EVE Blog Banter #12

Welcome to the twelfth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month's banter comes to us from CrazyKinux himself, who asks the following: First there was the MMO on the PC, and now with the recent announcement of DUST 514, EVE will soon be moving onto consoles. But what about mobile? Allow your imagination to run wild for a second and describe how you would see EVE being ported to mobile devices, whether the iPhone/iPod touch, Blackberrys or Android-based devices. Dream the impossible for us!

I am really excited by the New-Eden-as-a-platform idea. I like the idea of this being a single common milieu with different outlets and layers. This could be a genre unto itself, much like Star Wars. Unlike Star Wars, this would not be the vision of one man with tellings and retellings in different genres, this would be a community driven blossoming of the vision from CPP. The instances in each genre wouldn't be tellings and retellings, but artifacts in their own right. They can stand alone, but they are still part of a larger whole. Instead of the top-down approach of a story moving into different media, this could see the different media interacting, affecting one another, and creating a world beyond simply "virtual."

I see chances for everything from passive media such as novels and movies and cartoon shows, to interactive media such as Eve, Dust 514, and games yet to be built. I even see New Eden themed open ended MMOs similar to Second Life.

I own an iPhone. I have Capsuleer, and I do appreciate it. I think it is logical to expect that as Cosmos comes out, and as Eve is expanded, applications like Capsuleer will gain more and more functionality. I eventually see it possible to not only monitor wallet and skill queue, but to execute market orders and edit the skill queue.

This is minor. This is merely progression.

What I see as the revolutionary apocalypse is in introducing completely stand-alone, multi-player games based in New Eden. Even if the games themselves are particularly new ideas, the idea of weaving them into this community will be wonderful.

Take Mafia Wars as an example, or as we called it way back before the intertubes, Assassin. I could see building a New Eden game around the old idea of assassin on GPS-capable mobile devices. I could see players joining one of the four factions, and their experiences tying into the greater New Eden world, perhaps not too dissimilar from how Dust 514 will affect Eve Online and vice versa.

Something that I've always wanted is for missions to be PC generated. This would not have to be a game limited to mobile devices, but since it would be small enough, it could work. What if users could play an agent. To them, they generate tasks that need to be done. They don't realize that actual players in a completely different game are executing those tasks. It would feel a little Ender's Game to me to a degree.

As always, Kinux has a full list of all Banters that report in. Banters that I've read include:

• Blog Banter 12: EVE Everywhere from Ecliptic Rift by Casiella Truza


• “WOW, look at that ‘micro-Dust’…” from The Wandering Druid of Tranquility by Ga'len


• EVE Blog Banter #12: Tying the dots and locking me in! from CrazyKinux's Musing by CrazyKinux


• EVE Blog Banter #12 I-pod Capsuleer from Nashh Kadavr's EVE Blog by Nashh Kadavr


• EVE Blog Banter #12: Wormholes On the Go from Life in Low Sec by Mynxee


• Blog Banter #12: Dynamic System Security from Escoce - Eve Trader by Escoce


• EVE Blog Banter #12 - We're halfway there. from Inanity and Doom by James

New Player Resources: Missioneers

I am really not a mission runner. I have run missions in the past. After all, I needed access to some very selective agents for research projects. Now that I am representing Odinsdagrting, I need to run some more missions. As do my corpmates.

The best place to start with missions is with the Evelopedia. That may feel like a lot, but it is merely information to help make your job easier. Very little of it is actually required for anyone that wants to accept a mission and begin.

To begin, one just needs to find an agent. The easiest way is to find an appealing corporation and look at that corporation's information (the little blue "i"). For corporations with agents, there is an agents tab. It will list the agents under the divisions for which they work. The division affects the frequency of the mission types offered. This interface will also group agents that are available and ones that are not.

Looking at the information of each individual agent (right-click and Show Info) will show the required standings.

Another easy way to find agents is with the Eve-Online Agent Finder.

There are some mission survival guides to help when determining if a mission will be too much to handle. Once in a mission, there is the HelpMyMission channel run by BorisHotch. The HMM channel has its own website, but there are also resources at HelpMyMission.com and Song Li's Missions Collide. I am not a missioner, but I have enjoyed the Missions Collide podcast.

Some tips that can not be stressed enough:

Keep checking on current standings and the required standings. Don't keep running missions for that same ol' agent, when there is a better quality or higher level agent eager with work. Don't turn down those storyline missions.

The destroyer and battlecruiser were made for kill missions. They have enough high slots to mount weapons and salvagers. And few things are sexier than the Cyclone and Cyclonette. Though, I will admit, I do enough the Hurricane and Drake.

Kill missions may be fun, and may pay well, and do have lot and salvage, but courier missions can be completed faster. If you are only interested in standing, then don't be ashamed of getting a tramp freighter knocking out those carebear-ish courier missions.

There are several Social skills which affect standings and one's ability to negotiate better payment. There are also a series of agent type-specific Connections skills that may be hard to come by. Unlike most skills available from universities, these are largely only available from loyalty point stores.

Loyalty points can, eventually, be redeemed for faction gear, including faction ships. Try to stay with one corporation for as long as possible.

For those who are serious mission runners, they may want to consider COSMOS agents or Epic Mission Arcs.

Odinsdagrting

It is official, I have gone nearly completely carebear.

Well, completely carebear.

Well, I still make runs into low-sec to get BPCs, but I do it in a Cheetah, so... yeah, carebear.

I had mentioned before that I've been trying to get some friends into capsules. I managed to get three (though only one actually used the 21-day key). To make their transition into capsuleering pleasant, I've formed a company around my T2 production. They are going to invest time and capital so we can expand this and share the profits.

I present, Odinsdagrting [ODNDT]. It doesn't have a web site, yet.

We are still establishing our offices, and we may even move our headquarters as things get settled. Our immediate goals are to improve our Republic standings and our standings with a few choice corporations. This will require me getting more into mission running than I have in the past.

We hope to have two stock issuances. One will be to ourselves as a mechanism to pay our profits. Once we get things very well established and we are ready for more capital, we will have a public stock offering. We will sell no more than 49% of the company. To make that as smooth as possible, I am looking at ways to make our operations more transparent. I'm even looking at sites such as Buxfer or Budget Pulse. If anyone has any other recommendations for ways to keep our books open, I welcome them.

Just before the public IPO, I'm likely to open recruitment to Minmatar auditors if anyone would like a chance to inspect the books and corporate hangars more closely.

I'd also like to look into building markets. It is an idea that Casiella Truza has mentioned. I'm interested to see how well she does. I'm even interested in helping.

Long-term, we hope to either move into wormhole exploration or join a larger alliance. I personally will miss combat and wouldn't mind if this moves us to 0.0.

New Player Resources: Navigation

New Eden is a big place. Many potential capsuleers are discouraged by the stories of traveling through several systems, gate to gate to gate, taking hours to reach a destination. The stories sometimes include having to return, or being attacked before nearly reaching the destination and finding themselves back in a clone vat.

While travel is an issue that figures heavily into the lives of capsuleers, it doesn't need to be one that dominants our lives.

All capsuleers should know their surrounds, understand the CONCORD security ratings and the dangers that can face them when they leave the station.

The Evelopedia and Grismar's Eve Wiki both have good articles on security status.

It is important to point out that even with the protection of CONCORD, there are those that would be willing to lose their own ship for the chance to destroy someone elses. These suicide pirates usually have a friend waiting nearby in a hauler to loot the spoils.

Maps of New Eden can be invaluable. I personally have either a hardcopy of the Ombey maps or the DotLan maps open.

Something else that helps is technique of making safespots. Safespots are bookmarks away from any celestial object. They are harder for pursuers to find, often buying enough time to buy an escape. Warping back and forth between a series of good safespots can sometimes keep you completely safe from harm. Grismar's Eve Wiki has a good article on Advanced Bookmarking.

The Business of My Blog

I'm not sure how I've gotten into this, but I have a queue of "New Player Resources" that I am planning on writing. I feel as though I am neglecting my blog, for anyone who may actually be reading it.

I want to break for a moment and give some highlights of things I'm planning and where I am.

First, I'd like to give a mention for Amon Tor, Tuxtoo, and Marten Scholen.

Amon is a former SGer who has made his way down to Metropolis. Tuxtoo and Marten are the newbies that I've been able to talk into getting into pods. We'll see if they like it.

As to my plans: I have several more New Player Resources kicking in my head that I'm looking forward to putting down. I'm not sure how I wound up in this role of tour guide to education, but I've gotten good feedback. I'm also having to explain some things to Tuxtoo and Marten, so I feel it is relevant.

Mynxee started a conversation in Hellcats Pub about having a new commute that was giving her less time to read blogs, and more time to listen to podcasts. The problem is, there are so many blogs and so few podcasts. There was a "blogs-on-tape" idea.

Song Li, of Missions Collide may run with this. I think she is going to take it in a slightly different direction, but I am looking forward to it.

And, it gives me an idea to reprise my New Player Resources in an audio format. I'd be more than happy to simply record them and let someone else edit them down and produce them in their own show. If only I weren't born in The South. I may have a face for radio, but I clearly don't have the pipes.

I do wish to continue my Riftering project. I haven't had time for PvP lately, and what time I have had, I've spent in FW fleets manning the Blackbirds.

I also want to revisit my run in with the nogero cartel, and through that expand on some conversations that I've had recently, mostly in Hellcats Pub.

Meanwhile, I'm continuing to try and pad my wallet in Metropolis with some Gallente T2 production. I've gotten my first T2 rig BPCs. I'm not sure how well these will sell since the components are still hard to come by. I suspect the prices will fall as the increased drop rates trickle through the market.

All the same, I have the ability to build, among other things, Medium Drone Mining Augmentor IIs. They are much more expensive to produce then I imagined they would be. I think they are very handy, and I'm sure there is a market, but we'll have to see how that balances out.

New Player Resources: Tools

I'm sure most everyone has seen the learning curve graph that illustrates just how hard being a capsuleer is. Thankfully, there are a few tools to help make our lives easier.

EveMon

EveMon is a tool that helps with skill planning. It lets users build multiple training queues for multiple characters. It lets users build skill queues not only from a directory of skills, but from certificates and a directory of ships and modules. Users can easily add all skills required for that shiny ship.

EveMon also offers suggestions on training skills to shorten training time, and will recalculate attributes. It also lets users play around with the effects of implants.

Eve Fitting Tool

Eve Fitting Tool (EFT) is a ship fitting tool. It will let users play around with ship fittings. It easily imports and exports to and from the game, BattleClinic, and the clipboard. It will also import character skills via the API and indicate which fittings are possible and display the stats of the fitting with the current skills. Users can even change skills to see the effects of a little more training.

Capsuleer

Capsuleer is an iPhone application that shows the current status of the servers and characters. It is very useful of keeping track of when the skill queue will end or keeping tabs on the wallet.

It even has a built in blog reader, though I have to admit to just using Google Reader through Safari. Capsuleer will let users opt out of blogs included in the pack, but it won't let users add non-pack blogs.

If anyone wants to suggest more general-use Eve tools, please do so in the comments.

There are some use-specific tools that I'll list later, such as mining and POS calculators and invention aides.

New Player Resources: Picking A Race

As I've mentioned, I have a co-worker currently testing out the capsule lifestyle. I have an old college roommate that I'm trying to talk into a capsule. I started gathering new player resources, but I want to take a step back and explain the races of New Eden and how they differ from the experiences that most players may have from other games.

Before I do that, I want to mention Eve University. It is a player-run corporation that works to train new capsuleers. I don't really have any experience with Eve U, and I understand they are under war declarations a lot, but I like the idea. I think they are worth looking into.

In order to explain the differences in the races, I feel that I need to explain two mechanics: standings, and tanking.

Standings with an NPC corporation affect which of those corporation's agents will be available for missions. Standings with an NPC faction are entry requirements into Faction Warfare, or in setting up a player owned station (POS) in faction space.

Doing missions for an agent increases standings with that agent, and through that agent, the corporation for which that agent works, and through that corporation the faction with which that corporation is aligned. There are some missions which will lower standings with an opposed corporation or faction. Standings damaged in this way can be mended.

All ships have shields, armor, and structure. They must be defeated, in that order, in order to destroy a ship. Some pilots will opt to shield tank, meaning they are putting resources into their shields and not their armor. Some will armor tank. I've only ever seen proof-of-concept fits to structure tank. I don't know of any case where it has actually been done.

Once a shield tank is broken, the neglected armor usually falls quickly. For armor tankers, the shield is usually just a soft shell easily peeled away. Measures to extend shields make a ship's signature larger, making it easier to hit. Measures to increase armor make a ship heavier and slower to turn and accelerate.

There are options to speed tank or rely on range or electronic warfare, where a pilot ignores shields and armor. They are valid, but more complicated.

Having explained all of that, I now want to explain the four races of Eve.

Picking a race does not commit anyone to anything. It does give a slight head start with standings and frigate skills for a particular race. Standings, though, can be easily changed, and changed back, just by running agent missions. As to frigate skills, many capsuleers can fly more than one race's ships. I personally can fly nearly as many Caldari ships as Minmatar, and I can fly Amarr frigates and Gallente cruisers.

During character creation, and in the Evelopedia, there is some backstory on each of the four races, and even the blood lines and such. Again, this doesn't bind you to anything if you don't want it to.

The Caldari are probably the most popular race. If not, their ships certainly are, and with good reason. They are very simple and straight-forward, and in some cases, define the role in which they fill.

Caldari ships are shield tankers as a rule (which can be broken). There are Caldari ships that are gun boats, purposed to carry the devastating, if short-ranged, hybrid rails. There are Caldari ships that are missile boats, and these ships are the best missile boats in New Eden. Included among these is the single most common battleship, the Raven. It is nearly twice as common as any other battleship. Even I have to admit that the Raven is excellent for running missions and fighting NPCs.

Caldari ships also include the best mining cruiser and the best sensor jamming ships. The Blackbird is the butt of many jokes for being such a fleet spoiler. I tend to fly a Blackbird, and have many more killmail appearances in one than any other ship. Most pilots, myself included, don't like it. It is slow, ugly, and not particularly lethal on its own. It is very much so not glamorous.

Clearly, I've never been one to be confused with glamorous.

But the Blackbird must be doing something right. It will often be called as a primary target in a fleet battle.

The Gallente share the use of the hybrid rails with the Caldari. The Gallente, however, tend to be armor tankers. There are a number of Gallente ships that could shield tank just as easily, even if that was not truly their original intention.

Gallente are famed for employing drones. More Gallente ships are capable of carrying more drones and have better bonuses to their drones.

Gallente also lay claim to having the best industrial and transport ships, though they just do barely outclass the Minmatar ships.

The Amarr have nothing in common with the Caldari or Gallente. They are armor tankers as a rule, and rarely, if ever, use missiles or drones. Amarr ships rely on lasers. Lasers have a lot of flexibility and very commanding ranges. Lasers, however, are very hungry weapons, making an Amarr ship very vulnerable to power draining attacks.

While the numbers from the quarterly reports don't always bear this out, I swear that the Amarr battleships are New Edener's second most favorite. They do look very imposing on a battlefield.

It is probably worth noting that one of the scariest frigates outside of Jovian space, is an Amarr Punisher fitted with Minmatar autocannons.

That's right, there are no rules saying one can't mix races. There are restrictions though. If a ship doesn't have a turret hardpoint, then it can't be fitted with a turret. If it doesn't have a drone bay, then it can't carry drones.

The last race is probably the most complicated, and my favorite, the Minmatar. Minmatar ships are constantly derided as being flying scrapheaps, held together with duct tape and good intentions. They clearly do lack the grace and elegance of the Gallente or Amarr, but at least they tend to be more symmetrical than the Caldari.

Minmatar ships are difficult because they are sometimes a split platform. They have turret and missile hardpoints in near equal numbers with a small drone bay. To effectively fly some of them, one has to have twice or three times as many skills as one would need for a comparable ship from another race.

Minmatar ships also don't follow a rule as far as tanking. Some are shield tankers, some are armor tankers. It would be hard to make through life as a Minmatar pilot without learning skills for both.

Why does anyone fly Minmatar? They are often faster than other ships. And the Minmatar projectile turrets tend to have better range and don't rely on energy to drive them at all. The Minmatar Tempest battleship had the nickname SniPest for being the best sniping battleship for the longest time, and New Eden's frigate of choice is the Minmatar Rifter. Aside from looking very bad-ass, it is very lethal and faster than anything it can't kill outright, giving it the option to disengage (usually).

Again, the selection of a race doesn't tie anyone to anything. It is just as easy to start learning the ships of a second race after gaining some familiarity with New Eden. For new capsuleers that are having a hard time deciding, I would usually recommend the Caldari.

The Caldari have adequate mission running frigates and cruisers, and ships that can be used in a fleet with few skill points. The main reason I would recommend Caldari is the Osprey. It is the best mining cruiser, and tends to be the reason a lot of pilots ever learn Caldari, particularly pilots around before the introduction of ORE's mining barges.

For those that don't ever want to shoot a rock with lasers, the Caldari have a whole line of ships that make great mission runners (Kestrel, Caracal, Drake) that should hold one over until settling on a career or finding a niche.

A Tale of Pew Pew in Three Parts

Part I: Agincourt

The market has been treating me well. Sales of the new rigs have been swift, and profit margins have been very comfortable. My wallet is growing nicely.

I had some business with my research agents in Sinq Liason and beyond. Last night, I took my Wreathe industrial, Agincourt. Once I was done, I decided to check the local market for salvage material. I've been building Gallente equipment, so it shouldn't surprise me that the salvage that I need is cheaper in Sinq Liason. I picked up about 110 million ISK in salvage and started heading back to Metropolis.

I was autopiloting while working on a blog post (that hasn't been finished, yet). I was peeking at local, keeping an eye out for any Amarr militia. I was pulled from my typing by the distinct sound of blasters. I looked up to see half my shields were gone. It wasn't firing around me, it was someone firing at me!

I was over nine kilometers from the gate and a Brutix in Aufay, a 0.5 system, had just removed half my shields in one volley. I had no options, I had to hope CONCORD would show up, or I'd make it to the gate.

Again and again the blasters fired. Quickly, Agincourt was destroyed. Instinctively, I warped my pod away. As I was warping away, I saw a Hoarder turn flashy. I can only assume he was looting what was left of my wreck.

I warped back to find my wreck. I didn't see another wreck. It is possible I missed it. It is possible that Teff nogero warped away. Perhaps CONCORD got him elsewhere, but I have to imagine that he was planning to get away since he was using a Brutix fitted with large weapons.

I lost my entire cargo. Fortunately, my cargo was destroyed and little was left to loot.

Part II: Assailer

I had the day off, and spent it on the frontier. I arrived in one of my Aggressor-class Rifters, Assailer. We were in a fleet of about fifteen, playing cat-and-mouse with an Amarr fleet. I found myself in a scout role.

I was poking around Dal. There were just a few war targets. I warped back to the Auga gate, ready to leave. As I approached the gate, it activated. There was another war target in local. I waited, zero-bubble on the gate, for the hostile to drop cloak.

It was an Incursus. It was very likely the same Incursus we had seen poking around as a scout for the other fleet. I was very tempted to engage him. I notified the fleet. The Incursus took a hostile posture. He turned toward me and locked me.

I probably shouldn't've, but I decided to obliged. I triggered my targeting computer and selected approach.

Afterburners on. Proceed to tight orbit.

As soon as my lock was established, i quickly toggled everything. His drones were out, his rails were responding. I was determined that this Incursus would be destroyed.

I panicked a little. As soon as my shields started depleting, I triggered my armor repairer. I'm so used to being in a shield-tanked ship.

I toggled my repper back off, and was pleased at how quickly his shields and now armor were melting. At this rate, my Rifter was sure to outlast this lone Incursus.

Now, however, we wasn't alone.

An Amarr militia Malediction answered his call and joined in the fight. I soon found myself taking fire from both. I was now chanting, "Hold together. Just hold together."

My armor repairer was losing against the rising tide of hostile fire, but I had now removed the last of the armor from the Incursus. I was still panicking. Instead of toggling the overheat on my autocannons, I just toggled the whole high rack.

The Incursus was flaming, barely holding together, but they were now eating into my hull. I picked a distant object, ready to make an escape in my pod.

My capacitor ran dry, my afterburner, my damage control, my armor repairer, they all fell silent. And I lost my lock on the Incursus.

Clearly, my Rifter had been destroyed. I spammed the warp button. My capacitor was empty. The Malediction still had me pointed. I wasn't escaping. I was spamming the align and warp buttons.

It was in this moment of panic that I realized, my Rifter was still holding itself together. I had lost my lock on the Incursus because it was destroyed. It was just the Malediction and me.

I knew I couldn't take him. I had no capacitor, my hull was dropping from his ranged attacks, and one of my autocannons had taken so much damage that I'm surprised it hadn't exploded.

I got some capacitor back. I don't remember which module I triggered. The afterburner to get away, the armor repper to hold things together. I don't remember, but when I was finally far enough away to warp, my Rifter was near 60% hull.

I had my second solo kill. I had survived what turned out to be a one-versus-two.

I was shaking. I was racing. I didn't have the capacitor to reach the celestial that I had picked. I bookmarked my location and waited a moment. I picked another and object and warped, letting the armor repairer slowly plate the burning ship.

I had to go out through Auga to meet the fleet. I knew the Malediction would be waiting.

I finally warped to the Auga gate to find the Malediction, a Wolf, and I forget what else. They chased me.

They chased me into a Heretic camp.

I jumped through, and they stopped chasing. I found a station and eagerly authorized the 31,000 ISK to the station master without looking at the bill for the repairs. I wanted Assailer back together and ready to undock.

Part III: Zunvi'as

Our fleet restructured itself a few times, and I eventually found myself in a Blackbird, Zunvi'as. We were still sparring with the Amarr fleet, but a band of Heretics had decided to spoil things a bit.

One of our pilots was caught at a safe spot by the Heretics. Our fleet doubled-back to assist him, but I found myself closer than the rest of the fleet. I thought I would warp in just long enough to break the lock on the pirate that had my militia mate pointed, and we could both flee.

Regrettably, as I was in warp, his ship was destroyed. As my bubble collapsed, I found myself 30 kilometers from the Heretic band as they attempted to lock his pod.

Immediately a Heretic Malediction broke off and heading for me. I locked him as I aligned to warp away. I took the preemptive measure of jamming him to keep him from getting a point on me.

In doing so, I got my first Global Criminal Countdown.

Regrettably, I had chosen a stargate as my destination. The gate guns tore into my Blackbird before I could warp away.

The fleet arrived and disbanded the Heretics, dispatching a three of their ships and a pod. We regrouped and waited for our timers to countdown.

I had no armor and barely two-thirds of my hull. My ship was on fire, as we waited together.

Another engagement called, and those without timers warped away and jumped out of system. It was then that the Heretics returned and found me in a safespot.

They easily destroyed Zunvi'as.

My first GCC cost me one Blackbird.

Blanter #11

Welcome to the eleventh instalment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month’s banter comes to us from Joe Brusati a long time reader of CrazyKinux’s Musing, who asks the following: CCP states that T3 Strategic Cruisers are just the start for the T3 line-up. In future Eve expansions what would you like to see as the next T3 ship type. Please be specific on details about what role this ship would play, cost of manufacturing, and the different modules that would be available for it, and of course you must give your T3 ship a name!

I have to say that I still feel like there is a big neon sign that I just don't see. I don't ever know what the topic is until I see it show up in someone's blanter. Invariably, others are posting before Kinux, so they aren't getting it from him. How do they know what the topic is and who submitted it?

Regardless, I enjoy participating, even if I always feel late.

As to T3 ships, I say start at the beginning: Frigates. Though, I have to say, I am very interested in the T3 possibilities for industrials.

I do have some concerns for a T3 frigate, so I can understand why the T3 cruisers were introduced first. One concern would be where would the T3 frigate fit into the line-up and how much would it cost. A T3 cruiser costs notably more than a navy battleship. I haven't had any time in or against a T3 cruiser, but looking at the stats, I imagine a T3 cruiser could handle a 1-on-1 against a battleship, possibly even a faction one. The T3 cruiser costs less than the Marauders, so I have to imagine they would have their hands full in trying to take one down.

Given this, I'd expect the T3 frigates to cost 50-100M ISK, and for them to be able to easily take out a T1 cruiser. I can't say as I'm excited about that idea.

I wouldn't want T3 frigates to be cruiser killers. I wouldn't want them to be very expensive small ships that disrupt the balance of things.

What I'd want is for them to introduce customizations. I like that you can change the hull of the T3 cruisers, and then fit rigs and modules. The variations are immense. I think T3 frigates would keep us from seeing the same Rifters, Punishers, Jaguars, Enyos, Tristans, Claws, and Crows (and a few others).

As to naming the ships, I'm sorry, I don't have any names to offer. I see where each race has a naming genre, but they have no rhyme or reason within that genre. For example, the Slasher gave way to the Stiletto, which made sense. The Claw doesn't make as much. The Rifter gave way to the Jaguar and Wolf, which doesn't make a lot of sense. It makes even less sense when you see that the Caldari have a Caracal and Scorpion.

As to the modules, I think the frigates should have less options than the cruisers. Currently, the T3 cruisers have five module clusters with four options each. I think the frigates should possibly have only four with three or four options each.

I really do want the ships to be able to fill a great many roles though. Each frigate should have an option for configuring defenses, an option for configuring high slot configuration, an option for configuring power grid/CPU/capacitor, and an option for configuring support activities such as electronic warfare. It really is kind of generic.

Other Blanter's that I've read:

• Ecliptic Rift by Casiella Truza


• Kyle Langdon's Journeys in EVE by Kyle Langdon


• Yarrbear Tales by 00sage00.

And Kinux's aggregate of the participants.

New Player Resources

I have an old college roommate that I'm trying to get into a capsule. I have a coworker who is trying on a capsule for the two-week trial. I am finding myself having to explain a lot. I don't mind this at all, but I figured I'd post it here for future reference, and thus I have a new series.

There are lots of references and guides and toots for new capsuleers. I really shouldn't have to explain everything, as long as I can find those resources and present them here.

The most logical place to start is with CCP. They have offered Evelopedia. It has a new player section with some write-ups on basics that should be excellent for all new capusleers.

A place with a lot of ambition, but not a lot of content, yet, is Tweveit. I do hope they succeed, so my recommendation here is really as a matter of future hopes.

One more resource that I want to recommend tonight is Eve-Agents.com's Agent Finder. This recommendation leads into the first topic that I want to expand on.

I personally don't want to be a mission runner. I bore easily with PvE. I don't mind a nice 10/10 plex run as a way to make some bank, but as a rule, I have no desire to run kill missions for level 4 agents. But I have run missions to get my standings up for various reasons, and I have to admit that for new players, missions offer a comfortable way to turn a coin without having to resort to what may be boring rock cutting.

Each agent has a level and a quality rating. The higher the level, the harder the missions the agent will assign, but the more the payment. The higher the quality, the more the agent will pay. Agents range in level from 1 to 5, and in quality from -20 to +20. A combination of level and quality also affect the required standing one must have with the corporation for which the agent works before the agent will offer jobs.

Each mission completed, not only has some reward, but will also increase one's standings with that agent and with that agent's corporation. The more missions, the more one will grind out a rather high standing. To see one's standing with a particular corporation, look at Standings on the Character Sheet. There is a Liked By and Disliked By tab.

One can also see the required standings to work with any particular agent. To see the standings requirements on any particular agent, look at the info on the agent. Under the Agent Info tab, there should be a Compatibility attribute if that agent is not already available.

There are two more things that I'd like to point out to new mission runners.

I was only running missions to grind out standing. I wasn't interested in the reward. I found that courier missions were faster to complete, so I could get more of them done. The Evelopedia has a resource on the different types of missions offered by different agent types.

Every so often, one will get an offer from a storyline agent. They are great boosts to standing, so try hard to complete those missions.

The last thing to point out is that completing a mission may raise standings with the corporation offering the mission, and the faction with which the corporation is associated. It may also lower standing with factions opposed to that faction. Running missions for a Minmatar corporation in which one kills Angel pirates will lower one's standing with the Angel Cartel. Running missions for Serpentis will lower one's standing with the Gallente Navy.

Standings can be mended over time, but I think it is worth noting if one was counting on their previously acquired good standings.