The ‘Maelstrom Hour’ Unit
Posted: 2012-04-05 Filed under: eveonline | Tags: branch, dominion, hp, maelstrom, sov, tenal 3 CommentsRaiden. has stood down in Tenal and the CFC is currently working through structure grinding in order to conquer it. According to my intel channels, Tenal will be back in RAZOR Alliance‘s hands in 2 weeks.
I find the current Tenal situation reminicent of the CFC Branch campaign. After a few major battles, White Noise. stood down and the only thing left to do was to structure grind. Hundreds of Maelstroms and Supers were used to blob and grind.
In order to express the magnitude of work that needed to be done, a unit of measurement was coined.
Maelstrom Hour – noun.
The amount of damage a T2 gun, perfect skill, and always in optimal Maelstrom produces in an hour.
20 Billion HPs were required to conquer Branch, which comes out to about 7,407 Maelstrom Hours. Given an average fleet size of 100 Maelstroms, that equals 148 hours of fleet time — or over 6 days of non-stop shooting (credit for this post goes to Lake on Kugutsumen.com for the research).
With sovereignty being looked at in the upcoming expansions, there cannot be more higher HP structures. The answer to this mechanic has always been n+1, bring more of the things.
What are the alternatives?
I’m not an expert on Dominion-style sovereignty warfare so any links to constructive threads would be welcome.
Journey to 100B ISK
Posted: 2012-04-04 Filed under: industry, market | Tags: arkonor, ishtar, maelstrom, market, megacyte, noctis, profit, rigs, trade, trimark 4 CommentsVisions of power come in many forms in the Eve universe. Some people aspire for political wealth and the ability to spin the wheels of war with a few verbal orders. Others find power in numbers, the blinking of a wallet ever increasing towards a higher value.
I have always identified with the industry people, who wish to put disparate pieces together to create something grand. Ammo to Jump Freighters — I’ve built them all and have quite the journey.
In March of this year, I hit a new milestone as I saw my net value pass 100B for the first time.
Carebear Stare
As I reflect, I find the notion that I once held of an Iteron V being a masterful machine to be almost comical. Powerful Mining lasers from a Navitas frigate don’t seem to bring me the same thrill as before.
Now I am playing with what I consider to be the real industry and market people, who shift prices en mass and send ripples down the chain. I can now fund large conflicts and build something from nothing.
For one individual, vocal clout on comms provides wealth. For me, the work I am doing to drive conflict with money is far more entertaining.
The Vast Unknown
All journeys start with a decision that drives change. In 2008, fresh to the space opera, I found myself making small amounts of gains in highsec and eager for larger things. One day a corpmate approached me and lured me into unknown space with the promise of riches.
The introduction of wormhole space brought new fields of ABC ores to the galaxy. As my wormhole corporation climbed up the class ladder from a C3 into a C6, we grew in mining, production, and salvage efficiency.
In early 2009, the number of roaming gangs and gankers was drastically smaller than the current numbers. We would often mine for hours without seeing another incoming connection forming. The field was new and full of new mechanics that are drastically different than aged nullsec.
We used newly discovered mechanics to keep ourselves isolated. Knowing that not warping to an outgoing connection will keep it despawned, helped keep our isolation from neighbors. When we saw a new signature from a nosy neighbor, we used the mass of our carriers and battleships to collapse the connection.
Isolation kept the Arkonor flowing and with each jetcan worth 14M ISK, our wallets fattened. We purchased carriers, a Rorqual, battleships, and funded second or third characters.
Clicking on Planets
Liquid ISK, which was created by piles of Megacyte mined in wormshole space, gave me the capital for my next venture.
I speculated heavily on the PI market before the Tyrannis patch. When NPC orders were removed, it paid off. I put 10B into NPC items such as robotics, construction blocks, coolant, and mechanical parts. As the prices peaked, I sold off the stock pushing my net worth up to 20/25B.
Market Epiphany
Another breakthrough came when I took up missioning as a side interest.
Running L4 missions.
Hmm, I need ammo and to rig this Dominix.
Hmm, why are rigs 3M more than Jita.
Hmm. Hmm. *click*
I should stock this mission hub.
Major Performers
Advice
Close Jita local and pretend it does not exist.
Expansions breed change. Pay attention to leaked patch notes, and review for manipulation attempts. If there is a change to loot drops proposed, get on the test server and figure out the refine value or use the static data set that CCP provides.
Stay away from the Official Eve Online forums, especially for market information. The reliability and quality of information is far too low.
Put on your tinfoil hat and join the r/eve and kugutsumen.com communities.
Read, read, read, use Excel or another tool, read, and read.
Take a risk and do something that you have never done before. Some of the most important trade data or inspiration has come out of new aspects of the game that I have never attempted before such as large 500 person fleet fights, mission running, or Incursions.
Not the Olive Branch I Expected
Posted: 2011-12-21 Filed under: eveonline, screenshot, ships | Tags: branch, hurricane, maelstrom 2 CommentsAs primarily an industrialist, I don’t have a large array of skills placed into Gunnery, Missile Launcher Operation, or rusty buckets such as the Maelstrom Battleship. I can, however, pilot a T2 fit Hurricane. With Triathlon season over and my Swimming team on winter break, I had time to fly in the current CFC Branch Campaign. (Side note: check out this thread and see if you can find me).
A call for Alphafleet came out on comms and I suited up in my Hurricane.
After staging we were out running around Branch and blowing up towers. Our FC for a fleet of about 100 was calm and collected. I can’t tell you how much I do not enjoy FCs that yell and spam commands, “GO GO GO GO LOCK LOCK LOCK LOCK LOCK PRIMARY BLAKE PRIMARY BLAKE PRIMARY BLAKE”. I really only want to hear the order twice for clarity.
Jokes were had, outlandish pictures were posted in local, and while waiting for a a Tower timer, we all started up MS Paint and made drawings of our FC.
Our Maelstroms will blot out the sun!
Capital vs Subcapital ME Levels
Posted: 2011-07-23 Filed under: industry, ships | Tags: maelstrom, obelisk Leave a commentWhile working on some profit numbers for various items, I found that ME levels affect the build costs a little differently for Capital ships than other items such as Battleships or Modules.
A simple example is a battleship like the Maelstrom. For every additional ME level, the material requirements level off. Less Tritanium, Pyerite, Isogen, etc. are required for each additional ME level.
There is a diminishing return with each ME level as it is a logarithmic trend. For a Maelstrom the ‘optimal’ ME is around 15, which is about 2 months worth of research.
Capitals however, are made from Capital Components which are made from minerals.
The material requirements for the Obelisk only change at ME 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 16, and so on. You don’t get any benefit by researching a Obelisk BPO to ME4. You might as well get it to 5 to remove another Capital Component from the requirements.
I have found the ME charts on games.chruker.dk to be invaluable for this type of information.