Aeon's EVE

On a rather unconventional sidenote, I thought I’d post some thoughts on Mass Effect here instead of them disappearing in anonymity in the bioware forums. If you are allergic to anything non EVE related, feel free to ignore this post

Perusing through the Mass Effect forums, I saw a thread entitled “Casey Hudson wants to hear fan’s ideas on a new mass effect game“. Intrigued, I read a big chunk of the ideas posted in this thread. There are a lot of great ones in there already, so at this point my opinion is probably nothing more than a drop of water in the ocean, but no game moved me as much Mass Effect did – so I will just contribute my thoughts anyway.

Thinking back on what made Mass Effect great, I would say these were the real strong points from my personal point of view:

• My decisions/actions really mattered
• Great romance options
• Believable characters, each with their own story than I could delve into
• Great combat gameplay
• Surprising plot events
• Being able to find a way out against overwhelming odds
• Mystery and explorationGreat sights, memorable places and locations

I will assume that the next game will be of the same kind, meaning a first person shooter RPG. While a prequel sounds like a great idea, I think the post-ME3 universe would be a lot more challenging. With the reaper threat eliminated and the universe being at relative peace, what could create the right background for a new epic adventure? Not the Krogans attempting to conquer the galaxy anew, and not synthetics trying to enslave or assimilate organics again. Synthetics should be present again however, since exploring the complex relationship between organics and synthetics has been a key component of the series.

To keep mystery and discovery as key elements, we would need either a new domestic threat (in the known ME galaxy) or something from beyond. In the case of beyond, one possibility would be that the races now have the technology to build new mass relays, which puts unexplored reaches of space within their grasp – with all the dangers this entails. In the case of domestic threats, an idea would be to introduce an evolutionary problem, possibly on the biotic level. What if strange biotic glitches started appearing a bit everywhere, regardless of race? The very fabric of biotic energy could be compromised in some way, either willingly by some unknown entity or by an upcoming generalized cataclysm.

Personally I like the biotic angle, because so much in the ME universe depends on it – and since it touches all races (apart to a lesser extent the Krogans), it would be a great way to bring together a multi-racial team again. Where the original series had indoctrination, you could have crazed biotics and possibly biotic mutations. It could impose some unique restrictions on the use of biotics, ar add some intersting side effects if the main character uses biotics. It could also be a way to reverse the current theme of organics vs synthetics: in this case the only salvation of the organics would be the synthetics.

Which leads me to a wild idea that has been waiting to be unleashed: what if the next main character were to be entirely synthetic? As an added twist he/she would not know it at first, and eventually finding out about it would make for a great exploration of the big question of whether machines have souls. Who created you, and for what purpose? Once more you are the key to an intergalactic struggle, while your personal struggle is just as breathtaking as the big picture.

Regardless of where the next Mass Effect instalment will take me, I am looking forward to joining the ride. Personally I believe that the original ME series has been a giant milestone in gaming. It succeeded in captivating its audience, in making it so emotionally involved that the ending of the series made bigger ripples than its creators had envisioned. Hell, no game had ever made me shed tears, so the next instalment has some very high standards to live up to.

Those are my two cents. Aeon out.

I stated previously that the amount of runs on a blueprint copy you use for invention has no effect, but I learned that’s not true.

As explained in the EVELopedia, the amount of runs of the T1 blueprint copy has a small effect on the resulting runs of the T2 blueprint copy. What I wanted to know was if the additional time investment to create maximum run blueprint copies was actually worth the time. To do this, I calculated the amount of blueprint copies I would need to get 100 runs of a Heat Sink II module – taking a 48% chance of invention into account. Then I compared the time required to create all the required copies as well as the actual invention time.

My gut feeling was that single run copies would be more efficient, but that’s not the case. 100 T2 runs for a Heat Sink II would require either:

Using Max-run T1 copies (=10 runs per T2 BPC)

• A total of 20 max-run copies (statistically we would lose over 9 in invention)
• A total of 65 hours copying time
• A total of 24 hours invention time

Using 1-run T1 copies (=1 run per T2 BPC)

• A total of 194 1-run copies
• A total of 3 hours copying time
• A total of 239 hours invention time

As you can see, while copying the required blueprints is a lot faster with 1-run copies, the invention time is what gets you – big time.

EDIT: as the saying goes, sometimes you lose sight of the forest because of all the trees. There is not only the issue of time, but also of the datacores you use up… Inventing from a 10-run T2 module BPC costs as many datacores as from a 1-run BPC. That was a facepalm, “you noob!” moment there. One of the beauties of EVE – even when you think you know it all, it comes back to bite you in your pride.

Also worth noting is that if you are using a decryptor that modifies the amount of runs, it is definitely recommended to use a max run T1 blueprint copy.

The EVELopedia links to the EVE Online Market Guide Invention calculator, and I had a look at it – I cannot say how accurate it is in practice, but it is well made and at the very least can tell you exactly what you need for a specific BPC.

As part of my personal campaign to try out all the features that EVE offers, I have started my second attempt at maintaining a POS and actually doing something with it. I put up my first POS about two years ago, and it did help me research some vanilla BPOs I had bought, but I never did anything with them. I ended up selling them, and the POS was destroyed when it went offline after I forgot to refuel it. I did not mourn that loss very much, because it had managed to sedentarize Aeon – which is entirely out of character for him. This time, Loreena embraced the project. It’s just as well I think, because she is a lot better with numbers – and there are zounds of numbers to crunch if you ever try to venture into invention.

As is customary in all my projects, I asked around what I needed for a highsec POS and did exactly the opposite. The recommendation was to go for one med or large tower (preferably large), and to put a very complex combination of hardeners, guns and electronic warfare turrets on it to protect the labs and assembly arrays I would need. I went for a small POS instead with absolutely no guns or ewar turrets of any kind. Why? Let me sum that up:

• If someone wardecs the corp, I just take it down before the fighting starts.
• It limits the amount of assets that can get lost in a worst case scenario.
• It’s a lot less hassle to set up.
• It’s inconspicuous if someone warps by in search of juicy targets.

After deciding that Loreena would set up the POS, I had to start at the very beginning: standings. I wanted to anchor the tower in Amarr highsec, so Loreena’s corp needed faction standings of at least 5 to be able to anchor it in a 0.5 system (6 for 0.6, 7 for 0.7, etc.). As chance would have it, she had been helping Aeon out missioning for the Ammatar Mandate. Incidentally this had already put her Amarr standings right where I needed them. From there, I chose an Amarr Control Tower small, more for its looks than anything else. There is no restriction on which type of tower you can anchor, so you can put up a minmatar tower in Amarr space if you like. Usually you choose the tower according to what you want to anchor. POS structures are like ship modules in that they need CPU and power, and the towers are like ships in that they provide more or less of each. Here’s an overview of the small control towers:

• Amarr: PG 1.250.000 MW, CPU: 1.375
• Caldari: PG 687.000 MW, CPU: 1875
• Gallente: PG 937.500 MW, CPU: 1688
• Minmatar: PG 1.093.750 MW, CPU: 1500

If you want to anchor more research labs, favor the Caldari or Gallente variants. The Amarr and Minmatar variants are more all-rounders and allow you to anchor a mix of large power-hungry structures with few CPU hungry ones mixed in. In my case, I wanted to be able to research my BPOs, invent from them and build the resulting T2 BPCs. To do that, Loreena had to set up a tower with the following things:

• An Advanced Mobile Laboratory: Copying / ME / Invention slots
• A Mobile Laboratory: Copying / ME / PE / Invention
• An Equipment Assembly Array: to manufacture modules
• 7000 Amarr Fuel Blocks (or matching your tower’s race) for ~28 days autonomy
• 4166 Strontium Clathrates
• As many Amarr Empire Starbase Charters as you like (or matching your system’s sovereign empire). Tip: use your loyalty points!

Hint: one character can at most handle 10 concurrent research and 10 concurrent manufacturing jobs. If only one character will be using the POS, anchoring more than two labs would be overkill.

As you can see, there is no need to put up a medium or large tower for that setup, it fits snugly even into the small Amarr tower’s CPU. After a little shopping tour, Loreena had all the required items in the Orca, from the tower to all structures. Packaged they only weighed 24250 m3 all together, so even a rigged T1 hauler can carry it all in one trip. Still, the Orca was a good choice because she also had to carry the Fuel Blocks, Strontium Clathrates and Starbase Charters, which weigh a little over 35.000 m3 together.

Anchoring the tower is a little convoluted, but easier than you’d expect:

• Find an unoccupied moon (just fly to them to check).
• Right-click the tower in your ship’s cargo hold (it won’t work out of a fleet hangar) and select “Launch for corporation”.
• The tower will then appear in space with the mention “Unanchored”. Right-click it again, and select “Anchor structure”. The tower will be firmly anchored in the moon’s orbit, which takes 15 minutes.
• When it’s finished anchoring, open the tower’s fuel bay, and put the fuel blocks and starbase charters in it.
• Right-click the tower and select “Put online”. This takes 15 minutes again.
• While you wait, you can also fill the Strontium Clathrates bay.
• Once the tower is online, right-click it again and select “Manage”.
• Enter a password for the forcefield and click “Apply”. The shield will now pop up, and your POS is ready to roll.

Anchoring the structures you want to use is easy and tricky at the same time. Use the same steps than for the tower to start anchoring a lab, for example. When you right-click to anchor the structure in space, you will see a green box with arrows that you can use to select the exact position where you want the structure. Structures snap to an invisible grid, and placing them is the difficult part: You want to be able to access everything from one location without moving around in your ship. You have to make sure to have a spot you can move your ship and from where everything is under 2500 Metres away, including the tower itself.

A few pointers for this: structures have to be spaced by one grid unit in order not to hinder each other. Some structures need more space than others, like the Equipment Assembly Array, which is quite gigantic. I suggest to just fiddle around with this until you’re happy with the result. You can unanchor things and move them around again at will, and luckily for you this does not take tens of minutes each time like it used to a while back, but seconds. Once you’re ok with the layout, online everything and you can start working

Starting the invention

Since Aeon had sold his entire blueprint collection, Loreena had to buy a few new ones. Nothing fancy to start with, just a bunch of module blueprints that looked like they could be sold without making a total loss, and which would be easy and fast to work with. For example, she bought a Heat Sink I module blueprint, so she started with doing some ME and PE research on it. The best way to find out how far you want to research a BPO is by using the BPOCalc website. Just type the name of your blueprint, and it tells you how much ME/PE you need. In the case of the Heat Sink I BPO, I went for 40 ME which seemed like a good compromise. Besides, you can always go back to it later and optimize further.

Note: You don’t have to do ME/PE research on a BPO to invent from it, but usually you will use the BPO to build the T1 item required to build the T2 variant from it, so it’s good practice to research it so you don’t waste materials needlessly.

Now that Loreena had everything she needed, the mayhem truly began. To invent a T2 blueprint copy from a T1 blueprint, you have to make copies of the T1 BPO first. You can only use blueprint copies for invention, and make sure you use max-run copies (more on that later). For testing purposes I invented some 1-run copies, which is very fast – after 10 minutes Loreena had 10 copies to work with. Beyond the thankfully light skill requirements for invention, all she needed was some datacores and a matching data interface. This is the same for any invention job: a set of datacores, and one data interface. The data interface is expensive, but it is not used up, so it can be used endlessly. Datacores have to be bought from market, but having one or more research agents can help with that supply.

Once you have all you need to run an invention job, the last hurdle is clicking through the invention window. If you have read this far I trust you will be able to select the installation in which to run your invention job. You will have a window that looks like this:

Important to note for beginners is that for meta 1 items you do not need the base item, and decryptors are only worth investing in for bigger, more expensive items. It will not change the odds of inventing a T2 BPC if you use a base item, so don’t bother. Prepare for disappointment though, because you will often invent less than half of the invention jobs you put up. Training the science skills on which a blueprint is based up to at least 4 helps a lot, but as you will soon discover that is a time intensive undertaking.

Mixing in some decryption

If you start working with bigger items like ships (cruiser-sized and above), adding some decryptors into the mix can be beneficial. Decryptors modify the chance of invention as well as the quality and amount of runs of the T2 BPC. Of course higher quality decryptors can be quite expensive, so it is always a gamble to use one. They are unique for each race, but regardless of race there are always 5 types with the following modifiers:

• Tier 1 (Like Circular Logic):
  Probability: 60%
  Max run: +9
  ME: -2
  PE: +1

• Tier 2 (Like Sacred Manifesto):
  Probability: 100%
  Max run: +2
  ME: +1
  PE: +4

• Tier 3 (Like Formation Layout):
  Probability: 110%
  Max run: -
  ME: +3
  PE: +5

• Tier 4 (Like Classic Doctrine):
  Probability: 120%
  Max run: +1
  ME: +2
  PE: +5

• Tier 5 (Like War Strategon):
  Probability: 180%
  Max run: +4
  ME: -1
  PE: +2

As you can see, a tier 5 decryptor increases chances of success significantly, but expect those to come at a hefty price (last time I checked around 30-50 mil a piece), since they are quite rare. My recommendation: buy them in Jita, the prices are usually more competitive there. Personally I have used some I had collected a while ago when I was running cosmos complexes with some pretty good results – but for simple modules it is really not worth wasting them.

Beyond invention: building T2 items

I realize I have no spoken much of numbers so far – if you just want to testdrive invention, there’s no need to concern yourself too much with numbers. If on the other hand you want to do more, then an industry tool or a self-cooked spreadsheet are the next step, especially if you want to take on the full chain of production as well. When I finally had some T2 BPCs and had a look at the manufacturing requirements, I sobered up just a little.

Turns out that T2 items require not only basic materials like tritanium, but also Components, like Nanoelectrical Microprocessors. My first instinct was to buy these off the market, until I found out that there are blueprints for all 30 components… Why buy them if you can eliminate one more middle man? I knew it was quite a bit crazy, but I sent Loreena to buy a BPO for all 30 components and after a few days I had finished the ME and PE on them.

And this is where you may start to see why a spreadsheet or tool is important: say you have a small collection of BPOs that can be invented to T2. Say also, that you want to know exactly what materials you will need from the invention to building the final product, for 10 of that module, 20 of that and 4 ships. Madness! Still, I built myself a spreadsheet that does just that. Nearly drove me crazy, but now Loreena can set how many of a module she wants to invent/build, and it tells me exactly what I need – from the datacores and minerals to the moon materials needed to build the required T2 components. I used to wonder at people who develop Excel macros, now I see the attraction

At least it gave me a whole new perspective on the complexity of the EVE market – just look at the whole chain from a T1 BPO to the final product. Knowing that one character can at most have 10 science and 10 industry jobs running at the same time (with level 5 skills everyhere), that T2 modules supply on the market is the result of a LOT of very busy people. I think we should all pat ourselves on the back for a job well done and hope that those PvPers never run out targets to keep the prices high (no, I am not a valid target )!

On the traditional sidenote, I now have a headache and my keyboard is sending smoke SOS signals. I need cookies!

Ever since running highsec complexes and scanning down anomalies, I have been on a quest to find a ship that would be powerful enough to combine all the tasks related to these sites. In a fleet everything is easy, because you just have to define roles for each fleet member. If you fly solo like me, you usually have to refit depending on the type of site you find. Switching between salvage profession sites, archaeology sites, codebreaking sites or even encounter sites can be a real hassle. Add to this the fact that to find good sites you often have to go far afield (or even hop into a wormhole), so you do not always have access to a fitting service.

To make things even more interesting, a substantial amount of sites have ship size limits on their gates, so the idea of fitting a catch-all battleship goes out the window. Those who tried to use a battlecruiser quickly noticed that more often than not, only cruiser-sized ships are allowed. In the past, I have had quite some success with cruisers like the Maller or the Omen, but those ships are quickly overwhelmed by the DPS these sites can dash out. A better choice was the Zealot, and more recently even a Devoter. They have superior capacitor, and have enough slots to fit a number of utility modules. However, it was never enough. I always had to switch modules as needed between analyzer and codebreaker, and I had to use my scanning ship to scan down sites first, then go get the combat ship. Doable, but not practical.

When strategic cruisers became available, I started using my ship, Alea’s Nemesis, to run some complexes. Like the name suggests, strategic cruisers are cruiser-sized, so they fit any gate that also lets cruisers through. A revelation! But my first attempts were not bold enough, and I was not familiar enough with how subsystems work. The result was a better version of the devoter fit, without being really satisfying. Recently I fired up EFT again, and took my time to review all possible combinations. When the final fit was ready, I knew my quest was at an end: I had found the holy grail of solo complex running.

[Legion, Complex Specialist II]
Imperial Navy Medium Armor Repairer
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Armor EM Hardener II
Imperial Navy Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane
Imperial Navy Heat Sink

Federation Navy Stasis Webifier
Republic Fleet 10MN Afterburner
Codebreaker II
Analyzer II

Heavy Pulse Laser II, Conflagration M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Conflagration M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Conflagration M
Improved Cloaking Device II
Salvager II
Small Tractor Beam II
Sisters Core Probe Launcher, Core Scanner Probe I

Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Energy Burst Aerator I
Medium Nanobot Accelerator I

Legion Defensive - Adaptive Augmenter
Legion Electronics - Emergent Locus Analyzer
Legion Engineering - Capacitor Regeneration Matrix
Legion Propulsion - Fuel Catalyst
Legion Offensive - Drone Synthesis Projector

Valkyrie II x5
Hammerhead II x5

Update: Vectis mailed me an alternate fit: it’s less agile and drops the tractor beam, but it has more tank and DPS. I used the same faction modules than my fit for easy comparison:

[Legion, Complex Specialist Vectis]
Imperial Navy Medium Armor Repairer
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Armor EM Hardener II
Imperial Navy Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane
Capacitor Power Relay II

Federation Navy Stasis Webifier
Republic Fleet 10MN Afterburner
Codebreaker II
Analyzer II

Heavy Pulse Laser II, Conflagration M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Conflagration M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Conflagration M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Conflagration M
Improved Cloaking Device II
Salvager II
Sisters Core Probe Launcher, Core Scanner Probe I

Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Energy Burst Aerator I
Medium Nanobot Accelerator I

Legion Defensive - Nanobot Injector
Legion Electronics - Emergent Locus Analyzer
Legion Engineering - Augmented Capacitor Reservoir
Legion Propulsion - Chassis Optimization
Legion Offensive - Drone Synthesis Projector

Valkyrie II x5
Hammerhead II x5

You might argue that a ship that tries to do everything at once can’t be good, and you would be right. However, that is missing the point: I was specifically trying to find a ship that does everything, and that it does. If you look closely, you will see that this ship can shoot, cloak, probe, salvage, analyze, codebreak, web, shoot, carry drones, tank and fly fast. In a nutshell, you don’t ever need to dock again to refit when running complexes. You scan down the sites and run them, period. The only thing this ship lacks is DPS and arguably cargo space, but after running quite a few sites I found the DPS to be adequate, especially if counting drones. Usually you only keep the valuable stuff when on the move, so the cargo space is not too big an issue.

The fit uses the subsystem that gives a bonus to probing, so if your probing skills are not too bad you will be able to scan down everything your scanning ship can. The 200 m3 drone bay lets you carry a whole fleet of drones, and the cloak is the crowning on the cake. Launch your probes and cloak up, scan down sites in peace and evade any potential hunters. An added bonus is that in this configuration, the ship looks a bit like a miniature Avatar

I tried to find ways to increase the DPS a bit more, but while it is possible by adding some heat sinks, the ship really needs its tank. If you chance upon an escalation, you will need every little bit of that tank. The speed is vital to keep at range if you are overwhelmed, so you have to be careful not to get webbed. The version of the fit that I fly has a better armor repairer, a Centum A-Type, which brings the defence to 419. If you can afford it, I recommend getting one or at least a C-Type.

Any suggestions on improving this fit are welcome!

On a sidenote, I think a litte eye candy is in order.

Over the last few months, both Aeon and Loreena have spent quite some time cleaning up their assets, and taking a closer look at their ships collection. As statisfying as running missions in the Paladin / Kronos duo can be, a little diversity is the key to keeping things interesting. Since Aeon has cross-trained some more race ship skills, he unlocked the unsounded depths of his wallet and went on a few shopping sprees from Rens and Amarr to Jita.

The choice piece of the lot was the Bhaalgorn, which Aeon fittingly called “Bird of Prey”. I never thought he would own one someday, since I always dismissed it because of its PvP-oriented bonuses (namely to energy vampires / destabilizers and webifiers). There is more to a ship than raw numbers however, and the Bhaalgorn is no exception. It reminds me of the Nightmare, which has a similar rough and unbridled power.

Where the Paladin acts as a stationary artillery platform, the Bhaalgorn likes it fast, up close and personal. Get into range with the afterburner, pin your target down with the webifier, replenish your capacitor vampire style while you are at it, and blast them to shreds. It may be that I am imagining things, but I suspect those NPC ships not to be as impervious to energy vampires as they should be. It seems to me that they go down faster when vampirizied – but even if they are indeed immune, it has the advantage of keeping your cap flow maxed out. Between the Nightmare, Bhaalgorn and Paladin, Aeon now has three ships with fundamentally different philosophies to choose from, which is perfect to keep things interesting. Try out some missions with a different ship, and you will often find that it is quite another experience.

To spice things up even further, Aeon has been running some of the starter missions with some new ships as well. As frigate, he chose the Succubus. That thing is evil right to its core, and melts through everything like a hot knife through butter. Very efficient, and fun to fly. Its bigger brother, the cruiser-sized Phantasm, follows the same concept – but with more staying power. The capacitor support of both ships is surprisingly good, offering a lot of leeway in terms of modules and building stable fittings. Their twisted design adds a lot to the fun, even though I can understand that it is not something everyone appreciates.

Running the starter missions was nice for a change, and even if they were not what I would call challenging with the tools and skills at hand, they did feel more alive than the eternal level 4 missions everyone knows by heart now. The storytelling in them was a lot more polished. I think this is where the game could use more depth, something to make our fights more worthwile. I still love EVE as much as the first day, but coming back from a story-driven game like Mass Effect makes the missions in EVE seem hollow, without real purpose. There are no big choices to be made (okay, in The Anomaly you can choose to let the scientist escape in the drone ship, or destroy it), and they have no real consequences. Also, why does my agent never congratulate me on dispatching all enemy ships in missions like The Score, where killing that whole fleet is purely optional? A little recognition of my work would go a long way to make PvE meaningful. I would like my actions in the game to be more than generating ISK with simple cover stories to justify their existence.

Some of the new missions are quite good, like one of my new favorites, Dread Pirate Scarlet. The randomness is a welcome addition, having to think a bit and react to new parameters each time you run the mission is definitely a step in the right direction. We will always need missions like Gone Berserk, which are fun based on the underlying mechanics, but more quality storylines like the starter missions or epic arcs would be great.

For now though I am waiting to see the effects in practice of the new expansion. Focusing on wars and space combat is important for EVE as a game, because a large part of it is player versus player. Of course I have concerns regarding the effects this can have on my PvE playstyle, namely through the more streamlined war features, with the goal to make highsec wars easier. As CCP themselves have stated, the only way to protect yourself against wars is to join an NPC corporation. I will always be loyal to JVC and Sytek, so that will never be an option. I don’t really think it will change that much for us, but being at war constantly would effectively ruin the game for PvE centric pilots.

Of course that’s the ages old debate of PvP players vs PvE players, which is more or less exactly the same kind of useless fight as PC vs Mac. There will never be an optimal solution for either side, and ultimately they need each other. So in fine, my concern is whether CCP will be able to keep both worlds balanced so neither has to cut back. Then again, if all wardecs could be like the last one JVC was in, I would be quite content: the CEO of the one-man corporation that declared war on us did not log on once during the whole week. It was even better than that other CEO who had chosen JVC randomly in the alliances list while drunk. They were so far away fom any of us that we never saw a single war target.

Anyway, to wrap this up, Aeon has once again moved his base of operations because his missioning system was getting too crowded. Trust there to be a good potential for foolishness as soon as your missioning system hits an average of over 30 pilots. Ashokon was reaching peaks of 100 pilots and more, and miners complaining of getting ganked in local is never a good sign. The new system was 19 jumps away, and seems to be quite promising. Aeon and Loreena had to go through Niarja to get there – which is never really fun, especially with pimped mission ships. Getting targeted by tier 3 battlecruisers hovering on the gates always brings a momentary chill, but so far they have been able to get everything to destination in one piece. Loreena had it easiest, she took the Orca to move everything except the Kronos. With a special defense fit, the Orca is probably one of the safest (of the slow) ships to move things around. Transport ships are still the best option in my opinion, but that depends on the size of the cargo of course. Transporting fully fitted ships in the Orca is always a big bonus.

Let’s see how Aeon and Loreena like their new home, but I already like the new agent: the first mission he gave Aeon was Gone Berserk, one of his top 10 favorites

On a sidenote, Loreena had to indulge herself a little and went from a natural brunette to a natural blonde (that’s the beauty of modern DNA alteration technology). I think Aeon approves.

She loved the feeling of walking in a haze after a sleepless night. It was not something that she could do too often, but over the years it had become a sort of monthly ritual. Where many relied on drugs, she found that a little sleep deprivation provided a much more healthy kick. When the sister she lost six years ago suddenly looked back at her from the wall screen in her living room, she stared at the screen in pure disbelief. She tried blinking and looking away and back, but she was definitely no hallucination.

Her own survival had been a great fuel for her shame, since her reasons to be out of the Aramea system when the wormhole appeared were of a frivolous nature. To be exact, she had slipped through her parent’s net to be with a boy. To her dismay, she did not even recall his name anymore. She had spent the last few years trying to erase everything that had happened from memory, and to some success. By some weird happenstance, Loreena had survived against all odds – and now threatened to bring down all her carefully erected protection barriers. And yet, seeing her sister alive filled her with such a profound relief that it did not matter that much. Still, the main question was if she should make contact at all. Would her own life be better if she did? She knew she was a selfish bitch, but she liked herself just the way she was. Loreena had always been the more sensible one, and she was certain they would quickly resume their usual fights about how ill-behaved she was. No, this changed nothing. She would just ignore her as she did her past.

Three months later, she had to face the fact that she had to call Loreena. The knowledge that her family had not in fact been wiped out entirely had changed her in a number of subtle ways, to the point where she was not able to enjoy her frivolous activities anymore. Loreena’s face haunted her like a tattoo she could not remove. It enraged and frustrated her. She damned her sister to hell for doing this to her, but there was no way around it. So it was that laden with anger, frustration and grief she jumped into her ship and made her way to Gamis. She had made an appointment with Loreena under a false name – she wanted to shock her as much as she had been shocked. When she entered the Anthean museum, she was strangely humbled by all the work they had done so far. She averted her eyes from all these things trying to yank her back into her past and made her way to Loreena’s office.

When they saw each other, no words were spoken. Loreena looked haggard, but when saw her long-lost sister she lit up in a way that made her lose all her carfully erected composure, anger, frustration and grief included. “How could you?” she murmured softly when they embraced, but Loreena just held her tighter. She never understood exactly what had felt so good in that moment, but for once she did not try to investigate any further.

From there she joined the Aramean Excavations project as lead planetologist, her talents now serving a purpose beyond funding her lascivious lifestyle. Loreena had been changed more deeply than she could have imagined, now a lot closer to the elder sister she had wished to have many years ago. Maybe she could have the best of both worlds after all, she thought and jumped back into bed for some afternoon fun.

Where she goes from here remains to be written.

Marauders are the undisputed mission running kings. Usually able to field almost as much DPS as the highest tier battleship from each race and a much better tank makes them ideal for solo work. Marauders are also flexible when it comes to fitting, as you can fit more utility modules than battleships in general due to better power grid and CPU.

But enough talk, let’s have a look at some mission running fits for the Paladin. These are all fits that I used/use on Sparhawk’s Wrath, not just EFT theoretical fits. I based all of these on missions versus Sansha (EM and Thermal damage), of course you will have to swap hardeners depending on the NPC faction you face in your mission.

The poor man’s fit:

Apart from the essential modules worth investing in, this fit uses generic modules. I used this when I switched from the Abaddon, and could not afford any fancy modules beyond what I already had. It is optimized for tank, but already works like a charm in all level 4 missions.

[Paladin, Missioning Tank]
Imperial Navy Large Armor Repairer
Damage Control II
Imperial Navy Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Armor EM Hardener II
Armor EM Hardener II

Cap Recharger II
100MN Afterburner II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II

Mega Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency L
Drone Link Augmentor II
Small Tractor Beam II
Salvager II

Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I

Infiltrator II x5

Stats:
- Cap stable (except with Conflagration)
- 447 DPS with Scorch (559 with drones), 45 Km optimal
- 487 DPS with Multifrequency (599 with drones), 15 Km optimal
- 625 DPS with Conflagration (737 with drones), 15 Km optimal
- 1156 DPS tank
- 337 m/s with AB

Brick artillery style

This is a fit I used with Loreena along in the logistics for the more dangerous missions (overkill, but on the satellite connection better safe than sorry). It is made to warp in, and more or less sit there like a giant brick and deal some damage. Without AB the speed is ridiculous, but even with all the heat sinks it stays cap stable. To compensate the lack of AB, it has two optimal range scripts.

[Paladin, Brick Artillery]
Corpus X-Type Large Armor Repairer
Armor EM Hardener II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Imperial Navy Heat Sink
Imperial Navy Heat Sink
Imperial Navy Heat Sink
Damage Control II

Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II

Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Drone Link Augmentor II
Small Tractor Beam II
Salvager II

Large Capacitor Control Circuit II
Large Capacitor Control Circuit II

Infiltrator II x5

Stats:
- Cap stable without the Salvager and Tractor
- 781 DPS with Scorch (892 with drones), 58 Km optimal
- 852 DPS with Multifrequency (963 with drones), 19 Km optimal
- 1093 DPS with Conflagration (1205 with drones), 19 Km optimal
- 709 DPS tank
- 131 m/s

My favorite fit

This one is a good mix between tank and gank, so I do not have to worry about defense too much while dealing enough damage to get things done quickly. It’s an expensive ship for sure, but if you can afford it it’s amazing. It works well with less expensive mods as well, but your Marauder deserves it

[Paladin, Missioning Tank n Gank]
Corpus X-Type Large Armor Repairer
Armor EM Hardener II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Imperial Navy Heat Sink
Imperial Navy Heat Sink
Damage Control II
Corpum B-Type Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane

Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range
Republic Fleet 100MN Afterburner

Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Scorch L
Drone Link Augmentor II
Small Tractor Beam II
Salvager II

Large Capacitor Control Circuit II
Large Capacitor Control Circuit II

Infiltrator II x5

Stats:
- Cap stable without the Salvager
- 665 DPS with Scorch (777 with drones), 52 Km optimal
- 726 DPS with Multifrequency (837 with drones), 17 Km optimal
- 931 DPS with Conflagration (1043 with drones), 17 Km optimal
- 1055 DPS tank
- 350 m/s with AB

For DPS-heavy missions, you can go all-out tank and add a hardener for each damage type instead of the two heat sinks:

[Paladin, Missioning Full Tank]
Corpus X-Type Large Armor Repairer
Armor EM Hardener II
Armor EM Hardener II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Damage Control II
Corpum B-Type Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane

Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range
Republic Fleet 100MN Afterburner

Mega Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency L
Drone Link Augmentor II
Small Tractor Beam II
[empty high slot]

Large Capacitor Control Circuit II
Large Capacitor Control Circuit II

Infiltrator II x5

Stats:
- Cap stable
- 434 DPS with Scorch (545 with drones), 52 Km optimal
- 473 DPS with Multifrequency (585 with drones), 17 Km optimal
- 607 DPS with Conflagration (719 with drones), 17 Km optimal
- 1776 DPS tank (!)
- 350 m/s with AB
- Empty high slot because of CPU, fit what you can

I know that I tend to fit my ships always the same way, so if you have a fit that works well for you please share it – I am always open for experiments. Also, there are no Beam laser fits here because I do not use beam turrets anymore. In missions with sniper rats the AB is usually good enough to get them. Either that, or tag along with a buddy/an alt… when I mission, Loreena comes along in the Kronos fitted with rails – problem solved with a fitting dose of overkill

Sayathea learned very early that good looks are both a blessing and a curse. Being born into a wealthy family of the Jin-Mei caste was similar: she got almost everything she wished for as a child, but as soon as she was of age to marry she learned that she was not free to make her own choices. To escape forced marriage and a number of other potential abuses, she fled. She knew exactly that she would never be able to go back, so she stole whatever ISK and valuables she could put her hands on and paid an amarrian merchant to take her into Amarr space. She knew her family had many enemies there, so pursuit was less likely – even if she was certain they would try to get to her anyway.

She quickly realized that she was not quite ready to be on her own in this harsh universe, especially not as a young gallentean woman in Amarr space. Nevertheless, she managed to survive long enough to pay for a pod pilot’s license – though along with her ship it cost her everything she had left from her heist. She was now as independent as she had dreamed of countless nights, but she would have to earn her keep from now on. It was the beginning of a long trek that took her to the edges of secure space, always mindful to keep a low profile. She evaded a few attempts from her family to either kill her outright or bring her back into federation space, until they seemed to finally give up a few years later. She had tried to keep in contact with her older sister and one of her cousins, but as their destinies grew more distant from each other so did their friendships.

It was on a station in Derelik that the last few years finally caught up with her. Stranded until her ship was serviced, she suddenly had time to reflect on her life, and she realized that she had no such thing. While she had been able to safeguard her body and freedom, there was nothing else to her. Now that the reason for her flight and years of traveling around the universe was gone, the prospect of beginning a life truly of her own was daunting. She was an empty shell without a purpose, lacking even the knowledge on how to find a purpose. It was in this state of mind that she met Loreena Syrkos for the first time. She instantly recognized her as a lone wolf like herself, with very little interest in the thriving social games pilots like to indulge in. She watched as she navigated through the crowd, expertly avoiding to initiate contact with anyone. She followed her from a distance, not exactly sure why she had this effect on her. A few corridors later, she disappeared into her hangar booth and later undocked in a Prowler – a fitting choice of ship in Sayathea’s book.

The ship’s name allowed her to find out that it belonged to a Loreena Syrkos, CEO of the corporation Aramean Excavations. Reading about the ARMEX project proved to be a revelation. Picking up the pieces of a civilization from among the debris of its home planet destroyed by a cataclysmic event sounded like what she was trying to do with her own life. The next few days while waiting for her ship to be ready, she read up on the project and Loreena herself. When she was finally back in space, she contacted Loreena and managed to convince her to meet. Instead of the eccentric personage she had expected her to be, she quickly found a true friend in Loreena, one who shared her broken soul. It turned out she was not the only one trying to piece herself back together through the project.

Her position as lead archivist was exactly what she needed. Cataloging all the artifacts and managing the dedicated museum’s expositions kept her on a tight schedule and filled her mind. Every little piece she added to their ever growing collection made her feel a little more at home here. Maybe her life could be mended after all?

Last updated: Jan, 23 2013

Yes, it’s the infamous NPC damage types list that about 80% of all EVE pilots have in place of their biographies. This time in a pretty & practical printable format:

What it shows:
- NPC Damage Types
- Weaknesses
- Drones to use (light/medium/heavy/sentry)
- Countermeasures for dampening & disruption

To download it: Right-click > Save as. Enjoy!

Changelog:
v1.0: Initial revision
v1.1: Added countermeasures
v1.2: Corrected wording of ECM
v1.3: Fixed Serpentis weakness, fixed colors
v1.4: Fixed warriors vs Angels, revamped layout a bit, adjusted some percentages with current values, added tracking disruption

So lately I had a conversation with my good friend Serotta Ortot (from Here Be Monsters) who was asking me if there was any ship I was still hoping to get someday. That was actually a question I had given a bit of thought to, and the answer was a Nightmare, one of the faction battleships. It is a good match for Aeon’s skills, and it is renowned to be a DPS beast and overall amazing missioning boat. Its design is somewhat twisted, but unarguably original. As I had just bought Loreena a Kronos, getting one was a plan for the long term.

Long story short, Serotta offered to buy me the ship in exchange for some help in creating a poster for his thesis. Now that was an offer I could not refuse He gave me his concept for the poster, and I prepared a preview version. The same day, I went to pick up the ship (in Jita if I recall correctly). The first hurdle was the fact that I had not fit a shield tank on a ship in several years. Since the Maelstrom in my first year of EVE, actually. Serotta was nice enough to sponsor a faction shield booster, and soon I had a working fit.

Dubbed the “HMS Serotta”, the ship proved to be everything I expected it to be: a beast. It pretty much rivals the Paladin in both tank and DPS. It cannot beat the Paladin, but that’s not the point – flying into a mission with it just feels awesome. If you are into role playing your characters occasionally, you cannot pass up on the scene of that behemoth warping into a bunch of NPCs and leaving a trail of smoking wrecks in its wake. If looks could kill, this thing would surely leave a few enemy pod pilots dead from shock on the battlefield.

Here is my current fit:

[Nightmare, Missioning]
Imperial Navy Heat Sink
Imperial Navy Heat Sink
Capacitor Flux Coil II
Capacitor Flux Coil II
Capacitor Flux Coil II

Domination Large Shield Booster
Photon Scattering Field II
Photon Scattering Field II
Heat Dissipation Field II
Heat Dissipation Field II
Republic Fleet 100MN Afterburner
Gist A-Type Shield Boost Amplifier

Small Tractor Beam I
Salvager II
Mega Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Mega Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L

Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I

Warrior II x5
Hammerhead II x5

Not much to say here – with my skills it is cap stable without the AB/Salvager/Tractor. Could use some better modules – a ship like this deserves investing, especially tank wise and cap support wise (think T2 CCC rigs).

Some theoretical stats (vs Sansha):

- 946 DPS / 3646 volley with Hammerhead drones (791 without)
- 461 sustained tank. 86k EHP
- 321 m/s with AB (118 without)
- Resists: 76,5% / 81,2% / 40% / 50%

What I did not anticipate however, was that flying this ship announced the end of a great chapter in my EVE life. Indeed, Serotta had been unsatisfied with CCP’s vision for EVE for a while now, and a few days later along with a new client patch, he decided to quit EVE. You can read his related blog post, I understand his reasons completely. It had been a long time in coming, I know he was trying to revive his interest in the game – but in retrospect, attempting this in the middle of Incarna and a series of controversial updates was not an ideal time. As usual your mileage varies, so far I have not had many client crashes, and my play style does not touch much on the big issues being discussed.

Details aside, I currently live in a strange duality. It is both a happy time for rediscovering the game, but also a sad time for losing a longtime friend (fortunately only ingame!) – hence the plural in the post title. My secret hope is that he will come back, but somehow I feel that his decision is final – and I respect that.

THANKS FOR EVERYTHING AND GOOD LUCK!