A drive that should not be tampered with

Undisclosed location in Essence region,
POS owned by Aideron Technologies

Research log, 23rd of December, YC115. I will be attempting to disassemble external compression dishes of new Sisters of EVE warp drive. Both armor and external hull have been stripped. Dishes are made of unknown, possibly fullerene material and are consisting of two 120 degree arcs on both sides of the hull. Arcs are fitted with a grid of graviton emitters and are bearing the logo of Propel Dynamics. Power coupling which connects compression dishes to ships powergrid is of Caldari origin as well and is based on graviton technology. There is an electronic interface on the bottom of the starboard arc.

astero-drydockRox was still amazed how Sisters of EVE were able to convince several companies around New Eden, from all four factions that are currently at war with each other, to cooperate and provide components for the new ships. Astero was half disassembled already, and only vaguely reminded of it’s original shape. With the armor plates removed, most of the ship was made of light grey tritanium alloy, full of sticking I-beams, wires and tubes interconnecting all the ships systems. The drydock assembly array was normally used by Aideron Technologies to produce tech II ships, but it was just as useful to disassemble them and analyze their inner workings. Powerful stasis field kept the ship in place, while robotic arms removed components part by part, like a surgeon operating on a beating heart. Lukas was just outside the structure in a small Gallente shuttle. It was curious how the Sisters managed to move one of the crucial warp drive components from the inside of the ship to the external, ringlike structures outside of the ships hull. This mechnism is what made these ships able to use covert-ops cloaks, without the need for advanced quantum computers and huge cooling systems normally required to keep them operational.

Now attempting to remove the compression dish control electronics.

Robotic arm reached for a small piece of electronics attached to the bottom of the right arc. Reverse engineering these chips would probably yield insights into how exactly the drive operates. Just after the device was removed, the grid on both arcs began to glow. It was a dim blue light at first, but it was becoming brighter and more intense with every second.

Graviton levels are off the scale, removing the control circuitry from the drive has caused some kind of runaway reaction. Aura, signal the CEO, we might have to evacuate…

Rox did not finish his command. Half-disassembled Astero collapsed violently as if sucked by a black hole. The surrounding assembly array followed the implosion, pulling all the robotics, then the dry dock, and the assembly array hangar inside. Rox willed his shuttle away from the structure, but it was too late. The implosion suddenly reversed, releasing bright white light that enveloped the tiny craft, obliterating it instantly. The capsule, even though well shielded, crumbled under the intense pressure and heat. The ectoplasmic gel, which normally fills the capsule began to heat and then boil, making Rox twitch in pain. The pain was so intense, that he wanted to scream, but the tracheal tube would not allow it. You see, in space, no one can hear you scream. The blast damaged the surrounding Mobile Laboratories disabling half a dozen of them immediately, and it made the POS shield flicker for a several seconds. And then everything went dark. At least as far as Rox was concerned.

***

Lukas was expecting to see white light; it’s normal, because new clones never used their eyes before, making them very sensitive for the first couple of minutes.

Instead, his body was still in dull pain. But pain meant he was alive. The capsule did not feed anything into his brain socket, so it must have been seriously damaged.

– Lukas, can you hear me? – a voice said – Are you all right? Listen, we’ve received a notification that POS is under attack. Are you ok?

– I will live – Rox willed his thoughts through the barely operational FTL radio. – Lukas realized it was Razeu, who came to check up on the explosion.

– I am repairing your pod, it caught fire. You should be able to fly back to station… right now.

Rox was weak, and couldn’t feel his limbs, but willed the capsule into warp. Medical personel was waiting on the docking ramp already.

***

Undisclosed station in Essence region
Poteque Pharmaceuticals property

– We are sorry – said a doctor in a white robe – but we were unable to save your left arm.

– It’s all right – Rox replied – it will only have to do until next time I die.

– Well, technically yes. But until then, you have been given a Phanca arm prosthesis. We were also able to treat all 12 broken bones and severe burns that you’ve survived. We did what we could about the scars, but I’m afraid they will still be visible. Of course since you are an empyrean, all these are permanent, but for this clone only.

– How long until I can get back to work? – Rox inquired

– You should rest at least a week before going back into capsule. We will monitor your vitals, but they should remain stable. – doctor replied

– I would probably be more lucky if the pod blew. – Rox said

– Not quite – the doctor said – You will have to ask your technicians, because I don’t know the details, but it seems the explosion disabled all FTL comms for a moment. That would include brain scan from your capsule.

A shiver went down Rox’s spine. That was close!

– It seems I should’ve listened to that note and not tamper with it. – Rox said to himself.

– Excuse me? – asked the doctor

The Sanctuary has reached a breakthrough

This post is a fan-fic lore oriented article written from in-character perspective ((IC)).

Last week the scientific community of New Eden cluster has been surprised by the uncommon design of newly unveiled, capsule-fitted ships designed by The Sanctuary (Sisters of EVE), which allows said ships to enter faster-than-light speeds while cloaked, without the need for sophisticated quantum computer hardware.

Crielere Cloaking technology vs. warp drives

Classic Sotiyo-Urbaata based warp drive uses two polar dishes inside of the ship’s warp core to compress the vacuum and create a depleted vacuum bubble around the vessel. This is the simplest and most efficient design, and is used by all starships currently in operation, both capsule fitted or not. Hundreds of years have proven this is the best possible approach, because:

  1. Warp core is hid deep inside the ship, making it well shielded from damage and unwanted interference
  2. Placing the warp core in the geometric center of the ship allows creation of the smallest possible depleted vacuum bubble, which makes it energy efficient.

Graviton Pulse GeneratorEngineers at Project Crielere have proven, that this warp drive design creates too much interference for cloaking devices to operate properly at FTL speeds. First stealth generators used meta-materials to make the ship invisible in a specific band of electromagnetic spectrum (usually infrared or visible light). The ship was however still visible in other EM bands, for example microwave or gamma. Historically the second and currently used approach relies on a series of graviton pulse generators in order to create a gravity lens around the ship. This causes all electromagnetic radiation to be bent around the vessel, making it undetectable in any and all EM bands. The effect of the lens also shields the ship emissions by containing them inside the graviton bubble (using complete internal reflection). In order to keep the graviton generators synchronised and create a stable lens around the ship, ship’s computer must calculate the model of the gravity lens in real time. While the model is rather simple when the ship is stationary, it becomes increasingly difficult when the vessel begins to move. All matter that comes through the graviton bubble, including space dust and the ship thruster emissions causes unwanted interference, which ship’s computer needs to take into account when calculating the bubble model. However, when the ship enters the depleted vacuum bubble,  the equations in the model change in an non-linear way, making it impossible for classic and photonic electronics to provide a solution.

Quantum MicroprocessorEngineers at Project Crielere eventually came up with an elegant quantum algorithm that can still provide a solution at FTL speeds, but it means a quantum computer hardware is required to solve the equations. This specialized hardware has been successfully installed into several classes of ships, including Recon cruisers and Blockade Runner industrials, but is generally unsuitable for most vessels, because it requires substantial customization. It also makes it nearly impossible to use on bigger ships, such as Black Ops battleships.

The Sanctuary has reached a technological breakthrough

Stratios CruiserBy moving the warp drive polar dishes outside of the hull into a circular ring-like structure, Sanctuary engineers have removed the effect of depleted vacuum from the graviton bubble equations, making it possible to be calculated without specialized hardware. It is still unknown how exactly this circular structure actually creates depleted vacuum, because the electronics which does all the calculations is protected by advanced tamper-proof chips. Sisters of EVE also forbid the owners from tampering with the technology, voiding the warranty if external tampering is detected, and stating it that using the drive after it was modified will cause fatal injuries to those on board. I however believe it is only a matter of time until some intrepid hacker jailbreaks the electronic systems in the ring polar dishes, and reverse engineers the mathematics that make it work. This lets me believe that by applying this technology to a battleship-class hull could allow even the biggest of vessels to use cloaking technology at FTL speeds. It opens the possibility for The Sanctuary to develop a covert battleship vessel as well, which is currently unconfirmed, but theoretically possible.

One of the downsides of The Sanctuary approach is that the use of a quantum computer would also allow a rapid restart of a cloaking device, which is currently impossible with classic electronics. It means that the Sisters ships are forced to go through a complete startup procedure of a cloaking device, which takes up to 30 seconds, rendering the ship vulnerable during that period.

More reading:

Author
Lukas Rox is a veteran capsuleer with PhD in Graviton Physics, currently working in Aideron Technologies as a Director, also an Expert in Cloaking Technology and a GalNet Software Architect.
More information is available in the CONCORD dossier.

Earning trust of the Thukkers

viator-warpEngines of the Viator-class transport were humming quietly. You could still hear them, even inside the capsule. Lukas Rox was just passing Deltole system in Algintal constellation. Enterprising capsuleers could find some lucrative deals here in Algintal, because it’s one of those places in New Eden where several different factions vie for control. One could also find some Yan-Jung relics in the constellation, provided that the ship was equipped for archeological survey. But Lukas was one of the pilots who always have something else to do, so he was simply passing through.

* * *

Being a capsuleer for a long time can eventually become tedious and boring. After a while, all contracts seem to be the same: invent this amount of that module, kill this pirate, rescue that damsel, and bring her somewhere where she can breathe. One could however never tell if this was the reason which made Lukas decide to take a detour to Nickel & Dime Store in Augnais system.

To an outsider all Minmatars look similar, most is wearing weird hair and have multitude of tattoos and piercings. Lukas wouldn’t be able to recognize these people as members of the Thukker tribe, even though he used to work with other tribes in the past, namely Krusual and Brutor. “Welcome to the Nickel & Dime Store” said a skinny minmatar with a welcoming gesture, “I’m Pattok Nortul, with whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?” he asked when . “My name is Lukas Rox and I’m looking for work.” said the capsuleer, looking around the shop. The enterprise was run in a hangar array, where piles of salvaged materials have been arranged in rows: drone components, shield components and so on. “It’s a pleasure mister Rox. We run a humble little shop owned and operated by the Thukker tribe, catering to the needy souls in this beautiful constellation.” said the skinny agent.

He judged the pilot with his gaze and added “Hm, something tells me you can be of some assistance to us ― perhaps you’ve worked for the Thukkers in the past?”

“I did work with the other tribes, but I haven’t had the pleasure with Thukkers yet.” – replied Lukas. “So you said you could find some use for an experienced capsuleer?” asked Rox.

“Yes, we could.” said the agent, “But you must know we are unlike the other tribes. Your standing record with Krusual might be impressive for the Republic, but we are not part of it.” explained Pattok.

“I hope you understand why the first task will be nothing complicated or risky? It should let me gauge your talents. Deliver a few crates of goods to a nearby station for me. The rewards are modest, since this is such an easy task, but it’s only a start.”

“Sure, I’ll do that. But it better be worth it.” said Lukas. “I am sure you will find our other deals worth your time.” replied the agent.

* * *

The job was a really easy one. It reminded Rox how he’d run courier missions for Sisters of EVE just after becoming capsule pilot. In half an hour Lukas was back at the Nickel & Dime Shop.

“Not bad, not bad at all. Good work on your first assignment. Despite it being a tedious one, you pulled it off without any qualms. As promised, I’m offering you something a little more interesting.” said the Thukker agent.

“You see, things have not been easy around here lately. The Caldari mega-corp Wiyrkomi is intent on tapping into the vast natural resources found in the constellation, much to the dismay of the many environmentalists here in the Federation.” explained Pattok.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that.” replied Rox.

“The struggle between the two sides draws unwanted attention to our little enterprise here and is making our operation difficult. Down the road, I might be tempted to have you help us with this unpleasant situation. But not just yet. First, we have to take care of another small problem that just came up.” said the Thukker.

“I’ve had a look at your dossier, and you seem to be a perfect person for the job. The Serpentis drug lords are out in force here in Algintal, overseeing traffic between Federation and Republic space. We Thukkers are not into the drug scene, so we generally leave them alone.” said the agent with a little smile. “The same applies for them, for the most part. Live and let live, huh?” his smile widened. Lukas could swear the agent winked at him as well.

“Thing is, many of the Serpentis have grown too fond of their own goods and can get a little wild at times. One such incident occurred the other night when a gang of renegade Serpentis junkies stole some goods we were receiving from our associates in the Republic. The goods aren’t all that valuable, but we must send a clear sign to the Serpentis that our goods are to be left alone.” explained Pattok.

“Here is where I come in, right?” asked Rox.

“Exactly. I know that the fools who stole our goods are relaxing at the Skeleton Comet complex over in Deltole. If you’re willing to go over there and teach them a lesson, a hard lesson ― a permanent lesson, get me?” – Rox was certain now, because the agent did wink ― “Then I would be much obliged. And if you could return with some of the goods they stole, I’d be even happier.” said the Thukker.

“How about a little motivation this time?” said the capsuleer.

“I am quite sure you will find some use for this little print.” said the Thukker, and gave Rox a rusty datapad with some schematics displayed on it.

“Yup, it looks like a nice module. We’ve got a deal then.” said Rox and after a brief handshake turned around to his ship.

* * *

The Skeleton Comet complex was a well known place, so it even had a beacon in the Neocom. After Rox ordered the warp destination, Aura immediately offered a brief history of the site. Rox didn’t mind and allowed the AI to continue her monologue.

The Skeleton Comet, a comet that was picked clean during the early stages of Federation space exploration, is one of the many landmarks in Algintal that makes the constellation known as one of the most beautiful places in the whole Federation. While not as spectacular as its more renown cousin the Canyon of Rust the Skeleton Comet still attracted tourists from all over. But in recent years the smuggling cartels operating in the constellation have made the place their own. Driven from their other pirate havens by activists or, more recently, foreign corporations, they have convened here to make the Skeleton Comet their last great bastion of smuggling activity in the constellation. Needless to say, the only tourists now visiting the place are those in search of smuggled goods or illicit affairs.

Yet the Skeleton Comet holds one little-known secret unlocked by those early miners. While drilling in a remote corner of the complex they found ancient relics and definite signs that humans had tread here before, thousands of years earlier. Only recently this startling evidence was analyzed further to corroborate what had until then only existed as rumors whispered in shady mining bars around the Federation. A fascinating story of early settlers in the world of EVE was uncovered, a nation calling itself Yan Jung.

But the intrusion of the smuggling cartels halted further arcaeological diggings, though it is said that the smugglers themselves have been poking around in the old ruins. Some say fabulous discoveries have been made, but the smugglers keep silent on the subject.

The remains of the mining equipment are long since gone, used as material in the construction of the safety guardrails running through the comet to make navigation of tourist yachts easier. But the tourist activity has dwindled to almost nothing in recent years, due to the local smugglers using it as their main pirate haven in the constellation.

“A very nice place indeed.” thought Lukas, and ordered his Myrmidon battlecruiser to approach the acceleration gate. In deadspace pockets like this one, the amount of insterstellar dust and asteroids makes warp travel extremely risky. Instead, acceleration gates are used to propel the ships deeper into the pocket.

Upon arrival, Rox has quickly surveyed the pocket. Serpentis had several ships here, mainly frigates and cruisers. Nothing a Myrmidon couldn’t handle. Lukas didn’t bother to ask the Serpentis to return the stolen goods. They were rather unlikely to comply, and all of them were tagged as kill-on-sight and with a CONCORD bounty. Five Hammerhead II drones have cleared the Myrmidon’s drone bay and immediately aligned toward their frigate prey. The ship engines lit with bright blue arcs, and the ship began moving forward, slowly following the drones.

Serpentis pilots must have been busy with something else, because it took them a good while to notice the incoming threat. Before the frigates started their engines, one of them was already destroyed. Four others quickly followed, leaving a small field of wreckage. The other Serpentis ships didn’t seem interested in joining the fight. Rox ordered his drones back to the drone bay, while his ship slowly approached frigate remains. With a little luck there was a chance that some of the stolen goods have survived the explosion.

* * *

Just an hour later Rox was back in the Thukker shop. Pattok was almost running towards him. He looked nervous, but also relieved a little “Oh, Lukas Rox, you’ve come at an opportune moment.” he said. “And thank you for dealing with the Serpentis. Unfortunately things are progressing as I feared they would. The continuous struggle between Wiyrkomi and the activists have cast a spotlight on the constellation. While we here are the Nickel & Dime Store are running a perfectly legal business, our associates and clients like to operate in the dark. Already, I’ve lost several important clients, and some employees are getting restless. So much so that I’m having difficulties making my more demanding deliveries.” – said the Thukker agent.

“Unfortunately, I do not have the means or the knowledge to do much about the situation, but my business associate Iliere Angetyn is a most resourceful Gallentean, and I’m sure he’s already contemplating how to put things right. But Angetyn doesn’t deal with just anyone. Only those clearly in favor with the Trust Partners company get his attention.” explained Pattok. “So I have a proposal for you. Run an errand for me that one of my just-departed couriers was supposed to, and I’ll give you a Trust Partners Business Card. Show this to Angetyn and he’s certain to offer you something lucrative.” – proposed the agent with a grin.

“You say it will be worth my time, eh?” – Rox asked.

“You can count on it” replied Pattok. “Now back to the errand in question, it is a simple delivery over the border into the Republic. It has a very small chance of getting you in trouble with the customs, but I’m sure a resourceful pilot such as yourself can pick the right route to avoid any unwanted attention.”

“I have never smuggled anything, but that thing over there” – Lukas gestured towards his docked Viator – “should have no problem with being unseen.” Empires have recently retrofitted Blockade Runner class with a sensor scrambler, which makes it impossible to scan the cargohold of the ship. This and the ability to fit a Covert Ops Cloaking Device made the ship ideal tool for moving valuable cargo.

“Does that mean you are in?” – asked the agent.

“Tell your people to move the containers aboard, and I’ll see that it goes where it belongs” – replied capsuleer.

* * *

Becoming friendly with the Thukker tribe has opened a lot of business opportunities. Rox was quite sure that he will exploit this new chance to the fullest. Who knows, maybe Great Wildlands is not so far after all.

Arek’Jaalan: Site One

Roleplaying in EVE? Never heard of it.

EVE Online is not only full of douchebags, who just wait for you to make a mistake and then exploit it by destroying your precious internet spacecraft. Its roleplaying side exists, but is not so obvious (unless you count playing that douchebag from the first sentence as roleplaying).

Roleplayers do more than just have fun speaking for their characters and acting in game as some science fiction characters would. They also do a favour to CCP by enhancing the vibrant, living world of New Eden by the stories of their own. And I’m not only talking about fan-fic arcs, which some bloggers write now and then (myself included).

This also includes CCP sponsored live events. The volunteers from ISD used to have a team called “Aurora“, which was “focused on the plot and back-story of the EVE universe and were lead by volunteer actors roleplaying the important people with backing from the fiction team of CCP”. Team Aurora has been disbanded by the CCP in 2008, and their responsibilites have been transferred to a new departament: ISD Mercury. You would probably never noticed their existence until Sansha’s Nation started to raid Temperate planets across New Eden.

Sansha’s Nation live events

Sansha began their incursions about a year before CCP deployed the Incursion expansion, and much more players noticed that there is such a thing as live events (if you were not playing EVE back then, you can read about these live “pre” incursions here). Some roleplayers quickly rallied to find a way to combat the Sansha. Direct fight was not the best option, because rallying other capsuleers takes time, and these live events were completely unpredictable and never lasted for long. Some roleplayers suggested to use science instead of guns, and find a way to close the violent wormholes, which Sansha used to stage their incursions. “Operation Bad Moon” has been created. The idea was to use Gravimetric ECM to destabilize Sansha wormholes. I have suggested we should use HIC’s as a source of graviton particles instead, because they are much more powerful than regular ECM. Other players suggested to find a way to break Sansha communication.

Arek’Jaalan: Site One

Hint: the in-character part is in italics.

CCP recognized roleplayers efforts, and together with the volunteers has built a complex in the system of Eram in Metropolis region, where it is now possible to see what roleplayers are involved with at the moment or who contributed the most in creating the complex. The place is called Arek’Jaalan: Site One.

I will be your guide on this trip, so make sure your seatbelts are securely fastened and please have a look through the nearest viewport.

Here we can see “Site One” from some distance. The tallest structure in the middle is called Administrative Outpost, and it is of the very same design as the one capsuleers use in deep space.

The structure on the far left is a typical acceleration gate. This one is inactive, but if we approached it, we would get a notification, that “Construction of additional areas is currently underway. The acceleration gate is closed for public access.”.

Let’s approach the minmatar control tower called “Arek’Jaalan Visitors Center”.

A calm male voice started his monologue:

Welcome to Arek’Jaalan Visitors Center. An information package is being uploaded to your cargo hold now.

For site acknowledgements, or more information about the research underway here, please consult the documents you’ve just been provided.

Thank you for your interest in our research. 

As the tour was watching the structures outside, the voice continued:

“The Arek’Jaalan Project was founded to act as a cross-organizational research body and common ground for capsuleers to share information about the Sleeper civilization and related matters. The goals of the project are, relative to similar bodies, both simple to understand and quite humble. Put simply, our aim is to research, document and educate.

Research: We aim to posit and debate theories, study known facts and uncover new ones, and use every other method available to deepen our understanding of the Sleepers and related subjects.

Document: Through extensive use of open networks, and with the help of key staff, we aim to document all of the information shared between project members, from everyday communication to large-scale research projects.

Educate: Using our body of contributors and their documented research as a foundation, we aim to educate other capsuleers about our work, and to encourage wider capsuleer interest in scientific matters by presenting information openly and accessibly.

In its initial phase, the project aims to build a “foundational” body of documented research, at which point a larger focus will begin to be placed on the goal of education.

It should be emphasized that Arek’Jaalan does not aim to produce new technologies, and in particular that we take an active stance against any further weaponization of Sleeper or other technologies. We aim for something more benign and progressive.

It should be similarly noted that much of our work lies in centralizing and documenting scattered, yet publicly available, information. In the absence of these hard facts, we turn to educated theory. Although there is always the risk of information being used for immoral ends, it should be remembered what the majority of our work at the Arek’Jaalan project actually amounts to, and that our own stance is to be firmly against such actions.

Overwhelmingly, the current focus of interest in capsuleer research is applied science, particularly weaponization. The work we do is intended to help humanity, and science as a whole, not just the capsuleer military-industrial cycle. Arek’Jaalan stands apart from the destructive mainstream; as an alternative way for capsuleers to use their unique capabilities. “

I can add to what’s just been said, that the other document we have received is a listing of corporations and individual capsuleers who contributed in building this site.

Let’s head to the whole bunch of structures on the right side of the complex. First off, there is a Minmatar Outpost; we will pay it a visit in just a minute. Secondly, there is an array of archives carefully lined up in front of that outpost. Each of the archives bears the name of a specific project.

By navigating from archive to archive one can complete a whole list of projects that Arek’Jalaan was involved in so far:

Research Abstract: Project Algintal
Research Abstract: Project Astrosurvey
Research Abstract: Project Blueprint
Research Abstract: Project Catapult
Research Abstract: Project Common Ground
Research Abstract: Project Compass
Research Abstract: Project Enigma
Research Abstract: Project Huntress Green (1 of 3)
Research Abstract: Project Huntress Green (2 of 3)
Research Abstract: Project Huntress Green (3 of 3)
Research Abstract: Project Infernal Spade
Research Abstract: Project Omega
Research Abstract: Project Omicron
Research Abstract: Project Rho
Research Abstract: Project Slipstream
Research Abstract: Project Tesseract
Research Abstract: Project Theseus
Research Abstract: Project Theta
Research Abstract: Project Trinity

If any of you is interested in these projects, it’s enough to approach any of the archives with a spacefaring vessel, and the details will be automatically uploaded to the ship right away. The outpost behind archives, that I mentioned earlier is an Eifyr & Co. Research Office installation, but it is unfortunately off limits to visitors, so our little tour ends here. Do you have any questions?

The whole complex as well as all the projects are very well documented on the galnet page of EVE Wiki.

Closing Thoughts

Kills don’t leave traces in the game; they are merely records in a killmail database. What these roleplayers did here was actually leaving something in the game for others to find and explore (and possibly join the effort). If you are interested in the roleplaying side of EVE, make sure to read the Mark726’s EVE Lore Guide hosted at Freebooted, it is great material to find out how broad New Eden’s lore actually is.

PS. I actually found this place by digging in the SQL Data Dump. Once I found the first “Research Abstract” item in the invTypes table, I have immediately set off for Eram to acquire these items and find out more about the project itself.

Cockroach frigate design: fake or not?

There have been rumours in the capsuleer community recently about a new vessel designed around Rogue Drones technology codenamed the ‘Cockroach’. There has been footage of this vessel (on which it is able to destroy a Control Tower along with a complete set of structures – please see here), but there has been no data on the ship itself. An anonymous source has published a file on galnet which seemed to be an industrial database backup. One of the hackers employed by the Torchwood Archive corporation has found the following record in forementioned file:

Cockroach class ship
Cockroach class ship

Cockroach

The specially adapted rogue drone scanning technology integrate into this unique frigate-sized platform is reserved for the exclusive use of the elite Equipment Certification and Anomaly Investigations Division (ECAID) agents. The femtometer wavelength scan resolution allows the pilot to virtually dissect and analyze any object at a subatomic scale, divining all flaws and defects with an uncanny level of quality. Flying one of these amazing ships is also a great mark of achievement. Any ECAID agent worthy of such a command can be said to have reached the pinnacle of his career and is worthy of all capsuleer’s deep respect.



There is also a record of a ship of this class destroyed about a year ago here. Unfortunately it is impossible to confirm if footage mentioned above was real or just a clever fake. A ship with such capabilities should easily be able to fend off a group of other ships.

((OOC: I found this ship while surfing through the inv_items table from EVE Data dump))

Serpentis Phi Outpost

Serpentis Phi Outpost

So I have run this casual scan in my high sec “home” system (which is convenient, because its only 2 jumps from my usual low secs and has factories, so I can build stuff). Two unknowns… and one of them 4/10. “Nice” I thought to myself, with the image of Corelum C-Type gear before my eyes. I’ve docked and swapped ships into a PVP fitted Cynabal, which has enough speed and shield buffer to easily tank such a site. I have quickly cleared the first room, zooming around the surprised rats and popping them into the coldness of space.  Just a minute or two later I was aligning the gate to the second deadspace. Instead of killing the boss and grabbig the valuable loot I felt like killing the rats first – for bounties and security status.

I was almost done with the first group, when a Proteus warped in. It’s a high sec system, so I was not immediately in any danger, because he wouldn’t be able to gank me before CONCORD arrives. So I watch him, just in case I need to take any action. I immediately noticed, that he does not have  Friction Extension Processor, so if I stay outside 12 km (faction scram), I should be safe. He immediately went for the Phi-Operation Protector, deploying a group of t2 hammers and firing his guns. I pushed my MWD and bumped him, locking both the Proteus and the boss rat. Out of a sudden, the NPC Megathron popped, and I burned for the wreck, with the MWD still on. I’ve quickly looted the wreck and waited if the Proteus agresses me. He did not, so I warped off with two precious Corelum mods (and one shadow hardener) in my cargo.

It was my shit, I was there first, I killed all the rats in the first room, and I had full right to that loot, and I would prove it with my 425mm Autocannons  if the Proteus pilot objected. Too bad he didn’t react, a Proteus kill would actually be nice.

Next time I will go straight for the boss, as I should in the first place, taking Stolen Passkey from the can in the first room.

Caldari defenses held in Isanamo

Shortly after midnight, at 00:16 on 15th of June, Sansha Nation has attacked planet in Isanamo system. According to logs gathered by “Operation Bad Moon” team, due to strong planetary defenses and quick capsuleer response, the Nation was unable to abduct any inhabitants.

It shows that even though the attacks cannot be predicted yet, good planetary defenses and quick exchange of information between capsuleers can protect us from the new Sansha threat. Strong planetary defense is one thing which Gallente government could learn from Caldari. Regarding us capsuleers – we need more coordination (intel channels, intel forwarding paths) to lower the delay between attack and capsuleer response. Creating an alliance is a costly but very effective option. It will also protect small corporations from Sympathisers wardecs.

Sansha Nation can, and will be stopped.

Sansha incursions continue, Ardallabier IV attacked

Last night, 13.06.2010 on 20:24 after a longer break, another Nation attack occured. Two violent wormholes have been opened in orbit of planet  Ardallabier IV. Initial capsuleer response was very small compared to overwhelming Sansha forces. A Dramiel pilot has agressed one of the battleship spawns and speedtanked them, while other pilots made their way through countless Nation ships. Soon more capsuleers arrived on the scene, including “Operation Bad Moon” team, which tried to analyze the wormholes and disrupt them. Nation forces were unfortunately successful during their harvest and 110.000 was reported taken by Sansha dropships. There were three battleship-class waves and one interceptor-class squad. First wave of battleships has managed to escape through the wormhole, but remaining Sansha forces were quickly dispatched by the growing capsuleer forces.

Local transcript: Local_20100613_202024

Intel updates on galnet forums over here.

The first attack happened almost exactly a month ago (11 of May). One can wonder: is this a coincidence?