Clarifying Primer

I watched the excellent budget sci-fi film Primer again recently. By the way, although referring to it as 'budget' is accurate it can give the wrong impression, as the lack of budget isn't noticable. There are few special effects but the film doesn't need them, instead relying on ideas to drive the plot. And what a plot the film has. This was the fourth or fifth time I've watched the film and I thought I was doing quite well understanding what was going on, until I got lost near the end.

Wanting to gain a better insight in to the events of the film I poked around the internet. My searches revealed some interesting information about Primer, including this complicated-looking but excellent Primer timeline. From my brief research I am aware of more simple timelines as well as at least one more complicated timeline with eleven distinct threads, but the linked timeline clarifies an awful lot for me and fits in well with the film's events.

The only problem is that I thought I knew most of what was going on and the timeline shows that I clearly only perceived a simplistic construction of events, a few threads of a much richer tapestry. I suppose I could have watched Primer with a notepad and pen, finger hovering over the DVD pause button, and attempted to create my own timeline, but I didn't. As it turns out, I didn't have to, which is convenient for me, particularly as I am far from confident about ability to have worked it out for myself. I am a little dense about film plots most of the time, but I enjoy them in my own way and get a lot of entertainment out of them. The good thing is that when someone else comes along to explain the plot, either in a director's commentary or the fan-created diagram for Primer, I am able to enjoy the film more than before.

Now that I have a much better idea of the overal structure of the film I think I could watch Primer again and look out for all the bits I've missed previously.

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Tags: dvd, primer

Missed a gig

I had planned to go to a gig last night. I was procrastinating a little about going but it was certainly a gig I would have liked to attend. Even though I got myself dressed up and managed to dash out of the house with everything I needed—iPod for the journey, a hat in case it rained, ER20 ear plugs for the gig—I was still trying to decide whether I would actually make the journey. I ended up loitering just inside the train station for only a minute, but saw the train arrive as I did so and couldn't even run to catch it, so I quietly turned around and came home again.

I was disappointed, with getting caught up with something on the computer that made time tighter than it should have been, with myself for lingering instead of being decisive, and for admitting defeat rather quickly. I could psychologically punish myself for being rubbish about what happened, but that is not a constructive attitude and will only cause harm. Instead, I will be positive and look for the true cause of last night's dithering in an attempt to prevent any reoccurrence.

I know that I am struggling with particularly late nights these days, or rather the days after particularly late nights, but the gig was on a Friday night and I had a weekend to recover, so that is not the reason. Nor is it that the train line is having major works on it and I would have to take a more circuitous route to my destination, as it is straightforward to divert and the extra time is not significant. It wasn't the weather that was stopping me, as I would be inside most of the time, either in trains or the venue, and could suitably protect myself from anything other than floods. And it wasn't that the quality of the band was questionable, as I have seen them many times before and I was quite looking forward to the gig.

The problem was that I didn't have a ticket. I was having to go a bit earlier than normal because I would have to get a ticket from the box office. This led to some uncertainty about whether I would be making a long journey in to town only to have to turn around and come back again if the gig had sold out. Not that I expected the gig to sell out, at least not early, although the venue is quite popular and it was a Friday night. When I missed the train the extra delay of waiting for the next one or using an alternative route only heightened my uncertainty about getting admission on the door.

I had tried to get a ticket for the gig, popping in to my usual ticket agency a few weeks back, but they didn't have it listed. I assumed at the time that this wouldn't be a problem and I could turn up early on the night and gain admission, which didn't seem like a poor assumption to make at the time. After all, I wanted to go to the gig so I didn't think anything would stop me. What I have learnt is that by not getting a ticket I was jeopardising my chances of even going. Had I thought about it more, and realised that I don't question going to a gig if I have a ticket but pause for thought without one, I would have got a ticket from a different agent ahead of time.

It's important to learn the right lesson. I could have made myself feel guilty, stupid and indecisive for missing out last night, but that would have served no purpose and I would have not been able to prevent future occurrences. Instead, I can focus on why I was indecisive and strive to make changes so that it doesn't happen again, leading to an overall positive experience. Luckily, the same band is playing in a couple of weeks, and this time I will make sure I get a ticket for the gig.

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Tags: gig

Guristas Extravaganza!

My level three agent in EVE Online has another mission for me, tantalisingly named 'Guristas Extravaganza'. It sounds more like a codename for a lavish party held for some guests of honour, instead of brutally destroying the ships of an opposing faction. Thankfully, it turned out to be the latter, as social occasions can be such a bore, even with nibbles. I am informed that there are five pockets of Guristas rats and each needs to be cleared, paying enough attention to ensure that a high-ranking member of the Guristas is encountered and destroyed. The reward on offer is as high as for The Blockade, which caused me all sorts of problems even after I became suitably prepared for the destruction it involved, although as the agent who offered me The Blockade was of low negative quality and my current agent is a modest positive quality the relative reward levels have changed too.

Even if the reward may not be a true indicator of the difficulty of the mission I am still more prepared than I was before The Blockade. Some good advice was offered to improve my ship's configuration, and I updated my Drake's system to improve my shield recharge rate at the compromise of losing an active shield booster. The couple of other level three missions have also got me more experienced, albeit not by a great deal more, but encountering more destroyers and battlecruisers has helped my frame of mind when entering a dangerous deadspace pocket.

My hold is stuffed with two thousand heavy missiles or so, and my drone bay is full. I undock my ship and head out in to space, engaging the warp drives almost as soon as I hit vacuum. Waiting for me in the first deadspace pocket are about fifteen ships. I charge my shield hardeners and start locking on to the closest targets, waiting for the onslaught of damage to start hitting my shields. But whereas in The Blockade every ship wanted me out of the area, or dead, as soon as possible the Guristas ships seem to be preoccupied with other matters and only the closest notice my entrance in to deadspace. I suppose that with a blockade the ships are actively trying to prevent travel through a jump gate, but these rats are not about to engage every ship that warps in in case it is an ally.

With only a few ships attacking me at once my shields are barely scratched by the relatively few light and heavy missiles plowing in to my Drake, and I can relax a little, as much as anyone under fire can relax, and pick off the cruisers one at a time, letting my drones take care of the frigates. It is also lucky that not all the ships are destroyers and battlecruiser, but the more mundane frigates and cruisers, making them less of a challenge in a straight fight, and my own arsenal cuts through their shields quite efficiently. It is not long before the first pocket has only my Drake operational within it, so I activate the acceleration gate and head to the next deadspace pocket.

The second pocket looks to be a check point, with a single battlecruiser patrolling amongst several sentry guns, offering little resistance overall. The third deadspace pocket is a little queer, though. The acceleration gate is encapsulated by a large electrical disturbance, a bubble of energy if you like. Before I give myself too much time to think about it I have some hostile forces to deal with, and I start locking on to targets and sending missiles and drones out to engage the enemy. With the combat systems in full effect I indulge my curiosity about the bubble. First, I notice that I have no trouble firing missiles in to the bubble, which simplifies my choice of targets and I continue fighting as normal. A quick glance at my overview reveals both an EM forcefield and a magnetic retainment field in place, and I assume that it is the EM forcefield I can see.

I would guess that the field is simply locking the use of the acceleration gate, as I doubt the bubble would have much effect on my ship itself, particularly with enemy ships already inside the bubble. Even so, I am not about to risk finding out otherwise. I decide to engage all the hostile ships first, partly because they are causing an immediate threat and the field doesn't seem to be, and partly because attacking the field generator may aggravate all enemies at once. With all hostile ships in the pocket destroyed I lock on to the EM forcefield generator and blow it to smithereens. Wow, what a satisfying explosion that caused! The bubble is gone, I approach the acceleration gate and activate it without a fuss.

The biggest threat is found in the fourth deadspace pocket, warping in to be surrounded by almost twenty ships of various classes. I quickly plot a course away from as many of the hostile ships as possible, training my launchers on the closest at the same time, with my drones being launched almost as an afterthought. It is only after I destroy a few ships that I realise my shields are still not being tested as thoroughly as before, and notice that a couple of enemy formations are not engaging me. I am quick to notice that they are cruisers and frigates alike that are holding back, for if it had just been the cruisers keeping their distance and the frigates were attacking I would have thought 'It's a trap!' It doesn't take long to clean out this pocket and I warp in to the final deadspace pocket.

In the fifth and apparently final pocket I immediately notice two objects of interest: one is the general I was informed about, and the other is an acceleration gate. If this is the final pocket, where does the gate head to? After quickly wiping out the enemies in the deadspace pocket I approach the acceleration gate and attempt to activate it. The gate is locked, requiring a Guristas tag to activate. Assuming that the general holds such a tag I align my Drake with his wreck and start crawling my way over the few tens of kilometres in order to loot his burnt husk of a ship.

Oh, but the general's wreck is empty, and there is only one wreck with a large enough signature on my overview to signify it has anything of value on board still. If only I had noticed this before I had travelled all the way to the general's wreck, and now needing to crawl back again. But the other wreck, whilst containg some modules I can loot, also does not contain the tag. Never mind, the mission has been completed, and I can bring Flycatcher, my salvaging destroyer, out here to clean up. If I find the tag maybe I can get Coiled Snake back out to activate the gate. Because of needing to keep the acceleration gate in the deadspace pocket I need to withhold the mission's completion from my agent whilst I salvage the wrecks, and that means making sure I have a reheat module installed on Flycatcher too, learning from previous operations.

Penny Ibramovic's Salvaging Operations flies in to action, grabbing wrecks for kilometres around and salvaging all the burnt-out electronics and workable modules in each of the deadspace pockets. Some Guristas tags crop up in the wrecks, and I wonder why I hadn't suspected the tags to be in a wreck other than in the final deadspace pocket, with the locked acceleration gate. With finding these tags I was more hopeful about being able to access what was beyond the gate, and intrigued as to what I might find. But all wrecks and containers are searched and no tags of the right kind are found, although it didn't matter in the end anyway. Galactic shutdown occurs just as I am dragging the final, empty wreck towards Flycatcher to salvage from it, and when I am pulled back to consciousness, because of the mission completion, I am drifting in empty space.

Maybe I should stop accepting mid-morning missions. It is far from a disaster though, as I make over a million ISK from the mission reward and time bonus, and another three million ISK from bounties. My salvage will pull in more ISK when the time comes to sell it, making this another profitable excursion. Perhaps the next time I am invited to the extravaganza I will find the tags that get me through that final gate, to Xanadu!

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Tags: cormorant, deadspace, drake, eve online, penny ibramovic, salvage

Exchanging free will for consciousness

I have given up on free will. Okay, that is misleading, as I haven't given up on the concept of free will but instead the book Free Will that is a collection of essays edited by Gary Watson, and only temporarily. After having read Contemporary Political Philosophy by Will Kymlicka earlier in the year, and thoroughly enjoying its discussions and arguments detailing current thought in most areas of political philosophy, I wanted to continue my reading and the notion of whether we have free will or not is fascinating. Free Will seemed like the natural choice from its description, and I hoped it would be as informative and engaging as my previous read.

For me, the strength of Contemporary Political Philosopy was its single author explaining in his own words all areas of contemporary thought on the subject and exploring the various arguments both for and against the theories, creating a cohesive whole that is just as easy to read from the first page to the last. This is not the case with Free Will, which doesn't so much pull together various theories to be phrased in the author's own words as simply collate various related journal articles in to a collected work with a connecting theme. The single style that is the former book's strength is lost in favour of direct works from, one imagines, expert theorists. Whilst this allows for a greater potential range of concepts and ideas explained in great detail it also leads to a different writing style for each section.

Some of the writing styles are easy enough to read, others are dense and laden with jargon. It is hardly unexpected that journal articles are written in such a style, but the balance can be awkward at times with one article apparently assuming plenty of prior knowledge and another deciding to explain every concept before five sections later finally making the critical point. In this format, the book as a whole loses the free-flowing nature gained from having a single author, who can more easily control the flow of information from chapter to chapter and doesn't need to assume the level of prior knowledge. However, the benefit of the collected nature of the book is that I can put it down between chapters to read a different book and return with no disadvantage to my overall comprehension of the work.

So it was that I took a break from the heavy Free Will and picked up Paul Churchland's Matter and Consciousness instead, dealing with another incredibly fascinating subject. I was happy to find that the book is written in a similar style to the political philosophy book, with Churchland presenting an introduction to most of the contemporary thoughts on consciousness. The split between duality and materialism is explored, with arguments for and against each of the major theories that fall in to either camp, with the perhaps surprising conclusion that neither can be entirely discounted yet. It is interesting to read why dualism has some serious flaws yet can explain better some of the concepts of consciousness that we deal with every day that materialism so far cannot explain.

As is expected for a book on consciousness, the discussion turns to the subject of artificial intelligence, or AI, and asks whether it is possible to create consciousness within a machine. Here is where the book gets a little less interesting philosophically. The book was written in the mid-1980s and the detailed explanation of how RAM and CPUs work suffers from the great advances made in computing and the ubiquity of modern compters. The explanations are not irrelevant, but seem filled with more wonder than perhaps would be used in a modern, more functional description. There is a further digression, and just as how a computer works is described the same is done for neuroscience of the human brain. Whilst both sections are interesting in themselves they offer little philosophically apart from setting up the discussion of whether AI is possible, and this discussion seems to be quite minor compared to all the build up.

Overall, Matter and Consciousness is an excellent read, offering a lot of insight in to contemporary thought on the subject and offering arguments for all the current major theories. The latter half of the book may not be as compelling a read because of the pages of description needed to advance a more compact notion but it still has plenty to offer in facts alone, as there can't be too many people with in-depth knowledge of both computers and neuroscience.

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Tags: book, gary watson, paul churchland, philosophy, philosophy of the mind, political philosophy, will kymlicka

Joining an EVE Online corporation

I mentioned in a previous entry my desire to resign from the default corporation in EVE Online and find a new place of employment. I got some good leads and followed them up, as well as performing some of my own research, albeit quite limited in scope, but getting in to an EVE Online corporation looks on first glance to be similar to finding a second job. To be honest, I wasn't too keen on the process of finding my first job. I've had a look at some possible corporations and visited their websites to find out the entry requirements, and it all looks rather daunting. This is not helped by not really knowing what I want to get out of being a space cadet. I am enjoying running missions, and am interested in the manufacturing side even if mining for hours on end doesn't appeal as much. But I may just as well be interested in the low- or no-sec PvP regions of the galaxy, and probably need to be in a corporation to explore that more fully, if at all.

Part of the problem is my shy, and perhaps reclusive, nature. Other people scare me more than I'm willing to admit, and I don't know why. I only made it in to an active guild in World of Warcraft because some friends of mine were kind enough to get me invited, and it was latterly because of guild members that I got in to a raid group. It is the same friends who got me invited in to supergroups in City of Villains, and although I got a spontaneous invitation to a heroic supergroup, it was most likely only because I was a tiger cat-girl. I appreciate having good friends to help me along, and it really does help as once I become more comfortable within the guild or group I can generally get along with people, it is mostly the introductions and initial stages that I shy away from.

However, I have no friends playing EVE Online, which means getting in to a corporation will be completely my responsibility. And when it comes down to the choice between forcing myself to meet new people and living in my own little world, well, I started up my own corporation instead. For about ten minutes of skill training and 1.5 million ISK it seemed like a bargain to get out of the default corporation, even if I manage to make it a temporary solution and find a suitable corporation later. For now I am Penny Ibramovic, managing director of Catching Squirrels, a rather small corporation that is currently focussed on salvage operations.

Being the only member of a corporation is not ideal. For a start, I imagine that anyone could declare war on my corporation and I won't have many resources in order to retaliate effectively, making me an easy target. I am also unlikely to recruit new members of the company, making it a solo entrepreneurial venture and one that probably won't end up teaching me anything about running a corporation. At least I don't have to suffer the chat channel of the default corporation any more, whose contributors made my real-life company's newsgroup look modestly sane.

I am still playing massively multiplayer games as essentially solo experiences for the majority of my time, which is somewhat disappointing even if there is still a rich world to explore and experience. One day I hope to get over my fear of other people, and I am certainly improving, so that I can involve myself more. Until then, I'll keep Catching Squirrels running smoothly.

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Tags: catching squirrels, corporation, eve online, penny ibramovic

Swifter salvaging ...in space!

Having bought Flycatcher, my Cormorant destroyer, and fitted it out with tractor beams and salvaging modules I have been able to zoom around clearing up the trail of the dead left by Coiled Snake, my Drake battlecruiser. Since the first couple of flights taken on behalf of Penny Ibramovic's Salvaging Operations I have become skilled in the use of micro-warp drives, or MWDs, and have fitted one to Flycatcher. The extra thrust offered by an MWD is significantly greater than a standard reheat module, and boosts Flycatcher's speed up to close to one thousand metres per second. With some more training I may be able to exceed that.

With a mission completed and plenty of salvage to pick up I brought Coiled Snake back to the station and made the arrangements to switch in to Flycatcher. I could have handed in the completed mission to my agent, as I had bookmarked the locations of wrecks in each pocket of deadspace and could return to them easily enough, but with hours left before the mission's bonus reward would expire I thought it would be more convenient to use the acceleration gates rather than mess around with bookmarks.

Flycatcher was ready, so I ease myself in to the pod and undock, warping to the first wreck I have bookmarked. Except I don't end up at the wreck, but at an acceleration gate. This is queer, but I orientate myself presently and fire up the gate to get to the first deadspace pocket where I find the beginnings of the wreckage to clear up. Locking on to multiple targets I start to tow them in to salvaging range with my tractor beams until I run out of wrecks within range. I point my destroyer at the next nearest hulls and hit the thrust, flicking the MWD in to life. But it sputters and dies, even on subsquent tries.

As I take the equivalent of a casual stroll to the next wrecks to be salvaged I get out my MWD manual, given to everyone who has completed an introductory course along with a certificate with a laser-printed signature. Flicking past 'Congratulations on choosing to fit a Micro Warp Drive I to your ship' to the fault-finding pages I realise my error. Because the mission is unfinished the acceleration gates and thus deadspace pockets are still maintained. Micro warp drives are based on the same technology as warp drives and warp drives cannot function in deadspace, hence the name of 'deadspace'.

Ah well, it is one thing to be given good advice, it's another to learn the hard way why that advice was given. The lessons most likely remembered are those made from our own mistakes, and I now know to hand in the mission before returning to salvage wrecks if I want to use my MWD. I also know to fit a reheat module as a back-up.

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Tags: cormorant, deadspace, drake, eve online, penny ibramovic, salvage

Disappointing DVD commentaries

Despite the wealth of extras that often accompany a film's release on DVD I rarely watch many of them, only occasionally enjoying a behind-the-scenes feature or the out-takes, with the exception of the audio commentary, which I am generally quite keen to experience. I enjoy listening to the commentaries along with the films for a couple of reasons. First, I am a bit of a dunce and it is enlightening when the filmmakers point out the subtle, or glaringly obvious, references and plot directions that I invariably miss the first three times I watch a film. Second, I find the process of filmmaking interesting, and insights in to how the film was shot, where it was shot, how it was editted, and other hidden aspects of the film is fascinating.

It is shame then that quite a few DVD commentaries fall short of my expectations. I recently started watching Michael Clayton with the director's commentary, and yesterday watched Hellboy with the Guillermo del Toro commentary, but neither held my interest for too long. That is not to say that either commentary wasn't interesting, for they indeed have insight in to the production of the film as well as insightful anecdotes, it's just that they often bore no relevance to what was being shown on the screen. Del Toro had plenty to talk about in relation to the comic books and authors and how he was keen to bring the script to life, how the film was practically ready before other films like X-Men and Spider-Man were shot, and other such titbits of information, but there were not too many scenes talked about specifically.

I find it difficult to concentrate on the kind of commentary that talks about aspects of the film other than what's on the screen because of the disconnect between what I am hearing and what I am seeing. Part of me wants to watch and understand the film being shown, and part of me wants to listen to the commentators and learn or be entertained by them. When the commentary doesn't match with the film I will either lose interest in the commentary and try to concentrate on the film or lose interest in the film and listen to the commentary. With the former, I would rather be watching the film and will be unlikely to return to the commentary, so I try to do the latter instead, and when I concentrate on the commentary I find that I cannot also concentrate on the film because it is mostly irrelevant. I cannot sit and listen to the commentary with no visual stimulus without getting fidgety, and the video serves as nothing more than a distraction.

I could turn the television off and just listen to the commentary, but then I am left with nothing for my body to do. I am quite happy to relax and let my visual and aural systems be entertained by a film, but if my visual system isn't being stimulated I will look for something to do, and most of the time that something will end up stimulating my mind too, thus causing a lapse of concentration on the audio. I have yet to find anything I can comfortably do whilst listening to an audio commentary that doesn't distract me from the commentary or lead me to fall asleep from lack of stimulation. Perhaps the best option would be to rip the audio commentary to my iPod and listen to it on walks or on a train journey. I would much prefer a commentary that I can watch with the film, though. I found the commentaries disappointing because they did not enlighten me about the film as much as I would have liked, and because of that I thus could not enjoy the separately interesting aspects of the commentaries themselves either.

I was quite happy, therefore, to listen to Bennett Miller and Philip Seymour Hoffman's commentary on Capote last night. Not only were there the usual anecdotes about the struggles and fortunes of getting the film made, and how every actor was simply fabulous, darling, but they were nearly all relevant to the scenes being played. Even when the commentary wasn't an insight in to the plot or character motivations, which was still wonderfully frequent and helped to advance my understanding and empathy with the film, the comments were directed to where the extras came from, what the shooting schedule was like, how freezing cold it was, the editting used to cut in reaction shots taken months apart, and other such snippets of information. The commentary was able to hold my attention whilst letting me keep up with the film, and that's just what I am after.

To end, I shall note that one of my favourite commentaries is still that of Christopher Nolan for his remake of Insomnia. Using the flexibility of DVD Nolan presents the commentary with the scenes in the order in which they were shot, not in the film's chronology, so we get to see first the actors on the first day of shooting and end the film with the wrapping shot. Whilst other films often mention which were the first and last days of shooting it is not as effectively presented as in the Insomnia commentary, and it is truly insightful to the filmmaking process to see what the actors have to get to grips with early on and how they have to fit the character emotions in with the anachronistic shooting schedule, and watching it can give a much better appreciation for the job.

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Tags: capote, christopher nolan, dvd, hellboy, insomnia, michael clayton

The Repair Station

In working to clear The Blockade I wore myself out a little in EVE Online. From picking it up as my first level three mission and finding I had to beat a hasty retreat, to striving to afford a Drake and fittings in order to stand any chance of completing the mission, then taking hours to battle my way through the dozens of battlecruisers and destroyers to complete the mission, I found I needed a break from being a space cadet.

I took some time to play my draenei warrior a bit, gaining a few levels and advancing Sapphire's professions, and had some fun with my rogue in the battlegrounds, gaining myself a competitor's tabard as well as a gold medal for winning an Eye of the Storm battle. The Micro Manager got people to come in to work on Saturday and performed many other nefarious tasks, including fitting a bank job between asking for status updates. I wasn't entirely out of EVE Online during this time, as I took the opportunity to enjoy the scenery by shifting salvage and loot between stations and getting myself in place to start talking to a higher quality agent on my return.

And return I did. With a fully equipped Drake and a little experience of taking on battlecruisers I am more confident in picking up a second mission, so start talking to my new contact. She has some work for me, asking me to shut down a repair station that is fixing rat ships in the system. As long as there aren't a hundred enemies waiting for me to warp in to the location, it should be straightforward. I hop in to Coiled Snake, load up on missiles, and head out of the station.

My Drake aligns itself as the warp drive kicks in and my engines fling me to the deadspace pocket of the coordinates given to me by my agent. Sure enough, a few tens of kilometres away is a repair station. It looks like I'm in luck and have caught it during a quiet period, as there are no hostile ships around! I lock on to the structure and let loose my first volley of heavy missiles. As the explosions light up the black background of space enemy ships light up the black display of my overview, as defences come on-line and ships warp in to protect the repair station.

As the repair station is essentially passive I concentrate my fire on the newly arrived defences, but as I do the repair station sends out waves of drones to repair any damage I am doing to gun stations or ships. Fancy that, a repair station doing its job. I find myself choosing between essentially wasting ammunition to force the station to consume its supply of drones or to endure the fire from the ships and destroy the station first. Missiles may be cheap, but I would still be under fire whilst the repair station continues to send out repair drones, so I return my focus to the station. It is not long before a satisfying explosion signals the destruction of the station.

The explosion also signals a group of mercenaries in the area that their newly constructed station has been destroyed by a lone capsuleer, and they warp in to teach me a lesson. This seems a mite unfair: either I had to waste ammunition and take a stream of weapon fire whilst the station ran out of drones or I destroy the station and double the number of enemy ships I have to fight! So be it, the numbers and skill levels of the enemy are still below that of The Blockade, and I am able to lay waste to all my attackers with my shields only slightly worried.

The mission was completed with the destruction of the repair station, destroying the enemy ships is a professional courtesy. I warp back to the station and report my success to my pleased agent. My second level three mission goes somewhat more smoothly and quickly than my first, and I look forward to taking on more.

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Tags: agents, deadspace, drake, eve online, knifey, penny ibramovic, sapphire, the micro-manager

Motorbike rattle

At the end of last year the exhaust on my bike accidentally separated from my downpipes because of rust, which was rather embarrassing. I was able to get some replacement pipes fitted quickly, stainless steel this time. After the new pipes were fitted I noticed the slightest of buzzes when the revs passed through a specific point on the tachometer. Mentioning this to the garage, they said to keep an eye on it, mostly because getting to the pipes meant a couple of hours of work to remove the radiator. I wasn't going to complain, because if the buzz became worse they would fix it and if it didn't it wasn't a problem.

Perhaps related, perhaps not, a couple of weeks back my bike picked up a rattle, which rapidly became a horrible metal-on-metal noise that had me quite concerned that it was shaking itself apart. I booked the bike in for a service as soon as I could, hoping it would hold together long enough. The mechanic checked the bike and found the source of the rattle, which was a loose flap of metal on an internal spot weld in the downpipes. Being internal it was impractical to fix, and the suggestion was made of a warranty repair. Unfortunately, the garage that fitted the pipes were out of business. However, the rattle wasn't causing any damage to the bike and the metal would be dislodged at some point and probably blown out the exhaust, also without the risk of damage. Despite the noise, I am satisifed with there being no damage caused.

The service was completed and the rattle is still present, sounding pretty bad at some revs and not being present most of the time. Even though the bike is healthy it can sound like the engine is near death, which is awkward but not really a problem. And the service has made the bike feel nice and smooth again, which is great! In fact, the flat spot I seemed to pick up between 5,000 and 6,000 RPM has disappeared, even though I forgot to mention that to the mechanic when I booked in the job. The routine maintenance took care of it, which leaves me with smooth acceleration right up the tachometer again.

In other bike news, the cover I have used to protect the bike from the weather has gone missing. The wind has been in the habit of tossing it around occasionally in the past, but never so far that it can't be found again quickly, and now it is nowhere to be seen. Granted, the cover was getting quite old. The integrity of the fabric was failing and tears had appeared in several places spontaneously, but gaffer tape was doing a good job of holding it together, even if I hadn't got around to getting my needle and thread out. I suppose at least the disappearance has prompted me to buy a new replacement

I don't want to attribute the disappearance of the cover to thieves, so I won't. However, I won't be best pleased if the new cover I have ordered goes missing too. I don't want to hop on to a wet or frosty bike in the mornings.

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Tags: exhaust, motorbike, service

Gaining experience in EVE Online

EVE Online may be a skill-based system for character improvement, but it doesn't preclude gaining experience. The experience gained is of the more traditional type, learning from the mistakes and wisdom of others, as well as your own.

When I became a space cadet it was difficult to get an appreciation for the different ships and weapons initially, not to mention the myriad different modules available to fit. There is a lot of information to take in all at once. Whilst the modules and ships you can use is limited by your skill training levels the availability of them is not, and having to wade through an entire market bristling with new and second-hand equipment, including the Tech II equipment, is a daunting process.

That is not to say there are not aids. Each item, however big or small, has a fully detailed data sheet available to view, probably being required by galactic law. It is easy to look at all the numbers and notice some are bigger here and there without really getting an appreciation by how much they differ in real terms, or what effect the increases would have on combat performance. Bigger numbers always look good, but how much bigger does a number need to be to justify the disproportionate price increase. On top of that, there are CPU and power consumptions to bear in mind, as well as capacitor usage. All this and you also need to juggle high- mid- and low-slots on the ship, with modules only fitting in a certain slot and different ships having different quantities of each type of slot. If that's not enough, it's not possible to fit the exact module to suit your needs if you don't know it exists.

It was all quite an information dump when I was recruited. Since my early days I have looted many a wrecked ship hull and found some interesting recoverable modules, from afterburners to shield boosters and hardeners, as well as the Salvaging module that has helped me boost my ISK flow considerably. By making good use of the information data sheets available with the modules I have been encouraged to trawl through the market to find what other kinds of equipment is available in the same class, and have been able to find what skills I've needed in order to use certain equipment, which has also led to find intermediate skills to train in.

In my attempts to survive for longer during sorties, I found the combat log to help me analyse the damage done to my ship, which helps me gain a posteriori knowledege on what preparations are needed for certain missions. Not content with knowing only what has been punching holes in my shields I also found out how to gather intelligence on rats before a mission, offering a priori knowledge that I can use to make a mission run more smoothly from the start. Even my use of the tactical overlay and decoding the wealth of information it can offer in a simple interface has helped make better use of my ship's capabilities and systems.

The modules looted from wrecks combine with finding out about rats to produce the end result of practical use of shield extenders and hardeners, different launchers and ammunition. Without the intelligence on rats I might not think there could be more efficient weapons of the same basic type, and without picking up serendipitous loot I might not know that various weapons or defences even exist.

There are also all the other capsuleers in the galaxy, with many being helpful and offering good advice on how to equip ships and what to train in. All of the advice offered to me has been gratefully received and researched, and most of it has already been used to my benefit.

All the previously hazy numbers and figures come together during combat, even if it is generally learnt the hard way. The amount of capacitor charge the reheat uses is learnt when your computer tells you 'your capacitor is empty' as you try to outrun hostile ships to the acceleration gate. The damage certain weapons do is plainly seen when a single missile destroys a small frigate, or when a large dent appears unexpectedly in your own ship's armour. The benefits a shield extender and harderner present become clearer after you've survived some challenging dogfights. The utility of learning certain skills to a higher level is much more apparent when you find you need just that little bit more from your systems.

Relevant for the current time, I can see now how much more able my Drake is compared to the Caracal. I look at the same numbers and compare them, but now I see the greater number of module slots for weapons and equipment, the huge reserves of CPU and power it holds, and how it all can be used to extend the shield to be far stronger, to harden it to last longer against attacks. The numbers drift down the screen until I just see blonde, brunette, redhead. Or at least the EVE Online equivalent.

Cripes, it looks like I'm learning.

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Tags: caracal, combat log, drake, eve online, intelligence, salvage, tactical overlay