The Mining Game (Part 1)

Greetings my fellow pod pilots, & blog readers!!!

Recently I’ve been tossing around different ideas on how the game could be improved.  For whatever reason, mining has become the focus for my imagination.  Now I first want to say, that I am not an avid miner, nor do I do it with any regular frequency, but I do have an industrial alt that is slowly acquiring every mining & trading skill to 5! 

It is hard to believe that she is quickly coming upon 60mil SP!  My original intention was to just have an alt to salvage, be my hauler and trader in High-Sec.  After she was able to fly a Bestower, she moved onto a Providence, then Hulk, followed by Orca. (It might not of been in that order) Hell, she can even fly an Ark, but I haven’t decided to save for the Isk to buy one.  I then began picking up mining skills, PI, & production skills just to try different aspects of the game.   It is sad to say, but I need an actual industrialist to tell me what to do with all these skills, and explain how they affect her performance in game. *Sad Panda Update*

Now along the way I did decide to try mining ore & ice. (I have an ice belt next door to my High-Sec base of operations)  I have even worked in a few groups with Orca supplied mining links.  What I discovered…  Mining can be REALLY boring.  I can understand why people developed bots to do it.  (I do not condone bots in game)  BUT, it can be a lot of fun when experienced in a group on voice comms.  Who doesn’t like sitting around playing a game, while chatting with friends?  Isn’t that the reason we play MMOs?  So we can play with other players.  However, there are times when you don’t have the desire to get into a group, nor want to play with others.  So I began to wonder if there were things that could be done to enhance the experience of mining game play?

One Idea – Fragment Mining

***WARNING*** I am going to use some very basic equations to make my point that do not take every detail into account.  One of the advantages o f ratting is that you have a chance to loot really decent items from the wrecks.  It is simple, depending on the security rating of the system you an (Y %) chance of a faction/high end loot drop.  So for a combat orientated player they can look at their income as: Income = ((X ISK/hour) + (Y%/Faction Kill)) .  Am miner’s income, on the other hand, is based on the amount they can strip or mine in an hour: Income = (Market rate of Ore) * (Ore mined/hour).  Notice that in the case of the miner he has a fixed income rate depending on the ore mined!  His experience is constant & in my opinion a bit boring. I want to add + (Z%/Amount Mined)

Now how could CCP change that?  What about a chance of high end ores (the ABCs) or even possibly moon minerals such as Technetium  dropping?  This system would not merely have these prizes dropped into your cargo hold, but you’d have to work for them.

How it would work:

1- Miners begin mining a rock.  Depending on the security rating of the system the miner is in & the type of ore being mined, would grant a X% chance that the rock would yield a High End Ore Fragment (HEO Fragment) per FULL mining cycle for each mining module. (or maybe based on the amount harvested?)  I would suggest either limiting this benefit to strip mining modules OR grant bigger bonuses to the drop % based on the type of modules being used.  A civilian mining laser should NOT have the same chance as a fully fit out T2 Hulk. (Which in turn could allow for additional benefits for using T2 mining crystals or special rigs, or maybe even allow for *new* mining ships especially designed to search for these fragments?)

2- When a mining cycle results in the spawn or drop of a HEO Fragment it appears in space, much like a loot can or wreck.  It also would only remain on grid as long as any other wreck.  The fragment must be targeted.  Now you could simply loot this fragment like a loot can, but I think that would be too easy, and allow folks to come along and steal this precious cargo from the hapless miner.  I suggest the additional steps below.

3- When HEO Fragment is targeted a special mining module must be used to extract the mineral from the fragment.  It would share the same mechanics as salvaging, yet use skills specific to the mining profession. (WOOT!!! New Mining Skills & module to work for!)  I’d recommend that current mining ships could be given an extra high utility slot or two that could be equipped with these modules but not additional strip miners.  (Using mechanics equal to those limiting turrets/bays & utility slots on combat ships)

4- Once the minerals have been “extracted” from the HEO Fragment they may be looted into your ship’s cargo hold.

Until next time,

Be Bold…

Ideas for Low-Sec

Greetings my fellow pod pilots and blog readers!!!

The Notalotofnews guys got me to thinking about ways to improve Low-Sec?

Here is what I came up with:

First low-sec becomes similar to null sec for sov purposes. However player owned alliances could NOT hold sov in these systems. The system sov could be:
1. Concord uncontrolled sov – as systems currently exist.
2. Racial Faction controlled sov – System controlled by a certain racial faction
3. Pirate Faction controlled sov – System controlled by a certain pirate faction

How Sov control would work…

Each faction would be allowed to anchor faction territorial claim units (FTCU). These FTCUs would be built from BPCs that could only be purchased with LPs. Once an FTCUs is anchored for a particular faction then members of that faction may attack the faction warfare dungeons to attempt to claim that system for their own (ie claim Sov of that system). Once a faction controls that system they may place a faction territorial upgrade hub (FTUH). FTUHs would be built from BPCs that could only be purchased with LPs. FTUHs would not be upgraded with modules, but once placed would grant system wide bonuses to that faction based on the time the faction controlled the system.

FTUH would always be attackable.
FTCU of opposing faction would only be attackable when they did not control sov of the system.

It would be possible to remove sov from a faction using current faction dungeon system resulting in the system being turned back over to the Concord faction. Sov benefits would only be gained by a faction claiming sov by placing a FTCU in a system.

Example of bonuses:

Level 1 (0 to 1 week)
Combat – LP gain for faction kills in system receive +2.55% bonus
Industry – Miners for the faction receive +5% bonus to mining yield
Sov – Gate guns & station guns will not fire upon faction that holds sov

Level 2 ( 1 week+ to 2 weeks)
Combat – LP gain for faction kills in system receive +5% bonus
Industry – Miners for the faction receive +10% bonus to mining yield
Sov – Same as level 1, plus gate guns & station guns will fire upon -.5 to -1.0 of opposing factions

Level 3 (2+ weeks to 3 weeks)
Combat – LP gain for faction kills in system receive +5% bonus, 2% bonus to resists
Industry – Miners for the faction receive +10% bonus to mining yield, one asteroid belt spawns in
system same as normal sov mechanics with mining upgrade
Sov – Same as level 1, plus gate guns & station guns will fire upon -.1 to -1.0 of opposing factions. Controlling faction’s players may launch a defense beacon (stealing earlier idea). Once launched the defense beacon will call one level one (Cruiser Frigates) wave of NPC faction defense forces (using Sleeper AI) that will remain for the duration of the beacon and defend the player if attacked.

Level 4 (3+ weeks to 4 weeks)
Combat – LP gain for faction kills in system receive +7.5% bonus, 4% bonus to resists, NPC sites spawn as per normal mechanics
Industry – Miners for the faction receive +10% bonus to mining yield, two asteroid belt spawns in
system same as normal sov mechanics with mining upgrade. (ABC ores spawn)
Sov – Same as level 1, plus gate guns & station guns will fire upon all opposing factions. Controlling faction’s players may launch a defense beacon (stealing earlier idea). Once launched the defense beacon will call one level two (Frigates, Cruisers, Battle Cruisers) wave of NPC faction defense forces (using Sleeper AI) that will remain for the duration of the beacon and defend the player if attacked.

Level 5 (4 weeks +)
Combat – LP gain for faction kills in system receive +10% bonus, NPC sites spawn as per normal mechanics (higher end sites spawn)
Industry – Miners for the faction receive +10% bonus to mining yield, three asteroid belt spawns in
system same as normal sov mechanics with mining upgrade. (ABC ores spawn)
Sov – Same as level 1, plus gate guns & station guns will fire upon all opposing factions. Gates now have NPC faction forces patrolling gates & belts. Controlling faction’s players may launch a defense beacon (stealing earlier idea). Once launched the defense beacon will call one level two (Frigates-Ewar, Cruisers, Battle Cruisers, BS) wave of NPC faction defense forces (using Sleeper AI) that will remain for the duration of the beacon and defend the player if attacked.


Additionally I think that miners that belong to the faction that holds sov in a system should be able to receive LPs based on the amounts of ore mined.

This would an additional incentive to promote miners (targets) to actively mine in low sec.

Until next time...

Be Bold!!!

Greetings my fellow pod pilots, & blog readers!!!

     It has been awhile since I’ve written, and I feel I need to at least update the two or three people that check the blog on a daily basis.  Well actually I need to stop being lazy and get to posting more often.  The lack of RL commitments have actually allowed me some time to log into the game & catch up on some podcasts.

     Let’s start with my game time.  With the latest patches & expansion we have seen the addition to T2 modules, enhancements to assault frigates, and time dilation.  My skill queue has targeted those skills needed to use the newly added T2 modules.  Leadership skills were already maxed (minus the mining crap), and it was only a short run (20 days I think) to Graviton Physics V.  My absence from the game made that a bit less painful!  So now I can use all T2 warfare links & my HICs can fit the new T2 Warp Disruption Field Generator.  However the 37 days needed to get Tactical Weapon Reconfiguration V to use T2 Siege & Triage modules is gonna be “the suck!”  I’ll forego those for now, and finish up the rest of the shield skills to V.  That will take 49 days. (minus Capital Shield Emissions.)  I just haven’t had a need or reason to max out my carrier/capital skills.  Hopefully one day I’ll get into fights were those will be necessary.

     So with the additional mid slot (2 total) I loaded up my Retribution with a bit of tackle and headed out to low-sec to test it out.  It was promptly blown up two jumps in.  Who would of expected something like a rapier, arazu, interceptor, and megathron (I think it might have been a Vindi) sitting on the other side of the gate?  SO it was point, web, & pop for me!  Instead of losing more isk on Tranquility, I decided to load up Sisi and try my luck there.  I’ve been enjoying the quick pickup fights on the test server.  I have even decided to mess around with some other exotic fits. (such as a heavy neut Curse, that sucks cap out to 74km range)  I figure why not just mess around with ships ya don’t mind losing on Sisi.  They are only 100 isk per ship after all.  I like the changes to the Retribution (+1 mid slot).  It needed the extra slot so you could add a disruptor or scram.  The Vengeance is a ship I haven’t flown before, but now that I have Rockets V, I think I may give it a try as well.  It appears o be a tough little nut.

      I haven’t gotten into any fights that have required time dilation (TiDi).  However from the reports that I have read, it appears it is working.  Larger fights are beginning to happen.  Good job, CCP Team Gridlock!!!

     Now that I’ve been getting an itch to play and go pew pew again, I am back to the realization that I need to find another corp and/or alliance to join.  Let’s be honest EvE’s end game requires cooperation.  There just isn’t enough opportunity to get into good 1v1 fights.  You need to work with a team to really get the most out of EvE.  It is a MMO after all… which is a good thing.  So does anyone know of a corp looking for a player with 82mil SP Amarr-centric but quickly moving into Amarr/Winmatar combo character?  Other highlights: All Leadership skills V (minus mining), Scanning skills V (I love my cloaky/scan Legion), Logi V, and I like to fly Interdictors & Heavy Interdictors too.  Send me an EvEmail!  I’m looking for corp that has a direction or goal they are working for, that must include some pvp, but need not be the focus.

     And finally podcasts…  I’ve been trying to catch up on some of EvE’s podcasts.  Now I must admit I don’t listen to all of them, but those I do tend to be the more common ones.  Is it me, or is trash talking becoming the norm?  It appears if you don’t have the time to develop any content or formulate a thoughtful opinion just sit around a microphone and bad mouth the game or the play style of other players.  I guess I shouldn’t be throwing any stones…  as I’m just sitting here typing out my own opinions as well.  I’m such a hypocrite!

     Maybe I just got spoiled flying and chatting with hosts of the Planet Risk Show, QP and Luminus.  Their fun loving self-abasing sense of humor was less spiteful.  They understood EvE is a game.  Or maybe it is because I believe you should respect the people you play against?  I don’t understand the need for a player’s or a person’s need to crush the spirit of another. 

     I get it…. EvE is a dark and harsh game.  Part of the game is to go out destroy what others have worked hard for.  In essence, the other players are what you attempt to conquer, and that players become the villains for doing so.  However EvE is a game.  The point of any game is to have fun playing against another person.  What does it say about a player whose idea of fun is to be cruel?  In this game you should go out and blow things up, but ya don’t need to attack the player for playing the game.  Now it appears that smack talk in local isn’t enough for some, now they need to record their insults as podcasts.

Long story short…  I’ve removed a few podcasts from my list of things to listen to.

Until next time,

Be Bold…

TANK THAT!!! Mister Asteroid Killer (Part 2)

Greetings my fellow pod pilots, & blog readers!!!

During the same Notalotofnews 79^th Episode, were Jason was talking about the high sec gank, of a Covetor Mining Barge, he again mentioned his desire for the next level of mining ship.  He has repeatedly attempted to make an effort to convince his co-host FrFmPukin that EvE needs a mining ship that has the battleship equivalent of a tank.  FrFmPukin thinks that things are just fine.  The fact, that a Battle Cruiser and/or smaller ships can warp in, lock up, and Alpha Strike a mining barge into oblivion is Ok with him.

Often FrFrmPukin’s argument is that the mining barges should be more observant, or careful.  That may be easy to say from a Null Sec stand point.  You can just watch local, and listen or watch intel channels.  But what about those folks in High Sec, were local has constant traffic?  How about wormhole space where local or intel channels do not exist?  How about those that don’t want to depend on anyone?

So in essence the only defense a mining ship should have, from other players, is to warp away???

My response to that is... WTF!?!?

How can a PvP/Combat pilot expect that CCP should continue to add more ships to make their Pew Pew more fun and survivable, yet give no counter to those that are getting shot at?  Case in point, with the new Crucible expansion CCP added four new racial specific Tier 3 Battle Cruisers(BC).  These ships gain the fire power of a Battleship!  A BC could already Alpha Strike most industrial ships with medium guns.  Now they are granted even more fire power to make quick work of the defenseless industrial ships.  So in essence, if you are an industrial minded player, there is no way to effectively survive or tank an attack.  Regardless of isk invested into your ship, it will never… ever… be able to survive an attack.  An industrial based character cannot even hope to last long enough for help to arrive!

I don’t know about you, but I watched CCP's video called The Butter Fly Effect and I don’t think that was what CCP had in mind.  Let me quote you a section of dialog from that trailer:

“…and in your travels you encounter this, a defenseless mining barge under attack by pirates.  You have a split second to make a choice.  Without your help the miner does not stand a chance.  You decide to be the hero and succeed in driving the raiders away.  The victim is thankful and in the conversation that follows, a friendly gang that was on its way to help finally arrives…”

I do think CCP intends to create more opportunity for things like this to happen.  I also think that CCP could kill two birds with one stone.  They simply need to give the miner a ship that can weather the storm until help arrives. (This could be a double edge sword as that aid may be coming to help the pirate!)

What I would like to see added, and I do believe Jason does as a well, is a mining ship with a battleship sized tank.  So I have decided to do a bit of theory crafting and this is what I have come up with.  As you can see it isn’t close to being done… but I figured I would start the converstation:

(Click for original image on Deviant Art)

THE TORTUGA

The Tortuga is the largest craft in the third generation of mining vessels created by the ORE Syndicate. Deep Space Exhumers, like their mining barge cousins, are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining modules. They are the most resilient Exhumer built to date, designed specifically to handle the dangers of hostile space. What the Tortuga lacks efficiency is made up in its survivability.
 

So what kind of stats would it have?

Until next time,

Be Bold…

TANK THAT!!! Mister Asteroid Killer (Part 1)

Greetings my fellow pod pilots, & blog readers!!!

Recently I’ve been trying to catch up on some of the EvE podcasts that I like to listen to.  I would like to recommend that you head over to Arydanika’s website for Voices from the Void.  She has a section called the Pod Pack, which lists some of the more consistent pod casts that talk about their life in EvE.

I listen to most of the Pod Pack shows, but below are the ones I look forward to the most:

Lost in EvE – A bit of a format/host change due to RL issues, but still the same spirit.

Notalotofnews News Hour – 3 Pilots, 2 Calories, 1 Podcast, and 0 Clue…. Just watch out for the squirrels!

Pixxie’s EvE Online Podcast – A cute wondrous wide eyed account of life in EvE from a newbie’s perspective.

Voices from the Void – Arydanika & Seismic Stan have set the current bar for EvE Podcast excellence! (Once held by Lost in EvE)

During the Notalotofnews 79^th Episode, Jason the host began talking about a high sec gank, of a Covetor Mining Barge, that he had witnessed.   After the ship was destroyed, and Concord had brought swift justice to the criminals, the culprits began spamming “YARR!!!” in local.  Jason’s opinion is that those were not the acts of pirates, but just the actions of some would be gankers.

Which made me think, what is the difference? 

After giving it a bit of thought, I do believe there is a difference.  Now I will begin by saying that my distinction is based on game play within the sandbox known as EvE, and from my experience as an MMO player who enjoys the brutality of EvE PvP.

Pirate – A player in EvE that has decided to focus his or her game play on the pursuit of making others the victims.  This pursuit has two goals.  Goal one, to become highly proficient at internet ship combat.  There are no points for second best in PvP, and results in the loss of isk.  Goal two, that their proficiency in combat affords them the ability to fund their play style from the selling of loot(salvage) and/or ransoms.  Pirates take pride in their negative security status.  They have no need to fly with the weak.  They are true predators.  They purely survive or fail on their ability to make a kill, and they have clearly marked their territory as low sec. (Enter at your own risk!)  It is this attitude that has brought a mystique to the game.  It has veterans and newbies alike fearing to hit the jump button, when they reach that .04 system.

Ganker – A player in EvE that gets his or her entertainment from making others’ playing time less enjoyable.  They typically use game mechanics to attain an unfair advantage that will guarantee success.  Their skills are twofold: Skill one, know how to exploit game mechanics.  Skill two, finding players who are unaware of said exploit to use it upon.  Gankers take pride in making others miserable.  They really could care less about the success of the game.  Gankers have no vested interest in the success of the games they play, nor if they themselves are any good at it.

Notice both the Pirate and Ganker prey on other players.  So what is the difference?  Simple the pirate works within the mechanics of the game.  The pirate clearly operates within the game.  They can have fun even when their prey gets away.  They enjoy the chase as much as the kill.  The prey willing engages in activities that make them a target.  They assume the risk once they leave the confines of high sec.  Some of the prey even take great enjoyment in the chase as well, and take great pride in frustrating t he pirate!  Both sides are playing within the game!  The true pirates of EvE become legends.  Mynxee, Rixx Javix, Rock Wieler, & Kane Rizzel all come to mind.   Gankers will only be remembered as long as they remain in local.

Until next time,
 

Be Bold…

On the road again...

Greetings my fellow pod pilots and blog readers!

After a short time, I have decided to leave Noir. Mercenary Group.  It became quite clear, fairly quickly, that I was too casual of a player to fit into the professional life style of merc work.

I still have a lot of respect for those folks.  When they get on contract and get things together they can be a really effective group of pvpers.  Just reading over their fittings sections of their forums proved they have the number crunchers to insure they get every lost point of dps, cap, m/s, tank etc. out of a ship.

So now I'm back on the road looking for another corp to join.  I moved back into the corp I formed with some real life friends way back in the day.  Unfortunately they don't log on, and it is my way of getting out of the newbie corp chat channel, as I go about my search.

Funny enough... since then I have gotten that corp supposedly set RED to at least one alliance & have been been passed on to be added to the CVA hate list as well.  It would appear that I really pissed off some carebear.  Here are some parts of the EVEMails that the CEO got after I blew up a destroyer in Provi.  A gang of them caught my Pilgrim as I was trying to exit the pocket.  So they won the isk war... destroyer for recon.  Needless to say, he was still pissed (or crying):

Agression
From: 5hadow 1Sent: 2011.11.26 17:50
To: Pasha Aramata,

Your Pilot has agress me and has killed my destroyer today. Your corp has been turn -10 to our alliance and a KOS has been filed on the CVA KOS list.

2011.11.26 17:37:00
Victim: 5hadow 1
Corp: The Shadow's Of Eve
Alliance: TSOE Consortium
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Thrasher
System: 2V-CS5
Security: -0.1
Damage Taken: 3785

Involved parties:

Name: Agatir Solenth (laid the final blow)
Security: 3.4
Corp: Servants of the Throne Worlds
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Pilgrim
Weapon: Warrior II
Damage Done: 1944

If this is an pilot acting on his own please go to CVA Dilpo and ask for an KOS Admin or Diplo. They will be glad to help you.

Shadow 1 - CEO
The Shadow 's Of Eve

==================================

Re: Agression
From: Pasha AramataSent: 2011.11.26 22:37

Ok thank you for the warning. We won't be changing any standings toward your alliance. I'm sorry but we don't follow that NRDS policy. Anytime our pilots operate in 0.0 it assumed that they are KOS & and treat non-blues the same.

p.s. Next time you're out of warp disruption range you may want to warp off, before your ship goes *pop* or was that a really bad attempt at bait, so as to have an excuse to set another corp -10?

Fly safe.... Stay Profitable...

==================================

Re: Re: Agression
From: 5hadow 1Sent: 2011.11.27 14:27

Weather you know it or not it is people like you and your pilots who cause Eve not to grow bigger. NRDS under CVA Rules Of Enguagement mean that you do not shoot - greif - kill - scam or any other acts dishonesty. Provi is a place were anyone can come without having to suck someones dick or pay to play in zero zero. You are only required to stay safe. Your pilot and corp had that oppertunity to do this. I did not bother him. I did not aggress him. I did not bait him.

Now to address your PS. This are my personal comments and not that of our Alliace or any CVA Holder. For your unprovoked aggression your dumb ass lost a 150 million dollar pilgrim for a 2.7 million destroyer. Your corp will not be able to come to provi and enjoy some peaceful ratting - mining - selling or just plain converastion and hanging our with decent people. You will be hunted like a dog as soon as you hit lowsec. That in my book is stupid. There is plenty of other space in eve for your actions. But narrow minded players like yourself can not understand this.

Have a bad day.

We will kill you soon if you come.

Fly unsafe and unprofitable

==================================

Now I don't normally condone players that grief, steal, cheat, or scam.  I do not look to even cause Carebear Tears, but after reading those Evemails...  I have to say... I wanted to cause some more!

If you get that upset at losing a ship, what are you doing in 0.0?  As a matter of fact I never got to within disruptor range of the fool.  When I came into their pocket they had a bubble set up to catch folks exiting their pocket.  They had several fast tackle and DPS ships (at least one BC, Tengu, and interceptor)  I honestly thought with the ships they had in system that it was obvious bait.  So when the destroyer began ratting in one of the two belts in the system, I just sat and waited in the second belt.  I decided I play a game of tag.  decloak, assign some drones, and get ready to run. (I know I was asking to lose my ship, but I was bored)

As he landed, I waited for him to engage the rats. He was only 20km or so km from my ship.  As the first rounds were exchanged, I decloaked, began to target him, locked him up, and set a flight of Warrior II's off to do their thing.  I also began burning with my MWD aligning toward a tactical.  Not surprisingly enough the Tengu and another ship landed soon after my drones began applying damage.  I was soon taking damage, but stuck around long enough to watch the destroyer explode.  Having been burning away the whole time I was able to get away before a point could be applied.  Note - I did not warp disrupt the fool during the entire engagement.  To be honest, I still think this knuckle head was sent in as fail bait.

I logged off soon after, when I witnessed them mobilizing to set a camp on the other side of the exit gate. (HIC with interceptors)  They still got me later, when I logged back in.  So thumbs up, on their persistence!

The fact that the guy has the balls to tell someone that "they are the reason" people don't play EvE is a bit much.  I think the appropriate response would be... "Go back to WoW RP server!"

What this exchange has made me realize... there are certain people that deserve some grief in game.  Now I'll just have to think of the right way to do it?

Until next time,


Be bold!!!