Anti-Gank: Uedama 8/29/2014

CODE. was ganking freighters in Uedama again on 8/29/2014, this time in partnership with a corporation named Systems High Guard.  There were not a ton of white knights out there, but we still managed to impede their progress and confiscate a lot of their equipment from wrecks.

I am finishing up remote hull repair skills over the next day, as once again it would have been helpful but no on site had it available.  An Orca survived a gank attempt, and CODE. continued to bump them.  I was able to repair the armor but not the hull, and most of the Orca hitpoints are in the hull.  The Orca was lost on a 2nd gank attempt due not receiving hull repairs.  Still, the pilot was grateful for our efforts and thanked us.  Nice guy.  Next time I will be ready with hull repair capability on site.

We also had at least one new person come out to help, and I think they learned a lot while there.  And I learned a few things too.  Learning is another good thing that sometimes goes overlooked, so I am making mention of it here.

Fly safe, Captains!  In time, we will clear the systems of scum and villainy.

Eve Principles of Interstellar Conduct (EPIC)

This entry serves as an official online location for the Eve Principles of Interstellar Conduct (EPIC).  Any capsuleers who have action taken against them for violation of the EPIC can be directed here.

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The Eve Principles of Interstellar Conduct serves as a reminder to all Eve capsuleers to behave with good conduct in Eve space, and acts as an order to take corrective actions against those who are in violation of the good conduct listed herein.

Eve is a conflict and combat rich environment.  While good conduct is always important to maintaining a healthy community, this is especially true in an adversarial environment such as Eve.  In service to ensuring a healthy community in Eve, all capsuleers, corporations, and alliances are expected to adhere to the following:

1. With the exception of faction warfare, active war declarations, actions against criminals (a.k.a. "flashy reds"), disciplinary actions for violations of this mandate, or where there is mutual approval of further conflict, aggressive actions against another capsuleer should be limited and not exceed what is reasonable:
   1. Bumping another capsuleer shall be limited to 15 minutes or less per bumpee per day.
   2. Destroying a non-military ship in high security space is not permitted.  This includes pods, ORE mining ships, cargo ships, and freighters.
   3. Kills shall be limited to two ship kills, or 100 million in losses per day -- whichever occurs first -- unless said capsuleer is in low or null security space.
   4. Aggressive actions of any kind against a capsuleer should be limited to two days per week unless said capsuleer is in low or null security space. 
2. Language that is offensive, gloating, or condescending towards an adversary is never appropriate.
3. Spamming chat channels is never appropriate.
4. Scamming other capsuleers is never appropriate.

Members of a corporation or alliance are considered to share the responsibility for the actions of their corporation or alliance.   Therefore, actions may be taken against any member of a corporation or alliance if said corporation or alliance is in violation of the principles of conduct.  Any member not wishing to share such responsibility with their organization should disband from said organization.

A Lesson From The Bible

As many of you already know, the supposed leader of the CODE. alliance is James315.  Out of curiosity, I looked up James 3:15 in the bible, and here is what I found.

From James 3

Two Kinds of Wisdom

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵ Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

 Coincidence?  Intentional?  I don't know, but it is certainly fitting.  And amusing.  I even added it to my bio.

Fly safe, and be wise.  Just make sure it's the first kind of wisdom.  Not the second kind, because that would be James315.

Anti-Gank: Multiple Systems, 8/24/2014

On 8/24/2014, I joined forces with a few good other good folks in opposition of ganking activity in Uedama and multiple other surrounding systems. Sadly, my first Eve kill mail, which I had hoped to score this day, continues to elude me. I've joined in on multiple anti-gank fleets in the past, but always with a remote repair ship, and you don't get kill mails for successful repair jobs. However, on this night I finally had some guns. Unfortunately, while there were many ganker take downs, I kept getting caught scouting another gate when the action took place, and I arrived just seconds too late on multiple occasions. I've had much better luck in the past.

Still, I have to say it was a good day. I may still be looking for that first kill mail, but I really enjoyed the company of those I was in fleet with. I would like to extend my thanks to those who were in fleet with me this day, and I look forward to joining forces with all of you again in the future. Safe travels to you all!

UPDATE:  I did actually get a kill mail, and just didn't realize it.  It's nothing much, as I was late to the gank and at the limit of my torpedo range, so either the ship was destroyed before my torpedos got there or I fired them off a hair too far away and they didn't make it.  I'm pretty sure I target painted though, so maybe that's why I got some credit.  https://zkillboard.com/kill/40865058/

Target Painters and Torpedos

I spent some time recently experimenting with target painters.  In particular, I wanted to test out the effectiveness of using target painters with missiles.  I could just go straight to equations, but nothing beats hard data.  So I set up some tests using torpedos against stationary targets to see what the difference in damage would be both with and without a target painter.  A target painter increases the signature radius of a target, and the damage done by a missile is dependent on target signature radius, so a painted target should take more missile damage than an unpainted target.  Below are the results:

Test torpedo:  

• Torpedo Type:  Mjolnir Torpedo
• EM Damage:  450
• Explosion Radius:  450 m
• Base Shield Damage:  450
• Base Armor Damage:  180

Test Target Painter:

• Phased Weapon Navigation Array Generation Extron (Meta 4)
• Signature Radius Bonus:  30%

Test Launchers:

• Prototype 'Arbalyst' Torpedo Launcher, Meta 4
• Experimental TE-2100 Light Missile Launcher, Meta 3 (I used Meta 3 because that is the T1 version I would tend to use due to the really high cost of the Meta 4 light launchers -- Meta 3 is about 700K each, Meta 4 is about 4 million each)

Test targets:

• Navitas, Frigate, base sig radius of 36 m, 2 Medium Shield Extenders
• Catalyst, Destroyer, base sig radius of 68 m
• Exequror, Cruiser, base sig radius of 80 m, 2 Medium Shield Extenders
• Mobile Tractor Unit, sig radius of 500 m

 Test Results:

Note that the actual signature radius of the test ships is more than the base signature radius shown due to having shield extenders equipped. I equipped the ships with shield extenders to give them a larger shield buffer to make testing easier. Damage shown is against shields only, without dropping into armor. Torpedos were fired from a Purifier. My torpedo and ship skills were low to moderate, mostly levels 3 and 2 for all affecting skills.

Target	Base Damage	Painted Damage	Damage Increase	Painted DPS	Light Missile DPS
Navitas	70	91	30%	8.6	12.7
Catalyst	150	195	30%	18.5	12.7
Exequror	155	202	30%	19.1	12.7
MTU	785	785	0%	74.3	12.7

The damage increase is significant on targets where the target painter's affect can be utilized fully. Interestingly, the damage increase came out as the exact same value as the signature radius increase of the painter. I wasn't expecting the correlation to be linear, but if we now go look at the equations, I expect that is what we will find.

The signature radius of the MTU is larger than the explosion radius of the torpedo, so that serves as a control of sorts. You can see the damage applied is already maxed out, as the painter had no affect on damage when used against the MTU. It also shows how much the damage is reduced against smaller targets. Against the frigate, damage was reduced to less than 10% of maximum potential. That is huge! While the painter increases damage significantly, it's still going to be way less than maximum against such small targets.

I also included in the table Light Missile DPS (using Meta 3 launcher, because Meta 4 is ridiculously expensive), to compare and see when Light Missiles are actually better than using torpedos. Torpedos have an advantage here because I am using the Torpedo bonuses of a Purifer. As shown, light missiles actually do better against the frigate, but the torpedos work better on the tested Destroyer and above. For DPS, I did not include reload time in the DPS calculation, so bare that in mind. Doing so when considering a long battle might change the results a little.

One additional note: Torpedos are supposedly not affected by the Guided Missile Precision skill, which is one reason why I used them. I didn't want any more variables to factor in than there had to be.

Further Research:

The torpedo stats came from Evelopedia. I'm not fully confident I understand why there are separate base damage attributes for shields and armor. It suggests that torpedo damage will be less against armor than against shields, without taking resists into consideration. It didn't show a separate number for structure, but I would guess it would be the same as the EM damage shown, 450. Why the damage would be reduced against armor, I don't know. I would also be nice to run some numbers taking moving ships into account, but this would be a much harder test to set up. I'm not sure if I will run such a test or not, but if I do, I will post the results in another blog entry.

Until then, fly safe, and try to make room for a target painter when flying a missile boat against small or mixed targets.

CODE. Forfeits Tournament Match

In a move that was both disappointing and amusing, the CODE. alliance forfeited their first Alliance Tournament XII match against Red vs Blue today.  There are reports that CODE. didn't have enough members, and other reports that they bailed after Red vs Blue banned the Catalyst and Talos, but the only official report is that CODE. forfeited and RvB was declared winner by default.

For now, CODE. is shown as moving to the elimination brackets.  Whether they remain there, or are disqualified; whether they fight the next round, or whether they forfeit again; the final outcome for CODE. in the tournament remains to be seen.

Anti-Gank: Uedama, 8/8/2014 21:00

CODE. was ganking freighters at gates in Uedama again on 8/8/2014.  A number of capsuleers rallied in opposition.  Due to the timing, I couldn't stay for long, but I was able to stay long enough for what I think was the first gank attempt of the night, against a Fenrir.  I was there providing remote armor repair with one of my Exequrors.  I am happy to report that the gank attempt was a failure.  A tip of the hat to all capsuleers who were there to oppose CODE. throughout the evening.  I wish I could have stayed longer.

I would also like to share a few thoughts on what type of ship to bring.  If you show up with guns only but you can't get a kill before CONCORD joins in, then you are not being very effective at stopping the gank.  However, I recognize that it is still fun to be there in opposition and your support is appreciated.  There is a definite appeal in firing guns at them, getting bounty, and getting kill mails.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you show up like I did in something that only does remote repair, it's always an effective addition to stop the gank, but it can leave you feeling a bit empty.  If you are not part of a fleet with at least someone firing guns, you get no kill mails, no bounty, just the satisfaction of a successful save when the gank fails.

I have a recommendation for people who fall into one of those two categories.  Save a fitting slot for something else.  If you are all guns, make room for at least one or more repair or ECM modules.  If you are all repair, make room for at least one or more guns or ECM modules.  Those who prefer guns can then be assured they were effective towards the end goal, and those who prefer repairs can finally get some bounty and kill mails.  This should help maximize the entertainment value while ensuring everyone is being effective towards stopping the gank.

Fly safe!

A Mandate For Good Behavior

I am beginning work on something a little more official in the anti-gank arena, and it actually goes beyond anti-ganking and addresses behavior in general.  I currently call it the Eve Principles of Interstellar Conduct (EPIC).  This will be a long term effort, as I skill up further and eventually gain fleet bonuses that I can use to command security fleets.  These fleets will be used to enforce the EPIC.  I do this on behalf of all Eve capsuleers, and in representation of my corporation, Maximum Q, as part of the Maximum Q security operations division.

I hope for this to become a more coordinated and collaborative effort over time.  I don't  aspire to be the leader, but I will be training to lead should better commanders not be ahead of me.  I welcome feedback on the EMM and will work with like minded people, revising it as needed, even changing it's name if so desired.  Below is the initial draft:

Eve Principles of Interstellar Conduct (Draft Copy)

The Eve Principles of Interstellar Conduct serves as a reminder to all Eve capsuleers to behave with good conduct in Eve space, and acts as an order to take corrective actions against those who are in violation of the good conduct listed herein.

Eve is a conflict and combat rich environment.  While good manners are always important to maintaining a healthy community, this is especially true in an adversarial environment such as Eve.  In service to ensuring a healthy community in Eve, all capsuleers, corporations, and alliances are expected to adhere to the following:

1. With the exception of faction warfare, active war declarations, or actions against criminals (a.k.a. flashy reds), aggressive actions against another capsuleer should be limited and not exceed what is reasonable:
   1. Bumping another capsuleer shall be limited to 4 minutes or less per bumpee per day.
   2. Kills of another capsuleer shall be limited to two ship kills, one pod kill, or 75 million in losses per day -- whichever occurs first -- unless said capsuleer approves of further conflict, is in low or null security space, or is subject to official discipline due to violations of this mandate.
   3. Aggressive actions of any kind against a capsuleer should be limited to two days per week unless said capsuleer approves of further conflict, is in low or null security space, or is subject to official discipline due to violations of this mandate. 
2. Language that is offensive, gloating, or condescending is never appropriate.
3. Spamming chat channels is never appropriate.
4. Scamming other capsuleers is never appropriate.

Members of a corporation or alliance are considered to share the responsibility for the actions of their corporation or alliance.   Therefore, actions may be taken against any member of a corporation or alliance if said corporation or alliance is in violation of the principles of conduct.  Any member not wishing to share such responsibility with their organization should disband from said organization.

EPIC Enforcement

In time, a fleet or group of fleets will be assembled to enforce the EPIC.  Members will act as a democratic corporation or alliance, though the corporation or alliance need not be official.  Where and what will be enforced will be up to the will of the members.  Members must be in good standing and have reasonably good security standing (I would recommend -2 or higher). 

Obviously, at present time, the CODE. alliance would be a primary target of EPIC enforcement, until such time as they improve their conduct.  At this time, I am certain the CODE. alliance violates items 1a, 2, and 3.

There are already many "white knights" who honorably group up in adhoc fleets to oppose the criminal activities of CODE.  What this effort seeks to do is create a formal declaration and organization that can take more coordinated measures to protect the Eve community, not only from CODE. ganking, but from any alliance, corporation, or individual that goes too far in hurting others for their own benefit.  There has often been talk of better organizing anti-gank activities, but to date there has not been a lot of real progress to this end.   Maximum Q seeks to change that.  It will take time, but if some other coordinated effort doesn't manifest first, Maximum Q will answer the call.

Battleship - Missiles and Drones

With the Drone Avionics bug fixed in the 7/31 patch, it was time to try out a ranged missile and drone battleship -- the Armageddon -- to see how it compares to the close range Abaddon I used previously.  Unfortunately, sentry drones had a requirement I wasn't expecting, and I can't use them yet.  Doh!  So I settled for medium drones.

With a ranged missile and drone boat, there are several range aspects to look at:   targeting range, missile range, drone command range, and for sentry drones, the drone optimal and falloff range.  With my extremely limited skills, here is what it initially looked like for me:

• Targeting Range:  71.5 km base, 109 km with scripted sensor booster
• Cruise Missile Range:  65 km
• Drone Control Range:  40 km base, 80 km with 2 Drone Link Augmentor I modules
• Sentry Optimal/Falloff:  Didn't check, can't use them yet.

Missile range was the worst, but it was also the easiest to fix.  I had none of the missile support skills yet.  Simply training Missile Bombardment and Missile Projection up to level 1 boosted missile range up from 65 km to 79 km.  And that's just level 1.  

DPS with 5 meta 4 cruise missile launchers and medium drones started at 330.  Not good.  But I tried a mission anyway.  The results were encouraging.  I never had to flee the battle, and I didn't even have to use the MJD I had equipped.  However, I was careful to know the triggers for missions spawns and used mission specific hardeners, so that always helps.

All in all, I really like it.  If I train up my support skills and get sentry drones up and running, I think this will be an awesome way to do level 4 missions.