Friday, April 19, 2013

SCL3 tournament Announced!


After another successful showing of the SCL on Apr 6, and 7th, whose match replays can be found at the SCL site here(Will be updated with SCL2 footage shortly), the Pandemic Legion team, led by tourney champion Admiral Goberius had a thriller best of five Final(Full stream footage linked there) against the Reputation Cartel team, a mix epic posters from the Failheap-Challenge forums. Well worth the watch, and a blast down to the last match.

Good news, the team behind the Syndicate Competitive League is up to their old tricks and preparing for SCL #3!

Currently scheduled for May 11th and 12th, numerous rule changes have been made from SCL #1 to SCL #2. The biggest change was going from a longer double elimination bracket with best of three matches down to a single elimination bracket with best of three matches except the final which is a best of five. In SCL 1, the double elimination, best of three matches format left some teams up well into the night and early hours of their mornings, not that it slowed down the SCL 1 Hydra team at all, who still were victorious against the Exodunks team in SCL 1.

Back to SCL #3 aka SCL3, the rules are once again being modified by the SCL team to allow for better setups, changing meta and hopefully a bit of a shake-up to the turtle and ECM tank teams we saw in SCL2. Details post from one of the Tourney front men, Bacchanalian, is located on the eve-o forums here.

In short they are making a few ship-point changes.... but one of the bigger changes listed isn't something obviously important to the casual fan. That is "Only one Remote Energy Transfer module may be fitted per ship. They may be fitted on any and all ships, but only ONE per ship is allowed." Unless you are familiar with the SCL or even previous alliance tournaments, this change may seem a little pointless.

However, this change was needed because as the popularity of turtle cross tanking setups rose, due to their effectiveness, there was a chance where two "turtle" teams would face each other in a stand off that would exceed the match time with no kills. Making it very difficult to score the round or to provide needed resolution. This simple change should result in more explosions and less 'invincible' Golem, Sin, Vargur and other shield spider turtle tanks.

There will be a new third place determining match, best of three that will happen just before the championship match on Sunday.

Additionally the SCL is looking for another commentator for their booth.. In their words
Ever considered being a commentator? Think you have what it takes? The SCL staff is looking for one more voice to bring on board. Applicants need to demonstrate ample PvP experience, and a high level of past tournament participation is recommended. The ability to commit to both days of the weekend and multiple SCL dates is requested, and it is also asked that you not participate in the SCL in any way should you opt to become a commentator-we don't want active competitors "in the booth". Contact Seldarine for details.
Well beyond that, the winners of SCL1 and SCL2 have been invited to compete in SCL3, that would be the mostly Hydra team of "Warlords of the Deep" and the Pandemic Legion Team. Creates quite the match-up

 Now as for improvements I think still need to be made,

  • If this really is meant to be a season vice just fights once a month, then some kind of points system and season needs to be considered. I think the SCL team is looking into this already, but it would be good to know it was in the works. Perhaps they just can't decide on a way to do the standings and are working that out and will apply whatever system they figure out to the past winners and participants when they do get a system in place.
  • A season would need to be defined, IE monthly fights that start to count using the above system from this month to this month next year.
Common questions or rather, common thoughts about the SCL and why "it's not worth watching."
  1. It takes place on SiSi, making ship costs immaterial reducing the immersion of the SCL into the Eve universe!  A: my response to this is simple. The teams that are fighting in the SCL would raise the money anyways, additionally it levels the playing field for the people who would not be able to raise the money, allowing the SCL to reach out to a wider participant base at a lower cost than NEO or AT's past.
  2. Since not as much is at risk, it seems like security measures aren't as extreme as for the NEO or AT, why is that? A: This question seemed often asked, to me at least. In past AT's, most specifically AT6 through 10, there was no banning, so setups that could be thought up and tested out and worked well could be used, and thus finding out about a teams preferred setups gave insight into what your team might be facing if facing them. With the advent of banning, all setups must be more fluid and much more adaptable. Because of this, spying becomes less important as banning makes it difficult to predict exactly what fleet you might see. Teams have to train against and with far more comps than just coming up with one solid comp and sticking to it.
In any case, I look forward to SCL3! May seems a long way off at this point, but not over the horizon, just on the other side of Fanfest.


Thursday, April 18, 2013

Your True Stories for the player timeline of Eve


As most people know, Eve is turning the ripe age of 10 years old this year and has several events and the 10th Fanfest going on in the upcoming weeks. True Stories from the first decade is another aspect of the 10 year celebration and can be found at this link. Kind of like a player led timeline of the eve experience, stories that have been entered so far range from the pirate gank to the ultra-industrialist swarm, 0.0 space battlez and everything in between.

Currently we are in the "submit a true story" phase, and that will last for another 13 days, until May 1st (GMT) and then voting will open for the best story until May 15th.

This contest isn't about the best writer or the best story but more about writing down the history of the first decade of Eve Online. From what I have read so far, some stories tell of a timeline while others cover specific events.

Here are a few examples of stories being posted, dig in and enjoy, there are plenty more out there and more being added all the time.

Battle of C9N-CC - One of the biggest capital battles of the era before supercapitals

D-DAY FOR DIPLOMACY

Scorching Light

So, while we are speaking of the timeline... CCP has released a easier to follow timeline in near slide-show format of the (short) history of Eve. Well when I say history I mean the Cannon of Eve and not just player history stories and interactions. It's a wonderful, thankfully short, introduction to the sprawling backstory of Eve Online. I wish it had more crosslinks to the chronicle pages in the evelopedia to allow people who are interested to learn more about their favorite factions, people and events.

In any case, here is the link for the timeline page!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

I don't usually post twice in a day

But when I do, it's about spaceships, FACTION spaceships.

Fozzie has release a blog about crazy FACTION BATTLECRUISERS!

Okay Frig and cruiser faction ships changes are in there too

Everyone should rejoice and go check it out!

Back yet?

Okay! For those of you too lazy to go look, I'll break down the changes in quick Logan-ese

Frigates


  • Firetail gets a huge revamp, Higher base damage, more fitting, more HP.
  • Slicer stays mostly the same
  • Comet gets small buffs
  • Caldari Navy Hookbill gets a slight mobility nerf, but increases overall HP to soften to blow.

Discussion thread (details details....)

Cruisers

These sexy beasts have been evened out a bit for tiericied, thank you CCP!

  • Augoror NI : Gets a damage bonus to it's turrets, retains armor HP per level increase, also retains it's two utility highs
  • Omen NI : Gets a optimal range bonus to make it even more like the Zealot.
  • Osprey NI : Gets more agility and fits more like a better t1 Caracal.
  • Exequror NI : Double hybrid damage bonus, speed and agility retained to be an even more impressive close range brawler. No tracking bonus though so it might suffer vs smaller targets... very little though, TE's should help that.
  • Vexor NI : 125m3 Drone bandwidth(200m3 drone bay). Is that 5 heavy/Sentries drones? why yes, I think it is. Also gets it's hybrid turret bonus removed in favor of a drone velocity/tracking bonus of 5% per level.
  • Scythe FI : True split weapon ship, gets a 10% bonus per level to projectile turret and missile launcher damage per level, this equates to two 5% bonuses and should provide for a surprising encounter every time you see one.
  • Stabber FI : Slight change to it's mass, making it's agility take a hit. I wonder by how much.

Discussion thread with more details

BC'S!

  • Harby NI : 7/5/6, 6 turrets, lower drone bay, replacement of the cap reduction bonus with a 7.5% tracking increase (gonna be crazy)
  • Drake NI : 8/6/4. 8! Launchers, bonuses are 10% missile speed bonus, and 5% explosion velocity per level. And improved mobility.
  • Brutix NI : 7/4/7, 6 turrets, 50m3 drone bay/band, replaces armor rep bonus with a tracking bonus 7.5% per level. Increased speed and agility.
  • Huricane FI : Will now be known as the ficane - 8/4/6 6 turrets, More mobility, more fittings, aka the "old" hurricane is back! Fleet issue whelp is a go!
New faction BC's will be in the LP stores, the CCP post has more details on their costs...

Exact details are still "in the works" and will be posted in the Features discussion subforum ASAP

Faction BS

Will be looked at sometime soon, not hard scheduled for release with Odyssey, but on the plan to get looked at shortly afterwards.

DISCLAIMER
All changes are still subject to modification, this post may become out of date quickly as changes are refined. Take a look at my t1 BS posts for confirmation about that.

Opinion :

All the changes look solid, but made me a bit curious about the place of t2 ships. looks like instead of just fixing the Tech embargo, CCP is just going to make t2 ships more and more obsolete. I'm okay with that!

FW LP hoarding is probably already happening!

T1 BS changes revisited

In the spirt of CCP listening to feedback, shocking I know, CCP Rise and team has made some changes to the t1 BS after the initial response from the community was somewhat mixed.

Caldari BS

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=223608

Minmatar BS

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=223611

Amarr BS

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=223607

Gallente BS

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=223610

Forum - Features and issues Discussion

Now let me look back through these changes and see what has actually changed.

Caldari quick breakdown....
Rohk - Unchanged since last post
Raven - Unchanged since last post
Scorpion - Trading in a high slot for an extra low slot.

Minmatar quick breakdown...
Maelstrom - Still unchanged
Tempest - Now an "Attack BS" instead of a "Combat BS" this means it will retain more of it's agility, and a lower sig, but at the cost of not getting as much HP. However, it will still have more HP than it does currently.
Typhoon - Lowered sig res and gave back the turret slots, but no turret hull bonuses.

Amarr quick breakdown....

  • Abaddon - Unchanged since last post
  • Apocalypse - Total cap increased, and a little more armor HP added.
  • Armageddon - There is a blurb from Rise acknowledging that the Armageddon is hugely changed, but he hasn't changed or rolled back any of the drone/neut nastyness. Base of this change is that there is considerable overlap between the Abaddon and the Armageddon without the changes.

Gallente quick breakdown...

  • Hyperion - Or should we say Hypwnion? Updated changes are.... 10% hybrid turret damage, 7h(-1h) 5m, 7L(+1L), 6 turret slots instead of 8, 125 m3 drone bandwidth! (drone bay of 175m3!).
  • Megathron - Winathon? Anyways, Now a gun dependent platform, the Mega gave up it's utility high... for ANOTHER LOW. So we are looking at 7/4/8 now, 7 turret slots, lower sig radius, no missile slots, 75m3 Drone bay and bandwidth. EDIT : After a good conversation with Sard Caid in the comments of this post, there are a few other factors to be worried about with the Megathron change. specifically if there is any reason to fly the Mega over the Hype with these changes. The Hype will have 5 heavy/sentry drones and enough backup space to field warrior or ECM or even three backup heavy drones, in addition it will have an important utility high that can be used with heavy nuet, or smart bomb to effectively help counter smaller ships, and or drone swarms. The Mega meanwhile loses it's utility high, loses drones, already had a tracking bonus, that still didn't obsolete the need for a web, the 8/5/6 slot layout and setup does seem more appealing now, or at least, make no change and leave it as-is. I have a feeling this isn't the last of the t1 BS revamp changes and hopefully the mega will get another looking at.
  • Dominix - No changes, though there is a tantalizing bit about a sentry drone revamp upcoming, and that would be pretty sexy for anything that does or can use Sentries.

Now the opinion part-
The second brush at these changes are much "sexier" than the first brush at changes, and will make a huge difference to the way these changes are taken. I am pretty enthused about the changes now (as a whole).

Every race has something to look forwards to, these are the things I like.
Caldari - Cav Raven and the 6 lowslot Scorp (more apt to fitting an armor tank, AND more room for jamming amps.
Amarr - Abaddon is still going to be great, but the changes to the Apoc and the Armageddon open up a whole new style of gameplay, especially the geddon, prices are going to be soaring on those things now.
Minmatar - Not as much "Winmatar" anymore but still very good. Glad to see them have two attack and one combat type BS, seems to be more in line with their overall philosophy.
Gallente - Biggest winners of the revamp revamp, so much here to like, Hyperion is gonna be dead sexy (if it makes it into the game as it is now)! Megathron has a role now as a "guns brawler" with that tracking bonus (7.5% per level) it's going to be debatable needing a web against most targets anymore, It will still need a web despite the tracking bonus, so it will have the standard speedmod of choice, full tackle and cap injector. The extra speed it gets from being an "Attack BS" will be largely mitigated by the armor plates it will likely be fitting in those 8 lows, even with armor honeycombing (though that will help) compared to the Hype's lighter (mass-wise) active rep platform.

Monday, April 8, 2013

First pass at t1 BS changes are live on the forums!

Caldari BS

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=223608

Minmatar BS

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=223611

Amarr BS

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=223607

Gallente BS

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=223610

Forum - Features and issues Discussion

Caldari quick breakdown....

  • Rohk, resistance bonus changed from +5% shield resists per level to +4% shield resists per level
  • Raven, loses high (7h), gains mid (7m), keeps lows, picks up an increase in agility and speed, More fitting room for that mid.
  • Scorpion, No big changes (slight increase to hp)

Minmatar quick breakdown...

  • Maelstrom, unchanged
  • Tempest, Renamed combat BS, given more HP and fitting at the cost of a huge amount, +60, to sig radius.
  • Typhoon, HUGE CHANGE WARNING - Becomes a missile brawler, loses a high, gains extra missile bay slots, gets explosion velocity bonus to replace the gunnery bonus. Loses giant drone bay and 125m3 bandwidth, gets 100/100 bay/bandwidth.

Amarr quick breakdown....

  • Abaddon, Loses 1% resists, from 5% to 4% per level, otherwise unchanged.
  • Apocalypse, Replaces energy use bonus with a tracking bonus, keeps optimal range bonus, slight movement on it's hitpoints, slower to align, mostly unchanged.
  • Armageddon, HUGE CHANGE WARNING - Becoming the next in the Dragoon - Arbi - Prophecy chain, it's getting... 5 more launchers, one less high, less turret hardpoints (5 total now), 10% per level drone damage boost, 10% per level RANGE boost to energy neuts and vampires (44km or so faction heavy neuts). Drone bay up to 375m3 (matching the Domi) bandwidth of 125m3. Loses a low and a high, gains a mid (7h, 4m, 7L)

Gallente quick breakdown...

  • Hyperion, Gaining a low, but giving up a mid, gives up a launcher hardpoint.
  • Megathron, HUGE CHANGE WARNING - Becomes an "attack" Battleship, meaning, loses a low, gains a mid, loses 25m3 drone bandwidth and bay remains the same, 100/125, change of gun damage over to gun rate of fire. Slightly small sig radius.
  • Dominix, Replaces hybrid gun damage bonus with Drone tracking speed and optimal range, Bigger sig, but gets much more HP, retains 125m3/375m3 drone bay.
Quick guesses at biggest winners,
  1. Amarr - Armageddon, changes to neuts and drones and lows of rawr in that package
  2. Caldari - Raven, Cavalry Raven is a go! Also only race to have a ECM BS with the HP of an attack Battleship (Scorp ftw)
  3. Minmatar - Typhoon, Becoming a full on missile ship, after torp changes will likely be fairly strong. Took some convincing for me to think of this as a good change as you can see in the comments here.
Biggest individual losers
  1. Gallente - Megathron, I don't like it. Seems more like it will be a big shield tanker now with the five mids.
Racially biggest winners
  1. AMARR
Racially biggest losers
  1. GALLENTE - Loss of the 5th mid on the Hype is a pretty big deal, the aforementioned Megathron change. Then the domi is largely MEH and not amazing.
Going to be an interesting thread-naught in both those change threads.

Friday, April 5, 2013

SCL you say?! I think so!



YES SPACE FRIENDS! It is that time again. The Syndicate Competitive League (http://syndicatecl.com/) in association with Monocle Madness (Mega-Lotteries for the mentally insane), Eve-Bet, Somer Blink, Eve time code(.com)and of course CCP Games creators of Eve Online!

Are happy to announce that this weekend the next round of fights is taking place as scheduled, this weekend, April 6 and 7th!

The first round starts Saturday at 1700 GMT (that's 10am PDT, my time zone), and has an updated Bracket in the appropriate section of the SCL website. I have posted it here for ease of view... The link is here if you would like to go check out the SCL website...

So for those of us who forget the exact format and rules, information about the matches can be found at this link, but here is the long and the short of it.

  • It is no longer a double elimination bracket, each fight is a set of a best of three matches, and 8 teams total are allowed to enter.
  • Teams captains, ten minutes prior to each match, ban two ships each. For instance, Bhaalgorns and Vindicators, while the other team is able to counter ban two ships of their own, let's say Kronos and Tengu.
  • Matches are fought on the Test server, mainly to prevent interference before CCP stepped in and moved the SCL (thanks Fozzie) to Jove space on the test server.
  • Each match is a total of 10 minutes with the team with the most points left after 10 minutes winning, or first ship to be destroyed loses if the match goes longer than 10 minutes. No draws.
Ship points, module rules and other more specific rules can be found on the SCL website if you are interested.

As always the action will be intense, and their insightful commentators, Bacchanalian, Apathetic Brent, and Seldarine will be on hand to keep us entertained.

Reports from the SCL staff is that Arydanika has been working hard to provide more between match content including interviews setup with some CCP staff like CCP Fox Four (Aka CCP "Socksfour") and community figures to provide a little more action between the action.

All in all I am pretty excited about this, the next round of the SCL. (and many more to come). Best of luck to the SCL staff, CCP Fozzie, and the combatants this weekend.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

CSM8 voting is live.


Ahhhh CSM season. Always a good time to stop caring. Or at least that seems to be the general setting for most of the Eve populace. Something like 30% turnout of voters would be pretty epic…. compared to past years

Well if anyone ever gave a damn, here's some of my breakdown in candidates...

Well first, it's not to say that the CSM is bad, or under powered (or overpowered) for what they do, it's more of a question of the majority of the game's players might not understand what they do or why because frankly they don't care. So really that leaves the vote in the worst hands, those people who supposedly care and power blocks.

Okay, maybe not the worst. Still pretty bad.

Obviously it should come as no huge surprise that I will be spending my Voting pool placing Ripard Teg hopefully into great position to become a key member, well that is to say, A member of CSM8. The problem is with this Single Transferrable voting system that I have to figure out some other people to sit in slots 2-14?

After spending far too much time listening to the sexy voice of Xander P over at crossing Zebra's Podcast, I've realized that I am no closer to a decision than I was before. Honestly the sheer number of interviews he did is mind boggling and more than a little mind numbing.

FORTUNATELY for me, (and you - John Q Lazy Public), we have a breakdown of almost all the interviews in bite sized chunks, thanks to Poetic, over on his blog, neatly organized like so - LINK

Extra Vehicular has also reviewed the interviews to save me more time, or at least a second opinion…. Even if it is a little colored

It looks like this is the in post for the month, that is talking about who each blogger is going to vote for, so let's look at some big names choices…

Rixx - LINK

Ripard (can't write just one post) Teg - LINK

Rhavas - LINK

So I guess that leaves it to me. I would expend the effort required to give explanations, but to hell with that!

1. Ripard Teg
2. All Aras
3. Mangala Solaris
4. Malcanis
5. Nathan Jameson
6. Corebloodbrothers
7. Unforgiven Storm
8. James Arget
9. Korvin
10. Shit I've run out of people I would actually vote for, dammit.

Well if you didn't know CSM8 Voting is live now!!!!

Monday, April 1, 2013

Lowsec Highways

Saede over at her tumbler feed, Riordans ramblings, made a point a long time ago that I thought bore more attention than it received. She also made a post on the Forums

Anyways, the basics are this, in highsec there are various "Highway" pipes that connect various extended endpoints of highsec together. Basically allowing travel between hugely separated systems without having to go through lowsec. Some of these connections are well known like the pipe that goes through gankers heaven aka Uedama, but also just looking at the systems surrounding Jita and the Jita-pipes. For instance, The citadel, the connection gateway to what seems like everything, has direct connections to Essence, Sinq Liason, The Forge, Black Rise, Lonetrek and Domain. That's six regions. No wonder Jita is so popular, because it's so easy to get to.

Okay, so Highsec onviously has many more interconnections allowing for faster, easier travel and transport. But why not lowsec? Supposedly surrounding highsec but it has no ease of access. I am not talking about the highsec or lowsec island systems that are scattered around like delicate ecosystems of pirates and opportunists... I am talking about the chunks of lowsec that are locked away with litterally only one or two connection systems, and most times to single other area's of lowsec. Places like Solitude and Aridia come to mind.

In some cases, to move from one area of lowsec to one that should be "just next door," and sometimes is directly connected via highsec, can turn into a 20+ jump trek through lowsec, often times through other regions just to find the connection you need. Where are the highways so prevalent in Highsec? Why have they been left out here.

Before detractors start screaming the "making the game too easy pitch." Let me just say I am not suggesting a massed amount of new connections that make every lowsec region connected to every other lowsec region. Just a few additions and corridors that would make travel in lowsec that much easier.

Not only will this increase the mobility for pirates traversing lowsec, but also to other inhabitants of lowsec, like FW Fleets, Nullsec raiding fleets and even smaller alliances looking for homes. Lowsec would be more used because it would be easier to get to. Isolated regions could now draw people because there would be more ways in an out. (Solitude I'm looking at you). Providing the chance to increase lowsec population and increase the chances of a fight between roaming gangs.

As suggested by Saede, adding these jumps would dramatically help lowsec.


Saikamon-Soosat (The Bleak Lands - Devoid)
Sharir-Bairshir (Derelik - Derelik)
Maila-Ihakana (Forge - Forge)
Olettiers-Hysera (originally spelt wrong, this would be connection from Citadel to Sinq)
Kenninck-Ratillose (Placid - Solitude!)
Ashmarir-Rethan (Khanid - Tash Murkon)
Sibot-Soosat (Domain - Devoid)
Zinoo-Haras (Kador - Bleak Lands)
Karan-Agaullores (Aridia - Solitude)

It seems like a pretty simple change that would do nothing but good things for life in lowsec. Both for Pirates and for the good of lowsec.