-themed mobile game using the resources from “Classic” EVE Online client. This would work! Second expansion to Galaxy on Fire II is a “living” proof that mobile games can be profitable.

“Not like this… not like this.”

Lukas Rox EVE Online , ,

It’s a very sad day for the entire EVE Online community. Vile Rat, an ex-CSM and a member of GSF has been killed by extremists yesterday in an attack on american consulate in Benghazi. Even though many of us never had a chance to talk to this man, those who did, speak very highly of him.

When I first read The Mittani’s article about this senseless death I felt heartstricken. I could not believe something like this could happen in civilized world. Worst part of it is that these people are most likely proud of what they did. Vile Rat owed them nothing, and did no wrong to them. Yet he has become a victim to their hatred. It’s easy to provoke it in people. It’s one of the strongest and most primal human emotions. I really despise those who incite hatred in people, using it for their own goals, pushing others to deeds like this.

Godspeed, Vile Rat. May your soul rest in peace. Fly safe man.

EVE Online: Retribution Status Post

Lukas Rox DUST 514, EVE Online, Games , , , , , ,

Expansion name: Retribution
Expansion number: 18
Release date: December the 4th, 2012
Expansion theme: Ships and weapons rebalancing, Crimewatch (new PvP agression rules), new HUD, Factional Warfare and DUST 514 integration, Bounty Hunting
Last update of this post: 30.11.2012
SQLite Database dump: Buckingham build 454549
Patch notes: available here for build 453216

Retribution login screen

I know this post is a huge wall of text, but I’m trying to make it as complete and as accurate as humanly possible; instead of having to look for information about the new expansion in dozen different places, all you have to do is read through this post.

Table of contents (or TL;DR part)

  • Blueprints for new items
  • Capital ships’ Corp Hangar changes
  • Crime Watch 2.0
  • Bounty Hunting system 2.0
  • Graphical changes & ship facelifts (new Special Edition ships, Snowballs)
  • UI changes
  • Ships rebalancing
  • Frigate rebalancing
  • Destroyers (Dragoon, Corax, Algos, Talwar)
  • Cruiser rebalancing
  • Hurricane balancing
  • Turret sound changes
  • Missile changes
  • Module changes
  • Officer drone upgrades
  • E-War rebalancing
  • ORE Mining frigate (Venture)
  • NPCs AI overhaul
  • Officer Rogue Drone spawns
  • Faction Warfare – Warzone Control changes
  • Faction Warfare – NPC changes

Read more