I seem to be struck by it. Oh well!
In EVE: not much time to play since my return from Gaspesie, but some hauling into LCSC's new home-away-from home. And some sleepers got aced, and a hole got wh-fu'ed with a BC and a Stabber.
In MW4M: some noobs got pwnd by my Uber Deimos (NOT the Gallente Diemost, that), and some vets ganged up on me, including two schmucks who were supposed to be on my side. Nice.
So much for writing... just fly dammit !!!
o7
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
The Greatest Spectacle in Motorsports
Yes, another nothing-to-do-with-EVE post. But I can't help it, I love racing too much :)
We are just over a week away from the race that has almost as much history as cars, flight and radio. If the title of this post didn't give it away then know that it is the Indianapolis 500. Thirty-three guys and gals going balls-out (those girls have balls too... call 'em steel ovaries) on a rectangular and extremely tricky track to get the chance to drink a big jug of milk. To give an idea of how crazy this is, remember that these cars go fast enough and produce enough downforce to theoretically be able to run upside down, but unlike F1 cars that pressure is on full time for about 3 hours, and unlike other super-speedway races where the cars can just run flat-out because of the banked oval tracks, Indianapolis has very slight banks compared to other speedways, making the 90 degree turns anywhere from "tricky" to "oh shit I'm in the wall". Yes, the Indy 500 deserves its nickname very well, thanks.
Why do I love this race so much? Because there's just nothing like it. The only way to top it would be to have the equivalent in the air, but I don't think 33 pilots with almost identical planes would be crazy enough to try it. I've mentioned before that I've been a Gilles Villeneuve fan basically since birth, and even back in those days when GV was in F1 and JV only a paddock brat, I was already a fan of Rick Mears, Gordon Johncock, Bobby Rahall, AJ Foyt Jr, and all those nut-cases who each year spent the month of May giving Death the middle finger. A few people lost that gamble over the years though; the Indy 500 has more than its fair share of drama. So all the Indy 500s I had watched have been extremely exciting. Then came 1994.
The young paddock brat had grown up and proved in Japanese F3000 and Formula Atlantic that he had The Right Stuff. The year after he won his home race, on the track wearing his dad's name, JV made the jump into CART and not only qualified for the Indy 500, but excelled in it, finishing a close second thanks to a yellow flag finish and earning the Rookie of the Year award. Side note: even if you're a known Old Hand at racing, when you race your first Indy 500 you're a rookie. Never had a rookie finished so strong. And it was only starting.
In 1995, Team Forsyth/Green had created "The Car". To paraphrase Lightning McQueen, a fine instrument of speed and aerodynamics. After JV had won his first CART race at Elkhart Lake the previous year, he was now in a position to win not only the championship, but also the mythical race. The month of May was a good one because JV started 5th on the grid, but what followed was one of the most chaotic Indy 500 ever, with tons of penalties, crashes and yellow flags. But out of all the chaos JV went out and did something worthy of his dad: he came back from a 2-lap penalty to fight for the win with canuck comrade Scott Goodyear. And on the very last restart Goodyear did the unthinkable by getting black-flagged for passing the pace car before it even started getting back into the pits. Jacques Villeneuve had just won the very first Indy 505!
It wouldn't be until 2009 before Quebecers started being successful again at the Brickyard. Patrick Carpentier had had a chance a few years before in the Cheevers/Red Bull team but the car's performance was less than stellar. But last year Alexandre Tagliani qualified for the race by the skin of his teeth, starting the race 33rd on grid, the last spot available, but earned the Rookie of the Year award by finishing 11th. And now here we are in 2010. Tag and a bunch of Montreal race freaks and business people started a new team called FAZZT, and with some solid starts earlier in the season things are looking good for the Indy 500 where Tag is now heading towards a Top 10 on the starting grid. Will he become the second canadian AND quebecer to win one of the most grueling tests for man and machine? On May 30th, we shall find out.
Speed. Is. Everything.
o7
We are just over a week away from the race that has almost as much history as cars, flight and radio. If the title of this post didn't give it away then know that it is the Indianapolis 500. Thirty-three guys and gals going balls-out (those girls have balls too... call 'em steel ovaries) on a rectangular and extremely tricky track to get the chance to drink a big jug of milk. To give an idea of how crazy this is, remember that these cars go fast enough and produce enough downforce to theoretically be able to run upside down, but unlike F1 cars that pressure is on full time for about 3 hours, and unlike other super-speedway races where the cars can just run flat-out because of the banked oval tracks, Indianapolis has very slight banks compared to other speedways, making the 90 degree turns anywhere from "tricky" to "oh shit I'm in the wall". Yes, the Indy 500 deserves its nickname very well, thanks.
Why do I love this race so much? Because there's just nothing like it. The only way to top it would be to have the equivalent in the air, but I don't think 33 pilots with almost identical planes would be crazy enough to try it. I've mentioned before that I've been a Gilles Villeneuve fan basically since birth, and even back in those days when GV was in F1 and JV only a paddock brat, I was already a fan of Rick Mears, Gordon Johncock, Bobby Rahall, AJ Foyt Jr, and all those nut-cases who each year spent the month of May giving Death the middle finger. A few people lost that gamble over the years though; the Indy 500 has more than its fair share of drama. So all the Indy 500s I had watched have been extremely exciting. Then came 1994.
The young paddock brat had grown up and proved in Japanese F3000 and Formula Atlantic that he had The Right Stuff. The year after he won his home race, on the track wearing his dad's name, JV made the jump into CART and not only qualified for the Indy 500, but excelled in it, finishing a close second thanks to a yellow flag finish and earning the Rookie of the Year award. Side note: even if you're a known Old Hand at racing, when you race your first Indy 500 you're a rookie. Never had a rookie finished so strong. And it was only starting.
In 1995, Team Forsyth/Green had created "The Car". To paraphrase Lightning McQueen, a fine instrument of speed and aerodynamics. After JV had won his first CART race at Elkhart Lake the previous year, he was now in a position to win not only the championship, but also the mythical race. The month of May was a good one because JV started 5th on the grid, but what followed was one of the most chaotic Indy 500 ever, with tons of penalties, crashes and yellow flags. But out of all the chaos JV went out and did something worthy of his dad: he came back from a 2-lap penalty to fight for the win with canuck comrade Scott Goodyear. And on the very last restart Goodyear did the unthinkable by getting black-flagged for passing the pace car before it even started getting back into the pits. Jacques Villeneuve had just won the very first Indy 505!
With the perfect number too !!!
It wouldn't be until 2009 before Quebecers started being successful again at the Brickyard. Patrick Carpentier had had a chance a few years before in the Cheevers/Red Bull team but the car's performance was less than stellar. But last year Alexandre Tagliani qualified for the race by the skin of his teeth, starting the race 33rd on grid, the last spot available, but earned the Rookie of the Year award by finishing 11th. And now here we are in 2010. Tag and a bunch of Montreal race freaks and business people started a new team called FAZZT, and with some solid starts earlier in the season things are looking good for the Indy 500 where Tag is now heading towards a Top 10 on the starting grid. Will he become the second canadian AND quebecer to win one of the most grueling tests for man and machine? On May 30th, we shall find out.
Speed. Is. Everything.
o7
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Nice price... I'll take two please!
Yesterday was my reconnection back to EVE after almost a full week out of the game. Various reasons include quality time with my Significant Other, NHL play-offs going extremely well for Montreal (until the first game against Philadelphia), battlemech warfare, parental duties, and not moving my computer for the parental weekend. Actually it's a good thing I didn't move the computer because the weather in Montreal was absolutely beautiful, especially on Sunday, and on a nice walk along the Lachine Canal with my boys I twisted my left ankle something nasty. At least we had made most of the nice day before it happened.
But yesterday night after the parental evening (don't try to figure out my schedule... it's complicated at best) I got on TQ to make sure all was cool with the characters - have to check what's up with my buddy Si Gong cuz his character is currently my alt - and do a mission or two. One of AMC's pilots had spotted a pirate gang that was camping in Gusandall but unfortunately we didn't have the numbers even for a Jihad fleet. I do invite the pirates to keep camping; we'll bring the fight soon™ :) So a quick L4 and L3 later, quick because a faction-fit Sleipnir in a mission is awesome, I had my wallet back to over 300 million ISK, so I felt like replacing the Vaga I had sold to one of my ex alliance mates in Providence.
The first thing I do before I start plopping ISK on the market is catch Letrange and ask him how much would it be for him to build me the ship. The market check that followed had me surprised though: 8 units of Vagabond at 110 million each. I don't think I've ever seen the Vaga at such a low price. With Let busy with whatever project he was working on I decided not to add to his work load and I bought the ship off the market and then proceeded to buy the modules and rigs. And each time I was buying an item I was amazed at how low the prices were. When all was said and done my Vagabond had cost me 138.4 million ISK... huh, OK! If I had just 50mil more in my wallet I'd buy a second one right off the bat. Now, I know next to nothing about industry and production, but is it me or have the prices for Tech 2 items dropped a lot? Anyway, at less than 140 million for a fully fit Vagabond I will not be the one complaining about it!
So this week's tentative schedule in EVE: Letrange mentioned something about needing interceptor practice so I'll start working on a curriculum, that way we can maybe make a class out of it. If it's anything like musical instruments, by teaching you get better yourself. I'm also hoping for some The PvP so the tackling practice can be put to good use. With the local pirates being a bit cagey (to use a polite term) and dock up when we show up for a fight, I'll probably head in the direction of one of the close-by Null-Sec regions. And if we have a good amount of pilots maybe something a bit better than a Jihad would be fun; one of the things I miss about BOZO is the Hurricane Gank Fleets. I don't think AMC can field as many 'Canes as BOZO could at the height of its power, but even 3 or 4 would be a pain in the ass to an enemy FC hearing "I'm down!" at every other gun cycle.
Another thing I'd like to do, most likely during the week when there's less pew-pew activities is a bit of exploration. I'm very unlucky at it but I tell myself that eventually the tide will turn and I will find something worthwhile. While it's still considered a carebear activity, at least it's a bit more occupying than just doing missions over and over. Plus, ninja-ratting in W-space when a wormhole is found is never boring, especially if there's a tower in the place :)
And out of EVE? Well, the possibilities are almost endless because Montreal is litterally blooming. We are hit with an extreme case of hockey fanaticism, the weather couldn't be more perfect, this Saturday is the Montreal EVE Meet, and at noon on Friday I'm on vacation for a week :)) From Monday to Thursday I plan on doing Sweet Fuck All online because I'll be with my girlfriend in her hometown of Cap-Chat Qc, one of the most beautiful places in the entire known universe. And the Friday after I get back will be the start of another parental weekend so I have the feeling that this vacation will go by all too quickly. The only thing that will slow me down a bit is that damn ankle. I had planned on doing a lot of walking along seaside cliffs and in Mont Albert National Park so I'll have to go easier on that, but in no way will it keep me from doing it anyway.
TTFN, so fly your hardest
o7
But yesterday night after the parental evening (don't try to figure out my schedule... it's complicated at best) I got on TQ to make sure all was cool with the characters - have to check what's up with my buddy Si Gong cuz his character is currently my alt - and do a mission or two. One of AMC's pilots had spotted a pirate gang that was camping in Gusandall but unfortunately we didn't have the numbers even for a Jihad fleet. I do invite the pirates to keep camping; we'll bring the fight soon™ :) So a quick L4 and L3 later, quick because a faction-fit Sleipnir in a mission is awesome, I had my wallet back to over 300 million ISK, so I felt like replacing the Vaga I had sold to one of my ex alliance mates in Providence.
The first thing I do before I start plopping ISK on the market is catch Letrange and ask him how much would it be for him to build me the ship. The market check that followed had me surprised though: 8 units of Vagabond at 110 million each. I don't think I've ever seen the Vaga at such a low price. With Let busy with whatever project he was working on I decided not to add to his work load and I bought the ship off the market and then proceeded to buy the modules and rigs. And each time I was buying an item I was amazed at how low the prices were. When all was said and done my Vagabond had cost me 138.4 million ISK... huh, OK! If I had just 50mil more in my wallet I'd buy a second one right off the bat. Now, I know next to nothing about industry and production, but is it me or have the prices for Tech 2 items dropped a lot? Anyway, at less than 140 million for a fully fit Vagabond I will not be the one complaining about it!
So this week's tentative schedule in EVE: Letrange mentioned something about needing interceptor practice so I'll start working on a curriculum, that way we can maybe make a class out of it. If it's anything like musical instruments, by teaching you get better yourself. I'm also hoping for some The PvP so the tackling practice can be put to good use. With the local pirates being a bit cagey (to use a polite term) and dock up when we show up for a fight, I'll probably head in the direction of one of the close-by Null-Sec regions. And if we have a good amount of pilots maybe something a bit better than a Jihad would be fun; one of the things I miss about BOZO is the Hurricane Gank Fleets. I don't think AMC can field as many 'Canes as BOZO could at the height of its power, but even 3 or 4 would be a pain in the ass to an enemy FC hearing "I'm down!" at every other gun cycle.
Another thing I'd like to do, most likely during the week when there's less pew-pew activities is a bit of exploration. I'm very unlucky at it but I tell myself that eventually the tide will turn and I will find something worthwhile. While it's still considered a carebear activity, at least it's a bit more occupying than just doing missions over and over. Plus, ninja-ratting in W-space when a wormhole is found is never boring, especially if there's a tower in the place :)
And out of EVE? Well, the possibilities are almost endless because Montreal is litterally blooming. We are hit with an extreme case of hockey fanaticism, the weather couldn't be more perfect, this Saturday is the Montreal EVE Meet, and at noon on Friday I'm on vacation for a week :)) From Monday to Thursday I plan on doing Sweet Fuck All online because I'll be with my girlfriend in her hometown of Cap-Chat Qc, one of the most beautiful places in the entire known universe. And the Friday after I get back will be the start of another parental weekend so I have the feeling that this vacation will go by all too quickly. The only thing that will slow me down a bit is that damn ankle. I had planned on doing a lot of walking along seaside cliffs and in Mont Albert National Park so I'll have to go easier on that, but in no way will it keep me from doing it anyway.
TTFN, so fly your hardest
o7
Thursday, May 13, 2010
New blog is Live !!!
I said I'd do it, and I did it.
The Drop Zone - Cozmik R5's Battletech blog will be the place where I will discuss everything having to do with the war zones of the 31st Century.
And in case you are wondering, no, you cannot have my stuff because I will still be alive in EVE :)) Feel free to drop by if you want to discover, or rediscover, a new way to blow stuff up!
Seyla!
o7
The Drop Zone - Cozmik R5's Battletech blog will be the place where I will discuss everything having to do with the war zones of the 31st Century.
And in case you are wondering, no, you cannot have my stuff because I will still be alive in EVE :)) Feel free to drop by if you want to discover, or rediscover, a new way to blow stuff up!
Seyla!
o7
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Ship kills, mech kills... new blog?
So by now you have probably noticed it, I'm a Battletech fan. A big one. I guess you can partly blame Letrange for that one also as he's the one who introduced me to the Battletech universe and Mechwarrior2 in preparation of the arrival of Battletech Tesla 4.0 at Montreal's Virtual World center, back in 1995-1996. Of course, meeting a bunch of VW pilots who were there only for Battletech and didn't do much racing in Red Planet, and getting to know the BT universe and playing the old classic board game also helped turn my interest into nothing short of an addiction. You see, EVE and Battletech share an awesome quality: depth. Getting to know all the mechs and all their stats, plus getting to know all the weapons and equipment you can fit on them is just as bad, if not worse, than doing the same in EVE. And if you're into micro-management like an industrialist? Try running a full Mechwarrior campaign where you have to build each player's character with his/her set of skills, do the equipment management, calculate mech repairs and post-battle salvage... yeah, things can get interesting!
As I was mentioning in my last blog post, the Battletech community is in full uproar with Mektek's free release of the venerable Microsoft Mechwarrior4: Mercenaries, fully modified with gobs of mechs, maps and equipment. The uproar even turned into a massive storm this weekend; the demand was so great that a commercial router and a server got blown up at Mektek's ISP. Things are slowly coming back to life but it goes to show that Battletech fans were waiting for this one. I was one of the lucky ones because the release happened during my time off on friday afternoon, just as I was talking about it on this blog. When people were screaming on the Classic Battletech forums about the Mektek site dying, I was happily playing with my mechs and refitting them to my taste. It will take some time to brush the rust off but I should be hitting multiplayer matches very soon.
Which brings me back to my title. I love EVE PvP and I created this blog to write about it. Back in the Quake days blogs weren't as popular as they are now but when I wasn't practicing I was whoring forums. When MW4M came out I was just as interested in it as I am now, but Quake was taking even more of my gaming time than EVE is right now, and that lasted until 2003 when I started to put tons of time into karting, another awesome addiction which got cut short by the arrival of my twin terrors! But now the Battletech revival looks like it's happening and I just feel like talking about it. So yeah, I may be starting a second blog to talk about this side of my gaming habits. How I will write it, how often I will update it, all those things are still a bit vague. As I mentioned before I have some rust to brush off, and then I have to put my money where my mouth is and start killing some mechs. I also have to get acquainted with the various people in leagues and units (BT equivalent of corps) and find the right one for me. I don't think I'll be going into full-on role-playing, but I would be happy to find a laid-back bunch of Mechwarriors who enjoy a good battle once in a while. So essentially the new blog will talk about match reviews, mech preparation, tactics, BT lore and all-around BT goodness. I will keep the two blogs cross-linked because who knows, there might be some Mechwarriors interested in EVE, and I already know at least 2 capsuleers (OK, one's corp is in hibernation) who are also into Mech Warfare. More news on that when the ideas start to quiet down and settle into something actually writable!
On the EVE front, things are good in the not-so-carebear alliance that is AMC. Despite some mistakes here and there, the combat wing is having a total blast messing with pirates flying in the Low-sec systems near HQ, and even nearby 0.0 residents in Geminate and Great Wildlands have felt the wrath of our awesome T1 technology and TNT belt tactics! We are also getting good at making stuff happen quick; it's much more fun taking 5 minutes to meet up in space and get going than it is to wait for people fitting ships (ie: asking tons of questions because they don't know how and of course they pop the questions when the op is supposed to start) or stuck half-way across the map buying stuff in Jita!
And there you go. Look for the second blog soon, and remember that in whichever game you might fancy, autocannons are just awesome !!!
o7
As I was mentioning in my last blog post, the Battletech community is in full uproar with Mektek's free release of the venerable Microsoft Mechwarrior4: Mercenaries, fully modified with gobs of mechs, maps and equipment. The uproar even turned into a massive storm this weekend; the demand was so great that a commercial router and a server got blown up at Mektek's ISP. Things are slowly coming back to life but it goes to show that Battletech fans were waiting for this one. I was one of the lucky ones because the release happened during my time off on friday afternoon, just as I was talking about it on this blog. When people were screaming on the Classic Battletech forums about the Mektek site dying, I was happily playing with my mechs and refitting them to my taste. It will take some time to brush the rust off but I should be hitting multiplayer matches very soon.
Which brings me back to my title. I love EVE PvP and I created this blog to write about it. Back in the Quake days blogs weren't as popular as they are now but when I wasn't practicing I was whoring forums. When MW4M came out I was just as interested in it as I am now, but Quake was taking even more of my gaming time than EVE is right now, and that lasted until 2003 when I started to put tons of time into karting, another awesome addiction which got cut short by the arrival of my twin terrors! But now the Battletech revival looks like it's happening and I just feel like talking about it. So yeah, I may be starting a second blog to talk about this side of my gaming habits. How I will write it, how often I will update it, all those things are still a bit vague. As I mentioned before I have some rust to brush off, and then I have to put my money where my mouth is and start killing some mechs. I also have to get acquainted with the various people in leagues and units (BT equivalent of corps) and find the right one for me. I don't think I'll be going into full-on role-playing, but I would be happy to find a laid-back bunch of Mechwarriors who enjoy a good battle once in a while. So essentially the new blog will talk about match reviews, mech preparation, tactics, BT lore and all-around BT goodness. I will keep the two blogs cross-linked because who knows, there might be some Mechwarriors interested in EVE, and I already know at least 2 capsuleers (OK, one's corp is in hibernation) who are also into Mech Warfare. More news on that when the ideas start to quiet down and settle into something actually writable!
On the EVE front, things are good in the not-so-carebear alliance that is AMC. Despite some mistakes here and there, the combat wing is having a total blast messing with pirates flying in the Low-sec systems near HQ, and even nearby 0.0 residents in Geminate and Great Wildlands have felt the wrath of our awesome T1 technology and TNT belt tactics! We are also getting good at making stuff happen quick; it's much more fun taking 5 minutes to meet up in space and get going than it is to wait for people fitting ships (ie: asking tons of questions because they don't know how and of course they pop the questions when the op is supposed to start) or stuck half-way across the map buying stuff in Jita!
And there you go. Look for the second blog soon, and remember that in whichever game you might fancy, autocannons are just awesome !!!
o7
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