Strengthen the Feeble Knees

So, an oddity that I noticed recently among a few different alliances: PvPers get weak-kneed at the thought of combat in their home space.

I know this seems a little strange, considering that PvPers are the guys who LIKE to wave their ISK around in front of other people and throw hot lead (if they're Minmatar, aka smart) or panzy lazors (sorry, Amarrian scum) at each others faces. Nevertheless, I have observed this trend, when the home-system is at stake and the enemy are camping and roaming, PvPers get really worried and start to talk about running, and the industrialists knuckle down and start to think about punishing people for stopping their mining.

I have wondered some over why this is, and how to combat it within my own alliance, and here is what I have come up with.

Industrialists are already hardened by pressure. Again, PvPers go out looking for fights, but most of us industrialists would rather avoid conflict and just mine in peace. Yet we're the prime targets for 90% of the roamers out there. They come into our space, and we have to run and hide, or stand our ground and fight, and we're used to dying pretty regularly to unfair odds and still undocking again later on in an equally vulnerable ship. I think this gives us an advantage, in sovereign warfare, because we're already used to being on the defensive and dealing with the cloaky camper type of warfare that pervades today's sov-system.

When it comes to combating the problem, however, I have had mixed results in my efforts to overcome this issue. Staying up-beat and positive works with some PvPers, showing the brave front and the lack of worry about the danger and getting out there and mining in hostile situations does help some, but certainly not everyone. Those who refuse to be buoyed up by such measures seem to actually take offense that others aren't as terrified as they.

So how DO we "Strengthen the Feeble Knees" of our PvP friends when the hot-droppers come to town?

Resurrection

Eyes snap open and lungs gasp for breath. Hands reach, flailing and uncoordinated, and scrabble at the glass of the cryo-tube. Leaning forward from the half-reclined position, naked flesh thuds to the ground as balance is lost and servos move the outer shell of the tube out of the way. An empty stomach heaves to bring up the breakfast that the mind remembers eating, but this body has never taken in food.

Resurrection. Rebirth. Cloning. Call it whatever they might, it was a harrowing experience, but this experience was not like the others. Hands shaking, Minuit brushed hair away from her face, knowing something was wrong from the thick layer of dust that coated everything. What had the janitors been up to? How had this much dust accumulated since her last death? Why didn't she remember the details of dying.

Crawling over to the nearby silent computer bank, and pulling herself into a chair, trembling fingers plugged the jack into one of the surgically installed ports at the base of her neck, and her eyes widened in shock.

Over 5 years?

That's right, space fans. It's been nearly 6 years since I have posted on this blog, and around 5 years since I started playing EVE Online again after taking a break from online games of all sorts.

Since returning to EVE, I've done kind of a lot of different things... More than will fit in this post in more than a summary, but hey, that gives me things to talk about, right?

Here's the summary: Returned to EVE with KattraStarr, and started wandering around High-sec doing some trading and trying to find a place to fit in. In an effort to retrieve some ships from what used to be my old corp/alliances territory in JEIV, I discovered ProviBloc and NRDS. Shocked and excited, I talked Katt into applying to some corps down there, particularly in Yulai Federation, who at the time I thought were actually the only NRDS crew in EVE. (See how long I've been gone, and how ill informed I am?)

We were accepted into Syndax Corporation and moved into providence. We hooked up with some industrialists in the corp and enjoyed their company. Syndax decided to split away from Yulai Federation, form Axiom Vocation Alliance, and move out into Catch, and those industrialists we had enjoyed the company of reformed GeneSia-IRC . We transferred to GeneSia and followed out into Catch.

We discovered multi-boxing and several ways of supporting a host of accounts without paying any real life cash, and broke into T1 production, including Capital production, finally doing what Katt had always wanted to do.

We've been through wars beside our allies VOLT and StainWagon, both on offensive and defensive, and have learned a whole load. I've risen to a leadership role within GeneSia, and continue to enjoy learning at the feet of probably the best CEO I've encountered.

Our home is a tough place to live. Tougher perhaps than the wormhole ever was, but the sun still shines at midnight out here, and I'd hate to let all that sunlight go to waste!

Continuing input into: The True Bounty Project

General consensus seems to be that The True Bounty Project is an idea that could be made to work....

With some tweaks.

Apparently the numbers that were rolling around in MY head, were too low, generally speaking, to draw the attention of most mercenaries. As such, it was suggested that I put together a few basic bounty packages as guidelines. Obviously, the higher the bounty, the greater the interest. Part of the fun/idea for True Bounty is that a bounty makes you wanted, not just by a specifically hired assassin, but by people who are just willing to do the deed when they see you somewhere they can catch you. A war-dec attack is awesome and all, but it's nothing compared to knowing that a billion isk is sitting on your head for anyone who can catch you in a ship of any real value. A bil, can be split amongst an awful lot of disposable Thrashers and their pilots... Even High-Sec becomes a risk if the value is high enough.

Trust, being the commodity that it is in the great world of EVE, was also an important topic. It was suggested that a third-party, trusted service be used to secure the funds for my third-party project. I have to admit, it seems a bit convoluted. *Grin* But at the same time, I can see the reason behind it. I'm a bit of a nobody, and I can't expect folk to trust me with the kind of money necessary to turn a Merc's head without having been in business for a while to establish a reputation for trustworthiness.

At the same time, I desire to build up the sort of reputation that would be necessary to avoid the unnecessary complication (and the unnecessary divulging of client information) that comes with utilizing a fourth party service (cos that's really what it would be!).

Looking into precedent, I see that people trying to break into the Third Party business usually need to provide some form of incentive to begin their efforts, and that sort of thing makes sense to me, as well.

The pricing thing and standard packages just makes sense. I'll be adjusting that accordingly.

The fourth party service on the other hand is less sure in my mind. I will be giving it some thought, and I'd appreciate some input! Anyone got any ideas on good incentives to get the program up and running, and start building a reputation for honesty? -I- know I'm honest, and that no-one will walk away anything but fairly dealt with, but there's a lot of jerks in EVE.

Until then, Fly Straight (though as was pointed out to me earlier today, angular velocity, or lack thereof, is a killer)

The True Bounty Project

So, perhaps vengeance has laid seeds in my heart. Perhaps it has spawned off this crazy idea that I think could be a lot of fun, for me and for others. Or perhaps I'm doing something that's been done before.

But, with our booting from Wormhole space and our subsequent happy go lucky time in High-Sec, I've been looking for a new project to take on, something interesting to keep things fresh and exciting.

So I've come up with "The True Bounty Project". No, it's not a plan to petition for a new candy-bar, though I think peanuts and coconut would be way better than almonds... Just saying.

No, what it is, is a project for a new resource for capsuleers to use in their travels. A way for aggrieved parties to find redress for their unhappiness without resorting to tears, war decs, or using the fatally flawed in-game bounty system.

Relative new capsuleer suicide-ganked for kicks? True Bounty.
Hulkaggedon caught you unawares? True Bounty.
POS Destroyed while you were away for the weekend....... True Bounty.

It has plenty of applications, but I'll leave that for you to read about and comment on.

Discussion welcome! Flaming, not so much, but hey, bring it on!

Fly Straight, they'll never expect it!

P.S. If you want to chat about this in-game, feel free to join channel: True Bounty

Big Changes, in Little Slice of Heaven...

So, as anyone who actually read anything on this blog (all 20 of you guys, you rock!) will tell you, the ramblings of Minuit Soleil sort of dropped off into static a while back.

I still logged in, now and then, ran a few sleeper sites with the P2AS crew, checked on the latest gossip over in ORDR, ran fuel, sold sleeper stuff. The usual, enough to keep the accounts open and keep plex on hand.

About a month and a bit ago, all that changed. Katt and I took a weekend off from EVE, didn't log in from Thursday till Monday, and when we did, I discovered a distinct lack of a POS bubble.

That's right, ship-wreck fans, POS Gone.

Had a nice gloating EVE-Mail from the folks that destroyed our tower over the weekend, sitting out the reinforcement timer and all that schnazz, waiting in Katt's inbox.

So, what's a crew to do when everything goes pear-shaped?

Get the most valuable stuff, stored in your offline Orca, the heck back to High-Sec!

So, after pointing this out via EVE-Mail to our antagonists, and being certain to leave a few scanning alts spattered around J162010 for later fun, P2AS pulled out of Wormhole space and returned to Empire.

It was a surprisingly invigorating move, and in ways I have to thank the POS-Bashing boys for knocking us off our rear ends and back into the game. (Not that we won't be thinking of using those alts anyway....)

I've dropped IT and ORDR, which "reformed" (read: Disbanded) into a "super-corp" (read: I dunno... whatever the heck that was supposed to mean) and have joined up with P2AS for the near future.

If you have taken the time to read this ramble, and have any suggestions on where to go from here, I'd love to hear them! We're taking steps to get back into the game, and are enjoying ourselves, but I don't like to be without goals...

Expect more soon, and Fly Straight, they'll never expect it!