Drakes Are Bad For You

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #17

This post will be more of an opinion and personal observation than anything up until now. This is now officially about Drakes. And why do I think flying Drakes is a dumb carebears' advice to newbies. So, when asking someone, why fly a Drake, the following will bound to come up as pros:

• Strong passive tank, with no cap management required
• Good range
• Missiles don't have tracking problems, only ship size is of concern

Now, these things are newbie friendly, aren't they? From a certain perspective, yes - as in, they are easy to manage. The problem with this is exactly that. The Drake is a unique ship that has very few worthwhile counterparts in the EVE universe. I'll admit that they are effective. But my main concern here is about newer players. Generally speaking, they have a lot to learn. Not just in terms of skill points but in terms of the game mechanics themselves. So the is easy mode represented by Drakes healthy for a newbie?

EVE question - EVE answer: "It depends." If there's only one combat ship you bother flying and you're much more interested in mining, production, trade, etc., sure, go ahead and train for it. You literally get a lot of bang for your buck. But if you're the new and aspiring ace pilot of the killboards, for the love of God and all that is dear to you, stay away from passive tanked missile ships. They make you forget more than you could learn from them.

The simplest thing is the range. Heavy missiles hit out to 70 km with good skills, which is plenty for medium ships. Actually, they need help in form of fitting modules if you want to target that far. So watching out that you didn't lose target lock will be like, the only thing you have to worry about. 'Real ships' aren't like that. You have to be able to manage range, else you won't kill any players.

The second part of Drakes being too easy to fly is the way missiles work. They always hit, assuming it's not some crazy fit speed monkey that can outrun them. There are a few things about missiles that make them easy to learn. I'm not saying they are for dumb people, certainly not. There are many variables one should be aware before one can call oneself a professional missile user, but on the surface, all you need to know is that what size of missiles can hit your target. So yeah, missiles will teach you little in the way of how to pilot your ship properly.

The third reason I'd not recommend using a Drake to learn how EVE works is it's too tanky. In the real EVE, the one that is filled with players trying to kill you, and if you're in 'real' ships, you usually don't have the option to deflect 400 DPS just by existing and probably running an invulnerability field or two. That means that you actually have to worry about how your tank holds, not just try to bail when shields are under 33%.

Passive tank in itself is a scourge on the aspiring pilot. Before I explain further, I want clear up the concepts. Passive tanking means that you shrug off your opponents' damage only by the recharge rate and resistances of your shield. You are utilizing the passive regeneration of your shield. Any other type of tank that involves providing high quantity of effective hit points that take a long time to grind through are buffer tanks. Active tanks are those that depend on activated modules and expend capacitor to regenerate the ship's HP.
So, passive tanks are bad for you because you don't have to manage them, just know when they break. In a real PVP situation, you are usually fielding tanks that are either buffer or active. Not that these are not mutually exclusive, and that the Drake too can be fit with a buffer or active tank. There is no black and white in EVE. Regardless, generally speaking, you will have to learn how absorbing damage and repairing within the boundaries of the engagement works, and a passive tanked Drake will do little to help you on that.

Once you ditch the Drake as the single best ship for everything, a lot of possibilities open up. You'll have to learn a lot to be successful with the other ships, but it's well worth it. Tracking and optimal range on turret systems, active tanking, capacitor management, fitting for maximum gank... Trust me when I say, even the dull grind of PVE can turn into real fun once you realize you're speed-, active- or damage tanking the rats.

Sessym out.

The Rubik's Cube

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #16

The EVE universe is divided into several areas that have very different attributes. Understanding these 'natural' circumstances will be crucial to not only the survival, but how the capsuleer fares generally. In most cases the average beginner player is not exposed to these environmental effects. If you think about it, this might be a real problem regarding the new player experience. Essentially, the people coming to EVE live in a different world than tried capsuleers - and CCP-ers do.

The first thing a new player will encounter is the much cursed UI. There are a lot of thoughts about how to fix this unintuitive and sometimes barely usable part of the game. Albeit some could be successful, there is another question we definitely must raise. Do we really want it fixed? What do you mean by 'fixing' it? Simplification? In a sense, it is logical and simple. You cannot see the logic at the first few tries, but it's there. The bewilderment that it's complexity causes to most people is a troubling thing. You know, sometimes I wonder, and this is a seriously tough question - how in the hell do you simplify something that has so many functionality in it, with almost every aspect being relied on? The game will never be the same, when the UI is changed. The ten million dollar question is, however, will it be more useful? Will I still be able to get the amount of information I do right now?

There is a certain beauty in EVE which comes from, what I can convey as the sincerity of the graphic elements. They might not be big and might not be flashy, but everything is there somewhere. The current representation has a very important attribute that I wouldn't want to see taken away - the way it relies in exact numbers. For example, for distance, you don't see bars - you see numbers. For transversal velocity, you can make it show the exact values instead of say, curves getting longer or shorter. Simplification and cleanup can go a long way with graphical indicators, but in EVE, it would take away from the game if you lost the ability to see the exact values of things. Colored bars moving around is just so not like the sci-fi universe we're in.

So, when the new player finally learns to tackle the environment that is presented to him / her as the NeoCom, the exposure stops. You're sort of dumped into a 'Rookie System', where you are less than aware of the universe and its dangers. Ideally you learn to run the tutorial missions, and then move systems, maybe join a player corp. Your career and the associated can shoot up if you are lucky and join the right corp. Many are not. Yet they still live in high sec, slowly learning about the games' perks, and avoiding everything else they don't know or haven't experienced.

The thing is, EVE isn't about the known! It's about learning something new every day. It's about accomplishment. The original plans of running missions in a battleship or mining in a hulk will soon ring a little hollow. Been there, done that. You know where the real fun starts? Where the boundaries of the computer game end! Human interaction is imperative. You're in a multiplayer and multilayer game...

I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon and say try PVP. Without guidance, without people to work together with, it can be a bitch to learn, and could do more harm than good. I don't expect every capsuleer to dare to be bold. But if that's not the case, just learn to deal with your losses, interact with other people, and be mature. Generally speaking, EVE has an old community, most players know better than to be childish about it. I see sometimes people cursing and whining on local - don't do that, you'll just be laughed at. You'll be nothing more than a chunk of loot.

So yeah, keep on trying new stuff out. What's the worst that could happ

Sessym out.

Design Principles

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #15

Welcome to EVE. This is a game about spaceships. The ship models that you may find look great are actually very... limited in their usefulness. The ships that are okay-ish in their looks are mediocre or don't really have a role. The ugliest ships... now they are the ones you are looking for!

So, in today's post, we take a moment and reflect on the design principles, especially regarding graphics, at CCP. First of all, we need to understand how aesthetics in EVE work. The main driver beyond how ships, stations and other stuff is depicted is that there are well defined graphical styles for each race, function, and technology level. Seeing that EVE is an eight year old game - she carries herself really well despite the fact mind you - the graphical styles too begin to show some change. The most noticeable examples are the Amarr ship models. To have a good comparison, you can look at the old Maller model versus the recently updated one. Or you can put it beside say, an Armageddon. The difference is subtle, yet the impact on syle is huge! The new design is much more akin to the Legion (the most recently introduced Amarr ship) than the old doctrine. Speaking of which, let's go through stlyes by race.

First off, the much featured Gallente ships. These ought to be robust maschines with rounded curves and sometimes alien layout. They have a tendency to sport a generic body concept with many limps, sometimes wings. They tend to be sort of symmetrical, except the odd sideweighted ship. Some parts are inherited over the ship line, for example all drone ships (even the Proteus with the drone subsystem) have these dial-like drone control links embedded in their hull. The Gallente ship designs seem to be fairly consistent, with the Hyperion and Nyx hulls standing somewhat out, but there are many more ships from the other races that are far-flung from the original style compared to them. Station and structure design tend to try and represent something organic, though most of the time with little success.

Caldari build flying boxes that are best described as polarizing. Most of their ships and buildings are percieved by either cool-looking futuristic or eye-hurtingly ugly by the audience. They also tend to attach special systems right outside their ships. Iconic examples are the Cormorant, Caracal, Drake, Raven. Station design is very similar. By looking at the creations of Caldari industry, maschines come to mind as opposed to the Federation's organic-looking style. This concept looks as if it hasn't really chcanged over the years, the recently introduced ships are well within it. It's worth to mention that the updated model for the Scorpion is much more detailed and thus falls a bit farther from utter 'caldariness', but I don't think the new direction it's pointing will be much more different than the one we are used to.

Amarr ships were introduced as ones that try to dominate the view. Their strong curves, clear forms ought to intimidate and demand respect. This leads Amarr designers to create ships that loosely resemble birds, and their structures usually sport rings, spires and wing-like forms as well. Their most recognitive trait is the golden plating that covers the whole ship, barring some unexposed surfaces. Now, this is where a noticeable shift has begun to take place. The newer releases exhibit a move away from the golden plate towards a darker, more insect-like form. New Amarr ships look like they have been stripped of some of their plating, their curves distrupted by some emersions. This new design is a bit disturbing because eventually, when all ships will have gone through the model overhaul, they may end up being entirely different and unimposing.

The Minmatar have arguably gone trough a change gradually, as their ships improved. The first designs were looking much like Earth's current space equipment covered in rust. Duct tape and chewing gum that barely held together. Then as the technology progressed, ships that sport a solid, reliable look like the Maelstrom, Nidhoggur and Loki became dominant. There have been no model overhauls yet for the Minmatar ships, so I cannot say if that's for the better or the worse. The principles we talk here about are too an iconic part of EVE that must be kept.

Functional styles also differ greatly as the ships grow in size. The what looks great has actually crap stats must be tied into this principle. See, each race has specifics that shine only in given situations. Seeing that EVE is comprised of many different situations, one may find that one craft with its bonuses and attributes set in stone, it can not perform the way it could. Take the Hyperion for example. If you take a look at the hull design, you imagine something that rams into the castle gates cannons roaring, tearing down everything around it. Now, dear reader, that is not the case. The Hyperion will not ram into any castle gate, because the statistics of its fitting suggests a loadout that is cursed to sit still due to the speed loss from armour tanking. The Hyperion is frowned upon because its layout prevents it from living up to the expectations one might have from such a ship. The tradeoffs are too high in most cases. There are, of course, exceptions from this rule. Some ships do look good while being awesome stats wise. I imagine most capsuleers would want to kill me for this, but take the Raven for example. If you look at it, it is a bulky ship that is slow, sits there unmovable, and pounds away at its opponents with unrelenting fury. Now, it does that doesn't it? I grew to like it because there is beauty in functionality and simplicity. A Raven is a statement of that. It's strong, safe, reliable.

Technology level design principles are interesting because they essentially are no more than new paintjobs with the occasional supplements of a wing or hardpoint here and there, yet they still manage to create the impression that some ships are totally different from the ones they inherited their hull from. And surprise, surprise - they usually are. I don't want to spend much discussing them right now - they pose a significan improvement over the looks of their T1 counterparts.

So. CCP is rewamping all ship graphics, and the most troubling part in this is that I'm not sure if there's a filter on how far they can move from the original looks. Because that is what EVE is like. Sinister, rusty, dangerous.

Sessym out.