BB57: My EYES!!!!

So, here is my first stab at these monthly blog banters.

* * * * *

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” ― Albert Einstein

Drackarn pointed this killmail to me recently and proposed the following for a blog banter:

Obviously that is a not just a bad fit, its horrific. But the guy might not know any better. We get these all the time circulating social media and corp/alliance chat. How do we educate players on fitting? This guy has been playing four months and can fly a BC, but has no idea how to fit one. What could be done to help bro's like this?

Furthermore, what (if any) responsibility do veterans players have in finding these players and instructing them on the finer arts of ship fitting? If it exists, does it extend beyond them into teaching PvP skills, ISK making skills, market skills, social skills, life skills...

And another question you can think about is this: do purposely wrong fits, aka comedy fits or experimental fits or off-meta fits, offend you or your corp? Would you, like Rixx Javix when he was in Tuskers, face expulsion for fitting your ships differently than the accepted standard?

"Its the difference between streaking and getting caught with your pants down." - Kirith Kodach

* * * * *

How can we educate our new bros coming to EVE...  When I look at this killmail it tells me quite a few things.  I'm trying to remember what it was like to be new but remember... its been a LONG time since I've been totally green behind the ears when it comes to EVE.  Lets run through my thoughts on this killmail, shall we?

* He's obviously not short on cash.
* He might not know WHAT he can put in the rig or low slots.
* He might not be in the know with HOW effective each of his modules are.
* He is blatantly ignoring the fact that even without skills, he could be putting WAY more on this ship (see EFT screenshot below).

So, back in the day of my newbness, I do remember very vividly spending A LOT of time on the market and on the forums familiarizing myself with what was available AND where I could put it.  We also didn't have a compare tool back then so understanding what was different from each of the various rat droppings versions  (meta levels) of the modules was difficult.  I spent HOURS upon HOURS fitting, buying, refitting, etc trying to build my first Thorax for combat until finally I built an awesome armor tanking cruiser to take down my local static anomaly in Udianoor.  This process also had a lot of fit, fight, refit, fight iterations so I'm starting to remember what it was like.  I'm also remembering the frustration I had with the lack of search functionality and fitting information.

Let me start to address each of my thoughts on this killmail specifically:

* He's obviously not short on cash or he valued his effectiveness in that hull to high.  He could have sold that hull, bought a regular drake and fitted it properly.

* He might not know WHAT to put in the rig or low slots.  As I said previously, I spent HOURS finding modules to put into slots back in the day and I don't recall any kind of search function on the market to 'show me low slot modules'.  I'm noticing that our younger generation is having some serious patience issue's where as us older folk take our time and learn.  I guess we just have to accept that and give them the tools they need to find what they need to find.

* Not knowing HOW effective each of the modules are could potentially be the issue with him fitting a 1mn vs a 10mn Afterburner.  Hell, maybe this is something like the low slots issue above where he didn't even know that there was a 10mn afterburner... I don't know.  This also applies to the other modules in his mids.

* Blatantly ignoring the fact that you haven't maxed your ship out really has no excuse.  There are clearly two meters in the fitting window that show you how full your CPU and powergrid are and if they aren't nearly maxed out and you're not out of slots then you are clearly doing something wrong.  I wouldn't think that this would be something that we HAVE to teach people.  Also, there is this thing called google...  I hear its nice this time of year...

Now, to answer the questions set forth, I have to say that yes, we more veteran players (I don't really consider myself a vet, but I'm not new) have a responsibility to our new bros.  I do what I can to offer up fits if I have some to anyone that asks and I also try to help give anyone the skills they need to dissect WHAT is good about a fit.  I don't necessarily think we should go out of our way to help, but when asked we should at least point our newbros in the right direction.

As far as WHAT could be done to help bros like this, I'm kind of at a loss.  I don't know why others play EVE, but I play EVE because there are other people and if I don't know something, I ask.  Maybe there is something wrong with some peoples communication skills.  Maybe they're just too shy to ask due to the fear of their question being scoffed at and them being ridiculed for even asking.  The list goes on as to WHAT the problem could be so I don't think there is a single answer to this question.

Maybe we should all go grab a new bro out of the help channel or some rookie corp and talk to them, bring them on a mission run with us or go whelp with them in lowsec.

That's me and my thoughts, what are yours?

WTB MSE!!?? Not necessarily!!!

     Lets educate ourselves a little bit shall we?  The other day, I went and lost this to another pilot who was probably piloting a very similar fit.  I will mention the fact that the other pilot was more than likely linked and was probably using snakes as well.  Yes, I was out matched by who is probably a superior pilot but I wanted to fly the damn thing and see just how terribad I was.  I was also somewhat impressed with Rixx's fit of this ship.

     I am not one to mindlessly follow someone until after doing my homework.  I have loaded up Rixx's fit along with other fits and compared on many different metrics.  So, with that and the comment on my kill in mind, lets compare the MSE fit versus the SSE fit.

The MSE fit:

The SSE fit:

So, right now I have their incoming damage profiles set to 50/50 of Therm/Kinetic.  Notice the EHP of each ship...  If you are having troubles reading the images let me spell them out for you shall I?

MSE fit has 4.62k EHP.
SSE fit has 4.73k EHP.

Wait... is that even possible?  How could that be you say... the MSE has more shields and... and... derp derp derp.

Do you understand resistances?  Do you know that even that Garmur has some hull hit points?  I'm not lying to you here... it ACTUALLY HAS HULL HIT POINTS!!!  Shall we switch damage profiles?

EM and Thermal, 50/50
MSE fit:

SSE fit:

Can you see those numbers?  Want me to put them in actual text again?  Sure thing... just look down 2 lines...

MSE fit has 4.24k EHP
SSE fit has 4.61k EHP

Wait... WHAT??  How is that even possible?

So, before I continue, let me highlight MY OWN MISTAKES in that fit that I linked and lost at the beginning.  You hear people talk about fitting to the ships bonus' and this is very true.  But you don't fit EVERYTHING to its bonus'.  Capitalize on them, sure, over use them, no need.  Once you've sufficiently capitalized on the ships strengths, try and shore up some of its weaknesses.

The Garmur's main weaknesses is its locking range and, just like every ship, its resist holes.  My fit attempted to shore up only one of these weaknesses because of my lack of experience flying kitey fast ships.  The fit I should have been using should have been more like what I posted of my opponents probable fit or the SSE fit.  Oh, and don't let me forget about my choice of ammo...  that was incorrect too right?

As I was writing this I also started to think about yet another reason people STILL think that an MSE is the best solution - passive regen increase.  So I ran the numbers before posting something that was inaccurate.  I'd also like to level the playing field a little bit first.  Lets rewind a bit and just say that I used the 'CORRECT' ammo, shall we?

Two more screen shots, both fits, receiving JUST EM damage.

MSE fit:

SSE fit:

Again with the numbers being readable in text:

MSE fit has 4.08k EHP
SSE fit has 4.53k EHP

So, according to PYFA, that is a whopping difference of 3.44 EHP/s.  That'll save you I'm sure.  But, for complete accuracy lets take that number and increase it for the length of the fight.  According to my logs, that fight lasted ~61 seconds.  Therefore, that extra regen of the MSE would have afforded my opponent an extra 209.84 EHP.  So, if we were to add in hit points regenerated by our shields we would end up like:

MSE fit 4.74k EHP
SSE fit 5.05k EHP

Which fit wins?  You decide.

I need a purpose...

I started this blog as part of finding that purpose.  Currently, I just run around low security space trying to find some good 1v1's and occasionally run with the Frosty Blob and get on some kill mails or potentially die in a fire trying to.  While this is fun, I play EVE for the fact that it has MUCH more to offer.

I have an industry alt and a missioning/jack of all trades alt that... well.. yeah, I haven't found his exact purpose either besides 'doing it all' and doing it terribly :P.

So, why this post then?  Why do you who have visited give a damn that I need a purpose?  I don't know, because I found something I want to talk about and that's how I decided to name my post damnit, deal with it!

So here I go...

I've been reading more and more blogs (I'll update my reading list in case you care later).  One thing led to another and in this case it was Miner Bumping led to Ganker Bumping which led to Ganking is Bullying.  I read everything at that final stop and I'll talk a bit more about that but the piece I wanted to really touch on was point 34 (at the time of this writing which I'll paste below):

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

34. All right, so ganking is bullying. What do you expect CCP to do about it?

Actually, I don't think CCP is necessarily responsible to do anything. They have provided a tool that has a great amount of flexibility and a wide variety of uses. Like almost any tool, it can be used for immoral purposes, but we should not require the supplier of that tool to act as the morality police. Barring cases of psychopathy, the ultimate responsibility to stop bullying lies with the bully, and with him alone.

That being said, there are some steps which CCP might take that would be considered praiseworthy. A few suggestions:

• Decrease the delay time before CONCORD responds to a ganking, all the way down to instant response in 1.0 systems.
• Place sentry guns in asteroid belts, at least in 0.7+ systems.
• Institute harsher security status penalties for gankers.
• Since a wardec basically amounts to CONCORD taking a bribe to look the other way, make it behave rationally by accepting bribes from both parties; allow wardecced corps to pay the same amount as the original fee in order to cancel the wardec and prevent a new one for two weeks.
• Support efforts to create an anti-bullying educational campaign among the Eve community.

Again, I would consider these actions praiseworthy, but not obligatory.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've given some thought to this exact thing and I don't like the outcomes that have come to mind many times.  Its just like in real life, the police do what they can to catch the criminals.  So, let me walk through each of the proposed solutions and provide some feedback.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
34. All right, so ganking is bullying. What do you expect CCP to do about it?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ganking might be bullying but damnit, this is a game of internet spaceships and a place that we can all go to unwind and do something that we MIGHT not do in the real world.  Yes, its true... people do things in this game that they wouldn't do in real life... SHOCKER!!!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Decrease the delay time before CONCORD responds to a ganking, all the way down to instant response in 1.0 systems.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't like this at all.  Would you get instant response from the police in your cozy suburban home?  Nope, didn't think so.  NOW, if you had a neighborhood watch program or something similar, then you might get more instantaneous results.  Obviously the 'crimes' of gankings happen so fast that we would have to have concord in the belt when the perp performed his actions so that he could be return ganked by the dokken without causing harm to the victim.  Why not make this happen?  Why not increase the threat level of a system based on how many non-war dec sanctioned kills happened there and increase the response of concord accordingly.  The less non-war dec sanctioned kills happen, the lower the threat level of the system and therefore the slower response times.  This idea would allow for gankers to gank but not constantly in the same system.  Make their lives harder as it seems awfully lame that they can gank, hide in a safe for a minute and then dock for the remainder of their criminal timer.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Place sentry guns in asteroid belts, at least in 0.7+ systems.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WRONG, don't create more lame-o NPC structures that we can't interact with.  Why not instead a mobile defense unit that we can deploy that is fairly lame in HP and is just like the mobile depot, tractor unit and the other mobile structures we're getting.  That way, gankers can still gank but now their lives are again just a bit harder.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Institute harsher security status penalties for gankers.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think my idea for point one covers this...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Since a wardec basically amounts to CONCORD taking a bribe to look the other way, make it behave rationally by accepting bribes from both parties; allow wardecced corps to pay the same amount as the original fee in order to cancel the wardec and prevent a new one for two weeks.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This one, I kind of like actually.  Why not give them a way to pay their way out of a war dec without potentially being scammed?  Not entirely sure I agree with 2 weeks though but the time frame can be negotiated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Support efforts to create an anti-bullying educational campaign among the Eve community.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not entirely sure I understand what this one is talking about.  However, one thing I've always thought about while cruising through high sec would be to see more bill boards.  Like your driving down a high way in real life, all those bill boards of companies trying to sell you something or raise your awareness.  I definitely don't agree with a single purposed thing so something like more billboards that can be rented out by player entities would be a sweet addition to the high sec space ways.

I think thats me for now, fly dangerous o7

Who is Marq Aideron

     I'm an older EVE player who took a very... very... very... long break from the game.  Started playing in the later stages of the open beta (maybe the last month or so) and picked up the game around 2 or 3 weeks after release.  I would have been on release day but, if my memory serves correct, we couldn't just download the game... or I just wanted the actual cd... forgive me... its been a decade+ since this event :P.

     Anyways, I started life as a miner and hauler and then gradually worked into production.  From there I jumped into some null sec alliances and then out of null sec and then back into null sec.  I finally settled, with some friends, into our own corporation.  We called ourselves Tenax Incorporated and quickly hit the scene as hard as we could as merciless capitalists with guns basically.  Kind of a form of high sec piracy with a strong emphasis on industry and war.  Not only did we supply everything we could muster into the multiple smaller trade hubs up north but we also waged war ourselves.

     We inserted ourselves into the middle of the Amarr and Minmatar role players and backed up the Amarr.  The reason, because we wanted to and because we played it off like the minmatar taking out industrials was a direct attack towards us and our kind.

     We also attacked and blockaded any competition we could when moving into a market.  Our methods were crude and quite uncivilized and that's how we liked it.  If you had a market cornered and we wanted it... we moved in and beat out your buyer orders, 0.01 isked you on the sell orders and then declared war on you and camped you until we got bored.  Sometimes this resulted in some fights but generally it resulted in a lot of whining and other corporations war dec'cing us and dying pretty miserably themselves.  I obviously have no proof of this so believe what you will.  Go ahead and google Tenax Incorporated and see some of the tears on the old forums, they're quite nice indeed :D.

     So, that was my play times from around 2003 to about 2005 or so until I finally had enough of the virtual job I was playing and wanted to spend more time with the woman who is now my wife :D.

     Fast forward to 2013 though and my wife and I are quite settled down now, still no kids and we're looking for something to do so I suggest we jump back into New Eden and see what it has to offer.  So I reactivate the only character I kept around and jump back in and start planning the rest of my 'mains' as well.  This is when Marq was born and his path set forth.  Initially I knew he'd be a frigate pilot but what cause would he fight for?  Or would he not fight for a cause?  Could I take him down the darker path of surprise pvp... piracy if you will... or was that even in my blood to do so.

     Anyways, that's me in a nutshell...

Those awesome solo fights!

     Welcome to the first edition of the Low Sec Wonderer, brought to you by Me... Marq Aideron.  I'll introduce myself a bit later but today I just wanted to talk about some good fights that were had a couple nights ago near our old system of Hevrice, Verge Vendor.

     I jumped in my first kestrel and proceeded through the pipe down to Hevrice and the neighboring systems.  On the way there I spot a fairly empty system with some faction warfare activity, scan out an atron in a novice, overheat all the things and enter the complex.  Upon landing on grid I see the atron, fully expecting him to cloak up or run, I locked him as fast as I could and went in for the points and kill.  I found him already partially beat up by the unfriendly NPC who's complex he wanted and the kill was quick and brutal.  Sent the good fight in local and proceeded on my way.

     I'm not one who likes the easy kills but they happen.  You never really know how your opponent will be fit or how confident he is in his ship and sometimes you land on the less confident or poorly fit and the kill is yours.  So, I decided to send this guy an evemail and ensure him that he did do some decent damage and offered up a fit from some corp members who love the atron and do rather well with them.  His confidence isn't quite there yet to spend more than a couple mil on a ship but thanked me for the fit non-the less.

     Onward toward Hevrice again and the remainder of the voyage is pretty boring until passing Hev and moving into Jov.  Here I see a Tristan and a Thorax.  Tristan is in the novice so no worries about being interrupted by the Thorax, overheat all the things into the novice complex with the Tristan.  Down I go pretty much as expected (hint, my missile skills are not super and my fit is probably suboptimal).  I feel like I fought that fight very well though as I noticed the reps on the Tristan were much more than I expected so tried to pull range and managed to pop almost all the drones.  The thing I didn't do though was overheat the AB and I put the webs on the drones (that's probably what killed me) instead of keeping it on the Tristan.  Give the gf in local and limp back to Hevrice to grab a another Tristan.  The 'good' guys won this one ;).

     I was going to go for ol' Trusty again but instead decided to go with something a bit different and step out of my comfort zone.  I wanted my first solo cruiser kill so stepped into something a bit more experimental (for me at least).  A variation of my own on the neuting Tristan and head back to Jov only to notice the Thorax is now in Hev with me.  The hunt begins and I quickly spot him in a medium complex.  This isn't the same thorax though and instead is a Tusker.  I put some range between us and wait to see if the other thorax comes in to play or if this one pops drones or calls for small support.

     Nothing happens for a minute and no other ship on short scan, so I turn around and head towards this guy with full intent to engage but he warps off and leaves system.  Disappointed I orbit the warp in and wait for an engagement.  In comes what is probably the other thorax and I lock and get into my prefered range.  I put my drones out, full speed ahead and wait for his drones to come and play.  He launches 2 hammers, 2 warriors and 1 hob.  Warriors are the primary source of trouble at this speed so they're quickly locked and fought off with my hobs, webbing them when they get within web range.  This continues for another few minutes until he is completely out of drones and I start to move in for the slow agonizing kill.  Just before I'm about to move in and put on the neut pressure he warps off... Confused, I ask in local whether he was stabbed or if I lost point.  He replies with 'lost point'... not entirely sure how that happened but I'm not too terribly disappointed as I did leave him droneless so part of the op was a success :P.

     Back to ol' Trusty I go to hunt out the Tristan that blew up my Kestrel earlier. I move into the novice and get into a nice comfortable orbit.  Unfortunately I'm writing this from memory and I can't remember if I spent time killing the drones or not or just burnt through the other tristans reps but either way, was a good fight.

     The fight must have impressed my opponent as she asked for my fit, which I gladly shared.  I was also very appreciative of the good fights and offered the loot from the tristan and a couple of my Trusty's in exchange :D.  She gladly accepted the offer and then offered for another fight... this time... my fit vs my fit.  Seemed intriguing so I gladly accepted.

     Off to a novice we went to see who the victor of this 'mirror' match would be.  I enter the plex first and get into position around the warp in.  I leave drones in as I don't want to have _too_ much of an advantage before she lands.  A few seconds later, she lands, we perform our prefight preps and begin the dance.  As I watch chunks of armor come and go from both of us I'm having a hard time understanding who's ahead.  I did notice, however, at the start that she managed to gain lock and fire first which put her at an advantage.  With this information and currently at half armor I decide to let the AB burn as there shouldn't be much time left.  Nanite pastes are down to about 3 charges remaining at this point and we're each starting to dip into structure with massive chunks of armor being repped back up and then tore back off again.  Finally after running through all the nanite and capacitor alarms starting to ring.  I still can't see who will be the victor as the final shreds of our hull are being torn off.  The the deciding moment, that moment where you know your ship has turned to dust and given you all she can give you, has come... but its not mine.  My Tristan sitting at a mere 4% structure has emerged victorious!

     Very good fight and I'm glad I accepted to challenge!