The True Path (EVE Online Short Story)

 It's been years since I've posted on this blog, let me break the silence with an EVE Online short story I recently wrote.  Hope you enjoy! 😀

The True Path
by Mazer  

"To know the true path, but yet, to never follow it. That is possibly the gravest sin"
- The Scriptures, Book of Missions 13:21

                He had always disliked delivering directives and reports to this territory.  It had been many years since his last visit, hopefully he was not too late.  Spaceflight in this area of the cluster was risky enough for his liking, doing it practically blind was almost out of the question.  For the hundredth time during this voyage, he offers up a short prayer to the Empress and to God.  The roiling detritus surges against the polyscreen of the flight deck, bringing back memories from his youth.  The silvery oceans of Mekhios had always produced the most dazzling mist.  As a child he would stand atop the cliffs overlooking the vast expanse of water and watch the fog roll over his family's estate.  The soft and warming light from the Sarum Prime sun producing dancing waves of colors over the gloom.  This caress of reminiscence is short lived as his scanner emits another high shrill, snapping him back to the present.
            Most of his sensors could not penetrate anything inside of this stellar fog, and they consistently reminded him of his present danger.  Although, he would do anything for his Empress, anything for his God.  If this meant flying into Raider space unarmed and alone, he would gladly lay down his life.  His zealotry in furthering the goals of The Empire knew no bounds.  Even if none but a select few knew the importance of his labors.  “God sees, God knows, and God rewards.”  This proverb ever in his mind as he had helped to carry out sabotage, assassinations, and countless deeds throughout his years of service.  What he liked to think of as his "true path."
            The disorienting screen of metallic dust finally dissipates enough to glean sight of his destination.  The jet-black orb emanates a sense of secrecy more dubious than the surrounding nebula, of which he is at the center.  Nothing but silence greets him as he pilots his shuttle to within a few hundred meters of the massive onyx sphere.  He begins to manually pulse a series of radio bursts at specific frequencies and intervals.  He performs this “knock” with all possible intent and focus.  One ill-timed pulse or one off-beat signal and in a matter of moments he will become nothing but dust and gas himself.  At least he would die content knowing the ashes of this vessel would be added to the surrounding cloud, helping to conceal one of The Empire’s greatest secrets.  He is well practiced.  After 77 perfectly timed radio bursts the opening of the station’s iris signal his acceptance into the transneural research facility of the Veiled Order.

                                ***

            Director Magus stands near the airlock awaiting his arrival.  His imperious stature belies any sense of anxiety that he should rightly feel.  Not often does a retainer of The Empress make personal house calls this far from Amarr Prime.  Before stepping out of his vessel our man dons his headdress.  The cap is burnished copper and bears the sigil of a six-winged eye, signifying his status as a Seraphim agent of the Tash-Murkon Royal Family.  Along with the apparent stature this garment brings, it serves another, much more useful purpose.
            “Legate Sergius, to what do I owe the pleasure of your esteemed presence?” Magus' low timbre voice questions.
            “The Empress wishes to know of your progress and how close you are to operational readiness. I was sent to observe and evaluate the throne’s continued involvement in this endeavor”
            The director furrows his brow, “We are progressing ahead of schedule, as I am sure you are well aware. We begin trials with our recent captured later this afternoon.  I don't understand, when I last spoke with Her Majesty, she was enthusiastic about our progress.  We are now closer than ever to achieving our goal."
            Sergius takes a moment to gather his thoughts, the unshakeable outward bearing he carries is an impenetrable wall of stone.
            The director's manner begins to crumble under the pale golden gaze of the Seraphim.  Sweat beads on his forehead and the steadiness of his breath falters.  He thinks to himself, "Those eyes do not belong to a man, but a lion."  A verse sprouts into his consciousness, as if delivered from God Himself, "Be on alert, for your enemy stalks about as a lion, seeking those whom he may consume."
             "Do not be troubled," Sergius continues, "Her Majesty's ardor for your endeavor is why she has sent me to oversee the final stages.  I will be in attendance during your trials this coming afternoon.  Send for me as soon as you are ready to begin.  I look forward to witnessing your achievements."
            "Yes Legate, it will be my honor.  Shall I prepare a room for you?"  The subtle change to servility in Magus' tone pleases Sergius.
            "Unnecessary, I will retire to my shuttle while I await your call."
            With fluid and precise movements, the Seraphim agent turns back through the airlock and re-enters his transport.  Once inside, he passes the time by running a series of diagnostic checks on his equipment.  Both the mechanical and acutely expensive biological. 

                                ***

                Approximately three hours later he receives a summons to the primary transneural testing laboratory within the station.  A series of small electronic signs illumine his path along the labyrinth of intersecting hallways and dimly lit corridors.  The guide-signs are appreciated, but superfluous.  The detailed layouts of almost every classified Amarrian outpost are stored away in his mind.  When he arrives at the laboratory Director Magus is already waiting outside the entrance.
                "Shall we begin?" he stoops with a turning open of his left hand, a fawning gesture.
                "Yes, for the glory of The Empress," Sergius replies, again pleased with the director’s subservience.
                "For the glory of The Empress."
            Over the course of some hours Sergius oversees a team of the best Amarrian neurological scientists carry out their experiment.  Their subject matter that of the most illegal and taboo activities in all the galaxy.  Sergius is no stranger to abetting distasteful activity when it serves his purpose, but this makes him particularly nervous.  The scientists are attempting to perfect a method of clone hijacking, one which can subvert and overwrite an encrypted burst transmission of a dying capsuleer's consciousness.  If perfected, it would allow Amarrian agents to hijack the clones of enemy capsuleers, providing one of the greatest advantages in covert operations since the invention of the cloaking device.  If their work was found out it would mean dire consequences for The Empress and the Amarrian Empire as a whole.  The CONCORD Directive Enforcement Department would come down like a hammer.  Sergius is keenly aware of the ramifications as he observes.
            Three capsuleers; two Minmatar, and one Gallente, are carried in on stretchers.  They are sedated and their bodies are tightly bound.  Sergius has a moment of uncharacteristic anxiety at the sight.  His fingers begin to twitch, seemingly involuntarily, but he steadies himself and watches on.  The lengths at which Magus had to go to obtain these capsuleers was profound.  Each one of them has wealth and power beyond the imagining of most individuals.  They conduct themselves as gods in their dealings with the citizenry of New Eden, in both blessing and wrath.
             “Do you ever contemplate the danger of what you are doing here, Magus?”
            “Why should we worry?  We have the full support of The Throne”
            “The Empire isn’t invincible” Sergius coolly responds.  Magus turns to him with a stern expression, pursed lips and glaring eyes.  The apostacy in the comment bothers him, but he keeps his silence.
            The kidnapped capsuleers are placed one-by-one in modified boxes designed to emulate the conditions of a capsuleer pod. The Transneural Echo Burn Scanners (TEBS) attached at the heads of each box are easy enough to identify.  Exact clonal copies of the prisoners have been placed on the other side of the room.  Each of these clones is meant to be the recipient of a consciousness matching that of the capsuleers.  The absolute vacancy in the open-eyed stares of the empty clones is chilling.  It is enough to make Sergius contemplate at the nature of one’s soul.  Three Amarrian volunteers are escorted into the room, they look scared, but at the same time, resolute.  The promises made to them and their families must have been lavish.  They are each guided to and then bound to chairs with their own TEBS.  Director Magus begins to expound on all the details of the procedure, as if Sergius was not already intensely aware.  Magus first reassures him that his modified TEBS are not connected to the CONDORD relay system, thus protecting the equipment from detection.  He explains the greatest difficulty in overcoming the hijack of a clone, or "clone-jack", is the residual consciousness of the “victim”.  The issue is something that has taken the team months to troubleshoot, but Magus thinks they have found a way to effectively overwrite the personages of their intended targets.  Numerous tests have proven fatal, but they are never in short supply of ready volunteers.  The casualness of Magus’ disregard for fellow Amarrians disgusts Sergius.  Today is the first time they are attempting the test with "meaningful subjects."

Once everything is in place, they begin by awakening the capsuleers.  The outrage and indignation on their faces bursts forth before being met with the simultaneous flashes of all six burn scanners.  The intense brain scan snapshots their memories and consciousness, effectively frying their brains and leaving nothing but useless pink jelly behind.  The fruit of Magus' labor shows forth when his modified burn scanners intercept and overwrite the signals sent out by the capsuleers' burn scanners, dumping the modified signals into the empty clones.  Years of work have led to this moment, and it only takes seconds to carry out.  There is a moment of stillness and anticipation before the scientists begin to awaken the hijacked clones.  Much of their hope is lost as two of the three clones begin to violently convulse.  Through his feet Sergius can feel the vibrations caused by the jerking and snapping motions of their tied down bodies.  They are quickly sedated and carted out of the room post haste.  He doubts their deaths will be quick, the scientists will try and learn all they can from this “result”.

            The last of the three has yet to awaken.  After minutes of poking, prodding, and drug administration her eyes begin to flutter.  At first these involuntary movements are interpreted as the beginnings of a seizure and the scientists scramble to stabilize her, but she suddenly quiets.  She awakens with a slow and soft opening of the eyes.  She dazedly looks around the room slack-jawed and in utter surprise.  With a child-like eagerness the scientists begin to ask her to answer a series of questions.  After the interview and multiple confirmatory scans, the procedure is declared a success.  Director Magus and the scientists are overjoyed, jubilance breaks out as many cannot contain the excitement of victory over such a long-fought endeavor.  Sergius looks on quietly, his stone-like face gives no hint to the thoughts locked away within.  He wonders if similar celebrations were had at the success of other major weapon research breakthroughs; had anyone ever bothered to count the cost? He slowly backs away from their triumph and slips out the exit, unnoticed.  As he finds his way back to the shuttle he broods, there are no bright signs to light his path this time.

                                ***

             The following morning all the scientists gather in the ornately decorated council room near the top of the station.  The evidence of their continued night of celebration shows in the puffiness of their eyes and the smell of intoxicants in the air.  The Seraphim agent slowly paces back and forth at the head of the chamber.  This time he is the one that must wait.  When Director Magus finally makes his way into the room Sergius begins to speak in a jocular tone,
              "I wish to congratulate you all on your success!  I will be leaving post-haste to personally deliver the news to The Empress."  Cheers and applause from the scientists; a smug look of victory and content washes over Magus' face.
            "Although, before I depart, I want inform you that this technology which you have mastered will not be employed."
            "What?! Who gives you the authority?!" the director shouts as his mood rapidly declines from self-approving to that of rage. The scientists all go still, their expressions a mix of confusion and nervousness.  "I know for certain The Empress wishes to use the power we have harnessed.  It has been her desire since she took the throne!"
            Sergius calmly replies, "Yes. It has, and I will not allow Her to reach this goal.  The culpability She risks is too great, I must protect Her and The Amarrian Empire from themselves."
            Magus raises his voice yet louder, "Blasphemy! You dare question the will of Her Majesty?! You will suffer for this; your title will not protect you!  Seraphim agent that you are, you will face punishment and burn!"
            Sergius affixes his lion's gaze on the director.  As he begins to reply to the diatribe, he is also twitching his fingers, seemingly involuntarily.  Twitching his fingers in a particular pattern with a specific timing.  Left index, 0.4 seconds, right pinkie, 1.3 seconds, right index, 0.7 seconds...; he must be careful.  One ill-timed twitch and all will be lost.  He would be stripped of his titles, shamed, and tortured before being put to death.  Worst of all, it would be an end to his service to his Empress and to his God.   
             "No, I will not, you will burn Director Magus, and anyone who threatens the safety of The Empire."  He finishes the finger-twitching sequence with perfection.  After all, he is well practiced.
            He smirks as the nuclear device he carries inside his specially modified clone begins to prime and the Transneural Echo Burn Scanner within his headdress snapshots his brain, tight-beaming it to the nearest relay.  A few minutes later the radioactive dust of the research station begins to add itself to the growing nebula.  Sergius awakens in his new bodily vessel, ready to continue his journey of service down The True Path.

***

Immersing Yourself in EVE

For many years the word "immersive" has been widely used in the digital industry; more notably in the video-gaming world.  It is an important property which contributes to the playability of every game.  Defined as "noting or pertaining to digital technology or images that deeply involve one's senses and may create an altered mental state".  This altered mental state can be one of the chief reasons why many people choose to play video games.  These digital worlds in which we immerse ourselves become an escape or exciting alternative to what we experience in real life.

While it is near impossible to boil down our desire for gaming into a few simple words and explanations; you can not deny that the immersion factor plays a huge role in almost all forms of media.  From books to music, first-person-shooters to documentaries;  we live in a world where our mental state is constantly shifting and adhering to the media we choose to consume.  Without getting into the psychological, physiological, or philosophical implications behind all of these "mental states",  I believe it is safe to say we all possess a degree of control over our varying immersion factors. 

When it comes to EVE Online, there are many ways we can do this.  I see it as an arbitrary spectrum:  At one end we have the hardcore role-player that never leaves character; this person has read every EVE chronicle and novel ever published, they have also written some of their own fan fiction.  They are fiercely loyal to their faction and can be seen shouting proclamations in local chat.  At the other end of the spectrum we have the ultra meta-gamer.  This player spends more time using third-party tools and spreadsheets than they do in-game.  They are heavily involved in EVE politics and scrupulously research the market and game mechanics to ensure their in-game superiority.  I am not saying their is not any cross-over between the two ends of this imaginary spectrum.  I know numerous people, including myself, who partake in multiple parts of the game.  Although, as diverse as our interests may be, we tend to get comfortable in our play style.  It can end up becoming too routine.  This can lead to disinterest and the inevitable "break" from the game.

I believe to fully appreciate all that this game has to offer, each of us should expand our horizons and try the different facets of EVE that have never held much sway over our gameplay choices.  By exposing ourselves to these different areas we will get a well-rounded experience that will increase our immersion, and thus result in more enjoyable gameplay.  I encourage you try some of these different areas of EVE.  Join an RP channel, tinker around with EFT, read a chronicle, go exploring, put a chunk of ISK towards some risky investments; whatever you do, try something different.  Wherever you fall on my arbitrary "immersion spectrum", know that all of us have a commonality in our interest of science fiction and internet spaceships.  If a person enjoys one aspect of this game, chances are you will at least be able to appreciate that aspect and gain some knowledge along the way. 

One last thing.  If you haven't heard the old EVE soundtrack in awhile, or have never heard it before, I think it's well worth a visit.  I played the whole thing while on an exploration session the other night and it was pretty awesome.  You can find it on SoundCloud here.

Late Boarding on the Sov/Structure Changes Hype Train, Pt. 2

In part one of this entry I eagerly wrote of the many changes that are coming to the sovereignty and structure elements of EVE Online.  These topics are thoroughly covered in the semi-recent dev blogs posted by Fozzie (sov) and Ytterbium (structure).  By internet standards this is old news, but I'm still surprised to not see more elation and chatter about these topics.  The never ending assault on POCOs and POSs continues, sovereignty wars rage on, things are persisting as-usual.  Seemingly unbeknownst to the majority of players, change is coming.  The old ways of structure bashing and lengthy sovereignty takeover will be snuffed into ash, and like a phoenix; the new system will gloriously rise in an inferno of change to purify the lengthy and monotonous system which we presently take for granted.

If you haven't figured out by now, I abhor structure farming, the mere mention of POS bashing sends me into a fit of disinterest.  The EVE experience I was so hoping to log-in to becomes bile in my mouth.  Admittedly, many times these events turn out to be something worthwhile.  They can result in decent escalation and fantastic fights, but equally likely they result in cat-and-mouse games with nothing being accomplished other than a reinforcement timer or single explosion, followed by an order being given to set destination to "home".  I also detest POS management and moon mining, need I explain? With these two new systems being integrated in the near-future, we can say goodbye the humdrum and move on to more meaningful gameplay.  You're probably still not as excited as I am, but that's alright, I'm prone to enthusiasm...  

Instead of delving into every detail of the upcoming structure changes,  I'm going to highlight a few aspects which I found most interesting (all of these are clearly designated by CCP to be a work-in-progress and are therefore subject to change):

Custom Fitting:

No longer will you have to anchor multiple items inside of a POS to carry out the desired function.  All of the functions will be determined by what you fit on your structure.  This should result in an easier management system and will probably (hopefully?) come with some interesting visual differences between each structure, much like what we see with strategic cruisers.


Visually Captivating:

Each type of structure will come with a much more distinct look and feel.  Not to mention they are also going to be much larger than what we are currently used to seeing.  I imagine with the increased polygon count which CCP is striving for, these new structures will be a sight to behold.  Also, the new visual effects for anchoring structures looks marvelous.

Choice of Designating Access: 

It will be your choice as to who has access to each structure which you deploy.  No longer will your structures have to be bound to your corporation or alliance.  By all means, help your fellow corp and alliance mates as much as possible, but nothing is keeping you from anchoring an industry or research hub for public access and profit.

Side note:  

The dev blog seemed to be eluding to the goal of replacing the current NPC infrastructure with player owned objects.  This is further hinted to in an image on the dev blog which shows a mock-up structure management window that displays player owned structures in 0.8-1.0 systems.  It is currently impossible to anchor starbase structures in systems with security 0.8 and above.  Perhaps this restriction will be lifted or reduced and we will indeed see the majority of structure use migrate from NPC structures to player owned structures.

I am still curious for more details surrounding the implementation process and how the transition will take place.  Even with a smooth transition I believe we'll see yet another sharp rise in mineral prices (miners rejoice!).  Since mining really isn't my forte, I'm more thrilled to see how these changes will drastically morph player interaction.  Pretty cool stuff!  I will now step off my hypebox and patiently wait for more information on these prodigious changes to this amazing game.

Late Boarding on the Sov/Structure Changes Hype Train, Pt. 1

I have been procrastinating, until today, the reading of the recent dev blogs regarding the upcoming changes to sovereignty and player-controlled structures in EVE Online.  Before my examination I had envisioned the future changes to be of limited consequence.  I assumed the apparent hype to be reserved for those who partake in large-scale EVE politics and sovereignty control, i.e. Goons, Northern Associates, Shadow, etc...to my delightful surprise, this is not the case.

I cannot credit my new home under a rock to any particular reason; perhaps my recent return to EVE and playing catch-up has blinded me to these potential game-changing changes, or the simple lack of conversation about these topics among the people I play with is the reason.  Maybe I just need to browse the EVE Online forums more....whatever the reason, I am thoroughly impressed and amped-up for the direction the developers are taking.  I have boarded the hype train and am feverishly stoking the furnace.

Granted, the specific changes outlined in the dev blogs are subject to revision and intentionally labeled as a "work-in-progress", but the goals of these changes should be maintained as they are developed.  Specifics aside, the direction in which the game is headed is very exciting, it will revolutionize the way players interact with the game universe and each other.  There IS reason to be hyped for these changes, if you have not already, will you not come aboard the train with me?

Rather than attempting a complete explanation which would be lacking, I encourage you to read Politics by Other Means: Sovereignty Phase Two and Back Into the Structure, If you don't have the time or motivation, I don't blame you.  They're rather long and I had them on my "to-do" list for the better part of a month.  Below is a summarization of the the new sovereignty system.  I will follow up with some of the specifics regarding the new structure system in Part 2 of this post at a later date.

The Old:

Currently there are four main structures involved in null-sec sovereignty.  These are the Infrastructure Hubs (I-Hubs), Territorial Claim Units (TCUs), Conquerable Stations, and Sovereignty Blockade Units (SBUs).  In order to claim a system, an alliance must anchor and online a TCU.  Establishing sovereignty over a system gives the benefits of being able to anchor I-Hubs, 25% reduction in starbase fuel cost for the alliance, and protection in the form of reinforcement timers for conquerable stations belonging to the sovereign alliance.

The I-Hubs allow the system to be upgraded for that alliance which brings about many more benefits such as establishing jump bridges, cyno jammers, capital ship construction arrays, and PVE upgrades.  The I-Hubs also provide another form of protection for the territorial claim unit,  as the TCU in a system will be invulnerable until the all the I-Hubs in the system are destroyed.  

Sovereignty blockade units come into play when an invading alliance is trying to conquer the system.  SBUs must be onlined by the invading alliance at more than 50% of the stargates in that system (e.g. 2/2 gates, 3/4 gates, 3/5 gates, etc...) to cause the I-Hubs and any conquerable stations to become vulnerable.  Both the I-Hubs and stations have dual reinforcement timers, one for low shields, and one for low armor.  The station manager sets a desired exit time for the reinforcement of both the I-Hubs and station; there is a 24±3 hour delay for I-Hubs and a 48±3 hour delay for stations, plus any difference between the time of the attack and the desired exit time.  For a much more in-depth look at current sovereignty mechanics, check this out.

All this really means is that taking over a system is a long and arduous process, as all of these structures are tied to each other and there are multiple reinforcement timers.  I'm sure many of you have read about and/or witnessed some of these incredibly massive battles.  While this may seem exciting from an outside perspective, I would think the increased time dilation and the large amount of time being spent pelting structures would get old very fast.  The current mechanics around contesting sovereignty also limits the fight to one system, which ends up creating a bottleneck and forces players into instant ship escalation.  "Bring the biggest thing you have, don't worry about moving, and welcome to time dilation insanity"; doesn't sound like much fun to me.

The New:

The beauty of the new sovereignty system is that it rids the need for drawn-out sessions of structure farming and brings in new elements that encourage mobile fleets and requires much more military logistics strategy.

Sovereignty blockade units are being removed and replaced by a module called the Entosis Link.  This will be a high slot module with low ship fitting costs.  It will be used to contest I-Hubs, TCUs, and stations.  The module will have a cycle time that can vary from 5 to 40 minutes depending on which structure it's being used on and the system defenses that are in-place for that structure.  While the Entosis Link is active your ship will have increased vulnerability as it will be immobile and unable to receive remote assistance.  The Entosis Link can also be used defensively to pause an attacking players Entosis cycle.  

Along with the removal of the SBU mechanic, each of the three main structures involved in sovereignty control can be independently captured and held by different alliances.  So there may be systems where the I-Hub, TCU, and station are controlled by competing alliances.  Each structure will still maintain its historic role and provide similar benefits to that of the old (current) system.  

When a structure is successfully contested by an Entosis Link, the structure will go into reinforcement mode for approximately 48 hours.  This timer will expire during a four hour "prime-time" window that is set by the defending alliance of the structure.  This ensures that the alliance has the opportunity to mount a successful defense.  When the structure's reinforcement exits during this prime-time window, a new event will start.  Objects called Command Nodes will randomly spawn in systems within the parent constellation, regardless of the sovereignty of other systems in that constellation.  They will be explicitly labeled and show up on the anomaly scanner, so it will be easy to figure out which nodes belong to the structure of interest.  The Command Nodes will be captured using the Entosis Link, thus starts the tug-of-war.  Each Command Node will be worth points, the alliance with the most points at the end of the event will win.  The defending alliance will usually have the home advantage and receive more points (depending on other factors) for capturing Command Nodes than the attackers.  If the I-Hub or TCU is the contested structure, and the defending alliance is unable to win the Command Node event, it will blow up and allow an alliance to anchor and online their own I-Hub or TCU.  

If a station is the object of interest then the losing alliance gives up control of the station and it will enter a 48 hour Freeport Mode, during this time anyone will be able to dock and use the station services free-of-charge.  When it exits the Freeport Mode, another event will begin that is similar to the first one.  The difference being is that the Command Node event tied to a station after Freeport Mode can be won by any alliance, and there will be no defense mechanics in place for the previous owners.  Mechanically it will be a free-for-all.  Here is a link to a flow chart provided by CCP that illustrates each situation.  

The mechanics of this new system will make it harder for large alliances to hold on to unused systems and opens up great potential for smaller alliances.  With the induction of phase 1 of the sovereignty changes (capital ship jump timers), this also means that alliances will have to make some tough logistical choices when defending or attacking in attempts to capture Command Nodes during these events.  This should result in a much more enjoyable PVP experience that limits the blob factor of what we see in current sovereignty wars. 

Overall I think this is a fantastic approach to the problems we face with the current system.  I imagine there are some people who don't like this new approach; no longer will they be able to hold sway over large regions of space through pure blob force and induced boredom.  They will have to actively fight and maintain each structure within each system, ignored pieces of space will soon fall to those who wish to stake their own claim.  New Eden is about to get a lot bigger, and I'm all for it.

Riding the Ever-Changing EVE Bike

"Like riding a bike."  These words are the epitome of the recognizable and mundane.  Many things in life fall under this category, once learned, they are almost impossible to forget.  This concept is easily applied to many video games, such as some of my favorite first-person shooters and other unnamed RPGS.  EVE Online is definitely not one of those games.

If you have ever taken an extended sabbatical from EVE Online, or are just beginning your EVE Online adventure, you are well aware of the trials faced when diving into this rich and complex video game.  As I come back from a 1.5 year break, I'm excitedly crawling my way back to the level of competency I had when I left the game.  For now, most of my time spent "playing" is actually spent reading about changes or fiddling around with new ship fittings on EFT.  

Not only am I playing catch-up with all of the major changes (the biggest being capital ship jump travel),  I'm finding that I have forgotten how to do many simple things that used to take little thought.  My fellow corp-mates were about to go on a frigate roam and told me to grab a fully fit Tristan out of the corp hangar.  I spent a good five minutes trying to remember how to access the corporate hangar before finally finding the right menu.  Shortly afterward, I was helping my friend move his jump freighter.  I shamefully admit that I had to Google search how to broadcast a cyno before my friend could make the jump<ins>facepalm</ins>.

If you find yourself in a similar situation I encourage you to read all the patch notes which have been released since you started taking your break.  Read them in chronological order (starting with the oldest first) and plow your way through to the latest patch.  This will alleviate some of the confusion you may feel while getting back into the game.

If you're a new player I strongly suggest reading up on as much as you can about the game.  Pay close attention to how dated your resources are, as they may not be applicable to the game anymore.  There are many guides and articles on the EVE wiki worth checking out.  Finish the in-game tutorial and join the "Help" channel.  There are amazing people in that channel that can help you answer almost any question.  It can even be a good resource for those that consider themselves EVE experts.

Taking a break has given me a whole new appreciation for this game.  The intricacies and numerous changes that have taken place in the short span of a little under two years is a testament to the greatness of EVE Online.  I am invigorated knowing that my time and money is invested in a game where the developers are dedicated and passionate about what they do.  CCP's open ears to feedback and their communication with the players far surpasses that of any other developer.  I'm happy to know that I'm playing a game this is continually modified and added upon.  Some of the changes currently being presented at Fanfest 2015 look incredible.  I cannot wait to see how this game will be morphed and shaped into something less recognizable in the years to come.

Tier 5: I hate it, but I love it!

For one week running the Minmatar Militia has had tier five control of the Amarr-Minmatar war zone and a full week before that we had tier four control.  What does this mean?  If one is willing to painstakingly run faction warfare missions for hours on end; a plethora of ISK.  On the other hand this means almost zero activity in some of the more regularly populated systems of the war-zone.

If you're unfamiliar with faction warfare, each system in the war-zone can be contested or defended by closing faction warfare complexes.  Once a system is captured by a faction, it can be upgraded to a certain level (up to five) at the system ihub.  The combined total of all system's tiers contributes to an overall tier of control for the entire war zone.  At tier five control, most of the systems will be captured and upgraded for your faction giving a 220% increase in loyalty point gains (cha-ching!).  Controlling all of the systems also means that your enemies can't dock in any of these systems.  Imagine being unable to dock in any of the systems you are most active in.  You can see why activity can plummet when one faction has tier five control.

I have no idea who organizes these tier pushes, I imagine large alliances running shadow operations with alts behind the scenes.  When an alliance is running low on funds a cue is given and the alts amass to run complexes and FW missions until their eyes bleed.  They alternate factions between pushes to lessen the effects of market flooding that results with these extended high-end tier control stints.  Of course I could be mistaken, but high end tier control is a huge undertaking which I believe is out of the scope of either side currently involved in FW.

I have a love/hate relationship with the tier system.  On one end it allows me to make a ridiculous amount of ISK in a short amount of time, on the other it kills PVP activity in the region.  Either no enemies are out or all of the friendlies are running missions.  I go through this cycle where I PVP for a long period of time and eventually run out of ISK, at this point I'm praying for tier four or five.  When it finally comes I drop everything I'm doing and start pumping out faction warfare missions, these mind-numbing sessions of torpedo launching and watching netflix can go on for days.  When I feel I've established a good currency buffer I vow to never PVE again and start looking for fights, to my dismay the war zone is usually still inactive.

I believe that in order to fix this "problem" CCP needs to remove the docking restriction for systems in enemy hands or at least designate one system for each faction inside the war zone that cannot be captured, thus giving a base of operations for each side.  This would help to prevent the lull in activity we see every time a faction obtains tier 5.

"Unreasonable things" that I want in EVE

I've been extremely busy for the last few weeks and now I can finally finish my post regarding the list of potential changes that CSM8 and CCP asked players to vote on.  Many of the items on this list are changes that I would love to see, some are more aesthetic (but still important), and some of them are already slated to make it into the next patch.  You can find the list here, these are my top six  picks from the list:

-Expand skill queue window to 48 or 72 hours.
-Killmails to also show Logistic pilots, if they rep the person that did the damage/killing blow.

-Increase limit of saved fittings from 100 to 200+.
-Add visual cone shape showing curent D-scan area both in map and in space
-Tactical overlay (Ctrl-D) should be able to show velocity vector (direction+speed) of displayed objects.
-Add small gang highsec/lowsec PVP/PVE events to the game.


When contemplating the potential changes from this list it got me thinking about some things that I would love to see put in the game, but aren't quite as reasonable as the list CSM8 provided. Here are some of the unreasonable changes I'd want for EVE.

Real-time spacial control:
I love flight combat simulators; ever since EVE's release I've always wanted a system that would bring a real-time combat element to EVE. The typical frontal aim-and-shoot seen in most combat flight simulators wouldn't be applicable to EVE, but I believe a control system could be implemented that would give players the ability fly their ships in real-time. Much like what we see in flight simulators and other live action flight video games.

Jovian space, ships and mods:
Make it hard to gain access to, make the ships and mods rare as hell, make the ships and mods crazy expensive, I don't care. Give it to us!

Increase the uniqueness of each system:
Give more systems different places to visit, give each system a unique "feel". Create more unique complexes, monuments, astronomical anamolies, give each system a backstory, etc.

Make orbital bodies orbit!:
I'm pretty sure that in real-life planets and other orbital bodies don't stay in the same spot around their parent object for all eternity. I'd like to see the progression of planets around their stars, moons around their planets, and the like. I know many objects take multiple Earth years to orbit their parent object, but some take much less. It'd be cool to see! To solve problems of useless bookmarks just implement a bookmark system that records locations based on a grid of the orbital object which you are near at the time of BM creation, not the grid of the entire system.

More skillpoints for new players:
If EVE is going to continue to gain subscribers we need to make the lives of new players a lot better. Many people I know stopped playing the game because they felt overwhelmed by all of the skills they were "behind" on. New players should receive an extra 5-10M unallocated skillpoints after paying for their first month, this would help lessen that feeling of "noobness" that new players experience and in turn keep more first-time players subscribing. To make everyone happy just give all current subscribers the same bonus before implementing the change.

In-game mini-games/gambling:
Face it, EVE can get very slow at times. What better way to pass the time than by playing your favorite card game with your fellow fleet members or corp mates? Make it interesting and allow ISK/item betting. Key term here being "in-game", I don't want to use third party programs while I'm playing, it takes away from the immersion factor.

What big changes to EVE Online would you like to see?