Stepping Up In The Chain Of Command

There I was.  Terrified, sweating, a little shaky, a little sick to my stomach, with no idea on how to proceed.  I was surrounded by veteran members of a very good, and well renown, PvP corp, people who have been playing for two or three times as long as I have.  And these people, people who I respect and admire for their knowledge and experience, were going to follow me into battle.

As I promised in my last post I took my first fleet out on a roam yesterday.  I had never FC'd anything before in my life.  My knowledge of ship strengths and weaknesses are limited at best, yet there I was, about to embark on the most interesting and fun two hours of my Eve career.

I decided as this was my first attempt to keep it cheap and only fly T1 frigates.  This proved to be a wise decision.  The roam itself, by all measurable accounts, wasn't very successful; we lost 7 T1 frigates, and only killed a Thrasher and a Jaguar.  Having done the math on the isk war, we lost that slightly as well, though not by much.  I'm not going to be talking much about the specifics of the roam much as honestly that would just bore you; instead I'm going to be talking about my feelings and experiences as a first time FC.

Nerves can be a good thing as long as they don't get the best of you.  A little amount of nervousness keeps you on your toes, but too much can cripple you.  With this in mind, I asked my girlfriend to make me a drink to help calm myself down a bit.  She obliged with a Rockstar energy drink and vodka cocktail.  This helped me remember everyone knew it was my first time, that it was a video game, and to just go out and have fun.

I started moving the fleet around a few systems looking for targets while our skirmisher scouted for us.  Before the fleet started I decided two things that greatly helped me through the experience.  Know that your fleet is going to die, a lot; and keep the fleet moving; if you don't know what to do, just warp to the next gate.  The first helped me cope when people lost ships because of my mistakes, and the second helped to avoid stagnation.  In the end I think the most important of the two was to just keep moving.  Inactivity is the surest way to kill any enjoyment, and a great way to get yourself killed.  The other good thing that my decision to keep moving provided was a huge reduction in nerves.  FCing is like a lot of things, once you get into a groove you stop realizing that you're scared.

Our first kill came shortly after I got us caught by a -FA- gang who outnumbered and out shipped us by about 2 or 3 to 1.  On our way back to reship we found a Thrasher, but as we were trickling in he managed to take out a few of us basically solo (including me) before we were able to kill him.  Though not the most successful of attacks it was one of the most exciting moments I've had in Eve.  To actually be leading a fleet and order an attack and have something die was a feeling I couldn't explain.  I'm sure many of you would just laugh at that, but it was a major right of passage for me.  Sometimes the simple things are the most rewarding.

On our way back at the end of the roam we got our second kill.  We found a solo -FA- Jaguar who had friends on the other side of the system.  I decided we might as well go out in a blaze of glory.  We managed to kill the Jag just as his friends showed up.  Again, it was a great feeling to be in charge of something and have it work out.  This particular engagement was much more successful than the first kill.  We killed something worth more than what we lost, and that was my goal when deciding to engage.  Though we all lost our ships (I think we had 3 left at the time), and two pods, it was a fine way to end the evening.

Something I really enjoyed (and was actually surprised at) was being in charge.  I'm not one to second guess other FCs, Just about everyone is more experienced than me.  I don't sit there thinking, "what a stupid move," and I'd never say it out loud if I didn't think it.  That being said, I never new how much fun it would be to actually be the one making the decisions.  We lost ships, and killed ships, directly because of my decisions.  I wasn't just another DPS ship in a group of 20, 50, or 500.  I wasn't the quiet one in the background trying my best to do my job properly, only speaking up when it's needed.  My decisions didn't affect just myself and my target.  It was my call; something I truly enjoyed, even if my calls weren't usually very good.

My last post talked about getting out of your comfort zone, and nothing I've done in years has been more outside of mine.  For a long time I truly thought I wouldn't be able to do it, and as it was a requirement for me to make Core in Agony, something that genuinely worried me. I'd like to thank everyone who went on the roam for all your helpful advice as well as your understanding with my mistakes.  I will definitely be doing it again.  I still have a lot to learn, but over time I'm sure I'll learn them.

Mistakes were made, recon reports lost between ear and brain, potential targets passed up, lessons learned, then forgotten, then learned again, and a lot of fun was had.

Reaching Greatness

Have you ever seen that guy at the gym with biceps as big as Arnold Schwarzenegger, but with the legs of a 10 year old girl?  Why does he look like this?  Why doesn't he work out his lower body?  What about that friend who is too scared to talk to a girl?  If he talks to her, he might get a date and he might not; but if he doesn't, he won't get anything.  How about that friend of yours who always dips into drugs when times are bad?

All of these people have something in common, they've reached a comfort zone that they don't want to break out of.  It's easier to work our your already strong and good looking arms than it is to go through the pain all over again on your legs.  It's easier to just wish you could get a date than it is to face the possible embarrassment of a rejection.  It's easier to get away from it all.

One of my coaches once said a phrase that has stuck with me, "Become comfortable with being uncomfortable."  It's a phrase that I'm sure many of you have heard in different forms before, but I'd like to expound on it a bit.

Every one of us have this nasty little habit where we don't like to change things away from their status quo.  I have friends who are in serious long term relationships but wish they could go play the field; I have friends who play the field and wish they were in a serious long term relationship.  Both sides of the position could change it if they would only get outside of their comfort zone.

Have you ever had a friend or family member who constantly complained about how life was so unfair?  "Why wasn't I blessed to be a trust fund baby?"  This attitude ties into our inability to get uncomfortable.  That same coach once said, "You are exactly where you are in life because of the decisions you have made.  It's not someone else's fault, they aren't more lucky than you, and no one is keeping you from reaching their level."  Now obviously, this isn't true 100% of the time (a lotto winner is pretty lucky), but if you think about, almost every successful person in the world (in any endeavor) are successful because of their choices; and every unsuccessful person is unsuccessful because of their choices as well.

 So how do we reach greatness?  It's simple, do things that make you uncomfortable.  Are you terrified to approach girls at the bar?  Go find the hottest girls you can find and go for it!  Do you hate to run?  Too bad, go run!  Can't stomach to lose ships?  Get 100 of them and lose every single one!  Terrified to look like an idiot FCing?  Take a fleet out this weekend!

Eve is very similar to real life in many ways.  We all get into our comfort zone and don't want to leave.  Maybe you're a miner and want to tr PvP, but you're nervous.  Maybe you want to try a big scam, but are afraid of being caught up.  Whatever if it, if you want to reach the levels you dream of within Eve, get comfortable being uncomfortable.

My challenge to you is this.  Find something that you are terrified or hate doing, and go do it at least once this upcoming week.  Myself?  I'll be FCing my first fleet, I'll tell you how it goes.

Words To Fly By

So every week on Monday I will be giving you a piece of random advice that can help you in the game.  I know this is Wednesday, but from now on it'll be posted on Monday.  These aren't going to be the normal rules like "Don't fly what you can't afford to lose,"  what they will be are little things that you might not have thought about before.  Some will be serious, some tongue-in-cheek, some probably useless, but hopefully all with be entertaining.

WTFB: "If you have an excited pet, keep it out of the room while PvPing."

 

If you have an over aggressive dog, cat, Boa Constrictor, Gazelle, or Elephant, it is probably best if you don't let it in the room with you while you're trying to be "leet.

True Story:  About three weeks ago I was skirmishing with Agony and probably doing a pretty terrible job at it.  This wasn't my dogs fault.  I have a five month old Siberian Husky, and it is an amazing dog, but if you know anything about Huskys, you know that they are very very active and energetic.

I have my computer hooked up to my HDTV and I sit on the couch when I play, putting my keyboard in my lap and the mouse on the armrest while I play.  It doesn't sound like it would work, but it works perfectly for me.  Aurora (my dogs name) was pretty active and every now and then I would throw a toy for it to chase whenever it was too close to me.

I hooked back up with our fleet and another skirmisher found a fleet a little to big for us to take on in a straight up flight, so our FC ordered everyone to burn away from the gate so we could try and snipe one or two of them before we escaped, a fine plan.  This is when Aurora decided to go Kujo on me.

At about the exact time the order was given to burn away (and right before the other fleet came through the gate), Aurora jumped over the back of my couch and landed right on my head.  She slid down on top of my lap covering my keyboard and began licking and nipping at my face and hands as I desperately tried to align and get away from the gate.  The other fleet came through.  I was targeted, scrammed, destroyed, and podded before I was able to free myself from Auroras loving attack. 

Frustrated that I was just killed by my dog, I logged for the night and went about playing with her for a while.  Lesson to be learned?  I now keep my dog upstairs whenever I PvP.

Eve Is Real

I really wish CCP would finish their slogan.  Seriously, who puts a slogan out to the world half finished?  Is it a tease?  If so it's been a long one.  I'm super serial, Eve Is Real what? 

• Eve is real hard?
• Eve is real(ly) bad at teaching you how to play when you start?
• Eve is real(ly) where the geeks hang out?

Or maybe they're referring to the art department.

• Eve is real(ly) beautiful.
• Eve is real serious about making phallic shaped ships.
• Eve is real(ly) using the most worthless character creator of all time.

No, those aren't what they're going for.

• Eve is real bad at accurate physics.
• Eve is real intense.
• Eve is real(ly) pumping money into the Icelandic economy.

I don't know what they're going for.  Eve is real(ly) unlike the real world, but I still love it. :D

If you come up with a funny Eve is real, let me know.

Eve Stragetic Maps - Review

I recently bought and received the Eve Strategic Maps, and I've been playing around with it for a few days.  If you've been thinking of buying it I hope this review can shed some light.

Shipping: 8/10
I ordered it on May 7th and received it on the 14th.  Considering I live in The United States and it shipped from England this is more than satisfactory.  It seemed like it took forever, but that was just because of my excitement.

Packaging: 6/10
The packaging was adequate.  It came in a folder like cardboard box.  My only concern with this is if it had been raining and left outside all day it is very possible that the contents could have been damaged by the water.  The book itself was not wrapped in any plastic protection to prevent this.  A small issue probably, and it didn't affect me, but I would have been very upset had it been warped because of a rainy day.

Presentation/Artwork: 9/10
The cover photo is well done, though I would have liked something other than a Noctis.  The main bulk of the maps are well organized with clean lines and grids.  The color scheme is perfect for easy reading.

Useability: 10/10
Each region is given its own page and is listed alphabetically, so it's very easy to find.  It also has a table of contents with what page number the specific regions are located on.   The legend is very detailed, covering what each color, line, bar, circle, arrow, ect... means.  Each region has a listing of the NPC rat that lives there with what damage type to use against them, as well as the controlling faction in empire space.  It clearly shows resources, security level, complexes, station services, outposts, COSMOS, and everything you could want to know about the system.  It does all this without cluttering up the map as well, which with that much info is an accomplishment.  I find it does it more cleanly than both the Dotlan and Ombey maps.  Trade hub system names are also clearly shown in orange to make them stand out from every other system.  There is also an index with every system name in the game at the back of the map so you can quickly find what page and grid it is located at.

Quality: 8/10
The book is spiral bound and before I ordered it this concerned me a little bit.  Everything I have ever used that's been spiral bound has torn apart in a matter of weeks.  I have no fear of this happening with the maps.  It is printed on thick enough paper that, as long as you're careful and not an idiot, won't tear from day to day use.  If it was laminated I would have given this a 10/10 because it is still possible to ruin it by spilling liquid on it, and lamination would prevent it from being torn even if you are an idiot.  Short of full on lamination though, this is as good as you can ask for.

Extras: 6/10
It comes with a big poster of all the lowsec regions for you to hang on your wall.  I don't think this will be useful to most people because the systems are printed so small that by hanging it on the wall you won't be able to easily see it while sitting at your computer.  It is also printed on standard poster paper so its longevity is in doubt.  It does look cool though, sort of like an old map you might hang on your wall.

It also comes with some small yellow stickers you can put on the maps for when new outposts are built.  If you live in sov null this might come in handy, but as I don't I'll have no use for them. 

Overall: 10/10
When you take everything into consideration there isn't much more that you could ask for.  I had a high expectation for it and have kind of nit-picked at it, and I'm still impressed.  If you have multiple monitors you might not need them as you can have Dotlan open next to you while you fly, but for anyone who doesn't, which includes me, the Eve Strategic Maps are worth every penny.  I highly recommend them to anyone who is wanting an atlas for eve.

Here I've posted some pictures to give you an idea of what you'll be getting.  Sorry about the quality, my phones camera is terrible.

Best looking Eve Ships

I find I often forget to care what the ships in the game look like.  We fly ships based on their abilities, and anyone who really knows what they're doing won't fly a ship based purely on looks.  They all have their advantages and disadvantages for different roles, and while some are completely worthless (I'm looking at you EAFs), most have a time and a place for their use.  That being said, there are some truly beautiful ship designs in Eve and I thought I'd share my top 10 list.  When the ship has a T2 hull I picked the one with my favorite paint scheme.  I also didn't take into consideration Alliance Tournament Prize ships, NPC ships, Jove Ships, or Strategic Cruisers.

10. Naglfar 

I personally love the Nag.  There's something to be said about flying a vertical ship, and in my opinion this one does it the best.

   



9. Maelstrom

The Maelstrom is sleek and deadly.  It reminds me of an old war battleship, where speed and firepower were both important. 

8. Nyx 

If you had asked me to describe a Mothership I would come up with something very similar to the Nyx.  It harkens to old space movies and flying saucers.  It also brings to mind Independence Day and the swarms of fighters that poured out of the attacking ships.

7. Abaddon

Mean and powerful.  This ship screams tank right off the bat.  Big, slow, and unleashing devastation everywhere it goes.  The image this ship brings to mind is entire planets being subjugated by pure fear of this one ship.

6. Wolf

I love the Rifter and anything based on its hull.  It makes me think of the Lone Ranger type of star pilot, something that Han Solo would fly into battle.  You immediately think of speed and guns when you see this ship.

5. Malediction

Speed, speed, and more speed is what think of when I see this ship.  It reminds me of an A-Wing from Star Wars.  Terribly weak when it comes to weapons and defenses, but blistering speed.  Considering the ship is an Interceptor, I think they got their point across.

4. Nighthawk

The Nighthawk is the kind of ship you'd picture if you wanted to picture death.  Aggressive, dark, poisonous, and full of terror.  I would imagine that if the Nazis could have produced a spaceship, they would have given something that looks like a Nighthawk to the SS. 

3. Charon

This is what a space freighter is supposed to look like.  When I was a kid drawing pictures of fighters shooting spaceships, I probably drew something that looks like a Charon a million times.  This ship fits its role perfectly.

2. Rokh

A clear flagship if there ever was one.  This ship just flat out tells you by looking at it that the Admiral is directing the fight from the bridge of this perfectly designed ship.

1. Nemesis (Upcoming Inferno Model)

It's probably because it's brand new that I love it so much, but damn what a good looking ship.  When I first started playing Eve and I heard about the stealth bombers I immediately thought of the real life Stealth Bomber, and was very disappointed when the truth was shown to me.  This ship brings back those same feelings.

As a bonus here's my top 10 Ugliest Ships In Eve, in no particular older:

Obelisk
Dominix
Hyperion
Revenant
Bantam
Griffin
Imiscus
Maulus
Navitas
Moa

Well, there you have it.  My top 10 best looking (and ugliest) ships in Eve.   This is of course just my opinion and I'm sure you all could pick out a very different list.  So tell me, what are your favorite, or least favorite, ships?

D-Scan

So I've finally figured out how to "quickly" pinpoint someones location via D-Scan.  If you've been unlucky enough to help me practice you know that it was an exercise in futility, 20, 30 minutes later I might find you.  For those of you who don't know Agony requires you to pass a 3 minute scan test to gain Core level, and for a while there I was truthfully worried that I wouldn't be able to do it.  Now, I am by no means perfect, but I thought I'd share how I've improved my scanning ability to respectable levels.

D-Scan

I'll start with the basics.  The D-Scan is brought up by pressing Alt-D, or the little button to the left of your HUD that looks like a radar sweep.  If you are ever in a potential hostile environment it should be up at all times so you can be aware of who and what is around you.  You'll see a check box labeled "Use Active Overview Settings", a range box, an angle slider, scan button, and a big empty space below it all.  The range can go up to approximately 14.33 AU and the angles for scanning are 360, 180, 90, 60, 30, 15, and 5.  The empty box below is where your scan results will show, and the use active overview settings box will do exactly what it says, that is only show things that would appear on your overview if you were on grid with it.

Use Active Overview

The first step in performing a successful D-Scan is having your overview set up properly.  Some things you need to have on it.  All ships, stargates, warpgates, wormholes, planets, the sun, wrecks, mobile warp disruptor.  Some people also put POCOs, moons, and asteroid belts, on it as well, but I find that they just clutter up the D-Scan results and I personally just use the onscreen brackets when scanning those.  Warpgates and wrecks are useful for determining if the person is running a mission or ratting.

Click the "Use Active Overview" check box to make sure that you can only see the things that you want, otherwise you'll often get hundreds of meaningless results.

The Process

I've practiced my D-Scanning by warping to a random celestial with an alt, then trying to scan him down.  Create an overview setting which shows the sun, all planets, moons, POCOs, asteroid belts, stargates, and stations.  Pick one at random without looking at your overview and press S (the keyboard shortcut for warp).  Your ship will then warp to a location that you don't know.

When you enter the system with the one doing the scanning first analyze the system with the system scanner.  This will tell you if any anomalies are in the system that your target could be at.  For the purpose of our practice you don't need to do that but its good to get into the habit.  Run a 360 scan, if you're target isn't on the scan then warp to a celestial in the middle of a bunch of other celestials, repeat until you find your target on the 360 scan.

When they are on the 360 scan, drop it down to 180 or 90 and scan in quadrants until you find them.  At this point you can probably drop your angle down to the 15 or 5 degree mark and start to scan the individual celestials.  If you press and hold the Alt key you will see a little box around your ship.  Align this box with the celestial when doing the shorter angle scans as this is the point where the angle starts at.  When your target shows up, warp to the celestial.

I find using the 5 degree mark a little twitchy, so if you're having problems pinpointing the location you can use the F10 map and use it to look around.  It is far easier to manipulate the camera while in the map view and it can help shave some time off your search.

Make It Quicker

If your target isn't on the initial 360 scan set your angle to 180 and spam the scan while in warp.  When your target appears on the scan continue to spam the button.  If your target disappears at some point you will know you passed the location and can then focus on the celestials that you passed, this can save you a ton of time you would have spent scanning areas where your target isn't located.  Bringing up the F11 map can help a lot with this.

I find that I don't use the 60 or 30 degree settings much.  By the time I narrow it down via the 90 degree scan there are usually only a handful of celestials to scan and I find it's quicker if I just go straight into scanning them individually. 

I never change the range and always leave it at the maximum.  I find that if I try and do both it just confuses me and I fail terribly.

One last thing is if you show all brackets it will still not show moons in space.  You need to enable this by pressing a shortcut key.  I don't remember what the default is as I've remapped it, but you can find the setting in Esc -> Shortcuts -> Navigation -> Toggle Special Bracket Display.  I have this on all the time, and since I've figured this out my scanning ability has drastically improved as I can now find targets that are at those locations.

Best Time Ever

The shortest time I've ever been able to D-Scan something down is 0:46.  I got very lucky with this though, as my target was on the first 360 scan, and at the first celestial I scanned at 5 degrees.  I'm normally in the 2-3.5 minute range when they aren't on the initial scan.  Clearly there is still room for improvement, but as I practice the time it takes me will continue to go down.  I now have confidence that I can pass the dreaded 3 minute scan test.

Whats the procedure you use for scanning?  What could I do better to shorten my time?  What's your best, or average, time to scan something down?  Any input is greatly encouraged and appreciated, that is if anyone actually reads this silly little attempt at a blog.  :D