Vita Perseverat

  Today brings very big news on the Alliance/Corp front in my EvE career.  Through the machinations of fate and of man the AU-F has found itself seperated from the our previous alliance and heading for a new home in Fatal Ascension.  After getting over the initial shock of this all happening in two days our member base is very excited about the opportunities that Fatal Ascension can provide us, as well as the chance to help them reach their own goals.  I believe we have found a great new home where we can prosper for a very long time.

  Needless to say, the seperation from our previous alliance brought with it some drama.  This came largely from within the corp as members scrambled to understand what this meant for them and their activities in the Providence region.  In the end though I believe the entirety of the AU-F is extremely thankful for our time in AOV and wishes each of them the best of luck as a sister alliance. 

  Without getting into too many details the breakup stems mostly from differing goals among many parties.  Recently the AU-F senate (of which I am a member) began to ask our leadership to make some changes.  The reason for this was almost exclusively burnout spreading throughout the corp.  Many corp members (even senators and directors) seemed to have stopped enjoying the game during the general low point in EvE leading up to Dominion and following its release.  Sensing this the senate asked for a change and the AU-F set off on our Northern Campaign.  This did serve to re-energize the corp, although we were saddened to lose some good members.  Following the general failure of the NC in the area of space we hoped to move into and CVA opening new battlegrounds around Providence we decided to return home to help.  Sadly our goals still did not align with AOV and the final result was a split from our good friends.

  In the end I believe we will remain good friends with AOV as well as enjoy forging new friendships in FA.  While many are sad to leave AOV growth cannot always come without growing pains.  I do hope that both sides will be able to grow in their preffered directions much more fluidly now.  Luckily we will still be fighting side-by-side with our old buddies to defend Providence and its occupants.

Bombs Away

  I didn't get to log much time in EvE this weekend even though I had planned on a little R&R in New Eden.  Between the wife, the bars, and the hangovers; let's just say I wasn't making it online.

  Despite the lack of playtime I did manage to score my first "solo" kill ever.  I would like nothing more than to take the credit for expertly slamming a Taranis head on with a bomb.  However it was a team kill, even if the great pilots who set us up for the kill aren't on the killmail.  Thanks to the great flying of an alliance mate (harry) and an old chum (ajax) our foe came out of warp right on top of an already deployed bomb and took it on the chin.  I have to say that this was one of the more beautiful kills I have ever been a part of as the whole thing went off as if it were plotted for months.  Here's hoping I don't see the other side of this situation any time soon.

Dominion 1.1

  Of course it will be covered everywhere but Dominion 1.1 lands tomorrow, bringing with it the full array of capital ship changes that were slated for the main release (and some new ones).

  Looks like those supercarriers are here meaning no more motherships; we'll be looking at some serious damage from these new ships.  The new design is much, much more closely aligned to what I envision when I think "carrier in space."  The new fighter bombers are designed to lay a serious blow and the new ship is meant to be a true offensive weapon instead of simply a supporting vessel.  Just like any current carrier these ships are designed to be a major part of a serious fleet.  I'm not sure when I will see one as the current mothership design has caused them to be a bit rarer than one would expect, a situation I hope this patch will change.

Patch Notes

  *Note the change to siege modules: they now add mass in an effort to stop bumping of ships in siege mode (or triage or industrial if you prefer that).

Ships Of EvE 4

  For those of you into in game events T'Amber has some fun lined up this saturday.  The Ships of EvE lottery kicks of with a full day of activity including prizes and a little hisec action.  Head on over to the big post for all the details, but if you win don't be afraid to throw a Thanatos or a Rattlesnake my way.

FanFest Video Wallpaper

The video wallpapers used by CCP during fanfest have been a heavily requested item on the EvE Forums.  It looks like they have gotten the work done and released them to the public.  If you want to put a little flashy EvE action in front of your eyeballs head on over: http://www.eveonline.com/download/videos/Default.asp?type=8&order=0


ForumTopic - some discussion and tips on getting it to work for you...

Original Forum Post - very long...

Directional Scanner

  Catching up on my reading this morning I found a quick introduction to using your directional scanner in WH space over at K162space.  If you are venturing into wormholes then this is one of the most imortant things to get right.  Keep in mind that the whole post is referring to using your directional scanner at maximum range and at 360 degrees.  This gives you the best chance to see scan probes that have been launched to find you.  When missioning (or running plexes) in lo-sec or 0.0 a watchful eye on the d-scanner could also help you avoid any unknown pilots you see in local.  If you see these pilots drop combat probes you will probably want to make ready for your escape.

  For those of you simply using your directional scanners in PvP combat where you are trying to determine where your target just warped off to (for instance) there are some slight differences.  The key difference here is that you will want to narrow the beam so you don't get every ship in the system.  When doing this it is important to keep in mind that the scanner is based off of your camera view and not the direction of your ship.  That means it is very important to align your camera properly if you hope to sniff out that scum you are hoping to kill.  This can take a bit of practice and a little calm in the heat of battle.

Combat Mechanics: Tracking

  As I talked about in my last post Angular Velocity is one of the major factors in hitting your targets.  We will revisit angular velocity in the future but today I would like to talk about something even more important.

  Turret tracking seems like a simple concept but there are a lot of subtleties to this game mechanic that can be overlooked by the casual player.  I admit that untill a short time ago I overlooked many of the intricacies of EvE combat myself. 

  The first thing to remember about tracking is that a turret's resolution is the number that compares with the signature radius of the target.  Ignoring speed, this is the reason a battleship has trouble hitting a frigate.  Speaking in generalities this means that a larger gun is meant to shoot at a ship with a larger signature radius.  It's a bit like moving up from a rifle to a bazooka, then to a cannon.  With each iteration you get more power and range but you lose some finesse.

  The next key point in tracking is tracking speed.  Tracking speed is basically the ability of your gun to move within it's own axis.  What this means for combat is that even if your large gun could hit a frigate that was not moving you just could not rotate it fast enough to hit one that is moving around you.  Going back to the analogy; imagine trying to move a cannon compared to repositioning that rifle.  When it comes to speed, larger turrets generally suffer and those intended for long range are slower than those intended for up close combat.

  The last, and simplest key is also the most overlooked in my opinion.  Too many pilots focus on optimal range without knowing what that means to their turret's effectiveness.  When it comes to optimal range you want to fight inside of your optimal if at all possible.  It is best to fight as close to the optimal range as you can.  If you can avoid it you should never engage a target beyond you falloff range as you will never hit it; and the area between your optimal and falloff ranges is going to be less effective than within optimal. Basically as you extend beyond the optimal range of a turret the chance to hit gradually reduces and reaches zero just beyond the falloff range.  This is one of those mathmatical curves so there is always a slim chance of a hit but I would not bet on this!