Combat Mechanics

  Nyphur over at Massively has posted a helpful little article on EvE combat ideas.  While the terminology and ideas in the article have been discussed plenty on the forums I think they do a very nice job of breaking it down to simple bits.  The idea of angular velocity is the first topic and one I think every player should read about.  Angular velocity is one of the more important factors in how your guns work and one of the reasons you can't hit an interceptor in a battleship.  A solid understanding of this game mechanic can make a profound difference on your combat effectiveness and how you handle your ship in many cases.

  I will try to post some more detailed information on combat mechanics in the coming days if time permits.

  The Massively article can be found at: http://www.massively.com/2010/01/10/eve-evolved-five-interesting-combat-tactics/

New Player: Burnout and Specialization

  If you have read my short primer (So... You're New to EvE?!?) for the new player or one of the many others out there, then you probably have a good start on the possibilities in EvE.  At some point every new player reaches a plateau in EvE and it is here that many people burn out.  Often this point comes when you have been grinding missions for some time and have already reached a few early goals.  Perhaps you have been flying that shiny battlecruiser for a while now and the shine has worn off, yet battleships seem so far away.

  If you begin to wonder what you can do next you are not alone.  I took a break from EvE at this point because the possibilities seemed endless and I wasn't sure where I wanted to spend my energy.  Now, I wish I had stuck with it through that period but hindsight is 20/20, as they say.  If I could give some advice to a new player at this stage I would tell them to take it slowly and pick a specialty.  If you want to continue your EvE career then this is a good time to step back and regroup.

  This specialty does not need to be the one thing you do for the rest of your EvE career but it should be something you are interested in.  If you want to build ships for a while then work on the skills needed while you mine your butt off to get a nice cache of minerals to use for production.  If you feel tired of mission running and want to experience some PvP then choose a role you can fill with your current skills.  As I mentioned in Battle Hardened, or Soon to Be... one of the best roles for a newer player is fast tackler.  If you can fly a cruiser (or even better a battlecruiser) well then you will also very a valuable addtion to many fleets.

  The key here is to pick something you would like to do and focus on that for a while.  Take advantage of the time to just relax with your corp-mates; or if you are not in a quality corp then use the time to find one.  Focusing on one area will help because it is a good way to overcome that overwhelming feeling when looking at all the possibilities for your EvE persona.  Connecting with your corp mates just makes the game much more fun.  Even for those who enjoy being a "lone wolf" it's much easier to get though a boring stint when you can chat with friends. 

  While you are taking this time continue to train your skills for your next big goal and before you know it you will be there with a re-newed energy and fresh perspective.

I'm Stealing This Post

  Poking around the web today I noticed that Wensley over at Rifter Drifter has posted a nice primer on current 0.0 politics.  If you are new to 0.0 or getting back into it after an absence I would give it a read.  He has promised to add an update on the conflicts which seem to be taking place all over New Eden these days, which I look forward to.  With CVA, the Goons, and AAA (and friends) fighting in the south and NC and others fighting in the north it is clear that Dominion has stirred the embers of 0.0.  It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out in the coming weeks (or months).

It's always sunny in Venal

  Last night saw my first participation in our effort to make headway into the north. Right now we are operating under very strict engagement parameters because we are hunting reds/neutrals while the pilots we have set to "blue" would be happy to give us a free ride out of their space. Therefore we must be very careful to keep an eye on local and listen to the FC. Thankfully we have some very good FC's as well as capable fleet participants.

  In light of the fleet makeup I decided this would be a perfect time to let the new character sprout his wings and fly. So I undocked him for the first time, set a course for one of our offices, and signed up for the corp. Barely two hours after his first undocking exercise the new fella had scored himself the kill-mail on a pod kill; good start.

Sorry: Hulkageddon Post

I knew it was a matter of time before I made a Hulkageddon post.  As much as I want to keep my little mining ship alive, this is a great thing.  Player events like this are too rare a sight.  Hats off to Helicity and Hulkageddon.

In what I like to consider a small jab at the gankers the AU-F miners took the roid fields on the inaugural night of Hulkageddon.  I would like to give a big thanks to our tactical guys for providing a combat presence just in case.  Thankfully it wasn't needed as either the combat pilots scared off the gankers or they didn't want to bother with us.  Either way I'm happy to report that we were able to have a nice op and get some new players experienced in a mixed fleet.  The threat of danger made this a very nice practice op for null-sec mining for the new members.

Good luck to the Hulkageddon crew, but I am keeping my mining lasers safely tucked away for a little while.



Edit:  For crying out loud people, at least don't make it this easy: http://hulkageddon2.griefwatch.net/?p=engagement&kill=659

Making the Blogrolls

Escape Velocity has made the list covered by EvE Bloggers and I'm excited about that.  There are a lot of good bloggers I read on that list and I hope to do as well as them.

Word of the Day

No, I'm doing a word of the day.  However, this morning when I got to work (half an hour late) I popped open my email and my friendly word of the day from the folks at Merriam-Webster is "myrmidon." 


 I've always enjoyed CCP's effort in coming up with names; ship names in particular.  It turns out that myrmidon means :

a loyal follower; especially : a subordinate who executes orders unquestioningly or unscrupulously

 I hope I don't look like an idiot here but I didn't know that one.

 This is a clearly a perfect name for one of my favorite ships.  It's no secret that this baby loves drones and most Myrmidon pilots will use them religiously.  Of course I don't think my drones always get the "unquestioningly" part as they often take off on their own, but I still love them.