Vigilant mining

It's another quiet evening mining in w-space. Even the Sleeper 'roid rats appear a considerate 80 km away from my Retriever, giving me plenty of time to warp away. The Sleepers are quickly dealt with in my Drake, and cleaned up in a Cormorant, and I settle down back in Fido to mine arkonor for a while. But I'm not entirely convinced that it is possible to relax whilst mining out here. The system seems quiet enough, and there are no probes on the directional scanner, but then there also weren't any probes when the stealth bomber dropped its cloak almost on top of my Retriever the other day.

What with the recent dangers I've come close to, and Letrange's excellent illustration of the dangers of being an inattentive miner in w-space, I am not so much relaxed as jittery. I am a meerkat, continually on guard and startled by the smallest movement or slightest sound. My strip miner cycle finishes and dumps the ore in my hold, I think I'm under attack. A new line of conversation scrolls in one of the communication channels, I think I'm under attack. The rotating arrows around the targeted arkonor rock catch my eye, I think I'm under attack. I absent-mindedly forget the placement of the drone window as it grabs my attention, I, well, you get the idea.

With all the false positives I deal with I hope I am still alert enough to react to a real threat, and am able to warp back to the tower quickly enough. I keep the d-scan open and active, looking for ships or probes, and the system remains quiet. I am able to grab a couple of jet-cans' worth of arkonor without any real fuss. And then it happens, d-scan reveals several combat probes in the system! I scramble to warp back to the tower, calling a warning in the corporation channel as I align, if only to alert anyone else that there are visitors in our w-space system.

I am warping out as a colleague replies, 'you're safe this time, those probes are mine'. My panic is over. At first, I am a little flustered that he sent probes in to the system without informing me, but I just as quickly calm down and realise he did me a favour. I have been reacting to false alarms repeatedly, yet am clearly alert enough to catch the probes on d-scan and avoid getting jumped by hostile ships. As it turns out, it was our earlier conversation about Letrange's tactics that prompts my colleagues actions.

Using me as a guinea pig, he uses the d-scan to get an approximate bearing on my position before dropping probes to pin me down, hoping to warp in to my location and catching me off-guard. With practice, this can be used on hostile targets too, gaining the upper-hand. Practicing on me negates any danger from failure, or success, with the added benefit of ensuring I am being vigilant. As I won't know if the next time will be him or a pirate, I definitely appreciate finding out if I react quickly enough. The drill is a little startling but excellent end to the session.

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Tags: cormorant, drake, eve online, mining, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, retriever, w-space

Meet the boss

As part of a bloggural exchange, I am forced delighted to introduce fellow pod pilot and master of science, Kename Fin, author of Our EVE. But I can't possibly do justice to the many responsibilities Fin assumes in keeping under control the industrialists, wannabe-PvPers, and occasional fools found in our corporation. So, in her own words, please meet the boss.

Pleased to meet you. It's my job to rain on your parade. It's who I am, it's what I do. I go by a lot of names. Most of them I never actually hear and people tend to avoid them in pleasant conversation. You may have heard some of them or used some of them, but for the sake of younger readers that may get lost and end up here looking for sewing tips, we'll just use the less offensive term, "Director".

I'm the one that says, "I'm sorry, I don't think the corp needs that." I get to say, "That's not the way we operate and you can't do that here," "No, you can't have access to the Tech Two BPO's," and my personal favorite, "What the Hell Were You [NOT] Thinking you little ass-munching, tower targetting, lilly livered, fail fitting, annoying little twit!" [Come to think of it, maybe I earn some of the names...]

I get to veto your decisions, take credit for your successes and poo-poo on your poor performance. I get to laugh when the ferrets run wild in your hangar, chewing on the tritanium hulled tristans they find lying around. On the whole, I get to make your life miserable all the while spending your tax isks on cool new toys. Why just last month I must have bought 450 million just in isotopes, robotics and cool mechanical parts.

The worst part is taking care of all your whingy, nose running, "Mommy can I have a..." issues. Piddly little things like getting paid for the last mining or wormhole op. Picking up the droppings all over high-sec in corp. courier contracts to refine and sell for the ungreatful masses. Training for command ships and logistics, so your precious glass cannons actually survive the alpha strike.

I'm your director, ceo, corp. stooge stand-in. I'm the tool that always answers no first, just to see if you really mean it. I'm the negative, pessimistic, nay-sayer who goes to bat for you when things seem their worst. I believe that no one in this galaxy is more important than the guys and gals that fly with me because they chose the best of all possible corporations, the one I'm in. When you don't have anywhere to go, I'll think of a couple more places to try. Hell says hello.

So, call me what you will, your name is irrelevant and fleeting. I don't care what you think, as long as you agree with me. And good grief, HTFU. [Wondered when I would get to post that.]

Posted in Gaming | 6 Comments »
Tags: eve online, kename fin, mmorpg

Rock drummers don't have 'careers'

I finally bash my way through to the end of Guitar Hero 5, unlocking the last venue and reaching 500 stars. The career mode is far less rewarding than in its predecessor, Guitar Hero: World Tour. Whilst it is much better not to have to play unfavoured songs more than once, picking individual tracks rather than immutable set lists, which easily balances having to choose every single song to play, there is little to gain in repeatedly playing any one song in career mode.

Whereas World Tour rewards the player with cash for each gig played, building up a running total which eventually advances a player's rank, the stars rewarded in Guitar Hero 5 in career mode are only awarded once. The game obscures this feature somewhat, always appearing to add stars on to your career total at the end of a track, but first subtracting the relevant amount for the new total to add up. The only way to gain more stars is by improving on previous scores, attempting or improving on the challenges, or playing new songs.

With no new songs to play, no drumming challenges left, and most songs rewarding five stars, there is not much I can do beyond pick up a different fake plastic instrument or hope to score a perfect six stars on songs whenever I attempt them. What irks me the most is that Guitar Hero 5's career mode seems to reward lower skill levels disproportionately. I am more likely to get a five star rating on a later song if I play it on the medium difficulty setting, and a three star rating if I challenge myself on hard difficulty. But all stars gained are equal.

In World Tour, the harder difficulty settings reward the player with commensurately more virtual cash, letting the player advance in rank more quickly. This gives the incentive to continue playing the game in career mode, even tolerating less-liked songs, rather than playing in standard mode. But the situation is reversed in Guitar Hero 5. There is little reason to play in career mode once the majority of stars has been collected, instead favouring the quickplay option where saved player-created set lists of preferred songs can be loaded quickly, as no progress is likely to be made in career mode anyway.

It is curious to consider how much the lack of reward is affecting my choice to keep playing Guitar Hero 5. Although I probably play Guitar Hero: World Tour more in career mode because of the temporary nature of the set list creation, advancing my rock rank is always good incentive. Pushing my drumming up to expert difficulty in Guitar Hero 5 won't reward me beyond a sense of personal accomplishment, yet in World Tour the game motivates me by offering greater rewards for greater challenges. A three star performance on a harder difficulty setting will be more rewarding than a five star performance on an easier setting. But with all stars being equal in Guitar Hero 5 the game provides no incentive to push myself to improve my playing.

Indeed, although it is partly the metal tracks that I find tedious and uninteresting left to play, the poor career mode itself is the reason why it takes me so long to complete Guitar Hero 5. I could drop the difficulty down a step in order to breeze through the final songs, or even to go back and attain five stars in every song in the game, but to do so will only give an empty sense of accomplishment. I want my expert stars to be more meaningful than the medium ones. Looking on the positive side, if the game is not going to reward me artificially, I will probably end up practising drumming proper, which offers real skills and a much greater sense of personal accomplishment.

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Tags: console, drumming, guitar hero, xbox 360

Klingon manoeuvres

Patience is a virtue, and capsuleers of stealth bombers need to have it in abundance. Sitting in their lair of a quiet pocket of space, waiting for unsuspecting pilots to wander in to the kill zone, stealth bombers are not ships for the impatient. I can't be entirely sure if the Purifier I encounter on the exit wormhole to k-space is going to be patient or not. It is likely that he warps off pretty quickly, particularly as the wormhole to what I assume to be his home C5 w-space system was close to collapse when I went visited. Never the less, my advantage is that I can lounge at the corporation tower, distracting myself by banging the drums, for as long as I like whilst the bomber has to sit patiently and attentively if he wants to spring the trap. It must be pretty boring, particularly waiting for a low-value target like myself.

I take the Crane out of the hangar a few hours later to return to the exit wormhole. In the C3 system, there are no ships showing on the directional scanner, so I warp directly to the wormhole and slide through. I make it safely to k-space, finding myself in a high-sec system too. It is now a simple matter of bookmarking this side of the wormhole before warping back to the tower at corporation headquarters, where I can refresh my ME research jobs in the laboratories. Once the jobs are set-up for another week I return to w-space by the route I came, making it back to the tower safely. My earlier scanning session is a success. As well as getting me back to k-space to take care of industrial matters, I also now have two gravimetric sites from which to profit.

Swapping the Crane for a Retriever, I head in to the first of the gravimetric sites in our w-space system, to settle down for some relaxing mining. No ships show on d-scan, nor any probes, making me alone in the system. It promises to be a quiet evening, which is what I could use after the earlier excitement of Absolutions and Purifiers. Entering the asteroid field, I bookmark the location of the lone arkonor rock and warp out and back in. The strip miners lock on and start ripping the asteroid apart, as I monitor the d-scan and move the mined ore to a jet-can. Can-flipping isn't a concern in w-space, because aggressors can simply shoot me with no Concord interference. Out here, transferring the mined ore to a jet-can to be hauled separately is safer than having an extra ship sit vulnerable close by.

So it is that I spend a while transferring ore every few minutes from my hold to the canister, and occasionally hauling a full load back to the tower. My vigilant eye on the directional scanner is trying to make sure no hostile ships appear in the system, either by spotting the ship directly or deducing its existence by the presence of probes. But nothing appears. I keep filling up the jet-can. With a third full jet-can of arkonor transferred back to the tower, I decide I've been productive enough not to fill up a fourth, and wait for the current strip miner cycle to finish before heading back to the tower. And it is half-way through this final cycle when a Manticore decloaks off my starboard bow!

I know the Manticore is a stealth bomber, I've invented a few. I miss seeing the ship on d-scan because it was undoubtedly cloaked, but I have no idea how I miss seeing any probes. And now it's sitting almost on top of me. Needless to say, I engage the warp drive back to the tower as quickly as possible, although I am certain I won't make it. The Retriever is sluggish and flimsy. Whilst my ship aligns I make a final, resigned check of the directional scanner. Still no probes register on the scan. I am fairly sure I haven't been negligent. It's possible the Manticore pilot scanned the gravimetric site earlier and simply warps to the field in the hopes of finding the lone miner. It looks like it has worked and he's got an easy kill.

As I somehow enter warp, the Manticore disappearing in my wake, feeling rather flushed and with pounding heart I wonder why I am still alive. The capsuleer has got the right idea about 'stealth', but needs to work on the 'bomber'. I collapse in relief at the tower. Popping back an hour or so later, I am able to retrieve with a few trips in my Crane all of the arkonor I left behind in the jet-can. There is no more excitement for the night, although I have already had plenty. I may not know why, but my second encounter with the pointy end of a stealth bomber also ends with my survival.

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Tags: crane, eve online, manticore, mining, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, pvp, retriever, w-space

Paladin and warlock

One is a good and pure bringer of the light, the other a demon-controlling master of the dark arts. Together, the paladin and warlock pair run around Duskwood and get up to all manner of wacky hijinks! The biggest prank is the one pulled on us by the villagers of Darkshire. 'Go to Raven Hill', they say, 'and investigate, uh, some strange noises, or something'. So investigate we do. And upon our return, the villagers ask us to 'do something about the skeletons there as well, would you?', so we go back, once more travelling the breadth of the zone on our quest. We've killed the skeletons, we tell the villagers, at which point they say, 'Oh yes, and there are some ghouls too. Did you kill them? I think we mentioned wanting you to do that.'

The run between Darkshire in the west and Raven Hill in the east is long and boring, made awkward by a few kinks in the road that mean you either pay attention or spend five minutes running in to a fence. But there is an easier way, one born of frustration and having visited the zone many times before. The gryphon master in Westfall is a short hop across the river, making it much more convenient to fly back and forth between Darkshire and Sentinel Hill. Any costs incurred are more than made up for in time. With this strategy, our adventures in Raven Hill accelerate. That we could head south in to Stranglethorn Vale and start on Nessingwary's hunting quests pretty much assures staying in Duskwood and flying to and fro all night.

Along with skeletons, ghouls and spiders, oh my, we meet Abercrombie, a codger in a shack who survives a stone's throw from the undead-infested cemetery. He asks us to get him all manner of weird and disgusting items, yet we trust his intentions, little believing him to be an embalmer creating a monster to send to destroy Darkshire. If he only had said something, we'd have been keener to help exact revenge on those gits. Instead, we spend plenty of time in the cemetery, wiping out all manner of undead whilst trying to avoid one in particular. Mor'Ladim still patrols the north of the cemetery, but now that his sword glows with an unearthly light we are less susceptible to thinking he's an ordinary skeletal guard. He still has a habit of sneaking up on adventurers, though. And between Mor'Ladim, the wealth of undead to defeat, and Abercrombie, I am reminded of why I enjoy the quests of Duskwood so much.

The Dawning Woods Catacombs and Raven Hill Mausoleum are separate underground buildings, but dig deep enough and broken walls reveal a tunnel that link the two structures in a way I'm sure many people still haven't discovered. A thick, purple mist descends whenever you stray too far up the hill towards Forlorn Rowe, and such is its unsettling effect that Livya is unnerved the first time she experiences it, wondering what evil is about to be unleashed. Mor'Ladim may not be quite as notorious as Hogger as an elite patrolling mob, but I find him more menacing and a mob you quickly learn to run from. There are graverobbers in one section of the cemetery, who attack if approached and appear to have no other function but add to the atmosphere.

Raven Hill has such a great atmosphere in only one area of Duskwood that everything else is a bonus, from the worgen in the Rotting Orchard and the hidden caves amongst the hilly outcrops, the continuation of the Defias Brotherhood, to the legend of Stalvan. This is a rich area for adventure, for quests and story, individual nemeses and varied groups of mobs. To top it off, there is a huge dragon sitting in the middle of the zone, although it's not there when Livya and I stop in for a light brunch. Instead, we run in to Stitches on the road, having revealed Abercrombie's true intentions at last. We could let Stitches wreak havoc on the villagers of Darkshire for a while, and it seems like a good idea when Livya happens to be on a gryphon, but it is such a good opportunity to face this abomination once more that I can't help but charge in to combat.

A dwarf hunter joins in the fray, adding his entire knowledge and experience to the battle by shouting 'Heal me!' at possibly strategic moments, apparently unaware of my empty mana bar. I throw caution to the wind and use my ability to lay on hands, using the last of my resources to heal the hunter whilst Livya joins us after landing. My tactical withdrawals may possibly have seemed like running away from Stitches as he pounded me heavily, but I was really leading him closer to Darkshire so that Livya doesn't have so far to run. When she catches up some dark magic indeed is unleashed, and Stitches cannot survive the onslaught. It's a fabulous moment, and I want to commit it to memory.

'You purposely made me stand on the incline so that I'd look short.'

'Nope, you're just stubby.'

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

Firework display in w-space

Finding myself alone at our tower in w-space encourages me to try find an exit wormhole. Despite my previous poor attempt at scanning, I have a couple of points in my favour from the last time. First, I am on my main rig, with a bigger screen and more suitable input device, which will remove the frustrations of positioning probes accurately and quickly. Second, our C4 w-space system is likely to be empty of any sites of interest, which will make it really quick to narrow down the signals to get to the exit wormhole. I can also use the practice, and it is better to be able to scan my way out myself than rely on colleagues all the time. Boarding a scanning frigate, I move out of the tower's shields and launch some probes.

My initial scan of our home w-space system only shows three signatures, which will speed up the process of finding a way out. Thankfully, using more suitable equipment, I am able to bookmark the first site quite quickly, finding it to be a gravimetric site and thus full of expensive rocks. The second site also turns out to be a gravimetric signature, and I continue scanning it until the signal is also strong enough for me to bookmark. After all, I may need to pass some time mining in those asteroid fields. With only one signal left, it is almost certainly an exit wormhole, although it will itself lead to a C3 w-space system.

Once the remaining signature is scanned down, and indeed revealed to be a wormhole, I recall my scanning probes and head to the anomaly. I hadn't considered that I would also need to scan a second system to find a way back to k-space, our own system not having a static exit from w-space. I may as well visit the adjacent system and see what I can find easily, as I can always pop straight back through the wormhole and start mining if scanning the whole system looks to be a chore. Or, rather, I could do that if I remember to bookmark the other side of the wormhole, which I realise I forget to do only as I am warping to a moon. It is such a newbie mistake. I will at least need to scan my way back to the wormhole leading to the tower.

I warp to a moon because the directional scanner reveals an Abaddon and Absolution in the system, along with a few Sleeper wrecks. Although sitting on the wormhole would let me escape through it quickly, it's a fairly obvious place to be. Suitably positioned, I launch my probes and activate the cloaking device, curious to see how the two ships react. I pick up some cosmic signatures and start trying to resolve them, but the two ships just keep on creating more Sleeper wrecks. Either they are not looking at their d-scanners, or they aren't particularly concerned about core scanner probes showing up. The appearance of an Anathema and Coercer on d-scan suggests that they are quite prepared to put up a fight.

I manage to find a wormhole and pin-point its location, but this one leads to another w-space system, one that not only looks foreboding but has a tower with pirate faction modules anchored to it. I leave the way I came. The wormhole back to the tower is found with a bit more scanning, which lets me feel safer again, as well as what must be an exit to k-space, exactly what I have been looking for. I am curious to learn the security status of the exit system, but don't warp directly to the wormhole, under the assumption that the two capsuleers in the system probably came from there and I may bump in to them if I am not careful.

In hindsight, it seems obvious that the Abaddon and Absolution came from the other connecting w-space system to profit from the sites, in the same way we do. Not only that, but they probably make the assumption that I have entered the system from the wormhole to k-space, and that is why, when I warp to a distance from the wormhole, I find the Absolution waiting for me. It's the field command counterpart to my Damnation, so I know roughly what it is capable of, making it times like these that I feel I should listen to Fin telling me to train in covert operations cloaking devices. My ship cloaks as rapidly as I can command it after dropping out of warp and I wait to see what happens.

The Absolution sits still on the wormhole. It must have seen me warp in. After a short while its radial velocity changes, heading generally towards my position. I point my ship in an orthogonal direction to the Absolution's path and start crawling away, still cloaked. Despite the range at which I warped to the wormhole, and the overall vastness of space, I don't want to be uncloaked by having the Absolution pass too close to me. The wormhole flares, a Purifier appearing on my overview. The Absolution pilot does not warp away, so I assume they are allies. And then something quite odd and unexpected happens.

There is a huge shower of fireworks! An explosion of sparks lights up my display quite impressively. And with that the Purifier is gone. I don't see any shots fired, though, causing me to be somewhat confused at the turn of events. A short while later the Absolution warps off, presumably back to its own system. It is at this point that I think I should work on my ship recognition skills and find some information on the Purifier. Ah, it's a stealth bomber. I quickly deduce that the bomber was called in to try to flush me out, perhaps thinking I was making a break for the wormhole, and what I saw was undoubtedly a bomb explosion, the pilot hoping to catch me in the blast. I must admit that it was awesome seeing the explosion, and may not be something I will get to see benignly too often, but it understandably freaks me out a little.

I don't approach the wormhole in front of me to see where it leads. Despite the Absolution warping off I have no idea if the Purifier stealth bomber is still around and waiting to fire another shot. Instead, I warp straight back to and through the wormhole leading to the corporation tower, quickly getting back in to the safety of the shields. I catch my breath and praise my caution. I think I would be much more panicked if I had realised the function of the Purifier when it first appeared, but at least I wasn't careless enough to make myself easily found. And I got to see a bomb explode! It has been an interesting morning.

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

Music of 2009, part two

Oh my goodness, it's November and I am only just posting a second music review of 2009. It looks like I will have four reviews to complete for music bought this year, so I'd better pull my finger out.

I am over a year late in buying the second album from Cold War Kids, finally picking up Loyalty to Loyalty prior to going to one of the band's gigs. I'm not sure why I didn't buy the album when it was released, as the debut album is a quirky and emotional collection of pop songs, one that I very much enjoy. The band have clearly progressed from the first album, yet keeping their familiar styles and sounds, but there is a spark missing from Loyalty to Loyalty, a quality only indefinable in that I expect to be liking the songs but find them dreary instead. Even seeing Cold War Kids live at the Electric Ballroom doesn't bring any of their new songs to life, instead only highlighting how much more accessible the songs from the first album are. Hopefully, Cold War Kids are only struggling through the difficult second album and will return for a third having rediscovered their muse.

Pink Mountaintops return to inject another dose of folk-rock with third album Outside Love. The understated, emotional and country-tinged songs build on the previous albums without feeling like an mere encore, revealing a new dimension to the music. Whilst there is nothing particularly remarkable about the new album, Pink Mountaintops once again deliver a solid and enjoyable release.

I first learn of It Hugs Back from a review in the NME, and am excited to turn up to see Holy Fuck at the Scala and find It Hugs Back supporting. I snap up debut album Inside Your Guitar from the desk in the lobby before dashing in to catch most of the band's performance, which is both subdued and exciting, a sensation I later relive listening to the album. Although Inside Your Guitar doesn't quite match seeing It Hugs Back live, the album is a fabulous collection of pop songs that border on shoegazing in all the best ways. The album is a wonderful addition to my library that will get plenty more plays, and I hope to see more of It Hugs Back in the future.

I have to admit that when I was considering buying The Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow earlier this year I was still somehow confusing them with Athlete, a band I am not particularly fond of, hence explaining my initial reluctance to buy the album. I think my confusion has cleared now, particularly with Athlete reappearing recently, and I have been listening to The Seldom Seen Kid quite a lot. From the opening blares interrupting the stillness of Starlings, to the catchy single Grounds for Divorce, and past the most uplifting anthem I have heard for years in One Day Like This, a thoroughly entertaining listen is only spoilt by the peculiar The Fix, which tells a drab story that refuses to end. But I won't let a single song ruin my enjoyment of this excellent album.

On first listening to Telegraphs I am greeted by what sounds like fairly generic rock. It's good but nothing really grabs me. But however generic We Were Ghosts may sound initially, it is never bland. There are subtle hooks that keep me coming back for more, until I realise I am listening to a great debut album from a seriously good band. Everything falls in to place. I am hearing the insightful and topical lyrics that stir emotions in me, what first sounds only like technical arrangements become nicely layered tracks that reward repeated listens, and the album fits together as a competent whole. Seeing Telegraphs live at Islington Academy 2 serves to solidify their position with me as a cut above the rest. I hear the band are recording their second album already.

With a name like The Joy Formidable there is no way I can resist buying debut album A Balloon Called Moaning. Although it seems difficult to find at first, I eventually order a copy easily enough through the band's website. The first song, The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade, grabs me immediately and refuses to let go. Even when I reach the end, after the repeated last line stops to draw a breath, and I don't think I'll hear any music more glorious, another hook digs deep in to me and keeps my spirit lifted for the next song, and for each song afterwards, until the album sadly fades quietly, not wanting to announce its departure too loudly for fear of causing emotional distress. The Joy Formidable are in position to be my favourite new band.

Sad Day for Puppets is another band with a super name, compelling me to explore their music. The first album from the Swedish band is Unknown Colours, and it bops along quite merrily, with jaunty tunes and pleasing vocals, treading the line between pop and shoegazing. Every time I listen to Unknown Colours I get a sense that I want to enjoy the music, and although I recognise the songs when they are played none of them seem to stick in my memory. My impression is that the album is perfectly good, one that I will doubtless enjoy with each listen, and it is unfortunate only in that I buy it at the same time as some exceptional music that captures my attention more vividly.

Dinosaur Jr. are back with new album Farm, again featuring the full original line-up of the band. As can be expected, the songs are loud, lo-fi monsters, with guitar solos that impress without either wailing hideously or forgetting the music as a whole. J. Mascis's unmistakable vocals are superbly layered over the fuzz of the overdriven guitars and full drums, as song after song feels like it could pound my in to submission if only each one weren't pumping adrenalin directly in to my pleasure system.

Posted in Audio | Comments Off on Music of 2009, part two
Tags: cd, cold war kids, dinosaur jr, elbow, it hugs back, pink mountaintops, sad day for puppets, telegraphs, the joy formidable

How to show poor leadership skills

The drama llama pays me a visit, and I am not diplomatically agile enough to dodge its spiteful spit. The fuss starts innocently enough, well over a month ago, when a new member to the corporation joins us in w-space and wants to try out a new ship fitting. I am invited by the new chap to head 90 km out of the tower's shields to act as his target dummy, as there is no one else around. Whilst I recognise the benefits of testing new fittings outside of combat, I also realise that I am being asked to let my slow, heavy Drake be attacked in null-sec space.

I decline the invitation to get shot at, as politely and regretfully as is reasonable, explaining that I hardly know this person, having been introduced to him maybe two days earlier. Given some time and operations together, where we can chat and get to know each other, I am sure I will help out in the future. But I have read with some amusement about the 'accidents' that can happen, the apologies that come with them, and the glee some people take in leading others on. I have no problem with the paths some capsuleers choose, and am not suggesting this is what would have happened, but I need to be wary and protect myself from unknowns. With the corporation theft that occurs in w-space, I feel justified in not trusting just anybody who appears in the corporation channel. I think it is also worth noting that only a few days ago I flew out of the tower's shields to let my brand new and most expensive ship get tested against volleys from corporation capsuleers, both of whom I've flown many sorties with.

The new chap to our wormhole operations is also keen to take lead of fleets, several times assuming command and explicitly stating the leadership boosts he offers the fleet. Whilst it looks good to be confident in your abilities, making yourself fleet commander when you don't have the requisite skills belies your actual knowledge and experience. And my leadership skills are consistently better anyway. I don't like to flatly state that I offer better bonuses, as well as a warfare link module, not wishing to appear aggressive or ungrateful, instead politely asking to be made squad booster, supported by other corporation members pointing out that my skills are more than capable for the position.

Having to ask to be made booster every time this chap makes a fleet irks me a little, to be honest, mostly because of his attitude. The way I see it, when you join a new group you take time to see how they operate and try to fit in with the group. The way the new member is behaving is more like he is trying to shape the corporation in to behaving his way, which completely ignores our continued successes and survival both as a corporation and in w-space. Being invited in and acting like the leader rubs me the wrong way, although I try not to let it affect my conduct.

The simmering drama finally boils over after the new chap comes back from an absence and joins another fleet. Again, he states explicitly what boosts he offers the fleet, and again they are below what I have been giving for months. When it is recommended to him that he should demote himself from being fleet commander and be made wing commander or squad leader, so that his boosts actually take effect, he mentions that he's happy be placed where he needs to be, doesn't quite understand fleet mechanics, and that 'I hate having warfare skills', which he punctuates with a laugh. Well, doesn't that just push my buttons.

'Then stop boasting about them every time you get in to a fleet', I snap back, really quite irritated by his continued ignorance or obliviousness to his supposed colleagues, and perplexed as to why he keeps training them. He gets annoyed and tells me that he isn't boasting and simply wants to make best use of anything new he can bring to the fleet. I say that I feel the same way and point out how proud I am to be flying my brand new Damnation, that took me seventy days of training to pilot. I'm hoping he'll recognise a fleet command ship specifically designed and built for fleet support operations, capable of being fitted with three warfare links that can only be used if the capsuleer has superior skills than he claims to possess. But it is all ignored in favour of ranting at me having a personal vendetta towards him.

I would like to make an aside to explain why I have leadership skills in the first place. I did not train the warfare skills to make myself feel important, to usurp others, or to ensure a place in a fleet. First, I train the simple leadership skill because I believe a friend might become a capsuleer, a long time ago in my solo days. I was under the impression that I need the skill simply to form a fleet, which isn't unreasonable considering many aspects of life in New Eden, unaware that illegitimate fleets can also be formed. A long time later, after flying a Drake almost exclusively for many months, I finally research the rôle bonus of the battlecruiser, finding out what a warfare link is and what sklls it requires to operate. Having started excursions in to w-space with my new corporation, it seems silly to be flying the Drake without a warfare link fitted for the benefits it could provide in Sleeper combat, so I focus my training attention to bring the best ship to the fight that I can offer. After I achieve that goal, the Damnation seems like a natural progression.

Now I am the target of some righteous invective, apparently being responsible for stymying this chap's potential, being unfriendly to the point of beligerence, and ruining every operation we've been in together. Revealing that he can hold a grudge, he even mentions the time I refuse to let him shoot me. I have been trying to remain calm and reasonable, but his outburst quite upsets me. Rather than exacerbate the situation, which I know wouldn't help, I instead vent privately to corporation friends, who really are altogether quite splendid and rather taken aback themselves at what is occurring. It doesn't matter though, as apparently my latest snub is too much for this chap and his next statement reveals his intention to leave the corporation immediately. The speed the drama llama attacks with is astounding.

My colleagues calm me down and our operations continue. I take Bad Badtz Maru in to the adjacent w-space system and help the corporation fight back more Sleepers so we can claim and salvage more of their loot. Shortly, my EVE mail blinks at me. It comes as no surprise to see I have a message from our recently resigned member, but I will not be goaded further. I don't open the message, I will not be made to feel bad again this evening. Indeed, I may never open the message. I may not have handled the situation perfectly, but I am far from being the blame for his anger. I refuse to accept that the months spent peacefully and happily in the corporation, making friends and sharing all shades of banter, in missions, industry and w-space, are all an illusion that this one person has seen through. Even though I will have good days and bad, I will continue to be the best capsuleer I can be.

Posted in Gaming | 2 Comments »
Tags: drama llama, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic

Starting to drum

Sometimes, I feel I should live up to my promise. Although I haven't been posting many updates about drumming along in Guitar Hero 5 I am still playing, practising my favourites and pushing myself to improve in the more difficult songs. The single-song gig structure of the game, along with lacking a sense of continued progression, is discouraging me from working through career mode, so I am mostly playing a few set lists that I have created. It is good fun and good practice, but not quite as rewarding as racking up the career money and rock ranks of Guitar Hero: World Tour. But maybe I can do more than fake plastic drumming.

There was a time when I didn't only use a guitar as static art and actually played one occasionally. In fact, there was even a time when I went beyond pretending to play the guitar, even managing to squeeze a gig out as part of a covers band. Most of the band were people from the company where I work, and we all still work in the same building, which gives me the opportunity to get contact details for the tutor the drummer used. It then only takes me another month or so before I pluck up the nerve to call the tutor to ask about lessons for myself. But with that done, within a few minutes I have my first lesson booked. I may still be worthy of the 'Doctor Worm' honorific title given to me in New Eden.

Unsurprisingly, sitting in front of a full drum kit, with even some extra drums and cymbals suspended around me, is quite different from the fake plastic Guitar Hero kit. For a start, the hi-hat has a pedal that needs to be controlled, even if it mostly needs to remain depressed. Drums are placed in different positions, not restricted by a need to remain compact, yet their proximity still limited by the relative sizes required for their function. The kick pedal isn't a simple switch and has more mass to be moved, even if the extra mass is small, the bass drum itself offering more dynamicism than the single level of the game. And everything is louder, needing me to moderate my strikes more carefully.

Drumming from sheet music, and not a constant stream of drumming-by-colours indicators, also proves to be more mentally challenging than I expect. Timing needs to be kept in my mind instead of relying on the visual metronome indicating when each note should be hit, the kind tolerances of the Guitar Hero games becoming more evident. There is also no easy mode built-in to the music, it needing to be consciously added by playing a beat simply and slowly before adding the feet or increasing the tempo. But I pick up most of the simple patterns quickly enough and start to get to grips with the more difficult ones, slowly crawling through the two bar patterns until I can at least play them without too many mistakes. My months of practice with fake plastic instruments may not have fully prepared me for this, but clearly have helped, for I am drumming.

Posted in Personal | 4 Comments »
Tags: drumming

Lone Drake versus Sleepers

The w-space system connecting to our own holds a pulsar. The blue spatial phenomenon pulses with energy that affects a ship's shields, significantly boosting their strength. The pulsar is not terribly exciting for the non-Caldari pilots, but luckily none of them are around. Unluckily, there are few capsuleers in the wormhole engineers who have the superior skills to pilot Caldari ships anyway, but I am around along with a Minmatar pilot who wisely is training towards Caldari ships.

My ferret-loving colleague taunts me in to attempting to battle Sleepers by myself in the Drake. As much as I know he is goading me more than being supportive, I still have great confidence in my Drake's ability to passively shield-tank through heavy damage. Even if I didn't have little else to do, I would still be enthusiastic about taking down some Sleepers single-handedly. Docking my Damnation and boarding Non-sentient Ship, my w-space Drake, I warp to the wormhole and pass through to the pulsar system.

The Drake's systems get a noticable boost when I reorientate myself on the other side of the wormhole. My monitors show the shields are six thousand points stronger, and regenerating almost 170 hp/s with only two core defence field purgers fitted. My colleague's prowess with Caldari ships, whilst an admirable direction to follow, is limited to ECM ships currently, so he sits back at the wormhole as I surge towards the first anomaly on my own. Two Sleeper frigates and two cruisers greet me as I drop out of warp, which lets me catch up on some technical reading, shields not dropping below 90% strength for this first encounter. One of the Sleepers must send out a distress call, though, as reinforcements soon turn up.

Four cruisers and two frigates hitting my pulsar-boosted shield still doesn't cause me much concern, although I concentrate my fire on the frigates just in case they try to scramble my warp drives. Even if I could tank the Sleeper damage I am still in a neighbouring w-space system to our tower and don't want the occupant capsuleers to find me alone and unable to warp away. My Drake's shields are managing to withstand the Sleeper fire easily enough, and my missiles destroy the hostile ships without too much effort, but I find I cannot rely on my drones for any DPS. Sleepers are keen in detecting multiple threats, and my missile fire is not quick or strong enough to continually deflect attention away from the drones. After losing three drones to Sleeper fire I leave the remaining two in the bay for the rest of the encounter.

It is not long before I am facing six cruisers and a Sleeper battleship. My colleague asks if I am okay, wondering if he should fit an Amarr armour-tanking Harbinger with an experimental shield-tank to provide assistance. I reply that if the battleship stops 'lightly hitting' me I could be in trouble, after which the battleship does indeed stop lightly hitting me. I am in trouble. Thankfully, I am not being scrambled, affording me the opportunity to warp out when needed to let my shields regenerate, which I end up doing several times, using the wormhole to our tower to double as a potential escape route. Even so, I lose a bit of armour here and there, overestimating my shield's defences and underestimating the time to align and warp out once or twice, but I am okay. I could use a bit more DPS on the battleship, though.

The Harbinger flies in and together we finish off the Sleeper threat in the anomaly, my colleague understandably nervous about buffer tanking in his ship with no support for repairs. But with his big boost to our DPS we are easily successful! As he salvages and loots the wrecks he points my way to a second anomaly, which runs much the same as the first. It is quite exciting and certainly somewhat challenging to face Sleepers mostly solo, even with the help of a pulsar, and the added damage output of the Harbinger is a blessing against the battleships.

Once the second anomaly is clear, we notice the capsuleer occupants of the system are starting to wake up, with various ships appearing and disappearing on the directional scanner. It's a huge w-space system, and the traffic pattern looks like the other capsuleers are mining instead of preparing for combat. Even so, we don't want to be caught unawares, so call an end to the operation for now. We still return to our tower with an excellent haul of loot for only the two of us.

Posted in Gaming | 3 Comments »
Tags: drake, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, sleepers, w-space