SCASSSS - Player Videos

At the end of the week CCP Falcon Tweeted the old "I Love New Eden Video".

Four years on, still an amazing video! https://t.co/WZZQC0TYIo

— CCP Falcon (@CCP_Falcon) August 5, 2015

Whilst I agree its a great video it got me thinking about my favorite two player videos.

MoT - The Pirate Factions

Friday fiction! Escape pod here! If you are a new player and want some 'stuffz' go there!

Several years ago CCP released four chronicles detailing the brutality of the four Empires. The 'Methods of Torture' series covered the Amarr, Caldari, Gallente and Minmatar. If you are into your Eve-O fiction (I assume you are as you are still reading this) you've probably already read them. Any regular readers will I know I like my horror. Richard Laymon, Edward Lee and others like them in the genre. So Official Eve lore with a horror style twist? However, how about the major pirate factions? Are they worse? Four short-shorts carrying on from where CCP left off after covering the Empires.....

The Guristas

Chiku was thrown naked into the small cell. He crashed to the floor banging his knees. He was plunged into pitch blackness as the heavy metal door slammed shut with a deafening clang. He knew he was in a world of trouble. As an agent for the Caldari State he had successfully infiltrated the Guristas pirate organisation six months ago. However, somehow, his cover had been blown. He'd been stripped, beaten and then thrown into this black cell. The smell let him know he wasn't the first person to have been locked up in here. They would be back, he was sure of that. They'd find his datapad and an extensive search would uncover the hidden encrypted section, then they'd need the passcode. If he gave it to them dozens of fellow agents could be compromised. He'd take the interrogation for a while then pretend to break and then give them the kill-code. A special code that when entered on the unlock screen would permanently erased the data. It would be the end for him, but it would save countless others. He was dead either way.

After three days of beatings and food that was nothing more than rotting rice and stagnant water he was taken to a different room. He was cuffed and sat at a metal table bolted to the floor when a uniformed man entered, the solitary guard turned and left as the officer entered.

"I hope you are enjoying our hospitality Mr Oshomi...." the man said as he sat in the seat at the opposite side of the table.

Chiku tried not to flinch, they knew his real name. That was really bad.

"...and I hate to ask for a favour, but we really need the unlock code for the encrypted area of your datapad."

Chiku paused "6, 7, Omega, 2, nine, Gamma, four, two." he said quietly hanging his head.

"OK, so thats the kill code out of the way," the uniformed man smiled "and the unlock code would be?"

Chiku just looked up, his gamble failed. This man knew about the kill-code. There was a leak at HQ surely.

"Frack you!" Chiku said. He knew the beatings and starvation would get worse but he wasn't about to betray the State. He watched the uniformed man smile, nod slightly and turn and leave. The guards returned and Chiku was dumped in the black cell again.

He didn't know how long they left him there in the darkness this time. If he had to guess it must have been close to a week. Why no beatings? Why no questioning. Every so often the small hatch in the bottom of the door would be opened and the meager rations would be pushed through. Chiku had never been so hungry in his life. His thoughts were generally of his wife back on New Caldari. She hated him for doing these long deep-cover operations. Her tearful face as he left her for the last time came back to haunt him everytime he slept.

Eventually they came for him. He was weak now after days upon days of starvation. They carried him to a different room. A clean room, homely almost. Inside were two women in uniforms. They did not speak as they stripped him, bathed him and clothed him in clean clothes. They sat him at a table and placed a meal in front of him before leaving him alone. He knew it was a trap. The room was nice, almost like a hotel room. In front of him was a steaming bowl of rich curry. Caldanese noodles, large chunks of what looked like chicken and a jug of iced water. Slowly he began to eat. He knew if he rushed into the meal as he desired to, his shrunken stomach wouldn't be able to take it. So he went slowly, relishing every bite as he slowly consumed the fine meal. As he finished the door opened and the uniformed man who had questioned him before entered and sat at the table opposite him. Chiku wanted to kill him, but he knew he was too weak from starvation to try anything. The plastic spork he used was no weapon. That's why he had come alone with no guards, he knew Chiku was no threat in his state.

"Did you enjoy your meal?" the man asked cordially.

"It was certainly an improvement." Chiku replied guardedly. Was this the new tactic? Playing the good guy? Turn against the State, give up the unlock code and you get a nice room and good food? Surely they didn't think that would work?

"Well lets discuss that unlock code now." the Guristas officer said lifting a finger in the air. The door opened as if on queue. Chiku let out a sob as he saw his wife dragged in between the shoulders of two guards. She was barely conscious. Her head hung forward as the two guards supported her and her feet dragged limply behind. Her usually shiny blonde hair was matted and hung covering her face. She was also practically naked, her skimpy white lace panties covering her modesty. Around her chest a bandage was wrapped. The pale flesh of her full left breast spilled out either side of the tight white gauze. Where her right breast should have been the material was flat against her chest. A large blood stain, almost black in colour, showed through the bandage. "Or would you like us to prepare another meal for you?" the Guristas officer asked casually raising an eyebrow.

-o0o-

The Angel Cartel

Mizuro started to come around. Her head was clouded and was struggling to recall what had happened to her. She glanced around. First thing she saw was another woman in front of her, unconscious on the floor. The stranger was fully clothed in an Angels Cartel uniform. Mizuro looked down at her own body. She was naked and strapped spread-eagle to some sort of metal frame. Things didn't look good. Had they discovered what she had been doing? That would be really bad for her she thought. At this point she noticed her right hand was encased in a clear plastic box. A cigar shaped object was in there with a red button on the top. Some sort of remote trigger? She could easily reach it but decided not to touch it.

The other woman stirred and started to come around too. She looked up at Mizuro in shock, obviously also not knowing what was going on.

"Good morning." a voice boomed through a hidden speaker. "Here we have two traitors to the Cartel. Captain Wilakiater has been stealing from her cargo and selling the property of the Cartel on privately. We are talking small amounts but she must be taught a lesson. Administrator Mizuro however has been syphoning funds from our various laundering accounts on a much grander scale for a lot longer. One has made tens of thousands of credits, the other nearer five hundred thousand. Both have been stealing from the Cartel. Both are to be punished."

The two women started to protest in unison.

"Mom?" a boy's voice sounded through the hidden speakers. Mizuro let out a sob hearing her sons voice.

"Mom?" Wilakiater stopped as she heard her daughter.

The back wall of the room shimmered. A projection appeared and both women cried out. It was outside on a sandy beach. They saw their children stood in tall one-person cages.

"As you can see, your offspring at locked in small cages above individual pools of flammable liquid. The doors to these cages face away from each other. They are tied together by the rope you can see that goes between and through the cages. The only way to free your children is to break the rope which will allow both doors to be opened. Captain Wilakiater, the pool below your daughter contains a small incendiary device. 90 minutes after this video stops it will automatically ignite. The liquid in the pool burns at a relatively low temperature. Your daughter will suffer as she slowly burns to death. This will also burn through the rope over time and release the boy in the opposite cage. Mizuro, the remote that is in the box with your right hand is a detonator for the device in the tank under your own son. If you depress the button your son will die a slow, horrible death, but the rope will burn through and Captain Wilakiater's daughter will be freed. We now leave you alone to discuss what should happen. There is only rule. Captain Wilakiater is not allowed to touch that remote, if she does or tries to gain access to the box we will automatically ignite the pool under her daughter. For those watching, let this be a lesson to you all. The ninety minutes starts now."

The two women looked at each other in horror. Captain Wilakiater's expression slowly started to harden. She approached Mizuro who was defenseless tied to the frame.

"Press the button." she snarled in a commanding tone. Mizuro turned her face away. Wilakiater slapped her hard. "PRESS THE BUTTON!" she screamed.

Mizuro turned her face back around, her cheek stinging from the blow.

"No!" she said defiantly. "Do it yourself" knowing that if the Captain tried to even access the box she would be killing her daughter and Mizuro's son would be freed.

Wilakiater stepped back and looked around the room. Her head locked onto something. Mizuro followed her gaze. In a corner of the room was something hidden by a white sheet. Wilakiater walked over and pulled the sheet away. Mizuro craned her neck to try and see what it was. It looked to be a trolley of sorts. Wilakiater wheeled it over and Mizuro let out a sob. The trolley contained a vast array of tools and implements. Pliers, metal snips, scalpels, drills, blow-torches, knives, soldering irons hammers and nails were amongst the devices carefully laid out along the top.

"Please. Press the button." Wilakiater said as she lit the blowtorch and placed it to one side before picking up a small pair of bolt cutters. The Angel starship captain placed the blades either side of Mizuro's little finger of her left hand. "Press it now!"

The administrator shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Press it now!" the Captain ordered.

There was an ear piercing scream followed by the sharp sound of snapping of bone.

-o0o-

The Serpentis

Gara felt unstoppable right now. He was at the top of his game and nobody could stop him. His 'Blue Ice' was the most in demand narcotic in the city. He'd stumbled across the recipe by accident whilst experimenting in his lab. From his original set up in the garage of his run down house he now had an industrial scale operation in the basement of his multi-million credit mansion. He looked either side of him, the two women were fast asleep. He tried to recall their names. Alebeke? Albyne? Alirener? Allachard? Who cared? He could have two more tonight if he wanted. He climbed down the bed and threw on his robe. Walking downstairs there were various other women asleep all over the place. Draped over sofas or collapsed on the floor. Beautiful girls wearing tiny dresses, bikinis or in several cases a few strips of lace and silk.

"That's how you throw a proper party!" he thought to himself.

He entered the kitchen and his maid bowed as she saw him and immediately started preparing his breakfast. A Caldari maid was a rare thing in the Federation but as a patriot Gara enjoyed having a Caldari on staff. They belonged to be subservient to their Gallente masters. He made sure he mistreated her when ever he could. He picked up his datapad. There was a stack of messages detailing funds transfers from overnight, part of his vast money laundering racket. He placed it down, he now had so much money he didn't care. He owned this town now. The threats from the Serpentis Syndicate were just that. He owned enough muscle and dirty cops that not even they could touch him. Life was good!

That evening the party was just getting started. His place was full of his friends and lots of girls. Just how he liked it. He was holding court to three very beautiful specimens when there was a commotion at the door. He glanced over and saw two of his men were handling it. Massive Matari Brutors he used as doormen when he threw a party and he threw a party most nights. There was a sudden crack and Gara looked on in disbelief as one of the Brutor's head exploded. There was a stunned silence for a fraction of a second and then all hell broke loose. The other Brutor shuddered as holes were blasted through him and four men burst in. They started firing at anyone they could. Gara was frozen as one of the girls facing him was hit by a shotgun blast in the back. He could see the smoking barrel through the massive hole in her chest. He ran. More gun fire, more screams, more begging followed by a gunshot and then silence.

As he ran for the stairs a hand grabbed his ankle. He looked down to see one of the girls with a look of terror on her face. Her left leg had been blown off at the knee. The stump was pumping bright red blood over his 540 credit per square metre imported Amarrian carpet.

"Please help me." she cried as he shook her hand free and scrambled up the stairs.

He got to the landing and stopped. One of his friends was crawling towards the stairs obviously badly injured. One of the intruders calmly walked up behind him and shot him in the back. The shooter looked up at Gara and smiled.

Gara turned and ran up the stairs. He darted into his room and opened the secret panic room before diving in. The door closed behind him. Looking at the monitors the intruders were mopping up. His friends and guests were mostly dead and those that were still alive were being finished off. He knew it had to be the Serpentis Syndicate. They were sending a message. He watched one of the men slowly walk through the house, he was heading to Gara's bedroom. He quickly opened the safe and pulled out his gun. There was no way the man could get in here but he didn't care. When the door to the panic room opened, he nearly dropped the gun. It was impossible! How did the man know the code. He had been betrayed! He leveled the gun at the intruder who stood there casually with his weapon lowered and pulled the trigger.

Click
Click
Click

The gun was empty. Someone had removed the ammo. The betrayal was absolute. He'd been set up by one of his own.

As the much larger man approached and grabbed him by the neck he offered no resistance. The Serpentis enforcer dragged him down stairs through the numerous bodies and into the kitchen. The three others were there as well as the maid. She didn't appear to be scared. He could smell something. He had no idea why he even entertained the thought that popped into his head "Oooo is she cooking prawn crackers?"

The men dragged him onto the big table, each one holding an arm or a leg. His maid approached with a gleam in her eye. What was she doing? Why didn't she call the police? Then he saw the cleaver. The bright steel flashed before he could react. A blinding pain shot up his arm and his head snapped to the right. The four fingers of his hand lay separated as the stumps pumped bright red blood over his Matari mahogany table. After a second his brain finally processed what had happened. Quickly the maid moved and before he realised what was happening he'd lost all his fingers and toes. The pain was excruciating as he struggled against the powerful hands.

The men restraining him pulled his trousers down. Panic truly set in now. The maid turned and walked to the stove picking something up. When she turned around he saw that she wore thick kitchen gloves and held a pan. That's what he had smelt, hot oil. Boiling hot oil. Prawn crackers was the last thing on his mind as the Serpentis insider slowly poured the contents onto his naked groin.

Inspector Lintere looked down on Gara's screaming form. The restraints held him securely to the hospital bed. His head was thrown back and veins and tendons bulged in his neck as the agony washed over him. Suddenly the screaming stopped and he was still.

"There is nothing you can do for him?" he asked the Doctor.

"No Inspector, whilst he physically feels the pain, I'm afraid its all in his head. No painkiller is going to help as the signals are originating from the brain itself, not the nerves. Not that they could, everything down there was deep fried and very dead. From what we can tell the Echelon Entertainment Implant he had installed a month ago was modified when he went in for the implant. Oh it played the PR video games and movies but it had a sinister purpose too. We are pretty sure the perps had been planning this for weeks."

PR stood for Perceived Reality. For those who thought VR was a child's game, PR used a cranial implant to allow games to be played directly within the brain. A hyper-realistic dream-state where the user was in control. Unlike a dream, the implant could make sensations real. In most games pleasure was enhanced and pain was reduced to nothing more than a slight discomfort. It had been banned on many worlds. Some people just ended up wasting away preferring to spend most of their time in the 'game'.

"So he's stuck in a loop?"

"As far as we can tell yes. He's reliving that day over and over again. The modified implant basically recorded the whole day leading up to the attack. The pain reducing algorithms have been removed. He's getting his digits trimmed and his crotch deep-fried every 24 hours and feeling every single bit. He starts the day on a high, then the attack happens and he experiences fear, terror and horror. Then the final bit, well the less said about that the better!"

"No way of breaking him out of it?"

"No. We've had the top Echelon techs here in person to inspect him. They cannot access the implant to shut it off. The Serps, if it was indeed the Serps, have done a good job on their modified software for the implant. It cannot be deactivated without killing him. It cannot be reprogrammed without killing him and we cannot clone him with the program running as its impossible to get a normal brainscan. This poor SOAB is stuck in a loop of that nightmare of a day forever."

-o0o-

The Blood Raiders

Seriously guys? The Blood Raiders! You expect me to make these dudes more scary than they already are?? Nope!

(Actually at 2600 words this is slightly over for a normal Friday Fiction so that is a good an excuse as any!)

Gunjack (For Mobile Phones People!)

A few weeks ago I believe it was Chribba who had spotted that CCP had issued a trademark request thingy (oh I don't know how copyright works!) for the name of "Gunjack". Everybody started to speculate. The most common one was this was Project Legion coming soon (TM).

Back at Fanfest CCP had their VR labs set up. Various demos were available. You could throw fireballs whilst wearing the Oculus Rift or you could man a turret and shoot stuffz with the Samsung Gear VR attachment for their mobile phones. Gunjack is for the later.

It's a mobile phone game for the Samsung Gear VR headset. Here is a slide from Fanfest where Hilmar is showing his daughter "help" test the original Eve Online and now helping to test the Samsung VR headset. We can assume that it was the precursor to Gunjack she is playing there.

It was interesting that CCP are heading in this direction, they are obviously throwing a lot of resource into their VR labs.

So what is Gunjack? It looks like a classic arcade shooter. You are a miner in a turret, a bit like one of those ball turrets from a WWII bomber. You shoot the incoming pirates and missiles and get power-ups. It is really chalk and cheese from Eve. Have a look at the trailer if you've not already seen it...

Reaction has been mixed. A lot of people don't realise its for MOBILE PHONES. Its also just a simple arcade type shoot-em up. Its NOT EVE ONLINE! Some of the comments on Facebook and YouTube are just funny!

Will I play it? Probably not as I am not planning to get the Samsung Gear VR headset. I'll get an Oculus Rift and play Valkyrie. However, if you cannot afford a Rift or the PC to run it, the Samsung VR might be a cost effective way into Eve-O VR? Providing you can get over the fact it has "power-ups" of course!

We're Going to Need a Bigger Boat

Over the weekend we got a glimpse of some of the new staging platforms coming in the structures revamp. I did a post where I compared the size of the XL with the titans. This is just a guestimate given that we don't know the actual size of the XL array other than a line at fanfest which said they will be "...over 100km".

On Twitter I got a lot of response to the comparison graphic, one particular one regarding the need for a super-capital freighter for all the construction materials.

That guy has a point! 

I did some quick calculations and grabbed a magic eight ball for a wildly speculative post. The XL array is likely to be bigger than 25 Leviathans. No idea how 'deep' that structure is so lets just go real simple here. It takes 25 Levi's to blot out the XL array.

25 Leviathans need 1.3bn cubic metres of minerals.That's 1105 Charon's fitted with triple T2 cargo expanders.

To build 25 Leviathans the materials would cost 1,655,106,878,315.00 ISK at Jita prices (on 31st July) which is one point six trillion ISK.

It has been pointed out that titans move and jump and shoot things. Therefore the outposts won't need as much as 25+ titans. Not sure about that. Yes they won't need engines or drives but the shielding needed is going to be massive. CCP have already said they are investigating "station mounted doomsdays*". AoE doomsdays were also mentioned, similar to the terran super-weapon used in the Empyrean Age novel for defending your mahoosive space house.

Then you have all the services too. Production lines producing everything from shuttles to capital ships. Repair facilities for fixing craft and modules. Refining services to turn Ocras full of ore into shiny minerals. Huge hangers and tractor beams to dock everything from shuttles up to battleships and capitals. Massive warehouses to hold goods for sale on the local market.

I don't see why the XL array should have a significantly smaller build cost in lore terms. However it is likely to have one due to spacemagic as the XL array would cost 100x more than an outpost. I mean who wants to fly 1100 freighters back and forth?

I started this post following that Tweet that CCP might need a bigger industrial class vessel to help create the XL arrays. Now, I think I'll just stick with less raw materials and a bit of spacemagic! A super-capital class ship to haul minerals or ore? One serious downside would be that Chribba would explode from the world's largest nerdgasm!

* I'm 95.6% sure of this. It was at Fanfest and I had been drinking!

SCASSSS - That's No Moon

Notwithstanding comments about Caldarification from the CCP art department currently, these do look awesome!

I had a go Photoshopping the above picture to try and get some scale. CCP aren't giving us any details of physical size at the moment. However at Fanfest they did say the XL's would be "..over 100km...". So taking that one at the top as a minimum of 100km....

Insidious Part 5 - The Conclusion

Fiction Friday. Escape pod here! Yes, technically that is a link to a post on here, but there are a number of Banters that have been added so have a look!

Insidious - Part 5

Yverens sat eating his breakfast as he heard footsteps behind him.

"I'm sorry." his wife said as she rounded the table "I don't know what happened last night. I'm so sorry I got that drunk."

"Don't worry about it." Yverens said forcing a smile. In his head the reply he thought about was "It's not a problem. We both made mistakes last night. You got blind drunk and collapsed, I fucked our daughters best friend on our marital bed so don't beat yourself up!"

She gave a half smile and went over to the coffee maker. Yverens sipped his Caldari tea. A refreshing, if somewhat unpatriotic, choice of his. Guilt flowed through his veins like molten metal. After they'd finished last night Vysena had gathered her clothes, kissed him and slipped out the room. He assumed she went to Doure's room. She'd left by the time he woke alone this morning. He'd left his wife in the spare room to sleep it off. On his orders millions had died. Technically they were not his orders personally. Executives and directors from high up passed the orders down to him but he was the one that passed the orders to the Capsuleers, the gods of destruction. Every pirate battleship that went down in the following confrontation ended the lives of hundreds of crew. Every pirate outpost destroyed killed countless men, women and children. However he'd never known guilt like this. It burnt his very soul.

I'm going to the Med-Centre this morning. Somethings not right, you know that. Since coming planet side I'm always tired, never in the mood for...." her voice trailed off.

"Want me to come with you?" he asked.

"No. I'll go by myself, I'm sure its just the change from years of living on a station and then moving planet-side. After the way I behaved last night you just relax." she said with a smile.

"What have I done?" he thought to himself.

-o0o-

Doure glanced out of the shuttle's window. They were stuck in a traffic jam at one of the stargates. A gun-metal grey Raven class battleship slowly passed them. She assumed it was piloted by a capsuleer. Even when the space-lanes were so busy the stargate control team limited jumps, the Empyreans still could get through. The rich and powerful never waiting in a queue.

She could hear Bouey at the back of the small craft laughing and joking with his zero-G handball team mates. Was he talking about what they did last night? Would he tell them with half a bottle of Gallente vodka and a lot of pressure she'd, what would be the word? Made love? Certainly not that. Fucked? That sounded right. Her first time had not been special and Vysena's influence seemed to drip from every pore. What was her supposed best friend up to.

-o0o-

Slens stepped outside of the cylindrical scanner and put her clothes back on behind the screen. Once dressed she stepped out and sat down opposite the doctors desk. He finished reviewing something on his datapad and then placed it down.

"Mrs Catelnau. I am a tad confused. You came to me worried about your health and said you had no idea what is wrong with you recently. The data I have here makes me think you know only too well what is wrong with you." he said sternly.

Slens looked shocked.

"I don't know what you are talking about!" she protested "What is wrong with me?"

"Substance abuse." he replied.

"What?" she said in shock. The Doctor narrowed his eyes.

"Your body is saturated with Bromide compounds. A powerful relaxant, which also lowers libido. That would explain your lack of interested in lovemaking that you told me about earlier and your general lethargy. I would say last night you partook in a large hit of Crash and three or four alcoholic drinks."

"I don't know what to say. Yes to the drinks last night but Crash? I would never! I have no idea where you would get that or what was the other? Bromide?"

"Mrs Catelnau. I cannot do anything unless you admit you have a problem."

"I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM! I HAVE NEVER TAKEN DRUGS!" she said forcefully.

The Doctor paused. "You do have a problem. Either you are lying or someone is giving you these substances without your knowledge. Either way, you have a problem!"

-o0o-

Doure waited outside the spaceport. They'd arrived early and her father wasn't supposed to pick her up for another hour. Bouey had left already after pretty much blanking her since the previous night. He had his way with her and that was that. She sipped her juice in the cafe at the port and looked up at the vid screen above the counter. The news channel was showing a special report on Croleur III. Cloned mercenaries in their bulky armour where trading fire over some sort of building. The ticker below showed that it was a Serpentis attack on a research centre.

She thought about the things Bouey had said last night. Just snippets that seemed to suggest Vysena had put him up to seducing her. Not only that but that she suggested she was a certain thing. Why would she do that?

Doure looked at the time, another half an hour before her dad was due to pick her up.

-o0o-

Yverens stood there in shock as his wife screamed at him. She was making no sense at all. From what he could gather from the hysterical rant she was accusing him of slipping drugs into her food. One one side this was good, he'd not seen her this energetic in months, however the fact she was screaming at him was bad. He'd tried to speak several times without success.

"Have you listened to yourself? Why would I give you drugs to make you not want me? I've been trying it with you for months!"

"So you are saying it's Doure? She's drugging me?"

"Of course not!" he protested.

"Oh so its Winston then! The drone's AI doesn't like us getting jiggy so has been slipping bromide compounds into my food and Crash into my wine?"

Doure! Yverens looked at the time. He needed to pick her up soon.

"Look, I don't know who but...." Yverens was interrupted by the door chime. The domestic drone floated past the door.

"Someone is drugging me so who is...." this time Slens was silenced as Vysena entered the room. Yverens heart nearly stopped.

"Look Vysena this is not a good time. Doure is not back yet." Slens said calmly.

Vysena smiled and approached them. Yverens looked at her nose and noticed she appeared to be wearing nose plugs.

"What are you...." Yverens started to say as Vysena brought her hands from behind her back. She held a blank aerosol canister. The two looked at her in shock as she sprayed it towards them.

Both Yverens and his wife fell to the ground in seconds.

-o0o-

Doure arrived back at home. He father was supposed to pick her up at the shuttle port but hadn't arrived. She'd waited an hour then grabbed a taxi after he finally replied to one of her messages. Apparently he'd been held up. She walked into the house and into the living room. She froze. There in front of her was her father. He was bound to a chair with duct tape across his mouth. Her mother was here too. Hung by the wrists from the far door again with duct tape across her mouth. The door slammed closed behind her. She span around to find Vysena there, a large carving knife pointing at her.

"Finally! She's here. We can get started!" Vysena announced and pointed over to another chair. Slowly Doure walked towards it.

"Why are you doing this?" she sobbed.

"Oh thats the billion ISK question isn't it! Why?"

Doure sat in the chair and Vysena taped her arms and legs securely.

"Daddy is the one that can answer that! He knows me for a long time ago!" she said standing up and walked over to Yverens.

"Make any loud noise and your daughter and wife will be gutted like a fish!" she hissed ripping the tape from his mouth.

"I don't know who you are!" he replied.

"I believe you!" Vysena said casually. "In fact if I gave you my real name, my dead daughters name and my dead husband's name you'd still have no idea who they are even though YOU killed them."

Yverens knew he was in trouble. However it still didn't fit. She was far too young to have a family.

"You are a clone!"

Vysena gave a long slow clap. "Well done. Of course I am. Did you think a college girl would be able to screw you as good as I did two nights ago. No, it takes a real woman to fuck a man like that!"

Yverens saw his wife's head snap in his direction. There was no use denying it. Vysena walked over to Slens.

"You know he was very easy you know. As soon as you were passed out we were on your marital bed going at it like a couple of Furriers." Vysena purred. "To be honest though I had more fun with Doure. I like them innocent. Although between me and Bouey she is certainly not that now." She picked up a remote and turned on the TV.

A shaky picture appeared. It took Yverens a moment to realise it was shot inside a tent. His daughter was naked on top of the sleeping bag, some college jock was on top of her.

"I put Bouey up to it. Said I'd give him the best night of his life if he could secretly get me a recording of him popping Doure's cherry! Yes, daddy's little girl is all grown up now!

"Who are you then?" Yverens growled.

"This body? Well it was meant for a girl called Emanuala. She'll be OK. She was in a medically induced coma, they just grow her another. Thats the thing working for the Sisters of Eve. They are so busy rescuing people that have been maimed on orders by people like you they cannot keep track of all the clones they need. Taking one was easy. My name is Toldori . Not that it will mean anything to you. Four years ago my family escaped a terrible war in Matari low-sec space, bartering transport on a pirate ship as our city burnt. A ship that unbeknown to us was smuggling other things as well as us. You had the convoy destroyed."

"Four years ago? I remember. You were the mother who survived. The one that was badly burnt!"

"I was in hospital for months. When I was released the Sisters offered me a job. I was a qualified clone technician and they were desperate for people with my skills. Where else was I going to go? My homeworld was ablaze with war and my daughter and husband were dead. Murdered by a Capsuleer carrying out your orders. Given the millions you have ordered killed, I'm impressed that you remembered our little family."

"Of course I remembered! I'm not a murderer! The intel said it was pirates carrying a shipment of Crash. We'd have never sent an Empyrean if we'd known there were refugees on board. That was the worst day of my life!"

"Well I'm here today to make it the second worse." she snarled. "I had bigger plans than this. However with your wife finding out about the drugs I've been slipping her it would had been only a matter of time before she found it was the coffee that was laced with the bromide. It would have led to me and the coffee shop in the end. Did you know I had to screw the owner to get that job!" 

She walked over to Slens. "Yes, not only your husband and your daughter, I've screwed the owner of where you buy your coffee and also the technician who updates your domestic drone. That's how I knew exactly whats been going on, I've had access to the eyes and ears of Winston. Anyway we're on an accelerated time line. Speaking of the drone, Winston!"

Yverens watched the domestic drone enter the room. It held something large in front of it. It took Yverens a few seconds to realize it was the large iron grill from the kitchen. Vysena walked over to Slens and pulled on her dress. Using the sharp knife she cut the garment away quickly followed by her underwear.

"Go ahead Winston!" she said stepping back.

"Winston deactivate!" Yverens ordered but nothing happened. The drone hovered across and lifted the grill. It was at this point he noticed a rope looped over the top of the grill. The drone placed this over Slen's head and backed off. Vysena took another length of rope and tied the grill tight against the sobbing woman. It covered her from the top of her chest to her thighs.

"What are you doing?" Yverens asked, terror in his voice.

"I'm creating that day four years ago. Do you remember what happened to me and my family? I was burnt. Horrifically, agonizingly and slowly burnt from the heatwave of a plasmatic smartbomb rushing over my make-shift escape pod. I'm going to demonstrate on your loving wife what I went through. But just not me." she said plugging the grill into a power outlet and turning on the switch. "My daughter died as the atmosphere leaked from her container, breached by the same blast. Now I cannot do the same to your daughter as we don't have a vacuum here. However, I can get close to the slow terror of suffocation."

Vysena picked up a clear plastic bag that was laying on the table.

"No please." Yverens begged.

"I'm guessing Doure will die first. Your wife will take a bit longer but it'll be much more painful. Then after you have watched your daughter and wife die I'll move onto you. My husband's body was never found. Likely shredded to biomass as he was sucked through a hull breach in the ship. So you and me and this carving knife will undertake an experiment to find how much flesh I can remove from someone before they die." she said as she pulled the bag over his daughter's head and tied it around her neck. Doure's eyes bulged in terror. The bag pressed tight against her face as she tried to draw breath.

"Winston. Alpha 1!" Yverens shouted. The drone didn't move.

"I reprogrammed your drone and removed your voice authentication. I'm not stupid" Vysena sneered as she sat in his lap.

"How long do you think Doure will last? 30 seconds? I think your wife should start to feel the heat any minute now too."

Yverens stared into his daughter's terrified eyes. Her frantic breathing was slowing and her eyelids started to droop. She frantically tried to draw breath but only succeeded in pulling the plastic of the bag into her mouth There was a crash that made everyone jump as the domestic drone fell to the floor.

"Ha! Looks like Winston got over excited. I guess I messed up hacking him. Oh well. Never...."

Vysena was cut short by a wail from Slen's muffled by the tape across her mouth.

"You think that's the grill starting to cook her or the fact she can see her daughter dying?" asked Vysena. She climbed off Yverens' lap and approached Doure who now was hardly moving. "Nearly there Yverens! She's dying slowly here." she taunted.

Suddenly there was a whir and the domestic droid started to hover again.

"Winston. Alpha 1!" Yverens shouted.

"Ha! I already told you...."

"AFFIRMATIVE!" the drone stated cutting Vysena off. The voice was different. Not the soothing upper class Gallente accent but a robotic, artificial tone.

"Deactivate!" Vysena shouted. The drone simply turned to her. A small hatch opened in its front. "Deactivate!" she said again, fear creeping into her voice. A whooshing noise swept through the room and everyone jumped as a glass vase on the far wall exploded. Vysena looked at Yverens in shock. Her gaze slowly swept down. A red stain started to appear on the front of her t-shirt. She placed her hands on her stomach. Thick red blood pumped through her fingers.

"How?" she whispered before falling to the floor. The drone moved quickly cutting through Yverens' restraints and he leaped up ripping the bag from his daughter's head who noisily gasped lungfuls of air. He then dashed to his wife, ripping the power cord from the wall and removing the grill strapped to her. The front of her body was bright pink, however he didn't think they were burns. He untied her and went over to Vysena. She was laying on the floor on her back gasping as her hands pressed against her stomach.

"How?" she repeated.

"Winston is a special drone provided to us ex-Capsuleer Agents. Anyone looking at his program would only see a normal domestic helper drone. Even the techs who maintain it. However he is connected to the dwellings scanners. If the vital signs of any of us three goes critical he reboots. His OS is then rewritten from a hidden WORM drive. Military-grade AI this time. Along with the 15mm gauss gun hidden in his chassis he is quite the guard. The 'Alpha 1' command is to tell him anyone other than my family in the home is a viable a target to be neutralized."

The girl nodded in understanding apparently accepting her fate. Yverens glanced behind to see his wife and daughter crying in each others arms. He looked down at Vysena's wound. The railgun round was never meant to incapacitate. At this range there was no other potential outcome. Her breathing had became ragged as she coughed up blood.

"Your husband and daughter are waiting for you. I'm so sorry over what happened that day." he whispered quietly as she breathed her last breath. The sound of distant sirens started to grow louder.

BB65 - Useful Attributes

Welcome to the continuing monthly EVE Blog Banters and our 65th edition! For more details about what the blog banters are visit the Blog Banter page.

This months Banter was suggested by Jakob Anedalle

"I liked the discussion on The Neocom's recent "Tinfoil Factory" on the future of attributes in Eve. Perhaps piggyback on that and invite those folks into the banter as well?
http://theneocom.com/2015/06/21/the-neocom-presents-the-tinfoil-factory-pilot-attributes/"

Attributes and Skills
Does Eve need attributes? It's been discussed a lot recently. Unlike other MMO's your characters attributes don't make a difference in day-to-day gameplay. They simply set how fast you train a skill. Is it time to remove attributes from the game or totally revamp their purpose? Do they add a level of complexity to the game that is not needed? If you really need to use a 3rd party application to get the most from it should it be in the game? Should they be repurposed with each attribute adding a modifier to your ship? Are attributes a relic from the past or are they an important part of Eve - You make your decision and deal with the consequences?

Banter on!

-o0o-

BB65 - Useful Attributes

I used to be one of the first posters in Blog Banters in the last few years. I'd have mine ready to go as soon as the day arrived. Now I post the topic on a Monday so leave my personal response until my usual Wednesday post. This has changed things as now I get to see what the 'early birds' are thinking. So far everyone is "KILL THEM WITH FIRE!". So I've decided to go against popular opinion and play devils advocate and suggest keeping them.

What if we made attributes useful as they are in other games? Rather than just setting how many skill points per hour you get, what if they actually made a difference in the game?

First job would be to decouple skill point acquisition from the attributes. How about we make it so everyone learns at the same base rate? 2000 SP per hour? 2500? Whatever it doesn't really matter at his stage.

With a standard SP gain there could be skill hardwiring implants to boost your SP per hour. These could be a modifier such as 5% bonus or a set amount such as +500 per hour (for the equivelent +5). Another idea would be to boost New Bros by tiering skillpoints. This would allow new players to catch up quicker.

Less than 10m SP = You train at 5000 SP per hour base
10m - 20m = 3000 SP per hour base
20 - 50m = 2500 SP per hour base
50m+ = 2000 SP per hour base

OK, now onto attributes. We keep the five attributes. 10 points available in each with the ability to change each +/- five points as the player see's fit. Free remap when implemented and perhaps have an annual remap or remap for PLEX? This gives a minimum of 5 points in any one attribute and, with +5 implants, the maximum you can get is 20. At 10 points there is no bonus, this is the normal level for characters. Every point below 10 is a negative to the mechanics affected by the attribute and every point above is a bonus. I've listed a few ideas below along with examples if you set the attribute at 5, 15 and 20.

Intelligence

Ability at running ship systems. +/- 0.2% modifier to both CPU and powergrid output.

5 Intelligence = -1% nerf to CPU and PG
15 Intelligence = +1% bonus to CPU and PG output
20 Intelligence = +2% bonus to CPU and PG output

Perception
Ability at aiming. +/- 0.4% modifier to turret and missile damage.

5 Perception = -2% nerf to damage
15 Perception = +2% bonus to damage
20 Perception = + 4% bonus to damage

Charisma
Turn on the charm. Affects costs with setting up market orders. +/- 0.4% modifier to costs in creating market orders.

5 Charisma = Costs 2% more than base.
15 Charisma = 2% saving
20 Charisma = 4% saving

Willpower
The ability to power through incoming damage. +/- 0.2% modifier to shield and armour amount.

5 Willpower = -1% nerf to hitpoints.
15 Willpower = +1% bonus to hitpoints
20 Willpower = +2% bonus to hitpoints

Memory

The ability to learn. +/- 1% modifier to training time.

5 Memory = -5% to hourly skillpoint amount
15 Memory = +5% to hourly skillpoint amount
20 Memory = +10% to hourly skillpoint amount

All these numbers would need tweaking and balancing. I've just used thrown these ideas out there without thinking too much of the consequences. I consider the general idea makes for more interesting gameplay and it could be made to really help new players. With the numbers above they could be gaining nearly 6000 skill points per hour until they hit 10m (+5 memory implant and a +5 equivalent skill hardwiring).

Blog Banter 65 - Attributes and Skills

Welcome to the continuing monthly EVE Blog Banters and our 65th edition! For more details about what the blog banters are visit the Blog Banter page.

This months Banter was suggested by Jakob Anedalle - "I liked the discussion on The Neocom's recent "Tinfoil Factory" on the future of attributes in Eve. Perhaps piggyback on that and invite those folks into the banter as well?
http://theneocom.com/2015/06/21/the-neocom-presents-the-tinfoil-factory-pilot-attributes/"

Attributes and Skills
Does Eve need attributes? It's been discussed a lot recently. Unlike other MMO's your characters attributes don't make a difference in day-to-day gameplay. They simply set how fast you train a skill. Is it time to remove attributes from the game or totally revamp their purpose? Do they add a level of complexity to the game that is not needed? If you really need to use a 3rd party application to get the most from it should it be in the game? Should they be repurposed with each attribute adding a modifier to your ship? Are attributes a relic from the past or are they an important part of Eve - You make your decision and deal with the consequences?

Banter on!


The Banters:-

Cloaky Bastard - Useless Attributes
Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah - Attribution
Eveoganda - My Brain Hurts
Notes from New Eden - At Rebukes
The Ancient Gaming Noob - Not for Attribution
Torchwood Archives - Attributes and Skills
Sand, Cider and Spaceships - Useful Attributes
Target Caller: BB65 - Easiest One Ever
Lexx Jonlan Tweets. I don't think he gets the BLOG Banter bit!
Low Sec Lifestyle - Blog Banter #65 - What is Interesting?
Crossing Zebras http://crossingzebras.com/a-farewell-to-attributes/ and also http://crossingzebras.com/cz-minutes-attributes/
Jakob's Eve Checklist - Attribution Needed?
Morphisat's Blog - Attributes

SCASSSS - Space Potato

After telling us about it eons ago (well, Fanfest 2014 I think) CCP have revamped the space potato! The new Dominix is on the test server with a sleeker new design...

Insidious - Part 4

Fiction Friday. Escape pod here. 

Insidious Part 4

The metal orb hovered in the dimly lit chamber. There had been no rest for the students. The five jumps to the Deltole system took less than 30 minutes. After swapping to a small orbital drop-ship on the station they had arrived at the remote ruins on the planet. After setting up their camp they had immediately got to work surveying the ruins. The first job was a LADAR survey of one chamber for each team. Bouey had asked Doure if she wanted to team up. They watched the small micro-drone hover around taking a 3D survey of the ancient room.

"So do you think these are Yan Jung?" Bouey asked referring to the ancient civilisation.

Doure paused to think. There was a constant debate amongst academics on this issue. The Gallente race certainly shared some of the characteristics of what they had discovered about the Yan Jung but also there were plenty of differences. The inscriptions she could see didn't look Gallente. Plus there was a lot of debate why a clearly space-faring race would build this temple.

"Yes. I think these are probably Yan Jung. Problem is most of the ruins and archeological sites of the civilization have been found in space, not planetside. Why would they build this structure from crude stone when we know they were a spacefaring race millennia before we were?"

The two students fell silent think about that as the drone buzzed around.

On Fricoure Yverens was chatting to an old colleague at the party. Vice-Admiral Deuverin Ogorard had retired from the Federal Navy just before Yverens. They were discussing the situation in the distant star system of Tama. It was a strategically important system as it bordered Caldari high-sec. Federation control of that system severely restricted Caldari military access to a large section of low-sec and to one of the main 'pipes' to Federation space. The term 'pipe' was used to describe a series of closely spaced solar systems connected by star gates allowing sub-capital ships not equipped with a jump-drive to travel between them. There were six systems between Tama and the system known as Old Man Star, the equivalent system on the Gallente boarder.

"So the Squids took Tama?" Yverens sighed using the derogatory term for the Caldari.

"Yes. TEMPLIS forces based in Hasmijaala have been supporting the local militia and the pirate problem is worse than ever. For years the State Navy has been looking at taking Tama and forcing CONCORD to upgrade its security to an oh-point-five. Taking Tama into the State and allowing them to deploy the Navy and Police there will kill the bottleneck. No more pirates causing havoc and it would no longer be a bottleneck into high-sec. They would have a two pronged attack given the OMS-Sujerento pipe loops around into Tama as well as the OMS-Kedama pipe. We have to hope our politicians can keep the status quo or our militia takes it back soon."

Yverens nodded sipping his drink. If the State was able to annex Tama it would be an unmitigated disaster for the Gallente Federation. He heard a laugh to his left. Glancing over he saw Vysena serving drinks to a small group of his friends. She looked over her shoulder and met his gaze. His heart fluttered as she gave him a smile.

On Deltole 6 it was late. The students had completed the LADAR surveys of their designated chambers and had all retired to their tents. Doure was sat up nervously. The call for lights out had gone off half an hour ago. It was nearly time. Bouey had sat next to her on the shuttle. He had been amazing and they'd talked and laughed all the way there. She couldn't help but notice the looks they got from some of the other girls but she didn't care. When he asked to be her field partner she had tried to look casual about it but knew he probably could see her excitement. The sound of the tents zipper being slowly pulled made her hold her breath. The flap opened and she saw him in the light of the moons. He slipped inside the tent and held up a bottle. Doure smiled as she saw the bottle of Gallente vodka and the handsome face in the dim moonlight.

Back on Fricoure the party was in full swing.

"You have to tell me the agency you used!" Someone whispered into Yverens's ear from behind.

"What agency?" he asked turning to his ex-colleague. Linead worked with him nearly a decade ago in the Federal Navy. Married with three kids but a known ladies man.

"Come on, don't hold back. The waitress! Where in Divinities Edge did you hire her from?"

Yverens realised what his friend was saying. He glanced over and saw Vysena serving drinks to a couple and laughing and joking. She was a natural at this.

"I didn't hire her. She's one of Doure's friends." he replied.

"She's a college girl? Oh man, I need to find the wife and chain myself to her to ensure I don't make any mistakes. It would be amazing, but divorce is not worth it. Am I right!" he laughed, slapping Yverens on the back.

As his friend left he watched Vysena work the room. Everyone had a drink and everyone was having a good time. Other than his wife of course. She was doing the dutiful wife routine but had hardly spent any time with him. "Yverens how are you? Wonderful party!" a familiar voice behind him said. He turned to greet his neighbour, tearing his eyes away from Vysena in that dress.

"How are you doing Mrs Catelnau?" Vysena asked on the other side of the room.

"I'm OK Vysena. Thanks. I've told you before to call me Slens. I hate these things to tell you the truth." Slens smiled awkwardly. She disliked these gatherings that her husband threw but grinned and bared it never the less.

"I can tell." Vysena replied and span her drinks tray around. At the back of the tray behind all the champagne was a single glass of Amarrian red wine."

Slens smile beamed. "Whatever my husband is paying you its not enough."

A few hours later and the house was almost quiet. The last guests were leaving and Vysena was clearing the glasses. Yverens said goodbye to the last guests and closed the door. His wife was leaning against the wall drinking a half full glass of red wine.

"Well thank frack that's over!" she slurred.

"How many have you had?" he asked sternly.

"No enough!" she muttered and tried to stand upright. She wobbled and fell down to one knee. The glass fell to the floor and bounced on the lush carpet spilling the wine everywhere. Yverens rushed over and helped her up. She was so unsteady he was struggling to hold her as she slipped in and out of consciousness. Vysena suddenly appeared and supported her under the other shoulder.

"Looks like someone had a very good time!" she said. Yverens just rolled his eyes as they walked towards the stairs. It was a struggle to get her up to the first floor.

"No more! Lets put her in the guest bedroom! I cannot handle another flight of stairs." Yverens said guiding them to the nearby door. Within a few minutes they had her in bed and quietly closed the door.

"Well that was a fun party." Vysena beamed.

"Yeah." mumbled a distracted Yverens. His wife never got that drunk, it was very out of character. "Look its going to be a nightmare getting a taxi now at this time. Why don't you stay in Doure's room and I'll drop you downtown in the morning.

"That would be great!" Vysena smiled.

Back on Deltole Doure was buzzed from the drink. The bottle lay half empty beside them. They had been kissing for almost an hour and her jaw was starting to ache. His hand again dropped low and she grabbed his wrist pulling it back to her chest.

"Easy tiger." she whispered "Not so fast!"

He gave an awkward smile and went back to the kissing.

Yverens heard a knock on his bedroom door as he was unbuttoning his shirt. 'Towels!' he thought, 'Vysena must need some towels'. He opened the door ready to apologies but stopped. Vysena was stood there looking as she did at the party. She held a bottle of champagne and two crystal flutes and a look on her face that was a half smile.

"I wasn't sleepy and with you schmoozing all evening and me serving we forgot to enjoy ourselves. I thought a nightcap was in order?"

Every fibre of his being screamed 'no'. Letting her in here was the point of no return. He'd be mad to even contemplate it. It could ruin his life. Yet he found himself smiling and backing up into the bedroom swinging his arm into the room. Vysena smiled and walked in swaying her hips. She placed the flutes on the bedside table and poured a glass each. She passed Yverens a glass and he took it. She sat down on the edge of the bed. He soaked in her beauty. The voices in his head continued to scream warnings but he ignored them. He considered sitting next to her but that was too much. He grabbed the stool from his wife's dressing table and sat opposite her, using the bedside table both as drinks table and to provide some distance between them.

"You OK? You look sad?" she asked.

"I'm OK. Busy night and its been a funny couple of month. The girls haven't settled into planet-side life as I would have hoped." he replied. "How are you?" he asked hoping to deflect the subject.

"I'm OK now!" she said taking a drink."Although these shoes have killed me with bring on my feet all of tonight." She kicked off a high heeled shoe and rubbed her foot. She looked deep into Yverens's eyes and gave a wicked smile. Slowly she extended her leg so her foot was hovering between his knees. "Would you mind?" she pouted with a half smile.

Yverens stared at her shapely leg. This was a line he should not cross. She might be asking for a foot rub, but he knew it was in no way innocent. He'd be mad to do it and it would be best to say say he thought it would be inappropriate.

"No! Stop it!" Doure snapped pushing Bouey off her.

"Come on!" he whined.

The making out had got hot and heavy but she was still resisting him.

"We only had a first kiss tonight. That means your hands stay above the waistband!"

Bouey flopped on his back sighing. "Vysena said you'd be up for it!" he moaned.

"What?" Doure said shocked.

"Vysena said you were a real wild one. Said you'd not come on to me but if I showed interested you were a sure thing!"

Doure's head span. Why would her friend say that? Did she put him up to this? May be she said it as he'd not be interested unless he thought she was up for some fun? Vysena was obviously more experienced in all this but Doure was worried about what she had been saying to Bouey behind her back. She swallowed and climbed on top of him.

"We've got all night. No need to rush!" she said pulling her t-shirt over her head.

"How did I get to this point?" Yverens thought screwing his eyes tight back on Fricoure. He retraced how he'd got to this moment in his head. Rather than turning her down he'd moved the chair closer and taken her silk-clad foot in his hands, slowly massaging the sole with his thumbs. She had smiled and leaned back as he worked her foot. After a while he swapped to the other. "Could you do my calf too?" she asked "Those heels look great but they are murder on the legs". He'd moved closer, running his hand up her silk-clad leg to reach her calf. It was as he moved that her other foot touched his inner thigh. The slight touch was electric sending shockwaves through his entire body. She moaned softly as he massaged her calf. Her other foot slowly started to lightly stroke his leg. "A little higher" she whispered. He moved a bit forward, her other foot creeping up his thigh as he hid. She shuffled down a bit causing the slit in her dress to ride up. We swallowed hard as he saw the stocking tops, suspenders and pale flesh of her upper thighs. He ran his hands much higher.

That wasn't underwear a college girl wore, that was what a woman looking to seduce a man wore. She extended her leg and it pressed into his hardness. She smiled at him seductively, all pretense now gone as she massaged him with her foot. Within a minute his willpower had collapsed and they were both on the bed ripping their clothes off.

The situation on Deltole had been similar. A slow escalation to the same outcome.

Now, both Yverens and his daughter Doure lay on their backs, light years apart but feeling the same. Both overcome with regret.

To be concluded....

Relating the Eve-O Structures Revamp to Dinosaurs

Myself, an Italian ex-Caldari Militia pilot, a very talkative excitable French Lady, an American and a couple of suicidal Norwegians have a base... and it's protected by a raptors, a stegosaurus, two triceratops and a diplodocus!

No, these are not new ships, this is in Ark: Survival Evolved. Most of you have probably heard of the early-access title. A few probably play it. FunkyBacon from Eve Radio is certainly a fan. Basically its team-based Minecraft with fantastic graphics and dinosaurs. You start with a primitive stone pick and camp fires and level up gaining new engrams (which are crafting recipes) which advance with you. I can build metal spears and crossbows currently. In the end it will be mini-guns and RPGs under electric lights with the AC cooling our house. Its a social game and whilst you can play solo its much better in a group. You cannot learn all the engrams, there are too many. So it needs some coordination between team members. With us, our 'Italian Stallion' is concentrating on structure and tools engrams, the French lady is in charge of painting, decorating and farming (completely her decision!), I'm in charge of learning and building saddles for the dinos and Knut is in charge of getting himself eaten by various carnivores ("I go exploring!" - 1 minutes later - Tribemate Knut was killed by *insert name of dinosaur here*). So what has this all got to do with Eve. Well....

Building a base is one of the most fun things to do in Ark and in related news, over in Iceland, CCP Vbi.... Vbrit..... Vitb...... CCP the French Chap and the team are working on revamping structures in game. The plans appear to be to make structures like ships. High slots, mid slots, low slots, rigs and, similar to T3 sub systems, 'service slots'. You'll have some customisation over your 'space house' but only minor.

Eve is unlikely to have the same ability to externally customise but I would hope we can have some. Perhaps 'anchor points' on the base model that facilities can be bolted to. Add a laboratory to your outpost? It adds a white, laboratory looking cylinder to the point of your choice. Want a refinery? You choose where the rusty-industrial looking cube of a structure is bolted to your 'space house'.

I would to see more customisation inside too. Think Skyrim or Fallout 3. What if you could customise your own Captains Quarters? Add extra rooms? Want to produce boosters in your outpost, the door in the CQ accesses an actual lab! Rather than the industry interface you can actually enter the lab and program your manufacturing. Imagine the rooms that could be done for manufacturing (a ship design lab with holographic representation of your blueprints and may be a window looking into a construction hanger were the ship(s) are being built. Could even have models for part-built ship so you can slowly see your ship being constructed!

Finally could we get the same 'team' mentality when building a base in Ark? I don't think we can in Eve. In Ark we are always working together. You get wood, you get stone, you get metal, you get thatch. 'Mining' in Ark is more hands on than Eve. In Eve you can read a book, Ark you need to get ready for when the dino comes up behind to meat-mine you as you are bashing a rock for metal. A lot of the satisfaction in Ark is watching it slowly take shape due to your efforts. That bit of wall there? Thats just gone up because YOU brought a load of wood back and the guy with the wood wall engram crafted it and placed it. Its strangly satisfying. I mean when I first started in Eve I took place in corp mining ops and have built an outpost, but in Ark its just better.

Building structures in Ark will always be more fun than in Eve because of the way the games work. However, I think there are a few ideas CCP could take from this very popular game and similar titles.

More on Polarised Weapons

Yesterday I posted a pretty bad loss-mail for the Special Sunday Short. Someone had taken a Navy Raven and fitted Polarised Launchers on it. These weapon systems released last year can be found in Sleeper Caches give monster DPS. However, they drop all your resistances to zero. Absolutely zero no matter what you fit. Shields, armour and structure are all zero resistance across the board and you cannot change that.

DCU? Zero!

T2 Shield Hardener? Zero!
Deadspace Hardener? Still Zero!

Rigs? Surely rigs help? NOPE! ZERO ZERO ZERO!

Here is what happens to a (mostly unfit) BC when you fit any polarised weapon on:-

So the question has been asked what is the point of these weapon system given they turn your ship into a glass cannon?

Well, they are used on glass cannons!

Their main use is pretty much to be used when you need a metric f**k-ton of DPS but are not going to get shot. For example a PoCo or undefended PoS. Especially in a home system or low-sec/NPC Null station system.

Purifier - Glass Cannon
The Purifier (or the Hound depending on what damage is best) is a good choice from all the bombers as it has an extra low-slot so you can add in an extra BCU for a bit more DPS.

DPS - 951

EHP - 1750

Cost* - 145m

Talos - Glass Cannon

Already a DPS monster, adding polarised weapons to it and going all out DPS makes a Vindicator green with envy (and a green Vindicator is just a Megathron really!)

DPS - 1658

EHP - 8481

Cost* - 200m

The tank of these ships is pretty bad. The only way to tank a polarised fit ship is with a huge buffer but with zero resists its never going to be a great tank. However given the price of these weapons, its mostly best to leave them untanked and go balls-deep with full glass cannon fits and run at the first sign of trouble!

Anyone got another use for them?

*Costs from EFT as it was DT as I wrote this!