I've said it before: I don't ninja to be a jerk. It's strictly for the money and the fights. Yes, I will steal your Damsel, but only because I can resell her on contracts. I think tears are silly and are a sign that you take your games way too seriously. If you choose to play a game where you get to make your own rules, it's childish to get upset when someone else plays by their own different rules. (Tears as an aspect of social engineering is a topic for another time.)
I would much prefer to shake your hand after a fight. I might be holding your Caldari Navy Ballistic Controls in the other hand, but that's the nature of a fight: someone wins and someone loses. However, losing a ship or losing a fight doesn't mean you've "lost" at EVE.
As a former missioner, I understand why mission runners may think differently. They have invested most of their time and money and training into their special Navy Raven or Tengu and it represents the game to them. Seeing your expensive mission ship blown out from under you sucks. It's like the first time you lost at Monopoly as a kid. That sucked too. But losing a game of Monopoly doesn't mean you've lost at life. So I say again, losing a ship doesn't mean that you've lost at EVE.
Yes, that is my first loss mail from 2005 (back before dropped loot was included on the killmail) and I quit EVE for a while after that. It wasn't even because of the loss of the ship; I was upset at myself for being suckered into a fight when I thought I was helping someone. Looking back, I realize that the loss of the ship was insignificant. I gained so much more than I lost. I might have lost a ship that held value for a two-month old character, but I gained knowledge that has been invaluable for me as a player.
This background has shaped who I am as a person even while I'm stealing your mission objective. As a player, I honor ransoms and I don't lie to others. If there was such a thing, I would be an honorable ninja. Does my conscience bother me? Not really. I don't want others to rage-quit, but I know that if someone quits over the loss of a ship, then EVE really isn't the right place for them to begin with. To their credit, most people seem to take the loss of their ship pretty well. I usually send a short message to the other party after a fight, politely saying "good fight, these are the mechanics of what just happened, convo me if you want to chat PVP." The result has been some good conversations with other players, even ones who've just lost their faction fit CNR to me.
I'm not a softie. You won't guilt me into letting you go. If you've figuratively landed on my hotel on Boardwalk, you'd better believe that I'm charging full price. But I see no reason to be immature about it. I believe that a person's behavior after a fight is more important than whether or not they won.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Pro Tip: Armageddons Get Primaried
When it comes to videos demonstrating EVE fleet tactics, some of the very best come from Lord Maldoror of Rooks And Kings alliance. If you are interested in learning how to use triage carriers intelligently, the "Clarion Call" videos are excellent.
I recently discovered another of their videos, "Ironclad", which was released last summer. It focuses more on how they use Guardians, though there's plenty of carrier action too. Turns out I got a mention in the video! I was quite surprised when I heard it. And, if I'm honest, I would have been happier if it wasn't with the words "Guyde is primary, Guyde is primary."
I recently discovered another of their videos, "Ironclad", which was released last summer. It focuses more on how they use Guardians, though there's plenty of carrier action too. Turns out I got a mention in the video! I was quite surprised when I heard it. And, if I'm honest, I would have been happier if it wasn't with the words "Guyde is primary, Guyde is primary."
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Duo of Death, PVP Remix
"Duo of Death" is a level 3 and level 4 PVE mission. Despite the fearsome sounding name, it is actually a relatively quick and easy mission. With this in mind, I present "Duo of Death, PVP Remix":
I've added Drakes to my list of targets when scanning for mission runners. It turns out that they will often drop more valuable loot than a mission running battleship, due to the high cost of heavy missile launchers. So I was quite happy when a Drake started shooting my Heron, two gates into his mission. It was a deadspace where you were required to steam 50 or 60 km to get to the second gate. I fled and returned a couple minutes later in my Sacrilege, but noticed that he now had a second corp mate in system, and there was a Megathron on scan when I arrived back at the first gate. Because I had stolen from his corp, both he and the Drake would be allowed to shoot at me. Hmmm...
I'd killed ships with the Sac, but I was still fairly new behind the wheel (or yoke, or whatever you use to drive a HAC). From past PVP experience, I also knew that a properly fit Megathron was a ship more than capable of knocking you to the ground, kneeling on your chest, and shooting you repeatedly in the face. This was compounded by the fact that the Sac was new enough that I still spent my Saturday afternoons washing and waxing it's beautiful sleek black finish, and I wasn't ready to part with it yet. I sat at the gate outside the deadspace for probably two minutes, wondering whether it was worth the risk. Would I warp in to find myself double-webbed with blasters in my face?
Ultimately I decided that I had bought the Sac to get fights, and this would be a good one, win or lose. Plus, if I chickened out, I'd always wonder 'what would have happened?'
I activated the gate.
Upon landing, the Mega was about 40 clicks away and slowly chugging towards the second gate. The Drake was still on scan but not on grid, so he was probably still in the second pocket. Big sigh of relief. It wasn't an ambush. I lit the afterburner and charged at the Mega. He boxed me and opened fire.
I like to keep my combat log open at all times (bottom left corner of my screen) so I immediately saw that he was hitting me with railguns. I adjusted my approach a little to gain some transversal while still closing. Confident in his size and with a potential 2:1 advantage, the Mega turned around and started approaching. Unfortunately for him, the Sac really enters its element at around the 10 km mark. I got under his railguns and put the neut on him in addition to the HAMs, with my Hobgob IIs picking away at his webbed drones. About a minute later the Drake arrived on the scene. Scourge missiles and another flight of drones started chewing at my armor, but that's why I had put a second armor repper on the Sac. My armor was holding.
The Mega wasn't doing so well, however, and soon crumbled under my missiles. I recalled my drones, changed ammo, and started burning towards the Drake. He obliged and continued heading my way, despite the destruction of his pal. He quickly met a similar fate.
Damage graph for Sacrilege vs Megathron + Drake
(Quick explanation of the graph... top section: purple line is me shooting the Mega, cappuccino-colored line is me shooting the Drake; bottom section: red line is the Mega's railguns, blue line is the combined balance of his DPS, yellow line is the Drake's missiles and drones.)
Just like the PVE version of "Duo of Death", this turned out to be a fairly easy fight. I say this with full respect to PsycopathicMind and diabloblue for bringing the fight instead of simply running. I don't like to betray myself in local, so I mailed them afterwards to say "good fight", to explain the mechanics, and to see if the quick response of the Mega was due to one player dual-boxing. Turns out they were indeed two real life friends who were kind of interested in PVP and were willing to shoot someone when given the chance. Extra points to PsycopathicMind for shrugging off the loss of a new battleship and being willing to chat with me afterwards about PVE fittings.
I've added Drakes to my list of targets when scanning for mission runners. It turns out that they will often drop more valuable loot than a mission running battleship, due to the high cost of heavy missile launchers. So I was quite happy when a Drake started shooting my Heron, two gates into his mission. It was a deadspace where you were required to steam 50 or 60 km to get to the second gate. I fled and returned a couple minutes later in my Sacrilege, but noticed that he now had a second corp mate in system, and there was a Megathron on scan when I arrived back at the first gate. Because I had stolen from his corp, both he and the Drake would be allowed to shoot at me. Hmmm...
I'd killed ships with the Sac, but I was still fairly new behind the wheel (or yoke, or whatever you use to drive a HAC). From past PVP experience, I also knew that a properly fit Megathron was a ship more than capable of knocking you to the ground, kneeling on your chest, and shooting you repeatedly in the face. This was compounded by the fact that the Sac was new enough that I still spent my Saturday afternoons washing and waxing it's beautiful sleek black finish, and I wasn't ready to part with it yet. I sat at the gate outside the deadspace for probably two minutes, wondering whether it was worth the risk. Would I warp in to find myself double-webbed with blasters in my face?
Ultimately I decided that I had bought the Sac to get fights, and this would be a good one, win or lose. Plus, if I chickened out, I'd always wonder 'what would have happened?'
I activated the gate.
Upon landing, the Mega was about 40 clicks away and slowly chugging towards the second gate. The Drake was still on scan but not on grid, so he was probably still in the second pocket. Big sigh of relief. It wasn't an ambush. I lit the afterburner and charged at the Mega. He boxed me and opened fire.
I like to keep my combat log open at all times (bottom left corner of my screen) so I immediately saw that he was hitting me with railguns. I adjusted my approach a little to gain some transversal while still closing. Confident in his size and with a potential 2:1 advantage, the Mega turned around and started approaching. Unfortunately for him, the Sac really enters its element at around the 10 km mark. I got under his railguns and put the neut on him in addition to the HAMs, with my Hobgob IIs picking away at his webbed drones. About a minute later the Drake arrived on the scene. Scourge missiles and another flight of drones started chewing at my armor, but that's why I had put a second armor repper on the Sac. My armor was holding.
The Mega wasn't doing so well, however, and soon crumbled under my missiles. I recalled my drones, changed ammo, and started burning towards the Drake. He obliged and continued heading my way, despite the destruction of his pal. He quickly met a similar fate.
Damage graph for Sacrilege vs Megathron + Drake
(Quick explanation of the graph... top section: purple line is me shooting the Mega, cappuccino-colored line is me shooting the Drake; bottom section: red line is the Mega's railguns, blue line is the combined balance of his DPS, yellow line is the Drake's missiles and drones.)
Just like the PVE version of "Duo of Death", this turned out to be a fairly easy fight. I say this with full respect to PsycopathicMind and diabloblue for bringing the fight instead of simply running. I don't like to betray myself in local, so I mailed them afterwards to say "good fight", to explain the mechanics, and to see if the quick response of the Mega was due to one player dual-boxing. Turns out they were indeed two real life friends who were kind of interested in PVP and were willing to shoot someone when given the chance. Extra points to PsycopathicMind for shrugging off the loss of a new battleship and being willing to chat with me afterwards about PVE fittings.
Monday, May 2, 2011
The Blob
Many of the fights in the militia quickly faded into a combined hazy memory of "jump-lock-shoot-warp-repeat", but some stand out.
One fine October day (2009-10-31), the combined fleets of the Caldari and Amarr militias killed 9 pirate carriers. Oddly, I don't remember much of that. The highlight of the day was meeting a Rook about an hour earlier. We managed to tackle him off a gate. He was neuted and webbed but, in the spirit of killmail whoring, not shot. At least not until our entire fleet had tagged him.
After popping his ship, a fleetmate threatened in local: "Next time we bring the blob."
One fine October day (2009-10-31), the combined fleets of the Caldari and Amarr militias killed 9 pirate carriers. Oddly, I don't remember much of that. The highlight of the day was meeting a Rook about an hour earlier. We managed to tackle him off a gate. He was neuted and webbed but, in the spirit of killmail whoring, not shot. At least not until our entire fleet had tagged him.
After popping his ship, a fleetmate threatened in local: "Next time we bring the blob."
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