School's Out!

        Read the latest CCP Dev Blog and rejoice!

        It's been a hotly-debated topic for what seems like forever - the Learning skills. Like most beginning pilots, I mocked the fact that I had to spend an entire month to learn how to learn before I could learn the things I wanted to learn, lest I give up time due to the lack of efficiency.

        Now CCP has announced their intent to implement what seemed to be the most agreeable compromise, unsurprisingly devised by the CSM. Learning skills are going away and we're receiving +12 to all attributes instead, plus a reimbursement of all skillpoints invested into Learning.

        "Great," I thought, "I can accelerate my skillplan and be a month ahead of schedule." Then the comment feedback got my wheels turning.

        First was Trebor Daehdoow's suggestion that if your neural mapping allowed for Learning skills to train at a rate higher than what you were currently working on, then train Learning skills now before the reimbursement and get a return investment of skillpoints that's greater than what you would have gotten if you had just continued with your skillplan.

        Then came a comment from Ishina Fel who said, "Time to make a list of all those CHA-based skills I want maxed..." With CCP Zulu's announcement just a few days ago that the PLEX-for-remaps idea was getting scrapped, I was annoyed that I would have to train Charisma skills at a low rate because I don't see a Charisma remap plan as worth a year of training time. I would run out of skills that I would want.

        Wow, what a double whammy to solve both of those problems. I have switched to training Eidetic Memory V which is bringing me more skillpoints per hour than my current skillplan. Then I can drop those reimbursed skillpoints into Leadership at an equivalent rate of 2200-2300 an hour instead of 1350 without the need for a remap!

        What will this buy me? With currently 2 million in Learning which will turn into about 3 or 4 million by the time we get reimbursed, I can go from zero in Leadership to having Leadership V, Wing Command III, Warfare Link Specialist III, and a couple of levels each in Skirmish, Armored, and Seige Warfare Specialist. Not bad. It may be a little bit of a sidestep, but it's a perfect opportunity to take advantage of Learning skills one last time.

War Sacrifices

        "Amarr? Are you kidding me?!"

        The outburst caused some heads to turn. At the same time, the group sitting with Knee Anderthal promptly shushed him down.

        "Seriously," he said more quietly, "Why Amarr?"

        "Because it's the best ship for the job."

        The attention turned back to the instructing Fleet Commander. The lecture resumed. After it was finished and the students began to depart, the FC motioned Knee over to talk.

        "Is there a problem, son?"

        "I don't see why Amarr ships could possibly have a tactical advantage."

        "Armor tanking! What else do you expect to fly in an Armor HAC fleet? An Ishtar?"

        Knee frowned. "Okay, but why armor at all? Why not shield?"

        "You're a solution looking for a problem. Look..." The old FC's patience did not falter. He touched the panel in front of him and the presentation display on the wall sprang to life. "Build the fleet. Spec out your assault ship." The screen showed an empty fitting diagram. The FC handed over the input panel.

        Knee pursed his lips and set to work. He summoned a Vagabond into the interface and began dragging imaginary modules into the fitting. A set of guns here, some shield extenders there, and a set of gyrostabilizers. Satisfied, he looked up at his instructor.

        "Not bad, but you're forgetting something."

        "Hmm?"

        "You built this out to be a dogfighter - close combat. But you only have enough mids for Microwarp, point, and tank. What happens when someone scrambles you?"

        "Dual prop?"

        "I would agree, except now your EHP drops down to 22,000. And it was only 31,000 to begin with."

        "Well, what else am I supposed to-"

        "Like I said, a solution looking for a problem. Armor fit it now. See what you get."

        Knee was stubborn, convinced he was right. Still, he wiped out the fitting and started over. He grimaced at replacing his damage-enhancing gyros with armor hardeners, but he was able to improve the mid slot usage. He completed the fit and looked up.

        The FC pointed at the diagram. "Now, you see? You've doubled your EHP to 50,000 and you can fit dual prop on there for when you need it."

        "Yeah, but my DPS got cut in half as a result."

        "Unfortunate, but a ship does more damage than a shipwreck."

        The sheer logic gave Knee pause. "Okay, but still, you're trading gank for tank. I don't see how it improves things. You'd need twice as many ships."

        "Not necessarily. Look at this." The old man called up the Zealot fit he designed. "The problem with your Vagabond is that it didn't have enough lows. This HAC has two extra low slots where we can fit in Heat Sinks, and suddenly we have a ship with the damage of your shield fit, but the EHP of an armor tank."

        "What the hell?!" Knee exclaimed incredulously.

        "Best ship for the job." the FC reinforced.

        "I will not be caught dead in one of those abominations!"

        "First of all, you're correct; you won't. Not on my watch. Second of all, what do you have against Amarr ships?"

        Knee gave him a look which transcended speech. It was a look of pure emotion. Fear, anger, loathing. The old man read it and understood. "You need to shake off your preconceptions of the Amarr, son. You may have had a brush against their ugly side, but everyone has an ugly side. That doesn't mean that's all they are. We have plenty of Amarr folks here in corp. Have you ever talked to any of them?"

        "I've ... kept to myself." Knee admitted.

        "Another mistake. We're all here to work together. We are at war, and it's not against the Amarr. You should talk to them. They have the same agenda that you do - the success of this corporation. Do you understand?"

        "Yes sir." Knee's stomach was twisted in a knot but he knew that some of them were different. He just found it easier to keep his guard up.

        "We all have to make sacrifices. I suggest you make your pride the next one. Now go out there and show me you've learned something, and maybe you can actually fly in my fleet instead of sitting in my classroom."

        An hour later, the skillbook quartermaster looked up at the hulking Brutor in front of him. "Yes sir, what'll it be?"

        Knee swallowed and spoke with restrained emotion. "Amarr Frigate and Small Energy Turret, please."

Rifter Swarm FTW!

        The honorable and multi-talented Rixx Javix of EVEOGANDA has been well-known in the EVE Universe as an accomplished artist who does commissioned pieces for people's blogs, corp websites, and anything else they like. As of late he has added some EVE merchandise to his repertoire in the form of Cafepress designs for sale on T-Shirts, Mugs, and Tote Bags. A couple of weeks ago he added this design to the collection: Rifter Swarm FTW!

        As a proud Minmatar player and a member of Dreddit, a corporation famous for encouraging days-old newbies to join combat in null-sec in anything they can fly - especially Rifters, I had to have this shirt. Rixx said in his blog post that he would hope to see someone walking around in this shirt. Well Rixx, this is for you!

        So to recap: Read EVEOGANDA. Check out his Cafepress Store. Buy his stuff - all proceeds are donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Fly Minmatar.

The Darkblade

        He had heard its name frequently among the whispers of other pilots. He had even seen a few of them on holoreels, especially those from the annual Alliance Tournament. But he had never seen one in person until it was staring at him in his hangar.

        Knee Anderthal gazed in awe at the ship which most pilots considered to be the deadliest frigate in existence: The Dramiel. And now it was his. A pirate ship of Angel persuasion, it bore ill repute among the people he knew in high-sec from working for the Caldari. They associated it with crime and violence. Knee agreed that they got the violence part right.

        Having Minmatar and Gallente training, he had already known he would be capable of flying it, but its austere appearance made him feel intimidated. As he approached the vessel he ran a hand down one of its pointed tusk-like wings. "This thing looks like a giant claw!" Knee remarked to his hangar attendant. "Yep, she's a beaut." he replied. "Care to take her out for a spin?" Knee gave him a look which said it all. "Unload my Reaper. I brought her a gift basket."

        A cargo hold full of modules was quickly unloaded, unpackaged, and mounted on the hull. He brought exactly what he would need. Once it was complete, he climbed into its pod and eagerly awaited its undocking procedure.

        A matter of seconds later, he was in space. They say among capsuleers that the agility of a ship from the inside fits like a glove. The nimble frigates are like surgical gloves, cruisers like winter mittens, while the battleships are more like a gauntlet - strongly armored yet cumbersome. This ship did not fit like a glove. It fit like a third hand. Knee switched on the microwarp drive he installed and screamed away from the station at 5000 meters per second. No other ship he flew before had that much speed packed into it.

        He transmitted his approval to the attendant back at the station.
        The reply came back, "Going to fly her for a fleet operation?"
        "No, not yet at least. This girl's going to be for a special occasion."
        "A keeper, eh? Got a special name in mind?"
        "I'm calling her 'The Darkblade' - after a particular pilot I know."
        "A friend of yours?"
        "Hardly. One of the most dangerous pirates I've heard of. It's perfect for a ship like this."
        "Heh. What would you say to him if you ran into him while flying that thing?"
        "Fifty Million or your pod gets blown to pieces."
        The responding laughter echoed in Knee's mind as he engaged warp and brought his new toy home to his toybox.

RL Distractions = Level 5 Skills

Being on call this week at work, I don't have the privilege of blowing up spaceships at my leisure. It's a perfect time to train an 11-day skill.

Meanwhile, I have a couple of purchases to talk about. Stay tuned.

On Downtime and Exploits

        So it seems my alliance managed to create a nice bit of controversy. EVE was taken down for half a day to apply the Tyrannis 1.2 patch. Before the server went down, TEST planted Territorial Claim Units in areas of unclaimed 0.0 space. They normally take 6 hours to complete the claim, during which the unit can be destroyed. Due to the downtime, however, nobody could contest the claim and TEST returned to EVE several systems richer. Apparently the former owners (or non-owners to be more accurate) did not like this chain of events and petitioned the GM's who revoked the claims on the territory.

        So the first question is: was this an exploit? Probably. My personal thought as a programmer is that timed items like this should not elapse while the server is in downtime. As soon as the server came up and was accepting player connections, then the competing alliance should have had 6 hours from that point to contest the claim.

        So now extrapolate that. What if the downtime was arbitrary, like the two-day unforeseen outage caused by moving the database? The timer starts when the server is up, but how can a group organize when the server comes up at a random time with real-life constraints sometimes preventing you from acting?

        Also, consider what timers stop and which ones continue. Skills continue training because they don't affect other groups directly. What about reinforced towers? Other sovereignty timers? Planetary Interaction? Research and Industry? Capital Shipbuilding? My opinion is that any timer that can cause a loss to someone should stop. That means that towers and sovereignty freezes and everything else keeps going.

        It's not perfect, but it's better than provoking GM interference in the shadow of the whispers of favoritism of which CCP will probably never rid themselves.