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