Poll: Which New Ship Will You Try First?

Outpost Sites Will Spawn Every Half Hour After Patch Day

CCP announces change for Factional Warfare in patch notes, found here.

“Fixed an issue where Factional Warfare systems would run out of combat sites. ‘Outpost’ sites of all sizes will now respawn every 30 minutes in all Factional Warfare systems.”

It’s a start.

Hans Jagerblitzen on Faction Warfare

 

First off, I want to thank you for everything that you have done for the Faction War community. Currently you are leading one of the main FW threads on the EvE forums and have been an unofficial liaison between FW & the CSM council.

Thanks Shalee, and apologies for the delay in response – events are always unfolding and I wanted to take my time to be as fair as possible in my response with regards to recent developments.

How much of an impact do you think CSM will have on FW?

It’s too early to say. Historically, I think its evident that the CSM has had very little impact on Faction Warfare. The main thread right now contains links to the historic measures proposed and passed by the CSM regarding Faction Warfare, including proposals regarding CCP’s failure to address earlier proposals. This CSM though, is a bit different – more or less holding CCP’s feet to the fire by going straight to gaming mass-media with negative PR surrounding Incarna’s shortcomings. I sincerely doubt we would have seen Hilmar’s apology or the fabulous U-turn of company direction without this media pressure.

New found effectiveness aside, the current CSM has been quite willing to point out that FW players are in a minority, and that the current council members were not elected on such a platform. Further complicating the matter is the fact that the role of the CSM has been very difficult to define, even based on their own words. Some ran on platforms for “iterations before new features”, but when pushed, CSM members have stated that they have nothing to do with what CCP ends up deciding to work on, they only give feedback as part of the development process. Since the role of the CSM and CCP is still clearly in a state of flux, misunderstandings about their level of power are causing much distrust on the part of players who genuinely want to get involved in improving EvE.

As the winter expansion draws near, do you think there will be many changes for FW?

Sadly, no. I hold out hope that the “Team Pink Zombie Kittens” fix being programmed (the details of which have not been revealed yet) can make it into one of the second / third Crucible releases, and won’t have to wait till summer expansion. However, our best hope for getting our full “laundry list” of fixes attended to will be for CCP to be convinced to make it a defining feature of the summer expansion. The bottom line is, if CCP was actually working on more than the one small fix, we would have heard about it by now.

In your opinion, what are some of the main issues that CCP needs to deal with in regards to FW?

Only for the sake of brevity here, I’d say they are well summarized on the top of the main forum discussion thread.

How do you keep your optimism when FW has largely been abandoned by CCP over the years.

The primary reason for my optimism is my faith in the company itself, especially after seeing how they adapted to the Incarna slump. The power of the player base and CCP’s utilization of their feedback is what gives me the ongoing hope that if we stay strong, and continue to make ourselves known, the Faction Warfare community will have its day in the sun once again.

Already, we’ve seen a massive amount of backlogged features thrown together in record time. Faction Warfare still exists on that backlog, I’m absolutely sure of it, we’re just rather far down on the list. Rightfully so, CCP is tackling issues that affect EVERYONE with crucible – there are very few new features in the end that cater to only one style of game play. I’m fine with this, and imagine that both nullsec and lowsec receive appropriate mechanical overhauls with summer expansion, once this wave of art development and balancing adjustments have passed. FW deserves much more time than a couple quick fixes, and I think CCP knows this and is waiting till they have a chance to give it the attention it deserves.

Emotionally, this is tough for the militia community, who has been strained by years of silence and being ignored. I completely empathize with the sentiment that NOW is the time to fix FW, and that by leaving out FW improvements once again CCP is somehow definitively saying they don’t care about us. I really think we’ve just seen the tip of the new iceberg, and need to hold on just a little bit longer (maybe as much as 6 months) and that a true overhaul is still well within the realm of possibility.

Is there anything the average FW pilot can do to bring more attention to FW?

Absolutely! We need more substantive testimonials on the forums, not just another 10 pages of bumps on a threadnought if we’re truly going to make a difference. There isn’t a magic number of hits before CCP reacts, they are real people who need actual convincing that this is something many, many, players care deeply about.

The other vital thing existing FW pilots can do is to keep the scene active and strong – we need people to invite their friends, be willing to train new pilots in PvP, and keep the spirit of the community alive even in the absence of CCP attention to the mechanics. We’ve become a bunch of bittervets in some respect, but we have to keep reaching out to new players regardless of how long CCP takes to “fix” FW. If we don’t do the work to keep the community and feature alive, CCP isn’t going to either.

Have you considered running in the next CSM election?

I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t, but it is coming very soon and I don’t know if I have the support system in place for this round. Many of the current CSM members were more or less “Eve celebrities” prior to running, with blogs and other media in place that they could base a campaign around. I don’t pretend to have any such fame, popularity, or established media platform. Politically, I’m just an unpaid lobbyist more or less. I can tell you one thing though, to guarantee a real push on overhauling FW, I think the militias will have to unite and elect a seat to the CSM. Whether CCP itemizes FW as summit agenda item or not, having a player elected by the voting militia would be exposure that’s hard for them to ignore, and would debunk a lot of myths about how many people still remain interested. Like anything else, in the end its a numbers game – do you think we can still muster a few thousand pilots (including alt accounts) to vote for a candidate who represents Faction Warfare?

Despite the countless things that need to be fixed, what keeps you a willingly FW participant?

First and foremost, my long-standing and unbreakable friendship with my corpmates. I’ve been flying with [AUTOZ] and the three corps that merged together to form Autocannons Anonymous since the time I began playing. The challenge of overseeing the negotiations of the merger, and working together as a large group of friends to become one of the top Minmatar Militia corps (of all time) in terms of activity and kill count, has been greatly rewarding. I’ll take giving the Amarr hell with my band of brothers over being a cog in an Alliance wheel any day.

Militia pilots have a great sense of sportsmanship (most of the time), and we’ve all gotten to know our enemies and formed rivalries and grudges, which all makes for great fun. There is still challenging PvP activity in abundance to keep lots of pilots logging in and X-ing up, so until the people stop being fun I’m happy to stay right here in Faction Warfare whether CCP changes a thing or not.

Who is hotter?

 

Reyna

or Verra

Open Invitation To Militias: Singularity Fleet Battles in Amamake This Weekend

Author: Nitro DSP

We are going to do a militia op on the test server Sunday and do a few fleet battles and have some random fun in free ships. The meet up will be Amamake, because CCP seeds the market there so everything is 100isk and has a lot of ships and all mods (no non-market items, navy cap boosters, or faction ammo seeded. limited faction ships). We will do battles in the area, with a few organized fleet battles, if the numbers are not equal we will move volunteers to different sides to even the odds so we can see what these new ships are like and what the new stat changes are like as well.

If you don’t have the test server it is’s easy to get; just go to the link  below and follow the directions. You do not need to re-download EvE. If you follow directions properly it takes less than an hour to set up and download the test server patch on a COPY OF EVE FILES in a different folder.

http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Singularity

Take care of the install and test it out before the Op, and make sure you use a COPY OF EVE and not the EvE files you use for the main server.

INFO:

Who: All pilots participating in Miliita Faction Warfare, and their alts (No alliance friends or batphones, ect!)
What: An organized combat op using a viarity of ships
Where: Amamake
When: Sunday November 28, 2011 21:00 eve time

All Minmatar, Amarr, Caldari, and Gallente are welcome. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!!!!!bird!is!the!word! ! ! ! !

 

Poll: Alliances in Faction War?

On the EvE forums, allowing alliances to join Faction War is currently being discussed as a way to bring more players into FW.

Some think that alliances like CVA and Electus Matari already support FW and should be officially allowed to join so they wont have to suffer security status hits.

Others say that alliances who hold space in null sec should not be allowed in because they already have more resources than your typical FW pilot.

What is your opinion on allowing alliances to join FW?

AMARR

“That is a question where I initially want to say, “Depends how it would be implemented.”However, I will take a leap and say, sure, let them in. More targets is a good thing. However, I am not sure if an alliance joining FW should be allowed to maintain any null-sec sovereignty. The price of bringing your entity into FW is that you don’t get to own a null-sec empire too. That only makes sense. Having EM to shoot at without taking a sec hit sounds like a nice change, honestly.” – Ryven Krennel, Amarr

***

“I like the idea of alliances in FW. Not only that alliances could join, but also that alliances could be formed out of existing FW corporations would add some flavour to FW. More people, more dynamics, more fun.” – Odelya d’Hanguest, Amarr 

***

“Personally I like the idea of alliances joining Faction Warfare; it would mean bigger fleets or at least more of them instead of enormous lengths of time without a single thing to shoot because they run at the first sign of something that will fight back that would be a pretty even fight or in their favour sometimes.

In reality my gut tells me to say no, not that I don’t want it to happen, but it would cause some major imbalances upon the FW community. Casual pvp might as well fly right out the door, stations I imagine would get camped allot more than they already do, and not to forget the value of LP going down the drain (like it did with the agents no longer having quality) also a few other things I won’t care to add. It could be fun I guess having different targets to shoot etc… having challenges and new people to team with I know having wolf’s move in has given new people to fly with, maybe it will be like that, or maybe it will be somewhat of a chaotic challenge to deal with. If they do allow alliances to go to FW I agree completely with those who state the alliances shouldn’t be able to hold sovereignty in Null, they have their own major assets and their own dwellings.

Overall I would love alliances to join, more challenges, and more people etc… as the ages of having a couple of decent BS slug fests throughout the week have disappeared mostly(Amarr and Minmatar I know has), but practically I just can’t see it working with current faction warfare style of things.” -Jimmy Nickson, Amarr

***

“Wouldn’t like alliances joining FW. First need to fix broken things about FW, that nearly 100% of militia agree on need fixing.. I don’t care how you spin it alliances are alliances. It’s a 0.0 thing. Militia is lowsec. If they want to fight in militia they need to suck it up and join it. If they can steamroll militia for a week in an alliance, they can suck it up and get in 1 corp and join militia, plain and simple.” -FlyingHotPocket, Amarr

MINMATAR

“In my opinion, allowing alliances to join Factional Warfare is an excellent idea. If more people are allowed to join the fray, that means more pew pew for all of us. The biggest problem plaguing FW at the moment is inactivity. With the addition of all those pilots it would help spark more conflict in FW regions. Not only would it bring more people into the war zone, it would add an additional RP element for those alliances already vested in a particular faction, such as CVA and EM. Furthermore, if alliances are allowed in, current FW corporations can join or form alliances, giving them access to all the opportunities being in an alliance presents (CAN I HEAR YOU SAY “ALLIANCE TOURNAMENT”!!??) 

The argument against this idea is discredited by the fact that the Amarrians and Minnys are already dealing with a large resource gap among pilots in the war zone area; we’ve had PL breathing down our throats for weeks now. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an Amaar.vs.Minny cap fight that hasn’t been hot dropped by the PL blob. And with the supercap nerf coming, mom blobs won’t be as much of an issue as they were before anyway. I’ll reiterate my earlier point in saying that current FW pilots will be able to join and create alliances, giving them access to better resources.

All in all, we desperately need some changes to FW and I believe if this were to happen it would help resurrect some of the glory FW once held.” – Mazer, Minmatar

***

“Quick answer from me (most of my corpmates agree) – I think alliances should be allowed to join FW ! ” -Bajerle, Minmatar 

***

“FW is and has always been a home for those who love small gang PVP. Allowing alliances to join (even if they couldn’t hold sov at the same time) would create a significant trend towards blob warfare. To get more people into FW, add real rewards for pvp. More LP for kills perhaps (and LP for VP). This would encourage participation on an individual level rather than just turning FW into a 0.0 clone.” -Galdornae, Minmatar

***

“I believe it would be a viable source of FW players is large-scale corporations/ alliance were to be able to take part, however, it may be advisable to only allow a certain amount through the process, or failing that, restrict the amount of resources that are allowed to be used through the alliance routes.” –Hayz Hayward, Minmatar

***

“Thank you for your message and the opportunity for me to give my opinion on FW.

I would say that FW offers a unique experience for Eve players. I joined in the first place as it offered PvP for casual players. You could join a gang relatively easily so it was almost a case of “pick up and play”. I didn’t need to worry about logistical problems too much getting ships to front line systems as I would if I were fighting in Null sec.

Present day, things are a little more refined e.g. there are dedicated channels for the more serious and established FW players to form organised gangs. That’s not to say there isn’t smaller Corp gangs roaming either at any one time.

PvP activity waxes and wanes over time since FW started.

I wanted to set the scene for you before commenting on your question. If alliances were to join FW it would change things of course. There would be more players for a start which will mean more PvP. Alliances tend to be richer so I suspect there would be more capital ship battles and blobs. How different would that be if you were fighting in 0.0?

I fear the unique FW experience will be lost with alliances joining which will not be in Eve’s best interests if the game aims to provide a varied and open space simulation.

I hope my comments have been useful.” – Zinto Risingsun, Minmatar

***

“I belong to the other group and think 0.0-sov alliances absolutely shouldn’t be able to join FW. Look at what PL did to Amarr/Minnie FW without joining. FW corps aren’t (and never will be) as organized and wealthy as nullsec allys, we have no way to counter their supercap blobs. There should be no incentive for them to occupy 2 areas of eve at once. It might be, however, a good idea when tied to another change – banning supercaps and titans from lowsec (maybe except for travel).” -Isalone, Minmatar

***

“That is a really tough discussion and I can see the benefits from both sides. Yes we currently have Alliances that help support the war effort for both sides both logistically and in combat. In allowing these alliances to join into Faction Warfare I think we would see a jump in activity within Faction Warfare, however I could easily see this being a jump heavily in one direction or another. With this, I believe that allowing Alliances into Faction Warfare would upset the overall balance between the sides. The militia itself is sort of AN npc alliance with the exception of the inability to claim sov. And with nullsec alliancees in Factional Warfare, would that essentially spread our war zone out across all of Eve? And another tought, what if Goons 6000 some pilots join into a side, or any other major alliance powerhouse for that matter?” -Vii Leosude, Minmatar

CALDARI

“+1. As long as alliances don’t hold 0.0 sov they should be able to join FW. Could be a nice step for highsec alliances to get a new game experience without renting space from 0.0 alliances who only care about the weekly payment. Also lowsec alliances, pirates alliances could join and bring new friends or enemies along. But FW and lowsec itself need more than that to get a boost.” coilex, Caldari

***

“Thanks for the opportunity to participate in this. Allowing alliances into FW would be… interesting. On one hand it would open up a far greater player base, which would be fun since the vast majority of fw combat is currently small gang roams which stresses individual pilot skills – something losec pilots often have in abundance over your ‘average’ 0.0 pilots used to massive fleets. However on the other hand it would open FW up to the kind of blob warfare seen in 0.0. Currently in the Gal-Cal war a blob is anything over 30 man and fleets over 75 strong are usually reserved for fights over a POS. A 0.0 fleet numbering in the hundreds would just see everyone dock up and spoil the fun for everyone. To summarise, more targets would be great however the blobs would be such a turn off that I don’t see it being worth while. Now if only fw could find a place in the alliance tournaments…”  -Oppon’s Pull, Caldari

***

“It would be interesting, I think there would be no downside to it, as long as it is all or nothing. I do not think you should be able to have one corp in FW, and another one out. But this way, FW could participate in Alliance tourneys, and grow larger than a single Corp can.” -friedmegg1, Caldari

***

“I have no particular preference for allowing alliances or not, though I worry that more alliances would more capitals, and capital warfare is generally pretty non-competitive and boring.

I don’t think allowing alliances to join FW will meaningfully impact participation in FW, though. Underlying flaws in FW mechanics need to be fixed for people to actually stick around after they start participating and start running face-first into bugs that have not been fixed for two years.

FW plex timers often fail to display if the plex was started before a pilot was in system, or if they have left the plex and returned. FW players who travel to nullsec and who use a HIC take staggering faction standing loss if anyone in their fleet is inside the bubble. Players are allowed to run spies and even entire spy-corps in opposing FW, and brag about it, without sanction (and we can’t shoot them or we eat faction hits). This is just the tip of the iceberg.” -Dynast, Caldari

GALLENTE

“Allowing Alliances into FW would be a major mistake, because both as yu said they have much more resources than FW pilots, but also because they have more experience then general FW pilots in doing large scale PVP. Atm entire FW fleets rarely even reach 50, and no chance of reaching 100 pilots och each side. Introducing lag and 500 players on each side will just destroy FW and all it is about. FW is where even a single pilot is suppose to undock and find a fight, mission or gang and join in and have fun. It should not be perfect, it should not be funded by a 500B isk assets fleet.

FW should NOT be a replacement for 0.0 alliances who can’t handle their own, and should not be a feature they can pick when they feel like it. Just the same way as we can’t form a in-game alliance in FW when corps start to work together, to make sure its kept small-scale. Null sec alliances should more than easy have their own terms and own fights in null sec, and if they don’t, its time to disband as an alliance and do smaller things, like FW.

If they do change so that you won’t get a standings hit to you own faction for repping you own corp m8s because they are -5 or worse, that will allow pirates to enter FW and will bring more of a challenge and pilots to FW as it is. (This bug is already petitionable, so its bound to happen unless some other solution is presented)
These pirates however, are not supported normally by a major capital gank fleet, and still are small-scale in that perspective.” Freddy Nightpopper, Gallente

***

“I would like to see FW alliances. Being able to pair up what we really sort of have now in many cases, formed corporations operating in sync in self-made channels shows the need for alliances in FW. As for resources and sovereignty owning alliances, there would need to be stipulations and limitations allowing these type of alliances in. Maybe the mechanic should be that the alliance joining the FW militia must be sovereignty free. Otherwise resources could be an unfair advantage.

I would like to see my old CVA buddies in that role though. It’s been awhile. I would go to Amarr FW if they changed. GO SPOON!” -Intaki Kauyon, Gallente

***

“In my opinion, alliances should be allowed in FW, provided that there is a mechanism to prevent powerblocks from disrupting the fighting style that gives FW its character:
– something to discourage stupid supercap hotdrops;
– something to prevent alliances from joining FW just for a couple of days for say… one POS bash, then leaving.

The upside would be allowing FW corps to better organize themselves.” –Rabugento, Gallente

Interview: Miura Bull, Black Rebel Rifter Club’s CEO

Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Though Black Rebel’s Rifter Club isn’t a part of Faction War, I often see your pilots in our warzone and thought it’d be interesting to let our readers know more about your corporation.

To start with, tell us about the Black Rebel’s Rifter Club, [R1FTA], and what inspired you to create it?

Okay, this is actually a really difficult question to answer. Kind of like being asked to describe your pet horse to a stranger. I don’t own a horse, for the record, but to the outside world I imagine a horse is a horse. So yeah, sorry where was I?

~stares at screen for longer than is comfortable~

Okay, here goes ….

The Black Rebel Rifter Club is a corporation of pilots who share a good few common traits. We love the pewpew and most of all we enjoy frigate based combat, with the three Rifter hulls – Rifter, Jaguar and Wolf – being our three most used weapons to date. Although we do fly any and every race and type of frigate, we can also ship up when the need arises or our members fancy doing something different. Whether that be in a Drake or a Cane or a T3 cruiser or shiny Machariel, we seem to have pilots who can fly everything bar a Titan here in R1FTA but I think it says a lot about how we play the game when they’d rather roll out of base in a rusty Rifter.

We are mostly made up of lone wolf types who enjoy the sometimes sadistic act of solo roaming empty system after empty system looking for the next gfgf. Every killmail we see on the killboard usually (but not always) has some fascinating back story to go along with it. We’re also not a group of guys (and girl) who will worry too much about lossmails or killboard stats or take the game too seriously. After all, it is a game.

Our members have also built up a camaraderie and culture that festers on our private forums, which basically revolves around an odd humour based on internet memes, moustaches, BRokEN KEyBOARDS, some guy named Karma Fox who tried to kill a Tengu in high-sec in his Rifter, an in-corp book review club, a fascinating music library consisting of classical pieces right up to death metal and hip-hop and …erm, pictures of Barry White.

As for what inspired me to create the corp and where we are now …. I originally created the corp with the intention of it being a one-man show back in early 2010 as a backdrop for my planned solo exploits – If I remember correctly I’d just killed a much older toon who was in a Taranis in my Rifter and thought the killmail deserved a cooler name to it other than Republic Military School. In the first few months we eventually had about 6 or 7 members join up but I ended up leaving eve for a while and when I came back everybody had abandoned ship. So I went about my eve journey and left an alt toon in charge on a dormant trading account. It was during a frustrating period of my eve experience about six months ago when I joined -A- as they were going CTA crazy that I started thinking about Black Rebel Rifter Club again. It wasn’t much fun so I decided to restart this R1FTA project and I invited some friends along and we put out some tentative recruitment ads. From there on things sort of snowballed and here we are today with approx 90 members on board.

Where did you get the name from?

I’d just finished reading a book called Hell’s Angels by Hunter S. Thompson and I had a keen interest at the time in outlaw motorcycle gangs and that kind of swaggering lawless attitude to life. I wanted to somehow translate that to my soon-to-be formed solo corporation. Unfortunately I am bad at naming things, I can spend hours upon hours wracking my brain trying to come up with names. (God help me if I ever have a child). Then it was while roaming to a Black Rebel Motorcycle Club CD that it sort of clicked. An outlaw gang about Rifters. Yes that will do! I simply swapped the motorcycle bit with the Rifter. Do we have motorcycles in eve?

Where does [R1FTA] live and operate?

Our home system is Heild. Which is in the Molden Heath region. It is a region that is famed for its loop style setup of predominantly low-sec systems. The main hive of activity usually taking place in and around Bosena. The region goes through high and low periods of activity. The area has a lot of plexes and is sort of famed for its frig combat as well as the roaming battlecruiser gangs that stalk its spacelanes. It has been noted that Molden Heath has an isolated feel to it, when in truth it is not far at all from major trade hubs and in Teonusude it has a trade hub of its own, albeit an expensive one. Everybody should come visit, just a suggestion, bring a bunch of frigates and we’ll try to accomodate some pewpew.

We mainly roam from Molden Heath towards Heimatar and Metropolis. Although we do have members who live and operate in Gallente and Caldari space as well as a handful of null-sec dwellers. You could say we pretty much roam and operate all over the place.

How does [R1FTA] mostly fly? Large fleets? Solo roams? Do you guys fly with others outside of your corp?

Mainly we fly as lone wolf solo pilots. If we have the numbers online and a target is spotted we’ll try to muster up a gang to take it down but 90% of the time our pilots will be out doing solo work or in 3 or 4 man small gang fleets. If the situation called for it we’d fleet up with anybody. We share intel channels with some of our neighbours and we’ve teamed up previously with my old corporation Gunpoint Diplomacy. At any other time of the day we’re usually shooting at each other and filling up each others killboards.

Many of your pilots keep blogs. Which blogs are your favorites?

We do tend to have a lot of bloggers in the corp. It wouldn’t be fair of me to single out any favourites of my corp mates, but we do have a blog pack that I will link at the bottom so you can judge for yourself.

My favourite other blogs that I always look out for on my dashboard are:

Lady Shaniqua’s  , Wensley’s , and two blogs that are sadly no longer active but you really should visit and read from the start; Sobczynski  and Mr Snypes.

Who does the artwork for the blogs?

Sassy B has done artwork for us. As has Bonni3, Kishin Hattori from The Tuskers and Rixx Javix. We also have a few budding artists in the corp who have designed pieces for various projects. We’re currently running an in-house signature competition and I’ll be revealing the finished pieces to a wider audience at some point.

Does your corp roleplay any or only write stories?

I have participated in a few roleplay channels before when I’ve had more time on my hands. A few of our members are also keen on the subject but at the same time we have some who don’t like that part of the game. I guess that sums up all of eve really with regards to roleplay.

What kind of rules and policies does [R1FTA] have?

We’re quite relaxed on rules in general and we encourage members to play the game as they see fit. Two rules that I would personally kick a member for breaking are dishonouring a pre-arranged 1v1 and breaking an agreed ransom. These two things , when I see them happen really get to me. I don’t want my corp labelled as dishonourable. We get called every other name but hopefully we’re not labelled as dishonourable.

What kind of pilots do you look for? What are the requirements for joining [R1FTA]?

We’ve got a healthy mixture of starry-eyed noobs and veterans who have seen it all. In the newer guys we recruit to the corp we look for a willingness to learn the ropes and develop their skills as a combat fighter in an atmosphere that hopefully doesn’t seem too intimidating. We’ve got members who are 3 or 4 months into their eve career yet notching up their 100th kill in Rifters.

In the older members who join we expect them to have a bit of a sense of humour and patience. And above all not to take everything too serious. I think so far we have achieved that. We also ask that they be space rich and enjoy donating copious amounts of isk to various corp projects. (this is partly true)

We don’t really have any set requirements as such. We judge each application on pilot attitude over skill. All we ask is for an api key for a background check and some kind of killmail or lossmail evaluation to prove you sort of know what you are doing and letting yourself in for. We are currently recruiting new members but this is ending very soon!

What are some of the more memorable battles [R1FTA] have been involved in?

Two fights spring to mind.

The first fight involved a visit to Old Man Star where we were chased out-of-town by some angry locals and some Tuskers I think. We were running a ragtag bunch of Rifters and other frig hulls and we ended up cooling our heels in some random backwater lowsec system. Then all hell broke loose as point was called on a Legion in a next door system by one of our guys who had wandered off to have a look around! My first thought was, huh? A Legion, are you sure!? Then it was reported a Rapier and a stealth bomber were on field. Needless to say we all rushed in without a moment’s hesitation and ended up killing them all eventually. This fight sums up what R1FTA is all about to me. We didn’t care if we lost, we just wanted to shoot at stuff, and when it is shinier, well, the better it is!

Battle report http://r1fta.griefwatch.net/?p=engagement&kill=1302

Next up. The Battle of Poinen, as it is known within the ranks of Rebel folklore. We’d been chasing some wartargets and ended up a long way from home in Poinen solar system with an odd-looking mixture of a gang. We pretty much butchered everything that was thrown at us. Great fun.

Battle report http://r1fta.killmail.org/?a=kill_related&kll_id=10045269

Has [R1FTA] ever been a part of militia? If not, would you ever consider having [R1FTA] join a militia? If so, which one?

We’ve never been in the militia no. Obviously we are aware of who is in the militia and where people operate and what they do. We often curse those insta-locking Thrasher gatecamps and those other doods further up the pipe. You know who you are 

The possibility of joining Faction War has been mooted before on our forums and in fact we have quite good standing with the Minmatar militia. Not quite good enough to sign up today but teetering on the edge of acceptable standings. I wouldn’t rule it out at some point in the future if people shout loudly to go down that avenue.

What are some other corps that you most admire, and why?

Hmm. That’s a tough one. I must admit to being a bit of a Genos fan boi – I’m not sure why exactly but when I first started out I remember some advice I was given was to look out for lossmails of good corporations, so I looked up the battleclinic rankings and then started browsing all the good corp killboards and I liked those guys the best. Also PODLA for their fighting style and tactics whilst outnumbered.

The Tuskers for being the best pirates out there. Gunpoint Diplomacy for opening up my eyes to what being in a laid back fun corp is all about. JESUS CHRIST IT’S A LION GET IN THE CAR for being the best named corp ever, even though I think they are inactive now, I remember seeing one of their pilots in null once and thinking OHMAHGOD LOL WHUT? The Hull Miners Union who I lived out in Syndicate with for a while as part of Random-Violence alliance, these guys really introduced me to gangs and good fleets.

What are you most proud of for your corp?

The fact that it has grown into a corporation that seems to be getting some recognition from the wider eve audience even though it was a corp formed just for me, pretty much by accident.

Also the fact that we recently broke the top 25 battleclinic list for recent corp rankings. This may seem trivial to some but I was really shocked when it was pointed out to me and even though we’re not killboard stat heavy. I kind of like the ring to being up there on lists like that – amongst and above some great corporations.

What is the hardest part of being a CEO? Also, what is the most gratifying?

The hardest part is keeping up with all the roles and access privileges. I never do quite enjoy navigating that part of the corp screen and I’m sure other ceo’s can relate? I don’t enjoy that at all.

The most gratifying is seeing a community being built up from some weird ideals I once had and seeing new pilots linking their first killmails in corp chat. That feels good as a ceo.

Does your corp have a public channel? If so, what’s the name of it?

Our public channel is – The Autocannon – It can usually be a hotbed of chat and discussion and sometimes it can be quite quiet. All are welcome to visit and say hello and hang around. If they so wish.

Lastly, what is the links to your blog, kill boards, and any other thing you’d like to share.

My blog , Our killboard , and Corp blog pack (google subscription).

Thanks for doing the interview! Any parting thoughts?

It was a pleasure, thanks for the invitation. Would also be keen to know if your readers would rather be attacked by 1 horse sized duck, or 50 duck sized horses?

Random Links

If you haven’t seen it yet, watch Rooks & King’s Clarion Call video here at the EveNews24 site.

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Two writing contests can be found here, and here.  Prizes range from 400 mil to plex.  Worth looking into!

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Monday I’ll be posting another faction-wide poll.  Usually I randomly mail 10 pilots from each faction.  This time I’ll still be sending out mails, though I will post the question here as well and if you’re interested in participating, please send your response to me in game to Shalee Lianne.  Do not leave it in the comments on this blog.  All FW pilots are welcomed to respond!

The question is:

On the EvE forums, allowing alliances to join Faction War is currently being discussed as a way to bring more players into FW.

Some think that alliances like CVA and Electus Matari already support FW and should be officially allowed to join so they wont have to suffer security stauts hits.

Others say that alliances who hold space in null sec should not be allowed in because they already have more resources than your typical FW pilot.

What is your opinion on allowing alliances to join FW?

 

Thanks for reading!

Interview: Dian Lung, Caldari, Girl Gamer

What brought you to EvE?

When I started EVE, I was one of those magical new subscribers who saw ad banners that people talk about nowadays. I saw an advertisement for EVE on another website I happened to be on, thought; omg spaceships! and the rest is pretty well history.

What other games have you tried?

At one point or another, I’ve had my fill of a lot of different games, mostly RPGs of some kind (including MMOs) with the odd first-person or RTS title thrown in. The gaming interest that ultimately led me to EVE started a longer time ago than I care to think about, and involved the Star Wars flight simulator series published by Lucasarts.

Your employment history shows you’ve been playing EvE since 2007. How has EvE changed since your rookie days?

Where do I even start? T3 cruisers didn’t exist, or wormholes for that matter. Scrams didn’t stop MWDs. Webs slowed you down by 90%. 0.0 sovereignty was determined by POSes. We didn’t have a skill queue back then. (Shout-out to all the players who stayed up odd hours of the night to make sure you could start training another skill right when the last one ended!) CVA still held sovereignty in Providence. TCF had only JUST moved up north, and the station in TVN-FM was owned by the original Hydra. Guristas ships didn’t have drone bonuses. PLEX didn’t exist. I’m sure there are many, many more things I’m forgetting, too.

What is one thing you wish you would have done differently in regards to the game?

There were several periods early in my EVE career where I let my account run out and lost months upon months of training time. (This was before both PLEX and the training queue.) As a result, there are a whole host of skills that I keep kicking myself for not having trained yet. I wish I’d known how much I was going to regret it!

How long have you been in FW? Why did you choose to do FW?

I’ve been in FW for almost a year and a half. My introduction to the militia game was pretty well by accident; my fiance was out can-flipping and decided to engage a pilot who happened to be a Caldari pilot. My fiance ended up joining the same corp, SLA-Industries, and I followed shortly after.

Why did you choose Caldari over the other militias?

In the beginning, it was really a matter of happenstance; it just turned out that the militia I joined happened to be the Caldari supporters. Later, I ended up staying because it was where I knew people and felt the most comfortable.

Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Caldari militia from your perspective.

Funny you should ask that, since I wrote a blog post last night that was basically a giant vent session about the state of affairs in the Caldari militia. Hopefully my answer here will be more positive! For me, the best thing about my fellow squids is that despite the odd frustrating day, they’re a pretty chill bunch. It’s nice to be able to know that I can log in, wave in a chat channel and chill without being bothered by annoying levels of drama and emo-raging. Ironically, I think that can also be our biggest weakness; while it doesn’t happen often, some days there’s a noticeable feeling of apathy hanging in the air.

Would you try another militia?

Under the right circumstances, absolutely! I’m always interested to see how other areas of FW do things, and getting to know people in all corners of the conflict. I’ve had the pleasure of being in one gang run by one of your own FCs, Predator Elite, and after having spoken with some of my mortal enemies in the Gallente militia (I miss you Eelis!), I’ve often found myself being curious what it would be like to fight with them instead of against them. I can’t say I’ve had a whole lot of exposure to the Minmatar Militia, but I certainly wouldn’t rule it out!

What other things have you tried other than FW?

I’ve tried a little of a lot of things, sometimes with more emphasis on a little than a lot. I started off as a highsec miner and mission runner, had brief forays into null (CVA-era Providence and a brief period up north), spent about six months in wormholes, and since joining FW I’ve gradually come to the point of living in lowsec. My latest foray into parts previously unknown came in the form of spending a month with a pirate corp in Molden Heath, Gunpoint Diplomacy, and spending an increasing amount of time roaming with the likes of the Tuskers and Shadow Cartel.

What do you hope to see CCP change in FW?

There are so many things that I’d like to see changed in one way or another that I’m not really sure where to begin. I’m not entirely sure how much of what matters the most to me is CCP-driven and how much is player-driven, but I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what changes come to FW missions. As someone who’s both done a staggering amount of them and makes most of her ISK from the results (don’t get me started on the FW LP market lately), I’m very interested in seeing both what changes will come and how it’ll affect my income stream.

What are you currently training for and what do you like to fly the most? (both ships and kind of fleets)

My training lately has been a combination of catching up on support skills and skilling toward T2 large turrets, especially with the new battle cruisers coming in the winter expansion. I’ve heavily favoured nano shield gangs for close to a year now; I’m definitely a big fan of artillery-fit Hurricanes, have spent a great deal of time in the Lachesis (there’s nothing quite like snagging point on a target from a hundred kilometres away), and the Rapier is slowly becoming a reliable choice for me (not that I ever doubted it, I just don’t fly it much).

Do you FC?

I do, although not as frequently as others. I really enjoy the mental chess game that comes along with FCing; choosing tactics, anticipating enemy movements, seeing members of a fleet come together to create something more powerful than the sum of their individual ships. I’m still pretty new to the task, so it can be overwhelming sometimes, but I’m getting more comfortable with it and I’m looking forward to FCing in the future!

Any killmails you are particularly proud of?

As much as I hate to say it, I can’t say I really have a favourite killmail or killmails. I don’t know whether it’s been bad luck or some strange error on my part, but I’ve never gotten on one of the really juicy mails that gets people chattering in the militia channels; and the one time I almost made it happen, the bugger got away in 10% structure!

Which pilots do you most admire and why?

I admire any pilot who has the courage and determination to put a serious effort into improving their skills. I know EVE is a game and that it’s supposed to be fun, but I’m always impressed with people that are willing to look seriously at themselves, be honest about their faults and look for ways to get better at what they do. I try to do the same, with mixed results, and I respect the ones that are able to pull it off.

Your employment history shows you’ve been in several corps over the years. Which have you most enjoyed and why?

I wouldn’t say I’ve enjoyed specific corps so much as groups of people who may or may not be in the same corp, and who may or may not be in the same corp as I am. Ever since I’ve been in factional warfare, I’ve paid less attention to corp tags than to the names of the pilots wearing them, which has often lead to having a great time with pilots in corps that I’ve never been a part of. If I had to limit it to corps that I’ve personally been in, though, I could narrow it down to four: SLA-Industries, Pillow Fighters Inc, Wolfsbrigade, and Gunpoint Diplomacy.

What’s it like being a female in a male dominated game? Discuss some of your experiences.

My experiences as a girl in EVE have been pretty positive; everyone I’ve talked to in-game has been very relaxed and accepting. I’m extremely grateful that I’ve never had some of the problems that other girls have had in EVE: trolling or genuinely sexist corpmates/alliance-mates, inappropriate remarks, or the scarier stuff like outright stalking. I think the best experience I’ve had as a girl in EVE, though, has come from finding the community of Women Gamers of EVE; it’s a great place to share our stories about both EVE and being women in general, and escape from the testosterone poisoning that can plague other parts of the internet spaceships galaxy…

What advice would you give to females who are considering trying out EvE?

Boys will be boys! A lot of male players in EVE aren’t used to having girls in corp – I’ve run into quite a few where I’ve been the first girl they’ve ever played internet spaceships with. Don’t take the inevitable “there are no girls in eve” and “pix plz” too seriously, and don’t be afraid to speak up if you feel that something is inappropriate – sometimes people don’t realize how their words can be taken, and they only way they will learn is if someone tells them. Last but definitely not least, stop by the Women Gamers of EVE channel – we always love seeing new faces!

Any blog or forums you’d like to share?

I have a blog that I write in every so often – it’s not exactly a “topic” blog like Sovereignty Wars so much as whatever I happen to be thinking about at the time. If you’re interesting in having a look, come visit at http://recovering-carebear.blogspot.com/ . I’d love to hear from you!

FW System: Enaluri, even with all the noisy neighbours!
EvE Celebrity: Laedy. I know she and her corp got some bad press after the last Alliance Tournament, but Laedy is a total sweetheart, and I’ve always had a great time talking and flying with her.
EvE Related Website: I read a ton of EVE blogs, probably too many to list. DOTLAN Eve-Maps is another favourite of mine, and incredibly useful for planning roams.
Null Sec Alliance: I’m so unplugged from the 0.0 community that I don’t even know who’s out there anymore, so I can’t really say I have a favourite.
Wartarget To Shoot: Loren Gallen, full stop. He’s such a nice guy that I can’t help but like him, even as much as he’s killed me!
Corpse: Uh… can’t say I’ve ever really thought about that, I don’t make a habit of collecting corpses.
Space Station: Enaluri II – State Protectorate Logistic support, because all my stuff is there. 😛
Song To Fly To: Rev Theory, “Hell Yeah”
Way To Make ISK: Frequent, generous donations. Failing that, anything that isn’t mind-numbingly boring. I keep meaning to try incursions, but I’ve never quite managed to get around to it…
Ammo: Republic Fleet Warp Disruptors – when you fly the Lachesis, your point IS your ammo. Failing that, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma.
Pirate Corp: The Tuskers.

Interview: Graelyn, Amarr Militia

Why did you choose to fly under the Amarr banner?

Making an Amarr character wasn’t a difficult choice. Amarr had a really cool back story that was nicely fleshed out back then, especially in comparison to the other 3 empires. At the time, the first big Tournament was gearing up, and it wasn’t simply an excuse for pilots to shoot each other, but were the succession trials for the new Emperor of the Amarr Empire. How awesome is that? Besides, Amarrian ships just had more character, I thought.

Maybe part of me just wanted to play something as opposite of my real life self as possible. Theocratic imperialists fit that bill pretty well.

What other things in the game have you tried besides FW?

Most of my time in EVE was spent doing FW before there was an FW, fighting the many-front wars between the various loyalist factions, and the first Alliances. A lot of those groups were really trying to utterly destroy each other back then, unlike the slightly more communal “Good fight guys” atmosphere FW has today.

I lived in Empire a lot. This has always turned out to be incredibly boring. I’ve been involved in the efforts to ‘Amarrianize’ Providence since the very beginning, but I never really enjoyed that. 0.0, for me, has always been either empty expanses of wasteland, or packed with leeching carebears than The Forge. The best times for me in EVE have always been prowling low-sec. As such, FW, when it was introduced, was a no-brainer for me.

Do you FC?

Sometimes. I certainly don’t FC as much as I used to. I can maneuver a fleet and get it into a good fight with solid odds, but I don’t call targets as fast as I’d like when the action really gets going. FC’ing in EVE has progressively become more and more of a multi-tasking affair as the years go by, and FW fleets are no different. There are better FCs than me by a long shot out there, so I leave them to it. However, if the primary FC gets forced off the field, I try to be the first to step up and see the battle through, or to get the fleet home intact. In that role I think I’m still pretty solid.

What are some of your most memorable FW memories?

The specifics are pretty fuzzy in my memory, but any time the Gal/Min and the Cal/Amarr join up and come crashing into each other, it’s always a special event. Anytime some wandering 0.0 Alliance capfleet decides to hop in for some easy kills and ends up getting its shit pushed in by Militia folks, it makes me smile.

Still, my favorite fights in FW were always the more frantic and maybe even intimate, fights for plexes. Small groups, small ships, fierce battles. I miss that, and I hope that the newest iterations of FW that CCP are cooking up can get more people involved in that sort of thing. As it stands now, only a fraction of FW pilots put in the time to actually ‘fight the war’ of FW, and that’s a shame.

Briefly tell us about the various FW corps you’ve been in and how they have differed from one another. Also, explain why you’ve chosen to fly with Wolfsbrigade.

Most of the FW corps I’ve been in have been run by my good friend Invelious. They’ve all been incarnations of the same general idea, that of Amarrians leading converts of the other races on Crusade.

Often I like to change things up and go help out on the Caldari side of things, to bolster our allies, and see how things are doing on that front. Last time I was out that way, The State Protectorate was on the verge of a powerful conglomeration of skilled corporations. This was set back a lot by the war between I-RED and WolfsBrigade, which I watched unfold with interest. The Wolves seemed to have the better of the fighting by far, at which point they went to help out the Amarr. I felt I had to take a closer look at them at that point, as beating a group like I-RED isn’t easy. Turns out WB-R are an incredibly organised and effective bunch, with a successfully history I wasn’t even aware of. It’s been a lot of fun flying in thier fleets, and fighting alongside such competent pilots. I hope they remain on the Amarr side for a long time, as they have provided a significant boost to the overall combat capabilities of the 24IC.

What do you think makes FW awesome? Also, what do you think CCP could change about FW to make it even better?

The core strength of FW is low-sec itself. Adding a carte blanche wardec to low-sec and letting the two sides have at it is the core of any of FW’s success. The only success, I think. Every other aspect of FW seems to be an utter failure. The ‘war’ itself matters to no one, from the average bystander to the people taking part in it. Plex warfare, while it can be fun, is pointless to most and only a tiny handful participate. The War Has to Matter! Meeting goals pertaining to the war has to hurt the other side, or provide benefits to yours. There are many ideas floating around on how to accomplish this, but as long as that goal is met, any mechanical structure will do, really.

Name some pilots you admire and tell us what they have done to earn your admiration.

I tend to appreciate two kinds of pilots; The professional FC, and the lone wolf.

Years ago there was a pilot named Waywatcher who would take a lone battleship and prowl the lanes from Lower Domain to Catch, by himself. He would choose his fights very carefully, and I never saw him fall. After he had kicked your ass, he’d convo you and tell you what you did wrong, how he got you, and how to avoid it next time. Then he’d get you again with a completely different tactic. Becoming a one-man terror of an entire area of space is a feat I can always respect, and the guy never bragged or filled forums with ‘I PWNED YOO LOL’. A rare combination.

Predator Elite has been commanding the bulk of the heaviest and most intricate ops on the Amarr side for some time now. He juggles a lot of different things and is one of the few who can marshal the confidence and strength of everyone in the Militia on a moments notice, and that’s a feat.

You are an rp icon in the role play community. Briefly tell us what inspired you to try rp on EVE and tell us about some of your most memorable rp moments.

When I started EVE the second time, a lot was going on that gave the Amarr a lot of depth, but I hadn’t chosen to really BE Amarr yet. For several months, I was just another Imperial pilot wandering the space lanes, mining and doing missions trying to enjoy EVE the MMO, dodging pirates and generally being your average cow-eyed carebear, until a fateful supply trip changed everything….

I was heading to the Amarr system in my Punisher, looking to stock up on some new named guns (the top of the tech line back then!). When I jumped the gate into Amarr, the game froze unexpectedly. As I tapped at my keyboard in frustration, the grid just wouldn’t load. After grumbling at the screen for a minute, I was ready to force-close the application, when the reason for the lag became suddenly clear.

My ship was in the very center of a huge furball of multitudes of ships, guns-a-blazing. The Imperial-Issue Apocalypse was being returned to the Emperor. Golan Trevise and PIE were defending it on the trip, and every Minmatar loyalist group in the game had arrived to stop it, 1.0 Security and CONCORD be damned. Imperials, Tribals, and CONCORD were all ripping into each other. Every corp in EVE could only be at war with 3 others at the time, and there were many corps on the field, so both sides were going flashy-red with abandon, and CONCORD was going free-for-all on everyone assembled. Local was filled with hate-filled diatribes, prayers, and cries of vengeance. In the middle was my little frigate, and me going “WOOOAH”…

I had to be a part of this. I ditched my carebear corp and took up the Imperial banner. I’ve never regretted it.

I’ve had some interesting moments with RP. I met an Imperial Heir. I worked with the Tetrimon Order, and the Theology Council trying to stop them. I was at the battle that finally drove the Blood Raiders out of the Bleak Lands and put them back into Amarr hands. You don’t get awesome stuff like that anymore, but those times may be returning. When they do, I hope people give it a second look. RP in EVE is not like RP in other games, it’s not about talking funny or being the biggest dork on the field, it’s about  making a story out of that beat down you just delivered, giving it purpose. EVE is the only place I’ve found where RP isn’t something silly.

How do you think you’ve helped mold the roleplay community?

The community is unbendable. It will live or die on its own whims. I’ve just been around a long time and not pissed everyone off. Running the RP channels in EVE is simply a matter of putting your foot down when lines are being crossed, while not taking yourself too seriously.

What keeps you interested in EvE after all of these years?

Well, there’s simply nothing else that’s ever even compared, really. No one has ever tried to make a real competitor to EVE. Playing EVE allows one to pass judgement on anyone who plays those other wussy MMOs. There’s nothing more hardcore outside of some barbaric text-based stuff.

What do you think of CCP’s announcement about fixing faction war?

I’m not expecting much. Most of Crucible has been small changes that should have been done ages ago. If FW were getting the overhaul it needed, then it would amount to one of the largest overhauls in the expansion. We’re not getting that, I’m afraid. A couple tiny tweaks are all I’m expecting.

Is there anything in EvE that you wouldn’t try?

Jita scamming would bore me to self-harm.

What EvE accomplishment are you most proud of?

When my Alliance (Aegis Militia) picked on an NPC faction (Blood Raiders) and they woke up, fought back, and had an all out war with the Amarr Empire (that we won), well, you can’t beat redrawing the map.

What one thing would you have done differently if you could?

I would have trained caps sooner. I found them boring as hell to fly, so I didn’t bother, hoping I sub-caps would be important in the long run. Maybe upcoming re-balances will change that…

Have you ever been to Fanfest or any EvE meets? If so, tell us about your experiences.

I’ve been to a couple of very small EVE meets arranged in different places I’ve lived over the years, nothing major. I’d like to go to Iceland someday, but it’s an expense I can’t really justify yet.

Which EvE related websites do you read the most?

I like EVENEWS24, EvE BackStage (where all us RPers hang out), and of course Sovereignty Wars! I’ve also been keeping a close eye on http://dust514base.blogspot.com/ for updates on DUST. You know I’m getting in on that shit.

What kind of advice would you give someone new to Faction War?

Fly around. Do some plexes. Look for corporations operating where you operate, and when you operate. Do plexes, and join with any little fleets you can find publically advertised on the Militia channel (There aren’t many). Then look to join one of those corporations. Get voice comms capability, or no one will even consider you. Making it on your own in FW can be a tough way to go, manly because every militia has a ton of spies. Earning some trust (not much, just enough) will take a little effort.

After that, listen and learn, join every fleet you’re able to, and have a blast. Over time you’ll learn everything you need to be an effective part of militia fleets, or a solo hunter wth a chance at success.

What kind of advice would you give someone who wants to try out role play in EvE?

Read the backstory! There’s a lot of it, and it’s good to know what you’re talking about. Join one of the out-of-character channels (like “OOC”) and get to know some of the folks who do this full-time. Never be afraid to ask advice. From there you should get a good idea of what you’d like to try pretty quickly, be it hooking up with one of the established factions, or breaking off on your own direction. It’s all good.

Are there things you’ve wanted to do in-game that conflicted with your roleplay?

On occasion, yes. I’d love to go on a piracy rampage sometime. I’ve also always wanted to do something with the Blood Raider faction; most attempts to do so end up making them look like Space Goths In Space, and they deserve better. One day when RL allows me the time to fully pursue two separate directions in EVE, maybe I’ll get to enjoy some of those things.

Favorite:

FW System: Kourmonen
EvE Celebrity: Chribba
Wartarget To Shoot: Zenton Karvash
Corpse: Valerie Vatale
Space Station: EFA, Amarr system
Way To Make Isk: FW Missions
Pirate Corp: Veto Corp
Songs To Fly To: This is the most Amarrian Heavy Armor Fleet of Doom song I know: