Change of Plan

The plan was simple, get some BPO's for the new Bowhead and move them to to Jita/Amarr for sale and quick profit just after the patch was released.

Planning had put jump clones in the system where the BPO's would be, a route was planned and additional resources moved there in preparation for the night. Energy drinks were consumed before hand (as the DT would mean a late night in my time zone) and we were ready to go.

Small Issue

Then we logged in and found 34 people in local within minutes of the server being online. This grew to over 50 and attempts to undock found ships surrounding the station and large bubbles covering the undock arena.

Undocking was not an option and even if we'd been able to insta-warp its probable, based on what we saw that we'd be insta-locked and pointed/blapped. This did happen as pilot can confirm:

Loot Fairy certainly was good to the campers.

Bex even tried a little theory crafting on SiSi to see if he could do anything to avoid the camp but nothing came of it and we logged off nearly two hours after the server came online.

At the time I was a little pissed off at CCP and the campers. CCP for seeding the BPO's in a place that was easy to camp and the campers for profiting from CCP's oversight.

However this morning I have woken up and I'm not at all annoyed like I was last night. The game was working fine and hats off to the campers for being in the right place at the right time. I've purchased a BPO from the market (I can afford a slightly inflated price after all) and started a couple of points of research whilst I assemble the rest of the components I need to make one.

Profit?

I noticed with my skills that it will take a little over 13 hours to create a copy of the blueprint so in a week I should be able to create at least twelve copies. Twelve copies sold at 150m each would return the outlay of my reserach AND BPO cost.

Return on investment in just over 7 days, that's got to be worth it.

Of course I'm dependant on the price of the Bowhead BPC but once I complete my research on it I'll just keep making copies and selling them. Either way, I'll recover my costs just when is unknown.

Confessor Your Sins

Sorry about the title, it was funny in my head.

SiSi has been updated and the first look of the new Amarrian T3 Destroyer is available for all to see. Previously we had just a view/the model of the actual ship now we have some statistics and details of the bonuses the ship will have.

Traits, Attributes and Fitting

Thanks to Althanear for the screenshots.

With the introduction the new Modes the Traits page is one of the longest of any ship in game. Nicely laid out and easy to see what the ship has and each mode brings to the table.

tbh, defensive mode will be the go-to

                       - Apex Bex

Of course the stats are subject to change but with only a week til release I think its fair to say that the slot layout is fixed.

Seven high lots which can fit six guns and still has a utility high slot free for a neut or nos. Three mids is going to limit tackle options and five low slots seems rather anemic for both tank and damage modifiers. I think we'll see these ships in either a sniper (range ~80km to 100km) or a "heavy" tank variant with a prop mod and a scram/point with tank provided by speed so a DC II perhaps a Adaptive Nano Membrane and speed/agility mods in the remain low slots.

Fast Tackle

if this is for going through frig holes, people are going to want them to be heavy tackle and dps

                                                                                                                                     - Apex Bex

The Defensive mode looks to be the best option of the modes available, Speed is appealing but speed can only get you so far before you get into a tight orbit and if you're taking damage then speed really isn't going to help.

With a decent buffer and resists you're looking at 19,000 EHP (ingame) with DPS in the region of 350 (skill dependant).

The larger destroyer hull means you'll take more damage than a smaller interceptor or frigate, and the interceptor is designed to tackle where as this isn't. Its got three modes which means three purposes instead of one that most other ships have.

I've spoken to a few friends who think that the Confessor is going to be a white elephant and based on the statistics it has it looks like they may be right. It has nothing that makes it any better than a current ship that is dedicated to that role. 

So Whats The Point

Aside from its new and looks great I can't see a role or purpose for this ship.

Interceptors tackle better, T1 frigates and destroyers will be able to shoot just as well and (ignoring the sniper mode) range isn't an issue. Speaking of which I found it ridiculous that the ship can lock and snipe out to 100km but the guns could only go as far as 60km in the testing I did. 

Pitiful.

You can fit to get 500dps from the Confessor and include a local repair module but turns from a brawler into a glass cannon with anaemic defence attributes but I would not do this, it would be throwing ISK away everytime.

Sure other ships don't have the ability to switch modes on-the-fly but they don't need to. They (especially after rebalancing) have a singular role or purpose and (now) do it well.

I can see Confessors (and the other new ships) carrying Mobile Deports to refit but this isn't ideal. For one thing if you're in the middle of hostile space you've got to find somewhere to refit and then you may do so whilst being probed down. Not ideal circumstances for refitting.

What If You Changed This

mark my words, in its current form, it's a white elephant

                                                                 - Anon (I don't want to embarrass them)

I like the ideal of these smaller ships. I'm a capital pilot, I love my battleships and larger vessels but I do enjoy wathcing and (rarely) partaking in fleets of smaller and more nimble ships. A fleet of Confessors, supported with T1 logistics and a few interceptors/fast tackle would leave wrecks whereever it went.

But what if we made a small change to the confessor, in the defensive mode add the ability to increase the range and output of remote repair modules? Imagine a fleet of Confessors roaming that could spider tank and put out between 300 and 400 dps and could repair themselves. That would be a fun fleet and would certainly get fights where ever it went.

Edit: The idea for the logi bonus for spider tanking was first proposed by Apex Bex, happy now?

Enough, You've Rambled Long 

The Idea - 8/10

The Implementation - 4/10

I know it hasn't been released yet but playing with it on SiSi and getting feedback from people who have used it I want to love the Confessor but as it stands I cannot. 

A Week In Short

Lore

I really have to thank the EVE subreddit for making me get into the EVE Lore more. A couple of the recent threads about "Catherine's Star" have been fascinating and piqued my interest in what the story I'm involved in is.

I found it funny reading Templar One and reading more about the history of the Amarr that I actually find myself dispising them. Even funnier considering that all my characters are Amarrian and I've ben known to refer to friends who are Caldari as "Caldari scum"... and they're supposed to be our allies!

I don't think I'll go full RP, I'd probably find it a little too weird, but I have enjoyed reading about about the history of the Pirate Factions, the major races and where Sleepers fit in. I'm pretty sure I've only scratched the surface so I have a lot more reading to do.

With Christmas approaching I know I'll be visiting various family so I'll load up the iPad with reading material to keep be entertained.

Ticking Along

Not much to report with my industrial juggernaut. Towers are ticking over, wares are shipped to Jita for redistrubtion, at a nice profit, and unfortunately I've found myself not logging in most days with my null sec characters.

My high sec ones are doing well, nearly three quarters of a million LP for one store from L4 missions. As boring and repetiative as they are I do find time to do a few in a row and the odd Storyline does mean I get some nice loot.

I've had three Shipyard Theft storylines in a row so far, with each one giving me a different Leadership Implant.

New Opportunity

One of my characters will be, very shortly, leaving my holding corporation and striking out on his own. I've identified a new home for him and hopefully I'll be able to join up and see if I can live in a wormhole once more.

I'm sure I can, just got a few skills to update before I do join...

Rhea Approaches

With the release of the Rhea expansion in a weeks time I've been getting ready to make a few Bowhead for myself and friends. I've had to invest in Capital Part BPO's and that's cost few billion ISK but at least I can research and use them for other jobs later.

I'm interested in the new T3 Destroyer although I don't think its going to be cheap to start with, regardless at some point I'll get one or at least try to build one. An interesting premise the Confessor is, with the three modes. Although I really think it will lack in the DPS department with only 5 low slots.

Aside from that I'm not really doing much market speculation or investment. Rhea is going to be my quiet-ish expansion.

Scratching the Surface

It wasn't until a few weeks after I started playing EVE Online that I learnt that instead of just being a "space based game" it was a "space based game with a story". 

I've never really read much about the back story and lore that EVE Online is built, I've always intended too but something has always sidetracked me and I've never got around to it. Until last night that is...

A New Star

Whilst reading Reddit I found this thread that had an image that showed that, when in space in the Perrigen Falls region that there was a new star visible. A comparission image was shown showing normal/classic star alongside this one and it certainly does look different.

Image credit to dragonshardz from /r/eve

Interesting I thought and read the comments in the thread and found CCP Falcon had commented:

It's like he's in a Procurer sitting in a belt, looks like bait. I thought no more of it, aside that the star within game looked awesome and it must be part of the continuing lore. A few more pictures were posted showing the star was visible from other regions, but not as bright as if the light hadn't reached them yet... awesome attention to detail CCP.

Speculation

I checked the thread on Reddit a couple more times yesterday and was amazed at how busy it was with people adding speculation or making comment on how it would integrate with the coming Sleeper story that was progressing within the game.

This morning I've seen another post that the star has gotten brighter since yesterday:

Lets just spare a moment to admire that screenshot from the game. 

Not content with that some players have tried to find out what star this is and quite how they did it is beyond me but they seem to have narrowed it the location down a constellation and then a specific star in Jove space. Speculation around this was fascinating to read and there are some seriously clever players in EVE who know not just EVE but so many other subjects that are useful.

Anyway, enough pontificating the belief is that the star is VYX2-I in Jove space although some believe it is W477-P because it had two jumps recorded in the 24 hours before the star appeared. Regardless it appears that something has happened to a Star in Jova space that suggests a high energy event or some form of supernova!

E.L.E.

Jovians have been part of the lore of EVE since the beginning and being a non-playable race there is a lot of rumour and guess work about who they are. It was revealed at some point that there was a disease, called the Jovian Disease, that was killing the Jove and as a result it was suspected that the Jovian race had actually died out and all that left was their technology. This was backed up in books and other Lore by comments about the lack of contact between the Empires and the Jovians in the last 100 years (game time). 

So the Jovians are dead and then I read this on Reddit this morning. Is it coincidence, that the latest update on SiSi seems to have removed all the stargates in Jove Space. 

Image credit to Nu11u5 of r/eve

Interesting development especially as the poster made note that there WERE 101 Stargates in Jove Space and in Rhea we'll be getting 101 new wormhole systems...

What Now

I have no idea but CCP have obviously had a plan and this is all coming to fruition with the release of Rhea next week. I'm certainly in no position to comment or speculate on the Lore aspect of EVE Online but I am going to be reading a lot more so I can understand what is going on.

It appears that I've only scratched the surface of the story of EVE Online and I'm eager to learn more and I've already started reading Templar One to try to understand what is going on but I think I'm going to be rather busy this weekend on the official wiki site reading what there is on the story that I'm a part of.

Thar She Blows

Announced during EVE Vegas was that there would be a new ship coming in Rhea and I covered "The Tug" (as it was then known) briefly in my Pre-Phoebe post. 

We've finally been given more details and Rhea is set to see the release of the Bowhead, a frieghter sized vessel that contains a very large Ship Maintenance Array designed to carry assembled ships through New Eden. 

Learning To Fly

Being a new ship class means the chance to introduce a new skill for pilots to learn and this means we're going to see the introduction of the Ore Freighter skill. No details have been provided (outside of what bonuses the Bowhead gets from this skill) but I'd expect it to be the same training modifier level as the existing Racial Freighter skills and cost the same (~100m ISK).

Statistics

BOWHEAD

Ore Freighter Bonus:

5% bonus to inertia modifier per level

5% bonus to ship maintenance array capacity per level

Role Bonus: 

90% reduction in jump fatigue generation

Slot layout: 0H, 3M, 3L, 3R; 0 turrets, 0 launchers

Fittings: 1350 PWG, 215 CPU

Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 21000 / 11000 / 39500

Capacitor (amount / recharge) : 3900 / 235000 

Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / warp speed / align time): 65 / .0675 / 640000000 / 1.37 / 59.89s

Drones (bandwidth / bay): 0 / 0

Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 51.5km / 45 / 3

Capacity (cargo / ship maintenance array): 4000 / 1300000 (goes up to 1.6 something with ore freighter 5)

Sensor strength: 12 

Signature radius: 3200

Reasonable PG/CPU along with 3 each of mid, low and rig slots mean plenty of fitting options available. The Defense statistics suggest that Shield tanking might be viable, more likely a propulsion mod and maybe a shield extender or two, but I'm certain that Hull Tanking (as with Freighters) will be the fitting of choice.

The Forums Speak

The initial details resulted in a lot of feedback on the Forums, as usual some was constructive most was not but that that was constructive has already seen to have caused a change to the Bowhead. The per Level velocity bonus has changed to an inertia modifier and extra Defense added, mainly to the Shields and Structure.

The change to modifying inertia instead of velocity makes a lot of sense and I agree with it. When you're flying a Freighter/Jump Freighter it is the inertia that matters not how fast you can go. Sure if you're AP'ing 20 jumps having an extra 30m/s will make you do that 15km to the gate faster but you'll be losing out because you're going to be entering warp slower due to your inertia.

Gank Target

Ganks happen and happen a lot. Its not uncommon for me to browse through the kills in a major 0.5 high sec system and see dozens of catalysts or tornados lost to kill a single Freighter/Jump Freighter and most of the time these aren't well tanked and are fit for maximum cargo or maximum agility.

A lot of pilots do fit for tank and split their cargo up and take the time penalty for a couple of extra runs rather than risk losing the lot to a gank. Regardless a large cargo carrying ship is going to have a massive target recticle painted on it and the Bowhead will be no different.

Its been said that if a Bowhead is destroyed then anything that survivcs the loot fairy will be lootable by a player from the wreck. This will mean we are going to see Bowheads targeted by gankers not just because its a fat target but because the expectation is it will contain valuable cargo in the form of fitted ships.

Incursion runners are expected to be a major user of the Bowhead to carry their bling fit incursion ships and even just killing on Bowhead and having one blinged out ship dropped will be enough to fund dozens of more ganks.

Defence

With a hull tank fit the Bowhead is expected to have around 420k to 450k EHP and this should be more than enough for the average pilot. Depending on skills we may see this top out just around the 500k mark but if you're fitting anything but tank modules to this then you're asking for trouble in my opinion.

There is no need for cargo modifications, this is a ship carrying vessel not a cargo mover, and any cargo space should be for small modules and other things that cannot be put into a ship in an SMA and should not need increasing.

I'm certainly going to spend the ISK to hull tank any ship I get as well as looking at getting T2 variations of any rigs. The expense will be worth it if I can put off just one gank attempt.