Serious Thukking Business

My alliance mate Namamai came out with another awesome solo frigate video earlier, check it out:

EVE-Files DL

So planning the next event for this Saturday at 21:00 EVE like I did with the first one. Late(ish) notice on the blog, but I have already posted the announcement elsewhere, including the IGS. To streamline the announcement process and make it easier to actually reach people who are actually interested in participating I went ahead and created a mailing list in-game. Join ‘SH Mind Clash’ if you want to get mail announcements about any planned events. Also I’m leaving it open for posting by anyone who joins, as it doesn’t only have to be me who calls people together to play.

Quick post to announce that I’ve finally figured out when I can definitely sit down and run this next Mind Clash event. Planned start time will be this upcoming Sunday (10/23) at 23:00 EVE time. Last one turned out really well and I’m hoping to see more awesome RP out of this next one.

If I have time I may actually sit down and try to turn some of the logs into a proper IC post for once later. The match between Kalaratiri and Katarina from the first event was especially fun.

Welp. Heard about the layoffs at CCP this morning. I think Myrhial has already said most of what I had in mind about the circumstances and the situation has me sad and angry, enough that I don’t feel like making a long post about it. I hope everyone who is affected by this is able to recover quickly and wish there was some way I could help, but alas I’m not connected at all in the gaming industry so am not of much use there. At least I hear that some EVE players have been offering help in that vein. If nothing else if any of the devs from Atlanta are passing through North Carolina and willing to stop by I’d buy them a beer, or give them a free Parkour class even.

I’m left wondering about their choices of who to let go. I was honestly expecting CCP MaidenSteel (much <3) because as an intern that would be the first position to go, but letting go of  some very long term community representatives feels like a terrible move. Sure CCP can replace them later without much undue difficulty due to skillset, but they lose all their experience in both playing EVE and familiarity with the community which I think is way more significant than their paper qualifications. This goes especially for CCP Pann who (as far as I’m aware) has been with the company since beta.

There have been some people on forums I read seriously considering unsubbing due to the choices of layoffs. I know my knee-jerk reaction was to want to do the same, but I feel that would end up only making the situation even worse. I’m not convinced of the doomsaying about CCP’s future (unless I see some good evidence) but I would rather continue to support EVE and help keep the game that the lost 20% and remaining dev team have worked so hard to build and maintain for all of us to play in. I’m certainly sticking around to see if all the talk about big changes coming in the winter expansion will get translated into action or not.

Super quick update: I’ve decided to start scheduling RP events rather than expecting people to just visit and generate activity. So this Saturday at 21:00 EVE the Sjalfradr Hideaway channel will have some scheduled time for people to come and try out Mind Clash or at least spectate.

Haven’t decided if I’m going to actually play a game yet or just watch / act as a referee, but should be fun in any case. I know I’m not the only one who could use something interesting to get back into regular RP.

IGS Post

Sat on this for a little longer than expected, but the idea of running a Mind Clash arena out of my corporation’s public IC channel, Sjalfradr Hideaway, is finally being realized.  It’ll be fun to see how much interest it gets at first. I kind of wanted to get a tournament setup for it, but to do that I would need to design some form of background game (since just relying on dice rolls sucks) to make it fair and relatively cheat proof. It would probably be another month or two at least by the time I got around to finishing that up…so needless to say I opted to not do that for now.

For my readers, if you think it’s a cool idea and want to help I could do with having some volunteer moderators to keep an eye on things while I’m not online. Unfortunately since the game can be competitive it means there is serious potential for god-modding and other issues if the players aren’t working more cooperatively to enjoy the RP.

Drop by the ‘Sjalfradr Hideaway’ channel if you want to join in or just listen in.

Gah, been too distracted this past week to properly sit down and write-up a retrospective on the Nashville event. Will see if I can get one up in the next couple of days. Busy trying to come up with an elegant way to make Mind Clash games work well without needing both parties to be completely cooperative all the time. Might just have to throw people into it and see how it works out and tweak stuff from there. Announcement in that respect planned to happen sometime this week since I was too tired last week to really think on anything EVE related at all besides corp recruitment.

Well, here it goes. I’ve officially opened up recruitment for my long overdue Thukker roleplaying corporation. You can see the recruitment posts on Backstage and the EVE-O forums. I’d appreciate it if any of my readers know of people who might be interested in Thukker stuff throw them my way.

Full Text Below:

IC Description:

“The Amarr tried to ‘Reclaim’ us. They failed. Now it is time for us to reclaim who we once were. Freemen, roaming the wilds.”

- The Thukker Chronicles : Exodus

Loke’s Shadow [ROKKR] is a group of Thukker outriders who primarily operate in null-security regions beyond the tribe’s home in the Great Wildlands. As outriders the corporation works independently of the caravans that form the core of the Thukker Tribe; as such Loke’s Shadow relies on raiding and smuggling to fund its undertakings and maintain mobility.

Who we are / what we are about (OOC info):

Loke’s Shadow is a Thukker roleplaying corporation and a member of the Rote Kapelle alliance. The aim of the corporation is to have a tight-knit group of roleplayers who are committed to excellence in small gang and individual combat. As part of Rote Kapelle our main emphasis is on small gang (~6-20 pilots) roaming primarily in null-sec (currently basing out of Syndicate), although we also visit low-sec and wormhole space on occasion.  ROKKR is also involved in smuggling, both as defined by game mechanics (contraband) and as a function of players restricting access to areas of space (null-sec smuggling: i.e. shiny modules and ships). The corporation is eagerly anticipating the proposed change to smuggling gameplay which may give us yet another avenue for PvP engagements.

To facilitate PvP excellence our alliance forums and wiki have a plethora of information on ship fittings, tactics, and after action reports to help create even more pretty ship explosions for all to enjoy. Rote Kapelle is an NBSI alliance with an extremely limited blue list and is dedicated to small gang PvP in all conditions and at all times.

While Rote Kapelle is first and foremost a PvP organization, ROKKR is a roleplaying corp, and our members are expected to partake in those activities. We play with the expectation that corp chat is in-character, but accept that alliance chat will be OOC.

As self-respecting outriders we do not mine ever and will not burden ourselves with the maintenance of static infrastructure like POS towers or anything associated with sovereignty.

What Loke’s Shadow offers:

• Frequent small gang PvP.
• PvP training (both via alliance resources and corporate leadership).
• Alliance logistics for getting assets in and out of theatre.
• Smuggling operations.
• Roleplaying opportunities.
• Jump Clones.
• Active killboard and forums.

What we require of recruits:

• Self-sufficiency: all members must be capable of keeping themselves in combat ships without corporate ISK-making activities. We do help reimburse losses during gangs from loot dropped, but that does not always cover costs.
• A focus on PvP with a willingness to constantly strive to improve performance and the maturity to listen to advice and criticism when it is presented.
• Interest in roleplaying (no previous experience required).
• Consistent participation in combat operations.
• Prospects must be 18 years or over.
• Has a working microphone and Teamspeak 3 capability.

Skillpoint Requirements:

At this time there are no explicit skillpoint requirements to join Loke’s Shadow, however we do not take trial accounts and expect around one to two months experience in game prior to joining. If accepted it is expected that applicants be willing to devote training time to flying an interceptor competently, if they do not have the skills already.

Applying to Loke’s Shadow:

Interested applicants should contact Misan Pal’taek in-game via either EVE-mail or the ‘Loke’s Shadow Public’ channel with any questions or to arrange an interview at a mutually convenient time.

Player Contacts & Channels:

Misan Pal’taek – CEO

‘Sjalfradr Hideaway’ – In-character public meeting place and lounge

‘Loke’s Shadow Public’ – Out of Character public channel

Killboard – http://rotekapelle.com/killboard

CCP improved the functionality of the onboard scanner a little while ago and that has changed some best practices for scouting. I went ahead updated the guide and removed the recommendations for core probe launchers on interceptors due to the changes. I also made a few minor revisions including moving tackle interceptors up to the top on the recommendations list as they make more sense to be put there rather than putting a caveat in about their superiority as forward scouts. No other major additions were done and hopefully this version will remain current for longer than the last one.

Otherwise slowly getting back into things and trying to kick myself to get some recruitment materials written for Loke’s Shadow. Aiming to get something semi-final done by this Wednesday since I’m starting a new job.

Seems a bunch of people are posting theirs, so why not?For reference the list of issues is here and the thread for posting is here.

12. Balance self-destruction

14. Black Ops Improvements

16. Boost Warfare Links and Revisit Information Warfare

17. Bountyhunting Improvements

23. Commit to excellence

28. Corporation and Alliance tool overhaul

34. Docking games fix

78. More orbit range options

91. Remote repping and aggression

141. User Interface – Big Wins, Fan Favorites and Low Hanging Fruit