A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villiany - Blog Banter 37

"EVE Online sits on the frontier of social gaming, providing an entertainment environment like no other. The vibrant society of interacting and conflicting communities, both within the EVE client and without, is the driving force behind EVE's success. However, the anonymity of internet culture combined with a competitive gaming environment encourages in-game behaviour to spread beyond the confines of the sandbox. Where is the line?"

Eve Online is fairly unique in the online gaming world. Whilst scams, cons and the like are banned and actively prevented in many MMOG's, they are not in Eve Online. CCP Games like their "It is a sandbox so HTFU attitude" and present New Eden as a cold, dark and rather nasty game world. But where is this line Stan speaks of? First off lets look at some of the people who inhabit our game world.

Last night I went to Jita and local chat was scrolling fast. Unbelievable good offers are flying for everything from minerals at a fraction of the market price to pilots licence extensions for only 385m rather than the 480m on the market. However, a quick glance at these "fantastic offers" soon show otherwise. The 350,000 units of mineral is actually 35,000. The PLEX for 385m actually is an exchange contract for one PLEX their side and 385m ISK PLUS one PLEX from you. It would appear that "scammers gonna to scam".

 

 

Now whilst I would never scam personally, I have corpies who do it to fund their PvP. I'm not saying it should be banned nor that I am morally against it, far from it, but I would never do it myself. But there are few games that have such blatent rip-off merchants acting with impunity.
So scamming an anonymous individual is one thing. But what about the next level? Corp thefts?

As a Director of my corp I have access to the wallet and the hangers. I've just done a little look around, and there are multiple billions of ISK in the wallet. The corporate hangers are full of juicy ships, modules and ammo. With a few clicks and a few drags I think I could have 20 times my current ISK within a minute. That's a lot of cash for the taking.

But would I ever think of doing that? Never. That would be a crappy thing to do to mates who I've violenced internet spaceships with (and in some cases got exceedingly drunk with out on the town) for several years. But it happens all the time. I was in UPCHAT (the public channel for the booster producers Uppers n Downers) a few months ago and there was a random guy in there who was a bit fed up. Apparently his CEO had just raided the corp and took ISK and assets of around 180bn ISK. The only thing he didn't take was a Drake BPO that was being used at the time, other than that he striped the corp bare. A number of our own corp members come from a now closed corp whose CEO had a big plan. They needed ISK so they collectively grinded the billions and billions for it. Apparently it was a TITANic amount of ISK required, and, allegedly in the end, the CEO made off with most of it.

These are not isolated incidents. We hear about these all the time within Eve. Why? Because they are, in some way encouraged, and there is rarely any consequence. If there was too much heat, transfer the goods to an alt and delete the "naughty" character. The ultimate clean get away! But even with this, why do normal people behave this way? Would they do this in real life?

Does good old Gabe's Greater Internet Dickwad Theory explain it?

 

You could also think of the Internet as "The Mask" from the Jim Carrey movie of that name...

 

 

The internet doesn't make you something different, it strips off the mask you hide behind in everyday life and shows the true you, probably more than most people would like to admit.

"Oh I'm not really an asshat in real life, I just play an asshat in-game". Really? Are you REALLY sure about that?

So we attract, nurture and encourage asshattery. Should we be shocked that there is a small minority of players who take things further than just in-game? Is anyone really surprised when we hear of DDOS attacks on voice comms/forums/websites, OOG personal attacks/insults in social media like Facebook and, generally, the sand spilling over the sandbox and getting everywhere?

The banter question asked "Where is the line?".

To be honest. I think the line that the majority of people would draw in the sand has been obliterated by the number of people crossing it. Surely, even if you are not a roleplayer, you should make the distinction between in-game and out-of-game?

My line in the sand is there - at the IG/OOG interface. Others might want to pull it back to some form of Blizzard-esq "Why cannot we all play nicely?". Others will move it the other way so its out of the sand all the way past the beach and under a bush into some tropical tundra so far in the distance we cannot even see the line anymore.

The Jita Ripper - Part 12 - Aftermath

Inspector Avi walked into the Chief Inspectors office in Jita 4-4 station. He was staring out of the window at the station undock. At 7:30 Eve time, it was quiet, for Jita.

"My god Avi, you look terrible, please sit." The Chief Inspector produced a bottle of Whiskey from his desk draw and poured two large glasses, passing one to Inspector Avi.

"To a successful ending?" the Chief Inspector said raising his glass.

Avi just stared at the brown liquid as he held the glass in two hands in his lap.

"I thought you'd be over the moon Avi. You did it! The killings are over now!"

"I should be happy, I know. But, all those people. Every victim after the first was a failure by us. You've read the reports I assume, what we found at the safe spot?"
"Yes" the Chief Inspector became solemn. "A dozen bodies drifting in space. But look at it this way. At least we recovered the battlecruisers flight recorder from the wreckage and were able to find the safe spot and discover the bodies. It gives the victims families closure."

"I guess. But to be honest if I were the families, I might like to be still thinking they got captured by the Blood Raiders. It would have been a more pleasant death!"

Both men drank in silence contemplating that.

“How’s the young woman doing?” ask the Chief Inspector breaking the silence.

“She’s fine. Still a bit shaken up even a week after the event. It is not everyday someone survives going to bed with a serial killer and then escapes the destruction of a battlecruiser in the space of sixty minutes. She still cannot remember exactly what happened. She said when the ship started to go down the perp ran first. She then fled the quarters, but didn’t see where he went, she just ran until she saw an escape pod hatch in the corridor and went for it. I shudder to think what would have happened if those eggers hadn’t turned up when they did. She doesn’t know how lucky she is.”

The Chief Inspector nodded.

"Are you going to the sentencing hearing tomorrow?"

"I guess so. Although it is a formality. That egger will fry for his crimes, no doubt about that. As a unanimous guilty verdict from the panel was delivered, the lead judge has no choice but to hand down the severest punishment possible. An immortal, executed."

"So, it is case closed then?"

"I suppose so. It's just that with the perp never being recovered from any of the rescue pods and his corpse never being found. He could be still alive.... technically, even though the official line is he died in the Drake when it was destroyed. Vaporised by one of the many explosions as the ship broke apart."

"You say it like you don't believe it. Do you think he survived?" asked the chief.

Avi considered the Chief Inspectors words. He knew what he meant. The bounty that Director Ogushi placed on the man's head for live capture was a lot more than the reward offered by the combined law enforcement agencies. Kirith Darkblade, the capsuleer who destroyed the Drake, might have scooped his escape pod up and sold him to the Director. They'd probably never know the full truth, although Avi had thought about what would have happened to the perp in the hands of the powerful father of one of his victims.

"May be." was the Inspectors reply finally.

"OK, I’ll ask it in a different way. Did anyone visit the good Director after the event?"

"Yes, I did myself. I had to ask the question." replied Avi "He denied holding the perp or having anything to do with him. He said he believed he died in the destruction of the Drake and that was it as far as he was concerned. Good riddance and hoped he burnt in hell for his crimes etcetera, etcetera. He was rather…. passionate."

"Do you believe him?" asked the Chief Inspector.

Avi paused and thought again.

"No, no I don't. I believe he had Marcus holed up somewhere after that egger, Kirith Darkblade, took down the Drake. That pod jockey probably scooped him up and cashed him in. I also believe that the perp died a very slow and very painful death at the hands of Director Ogushi."

"So what are you going to do about that?"

"Absolutely nothing. I have no evidence, no proof. All I have is a suspicion and a gut feeling. The Director has a huge amount of resources at his disposal not to mention political connections. Finding evidence now will be very difficult if not impossible. Plus I have a lot of work on, after all the paperwork in the last month on this case I'm low on stationary and need to sort out a trip to the store room to get some new folders!"

The Chief Inspector laughed hard and raised his glass.

"To justice?"

The Inspector smiled and raised his glass too.

"To real justice!"

-o0o-

"Vital signs stable, brain activity normal, memories intact. The clone transfer was a success. He's OK."

The two armed guards nodded to the medical technician and opened the clone revival unit. A piercing scream resonated through the room as the soundproof door was opened. It stopped suddenly as the door was fully opened. Marcus looked around naked, confused and disorientated. He had vivid memories that he was in terrible agony but looked down and his body was fine. He looked around and didn't know where he was, however the room was familiar.

"What? What is happening to me? Where am I?" he asked as the men approached.

The guards man-handled him into a wheel chair in silence and secured his ankles and wrists with straps. They pushed him through a door into a dimly lit room as Marcus continued to ask what was happening.

Marcus knew this room somehow, his brain was still foggy. He didn’t understand what had happened to him. He looked around the room and saw what was what was left of a man strapped onto a table. Blood, stripped skin and flesh dripped over the side and there was the stench of death in the air. Another man dressed as a surgeon was moving the body, as he did its head flopped over to face Marcus. Marcus' heart missed a beat. He was looking at himself, or what was left of him. Suddenly his mind cleared. He screamed, recalling the terrible pain he had been in. He looked up in desperation and saw a well-dressed man staring down at him from an observation room high above. The body was removed from the table and dumped in a corner with several others. Marcus was wheeled over and secured to the table. He recalled he’d been here before many times, there was pain, so much pain. Needles were pushed into his arm and his senses came alive as a cocktail of drugs entered his system. That triggered a memory in the back of his mind. The surgeon told him something the first time.

“Don’t worry, the drugs are not harmful. They are simply to prevent you from passing out and to make your nerves more sensitive to the pain.”

He screamed as the man in the surgical gown approached with a scalpel in his hand.

-o0o-

Up in the observation room the door opened.

"Sir, it’s time for the board meeting. If you’re not there, people will start asking questions."

"Thank you Mart. Did you get the information I asked for?"

"Yes sir. The CRU team says that the 8th clone was fine, physically, but they are starting to see some mental degradation. The mind just cannot handle this for prolonged periods. He's died a slow, horrific and painful death so many times, he's losing it. They predict by the 12th clone he'll be a jibbering wreck and it will be pointless continuing. To be honest sir, given the money that you've spent on the reward, fitting him with the implant and the cost of the clones, this is a good thing. Your personal finances aren't infinite."

The Director stared down at the scene unfolding before him as he had done the previous seven times. Marcus was screaming in agony as the specialist went to work on him.

"11 times. Is that penance enough? After what he did to my daughter?"

"I'm sorry sir, surely it will never be enough. But the board is waiting for you...."

"Fine. Keep things going here. But he is to be kept mentally stable, stop just before any breakdown. I am to be the one who presses the button on the airlock. I want to stare him in the face through the viewport as I flush that piece of shit, and any remaining clones, into the cold, hard vacuum of space. I want him to understand what's about to happen to him as that lock depressurises. I want to hear him beg, plead and finally scream for his life, just as he made my daughter do."

"Yes sir. You will have the final justice."

"Justice?" Director Ogushi spat "There is no such thing as justice here, just pure, harsh and cold retribution!"

The End.

Kirith Darkblade and the Wreckage of the Drake (plus some rat missiles)

The Alternatives.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading. Was nice to see Notoras a bit busier than normal. Plus was fun for me to watch players duking it out to make sure they were the ones who got the kill and reward. These are the two other ways the story could have ended. The first one if the “passenger” in the cargo bay hadn’t dropped. The second was if the player who took down the Drake decided to hand the perp to Inspector Avi. Now I knew that was a long shot. 250m vs 1bn reward, but some lawful-good roleplayer could have turned up….. I suppose….. may be...... in Eve Online? OK so it was very unlikely :) Anyway here are the alternate endings I had prepared followed by the in-game email for the player who took down the Drake.

-------------------------------

OPTION 1 - Marcus killed in Drake destruction

"So, it is case closed then?" (common line to all three endings)

"Yes, pity all we've got of the perp is a frozen corpse. Would have been nice to have a trial. Then again, it's the same outcome in the end. He's dead, just killed by the capsuleer XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX rather than an official execution. I suppose you can say justice was served."

The Chief Inspector raised his glass

"To justice?"

Inspector raised his glass too.

"To justice!"

--------------------------------

OPTION 2 - Marcus Captured Alive - Handed to Law Enforcement

"So, it is case closed then?" (common line to all three endings)

"Pretty much. However I still think justice doesn't move fast enough. That sicko may be sat on death-row, but he's still alive, for now. Which is more than can be said for his 20 victims."

"20 that we know about"

"Hell, don't say that. I have enough trouble sleeping at night!"

"Sorry. When is the execution scheduled?"

"Next week. And it cannot come soon enough"

"When you look at it, we should be thankful we are here and it’s finished as it has. That capsuleer, what was his name?"

“XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"

"Yes, that's ***him/her***, XXXXXXXXXX. At least ***he/she*** did the right thing handing him over to the law. The rumour was that Director Ogushi was paying four times our reward for whoever delivered him alive and discreetly to his corporation."

The Chief Inspector raised his glass.

"To justice?"

Inspector raised his glass too.

"To justice!"

Capsuleers Verses Dwarves

Over the past week someone I follow on Twitter, sorry cannot remember who (really should look who is to blame.... it was... ah there he is! @eclipticrift) has been Tweeting about something called Dwarf Fortress. Whilst back in the UK I was fairly heavily into general gaming, however, I've become more Eve-fixated here in the Middle East. I suppose living in sand (I am surrounded by desert, the blog title photo on top was taken a few minutes travel from my villa) has given me an affinity with sandboxes! So whilst some may question what stone I've been living under to only be hearing of DF now, I'd point out it's it's not a rock, it's actually a sand dune!

Anyway, I posted on the alliance forum if anyone had heard of it and was it worth downloading, and I got a positive response. I loved the original Settlers games, especially on sandbox mode. This "build and run a Dwarven fortress" simulation did sound appealing. So I looked it up. I started seeing Eve references all over the ruddy place, even on general gaming site reviews (not Eve related sites). "Dwarf Fortress is a great story telling game, comparable to Eve Online" was one mention. Others referred to the sandbox style as "Eve-like". And of course as I looked around, there were many, many, many other references to the sandbox comparison. Like Eve, Dwarf Fortress is not scripted. You do whatever the hell you want.

OK, so from what I'm reading its Minecraft meets Eve? But no multiplayer? No PvP? No shooting other players???

Mmmmm may be its not for me then, I'll just log onto Eve and go for a solo roam when I get home from work.

A short while later.....

Great! Squid* in local! Open FW plex? CHARGE! Damn he warped off. Warp to gate, jump. Empty. Warp to gate, jump. Empty. Warp to gate, jump. Great! Squid in local! Open FW plex? CHARGE! Damn he warped off. Warp to gate, jump. Great! Squid in local! Open FW plex? CHARGE! Damn he warped off. Warp to gate, jump. Warp to gate, jump. Empty. Warp to gate, jump. Empty. Warp to gate, jump. Empty.

OK, this is getting a tad boring. My TZ (I get home from work just after downtime), the fact we're into summer and the fact THE DAMN BLOODY SQUIDS ARE FLYING AROUND IN FACTION FRIGATES WITH NO GUNS is making my "Eve time before the wife gets home" pretty dull. OK, lets see what this Dwarf Fortress is about.

Download the 30mb. Play. Oh! It looks worse than the new V3 Vagabond. Download a modded version with a decent graphic tiles set. Right lets do this.

Within 30 minutes I have to agree, there are a lot of similarities with Eve Online, at least with "old school" Eve.

What the hell do I do?
When I started Eve the tutorials were pretty scant. It took a lot of trial and error to learn. DF has no in-game or official tutorial. I recommend the Complete and Utter Newbie Tutorials here. How anyone could play this game without something like that, I have no idea.

It's vastly complex.
You look at the graphics and think that a smartphone could run it. But whilst your world is building have a peak at your resource monitor. You'll see your CPU cores churning away fairly hard. I have a decent gaming PC and it took ages to build a world (I did start off with the biggest I could make). It took me a long time to build, but from what I'm hearing it can take a short ice age on old PC's if you set it for the largest world and the longest history. Even during the game itself, it's a simulation so needs a lot of CPU. This is simply because there is so much going on.

There is no goal.
Here you go. There is a wagon full of supplies and seven dwarves dumped in the middle of nowhere. Enjoy.
What? That's it?
Yes!
Oh, so what do I do?
Anything you want.
Just like Eve, the game doesn't tell you what you have to do. You do your own thing.

The Interface is Horrid
Eve Online has in the past been criticised for it's UI. Some good work by CCP has made big improvements in the last few years. But DF brings horrid UI's to a whole new level. There is no mouse, it's all keyboard and is an utter PITA.

You wish your brain was multi-core.
In Eve you can struggle sometimes with managing everything at once. Think of having a 1v1 in an active tanked ship. You have cap management, shield management, keeping point and ewar on the target, evaluating the fight to see if you need to try and GTFO. Drones. Overheating. Range issues and changing to the right ammo. May be even combat boosters. Some fights in Eve really need a lot of brain power on your part. DF looks at this and thinks what an easy game Eve is! The simulation is so vast and complex it's amazing.

It's Like Herding Cats
"NO! I didn't say do that!"
"What are you doing FFS?"
"Stop being a ****ing lemming!"
"Oh I give up! If you lot want to kill yourselves just fine! I'm emo-rage-quiting so you can kill yourself when I'm in command!!!!"

Conclusion
The game is a massive open-ended world where you make your own story. Nothing is scripted, this is not your average linear, theme park game. This is a real sandbox game. YOU make the game what it is. The controls are not great, the graphics aren't fantastic either, and then there is the learning cliff of DOOM that makes getting into the game almost impossible without some internet surfing and pre-reading. It's not for the casual, it's a hard-core game that is anything but easy. It's hard, bloody hard and can be very frustrating. You tell people to do something and they feck off and do something completely different. But, and it's a big 'but', it is the amazing game-play, depth and sandbox style 'do what ever you want to do' that makes this game addictive. You get out what you put into it.

Now am I talking about Dwarf Fortress or am I talking about Eve from a few years back?

*Caladri Militia

Feeling Ruff - Or How the Vagabond Got the Snip

Last week I was half on Eve, half doing other stuff when @RixxJavix Tweeted something about the "frill" being missing from the Vagabond. I hadn't used my Vaga in a while as Fleet Stabbers are all the rage currently. So I made my Vaga active to see what he was going on about.

WHAT?

Whatever you call them - the frill, the ruff, the front winy bits, they are gone! From the hooded menace we used to have, we now have something that looks like it belongs in Game of Thrones snuggling between Daenerys Targaryen's jugs!

Oh dear. Of course everyone in the Tweetfleet has chosen to make their point in the usual way. Last year it was hats from Rixx, now we're onto ruffs.

It started with one...

.... then the rest of Tweetfleet was become assimilated to show their support...

.... and finally we have a player event proposed by Seismic Stan over at Freebooted with a Eve-O forum post here. You should visit and add your support there as apparently CCP is watching.

So if you too feel the Vagabond has been snipped in the prime of it's life, show your support on July 15th.

Thinking about this, I did feel sort of sorry for the person who has been working on this at CCP. Just imagine being in their shoes.

Before Deployment - "This is great, I've finished the V3 of the Vagabond and it looks brilliant. I'm sure the players will love this!"

After Deployment - "Sorry? Their Twitter avatars are wearing WHAT in protest over my design????"

That must be a bit crappy to have your hard work protested about. But again it's something we feel strongly about (like ship spinning, remember that) but lets hope there are no 20% job cuts this year. But if there are, remember, a ruff makes everything 327% more sexah!

Others making their voices heard on this subject:-

My Loot, Your Tears

And Knowing is Half The Battle

Margin Call

The Jita Ripper - Part 11 - End Game

OK, this is it! Whilst there is one more chapter left in this series, that one covers the aftermath of what happened when someone took down the capsuleer and how the decisions they make afterwards affected the outcome. I think there are three probable outcomes so have three alternate endings already written to post next week. However, this is Eve Online and when people try to guess what players will actually do, tits tend to get upwardly inclined. Oh well, we'll see I suppose. Best of luck to those who are coming to kill the capsuleer and may the loot fairy smile on you! - Drackarn

-o0o-

Inspector Avi was tired. His quarters on the station orbiting planet IV, moon IV in the Jita system felt cramped and claustrophobic. It had been a week since his broadcast went out alerting the cluster to the type of system the perps could be hiding in. So far nothing. That sick bastard was probably still out there, murdering innocents, but they had no leads. Avi stared out of the window. A hulking Obelisk class freighter was undocking from the station.

A quiet bleep indicated there was an incoming call. The inspector rubbed his tired eyes and sat down at his desk.

"Inspector, this is Senior Analyst Yan from deck 42."

"Yes Yan. Thank you for calling. What have you got?"

"Well sir, we've had a few pings from the target vessel. When it has warped, the capsuleer has had to activate his NeoCom for a few seconds. But nothing long enough to get an exact trace. We think he's in the Black Rise region but cannot be sure for certain. He's not passed through any regional gates lately. Hell, in fact we're not sure he's passed through any stargate at all in the last few weeks."

"Keep looking. He's out there somewhere."

"Yes sir, we've still got a lot more data to wade through. We'll keep you informed."

-o0o-

The Agent's cloaked shuttle warped towards the stargate, the sole pilot was half concentrating on flying the small ship and half on a monitor showing a live feed from a covert camera hidden in Inspector Avi's office. He knew his time was limited. The Navy Police were slow at connecting the dots, but they had the system finally. In minutes the law enforcement authorities would start heading this way in force to support the capsuleer's. He'd had a head start. His ship had been cloaked off the station at Jita 4-4 as the police made the discovery. He'd warped off instantly heading to the hi-sec border system of Nourvakiken and then jumping into the unsafe low-sec space of Tama. From there it was a handful of jumps to the target system. But this was pirate space. Snuffbox, Shadows of the Federation, Mentally Unstable Enterprises, Red Squad the list went on of capsuleer corporations that were known to attack neutral ships. As well as those pirates there was a war raging here. The State Protectorate battled the Federation Defence Union for control of these systems as well as numerous capsuleer corporation aligned with one side or the other. Whilst he was aligned to neither side, he could be still seen as a potential spy and attacked. Not that the capsuleers in these parts need a reason to attack, other than they could.

A few jumps later and he was in the heart of pirate space and one jump from his destination. He looked at the pilots visible on the local network, the vast majority were classified as outlaws by CONCORD. The massive stargate loomed in front of him as he approached the final jump.

He checked the time, it was expected that the target would be in position in a day and a half. He needed to be there to convince the capsuleer who took down the Drake to hand the suspect over to him and not to the Caldari Navy Police Force. Capsuleers could never be predicted. He might end up dealing with a law abiding citizen of New Eden who was convinced that handing the suspect to the law for a proper trial was the right course of action. On the other hand the capsuleer may be more open to a bigger reward, even if it was the morally dubious option.

"Capsuleers." he thought "Surely they'll take the money and to hell with what happens to the suspect!"

He activated his database and scrolled through a list of identities. "Dunraven! I haven't used him since the Villore incident." he thought. He entered a passcode as he got within 2500 metres of the stargate.

The shuttle vanished into the artificial wormhole created by the stargate in a flash of brilliant light. But the Agent did not appear on the other side, a capsuleer named 'Dunraven' appeared on the local network. The shuttle decloaked and warped to the bottom station.

-o0o-

Marcus lay on his bunk smiling. His date was arranged for tomorrow. They'd get something to eat late afternoon and then take the shuttle back to the Drake when it made it's return supply run. He was hoping that this one was going to be the best one yet. It had the potential.

This was an unusually long stay on the station for him at 72 hours. A mechanical breakdown had occurred on the Drake. Nothing too serious but the part needed to be replaced. The workshop on the station didn't have the part in stock but one could be brought over from Jita. Therefore the Capsuleer had decided Marcus should stay on the station and come back when the shuttle returned to the station to collect the part.

The first night on the hunt was a bust. The stations in this backwater system had slim pickings in terms of attractive potential female victims. Marcus supposed he shouldn't be surprised. He was in a dead-end system in the middle of a warzone. The system was crawling with Federation Navy outposts and capsuleers from both sides engaged here. He longed for a return to Jita. That station had an inexhaustible supply of potential victims. Beautiful, slender women looking to make themselves rich by seducing a capsuleer in anyway they could. But here, here he had limited options.

Then last night it had all turned around. He'd spotted her sat at the bar when he entered. Provocatively dressed and showing far too much flesh. Her golden hair tumbled down her slender back over the short lace dress. As he approached he could see her skin was smooth and flawless. A true beauty. Then, as he stood alongside her he noticed things that didn't quite fit. Her eyes were an amazing pale blue, but they showed innocence, not experience. The heavy make-up was over-done and tried to hide her true age. When she struck up a conversation with him she had said that she was 22, he was sure it was much less than that. 17 he guessed, may be even younger. A kid almost, looking for a way off this backwater station. She wanted a ticket to adventure. His capsuleer con had never worked so easily. She'd bought it right away. Excited at the prospect at joining him on his ship she'd literally thrown herself at him. He couldn't risk sleeping with her on the station even though she couldn't have made it any more clearer she wanted him. The way she'd looked at him as they parted in the corridor, it was a look of pure lust.

He could have brought her back to his rented quarters on station, but too much could have gone wrong. One of the fake implants could come loose or he might not be able to stop himself from taking it to the normal conclusion. No, he had told himself, "Be patient! This time tomorrow you'll be on your way down to the docking bay, ready to fly back to the Drake and to take her to bed to rid her of any innocence she has left, then a few hours later and she'll be hanging by her wrists as she begs for you to stop whilst you slice that firm, flawless flesh."

Marcus checked his watch. 24 hours left until he needed to prepare to leave. A few hours after that he'd be able to have some real fun! He smiled and closed his eyes imagining how a trickle of bright red blood would look against that stark contrasting creamy skin.

-o0o-

Inspector Avi woke with a start. He'd drifted off to sleep in his office chair and now the comms channel was bleeping again. It was Yan again.

"Yes Yan, what do you have?"

"Well sir, two interesting developments. Further analysis of the limited NeoCom ping has shown a bit more of the trace-route. We think the Drake is an absolute maximum of eight jumps from us, probably closer to six."

"Sixty jumps? That will be deep into null-sec."

"No sir, not sixty, six!"

"Six jumps from Jita? No way, you're guys have got to be wrong."

"I thought that too sir. I mean, some of the most wanted criminals in the cluster hiding a few minutes travel from Jita? But we did some digging. There is a system within that range that is inside low-sec, a dead-end one with a single stargate and multiple stations. All of the stations in that system have new missing persons cases open in the last couple of weeks involving attractive women aged 20-35. There is also one case of mother and step-daughter, and we know how he likes two at a time."

Inspector Avi's attention was completely focused on Analyst Yan now.

"Additionally, one of the stations ordered a GZ-4295b plasma compressor two days ago. That component is used exclusively in Drake class battlecruisers."

"The most common battlecruiser in the cluster though." Avi pointed out.

"Yes sir, BUT, having an entire replacement plasma compressor is virtually unheard of. They are easily repaired by nanite technology at a stations starship mechanics bay. That's why this station didn't have one in stock and has had to order one in. They are never replaced, just repaired by station nanite technology. The only reason to order a replacement unit...."

"Is if you cannot dock your Drake at a station and need to do the repairs in space!" Inspector Avi cut in.

"Exactly sir. And I also thought you'd be interested to know the part is being shipped to the system currently and it is flagged to be collected tomorrow. Some time between 16:00 and 18:00 Eve Standard Time."

Avi deactivate the comm link and ran through the facts in his head. The trace of the NeoCom ping, the missing persons, the replacement compressor, the proximity to Jita. He looked the system up on his datapad.

"Oh shit!" he exclaimed to himself. That system was occupied by the Gallente Federation.

Inspector Avi leaned forward and activated the comm panel again.

"This is Inspector Avi. I need a Navy capsuleer-piloted Buzzard prepped and ready to fly in one hour."

He leaned back in his chair. This could all be over tomorrow he thought. If the part is being collected at that time, then the Drake must be at a close celestial at the same time. A planet or an asteroid belt maybe. But Inspector Avi also had a sense of foreboding about this. A Caldari Navy frigate going to a contested solar system in the warzone, occupied by the Gallente Federation with a serial killer inside a Drake class battlecrusier piloted by a capsuleer. This could be one epic shit-storm.

-o0o-

The capsuleer floated in his hydrostatic capsule deep inside the belly of the Drake. He'd been unable to leve the capsule for nearly two weeks and was worried what effect that would be having on his body. Capsuleers were told in training that providing the ship was resupplied when required, they could live almost indefinitely in their pods. However he didn't fancy living forever inside the confines of this capsule.

He checked the defensive systems. The shield hardeners were a mix of Caldari Navy issue and also pirate faction modified modules. As he activated them they made the shields of the Drake highly resistant to all forms of damage, but not immune. He powered up the missile launchers, they responded immediately. Like one of the shield hardeners, these were also military issue from the Caldari Navy. Expensive, effective, devastating, but would they be enough? He finally check the ammunition, Caldari Navy issue missiles again.

Satisfied the ship was ready for combat he brought up the images he received last night again. The girl in the pictures was blonde, beautiful and young. The Capsuleer opened the rest of encrypted document sent from the station last night. He read the attached message.

Look what I've found. Something special.
She is so soft and tender. Milky, flawless skin, ripe for slicing.
Young and innocent, but with a fire burning inside her. Oh the way she kisses and places my hands on her body desperate for my touch.
I promise you the best show yet tomorrow.
I think she'll last a long time.

The capsuleer smiled. He was looking forward to this one.

-o0o-

Myths of Piracy

Over the last couple of weeks I've had a couple of times where I've had a fight and wondered, now why did they do that? My conclusion is that my security status is minus eight "point something" (and therefore a red, shootable pirate) and they have the medical condition - omgitsapiratekillit-itus. For all those people out there infect with this, here are some notes to help dispel some of the common myths about pirates that I'm seeing.

I Don't Shoot EVERYTHING.
We're both on a gate, I'm in an Assualt Frigate. You lock me up in your cruiser and orbit me. You deploy drones. Then you do nothing but smack because I'm not shooting you. Look mate, you can shoot me as I'm an outlaw without any consequences. If I shoot at you, I'll get GCC and gate guns..... in a frigate hull.

If I then warp off to the sun I am not running away, it's the Eve equivelent of "Come at me Bro!". Warp to the sun, where there are no gate guns, and we'll dance! Don't want to? Oh I see! It's me verse you AND the gate guns that hit for 300+ DPS or GTFO?

Oh and to the pilot who did similar to this last week and jumped through the gate leaving me a present of a flight of five Hammerhead II's, thanks!

Generally Pirates Tend to Know How to PvP
The whole reason people are -10 generally is because they've PvP'd a bit. Whilst there are many, many terribad pirates out there, the percentage of bad pilots is much lower than say in null-sec or Faction War.

If you engage a pirate, the chances are he knows what he's doing in regard to PvP.

The Good Guys Don't Always Win.
Sorry bro, but the good guys don't always win in Eve. In fact some might say the good guys rarely win in Eve! Now ignore the fact that I'm a pirate. Compare my ship to yours. Do you think engaging with that ship against mine is a good idea? Will my Assualt Ship hurt your frigate? Hell yes. Will my faction cruiser make short work of your destroyer? Do bears sh... in the woods? So if you wouldn't think about engaging me if I was just a regular war target, why would you attack me in a inferior ship just because I'm a red pirate?

Gate guns will only back you up if I fire first or if I am already GCC. They won't go "Oh you know what, that brave pilot is taking on that nasty pirate, lets help him!". The calvary isn't going to come charging over the nearest space-hill as you valiently go up against the odds to back you up. What will happen is you'll die. Quickly.

So please. Think before you start shouting to yourself "ZOMG A PIWAT! KEEL IT!". There is nothing great about whelping someone in the space of 5 seconds who is in an inferior ship when I'm out looking for a good fight (this was a bloody good fight - http://kb.drunk-n-disorderly.com/index.php/kill_detail/661457/).

P.S. On a totally unrelated note - This, RAZOR Alliance Glorious Informational Film #1 , is a work of pure genuis and I salute those who made it!

Inferno - FW, It's Not Working As Intended

The run up to Inferno was fantastic! With all sides knowing it was going to get much harder to capture systems and the new mechanics that could make faction war lucrative, we fought.... and we fought hard!

We battled over systems with some fights lasting hours and involving hundreds of starships being violenced. We were running ops, taking on fleets, bashing bunkers and being bashed ourselves! It was a fun few weeks before Inferno launched!

Now the dust has settled we are starting to see that the build up to Inferno was much better for Faction War than Inferno itself. Why?

Basically, in Post-Inferno Faction War..... Losing is Lucrative - PvP is less financially rewarding than PvE farming which is much more profitable.

You capture a system. Whoopy "F'in" do! What do we get? 50% off medical clones! Please note, THIS IS LOW SEC!, we get podded very rarely (although now I've said that....) so that discount is not much use. Extra research/factory slots. Erm, I'm a PvP'r who likes to violence internet spaceships. What the frack is an extra slot on an assembly line doing for me and the majority of FW who are here for fights? Docking rights? Other than our home system, not being able to dock elsewhere is nothing but a minor inconvenience. So capturing a system gives me no real benefits. Upgrading the system is pointless. As soon as you go to bed the LP farmers are out with two week old alts in their T1 speed tanking frigates and get you from level 5 to level 0 before you are snoring. The whole sov system is pointless.

But plexing an enemy system! Now that's where the money is! By offensive plexing I'm making lots of ISK, which I can use to buy internet spaceships to violence other internet spaceships (well actually most the time I'm chasing two week old alts in T1 frigates with no guns). Offensive plexing fuels my PvP, but I'm not getting much PvP as every fecker is farming LP's. To be honest we are talking in alliance about letting the Caldari capture adjacent systems so we can get LP easier.

Yes there is the mechanic where at tier level 1 the FW LP prices are through the roof. But we come to another problem, Time Zone Tennis.

Caldari are more active in the US TZ's. The Gallente are more active in the EU TZs. One side plex's, the other side plex's. And the net result? Both are stuck at tier 1 and 2 with neither side getting ahead. The Amarr/Minmatar obviously isn't quite like that as they started very uneven. But the Gallente/Caldari fight is stuck in a stalemate.

It's just not working.

So what can we do?

Nerf LP's for offensive plexing, buff LP's for iHub takedowns.
Faction War is turning into Farmville. Cheap, speed tanking frigates running plex's who run at the first sign of trouble. When I drafted this in the week I was going to say "I've seen one time about a dozen Gallente systems vulnerable". This weekend there is TWENTY! There is no iHub bashing going on. Why? Because the people making those systems vulnerable are simply farming LP's. Actually capturing the system is shooting themselves in the foot. They won't get LP's for plexing there if they actually win the system.

Give a low number of LP's for defensive plexing.
Defensive plexing is boring. Sit in space for 15-20 minutes doing nothing. Is there any wonder nobody defends systems when it is so boring AND, more importantly, why defend a system when you get more benefit from losing it and plexing it (note the term plexing, not recapturing). By giving some LP's, much reduced from offensive plexing, may be we can encourage people to defend systems. Unlikely I know.

LP's for PvP kills, can we buff this without causing farming?
Farming LP's from offensive plexing is easy and little risk. On average I appear to get 2000-3000 LP's for each PvP kill I get generally. When solo roaming, do I get 6 kills every 15 minutes? Of course I don't, not even Loren "The Chuck Norris of Eve" Gallen, does that! So do I run a single offensive medium plex, or try and solo 6 players in 15 minutes. Stupid question as finding enemies that are not farming LP's in speed tanking frigates is difficult!

Balance the NPC's.
Gallente major plex can be captured by a solo two-week old character in a T1 frigate. Caldari major plex's require a much older character and a much better ship. Thankfully the ECM is being nerfed in Inferno 1.1. That made many plex fights pointless for the Gallente as being perma-jammed is no fun. Why not add stasis web towers and turret towers for all plex. Two week old plexing alts in speed tanking T1 frigates? Pop!

Reward system capture.
The benefits now of owning a system are outweighed MASSIVELY by the benefits of losing it and plexing it for LP's. What perverse system is it when we are talking in-game about letting the enemy capture systems as that will be better for us than us owning that space! The current tier system for warzone control should be mainly based on system control, not upgrade level. Upgrade level is too hard to maintain and simply results in the faction saving their LP, all dropping into iHubs at the same time and then cashing in the rest of their LP. Give each system a value of 10 points max. 5 points for the control and then one point per upgrade level. Or how about making defensive plexing increase the LP in the iHub?

Increase the LP buffer in the iHub.
Got level five? Easy to knock that down to level 0 with an alt in a frigate in a couple of hours whilst the system owning corp is asleep. All your hard work undone by a two week old toon in a T1 frigate!

Kill Speed Tankers - Kill the Farmers

Simply add stasis web towers and sniping turrets to plexs. Stop the two week old toons in T1 frigates with no guns taking plexs. Give the NPC rats Sleeper AI, get them swapping targets and kersplatting those farmers.

The Jita Ripper - Part 10 - Nowhere to Run

Inspector Avi looked directly into the camera drone. He knew law enforcement officers from over three thousand separate space stations located all around the cluster were watching him. From his top bosses here in Jita who were paid staggering amounts of money, down to cheap rent-a-cops in null-sec outposts who made most their money from bribes, they all wanted to know what he was going to say.

"I hope you've all read the file that was sent to you, the specific details of why we are so keen to get these guys are in there. If you take the file home, I'd suggest keeping it away from loved ones, it does not make for pleasant reading. Our first and only priority is tracking these animals down....."

-o0o-

"So no husband then?"

"No, he was killed in an accident several years. A blast at a mining colony. Just me and Jess now"

"I'm sorry to hear that. And Jess?"

"His daughter from his first marriage. She'll be along in a bit. She likes to party just as much as me by the way"

Marcus smiled.

-o0o-

“They've gone dark. That Drake hasn't been reported as docked anywhere since the attack on the transport. We assume he's hiding at a deep safe and using shuttles to resupply. Therefore we're looking for a dead-end system, they'll not be wanting passing traffic snooping on them. They'll also need a station system, preferably two or more so they can alternate their supply runs. The egger is probably deactivating his Neo-comm connection, manually severing the connection when at his safe. Although he'd need to activate it when warping to get within a decent range of the station for the shuttle. We'll probably find he shows up for an hour a day or every other day as he warps to an asteroid field to launch the supply shuttle and waits for it to return"

-o0o-

"Please to meet you Jess" Marcus kissed the young woman on the cheek.

"Pleasure to meet you.... Captain." Jess smiled "Sam, how did you meet this hunk then?"

"I've told you before to call me mom."

"Yeah, yeah. So.... Captain..... what do you do for fun around here?"

Marcus signalled the barman who brought over an oversized ice bucket with a magnum of expensive champagne. Both women smiled.

-o0o-

"Now, onto the grisly part. We do not believe for one moment that this perp has stopped his activities. But no more bodies have been found. This supports our earlier theory that they are operating from a deep safe. We suspect he's joining the supply runs and probably staying back on the station. He'll use the time between runs to identifying victims, and get them to join him on the shuttle back to the Drake on its next resupply flight. That means he'll have a couple of days to identify and engage the victim or victims. After he's finished with them he probably just flushes the body out of an airlock. We have no idea how many he's killed since the last victims. If we find his safe, we'll more than likely find bodies."

-o0o-

"Wow, you’re fighting for the Federation?" Sam whispered. Marcus waved his hands downwards to signal to keep her voice down.

"Yes, that's why my warship isn't docked here. It's hidden out there in space. My crew are picking up supplies and will shuttle over there in a short while." Marcus knew that two Gallente women this far into Caldari low-sec space would be impressed.

"But the Federation occupies this system, why would you need to hide?" Jess asked.

"Caldari sympathisers watch these stations, we don't want to reveal our strength to them. Hey, would you two like to see my warship? We can catch the shuttle over and I can bring you back in the morning? It’s a great place to party!”

-o0o-

"What we're looking for are missing persons. Attractive, single ladies, 18-30. They will have just vanished with no official logs of them leaving the station. They are likely to frequent the high-end bars on the upper station decks. Not necessary the Executive or Capsuleer bars, just the ones everyone has access to if they can get past the doorman and have the cash. However, we need to minimise false alarms. It's not unknown for pod jockeys to take ladies for a spin for a few weeks before getting bored and dumping them on a random station. We cannot be arresting every pod jockey who takes advantage of a woman, we'd need to be arresting 80% of them if that was a crime. We need to tread sensitively. There is no point upsetting the capsuleer community, especially when we need their help.

-o0o-

Marcus sat back in his favourite chair in his dimly lit quarters sipping his drink. The two women dancing provocatively in front of him as the music played loudly. Each trying to better the other by discarding an extra piece of clothing or getting tantalisingly close to him as they danced in front of him.

"Competition," thought Marcus "….it brings out the best in women!"

-o0o-

"The reason we need their help is simple. Is any pilot here confident of taking down a Drake class battlecruiser piloted by a capsuleer?"

Avi paused to see if there was any response. The comm channel remained quiet. Even the best pilots couldn’t hope to compete with a capsuleer. With their brain and nervous system hooked up to the ship directly they had faster reactions, better control and more power. The ships weren’t any different to non-capsuleer versions of the ships, it’s just the eggers could push their ships so much further.

"We've spoken to CONCORD and they refuse to get involved. May be that’s unfair, they are not allowed to get involved. Their mandate only lightly covers low-sec and in an observation role only, they will not send ships out there. The Navies of the Empires are too busy trying to blow each other up and don't particularly care about one criminal. That leaves us with the capsuleers. The official bounty on the perp and his egger protector now stands at a total of 250 million ISK. More than enough for your average capsuleer to take a risk. Our job is to help the capsuleer community find the targets, they'll take care of the rest."

-o0o-

Marcus’ quarters echoed with pitiful sobs. He'd been on his feet for the last hour and had sat down for a rest. He sipped the whiskey from a tall glass and thought what a good night it had been. He'd had them both, but one at a time, they weren't up for doing anything together which disappointed Marcus. He'd need to draw things out a bit longer in that case. He wasn't sure if that was to make it up to himself, or to punish them both for not playing together. Those two he’d got a few weeks ago where much better in the sack, they put on a proper show for him. However, he didn't mind, these two had been much better in the following hour.

Both hung by their wrists from the ceiling. He pointed the medical scanner at each of them and looked at the results. The daughters life-signs were still strong, the step-mothers were a bit low. Not surprising as he'd been concentrating on her. He decided he'd let her rest for the next hour and let her watch him go to town on her step-daughter.

-o0o-

"Make no mistake. These two are probably the most dangerous perps you'll ever encounter. This Marcus is one sick bastard, probably the sickest you'll ever meet and deserves the death penalty for what he has done. But, we are all officers of the law, and we need to put that to one side. He must stand trial and face justice, officially. His capsuleer, what shall we call him, ‘his sponsor’? Well, we all already know what they are capable of. Taking him down is going to be the hard part. IF we can pod him then we've got him alive. His CRU has a law enforcement medical technician handling the reanimation and also an armed guard."

-o0o-

Marcus looked into Sam's face. She was crying hard.

"I know.... I know" Marcus said gently as a father might comfort a child. "You've suffered, but don't worry. I'll let you rest now."

He moved over to Jess who started shaking in her restraints. He pulled out the knife and went to work. She started to scream in pain as the knife made slow, shallow cuts in her flesh.

Jess was screaming in agony, Sam was screaming for him to stop hurting her step-daughter. The noise between the two was deafening.

“More competition ladies?” thought Marcus with a sick smile.

-o0o-

"So any questions?" Inspector Avi asked.

"Is that all we really have to go on? How are we going to find them with such vague search parameters?" the representative from some distant null-sec system Avi had never even heard of asked.

"That's the best we have. I see we have 3,054 open comm channels. When you actually look at that in terms of stations in the cluster, we don't even have every station covered. Let us not kid ourselves, this is going to be a difficult search. However, every day those two are out there, is another day where someone is probably dying a horrific death."

"Anyone else?"

-o0o-

Marcus finished his drink. He prodded both women with the tip of the knife a few times, the wickedly sharp top half inch of the blade sinking into soft flesh with ease. There was no movement or sound from either woman. They just hung there, lifeless with their heads forward and their faces down.

He picked up the medical scanner. There were life-signs still, but they were so faint they were barely registering on the scanner. He checked his watch.

"Mmmmmm, 4 hours. A new record ladies!" he said aloud. However neither woman heard him.

-o0o-

"So in summary. We are looking for a dead-end, probably low-sec system with multiple stations. A Drake class battlecruiser flown by capsuleer Petyr Ervert will appear infrequently, probably at an asteroid belt. The stations in that system will have several missing persons cases opened recently, women matching our victim profile. OK people, let’s find them."

Inspector Avi ended the transmission and sat back in his chair. All he needed was the system name. The capsuleers would do the rest.

-o0o-

As the transmission ended, the capsuleers vision returned to the camera drones orbiting the Drake class battlecrusier. Someone in one of the stations security offices had just watched that feed which he’d been able to intercepted. Would that someone put two and two together and realise they were in their system. Or would they just pay little attention and go about their daily business.

The capsuleer activated the ships fitting HUD and checked over the ships systems. A life of piracy and the odd confidence scam had made him rich. He’d invested heavily in his ship. The Navy Issue shield hardener had especially cost him. But would it be enough. How many capsuleers could he stand against? Two? Three? How many could he take down before his battlecruiser was destroyed? Was there any way he could get out of this predicament?

He knew the answer. He knew he was doomed. Surely the security forces had a guard by his clone. He’d die in space and be reborn into custody.

The fitting window dropped and was replaced by an image of Marcus’ quarters. Cleaning drones were removing the evidence from the last two victims. The capsuleer rewound the feed and watched the scene again. He knew these could be the last two he might watch.

-o0o-

Several light years away Director Ogushi turned off his holoprojector as Inspector Avi finished his briefing. However, the video feed was not the official one, it was from a hidden camera that had been placed in Inspector Avi’s office. A man in a black suit stood emotionless at the foot of Director Ogushi’s desk in his luxurious office.

“So there you go. That is the law enforcements agency’s view on the situation. Can I assume you’ll handle this?”

“Yes sir. Obviously there are no guarantees, the eggers are a strange lot. One minute they’ll refuse to help someone in distress unless it was more than worth their while, the next they’re risking their ship and clone for absolutely nothing.”

“A billion ISK, you have a billion ISK to offer and you say that is not enough! It has to be, that is all I have. I cannot pay any more.”

“No negotiation, understood. However, sir, it will depend on the egger. If he can be bought, a billion ISK should be more than enough, there would be no need to offer more even if you have it. However, if he is one of these lawful and righteous pilots, no amount of ISK will stop him handing the perp over to the proper authorities.”

Director Ogushi slammed his fist into the table.

“That must not happen! I want that man, alive, on this station and with everyone thinking he was killed in some capsuleer battle. Now that is your job to make sure that happens, Agent Smith. There is no way I am going to let that man have a trial and a quick execution. He made my daughter suffer in agony for hours before he slowly killed her, I intend to pay him back ten-fold!”

“Yes, sir!”

-o0o-

Who Put That Numpty in Charge?

There are two main reasons I don't run fleets in Eve Online. Firstly, I really don't like to. The reasons are long and varied and if you are interested, can be found in this old blog post Confessions of an FC'ing Hater. The other main reason is that I live in a GMT +4 timezone after emigrating from the UK two years ago. I'm still with the same corp, still getting plenty of kills, but the time difference means that as I'm thinking about going to bed on a weekday, my corpies are just gearing up for a fleet. I still get to fleet up on Thursday and Friday nights providing the Eve Widow doesn't force me to go out or something silly like that. However a 19:30 form up is 23:30 for me. Therefore by the time the fleet leaves at 20:30 and roams for three hours, it's 3:30am here and I'm well lubricated! This occasionally results in me waking up the next morning with a huge headache and docked in a strange station, 30 jumps from home in an expensive ship. Usually in these cases it is get a cyno alt down there and spend a fortune in isotopes, carrier jumping my ships home.

In about a month the Holy Month of Ramadan will start. Normally, working hours here are reduced as people fast during daylight hours, and with temperatures hitting 50 degrees Celcius, it's needed. Therefore I'll be getting an extra couple of hours in bed each morning. Which means I will, like most people here, stay up much later. It's amazing to see how people change their lifestyle patterns here. Suddenly there are traffic jams at midnight, the new rush hour, and shops and malls are packed at 11 at night.

But I'll not be shopping, I'll be FC'ing.

Each year during this time I do a month of FC'ing a weekly fleet. I call them "Drackarn's DIAF XXXdays" where XXXday is the day of the week when I run the fleet. I've not decided what day yet, traditionally I've done Mondays as that was a decent turn out. Tuesday's appear to be the favorite day this year so maybe they'll be "Drackarn's DIAF Tuesday's."

As I'm a pretty crap FC the most expensive fleet I'll run with will be battlecruisers. I don't want billions of ISK on the line when I derp. But, nearly a year since my last month of regular FC'ing, will things be different?

Ship Types
Yes I know target calling can be delegated, but the FC needs to know the ship names and types in order to make the call in the first place. My sticking point has always been Amarrian ships. Flying Caldari, Minmatar and Gallente, I know the strengths and weaknesses of most of their ships. Amarr was always an issue. However in the last year I've skilled up the Amarr ships and even flown some. I have a much better idea these days of what does what. I will not be primarying the Damnation and leaving the Oracles!

FC'ing Skills
We've got some great FC's in -FU-. Surely flying under thier command means some of that will rub off on me? Surely.......? I guess we'll see!

Navigation
Another year flying around Black Rise. Oh I'll still have my 2D map of the warzone but I know the local routes better now than a year ago.

So may be I'll do better this year. Or may be I'll just die in a fire! Also thinking about what fleets I'll run. In the past it's generally been "Jump in a BC and lets go for a roam. This year I'd like to try some different ship types. I've got a few specific fleets I'd like to try out.

P3ni5 Fleet O'Doom
The good old Thorax fleet. Why run a fleet of Thorax? Well obviously it's the only combat ship (Iterion doesn't count) that looks like a nob. Cheap Tech 1 cruiser, cheerful, puts out plenty of DPS and allows two hours of nob jokes during the fleet.

BOOM! You're Dead.
A fleet of Arty Thrashers. Massive alpha strike plus..... erm...... well they have a massive alpha strike! Should insta-pop most cruiser and down and dies horrible if anyone turns up with a smart-bombing battleship!

Sensual Assualt
I love Assualt Frigates. A fleet of AF's could be fun especially if we run into either a fleet of other small ships or a fleet of very big ships. Be interesting to to take on a BS gang in AF's.

Any Old BC.
A rag-tag fleet of BC's. Who knows what we'll get. Plenty of Hurricanes, probably. Some Drakes, likely. The odd Mrymadon, who knows! Undocking will be like Christmas! Ooooo I wonder what every ones brought me.

Honey Pot
Drone Swarm. Have a fleet of Vexors and some fast tackle. Camp a gate with the Vexors launching drones and setting them to assist the fast tackle. Stick some remote se-bo's on the fast tackle to make it into F'in fast tackle and sit back and watch our enemies torn apart by 100 angry drones. And if there is nobody to shoot, get the fast tackle to orbit the gate at speed and watch the swarm of drones chase him!

As you can see, my fleet Doctrines are not too serious. We've got uber-FC's in the alliance who do those sort of roams. These are supposed to be fun fleets and I hope in a few weeks time I'll be able to blog about how we had epic fights.... or how we all died in a fire..... horribly.... and got podded..... twice........ and our corpses taken..... and had things done to them......

What Makes a Good Fight?

I think it is fair to say, I've been around a bit. Five years of playing Eve does not make me the most experienced player out there, but I have tried a lot that Eve has to offer. I've been a high-sec carebear, I've been a militia pilot, I've been a pirate. I've lived in high-sec, low-sec, NPC null-sec and sov holding null-sec.

PvP wise I've also done a lot. From my humble beginnings in small frigate gangs up to more recent times when I'm flying multiple-billion ISK ships and fits with capital ships, logistics, support and boosters in a fleet o'doom. But what is the most enjoyable out of all these fights. The 600 vs 600 battleship fights? The fights were there are more capitals on field than sub-caps? Or is it something else?

What got me thinking along these lines was my PvP on Friday night. Due to a few things, I didn't get out to the pub to see the England vs Sweden game. So I loaded up a player and had that on my 2nd screen. Thought I might as well have a bit of Eve whilst I'm watching the game so I jumped in an Assault Frigate and went to Kedama.

First fight of the night was a Jaguar. There was a medium faction war plex open and a short range d-scan showed said Jag inside. I warped in and he was 30km off. I burnt for him, he burnt for me and we ended up in a short range brawl.

http://kb.drunk-n-disorderly.com/index.php/kill_detail/653960/

Had a gf and after kill chat in local with the guy and stayed in the plex.

A short while later I got a Caldari Navy Hookbill on short range scan. So I burnt back to the warp in and he landed on top of me.

http://kb.drunk-n-disorderly.com/index.php/kill_detail/653970/

Poor guy didn't last long.

I went back to Nisuwa to drop the two sets of loot and returned to Kedama and back to the same plex. Not long after I returned I got a Ishkur on scan. I sat on the warp in and he warped in. Now this was a proper fight! My blasters made short work of his shields, as you would expect for a armour boat, and his drones were plinking away at my shields. The problem was he was neuting me heavily. Looking at the incoming DPS and the way his armour was dropping I knew I could win..... if I had the capacitor, and that was looking very doubtful.

He was low armour, I had 30% shield, but no cap and he was burning away. My DPS dropped off rapidly as he was able to get away from me so I swapped to long-range ammo and was having to be creative with my cap management. He burnt out of point range just as I was able to get enough cap back to have a single cycle of MWD. Regained point and got back in optimal range for the guns. Pop!

http://kb.drunk-n-disorderly.com/index.php/kill_detail/653968/

All that said and done, it was merely an Assault Frigate kill, a 44m ISK kill according to the killboard.

But it was a fantastic fight. It wasn't a control and click to lock, spam F1 to F8 and wait and see what happens. It needed a lot of work, in fact I had to really bloody work for that kill. And at the end of the fight? My hands were shaking and I had a real sense of achievement. I won that fight. It wasn't a great FC, wasn't fleet mates, logistics, eWar support. It was me. And for me personally, that's what makes a good fight. Not as part of a cog in a larger machine, but where success or failure is 100% in my hands.

Whilst the big and expensive battles are fun (see below screenshot for an example of one of my null-sec battles), nothing beats a really good one-on-one even if it is in cheap frigate hulls!