ATXI: 90s music and Head bobbing[pic]

There are no words needed for the following:

EveVerse(Tool for Eve Online): an Update

I've put up a forum thread for EveVerse here simply to get feedback from the community about the project. I would really like to know if this is something the community wants and will use.

I am also fishing for early adopters and contributors. So if you would like to help out, then let me know.

Suicide Gankers: The First Attempt

Here I am, afk mining while I work on EveVerse. Along comes Torum Gath and tries to pop me. He failed, which was funny, although me drones never attacked him, so no killmail. But here is the interesting part, he didn't try to gank me on an alt, that was his main character, which he also happens to mine on. Silly, right?

So a little banter in local and along comes:

"Torum Gath placed 1,000,000 ISK in bounty on your head."

Oh dear, a bounty?

"Torum Gath > just to remind u""Torum Gath > when u least expect it""Torum Gath > im coming for u"

So Sugar Kyle has a nice little write up about bounties here(bounties that is, that is also a fantastic blog) and I can honestly say that I don't give a rats arse about such a small bounty. But why did he do it? Was he hoping to extract a few tears from me? Because I was laughing when I saw it. Is there any other reason? I don't know(If you can think of any, leave a comment, I'm curious).

So there you have it, the first attempt on my life. I don't know about other new players, but that didn't bother me one bit. Probably because he didn't blow up my retriever, although I'd probably be more annoyed by the fact that I have to go and buy a new one.

Eve Market: All Quantity, no Quality

"Vitam Deus stepped off his shuttle, eyes burning bright as he looked upon the largest Trading Hub in the universe. Station Traders watched the market tick over, buyers looked for the best deal, and con artists hoped to make some easy money."

My biggest woe in Eve Online would have to be the fact that there is no way for me to create something that I could call mine. Sure I can create things, but I can't make them unique. That is after all what makes each person an individual, isn't it?

Lets take a look at the current creation of items in Eve Online, from start to finish. A miner ventures out and shoots a rock, the ore gets 'refined' and the minerals are stored somewhere. A manufacturer comes along and takes those minerals and makes capital ship parts(Could be anything though). Those parts are then used to build a Capital ship.

Now lets take a look at how this would go in Real Life(Simplified):

A miner ventures out and shoots a rock.
Modifiers:

• The quality of the ore.(How pure the natural ore is)
• The heat from the mining laser.(Places stress on the ore)

The ore get refined:
Modifiers:

• Heat
• Oxygen

And the minerals are stored somewhere.

Modifiers:

• Various stresses(such as not being stored in a pressurized compartment)
• Humidity

And something is manufactured.

Modifiers:

• accuracy of drones/robot arms
• quality of parts/minerals used
• player skill
• level of trained skill
• BPO quality
• BPO ml and pl

With these modifiers everyone, the miner, the refiner, the manufacturer, all need make a choice... Quantity or quality? It also means that manufacturers are more likely to have standing contracts with a single group instead of just grabbing it off the market. But that is just the beginning of this evil little scheme.

Custom BPOs

Currently, each item/ship has its own bonuses and whatnot. But what if players could specialize their items to whatever need the want? A mining laser that focuses on quality instead of quantity? An Orca fitted to be all cargo and no ore? Like ship fitting, except for manufacturing? Now add in enough possibilities and no way for someone to steal your manufacturing fit(Without a lot of pain and trial and error, or just stealing your BPO) and out of it comes an item that is yours and only yours, you can still make BPCs and sell them. But you can now build your brand. You can now do marketing, have your own sales floor, be known as the google of Eve Online.

I know I have barely fleshed out the idea, but I like it, and maybe manufacturers will get as much customization as PvPers?

Tools of the Trade

"The hum of the mining lasers sang a soft song to Vitam's ears, they wooed him, and teased him, promising riches beyond those he had ever owned. His false sense of security dulled his mind, and he slowly drifted off to sleep, only to awake in a clone vat."

Being an Industrialist and/or Entrepreneur in Eve Online is no easy task. It takes time, effort and some grey matter. While quite a few players prefer doing things in a more old fashioned way (Excel spreadsheets anyone?) I believe in choosing the best tool for the job, even if I have to program that tool myself.

While there are many Industry & Trade related tools out there, I decided that I would write my own, and to take it to a whole new level while I'm at it... And so EveVerse was born.

EveVerse is a modular application that provides common functionality that developers would need, such as:

• Access to the Eve Online API, without having to code it themselves.
• Access to Eve Central API.
• Fully fledged windowing system(Something that could take years to write from the ground up).
• Single place where users can install your module from.
• It Auto-updates!

For the users:

• All the tools you need in a single, easy-to-use application.
• Open marketplace where you can download and install modules from.
• Pretty graphs and reports(If the developer chooses to use them)

(Note: this is not a conclusive list as such it may change in future)

The goal of this project is simply to make life easier, for both the developer, and the user. And for me, I write far too many small tools.

Flight of the Fool

"A small Ibis class hull undocks from The Science & Trade Institute, weaving dangerously through the several large Freighter-class ships floating near the station, a few pilots swear and shake their heads as the Ibis passes their hulls, while many simply ignore the dangerous flight of the fledgling capsuleer, dubbed by veterans as the 'flight of the fool'."

Starting out in Eve Online is terrifying. You are thrown into a world where there are so many things to do and no single way to do them. Each time you start a new character, you could go a completely different direction, however by then you at least know what direction that is. For a player that is new to Eve Online, it becomes a rather daunting task. Although many end up in a venture, mining, with no idea what else there is to do. This however is not actually a bad idea. Unless you are going to buy plex to fund your ships and expenses, this is a surefire way to make enough to support yourself. It is also a good way to ease yourself into Eve Online as it requires no real skill, it doesn't require anything at all really.

However I chose to be an industrialist, not to fund PvP or other nasty habits, but rather because I like numbers. Yes I like numbers, give me statistics and I will devour it. Give me raw data and I'll generate statistics from it. And graphs. I love graphs. I'm just one of those boring people that like mathematics I guess.

So that is my dream in Eve Online, yes dream, we all have them, some just don't think they do. You want to fly that <insert ship name here>, don't you? I want to be the biggest and baddest 'carebear' Eve Online has ever seen. I have been quoted drunkenly saying, "I will carebear the fuck out of you.", and I think that is the sum total of my future in Eve Online.

Back to being a new player, my advice for those that come after me: explore the world, explore the community and be sure to check out Mad Ani's Stream (Many useful links listed below it). Learning about the community around Eve Online has helped me understand how the game works and why it works that way.

Another interesting topic I came across while reading many of the third-party websites and blogs is propaganda. Its everywhere. EVERYWHERE. The forum is full of it, comments on anything Eve related would have at least one post with it. Its subtle, its brutal, its funny and sometimes downright obnoxious. So I'll have to keep my eyes out for it, and do my best not to get sucked in.

Welcome & Preface

"Vitam Deus strode into Hangar C-32 and his eyes gleamed as he looked upon the hull of the new Ibis, given to him by the Science and Trade Institute in Jouvulen. It may not have been much, but it was his ship, HE owned it."

If someone were to ask me what it felt like starting out in Eve Online, I would compare it to starting out in life at the age of 18. You know how to walk, but that is about it. You walk(or fly rather) out into a world that you know nothing about, faced with a million possibilities, and you have no idea what to do next. So you do some tutorial missions, and close you eyes... hoping you don't mess up.

Welcome and other silly things

Firsty, I welcome you to my blog, a place for me to ponder about the world(of Eve) and rant on about the woes and troubles of being an Industrialist(or "Carebear" if you wish) in Eve Online. I do ask that you forgive my writing style as I am no great writer.

I would like to leave you with an open mandate to call me out on any silly comments and/or incorrect assumptions I make. However, I do ask that you refrain from making any snide and/or any comments meant to be insulting. This IS a personal blog and as such you do NOT have to read it if you dislike it.

To summarize: if you are just here to troll or spread propaganda, then I ask you to vacate these premises as fast as your stubby troll legs can carry you.

About me

While I don't like sharing too much about myself online, there are a few things I don't mind sharing. I am a Java Developer, I like it and its easy to work with. I do have a few projects in the works for Eve Online and I hope that they will benefit the community.

Gaming is a passion of mine and I have enjoyed titles such as Call of Duty 4, Freelancer, Minecraft and a few others over the years. I tend to dive head first into a game and immerse myself in it, probably to the point where people questioned whether it was healthy. But, as always, there are new games to discover, and old games to give another go.

You may notice that "Vitam Deus" is unknown on the internet(there are some results for "deus vitam" however that is not me) as this is a online handle I have chosen to use for Eve Online.

Website

I'm rather new to the whole blogger thing, so if you have comments or suggestions about using blogger/blogspot then please do let me know!