Sunday 31 January 2010

Let me think...

From CrazyKinux's Blog Banter:

Why do you love EVE Online so much?

Such a simple, vague and yet difficult question.

I love EVE because of its complexity, the way it immerses you and also its brutality.

The way you can do whatever you want, however you want and whenever you want. The number of options is almost limitless, who says you can't mine in a titan, hell everyone will hate you but still, you have the option to! The career paths you can choose are pretty set, the PvE experience is set, but then you can have the option of doing it or not.

The way that your actions, success, failure or passiveness may or may not affect other real players and the environment around you. May they be your trusted corpmates who are relying on you or a fearsome enemy fleet bearing down on you. You have to admit, even though not squeaky clean, the graphical aspect of EVE is fantastic. I'm sure everyone has taken a screenshot of some celestial object sometime.

Brutality. Heck, life is life. You get blown up, you die. You move on. Although I like this way of playing, many do not. They may find it frustrating, and may emoragequit because of it. I see it as a path, a way to improve, to strive to be the best, learn from my mistakes and next time, I'll be the one giving out the brutal life.

Friday 29 January 2010

What do you mean moar pew pew?

I relish PvP, I like the roams, the blobs, the invading Drake fleets, anything where I can shoot something. However, even though I'm not playing, having a Sovereignity war and a few war declarations at the same time, I kinda think, a little peace and quiet ratting and plexing would be nice. Ya know?

Thursday 28 January 2010

Funny Killmails

Dear readers,

Have you seen a funny or just downright wrong killmail/lossmail?

If so, share them here!

Phoenix class Dreadnought loss.

An X-Large shield booster? Not a Captial shield booster?
I mean it's not the worst, but it doesn't excuse it from being a failfit.

Incentive you ask? There MIGHT be a prize to whoever provides the worst kill/loss mail.
Why might Mush? That's not a good incentive!

Because this my first competition and I won't be on EVE often and I am poor!
So in theory when you do get something it won't be much. =P
But something is better than nothing!

Sunday 24 January 2010

Paxton Space Under Attack

Providence has been at arms for a few weeks against the residents of Catch. After Dominion Against ALL Authorities decided to give up the systems F9E-KX, SV5-8N, WD-VTV and 9KOE-A. After time Libertas Fidelitas Alliance decided to make a play for these systems, because I wasn't fully involved and currently still am not involved due to real life getting in the way, I cannot say how this went. However after much pew pew, LFA had gained 3 out of 4 systems with .-A-. firmly holding onto SV5-8N. HED-GP the neighbouring system is of great logistical importance to them and they are adamant that it will not fall into our "slaver" hands. Good on them too, they are putting up a great fight.

With .-A-. occupied in the war against Goonswarm though us Providence holders are having an easy time. However yesterday .-A-. turned around and slammed a whole different game on Providence, namely by attacking the system of D-GTMI, an important system for the Paxton Federation. We did fear that this might have been the response and kudos to .-A-. they steamrollered over us with superior numbers and firepower. Able to knock out the Cynosural Jammer and jumpbridges, Providence holders were going to have a hard time regaining control, especially against the capital fleet that .-A-. deployed inluding Supercarriers and Titans. Defense fleets did the best they could however the response was too little and too late. D-GTMI had been hit, and hit hard.

Currently I do not know how things are playing out for Providence Holders, however I must congratulate the defense fleets and fleet commanders for doing the best they could under overwhelming odds. Congratulations are in order to .-A-. and allies as well for their swift and devastating blow. May there be many more fights!

NB: Yes, I am with Paxton Federation so of course I am against the scum invading our space, but still a little credit for the unblessed ones can't go amiss.

Moon Mining Fiasco

If you've never set up a POS, this may interest you.
If you have, you may laugh at our n00bishness. Hey, we were all n00bs once right?

This was, I admit, a story from a few months ago.

Nakatre (0.6), Devoid, Guild Alliance HQ.

My friend Northern Fall, who at the time I believe was the Guild Academy CEO, had been badgering me for a few weeks about setting up a moon mining POS. I had mentioned it to our alliance leader, he had advised against it as it was just not profitable, unless you had a moon with good goo. Unsurprisingly the moons with good goo had been taken and were in 0.0 security space. I pointed this out to North, not to mention the logistics, the costs and time involved.

However his badgering was very persuasive. After working out POS module costs, fuel costs and deciding what moon and where we would plant this business opportunity, North somehow came up with a positive monetary figure. Now, anything that says to me, money, without doing that much work? BINGO! So, I went along and partook in said venture.

This isn't a story really, it's all just preamble to a very memorable conversation and time we both shared. Anyone that has had the experience of setting up a POS will know the time involved in anchoring and onlining the blasted things, if not, it takes hours. Well, we did the whole make sure it's relatively safe stuff, NORTHERN FALL THEN WARPED US TO THE CHOSEN MOON and I then proceded to anchor and online said POS and modules.

So after two whole said hours (which to me is an insane amount of time), I check the POS overview. Now I can't remember what it said exactly, but it was along the lines of "This moon has no harvestable resources". That can't be right, I must have done something wrong, basic systems were online, I hadn't set up anything surplus, what is wrong?

Here comes the memorable part:

MushskiC > North, is this the right moon?
Northern Fall > **coughs**
Northern Fall > **straightens tie**
Northern Fall > no.
MushskiC > **facepalm**

All that time wasted! Not only did I now have to offline and unanchor everything, but then anchor and online everything again at the right moon! Bah! Grade A mistake.

That my friends is my funny story for now, every time I read that conversation I just laugh, it may not be funny to others, but to me, well I'm still laughing.

Mush's pr0tip after all this? Check you're at the right moon before doing anything. ;)

Saturday 23 January 2010

A Matter of Principal: Part 1

##DECLASSIFIED MATERIAL##
##GUILD NAVY - UNAUTHORISED COMBAT: 29/03/09##
##PERSONAL LOG ACCOUNT RELEASE ACCEPTED##

Being the newly appointed CEO of the Guild Navy was a lot harder than the last time, I had been CEO before but that was a temporary post, just to keep things ticking over. This time the post was permanent. Inheriting the attributes of major neat freak from my pod mother, I had decided to reorganise the whole Navy. Roles, titles, hangers, permissions, you name it, of course the station masters hate change, however a capsuleers twitch of the hand towards the blaster holster was normally enough persuasion for most people.

After a few hours I had to get outside, the golden monotony of the Amarrian station was numbing my implants. My neocom buzzed, perfect I thought, "I'll be right there buddy." I paced towards the corporate ship hanger and ordered the technician to load me up into my Drake class Battlecruiser - Pancake Mark VI. The Drake cruised out of Zoars and Sons, I set the co-ordinates for planet 5, Northern Fall my long time friend and fellow director needed his hurricane shown the meaning of pain. Of course I'd let his ship stay intact - to a point.

Without warning red lights flashed, the drake spun around, engines roaring, I raced towards the console, hearing that North's hurricane was also independently moving. CODE 14-B. I checked it again, CODE 14-B, this couldn't be right, the alliance wasn't at war, then I saw who had broadcasted it, Joseph Reaper, Senior Member - Location: Jarkkolen - CONCORD designated 0.8 high security space. I tried contacting Joseph, no reply, something must be seriously wrong, no one had needed the whole alliance on combat alert since the Genesis War.

Contacting North, both of us were perplexed, heck if it was real it was time to load up the ammo, if it was a false alarm, severe repercussions were to be had. Checking alliance fleet topography showed a less than satisfactory result, North and I were the closest members by over 20 jumps. With only 2 jumps left to go I stripped off and lowered myself into the cold, clammy "bio-goo" of my pod. Being used to the sensation now the Drake's systems came online under my control, the Drake was still hightailing it at the maximum safe speed towards Joseph's last known position.

Entering Jarkkolen I heard the subliminal "Warp Drive Activated", I transmitted to North, "Form up on arrival, 500 metres to starboard, be prepared for anything". With the faint wisps of plasma clearing from the cameras I saw Joseph Reaper's Hulk streaming fire with a Enyo assault frigate mercilessly pounding on it. Northern Fall activated his Microwarpdrive and catapulted towards the hostile ship. Both ships' shields unable to withstand the sudden impact, the Enyo explosively disintegrated. North contacted me "Apologies sir, we had to act fast, and I've also got a magnetic pump failure on the fore shield transmitter." I replied, "Copy that North, rendezvous at Caldari Navy Station 3, and nice... shunt, out." North had a knack for impulse reactions, sometimes with hilarious or suicidal consequences, this time however his impulse just saved a whole ship's crew. Despite this tendency, in times of real crap, I wouldn't have anyone else.

Hailing the battered hulk of Joseph I still got no reply, "Warrant Officer Banica, board and rescue any and all survivors." After 10 minutes all crew saved, I had Pancake Mark VI align to meet with North. Besides we still needed out friendly duel once he had his ship repaired, not to mention a debrief with Joseph Reaper who was currently in Medical Bay. A sudden jerk in deceleration showed that the hostile pilot had returned, but in Dominix class Battleship. I got the notice "External factors are preventing your warp drive from responding to this command". Not good.

Comedy Overlay

Some people's imagination is brilliant.

Hitler learns about the speednerf.

In my next blog post I'll try my hand at a bit of fiction.
Stick around!

A Cinematic Experience

Here's a collection of screenshots I've taken in EVE which just demonstrate what New Eden can provide us. Which is frankly damn good eye candy. Who needs to actually play the game if you can see it!


We all know the Drake has a beast of a tank.


Doing some 0.0 plexes with fellow corporation pilots.


Battle badger? When EVE goes a bit wrong. However a ship with the transportation of a badger and the defence of a drake would be pretty awesome. It's amazing how well the two ships actually seem to fit together.


Faction Wars love, I must say its a very interesting gameplay style, not as organised as Providence fleets though.


Wormhole candy, I must say I love it to pieces, I wish backgrounds like this were implemented into known space.


Shame about the damage notification for an otherwise beautiful wormhole background.


Hope you enjoyed!
EDIT: I can tell you know trying to upload and edit pictures on to blogger is a real pain in the proverbial, any advice on how I can do it more efficiently would be nice. I would also love the pictures to be bigger, if possible?

Friday 22 January 2010

Kirith Kodachi's Mention

Well to be perfectly honest I didn't expect that at all!
I was expecting more along the lines of "Mush says hi" or something.
I must say that being mentioned on Kirith's blog is a huuuuge honour and now I feel in debt to him to write an extremely good post.

However, me, not being that good at any kind of writing at all, will come apparent to you guys extremely soon. (It does not help being at nightclub rep as well for the last 7 hours, drinking a tad too much, and knowing you have a lecture to attend in 5 hours. Not to mention this Biology essay I have to do in 9 hours, which as yet has not seen it's full potential.)

I must say that no one has probably ever heard of me, so it gives me a headache (compounded with the alcohol fizzing around my bloodstream) trying to think what to write that would be worthy of such brilliant readers.

Any background information about me can be found in the few previous blog posts, please, please, please give me tips on what to and what not to do in a blog, I am new, please any advice is gracefully accepted!

==END OF INTRO==

I have decided to write about relationships or what I have personally experienced relationship wise in EVE. Being the former diplomat of my old alliance, I was often the one that pilots inside and outside the alliance either complained to, about, complimented, argued with, and deemed to do various other socialistic activities with. I also had the honour of being the Alliance Mascot, so meaningless to most people, but within the Alliance I was the ever-happy, cheerful and optimistic person in the chat channels.

I have a knack (no boasting meant) to befriend anyone and everyone. During times of war and uneasy relationships this was sometimes seen upon as suspicious from both my alliance and whoever at the time were our sworn mortal enemies. I have a theory you see, I treat people how I would like to be treated myself, why this would need to be different in a game compared to real life, I see no logical reason. I have always regarded pilots that were deemed a threat to us with utmost respect, besides there's no reason why we can't be civil to each other. Shouting vulgarity across the Local chat channels is unnecessary and often disheartening. Of course I am only human so my passive, outgoing, optimistic stance on everybody can sometimes slip or be biased, for this I can only say, sorry, but I am not perfect.

Of course I couldn't not mention the people that have blown my ship and sometimes my pod up to smithereens, whether it be through factional warfare, 0.0 skirmishes and being suicide ganked, I must say that, heck it's life, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, that's EVE, and that's life, although no matter how unfair it may seem, that's how things work and I must say that I admire your spirit and determination for doing so.

Therefore I must conclude with Ushra'Khan and Against All Authorities who are our immediate neighbours and KOS in our space that I respect you guys. A good fight is what everyone wants, a bit of cheeky, non-abusive banter is flashed across the neocom are always fun to talk about, how that tighter orbit just clinched you of victory and how sometimes you decimate the opposing fleet with superior tactics and sheer CCP induced lag.

Again, thankyou very much Kirith, and I must say my body is yours forever.
Now to think of an extremely intelligent and meaningful post for next time.

Wednesday 13 January 2010

Skill Plan Update Jan '10

As you can tell from the pie chart, I have increased my Missile related skills allowing me to use T2 Heavy Missiles, my Leadership skills for the much wanted Nighthawk, and chucked in some Gunnery skills for a much needed sniper ship. A sniper Rokh is my dream, but being shield tanking, it is frowned apon in most fleets, so a sniper Apocalypse is more likely. (Might sneakily buy a Rokh though).

So far I am 7 days away (if I were to train for it) from my fully fitted Nighthawk, money wise I am far from it! Especially considering the way I wish to fit it. I have wondered whether or not to get one now, since a Raven can easily do the same job, with more DPS, not to mention being cheaper and having insurance.

My aim this year? To get a Chimera, one of the best looking ships in New Eden in my opinion. To fly one would take me about 84 days, easy right? Well considering that is just the ship and I'm looking at 900M isk for just the skillbooks not to mention the hull. To get my Chimera fully fitted, so including the use of Capital Shield Booster, Capital Shield, Energy, Armour and Structure Transfers, Fighters and Triage Module will take about 216 days. Sadface. Mind you I might get the carrier just for the logistics side, transporting goods in and out of Providence will be a lot easier for me. Thankfully m3 Corp does Carrier runs very frequently and for free, but I could join in me thinks, help everyone else out. And besides if the proverbial hits the fan, it's just gonna be another unfitted carrier on battleclinic which will be outraged at.

Saturday 9 January 2010

New Corporation

I have decided to join m3 Corp, they are an extremely fun group of pilots and very experienced pew pew wise. Unfortunately my time with the Guild Alliance ended as they have declined in numbers and activity since September. I looked to join a mercenary corporation, and I found one I liked. However I had a talk with one of the officers and just a week after I applied, I decided to withdraw, the main reason being is that I do not have enough combat experience. We both agreed that I would possibly apply at a later date.

Seeing that m3 had joined Paxton was a huge factor in deciding to apply. I know northern Providence very well and m3 looked to be a lot of fun and a lot of pew pew opportunity. Out of all the holder alliances Paxton did seem to suit me the best.

After 2 interviews, a bit of typing and an extremely quick assets move, I was accepted for my trial period in m3! So far my time in m3 has been extremely enjoyable, and perfect since the opportunities to let off missiles at reds and rats are never ending. It is also my priviledge to be in the same corporation as Kirith Kodachi, not to mention having a very nice CEO and one of the best FCs I have flown under - Greyhound37.

As you can see my very few days with m3 have been very productive and extremely fun:

www.darthninjabadger.com/m3CorpKills/?a=pilot_detail&plt_id=47833

However I am now back at uni, so unable to get on EVE to my dismay, especially with shinanigans happening in Providence, which I am not sure if I am allowed to blog about, I shall let Kirith take the leap first.

Skills wise, I am currently training Caldari battleship 5 and working on a Amarrian sniper Apocalypse.

Fly safe,
Mush. o7

Saturday 2 January 2010

First Kill!

Hi, I'm typing this while in fleet so I'll be brief.

Just got my first kill for m3, I am sooo happy. =D
Also not only was it my first kill, but my first GOON kill!
I'll update everyone with the new corp and what not later.

Meanwhile:
Fly safe,
Mush