Surviving transitions.

I thought that in my first year in EVE I've seen enough to survive anything thrown at me. I lived in high sec, low sec and 0.0. I fought in Providence during the invasion and in Scalding Pass during Goon's attack. I moved from Providence to Scaling Pass to Pure Blind (those who have many assets know how difficult is relocating many times in a short span of time). Yet none of this prepared me for the transition period that we are living in... and it is killing me!!

Lets go back a couple of months. -FA- had just moved to Scalding Pass and rented 4 different systems (which were 2x too many). We were getting settle down when leadership decided to pack and move North. This conceded with the announced Goon+Coven invasion of the area, but supposedly it was a coincidence more than a result. While in SP there was some friction between AU-F leadership and other corps. The move, combined with the restructuring of the alliance (many corps merged together while others were kicked out) created a very volatile environment. By the time the move was over, the communications completely broke down. The writing was on the wall. It was just a matter of when.

Around 2 weeks ago AU-F leadership did the sensible thing and left -FA- (I wish them well). This is the first time since I'm in AU-F that we are on our own. A couple of ideas were thrown around, but eventually we decided on an explorer life. AU-F has some WH goals. We'll see in the next weeks if we are able to pull it out.

In the mean time we are in a transition period. We are not roaming low-sec or 0.0 as a group. Basically the majority is PVEing to make some extra ISK for our next project. I tried for 2x weeks to do L4s, but I can't anymore. The level of boredom for the crap of pay is impossible to bear. I really don't understand how people can do L4s all day.

Without any industry or PVP options available I'm tied to L4s for survival. It is not easy.

I'm currently working on Salvage V, but once done I'll get Dante Styx on a tech2 gallente frigate to help explore and find a suitable WH space.

Not sure what the future holds for AU-F, but hopefully we can survive this transition period and reach our new goal.

Providence and CVA.

Rixx Javix (EVEOGANDA) published a very interesting editorial about CVA. Rixx was part of LFA's alliance when the Catch's invasion started. As I said before, I hold not grudge against CVA. I was not part of CVA or any of the holders. My interaction with them was also very limited in the 8 or so months I lived in Providence. If they were arrogant or inept at defending their space I can't say.

There is one thing that Rixx mentioned that was exactly my thoughts in those first days:

Why? Because there wasn't anything behind the curtain. CVA spent more effort on building stations in systems they couldn't defend than they did on building their fleet to defend it. They lined their pockets instead of lining the perimeter. They fiddled while Rome burned.

Where were they Titans? Where were the super-carriers? With 50+ stations between CVA and holders and no Sov wars in a long time, I was certain that they will show up in the field with an infinite number of super-capital and capitals. Not only that, but the fleet would be completely coordinated. These were pilots that knew each other for so many years and had complete control of these constellations! Then D-G happened.

Anyway, that is all in the past. If you still care about one more opinion about old-Providence head over to EVEOGANDA.

While in the subject... via Kugu I read a post about life in new-Providence. Stupid pilot says:

Fighting U'K in the daytime before we fleet up with them at night to come sort out SW Providence, we have plenty of fun, even-ish number fights, so that's some consolation.

That is the most retarded thing I've ever read. And to think that these people said the old-Providence was bad. For more of this fail click here.

Late Spring Cleaning.

I know we are officially in Summer, but I never heard of a "Summer Cleaning".

As some of you may have noticed -FA- is on the move again. All the systems we owned in Scalding Pass were released and Primary owns them now. The time in SP was good for many of us. I, for one, had a great time PVPing and PVEing. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to last. It was hard being so deep in 0.0 space (Empire space was many jumps out thru hostile space), but I really liked it. It really felt like null-sec when compared to the Providence days.

The reasons for the move I wont comment on. I'm a soldier. I just do as I'm told. AU-F leadership believes and agrees with the alliance leadership that a new home was needed and I trust them. So I packed all my ships and moved them out. For the last 10 days I've been either gone (finished Magician) or doing L4s in Gallente space.

This last change/move generated a lot of internal discussion in the alliance. A lot of old friends have left and new ones have joined. I will miss many, but the actions taken were needed. There was a lot of leeway in our move to SP. Many corps never moved there, so we were a split alliance (some in Empire some in SP). I hope the alliance learns from this and we move as an entire unit to our new home.

With all the changes around us, the AU-F leadership decided to take a long look in the mirror. After close examination multiple problems were found, but thanks to a positive interaction of its members a roadmap is in the works that should define AU-F and put us in the path to greater things.

The changes coming made me reconsider some of the training. Specially Armand's. Both Dante Styx and Dante Darkko will pursuit their training plans with little change, but Armand will finish the current exploration training to focus on market PVP, followed by T1 production. After finishing all the mining training, Armand has been without a clear goal. Maybe logistic, maybe freighter, etc. That is all gone. The original idea for Armand was to be an industrialist and that is the goal again.

I look forward to the future. I think that the next 6 months will define our corporation and our alliance. Let the pew-pew begin!

I'm not going to dumb it down and paint it pink.

That is a quote from an interview posted by Worlds in Motion with CCP senior producer Torfi Olafsson. It is a very short interview, but still worth the read. I do feel that CCP has proven again and again that they are not the typical MMO company that will change anything for more market share. Yes, the game was changed since it came out in 2003. I know that some bitter veterans will say that it is "so easy" now, but I would argue that it has evolved.

This game is a business and without new blood it would die. There have been changes specially in the intro section, but I still feel that it is hardcore in its core. No matter where you are you are not safe. It is likely that no one will shoot your rookie ship, but not impossible. Some ass that juts like griefing can seat on a destroyer and blow you up before he does. Sov wars are no kids game and entire alliances can be destroyed overnight (right Goons?).

Follow the link for the full interview.