Being broke sucks!

Well, its true in EVE and the Real World...it takes money to make money. At least the amount of money needed to afford all the shiney new and wonderful objects in EVE!!

This has really been the biggest struggle I have with continuing to play EVE. I read blogs and see corp killmails highlighting the struggle and fun others have in killing other people in this game. I like that, I enjoyed that in Warhammer Online with its easy ability to find a group in open RvR or join scenarios. Now as always pick up groups often got slaughtered, but many time you could still get in on the kills. No matter what it was easy and the entry barrier was so low.

That isn't possible in EVE. Yes, you can PvP in a frigate and tackle...but if your time is limited (as the name of this blog suggests) and your corp isn't on or available, your ability to fight other characters on a limited budget is almost nil...at least for me. I have a total of 100 Million between the characters on my two accounts. I finally have one person at lvl 4 mission, as in a couple of days will start them on Gallente Battleships for a Domi...now I have to sink almost 60% of my total worth into a ship to get more money. A direct vilolation of the "don't fly what you can't afford to lose" motto. I'm trying PI to gain money, and it can and does work...if I get on every day for at least 30 minutes to buy and move stuff around, something I just can do.

Bottom line, I'm not in nullsec, I'm broke, I'm certainly not buying a game card and changing it to isk, and I'm not having much fun...so why the hell am I sticking around?

Obsession with Lowsec

Welcome to the twenty-first installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!
This month topic comes to us from @ZoneGhost who a few month ago asked "Is Low Sec the forgotten part of EVE Online?" Is it? I'd like us to explore this even further. Is Low Sec being treated differently by CCP Games than Null Sec (Zero-Zero) or Empire space is? Can one successfully make a living in these unsecured systems where neither Alliance nor Concord roam to enforce their laws? What's needed? Or is everything fine as it is?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We'll start this discussion off with the needed assumptions. First, I don't live in lowsec. I never have and right now I don't see any reason that will change. Second, I've done some 0.0 and right now I'm a missioning "carebear" in highsec attempting to make some money while my corp shakes itself out of summer slumber.

Let's look at lowsec from the view of those who do NOT live there. As we say in the military..."Perception IS reality." The perception of lowsec, fostered in may ways by the people that live and blog there, is a lawless section of space where gankers live for scanning you down to blast you, laugh at your fit, and enlarge their e-peen.

I'm not saying that is the majority of what happens in lowsec, but it certainly is the picture painted by the vocal minority...who happen to be pirates with blogs. I'm quite positive that there are many people who perform mission, own POS', research and other industrial focused tasks in lowsec, however, we don't hear from them at all. The only voice heard from lowsec is the pirate, the ganker, the player who wants more targets for them. Now, I understand that Myxnee is looking for all types of player in her lowsec initiative, but if you look at the board she assembled there are a total of three player out of twelve who are not self-proclaimed pirates. Therefore, any "storyline" or proposal will have a pirate based flavor to it.

Perception, it rules the internet and the mob on any forum...which is always a vocal minority for any MMO. To those outside lowsec every complaint and every suggestion is geared toward allowing a player LESS penalties for killing people than they have now. Let's face it, the ONLY penalties of killing any on lowsec are 1) a -10 flashy and you can go into highsec anymore, 2) guns on the gate shoot at you and 3) you have a 15 minute Global Criminal Cooldown. Really, what other penalties exist? None, and most of these penalties are easily avoided...either through another account to move stuff or a guns that are too weak to kill anything larger than a cruiser.

Does CCP ignore lowsec. No, they do ignore a pirate focused lowsec. Lowsec boasts high mineral yields, better ore, faster routes through space and higher agents. The problem is that they are in many cases worse than highsec options. Asteroids are a perfect example. Under today's market it is twice as profitable to mine Scordite or plag as it is to mine Hedbergite, a lowsec asteroid. Why would anyone mine in lowsec when its MORE profitable to mine in the safety of highsec. Everything a pirate really wants, more targets and more loot, will come if lowsec offers more profit than highsec...at least for certain items.

I have several ideas, like moving higher level agents into lowsec, lowering the mineral output of highsec asteroids and increasing the lowsec.

There are two major obstacles that lowsec is facing. The first is security status. Right now an anti-pirate corp suffers the same penalty as a pirate corp and all members will eventually end up at -10. If a player with a positive security status kills someone with a negative security status, they shouldn't loose security, they should GAIN some. Imagine a +10 security status, and the possible CONCORD faction ships that could be used as incentive to reach that level, and the rewards from the Angel Cartel that could be added with a high Angel faction score and a -10 security status....that alone would provide more small gang warfare as people would like ships of both types.

The second obstacle is wormholes. Right now, WHs offer everything lowsec offers...only BETTER. No local as an intel channel, no CONCORD, better industrial area. Why in CCPs name would ANYONE setup in lowsec when EVERYTHING is better in a wormhole? Wormholes really are the lowsec killer (and some 0.0 killer for small corps), because the reward from wormholes makes the risk acceptable...and lowsec just can't complete with that.

CCP hasn't ignored lowsec, they just made wormholes too good.

Additional banter participants:


CrazyKinux's Musing: The Lure of the Wild
Banter 15: Arr, Yer be talkin’ bout me lowsec TheElitist
Banter 21: Low-sec- Chocolate Heaven
Subs' suds: Forever a noob in Eve: Low-Sec - the forgotten part of EVE Online
Blog Banter XXI - Lo-sec = Low Priority? I am Keith Neilson
In the Ghetto A Mule in EvE
where the frack is my ship?: Blog Banter 21: What's good for the goose...
Blog Banter #21: Change? Sarnel Binora's Blog
More coming shortly...

Sitting in Idle

Its been awhile, RL and the lack of any movement left me with little to say. The Black Prophesy is sitting in idle right now with leadership having to take some time off. I've elected to stay, even though its mainly a solo thing right now for a few reasons.

1. I still don't play that much, so trying to get into an active corp will be a pain in the butt.
2. I like the corp and the players in it, enought that I'm willing to wait a few months before looking to leave.
3. I'm just starting to develop my skills and ship stable. I'm almost able to use a L4 Q16 agent, I'm ratting in 0.0 space for some isk, and our alliance is still fairly active with roams up at Moa available if I'm interested.
4. One of the guys and I are starting an alt corp for research and PI stuff.

So, all-in-all, things are much like they were when I reactivated with me doing stuff by myself. However, I do know that I have backup (at the price of the occasional wardec) if needed.

To generate some isk, I've launched a new PI manufacturing system for one of my mains, Attia, as two other alts. One alt is in 0.0 space extracting materials and now that Attia is in a cov ops getting in and out is much easier. The others are buying P1 materials and then manufactring P2 through P4 items. Frankly, some people are selling materials at all levels that are SO FRIGGIN below their cost...they are running themselves out of money. Its strange, but allows me to buy there cheap stuff and then make a profit on higher ranked items...all without me having to click thorugh 50+ extractors. Even if I can clear 10mill a day doing this, that will be enough for my playing time.

Things are looking up...or at least interesting

Where oh where shall my little corp go...

Looks like the small piece of 0.0 that the corp leadership was looking at had a visit by the Goonswarm for the past few days. The fact that the area may have frequent 30 man fleets that come through will put a damper on moving into that area.

Of course we did identify a great constellation in Curse...low jumps per day, single system entrance, off the pipeline....and owned by Noir apparently. They won't mind if we come and take over…right?

My PI plan is continuing to progress on the sub-alts, the first character is ready to lay down 4 command centers and the fifth will be ready in a couple of days. It took a little longer to finish as I forgot I had to train new characters up the Gallente frigate and industrial skills as well. Fortunately, that is only an extra days' training and I have the BPO for Iteron III's, and they are cheap to make. I dislike delaying the training on my main characters, but this will start paying for itself in the long run.

This brings me to the root cause of my problems, the lack of isk and consistent generation of funds. Now hopefully the PI plan will alleviate some of that, but the plan will require a significant investment...one which I've already paid for and lost while in 0.0. To put all four alts with five planets each, is at a minimum 18.5M isk for Command centers per character, plus training fees around 3M isk per character, and finally the PI setup itself which generally runs around 2M isk per planet. So for each character it is a total investment of approx 24M isk per character. Given that is about half of what I have in both accounts...you can see the level of risk that I'm assuming.

I did decide on a training plan..at least a short term one for Jonzac my main. I'm continuing to work the support skills for him...weapons upgrade V, advance weapons upgrade IV, long range targeting IV. I'll then start on projective weapons up to medium projective V. Once I have enough money to buy/make a Dominix Battle ship I'll start training the skills to fly that with Med T2 guns (either hybrid or projectile) to rat with in and perform L4 mission in.

What now?

I'm at an impass. I have hit the 9M skill point on my two characters and I'm unsure of what to train for next.

My combat character has training interceptors and can fly Gallente interceptors with T2 blasters or rails. I've also been able to fly Gallente Assault ships, fitted with T2 hybrids as well. I have Calari and Minmater frigates at level 4 and those cruisers at level 4 as well. I'm currently able to clear Level 3 Q19 missions with no trouble in my Myrmidon and it will be a little bit before I have the standing to fly Level 4 mission.

So what to train for next. My issue isn't WHAT I want to fly, its my inability to AFFORD anything to fly that is the problem right now. I had to buy a new Mrym and fit it out and that broke the back. I've never been flush...ever and its really starting to hamper my game playing. I've attempted the trading game and either I just don't get it, or I can't spend the time to "get" it.

I've decided to pause training on my two main characters and train the four additional characters slots you get. I'm training all of them to handle PI and it takes 9 days for each character to meet my PI training requirements. When I'm done, each character will be able to use the advanced command center on 5 planets. This will allow me to pull every P0 and P1 material off the planet for sale...or I could eventually move into P4 production or final Sov/POS construction if I want.

Hopefully, I can pull between 50-100million isk a month in with this effort. If I can reach that goal, it will meet my modest isk requirements for the next year at least.

Back on the horse

It really has been to long. I have to admit, in the confusion of everything that has happened in EVE combined with a rather busy Real Life...and knowing that no one reads this anyway...I've been remiss on posting anything at all. Well, that stops now, I remembered I was doing this for my own benefit and I shouldn't depend on readers to keep me going.

Where to start? The alliance I was in failscaded, the area of space turned into a hot drop zone, Atlas and the NC look ready to start hostilities. HTA where my corp belonged completely dropped SOV, corps and has completely disbanded. I don't know all the details, but given the fact the alliance couldn't be arsed into defending its own territory. The constant small gang roams that were never found and killed, the single bombers that would attack at the gate...never a firm smackdown from the alliance.

Since we were forced rather abuptly from 0.0, we had to leave a lot of stuff in the stations...all of which I managed to sell except for the T1 stuff, which won't sell and I can't refine, so it sits there cluttering up my assets window. I suppose that I could trash it all, but somehow I hope against hope that I'll be able to go get that stuff one day. Not sure why, its not valuable, but the fact that I had to leave against my will probably explains that for me.

Needles the say the corporation has been in a state of flux while we assess the damages and attempt to figure out what to do. Although this is often the time when corporations find themselves in trouble and shedding members, Black Prophesy has not...which makes me very glad that I managed to land in a corp that has a good corp of internal strength.

We've managed to figure out what's next and started our own alliance and have just identified a new area of 0.0 space to head to. Obviously, as a new alliance we are going to NPC space first. Now I just need to get there to start some actual PvP.

EVE Blog Banter #19

Welcome to the nineteenth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This months topic comes to us from @evepress, and he asks: The CSM: CCP's Meta Game? - The CSM, an eve players voice to CCP.Right? In the grand scheme of things yes, the players bring up issues and the CSM presents them to CCP. But in its current iteration the CSM was supposed to be given small authority to assign CCP assets toprojects that the CSM thought needed work on. As it has not come outthis was not the case. So fellow bloggers, is the CSM worth it, has the CSM improved the game in any way, or is it just a well thought out scamby CCP to give us players a false sense of input in the game? What's your take?

I have to admit I've only breezed over many of the posts written by the CSMs and the Devs about the latest rounds of talks between them. Frankly, I am of the opinion this is a tempest in a teacup.

The CSMs are frustrated as they feel they have a mandate from the people to "force" CCP to listen to their demands. After all, they represent the people that pay for CCP's existence and that has been the mantra of every player of every MMO since Everquest. You HAVE to listen to us, we pay your bills, without US you'd be nothing!!!

The fact of the matter is the CSMs are not a true representation of the EVE player community, and more importantly, CCP knows this. Mxynee was swept into the lead CSM position on the strength of her importance to low-sec inhabitants and her popular blog. I'm positive she will do a wonderful job in representing some of EVE's players, but in no way can she represent the majority of EVE players. Frankly, like any election, the silent majority who didn't bother to vote probably do not want any of the changes Mxynee and others have proposed solutions for. These folks don't live in lowsec or nullsec, they don't run into the game crippling lag, they abhor the random violance and e-peenery that many low-sec pirates exhibit. They "carebear" their way through missions and focus on the myriad of industrial opportunities available in our sandbox.

Its often the illusion of the rabid forum leader that they represent a major faction of the gaming community. You go to any MMO, (WoW, DAOC, EQ2, etc) there will be major forum names that the dwellers recognize and lend "internet" expertise to. However, game developers know that most players don't even read the forums (or blogs) at all. Take WOW for example, hard-core raiders spend hours online and have a heavy representation in the forum, but they are a small fraction of the 11 million players in WOW.

The bottom line is this, CSMs are not game developers and do not have access to the corporate plan CCP has. They cannot, nor SHOULD not, be able to direct CCP to "do" anything. That is not to say that the CSM program is not successful nor useless. CCP has been chasing down the reason for increased lag, in large part, because of the representation made by prior CSM groups. Yes, CCP is focused on its next two major projects. No, many forum dwellers do not feel these projects will be useful to you. CCP, does not and SHOULD not care to the point they crumble and move corporate assets to meet the mobs every whim...especially when the mob can't even agree in which direction to move. They do have a responsibility to shareholders (not stakeholders) to grow and return a profit on investment. The return can only be build by continuing to bring in new and more players. Frankly, in my opinion, they HAVE to do something completely different to renew EVE, especially to bring in a more diverse player base. YOU may not like the new advances, but its not like CCP has TAKEN anything away from your playing experience that you enjoy now.

Finally, the CSMs are important. They have argued for CCP to become more transparent to the player base on what their plan is. Much to my surprise, CCP has accepted the challenge and posted where almost EVERYONE OF THEIR DEVELOPERS are working. That is a huge change to openness. When has any company ever done anything like that? I encourage the CSMs to continue to work with CCP to press forward their agenda, it will not be quick, it will not be easy...but if CCP gets to the agenda press forward by CSM5 in 18 months, which is still a successful mission. Company's do not respond like a college student changing their mind on a major...they project for costs and goals a minimum of a year out and most like on a five year schedule...they can't and won't change those no matter what the CSMs propose...but the CSM can help CCP develop the next iteration of the company plan...and THAT is making a difference.

Revamping P4 Production...it can be painful

After two weeks of tweaking and playing around with the five planets I was working, I decided to rip out the command centers for three of the planets and refocus my efforts. Unfortunately, "ripping" out the command centers means realizing the loss of over 10million isk, plus the roughly 10million sunk into the initial building costs.

The reason for this was the realization that the next door system in our alliance was capable of producing all the basic P0 raw materials needed for every P4 item. This abundance of material, coupled with the deals I can get at Jita for Blueprint Copies should allow me to break even with the sale of even on POS module, as well as, build that Mobile Laboratory I've always wanted.

EvE being EvE, means that I broke out the Excel spreadsheet to develop the needed requirements for producing all the P4 items. This quickly proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that one character will not be able to produce all P4 items on their own. One account may not be enough to produce the P4 items at the fastest rate possible. After adding the Powergrid needed for all the extractors and basic processors was in the order of 18 elite command centers...and that doesn't count the link or the more advanced material processors.

What I was able to do on one character was set up a system on five planets that extract every type of raw material and change it into a P1 material. The material is sent to a launchpad and I will have to have a second character (or account) take the material to another set of planets to process it through P2 to P4. The key for me to do this was the verification that no link or processor must be tied to your command center. In fact, by placing two different launchpads on the planet surface I am able to extract materials from opposite sides of the planet and both extraction sites are no where near the actual command center.

Now the amount of P0 material I produce is far less than needed to try and build all P4 items at the same time. So, I will setup a P2 through P4 processing change and then build P4 items in cycles adding in the correct P1 materials from the five planets and getting a day's worth of material then switching my P4 production to something else.

My "production" planet will have nine P2 advanced factories, six P3 factories and one P4 factory and one launchpad for each P4 factory production chain, which allow for any P4 item to be made. Assuming my calculations are correct the P1 materials will occupy up to 6300m3 for one production chain, so I should be able to use only one launchpad to run both P4 production chains. The processors and launchpad have a total CPU and Powergrid requirement of 10,700tf and 9,500MW, without adding the link which should be fairly negligible as all the processors will be close together. The CPU and Powergrid requirements limit this kind of setup to a maximum of two P4 chains on a single planet as even an Elite Command Center only has a 19000MW capability. So, to run two production chains on a planet you need an elite CC, but you must have at least a standard CC to run one P4 production chain.

This setup will produce a maximum of 23 P4 items in one day, and more likely will be a 15-20 item daily average due to wasted time moving the P1 basic materials to the production chain and accepting a less than optimal login schedule.

So for each P4 item you will need 920 units of each P1 material, which will produce 100m3 (one unit) of the P4 item.

More to follow as my extractors finish the 24 hour work cycle.

First Loss

How many times have you read a blog or guide and the first thing they point out is; don't go AFK, you have to pay attention in nullsec or you'll get killed.

Well, they were right. I was dual screening and checking the PI setup of my industrial alt while I took care of the Angel Battleships guarding the TTP gate in LVL space right after the server was given new life by CCP. I can slowly handle BS with my Myrmidon, but with my lower skills it does take a while and I spend my day with zero shields and both armor reps working overtime.

So, I'm taking the last of the multi-BS spawn when, I look up and realize I'm further in red armor than I should be. I see a bunch of grey drones flying around and it takes me about 10 seconds to realize that I'm the one they neutral is hitting and not the rat...crap, I'm a victim of the alliance NRDS policy and my own inattention.

I quickly align and start to warp to a celestial and I think I'm going to get out with under 20% structure. I see the warp initiated and then my pod. I continue to hit the warp to 0 and save the pod. I call out the contact in intel and head to the station to reship and collect my gear and point the bastard if he's still there. I show up, Bab00che, isn't there and neither is my ship or Valkyrie II's. I half expected my wreck to be looted, but I couldn't even find my wreck. It wasn't on d-scan, nor even where I warped to. I have NO idea what happened to my stuff. Bab00che didn't have time to loot and salvage, unless the Angel BS took care of that for him? Very strange.

So, I did have insurance so I only took a 15million isk hit to the pocket book...which is still like 10% of my total value, but it was a learning experience. I cried and ran to high-sec.

Not really, I did get a bit pissed off that a neutral was unreported in intel and allowed to roam. Makes me wish I was in a NBSI alliance. I may just take the fight to neuts in the future, however, as I don't want this to happen again. I did jump to high-sec with a clone jump to do some shopping and little bit of mission running.

I need to get from 3.21 standing to 4.70 with my R&D NPC corp to start my T2 Drone invention. I think between that and building POS modules, I can at least bankroll some of my PvP intent.

Red is SUCH an angry color!

0.0 space, the final frontier...these are the voyages.

"These are the voyages of miners who sit in the bloody station all damn day, that's what it is", yelled Attia as she threw her drink against the wall.

The statement above describes my frustration right now. Right now Red Alliance and Goons have identified my alliance of HTA for either general harassment or outright attack. From what I've been able to gather the Goons are looking to return to the space they've held before and identified HTA as their first target. Unfortunately for the Goons, they attacked a POS and CSAA held by the GREEN alliance thinking it was HTA. That brought a rather sharp response from -A-, Atlas and all the member of the Southern Alliance.

It also pointed out the major flaw in both -A- and Atlas' setup of multiple Holder Alliances....Standings. When -A- reset all of Atlas Holders to -10 to promote their vision of "small gang, no sov" PvP, the unintended consequence of that was -A- flashing red to all the Atlas Holders that responded to Atlas' call-to-arms. The splitting of space into small packets held by holder alliances is a viable strategy, but it places the burden to respond to outside threats squarely with the major Southern Alliance players. For standard operations leaving all holder alliances at -10 is the way they desire their area...but when faced with an outside threat, they MUST reset the standings for fleet ops to allow the contribution of holder alliances and corps. Unless they fall prey to the same problem that CVA created, a feeling of entitlement and superiority that alienates the rest of the Southern space, a major reason cited as CVA's failure.

With all that said, my PvP characters are still infants and my playtime still fairly limited...I was stuck in highsec as a 30-40 Goon fleet in TTP-2B was killed and my jump clone still had 30 minutes until I could jump back into nullsec. *Damn you 24 hour timer*

50 Minutes of Boredom for 10 Minutes of Panic

Eve often seems like this, a lull in which you frantically train skills and attempt to earn isk to prepare for when things get crazy. After spending more time with EFT in an attempt to identify why I'm so slow at killing Angle Warlord Battleship spawns in my Mrymiddon, I discovered how my drone DPS was half of what it could and should be.

I guess when I look at the Tech 1 drones and drone interfacing at only 3, with Combat Drones at 0....it should be fairly obvious why I'm not killing anything very quickly. I read another blogger several months ago that described the difference between high-sec and null-sec...and it boiled down to the fact that a mediocre skill set was adequate in high-sec and total inadequate in null-sec.

So I've rapidly started down that drone path and quickly got the ability use Minmater Tech 2 drones and up'd my Combat Drone skill to IV. So hopefully I'll see a bit of difference in taking down the six cruiser spawn and the multiple battleship spawns I see.

Day 1 of Planetary Industry in the Books

After one full day of production on my five planets, I have discovered a more efficient way to produce recourses which will double my P2 item output each day. I had operated under the mistaken assumption that the more extractors I had the more materials I would end up making.
This is completely wrong. I discovered that the cycle times and outputs for all extractors and processors match completely, especially for the 23 hour extractor cycle.

What I discovered by having 7 extractors and only one basic processor, I had filled up my storage silo without increasing my actual usable output. The reason for this error was the input values, and more importantly, the cycle times of the extractors and processors.

Each extractor has a cycle time of 30 minutes, which corresponds to the 30 minute cycle time of the basic processor that processes the raw extractor material. To illustrate:

Basic Silicon processor requires 3000 units of Felsic raw material, and at the 1 day extractor time in a high yield zone is approximately 1500 units of material per cycle. These numbers quickly show that two extractors at 1500 units per cycle will produce the needed material to run one basic processor that produces 20 units of Silicon every 30 minutes.

This 30 minute cycle and output align with the advanced processor input for Miniature Electronic which requires 40 units of Silicon and 40 units of Chiral Structures (a P1 material) for a one hour cycle time to produce 5 units of Miniature Electronics. This synergy of output and cycle time shows that 2 extractors on each needed raw material with 1 basic processor to change that raw material to a P1 output will fill an Advance processor and produce 5 units of a P2 item per hour.



What this showed me was I could remove a total of 6 extractors on each of my planets, add two more basic processors and another advanced processor and double my production on each planet with reduced CPU and Powergrid requirements. I freed up almost 3000W on the power grid. Unfortunately you need 3900 empty room on a powergrid to support 4 extractors, 2 basic and 1 advanced processor...which would allow me to produce another P2 material on the same planet. The only way I way I see to fit this in is to have the Elite command center and the extra 2000 Powergrid room it allows.

That being said, by optimizing the cycle times and doubling my output of P2 materials, I can reduce my breakeven point we discussed in the last article from 27 days to 14 days, a significant improvement.

Blog Banter #18: Haven't you grown up yet?

Looks like CrazyKinux has asked another question for the Eve Blog Banter:

On May 6th 2010, EVE Online celebrated its 7th Anniversary. Quite a milestone in MMO history, especially considering that it is one of the few virtual worlds out there to see its population continually grow year after year. For some of you who’ve been here since the very beginning, EVE has evolved quite a lot since its creation. With the expansion rolling out roughly twice a year, New Eden gets renewed and improved regularly. But, how about you the player? How has you gaming style evolved through the years or months since you’ve started playing? Have you always been a carebear, or roleplayer? Have you only focused on PvP or have you given other aspects of the game a chance – say manufacturing. Let’s hear your story!

Well, I started playing this game back in 2007 with several guys I knew (as in internet knew) from a Falcon 4.0 website called Frugalsworld. Now he started a corp, which is still going strong in Eve. FW, Inc. In true MMO fashion, I complete hosed my first character Jonzac...who even now at over six million skill points can barely fly battlecruiser and has none of the support skills needed to be proficient at PvP or industry. I have that character finally straightened out, or at least headed in the right direction. After reading Halada's insightful mining guide, I started a second account as a pure miner...trained up right according to the Halada guide. As FW moved into low sec I took my limited 30M isk purse and my new Covetor and tried to mine...solo...without any idea of what awaited me...needless to say I was killed and just couldn't muster up the will to start over again.

Flash forward to 2010, I rekindle my Eve desire and start my accounts. I'm still broke but I've come to the key to Eve, one that is now easier to see. Eve is not easy. In 2007, Eve was really my first MMO and quite frankly I was unable to grasp the needed mindset and mental fortitude needed to complete in Eve.

Looking back, the game itself was not geared nor setup to facilitate the easy entry of new people even after almost four years of existence. The character setup screen gave no indication of how your attributes tied into training, nor was there any manual that even attempted to alleviate this. The lack of information was exacerbated by the predominate method of downloading the client instead of buying it in a store where you expected a manual. Unfortunately, the lack of a searchable forum and the sheer size of the Eve universe conspired to hamper the flow of information from experienced players to new players.

Now, I'm older and there are a multitude of ways newer players are assisted into the game. The tutorials themselves are a giant leap forward. I completed them with a secondary character and the step-by-step method provides a good way for people to get their feet wet. To me the biggest difference has been the availability of the community now. The EVE Blog Pack is a great example of this, a quick and plentiful area where much of the information in EVE can be accessed. Others examples include the rather large number of tutorial videos on YouTube, I can't tell you how valuable the new scanning tutorial was in starting ANY exploration of wormhole space and exploration in general.

Overall, CCP and the community as a whole have made great strides in providing information for those souls who truly have the desire to learn and survive, all the while providing the same consequence based universe that has characterized EVE from the beginning.

For me personally, there really hasn't been much change due to my recent return and still lower skill level. The biggest change is my mental attitude and ability to resist the urge to emoquit when the unexpected happens. I'm in EVE for the long haul this time and I can't wait to see what is around the corner.

More Planetary Interaction

First, I wanted to thank CraxyKinux for adding me to the Eve Blog Roll. I hope that a) someone reads these ramblings and b) finds some use from them.

On to the planet! One item that was not mentioned in the several guides I read, was the cost of building your planetary infrastructure. Of course, everyone understood the cost of buying the actual command center, but there is an additional cost for every extractor, processor, launch pad and link you make on you planet. The payments you make go to CONCORD, even though I'm in nullsec and they don't do a damn thing for me out here.

I have a standard setup that lets me build one P2 item per planet that includes the following pieces.

1 command center...this is not linked to anything
1 Launch Pad
1 Advanced Processor...output is linked to the launch pad
2 Basic Processors...one for each raw material to P1 material...the output is linked back to the storage silo
1 Storage Silo...links the raw material out to the basic processors and accepts the P1 material back...then links to the Advanced processor to send the P1 material there for processing.
7-8 Extractors for each raw material (for a total of 14-16 extractors per planet)...these are daisy chained with 3 or 4 extractors linked to a "lead" extractor and only one link from the "lead" extractor to the Storage silo.

I keep my extraction at the 23 hour option and with 8 extractors I only have one main link that needs upgrading due to the extremely high yield I put my extractors on.

This setup on 5 planets cost me 11.3M isk to setup. So with the five 3.7M isk command centers my total investment to date is 29.8M isk. I do not have the yield for one day from four of my planetary production sites, but for the site on a plasma planet that is making Mechanical Parts, I have a total of 130 units for one day’s production. The current buy rate in the area of 0.0 I am in was 1,700 isk per unit. Assuming that this planet was 1/5th of the total installation cost of 11.3M isk, the total initial investment for this plasma planet was 5.96M isk. Assuming the price for Mechanical Parts stayed at 1,700 isk/unit, I would need to produce 3506 units of Mechanical Parts. Given that my production of those items is approx 130 unit/day, I will need 27 day to reach the break even point. Clear planetary interaction is not a quick money maker, but a longer term industrial investment. I will continue to verify these numbers and look at the viability of specializing with one or two P3 materials instead of the P2 items. I will be producing Robotics by the end of the day, and given their buy price of 5,000 isk and selling price of 10,000 isk where I am at, the profitability may be worth the effort to move farther up the production chain.

Clearly Planetary Interaction is not a quick money maker, nor one that could support a PvP account on its own. I have several guesses on what the market is going to do, but looking at the inability for one character to make POS modules on their own, corporations or alliances are GOING to have to make this a priority sooner rather than later.

Finally!!! Planetary Pillaging has commenced

My corp was finally able to deliver the planetary centers I'd ordered. The several day delay was due to the high red level in our system, thanks to the crazy diplomatic situation with -A-, Atlas and Atlas Holders. (Another story, and one I'm really not qualified to comment on...not like I'll let that stop me.)

I setup a Plasma planet Advanced Command Center (PCC) and started laying down the needed extractors and factories to make Mechanical Parts. Now I know that I only need the one Plasma planet to make Robotics, a P3 item that was my end goal, but I'm not sure I can pull it off with only one Plasma planet now. I've hit 80% usage on the powergrid of my PCC and I still need to make the P2 product Consumer Electronics...and I don't see how I can fit that into the existing setup I have now. This means I need to go buy another PCC and find another Plasma planet to develop the needed items. Well, so much for the initial plan.

The actual layout and building of the extraction sites and routes was fairly easy, especially if you've taken a little time to read the Eve University guide and watched the player made tutorial on YouTube.



I finished my layout and started my extractors in 20 minutes...not bad for my first time. I just didn't realize that the links would take so much powergrid. The other point I had missed was the needed factories that I would need. I naively assumed the same factory would be able to process different raw materials at the same time, which was a false assumption. I need to have a basic factory to process each individual raw material, which means I have to have a total of four different basic factories and three advanced factories to make robotics on the same planet. That CPU and Powergrid drain coupled with the extended link lengths will make single planet Robotics production out of reach...at least on the planet I'm currently on.

I'm going to carve the time out tonight to finish laying out the two Lava planets and the Barren planet that I've identified and get them started. I will be selling my products in 0.0 space and it will be interesting to see the price differential between 0.0 and Jita. I'm not really sure how T2 components and POS supplies will sell as I don't know how many Corps and Alliances will develop their own in-house production lines. I plan to sell to my own Corp first, which will hopefully make supporting it easier and allow me to convince the leadership to stick a mobile laboratory on the POS so I can research my BPOs a lot more cheaply.

Wagons HO!!!

The great CCP sponsored land rush as begun...and I'm stuck at work. I'm ready to buy the needed command centers, I've scanned the right planets and I can't because I'm at work. Oh well, internet spaceships are important...but so is a paycheck.

Planetary industrialism looks like a nice supplementary income, but I am wondering just how much of this an alliance will be forced to accomplish to remain viable. The need to develop T2 component building streams alone would seem to make this a high priority, however, many alliances may have their T2 industry far away in highsec alt corps. I personally think there will be a profit for T2 components in nullsec, at least I'm betting my production lines on that because I certainly do not need the components as I can't perform invention yet.

I've started to settle into my new nullsec home, but the constant interruptions are a new experience for me. I've gotten to where I can handle the rats, mine for ore (albeit without the huge numbers as I train for nullsec T2 crystals) and remain safe from those threats. The constant need to stop as neutrals and reds are seen in the constellation are annoying. Although I'm glad I wasn't in the system the 100+ Goonswarm fleet moved into and put a tower into reinforced. The tower had a capital building array and it sounds like Goonswarm was trying to nip that capital ship in the bud. It will be interesting if Atlas and the other large alliances respond.

So far I've enjoyed the challenges and opportunities of nullsec, despite my more limited playing time. I do need to make some more isk soon, although the limited mining I've done has been lucrative. I've started working on the ME levels of my BPOs but the price at the alliance station is more than my wallet will allow for the ship BPOs I have. It looks like I will have to try and find a Mobile Laboratory BPC and build one at the corp POS...assuming I can get permission and there is spare CPU and Power on the tower.

Overall I'm glad I've moved to nullsec and now I need to start getting involved in the PvP side of things. Just tackling alone in a small group would be a great start, if I can carve a good solid hour of uninterrupted time.

Moving is always so difficult

Well, I have officially made the move to 0.0 space and met my new corp members pod-to-pod.

Of course, I sit here in the bar without ships, guns or ammo.

Which drove home the point to me that is near and dear to my heart. Amateurs talk about tactics and professionals talk about LOGISTICS.

Alexander the Great said it best. "

My logisticians are a humorless lot ... they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay."

Logistics for a corporation, or alliance, have the same impact in Eve as they do in real life. The ability to quickly bring materials and people from manufacturing centers in Highsec to Nullsec will make or break campaigns. For example, I sit here without a ship while my new corporation struggles mightily to get my 60,000mm worth of stuff to my new home. I am completely depended on that logistical train. Now in Eve you mention logistics and you immediately have people thinking of the ship type, where in reality that is a combat function not LOGISTICS.

In logistics you must be ahead of the combat curve. The pause into Iraq for OIF wasn't because the Iraqis were slowing us down, but the simple fact that the Allied forces couldn't get fuel and ammo to the combat forces fast enough given how quickly they had moved. It’s easier in Eve because of the static nature of system sovereignty change, although I bet that AAA and folks had a difficult time keeping ships and TCUs in the right place given how fast they swept through CVA space.

As you plan any corporation or alliance the first item you must have is the logistics train to take out ores/minerals/loot that will be turned into manufactured goods needed to carry on combat operations.

Nothing stays the same....but change

I have decided to make a rather large change in my Eve playing. I've left my current corporation, HAL Industries, for a nullsec corporation, Black Prophesy. I really enjoyed my time with HAL and they are a great group folks, but between my playtime and the fact that HAL is a new corp our goals just aren't matching up as well as I'd like. I came to the realization as I was grinding through a poorly paid Level 2 mission that if I didn't change something up, Eve would quickly lose its appeal.

So, I'm off to 0.0 space with one battlecruiser, a covetor, an Itty V and 40mil isk to my name...what could possibly go wrong?

Tyrannis is out...so what!

The title sounds more bitter that it really is, but it is a valid question for many people in the Eve Universe. Yes, planets are now yet another carrot for people to follow, another way the gap between the average player and the committed player will continue to grow.

I see that CCP is trying to magically erase that gap, but it just won't happen. Imagine focused industrial corporations that currently sweep entire systems free of asteroids now consuming all the highsec planets they can get their hands on. Given that the planets resources can "run out" if drawn on too heavily it would be easy to see how a small, beginning player will be shut out of any meaningful use of planetary interaction.

If I was a pirate, I would be salivating over this change. The increased goods on lowsec worlds will force people to set up shop in lowsec. The fact that the planet only has ONE customs center to dock in and out of...therefore one GUARANTEED spot to camp at, I expect the e-peens of the pirate community to become swollen as they trumpet their ability to gank an Itty III full of oxygen.

Large industrialists/corps will be able to make the isk on control towers and modules and the nullsec folks will have even less reason to come to highsec...especially as the nullsec ores get a bonus to the more common minerals.

Planetary interaction seems like a giant step forward, and maybe with DUSK 514 it will, but for now it is just another menu screen and minigame that will allow those with isk to continue to make even more of it and making the mountain the newer folks have to climb even that much steeper.

Economic Impact of Tyrannis Update

Reading about Eve and attempting to chart your course in its world is almost as much fun as actually flying internet spaceships and killing things. Reviewing the Tyrannis patch notes and the supporting Developer blogs, I realized there my actually be an opening for beginning industrialists.

A change highlighted in the devblog "The circle of life" shows that the drop rate of Tech 0 items will be lowered and replacing them with non-recyclable materials. This will greatly reduce the number of Tech 0 ship modules for sale on the market. This change should allow newer industrialist the ability to enter the slim-margin market of these items for two reasons. First, newer players are still going to want them as they will be the cheap alternative for players to fit their ships. Second, invention for Tech 2 items will reduce the "named" alternatives further leaving "standard" Tech 0 items available to be fitted. Additionally, there will still be industrialist that sell their items for below the recycle value of the item they just produced

Another change is the addition of additional minerals to lowsec and some nullsec ores. In my opinion, CCP noticed that it was more profitable to stay in highsec system and mine Kernite and Scordite than it was to move into lowsec or nullsec and mine ores like Jaspet and Hedbridite. This is in direct conflict with their current paradigm of increasing reward due to increased risk of lowsec and nullsec. Depending on the level of minerals added the ores in lowsec may be work corp mining operations...at the very least miners will move to lowsec for the increased profit, and will probably be shot down by pirates. I believe that we'll actually see fewer minerals on the market than we do now, which will drive up prices across the board. Without a constant and large highsec mineral influx the entire economic system of Eve will not be able to handle the stress of EVERYTHING costing more. I liken this to the start of the economic downturn here in the United States. What people forget is the trigger that started the issue was the rapid increase in gas prices to over triple their starting cost that summer. That increased all the costs in the manufacturing supply chain from raw materials to transportation to the final product. When all those new shinnies the PvPers want are double and triple the price because of the shortage of minerals, it will truly be a time to break out the Hulk and mine for anything.

What's the plan?

I'll start off with the important news. My corporation has been WarDec'd by "The Otters". Now the Otters is a corporation of one person, who was just a part of my corporation. This person, Ferahgo, who has been playing for years, basically got bored of the newbie corporation that he joined...so "for our own good" decided to WarDec us. Now, in my first Eve trip I was in a corp that was in a wardec and that eventually cost me my brand new Covetor. I was struggling in Eve at that time anyway so I quit not long after that.

Flash forward to now, and frankly I'm not so worried. A couple years of MMOs have hardened me I guess. I have the guy and his "neutral" alt on address book and at -10, and frankly its ONE FREAKIN' GUY. Even if he pays for the locator and brings out his command ship, he can only be at one place at one time and a logoffski will easily counter him...or I just spend the time jumping around, or I put Neuts on my Vexor and I attempt to take him. I'm at the point in my Eve existence that I KNOW I can always fall back to mining and make enough to have a cruiser in about a day...which makes me much more willing to lose ships than I was before.

Which is a good opening to talk about isk again. I have been trolling the market oriented websites, like www.eve-central.com and the www.eve-assets.com site it leads to. I've tried www.eve-metrics.com and have even downloaded several "trade" programs that read your export files and will try and build profitable routes for you. All of which has led to my "money tree" theory that CCP has built.

1. Beginning isk is to be generated by missioning. Basically, this "isk generator" (means at which isk enters the universe instead of transferring between players) is the fundamental method a new player with few skills can make money to fund additional missioning skills. If you look at the payoffs, (including the new tutorials), Level 1 mission and then Level 2 missions are enough money to buy the needed Tech 1 frigates and cruisers and the secondary skills needed to fight them adequately. Right now I'm using a L1 Q18 agent and getting 100,000 to 400,000 isk a mission (not counting salvage). Even at my limited play schedule, that is enough to save for and buy a cruiser and the basic skills needed to fly it and use the modules efficiently.

2. Mining. This is not an "isk generator" as it is driven by market values, but it does offer a method to make more per hour than any Level 1 and Level 2 missions. Right now my second account character "Attia" who is flying a Covetor with Tech 1 Strip Miners and her own hauler can easily make 6 - 10 million isk an hour...in High-Sec, where there is virtually no threat to her or her ship. This represents a good ability to quickly meet Tech 1 Battlecruiser cost requirements that are needed in Level 3 missions.

3. Industrialist. I think this will be the long term isk making endeavor, especially for those who do not have significant playing time. You can make stuff, put it on for sell...and even go missioning for additional isk generation. The problem is two-fold at this point. First, you MUST increase your industrial skill level. You HAVE to have production efficiency at Level 5 before you even consider heading down this path, the loss of potential profit due to the increased amount your item costs (because with Production Efficiency (PE) at less that 5 it takes more materials to actually make the item) means you CANNOT effectively compete with those who do have that skill maxed. The second problem, Researched BPOs! Even with PE-5, your items will still cost more to make because your competitor has researched their BPO to a higher level of efficiency....which means their items cost less to build than yours. The only way to correct this is to wait at the long queues at an NPC station to research your BPOs. For example, I have a BPO that will take until mid-JULY to be finished....much longer than the 11 days the actual research takes.

I firmly believe that a beginning industrialist needs to focus on a much slimmer margin of profit per item to start out with. (unlike other folks, I'll actually talk about what I'm doing). I have a BPO for Heavy Neutron Blaster I, and right now and I can build it for 106,000 isk per item. Right now in Tash the average buying price varies between 114,000 and 110,000 isk with a pretty healthy volume. I assume that people are buying these for cheap T1 fits, or most likely, to use in T2 production. Now 4-8,000 isk is not much, but its a start. Once I get my BPO researched to Material Efficiency (ME) 20 the price per unit drops to 101,000 which just doubled my profit per item. You won't be losing money and you get your name out there, as well as, actually industrial experience. Just like PvP or missioning, the more you do...the better you become. Despite what you might read, this will take time, Eve time. You will have to research the market and look for an opportunity...that means opening the market and clicking a bunch of times....writing those prices down. Getting your two additional characters per account, created and into other regions to do the same market research. All of that takes time in front of the computer and can't be short-circuited.

The key to remember is this...it will take time. I read other blogs about the causal loss of ship or spending of isk in the BILLIONS. First, those folks have been around a long time and have the highest levels of income streams that can be developed. Either through additional accounts (most likely), moon mining, or even purchasing PLEX and turning to isk. As a new/low time player you must set your sight more realistically. I can buy a new T1 cruiser and fit it well, at any time right now...and that is a sustainable goal right now.

Making isk?

I've discovered the real entry barrier to Eve, and this is the making of in game money (or isk). Just like the real world, everything revolves around having, spending, and most importantly, making isk. The focus on the in game currency is a major mental shift away from other MMOs. Sure you want gold in WoW to help you grind professions or by the new shiny, but when it comes down to it your game play does not absolutely DEPEND on your bank account. In traditional MMOs a player can always go "raiding" for the best items, in EVE you have to have and be able to sustain a currency balance capable of purchasing the ships, equipment or investment money needed.

Much like Real Life, making money is MUCH easier to do if you have it already. This is the dilemma that I, and other new players, will find themselves in. Unlike the way I've been trained by other MMOs, going out and killing NPCs is not the only way to make money. Let me list the ways I've seen, done or heard about making isk.

1. Mission Running: This is perhaps the method most familiar to all players of other MMOs. You find an agent, generally at Level 1 and start performing missions (i.e. quests) they ask you to do. Go to XXXX system and kill these pirates. Take this package from here to there. Eventually, you can reach a NPC corporation's highest level of mission agents (Level 4) and theoretically make 10-20 million isk in mission reward and NPC looting and salvaging. This may sound like a lot, but when you compare it to a 1.5 BILLION isk ship, the amount of money that merely mission running brings in will probably not be enough to fully fund your EVE experience...unless you spend A LOT of time playing. Which as this blog is named, I certainly do not. Of course, everyone will/should run missions for certain NPC corporations. They provide services at all Empire (or safer space) and the better the NPC corp likes you the cheaper their services are.

2. Mining: Also a method of making isk that is familiar to most. Like mission running, even a starting character has the ability to add a mining laser to their beginning frigate and mine ore from an asteroid. Ore and mineral prices vary across the EVE universe, but it can and does provide the beginning nest egg for beginning players to buy a better frigate or start a trading or industrial career. Halada's excellent guide at www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=305662 shows you a way to dedicate time and effort into becoming a dedicated (and profitable) miner.

3. Industrialist: Also a more familiar way for most players. Buy a blueprint and minerals...and then build the item...promptly sell to other players and rake in the isk. Unfortunately, for the beginning player there is a) a LOT of competition, b) a LOT of items you can make, c) you need money to buy the blueprints and materials, d) there are several skills needed to produce items cheaply...which a new player will not have right away. Industrialist can and do make money...it is VERY hard for a player on their own and most industrialist need the help and support of a corporation (to help with running the POS needed to speed up blueprint and manufacturing processing if for no other reason).

4. Trader: NOTHING like this is any other MMO. Basically, you can never fire a shot in anger and build your isk through the buying and selling of goods across the universe. Frankly, I haven't figured this part out, other than the inane advice of "Buy low and sell high." No kidding!! The richest individuals in the EVE (that I know of) trade in some fashion to continue making isk to fund their other ventures. Given the approximate 50,000 items in the game you would think it would be easy...and maybe it is, but I haven't cracked that code yet.

5. Pirating: Taking other people's stuff, threatening their ship and life for a ransom, killing other pirates for the bounty on their head. Piracy is a very viable option. There was just a story that pirates made almost 2 BILLION isk by destroying a single industrial ship that had precious blueprints worth a reported 14 BILLION before the ship blew up. One drawback to a new player is that you need good ships to destroy other ships...which requires isk to purchase the ships in the first place.

As you can see, making isk is a fundamental and required PLAYER skill to advance and survive in Eve. I personally am settling for mission running and mining right now, due to my limited playtime and knowledge level. There are two caveats to this entire conversation. One, everything is easier when you join an active corporation that helps its members. For beginning players I would suggest Eve University (www.eve-ivy.com), although I haven't joined their corporation, they have had too many newer players join and stay in EVE for their success in helping people be a fluke. Second, all of these methods will earn more money in lawless null sec versus the regulated High sec (or Empire state). The completion is less, the highest level asteroids and NPCs payouts are in null sec. CCP wants a reason for people to enter the universe spanning alliance warfare in null sec and makes the monetary incentive very lucrative to do so.

Let's Start at the Begining

Let's start at the begining...a very good place to start.
*If you can place that reference you are probably older than 30*

I said earlier that I got started in 2007, when I heard of this game from the Falcon 4.0 website Frugalsworld. The site owner, Frugal, was into this game and started a corp FW, Inc. which I understand is still active. Like all newcomers to the game...I was completely and hopelessly lost and confused. Remember this was before a nice new tutorial and what race, and family you choose affected your initial attributes.

I like to build things, I enjoyed the original crafting mechanics in Star Wars: Galaxy when the same ore could have different statistics and that would affect the end product...Very complex, in many ways more complex than even Eve. With that in mind, I started an industrialist and miner, then got side tracked into some combat and missions, and then some other shiny new object would float in front of my screen and I'd start training for that. The constant thrash inevitably led me to start a second account. After reading Halada's excellent mining guide, I started a Caldari miner and eventually put that character into a Covetor. By then the corp had moved to low-sec...which I was COMPLETELY unprepared for...couple that with the fact that many in the FW were on at different times and my own random play times led to the typical Eve response. I quit.

Now three years later. Older, wiser...more importantly my kids are mostly self-sufficient and well on the way to becoming gamers themselves. I'm ready to give Eve another try with another small corporation, Hal Corporation (HALC). This time, however, I've realized that Eve will require more planning and forethought than I gave it in the past...or I ever did with WoW or Warhammer Online.

So that means a dedicated plan and hopefully the willpower to stay with it.

First, I have determined the roles of my two accounts. Jonzac, will become my combat/trader. Although he also has high science, engineering and industrial skills from the first try in Eve...which allows a certain freedom in preparing for eventual Invention on BPOs. Those Research Points are free and since I don't have to put any effort into that right now, I just sit back and collect Datacores. Right now at just over 5 million Skill Points, I can file Caldari/Gallente/Minmater frigates all at level 4 and all those cruisers at level 4. I am into Battlecruisers, but like all new characters I made the mistake of training for ships and no support skills, which is being rectified but takes time.

Second, my miner, Attia is focusing on industrials, transports and freighters. I have put off getting into a Hulk right now for several reasons. The 25 million Isk for the skill book and the 30 million plus cost of the ship makes that less appealing right now. I am a long way from being able to afford a freighter right now, but that and an Orca are both ships that I would like to have and fly when possible.

Now, all I need to figure out is how everyone makes so much &^%@ damn money!

Obligitory First Post

*walks into room filled with folding chairs*

Hi my name is Jonzac

Hi Jonzac

Well now that we have the introductions completed.

I'm an EVE capsuleer, which means YES I do play the MMO called EVE online. I played this game back in 2007 for about six months and then moved onto different fields as I didn't take the time needed to truely "peel back the onion" on this game.

Flash forward to 2010, after reading some posts in forums I inhabit the topic of EVE sprung up. Some folks where headed back into the game and having put away WOW and realizing that I don't have the time to finish and compete in the end game of Warhammer Online, I thought I'd give EVE another try.

Currently, I've joined a small, new corporation as I head back into the sprawling universe that is EVE. Of course, all of this gaming goodness must be balanced with the spousal unit and several rugrats...not to mention the hour and a half commute I deal with EACH WAY!!!

All of that leaves me with a limited time to play and few Skill points and even fewer isk. I plan to detail my journey here, because really...doesn't everyone need to benfit from my wisdom? I thought that you would agree with me.