The Many Colours of EVE Online

I can't be the only one for certain but I am blighted by a really frustrating problem when playing EVE Online. Now, please don't get me wrong, it isn't just EVE that I have this issue with as it's the same with many games.

So, what is this annoying problem then?

Colour blindness. Can you see the number 74 in the picture above? If you can't then you're colour blind too most likely. Generally I find that it is an ailment which is very much misunderstood by many. Typically with most people assuming that I cannot see colour at all and go through life in grey scale. Please be reassured that is not the case,  can see colours, even the ones I have issue with it's just that what I see as red f example you may not and certain colours I may not be able to pick out amongst others.

Personally I am colour blind to red & green like I think 8% of the male populace.

How does this affect my game play, well have a quick think. How many items or events happen in red or green in EVE? Here's some quick-fire examples:

• We all love shooting those red crosses don't we? Well I struggle to see them, especially when the brackets appear red around them to indicate they have opened fire.
• Probing, Trying to find that red box/dot that is a probe hit. Horribly horribly difficult.
• Overheating, totally impossible o see heat damage.

That's just a few quick examples. I wonder if CCP can do something simple to help by giving us access to colour options?

Experiment 99H

In my last post I mentioned the Ferox I'd been flying a Ferox, dubbed Experiment 99H mainly as it's insurance was next to expire. I shan't lie, I wasn't looking forward to the prospect and did not have any high expectations at all. I'd bought it on a whim ages ago when I was first able to fly Caldari Battlecruisers and thought to myself why not.

To say that I have been astounded by this underdog really is an understatement and doesn't go far enough. Sure it doesn't stand much of a chance against the likes of a Hurricane but still it's proved a tough little nut.

The fit I used was as follows:

6 x 220mm Vulcan Autocannon II
1 x Medium Gremiln Power Core Disruptor

2 x Large Shield Extender II

1 x EM Ward Field II
1 x Warp Disruptor II
1 x Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive

1 x Damage Control II
1 x Tracking Enhancer II
2 x Gyrostabilzer II

3 x Medium Core Defense Field Extender

5 x Warrior II

Does a modest 385dps, but with 92k EHP with a fairly consistent resist profile. I can't use blasters, hence the AC's, but that tank takes some chewing on.

It's insurance expired without it having been destroyed so it's to the back of the queue it goes until it's time comes around again. Maybe I'll have trained blasters by then, who knows.

Here's a few highlights that come to mind when I think about this ship's exploits:

http://tuskers.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=12847006 Extremely close fight against a dual web Drake.

http://tuskers.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=12849004 Decided to attack this under sentry fire as he jumped through a gate, also a close one against his impressive tank and T2 Hammerheads.

To date has destroyed 378 million isk in 15 ships & associated modules destroyed and earning drops of over 41 million isk.

Insurance

I'm sure that I'm not alone in the situation as a pirate when I'm faced every day with the question:

"What shall I fly today?"

Currently Kirith has in the region of 100 fitted ships in Hevrice. Choosing one can be a pain especially when coupled with my natural indecisiveness.

As my play time has diminished I have found it increasingly difficult to keep ships insured as they don't get exploded often within the 3 months that insurance lasts. Should I then fly ships that are uninsured or find an alternate solution.

When faced with this conundrum months ago I decided that I'd fly the ships in my hangar which has its insurance expiring soonest. I did think that it would be a boring way to play, but boy have I been pleasantly surprised.

This kicked off with my armour tanked Thrasher, it really did me proud and it's not a ship I fly often though I guess the same can be said about any of my ships.

Here's some stat's about S&M Freak the aforementioned Thrasher:

37 kills (13 Pods)
Caused 480m isk in damage
81m isk in drops from kills
Efficiency score of ~96%

Since the demise of this Thrasher I've been flying ships in order of insurance expiration. After the Thrasher I moved onto a Ferox. Would you believe that the Ferox didn't get exploded before its insurance expired, despite my aggressing on gates and fighting opponents it should have died to!

I feel that this exercise has also made me a better pilot as being thrust into ships which you wouldn't otherwise fly makes you learn how to fly in different styles.

So the question I pose to my readers is twofold. How do you cope with many ships in your hangar and insuring them? And what drives your choice of what to undock and roam in?

Caldari & Amarr Frigate V

Quite some time ago now I chose to round out my racial frigate skills by getting both Caldari & Amarr frigate to V. The main rationale for this was to access the Hawk & Vengeance as I'm unable to use lasers or hybrids.

The Hawk & Vengeance pair very well with my skills follwing the completion of the Rifter plan as I maxed my unguided missile skills. It shows to me how long ago I did this as it was prior to the Assault Frigate buff.

In addition to the Vengeance & Hawk I'd also acquired a Caldari Navy Hookbill. At the time I really fancied flying the Hookbill, sadly though that desire has waned now before I've even undocked.

So it was that I bought myself a couple of Hawks and fitted up my Hookbill. Typically once I'd got the ships & fittings in Hevrice the Assault Frigate buff had been delivered too and my loadouts were somewhat sub-optimal. I'd thrown a Merlin into the mix too as I'd had some close fights with them and fancied tring one myself.

Here's the loadouts I've ended up with, I consider them highly developmental so please bear that in mind:

Raven Guard, my Hawk:

Ballistic Control System II
Damage Control II

1MN Afterburner II
Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

Rocket Launcher II, Trauma Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Trauma Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Trauma Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Trauma Rage Rocket
125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Barrage S

Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I

Kirith spits out 253dps in this little machine and it rolls with over 9k ehp.


Pookie, my Vengeance

[Vengeance, Pookie]
Ballistic Control System II
F85 Peripheral Damage System I
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Small Armor Repairer II

X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
1MN Afterburner II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

Rocket Launcher II, Mjolnir Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Mjolnir Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Mjolnir Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Mjolnir Rage Rocket
Small Unstable Power Fluctuator I

Small Bay Loading Accelerator I
Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I

Kirith spits out 212dps in this tough nut, again over 9k ehp but this time with an active tank that can perma run without the neut.

I've lost the first of each now and would have to say that I vastly prefer the Vengeance even if it is a bit on the slow side. I've never been much of a speed demon anways. Any tips or critique?

Farewell Dear Penfold

A sad occurrence has befallen me, a truly black day. My dear little Breacher, that unassuming T1 Minmatar Frigate known by me and by many by the call sign "Cor Blimey Chief" has passed into my hall of legend. Now just a picture on my cabin wall in the Hevrice station which Kirith calls home.

A case of preoccupation with the slow podding of a Thorax ilot diverted my attention from local scanners allowing a Jaguar to land atop my humble craft. The mediocre (read: non-existent) tank of the Breacher crumpled like paper in mere seconds and my adversary walked away with the deadspace MWD contained within.

Many a glorious kill had been achieved during its service and it will be sadly missed but cannot ever truly be replaced, to do so would be a slur upon its memory.

I share with you now the loadout of this fine and noble space-steed

3 x TE-2100 Light Missile Bay

Warp Disruptor II
Coreli C-Type 1MN Microwarpdrive

Overdrive Injector II
Ballistic Control System II

3 x Capacitor Control Circuit I

Farewell dear friend for you shall be missed.

May 2012 Character Review

Is it just me, or did the last month fly by seemingly very quickly? Straight down to business then with the statistics for the last month:

50 Ship kills (31 Solo)

16 Pod kill (13 Solo)

2,559,261,053 Isk cost to victims (140,637,816 Isk received in loot)

8 Ships Lost

0 Pods Lost

211,192,519 Isk lost in value of ships destroyed

(70,554,703) Isk lost for the month

As you can see from the kills & losses above I've been far more active in game this month than I was the previous month, something I'm very pleased with. I have also flown far more recklessly which shows in the losses. Despite losing isk in the month when comparing kills & losses I've had a lot of fun in the process and that's what matter ultimately to me.

The ships I lost were:

1 x 400mm plated Rifter, a great 1v1 against a Merlin. In an effort to streamline my hangar I've been flying some ships with old fits that have been gathering dust. Despite this I've found some great fights, like this one.

1 x Suicide thrasher, a took a little part in the early stages of Hulkageddon. Actually I lost three Thrashers but 2 don't count in Corp as they were killed by Concord. I can't say I "enjoy" ganking but it was an interesting change for a day or two.

1 x Hawk, I engaged a Prophecy in a belt and whilst the brain said he's likely bait I wen't for it anyway. My Hawk died swiftly to him.

1 x Hurricane, Going back for revenge on the Prophecy I land with him, unfortunately for me he calls in a couple of Tornados to help leaving me buggered. Can't blame him and a fun twist.

1 x Vengeance, my first outing in the Vengeance was with a potential new Tusker, we roamed down to Heimatar where we ended up in a 7 vs 2 engagement. This tough little nut amazed me and we didn't go down without one of the best fights I've had in recent memory.

1 x Rupture, lost in when I managed to land right on top of a Talos. Quick and messy loss.

1 x Vigil, pretty lolfit. One evening a few of us went out in frigates for fun and I decided to try and lose this contraption which I did by getting one-shotted by a Thrasher.

1 x Stabber, on a long roam I ran into an EVE University gang in Heimatar. Jammed scrammed then deaded but this Cruiser amazed me by taking out an Enyo!

Here's what Kirith's skill chart looks like this month:

These are the skills that Kirith has completed training of this month:

Gallente Drone Specialization IV
Minmatar Battleship IV

Minmatar Battleship is still cooking and gets finished on Friday, right on cue for the roam I hope to take out. Might even buy something silly to lose on it, it's only isk right? Anyone have any thoughts on Fleet Tempest & Machariel fits out there.....?

After Minmatar BS V completes it's on to Heavy Drones all the way to V which will take me just about into July all being well.

I haven't prioritised trading this month, netting just 66m in profits. The market scene is still all over the place I find when not looking at it daily. My future capital pilot diversified into PI some more and has trained for an Iteron V to make the process easier. Now done with that she's back to training for the Thanatos. Speaking of which I've taken the first steps towards acquisition of the ship so more on that one day in the future. PI though is my carebear activity of choice and I'm pleased with the returns I'm getting which is the main cause of my lessened focus on station trading.

Total Ransoms Received: 555,360,662.30 Isk (5m Isk received in the month)
Battleclinic Rank:  447 (+25) 

Of New Players & Trial Accounts

Frequently in low-sec space one happens upon a helpless noobie. They can be doing anything really, I have learned not to try and rationalise what they are doing when I find them as it inevitably doesn't make sense!

Some typical and more normal examples:

• Sitting at a planet.
• Mining in their Navitas/Catalyst, Vexor etc.
• Pewing the rats.

In practically all cases their ships will be poorly fit. I know many of us started this way and have found our way to where we are today but there surely must be a better way to help people learn how to fit their ships and to open their eyes to the dangers of certain areas of space.

The new player experience must be the answer to this and also therefore be the way to overcome this blight that is afflicted upon those poor hulls. God knows how CCP should do it though, I wish I had the answer.

Perhaps the answer is a far more in depth tutorial system that goes into much more detail, something like the way the film Starship Troopers goes, "Would you like to know more? Asking that question once you've completed your current tutorial step and giving you further options of what you can choose to learn about.

It almost could be simplified to a follow a flow chart structure.

Given that new starters are asked on the EVE website what type of character persona they want, maybe this could lead the type and makeup of the tutorial they receive?

This deserves much more thought than I can give it here anyways.

So, back to topic. What do I do with these lost and blighted ships? Well I'm a pirate so I explode them of course. So now I have a wreck with loads of random modules in it and typically a noobie Pod under the grasp of my point.

What to do with the Pod now?

Many of my corpmates at this point will release said Pod for a comedy ransom of some description, after all trial accounts can't pay isk ransoms as they can't give money. I on the other hand explode them out of hand if they are under two weeks old, always keen to add to my collection of frozen corpses.

Many say that I'm making these new players leave the game by my actions. I'm not sure I do, what would you do and what's your opinion?