No place for logic

I think I last mentioned COVID19 on this Blog back in July.  I rambled on about the statistics of the situation we found ourselves in locally.  When I am anxious about something, that is what I try to do.  Build context by gathering information, throw in a dash of compassion, and respond in a measured and logically way.  Talking about COVID19 however can be a fool’s errand, with reason and empathy often thrown to the wind.

Back then we were heading into our second lockdown.  We are still in a version of that lockdown today – restricted in how far we can move, reasons we can leave the house, what shops are open, and who we can mix with.  We have heavily suppressed the community transfer of COVID19, but it feels tenuous.  We are relying on 6.3 Million people to all individually make the right choices while collectively hoping on luck.

On a personal level, my household is doing OK.  We have all been able to continue work and study comfortably and reliably from home.  Life has been able to move forward, be it a slower pace.  Despite being so fortunate, and with some guilt to admit, it has been wearisome and stressful.

With Hi-Sec in a more peaceful state since the Triglavians took off with a bunch of solar systems, I have been able to use EVE as a distraction again.  I have been able to undock and do some mindless mining.  I have been able to roam around new areas with less fear of stumbling into an NPC death.  I have been able to enjoy EVE a little again.

An Offline Gate – during the creation of the Pochven region

The colours of the Amarr / Jita run have changed

Mining can be relaxing again

I noticed an interesting remark in one of the recent in-game news articles.

https://community.eveonline.com/news/news-channels/world-news/galactic-hour-news-roundup-triglavian-totality-edition/

“.. the severing of the Niarja-Kaaputenen corridor remains a matter of deep concern .. Exploratory planning for establishing a new primary civilian stargate link is said to have begun but there has been no public commitment from the Amarr Empire or Caldari State as yet ..”

Maybe we will get some new Star Gates to bring Amarr and Jita closer again? 

The article also alluded to Null Sec bounty changes, which was confirmed in a subsequent DEV Blog:

https://www.eveonline.com/article/qins3g/concord-introduces-the-dynamic-bounty-system

Soon Null Sec NPC Bounty amounts will be hit by a system multiplier.  If a system is being heavily ratted, the payments will be reduced.  If a system has a high level of player combat and deaths, the payments will increase.  If no one is ratting, then the multiplier will stabilize at an equilibrium value. 

In a practical sense that will mean Null-Sec ratters will have to spread out more and overall will earn less in bounty payments.

It will be interesting to see what the political ramifications of this will be.  In the past Coalitions of Players owned huge sways of Null Sec, many left as empty buffer zones.  CCP made it more expensive to own systems, to try and free up some space for small groups in Null Sec.  The Coalitions did reduce their landholdings but made the regions they kept into fortresses; well protected under Super Umbrellas.  Now they are being told they will need more space again.

Dozens of Jumps too far

The state of Niarja and its 26 lost sister systems has been revealed.  They have all been disconnected from the New Eden Gate network and formed into their own Null Sec type region called Pochven. 

Pochven is owned by the Triglavian Collective and takes the form of a triangle shaped loop.  It has a bunch of unique aspects – visuals, NPCs, Gates and what not.  You can only get in and out of the region via Wormholes and filaments, although I think I read that you cannot use the internal gates if you do not have positive Triglavian standings. 

I was about to say that I am sure all the details will come out soon enough, but that is no longer a given.  In years past almost all the secrets of EVE were a Google search away, but that no longer seems the case.  I was guessing there might be less inclination to share, or more closed groups, or walls put up – but the truth might simply be the information is on Steams and Podcasts, sources I don’t generally bother with given their lack of succinctness.

Worryingly DOTLAN still does not have these map updates.  To get a better lay of the land I printed out all the tactical maps for regions that lost systems, plus everything along the new 45 jump Hi-Sec route between Amarr and Jita.  I dutifully crossed off all the stolen systems.  There were Hi-Sec links lost between Domain and The Citadel, Domain and Bleak Lands, Bleak Lands and Sinq Laison, and a jump from Molden Heath to Etherium Reach.  Inner Region travel was also messed up in several locations.  Depending on where you operate and how much attention you pay, it could have had major impacts on your game, or you might have been able to shrug it off and ignore.

I have spent a lot of time in and around Amarr and its markets these last few months.   The initial vibe I have had of the impact of Niarja’s loss has been a sales boost – possibly as individuals stocked up, and others destocked.  More recently however I’ve antidotally noticed stocks of some supplies had less market orders and less volumes than I would have expected.  Amarr obviously meets a need, but I am not sure it will maintain the stocks required to do so in the medium to long term.

With how I play EVE, I find the Amarr market insufficient, and the location now too far from Jita. 

I have been caravanning in my Exploration Orca around Essence and Genesis, undocked and earning ISK, looking for yet another new home.  I do not like the area as much as Domain, but it is not as annoying as Caldari space. I am fairly sure I have settled on a location but am in no rush to move my remaining assets.

3-4 Days

It turns out CCP provided an answer earlier than announced.

I was listening in to one of the EVE Down Under 2020 sessions before and a new Scope Video was shown. It warned that the gates into the systems lost to the Triglavian’s will likely be shutdown in 3 to 4 days, to protect the rest of the gate network.

I presume that means wormhole only access from then on.

I hope Woollari is still about and updates Dotlan when that happens.

Edit.. and it is up on YouTube now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L1TNKqzSaA

News at 18:00

If you have been paying attention to the Agency information you may have noticed that the Triglavians have slacked off on their invasions.

You may also have noticed the new backdrop on the character selection screen.

With great powers of deduction you might have suspected some sort of zenith was approaching. CCP will hopefully be providing an answer at Sunday 11 October at 18:00 UTC.

https://www.eveonline.com/article/qhy4kf/status-briefing-triglavian-invasion

Overall the Triglavian invasion saw me doing less in game. I moved assets around and sold off lots, but I did not otherwise interact all that much with New Eden. It just wasn’t a mechanism / feature I thought much of. I’ve been waiting for it to finish.

Meanwhile WordPress has forced me to use their new post editor today. I’ve been ignoring it for as long as I could as my early impressions were not good. So far I have found it less intuitive and requiring more clicks to do basic things. Some of this will be overcome once I find where all the little configuration options I use are. Excuse me if this particular post is edited multiple times.