Re-Hash

You know, I recently went through my DVD's and pulled out a few that I hadn't seen in quote some time.  Some of them were pretty dated.  Ghostbusters, Robocop, etc.  It is not just a Hollywood thing; remaking older versions of movies.  The gaming industry has been doing it for years.  Even board game companies like Parker Brothers and Milton-Bradley do it.  It's no surprise, when once it was a cash-cow, perhaps soon it shall be again.  In my experience, very few remakes are worthy of the same pedestal as the original, but such is life.  In movies, the technology changes are not as pronounced as in the platform spec changes on say, computers.  I mean sure, they can dust off an old celluloid film reel and and some new-aged CGI (and Lucas, if you ever do that again, I'll beat you with my Chewbacca action figure), but overall, the update isn't that much more impressive.  I would venture to guess, the PC rehash would be quite a different story. 

Where am I going with this... Yes, computer technology.  It has advanced sooo far over the last few decades that classic games like X-Wing Vs Tie-Fighter, Privateer,  Freelancer, and of course Wing Commander (et. al.) could really do well with a well-made revival.  I'm partial to X/W - T/F myself, but there are many other fine candidates.  Doing a remake in a current-generation engine would give me a wood.  I've been waiting and waiting.  I would donate my kidney for a well-done and thorough remake of the Tie-Fighter series.  I hope someone out there has it on their to-do list.  Maybe Disney (don't hit me) can make something happen.  

Anyway, this was just something that popped in my head today.  I figured I would let it spill out on to my blog.

Module Tiericide

Today, CCP released a new DevBlog outlining the changes they are making to bring the module meta down to a more unified/simplified state.  These changes will be coming in Oceanus on September 30th.  In ways similar to what they did with the hull classes, they will make modules more cohesive and give the capsuleer a bit more choice to strategize their fits.  Modules will follow a more distinct path instead of everyone just fitting META 4 (when they can afford it and when they haven't the skills for T2 modules) and the rest being left to rot.  I think they change will make it easier for newer players to be able to fit their ships (as long as they stop fail-fitting), but the implications on the marketplace could get drastic.

Although all Meta 1-4 "named modules" drop from NPC's, lots of people have invested heavily in the buying (or looting) and then reselling Meta 4 modules.  Up until now, there was a generous margin of profit to be made in doing so.  The negative to the tiericide is that Meta 4 modules will probably drop in value by a fair margin.  I do believe the Meta 1-3 (current system) modules will go up in value, but not enough to cover the loss in Meta 4.  While Meta buying and reselling will still be profitable, I think a lot of people will take issue with the punch to their wallet.  As I stated, I believe that the other Meta items will go up in value a bit, so there will still be profitable transactions, but when you start messing with the marketplace, folks be angry.  

You can find the DevBlog here: Rebalancing EVE One Module at a Time  

Until then, buy safe-ish

Moving Right Along

One of the forum banners I've created based on a lava planet

A few big changes.  We have left the sanctity of Sinq and moved to Amarr space to better fit in with our new alliance.  Oh, we have parted ways with Space Weaponry and Trade (amicably) of course.  Things are going pretty well.  I still don't have all my personal stuff down there and I need to move my PI from our Old, Old AoE.  I never moved it to Croleur.  I am looking forward to getting our toes wet in Low Sec.  It opens up a few opportunities for our corp that we didn't have being part of a strictly high sec alliance.  We are also now in a coalition, which is something I am also looking forward to.  I've never been in a coalition, so the new opportunities do excite.  

We have our manufacturing and research equipment set up and are quickly getting back to our industrial roots.  We are going to force a market hub in our area for the coalition to be able to reship quickly without having to run to a market hub.  While I don't necessarily like having inventory sit on the shelves, it is for the greater good, so I can live with it.  I have been manufacturing T2 hulls and modules for marketplace and wholesales, and that has gone well.

I haven't mined in over a year, so I am going to get back into running mining ops and a more regular basis.  I think I really want to persue the low sec mining with Ventures and Prospects for smaller corp ops.  I am also going to try to get larger alliance ops with probably Procurers and Skiffs.  I want to gather and compress low sec ore for our capital programs and also work to make connections with null alliances to supply compressed ore.  The changes in refining in the Kronos made compressed ore more critical then ever.  You are not able to use t1 modules as "mineral compression vessels" anymore, so in order for null alliances to get enough minerals for capital production, they either have to mine the area themselves (time consuming and more dangerous) or get it from a high sec supply source.  I think it is a good niche market especially if you can go direct to the end user and cut out the market bullshit.  

There isn't really much else in EVE that has garnered my attention.  There was a Dev Blog (I think last week) that detailed some invention/reverse engineering changes (sometime in the near future), but I've already covered that.  I try not to get pulled in and caught up in all the politics; I'm all set with that.

I've been making corp banners for our forums and forum signature images for members.  I am new to Corel (I haven't done any graphical stuff in about 7 or 8 years, so it's been enjoyable getting the creative juices flowing once again).

Another banner image I've created

Oceanus (the next patch) is due out September 30th.  The notable changes (but rather irrelevant to me) are cloaking animation changes, new wormhole stuff, new tool tips and notification system.  The French are getting a localization for their client.  Ceptors  & Dictors are getting rebalanced. Named-module changes and changes to the New Eden Store.  Whatever, some people might deem this patch ok.  I'm not too concerned with anything here other than the Ceptor/Dictor change as I plan to get back into PVP in this new coalition.  I've posted about the invention changes, but as far as i know, there is not a fixed timescale yet for that.  What we REALLY NEED are updates to the corp/alliance UI and POS roles.   They have always been FUBAR, but enough time has gone by and enough input from the community, that these mechanics should have been addressed well before graphical updates and changes to the New Eden Store.

I will probably start hopping around on the forums to drum up some blog inspiration.  It's really been a while since I have had a good run of posting.  Life's been so busy planning for a wedding (though my fiance has been spearheading the whole thing) and just the daily grind at work.  Fall is here, but I don't expect my industry to slow down until December holidays arrive.  If the weather is decent, contractors and homebuilders are scrambling to get shit done before Old Man Winter takes a giant shit on the Northeast.  Peeps need their building supplies!

So, until my next post, fly safe-ish.

Dev Blog: Lighting the Invention Bulb

Okay, so I don't have a lot of time.  I am going to run the dirty on this Dev Blog and try to put a highlight on all the major notes.

Here is the Dev Post Link for more Details:  Lighting the Invention Bulb

Invention is changing, soon.  Not in Oceanus, but CCP will do it "soon".

In an effort to simplify the invention gig, they are kind of rolling some aspects together, e.g T2/T3 invention.  

Here are the broad strokes:

• Datacore / Science skill requirements will be adjust so that they are more rounded and different activities spread the datacore usage more uniformly.  One of the biggest examples of what they want to change is the use of electronic engineering and mechanical engineering.  The are scaling back on those requirements in order to utilize things like molecular engineering and graviton physics.  What does that really mean for us?  Well, datacore farming will change to adjust to the new demand.  That will stabilize the price of datacores across the board as less-popular datacores will be required instead of overlooked.  
• The T2 construction skills will be required to construct advanced ships @ level 1.  Some skills required level 4 or 5.  What will end up happening is that you will gain a Time Efficiency bonus for each level, but you will be able to build all hulls at level 1.  The skills will be renamed to Advanced XXX Construction to further clarify that they are not required for T1 hull construction..
• Merging invention with reverse engineering so that the two will be more similar.  This means that decryptors will effect reverse engineering outcomes.  What will also happen is that Data Interfaces (item tools) will be removed from the game.  Meta item use will be removed.  Work Teams will play a role in invention now.  The invention formula will change (which I am not drawing out here).  So the good is that decryptors will effect the ME/TE on T3 reverse engineering.  Having work teams will effect invention ME/TE as well.  
• Invention Success will now be similar to crafting in some MMO's.  The higher the success rate, the better the item will be.  In short, here is what CCP is planning:
• • Success (Exceptional) - ME 2 and TE 3 bonus
  • (Great) - ME 1 and TE 2 bonus
  • (Good) - TE 1 bonus
  • (Standard) - no bonus (ME 2 / TE 2)
  • Failure (Standard) - 50% change datacores will be returned
  • (Poor) - 25% change datacores will be returned
  • (Terrible) - 10% 
  • (Critcal) - 0%
• Base chance % tweaks 
• • Current 
  • • Modules / Ammo - 40% base chance
    • Frigates, Destroyers, Freighters and Skiff - 30%
    • Cruisers, Industrials, Mackinaw - 25%
    • Battlecruisers, Battleships, Hulk - 20%
  • Proposed
  • • Modules, Rigs, Ammo - 40%
    • Frigates, Destroyers - 35%
    • Cruisers, BC, BS, Industrial, Mining Barges and ORE Industrials 30%
    • Battleships, Industrial Command - 25%
    • Capital, Capital Industrial, 20%
• Blueprint Copy Invention change will use only one run of the copy.  So a 100 run BPC gets your 100 invention chances.  So what they want to do is make it so you can run as many jobs as you can using one click.  Let's say you have a ten-run copy.  You can now set up (if you have the skills for it) ten invention chances using that one blueprint copy, instead of using ten blueprints and running one invention on each.  

This is pretty much it in a nut shell.  I like most of these proposed changes.  I know some people might take issue, but overall, its not bad.  My ultimate favorite is running multiple inventions at one time instead of me clicking 44 times.  My mouse will thank me.

What Have I Been Up To?

I really haven't had a whole hell of a lot of time to do much, especially blog.  The summer is a crazy time for my industry.  Planning for a wedding, the usual summer activities and various other RL events have kept me from really doing all the superfluous things.  I've been putting some serious time into War Thunder, Space Engineers and some other fun games, but I have largely been auto-piloting in EVE.  

When Crius hit, I moved all of our manufacturing assets to our HQ system (from a few different stations on the other side of Sinq), but I really didn't do much once the move was over.  I played around a bit, testing the industrial changes and coming up with some game plans.  Considering Crius was a game-changer, I have had to rethink all the activities I had planned.  On top of that, I was waiting for the market to settle and the pricing of manufactured goods and the inventory people had on the market to whittle down.  

What I have been doing is a ton of invention.  I admit, I like the new system (for the most part).  What I like is that you no longer need a shit-ton of copies to invent from.  Each attempt uses only 1 run from the BPC.  Let's take for example, a Gyrostabilizer I BPC of 300 (max runs).  Instead of inventing and getting (possibly) 1 10run T2 BPC and using up the entire BPC, now you get 1 10 run T2 BPC and the T1 BPC now has 299 runs left.  You can use that BPC to manufacture 299 Gyrostabilizer I's or invent 299 more times.  I think that is pretty great even though I spent most of the months leading up to Kronos running off massive amounts of BPC's.  Big deal, right?

The way things work now is pretty stream-lined.  That is good.  The interface looks pretty and the workteams and system index mechanic add some strategy to your activities.  The result is a lot more depth in the manufacturing and research system as a whole.

I've also started manufacturing components, T1 goods and T2 goods.  Overall, I like how that works as well. 

Things that I don't like are on the short list, but I feel it detracts from the UI change.  Having to reload the UI every time you select a new item is kind of Busch League.  I don't mean having to close it and reopen it (which ironically sometimes I have to do), it is just that every time you click a blueprint, the UI loads the information.  At least your previous choice of blueprint remains persistent.  If you select a new blueprint item, and using corporate hangers, you will have to select the install location and the export location once for every type of blueprint you use.  Yeah, not a big deal, but if you forgot, you have to search and hope that no one also used the 1st hanger division.  I also noticed that if you have the UI open and use another alt to move stuff to different arrays, you have to close the UI and reopen it so it updates the inventory on the array.  Again, annoying.

Other than that, its a pretty good change.  Hopefully you guys are having fun with it as well.