Sense and Sensibility

This is not a Jane Austen Book but feels it could be just as long

The past ten days have been quite piss poor if I'm honest. Both in EVE and in the real world, the only place where things have been going good is actually my day job and when you don't want to leave and go home that at the end of your shift you know something is either:

1. a. going well
   
   or
   
2. b. seriously wrong 

I've been inpatient and rude with two friends who I was playing World of Warships...

Aside: I lost my temper in WoWS last night and "went pink" doing team damage; I was sick of dying so quickly because teamwork was not in the team vocabulary; when I lose my temper I know there's a problem with the game I'm playing but i digress.

... and EVE Online with. I knew it but I was too bullheaded to admit what a bastard I was and fix it. I've basically been wallowing in my own machinations and that isn't a good place for me to be in.

But tonight that's been fixed and all it took was a constant squeaking from the newest member of the family...

6 week old Hybrid Rainbow/Mustard Lorikeet baby

I've been off my feet for most of the past ten days, I injured my foot and have had serious issues walking. This guy was born just before Christmas and had a sibling but unfortunately in the changeable weather we've had this past week the sibling didn't survive.

Right now I'm hand feeding him (or her) and after they eat they make quite a loud squeaking noise as they digest their food. It can get very annoying if you have to listen to it for any length of time.... and tonight he's been sat less than a metre away from me the whole time he's been squeaking.

Epiphany

It's amazing what a constant annoying noise can do to clear you mind. I've mentioned the PI work I'm starting to manufacture Wetware Mainframes. I've had four characters working for nearly a week collecting raw materials, I've had great feedback and comments (it's my most commented post. Ever!) yet I've ignored all the feedback, the suggestions and the best practices.

In the last 30 minutes I've destroyed every single Command Centre on each planet on every character I was using. Gone, deleted including all materials extracted.

Why? Simple, I was doing it wrong.

From this I realized I needed to change a few things and get out of this rut. I loved PI when it came out, people asked me for advice and help. Am I that much of an expert that I don't need help to do mine? Fark No.

I know nothing, I need to remember that. What I was trying to do was great in principle but it would not work long term, Bex told me that. Althanear told me that and so did other commentators but I ignored them to my mistake.

Making Repairs

I'll be making repairs with my friends over the next day or two. Need to work out what to say and try to repair things the right way rather than an empty apology.

As for the PI well I'm going to go with a different tack and use the suggestions I've got. I'm lucky I have six characters to use with high PI skills so why not try to do things efficiently and try to maximize my return on investment (which is standing at a rather depressing negative four hundred million ISK at the moment).

Better Planning 

Five of the Six characters will make Refined components from each of their planets such as:

• Water-Cooled CPU
• Coolant
• Consumer Electronics
• Nanites
• Livestock
• Construction Blocks
• Test Cultures
• Synthetic Oil
• Fertilizer

I'll then use the final character to combine these into the Specialized commodities that will then be used to make the Wetware Mainframes.

On paper (or Excel) it looks more complicated than what I was trying to do but it is not, it's actually simpler as I don't have to move (large amounts of) raw materials between planets only Refined components (which are considerably smaller).

Watch, Learn, React, Be Proactive

With six characters to use I'm going to have to make changes to production slowly, bottlenecks identified then new production lines bought in to fix those. 

Unfortunately PI hasn't had any worthwhile changes for several releases but what we have is functional.

I'd certainly like to have better control over the flow of materials, I hate that you can't setup links from one storage to another (to act as buffers) like you can with Reactions. I'd love to have templates for planets, being able to select "Coolant Setup" from a predetermined list and see the required factories, links and extractors appear for dropping on a raw material patch would be something I'd very much like.

But this is a space game not planet based :)

In Conclusion

I've rabbited on too much but I now have a clearer view of my way forward with EVE Online and my PI as well as fixing some RL issues that have been ignored for too long.

The Type Of Player No MMO Needs

Warning

The following contains spoilers regarding Star Wars: The Force Awakens. If you haven't seen this movie yet and do not wish a major plot point be spoilt, please stop reading and close this window/tab.

You have been warned.

Remember, I have said spoilers are below. Leave now or continue at your own risk.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is Released

Being in Australia I had the option of seeing it slightly before my northern hemisphere friends but I chose not to because I wanted to go with my wife. Being a "Star Wars Nerd" I didn't mind finding out the plot or spoilers before I saw the movie. For one at least people couldn't ruin it for me but also nothing would stop me enjoying the movies.

Still seeing the following notification when I logged on release day was unexpected:

I didn't get angry but I was disappointed that someone in EVE would do this. Other communities such as Imgur and Reddit were discouraging this and, in someways, actively policing to prevent this happening BUT EVE Online is a game so it's slightly different (not to mention my timezone works against me 99% of the time).

I later found out who it was and it wasn't really a surprise, this person has issues with other members of my Alliance and well, shots fired. Still the fact they'd do this said much about their character and the type of person they are to me.

It's fair to say I had respect for the person before this but it's all gone now. Not that they care, they'll laugh it off and say they don't care. So be it, but if you ever needed help in-game or out and I was able to help.... well let's just say that won't be happening now.

Not that they care, like I said.

A Proportional Response

I wasn't angry by this but it did strike a nerve. I wasn't going to speak to the person behind it, they (in true EVE fashion) would lap up the so called "tears" and not care. So I used the game mechanics available to me and I petitioned it.

I don't know whether my petition struck a nerve with CCP but they were aware of this prior to my petition and my ten paragraphs hopefully swayed them and stirred them into action. It wasn't the best I've ever written nor was it the worst but as I said, there was nothing in the EULA or their Rules that appeared to be broken but it was ethically and morally a shit thing to have done.

Outcome

I've been told that something was done, certainly the Corporation setup was quickly disbanded:

The name "removed". CCP's response was 'as expected' and said nothing of detail but something happened.

I was told a few other things but I can't share them here as my word was given I would not repeat them. But still, CCP did quickly respond and clear this up. Kudos to them for understanding the situation and taking quick and effective action.

384 Minutes

Action

I was involved in a WH operation in mid-November and was flying a Nestor for the first time. I had a RR/Cap buddy and all went well, the buddy was decent and we managed to avoid taking too much fire whilst keeping our friends alive with RR.

The fight was enjoyable but after it was over I really wanted to get out and back to high sec after downtime. 

So I log and then login again after DT and exit via the connection we have to a WH that has a high sec static except the wormhole closes as I pass through, and I didn't notice. I warp off to the high sec I know exists only to find it has disappeared. Ah, urm... bugger.

Perhaps I need to log again and wait 15 minutes as sometimes the HS WH's don't spawn unless the HS has been loaded. 

I login again, the WH is dead. It's a goner too.

Hmm.

Options

Well I had ignored the standing rule of WH's to always have a depot and a probe launcher with core probes in the cargo hold (I later found I did have these.... back in Jita where I bought the ship). So I can't get out, do I suicide?

I can't do that, it's a 1.7b ship and another 300m in implants. If I have to I'll have to do it, the ISK means little I just don't want to do it in a ship I've flown once. So I decide to logout but post in Local before I do in case someone is here. 

Nope. All quiet just the Sleepers and me.

So I log off.

Wavey Timey Wimey

Over the next two weeks I login daily and sit, cloaked, watching d-scan and saying hello in local.

For two weeks nothing, nadda, zip, bugger all. I see ships pass by but no-one answers me back.

Salvation?

It's been two weeks and two days (384 minutes) since I was stuck, by my own stupidity, in this WH. I really was getting close to suicide but I saw an interceptor on d-scan and quickly said hello.

And I got a reply!

The pilot was understanding in my predicament and offered to give me an out via the HS in system, he was using it himself. I really didn't care at this point if it was going to be a trap or he was really helping so I joined his fleet and warped to him.

To land on the K162 WH to high sec.

So, Altair Taff, I thank you for saving my ass from suicide in an unknown WH system and I've rewarded your good samaratian act with 250m ISK as a thank you.

So 384 minutes after he was stuck my WH character was able to return to inhabited space and finally get to use the toilet :)

The peril of ignoring my Internal Auditor

I'm rather pissed off at the moment two things happened on Friday, both are my because of something I did. I wasn't drunk, too tired or in any way incapacitated that I could use to explain this, I was just plain stupid for ignoring my internal auditor.

Mistake One

A mistake on one character meant I accepted a contract I should not have whilst I was doing a large courier contract move all because I wasn't paying attention when I saw the contract, I just accepted it. Sorted it out late last night but haven't had a chance to speak to my CEO and make sure he understands it was an accident and make sure we're good.

Mistake Two

But the biggest mistake I made on Friday involved Large and Capital Rigs and cost me, all up, nearly twenty billion ISK in wealth.

The story is long, involves buy/sell orders over four characters at various trade hubs in New Eden, and is not something I wish to share just now in detail. I have taken notes/screenshots and I may write up exactly how stupid I was in-depth for a later post.

But suffice to say, I should have listened to that voice in my head, whom I call my Internal Auditor, who crops up now and again when I'm playing EVE and about to do something obviously stupid but I am still going to...

Shortish Version

I enjoy making rigs, Large and Capital sized because they sell well and I've got good supplies, via Buy Orders, in a few locations of Salvage materials. Blueprint copies can be found easily for Tech 2 rigs and are usually priced well, often I get them for under their actual value. Profits are good on T1 and T2 variants and I've been very happy.

As a result of being undercut each time I added rigs for sale or changed active sell order prices I was undercut, usually by only a tenth of an ISK but as time wore on it was twenty thousand, hundred thousand or in the case of T2 rigs it was millions at a time.

Unfortunately I did not listen to my most vocal stakeholder when they saw what was happening and stop I kept going and I sold a lot of my T1/T2 rigs at less than my alarm level of 4% profit instead of my usual 15%/20%. I'm pretty sure I sold the majority at less than the actual cost price to produce but because I'd made them weeks/months using materials at the time I don't have records any more on the material prices.

To compound the errors I was making in rigs I also was trying to buy more rig blueprint copies, salvage materials and a few other things. I wasn't paying attention and bought more than I needed and in a couple of cases paid far too much for materials.

Lessons

When the rigs started changing prices I should have quit, it was well after DT and I should have gone to bed but I didn't listen to my Internal Auditor and quit when I should have. The end result being I've lost nearly 20 billion in wealth in less than one day.

I've seen where I've gone wrong and I've learnt the lesson, fortunately this wasn't the RL stock market where it would have a seriously implication. 

That isn't to say this doesn't have an impact on EVE for me. I'm going to have to make this money back and a couple of manufacturing projects I was looking into I'm going to have to postpone until I do because I no longer have the liquid ISK available.

I need to make sure I don't make the same mistakes again and I've learnt a hard lesson because I didn't listen to my Internal Auditor.

Revenge. Served cold 25 Days Later

A kill right is defined as:

Kill Rights are your chance of retribution and are provided to you in those cases where you have been wronged by another player in the eyes of CONCORD.

It's simple to remember, if you attack someone and/or kill someone in high sec that is no flagged as suspect you receive the pointy end of the stick from CONCORD but also the pilot(s) you attack will get a kill right that they can either use or sell.

Remember, they last 30 days from the date and time that aggression occurred. Once a kill right expires thats it you cannot legally attack them in high sec without CONCORD intervention. 

Bex has today used this to good effect and got a nice kill on someone who attacked him in a DED site 25 days ago.

Wavy Lines, Time Travel

16th August 2014, the pilot VVS Solt was flying using his Vexor Navy Issue in a DED site in the Sivala system. Bex also probed then entered the site and proceeded to kill the faction rat that had spawned, ignoring the rest of the rats.

VVS Solt didn't like this and locked Bex up and attacked him. Only problem was Bex wasn't suspect nor had he attacked VVS Solt and as a result CONCORD appeared and killed the Vexor Navy Issue without so much as a "hello".

Bex, of course, landed a few good hits on his attacker and as a result received the kill and a kill right on the attacking pilot. He then finished the site and received some faction loot for his effort. VVS Solt received nothing.

More Wavy Lines, Return to Present

Bex always intended on using the kill right he had been gifted by VVS Solt but moving into a new wormhole he had been too busy to track him down. Until yesterday when he saw that he had 5 days left on his kill right and so ran a locate on VVS Solt and found he was undocked in a high sec system 32 jumps away...

Fuck it, what else am I doing?
                               - Apex Bex

The answer was nothing interesting; so Bex made the 32 jump trip to find a single station but no target in Local. A second locate found VVS Solt in a Low Sec system a couple of jumps away, Bex was wary of engaging in low sec as his target may have friends there or any engagement would be interfered with by other parties. So he decided to wait for him to return to high sec.

Even More Wavy... wait No, it was just 20 minutes later and Bex sees VVS Solt jump back into High sec and dock in station where he remains for 90 minutes before undocking in a Vexor Navy Issue and warping to an anomaly where he proceeds to shoot the NPC rats.

Oh No He Didn't

Yes, he did warp to an anomaly oblivious to the threat in local.

Apex Bex followed him to the anomaly, activating his kill right, and VVS Solt's Vexor Navy Issue soon become nothing more than a wreck. This wreck however was filled with a few nice deadspace modules that Bex can sell to replenish the ammunition he expended.

Lessons Learnt

There are many lessons that could be learnt from this, some of the most important I'd say are:

• Kill mails aren't for life, they're for 30 days and they can be redeemed ANYTIME in this period
• Apex Bex is an evil man whom you shoot at your own risk but whom will probably come back and haunt you when you least expect it
• Deadspace modules are dropping in price and some are depressingly low value now
• Patience can earn an excellent reward

Bex is an evil man but he seems to get more than his fair share of fun stuff happening to him, I hate him a little bit more when this stuff happens to him.

Stupid, just plain Stupid

Learning the Lesson

Over time in EVE you learn lots of lessons, some small, some larger and at some point your CEO will yell at you for doing something stupid.

Last night I took a chance and was made to look, at minimum foolish but in all honesty I was stupid in travelling through Doril, just after DT, on my way to high sec in an Amarr Shuttle:

https://zkillboard.com/kill/39468691/

I don't think my CEO has seen that yet, as I'm still alive.

"You lost what!"

Unlucky

When I jumped the grid started loading but there was no bubble visible in space so I clicked to enter warp but nothing happened. 

I tried again and even selected the gate in case I could make it back before dying but the EVE client did not appear to be functioning as the right side of my screen was just white and my overview was not updating or responding to my actions.

The result: I died and woke up in my clone in high sec.

Lucky

After I awoke in my new clone I decided to petitioned this, I believe I would have been safe had my ship entered warp as I instructed it to had the graphical issue not prevented the UI from reacting to my actions. 

I submitted the ticket, including details of my system setup (I don't overclock), what happened and why I'm petitioning along with the screenshot that I took showing the graphical issue.

I then went to bed.

I woke this morning and logged into the character and noticed that I had an Amarr Shuttle in my hanger that had not been there last night, so I clicked on the Inventory icon and was greeted with this:

Petition Successful

Yes, my petition had been successful. I needed to upgrade my clone but I had had my implants returned and the shuttle to boot!

Lessons

One: simple, the lesson for me was don't fly stupidly. 

I did and it's only due to luck that I have not lost anything but ISK (on the new clone). The character can't fly my runabout Interceptor fit (he needs Evasive Maneuvering V) but I will now be altering his skills to make sure he can fly that fit in the future.

Oh and of course: 

Two: don't fly through Doril in a shuttle just after DT.