Filesystem Checkwits go to the library

I hear there's a cleric in an Alliance camp in Desolace who has skeletons in his quest log. Although I have travelled through various regions already, I still have quite a trek ahead of me to reach him. My route takes me through Ratchet, as I still have a couple of quests from overpowering Wailing Caverns to hand in there, after which I need to cross The Barrens and pass through the mostly uninteresting Stonetalon Mountains to get to Desolace. I think I take a wrong turn somewhere, as tauren guards use their pointy weapons to explain that Sun Rock Retreat isn't a holiday camp, but my run through an enemy camp is a good short-cut. Desolace is now just around the corner.

Several NPCs greet me at Nijel's Point with quests, but I shun them all for the grander task. 'Brother Anton, I have heard the call. I am here to smite skeletons in the name of the Light.' Maybe my voice was muffled by facing down when kneeling, so I look up. 'Brother Anton, I seek enlightenment through the destruction of evil. How may I assist you?' Still Anton won't talk to me. 'Ah, it's a test! Yes, you are wise, I must first prove I am an ally.' So off I trot, speak to a lazy night elf who can't walk down the road and shoo some buzzards for himself, investigate the wagon and return with a pendant. Just as planned, handing in the quest gets me to 33rd level. As the elf ponders the pendant and starts asking me to locate its owner, his voice trails off as I run up to see Anton again.

'Brother Anton, I have aided that night elf, proving I am friend to the Alliance and making myself stronger in the process. I beseech you, let me fight for your cause.' But nothing. That's fine. If the Alliance doesn't want my help, I know people who do. The Scarlet Crusade has the noble cause of wiping out all evil, even if they are lunatic enough to think anyone not in the Scarlet Crusade must be evil. At least they have a goal. I persuade the other Filesystem Checkwits, still missing a druid, to travel with me to the Scarlet Monastery in Tirisfal Glades, where I hope to apply for a position.

The journey north is uneventful, and we pass the time all the way to the monastery pestering Livya to tell us who the admirer is who complimented her outfit earlier. Livya's faux-modest reluctance to tell only leads us to conclude that the compliment was from Lorr, the naked night elf she obsesses over, her subsequent denials only coming across as coquettish confirmation of the blossoming relationship. Through all the giggling and teasing we fail to hear heavily armed and armoured paladins shushing us, and it is only too late that we realise we have wandered in to the library of the Scarlet Monastery and committed the sin of talking too loudly. My first attempt to join the Scarlet Crusade starts badly as we end up defending ourselves against some rather harsh librarians. One chap even has several hounds with him, and as they don't look like guide dogs he must surely be breaking a by-law, so we mete our own justice to restore order.

Vulzerda tries on the dog training gloves that Houndmaster Loksey's corpse graciously offers her, and I note that his training must be pretty harsh if the gloves go right up to the elbow. As Vulzerda ponders this, sniffing the gloves with a wrinkled nose, I perform a little inventory shuffle. Whilst moving some of the pilgrim holiday achievement items to make room for more important loot, like cave mould, a trigger is accidentally pulled when I have Livya firmly centred in my sights. The explosion of feathers dissipates, leaving Livya looking remarkably like a turkey. This rather baffles Vulzerda. 'Maybe I've had too much to drink, but you seem a bit taller than normal.'

The transformation in to seasonal poultry doesn't affect Livya's ability to be an effective warlock, at least no more than normal. She finds out that in her new turkey form she can still cast spells, even if they do not emanate from her wings as expected. 'I have shadow feet!' It's true, shadow bolts are flying from the turkey's feet towards the mobs, whilst life tap and instant-cast spells cause her to jump in the air a little, all in a flap. I may have complained before about the lack of paladin attacks, but right now, as I giggle at this bizarre sight, I am thankful for the simple auto-attack that supplies the core of my tanking abilities. 'I'm glad I'm providing group entertainment', Livya gobbles.

'And later, we can pluck, cook and eat you', replies Vulzerda. We may not even need to cook her, what with Livya's propensity for spontaneously casting hellfire, a spell so devilish that it burns even the warlock casting it. Until then, the defenders of the Scarlet Monastery have to deal with some seriously foul turkey foot odour.

We seem to be reaching the point where a retribution paladin and enhancement shaman are sub-optimal for a tank and healer combination. Whereas Vulzerda is healing only temporarily as we await the return of our druid, it is perhaps time for me to consider changing my focus to the protection talents. Although we don't have too much trouble facing the mobs in the Scarlet Library, and Arcanist Doan becomes less of a challenge after I realise I am mistaking him for Grand Crusader Dathrohan in Stratholme, the damage spikes from the monks cause a few problems that could be smoothed out with a more defensive posture on my part. I am also told that not running unannounced in to side-rooms to face multiple mobs out of sight of the healer will also help mitigate damage spikes, which I duly note.

After clearing the library twice, once on the way in and once through the respawns on the way out, we only poke our noses a little way in to the armoury. We will be coming back to Scarlet Monastery. With plenty of interesting architecture to see, lots of good books to read, and hordes of deluded maniacs to battle, the monastery is worth more than one visit. There is so much more to see than a single day permits. And as Arcanist Doan guards the Scarlet Key, which opens the other wings, we will return to him so that our still-absent druid can get her copy of it. Our return definitely has nothing to do with a certain absent-minded warlock, mentioning no names, forgetting to get the key herself, muttering pitiful excuses like, 'I was a sheep at the time', 'I knew we'd be coming back for Qattara's sake', and even, 'I didn't know to pick it up, I'm ex-Horde, I've never been here before!'

Returning to Stormwind, I go to the cathedral to visit my mentor, who teaches me new ranks of a few skills, as well as finally giving me my protective bubble. I try out the bubble, but my first attempt fails as my hearthstone is on its cool-down. With a sly chuckle, my mentor reminds me that it is important always to have the hearthstone ready when attempting the bubble-hearthstone manoeuvre, a lesson only needing to be learnt the once. I thank him for his blessing of wisdom, whilst hoping that the Scarlet Crusade will accept my admission next time I'm there so I can get my revenge on this smug git. Of course, I'd better remember to set my hearthstone to somewhere other than Stormwind when I wreak my revenge, as bubble-hearthing after killing a paladin trainer won't be a terribly effective escape if I then walk out of an inn only a hundred yards away.

As I turn to leave the cathedral, future plans effervescing in my mind, what do I spy but a quest waiting for me to pick up. Waiting in the cathedral's catacomb is another cleric, who holds the mission. 'Good paladin, would you mind travelling to Desolace? At Nijel's Point, you will find Brother Anton, who has an important task for you.' Oh, that's fabulous. No wonder he ignored me, he's seen by appointment only. Back to Desolace with me!

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Tags: azeroth, filesystem checkwits, kiska, mmorpg, paladin, world of warcraft

Optimising the Damnation for Sleeper combat

We have people! The wormhole engineers are not a large group, so getting more than a few capsuleers on-line at the same time, and in the same place, is not terribly common. We seize the opportunity, particularly as our chief scanner has located a neighbouring C3 system that is uninhabited and has some sites of specific Sleeper interest to defile. But first, my Damnation needs a few changes.

I don't have access to the EVE Fitting Tool, so my method of researching ship fittings is based on the contentious advice given in various fora, combined with having to buy various modules to see if they fit and what effect they have. It is not ideal. I would rather not be left with various expensive modules lying in hangars around the galaxy after finding out they don't quite meet my needs. Considering that I pilot highly complex ships through space, using the amazing technology of stargates, and docking at massive space stations, I would imagine that there is enough processing power available to offer a virtual fitting service in at least some stations.

Luckily, I have others around me who are kind enough to help with fitting my ships more optimally. Instead of concentrating on the warfare links and armour buffer tank Bad Badtz Maru currently has, I can sacrifice a chunk of the hefty armour to boost my damage output. Whilst running three warfare links is a special feature of the command ship, it is perhaps not always necessary, particularly in our small fleets. Removing one of the warfare links and the drone link augmentor frees up enough grid to make use of all five launcher high slots. Taking out the armour hardeners from the low slots also lets me fit three ballistic control systems, increasing my rate-of-fire.

Even without the armour hardeners, the Damnation's resistance to damage is impressively high, and boosted further by the passive defence armoured warfare link. With the fleet booster and warfare link bonuses, Bad Badtz Maru still has over 140,000 effective hit points, which is plenty for surviving Sleeper fire, and now my DPS is significantly increased too. I should be much more effective as a fleet member.

With the firepower we have available, we blast through anomalies quickly and easily. So easily, in fact, that I get volunteered to start salvaging the previous sites whilst the fleet forges ahead to new anomalies. This is fine with me, even if it means leaving my Damnation back in the hangar, as I get a curious thrill out of salvaging, which I plan to explain at some point. In the end, we clear three-and-a-half anomalies before running out of time, the half of an anomaly apparently being the result of a failed attempt to clear it earlier by another party.

I finish swiping the loot from and salvaging the wrecks and return to the tower, dropping off a neat collection of profitable goods. It is good to be shooting Sleepers again.

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Tags: damnation, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, sleepers, w-space

Where I've been recently

It has been six months since Kirith Kodachi instigated a wide-scale stalking campaign. When I participate and post a map of my most visited systems in New Eden it is not long since joining my current corporation. With only a short stint in a PvP corporation and plenty of mission running with the Caldari Navy before that, my map is rather mundane. At least with my new corporation I begin travelling to and from different regions to make use of private laboratories, ferret-infestated or otherwise.

But a lot has changed since then. A few intrepid members of the corporation want to explore the newly uncovered mysteries of w-space. With a tingle of excitement, and plenty of anxiety and apprehension, I volunteer my pod too. Although w-space sits outside of the known regions of New Eden, and thus does not register on the galactic map, the arbitrary nature of the appearance of wormholes leads me to venture through many new systems. I spend time travelling through high-sec in order to enter w-space, as well as when finding my way back to base upon exiting w-space. Every now and again, there is even a brief excursion to or from a wormhole through low-sec, normally one or two hops.

There are other factors that make my map glow somewhat brighter now. Buying the Crane transport ship makes me brave low-sec more often. I perhaps trust the Crane a little too much, but it also shows me how unpopulated many low-sec systems can be. Getting involved in Tech II invention sees me work for different NPC corporation agents to build personal standings with them, as well as travelling the breadth of high-sec to visit R&D agents occasionally. My updated galactic slug trail is understandably broader and brighter, even if I still have no idea what factors influence the colours.

What disappoints me about the new image is the lack of presence in null-sec. On one occasion, the engineers pop out of a wormhole in to a null-sec system to fight some rats. And on a second occasion, I am kindly guided through a convoluted route from k-space back to the corporation tower in w-space, taking in three w-space systems, taking a brief detour through a null-sec system. In neither case does my presence register on the galactic map.

I wonder what it takes to get a system registered as having been visited. My instinct is that my own ship's navigational computer stores and aggregates this data, but if that were the case my appearances in null-sec would show. As I both enter and exit each null-sec system using a wormhole, it thus strikes me as entirely feasible that stargates are the mechanism for registering and recording capsuleers' movements between systems. And if that is the case, there must be some central computer tracking everyone's movements in the galaxy, which raises some obvious questions about who controls the database and what their motives are for storing all this information centrally.

It would be interesting to find out if moving between systems using cynosaural gates powered by capital ships also leaves no trace of a capsuleer's movements. If not, there is a conspiracy afoot. It is almost impossible to navigate without using stargates, yet someone is using them in a different way, to track every ship that passes through. I am beginning to think I am safer hiding out in w-space.

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Tags: eve online, low-sec, maps, meme, mmorpg, null-sec, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Routing Razorfen Kraul

Coming out from overpowering Wailing Caverns, the Filesystem Checkwits spot some allies. From brief stints as spies in Horde territory, I understand the riders we encounter to be quite a frustration. Maybe they don't ambush unsuspecting characters quite as effectively as the devilsaurs in Un'Goro Crater, but the elite riders come in greater numbers. Not only that, but whilst successfully overcoming the riders may reward the victor with a quest, it is a quest that needs to be completed several levels before anyone is equipped to take on the riders in a fair fight in the first place.

Essentially, the riders are a pest, giving us no option but to join them, casually patrolling the southern Barrens for unsuspecting Horde characters. Vulzerda is a little held up in Wailing Caverns, but manages to catch up quickly enough thanks to her amazing elekk hovercraft. I'm not sure why she wants to swap it for an ordinary ground cat.

Heading further south gives us the opportunity to continue the low-level Horde dungeon achievement night, with the Glorious Oktober Revolution People's Routing of the Razorfen Kraul Quillboar. With only a little time in which to accomplish a majestic victory, we decide that the best strategy is to defeat the leader and let morale take care of the rest. But my plan to run directly to the leader before pausing to shake off the hundred or so minions that are bound to follow is scuppered as soon as we enter Razorfen Kraul. It appears that we aren't quite as overpowering as we were in Wailing Caverns, the quillboar even offering us experience points. It's time to equip a shield and be rather more careful.

The overall strategy of bypassing as many mobs as we can is sound, though. We head in as direct a path as possible towards the deepest area of the instance, ignoring superfluous pigs and wannabe mini-bosses, pausing only for the occasional node of iron. The final boss of Razorfen Kraul waits for us. As we charge in to combat, our shaman feels bitterly mocked, the boss casting chain lightning on all of us. Vulzerda had tried the same trick on the mobs of Wailing Caverns, only managing to hit one at a time, the others collapsing before our mighty attacks of overpowering levels. We have the last laugh, though, defeating the boss quickly. Sadly, the laughing stops when we accidentally pick up a quest on the way out of the instance to find a pendant stolen by a quillboar. I am not entirely convinced there are enough quillboars left alive to search for the pendant. But there is another way.

A quick reset of the instance and a few mob kills upon re-entering, and the pendant is found on one of the quillboars. The quest grants a reputation gain from Darnassus when handed in, back in the elven capital, which should help Vulzerda towards getting her big cat. But it doesn't help to log out before handing the pendant in, as goblins or someone steal it out of your backpack whilst you're sleeping. Little gits. Ah well, I'm off to Desolace to see Brother Anton about some skeletons.

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Tags: azeroth, filesystem checkwits, kiska, mmorpg, world of warcraft

The capsuleer who warps out in a Tristan but comes back in a pod

There is still not much to find in our home w-space system. This makes finding the wormhole to the neighbouring C3 system quick, and I poke the nose of my borrowed frigate through to see what is on the other side. First, I bookmark the wormhole itself, as it has a separate entity in each system. Second, I activate the directional scanner, which shows general activity in the system. Finding a tower and a few ships indicates that the system is inhabited and, unless the capsuleers are sleeping, the sites are probably unavailable for us to run. But I still have a wormhole exit to k-space to find.

The first wormhole I locate in the C3 system leads to deeper w-space, a C4 system with a pulsar. I bookmark the location, but head back to the C3 to exhaust the possibility of an exit wormhole there first. Another check of the d-scan reveals a Raven and Hurricane now in the system, rather than the more benign ships previously. I suppose the inhabitants detected the presence of scanning probes and are adopting a defensive posture, which is understandable. I am not overly concerned about the two ships at the moment, as I can quite safely sit cloaked at an arbitary point in the system whilst continuing to scan.

I see another wormhole. I show a little caution and approach the wormhole at range, rather than warping directly on top of it, because of the change in attitude of the inhabiting capsuleers. As the ship slows to sub-light speeds, my screens and overview become busier. There is a warp bubble surrounding the wormhole and the two hostile ships are waiting inside it as an ambush for unwary travellers, so it is good that I am wary. As soon as I drop out of warp I engage the cloaking device, to foil attempts to lock-on to the ship, and, yes, I am training to fit a covert ops cloaking device. I quickly turn tail and warp back to the wormhole to our system, returning to our tower.

It is possible that the capsuleers assume I came from the wormhole they have bubbled, and were looking for easy prey to pick on, which gives credence to the wormhole leading to high-sec space. Locking down the wormhole also preserves their claimed system, a good tactic to employ when running sites in a system with an exit to k-space. Back at the tower, I return the borrowed Imicus to the relief of its owner, and I tell him of the bubble and two ships on what I suppose to be the exit wormhole. His curiosity is piqued, and he grabs a ship out of the hangar, as he wants to 'see what size bubble it is'.

Off he warps. 'Oh, the two ships were a Raven and Hurricane', I finally remember. I was a little flustered when he asked during my rapid warp out before. Then a capsule returns to the tower. 'Didn't you leave here in a Tristan?' It seems that the hostile ships were rather more prepared this time, and manage to destroy his frigate before he even has a chance to turn around. I suppose my failure at supplying intelligence caused his own failure of intelligence. At least he comes back in a pod, and with the knowledge that it is a medium bubble on the wormhole. And I know that my colleague has just lost a ship, but I can't help but giggle at the comedy. Going to reconnoitre an ambush and getting ambushed is an embarrassing accident that cannot be concealed when he returns in a bare pod, although I'm giggling perhaps a little too much.

'I think it's safe', I say about ten minutes later. 'Why don't you go back to take another look?' I am only teasing, still tickled. To my astonishment, he actually grabs another ship and warps off! Now I am starting to feel guilty, thinking that the next communication I hear will be from his clone. Luckily, he only enters the C3 to drop a probe on top of the bookmarked wormhole, which lets him verify that the bubble and two ships are still there. He comes home safely and intact this time.

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Tags: eve online, hurricane, imicus, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, raven, scanning, tristan, w-space

Finding some miners

There is an awful lot of scanning to do when in the uncharted area that is w-space. Back in k-space, I tend to take many situations for granted. I can jump from one system to another through a stargate visible on any navigational computer, even being able to cruise across high-sec on auto-pilot. If there are hostile ships to destroy, an agent will kindly drop details of their location in my ship's computer, which I can then simply warp to. Out in w-space, everything needs to be discovered.

It's good that I choose to boost my scanning skills a little back when my corporation is first setting up in w-space. I may not have excellent skills at locating cosmic anomalies, but training the primary scanning skill and a couple of secondary certainly has made the process easier and quicker. When I find myself alone in w-space with little to do, I can't simply head to a mission agent or check on the market. First I need to get there, and to do that I need to find an exit.

Because our home w-space system is quickly cleared of sites of specific Sleeper interest, finding the static wormhole usually doesn't take long. A quick overall scan of the system brings up the couple of fresh signals a system otherwise bereft of anomalies spawns, and a few minutes strengthens the signals enough to be able to bookmark each one. The only problem is that the system's static wormhole leads again to w-space, a C3 system, where a further scan needs to be made in the hopes of finding an exit to k-space.

Luckily, today's connecting C3 only gives a few hits itself, and I find a way back to k-space, albeit in to a low-sec system a few jumps from high-sec space. I also find a neighbouring C5 system. I venture through to see what's on the other side. A quick check of the directional scanner reveals what can only be a mining operation in progress, with two Hulks, an Orca, Bestower and Hoarder visible. If one of the ships is named accurately, the capsuleers in the system belong to the Suicide Kings corporation. Relating this to my own corporation, and mentioning that I am going to stay to scan the system, I get the helpful advice, 'Don't die.'

'The Absolution and Purifier didn't get me, I think I'm safe against Hulks.' Pausing to reflect on what sound suspiciously like last words, I add, 'you can tattoo that on to my clone if anything happens to me'. I warp to a relatively safe spot, drop some probes, and activate the ship's cloaking device. My first scan of the overall system lights up my display with around sixteen sites. Sixteen sites, all with valuable Sleeper loot to claim, and the New Eden inhabitants instead want to drag rocks back to their tower!

If the system didn't have such active occupants, it would be ideal to wake up some other wormhole engineers and start raking in the profit. But it's probably not worth the risk in hoping that the miners will share their resources with us, them taking the rocks, us blowing up Sleepers. They could even let us take the risks with the Sleepers then come and claim the loot for themselves. And I don't have the patience to resolve every one of the signals, particularly if we won't get to visit them, so instead I let out a sigh for all the lucrative anomalies I'm leaving behind, and head back to the tower.

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Tags: eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space

Overpowering the Wailing Caverns

It's low-level Horde dungeon achievement night! Missing our druid, off in the emerald dream of PC repairs, we limit our attention away from solid group progress and more towards superficial achievements, making sure we keep our focus fixed on fun. Quite why we pick Wailing Caverns as our first stop is thus a mystery, until Livya quietly reminisces. 'I've always had a soft spot for this instance.'

'As do I', replies Vulzerda, 'is yours where you bang your head on a wall repeatedly?' Apparently not, Livya thinking Wailing Caverns is a glorious instance. Having defected from the Horde, albeit not entirely free from the clutches of Orgrimmar, she is probably remembering Wailing Caverns in the same way Alliance folk remember The Deadmines, That is to say, badly. We all remember the instance runs of years ago fondly, because we'd probably go insane if we held perfectly every memory of stupid wipes, idiotic PuGs, and corpse-runs through hellish respawns to get back to Van Cleef's body just in time to see it fade away before you can grab the quest item from it. Not that I'm bitter. But at least this time we are a little over-powered for the mobs we are to face. First, we must make it to the instance.

Vulzerda and I get to Booty Bay at about the same time and hop on a ship to Ratchet, whilst Livya is still poking the night elf who walks the streets of Stormwind naked, having an increasingly unhealthy obsession with him. As we approach Wailing Caverns we hear that Livya is finally aboard a ship. But no more do we have to wait, as instance meeting stones can summon distant members of a party. Livya doesn't like this idea, otherwise used to being pestered for her summoning spell. 'No! Being summoned by other party members is the ultimate humiliation for a warlock!' We'll let her make her own way to the instance. After all, we still have to remember how to get to the druids who live in the nose of the mountain.

We probably should have summoned Livya, her Horde tendencies letting her down when she decides to quickly grab the flight point from Crossroads. The Horde guards remind her of her defection quickly enough, though, and soon we're all standing outside of Wailing Caverns, Vulzerda's skinning knife at the ready. 'I shall loot, skin and crap in this instance', she says, before clarifying that, 'there is no comma between 'loot' and 'skin', dammit.'

It is at this point where I would normally mention how we surge through minions to defeat this boss or that, but it's not that simple. Inside the instance, after a short passage that belies our path ahead, we almost immediately have to make a choice of direction. Surely we will get led in to dead-ends quickly and turn around to get on the main path, but no. Instead, we get turned around in windy passages, retread earlier tracks, and occasionally get lost. This Horde instance isn't linear! It is as if Blizzard forsaw the general level of player competence that bouncing night elves or pink-haired gnomes would attract and made Alliance instances as easy as possible, saving their more intricate designs for the sophisticates that are the Horde.

After the third or fourth time of leaving a footprint in the back of the same dead night elf, we follow Livya as our guide, who also takes time to point out that Wailing Caverns is 'the only instance in which you can kill night elves, surely another point in its favour'. All of this power Livya holds over us soon goes to her warlock head, where at the end of a successful run she declares herself to be 'queen of cheese!', finally finding a way not to look so short. We can't argue with her proclamation, although I rather think the little green jester is more worthy of the title, particularly when earlier in the run Livya is put to sleep by a druid and our overall DPS increases.

'Now make me a castle of stilton.'

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Tags: azeroth, filesystem checkwits, kiska, mmorpg, paladin, world of warcraft

Damnation plush toy

The Damnation command ship is a beautiful piece of engineering. The sleek lines of the prow give it a menacing apperance, but the plump, stubby wings make it look comforting. The Damnation has the capability of hurting its enemies whilst welcoming allies with a warm embrace. Almost as an invitation for over-analysers, I mention that I would like a cuddly plush toy of the spaceship.

No sooner do I post that I want a plush toy Damnation than I wonder if I could actually make one myself. Within the day, I am looking for suitable fabric on-line. I have never made a plush toy before, and I doubt a couple of tails are quite the same, but I find some fleece material that I think I ought to be able to work with and which will be cuddly enough. I place an order and, whilst waiting for the delivery, spend a few days pondering the design.

I have enough screen grabs of the Damnation to be quite familiar with its general shape, but I print out a few images to mull over in my spare time. I have some ideas about how the plush toy will look, what the component parts can be to stitch together, but surprisingly am struggling to 'explode' the individual parts so that they can be made from flat fabric. I grab a sketch book and draw a Damnation on paper from various angles, hoping to gain some insight.

My fabric turns up and I get to work. I think I have the main shapes decided, particularly after I realise that the nose of the Damnation need only be similar to the tip of my fox tail. Even with this insight, I find that I am improvising nearly everything as I go, my initial thoughts not translating quite as expected to the fabric, and some material needing to be reused or discarded as a result. Unfortunately, it also means I abandon my intention to photograph my progress from start to finish.

The tail-tip nose section of the ship works well. I make the body a simple rectangular cushion, with a bit of added shape. I struggle again trying to create the right shape for the wings, until I realise that I just need a squashed and elongated dome. Having made a dome for the tip of my tiger tail it is a simple matter of modifying that shape, and working out where I want the seams, to reproduce the stubby look.

I luckily stumble on some directions on how to stitch an invisible seam a little while back, which I don't need at the time but the stitch is perfect for attaching the various parts together. Not using the machine for the invisible seams makes stitching them a long task, but it's quite satisfying work and certainly worth the effort for the result.

Like Dr. Frankenstein and his creation, I make the Damnation plush toy quite large in order to ease construction, almost entirely using up the last of my stuffing material. But that just makes the Damnation more cuddly. A little bit of detail is added, and I can finally give my spaceship a big squish! I hope the damage control module is working and active.

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Tags: damnation, eve online, plush, sewing

Extra skill books

Poking my nose out in of w-space, I find myself in Amarr territory. If this is what passes as civilisation I think I'll go back to the Sleepers. Actually, I'll gome home to Caldari space, which is a much better option. On the journey, I browse the market and certificate system to see if there are any skills I can buy to keep my training going for a while. One skill catches my eye, but it looks too good to be true. Drone interfacing gives a 20% boost to drone damage per skill level, pushes me enticingly closer to piloting a carrier, and I have the requisite skills to start learning it. A military academy is only one jump away at this point, so I quickly buy a copy of the skill book and make a slight diversion to pick it up.

With the book safely in my hold, I re-engage the auto-pilot to get me back on my way. Unfortunately, injecting the skill book results in failure, as apparently I can't learn the same skill twice. Not checking my character sheet is a silly mistake, but what's done is done. Back in Caldari space, I have some modules fresh off the production line and ready to go to market. When restocking one of the stations I supply, I notice that it is a good few jumps from the nearest academy. I also know, from experience if nothing else, that some capsuleers prize time over ISK. Combining the two circumstances, I opportunistically put the drone interfacing skill book on the market, with a 20% overhead charge.

The book sells within a couple of days. If only all of my mistakes could be this profitable. Maybe I should put my extra copy of advanced weapon upgrades on the market too. In the meantime, I take the advice to train cloaking up to level IV, to give access to the covert ops cloaking device II. I am assured it will allow me to warp whilst cloaked, although there is no mention of this on the data sheet beyond the speed penalty listed as 0%. It would be good if this kind of information were clearer.

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Tags: eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic

Adding bookmarks to the overview

Whilst scanning my way through a few w-space systems I notice that bookmarked locations appear on the system map. It leads me to consider how bookmarks could be shown elsewhere. Instead of relying on an unwieldy window of folders full of bookmarks, having to select the desired one and right-click to bring a context menu of options, a visual representation of bookmarks could be presented in the overview.

The 'people and places' screen would still be the interface for managing bookmarks, and could be used for navigation, but adding the option to display bookmarks on the overview would reduce window-clutter and add wanted functionality, like being able to align to a bookmarked location. And even though bookmarks of locations in the current system are presently highlighted, the overview would automatically display only those bookmarks available rather than rely on highlighted text.

The bookmark system is due for an overhaul, as is the overview. I think it would be a fabulous addition to combine parts of the two systems and be able to show bookmarked locations in the overview. It would require one less window on the screen, avoid delving deeply in to context menus, and offer more information and functionality to navigating New Eden.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: eve online, mmorpg, overview