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Tag Archives: Roc Wieler
Blog Banter #10 – Shellfish
Welcome to the tenth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!
This month’s banter leans a little, OK a lot, on the academic side. It comes to us from xiphos83 of A Misguided Adventurer, who asks the following: ” Victor Davis Hanson argues that western culture, comprising of ideals such as freedom, debate, capitalism, and consensual government, are what make western society so successful at waging war. These ideologies create a warrior who’s direct participation in government, ability to think freely, and desire to remain free, fights harder and is willing to suffer more than his conscripted foe. Though a military must remain a structured oligarchy to fight a war effectively, why in a world where military conflict is as familiar as breathing are there so few alliances that embrace these ideologies when governing their members?”
The fundamental flaw in this month’s banter topic is trying to compare this particular aspect of real life theology to a multiplayer gaming universe.
In real life, everything said in this banter topic can be true. It is an ideal to which many strive.
Ingame, the difference is really quite simple. I play my game in the way that I see fit. If I find it fun, I do it. If I don’t want to do it, I don’t have to.
As long as I pay my monthly subscription fee, I can be as selfless or as selfish as I want.
This is why corporations fail.
EVE Online is ultimately a game. It is not a job. In fact, I know a few players who dread logging in at times because it can feel like a part-time job, consuming all our free hours, sucking us into its ever evolving depth.
Let’s look at a corporation CEO. They more than likely formed the corp because they had an idea of how they wanted to play the game. They wanted to run a corp and thought it would be fun to see things go their way. Or they may have formed the corp with like minded friends, either from real life, or ingame.
No matter how noble the cause may be, we all have our own idea on how to reach the objective. Because we are not forced to work together, ultimately we can choose to walk away at any point in time. Eve will still be there. We can join another corp, or not; the choice is up to us.
We are all equal in Eve. That is something the real world cannot offer.
The politician, the soldier, the worker; everyone has someone they answer to, even the President of the United States. We must perform our duty, or we are removed from that post. Period. The consequences are much more severe in real life.
Is that to say there hasn’t been, or cannot be successful alliances in Eve? Of course not. Some alliances have shown great success, having thousands of like minded players working towards several smaller goals, driven by one overarching objective. And because it offers fun to its members, it can succeed.
Democracy fails in Eve ultimately because we each have our own story to tell, our own game to play, and at the end of the day, what are you really paying for? The ability to login to a game to have someone else tell you what to do? I have a job for that where they pay ME to tell me what to do. I don’t really need that from a game, thank you very much.
A game is meant to entertain, to relax, to be fun. Maybe that makes me selfish. Maybe it makes us all the same.
Fly safe.
Roc’s Rule #216
Artificial Intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
[OOC]War & Piracy – Group Blog #1
Well, today is a very interesting day. Today is my last day at work before I get married. Yup, you heard me, married.
On July 9th, I will be marrying a very wonderful, very beautiful, very supportive woman. We won’t be back until July 22nd. Yeah, I’ll miss all of you too.
In the meantime, while Roc rots in jail waiting for me to return, and in a complete exercise of vanity, and because I’ve noticed a few other blogs already tying into this latest storyline, I thought it would be fun to try to do a group thing…
The war between the Empires continues, the blood toll rising daily. Families torn asunder, friends now turned to enemies; such is the cost of peace and politics in New Eden.
Some events go unheralded; victories and defeats all in the name of duty and honour.
Economies collapse, piracy is on the rise. Is there an end in sight? Can there ever truly be peace?
Write a story from your character’s perspective about the recent events of the war, and how it affects you. Feel free to reference the media coverage of Roc Wieler, or the events that happened to Mynxee or poor Daul Halwick, or whatever else grabs your fancy. Work off of each other’s stories if you want, or just do your own thing.
Please add your link in the comments section of this post. I look forward to enjoying them all when I get back from my honeymoon.
Fly safe.
Roc’s Rule #215
Happiness is just that simple sometimes.
Roc’s Rule #214
The best way to ruin a “guy bonding moment” is to talk about it.
The Colonel and the Pirate Part 7
Roc Wieler stood before the Minmatar Republic Military Tribunal, awaiting the verdict of his highly publicized and controversial hearing.
His wrists and ankles were shackled; he was unshaven. He looked hardly the “hero” that millions had adored only weeks before. He stood in a grey prison uniform, head hung low, his eyes looking puffy and haggard. He looked to be a man beyond his years, aged and defeated by these trying events. His broad, muscular shoulders drooped forwards, his chest deflated. He was a man ready to accept whatever fate befell him.
Inside his mind, his thoughts continued to race, his heart weighing heavy upon him. He had been betrayed on several fronts, rejected by those he had put his trust in. Once again, the piercing lesson of humility in this harsh universe had taught him a terrible lesson: trust no one.
Shiaz Starr, Celebrity Defence Lawyer, stood by his side, nervous, slightly pale, a touch of sweat on his brow. His heart raced slightly; this was to have been his defining victory, his highest profile case that would earn him more than he had other dreamed. He was supposed to be famous, not infamous as the lawyer who defended the slave trader.
The prosecution team stood with confidence on the opposing side of the chamber, confident in the outcome. Justice would be served.
The three tribunal elders stood behind their elevated bench. The highest ranking of their number, seated in the center, spoke the words that would condemn Colonel Roc Wieler forever.
“Arguments and evidence have been notably presented by both prosection and defence.” the Elder started. “These have been burdensome days, and my esteemed colleagues and I have pondered diligently as to the ramifications of any verdict given.” He looked to his left and right, his colleagues reflecting the somberness he portrayed.
“Given the very nature of this hearing, beyond the charges of murder of a fellow officer of the Tribal Liberation Force, there has arisen an even greater issue which demands attention.” The Elder paused, drawing in a deep breath before continuing. “Today it has been placed into our hands to determine the very measure by which to hold our Capsuleers accountable. Our decision will affects thousands of our pod pilots, and will potentially serve as a precedent to the other empires of New Eden.”
The Elder let the grandeur of his words sink in. If too little was done, it could potentially elevate Capsuleers to even greater heights, instilling in them the freedom to break laws even more freely without fear of consequence or accountability. If the verdict was too harsh in the minds of pod pilots, it could incite rioting and rebellion beyond anything previously seen in the galaxy. How would one annihilate a navy of immortals?
“Fortunately,” The Elder spoke, “This decision has been taken from us.”
Starr and the prosecution team both began looking around, uttering in confusion under their breath. Colonel Roc Wieler never flinched, stoically accepting whatever fate would bring.
The Elder raised his hand, silencing the growing commotion. “New evidence has been provided and verified, from the office of the Sanmatar.”
All eyes were focused on the Elder, now hanging on his every word.
The Elder gestured to his right, a camera drone responding, displaying a video for all to see.
It was security footage of the prison cell occupied by the nefarious pirate Mynxee. This footage was thought to be non-existant, the cameras undergoing routine maitenance at the time of the incident.
It showed in graphic detail the events leading up to her escape. It was plain to all that she had acted alone. The drone continued after her escape, fast forwarding (according to the time index in the bottom right of the screen) forty three minutes after her egress.
Daul Halwick, bound and gagged, could be seen to begin convulsing, thrashing at his bonds, foam and vomit barely able to leak from his mouth due to the gag. His convulsions became wose, his eyes opening in panic. This continued for three minutes before finally he went limp.
Shortly thereafter two security personnel enter, rushing to his side, slicing his bonds with a knife, pulling the gag from his mouth. Vomit and blood covered the floor.
One of the guards checked for signs of life, shaking in his head in the negative to his partner.
The image flickers and is replaced with video footage of the private quarters of Colonel Roc Wieler. The small chrono in the bottom right of the screen proved without doubt that the Colonel had been in his quarters in Dal, several systems away from the scene of the crime, during the alleged time.
Daul Halwick had suffocated; his death without malicious intent.
It was clear Colonel Roc Wieler had no part in it. It was clear that Mynxee would be held responsible, though on lesser charges.
The drone powered down, and the Elder spoke.
“Colonel Roc Wieler, you are hereby cleared of the charge of murder in the second degree regarding Spear Lieutenant Daul Halwick.”
Shiaz Starr beamed, barely able to contain his sheer joy at the verdict.
The lead prosecutor objected strongly. “Your honours, these recordings haven’t been verified by prosecution, nor have we had the opportunity to present a counter argument to the evidence. In the fairness of justice I ask…”
“Overruled.” The Elder cut in. “And I would advise you to not test my patience, counsellor. Our ruling is final.”
Colonel Roc Wieler still hadn’t moved.
Starr leaned on the bigger man. “Don’t you get it? You’re free! We won!” he said in elation to the Colonel. Still, Roc Wieler didn’t respond, simply staring towards the floor.
“Your honours,” Starr began. “Thank you for your wise judgement. If we could please have my clients’ restraints removed then…”
“There is another matter to be addressed, counsellor.” The Elder interrupted. “Your services will no longer be required. You are dismissed.”
Shiaz Starr stood dumbfounded for a moment, then quickly gathered his things and quietly exited.
“Colonel Roc Wieler, you are hereby charged with the practice of slavery, against Republic Penal Code R2 Subsection 4. How do you plea?” The Elder’s voice echoed throughout the chamber.
Finally, the Colonel raised his eyes, full of remorse and regret, to meet the gaze of the Tribunal Elder. He didn’t speak, though his lower lip did quiver slightly.
“I’m waiting for your answer, Colonel.” The Elder said. “How do you plea?”
Roc Wieler took a deep breath before responding.
“Guilty.”
Roc’s Rule #213
Witty quotes are terribly overrated.
Blog Banter #9 – Taking Things Slow
Welcome to the ninth installment of the EVE Blog Banter and its first contest, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!
“Last month Ga’len asked us which game mechanic we would most like to see added to EVE. This month Keith “WebMandrill” Nielson proposes to reverse the question and ask what may be a controversial question: Which game mechanic would you most like to see removed completelyfrom EVE and why? I can see this getting quite heated so lets keep it civil eh?”
—
Ordinarily I like to write my blog banters in character. My topic for this month’s banter/contest doesn’t lend itself easily to that format.
Today I want to talk about scramming and webbing and why its current implementation should be removed from EVE Online.
Got your attention yet?
How many times have each of us had our hearts sink when we see the familiar “Scram,Web, boom!” of our ship? It’s often a game over mechanic employed by fleets of all sizes, and it works. The tacklers typically are thin and fast, rushing the established enemy primary target, locking them down, then hoping to hold out until help arrives. It allows for at least some diversity in these types of engagements.
But what about those not involved in those types of scenarios? What about solo PVPers? Or small ship combat? Or miners? Or industrialists? Etc, etc.
Some will say it’s all about proper fitting, and to a degree, I concur. Some will say it’s possible to have a ship that can be versatile all on its own, and personally, I have Rifters and other small ships that do just that.
For me, it’s just the underlying mechanic that is so bothersome.
A Rifter frigate is close to the size of a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. Now a jet flies in atmosphere, so there are some factors to be taken into consideration such as atmospheric drag, etc, etc… but for a moment, think of the sustained energy output required to forcibly halve the speed of a 747 jumbo jet. Have you ever seen it done? It would require a staggering amount of energy to slow down that considerable mass.
Now we all know EVE Online is set in the distant future, and that technology is well advanced, blah, blah. Irrelevant.
Look at Star Wars for a moment, if you will. Let’s talk Death Star vs Millenium Falcon. To me, that’s similar to Titan vs Frigate. I can see the Death Star having the energy grid needed to slap a web and scram on the Falcon indefinitely; no argument there. But could you imagine Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope if it worked by Eve’s Rules?
Death Star enroute to Moon IV – Yavin
COMPUTER VOICE: Death Star ETA, 12 minutes.
A look of dread crosses the faces of the Rebels trapped on the moon of Yavin IV. There is no escape. They pray their small group of fighters can destroy the Death Star, desperate as that may sound.
Suddenly, over the intercom…
HAN SOLO: I’ve got point! Death Star jammed too! Send me more frigates, your royal hawtness, and we’ll reduce it’s velocity to nearly null; that should give you time to send out some battleships to take it down!
Ludicrous to me, yet we accept it as players.
Frigates scramming Battleships, Interceptors webbing Battlecruisers. Puhlease.
It’s boring, repetitive, and flawed. As players, we’ve cried and begged for specialization on our ships in other ways, and CCP continually strives to give us such individualism while maintaining balance.
So why not adjust this fundamental combat mechanic?
Interdictor/ Heavy Interdictor – 99% energy grid reduction for use of warp disruptors, warp scramblers and webbifiers.
See what I did there? I just made things more interesting. A specialized ship whose primary role is interdiction.
That was easy.
If we continue to look at energy requirements as a larger contributing factor to interdicting calculations, we can safely say that even increasing it tenfold will yield more positive results:
- Larger ships will have much more effect on smaller ships.
- Smaller ships will be hard pressed to scram/web bigger ships.
- Specialized ships will be seen more in demand and as part of fleet activities
- PVP will be far more interesting in small gangs when scramming/webbing takes more consideration than just being your standard opening move.
Think about it for a moment. Frigate vs Frigate would still be entertaining as hell because neither would have the energy grid to sustain interdiction for a lengthy period of time given transfer velocity and the energy requirements to counter that. You would need to time your use of it wisely. Is the opponent nearly dead? Is now the time to web/scram? Crap, did they warp away too soon? Should I have done it earlier? Would my cap have held out?
So by now hopefully you’re realizing that what I am saying about webbing is true, but you’re thinking “Scramming and webbing are two different mechanics, Roc, and aren’t the same principle.” but they really are.
Sure, so far I’ve mostly been talking about webbing in practicality, sustaining a hold on an enemy ship fighting against that effect. Small ships can’t feasibly possess the energy grid to sustain prolonged usage of such a device given the other physics found in EVE, no matter how far advanced we think New Eden may be.
But scrambling a warp drive? Isn’t that simply disabling the appropriate system (obviously handled automatically in EVE by Aura as we can’t target subsystems).
Hmmm, interesting. Let’s look at wormholes. Does mass factor into wormholes? Yes, yes it does. Do you think mass factors into the necessary capacity of a warp drive for a given ship? Yes, yes it does. Have you ever tried flying a Titan with a 1MN MWD?
Again, energy requirements should be a considerable factor. A Titan must have a massive warp system that a mere frigate should not be able to knock out. Could several dozen frigates accomplish it? Maybe, but how long could they keep it tackled? Would make things far more interesting and specialized though.
I know, I’m kind of all over the place with this article, and for that I apologize. It’s just something I feel very strongly about for consistency within the rich and fantastic EVE mythology we have that needs addressing, and I’m typing my thoughts as they come to mind.
I hope you can at least get a feel for my passion on this topic.
So is it truly a removal? Perhaps not. I suppose it’s just a rework, removing the existing flawed mechanic and creating something far better.
- Diary of a Space Jockey, Blog Banter: BE GONE!
- EVE Newb, (EVE) Remove You
- Miner With Fangs, Blog Banter – It’s the Scotch
- The Eden Explorer, Blog Banter: The Map! The Map!
- The Wandering Druid of Tranquility, “Beacons, beacons, beacons, beacons, beacons, mushroom, MUSHROOM!!!”
- Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah, Kill the Rats
- Mercspector @ EVE, Scotty
- EVE’s Weekend Warrior, EVE Blog Banter #9
- Miner with Fangs, Blog Banter – It’s the Scotch
- A Merry Life and a Short One, Eve Blog Banter #9: Why Won’t You Die?
- Into the unknown with gun and camera, Blog Banter – The Hokey Cokey
- The Flightless Geek, EVE Blog Banter #9: Remove a Game Mechanic
- Sweet Little Bad Girl, Blog Banter 9: Who is Nibbling at My House?
- One Man and His Spaceship, Blog Banter 9: What could you do without?
- Life in Low Sec, EVE Blog Banter #9: Stop Tarnishing My Halo
- Cle Demaari: Citizen, Blog Banter #9: Training for all my men!
- A Mule in EVE, He who giveth, also taketh away?
- More as they are posted!
Roc’s Rule #212
If you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory.
ROC'S RAMBLINGS 