I’ve created another alt. I won’t say what number alt this is (gotta keep em guessing), but suffice it to say this character is neither Aiden nor the Orca-stealing wunderkinder. For our purposes, lets call him Bob. Bob is about a month old at this point, and currently a member of a fledgling corp that he is coincidentally trying to scam out of some or all of their hard-earned isk. This is what you might call a swiss-army knife “this is my first time making a corp” corp. I mean these guys do it all; mining, pvp, mission-running, industry, research, hauling, grandiose plans for a POS, round-the-world time zone representation, the works! Wow! This sounds like one powerhouse of a corp, except for one small, teeny-tiny, yet glaringly debilitating fact: they have about 7 active members at this point, and that number is dropping. Needless to say, I’m thinking about jumping ship.

Originally, Bob was meant to be a throwaway alt with which to experiment on a few quick scam/infiltration/theft schemes I had. As such, Bob had no skillpoints trained at all. Seeing as I planned on working my schemes using only my wits, quick-thinking, and brilliantly building a false sense of trust and camaraderie, training any REAL skills seemed like a waste of time. However, seeing as I DO get the 100% training bonus on Bob, I decided “what the hey”, I’ll train up my learning skills with the 2x speed bonus so that if I ever do want to use Bob, he’ll be a little quicker on the uptake (plus it’ll help with some screen shots to actually HAVE some skillpoints showing up on a 1 1/2 month old character =/ ). I’m using the standard learning skill ladder found here as described by Tripoli (minus the cybernetic skills and implants), but I’m curious if anyone has any suggestions for using my neural remaps. I’ve never actually used it before, with any character, so I’m a little in the dark about it. Basically, I’m trying to figure out how and when to remap to give little Bob the best (and quickest) schooling possible in terms of learning skills. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

In the meantime, I’ll be looking around a for a new group of suckers….er, corp, and of course, keeping you all posted (in irritatingly vague ways of course). Take it easy. [edit]

o7,

-Aiden

By now, virtually the entire Eve community has heard about what happened the other night in Providence. The CVA alliance was very suddenly and abrubtly disbanded and robbed blind. At first thought to be the work of a Goonswarm mole or disgruntled director in the same fashion in which BoB was taken down, allegations soon followed of account-hacking. *Sigh*, drumroll please! Aaaand que forum-drama, aaaaaaaand ACTION!

In reading the Eve-O forum thread on this, I’ve realized there are multiple arguments about radically different ideas going on here. It’s not as cut and dry as “CVA was disbanded al la BoB from the inside, are you for or against this”. With CCP’s revalation that there is indeed evidence of account hacking, this becomes two distinctly different discussions. Discussion #1 revolves around the issue of corporate espionage and theft, while discussion #2 concerns out-of-game Real Life crime and offense. I’ll address these individually.

Concernng issue 1; I am whole-heartedly supportive of the idea of  Corp infiltration and the like. Actually, I think its one of the more ingenious and unique aspects of Eve. On the above-mentioned forum thread, there seems to be a lot of whining about needing new rules that prevent a single individual from lying and worming their way up to the top of a Corp and then disbanding and/or economically crippling it. The usual weepy carebear complaints ensue: “Whaaa, CCP needs to make new rules against this!!” or “This needs to be addressed! It’s an exploit!” or my all-time personal favorite, “It’s not fair!!”. *Ahem*, to my furry carebear friends out there: you’re right! There should be a rule to prevent this sort of thing from happening to a Corp. But you know, actually, come to think of it…there already IS a rule out there to prevent this! And that rule is “Less Fail”.

Seriously, this is not hard guys. Want a good method of preventing some sneaky prick (read: totally rad and seriously awesome guy I want to be friends with) from breaking into your Corp wallet and assets and robbing you blind? DON’T LET HIM. Even when it comes to huge mega-corps/alliance like CVA, there’s really no need for more than three or four people to have access to anything important. To me this just seems like common sense I guess (albiet “comon sense” and “carebears” are two words that rarely do find themselves at the same party).

Corporate infiltration and gross theft is fascinating to me, and I find myself reading and re-reading the famous ones over and over again. Haargoth and BoB, Guiding Hand Social Club, E.I.B.; these amaze and intruige me. Call it underhanded, spiteful, a dick move…whatever you want. But someone cunning and diabolically sneaky enough to get themselves into a position of power to then abuse it using legal game mechanics is a genius in my book. And if doing that took a long-con approach, I tip my hat even more. That my friends is sociopolitical savvy at it’s finest. Let’s be honest, alts probably make up a quarter of the population of Eve, at least. And not all of them are catalyst-flying mission-salvaging alts with painfully unimaginative names (ie “Mr. Moz” and his super-secret salvaging alt, “Mrs. Moz”…Morrissey-references aside, dude…really?) if you get my drift.

The other subject of debate is the idea (edit: now knowledge) that one of CVA’s directors’ account’s was hacked, allegedly by ISK sellers. Now, ok, plausible enough explanation. Account hacking does happen, especially when it comes to creditcard-fishing ISK sellers. Although that said, was this attack targeted specifically at CVA, or did some ISK seller hit the jackpot when they cracked open some random account and found themselves with the keys to the CVA kingdom?

Personally, for the record, I find both isk-buying/selling and account hacking deplorable and deserving of a life-ban from Eve, if not criminal charges. ISK buying/selling because it undermines the entire spirit of the game, and account hacking because it’s taking things a giant step too far. Let’s not forget folks, this here is a GAME, and to push arguements or disagreements into the realm of real life is breaking the fourth wall so to speak. If taking your anger and agresssion out on a character in Eve crosses over into taking anger and agression out  on the actual person behind the character, you’re doing it wrong. Also, you should probably find something better to do with you time than Eve.

TL;DR version:

Ninjas; totally down with spying, infiltration, theft, and generally sneaky and devious behavior. NOT down with acount-hacking, isk buying/selling, and other shit-headed actions that undermine the fact that this is a game we all love.

Keep it sneaky folks.

o7,
-Aiden

Edit: CCP has announced that due to the fact that this WAS a hack, and therefor a breach of legal game-mechanics, the disbanding of the CVA alliance will be reversed. As of downtime tonight, CVA will be returned to active alliance status. Meanwhile, the rest of us can go on not really being phased by the e-melodrama that has and will probably continue to play out in the far corners of 0.0 space that no one really goes to anyways =P.

Sometimes tears come so easy, you don’t even have to really look for them at all. Sometimes, they even find you! Now, as a general rule of thumb, I avoid talking in local chat in Eve. Local tends to be a.) full of spam scammers, b.) full of epeen-waving children, and 3.) completely asinine and fraught with rediculous arguments (ex: “the vexor OWNS the caracal” “no way noob, my caracal will OWN your vexor” “stfu fag! my vexor will pwn the sht out your gay caracal” “lawl take the can then m8, we c who gets there ass kicked”……aaaand you can see where this goes).

But sometimes a random bit of local-stupidity jumps out as so foolish and cringe-worthy that it deserves to be slapped like a red-headed stepchild. The other day was one such occurrence.  I noticed that fellow corp-mate Boomershoot was engaged in a discussion in Dodixie local about scamming. His argument FOR scamming was that really it only takes one sucker for the scammer to make more in one hour than most mission runners make in a month (and I completely agree with him). This prompted a comment from a certain Gods Vessel that scam-money was nothing, and that he easily made 500 billion a month. Now, thems tall words for an 11-month old player, and I felt a need to call him out in local. I mildly insinuated that, short of isk-buying, there is no goddamn way that anyone short of the ceo of a gigantic null-sec moon-mining corp could make 500bil a month. Boomershoot and I and the rest of Dodi local had a nice little laugh as Gods Vessel proceed to talk all about his “main” and how e-powerful he was. I was ready to call it a day when this little doozy popped up in my evemail:

2009.10.27 20:50
shut up u dick if you dont you can explain to ur ceo why uve caused a wardec you cannot handle and you will see exactly what i mean mr ninja if you carry on talking trash to people

Please, please, “Mr. Ninja” is my father, call me Aiden. No but really…lolwut? This, ladies and gents, is what we in the biz like to refer to as a “Fail-Threat”:

“Fail-Threat – noun (fål-thrEt) def. A war-dec threat so absurd and laughable that you are actually embarrassed for the person making it.”

I had to respond:

Dear Sir,
I apologize for making you cry, and would like to offer you this recently laundered hanky as a symbol of my remorse.

With Regards,
-Aiden Mourn

I grinned to myself. Don’t threaten ninjas. You don’t scare us, and we will turn your words around and use them to verbally abuse and emasculate you. Of course, Mr. Vessel wasn’t finished:

2009.10.27 21:01
give it to Velocity Prime he is gonna need it :P

Oh wow. He done gone and looked up our CEO’s name. That’s no easy sleuthing. Its not like its on our corp info or anything. Way to name-drop douche.

Dear Sir,
I can assure you that we at Suddenly Ninjas are at this very moment, shaking in our boots (and please note that I do mean that quite literally). I can also assure you that we take threats of war-decs VERY seriously, and as such, we are fully willing to offer you a large jar for collecting your own tears and sincerely hope that this no-strings-attached gift will settle the matter.

Cordially Yours,
-Aiden Mourn

This was really getting fun now. At this point I was just trying to egg him on and get as much blog-material out of him as I could.

2009.10.27 21:13
well only your corpse will do that and maybe us playing pod roulette with you after we nail ur nubbins candy ass…. c u real soon on my main mr aiden

Hahaha….his “main”. Sir? Mr. Gods Vessel? You weren’t satisfied making an ass of yourself simply with rediculous comments about unimaginable wealth, now you’re going to start pumping up a puff-piece about your big bad “main” character? Let me guess, he’s the founding member of Guiding Hand Social Club AND the BoB director who defected to the Goons, and I bet hes out there taking on a whole chunk of 0.0 solo. Face. Palm.

Dear Sir,
We at Suddenly Ninjas are always open and welcoming when it comes to meeting new people! We also do love us some games (although I’m really more of a blackjack man over pod roulette…lol!), so that does sound like fun! We will be in contact with you shortly to arrange a play-date (any food allergies?). In the meantime, please accept this pink Disney Princess dress as a small token of our affection. We here at SN feel that every little girl deserves a new dress once in a while ;) .

Best Wishes,
-Aiden Mourn

After that I was blocked =(. But man, tears without even leaving station…that was an early Christmas present. And that folks, is the Fail Threat.

o7

-Aiden

I realized I never followed up with the outcome of the whole orca-windfall. I ended up selling the rigged Orca back to Jackal Lord, minus of course everything inside, for 1 billion isk, and oh were there tears. Lots of them. However,  instead of the usual head-shakingly misspelled, emo-raging bear-rant type tears that I love publicly mocking, these were just, well, sad. Sad like a kicked puppy sad (ex: “I am at your mercy” =/), and as such, I really just can’t bring myself to post them here. Losing over 2 billion isk because of your own foolishness is pretty hardcore (especially after the revelation that it wasn’t all his….ouch), so Jackal Lord, you’re off the hook compadre. Fly a little safer next time. Total haul came out to be a little less than the actual market/contract worth of the loot, but that said, I’m very happily 2.2 billion iskies richer at the moment and not exactly inclined to complain. If anyone is interested, I still do have a Gallente Navy Comet and a Centus X-type Armor Explosive Hardener for sale. Meanwhile, I’ve had my alt out daily searching for another orca…stay tuned.

o7,

-Aiden

Last night, after months of planning, scheming, and alt-training, I managed to scan down and steal an unpiloted Orca floating in a mission space in Auvergne. Let me just say that again:

I STOLE AN ORCA.

The Story:

I was about to turn in with my alt for the night, when I decided to do go out orca-scanning one last time (something I’ve been doing on a regular basis since my alt finished training Industrial Command Ships and a bunch of scanning skills). I found myself cloaked in a belt in Auvergne, probes out, when *bing!* a yellow hit on my map overview for a 66% hit on an industrial command ship. WUT! I quickly repositioned my probes, hit scan again and BAM, 100% hit! I immediately warped to it, although in my head I assumed I’d land next to a belt-mining piloted orca with a bunch of hulks around it (bears and their pack-herd ways…). Instead, I came out of warp right next to a mission gate. My heart started pounding; “a mission-mining orca?”. I activated the gate and jumped through, poised to cloak up as soon as I dropped warp. “Interference from industrial command ship is preventing you from cloaking at this time”. Damnit! I’d landed right on top of the guy, plus there were no other ships or pods present, so I assumed the orca was piloted and was probably on full red alert now that I’d jumped into a mission right on top of him. I left-clicked on the ship to check pilot info and all that, when I saw the fully lit “board ship” button. Holy. Shit. One click later, I’m sitting in my brand new orca and heading to dock at the nearest station.

Now, that’s a pretty cool story right there if I do say so myself. A free Orca? Awesome!

OH BUT WAIT…it gets better…

• The Orca was rigged. And what I originally thought were just 3 large cargohold optimization rigs upon closer inspection turned out to be just one regular t1 rig and two of the tech 2 variety. Ka-ching!
• In the ships maintenance bay, there was a Myrm (curiously named “Myrmale”?), a Gallente Navy Comet, a Tristan, and two ubiquitous Gallente shuttles (one of which was named “Taxi! Taxi!!”  …wut???).
• It was full to the gills with fittings, drones, and VERY tasty faction loot.

The Loot:

Specfically, the Faction Loot:

The Breakdown:
(all prices Dodixie market as of 10/14/09)

Orca:
1x Orca = 385 mil
- 2x Large Cargohold Optimization II Rigs – @ 359 mil each = 718 mil
- 1x Large Cargohold Optimization I Rig = 35 mil
- 1x ‘Copasetic’ I Partical Field Acceleration = 25 mil
- 1x Survey Scanner II = 1.4 mil
- 1x 100mn afterburner II = 4.2 mil
- 2x Expanded Cargohold II – @ 715k each = 1.5 mil
- 1x Small Tractor Beam = 890k
- 1x Shield Recharger II = 220k
- 2x Salvager II – @ 1 mil each = 2 mil

Total for Orca = 1,173,210,000 isk

Cargo Loot:
- 6,000x Federation Navy Antimatter Charge L – @ 980.00 each = 5,880,0000
- 5,000x Federation Navy Lead Charge L – @ 1,440 each = 7,700,000
- 4x Jaspet Mining Crystal II – @ 170k each = 680k
- 4x Kernite MIning Crystal II – @ 356k each = 1.4 mil
- 4x Scordite Mining Crystal II – @ 120k each = 480k
- 7x Plagioclase Mining Crystal II – @ 340k each = 2.4 mil
- 7x Pyroxeres Mining Crystal II – @ 108k each = 756k
- 1x Omber Mining Crystal II = 200k
- 6x Strip Miner 1 – @ 1.7 mil each = 10.2 mil
- 1x 100mn Afterburner II = 3.8 mil
- 1x Quad LiF Fueled I Booster Rockets = 4.1 mil
- 2x Large Armor Repairer II – @ 860k each = 1.7 mil
- 3x Large Hull Repairer II – @ 3 mil each = 9 mil
- 3x Medium Armor Repairer II – @ 836k each = 2.5 mil
- 1x Medium Hull Repairer II = 2.8 mil
- 2x Armor Kinetic Hardener II – @ 2.1 mil each = 4.2 mil
- 3x Armor Thermic Hardener II – @ 2.2 mil each = 6.6 mil
- 1x X-Large Shield Booster 1 = 243k
- 1x F-90 Positional Sensor Subroutines = 2 mil
- 2x Beta Reactor Control: Capacitor Power Relay I – @ 2.3 mil each = 4.6 mil
- 1x Capacitor Power Relay II = 739k
- 4x Cap Recharger II – @ 678k each = 2.7 mil
- 3x 425mm Railgun II – @ 2 mil each = 6 mil
- 1x Salvager II = 1mil
- 1x Mining Foreman Link – Mining Laser Field Enhancement = 440k
- 1x Mining Foreman Link – Laser Optimization = 440k
- 6x Drone Link Augmentor I – @ 200k each = 1.2 mil
- 2x Drone Navigation Computer I – @ 180k each = 360k
- 2x Phased Weapon Navigation Array Generation Extron – @ 5.8 mil each = 11.6 mil
- 1x Small Tractor Beam = 890k
- 2x Expanded Cargohold II – @ 713k each = 1.4 mil

Total Cargo: 98,008,000 isk

Drones:
- 11x Berserker II – @ 395k each = 4.3 mil
- 17x Warrior II – @ 333k each = 5.7 mil
- 15x Berserker SW-900 – @ 97k each = 1.5 mil
- 6x Hammerhead II – @ 543k each = 3.3 mil
- 14x Hobgoblin II – @ 343k each = 4.8 mil
- 5x Garde II – @ 979k each = 5 mil
- 6x Ogre II – @ 700k each = 4.2 mil
- 6x Infiltrator II – @ 300k each = 1.8 mil
- 4x Wasp II – @ 200k each = 800k
- 5x Warden II – @ 1.1 mil each = 5.5 mil
- 30x Medium Armor Maintenance Bot I – @ 23k each = 690k

Total Drones: 37,590,000 isk

Faction Loot:
- 1x Gallente Navy Magnetic Field Stabilizer = 65 mil
- 1x Gallente Navy Armor EM Hardener = 30 mil
- 1x Gallente Navy Armor Explosive Hardener = 30 mil
- 1x Gallente Navy Armor Thermic Hardener = 30 mil
- 1x Amarr Navy Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane = 44 mil
- 1x Amarr Navy Large Armor Repairer = 130 mil
- 1x Centus X-Type Armor EM Hardener = 270 mil
- 1x Centus X-Type Armor Explosive Hardener = 500 mil
- 1x Shadow Serpentis Adaptive Nano Plating = 2 mil
- 1x Shadow Serpentis Armor Explosive Hardner = 14 mil

Total Faction Loot = 1,115,000,000 isk

Ships:
- 1x Tristan = 223k
- 1x Gallente Navy Comet = 30 mil
- 1x Myrmidon = 29 mil
- 2x Large Core Defense Field Purger I Rig – @ 8.2 mil each = 16.4 mil
- 1x Large Capacitor Control Circuit I Rig = 9.2 mil
- 3x 250mm Prototype I Gauss Gun – @ 1.6 mil each = 4.8 mil
- 1x Small Tractor Beam I = 879k
- 1x Salvager II = 1 mil
- 1x Drone Link Augmentor I = 200k
- 4x Shield Recharger II – @ 220k each = 880k
- 1x Large Shield Extender II = 1.7 mil
- 1x Medium Armor Repairer II = 836k
- 5x Shield Power Relay II – @ 842k each = 4.2 mil
- 5x Wasp II – @ 200k each = 1 mil
- 5x Hobgoblin II – @ 343k each = 1.7 mil
Total Myrm = 71,795,000
- 2x Gallente Shuttles – @ 10k each = 20k

Total Ships = 102,038,000 isk

Loot Net Worth: 2,525,846,000 isk

Yes, you read that correctly: 2.5 billion isk. Needless to say, I am one happy ninja right now. I’m also not done with this yet. I am in talks with the original owner to attempt to ransom the ship (minus the loot) back to him, so stay tuned. And rest assured, carebear tears will absolutely still fuel my ship, its just that that ship will now be solid gold.

o7

-$$Aiden$$

EDIT: Realizing that I’d never seen if the myrm was fitted, I did just that. Rigged, fitted, and drone-heavy :). Adjustment of an extra 42,795,00 isk to total haul has been made.

So one problem I’ve been having with blogging about my ninjaing ways is something I was going to refer to as”Personal Leakage” before I realized that sounded, well, truly awful. Basically my fear was that by blogging about my antics and misdeeds, I would open my plans and schemes up to foiling and failure. And friend, I’ve got a lot of plans and schemes (hundreds of them!). What with the constant stream of war-decs headed our way at SN, and with my childish yet amusing haranguing of tear-prone carebears, there must be quite a few people out there who would love to get their mitts on my typical ship setups and current whereabouts! Then of course, I calmed down a bit and let the air out of my ego and realized something:

I’m not that interesting.

Really, I’m not. Unless of course I let those pesky egotistical tendencies get the best me, if I even do have any “enemies” out there, let them come. Let them check out what ships I fly, let them see where I hang out. I for one, welcome their weepy tantrums just the same! The one thing I will keep mum about is dealings with “the alt” (or “alts“!). So for now, the super-sneaky craftiness of my industrial corp-infiltrating alt with an eye (and skills) for stealing certain rather large and expensive carebear ships name after a big fish will go unannounced (totally unannounced…). Stay tuned sportsfans.

o7,

-Aiden

Well, the last couple of days have been pretty exciting.  Davios finally got certified to command a Retriever and we had our first trip out to the belt with two barges yesterday.  Focusing on plagioclase, we managed to haul about five million ISK worth of ore in an hour.  Not too shabby, if I say so myself.  I’ve gotten my refining skills to an intermediate level, and can use mining crystals for any common ore, so I’m in pretty good shape.  Next step, the Hulk.

Unfortunately, that’s going to have to wait for the moment.  There’s been another war declaration that is taking effect today.  Markos is ready to help fight for the corp, but unfortunately his training was still in it’s beginning stages when he deferred to Davios’s agenda.  Well, now it’s time to start getting seriouse about defense so he’s taking over on that front and I’m deferring to Hargatay so that he can advance his scanning skills and do a little bit of reconaissance, since he’s not actually a member of the corp.

The corporation that decced us is The Protei, and eleven man corp operating out of Ichoriya.  They all seem to be fairly experienced, and among their ranks is Humuhumun…. .  Hum, as I will refer to him from here on out, was a bit of a thorn in our sides about a month ago, and reared his ugly head recently in a can flipping incident that ended in him loosing his Mauller.  Seems he found a corp that was more in-line with his philosophies, and seems it’s time that they’re all taught a lesson.  We’ve got friends coming to the party this time, too, so things should get very interesting very soon.

Mining will have to take a back seat for now, though.  Time to do a little damage.

Yesterday was my 30th day withBarr Heavy Industries, and consequencially the end of my probationary period. I sent a message to David Barr and within moments he hailed me on a private comm channel. We had a quick meeting. Seems we’re both pleased and I was made a full member of the company. I requested assignment to the Excavation Division and was granted the title of Excavation officer. David also granted me an honorary title as Strategist of Last Resort, due to some unique tactical thinking on my part (Plan B: Kill Everybody).

My first act as a full member was to refer a new applicant to David; Marko is now a probationer with BHI. He’s aspiring to join the Security Team. Some teams are starting forays into wormhole space, so I think he’ll be seeing plenty of action soon. I’ll personally stick to my asteroids.

Hargatay got qualified to run a salvaging destroyer, so he’s taking a break from training and I’m back to work on my refining courses. Davios is only a few days from joining me in a second retriever, which is a good thing becaus Markos is itching to get back on the stick.

Meanwhile, the cash flow is starting to look good with several contracts of ore being closed the other day.  Half of that went towards a cybernetic implant, but we can’t make money without spending money!

Well, things are starting to come together quite nicely.  Scoped out a nice even belt in Rauss last night and Davios and I laid two strings of secure containers.  Thismorning I managed to fill the whole set with ore.  We need to pick up two more…maybe tonight.

Heard from Marko Greggos again.  This is the loose cannon I mentioned before.  He let me know that he was going to set up shop in Raussinen and then just showed up!  On top of that he handed me a conveyance contract to pick up a bunch of his stuff from Kakakela.  The nerve!  Well, we got him all moved in after I finished working the belt thismorning.  His hanger is an absolute mess, but I’ll let him sort that out on his own. 

He did, however, unload a LOT of salvage my way.  That combined with a little stockpile I had going really added up.  Between that and the ore from the last couple days I’m looking at getting about 15,000,000 ISK!  Even after getting Hargatay set up with the two frigates that he trained for we shouldn’t have to worry about money for a while.  Meanwhile, I’m back to working on finishing my Refining course and working that belt as much as I can. 

Marko did mention some interest in joining Barr Heavy Industries’ security team, and I think that his gung ho attitude and borderline psychosis would fit in very well with that crowd.  I don’t know how Commander Lyon ended up in Excavations.

I’ve been working on a training plan using EveMon for Davios.  I’m starting with learning skills and some basic ship command.  The most immediate goals other than learning are getting him into an Iteron V so that he can do the heavy hauling, and then a Retriever so that he can do some effective mining.  I’ll have the necessary fitting skills interspersed, including mining skills before I seek the retriever.  After that, focusing on trade skills for the most part. 

Down the road we’ll be looking into research and production.  I’ve remapped his skills accordingly, pretty much dumping into Memory with the points left over going to Charisma and Perception, with Charisma getting the lion’s share.  The perception is only really for the spaceship command.  Maybe once he’s in the Retriever and Iteron I’ll remap again, or I might work on Transports and Freighters before I do that.  I’m in good shape for now, so we’ll see where we go after the immediate goals are met.