EVE Online: Building An Eve Empire, Part 5: Rules of Peace

Dana

In the fifth part of his guide to inter-stellar conquest in EVE Online, MMORPG.com Correspondent Sam Guss looks at how to build through peace.

Pilots need to remember why they fight to hold such vast territory. It is to follow their own ambitions and to train in an environment that won’t cost them hundreds of millions of ISK.

All war and no peace eventually leads to death. In EVE terms, that death is the death of your corporation, your alliance and your coalition. Constant war without reprieve, without a chance to catch one’s breath, without the chance to rebuild what is lost, can only lead to loss. The ultimate loss.

Read it all here.

smartguy

What a load of bull.

"All war and no peace eventually leads to death. In EVE terms, that death is the death of your corporation, your alliance and your coalition. Constant war without reprieve, without a chance to catch one’s breath, without the chance to rebuild what is lost, can only lead to loss. The ultimate loss."

 

Look at the large, successful alliances right now? Goonswarm? AAA? They are all in CONSTANT warfare. Goonswarm had its first period of temporary peice after the first delve campain, that lasted just a week or two. It was a wrek, nothing got done and as few as 20 people in the 6000 person alliance might be logged in at one time. With out some objective to meet and some face to cream in (no, building ships and making isk does not count), people lose the motivation to play. These alliances owe some of their success to the fact that they are always engaging an enemy. If they beat one, they find a new target to go against. If they lose, they don't lick their wounds, they find a nearby target to conquer and take some space from to help build up their logistics empire.

 

Logistics, isk making, ship building and the like isn't something you do in peace. You should be doing this AT ALL TIMES. Designated people who love aking isk and producing machines at war. They are never happier than during conflict, because that is when the most isk is to be made. Peace doesn't help you build isk, it just weakens your fighting ability, your will to log on, and the profit margins of your industrialists.

MacAllen

Smartguy is right, the top success stories in Eve are warmongers.  War = profit.  War = drive.  War = adventure.  Goons don't mine, they steal miner's stuff.  Your correspondant shows all the signs of either never playing Eve at all, or only playing in 1.0 space.

I'm curious when you're going to do the "Eve, be a d-bag and thrive!" article, because that's the only real picture of the game.

I don't enjoy PvP much at all, and truly despise non-consentual PvP, but friends pulled me into Eve and, for quite awhile I meandered around in high-sec space, enjoying myself.  Then, one day, I was mining in my tricked out Retriever, and someone says "hey, we're going to gank you now, thanks for playing."  They came at me with tiny, disposable ships and blew me to pieces, in .9 space, before concord could react.  Concord blew them up, but  their friend in a hauler emptied my wreck and salvaged it, then went and parked in a station for the 15 min I could have shot at him.  They spent a few 100k isk to pop my several million isk ship (I had rigs and such), and their reward was a big chunk of veldspar, the cheapest and easiest to get ore in the game.

They didn't do it for the money, because they didn't get any money from it.  They did it because they could, and because it hurt someone, and that is the underlying principle behind the entire game...the biggest d-bags win.

In Eve, if you destroy an npc ship, the wreck is "yours" to loot.  If someone else loots it, you get permission to shoot at them without Concord intervening.  People scan down where you're ratting, fly out and loot your cans, deliberately flagging themselves and daring you to shoot them.  If you do, you find they have 4 friends there with them, all cloaked, who can now shoot you back because you shot first...you die, they laugh.  Half the time, they don't even loot your ship, they just revel in blowing you up.  Heck, the time I saw it happen they SHOT the guy's wreck to destroy it, so the guy couldn't get anything back.

Oh, and while people can't loot your wreck without "risk" of being shot, they can salvage it with impunity, and often get something better from it.  There are entire corporations out there who's sole purpose in life is to fly around, looking for people killing pirates, and salvaging their wrecks out from under them.  One of the more infamous of these corps is "Tears Extraction Services".  They aren't doing it for the money, they do it for the victims that cry and weep in the global channels...they thrive on the pain.

CCP supports and encourages this behaviour, but you don't see that advertised anywhere.  The fact that the devs themselves were involved in some of the more vicious corps makes that obvious.

Eve, where d-bags rule.  Write an article on that, why don't you?

n2k3156

Whoever wrote this article has either never played EVE online, or is a complete moron, because this is not at all how major alliances think.

I would know, I run one.

Brain-dead

Half the time, they don't even loot your ship, they just revel in blowing you up. Heck, the time I saw it happen they SHOT the guy's wreck to destroy it, so the guy couldn't get anything back.

heh heh, god I love this game.

Eve is about covering your own ass and not expecting the game to do it for you. There are really no MMOs out there like that right now. The game actually feels dangerous. Thats why I am still here even though I almost never PvP. I dont get that sense of danger playing WoW or EQ or CoH or whatever.

And yeah, you can survive just fine if you have half a brain. I have been playing this game since launch. I've been killed only twice...both times because I got sloppy (flying through lowsec on autopilot).

Insure your stuff. Watch your back. Have contingency plans. Take precautions. Educate yourself on pirate tactics and pay attention to your map. It really isnt as hard as people think. But you have to pay attention in this game.

sirwolfgang

It is sad in how you mis understand it.. As you so pointed out they steal from miners. That is in effect mining, When they are not in a waring zone they steal recouces. On the out side that looks like combat, but infact that is there meathod of growth during peace. Just becouse you play eve doesnt mean you know what your talking about either.

MacAllen

Please allow me to clarify my position...I do not hate Eve.  I'm impressed as heck at what CCP has done.  They have created a game that they really enjoy, and it is 100% successful in it's demographic.  They've done more than almost any other MMO in staying true to the vision of their game. 

My issue is with the advertising.  Eve is not a "safe place to play".  A "place to explore".  Any advertising that discusses PvE in any way needs to have "except you will be violated in the most heinous ways if you try to experience it" appended to the end.

For example, CCP added COSMOS arcs, great mission sets with great rewards...and planted it smack dab on top of a low-sec system where a pirate corporation had settled...that's like putting a salt lick right in front of a deer blind.  It is EXTREMELY hard to to explore the PvE aspect without having the PvP one inserted rectally. 

They created "instances" with warp gates, so PvE players can enjoy doing missions in peace...then created scanning to allow PvP players to scan down people doing PvE missions and kill them.  They put in the rule that looting someone's can allows you to shoot them, which is actually a bonus for the PvP side...why not make concord shoot them?  Any why can people not loot your can, but they can salvage your wreck?  Because it's funnier that way and creates more misery for the PvE players.

The game is a d-bag heaven, designed for d-bags, played by d-bags, developed by d-bags.  Any advertising that in any way reflects a PvE aspect of the game is just bait.

pompey606

It does seem that the Writer ran out of things to say, this is a very strange article.

 

Edit (addition): This is an article I would be more interested to read if it came from a current, major Alliance leader.

Brain-dead

For example, CCP added COSMOS arcs, great mission sets with great rewards...and planted it smack dab on top of a low-sec system where a pirate corporation had settled...that's like putting a salt lick right in front of a deer blind.

Heh, I love that analogy.

 

They created "instances" with warp gates, so PvE players can enjoy doing missions in peace...then created scanning to allow PvP players to scan down people doing PvE missions and kill them.

To be fair, while this does happen, I dont think it is common. I've never been scanned down once. Maybe I just got lucky or maybe I just havnt been going on good enough missions where it is worth their while. But I am doing level 4 missions now...so if it is the latter, it is obviously not something newbie players will have to deal with anytime soon. Anyone advanced enough in the game to do those missions should be able to handle occasional PvP incursions. 

Asbo

I have to say if you could fit mirrors on ya ship then I would be doing this. I'm new to this game and it always amazes me how many people cry and moan in this game, personally I love the danger and it gives me a buzz. I am unable to comment on the op comments as I have yet to delve into 0.0 space.

 

However today i went into 0.1 for the first time and was amazed at how many people were in this area. I had bought advanced learning skills from a station well out the way by mistake and decided what the head off and collect them. So I fitted 3 overdrives and head down and warped the 19 jumps out and I happened to be working from home and had to drop the sound on my PC due to a call, but I watched my ass all the way and docked at my destination just to see a frigate mauling indies leaving the station.

 

When i finally dropped my caller I then left the station expecting to be attacked, but it did not happen thankfully.  I've made a shit load of ISK's in the short 3 months I've been in Eve and am slowly building up my skills, ships and T2 bits for a little fun in the near future.

 

I love this fear factor and this is what is keeping me in the game provided i can stop bloody trading so much making ISK's from n00bs and alike.

 

Off topic, Funniest thing which has happened to me in game to date was this, I bought a can for 600k the other day then sold it in Jita for 9mill, the idiot who bought it then sold it back to me for 600k and you will not believe me but he then bought it again but this time for 12 mill and guess what!! yup you got it the idiot sold it me back for 600k, I then tried to tempt him with a sell order for 99mill sadly I think he logged off and must of either been stoned or drunk or both. I love German players.

 

Bandit.