EVE Online

[deSelys]

OK, Daddog has asked me to post a thread about EVE online and here I am.

The problem is, the game is so huge and rich that I don't know where to start. Added to that, I only played it for a month and a lot of the game facets are still unknow to me. So I'll do this quick and lazy and ultimately point you to the excellent and as huge as the game itself website.

EVE online is a spaceship MM where you can fight computer controlled enemies or other players, trade, mine, research, produce, run a corporation... and even scam (in-game) other players!

What this game isn't:

- a simulator: you point and click your ship where it has to go, and it flies to there by itself, avoiding obstacles and the rest (although it can be more efficient to show it the route)
- fast paced action
- easy
- based upon 'realistic' science-fiction (and that is too bad)

What it is:

- a role-playing game.... HOWEVER this one has a few cool features that made me sign on because I usually am bored to death by RPGs

• the way skills are gained: you buy skills like special software (a la Matrix) that are to be installed on your character. Then you have to train the skill. Your character is able to train only                       one skill at a time BUT this happens in real time AND you don't have to be online i.e. the skill 'frigate' costs around 40,000 ISK (the game money) and you need ~20' to reach level 1, 2 hours to reach lvl 2, 8 hours to reach lvl 3, 2 days to reach lvl 4 and almost 9 days to reach lvl 5! The good point is that, even if you don't play often, you won't progress any slower than the fat teen sitting 10 hours a day in front of his computer (he will prolly do much more ISK than you though)
• actually, there aren't many kids playing because of the inherent complexity of the game and the average age is around 30

- visually stunning
- HUGE player base: 100,000+ subscribers and often 20,000+ players connected at the same time
- hosted in Iceland: US and Yuropeans share the same ping time  Tremendous support btw, on par with HTC.
- PvP (player vs player) fights are only possible in 'low security' zones so you, little fish just having signed on, won't have to swim with the big sharks. However the way this is enforced doesn't feel 'artificial' like it does in many other RPGs.
...

The fights here don't rely upon your flying but upon the way you set your ship up. There are thousands of possible combinations and each weapon/defense/you-name-it item has its counter. It is a bit of a paper-rock-scissors game exponent 100. And it encourages the cooperation/planning between players: for instance, in a 'squad' of 5, one will be dedicated to EW and prevent enemies to get a lock-on on his mates, one will support the attackers by giving boosts in energy should the need arise, 2 will be the spearhead and the 5th will bring his cargo to sweep the battlefield of the cargo containers/metal chunks/minerals at the end of the action.

You can't die (because a clone is activated when you're killed) but you can loose training points (=time) and of course money when your ship is destroyed. It is possible to insure your possessions but this isn't free, of course.

I hope this is giving you an idea about what EVE is. If you're interested, visit their website and read the FAQ, the new player's guide and the extremely rich storyline. There are of course a lot of screenshots and movies.

www.eve-online.com

There is a completely free 14 days trial but the links aren't evident to find. Yell if you want to have one.

[Ghosth]

Who else is interested in giving this a try?

For sure I'm willing to give the 2 week trial a shot.
After that, well that would depend on a number of factors.

Thanks for the heads up deSelys and yes I'll take you up on a link for the trial.

[CarbHeat]

I am trying it now.....it is complicated.  But doable.

Carb

[deSelys]

Here is a link, Ghosth. Check on the right hand side for a link link to the 14 days trial:

www.zond3.net

It's great to see that you're interested, you and Carb.

My handle in-game is "Raul deMalte" and I'm a Gallentean. My corporation is KVA Noble Inc. You can check on the public channel 'KVA public'.

 

[deSelys]

Carb, do you like it? I haven't seen you on those last days. How far are you into your trial?

Ghosth, are you still planning to give it a try?

[Ghosth]

I've put everything on hold until I can get this new system stable.

Been getting full blown lockups in both 98 and XP.

Sending the PCI-E card back, going to replace it with a decent AGP card.

[deSelys]

Sorry to hear that.

Your MB has a PCI-E and AGP slots? Never herad about that before.

Btw, you should dump Win98SE IMO. It's still great to run aged computers, but I'm afraid that the 98 drivers for recent hardware are kinda... overlooked (when thay exist at all...).

[CarbHeat]

Carb, do you like it? I haven't seen you on those last days. How far are you into your trial?

Ghosth, are you still planning to give it a try?

I am not far enough along to say I like it or not.   I am still trying to figure out the objectives.   I have not been on any game recently.  Working late getting ready for a trip to Monteal leaving Monday.

Carb

[Vladimir]

Haha, well -- to put it honestly.

I used to be GM Commikfx / BH Commikfx, you could see me hanging around Text Center

Anywhom, I've played the game for 3 years, and including beta.

So therefore, if you have any questions, I will answer them.

[deSelys]

I got my 1st serious PvP experience and it was a hoot.

Some guy in an assault ship engaged my already damaged cruiser while I was "ratting" (hunting NPC pirates) but 2 mins later he was running away just before his nice shiny hi-tech frigate burst apart. I've set up my ship like a tank on steroids and it works pretty well. Too bad I hadn't fitted a warp disruptor, he would have been toast. 

To be honest, it was my second PvP fight... the first one involved my industrial (=cargo) ship and a battleship set up for super long range shooting. I'll jsut say that it ended quickly 

I play it casually but i'm still enjoying it. PvP fights are a nice rush.

[SunKing]

I know this thread is 2 years old, but I figured I would share my thoughts on this game now that I've given it serious effort ( 2 weeks into the game so  ).

I like most of you can't play a video game that's strictly vs the computer ai, I need to be playing people online. 

In my search for the ultimate online PVP (player vs player) game I've tried them all from Warcraft to Aces High 2.

This is the most in depth game I've ever attempted. Imagine game's like http://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/ or Master of Orion X 1000% content, with 26K players online at any given time (more on the weekends).

The first thing I noticed is the learning curve is over whelming. This is good and bad. The good thing is the player base is made up of intelligent players mainly adults +25. There are no trolls or kiddies ( your typical WOW subscriber) in this game, they are weeded out very quickly. Only the sharp survive. The bad is, it will take awhile to get the hang of this game. Thankfully there are many tutorials online (and in game) and many players willing to train you in game ie: Ghosth clones. I'm 2 weeks into working with a trainer and I've barely scratched the surface. I can say I probably would have dropped this game if I didn't have help from a friend ingame.

What I love about the game is anything goes, the game is wide open. You can do whatever you want and you can be whoever you want.

Some examples would be 
A) Miner [ make money mining asteroids ]
B) Freighter Pilot aka Space Trucker [ charge players to transport their goods across solar systems )
C) Space Pirate [ prey on other players to make your money and increase your infamy
D) Insurance Broker [ Make money scamming  or by legit contracts]   
E) Crafter [ Build any of the 100s of Space craft, components or materials for profit or yourself]
F) You get the picture. 

I also like the consequences that go along with this wide open game. At anytime in the game you can lose it all (or gaing it all). You need to think out your actions either as an individual or as a Corporation  (In Eve Squads are called Corporations). Every player and guide all preach the same point, don't undock that fancy space ship unless you are willing to lose it and its components, it's going to happen sooner or later.

Quick overview

The universe is incredibly huge. At the center is the Empire, a high security area where NPC Police patrol. If you are in violation the Police will take you out. At the outskirts of the universe is the no security space, no mans land, anything goes. Player run corporations go out and find a solar system which to call home. They establish a base and lay stake to the system. Corporations then join Alliances with other Corps in their area. This Alliance in turn defends their stake and help each other towards their goals. Imagine street gangs in space. Corps usually have a main goal. Some are Pirates, manufacturers, mining colonies, mercenaries for sale defending trade routes or miners ect You get the idea , anything goes.


Now the cost of playing a Multiplayer online game. Two things to cover.

1) The inevitable time sink.

The time sink in this game is how your character acquires skills. Skills are used to fly or do the things you want. The bigger and badder the item the long it takes to get. Training for a skill happens in realtime. Some skills can take minutes and hours, others days weeks and even months when you get that stage of the game high. Luckily there are so many "levels" of the game and items you can jump right into what you want to do. There are also 3rd party programs that allow you input what you want to do and they stream line the grind by telling you which skills to train and in what order so you waste no time to your goals. The good thing about this "grind" compared to the other games like World of Warcraft is, you don't have to be logged and playing to grind out your skills". You simply que a skill that takes as long as the time you be away from the game and your character will train. So what the hardcore players do is with the 3rd party program , they que the shorter skills why they are playing and the long ones when they are away. ( Some even set their alarms to get up in the night and start training a new skill as soon as the previous one finishes ).

There is fighting, mining, missions ect at all levels so you have something to do at any stage of the game. Low level players sill have roles in the large encounters with the seasoned players.

Every 4-5 months they add free expansions to the game. These add content, fix bugs, update older content. For example the last update added "faction wars" this allows new players to jump into PVP combat early in the game vs other players of similar level and skill so you don't have to wait months to be competitive. You can gain ranks, and battle your way to Faction ships,gear at your own pace.


2) Subscription fees. Just like AH2 Eve Online requires a $14.99 month fee to play.




The game now offers a 21 day trail through a buddy invite. I can send anyone the link if you msg me your email address. It's an affiliate link so in the event that you were to subscribe to the game I would be gifted a free month for each buddy I bring to the game. In turn you can do the same.

The game also has 2 clients you can download, the standard client for older pc's with toned down graphics and a special edition with all the bells and whistles that runs fine on standard gaming pc. There is also a MAC client and Linux available.



Any questions just post em, I'll answer em as best I can.




Some funny things I've heard or experienced in this game that made me laugh.



As I said you can be anything you want, in a game with no real life consequences people seem to play out their fantasies.

Pirate go around ransoming players. They find a lonely miner in the no security area and fire on him removing his shields. They then blackmail the player demanding a ransom or threaten to blow them up. You see a ton of players crying about losing weeks of mining to one pirate encounter. This just proves the point you need to think about what you are doing in this game.

The Population in the game is dominated by European players. The Developers and Server are Swedish. ( Lag ins't an issue )Americans and Canadians tend to team up in the game since we are the minority. This is probably the only game I've played yet where the American playerbase is the underdog.

Players can fill out an info card. You can click another player in game and read their 'info". Most everyone puts a picture of their Countries flag in there so quickly know who you are against. There is alot of competition between country corporation in this game. Just the other day a "pos"(player owned star base) was built in our Alliance Territory.It turned out to be a French Corporation. You can just imagine the battle cries to attack these guys and push them out of the system 


/end storymode    ( slow day at work)






   

[daddog]

Great write up SunKing.

If I had the time...it would be fun to play with my wife.

dd

[SunKing]

Here's a neat video of a Fleet Battle.

Use your headphones, there's a coupe of F bombs thrown out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTiZpYcPKY0&feature=channel_page#

[Ghosth]

Ok, now I'm playing eve!

LOL Yeah I know I'm late, anyone else still active there?

[Malap]

I tried Eve, it's an interesting game but i wished the space combat was more tactical than the slugfest. Would have been more interesting if you could duck behind asteroids and stuff.

[daddog]

I have thought about playing Eve over the years. Was thinking it would be nice to find an online game that Gloria and I each could sit at a computer and play together. That possible with Eve? What is the community like? Young kids? Older folks?

[Ghosth]

Yes daddog actually that is very possible.

Community is rich, diverse, but tend to be very much fans, like AH players in many respects.

[rkanjl]

I gave this a try about eight months ago.  It was too slow for my tastes and I kind of found it boring.  I agree with Mal on the combat issue, it really drops the ball in my opinion.  Perhaps I didn't give it enough of a chance but it just didn't grab me right away and make me want to come back.  Just my two cents for what it's worth.  If you do plan to try it be prepared to spend a lot of time learning all the ships, equipment, races, etc. as this game is immense and very involved (way more so than Aces High).  There is a plethora of information on the game website and you may want to get familiar with it before you start your two week trial.

[Ghosth]

Just an FYI for anyone else who might be tempted to try eve.

A let me know first, I can get you an extra week free trial.
B if you should then sub, I'd get an extra month of game time, which can be sold in game for
400 million isk or so. I'll split that with you when I get it, within a day after you subscribe.

Just did this with Malap, and it worked great.

In Eve it is possible within a month or 2 to actually make enough in game so you don't have to subscribe every month. I had a friend from World of Tanks set me up, but we did a swap, he gave me money for month of Eve time which he'd earned in game, I gave him 15$ of Gold for World of tanks. Since then I have earned enough so that I am subscribed to september, and have 2 months to earn next 400 million Isk.

Anyone who wants to try eve and buddy program I'll give you same as I gave Malap.
Free first ship, and a load of parts to play with. Guns, shields, power management, missile launchers and missiles, etc. Ask Malap, he's still finding goodies in the can I gave him.

Don't come to Eve for the combat, although its there its not like you will find in AH.
The best of it would take 6-10 months of training, working yourself up to be capable of surviving without losing your ship every day. And ships can be expensive, from little 300,000 frigates to 1 billion isk monsters.

Come to Eve if your looking for a change, something slower paced, with an even steeper learning curve than AH.
But with rewards just as big.

Ever dreamed of playing the stock market? Eve's market covers over 6000 separate solar systems, can buy low, sell high,  negotiate and play the tycoon with amazing results, for 15$ a month. Mine the raw materials, refine them, haul them, use them to build ships, or parts, then find the best market to maximize your profits.

Every time I think I've just about got a handle on figuring Eve out, I find more layers of complexity. Whole new level's of things to do.

Just as an example, one night I mined for a bit over 2 hours, could have sold the total for about 1.2 million isk.
Refined it into its various mineral types instead, used the minerals to build a ship. 2 days later sold the ship for 5 million isk.

[Flushed]

What faction are you guys allied with? Do you get to choose on signup? Just started to download client haven't signed up yet

[Ghosth]

Malap is Mimimtar.

As a general rule, you can choose somewhat depending on what you want to do.

Caldari have the best ships for high end missions.
Min have best ships for PvP.

Personally I am Gallente but I cross trained Caldari ships as well.

Malap is Malap and I am Ghost Hawk332

Others you may happen to meet would be Arasian (Wrag, Aces High, WoT,) CapTim (WoT) and Just Raims.
Raims is a long time friend of CapTims who kind of tucked me under his wing.

[Ghosth]

Flushed, post your email address here, I'll send you invite, you start over with 3 week trial instead of 2.
If you subscribe I'll get plex worth 375 MILLION isk which I'll split with you, same as I did with Malap, your share be 180-190 million isk.

If worried about the ship and stuff, you can click contracts, item exchange, contract it to me personally, Ghost Hawk332, you get a selection screen, put all ships, can of goodies, etc, contract it to me for free. When you log in (hopefully) new name and longer trial account I'll contract it back to you and you can pick it up. Money, just right click on my name, give money. You get on with new name and I'll send it back.

Truly Flushed only 1 day in, it is worth starting over just to get decent name, and week of free play.


Anyone else interested, please contact me or Malap first.

[Flushed]

I just saw this today. Sorry ghost. I have all this stuff trained now and the name has grown on me. I still don't know what i pressed to get it. I have also paid for a month. Will pay you back your 1.5 million Iso with interest as soon as I make it. It is hard work mining with the little tristan but it has teeth to kill the rats. Sorry I wasn't paying attention.ftp://

[Ghosth]

LOL flushed thats not the way it works bud.

Pay it forward

At some point help some other new guy (or 3) to the game the way I helped you.

I had a lot of help getting started, some of that got repaid in your direction. You will have to find your own way to pay it forward once you can afford to do so.

A million isk  in eve is nothing, less than a nickel's worth of real money.

As for splitting a plex for starting, how do you lose something you never had?

[deSelys]

Hello Gents,


Stopped playing Eve a while ago, it felt like a 2nd job. All the fun that I experienced during the 1st year was gone.

The guys who were part of the Corp I joined were nice and fun, but we got enlisted in an alliance ruled by armchair managers who were taking the game waaaay too seriously (while being at the same time inept at it, which is quite a performance...).

I'm burned out with any form of MMORPG, those a games are too much of a time sink for me.

I hope that your experience will be much better than mine, and that you won't hesitate twice about leaving the game when the fun is gone.

<S> all