@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.
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.
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.
eveonline.com looks more less unchanged since the 2005: the same menu, the same dull grey colour, animated header in the middle of the table. Over the last couple of years CCP has gradually redesigned the Account Management and Feature pages, so they look much more “modern” (as they should have in the first place!). The new websites feature amazing backgrounds, which look cool and in most cases better than the official wallpapers, which can be found here.
Ever wondered how to use such background as your desktop wallpaper? It is really simple.
You will need a web browser (this tutorial uses Chrome), a graphics manipulation program (you don’t need Photoshop for this; free GIMP 2 will do just fine – you can download it here) and some spare time.
Download the background image of your choice. In Chrome right click the website and choose Inspect Element,
Choose the “Resources” tab and look for bg, background or anything that looks like the backdrop that you might want to save.
Drag and drop the file from the list of Resources to your desktop or a folder,
Open it in GIMP,
Go to Image -> Canvas Size,
Click the chain icon next to image size (You have to unlock the aspect ratio),
Enter the size of your desktop (obviously it’s only good to crop an image which is too big),
You can center the image if you want,
Save the new wallpaper,
Set it as the desktop wallpaper.
Here I have linked a couple of backgrounds on the EVE Online website, which will do great wallpapers:
You can always use the expansion logo and add it as a new layer to your wallpaper, so you get something like this. To achieve best results, set the logo layer to “Additive” blending. This makes the white color of the logo show, while the black background remains transparent. CCP often uses transparent PNGs for their logos, so it is now easier than ever.
EVE Incursion wallpaper (1280x800)
Making this kind of wallpaper takes up to 5 minutes, and the one above is in top search results for “Incursion wallpaper” on Google.
Feel free to experiment with the multitude of filters available in the GIMP – they allow you to affect colors and the image itself. On the right part of the screen GIMP opens the Layers Channels and Paths window, which allows the manipulation of different layers of the image. You can duplicate the main layer, add some filters to each of the copies and then change their opacity to less than 100% so they all intermix with each other.
Crucible: Internet Spaceships. Revisited.
Above you can see the result of such tinkering. Notice I have added a layer mask to one of the layers – layer mask makes parts of the layer visible, and parts hidden. To make a smooth transition I have used a black-to-white gradient as the mask (black hides the layer, while white shows the layer). This way the left part of the screen is gray and desaturated, while the left part is vivid. Download the GIMP image here. clicking on the “eye” icon will hide a layer. This way you can see how the image was created – layer by layer.
Fan Site Kit
CCP is usually helpful towards creative minds and released this Fan Site Kit, which contains even more backgrounds, logos and icons, which you can use for your custom wallpapers. Thanks for hint @Irumani!
Remember! If you publish your wallpapers on the internet, always put credits where credits are due, and copyright information where it is necessary!
Many MMO players own multiple game accounts, and play them at once – this is called multiboxing. EVE playerbase is no different: many people own two accounts, and some players have many more. In this post I am going to focus on ways to play multiple accounts, but also their possible use in EVE. Multiboxing requires more than one account, because CCP limits the amount of active sessions to one at a time. If you try to log on more game clients with the same account, the previous session will simply get disconnected.
Multiboxing setup
First off, one must decide how to play more than one account at a time. The simplest way, but requiring a rather powerful PC, is to run multiple clients on the same machine:
full-screen (alt-tabbed)
windowed
dual head (two displays)
The first is rarely used, because when interacting with one client it is not possible to see the second one and vice-versa. It can only be useful for station trading or changing skills.
Windowed mode is by far the one most commonly used by players, as it doesn’t require any additional hardware (ne extra display needed). CCP has introduced a very helpful feature in Crucible which is character name added to the clients window name.
Dual head is probably the best solution for dualboxing, because it allows to see two whole clients at the same time. It requires an extra display though, which adds some cost at startup. The added value of playing on one PC is the fact that only one mouse and one keyboard is necessary to interact with the two clients.
Multiple PCs is a different (and a bit more expensive) approach to play more than one account at a time. Since my laptop has a dedicated AMD Radeon graphics card, I use a PC and a laptop setup myself. This requires the use of two mice, but otherwise is not much different from a dual head setup and allows to see both characters at the same time.
Why would anyone need more than one account?
The answer is simple. EVE Online is a massive multiplayer online game, and game mechanics enourage cooperation. Some things are much easier to do, when two characters do it instead of one. Some operations require at least two or even three characters to interact (such as cyno jumping or creating and using a jump portal).
PVE and industry uses
Mining – one character is flying a mining barge, the other is flying an Orca or industrial ship
Missioning – dedicated tank and dedicated DPS, two DPS ships or missioning ship + salvage ship. I usually fly a Kronos + Vulture (switched the Kronos to a Talos recently). This way missions can be done much faster. It is up to you to share LP and standings to both characters or not.
Webbing freighter – because webbed ships warp faster – requires a freighter and a tackling frig/interceptor. After each jump, freighter aligns for the next gate and in the meantime tackler approaches it. When Frieghter is more less aligned, tackler webs it. This lowers both the maximum speed of the ship, but as well the warp threshold speed. If done correctly, it should catapult the freighter into warp immediately.
Jump freighter – one character opens a cyno, and another character jumps the freighter to it
Datacore production – each character can have up to 6 concurrent R&D agents (18 per account). This is a nice passive income.
PI production – each character can have up to 6 planets. This is just enough to make one Advanced Commodity. To make starbase structures, you need all types. One account can do it, but it requires careful planning and moving lots of materials between characters. To make effective starbase production based on PI materials, at least two accounts are necessary.
Research – each character can run a maximum of 11 jobs – since one account can hold up to 3 characters that makes a total of 33 industry jobs, with two – up to 66.
PVP uses
Flying multiple ships in a fleet – it works best in large fleets of battleships and battlecruisers. Difficulty increases with ship speeds, as flying faster ships require more focus on piloting itself. I would never dualbox with two frigates – it requires too much attention to effecitvely multibox (I am not saying it’s impossible – it’s just a lot more difficult). Even three battleships is a completely different story and much easier to manage.
Cynoing jump-capable ships – just like moving a jump freighter (or any jump capable ship).
Opening jump portal – like cyno jumping, but Titan/Black Ops pilot opens a bridge instead.
…because of Falcon! – flying solo PVP with an alt in Falcon cloaked nearby to help escape the tight situations. While not necessarily a fair behaviour, it is an effective tactic for beginner and seasoned PVPers alike.
Power of two
CCP has noticed that people run two or more accounts and repeatedly offered a “Power of two” promotion, which is basically a second account with 6 months of playing time for 49,95 EUR. Compared to a regular paying account this is indeed a bargain: normally you have to pay 19,95 for a new account, and then 5 installments for 14,95 EUR each (94,70 EUR in total)
Of course players sitting on lots of ISK can easily use PLEX instead (and can buy a character for the new account as well!).
All in all
EVE Online is a multiplayer game. It is always better to have a bunch of friends to play with. If your mates are away though, having two or more accounts allow you to do everything. Even cynoing capitals.
Do you multibox as well? What do you use your sidekicks for? Comments are welcome.
It was a sunny summer morning. I got up early, even though I still had over a month of summer holidays. This is one of the aspects of student’s life I miss a lot: three months break in the summer. I started browsing the internet, looking for something on sourceforge. And there it was: this little banner of EVE Online.
A friend, who attended classes with me, told me about the game earlier the same year. A colleague of his started the first polish fansite of EVE: eve-centrala.pl. My friend didn’t say much about the game itself apart from the fact it’s about spaceships, but this was enough to get me started. I have browsed the EVE website and a couple of fansites which I could find on google. I liked the setting and I liked the concept, but didn’t want to start playing a game with subscription.
So this morning, when I saw the EVE banner, I have decided to give it a try. I have signed up for the trial quickly and downloaded the 500 megabyte client package. I was to learn later that this was the ‘Cold War’ edition, which then had little meaning to me.
I started up, watched the intro and created a new character. I really liked rolling eyes in the old character creator 🙂 This day Lukas Rox was born. This is my first screenshot from EVE:
My skills were so limited, that I barely flown the rookie frigate. I was nowhere near being able to kill NPC pirates, not to mention other players. Not knowing EVE and not having anyone to guide me, I have flown around the nearby systems and kept mining Veldspar. It was the only way to make ISK I knew of at the time. In on of the high sec belts I have seen the might Megathron for the first time. It was fitted with mining lasers and pilot had a funny bio saying “If you’re mining, do it with style”. I have decided to make a career in mining. This would let me make enough isk to get better ships and time to train all the important skills. Of course learning skills were not the top priority, because I wanted to fly and use everything first. It was a costly mistake, but of course I was oblivious to that fact. Exploring EVE was a lot of fun for me, and I’ve been learning quite a lot of stuff.
Are noobs the only miners in EVE?
Career in mining was not a quick one. Skills to fly a Mining Barge were going to take a while, and mining Veldspar wouldn’t make quick ISK either. I have switched the noob ship to an Atron, and then quickly upgraded it to an Imicus. I saw a lot of people mining in Industrials, which were saving the time of warping back and forth to station. So as soon as ISK and skills allowed me to, I have switched to an Iteron. I also wasn’t mining Veldspar anymore, because Plagioclase was selling for more ISK.
It was not long before I finally finished my first goal I set for myself in EVE: I have trained the Mining Barges skill and bought my first Procurer. It was Christmas, and I had some more time to play. So I made friends with some other guys and we went to mine in low sec for the first time. I flown to Oulley in a mining barge. I didn’t yet know how stupid this was, but no one was around to teach me that lesson, so my Procurer has survived.
I also did my first level 4 mission then. A group from Center of Advanced Studies NPC corp was doing missions together, and all ship classes were invited to the gang. I was piloting a Catalyst class Destroyer to kill frigates, which were warp scrambling our tank battleship. This is what made me lots of ISK quickly, and let me buy a Retriever barge.
The nullsec adventure
The guys I met when mining in low sec invited me to join their corp. They have already settled in Q-TBHW system, and I liked flying with them, so I didn’t hesitate to join. Kahn Mer was the FC who run me down the pipe. You had to have instas – bookmarks that would land you on top of the gate – because at the time even manual warp would throw you 15km from the gate. In nullsec this is of course equal to death. I would learn later, that Kahn is extremely charismatic person, and we would form a very profitable venture together. At this moment Lukas had 3 million skill points then, and the biggest ship he could fly was a cruiser.
We have moved to Y8R-XZ, a dead end system in Geminate, and it would later become our new home. Of course we have been mining Dark Ochre and ratting, which was a nice source of ISK. The CEO trusted me with operating the POS, or rather the moon mining operation. I was to empty the silos and move all the goods to the corp hangar array.
Lukas Rox’s skillset was expanded into battlecruisers and electronic warfare, so not long after I attended my first nullsec roam. We ended up gate camping, and I have scored my first kill that day. I was still worried of losing my ship, so I had warp stabs fitted. They were only cutting into my CPU, because at that time they didn’t gimp ship sensors, as they do today. I have lost a bunch of ships (and pods), but I liked the thrill of PVP. Unfortunately our alliance leadership was slowly deteriorating and a few corps engaged us in a war, that would eventually drive us out of nullsec. I have lost countless pods at this time, and have decided never to go back to nullsec again.
It’s the Torchwood Time
Kahn Mer, me, Fozzion, English Don and Torqumanda have started a new corp: Torchwood Industries. I have trained skills for production and – finally – battleships. We were mining, making stuff and running level 4 missions together. We were making more ISK than in nullsec, while in the safety of high and low sec. We even went to low sec to mine the Dark Glitter ice, but we failed miserably, losing a bunch of mining barges and other ships to local pirates. But even with this little setback our venture lasted for over a year and made me enough ISK to buy a Thanatos carrier and all the skillbooks. Of course we did PVP as well, because a few corps decided that bunch of industrials are a fair target. What they didn’t know however was that we knew how to defend ourselves. The first real PVP experience I gathered in Torchwood would help me later on, when I was to hone my skill and become a pirate in The Citadel low sec in late 2007.
How did your adventure with EVE begin?
Feel free to leave a comment (or if you are into blogging, I invite you to write your own post about Your first year in EVE).
As the everyday life slowly gives way to the holiday preparations, which by now have reached a peak level, I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas: a Christmas full of joy, a time which you can peacefully spend with your family.
May your turrets always hit,
And your modules always fit,
May your missiles never miss,
And give your foes’ hull a kiss,
May your cap always be full,
And your roams never be dull,
May your cavalry never be late,
And your clone always up to date!
Welcome to the thirty-first EVE Blog Banter, a community conversation between anyone and everyone with an interest in discussing EVE Online. For more information on how this works, check out this link or for details of this edition’s topic, read on.
As any games journalist would probably tell you, a true and complete review of a Massively Multiplayer Online game is impossible. MMOs are vast, forever evolving entities with too much content for a single reviewer to produce a fair and accurate review. However, a collection of dedicated bloggers and EVE players (past and present) with a wide range of experience in various aspects of the game might be able to pull it off.
This special ‘End of Year’ Blog Banter edition aims to be a crowd-sourced game review. Using your gaming knowledge and experience, join the community in writing a fair and qualified review of EVE Online: Crucible. This can be presented in any manner of your choosing, but will ideally include some kind of scoring system.
With each Blog Banter participant reviewing the areas of EVE Online in which they specialise, the result should be a Metacritic-esque and accurate review by the people who know best.
Writing an unbiased review of a game one kept playing for several years is not easy, but I will try nevertheless.
Freighter class ship about to explode in Murethand
EVE Online is a space themed starship MMO set in a distant future. It is a game very different from most MMO games, which are centered around the players represenatation – avatar. In EVE, your avatar is not flesh and blood… it’s a starship. Of course since 2011 it is possible to leave the ship and walk around captain’s quarters, but it is not related to the main gameplay. Another difference is fully sandboxed nature of EVE: players are free to do whatever they wish or go wherever they want to go. There are no classes in EVE, and there is no experience points – EVE has an offline training system instead. And most importantly, EVE is a PVP oriented game.
Let’s have a closer look at the features of EVE:
Single shard experience
EVE Online is one big persistent world, and everything happens in the same universe. The game is powered by one of the biggest clusters of servers in the gaming industry. This is what makes EVE such an unique experience.
tightly bound player community
working player-run economy
ability to meet in game any other player
actions of one player/corporation/alliance resonate throughout the entire game world
Character advancement
Avatar and the capsule
EVE does not have XP system known from other MMO and RPG games. Instead, characters are “training” skills, even if the player is offline. Each skill is capped at level 5, so new players can quickly specialize and attain the same level of skill as seasoned players. Every level takes more time to train than the previous one: simple skills train to level 3 in minutes, and level 5 only takes 4-5 days. This also means that experience grinding… simply does not exist. Skills allow operating different starships, weapons and modules. They also allow characters to engage in crafting, exploration or trading. The only disadvantage of the offline skill training system is that it takes time. Training can be sped up with “implants” or careful rearrangement of character attributes (it’s called a “neural remap” and can be done once every year), but above certain level it is impossible to decrease training times any further.
Character professions
Characters do not have classes, which means everyone can engage in any kind of activity. It also allows players to try out every “profession” available in the game: all one needs is a proper set of skills trained. New players can choose from several types of activities:
Combat
PvE
Missions
Ratting
Incursions
Salvaging
PvP
Small gang warfare
Fleet warfare
Piracy
Fleet command
Faction warfare
Exploration
Archaeology, Hacking
Running hidden complexes
Finding hidden resources – gas clouds, minerals, salvage
As you can see, there is multitude of things players can engage in, which also makes it very hard to be bored with EVE. If you don’t like your current activity, there is always many other ones to give a try instead. You can read more about what to do in EVE Online here, or in the official EVE career guide.
Customization
Ship fitting window
Player ship can be customized in many ways. First off, ships have module slots, which allow to fit weapons, electronic warfare, scanners, shield or armor. Second, they can be fitted with rigs, which work like “tuning kits” for cars: they extend performance in specific field while decreasing it in other. Third, different munitions can be used, which affects weapon range or deal damage type.
Player character can be recustomized anytime by putting different clothes, tattoos or piercings. Hair and its color can be changed as well. Characters can also use implants, some of which decrease training times (attribute enhancers) or increase performance in a specific task (hardwirings).
Tech III ships, which were introduced in Apocrypha expansion allow one more level of customization: the ship itself is built from 5 subsystems (player has a choice of 4 types for each of the five). Subsystems affect not only the capabilities of the ship, but also its look.
Player vs Player content
EVE Online is a combat oriented game, especially regarding Player-vs-player combat. Game world is divided into four zones:
high seceurity space
low security space
null security space
wormhole space (which in many aspects is very similar to null security space)
In high security space there is NPC police dubbed “CONCORD”, which will destroy anyone attacking other players. This does not mean players are protected against non-consensual combat. CONCORD merely discourages it, but does not remove it. Players flying ships with expensive fittings or cargo have to be cautious even in high security space.
Players can also engage in wars between each other: for a small fee, one corporation (or alliance of corporations) can declare war on another. After 24 hours since war declaration fighting can begin.
Low security space gives shelter to space pirates and anyone else who likes to shoot other players rather than NPCs.
Null security space can be claimed and fought over by small and big player alliances alike. It is completely lawless, and offers more tools for warring parties to use.
Factional Warfare has been introduced in Empyrean Age expansion, and allows players to sign up for militias which fight the opposing faction militia. Rewards for killing opposing faction players include exclusive ships and equipment.
Emotions!!! Due to specific nature of ship loss (unlike in other MMO games, if you loose a ship in EVE, you do not respawn. You loose it for good and have to buy a new one) EVE offers a high level adrenaline experience. The level of adrenaline is comparable or even higher than in FPS shooter games. EVE is real!
Scamming and meta-gaming. EVE is just like the real world: people try to exploit others and often succeed at it. Simple scams like selling low tier equipment for high tier prices or convincing other players to invest in a business venture, which turns out to be a Ponzi-scheme are quite common and not only allowed by the devs, but even encouraged to do so. EVE is one of the games known for this kind of events, some of which made to RL press! Golden rule of EVE: trust no one.
Player vs Environment content
Live event with Sansha NPCs
To fund equipment, players have various PVE content types to play with. NPCs can be found hiding in asteroid belts or in hidden complexes accesible through exploration. Questing is also available in form of “Missions”. Most stations have agents who can be interacted with. They offer various missions, some of which are about killing a group of NPCs, mining a specific asteroid or moving goods from place A to place B. Each mission is rewarded with in game money and special “Loyalty Points” which can later be redeemed into special Navy ships or Navy munitions with increased damage.
Apocrypha expansion brought new AI and new NPCs called “Sleepers” which can only be found in so called “wormhole space” (part of space only accessible through unstable wormholes which randomly appear in space). New NPCs will try to swap targets and effectively attack either the weakest or the most ship which deals most damage to them.
Incursion expansion has added a group-oriented PVE content dubbed “Incursions”. A system affected by incursion look different (space is in greyish yellow hue) and has some systemwide effects applied: reduced bounty from NPC pirates, reduced damage and damage resistances. NPCs infesting such systems are much more “intelligent” and require a group of players to effectively combat them.
Crafting
EVE offers an unprecedented crafting system. Every ship in the game, and majority of equipment has been made by players. The in-game economy resembles the real world very closely: by manufacturing ships and equipment you can sell them for profit to other players. You can gather the materials yourself or just buy them from other players. Crafting has several forms, depending on the items produced and materials used. If you like to build stuff for others to blow up – you will enjoy EVE crafting system very much.
Not sure if you can find a niche for yourself? You can manufacture basic Tech I ships and modules, you can invent their enhanced Tech II counterparts, you can reverse engineer the Sleeper drones into usable Tech III technology. It is possible to research blueprints so they use less materials or take less time to manufacture. It is possible to produce performance-enhancing boosters. You can build planetary colonies and manufacture planetary interaction goods there. The list is almost endless.
Visuals
EVE runs a third generation of CCP proprietary Trinity graphics engine, which offers high quality graphics based on shader model 3.0. Engine offers such effects as light shafts, self shadows and HDR rendering. The warp drive effect, which has recently received an overhaul, looks better than most TV Sci Fi series and movies.
Music and sound
“EVE has sound, you know” is a known meme, at least in the EVE community. Most players mute the game sound to better hear other players on voice comms (its worth mentioning that EVE offers a Vivox based built in voice comms as well). When you turn the volume up however, you will hear cool ambient tunes and good quality sound effects one could expect from a Sci Fi game. Each weapon and most modules have a specific sound, so players know what happens around them even when not looking at the screen.
“The Score”
Character advancement: 10 for offline training, 7 for time based experience system, overall 8,5/10
Character professions: 10 for multitude of activites, overall score 10/10
Player vs Player 10 for emotions, 8 for possible unwanted combat, overall 9/10
Player vs Environment 9 for multitude of options, 7 for missions that can be boring over time, 10 for exploration, overall 9/10
Crafting 8 for too complex crafting system, 10 for multitude of options, overall 9/10
Visuals 10 for realistic warp effect, 8 for small glitches and unrealistic light shafts in vacuum, overall 9/10
Music and Sound 9 for music score, 8 for sound effects, overall 8,5/10
FINAL SCORE: 9/10
EVE Online is a complex game, and this is one of the biggest issues for new players. Many people will not even try EVE because they think it is overcomplicated (one of the EVE’s nicknames is “Excel in space”). The complexity and broad spectrum of activities is on the other hand a huge advantage: EVE is not just another brainless game, but offers a real challenge. This challenge, the emotions connected to it, and the choice to make what you want make it a game you can play for years – I’m just one more proof of that (been playing EVE for 6,5 years).
I would like to say thank you to everyone who participated in my little giveaway. This little piece of javascript has chosen the lucky pilot, who will have a brand new Talos battlecruiser:
document.write(1+Math.floor(Math.random()*10));
As many of you know, Math.random() returns a pseudorandom number between 0 and 1. Ten people commented under the post, so we need a range from 1 to 10. We have to multiply the output by 10 and add one, so the output range starts with 1. The last step is to truncate the fraction part. We can do it with the Math.floor() function.
The winning number is 8.
The eighth person to comment (not the 8th comment! one of the participants has commented twice) was…
Rathann
Congratulations! I have contracted your ship to you in the game.
And a chance to win a Talos battlecruiser – details below.
Every year CCP gives away some limited collectibles: ships, implants, modules or consumables. One of the most notable Christmas gifts was the Snowball Launcher and Snowballs (which later become melted by CCP, because players were using them for griefing). They were great, because you could shoot anyone without actually agressing them (the fun part was when someone fired back). Over the years CCP has also released several limited edition ships, like the Zephyr, Primae, Echelon or Apotheosis, which still remains the only jovian ship that players can fly.
A choice this time
This year, CCP gives away a different gift: a choice. There are real world companies, that make similar Christmas presents – boxes with a certificate inside, which can be exchanged for a number of things to choose from. But since EVE Online is all about choice, this year you can choose your Christmas gift yourself.
How to receive it
First, log on to your account management page. You will notice a big banner saying “Holiday Gifts. Will you be naughty or nice?”, click it.
On the second page you are presented with a number of choices:
3 Destroyers with a sizable amount of small faction rounds,
medium and large faction ammo,
Zephyr, Primae or Echelon
POS fuel blocks
fuel block blueprints
+3 implant set
CA-1 Genolution implant
boosters (Quafe Zero too!)
a free neural remap
2000 AUR
Please note, that you will have to make your choice before 21st of December. A day after that, on December 22nd your choice will be available for redemption at logon screen.
150 posts landmark here ->
(means a free Talos battlecruiser for a lucky pilot!)
I don’t know if you know but this is my 150th post. It has been a long and sometimes bumpy ride, starting in March 2010, just before the Tyrannis was announced. Initially my blog was not about EVE: it was about everything computer or photography related. When CCP announced Tyrannis, I began a cycle of posts about its features, playing mostly on Singularity at the time, and giving others the ability to track all the changes in the coming expansion. At this time my blog has received a facelift, which was basically a whole new more EVE-like theme. I was also writing more and more about EVE, rather than anything else.
Unfortunately there were also bumps on the road, just like on any typical polish road (I think polish roads have more holes per kilometer than in any other country in Europe). On 14th of October my old webserver was ganked by a hard drive failure, which was not detected in time and struck the server perfectly, wrecking for OMGWTFPWN filesystem damage. I am a seasoned admin, but that doesn’t make data recovery any easier. And real men don’t do regular backups, you know. With a friend of mine, we have managed to salvage enough data to recover our websites, and we have bought a new server. Ordering new hardware, configuring it, installing OS, configuring OS, recovering the data and finally bringing the new HW to the datacenter took 10 days (I’ve been doing all this in my free time).
Providing information about the next EVE expansion has become my second nature. This status page about Crucible has received 574 unique visits on November 29th, and has been linked on many websites, such as Massively.
It would not be possible without YOU, my audience, so I would like to say:
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
To celebrate, I will give away a brand new Talos battlecruiser with custom black leather upholstery and my signature 😉
I will randomly draw the winner from the comments below this post; please write your character name in your comment, so I can contract the ship to the winner. Thanks!
The winner will be announced on 21st of December.
PS. If you do not have an EVE account yet, I have two 60-day free trial keys available until December 24th. Please contact me if you would like to start playing EVE Online.
PS2. The issue with Captcha permissions has been fixed (for good) and comments should work now.
Even before Crucible was released, players had been speculating, how the new expansion is going to affect suicide ganking. This is a form of PVP, which many players flying around high sec forget about. New players quickly learn, that CONCORD does not guarantee protection – it merely discourages PVP in high sec, but does not eliminate it. New players can read more about ganking and PVP here.
Let’s have a look at two Crucible features, which affect this form of high-sec PVP:
SCC will not pay out insurance if ship was destroyed by CONCORD
Tier 3 battlecruisers, which feature unprecedented firepower at an affordable price
Insurance changes
The first feature on our list looks like a good thing for hi-sec dwellers, which is supposed to increase ganking cost. Does it really discourage gankers? Not at all. It only increases the break-even point, at which cost of the ship lost to CONCORD can be equalized by the loot from the ganked ship. So if you fly a deadspace/officer fitted Marauder class ship, you are still prone to being ganked. Same with goods-filled freighters and Orcas: as long as the value of your cargo is higher than half the total cost of ships required to destroy yours, pirates will consider you a valid target.
Of course piracy is not the only reason pilots gank each other, because some will do it for fun or any other reason that comes to their mind (boredom being also one of the possible reasons). “Never fly what you can’t afford to lose” applies not only to null and low sec, but hi sec as well.
New battlecruisers
The new Tier-3 battlecruisers seem to be a perfect tool for gankers: they are cheap, huge damage ships, that easily take out ships many times their size. Due to extremely powerful alpha (above 9100 volley damage with Republic Fleet EMP rounds), Artillery fitted Tornadoes are the best ships for this job. They are basically oversized Thrashers, capable of delivering a devastating blow to any ship in range. Three arty Tornadoes can wipe out an officer-fitted Golem.
According to @CCP Diagoras, 705 tier-3 battlecruisers have been lost to CONCORD and sentries so far, of which 621 were Tornados.
Ganking is easier after Crucible
With the two changes in place I can’t say high sec is a safer place, than it was pre-Crucible. It is the same, or even less safe now than it used to be. This of course is good for both the economy and to the game, so…
Crucible has been out for 11 days and most players who engage in POS logistics have already prepared the new Fuel Blocks for their precious starbases. There is no need to rush however, because CCP Soundwave has published information about delay this afternoon. According to the news, towers will begin consuming Fuel Blocks on January 24th. Apart from this, people who like to shoot stuff have been shooting (and dying) in the new Tier-3 battlecruisers, the masses are enjoying lots of small improvements, and beside some tears regarding the postponed Fuel Block switchover, most players seem to enjoy Crucible very much. Oh and by the way, CCP is doing the Live Events again. Wanna loot some t2 mods or even a PLEX? Head to Great Wildlands now!
But seriously, what is coming next?
We all know that DUST 514 is going to be released on PS3 somewhere in 2012, so all the mechanics linking it to EVE Online should come to the latter as well. Does that mean we are going to see establishments, War Barges and other Orbital Platforms?
Everything below this line is a pure speculation based on some known facts.
The mechanisms for the Planetary Warfare structures seem to be already existing on Tranquility, and they have been introduced with the Player Owned Customs offices.
In their trailers, CCP tend to use actual game footage, sometimes edited a bit, but for the most part it is the real thing. So lets compare, side by side, what can we see in Crucible, and what was shown on E3, when this DUST trailer had been released:
Okay, now since you have seen the movie, did you notice anything unusual? Yes, the trailer has been published in June, whole five months before Crucible, and it already has the new nebulae! Proof:
Next, the Planetery Warfare Interface. It looks just like the revisited PI screen from Crucible, but instead of orbiting Customs Office, on the DUST Trailer there are other types of structures, possibly related to combat and warfare.
Lets move to another feature, which I would really enjoy a lot: new nebulae on the star map! It would add to this already immersive feeling of distance and direction, that the new nebulae brought to EVE. These nebulae should be translucent and barely visible, but still noticeable, just like on the DUST video:
For sure we are going to see more V3 ship shaders, namely Minmatar and Amarr, which did not receive facelift in Crucible. I was a little disappointed with this, but on the other hand, if CCP waited for all the ships get reskinned, Crucible would not be a winter expansion, but more likely spring or even summer one.
I won’t be speculating about the name of the summer expansion, as it is too early and there is not much solid information available, but the codenames are already on the official Bug Reporting website (feel free to check yourself at bugs.eveonline.com). If you don’t feel like it, check the image on the right. So Crucible is project CALIGULA, and the summer expansion will be called either NERO or TITUS.
Only time can tell if the above is going to happen or not. In the meantime, let’s enjoy the Crucible, one of the most successful EVE Online expansions to date.
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.
It was a sunny summer morning. I got up early, even though I still had over a month of summer holidays. This is one of the aspects of student’s life I miss a lot: three months break in the summer. I started browsing the internet, looking for something on 
Feel free to leave a comment (or if you are into blogging, I invite you to write your own post about Your first year in EVE).
As the everyday life slowly gives way to the holiday preparations, which by now have reached a peak level, I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas: a Christmas full of joy, a time which you can peacefully spend with your family.
I would like to say thank you to everyone who participated in my little giveaway. This little piece of javascript has chosen the lucky pilot, who will have a brand new Talos battlecruiser:
