Fixing Null-Sec

The following is my opinion on a possible solution to Nullsec, I am in no way so dedicated to this idea that I perceive it as the only solution,and believe that it should be subjected to the critical eye of the community before being presented to CCP.

Beginning with the premise that Nullsec entities control too much space and that null-sec is essentially, 3-4 major coalitions despite an apparently changing sov map.  Also, there is too much isk in the game, and that isk is held by said coalition primarily, but the average line pilot in hghsec, lowsec and nullsec is not by any means “space-rich”.

I propose that to prevent large coalitions from holding space that is unused, but still have soverig rights over, a mechanic of npc intervention be introduced.

Stay with me, its not that bad.

I suggest, doing this in one of two ways, either through station agents, or in-space events.

In the case of station agents being used.  The “missions” would require that the closest npc station, or a station owned by the “defending alliance”  host an npc agent that would give out missions specific to each and every system in nullsec.  These missions would consist of an attacking body of the local priate entity, whith sleeper-drone like AI, whose size and make-up would vary with the security level of the target system, and that these rats would shoot sovereignty structures.  By completing these missions, pilots would earn bounties and the sovereignty holder of the system would receive credit in that system which would go along with their sovereignty bill in maintaining sov.  Thus, active policing of your own systems would be required to maintain sovereignty, regardless of isk in the alliance wallet.  Likewise, it would help attackers who camp a system to reduce the “grind” of sov, and encourage pvp opportunities.  
            In terms of flexibility, it could be possible that the rats would spawn at beacons in space that are generated when the mission is accepted, and that a time limit be placed on killing the rats.  

The other idea, is similar, and indeed came to me before the previous one.  This idea is that rats should spawn at random intervals, 1-3hrs maybe, and begin shooting sov sturcturews, (ihub tcu, station/station upgrades) and again, these rats would have advanced AI, making the task one for multiple pilots even for low security nullsec systems.  These rats would have bounties and if left unattended could result in the destruction of sov structures.  The idea is that without going to defend your structures and repair them, an alliance could lose sovereignty and station functions to npc rats (the egg on the face of anyone this occurs to would be great).  By making spawns random and attack random structures, it is hoped that this would be more difficult to bot.  It is possible that these rats could assist the attacker as well, not that they wouldn’t shoot attackers of the system, but that they would put more pressure on the  defender.

The hope with both systems is that enough player activity would be necessary to maintain sov that large fleets would be required frequently to the point where alliances wouldn’t hold sov in a system unless it was very beneficial.

Both of ideas are solutions to the problem that some groups hold far more space than they should and that nullsec seems too difficult to break into without getting smashed to pieces or entering the behest of an overlord.

Along with these mechanics, I would suggest that if a system had sovereignty level 5, which takes 100 days of uninterrupted sov control, as well as one of the other two indices at 5, they could chose to destroy their iHub upgrades and return to sovereignty level 0, and that in return after the next downtime their system would decrease by 0.1 for as long as they held sov of that system.  This may also require the injection of one or more PLEX into the iHub.  This would allow a group to potentially take a -0.1 system to a -1.0 system, at increments of about 3 month, and again, with the expenditure of isk, and risk associated with moving iHub upgrades around nullsec.

TL;DR

Maybe rats can fix nullsec.

Rundlenomics

Rundlenomics:

Rundle Allnighter, of Against All Authority and one of the hosts of  the Lost in Eve podcast has recently brought to light his economic strategy.  For simplicity, we will call it Rundlenomics.  The philosophy is that by buying market items at a high price and reselling them at a lower price he is somehow helping the Eve Online economy.  Rundle claims that for every isk he spends, he is in some way increasing the amount of isk in the economy 4 fold or more.   In addition Rundle hopes that by buying high priced items he is giving isk to hard working industrialists and that by selling low, he is putting the ship in the hands of a mission runner, faction warfare pilot, a  pvp-er  or someone who will put the ship to use in game to earn themselves isk.

Unfortunately he is horribly horribly wrong.

Lucky for Rundle he is merely misinformed and not stupid.  His well intentions with the use of his iskseems to be based on a basic misunderstanding of economics. 

In the real world economy, banks generate money and boost the economy through the loaning of money.  A simple example of how this works is as follows:  Rundle buys a new gaming desktop from Joe’s Desktops for $2,000 USD.  Joe, owner of Joe’s Desktops now takes that money to his bank, First National Bank.  First National must retain a certain amount of that money in reserve according to the federal reserve rate (no eve parallel).  First bank lends $1,800 USD to Bob of Bob’s Kitchenware to purchase inventory.  The cycle repeats with banks lending a portion  of their savings  to customers, thus increasing the initial amount of $2,000 USD to an amount equal to 1/Fed reserve rate.  So if banks are required to keep 10% of deposits on reserve than the $2,000 USD would be inflated to $20,000 USD.  This is what Rundle is thinking will happen in eve when he buys high and sells low.  But that is not what happens in Eve.

Eve’s economy is well renowned for its complexity and similarity to real world economics.  However, there is no mechanic supported banking system that allows the above mentioned system to occur. 

Other issues occur with this buy high sell low concept.  One is that mostly market manipulators put up higher than average sell orders, and also put up much lower than average buy orders.  So Rundlenomics most likely only helps the market manipulators.  In addition, depending on how high and how low one bus and sells respectively one could actually  hurt non-marketeering characters by lowering the market average and forcing industrialists to sell there goods at ever decreasing prices.  Certainly even if these actions are not changing the average price themselves, the average becomes more easily manipulated by significant reduction of the sample size, in this case removal of buy and sell orders.

On the other hand, what will help the eve economy is pvp.  Isk efficiency ratios are used to determine how good a pvp-er is, but, they can also be used to calculate a players effect on the economy.  Lets say a pilot has 80% efficiency.  So for every 20,000,000.00 isk spent, they will, on average, destroy 80,000,000.00 before losing their 20,000,000.00.  This means that having spent and lost 20,000,000.00 they now have caused other  pilots to go replace 80,000,000.00 isk worth of items in the form of ships and modules.  This does increase market activity and put isk in the hands of everyone.

TL;DR

Buy High sell low won’t help the eve economy, PVP will.  And apparently I’m the flavor of the month, hope it tastes good…

The joke that ended it

Some readers may see that in addition to this blog  I also do a weekly podcast with Gigagoose (goose) and I'm Ducati (Duc).

We just recorded episode 14 today, and it ended on a bit of a sad not.

Dring recording Goose made a little "your mamma" joke at Duc's expense and Duc went crazy.

The podcast, though it will be edited ended with Duc saying, " F*#k you " and quitting out of teamspeak, the VOIP type client we  use to record and chat.

Not sure what exactly if Duc will cool off or be back next week, but time will tell.

TL:DR?
Really? its not much to read, but anyway...
Goose mad a your mamma joke about Duc's mom, which apparently is a real big deal whwere Duc lives... oops

The horror that could be:

When we recorded episode #13 this weekend I mentioned an article entitled, "Who Killed Video Games?".  The article go through the money considerations of development of facebook games and smart phone app games.  Basically, big companies are purposely making their games operate in such a way that the user is more inclined to pay extra money to get access to material.  This may include speeding up the users procession through a leveling system, or providing new and better content for users willing to spend real money.  This brings up the topic of "micro-transactions".  Definitions of micro-transactions vary depending on who is asked, but I will be using the following definition for my brief discussion:

Micro-Transaction:  V. the act of paying or exchanging a small amounts of a nations legal tender (or currency) for                                    a digital non-real currency.

                            can also be referred to as a noun, as in, the option to enter into a  micro-transaction.

Considering that, lets reflect for a minute on the introduction of micro-transactions in the world of Eve by CCP.

"Welcome to the Noble Exchange, here you can buy goods with your Aurum!  What's Aurum you ask?  Aurum is a new currency in New Eden that is acquired by liquidating PLEX!"

This is, with some paraphrase, what capsuleers were greeted with, when the Noble exchange was introduced.  The Nex was CCP's attempt to implement micro=transactions to Eve.  What shall follow is a breif explanation of why this was bad.

First off, CCP did a bad job explaining what the Nex was, and what types of items would eventually have for sale.  Many Eve players have been players of other games, games in which the introduction of micro-transactions ruined the game.  The lack of qualifications over what types of items that would be sold in the Nex.  CCp should have made sure that nothing would be sold in the Nex store that would give any pilot advantage over the other in a fight.

There were some other reasons why the player base was upset, and they are not all insignificant.  But what CCP actually did wrong, was that they used PLEX.

This was a wrong decision for several reasons.  First of all, the concept of micro-transactions is that they are cheap, $10 is an expensive micro-transaction.  $15.00 for a PLEX is just down right unreasonable.  On top of that, a single PLEX converted to Aurum was not enough to buy any one item in the store.  All items were priced so that about 1.1 PLEX were needed to buy any item.  This also agered teh player base, and as for micro-transactions, it now cost $30 of micro-transaction, which is not considered "micro" by most people.

What CCP should have done. to improve it.

Obviously CCP should have better communicated pricing of items, and made official statements regarding the constraints of the types of items as novelty aesthetic only products.  Secondly, CCP should offer 7-14day PLEX options at a lower price point that could, in fairness, be exchanged for less Aurum than the current 30-Day PLEX, but would encourage pilots who wanted items from the Nex to purchase PLEX.  I believe the items should be refrfered to as PLEX-30 or old PLEX, PLEX-7 for 7-Day PLEX, or PLEX-14 for 14-Day Plex.  If only the 7 or 14 day options were introduced, they would probably be called New PLEX.

What CCP did right: Introduced a 1-PLEX option on the website for $20.00  This is still only right in concept as the $20.00 price tag is out of line with their other #PLEX * $15.00 options offered.  

From here out I will endeavor to explain the horror that could have been if CCP had decided to implement a true micro-transaction system as seen in other games.

Yes, you will all hate it, but the point is that you’re supposed to hate this idea.  This is what could have been done to make Eve more like other games with micro-transactions.  These games’ creators are evil bastiges, but there is still hope that CCP is not as evil as it is incompetent.  With luck World of Darkness will work out better for them.

CCP could have introduced their micro-transactions  with the overhaul of the training system.  The current system relies on real time training of skills which are prerequisites for using ships, modules, implants etc.   Most MMORPGs level through grinding to gain experience points and those are used to level.  The overhaul involves combining the two, if you’re reading this and have never played Eve, try it or this won’t make a whole lot of sense.

Combining the two would involve the introduction of experience points.  These points would be gained through actions in the game and there would be several different types of experience that could be gained.  For each NPC you destroy you would accrue X number of combat experience, killing players would net you a percentage of their combat experience.  Building ships, successful T2-bpc invention, etc would net a capsuleer industry experience.  And there could possibly be one or two other types of experience.  These experience points would be applied to skill in their category so combat experience could be spent on : 

     Engineering,

     Gunnery

     Spaceship command

     Drones,

     Mechanic

     and other combat related skills/catagories.  

Industry experience would be applied to: 

     Industry,

     ship construction in Mechanics

     trade

I haven’t worked out experience for Corp management and leadership.

These experience points would not be applied as skill points towards skills, but as time modifiers, and they would be consumed in time along with the skill training.  Initially experience would not be transferrable, but experience farmers would eventually arise.   This experience would allow for up to 30%-50% faster training, or a decrease of up to half the training time modifier.

The micro-transactions part of this would be that players could purchase skill points in the desired area.  PLEX could be used, but a cheaper dollar amount item would be better.  This would allow players who play a lot to progress faster than those who let accounts train for years without logging in, or allow players who are eager to get to bigger ships, to get there faster for a price, a price that would be reasonable and attractive to the impatient.

TL: DR

CCP could have done what!?

Whew dodged a bullet on that one…

Feel free to comment, would love to hear what you think about Nex, or my proposed money grubbing plan that was not used thankfully.

Spreadsheets Online

I've put some time lately into figuring out why I've spent the last 2 years (1yr 10m ish) and here's what I've come up with.

I've tried WoW, Guild Wars, Age of Conan, and several other free fantasy RPG's.

The biggest reason I play eve is that 3rd party applications such as evemon and evefit, in addition to the in game tools, make goal setting fun and easy.  In games like wow and other MMO's that rip off wow its very difficult to say, "Hey, that looks like cool armor" or, "That sword would let me kill enemies better".

In evemon its simple, browse the dropdowns, and you get all the info, stats, and prereqs, and with evefit you can plan out any offensive or defensive strategies, or even just figure out how much stuff you can haul around.

To the best of my knowledge, other MMO's don't have anything like that, if they did maybe I'd be able to get more into it.

I also enjoy knowing that 12 yr old who are taking 5th grade for the 2nd time, because they grind dungeons too much, aren't playing eve, and if they are, they haven't been skill training for long and aren't going to be much of a threat.

Tank Tank Tank

I was planning on writing a few posts on ship fittings, and decided that before I try to convey anything too complicated I should start with some basics.  But first a Joke...

In the second world war Great Britain began to run low on supplies.  To compensate for this, new recruits were given practice equipment.  New infantry recruits were given a broom and 3 rocks.  They were taught to use the broom as though it were a riffle and the rocks as though they were grenades.  They would aim the broom stick at a target ans shout, "Bang, Bang, Bang!".  They would stab at a dummy and yell, "Swish swish, Swish swish".  And they would throw the rocks, whistle and then yell, "KABOOM".

One infantry man was sent to the front line the east border of France.  When he reported he was issued his equipment and it was the same he'd been given the same equipment he was supplied in boot camp.  Dismayed, he went out to his fox-hole.

One day the infantry man heard a rustling in brush.  He ran over, swept his broom handle through the brush and yelled, "Swish swish".  The Rustling stopped and he backed up near his fox-hole.  Then he heard it again.  He pointed his broom stick at the brush and yelled, "Ban Bang Bang".  This time the rustling continued.  The infantry man ran to his fox-hole, grabbed a rock, pretended to bit the pin out, threw it, and yelled, "BANG!" as loud as he could.

But the rustling continued, and suddenly a German soldier, with arms bent at 90 degree angles and fists clenched in front of him, emerged from the brush.  He came straight for the British Infantry man and ran him over yelling, "TANK TANK TANK".

(^Loosely related^)

Aside from the best defense is a good offense, there are 4 main styles of defense, or tanks to utilize in eve.  Shield tank, Armor tank, Hull tank, and Speed tank.  Each has its uses, though hull tanking is not frequently used.

Some basics for Shield and Armor tanks.  Shield tanks can be Active, passive, or buffer.  Active tanks are defined as tanks that rely on the use of modules that require activation and drain capacitor.  Passive shield tanks rely on modules that boost the recharge rate of your shields without the use of active modules.  And buffer tanks rely on having enough shield HP to outlive your opponent.

Armor tanks come in two main forms.  Active and buffer.  They follow the same rules more or less as shield tank varieties of the same name.

Hull tanks are similar to armor tanks but they are not as common as the other 3 described.

Speed tanks rely on speed as the name suggest.  They rely on nano-fits, inertial stabilizers, overdrive injectors, afterburners and microwarpdrives in various configurations.

Some general rules for new players.

DON'T TRY TO MIX ANY OF THESE: Mixing armor/shield or armor/speed will result in you dieing unless you know what you're doing.  And you will be mocked for having a "Fail Fit" ship.

Each race leans towards one type of tank: Caldari ships primarily use shield tanks, Gallente ships mostly use Armor tanks, Amarr ships primarily use armor tanks, and Minmatar ships are fairly even split between armor and shield tanks  To know what kind of tank to use, look at your low and medium slots.  If you have more medium slots, its probably a good idea to go with a shield tank.   If your ship has more low slots than medium slots, you probably will want an armor tank.

Consult other players/corp members also use internet resources.  Try out the Eve Fit fitting tool, and battle-clinic for tips and hints.

TL:DR
fit with Shield mods, armor mods, hull mods, or speed mods, and don't mix them, unless you really know what you're doing.

Week 1: Q&A

So, you're interested in getting into eve?  And you want it to be exciting?

The fastest way to make eve exciting is to go try to blow someone up.  Player versus Player or PvP as it is known in eve, is a rush.  The few fights I have been part of on purpose :) have left me shakey.  PvP is intense and exciting and more of a thrill than many if not all rollar coasters I've been on.

That being said, chose your target wisely.  It is usually a bad idea to pick on a character that is much older than you, so use the "show info" option religiously.  Also, keep an eye on local, and make sure they don't have other friends in system, or at least not more friends than you have with you.

Another way to make Eve interesting is to join up with other people.  Eve is a lot about spaceships, but even more so about community.  If you have real life or RL friends to play with, form a corp, its cheap and easy.  If you don't, find some.  Again be careful, there are people who will let you join just to make your experience miserable.

In my previous post, I talked a little about my own Eve experience/history.  I started and got into eve because of friends who made it fun as we raced to see who could do what the best or fastest.  The short 2-3 months I was playing solo almost ruined the game for me as it became very very boring.

So if your looking for a really good time, join a PvP corp, or if you don't want to fight with others, (as a Pirate (rat) or a pirate hunter) then consider market games, PVE (Player versus Entity) (that's NPC entity not the collector) mining, or exploration.  There are other options and you can more or less do anything in the game that you can do in real life.  The coice is yours :)

TL;DR
Q: How to enjoy Eve?
A:  Lots of ways, try it out :)

Min