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EVE Online Empyrean Age: Not like the trailer but still really good
Bremen
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mCKe9MCy_w
The Empyrean Age
The latest free expansion pack to EVE features the launch of factional warfare, with the four factions of EVE (Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, and Minmatar) now at open war with each other. Players may join a milita for their chosen faction and conquer star systems in their name, opposed by NPCs and players of the other factions.
However, the Penny Arcade Corporation, Merch Industrial, has choosen not to side with any of the major factions, and instead have sided with the player alliance Goonswarm. After all, why conquer solar systems for a government when you can conquer them for yourself? Look, we already have one:
Our beautiful home in the distant fringes of the galaxy
EVE Online
EVE Online isn't a particularly well known MMO, but it's actually one of the larger ones, with approximated 250,000 active subscriptions and an average peak of 35,000 users during North American primetime.
It's also a primarily PvP focused game, but not exclusively; I spend most of my time on PvE or industry (crafting), and only take my carrier on the occasional fleet op to do my part for the war effort. As a matter of fact, I'm such a stranger to PvP I've asked a fellow corp member to write the PvP section of this thread. So just because you've heard EVE is a PvP game doesn't mean that's all there is to do.
Above all, what keeps me playing EVE is its sheer complexity. Other MMOs have crafting, EVE online has an industry system whose complexity boggles the mind of even the full time economist the developers hired to track it. Other MMOs have classes and levels, EVE has a real time skill system with over three hundred unique skills:
And where MMOs like WoW have arenas and battlegrounds, EVE has alliances consisting of thousands of players fighting for control of the galaxy itself, with tools ranging from small gangs, to major fleets, to squadrons of massive capital ships capable of going toe to toe with an enemy's heavily armed starbases and supported by fleets of lesser ships lest they be swarmed by the enemy defenders.
Territory controlled by EVE Alliances. We're a member of the Goonswarm Alliance, but have our own station as well. Click for a current, full size map
Have you ever found yourself playing an MMO and wishing you could be a part of something larger? Wished you could make a real mark on the enviornment rather than just doing the same things as everyone else? Or have you ever gotten tired of crafting that involves pushing a button and wished there was a way for hundreds of crafters to work together to make something truely epic? Then sign up for the 14 day trial (Link is extracted from the Penny Arcade banner add, I get no referal bonus).
Merch Industrial - The Penny Arcade Corp
Merch Industrial has quite a history. It was founded in April 2006 by TheKoolEagle to provide a more peaceful place for Penny Arcade forumgoers who didn't want to join the original Merch corporation and become pirates, but it quickly outstripped the Merch in terms of size and eventually prosperity. After a number of successes and failures (mentioning the word "Daran" will still make many vets shudder) on our own, we joined up with the Something Awful forums alliance Goonswarm just as they were beginning their rapid rise to power. But that's its own story, and if you want to hear more you'll have to ask the vets about it.
As of the time of this writing, MerchI has 378 members, over a dozen starbases, and a factory station located in the system of e-pr0s. We have a corporation run business that produces massive capital ships and returns the profit back to corp members who invested in it. Many lesser industries are run by individual members, one produces modules and fighters for capital ships, another specializes in battleships, and a third produces special rigs used to modify a ship's base hull.
E-PR0S, our home
Territory in EVE is divided into three types. High security space is patrolled by the NPC police Concord, and any attack on another player or friendly NPC will result in your inescapable demise (not necessarily soon enough to save your target, though). As a price for this safety, though, the ores and hostiles NPCs in high sec are scarce and of little value.
Low security space, with security ratings between .1 and .4, is a dangerous place. Concord is nowhere to be found, though the empire factions have automated guns protecting the stargates and stations, and these will fire on anyone who starts a fight inside their range. But unlike concord, these guns are of limited power and only a minor deterrant. And outside their range, anything goes. Low sec is a haven of small pirate corps who run around looking for easy kills, and small law-abiding corps willing to accept the risks for the increased rewards.
Last of the three is nullsec, or 0.0. These areas are completely lawless, and either owned by pirate factions who care less what goes on, or contested between player alliances. The only protection in 0.0 is the firepower you and your friends possess. While nominally the most dangerous spots in EVE, alliances in 0.0 have to protect their space or they'll quickly lose it, and for the biggest risk you'll face in friendly controlled space is hostiles in fast ships trying to get a few kills before a fleet can muster to chase them out. Mining and ratting(NPC-killing) in 0.0 is extremely lucrative, and are some of the best ways to make money in the game.
E-pr0s, is, of course, a system in the conquerable part of 0.0. While neither the safest nor the richest system around, it's a decent place which we take a lot of pride in. In addition to the level 2 factory station we control, it's also secured by heavily armed starbases like this baby:
You might be noticing a pattern in our choice of names
with functions including defense, moon mining, and research labs. Neighboring it are the systems of AZN-D2, held by fellow Goonswarm corp ARSED and possessing a refinery station, and VNGJ-U, held by Goonfleet itself and possessing a hybrid factory and research station.
The Empyrean Age
The latest free expansion pack to EVE features the launch of factional warfare, with the four factions of EVE (Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, and Minmatar) now at open war with each other. Players may join a milita for their chosen faction and conquer star systems in their name, opposed by NPCs and players of the other factions.
However, the Penny Arcade Corporation, Merch Industrial, has choosen not to side with any of the major factions, and instead have sided with the player alliance Goonswarm. After all, why conquer solar systems for a government when you can conquer them for yourself? Look, we already have one:
Our beautiful home in the distant fringes of the galaxy
EVE Online
EVE Online isn't a particularly well known MMO, but it's actually one of the larger ones, with approximated 250,000 active subscriptions and an average peak of 35,000 users during North American primetime.
It's also a primarily PvP focused game, but not exclusively; I spend most of my time on PvE or industry (crafting), and only take my carrier on the occasional fleet op to do my part for the war effort. As a matter of fact, I'm such a stranger to PvP I've asked a fellow corp member to write the PvP section of this thread. So just because you've heard EVE is a PvP game doesn't mean that's all there is to do.
Above all, what keeps me playing EVE is its sheer complexity. Other MMOs have crafting, EVE online has an industry system whose complexity boggles the mind of even the full time economist the developers hired to track it. Other MMOs have classes and levels, EVE has a real time skill system with over three hundred unique skills:
Corporation Management:
Anchoring, CFO Training, Corporation Management, Empire Control, Ethnic Relations, Megacorp Management, Sovereignty, Starbase Defense Management
Drones:
Advanced Drone Interfacing, Amarr Drone Specialization, Caldari Drone Specialization, Combat Drone Operation, Drone Durability, Drone Interfacing, Drone Navigation, Drone Sharpshooting, Drones, Electronic Warfare drone Interfacing, Fighters, Gallente Drone Specialization, Heavy Drone Operation, Mining Drone Operation, Minmatar Drone Specialization, Repair Drone Operation, Scout Drone Operation, Sentry Drone Interfacing.
Electronics:
Cloaking, Cynosural Field Theory, Electronic Warfare, Electronics, Electronics Upgrades, Frequency Modulation, Long Distance Jamming, Long Range Targetting, Multitasking, Projected Electronic Counter Measures, Propulsion Jamming, Sensor Linking, Signal Dispersion, Signal Suppresion, Signature Analysis, Signature Focusing, Survey, Target Painting, Targeting, Turret Destabilization, Weapon Disruption
Engineering:
Capital Energy Emission Systems, Capital Shield Emission Systems, Capital Shield Operation, EM Shield Compensation, Energy Emission Systems, Energy Grid Upgrades, Energy Management, Energy Pulse Weapons, Energy Systems Operation, Engineering, Explosive Shield Compensation, Kinetic Shield Compensation, Shield Compensation, Shield Emission Systems, Shield Management, Shield Operation, Shield Upgrades, Tactical Shield Manipulation, Thermic Shield Compensation
Gunnery:
Advanced Weapon Upgrades, Capital Energy Turret, Capital Hybrid Turret, Capital Projectile Turret, Controlled Bursts, Gunnery, Large Artillery Specialization, Large Autocannon Specialization, Large Beam Laser Specialization, Large Blaster Specialization, Large Energy Turret, Large Hybrid Turret, Large Projectile Turret, Large Pulse Laser Specialization, Large Railgun Specialization, Medium Artillery Specialization, Medium Autocannon Specialization, Medium Beam Laser Specialization, Medium Blaster Specialization, Medium Energy Turret, Medium Hybrid Turret, Medium Projectile Turret, Medium Pulse Laser Specialization, Medium Railgun Specialization, Motion Prediction, Rapid Firing, Sharpshooter, Small Artillery Specialization, Small Autocannon Specialization, Small Beam Laser Specialization, Small Blaster Specialization, Small Energy Turret, Small Hybrid Turret, Small Projectile Turret, Small Pulse Laser Specialization, Small Railgun Specialization, Surgical Strike, Tactical Weapon Reconfiguration, Trajectory Analysis, Weapon Upgrades
Industry:
Advanced Mass Production, Arkonor Processing, Bistot Processing, Crokite Processing, Dark Ochre Processing, Deep Core Mining, Drug Manufacturing, Gas Cloud Harvesting, Gneiss Processing, Hedbergite Processing, Hemorphite Processing, Ice Harvesting, Ice Processing, Industrial Reconfiguration, Industry, Jaspet Processing, Kernite Processing, Mass Production, Mercoxit Processing, Mining, Mining Upgrades, Omber Processing, Plagioclase Processing, Production Efficiency, Pyroxeres Processing, Refinery Efficiency, Refining, Scordite Processing, Scrapmetal Processing, Spodumain Processing, Supply Chain Management, Veldspar Processing
Leadership:
Armored Warfare, Armored Warfare Specialist, Fleet Command, Information Warfare, Information Warfare Specialist, Leadership, Mining Director, Mining Foreman, Siege Warfare, Siege Warfare Specialist, Skirmish Warfare, Skirmish Warfare Specialist, Warfare Link Specialist, Wing Command
Learning:
Analytical Mind, Clarity, Eidetic Memory, Empathy, Focus, Instant Recall, Iron Will, Learning, Logic, Presence, Spatial Awareness
Mechanic:
Armor Rigging, Astronautics Rigging, Capital Remote Armor Repair Systems, Capital Remote Hull Repair Systems, Capital Repair Systems, Capital Ship Construction, Cruiser Construction, Drones Rigging, Electronic Superiority Rigging, EM Armor Compensation, Energy Weapon Rigging, Explosive Armor Compensation, Frigate Construction, Hull Upgrades, Hybrid Weapon Rigging, Industrial Construction, Jury Rigging, Kinetic Armor Compensation, Launcher Rigging, Mechanic, Outpost Construction, Projectile Weapon Rigging, Remote Armor Repair Systems, Remote Hull Repair Systems, Repair Systems, Salvaging, Shield Rigging, Tactical Logistics Reconfiguration, Thermic Armor Compensation
Missiles:
Bomb Deployment, Citadel Torpedos, Cruise Missile Specialization, Cruise Missiles, Defender Missiles, FoF Missions, Guided Missile Precision, Heavy Assault Missile Specialization, Heavy Assault Missiles, Heavy Missile Specialization, Heavy Missiles, Missile Bombardment, Missile Launcher Operation, Missile Projection, Rapid Launch, Rocket Specialization, Rockets, Standard Missile Specialization, Standard Missiles, Target Navigation Prediction, Torpedo Specialization, Torpedos, Warhead Upgrades
Navigation:
Acceleration Control, Afterburner, Evasive Maneuvering, Fuel Conservation, High Speed Maneuvering, Jump Drive Calibration, Jump Drive Operation, Jump Fuel Conservation, Navigation, Warp Drive Operation
Science:
Advanced Laboratory Operation, Amarr Encryption Methods, Amarrian Starship Engineering, Archaeology, Astrogeology, Astrometric Pinpointing, Astrometric Triangulation, Astrometrics, Astronautic Engineering, Biology, Caldari Encryption Methods, Caldari Starship Engineering, Cloning Facility Operation, Cybernetics, Doomsday Operation, Electromagnetic Physics, Electronic Engineering, Gallente Encryption Methods, Gallentean Starship Engineering, Graviton Physics, Gunnery Interfaces, Hacking, High Energy Physics, Hydromagnetic Physics, Infomorph Psychology, Jump Portal Generation, Laboratory Operation, Laser Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgy, Minmatar Encryption Methods, Minmatar Starship Engineering, Molecular Engineering, Nanite Control, Nanite Engineering, Neurotoxin Recovery, Nuclear Physics, Plasma Physics, Quantum Physics, Research, Research Project Management, Rocket Science, Science, Scientific Networking, Signal Acquisition, Sleeper Technology, Takmahl Technology, Talocan Technology, Thermodynamics, Yan Jung Technology
Social:
Bureaucratic Connections, Connections, Criminal Connections, DED Connections, Diplomacy, Fast Talk, Financial Connections, High Tech Connections, Labor Connections, Military Connections, Negotiation, Political Connections, Social, Trade Connections
Spaceship Command:
Advanced Spaceship Command, Amarr Battleship, Amarr Carrier, Amarr Cruiser, Amarr Dreadnought, Amarr Freighter, Amarr Frigate, Amarr Industrial, Amarr Titan, Assault Ships, Battlecruisers, Black Ops, Caldari Battleship, Caldari Carrier, Caldari Cruiser, Caldari Dreadnought, Caldari Freighter, Caldari Frigate, Caldari Industrial, Caldari Titan, Capital Industrial Ships, Capital Ships, Command Ships, Covert Ops, Destroyers, Electronic Attack Ships, Exhumers, Gallente Battleship, Gallente Carrier, Gallente Cruiser, Gallente Dreadnought, Gallente Freighter, Gallente Frigate, Gallente Industrial, Gallente Titan, Heavy Assault Ships, Heavy Interdictors, Interceptors, Interdictors, Logistics, Jump Freighters, Marauders, Mining Barge, Minmatar Battleship, Minmatar Carrier, Minmatar Cruiser, Minmatar Dreadnought, Minmatar Freighter, Minmatar Frigate, Minmatar Industrial, Minmatar Titan, Recon Ships, Spaceship Command, Transport Ships
Trade:
Accounting, Broker Relations, Contracting, Corporation Contracting, Daytrading, Margin Trading, Marketing, Procurement, Retail, Trade, Tycoon, Visibility, Wholesale
Anchoring, CFO Training, Corporation Management, Empire Control, Ethnic Relations, Megacorp Management, Sovereignty, Starbase Defense Management
Drones:
Advanced Drone Interfacing, Amarr Drone Specialization, Caldari Drone Specialization, Combat Drone Operation, Drone Durability, Drone Interfacing, Drone Navigation, Drone Sharpshooting, Drones, Electronic Warfare drone Interfacing, Fighters, Gallente Drone Specialization, Heavy Drone Operation, Mining Drone Operation, Minmatar Drone Specialization, Repair Drone Operation, Scout Drone Operation, Sentry Drone Interfacing.
Electronics:
Cloaking, Cynosural Field Theory, Electronic Warfare, Electronics, Electronics Upgrades, Frequency Modulation, Long Distance Jamming, Long Range Targetting, Multitasking, Projected Electronic Counter Measures, Propulsion Jamming, Sensor Linking, Signal Dispersion, Signal Suppresion, Signature Analysis, Signature Focusing, Survey, Target Painting, Targeting, Turret Destabilization, Weapon Disruption
Engineering:
Capital Energy Emission Systems, Capital Shield Emission Systems, Capital Shield Operation, EM Shield Compensation, Energy Emission Systems, Energy Grid Upgrades, Energy Management, Energy Pulse Weapons, Energy Systems Operation, Engineering, Explosive Shield Compensation, Kinetic Shield Compensation, Shield Compensation, Shield Emission Systems, Shield Management, Shield Operation, Shield Upgrades, Tactical Shield Manipulation, Thermic Shield Compensation
Gunnery:
Advanced Weapon Upgrades, Capital Energy Turret, Capital Hybrid Turret, Capital Projectile Turret, Controlled Bursts, Gunnery, Large Artillery Specialization, Large Autocannon Specialization, Large Beam Laser Specialization, Large Blaster Specialization, Large Energy Turret, Large Hybrid Turret, Large Projectile Turret, Large Pulse Laser Specialization, Large Railgun Specialization, Medium Artillery Specialization, Medium Autocannon Specialization, Medium Beam Laser Specialization, Medium Blaster Specialization, Medium Energy Turret, Medium Hybrid Turret, Medium Projectile Turret, Medium Pulse Laser Specialization, Medium Railgun Specialization, Motion Prediction, Rapid Firing, Sharpshooter, Small Artillery Specialization, Small Autocannon Specialization, Small Beam Laser Specialization, Small Blaster Specialization, Small Energy Turret, Small Hybrid Turret, Small Projectile Turret, Small Pulse Laser Specialization, Small Railgun Specialization, Surgical Strike, Tactical Weapon Reconfiguration, Trajectory Analysis, Weapon Upgrades
Industry:
Advanced Mass Production, Arkonor Processing, Bistot Processing, Crokite Processing, Dark Ochre Processing, Deep Core Mining, Drug Manufacturing, Gas Cloud Harvesting, Gneiss Processing, Hedbergite Processing, Hemorphite Processing, Ice Harvesting, Ice Processing, Industrial Reconfiguration, Industry, Jaspet Processing, Kernite Processing, Mass Production, Mercoxit Processing, Mining, Mining Upgrades, Omber Processing, Plagioclase Processing, Production Efficiency, Pyroxeres Processing, Refinery Efficiency, Refining, Scordite Processing, Scrapmetal Processing, Spodumain Processing, Supply Chain Management, Veldspar Processing
Leadership:
Armored Warfare, Armored Warfare Specialist, Fleet Command, Information Warfare, Information Warfare Specialist, Leadership, Mining Director, Mining Foreman, Siege Warfare, Siege Warfare Specialist, Skirmish Warfare, Skirmish Warfare Specialist, Warfare Link Specialist, Wing Command
Learning:
Analytical Mind, Clarity, Eidetic Memory, Empathy, Focus, Instant Recall, Iron Will, Learning, Logic, Presence, Spatial Awareness
Mechanic:
Armor Rigging, Astronautics Rigging, Capital Remote Armor Repair Systems, Capital Remote Hull Repair Systems, Capital Repair Systems, Capital Ship Construction, Cruiser Construction, Drones Rigging, Electronic Superiority Rigging, EM Armor Compensation, Energy Weapon Rigging, Explosive Armor Compensation, Frigate Construction, Hull Upgrades, Hybrid Weapon Rigging, Industrial Construction, Jury Rigging, Kinetic Armor Compensation, Launcher Rigging, Mechanic, Outpost Construction, Projectile Weapon Rigging, Remote Armor Repair Systems, Remote Hull Repair Systems, Repair Systems, Salvaging, Shield Rigging, Tactical Logistics Reconfiguration, Thermic Armor Compensation
Missiles:
Bomb Deployment, Citadel Torpedos, Cruise Missile Specialization, Cruise Missiles, Defender Missiles, FoF Missions, Guided Missile Precision, Heavy Assault Missile Specialization, Heavy Assault Missiles, Heavy Missile Specialization, Heavy Missiles, Missile Bombardment, Missile Launcher Operation, Missile Projection, Rapid Launch, Rocket Specialization, Rockets, Standard Missile Specialization, Standard Missiles, Target Navigation Prediction, Torpedo Specialization, Torpedos, Warhead Upgrades
Navigation:
Acceleration Control, Afterburner, Evasive Maneuvering, Fuel Conservation, High Speed Maneuvering, Jump Drive Calibration, Jump Drive Operation, Jump Fuel Conservation, Navigation, Warp Drive Operation
Science:
Advanced Laboratory Operation, Amarr Encryption Methods, Amarrian Starship Engineering, Archaeology, Astrogeology, Astrometric Pinpointing, Astrometric Triangulation, Astrometrics, Astronautic Engineering, Biology, Caldari Encryption Methods, Caldari Starship Engineering, Cloning Facility Operation, Cybernetics, Doomsday Operation, Electromagnetic Physics, Electronic Engineering, Gallente Encryption Methods, Gallentean Starship Engineering, Graviton Physics, Gunnery Interfaces, Hacking, High Energy Physics, Hydromagnetic Physics, Infomorph Psychology, Jump Portal Generation, Laboratory Operation, Laser Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgy, Minmatar Encryption Methods, Minmatar Starship Engineering, Molecular Engineering, Nanite Control, Nanite Engineering, Neurotoxin Recovery, Nuclear Physics, Plasma Physics, Quantum Physics, Research, Research Project Management, Rocket Science, Science, Scientific Networking, Signal Acquisition, Sleeper Technology, Takmahl Technology, Talocan Technology, Thermodynamics, Yan Jung Technology
Social:
Bureaucratic Connections, Connections, Criminal Connections, DED Connections, Diplomacy, Fast Talk, Financial Connections, High Tech Connections, Labor Connections, Military Connections, Negotiation, Political Connections, Social, Trade Connections
Spaceship Command:
Advanced Spaceship Command, Amarr Battleship, Amarr Carrier, Amarr Cruiser, Amarr Dreadnought, Amarr Freighter, Amarr Frigate, Amarr Industrial, Amarr Titan, Assault Ships, Battlecruisers, Black Ops, Caldari Battleship, Caldari Carrier, Caldari Cruiser, Caldari Dreadnought, Caldari Freighter, Caldari Frigate, Caldari Industrial, Caldari Titan, Capital Industrial Ships, Capital Ships, Command Ships, Covert Ops, Destroyers, Electronic Attack Ships, Exhumers, Gallente Battleship, Gallente Carrier, Gallente Cruiser, Gallente Dreadnought, Gallente Freighter, Gallente Frigate, Gallente Industrial, Gallente Titan, Heavy Assault Ships, Heavy Interdictors, Interceptors, Interdictors, Logistics, Jump Freighters, Marauders, Mining Barge, Minmatar Battleship, Minmatar Carrier, Minmatar Cruiser, Minmatar Dreadnought, Minmatar Freighter, Minmatar Frigate, Minmatar Industrial, Minmatar Titan, Recon Ships, Spaceship Command, Transport Ships
Trade:
Accounting, Broker Relations, Contracting, Corporation Contracting, Daytrading, Margin Trading, Marketing, Procurement, Retail, Trade, Tycoon, Visibility, Wholesale
And where MMOs like WoW have arenas and battlegrounds, EVE has alliances consisting of thousands of players fighting for control of the galaxy itself, with tools ranging from small gangs, to major fleets, to squadrons of massive capital ships capable of going toe to toe with an enemy's heavily armed starbases and supported by fleets of lesser ships lest they be swarmed by the enemy defenders.
Territory controlled by EVE Alliances. We're a member of the Goonswarm Alliance, but have our own station as well. Click for a current, full size map
Have you ever found yourself playing an MMO and wishing you could be a part of something larger? Wished you could make a real mark on the enviornment rather than just doing the same things as everyone else? Or have you ever gotten tired of crafting that involves pushing a button and wished there was a way for hundreds of crafters to work together to make something truely epic? Then sign up for the 14 day trial (Link is extracted from the Penny Arcade banner add, I get no referal bonus).
Merch Industrial - The Penny Arcade Corp
Merch Industrial has quite a history. It was founded in April 2006 by TheKoolEagle to provide a more peaceful place for Penny Arcade forumgoers who didn't want to join the original Merch corporation and become pirates, but it quickly outstripped the Merch in terms of size and eventually prosperity. After a number of successes and failures (mentioning the word "Daran" will still make many vets shudder) on our own, we joined up with the Something Awful forums alliance Goonswarm just as they were beginning their rapid rise to power. But that's its own story, and if you want to hear more you'll have to ask the vets about it.
As of the time of this writing, MerchI has 378 members, over a dozen starbases, and a factory station located in the system of e-pr0s. We have a corporation run business that produces massive capital ships and returns the profit back to corp members who invested in it. Many lesser industries are run by individual members, one produces modules and fighters for capital ships, another specializes in battleships, and a third produces special rigs used to modify a ship's base hull.
E-PR0S, our home
Territory in EVE is divided into three types. High security space is patrolled by the NPC police Concord, and any attack on another player or friendly NPC will result in your inescapable demise (not necessarily soon enough to save your target, though). As a price for this safety, though, the ores and hostiles NPCs in high sec are scarce and of little value.
Low security space, with security ratings between .1 and .4, is a dangerous place. Concord is nowhere to be found, though the empire factions have automated guns protecting the stargates and stations, and these will fire on anyone who starts a fight inside their range. But unlike concord, these guns are of limited power and only a minor deterrant. And outside their range, anything goes. Low sec is a haven of small pirate corps who run around looking for easy kills, and small law-abiding corps willing to accept the risks for the increased rewards.
Last of the three is nullsec, or 0.0. These areas are completely lawless, and either owned by pirate factions who care less what goes on, or contested between player alliances. The only protection in 0.0 is the firepower you and your friends possess. While nominally the most dangerous spots in EVE, alliances in 0.0 have to protect their space or they'll quickly lose it, and for the biggest risk you'll face in friendly controlled space is hostiles in fast ships trying to get a few kills before a fleet can muster to chase them out. Mining and ratting(NPC-killing) in 0.0 is extremely lucrative, and are some of the best ways to make money in the game.
E-pr0s, is, of course, a system in the conquerable part of 0.0. While neither the safest nor the richest system around, it's a decent place which we take a lot of pride in. In addition to the level 2 factory station we control, it's also secured by heavily armed starbases like this baby:
You might be noticing a pattern in our choice of names
with functions including defense, moon mining, and research labs. Neighboring it are the systems of AZN-D2, held by fellow Goonswarm corp ARSED and possessing a refinery station, and VNGJ-U, held by Goonfleet itself and possessing a hybrid factory and research station.
Bremen on
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Posts
So, you've decided to try the free trial. Let's get the bad news out of the way first:
As I said above, EVE is very complex, and that's one of its strengths, but this, combined with EVE's lack of obvious goals, makes for a very rough new player experience, but being in a corp right off the bat helps as you'll have people to answer your questions. As soon as you start you'll be thrown into a decent tutorial to teach you the basic game mechanics, and you should definitely run through it. Later on you'll have access to the MerchI and Goonfleet wikis and our corp's help/advice channel, but learning the basics is very important.
Once you're more confident in your playing skills, though, you have to make a choice. Option 1 is to join Merch Industrial, have a station with medical services move your clone to our e-pr0s station (the name changes, but will always begin with epro or epr0), and kill yourself with the self destruct function of your ship. Welcome to our beautiful home. The corp will gladly provide you with a lightly armed frigate you can fly with starting skills and a few dozen skillbooks. For the love of god don't fly around with these skillbooks in your cargo hold; the ship is cheap but the skillbooks are expensive and have to be imported from high sec. The disadvantages of life out here are occasional hostile players coming through, and the fact that you'll have to team up for just about any activity until you can fly bigger ships, as the NPCs will reduce you to rubble before you can blink.
Your other option is to wait and stay in empire, doing missions and building up wealth. The advantages are that you have access to missions (quests), can solo the local NPCs, and almost all equipment is easily and cheaply available from the local markets. The disadvantages are that if you join MerchI Concord will no longer protect you from our enemies, you can't easily bring any ships or equipment you gain with you to E-P (It's a long and very dangerous trip if you try to fly out instead of just killing yourself), and above all: Life in high sec is very, very boring and you'll probably end up quitting EVE quickly, without ever coming out to join us.
Really, there's no best option here, but I lean on the side of option 1. I'm also trying hard to arrange more newbie friendly ops.
Character creation and progression
For advice on creating a character, also see the Goonfleet Wiki article on character creation.
EVE Online has no classes, no levels, and even races have no real effect other than your starting stats and skills. Character progression in EVE is based on the acquisition of two things, skill points and ISK (the in game currency). Here we'll just be covering skills.
There's over 300 unique skills in EVE (see the list above), and each has 5 levels that are increasingly time consuming to attain. Skill training in EVE is very simple; you simply buy the book for a certain skill and then it trains in real time until you choose to pick something else. Training times range from 5 minutes for the early starter skills to weeks for the 5th level of more advanced skills. Skills train whether or not you log on, and even continue to train if your account is inactive.
Each level of a skill will provide a small bonus (For example, each level of Navigation increases your ship's speed by 5%, and each level of industry reduces the time to manufacture an item by 5%), and at certain levels unlocks new items, ships, or skills. Continuing to train a skill becomes exponentially less productive, so while new characters never really "catch up", they can quickly become competitive. You'll likely gain more from skills in your 2 week trial than in the first two months of full playtime.
Each character also has attributes, but these are used only to determine how fast you learn skills; they have no effect on your character's abilities. You'll find advice on picking attributes in the Character creation guide linked earlier, but a good rule of thumb is:
Perception and Willpower: These are used mainly for ship and weapon skills, and are crucial for any combat oriented character.
Intelligence and Memory: These are used for industry and science skills, as well as support skills that improve your ship various non-firepower related ways.
Charisma: The red-headed stepchild of the EVE skills, Charisma is used for leadership, trade, and social (mission running) skills.
The real-time skill system means EVE is never a race to get to the next level, and it never makes you feel you're wasting time if you're not out grinding experience. And since there's no skillpoint cap, you can't gimp your character by training the wrong skill, and there's no ideal cookiecutter build everyone uses.
Joining Merch Industrial
Joining MerchI is pretty easy. Just fly to one of our offices (preferably a high security one) and submit an application. Here's a list of reasonably accessible offices as of the time of this writing:
Arton II - CreoDron Factory
Atai II - Moon 15 - Genolution Biotech Production
Gelfiven IX - Moon 15 - Vherokior tribe Bureau
Iitanmadan III - Moon 1 - Genolution Biotech Production
Ipref IV - Moon 5 - Concord Bureau
Ishisomo VIII - Propel Dynamics Factory
Jeni IX - Moon 17 - Zoar and Sons Warehouse
Nourvukaiken VII - Moon 4 - Caldari Constructions Production Plant
Orvolle VI - Moon 1 - Federal Administration Bureau Offices
Skarkon III - Moon 14 - Republic Parliament Bureau
Slays VII - Moon 3 - Center for Advanced Studies School
Tabbetzur VII - Moon 1 - Nutura Plantation
You don't have to post in this thread when you apply, but if it's been a day or more and you aren't accepted you might want to post and ask what's going on. Do, however, mention your PA forum name and that you saw this thread in the application; our corp description doesn't mention PA, so only accepting applications that mention it is a nice filter to keep opportunists and corp thieves out.
Once you're accepted, your corp chat window will switch from the starter corp to Merch Industrial chat. You can ask questions there, or if you feel you're going overboard with starter questions use the channels button to join the MRCHI-HELP channel where you can ask questions to those who hang out there to help people like you.
Also available after you join will be the corp and alliance mailings option. These are bulletins that you should read ASAP, and many have important info such as registering for the MerchI and Goonfleet forums. *NEVER* send or reply to a corp or alliance mail; doing so will spam everyone with the mail and you'll get ridiculed for weeks about it.
PvP in EVE
By PriestWithKnives
PvP in 0.0
PvP in Eve is the most fun you'll have in the game and you can start being useful in gangs ranging from 5 to 200 people in just two to three days. In most MMO's you'd be worthless until months of grinding had happened, in Eve as soon as you get in and learn a few skills you're essential.
You'll start out being able to fly a frigate, a small fast ship that doesn't do much damage but has a vital role. In space enemies you're facing will often want to run away whenever they're getting hit by other people in your gang or just see you closing in. Preventing them from getting away is where you'll shine and why everyone loves newbie tacklers.
With tackling modules on a frigate you can keep a ship worth 200 times what you're flying in place so it cant warp off or speed away. After the initial tackle has been made the enemy will go down and all the time and money that person put into making that ship up will be gone in a flash of blue light and a killmail for you as they explode.
Sounds good but you're saying “I'll be poor when I start off and dont know what I'm doing.†We have you covered there. On contract at every new war front we go to we'll have multiple free frigates and cruisers and have all the fittings you need to be useful in a fleet already equipped.
So you have your ship now. How do you get in on the action? Join the main intel channel for the warfront we're at which we'll give you and you'll be able to get into an active gang in seconds.
With the teamspeak server we have orders relayed over voice and action is fast paced when shit gets real, if you want to be a scout for gangs it's highly suggested to get a microphone. It's a lot easier when people are doing five things at once during a fight to hear new information than having to read gang chat.
Newbie tips and terms for PvPing with gangs. Listen to teamspeak, if you didn't hear something ask in gangchat. Let people know you're a newbie, gangs love newbies and they will normally take the time to explain the finer points to you. Once you have the skills required to tackle go out on an op and have fun.
Eve is all about not getting burnt out as you move on to bigger and better ships and having fun at the expense of others. After awhile you might decide to branch off into other forms of PvP. Fly with blackops in cloaking recon cruisers into the heart of enemy territory to disrupt their economies. Join specops to be at the forefront of multiple wars with fully insurable battleships and more. Get into a capital ship to tear down the infrastructure of our enemies and take their stations. It's up to you. We'll help you get started.
We are a part of Goonswarm which means there will always be someone who we can shoot, whose structures and months of hard work we can tear down, and grief until they lose all of their ships and have to run away crying and throwing weak threats at us on the EvE-Online forums. Welcome to PvP with Merch Industrial.
Living in 0.0
All of this information is available in various guides available to MerchI, but judging by the past you guys never bother to read those, so I thought I'd toss this bit in.
The first rule of living in 0.0 is always watch your local chat window. This is a wonderful tool, not for talking to other people, but because it always lists the name of anyone who's in the system, and is therefor capable of killing you. Next to the players names are icons showing how Goonswarm feels about them; a green box with a white star means they're fellow members of Merch Industrial, a blue box with a white star means they're fellow members of Goonswarm, a blue box with a white + means that they're someone Goonswarm considers a friend, a red box with a white - means they're someone goonswarm considers an enemy, and a red box with a star means we're at war with them. No icon means they're neutral, but even so they're as likely as not to attack you. Generally speaking, anyone not blue or green is a threat.
If you see one or more hostiles in 0.0, don't try to fight. Either dock up at the station or warp to one of our starbases in the system (if the system has neither, cloak if you have one or warp somewhere out of the way and log out).
The second rule of 0.0 is that nothing's worse than a fight you won't win. Hostiles coming through our space are looking for easy fights; trying to make a stand or be a martyr will only encourage them to come back more often. The best way to discourage pirates is to beat them, but the second best way to discourage them is to refuse to give them any kills. As an extension of this, if you are caught in a belt don't start shouting for help in broken sentences, you'll likely as not just get more corpmates killed as they warp to help you.
This isn't to say never ask for help. But only ask for help if you know you can last atleast a minute against whatever you're fighting and there's atleast twice as many friendlies in the system as hostiles. If this is true, calmly type out where you are (system and asteroid belt/planet), how many people are attacking you, how long you'll last, and ideally what kind of ships are attacking you. This will enable people to organize an effective defense to save you.
The third rule of living in 0.0 is not to break chained spawns, but it only applies to ratting. In short, in 0.0 NPCs will spawn randomly in groups, with 1-3 each of two types of ships (IE, 3 cruisers and 2 battlecruisers, or 1 battleship and 3 frigates). NPC Battleships have the best loot and and bounties, so a player ratting a system will often kill all the battleships in a spawn and warp out, so that after a few minutes the battleships respawn to complete the group; if you kill off the entire group anything could spawn. If you warp into the belt and see only one type of ship, that probably means the battleships have been killed and the spawn is being "chained". Don't kill the remaining ships.
Videos!
This video was done as a news release when Mercenary Coalition banded together with a number of other alliances to form their own faction, Tortuga. It's incredibly pretty; and if EVE was about movie making skills they probably would have survived.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYEaPLCCIrY&feature=related
This is a personal favorite, a bunch of goons in the ship newbies start in go around blowing up people in ships that actually cost money. They're so cute!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D1sgHzfSTA
And of course, the obligatory video of Goonswarm killing a BoB titan after MerchI member Hrin managed to find it while it was hiding cloaked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRlrFudaEs8
Admitedly, those are all old, so here's something more recent. When BoB laid siege to the 319-3D system, a massive battle was fought to defend the starbases. We lost the battle, but put up quite a fight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKxDCpewxpI
Goonfleet educational videos:
Tackling 101
Safespotting 101
Configuring Overview setting
Mining in 0.0
Scanning 101
Interdictors 101
Production 101
Obligatory link: Phobos class Warp Interdiction Cruiser
Member submited pictures
A rifter on a PvP Op by Rama Kharwa
Attacking a BoB Starbase by Rama Kharwa
No more BoB starbase by Rama Kharwa
A Rokh class battleship mining asteroids by Qlanth
A Thorax class cruiser engaging an enemy by Qlanth
Something exploding by Marius Duvall
Come to Hoshoun
Unless you're a Goon
Come and fly the Friendly Skies
WE ARE NICE GUYS
I presume that you are refering to PVE and not PVP. Fighting other players in Eve gives me an adrenaline rush like nothing else that I've experienced while sitting in front of a computer.
I'm kinda missing Eve. I've been on an Everquest stint, but I seem to have lost interest in gaming altogether. I should probably come back and learn how to be a good PvPer, but eh. Someday.
Is BoB dead yet?
Damnit, I'm going to do it again too.
3ds friend code: 2981-6032-4118
Worth it?
Let AWU 5 run after I left, so nice to get that out of the way
Now nothing but isk stands between me and my rail-sniping megathron
Alliances don't really mess with faction warefare much, that's more a newbie thing. Though Red Alliance has been skirmishing with the Caldari militia over control of some nice Dysprosium moons, I believe.
That's when this game will get good.
The metagame of creating an AI to play another game is actually quite fun from a programming viewpoint.
No, Macroing is against the rules.
And are frequently raped on sight.
that would end in your tears right now
That's my email inbox from the other day.
I don't know. Watching PvP vids is actually what turned me off on the game. Just people scrolled way the fuck back staring at some tables not really seeing any visceral action going on. While the results might be exciting the process of getting there looks detached and boring as fuck.
two questions
(1) Is there a Mac client?
(2) Are Amarr ships still considered to be terribly off? Last time I played, you were stupid for using anything but Missiles in PvE and anything but projectiles in PvP, probably around a year ago. I also seem to remember some kind of energy draining thing (NOS, was it?) being so popular that any player in an Amarr ship went down faster than the Challenger.
However, the ring will never leave your finger, and you will be unable to ever describe to another living person what you see.
put jihadswarm somewhere in the op
(1) There's a Mac client, but it's pretty poop. It's built on Cider, not pure-native (and Intel-only) so your framerate will be crappy almost no matter what (although maybe one of the super-Powermacs could do it. On my ATI x1600/Core 2 Duo iMac it became unplayable in the first 15v15ish sized fight I got into).
(2) Not up on the balance so I can't really answer this one. I know CCP was aware of the Amarr problems last time I was following, but I'm not sure how much has changed.
That's just in really, really huge fleet fights (like 50+ a side) and frankly in nearly any game I can think of with that many combatants you'd want to be that zoomed out so that a) LoS kicks in and your system can handle it and b) you can maintain wide situational awareness. You actually can get that kind of "zoom zoom bang!" feeling from the trailers if you pilot something fast like an interceptor, zoomed in while in a smaller engagement or off doing some random grief work against the Merch's hated foes.
Are MerchI still taking on people? I can say for certain that i am not a spy
As for the game itself, as its been a while (about 5 months) since i last really played it, how is it now? Has the latest patch changed things much? I think i'll go back to flying a smaller ship, as i dont really have the skills to use a BS effectivly. I loved flying my Assault Frigate until it blew up (got blown up), so i might go for that or an interceptor.
Nope, couldn't do it. The first "What the Fuck?" moment was when I realized there was no way to fly with a joystick, followed quickly by the lack of a cockpit/bridge view. I slogged though the point-click thing for about 45 minutes, and the decided to go hang out somewhere and meet people. The inability to land on the surface of planets threw up even more red flags,. When I docked in a space station to discover I couldn't even leave my ship to walk around, I logged out uninstalled it from my hard drive.
I had spent almost a half hour having fun creating my character's looks, only to find out the best part of the game was also the most irrelevant. The ads make it look like whole worlds are at stake. The worlds in this case are just balls of scenery, that you actually *fly through* when you warp from one place to another.
I'll try again when they let you walk around on the space stations.
And they are adding the ability to walk around in stations at some point in the future, but landing on planets wont happen. Its only a cosmetic change anyway. The game itself will still feature point to move combat, and skill based (as in trainable skills) combat.
Granted I never got to get into a player corp though so it might have been better if I had.
The best part of EvE is the character creator? I thought it was the most complex political and economic interactions that there have ever been in a game. Not flying from a bridge/cockpit view does annoy me, but I can't say the joystick thing ever has. The ships in EvE are not fighter jets.
My real complaint with the game is the sheer difficulty of logging in for an hour to have some fun. It seems almost impossible to me.
Soloing is boring as shit. It's not like WoW where you could solo and have fun with interesting quests. EVE quests are bad and highsec/empire space (where you're safe from PvP) is dull as shit, only really good for engaging in trade that is so complex, it makes WoW's auction house look like kindergarden.
Where the fun is is The Great War in 0.0 space; being part of a grand alliance/corp that fights massive, ruthless battles with other corps for the richest worlds in EVE. Even a new player can help with tackling; flying a small frigate that warpjams larger ships that your mates pound on.
My advie is play Highsec just long enough to get, say, 10 million ISK and understand the game, then run to 0.0 as part of MERCH or another big, active corp in lowsec.
If you stay in highsec, you'll hate the game.
Oh yeah....be prepared to sink a lot of time into it if you're going to play/
Margaret Thatcher
I made a character with a free trial, about a year ago or so. I got through the tutorial, but that was about it. Can you redo the tutorial again once its already been done?
Enlist in Star Citizen! Citizenship must be earned!
I think eve does itself a disservice by not making it more clear that Eve is more like a Diku mud and less like a space simulator. That might sound like a dig but I kind of like diku muds, and a large one without a donation scam running is an attractive proposition.
However, the ring will never leave your finger, and you will be unable to ever describe to another living person what you see.
Your race has no bearing on what corp or alliance you can join (except for some very few RPing corps)
I don't want to bump the old thread, but I saw someone post this and it made me go wtf.
I've been involved in the leadership of Merch almost since it was formed, and we've never used the corporation's money for personal gain. We recieve no pay and get no special treatment, in fact I commonly joke about making people directors as punishment.
I'm curious, though, where did this story start?