Energy Drain: Rise of the Passive Tank

Who would of thought one simple fix would have caused so much anguish?

I'm talking of course about the Energy Drain fix to the sleepers. People living in wormholes trying to make it with significantly less (read: solo or multiple toons) are finding their ships being blown up at a medium pace. Mostly, those packing shield tanks seem to be the worst off. Armor tanks seem to be working just fine with just a few modifications, provided you aren't tanking locally.

The difficulty ramps up with each progressive level in. C3's are becoming difficult to solo with active local tanks, C4's are becoming unmanageable with conventional setups, C5's are potential deathtraps, and C6's carry the ability to wipe out carriers and dreads.

So the question becomes how can the content be put back on farm?

The answer lies in the passive tank and a slight change in fleet setups.

Eve Blog Banter #24: A New Age

Welcome to the twenty-fourth 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 or so 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 to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month's Banter topic comes to us from the ever helpful Eelis Kiy, capsuleer behind the "Where the frack is my ship" blog. She asks: How does your real life personality compare to who you are as a character in EVE? Does a good leader of people in the real world make a good leader of pilots in game? Or vice-versa? Do your real-life skills help you with the roles you fulfill in your corporation or alliance? Or do you behave completely differently? Does the anonymity of the Internet allow you to thrive on the tears of others in New Eden whilst you work as a good Samaritan away from your keyboard? Or are you as mean outside of your pod as you are inside it? Have experiences in EVE Online affected your behavior, skills or attitudes outside of the game?

Patch Notes: Energy Drain

I was reading over the patch notes and noticed that CCP is finally getting around to fixing the Sleepers ability to energy drain.

I have not had a chance to test this out yet, so it is unknown how much this will affect ship's ability to tank.  Most sleepers carry NOS so as long as it works like NOS does for players (ie, no energy drain when the target ship has less cap then the NOS ship) I don't see it as a problem.  However, I do believe some Sleeper ships have Neuts as well.

What does this mean?

Well, it could be nothing.  NOS isn't really a killer unless you flirt too low with the 33% max recharge.  Neuts could really ruin your day.  It may become unable to solo C3 content now with this change due to the extra stress on the capacitor.

Let me know what your seeing out there.

Guardians: Lifeblood of the Fleet

With armor tanking being so prevalent in PVP and some people beginning to see the advantages in PVE, it has never been a better time to fly Amarr. What with the excellent weapon systems, the massive tank, small signature radius and stupidly good T2 lineup, Amarr ships are almost on another level for fleet warfare.

And while each of those is their own powerful reason to fly Amarr, its the true workhorse of the Amarr fleet that rarely sees any attention that makes it so powerful: The Guardian.

There are four logistic ships in the game, one for each race. These are then split by what type of tank they project. Amarr and Gallente repair armor, while the Caldari and Minmatar repair shields. Of the four, only the Amarr and Caldari get two very important bonuses. While all Logistic ships get a 15% reduction in cap use for their reps, Amarr and Caldari get a reduction in energy transfers cap use as well. Because of this, Guardians and Basilisks are intended to work in pairs for maximum efficiency.

I set out to build a Guardian the other day and wanted to make one as cheap as possible without skimping on the power. Generally the reason is opposing FC's don't really like when the fleet they are fighting has logistics, and therefore logistics pilots have a tendency to get primaried a lot. Being primaried usually ends up in spinning in a pod and heading off to buy a new ship.

The Downward Spiral of Low Sec

For a few weeks now I have been reading, studying and researching Low Sec. I've never really lived there as I feel that living in a WH is a bit more hardcore, but I have no fear of the place and its never stopped me from doing whatever it was I needed done at the time. As such, I've spent a lot of time trying to put to words my thoughts and feelings about Low Sec. I've read many blogs, forum posts and thoughtful, well written discussion; and as such I've decided to put to words my findings.

And before you completely discount my opinions as “Well you don't even live there, how could you know?” It could be that I'm exactly what the Improve Low Sec initiative needs. An unbiased, intelligent, researched look into exactly whats going wrong, and perhaps insight as how to reverse this self destructive pattern.

As a disclaimer, its a wall of text. Please refrain from saying something stupid in response until you read the entire article (not that you, my regular, intelligent reader would ever do such a thing). As always, I welcome constructive comments to help facilitate the discussion, even if you don't agree with what I'm saying.

I will attempt to explain Low Sec. I will explain how it got into its current state, and how current events and calls for fixes are simply not going to work. I will also reveal the true reason for Low Sec's demise, and who is responsible for fixing it. Read on, and think carefully about it. I think the answer may surprise you.