OOC Entry 107 - Ok, that was hard.

It has been over a month since I managed to continue my latest story. I am not even sure how long exactly, but now I finally made it: I published the third chapter \o/

I would love to say it was only my daily life that kept me for so long, but if I'm honest, I have to admit I had a terribly hard time writing this. I wanted to have black-ops battleships and bombers and all kinds of other stuff in it. I never really did a hotdrop with black ops ships in-game, so I had to read about it and get some advice.

The credit goes to my fellow blogger Kamar Raimo for being an expert consultant and for providing a screenshot of a Widow. He tells me that one would rather use T3 ships than recons for such hotdrops, but I like Pilgrims and so I wanted to have Pilgrims in the story.

There needs to be some artistic license here!

I generally have little experience with the whole bridging business and cynos and all that. I have been in quite a few nullsec fights when I was with Noir and Black Legion, but nothing that I would call proper knowledge of all things involved in force projection through jump bridges. While this is a story and not everything has to reflect game mechanics 100%, I wanted it to be as realistic as possible.

All that made things complicated, and I find writing space battles difficult enough as it is. Then I also had to come up with some Rooks & Kings style elite PVP tactic that would actually make it possible for that smaller but more disciplined force to beat a much larger Hive fleet with a supercarrier as support. I developed new ideas all the time and then discarded them again.

I rewrote the whole thing from the ground up more than once, and I am still not sure whether it is really any good. I guess I let the readers judge. I just had to hit "publish" eventually or otherwise I'd go crazy with that story remaining unfinished in my head.

Originally I intended the battle to be just one chapter, but it turned out that it had to be two. Even as it is, this current episode is already four written pages long, and I always try to keep a single episode between two and three for ease of on-screen reading.

Well, at least you now get two episodes full of action. The second one will also feature some shipboard combat. I've never done that before, so I really wanted to give it a try.

I hope you have less of a hard time reading this chapter than I had writing it :D

TRS - Fitting Discussion: Poor man's ArmorHAC

I promised last time that I will discuss something else than a brawler ship and during recent fleet operations in armor cruiser gangs, I was reminded of the staple ArmorHAC. This successful small to medium gang Zealot-based fleet concept became famous for it's good performance and because of this classic piece of FC raging.

So what's the ArmorHAC all about:

[Zealot, ArmorHAC]
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
1600mm Reinforced Steel Plates II
Tracking Enhancer II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Damage Control II
Armor Thermic Hardener II

Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Warp Disruptor II
Stasis Webifier II

Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M

Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Anti-EM Pump I

The concept behind this fit is simple yet effective. With Scorch and the Tracking Enhancer your optimal range becomes 30km and more. That makes this an ideal setup to fight at gates. On a non-regional gate anything that jumps through into your gang will be in optimal range and therefore take full damage. Likewise, if you jump into an enemy you can be pretty sure that you can engage them right away except if they are sitting far off in sniper ships.

Your defense relies on heavy buffer and resistance, and a very low signature for a cruiser sized ship. That is why this ship is flown with afterburners: To keep the signature low. That low signature results in longer lock times for the enemy and a reduction in incoming damage because it makes tracking harder. Also missile damage is affected negatively by low signature and that means an ArmorHAC gang can engage turret and missile ships equally well if speed can be maintained. They are vulnerable against excessive missile bombardment though.

The third midslot is pretty much up to your preferences. Many people fit target painters there to increase their chance to hit by increasing enemy signature. Others like to use a Sensor Booster for increased lock speed. Personally I like the web because it works well if a brawler tries to get under your guns.

The typical ArmorHAC gang will be supported by suitable logistics ships and - if you have enough ISK to burn and high skilled pilots - Armor fit Lokis with long-range webs. The latter are particularly useful against the main weakness of this setup which is kiting ships. Once an enemy gang can get outside optimal range, you wont be able to chase them down again. On the other hand, that usually means you can warp out and escape them.

To fly and fit a ship like that, high fitting skills are needed, and training the HAC skill is also not something that is done in a few days. On top of that, a Zealot hull is not what you'd call cheap. So I thought about possibilities for similarly effective setups that can be done with lower skills and hulls that are more affordable for the pilot on a budget.

The obvious first ship to look at would be the Omen. After all, the Zealot is based on that hull. So let's see whether an Omen can work as a "poor man's ArmorHAC":

[Omen, Poormans ArmorHAC]
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Tracking Enhancer II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II

Warp Disruptor II
Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script

Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch M

Medium Anti-EM Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

Well, let's compare: The signature of the Omen is actually lower than that of the Zealot, so that's a good thing. Of course - being a T1 ship - it also has substantially lower armor resistance and one less low slot. In terms of absolute armor hitpoint buffer we get close to the Zealot. With the above setup a Zealot will be a bit above 101K armor hitpoints, the Omen gets around 97K. The main drawback here lies with the turrets. Because the Omen lacks the optimal range bonus of the Zealot, our engagement range will be reduced by a good 10K. A Tracking Computer like in the setup above brings you closer to the Zealot's range but not quite there. Also the damage output of the Omen lies significantly below the Zealot. On the other hand, the Omen can use drones, so we can actually push our DPS beyond what the Zealot would achieve when adding a mixed flight of light and medium drones. Another thing is speed. You will need to maintain transversal speed to help avoiding damage, and while the Zealot can run it's afterburner permanently, the Omen can't. That puts it at a disadvantage here.

So how about alternatives? Let's look at the other race that typically uses armor tanks. How about a Thorax with railguns?

[Thorax, Armorrailrax]
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II
Tracking Enhancer II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Warp Disruptor II
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script

200mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
200mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
200mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
200mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
200mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M

Medium Anti-Explosive Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

Because of the lower powergrid, we wont be able to fit a 1600mm plate with those guns, so the hitpoint buffer of the Thorax is below that of the Omen. The armor resists are spread differently and end up being slightly weaker, so in the end this ship has a good 8K less EHP compared to the Amarr T1 counterpart. It's signature lies between the Zealot and the Omen which is still OK.

Now for the good part: The Thorax almost reaches the DPS of the Zealot and has more than the Omen. When it comes to volley damage it exceeds both ships, achieving a maximum above 900. It's optimal range is close to the Omen, and with falloff added it will shoot farther than both Amarr ships. Because you will be in falloff range, you wont achieve full damage at such ranges, but at least you can still hit. In addition to that, the Thorax can actually control a full flight of medium drones, and that makes it better in DPS than either of the other two. So under the bottom line, the Thorax is the best damage dealer at ranges around 20K. That damage potential suffers from very poor tracking though. Because you are using tracking computers, you can actually mix and match scripts if you are closer to an enemy, but even with two tracking speed scripts you wont be as good as the lasers. With the lighter armor plate, the Thorax comes out on top when you look at speed, but just like the Omen it can not permanently run all modules and keep the afterburner active.

Let's consider an alternative for this particular ship:

[Thorax, Armorrailrax Dual150]
1600mm Reinforced Steel Plates II
Damage Control II
Tracking Enhancer II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Warp Disruptor II
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script

Dual 150mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
Dual 150mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
Dual 150mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
Dual 150mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M
Dual 150mm Railgun II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M

Medium Anti-Explosive Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

Here it gets interesting. Now we reach an armor buffer above both the Omen and the Zealot. Because of lower resists, this ship still wont have the EHP of a Zealot but it does exceed the EHP of the Omen setup above. Tracking is now closer to both ships, but we do sacrifice a significant amount of range. Optimal + falloff together will be just under the optimal range of the Zealot. Despite achieving higher DPS than the Omen and better volley damage than both Amarr ships on paper, again you wont do all of that damage at the same range that the lasers turrets can achieve. Still, at ranges of 12K you will outgun both ships, and that is before you add drone damage. Not bad for a T1 cruiser.

Edit:
That being said, the Pulse Laser boats can switch to short-range crystals when finding targets at such close range. Multifrequency will increase DPS and volley damage slightly over Scorch. Because of the better tracking one could then outperform a Thorax. Conflagration is another option, then you would outdo the damage of a Thorax but you lose the better tracking. Still for slow targets at close range that track badly themselves (like battleships) Conflagration on an Amarr ship is the superiour damage dealer. (thanks to raylu for reminding me of that) 
/Edit

So when looking at low-skill and low-price alternatives for the classic ArmorHAC setup, both Omen and Thorax offer viable options. Tracking is the main weakness of the Thorax when compared to the two other ships, but with tackle and Target Painter support, a lot of that can be mitigated and it's superiour damage potential can be realized.

Naturally the Zealot has the better resist tank and therefore profits more from logi support, but the T1 alternatives work well enough to allow for participation of newer players with lower skills in an ArmorHAC gang.

OOC Entry 106 - Sacrificed on the marketing altar

With this post I will do two things which I never did before: I will throw a serious j'accuse at CCP and at the same time defend a griefer. Even me - a currently inactive player - could not miss the perfect storm in the EVE community that was created by the Erotica 1 Bonus Room Affair. I was following the threads and blogs and comments with a rather blasé attitude, and then this happened:

Let me make one thing perfectly clear at this point. I have nothing but contempt for scammers and griefers who prey on the weak. The practices of Erotica 1 and his friends at Minerbumping are among the worst examples of in-game behaviour that can be found in EVE as far as I am concerned. Still, in this particular ruling of CCP I see nothing but a marketing lie and Erotica 1 became the convenient sacrifice to prop it up.
 

A Dangerous Hypocrisy 

When Ripard Teg wrote his blogpost, both the EVE community and third party media latched on to it and the reaction was largely negative with only a minority defending scamming and related practices as legitimate gameplay., The public image of EVE had taken a serious hit: Obviously this must be a game where sociopaths and sadists can freely engage in their despicable activities and are fully condoned by the game's creators. At a time when the influx of new players into EVE is as high as it hasn't been in a long time, CCP found itself at an impasse: Should they let this slip and stand vilified in the wider gaming media, or should they take action and possibly alienate a significant part of the playerbase by putting restrictions on the sandbox.

In the end they opted for a singularly double-faced approach. They declared to the playerbase that nothing will change (after all, real-life harassment has always been forbidden) but simultaneously kicked Erotica 1 from the game.

The problem with this is, that CCP is guilty of serious, and dangerous, hypocrisy here. While Erotica 1 has become a very prominent scammer and griefer that could be made an example of, many similar and even worse practices still go on. Goons will still scam people out of all their stuff with the false promise of a membership in their ranks. The New Order will still obsessively hunt and kill every "carebear" they can find, over and over again, openly declaring that they want them gone from the game. ALODs will still be published on websites, accompanied by articles that publicly ridicule the person who managed to lose an expensive and/or ill-fitted ship in a stupid way. The collecting and publishing of tears and rage continues at an unmitigated pace. Racial slurs and misogynistic trashtalk still persist both in-game and metagame communication.

EVE has not become any less infested with the likes of Erotica 1 or even worse griefers. As Erotica 1 states himself on reddit:

If I'm banned, then there are thousands of players, with clear evidence on the internet and within logs that should be as well for more aggregious(sic) activities.

Of course CCP can not, and will not, do that. They have made their bed (or sandbox) and now they have to sleep in it. That bed is infested with vermin, but they show all the world how they have removed one flea and now probably expect everyone to accept that as proof that everything is fine.

But that's a lie, and with this lie they pave the way for remaining griefers and scammers to reel in new victims who have been given a false sense of security. After all EVE is fine now that this "evil sadist" has been banned. CCP is taking action to defend the weak against such abuse.

Pardon me if I laugh bitterly at this.

The Gevlon Defense

What I really respect Gevlon Goblin for is putting his money where his mouth is -  Alekseyev Karrde on DOW Episode 71

What really should have happened here is a promotion of in-game retaliation. Gevlon Goblin - in my view - is a pretty crazy person, but he did something that hundreds, if not thousands, of others who complain about Goonswarm have not done: He tried to create trouble for them in highsec to a degree that they would be hurt by it. One can discuss the level of success he had with that endeavour, but he decided to look for an in-game (and metagame) solution for something he perceived as an in-game problem: The influence Goonswarm and their allies were having in highsec space.

All those people posting accusations and screaming for a ban (if not even a prison sentence) for Erotica 1 could - and should - have instead done just that. Warn everyone publicly and thereby restrict the pool of potential victims for that scammer. Harass the New Order with wardecs and counter suicide ganks. Infiltrate the organization of Erotica 1 and his friends to steal right back from them. In the past, I became aware of one stratagem where a griefer and troll was hit hard and life in his favorite hunting ground was made impossible for him: That was when Zedrik Cayne set up Socratic.

All those people with their righteous rage could have done similar things with Erotica 1.

Actually, if CCP wanted to mess with the sandbox to support the weak, then they should implement a way how victims can actually band together and make life more difficult for the perpetrators. What if all those mission runners who have perfect standings with the Caldari Navy could pool LP to gain a docking ban charter for known scammers and griefers, evicting those guys until they got their standings back up? Erotica 1 would have to move his assets out of Jita and could be attacked, not to mention having to look for a new hunting ground.

The whole problem here is not that there are people who will do their malicious best to exploit the uninformed, the naive, the gullible and the weak. The problem is, that there is very little the victims can do to fight back against someone who basically sits in a station and conducts all his nefarious business from there.

I would even dare to say that people like Erotica 1 would appreciate the challenge.

Instead, CCP opt for a publicity stunt at the cost of one particular player who I personally would call the most elaborate scammer and griefer, but certainly not the worst, and ultimately at the cost of more new players who get blindsided by that publicity stunt.

If I were to put it as outrageous hyperbole, I'd say CCP just scammed a lot of potential new players in ways that Erotica 1 could not have done better.