Day 10 and still being Trolled

The daily login in prank continues. I have taken to not redeeming the items. A silent, unnoticed and ineffective protest – just because.

It seemed I timed the removal of my Astrahus well.

https://www.eveonline.com/article/q9ayo4/forsaken-fortress-coming-26-may

On May 26 with the Forsaken Fortress update, all those abandoned Structures will become easier to kill loot pinatas.

Structures that have not had any fuel consumed by a service module for 7 days will move from Low Power to a new Abandoned state.

In this abandoned state there are no reinforcement phases – so it can be destroyed in one session. It will not provide tethering, and there will be no Asset Safety.

I hope the killboard operators bump up system resources before then.

I do not understand why CCP did not do this earlier. In fact – it should have been in place from day one.

I do have two concerns with the change.

The first is the 7-day period. It should be 14 days, possibly a bit longer. Allow for people to make the mistake of not fuelling a structure before they go on Holidays. 7 days is however a very CCP type of time frame.  I guess they also don’t want the system to be played, where people bring a module online for just an hour (costs 3 days of fuel from memory), to extend the low power period.

The second is the lack of a viable smaller tier of structures for solo or small corporation use. I find the current structures are not really a viable fit for casual play. It is hard to consistently generate enough planned content from them to justify the ongoing cost (or risk). This change makes it even less viable.

I prefer this change to exist than not to exist, but I do wish there were smaller, limited and scaled down versions of structures. At the very least, to allow me to flag my Corporation / Alliance as being able to be War Dec’d, without having to maintain one of the current structures.

Day 2 and Trolled

Day 2 of the latest Login Bonus Campaign and I was surprised to see a Frigate Blueprint being given to my Omega Accounts, and a Frigate Module Blueprint to my Alpha Account.

The gift read as, and in the redeeming system looked like, a BPO.  That turned out to be a CCP troll.

What was redeemed was a non-researched, 1 run BPC.

In other news, I safely unanchored my Astrahus.  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the 7 day unanchor timer?  Once or fifty times you say?  It had just been sitting idle.  The experiment was done, I used the structure fighters to kill some Triglavians, and I had nothing else left to do with it.

It is still a somewhat stressful process – trying to remember about it 7 days later for starters, and making sure it is not obvious what you are up too.

I have almost finished my move.  I have a bunch of fuel to shift, a couple of Alts, and a few clones.  I’ve been frequently scanned while going through Gank choke points and left alone – so my level of caution has so far paid off.  (At the cost of so many more jumps.)

I saw another somewhat scam during my move.  Passing through a system in my Freighter I had someone try to initiate a private chat.  I dismissed the request, but a few seconds later another popped up.  I thought to myself “I wonder what he wants to talk about” – then realised the second request was not a plead to please chat – but a duel request.  If I had not been paying attention and entertained his chat request, I would have been down one Freighter and 700M ISK of Fuel.  An obvious trick, but I hadn’t had it tried on me before.

 

When a log in bonus is not

CCP has started yet another daily login reward campaign.

 

This one has been changed / adjusted yet again.

On Day 1 my accounts got random Boosters.  You have 14 odd days to use them, and once redeemed, they are automatically applied.  My Omega Accounts gave +3% Boosters, the Alpha Account +2%.  The first increased Armor Repair bonuses, the second added to the Optimal Range for something, and the third, I don’t know what it did, I stopped paying attention.   I think they last for all of 15 minutes, plus whatever extension your Biology skill provides.

My Omega accounts also got 6,000 of 150,000 Skill Points, which would only be allocated when the full amount of points was accumulated.  The Alpha account got 2,000 of 50,000.  If the amount remains static, that would require another 24 days of logging in.

How many Login Campaigns can you do before you have done too many?  Is it better to have no login bonus campaign than to have one which is completely underwhelming?  These are questions I would like CCP to consider.

 

Surgery with a hammer

The Ancient Gaming Noob stole my thunder with his faster posting, pointing out the mismatch between the Surgical Strike name and some of the changes it introduced.

https://tagn.wordpress.com/2020/04/15/ccp-launches-a-surgical-strike-on-new-eden/

I had written some related witty critiques, but they now seem all too second hand.

I wrote down the pre-nerf EHP of about 25 of my more commonly used ship hulls. With Pyfa having been updated quickly, I’ve been able to go back and compare pre- and post-surgery figures.

Almost every ship has lost Effective Hit Points, but generally in around the 5-10% mark. I may be able to claw some of that back with fitting changes. The patch notes point out that the resistance nerfs –

     Does not include resistance rigs or damage controls.

I might be able to add Extenders and Plates and move some resistance to rigs.

 

There were however some – Oh Good God – impacts.

My Bustard (Deep Space Transport) EHP dropped from 115K to 93K.

My Impel (Deep Space Transport) EHP dropped from 118K to 99K.

My Obelisk (Freighter) went from 419K to 503K.

My Orca was hit to a less extent, with EHP dropping from 520K to 493K.

 

Unfortunately for me my most used hauler is the Impel. I’ve done some early refit investigations, but the results are not looking good. What a massive nerf.

The Obelisk buff is noticeable, but I don’t tend to fly it that much. Mostly only for high volume but cheap cargo.

All the above is obviously remarked on from my biased perception around how I play the game. Capital owners – where the initial impetus for these changes was kicked off from, will likely be gnashing their teeth somewhat more.

Most oddly, the higher number of Suicide Gankers I was noticing all Easter Weekend went – at least initially – quiet immediately after the update.  We shall see how long that lasts.

Undocking so CCP Success?

I have been more active in EVE the last few days than I have been in the last few months combined.

I’ve had a quick look at everything I currently fly (I have 50 odd ships on my main) and I think there are only two that won’t be impacted by the Shield and Armor resist nerf. My Obelisk Freighter only has Hull tank modules. My Noctis Salvager is also only hull tanked, but it does have a Damage Control fitted. I assume it will have reduced effectiveness for Shield and Armor – but the overall EHP difference on the Noctis shouldn’t be that much.

I use three other Hull tanked ships – my Orcas, Porpoises, and the recently purchased Bowhead. While primarily Hull tanked, these also have secondary shield tanks, particularly while travelling. It won’t be a huge nerf, but I will have to revisit their fits.

Everything else will need to be reviewed carefully. I have a bunch of niche / fun to occasionally fly hulls that I suspect will no longer be viable. Particularly some of the PVP hulls I have turned into PVE ships. A lot of these might end up being discarded.

Further to these initial Pyfa reviews, I have also been busy consolidating almost all my ships into a single location, with a collection of spare modules, and easier access to a trading hub. This will allow me to update their fits as required. I expect it will be a long, time consuming task to get through them all.

I am also mindful that my Mining ships and most of my Haulers will be easier to gank. The lower EHP combined with the 15% buff CCP is giving to short ranged ammo types are a Gankers wet dream. I can adjust by hauling cheaper loads and using my Orcas more often, but it is going to take a while before I find out what the new tank / risk balance is.

I have also had to stop and consider where I have been based in game. My current home has two frequently used ganking systems between it and Jita. One is so close it impacts my in-region shopping and trading runs.

While the current home has been good while I’ve used my Custom Offices to build and play around with several Structures, it has gotten busier over time. Exploration content is regularly cleared and more recently, belts stripped.

In the end I decided to move again, consolidating several bases into a new location. It seems to be a little quieter and has adjacent systems which also tend to be quiet. It also gets me past the nearest ganking system. I have had a sense of urgency to move as hauling is likely to be more dangerous from now on.

I got a reasonable proportion of the assets moved in over the Easter break, but there were a surprising number of pilots out ganking. I had to resort to using my Orca loaded with lower value cargo than I would normally have. In the end I made many more jumps than I was expecting too, and still hadn’t finished. All the important stuff has been moved. The rest can wait.

Sucking lemons

Three days ago, I sourly pointed out that CCP were going to reduce the effectiveness of all Shield and Armor resistance modules by 20%. I immediately knew it would have a big impact on the risk verses reward calculations I do in EVE. My Haulers will be easier to gank. How much less value can I now (relatively) safely haul? My mining ships will be easier to gank. Does this make certain fits or hulls less viable now? All my PVE ships will be easier to kill. What content might that impact me running? Does it reduce how much bling I fit to those ships now that they can be ganked easier?

I will have to review and likely change the fit of almost every ship I own (aside maybe some of the Hull Tanked Ore ships).

CCP has since put out a follow up Forum post.

https://forums.eveonline.com/t/surgical-strike-update-follow-up/231061

In it they indicated it was not their intention to make suicide ganking easier or cheaper. That suggests they did not foresee that consequence. Anyway, I’ll have to shake my head at that and move on. They are planning to increase Freighter HP and will investigate the state of High Sec ganking to see if they need to make further changes. That means if they remember to look at Industrials and Mining Ships, and you lose enough of them, they might do something about it down the track.

CCP also said they were concerned about the viability of high end PVE after the Nerf. They are assuming people will have to swap out damage mods for more tank, and as a result income generation will come down. They are going to monitor if this is all that happens. That means if you lose enough PVE ships, they might do something about it down the track.

So once again the game is changing in a way you suspect the developers didn’t really think through.  If it upsets enough people, they might revise their changes some time down the track.  It seems a very odd business model.

Meanwhile I have been flying around a new toy.

The Bowhead can be flown using the MWD / Warp trick, so doesn’t feel as cumbersome as a Freighter. It can also be tanked better. It does bring up the quandary though – what value of ships is somewhat safe to haul in it?

Strangely it is so large that it doesn’t seem to sit nicely in the hanger. I can’t scroll in or out with it, and because my hanger is offset, at certain angles it won’t all fit on the screen

Celebrating Generosity with Generosity

As mentioned a post or two back, the latest bonus for logging in event starts shortly.  Details are here:

https://www.eveonline.com/article/q8gya2/capsuleer-generosity-celebration

You can see a picture of some of the skins on offer, which I quite like the look of.

In game I am consolidating some of my assets.  I am grabbing them before all my Haulers become easier to Gank.

I’ve also started to gather some of the flotsam I’ve left laying around from my various projects and whatnot.  This includes lots of ships I really can’t be bothered reviewing the fits of.  It is amazing how quickly these things start piling up.  I will sell most of it off.

EDIT.. Unusually, the Frontier Safeguarder skins are activated automatically, and are not placed in your inventory.  I am not sure I like that, especially given some of the skins you get will be randomly allocated.  I am guessing they might add them to the New Eden store later for PLEX for those wanting the complete set..

PLEX for Good

EVE’s PLEX for Good is back – this time to support the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

https://www.eveonline.com/article/q87rxe/plex-for-good-covid-19

It will be interesting to see what sort of response it gets.

I donated as I usually do for these things, but I am going to have to rethink that moving forward.  The Australian / US exchange rate is really poor, so my money will stretch much further (and be tax deductible) if I support something local instead.

 

Death will be the life of us

CCP continues down the path of thinking that if everyone dies more often their game will be resurrected.

https://www.eveonline.com/article/q8f2l8/surgical-strike-coming-15-april

To that end in the Surgical Strike release on April 15, they are reducing the effectiveness of ALL modules that increase shield or armour resistances by 20%.

They start off by vomiting some crap about how it will improve Capital balancing and reduce Logistics effectiveness, but who it will mostly hurt are solo players.

If I had any doubt about the wisdom of the change, there were the magic words from CCP – “There is excitement here about this approach”.  Most times CCP get giddy with excitement, they are about to do something that damages their game.

Anyway – as you can see the bitter overflows.

On a brighter note, CCP have some log in bonus going on between April 9 through 16 that give out some nice looking emergency vehicle skins.

Distracted

I have finished collecting all my mineral and fuel stockpiles. I grabbed the last of it with a 50-odd jump trip in a Freighter. There’s a process that you want to multi-task through – just to maintain your sanity.

I have enough minerals and fuel to cover most projects I might get inspired to do..

Skill training continues to slowly tick over. I had a long run of skills in my queue that had little value to my game play – now or likely in future. Outpost Construction IV, Doomsday Rapid Firing IV, Triglavian Quantum Engineering IV and so on. It was many months’ worth of training. The result was getting all my injected skills to at least Rank IV. This was done so my skill lists lined up and looked neater. (True.)

I am now back to doing training that might have impact. The first finished skill was Command Burst Specialist V, which was followed by Hybrid Weapon Rigging V. I am now working on Projectile Weapon and Launcher Rigging V. That will see me maxed out in the rigging category.

I am still missing the two latest skills – Precursor Dreadnought and Capital Precursor Weapon. They are both too expensive for a just to have skill. The Astronautic Engineering skill I am missing was 16.9B ISK the last time I looked at the market. Another not worth buying. I do recall seeing it for 1-2B ISK when I first looked at what I had to do to get all skills trained. If only I had purchased it then.

Last my main is currently sitting on 2.8M unallocated skill points. All collected through in game giveaways and events over the last…? I can’t quite remember, but I would assume it was less than a year.

I haven’t done a great deal of gaming – of any type – for the last month or more. I have been distracted by the events of the world.

Coronavirus.

My household is – and it probably comes as little surprise given how I play EVE, reasonably prepared. We heeded the early advice and slowly stocked up the pantry before it became fashionable to panic buy.

My wife and I are still working. I shouldn’t be but the boss went out of his way to retain me on reduced hours. It is uncertain if my wife will be stood down for a period or not. I wouldn’t want to bet on it either way. We are however reasonably financially sensible, so have a buffer and time if the worst were to happen.

We have been pragmatic and responsible. I hope we can give the kids a small bastion of somewhat calm normality at home while the troubles of the world rage on outside the door.

In proportional terms, at this point Australia is being hit less severely by the virus than many other countries. The Government has us in a 6+ month staged shutdown, which is possibly helping the situation.

I am doing my best to be calm and rational, but the world around me is a bit mad. The virus is bringing the worst out in some people. It seems that palpable fear can trump logic, morals and compassion. I apparently know a lot of willingly ignorant, selfish, racist, sanctimonious gits. In their defence, their views are not being helped by a criminally negligent news media, pushing revenue and agendas through misreporting and fear-mongering. Interesting how we can make a dire situation worse for ourselves.