Thursday, October 31, 2013

Part 1 ---Recruitment --- Genesis: The story of Dan Hour.



(NOTE: To anyone who is still checking this blog, or has been for the past few weeks. You may have noticed my posts have fallen. Work is absolutely kicking my butt. I haven’t stopped playing EVE but I have been playing it less frequently. As such, I haven’t been posting much to this blog. The corp has had some somewhat interesting things happen as far as recruitment and policies. I apologize for the lateness of these posts to all parties involved)


I wanted to share some recent recruitment conversations and stories.

1st I want to describe a recent challenge that was invented by one of our members, and has come about more organically than a set plan of action.

Part 1 --- Genesis ---The story of Dan Hour.

It started a month and a half ago. The SUSU gank fleet was waiting on the Max to Deb hole, while our scout was working on a warp in for targets in Deb.

Convo request from Dan Hour.  The convo started innocently enough, just the typical .. .o/  and then he asks. “What are we shooting?” I answer “the usual”.  He then links me a imgur link of our ships sitting on the max to deb connection, the same people who were waiting for the warp in target.

He then doesn’t say anything else and closes the convo. Super creepy and super trolly all wrapped into one.  

No big deal, the best way to deal with trolls is to ignore them. So I did.

The very next day Dan blows up one of our corp members PI alts with a stealth bomber. No big deal, but as someone who has the majority of PI alts in our home, Dan for obvious reasons needs to be dealt with. I put together a little trap for him.

I put Dan on my watch list and go to work bringing in two rocket stealth bombers for a little trap. Dan logs in. I keep my stealth bombers cloaked and follow around one of my other characters on his PI rounds, waiting for him to strike. The moment he strikes, I would sacrifice my PI alt and grab Dan with my two rocket bombers. I warp around for about 20 minutes and nothing.

I wonder if he spooked or knows, either way, no joy for me. As it turned out, he opened a convo with Bronya Boga to join our corp and was waiting to kill more of our stuff pending his application.

See, for other corps, this type of thing would be a total reason why you SHOULDN'T let this guy into your corp, but for SUSU, his application was perfect. He found us, he killed us, he hunted us and saw what we had. We were slightly surprised but after we thought about it, it is exactly what we tell applicants to do on the podcast and this very blog.  He was just the first to actually do it.

At the time, all applicants were required to undergo a 1v1 pvp fight. Since Dan already had a stealth bomber in the hole, he opted for a stealth bomber duel at the sun. He was able to provide me a warp in to his book mark at the sun. I just happen to have a stealth bomber (with rockets, part of the earlier trap I was trying) This might have been the most annoying battle I have ever had in eve. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZYR_YcNdd0  I still won. Fk fighting IN the sun!

Dan impressed everyone with his antics, and even with his VERY shady corp history he left us with two options. He could either join us as a valued hunter with shown skills OR he would continue to be a pain in the ass in our home for Bob only knows how long.  Application accepted. We just labeled him a spy and put him in his own POS, so his eventual double cross would have the least amount of damage.

Dan Hour as become one our most active members, finding targets frequently. He brings with him a great knowledge base and our members benefit from his presence. Dan has set the bar for applications to our corp. He was the genesis of our new corporate recruiting polices that I will describe in future posts. 

We still think Dan's is a spy, and are waiting for the other shoe to drop, but this is EVE… Who doesn’t eventually flip?

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Fun Video of SUSU and Honey Badgers.

Thought I shared this video already, but someone asked me for it and I had trouble finding it.

Never want that to happen again because its pure gold.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FQoB8A1Lvg0



Wednesday, October 16, 2013

My Review of ooShirts before my trip to EVE Vegas.



Hi XXX!

I'm currently reviewing the claim that was submitted for this order. I apologize for the inconvenience of us not being able to meet the needs of your time frame! I have processed a full refund in the amount of $25.5. The funds have been released to your financial institution and should appear as available in the next 3-5 business days.

Following is the link to your updated invoice which depicts a $0 charge on the order!



Thank you!


Bekkah
Claims Department
Bekkah@ooshirts.com
510.xxx.xxxx
ooShirts

Hi Bekkah!


Thank you so much for your generous offer of my money!

When I made my original order on 9/26 of a custom made Single XL T-Shirt, I really had no idea what kind of adventure I had in store for me.  I took the order on its face value that a single custom T-shirt would be made and delivered 3 hours away either by its projected date of 10/10 or soon before it. I have an event on 10/18. I was going to show off my crews colors by wearing this shirt and sporting some awesome branding!

I think original order is where I was misled. This was the wording that was used. “We ensure your order is delivered on time by processing your order very shortly after it is placed.” Slightly misleading to the untrained eye. Let me explain.

What you actually meant was. You would halt my order on 9/27 and explain the graphic was not acceptable due to quality issues. Not to worry, you sent me an automated email explaining I needed to approve or deny the new art work. Sadly that email didn’t have any sort of link or reliable way of communicating with you. So I did what any good customer would, called customer service. Customer service at that time explained their email service was down and I should call back some other time.

Around 9/28 I spoke to a very helpful lady named Samantha. She walked me through the process of submitting an acceptable graphic and getting the words in the correct place. You would figure these things would built into the website engine to avoid this very conversation, but I guess you're all still a work in progress right?

Samantha you’re doing a hell of a job! Hell of a Job! I think I must have explained during the art/graphic conversation that I lost 60lbs in two days, shortly after I made my T-shirt order. Otherwise why would she have resized it from a XLarge to a Large? O well, I also must have noted sometime that I was now a stuttering vato. Because instead of “NO LOCAL NO MERCY” (it’s a game thing) you put “NO LOCAL NO LOCAL” (not a game thing, and more of a Point Break, I’ll cut your boogie board cord loose” kind of thing). Thanks Samantha!

When the estimated delivery date came and went, I thought it would be a super good idea to check my email for a tracking number. Nope, no tracking number. Better go to the website and check for my status. Nothing. So I sent an email to help@ooshirts.com  asking for a status. No response, but they did send a status email to me. So guess that is kind of a response.

Finally the much anticipated day of joy arrived. Small package at the front door. Opened it up… and it was wrong. Not to fret, I’ll just call them the next day and have them sort it out!

On 10/15, I spoke to a lovely individual named Koleeto (sorry bro on the spelling) he gave me details on how to get this problem sorted. Just upload pictures of the mistakes, and add a contact number. BAM nothing to it. They would be in contact with me that very day.  Nope. No call, no follow up.

On 10/16 I called back very early and spoke to again my good friend Koleeto, and said. “Bro what happened?! I didn’t get a call back or anything” He said. “so sorry, they should call you back by end of day”. Surprised, I then said, “But you said that yesterday!” Why don’t you go ahead and try and contact them for me now. He said "they don’t come in to work till 10 or 10:30 or so.” I said. “must be nice, and I would be calling back in an hour to talk to the late risers.”

I called back an hour and half later (gave them some extra time for coffee and such)  I found Keven. Keven told me that he couldn’t let me talk to anyone else because “the phones don’t work that way” I explained I wished to talk to a supervisor. “sorry she is busy with other stuff” I asked “When will she be unbusy?” He didn’t know, and she would… You guessed it. “Be back to me by the end of the day”. I said I would be calling back in an hour, because this “End of the day thing isn’t flying with me, based on my previous experience on 10/15”

Would you know it, a lovely lady named Bekkah got back to me. She explained I had two options. I could get my money back or wait till they get around to it and fix my order long after my 10/18 deadline.

I asked a very real question. “How much money would it take for me to pay for this shirt to be sent to me by the deadline?” Now I say this is a very real question because I meant IT. If I had to pay a human being to physically drive to your studio from RENO to Berkley (about 4 hours one way) could this be done?  She said NO. There were processes and procedures that needed to be maintained.

She then sends this passive aggressive email that says.. and I’m quoting. . I apologize for the inconvenience of us not being able to meet the needs of your time frame! Thank you!

O no, thank you sunshine! I was clearly asking the impossible, forgive me. I made the mistake of thinking you would get it right the first time.

I’m not exactly sure what kind of business operates a for profit model like this but when someone offers a blank check for your products, you should take it. Most other businesses work this way.

We live in a day and age where I can order a live Indonesian shark to be delivered to my door step, and a live Indonesian to cook it for me within 24 hours, yet I can’t a single t-shirt to be delivered 3 hours away in 3 days.

This is what I’m going to do, because I can.

I’m a podcaster with about a million hits a month. This might sound like small potatoes to a mega corp like yourself, but that is a fair amount of listeners who are going to get a stellar review of your service. I’m also a blogger with a few less hits than my podcast, where this very email will be published.

I’m going to do you one more solid, cause we are bro’s like that. I’m going to actually wear this shirt, to my event. I'll be a walking bill board for your strive to excellence. 

You can keep the $25.5. Consider it advertising expenses. They say a satisfied customer tells 3 people, and a unsatisfied customer tells 20. Well how many does a guy with a blog, podcast and way too much time on his hands tell?

So thanks again to all the stars of this story, Keven, Koleeto, Samantha, and especially you Bekkah!

And Bekkah.

YOU”RE WELCOME!


Yours truly,

XXXXXX Order number 150881.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Wormhole ECM Ramblings

(TLDR: Responded to a post in our forums about ECM ship selection and tank type.  Thought other people outside of our corp may think its useful .. or not. )





My experience in this particular ship is vast. Not saying I’m an expert, but I can honestly say I have flown the rook/falcon more than most.  I’m up to #13 in falcon loss mails, and about 10x that in kills. Rooks at #3 and not so often used because of lack of cloak.


This is how I see ECM. There are two main ways to use it in our small gang fleets.

Falcon  VS Rook--

The ability to cloak is HUGE if used correctly. Both have similar ECM str, and similar functions on the battle field once engaged. Both have near paper thin tanks if they are set up with ECM as their focus.

Where the two ships differ is their application for wormhole strategies.  A cloaked ship can back up a scout going for a tackle, before the fleets escalate. A cloaked ship can hang back and not worry about being primaried off the field if a fleet of unknown number lands. It can be held in reserve to stimulate an enemy fleet escalation.  A fleet that knows you have ECM of this level would be far more hesitant to escalate. 

A rooks only option is to hold back with the logi and/or main fleet. It can’t apply is benefits until the main fleet lands. At which point, once it’s called primary… it’s up to the rooks warp in range, and ability to nope the fuck out. Neither ship has the staying power for a prolonged engagement.

Trying to fit either ship for armor tank is hilarious at best, with 3 lows… and giving up additional ECM strength for a moderate tank bonus is mental to me. Trust me, if they can apply dps to you, you’re done, not matter if you had 1.. 1600MM plate or 4.

Shield tank is an ever worse choice because you are giving up valuable ECM modules.  

So I came up with a compromise for a standard Falcon fit.

I fit an XL ASB – and DCU2. For tank. THAT’S IT.  The XL ASB over heated will nearly rep your shields to full each cycle. That’s 7 cycles.  It will give you the time you need to remove yourself from that situation. Warp.. .whatever.  In my opinion self repping a ship and self-managing threat is  key to a ECM ship living longer than 30 seconds. On some of our longer engagements you will hear people call out ‘The falcon is off the field” this means they removed themselves to come back from another angle because they were taking too much damage.  They are alerting the FC to expect a Logi or dps spike.

1 also have used 1 med and 2 small smart bombs in the highs. Two cycles of these will remove ALL light drones from you. 4 to 5 cycles and all mediums will be removed from you. You have the extra cap, why not!?

Damage reduction and the ability to stay on the field or remove yourself then return is the key to a good ECM pilot.

--- ECM Target selection, for anything outside of DREAD combat. (at which point, Webbing loki should be primary targets)

1.       Damps. – This ship will fuck your life. No matter what script they have loaded.  If you can’t pull range to prevent you from being alphed off the field, your toast, it takes 1 damp to shut down a falcon at range. These are your primary jam targets.
2.       Logi – Shutting down enemy logi is a pain in the balls because they will ALWAYs have ECCM loaded and running. This takes nearly a full rainbow application from a falcon/rook. Fucking forget about it in anything with less strength than that. Racial jammers for pre-planned big fights are critical.
3.       Neuts – IMO if all logi are jammed, start on neuting ships.
4.       DPS.  – Last the dps counter is your own logi.. so you’re just extra at this point.


Falcons imo are the weakest tanks of all the ECM.

In order of tank escalation.

1.       Falcon – Armor – Best Jams with cloak – worst tank
2.       Falcon – XL ASB – Best Jams with cloak  -- better tank.
3.       Rook – Armor – Best Jams No cloak – Extra PG for Smart bombs and Plates—Little better tank.
4.       Scorp – Double XL ASB – Better Jams –Better range – Better overall tank than falcons/rooks but less strength and more tank/mass – Extra PG missles/neuts
5.       Scorp – Double 1600mm -- Better Jams –Better range – Better overall tank than falcons/rooks but less strength and more tank/mass – Extra PG Missiles /nuets
6.       Tengu – Armor JamGU – Better jams than T1 – Best overall tank 65,000 EHP  -- And small sig size. – HUGE staying power, but the worst ECM strength and  role effect on the battlefield. I fucking hate flying this ship btw. I have max ECM skills and I can’t jam piss compared to when I fly my falcons/rooks.

Just like with a DPS ship, you need to sacrifice tank for spank. A ECM ship is no different. You sacrifice battle field effect and role mastery for tank.