Pata-flafla

To anyone who is not a drummer this title will probably sound like my brain has lost its connection to my mouth, or that I'm trying to imitate the sound of someone falling down a few flights of stairs. It is neither. The Pata-flafla is one of the 40 basic rudiments every good drummer should know, or at least know of. Translated in a sticking pattern (with flams looking like so: r-L,the little letter being the grace note and the big letter the main one, L for left and R for right) a couple bars of Pata-flafla played in basic 4/4 and the main notes being 16ths should look like this:

l-R L R r-L, l-R L R r-L...

Yeah, trickier than it looks especially when trying to play it fast. As with all drum rudiments, start slow and learn to play it clean and comfortably and gradually speed up. And yeah, use a metronome. And why am I all psyched about talking drum shop on this fine Halloween day? If you've been reading my blog you may have heard me talk about getting together with some drum corps drum line people and having a total blast. Enough that for my Friday music video I just HAD to post more drum corps love. And yesterday I got some great news from the Wishmaster drum line: there is rumor that another show is in the works, and this time I want in. And because I want to get on snare line, I have to practice my ass off like I haven't done in a very long time. So far I'm looking at 1 to 2 hours a day with the fat snare sticks, my practice pad and an Android metronome app, more as I get closer to an eventual audition. Not especially exciting in and of itself but the ultimate goal sure is. And if I can't make it on this particular line-up I'll just offer my services as a roadie; God knows I can changes drum heads and carry gear! Here's to hoping I can make an impression and land myself a spot anywhere on that drum line :)

And on to the EVE front now. Last week I've had one of those "what the fuck was I thinking" moments. Now that my buddy si Gong has some decent BC skills I thought we could tackle the epic arc mission I had left hanging for about a year: The Cost of Preservation, 2nd mission from the Brutor Tribe L4 epic agent dude. The mission is pretty simple: kill this one guy, loot the guy and GTFO. Killing the guy isn't too much trouble, but the stuff that spawns when you start shooting... yeah. So si Gong and I warp in and I start approaching Mr Target. He's in a rather tanky cruiser but together we managed to kill him, but as soon as he died all hell broke lose. The new spawn had 4-5 frigs that point and web on sight, and I was literally fucked. because we couldn't kill 'em fast enough. I asked si Gong if he was pointed and with the negative answer, GTFO. So the cost of preservation was one unit of nicely fit Sleipnir. I was later told that another of the Montreal crew, ex-capsuleer Suletsap III, had lost a faction-fit Navythron to one of those epic arc missions... I'm guessing that this is what CCP would call an ISK sink XD. So because my Slippy was nicely fit (5 faction modules) and because I treated myself so nicely before taking my summer break (Absolution and Cynabal). I couldn't replace it right away. But I don't care. I did get a Maelstrom but after flying a command ship for so long a battleship feels like shit. So much for L4's until I can get a replacement Sleipnir, and to Hell with that so-called epic bullshit.

Not that I'm very interested in missions anyway. When my subscription renewal arrives I will not only get my 3 months but will also buy a GTC or two and dump 'em on the market. Grinding sucks too much in this game. I'd rather grind my drum skills, and if I do get that drum line gig, it's drums I'll be playing, not MMO's. We will see what the future holds...

Fly it hard even if it's not cheap

o7

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - 2011/10/28 (Halloween Edition)

Yeah it's a tad early, we're not Friday yet, etc. I have to be out of my place at 6AM and because this is a parental duty weekend I'll be busy as fuck when I come back from work, even if I finish at Noon. So there, pre-posted ear sex!

This being Halloween weekend, how about a ghost story? So there was this ghost haunting this opera house right? And at some point he went way up into the rafters and called out the secret ingredient in the recipe of the Flaming Homer/Moe... Nah, I suck at story-telling. I'll let the 1989 edition of the Santa Clara Vanguard tell the story the only way they know: with unbelievable amounts of Awesomeness (plus I know of one reader who seems to be more into black and blue... so the only way to fight back is with green and red ^_^). Enjoy what has been voted The Best Drum Corps Show of All Time on a DCI poll... OK, this may have been before Spartacus by the 2008 Phantom Regiment, but still. PR may have killed their drum major, but SCV... watch the video to find out!

As Mr Royer would say, send in the clowns!

o7 

Wednesdays of Fail - 2011/10/26

Finally home. My Internet is free to go where I want it to go. My browser isn't 5 years outdated. And I even have a big-ass steak in front of me. That's right boys and girls, It's finally time to post this week's Wednesday of Fail! This week entry comes from... someone who forgot to give his in-game name, from The Illuminati (please contact me again if you want some ISK!). A corpmate of his was flying around in the depths of Omist and he came across a stealth bomber. I don't know how the bomber failed his cloaking maneuver but he obviously did because ovenproofjet's Vagabond caught it and blew it to bits. But this was far from a regular stealth bomber:

[Manticore, maddeb's Manticore]
Expanded Cargohold II
Beta Reactor Control: Capacitor Power Relay I

1MN MicroWarpdrive I
[empty med slot]
[empty med slot]
[empty med slot]

Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]

[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]

[obscene amount of BP's in cargo]


http://illuminatii.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10815765

Ain't she a beauty? Even if all those blueprints turned out to be all BPC it would still make me laugh until I spilled my bladder all over my shorts! I have no clue as to what people think when they try to move a crap ton of blueprints in a barely fit ship that's clearly not made for the job. Hell, a T1 frigate fit for uber speed and agility would have done a better job. And if you live in the butt-end of the universe, don't you have access to buddies with jump capable ships? You're in OMIST for crying out! Oh well... not only did you teach yourself a hard lesson, but you also taught it to all my readers :))

Mr. Quincy, once you give me your in-game name you will be receiving some ISK. Because there is no reason for this mod to be fitted, you will be receiving 300,100 ISK which is the value of the Beta Reactor CPR. Make sure you give half of it to your corpmate who caught it :))

Do you have a funny killmail you would like to share with the community? If so, please evemail the killboard or BattleClinic link to Cozmik R5 in-game, or send it via regular e-mail at r3dfiv3@hotmail.com

Just as WDA and Ga'len have done in the past, the sender of a killmail that has been posted on the blog will receive a small ISK prize, the value of a random module fitted on the ship; dream on if you think I'll pay for Faction, Complex or Officer mods!

Keep your eyes open for Fail, and rid New Eden of these atrocities!

o7

F***ing Vertical!

When a certain picture was leaked out last week, of a CCP employee working on the Minmatar design-contest-winning Tornado, I was overjoyed. "About damn time!" I thought right away, and the feeling got amplified when I learned that the Tornado would not only be a Tier 3 battlecruiser (a true battlecruiser in essence; more on this later), but it would also have some company in Gallente, Caldari and Amarr form. It looks like I'll have some gunnery skills to train up because although I'm nicely cross-trained in pretty much all medium weapons, it's only in Large Projectiles that I can use the T2 weapons. I have the start of Large Hybrids but at the moment I only have that skill to III, and missiles I have only trained just enough for a stealth bomber. But the Tornado? I want one as soon as they come out of various ovens. Well, just like when the Noctis came out I will wait a few days for the prices to stabilise because I'm not one of those weirdos who will pay ridiculously bloated prices to be the first to have one.

Now, why did I say that the Tier 3 BCs will be "true" battlecruisers? My buddy Letrange and I had a discussion about this and being the military buff he is he's totally right. The current Tier 1 and Tier 2 battlecruisers in EVE, if we want to compare them to real life navy ships, are in reality heavy cruisers; they have cruiser-sized weapons but sport tougher armor and defences. A battlecruiser carries battleship weapons, but they aren't as armored as the big boys, and they are much faster. The rule of thumb of real life BCs is the following: it can destroy whatever it can catch and can outrun whatever it cannot destroy. I'm not sure if the same will apply to the Tornado and its brothers, but at least they have that "BFG" factor. I'll also be very interested in seeing the Amarr BC, the Oracle*. The thought of a pocket Abaddon appeals to me. All this, coupled with the changes to PI and capital ships, should make New Eden a very interesting place in the near future.

The Clown is BACK!

On a completely different subject now, I was happy to get some news from this little alliance (yes, it is a one-corp alliance) that apparently is re-emerging from its own ashes, and I'm talking about none other than my first ever alliance, Clown Punchers Syndicate. I'm a regular podcast listener so obviously Voices from the Void is high on my playlist, and last week's episode featured BOZO female pilot Jel Malar talking about a recent Listen to the Voices player meet in Austin TX, and also about the rebirth of BOZO. A short recapitulation: Clown Punchers got shut down in April 2010 when the old leaders, Quebnaric Deile and Teister, and director Tolarus, decided they had had enough of EVE and quit permanently. I'm still in contact with them and believe me when I say they don't want to come back! After they left, ownership of the corp/alliance fell to swedish murder machine Rugs and not much happened in the past year. But apparently some old BOZOs are getting back together and reforming in Syndicate. Now, I know the reasons why I left back in October 2009 (damn it's already been that long?!) so before I make any kind of move I'll have to have a long chat with Rugs. I'm pretty sure he will know to avoid what caused the collapse/burn-out over a year ago and lead the BOZOs accordingly. I wish all my former BOZO mates the best in this reboot of one of the best group of people to fly with. If you want more information on BOZO recruiting, join the channel "Sideshow" and hit it up with a recruiter.

Paradiddlus Ad Infinitum

Gimme !!!

Finally, to close this post on a non-EVE related subject, yesterday was a very special day for me because I went to a Drum Corps percussion clinic, so not only did I get to immerse myself once more in the fabulous musical sport of Drum Corps, I got to reconnect with my first ever drum instructor, the one who literally taught me how to hold a pair of sticks. And not only that... it was at the same school where my old corps, Les Éclipses de Longueuil, used to practice. I have never gone to school there so the last time I had set foot in it was 30 years ago as a member of the Éclipse drum line, the best in Québec at the time. I also got to meet some drum line players from back in the day, one of which was a lady I use to be very close to back then because she was on the snare line and I was on the cymbal line so we where like ALWAYS together. I was 11 years old at the time and I was in a corps that was just about to break into the DCI top 25. Yeah, it was rough! But even if I have never really marched after that I was always close to Drum Corps because of my dad and in my teen years the drumming experience came in handy when some buddies of mine got into music and needed a drummer. And so it was that yesterday I got to practice with not only the Wishmaster drum line for a 1-hour mock-up practice session (imagine a Nightwish cover band, but instead of one drummer they have a full-sized drum line.... epic win !!!), but also up close and personal with a few snare guys. I got to try quads for the first time but these are extremely tough. But that got me thinking, now that Quebec has a senior corps (senior means "over 21", not "old age"!), wouldn't it be awesome if I joined 'em, practiced my ass off, and marched my first ever Drum Corps competition on the snare line? I think my dad would cry rivers of joy if I did it :)

Fly yer ass off

o7

*Edit: so the Amarr tier 3 BC is called the Oracle, where I had previously called it "Abomination". I was misled by the name of a contest participant.

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - 2011/10/21

What do you get when you mix Steampunk and Devin Townsend's Nerd Metal uber geniusness? This. But if you have a heart condition you might want to skip this because of crazy blast beats and insane imagery. By the way, you get bonus points if you recognize Ziltoid The Omniscient in this video :))

On the EVE front: I lost a Jag to an evil-fit Firetail but at least the fight was worthy of this name; too bad the Jag didn't get to do its intended business: W-space hunting! But I think I may have an answer to this Firetail problem.... we shall see >:) Props to Korg Tronix, you were a great sport!

Fly safe? WHY?!

o7

Burning Eden, part Quattro

When I started my "Burning Eden" series of posts during my summer break I never thought I would have to add to it a few months down the road. But here we are four months after the infamous Jita Riots, and despite some efforts to reconnect with the community after letting it down in a big way with the Incarna/NEX/Greed debacle, CCP once again managed to hit a massive foul ball. 24 hours after bringing back a feature of EVE Online which had been basically a trademark of the game, and getting showered with shouts of relief, CCP announced that basically in order to survive as a company, it had to lay off 114 people. Most of these were working on World of Darkness, but the part that I'm still trying to understand is how they layed off the community team. After folding themselves in 4 saying "Incarna sucked, we're sorry, we'll listen to you a bit more now". If you fire a community team, one that did everything it possibly could to shovel water out of a clearly sinking boat earlier this summer, just how the hell do you think the community will react?

I understand the business part of having to lay off people. It is now clear that the wave of mass unsubs coupled with the way CCP had become over-stretched trying to juggle 4 monsters at once (EVE, Incarna, Dust, WoD) had the effect of the company suddenly not having enough income to keep everybody working. But further alienating the community, this I don't get, and I don't think I'll ever get it.

So, am I unsubbing come the 17th of December? So far, I don't think so. I like EVE enough to believe that CCP will not let crash into the ground if they remember the reason they created this awesome game. I asked myself all the "unsub" questions during my summer break and guess what, I even resubbed in advance of when I thought I would! But after the dust has cleared (no pun intended) I will be anxious to see how CCP directs its energies to make what is already a good game better. If EVE goes back to being the main focus as opposed to a test bed for other games then they might yet have redemption. But after so many foul balls I'm very afraid for the future; one missed swing and it's a strike out. In the meantime the winter expansion is coming soon... let's see what throw the pitcher serves...

o7

PS: Head on over to Rixx Javix's EVEOGANDA and listen to RockCalledSteve aka Moose's one-off podcast. It's worth a listen.

WHAT THE BASTARD SHIT ?!?!

CCP lays off crap-tons of employees, namely the community team.

My title says it all. I'll write a real post about this tomorrow after I've mulled it over.

Fuck.

>:(

Wednesdays of Fail - 2011/10/19

At last, here I am, home with a modern (OK, slightly old) computer with an up to date browser, and without the KGB and the Gestapo blocking my every attempt to go on a website about gaming, even if they fail at keeping me from Facebook. Yeah, City of Montreal administration and Technology mix just about as well as EVE and Kids! And yes it's that time of the week, the Wednesday of Fail! This week's entry is quite a looker, coming from Randunip of Steel Talon Initiative corp. I don't know how people cane fail-fit the Hurricane so much, it's such a perfect ship when fit right... anyway, make sure you put down that sandwich you're eating and that you've gulped down that swig of beer before looking at this thing because I don't want to be held responsible for any deaths by suffocation; at least make sure someone is nearby ready to apply the Heimlich Maneuver. Ready? Here goes:

[Hurricane, Krammski's Hurricane]
Muon Coil Bolt Array I
Warp Core Stabilizer I
Cross-Lateral Gyrostabilizer I
Expanded Cargohold II
Small Armor Repairer I
Overdrive Injector System I

Medium Shield Booster II
Warp Scrambler I
10MN MicroWarpdrive I
'Langour' Drive Disruptor I

250mm Light Artillery Cannon I, EMP S
250mm Light Artillery Cannon I, EMP S
'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Sabretooth Light Missile
'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Sabretooth Light Missile
Salvager I
250mm Light Artillery Cannon I, EMP S
280mm Howitzer Artillery I, EMP S
'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Sabretooth Light Missile

Hammerhead I x3

http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=12290722

Told you it would hurt. This thing fails on so many levels I barely know where to start! Let's begin with the location of this kill... ah, W-space! I kind of miss it sometimes, but I digress. Now what is usually commonplace on a ship flying in W-space? A probe launcher of course... but it's kinda hard to use it when it's in the CARGO HOLD! This probe launcher was obviously meant for another, but still. Moving on... Jiminy H. Cricket just look at this entire fit !!! Armor-rep/shield-boost-stabbed-light-weps with not enough drones to hurt a NPC cruiser and he had to put a web and scram on this ?!?! Can somebody pass me the X-acto so I can gouge out my eyes plz? Seriously, I have no clue what this guy was trying or why he was even flying what should be such a nice ship but instead was fitted with..... THIS! Oh well, such is EVE :))

Randunip, you sir need to be rewarded for ridding the New Eden cluster of... whatever you call this. Because they were one of the rare things that could've been useful in W-space, you will receive 350,000 ISK for the Combat Scan Probes which were located in the cargo hold.

Do you have a funny killmail you would like to share with the community? If so, please evemail the killboard or BattleClinic link to Cozmik R5 in-game, or send it via regular e-mail at r3dfiv3@hotmail.com

Just as WDA and Ga'len have done in the past, the sender of a killmail that has been posted on the blog will receive a small ISK prize, the value of a random module fitted on the ship; dream on if you think I'll pay for Faction, Complex or Officer mods!

Keep your eyes open for Fail, and rid New Eden of these atrocities!

o7

Old tech FTL

No, I'm not talking about the revamped EVE client with its return to the good old "ship spinning" hangar. Everything is working as intended; hell I even went to bed a lot too late! But that's my problem. My "old tech" problem isn't related to the fact that my gaming machine is now over 3.5 years old, but with the fact that posting blog entries and reading other people's blogs from work is an issue because the city of Montreal, particularly the LaSalle borrough, uses a 5-year old browser in the form of Internet Explorer 7 (yes, seven!) and slowly I'm losing access to some websites because of the browser's old age, as if having the most restrictive firewall this side of the Great Wall of China wasn't bad enough.

Therefore my lunch hour posting hobby is suffering, and I hates it. I would post stuff before I leave for work but having to get out of the house at 6AM... yeah, I'm not usually in a writing mood at this early hour. So my Wednesday of Fail post will become a Wednesday evening thing. By the way I have a couple of uber goodies to post but new killmails are always welcome so keep 'em coming, either by evemail to Cozmik R5 in-game, or to r3dfiv3@hotmail.com by regular e-mail.

In Dock 94 news, yesterday our pure noob Ricky Boys did the classic noob error of buying a book at the WRONG Pator Tech School, the one in Amamake! At the gate were a small gang of bored Pandemic Legion players so of course he got popped and podded. At least it's not as if he was a total virgin! And later si Gong and I did a few missions that were giving him a few headaches. He doesn't have too much problems tanking, but DPS is an issue. My Sleipnir fixes this nicely! si Gong also had the last part of a storyline L3, The Kidnappers starring Sansha's Nation. For an L3, this mission is pretty damn tough, tougher than most regular L4's even. but the reward was nice.

Aight, that's it for this morning... now I have to find a way to convince the "techs" here to get with the times. This is harder than you might think *sigh*

Fly fun

o7

Goodbye Door!

I sure as fuck will NOT miss you! You were the symbol of the worst summer in the history of EVE Online. I seriously hope someone at CCP deletes the .bmp file forever.

If you don't fly, at least spin it

o7

Tribute to a speedster

R.I.P. Dan Wheldon (1978-2011)

o7

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - 2011/10/14

I don't think Steve Vai ever played his Fire Garden Suite in its entirety but some YouTuber decided to make a collage of all the movements and actually did a pretty good job of it. Brace yourselves because this is a lengthy one.

Enjoy!

o7

Wednesdays of Fail - 2011/10/12

Ah yes! I am now back home and no longer have to deal with a stupid Nazi firewall and an even stupider IE7 browser (yes... IE7 FFS !!!) so I can finally post the thing that everybody loves to laugh at and/or feel physical pain from. That's right, it's Fail Mail time! This week's entry is kind of special because I received an evemail not too long after I posted a certain Chimera dying horribly to a frigate gang. Well guess what... apparently I had only one side of the story, which is fair. But the evemail contained a bit more than the "yeah, harrdy harr harr I got caught pants down, etc" for the sender was none other than the pilot of the Chimera. And Lo and Behold, he had a sweet sweet link of revenge to show me:

[Blackbird, Jharn Ru's Blackbird]
Signal Amplifier II
Power Diagnostic System I

Large C5-L Emergency Shield Overload I
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
ECM - Multispectral Jammer II
Medium Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 25
10MN Afterburner II
Invulnerability Field II

'Arbalest' Standard Missile Launcher, Sabretooth Light Missile
Prototype Cloaking Device I
Medium 'Vehemence' I Shockwave Charge
[empty high slot]

Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Particle Dispersion Augmentor I


http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=14157866

Excuse my bad french but TA-BAR-NAK !!! What we have here is a prototype Caldari Navy ship tentatively called the Cloaky-Shield/Cap-Boosting-WTFBB. If you can think of a better name for this abomination please inform me. Let's see... let's do it from rigs on up. Usually a Blackbird-type ship (which are the Blackbird, Falcon and Rook if you didn't know) is used for one thing and one thing only: jamming. So obviously the rigs of choice would be a set of those particle thingamabobs, not a mix of jam and tank. Moving up to the low slots: fairly standard here. A signal amp, a PDS... but don't BB pilots usually plate up that thing? Moving on up... yeah, my eyes hurt too! Usually a Blackbird-type ship fits pretty much NOTHING BUT JAMMERS, unless your name is Unzer or Loofaro who are, and I've mentioned this before, Falcon artists. So this mix of active and passive tank, jams and afterburner will get you precisely nowhere fast. And finally the high slots... the only useful thing here is the cloak frankly. The smart bomb can maybe dent some light drones (T1 and badly skilled), and the overpriced frigate-sized missile launcher is frigate sized. Even with the benefit of All Level V skills, this ship's DPS is a hair above a quarter of a standard Rifter fit. I sincerely hope that this fit is not a standard Quantum Horizon fit because I just may have to ask for an ISK prize refund XD j/k.

So WarheadRex, consider your Chimera avenged! When I posted your carrier I awarded the killmail sender ISK for the cloaking device that could've saved you. Guess what... you'll be able to buy a new cloaking device because you will be receiving 1,499,990 ISK!

Do you have a funny killmail you would like to share with the community? If so, please evemail the killboard or BattleClinic link to Cozmik R5 in-game, or send it via regular e-mail at r3dfiv3@hotmail.com

Just as WDA and Ga'len have done in the past, the sender of a killmail that has been posted on the blog will receive a small ISK prize, the value of a random module fitted on the ship; dream on if you think I'll pay for Faction, Complex or Officer mods!

Keep your eyes open for Fail, and rid New Eden of these atrocities!

o7

THE PVP !!!!1!!!111

Since I've started playing EVE Online this is how The PvP has usually happened to me: surprise-sexed and blown to bits, surprise-sexed but put up a good fight or even defeated my attacker, next door to HQ after a huge roam, next door to HQ 5 minutes after leaving for a huge roam (which either goes on if the initial fight is won or started from scratch if it fails - I've seen all PvP activity cancelled after a particularly bad fight), basically never when I either expect or want The PvP to happen. Such is the nature of EVE's sandbox. And this is exactly how The PvP happened yesterday night.

Realizing that spending a lot of time in a mission hub wouldn't be the greatest thing for a newbie miner, I set up a Dock 94 office in a previous BOZO Hi-sec port of call back in the days when one had to be at a corp's office in order to apply to it. It's Hi-sec and close to the market, it's not too populated, there are plenty of asteroid belts, the true security rating of the system is lower, we're two jumps from Low-sec, ideal place for a newbie to sink his teeth in. Hell, it's the area were I myself spent a lot of time ratting up a storm waiting for some key skills to get just a bit higher to better help my BOZO brothers and sisters in my own noob days. It's also the area where I got burnt trying to get the tougher (!) Low-sec rats. So Alakgur is a perfect school system; Hi-sec but close enough to trouble. I wouldn't have it any other way :)

So after anchoring a few cans out in the middle of nowhere and moving some ships into the system, si Gong proceeded to use his Retreiver while I practiced using my D-scan and landing my Taranis at his location. We did this for a bit while shooting the shit, testing the Retreiver's tank, or lack thereof, until I noticed the time and decided to dock up because of my stupidly awful 5H30 AM wake-up call. But as my 'Ranis was approaching the station, si Gong calls out on comms: "There's a Rifter here with me and he just turned red!" Ah ha! Can-flipper alert! I immediately reminded si Gong not to pick up anything from the now-turned can and to GTFO. By this time I was reshipped into my Jaguar and started the old D-scan thing I had just practiced in search of a Rifter. si Gong was nice enough to link the character so I also knew WHO I was hunting, and thankfully the system wasn't a mess of traffic so it didn't take long to notice there was only a single Rifter in space. And here si Gong almost made a big mistake: he was warping back to the belt in his Orca to pick up the 2m ISK worth of rocks... "NEIN!" says I who was already in the belt next to the yellow can, and he remembered the mechanics of can-flipping so he warped back as soon as he landed, and in a timely fashion too because our customer landed right on us. The range was perfect. I threw down my gloves and the fight was on!

And a particularly good one it was. The character was a year or two older than me so this was a maxed out Rifter and a maxed out Jaguar going at it. This was my W-space hunting fit so it didn't have a neut, therefore it was tougher breaking the NOS/armor rep tank, but once in a while my Hail S was digging in just a bit more. It was pretty clear I was gonna get this one with some overheat magic, but to put an end to this dance si Gong arrived in his own Rifter. Our bad guy instantly switched target, which was the right decision for him; si Gong's Rifter isn't maxed out and his fit had some... flaws. But the extra DPS, even if only for a little time, did its job and a few seconds after si Gong's Rifter popped, so did the bad guy's. GF's were shouted in Local as great fun was had, and then I wait to wait the aggro timer in order to dock, even if I had no GCC (damn vikings again...). One part of the fight that kind of scared me was the possibility of this pilot having buddies, especially when a Scythe landed next to us just before my side's Rifter's arrival. But the Scythe was neutral and not corp-aggro red and he decided that this belt was a lot too hot for mining and left!

All in all this was some very good practice in corp operations as small a corp as we are, and it was a great lesson for someone who doesn't have a lot of experience in EVE. It was too bad our pure noob wasn't around to see and hear this as he would've taken notice that "high security space" does not necessarily mean "safe space". si Gong and I will make sure he is promptly debriefed about yesterday's little frig party. Yep, I think we have moved into some interesting space after all!

Fly ready, always

o7

PS: sorry if I'm missing links and my attacker's name and corp. See next post-scriptum.

PPS: the Wednesday of Fail will be posted later tonite when I'm free of a crazy firewall. And Blogger.com couldn't suck more today.

And then they were three

No, this blog post will have nothing to do with late 70's Genesis when Steve Hackett left the band and Genesis started to suck. This is indeed an EVE Online post. As I had mentioned a little while ago, my corpmate and long-time friend si Gong resubbed and got back into the swing of things. His rust is getting brushed off daily and I didn't have too much to re-teach him, and could easily pick up where we had left off. But he had also told me that one of his buddies was interested in seeing this crazy game about Internet Spaceships, and so it was that on Sunday morning pilot Ricky Boys was born, and a few minutes later strained his neck looking up the Learning Cliff.

The sad part is that I couldn't help much on Sunday because of a slight case of over-indulgence at the previous night's EVE Meet. FYI: beer and korean food don't mix well, at least to me. But at least si Gong wasn't the complete noob he was right after resubbing and was able to help Ricky get started, get him books, ships, mods, etc. I did find a bit of energy to log in and see how the newborn was doing, and apparently he has discovered a taste for mining; to each his own I guess! I did find it quite funny at one point when a couple of Hi-sec Angel rats decided to play with his Navitas. I did give him a break and not let my brand new corpmate die so I undocked my Cynabal and showed those Angels who was boss, much to Ricky's joy. After that just for fun I docked the Cynabal and went back in my Absolution. My goal in doing this: to show him the difference between mining lasers and Heavy Pulse Lazor IIs. This was quite funny by the way. But in my corp, who says noob player says... INITIATION :))

Yesterday I was feeling a lot better and was able to go to si Gong's place - by the way, the two guys played as a LAN the entire time - for some in-the-flesh teaching. The first part was explaining how important it is to have his clone updated at all times in case of podding, but what better example than to experience the real thing? During this time and without him knowing it, I undocked my Comet and started warping to belts, and when I finally found him I told him "this is the sound you don't want to hear" and got a target lock. "Well, I'll just leave" says he. "Sure man, try!" Of course he was scrammed/webbed from hair tip to toe nail so si Gong and I had a good laugh. Reassuring him that we'll just get another Navitas I told him "This is what blowing up feels like", and 3 blaster volleys later his first Navitas was history, but Lo and Behold he wasn't sleeping at the wheel, and instinctly warped his pod out before I could lock it. Yay Ricky! We did another double check on his clone to make sure he'd be respawning in our system, and now without trickery I showed him what getting podded feels like, how the game reacts, what to do after, etc. I even showed him his frozen corpse floating in space before picking it up. So now as a noob he knows three important truths about EVE: 1- fly what he can afford to lose, 2- losing ships happens and isn't the end of the world, and 3- getting podded isn't the end of the world either.

So now Dock 94 is now actually a multi-player corp, something I never thought would happen when I made it. Here's to many successes, be they in PvP, PvE or even Industry!

Don't just hate noobs, teach 'em

o7

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - 2011/10/07

I was rewatching Vika's Reykjavik show with Brian Viglione and just had to post the powerful closing tunes. So crank it up and get blasted.

Also on the music front, tonight I'm going to see Dream Theater, with Trivium as an opening act. Should be something :)

Fly loud

o7

Blog Banter #29: You think that's air you're breathing?

OK, enough hockey silliness, time to get serious. The last blog banter was heavily charged with political views, economic views and tons of emotions both positive and negative. But this time the atmosphere should be lighter, especially with yesterday's 1-2 punch from CCP Hellmar and CCP Zulu. Seismic Stan of the Freebooted blog asks this question:

"EVE Online is renowned for its depth. Its backstory, gameplay and social aspects are all qualities that draw players in. What does immersion in EVE Online mean to you?"

Link to Seismic Stan's original post here.

Immersion in any game to me means one thing: for a limited amount of time reality gets suspended and becomes what you experience in the gaming universe. Being a pretty hardcore gamer for a long time now, it doesn't take much for me to get this feeling as I love to play games that are intense and require every bit of concentration and skill to play with some success. When a good game grabs me I can not only forget that a world exists around me, I cannot even see the outline of my computer monitor. This is especially true of very fast first-person shooters, flight sims and race sims, where action is either coming at you from all sides or coming at you with great speed (or both in the case of combat flight sims). But in EVE it's even deeper than that. Not only can there be action around you, but you also have to be aware of action that can be happening many systems away. And this is the part that makes EVE truly unique.

Let's say I start a small gang for a roam. When the fleet assembles in a station everybody is usually comfortable with the ships they are flying, usually have a good idea of where they will be flying, and are usually prepared for the worst. As an FC, I have to start gathering intel about the action near me, along my path, or at my destination. I also have to have good knowledge not only of my fleet's composition but of the pilots flying the ships, of the positions they have in space, and I need the knowledge to make changes wherever possible to maximize my fleet's success. All this with the knowledge that the other sides (plural; in EVE you ALWAYS have more than one enemy) are doing exactly the same thing. This is simply not possible if you haven't immersed yourself in everything EVE has to offer in lore, ship technology, fleet tactics, etc. And when you have immersed yourself to that level it's as if New Eden in its entirety is a living, breathing and active entity. The pixels become real, reality becomes the game, you ARE the ship you're flying. As an FC your scouts become your eyes and ears. Your fleet's guns, missiles, drones and Ewar become your hands, feet and mouth. Your shields and armor become your skin, and your internal structure becomes your bones. When you are successful you feel satisfied as if you have dined on the finest roast and the finest wine. When you fail it feels like you've been stabbed, trampled, beaten and bled dry.

Many video games offer various levels of immersion; some are just pass-times you can go in and out of, while others demand you to be more active within the game and/or within the community that plays it. But the level of immersion offered by EVE Online... damn is this one hard to beat. When people get emotional about a game to the point of rioting within it, you know that despite all that has gone wrong to cause such a reaction, the immersion thing is working as intended.

No, this is not air you are breathing; it is pod goo!

o7

It's on !!!

Notre Maurice Richard qui est aux cieux,

Que ton nom soit sanctifié...

Que ton règne revienne...

Que ta volonté se réflète sur la Terre comme sur la Sainte-Flanelle...

Donnez-nous aujourd'hui notre gain de ce jour... 

Pardonne-nous la saison dernière comme nous avons aussi appris à pardonner à Bob Gainey...

Ne soumet pas Carey Price à la pression...

Et délivre-nous du grand mongol à Zdeno Chara.

Amen... LA COUPE À MONTRÉAL !!!!!

If you're not happy with my prayer, well, too bad. Happy hockey season everyone !!!

Fly with fire in your eyes

o7

Wednesdays of Fail - 2011/10/05

Sorry for not posting for a few days, but the reason is simple. Precisely nothing has happened to me in either EVE Online or any other game lately, plus I had a Dad Weekend, plus I enjoy doing other stuff while I'm on vacation. I wish it was riding my bike but today is the first day where I can actually consider doing it; it has been a very rainy time for the past week or so in Montreal, it's good to have a change. But hey, can't have a Wednesday without a good ol' Fail Mail, and now that I have a few in the bank it would be stupid of me not to post 'em.

This week's entry comes from Lytia Tranaki of Fission Inc. Not too long ago they were hunting targets in W-space and came across a Rattlesnake that thought it was a Scorpion, kinda like dogs that think there are human:

[Rattlesnake, calspard's Rattler]
True Sansha Power Diagnostic System
True Sansha Power Diagnostic System
True Sansha Power Diagnostic System
Multi Sensor Backup Array II
Multi Sensor Backup Array II
Damage Control II

Pith X-Type Shield Boost Amplifier
Vepas' Modified ECM Multispectral Jammer
Vepas' Modified ECM Multispectral Jammer
Vepas' Modified ECM Multispectral Jammer
Sensor Booster II
Invulnerability Field II
Gist B-Type Large Shield Booster

Corpus X-Type Heavy Nosferatu
Improved Cloaking Device II
'Arbalest' Cruise Launcher I, Wrath Cruise Missile
ZW-4100 Siege Missile Bay, Inferno Torpedo
Caldari Navy Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile
Caldari Navy Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile

Large Capacitor Control Circuit II
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I


Hammerhead I x11
Light Shield Maintenance Bot I x5

http://coldfusion.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10694179

Holy Mother Mary and Joseph! I see someone has been using daddy's credit card a bit too much! At close to 3 billion ISK this ship would buy the regular player quite a few months of play time, and quite a few nice toys to go pewpew with. OK, let's wipe off the blood from our eyes and let's analyse this... monstrosity. First of all, Mr calspard didn't go light on the rigs, but this being an active tank I'll sorta forgive him. But then he goes and does something weird: half of a complex module tank and half of an Officer jamming setup. Who the hell in his right mind buys Officer jammers?! Whatever man... but the high slots really take the cake. A Nosferatu that's the price of a Vagabond, 4 missile launchers in 3 different flavors, 2 of which are Faction AND the wrong size for the ship; are you having that much trouble hitting frigates son? And the drones.... this is a joke right? With a full flight of Hammerhead I's, and giving the ship the benefit of "All level V skills" on EFT, this ships dishes out a whopping 315 DPS, and tanks 400 something. In comparison, my mission Sleipnir which is about a sixth the price of this Rattler tanks only slightly less and has more than double the firepower, and yeah, 524 m/s speed instead of the fat BS's 29. Yep, the Fail was strong in this one!

Lytia Tranaki, you sir (ma'am?) are about to receive some ISK. To prove to calspard that Real Men Hull Tank™, and only wimps ISK tank, you will be receiving 815000 ISK, which is your killboard's indicated value for the Damage Control II.

Do you have a funny killmail you would like to share with the community? If so, please evemail the killboard or BattleClinic link to Cozmik R5 in-game, or send it via regular e-mail at r3dfiv3@hotmail.com

Just as WDA and Ga'len have done in the past, the sender of a killmail that has been posted on the blog will receive a small ISK prize, the value of a random module fitted on the ship; dream on if you think I'll pay for Faction, Complex or Officer mods!

Keep your eyes open for Fail, and rid New Eden of these atrocities!

o7