k.com

After publicly airing the devious designs of my scheme to found a new corporation, alliance, and power bloc (in that order) in my last blog entry (http://www.kugutsumen.com/content.ph...Merry-Go-Round), I was honestly expecting a bevy of "Haha, good luck scrub" accompanied with a smattering of "Who cares?"

While there were indeed some of those, what I was most surprised with was the substantial amount of folks who sent me ingame emails or private messaging saying "Sign me up, when do we start?"

To those with interest or to others prematurely predicting failure, I'll clarify a few facts:

1. Tentatively I plan to start getting things off the ground in July.
2. I don't plan on leaving ISRAD, or Pandemic Legion.
3. I don't plan on failing either

Let me clarify number two for a second. I don't plan on leaving PL unless Shadoo finally has enough of my shenanigans and permanently bans my services. Since I'm not anyone uber important over there (I'm not even a director, and only respond to the clarion call of Skymarshall when needed), I figure I have enough characters and enough motivation to carry on both activities. I did it before with the 54th, and that didn't turn out so bad while it lasted.

Now, on to the fun stuff.

When I mentioned this scheme to an old friend of mine, also an EVE player and currently a member of TEST, he particularly liked the idea of generating interest by resurrecting the 54th, or something like it to generate interest through general cockfaggery and assorted shenanigans. Seeing as how I'm still sitting on roughly five hundred thrashers pre-positioned in Venal, Fountain, and Providence, this seems like a good enough idea to me. Thrashers, Hurricanes, and Tornadoes to start (hopefully with a few scimmis!), with the target being anywhere and everywhere that has a large enough population to respond accordingly. Seeing as last time we were able to use Kugutsumen as a rallying platform to organize folks, I'll probably just post ops and information here again and try a repeat performance.

I think after a certain time frame, perhaps thirty to sixty days, we'll be able to judge how many of the people that we've enticed would be willing to start doing things in a somewhat more serious manner than a GLORIOUS alt corporation. At that point, I'll put together a new corporation and then we'll move things over to an actual secure forum and comms.

Well that all sounds well and good on paper, what I'd really like to know from some of you guys (in PMs or the comments, I don't care which), what you think about the whole idea. Is resurrecting the 54th for another go a decent idea? What about generating interest in the first place? Kugutsumen, despite being widely read, is a pretty insular community in its own way. What other platforms should we turn for recruitment?

I'm especially wary about transitioning from simply putting together a good corp to beginning to look at how to slap together the warm bodies for an alliance. I think that the former is a higher priority than the latter, and as such maybe the corporate stand up might take longer than I originally had anticipated. The biggest thing I want to ensure is that we have the critical mass of people to be able to run medium sized gangs (fifteen to twenty dudes sounds about right). Once we transition into serious business, I'm hoping to run a mixture of the same fast locking arty gangs complemented with some covert drops on the side or during off-peak hours. I think that combined with some of the griefing experts of ISRAD, we could make life real inconvenient for wherever we decide to move in, and fill up the killboard while we coalesce into something a bit more awesome.

I might also approach Elo Knight and his band of scallywags and see if we can't tag along once or twice and complement his huginns with a couple of our tornadoes. Hell, if Delve isn't burned down by the time I get home, I'm sure TEST will also be down for either honor fights or cockfagging in the region.

Speaking of Delve..... I haven't mentioned where the fatherland of this evil empire is going to be have I?

Guess I'll dive into that one next week.

Hit me up with your ideas, tirades, or accolades folks. Surprisingly enough, it's been refreshing to interact with EVE players again after such a long hiatus.

Till next week

Hello spacefriends.

First off, I'd like to stave off the deluge of questions (if anyone even still remembers who I am).

1. I am not back from overseas yet, but will be within the month.
2. I didn't kill anybody
3. This is not a "Delve War" post.

This one is going to be more of an introspection/reintroduction type deal. I'm sure I'll get around to finishing the Delve story. At this point you've waited a year for it, so I'm sure it'll keep. Is this what G.R.R.M feels like? Maybe.

Towards the end of my deployment, I had serious thoughts about just closing up shop on EVE Online. I'd been gone for a year, the game seemed like it had gotten stale, and aside from my alliance mates, I'm sure the average EVE player has no idea who I am anymore.

That last one is probably the biggest bummer of the three, since like any megalomaniac my enjoyment of the game partially stemmed from how e-famous~ I could get myself through stunning victories, appalling defeats, scamming, getting scammed, and bouncing from one incident of drama to the next. I like to think that for a bit I was doing pretty well. Certainly I was not on the level of a Mittani or Molle, but perhaps an Elise Randolph or Elo Knight.

Anyways, the point is that when you desire infamy its hard to start over again as simply average. I honestly didn't think I wanted to ever again put in the effort of cataloging POS timers, assembling coalitions, and sitting for hours on a titan for a fight that wouldn't happen. That shit is boring, and I was over it.

But for some reason, EVE Online kept nagging me in the back of my mind. There was still stuff I wanted to do in the game that I never did get around to, or failed at, or just plain didn't get the opportunity to do.

In one of my earlier blogs, I mentioned that one of my first dreams as a newbie was to be the CEO of a corporation, the leader of a powerful alliance, and a legendary FC.

Well, I was the CEO of Insidious Existence (http://evemaps.dotlan.net/corp/Insidious_Existence) for almost a year, but I managed to hit the trifecta of A. Pissing off literally everyone in the Northern Coalition until we got kicked, B. Getting overthrown in a coup, and C. Getting my titan stolen from me.

In the same timeframe, I tried to assert myself as the leader of Razor Alliance, but through a combination of drunken posting, rage, and bad politicking managed to get isolated and finally booted. I tried to lead SOLODRAKBAN (ugh) back to life with a Reconquista of Cloud Ring, but Jersey Johnson got mad that I went to Carvel instead of meeting him at a Russian bath house with UaxDeath in New York City, and punted me after a particularly poignant forum post at his expense.

The only goal I really did get around to was becoming a pretty good fleet commander. Delve War Two went pretty well, Geminate vs. Atlas not so much, but Tribute by June turned out to be pretty prescient when the NC finally fell, and that was one of my big goals to get back at all the inactive faggots who had driven me out of RAZOR. Mission accomplished.

About six months before I deployed to the beautiful Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, I ran a little experiment that actually turned out pretty fun. You guys might remember the FIGHTIN 54TH, the short-lived but oft posting corporation I founded for alts of bitter Kugu vets to run around with thrashers and die gloriously. Despite the ludicrousness of the concept, for almost three months we had fifteen to twenty active dudes on weekend ops in a corporation of like sixty characters, and some folks were bringing in their actual main characters to get in on the fun. I actually stopped playing my PL account and focused solely on running around providing rifters and GLORIOUS fleet operations to the guys who wanted to participate in it, and you know what? I was having fun doing it too.

That project eventually fell by the wayside when the Russians began invading the NC in earnest and I took up the reigns of Skymarshall to crush Tribute, but when thinking back on the experience it gave me some ideas on how I might proceed in the future if I ever wanted to do it for real.

I think I do want to do it for real. Why you ask?

EVE is boring right now, at least to me.

Oh sure, the Goons and their ilk are busy beating up on BoB mark three in the North, Solar is desiccating the corpse of the Legion of xEATHXx, and Pandemic Legion is losing tengus like its going out of style, but it seems like these are all half assed gestures against old grudges or hedges against stagnation and boredom. Where are the old jihads of EVE where one alliance would storm into a region just because they wanted it, against an enemy that actually fought back after the occasional adversity? They are gone because with them went all the old cults of personality that could rally thousands of players. There are only a few left. The Mittani is obviously one. Shadoo is another, and there are a whole host of second tier alliance leaders and personalities who have their own followings, but where are the Molles, Bobby Atlas', and Evilthugs? Gone, and the game is lesser for not having them or someone like them.

I want EVE to have a bad guy, and I want to be that bad guy. I want to sit back and throw a dart at DOTLAN and have wherever it lands burn up in a fire, just like the old days. I want to forge an empire, clash with the established old guards of weariness and mediocrity, and see who comes out on top.

My thoughts, asinine and simplistic and egotistical as they are, is that I want to bring a truly new power bloc to the forefront where there hasn't been one in years. How can I do that? I don't know, but I've put some thought into it and what stuck to the wall was a few basic ideas:

1. Start small, fun, and involved in a community of veterans (possibly Kugutsumen)
2. Use connections with like-minded alliances (PL, Test, other alliances of friends) to achieve critical mass for mid to large sized operations.
3. Repeat step two to acquire space/moons/notoriety and thus desirability in the eyes of prospective players
4. Slowly transition to a semi-skilled entity (introducing specialized doctrines, tactics, and ship types).
5. Go to war, and never stop.





Will any of this work? I don't know. Probably not in any form as cut and dry as I presented here. Certainly no one is going to run outside their stations and shout "HAIL PHREEZE" at the mention of the idea. In fact, I'm sure that most folks will be laughing at the arrogance of trying to bring such an endeavor to fruition. That's cool. I've certainly been a source of amusement for the EVE community through various failures before (still waiting on that Avatar in build in Deklein by the way).

This is just one of the last things I wanted to do in the game, although probably the most difficult and monumental. I think sometime this summer I'll at least attempt to put a small corporation (or possibly two; One for serious players, and the other in the spirit of the FIGHTIN 54TH just for bitter vets to hang around/blow up comically/watch me fail) together and see if I can at least get that building block off the ground. I always thought the best way to energize small groups of players was with Black Ops bridging, and that happens to be one of my favorite past times. I just hope I remember how to not suck at portaling dudes around on top of juicy ravens and tengus.

By all means, if anyone thinks this is a good idea, bad idea, that I'm an asshole, or just wants to say welcome back in the comments please do so. I'm certainly not smart enough to try and get this endeavor off the ground by myself, and I appreciate everyone's thoughts (except for DBRB; You are dumb).

Strangely enough though, I'm weirdly excited to try this whole thing, enough to have resubbed most of my accounts at least. Now that I've put my money where my mouth is, I suppose its time to start.

I guess the real question underneath it all is this:

Anyone want to play EVE with me this summer?

Good evening.

Elitistops, having recently experienced a slight downturn in membership, is preparing to open its doors to potential applicants.

As a member of Pandemic Legion, and as a highly specialized and skilled corporation, the standards are stringent but remain attainable for fellow gentlemen of space to aspire to.

We are looking for several things in prospective applicants:

1. Must be willing to specialize in Manticore

2. Have an appreciation for the Angel heritage of our glorious corporation

3. Accept either Jesus Christ or Tim Tebow as your savior. Either is acceptable (or both!).

4. Be a girl or be prepared to act the part for the sick gratification of our CEO.

If you believe you meet the following per-requisites, please navigate to the following URL: https://www.pandemic-legion.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?135-ISRAD-Recruitment-Forum

Before posting an application thread, please acquaint yourself with the rules and questionnaire required by navigating here: https://www.pandemic-legion.com/forums/showthread.php?25230-Read-This-Or-Get-Out-Recruitment-OPEN

Thank you for your time, and God Bless.

Cross-posting from my page on the EVOL wiki. If people like this, I'll write up more blog posts.

Introduction

Flying frigates solo is the cheapest and most effective way to teach yourself the art of PvP. The skills you learn while flying solo will make you a better pilot both on your own and in fleet. Moreover, the engage-ability and positioning you learn will make FC'ing a whole lot more intuitive.

The Fit

The Taranis, in my opinion, should only be flown with a select few fits: the rail fit and the blaster fit. I only fly the blaster fit, so that's what I'll discuss.
Rationale

• Damage Control II- The Taranis has most of its hp in hull. Thus, it behooves you to stretch that hp as far as you can by applying resists to it via the DCU.

• Magnetic Field Stabilizer II- Because you have a paper-thin hull tank, it is important that you kill your enemies quickly. Thus, rock this MagStab.

• Micro Auxiliary Power Core I- You're running dual-prop and "large" frigate guns. You need the PG to make it fit.

• MWD and AB- The way to engage and survive an engagement is through speed. Dual-prop offers two flavors that will be discussed later.

• Warp Scrambler- Depending on your fitting skills, you can fit different meta levels. I prefer cheap, because you will want to be orbiting within 5k meters anyway, and the range you gain by upgrading isn't really worth it.

• Light Neutron Blaster II- These are for shooting things. They'll track pretty much anything with the tracking bonus your hull gets.

• Salvager I- This is to absorb heat damage, and if you're Tar really intense about salvage, you can salvage afterwards.

• Small Hybrid Rigs- These are for extra damage.

• Warrior II- Damage drones are for augmenting your damage.

What To Load

I always bring Null and CNAM. Void can be helpful, but you're only going to keep in Void range if you're orbitting a larger target who is not moving and unable to shoot you.

Implants

There are some good and cheap implants you can use to greatly improve you're Taranis flying experience:

• Small Hybrid 3% damage bonus (Slot 6)
• 3% Hull HP bonus
• 1% Turret damage bonus

Pimping

If you're spacerich and want to make your Taranis more shiny, upgrade mods in this order:

• Faction/Deadspace MWD
• Factoin/Deadspace AB

That's about all the "functional pimp" you can throw on there. If you literally shit money and love having expensive lossmails, a Faction Magnetic Field Stabilizer or a Faction Scram might be to your liking.


Links

If you're one of those "solo" PvP'ers who actually does "solo" with like three accounts, then the Skirmish links are gonna be your best bet. The increased speed and reduced sig will make you even harder to catch.

What To Engage
As a frigate, your engagement options are somewhat limited. As a low-sig, super-fast frigate, your engagement options are somewhat expanded.

Attack

• T1 Frigs- Your DPS and hull-tank will see you through almost any engagement. Spiral in, orbit at 3k with Null, turn on AB (and overheat it if you're taking lots of damage).
• Other Interceptors- Again, you have craxy DPS for a frigate, and you should be able to own any other interceptor.
• Faction Frigs- Chrss and I have found success against faction frigates. For these monsters, though, overheat everything and pray.
• Sniping Assault Frigs- Usually Jags and Wolves. Be careful with your approach (as they can alpha you quickly), but once you land a scram, you're golden.
• Zealot- If you were to find a Zealot not on a gate, pat yourself on the back for the free kill. As Zealots have no drones, you just have to spiral in, get in a close orbit, and tear away at their armor.
• Tier 3 BC's- Excepting the Talos, tier 3 BC's are easy to spiral in on and own (as most are long-range fit). Just watch out for friends.

Run

• Assault Frigs- These things are slightly OP. Many of them have enough mid-slots for a web, fucking you up greatly. Enyos and Ishkurs are very dangerous, as their hybrid tracking will make mincemeat of you.
• Destroyers- I find that destroyers often have good enough tracking to take you down before you can melt their paper-thin tank, but it's pretty situational. If you start out really close, go for it. Overheat that AB.
• Cruisers- Most Cruisers have room for webs and can fuck you up with their drones. I was once killed by a troll Bellicose who fit dual-webs and neuts. I would've broken his tank, but he slowed me and took away my damage before I could behead him.
• Large Ships with Drones- Warrior II's are your enemies. If you find a ratting Armageddon or somesuch and can pick of its drones, go for the kill, but otherwise, stay away.
• Recons- These ships are designed to fuck you up. Run away.

How To Engage

The Spiral

The key to any engagement is getting into your damage range without taking damage yourself.
To spiral, spin the screen so that the enemy is in the dead center. Double click slightly to the left of him. After a short period of time, spin the screen so that the enemy is again in the middle. Double click to his left.
Repeat this process until you are within 5km. Now, you have two choices: transition your spiral into a manual orbit or spin into your computer-generated "Orbit at ____km".
I usually use the computer's orbit, unless the enemy I'm against is of the especially high-tracking variety. For Null, I set my orbit to 3,750 m and overheat my AB. For CNAM, I set my orbit to 1,750 m. If I'm webbed, I will overheat to maintain a more normal speed. Unwebbed, though, I prefer to keep the AB cool so that I don't fly out of range and lose damage.


The Orbit

The orbit is pretty simple. Make sure you don't get caught up on any environmental objects and do not let yourself stop.
The main thing your working on now is applying DPS to the enemy ship. If it is another frigate, overheat, because you'll kill him before your guns get much damage. If the enemy is a larger ship, don't overheat, as it may take a while to kill him.
If you happen to be fighting a larger ship with a sizable drone bay, proceed to target and pop its drones. These are gonna be the one thing able to push you out of the fight if you're under the enemies guns.


The GTFO

Once you've killed your target (or realize that you can't win), it's time to go. If you are scrammed, you will want to overheat your AB and burn away at an angle to maximize transversal and get out of scram range. If you are only under pressure from a long point, overheat that MWD and burn off at an angle. Once you're out of point range (maintaining transversal the whole time), warp to a celestial that requires you to do the minimum amount of stopping and aligning.


That's pretty much it. Go forth and lose ships!

Last weekend we held the first Minecraft Games with TEST, PL and Waffles; last man standing won, one life each.

We had about 18 dudes on a vanilla server running a custom map enclosed with bedrock walls from max height down to bedrock. Everyone started on an island and there was a 5 minute grace period to get out of dodge.

There was also a chest full of stuff on the starting island on a tower with a jumping puzzle above the island, no fewer than 5 people died trying to get to it. In the end it came down to me and a TEST dude, Gomoso, he managed to knock me into the water and shot me with arrows as I tried to get out.

We'll be running more games, we may need a better server though as the one we use is US and only allows 20 dudes. Euros were complaining about ping (like they always do). If you want to play you should make an Other Games account on our forums so you can see the dates and get on Mumble.

The next map is going to be a team game in a huge maze.