Saturday, May 8, 2010

Frig Tourney 5-7-10

Wowwee! What a day! Our frig tournament today had a semi-ok turnout, 6 pilots, 12 frigates, one prize.
Our first battle was between Ryu Kage, in a Kestral and Evil Claymore, in a Griffin. They warp to the staging area, shake hands and on command, warp to the battlefield and immediatly lock and start shooting eachother. Evil gets out of his shields, with Ryu's paint barely scratched. Missiles and rockets are flying--but what's this? It seems that Ryu has hit his MWD and gone off grid. And because Ryu is no longer on the battlefield, Evil's one hobgoblin I has gone rogue....and it's going after Rahken! Evil tells his drone to come back and orbit him as Ryu comes back on grid. Both pilots relock and fire. It seems that Evil jams Ryu. What a turn of events....but wait, Evil's cap has run out, and can no longer jam Ryu. Within minutes, Evil is sitting in his pod, Ryu is the winner.
Second Battle was between DeadKnighton in a Kestral and Rahken in a Tristan. They warp into the battlefield, lock and fire. It looks like they both have reppers--DK a shield repper and Rahken an armor repper. Wolf is almost down, and DK has barely any damage when DK goes off grid. He quickly turns around and gets back on the battlefield, relocks and fires upon Rahken. Rahken falls out of armor, out of structure, he cannot rep fast enough, and he ends up in his Pod.
The third battle is between Evil Claymore in a Kestral and Rahken also in a Kestral (it seem a very popular Frigate at this tournament). Like the battles before, they warp in, lock and begin to fire. Rahken's range prevents him from shooting Evil, and doesn't get an effective shot off until he is already in structure, which is far too late. Rahken is eliminated, and flies away in his pod.
Another battle of the Kestrals when DeadKnighton and Ryu Kage head to the battlefield. Ryu gets DK into his armor, and sensor dampens him. With DK not being able to target, he goes down fairly quickly, but not before getting Ryu into 3/4 structure.
The next battle was between myself (Tinkers Bell) in--what else?--a Kestral and Trebit in a Merlin. Both pilots were blasting missiles at the other one, the shields of the ships were a pain to get through, but I got Trebit into armor, with me only in 30% shields remaining. Soon, Trebit was out of a ship and flying in his pod.
The next battle was myself (again, in a Kestral) and Ryu Kage, back in his sensor dampening Kestral. I tried to be smart and put some Friend or Foe missiles in my cargo hold, just in case I got sensor damped to hell. Ryu sensor damped me, and I tried to fire my FoF missiles, but nothing happened. Ryu ate through my shields, armor, and structure. Before I could get one missile even aimed at his ship, I was floating in my pod.
Then came Trebit in a Condor, and DeadKnighton in a Merlin. They both warp, target and fire upon each other. They get eachother down to about half shields when DK starts shield repairing himself. With that repper, Trebit seems to be having some trouble breaking his tank. Trebit ends up in his pod.
The semi finals start with DeadKnighton in a Merlin and Evil Claymore in a Kestral. DK quickly dropped shields, armor and structure and is in his pod. The second semi final battle is between myself and Ryu, both in Kessies. As with the previous match between the two of us, Ryu has me sensor dampened, almost from the beginning, and my FoF missiles don't want to cooperate, so I shortly end up in my pod.
The Finals are between Evil Claymore (in a Kestral and already has one loss) and Ryu Kage (in a Merlin--whoa a change!--who has no losses). In order to win, Ryu must simply kill Evil's Kestral, and for Evil to win he must kill both of Ryu's frigates. The close range Merlin eats away from Evil's shield, armor and structure, and he is in his pod. Ryu Kage is the 1st Frigate Tournament winner! Congrats!!

And what have I learned? FoF missiles cannot hit a target if it is beyond your targeting range. When sensor damped, not only your ship targeting range is gone, but your missile targeting range goes down as well.
Thanks to all of those that participated, and we look forward to seeing more pilots at our next tourney, details will be posted in corp/alliance bulletins. Fly safe guys, and Congratulations Zoe!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Ladies in Space

In response to CrazyKinux's Blog Banter question: What can CCP Games do to attract and maintain a higher percentage of women to the game?

When my husband first started playing EVE online, I thought "Oh great. Yet another video game that he'll play during all of his spare time, that I won't understand or enjoy." It took almost 9 months of watching him play before I decided to get a mining character.
There are women in EVE, like myself, that like to do the "womanly" things (by reading some other posts, meaning mining, industry, etc.) There are also women in game, like myself, that enjoy doing more. I can't tell you how excited I was when I got my first kill, let alone my first kill mail. It was a huge rush! My corp mates (my husband included) still laugh when I bring up in corp, "So......when's the next PVP op??"
As for how CCP can make EVE more "woman friendly", I agree that Icarna is going to be a big part of getting more women to play. I've already told my corpmates not to expect me out of station much when it first comes out. I would really enjoy "creating" my own space, going to intergalactic bars with my hubby and a few close friends, and being able to see what my toon will look like (other than the chest up shot that shows in my character screen. I honestly look forward to that.
Other than that, CCP really shouldn't have to change anything. I enjoy playing for the sake of playing. I'm pretty sure that most women would agree. You don't have to give us a special task to do, or dumb things down (I heard some people saying that no math would make more women play...not true) to make us enjoy the game. If people would do what my husband did, and sit down and explain the game, answer questions, and be patient when the woman starts playing. Don't crash their hopes and say "oh you'll never be able to fly that" or "why would you want to do THAT" kind of thing. If a guy wants to get his girlfriend, wife, or another female in his life to play, find another female already playing and have her talk to the girlfriend/wife. It seems that seeing that another female enjoys the game, and knowing that they aren't the only one would help get the female population up (even if only a little).
Great game CCP, I look forward to Tyranis and Incarna!

Some other links I've read:
Astral Dominix--Is Eve A Man's World
Ombey--Blog Banter #17 The Ladies of New Eden
Rantuket--I Wish My Wife Played EVE
PsycheDiver--What Women Want
The Nomadic Gamer--New Eden Doesn't need to change for Eve--Adam needs to get over himself