SAMPLE PDF / ISSUES #001 - #008

“EVE ONLINE IS ITS PLAYERS; A SYMBIOSIS OF WORLD AND INHABITANT WHERE BOTH EVOLVE TOGETHER, NOT WHERE ONE

LEADS AND THE OTHER FOLLOWS. MY WISH IS THAT E-ON WILLOFFER A TRIBUTE TO THIS PARTNERSHIP; TO WHAT THE GAME AND

THOSE WHO LOSE THEMSELVES TO IT HAVE ACHIEVED SO FAR ANDWHAT IT WILL CONTINUE TO ACHIEVE LONG INTO THE FUTURE.”

ZAPATERO, EDITOR E-ON, SEPTEMBER 2005

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS PDF WITH YOUR FRIENDS, CORP MATES OR EVEN YOUR ENEMIES

Eight issues of EVE’s official magazine have passed throughthe printing presses and, to date, mail workers in more than70 countries have handled its freshly-packed goodness as it

passes to EVE players across the globe.The reason we have put together this sample PDF is not just to

show you what E-ON looks like; it has been created to, hopefully, make you realise what it is you are missing. E-ONwon’t make you a better person, but it might make your EVE

experience a little more complete. E-ON is not something youcan log into, download and flick through in a whirlwind of

mouse-clicks. E-ON is something that must be savoured, likea fine wine, or a bucket of deep-fried chicken wings.

It has been argued that some of what features in E-ON can befound on EVE’s official site, and for someone who spends halfthe day there, yes, perhaps there is some truth in that. But forsome of us, our lives extend beyond EVE’s electronic borders

and even us hardcore gamers have to travel on trains and visitbathrooms on occasion. In such instances, E-ON has its place.Moreover, in years from now (decades, hopefully), when EVE is

no longer online; when histories of alliances and the profiles of famous faces have been lost to the ravages of a constantly

updating and increasingly self-aware Internet, E-ON’s silkypages will still be on the shelf, waiting for you to re-discover

what went on across its galaxy. E-ON is not a definitive guidebook to EVE that waxes and

wanes with each patch release. Each issue is a time capsule ofhow EVE was, how it is, how it might be. We know E-ON isn’t

for everyone, as neither is EVE. I’ll just be pleased if you reada few lines and don’t feel you will have wasted too much time.I’ll be even more pleased if you could bow your head in quietreverence to the names and faces on your left – players who

have made E-ON what it is. Players who have got in touch with great ideas and a desire to write about EVE and see

their work in print. To them, and mail workers all over theworld, I offer a humble thanks. Fly safe!

ZAPATERO

AVVEN JAX

KAAII

SCINLAECA

WINTERBLINK

ZAPATERO

DIGITALCOMMUNIST

ISTVAAN SHOGAATSU

CONTRIBUTORS TO E-ON SO FAR... WE ARE EVE

E-ON SAMPLE 3

BODA KHAN

HERKO KERGHANS

LAIRD

NYPHUR

OMITHAR

PAGUS III

REIISHA

RHAEGAR

URBAN MONGRAL

JAMES LYRUS

DISCORPORATION

BIFF STEEL

TRIPOLI

VERONE

ARRS GRAZZNIC

SPACEDRAKE STORYTELLER

STAVROS

SPIRALJUNKIE

YOSHITO SANDERS

HOSHI

IFNI

PULGOR

THE COSMOPOLITE

DNIGHTMARE

FARJUNG

E-ON / SUMMER 06 76 E-ON / SUMMER 06

E-ON UPFRONT

STAGE ONE TO ARRIVE IN SEPTEMBER

KALI CUTTO PIECES

combat reorganisation, which are revamped tools designed to allowbetter situational awareness. There’ll be a seamless zoom going fromyour ship to the universe level, where a scoot on the mouse wheel willsee your ship pull away and moons, stars, constellations and then entireregions fill the screen. This feature will go hand-in-hand with the updat-ed system scanning required for exploration – part of the revamp tomini-professions (see Career Paths, page 42).

“Next-generation Research and Development is starting with theintroduction of Invention. You can now evolve Tech I BPCs into Tech IIBPCs if you have the necessary materials, tools and knowledge to do it.Combat Boosters shouldn’t be forgotten either, where we’re populatingeight of the current 0.0 regions with a COSMOS project, which providesthe ingredients for the Boosters. You then need to gather recipes andknowledge to create them, utilize special labs in Starbases, and, ofcourse, get it on to the market.

Of course the September release will also see new ships introduced,namely ‘tier-2’ Battlecruisers and ‘tier-3’ Battleships. Destroyed shipswill also leave behind wreckage.

“You can still get the loot out of it as usual,” says Nathan, “but nowyou can also salvage the shipwreck for possible components. These arethen used to create new ship upgrades, kind of like implants for ships.Last but not least, we’re opening up eight new 0.0 regions for the grow-

ing population in the lawless regions. They arenot owned by an NPC faction nor dothey have stations. This territoryis for pilots to build up from theground.”

Kali’s Stage Two will be dominated by Factional Warfare (see E-ON #002), whereas the final stage release will be based around theTrinity graphics update, where the EVE client will be available in ‘Classic’and ‘Vista’ versions. Nathan is quick to remind us, though, that Classic willremain the main focus, because of course: “there won’t be any computersthat can run Vista Gaming at first.” Nathan’s also keen to point out that theTrinity upgrades won’t start and end with the final Kali release.

“Stage Three isn’t just about graphics, but it will include the graphicsengine upgrades and ships,” he says. “In terms of game features, expecta similar set to the first stage, but being more about evolving current sys-tems than adding entirely new ones. There are a lot of aspects that requireoverhauls. The graphical upgrades are a long-term project that wouldn’tbe able to fit into Kali alone. We’re focusing on all the ships now, butalmost everything else – nebulae, planets, stars, stations and envi-ronmental objects – are left.”

We suspect much about Stage Three is still being kept secret. After all, it’straditional for CCP to surprise attendees at the Fanfest with some new feature.

After taking on the giants of the online gaming world, CCPis making final preparations for its assault on the lucra-tive collectable card game (CCG) market. In fact, EVE: TheSecond Genesis (see E-ON #002) is currently in manufacture, and ‘Megapacks’ are now available to pre-order via the EVE store at www.eve-ccg.com.

Though self-financed, CCP has arranged a distributiondeal with US gaming giant, White Wolf, the creators ofsuch luminary pen-and-paper RPGs as Vampire andWerewolf. The deal will see EVE: TSG available at retailoutlets in the US from October, alongside the likes ofMagic: The Gathering. Naturally, Lead Designer PeturThorarinsson, is both pleased and slightly nervous.

“I feel a bit like I did when my wife was expecting our

first child,” he says. “I just knew I was about to experiencesomething spectacular and all I could do was wait.“

The game itself will be sent out prior to GenCon, theleading trade and consumer event for card, board andwargaming. CCP will be attending again this year.

“Last year we went to learn about the show and theCCG industry. This year will be quite different,” saysPetur. “We will have our own full-blown EVE booth, wherewe will have multiple demo stations for EVE: TSG and EVEOnline. We’ll also have an EVE shop with all the cool swagyou know from our online shop and a lot of new items.Every attendee will get a free booster pack when theyshow up, and if they come to demo the game they will alsoreceive a starter deck for free. Finally, we are planning tohost a tournament with big-money prizes.”

The EVE CCG has been in development for more than18 months and was first seen by the EVE faithful at lastyear’s Fanfest, where it was well received. Since then thegame has gone through a period of intense beta testing;before the decks were readied for print, Petur had already

begun work on how it will evolve post-release: “Eventhough the cards won’t be physically changed after theyhave been published, the game will continue to evolve inthe hands of the players, and we will continue its develop-ment by creating expansions. We have a lot of material forfuture expansions, both in regards to themes and gamemechanics. In which order we will introduce them is stillbeing violently debated.”

Clearly the game is a labour of love and, although it’s notbeen so prominent in the eyes of EVE players, it shouldn’tbe overlooked that CCP has managed to secure the sup-port of the two of the most prominent CCG companies.

“Cartamundi was the first manufacturer we visited.There was no need to look further,” says Petur. “It hasbeen spot on in every aspect and a real pleasure to workwith. It has been the leading manufacturer of CCGs fordecades, as well as being the company that pretty muchcreated the industry in the early ’90s. Its response to thegame has been extremely positive, but in the end it’s notour opinions that count, but those of the players.”E

-ON

UP

FR

ON

T

Kali, the once near-mythical EVE expansion that hashad more features rearranged than Michael Jackson,

has at last been cemented in the release schedules and itsfeatures set in stone. As was officially announced at E3 in May,there will in fact be a three-staged release with part one ofKali due in September, part two by the end of the year and thefinal instalment due around April 2007.

“There were a lot of factors that affected the decision todeploy Kali in three parts,” states Senior Producer, Nathan‘Oveur’ Richardsson. “One is that releasing new features andcontent in smaller stages meant less risk, both in deploymentand disruption to the game world. A more rapid releaseschedule allows us to deploy new iterations of the alreadyreleased features faster, while at the same time we can moreregularly deploy bigger fixes and improvements. It alsoallows us to better focus our internal development pipelines.It’s a more serial process, with clearer goals and you reallyfeel the sense of accomplishment when you can sign off on afeature and deploy it, not let it sit and wait for three months.”

So what exactly will be in Stage One. Quite a lot, accordingto Nathan, who cites ‘contracts’ as the flagship feature: “Wethink contracts are going to revolutionize the abilities of cor-porations to manage themselves, allowing them to fostermore formal relationships with people where you have evenmore limited-trust relationships. It also includes auctions andthe ability to do multi-step contracts, such as where youescrow up a ship, but you only release it if someone (anyone)brings the materials you require – not necessarily just ISK.”

One of the most interesting features due for Stage One is

YULAI HOLD ’EM, ANYONE?If the EVE CCG looks to be a bit too involving and you’d ratherbe playing a more sedate game of snap, you may be interest-ed to know that a pack of casino-quality playing cards is alsobeing planned by CCP and will, hopefully, be available via theEVE Store by the end of the year. Cartamundi, who incidentallysupplies Las Vegas casinos, is likely to be on printing dutyand there’s also talk of proper EVE-branded casino chipsbeing manufactured too. The CCG requires tokens to play andthe chips would be a perfect accompaniment to the game.Along with a couple of friends, some beer and variousprocessed bar snacks of course.

IT’S A BIG DEALPICK A CARD, ANY CARD

Cards on the table.EVE: The SecondGenesis is already atthe printing stage and is available to pre-order right now

EVE is currently in itsBloodlines phase, whichwas preceded by RedMoon Rising, Cold War,Exodus and Castor. Junesaw the release of thefinal Bloodlines patch,which itself was due to be a feature of Red Moon.Confusing, ain’t it?

Those Minmatarhave learnt how todesign ships at last

The ultra hi-resships will be

introduced nextyear, but they’re

not strictly a Kali feature

The Abaddon is thenew Amarr Battleship

E-ON / SUMMER 07 11

E-ON UPFRONT

The paint was barely dry onthe custom-made set (made

to look like the inside of a station, incase you hadn’t guessed, making theEVE TV crew the first live victims ofAmbulation), the desk was danger-ously unfinished, the wrong bulbswere in the lights, the make-up artistwas fashionably late and someoneforgot to buy sandwiches and fizzypop for the crew. Yet, despite theseminor disasters the recording of thevery first show for the revamped EVETV was deemed an amazing success.

“Organized chaos is the term forit, I think,” says Xyliana, EVE TV’sDirector. “Hiden Pilgrim was niceenough to come down and replaceabout 200 bulbs in the lights, whilst aphotographer was snapping picturesabout the place. spiralJunkie andnew co-host StevieSG were goingthrough headlines and LoxyRiderwas looking after the gallery. Hilmarturned up just as we started to look as if we wereahead of things, but his interview could not havegone better.”

CCP’s CEO managed to find time to nip into EVETV’s London-based studio (p6-7) during a break inhis flighty business schedule. He was the first inwhat is planned to be a steady stream of guestswho’ll be sitting behind the oval desk, althoughmost of those invited to take part in the weeklyrecording sessions will come from the community.

“So many players have contacted me about help-ing out on EVE TV,” says Xyliana, “some withimpressive film-making and television back-grounds and some simply looking for work experi-ence, all of whom I welcome because I know first-

BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE

FIRST EVE TV WEEKLY SHOW

NEWB FACESAlthough they’ve a great deal of EVEexperience to make up for, EVE TV’snew faces have been putting in thehours and trying to get to grips withlife in an over-sized egg

STEVIESG (CO-HOST)Being sat next to veteranEVE TV host spiral, it’s nosurprise StevieSG hasbecome something of aforum warrior, and whenshe’s not posting, she’sturning up in sigs. Can’tthink why...

FORTUNAFIVE (PRESENTER) Not one to miss out onanything, FF recentlyenrolled with EVEUniversity and is hoping to pass out will full mininghonours, or drunk at thekeyboard, whichevercomes soonest

FANGTOOTH KASUMI (PRESENTER)Role-playing is Kasumi’sfavourite aspect of EVE, andshe’s been diligently training,mining, ratting and taking onagent missions in readinessfor her first trip into the law-less fringes of 0.0.

BEEFY FIDDLER (PRESENTER) Don’t let the name fool you,EVE TV’s bovine musician isa wholesome industrialist at heart, looking for ways to make his first billion, and get into some high-techships along the way

hand how exciting and rewarding it can be totake a hobby like EVE and merge it with a pro-fession.”

Numbers have been bolstered fromfamous faces from EVE TV’s past. LoxyRideron editing duties, who was a member of thePvP Tournament team, now being trained towield a camera. Experts Farjung and Ifni willbe making regular appearances too.

Also milling about the studio – and lookingrather shifty in their EVE-styled make-up –were EVE TV’s intern presenters and unwit-ting victims of a part of the show called the‘New Player Experiment’, which in true real-ity TV fashion takes three EVE virgins andthrows them mercilessly into the EVE tutorialto see how they get on. The presenters willalso be going out to player meets.

“Well, the old guy was getting a bit oldhat,” admits spiralJunkie. “He looks like abee, obviously didn’t wash his hair, and justwent around upsetting people. Seriously, it’sa great idea to bring in fresh new faces totake to events, and there’s always the factthat a drunken geek would rather talk to acute presenter than a grizzled old bloke.”

Although planning for the weekly showbegan in late 2006, things only started com-ing together in the last few weeks before thefirst show was filmed.

“There have been quite a few late nightsand early morning starts,” admits Xyliana.“The preparations for EVE TV have been both

challenging and exciting. Deciding on thelook and structure for a weekly show,then creating a balance in content thatinterests everyone as well as includingthe community as much as possible is animportant consideration.”

“Absolutely,” agrees spiral, “becausewe film every Wednesday, and releaseSaturday, we have to be very tight withour execution each and every day. Somonths of planning mean that we nowhave a weekly rhythm, which should intheory see us through to making a greatweekly broadcast. I hope that the amountof effort, dedication and professionalismwe’ve put into this shows, and the mas-sive improvements made from the tour-nament broadcast will be enough to con-vince people to keep watching.”EVE TV is available every week, ondemand at www.eve-online.tv

BACK ON THE AIR

IN CROWD #2

How did you arrive to become CCP’s CEO?Probably due to the Peter Principle :-). Well, it’s a long story actually. I was initially hired by CCP torun the programming department. After Matti and I established the initial technology foundation for the game, I started dabbling in 3D programming, only because we had no one else to do it. Afterdiscovering it wasn’t all that complicated, I started to write Trinity, CCP’s 3D engine. By the time Iwas finished, CCP had grown so much that just running the programming department by itself hadbecome a full-time job. Through that I became heavily involved in game design, since the barrier thatseparates it from technology in a game like EVE is very thin.

All this close collaboration with programming, art and game design departments gave me uniqueinsights into the entire team’s interdisciplinary dynamics and needs. By the end of 2003, CCP hadreacquired the publishing rights to EVE Online, and it was time to focus the company on makingEVE the success we truly believed was possible. I was asked to become the CEO and reluctantlyaccepted. I recently read this comment from Eric Schmidt of Google “…don’t become a CEO becauseyou think it’s a good thing; do it because it’s a necessary thing”. It elegantly describes the situation.

What sort of boss are you? I hope I am regarded as an honest one – I certainly try very hard to be. I also strive to lead by example. Being the CEO of a company composed of brilliant, talented individuals is much more ofa service than a dictatorship, actually. So if I had to classify myself, I would be a servant of the employees of CCP, our customers, and our shareholders.

You’ve held many positions at CCP; which has been the most enjoyable and which themost stressful?In general, I’m so adaptive to my surroundings that I tend to find something enjoyable in anythingI’m doing, although I must admit that I miss the days of programming. 3D engine programming, inparticular, is a very feedback-oriented process – you always have a good indication of whether you aredoing good or bad things immediately. It also involves a lot of communication with artists, and whenart and engineering come together, you get magical results. Kjartan and I had some great times design-ing the market system in EVE. That was one tough nut to crack. It took us months to refine the coresystem to what you see in the game today. The final product is really simple and elegant, so much sothat it doesn’t really seem to be an idea or something that was designed all, which is always the hall-mark of good design.Another enjoyable time was when we were laying down the final foundations forthe EVE server in early 2003. We spent many sleepless nights monitoring the servers, spotting bugsand architectural problems and then fixing them. My stint as producer was also nice—community rela-tions in the early days were quite biblical at times (Old Testament style), complete with role-playedbugs and manual intervention—does anyone remember the Jovian deep space stasis web experimentgone wrong? :) After I took the reins as CEO, I found enjoyment in growing the company, both interms of the financials and in finding great people that I could convince to join CCP.

Not that we’re suggesting your time is soon to end, but have there been rumblings ofa successor.... has a trusted aide asked you to step outside in your Navy Apoc?Rumblings? Oh, you mean like ‘Why is a programmer running the company?’ Sure we’ve had suchrumblings; however, they have a tendency to quickly die out when people hear of the time when Ibeat all of CCP in an arm wresting match (something I will never be able to repeat – how I managedto take down Friggi is still beyond me). A trusted aide asking me to step outside? Et tu, Brute?

If, before EVE had launched, you had somehow known it would have taken three longyears to secure 100k subscribers, would you have continued? Absolutely. I actually signed on in March 2000, when it was widely believed that making EVE wasjust not possible. It was like the engineers at NASA: they initially didn’t believe that going to themoon was possible, but they went ahead and did it anyway. Or take the example of a bumble bee:you can mathematically prove that it can’t fly, and yet still somehow it can.

The mere creation of EVE Online – let alone reaching 100,000 subscribers – were never final destinations by themselves. They were just milestones on our trek towards world domination. Thejourney thus far has been an amazing one, and I see many more milestones on the road ahead that I look forward to reaching, no matter how long it takes.

CCP STARTDATE: March 2000POSITION: Chief Executive OfficerAKA: ‘Hellmar’

WE SIT DOWN WITH CCP’S MANDARIN-SPEAKING FISH-LOVING GUV’NOR; THE BIG CHEESE,THE CHIEF, THE BOSS MAN, GAFFER,HEAD HONCHO, ARCHLORD, BIGKAHUNA, SUPREMO CROWD CONTROLLER... THE HILMARNATOR

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What has been the highlight of your time at CCP?There have been many great times at CCP, so it’s difficult to select any one over the others. Watching Trinity run forthe first time with actual art department-made content was a huge thrill. Turning on the servers in May 2003 and not having them fall apart was nice (especially after having watched the Beta Tests Armageddon event resulting in a complete melt down). EVE’s one-year birthday party was a great moment. Turning CCP profitablein 2004 was a real Champagne opener. Last month’sThorrablót was just awesome, and a true testament to howfar CCP has come.

Your old office had a lot of Elite memorabilia aboutthe place... you were a fan?I want to be, but I really can’t say that I am. I played Elite forthe first time on a PC – not cool. I remember playing somegood space games on my Sinclair Spectrum though.

So what does the CEO of CCP do on a day-to-daybasis? Play EVE? Drink coffee? Poke Nathan withsharp sticks?Nobody plays with sharp sticks around Nathan, at the risk ofpuncturing his inflatable doll! There is no typical day for theCEO of CCP. I do everything from cleaning our reef aquariumto communicating with our Chinese partners or the Icelandicgovernment. My main goal for the past two years has been tofind people to take over as many of my jobs as possible. Myultimate goal is to delegate everything so that I have time tobuild a new coral reef aquarium here in our new offices.

Do you think it risky that CCP has all its eggs is onebasket? Shouldn’t you be working on EVE 2, orsome generic fantasy MMO by now? Isn’t it slightlyinsane, the resources you pour back into EVE? I would say it makes perfect sense. I would actually use theword ‘insane’ to describe someone that didn’t stick with theirproduct through tough times, who failed to do everythinghumanly possible to make it reach the success it deserves (Iam using the phrase ‘humanly possible’ loosely here, btw).

If 2006 is China, new graphics and Kali, what’s onthe cards for 2007?It will be the year that the number of EVE subscribers will exceed the population of Iceland. That will probably be a world first: a software company creating a service that is subscribed to by more people than the total number of inhabitants in its home country. Big fish in a little bowl we will have become by then. In 2007 we will also launch the Windows Vista version of EVE Online,which will be quite a milestone in the EVE experience. We also estimate that by 2007, CCP will have increased enough in strength to make the really big strides in development that we’ve always intended to do. Whoknows? We might even have time to create atmosphericflight or walking in stations in 2007.

E-ON / SPRING 06 5756 E-ON / SPRING 06

A brass bell’s vibrant toll resounded through the arching hallways of the University of St. Maxus, heralding a briefmid-course recess. Every door in the sprawling academic complex burst open in unison, spilling forth a crowd of

chattering students, each encumbered by an armload of hefty books and manuscripts, but no doubt excited by the approaching semester’s end. While the University was one of many such scholarly institutions littered about the AmarrEmpire’s capital city of Dam-Torsad, it was surely one of its most illustrious – the students enrolled here were likely to besons and daughters of Holders or respected officers in the Amarr Navy; resplendent in their royal blue scholar’s robes, theycertainly looked the part. Graduates could expect promising careers in theology, planetary administration, and engineeringeverything from new starships to combat drones.

“I pray the other courses on my schedule are more exciting than that drudgery. You haven’t the slightest inkling how difficult it was to convince father to enrol me here,” shouted Rhea Tash-Murkon over the din of the crowd, directing herexclamation at a harried-looking classmate who had only now elbowed his way free of the throng emerging from theAdministrative Affairs auditorium. The two had just suffered through a tedious three-hour lecture given by a professorinclined to speak in drowsy monotone.

“This next class should pique your interest!” replied her robed acquaintance, Aramin Ankigher, the first-born son of arenowned Domain region Holder. “The professor has a reputation for decidedly liberal slants in his teaching; if we’re notwary with our notes we may be arrested and tried for techno-heresy!” he quipped, smirking. As the daughter of a minornoble, Rhea was likely quite sheltered, and Aramin had quickly deduced that the University was her first taste of the realworld beyond the walls of her father’s guarded fortress-estates. Today was only her third day of classes, and the Holder’s sonfound that he was drawn to her; perhaps, instinctively drawn to her power and influence.

Having navigated the halls, Rhea and Aramin came to stand before a set of ornate double doors. “The Nature andTheological Implications of Artificial Intelligence,” Aramin recited helpfully, reading from a sign by the door. “Here we are.”

Professor Salah-Udin Bohat sat seemingly distracted at his pulpit,poring over a sheaf of papers, his hands rubbing away at his temples.Surrounding him were a number of plaques and framed diplomasattesting to the aged professor’s many doctorates in schools of cognition coding, robotic bio-integration and neuromechanicalinterface engineering. As students began to flood through the doorsinto his audience hall, he gathered the documents up, and greetedthe dozen-odd robed scholars with a warm smile and a humble bow.His eyes came to rest on Rhea.

“I see we have a new face in the crowd!” the professor announced,his voice echoing throughout the lecture hall. “Everyone, pleaseextend courteous greetings to mistress Rhea Tash-Murkon, firstdaughter of the esteemed noble Rhodon Tash-Murkon, whose influence in the Empire stretches far and wide. Wide enough, itappears, to circumvent university regulations against the admissionof students mid-semester,” he cracked, still smiling that disarmingsmile, prompting Rhea to blush furiously as the classroom’s attention momentarily focused on her.

“Don’t worry about him,” whispered Aramin, reading her embarrassment and leaning toward Rhea from his desk. “The professor possesses a great sense of humour.”

Professor Bohat moved to the wide chalkboard behind his pulpit,and picked up a piece of chalk. While quickly scribbling cognitionformulae on the chalkboard, he resumed speaking. “In our priorweeks’ study sessions, we delved into the vagaries and perils of cognitive code; specifically, the risks and heresies associated with creating self-aware machinery. However, as our final examinations liein the near future, and we have a new student in our midst, I felt itprudent to review past study material in hopes of refreshing everyone’s memories. At the end of today’s class, I have a veryexciting announcement regarding the revised format of our finalexamination, which I have taken the liberty of re-organizing fromwritten to practical in order to allow our new student to participate.”

Rhea smiled haughtily to Aramin. Often, her over-protectivefather’s meddling was a source of constant humiliation for the Tash-Murkon girl who sought to strike it out on her own and earnher glory. Exerting his influence to help her obtain this course credit with a fraction of the study time, however, was somethingshe’d have to thank him for.

With a hand-held laser, Professor Bohat highlighted a portion of

his chalkboard schematics, specifically a column of nigh-indecipherable text and numbers written in impressive calligraphy. “Who among you can identify thiscode segment?” he queried his class.

Aramin’s hand shot up before anyone else’s. “That is theFourth Law; it states that machine must always defer toman in its decision making processes. It is an override andgoverns a machine’s primary functions when invoked.”

“And this?”Another student answered. “That is the Ninth and final

Law of Machine Cognition. It states, uh… it states that amachine must never seek to know itself. And, uh…”The lad flipped anxiously through his notes, looking forthe rest of his answer.

The professor was quick to note his pupil’s lack of preparedness. “What phenomenon does the Ninth Law strive toguard against?” Aramin’s hand went up again, but Bohat ignored him,his attention focused on the fumbling student. Memory implants were prohibited in universities, and scholars relied on rote repetition to hammerknowledge into their minds.

“Retardation?” The student blurted, clearly guessing.“Incorrect. Rampancy! Rampancy is the phenomenon that the Ninth Law

guards against, and is the invariable result of machine self-awareness.Retardation, on the other hand, is the phenomenon affecting any studentunable to recite the Nine Laws this far into the course, and I’ll expect the full definition of the Ninth Law written down by your hand a hundred-fold, on mydesk by the end of class,” announced the professor while triumphantly stabbingat his pulpit with his index finger, delighted as the wayward student shrivelledin his seat and set to his task.

“Now, for something a bit more challenging: who can tell me who RadagastBohat was?”

Again, Aramin’s hand went up. Grudgingly, the professor nodded to his eagerstar pupil, and Aramin spoke, reciting from memory. “Radagast Bohat was thefirst ever Amarr drone engineer to collaborate with foreigners. He travelled tothe Gallente Federation, where he toiled alongside the heathen scientist OisinLexmoreau. His crowning achievement turned out to be his undoing, as the twogave life to Orphyx, the first drone ever to attain awareness and go rampant.Radagast was charged with techno-heresy and disappeared shortly after Orphyxbroke loose from its containment. It is thought that he committed suicide.”

The professor nodded approvingly, and turned back to the chalkboard.

YOU CAN READ THE REST OF THIS EXCLUSIVE CHRONICLE BY ORDERING ISSUE #002 FROM THE EVE STORE NOW. CLICK ON HTTPS://SECURE.EVE-ONLINE.COM/EON/

CHRONICLE #1

T H EE I G H T HP L A G U E

N E W F I C T I O N B YT O M C Z E R N I A W S K I

E-ON / WINTER 05/06 2322 E-ON / WINTER 05/06

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Killing with style is better than justkilling: “Assassination,” muses the

deadly and respected CEO of the BodyCount Inc corporation, “is more about attitude and presentation than just plainshooting.” No contract undertaken, sheinsists, has ever failed. “Failure is simplynot acceptable.”

Body Count labels itself as the first ‘trulydedicated’ mercenary corp. It also holds afounding seat in the Mercenary Coalition,an alliance of guns-for-hire whose dedica-tion is said to be unmatched by any otherlike-minded organisation in the universe.

Contract killing is a hazardous line ofwork, but it has earned Seleene and herallies huge amounts of respect from clientsand victims alike. And huge profits, too.

“The aim was, and always has been, tosatisfy the client,” Seleene says. “We gainas much satisfaction from getting paid forour work as we do from hearing praisefrom an employer.”

She is Minmatar born, but was raised ina Caldari foster home. When she came ofage she moved to, and eventually becamea citizen of, the Gallente Federation. Herillustrious career began with the simpledesire for ‘something more’.

Seleene says: “The corp was originallystarted so I and a few friends could let offsteam. However, almost immediately afterstarting the corp, I applied for and wasaccepted into the infamous Space Invaderscorporation. I spent the next four monthsthere flying alongside such legends asViceroy and DrunkenMaster.”

But eventually, as that corporation began to break apart, Seleene realised that simple piracy lacked the kind of focusand discipline she craved.

“So I went back to the empty shell ofBody Count Inc determined to start something new – a true mercenary corpthat focused on honour, integrity and client satisfaction.”

BODY BUILDINGBDCI quickly landed two contracts thathelped it firmly establish its reputation ofreliability. But it was the corp’s third contract – against Celestial Horizon (CLS)– that really put it on the map.

“It was, and still is, the largest corp inEVE and we did a very good job againstthem,” beams Seleene.

That contract raged for nearly four weeksacross Empire space until CLS elected anew leader who was willing to negotiate asettlement that the client approved of. TheMercenary Coalition was formed shortlyafterwards when Seleene’s corp wasoffered a job against Everlasting Vendetta.

“That contract was a big success,” sheremembers with a smile. “We enlisted thehelp of a small freelance corp calledSharks with Frickin’ Laser Beams. Theywere a very aggressive and fun bunch ofpilots who liked the idea of getting paid tocause a little mayhem. Over the next twoweeks we completely disrupted EverlastingVendetta’s operations and from that pointon, BDCI and FRICK, despite our radicalinternal differences, were inseparable.”

A HEAD FOR BUSINESSThe MC alliance has since grown further toinclude The Corporation and North StarNetworks, offering services to those in need– with the right level of ISK.. Its primaryobjective, it says, is ‘to achieve your goals’...

“We do our best to remain true to ourideals and our clients,” Seleene says. “Solong as the customer is satisfied, respectcomes from others for a job well done.”

Such is the respect gained that evenvictims, upon re-awakening in their clonechambers, have been left in awe. So muchso that several clients have in fact beenformer targets.

And, backed by a huge industrial operation, profit levels have soared.

“From the very beginning we invested

wisely in terms of the Tech 2 market, andtoday hold stock in and help manage some of the most profitable corps andconglomerates in EVE. Our industrial tiesnet us billions in profit every week. Thismeans that we can afford to offer clientsexcellent rates and they get nothing butthe best in terms of hardware and pilots to achieve their goals. Anyone with theright amount of money and an interestingtarget will get our attention.”

SATISFACTIONSeleene notes a contract against Force ofEvil as an ‘epic’ high point in the history of the alliance, which featured weeks of non-stop warfare against a fearless enemy.More recently, a contract against theVeritas Immortalis alliance yielded some of its biggest head-to-head battles.

“There is no one else in EVE that canoffer you the potential for destruction, theprofessionalism and the desire to serveyour needs,” she insists. “We are the bestat what we do on every level.”

Breathlessly she continues: “We willcontinue to improve upon and expand ourmilitary capability to be on par withalliances several times our size... We willcontinue to recruit the best and the brightest pilots in EVE to ensure client satisfaction. Nothing else matters more...”

Attitude and presentation.

SELE

ENE

Looking for mercenary help? BDCI is a goodstarting point. They kill with style and attitude

IN CHARAC TER #1THE MOVERS AND SHAKERS IN YOUR UNIVERSE

P LAYER P ROFILE

NAME:

CORPORATION:

POSITION:

ALLIANCE:

SPECIALITY:

SECURITY RATING:

MOST LIKELY TO SAY:

LEAST LIKELY TO SAY:

SeleeneBody Count Inc [BDCI]CEO, ‘The Bitch in Charge’Mercenary Coalition [MC]Fleet Command, Administration, Public Relations-1.8“This isn’t going to be cheap...”“This job is too big for us.”

E-ON / SPRING 06 19

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E-ON / SUMMER 06 3534 E-ON / SUMMER 06

THE PROJECT TO UPGRADE EVE’S GRAPHICS ENGINE WON’T BE FULLY UP TO SPEED UNTIL NEXT YEAR, BUT CCP HAS ALREADY MADE SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES IN PUSHING TRINITY INTO THE FRONTLINE OF GAMING FOR THE NEXT DECADE. OLD SHIPS ARE BEING REBUILT AND NEW SHIPS ARE ALREADY FUTURE-PROOF. IT’S TIME TO LET THE PICTURES DO THE TALKING

When this image arrived in the E-ON officefrom CCP we spent half an hour just staring

at it like slack-jawed yokels. It almost seemed ashame to have to put words around it, but such is the nature of magazines and the life we lead.

Clearly what we have here (as on the cover) is a brace of tier-2 Amarr Battlecruisers and an escortof Executioner Frigates. Apart from the amazing levelof detail and the wonderful burn-out reflections,you’ll notice how much more rounded the enginetrails are, which help bring the scene to life.

“The new engine boosters will rely on the HDRglow effect – aka bloom – to achieve much of the

thruster flame itself,” explains Kári Gunnarsson,CCP’s Art Director. “The old method uses severallayered sprites. This new method will solve theissue of the thrusters clipping into the model. Theway we’re going to do the vapour trails themselvesis undecided at this point, though.”

We’ve always assumed that when a ship’sthrusters spear forward as it drops out of warp, itwas some kind of graphical glitch, albeit a usefulone. Apparently not.

YOU CAN READ THE REST OF THIS FEATURE BYORDERING ISSUE #004 FROM THE EVE STORE NOW.

TO TRINITY AND BEYOND

HOLYTRINITY

Victoria Beckham hit the ripe old age of 31 and, in New York, theworld’s largest pillow fight took place (in terms of participants, you

understand, rather than a fight between giant down-filled sacks), but oth-erwise 17th April, 2005 was just an ordinary day on planet Earth. Thennews hit of a short two-minute video. No ordinary video, mind, but anEVE-Online video – one of a growing number of painstakingly-pro-duced creations put together after countless hours of carefully choreo-graphed in-game footage had been condemned to hard drive. At least, that’s what was assumed. Those who saw it quickly realised thatthe unnamed Evolution-endorsed film wasn’t some regular FRAPS-assist-ed production, but a fully-realised CGI spectacular. EVE ships of a detailnever before seen fought in a dogfight so spectacularly, teasingly brief thatthe forum post that announced it was quickly bombarded with all man-ner of gaggling praise.

Within an hour a good proportion of the forum courtiers – Hakera,LoxyRider, Seleene, Trooper B99, Viceroy, MOOstradamus – had alladded to the growing tribute. One viewer claimed to have broken an armafter watching the soon-to-be-called Evolution Trailer. Two others (onebelieved to be a Dev) even admitted to releasing a small amount of pee-pee into their underpants, such was the effect the showing had. The weakof bladder, like everyone else, watched in slack-jawed awe, and posted asmuch. To date, the thread in the ‘Videos’ channel of the EVE InformationCenter remains one of the most popular and flame-free in EVE forum his-tory – although interestingly it took the ubiquitous HippoKing almost ayear to pass comment and Dark Shikari, self-proclaimed forum warrior,still hasn’t added his name to the near-800 replies.

YOU CAN READ THE REST OF THIS FEATURE BY ORDERING ISSUE #005 FROM THE EVE STORE NOW.

24 E-ON / AUTUMN 06

TEXT: ZAPATEROWhen our esteemed Editorfirst saw the Evolution trailer,he became very agitated, butat least he didn’t wet himself.Not so much that anyonewould notice at any rate

DARWIN’S CONTRAPTION

GAMES CAN INSPIRE FANS TO UNDERTAKE INCREDIBLE PROJECTS, SOMECHARMINGLY AMATEUR, OTHERS PROFESSIONAL-GRADE EPICS.

DARWIN’S CONTRAPTION IS ONE OF THE LATTER, YET TWO YEARS ON IT’S FAR FROM COMPLETE. TIME TO FIND OUT WHAT’S BEEN GOING ON…

E-ON / AUTUMN 06 25

TESTFLIGHT TIER-3 BATTLESHIPSGIVING YOU THE LOW-DOWN ON THE SHIPS WORTH FIGHTING FOR

In my sixth and final Testflight article (yes, I’ll be handing in my driving glovesfor good after this one), I will be covering Revelation’s latest additions to fleet

warfare – the Tier-3 Battleship. My main focus will remain on discussing the intendedroles of each ship, how well they perform, and whether or not they measure up toexpectations for that role. For all but Gallente, this happens to be fleet combat. It’simportant to keep in mind that, by design, the Battleship has been created withenough configuration possibilities that it can be adapted to virtually any situation.There is no true scale of measurement that defines how a ship can be used, whatsuccess it will achieve or how much enjoyment you will derive from flying it.

YOU CAN READ THE REST OF THIS TESTFLIGHT BY ORDERING ISSUE #006FROM THE EVE STORE NOW. HTTPS://SECURE.EVE-ONLINE.COM/EON/

E-ON / WINTER 06/07 4948 E-ON / WINTER 06/07

BATTLESHIPS ARE THE MOST POPULARMULTI-ROLE SHIPS IN EVE AND NO OTHERCLASS OF VESSEL HAS SHAKEN THEM FROMTHAT PEDESTAL. BUT WITH FOUR NEW BAT-TLESHIPS FRESH OFF THE PRODUCTION LINE,WHAT ARE THEIR SPECIALIST ROLES ANDHOW WELL DO THEY STACK UP AGAINSTEVE’S EVER-WIDENING CHOICE OF VESSELS?

TEXT: DIGITALCOMMUNISTVeteran pilot and know-it-all, DigitalCommunist hasbeen E-ON’s chief test pilot for 18 months. Sadly, allgood things must come to an end, and now retirementbeckons. We did have a nice gold watch for you, butwe left it in escrow and then Revelations hit. Sorry.

TIER-3BATTLESHIPS

ARTWORK BY JOHN AUGAR

torial, or something else entirely. BRUCE hasnever fallen neatly into anyone’s categoriesbefore, so why should that change now?

What are your most important econom-ic and military strengths?They’re largely one and the same. BRUCE isself-sufficient in every possible way. We pro-duce our own goods, recruit largely new pilots,and train them up in BRUCE-specific tactics.Even though it might be easier to produce fromBPCs, we tend heavily to invest in BPOs, sothat we always know we’ll be able to supplywhatever we need. Similarly, we tend to prefernewer pilots (around a year or less, but almostalways below the alliance’s average experience)because pilots who train and learn togetherbond better, and the camaraderie that is soimportant to an excellent alliance grows in thatkind of environment.

What are you proudest of with regardsto your achievements?BRUCE is a quiet alliance; we don’t really tendto trumpet our own horns. We’re proud ofeverything we do – from holding Aescheeagainst repeated invasions, to building a strongmarket wherever we go, to keeping our alliancemembers happy. We’re an alliance that has

SOLDIERS OF WAR: PRINCIPAL CONFLICTS108 9th Fleet (Essence)Although it would be easy to point fingers as to how theconflict against the 9th Fleet started, when you put a brand-new, publicly anti-pirate/industrial alliance one systemaway from a much older, well-known pirate/industrialalliance… something’s going to give. Thanks to BRUCE’shistorical ‘good neighbour’ policy (it got along well witheveryone else, and made a point to keep things that way) itwas able to eventually drive out the 9th Fleet.

108 Mercenary Coalition (Essence)Coming at the behest of 9th Fleet, MC was obviously a greatdeal more than BRUCE’s fledgling alliance was capable ofdealing with. The typical BRUCE philosophy, though, was toavoid obviously suicidal fights, learn what it could, andweather the storm. Ironically, much of what the MC taughtBRUCE during the conflict was then put to the test in itsown strategies. It probably isn’t accurate to say BRUCE‘won’ (since MC left when it felt like it), but the newcomersdefinitely weren’t crushed, which is a victory in itself.

Who are the most cru-cial figures and corps inBRUCE, and whatmakes them so?It’s very hard to say who themost crucial members ofBRUCE are, because wereally are a genuine teameffort and everyone involvedplays a part. Even by naminga few figures, I’m sure I’llaccidentally leave out adozen other, highly-valuedones. Still, Trayk has beenmy right hand in FOOM,and then BRUCE, since (lit-erally) our first days as cap-sule pilots. The RagingArmada corp has been withBRUCE since the earliestdays and, along with TDAO,form the ‘original’ backbone ofBRUCE. Our Fleet Commanders are,of course, certainly worthy of respect, asare our industrialists. Many of our newer cor-porations, such as Ad Astra Vexil and TheBlackstone Group, have been working hard tosupport us as well.

BRUCE truly is a very team-oriented group,and is likely to stay that way. We want everyoneinvolved to contribute, because then everyonefeels part of our success.

How would your classify your alliance?In the simplest terms, we are ‘good guys’ – wedon’t pick fights for no reason, we don’t engagein piracy, and we will generally help someone ifthey ask for assistance. We’re the sort of fellowsthat would help a little old lady fly acrossOursulaert, if you will.

At the same time, though, any alliance has tobe out for its own membership first, and so wearen’t afraid to take space if it’s the only way totake care of our own. Once ensconced, we’dmuch rather be on good terms with thealliances and corporations around us – there’snever a shortage of pilots looking for trouble inNew Eden, so being on good terms with yourroutine neighbours is always a good idea.

If a neighbour is a destabilizing influence topeace and quiet in the area, though, we’re notafraid to… ‘escort them out’. I’m not sure ifthat makes us expansionist, co-operative, terri-

EXECUTOR CORP:DA BRUCE [DABRU]

AD ASTRA VEXILLUM[VEXIL]

BLAZING ANGELS [BL4ZE]

DEFIANCE CORP [DEFC]

FREESPACERCONFEDERATION [FCNF]

FURY HOLDINGS [FHOLD]

HIPPIE HATERS [HIP]

MYTH INC. [PWT]

PILOTS OF TRUE POTENTIAL [POT]

SPACE SEEKERS [SPCSK]

TADAKASTU-OBATACORPORATION [TDAO]

THE DEAD PARROT SHOPPE INC. [FOOM]

THE RAGING ARMADA [TRADA]

THE BLACKSTONE GROUP [GBT]

How did BRUCE come into being?The Brutally Clever Empire was first envisioned in early May of 2006 as a place for new pilots whobelieved that careful, intelligent play could outdo the masses of grizzled capsule pilot veterans. At thatpoint, BRUCE was just a notion in the minds of the leaders of The Dead Parrot Shoppe Inc. [FOOM],and we were far too new to make such a bold play as forming an alliance.

FOOM eventually migrated from high-security space to a fairly rough part of Essence low-securityspace – the piracy-filled, mission runner’s paradise of Aeschee. A lot of our pilots questioned the wis-dom of relocating there, but we made the move anyhow. Admittedly, it was rough living for a time,finding out all the tricks pirates used and adapting to them. Eventually though, FOOM continued togrow and adapt – we learned and evolved.

You’re very new – how have the early days been?FOOM eventually secured the area well enough that we felt it was time to start inviting in like-mind-ed corporations, those who believed that camaraderie and determination were what make an alliancegreat; The Raging Armada, Tadakastu-Obata Corporation, and others. BRUCE was formed on Friday,October 13th (we’re not superstitious, thankfully) and was immediately tested by the local pirate-industrial alliance, 9th Fleet, then again by the Mercenary Coalition.

After those campaigns the first ‘Golden Age’ of BRUCE began – and life was good. When thingsbecome easy, though, you stop learning, and so BRUCE has again adopted the philosophy of ‘go some-place hard, and learn to thrive in it’ in our new home in Syndicate. How we’re doing there is a matterof opinion, but we’re in no hurry to leave and our growth continues.

What marks your alliance out from the others?The defining characteristic of BRUCE is that we’re not interested in ‘how it has always been done.’ Wetake each problem, come up with our own solution, and use our own methods. To be sure, we studythe strategies of those around us, but always looking for a uniquely ‘BRUCE’ solution. We believe thatyou can succeed well with teamwork, even if you lack so-called veterancy. So far, we’ve been right.

Can you reveal some of your current operations?Since BRUCE just moved into our new home last month, most of our operations are in fortifyingour position, improving our relations with our neighbours, and, of course, recruiting intelligent new pilots to the BRUCE cause, training them in BRUCE tactics. We have a very active BRUCEUniversity to that end, in fact. We’re also constantly working to improve our industrial base to con-tinue supporting our ongoing military operations.

HIS ALLIANCE MAY BE ONLY A FEWMONTHS OLD, BUT FOUNDER FRIEDRICKPSITALON IS KEEN TO SHOW THAT THEREIS AWAYS ROOM FOR THOSE WILLING TOTHINK A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY

FORMED:AREA OF OPERATION:

MAIN ACTIVITIES:PRINCIPLE DIRECTORS:

FOUNDER:MOTTO:

URL:

October 13th, 108SyndicateIndustry, Mining, Trade, Salvage and Counter-PiracyFriedrick Psitalon (Chief Executor), Trayk (Industrial Executor), Pythagoria Presumptum (Trade Executor), Zaphod Bee (Chief Diplomat)Friedrick Psitalon, The Dead Parrot Shoppe Inc. [FOOM]‘Intelligent pilots always welcome; skill points and training we can give you – brains, we can’t’www.dabruce.com

ALLIANCE PROFILE

42 E-ON / SPRING 07 E-ON / SPRING 07 43

BRUTALLY CLEVER EMPIRE [BRUCE]

ALLIANCE ASSETSALLIANCE COMMANDERS:ACTIVE FLEET STRENGTH:FLEET RESERVES:ECONOMIC ASSETS:POS ACTIVITY:STARBASES:CLAIMED SYSTEMS:

400 (approx)60-70“Enough”ClassifiedClassifiedNone at presentNone

been growing since day one, and we’ve onlyever had one corporation leave on bad terms.I’m most proud of our strong feeling of com-munity and the work ethic of our young, deter-mined alliance members – because in the end,an alliance’s greatest achievement is how well itendures over time.

Finally, what are the main, long-termaims for your alliance?Long term, I suppose we want what manyalliances want – a nice chunk of sovereigntywith an outpost or two, where we can conductbusiness with those who want to do so peace-ably, and conduct… ‘other’ forms of businesswith those who don’t. We want to establish astrong, stable area where BRUCE can continueto grow as needed, welcome new pilots to NewEden that have the BRUCE mentality, and tocontinue doing things differently to ‘how it hasalways been done.’

From top: Pythagoria,Trayk, and Zaphod Bee– BRUCE’s three mainDirectors and also incharge of the sheep dip

INSIDER’S GUIDEEVERYTHING A PLAYER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT...

E-ON / SPRING 07 6564 E-ON / SPRING 07

A broken data chip here, a fried cir-cuit there, the useless remnants of a

destroyed ship everywhere else. With theintroduction of Kali, we are now able to sal-vage broken components from the wrecksof destroyed ships and construct rigs, ahodge-podge of circuits that we can straponto our ships to provide that little extraboost we all find useful. In part one of thisguide, we’ll leave aside the construction ofthese handy devices and concentrate insteadon how best to utilise them.

We’ll start off with a little basic info onrigs. With the Kali patch, every ship in EVEhas now been equipped with some newmodule slots called Rig Slots and a new fit-ting stat called Calibration. While normalmodules fit in high, mid and low powerslots and use up powergrid and CPU, rigssimilarly fit into the new rig slots but con-sume only calibration points.

So what’s the catch? Likened more toimplants than modules, rigs cannot beunplugged without destroying them. Also,a lot of rigs have drawbacks to balance outtheir benefits, making them useful on onlyvery specialised ships. Drawbacks can bereduced by training the appropriate skill,Armour Rigging, for example, reduces thedrawback for armour rigs by 10% per level.Tech I ships, including capital ships, all get

THE INSIDER’S GUIDE TO

RIGSPART 1: USING RIGS WITH REVELATIONS COME A SLEW OF NEW FEATURES, AMONG THEM RIGS –A NEW TYPE OF MODULE WHICH CAN BE FITTED TO SHIPS IN A WHOLE NEWSLOT. BUT WHICH RIGS ARE BEST TO USE ON WHICH SHIPS? IN PART ONEOF THIS MINI-GUIDE, WE WILL EXPLORE THEIR EFFECTIVE USES

three rig slots, while Tech II ships are left withonly two, which serves to close the gap betweenthem slightly. At the time of writing, all shipscurrently have 400 calibration points, thoughfuture updates may tweak certain ships to havefewer or more as a balancing act.

There are 11 separate categories of rigs,crossing the entire range of possibilities fromship speed, cargo space, energy, armour andshield rigs to electronics and EW, and finallymissile, drone and turret rigs. Some are obvi-ously more useful than others, depending onthe ship you’re using, the setup you have fittedand what you intend to do with it.Additionally, there are Tech II rigs which giveincreased benefits, BPCs of which can beobtained via invention and exploration.

COMMONLY USED RIGSIn EVE, capacitor is life. It’s not surprising thatthe most commonly used rigs are energy gridones. The single most used rig is the CapacitorControl Circuit, the Tech I variant of whichprovides a solid 15% boost to your ship’s capac-itor recharge rate for a measly 100 calibrationand no drawbacks. That makes them as effec-tive as a Tech I capacitor recharger, so it’s notuncommon for people to slap three of thesetasty treats onto their ships.

Fitting some Capacitor Control Circuits willoften free up valuable mid slots normally used

TEXT: NYPHURNyphur’s knowledge of EVE is so vast that,were it to be digitalized and downloadedonto a storage device, it would nearly fillan entire 5¼” floppy disc...

for capacitor generation. Mid slots beingarguably the most useful slot, used for shieldmodules, electronic warfare, sensor boosters,microwarpdrives and afterburners, it’s not sur-prising that people would endeavour to freethem up using rigs.

Another popular rig is the Ancillary CurrentRouter, a rig whose Tech I variant boosts yourship’s powergrid output by a pleasing 10% forthe same 100 calibration as the capacitor rig,again with no drawbacks. This is equivalent toa Tech I reactor control unit and could free uplow slots you might need for armour tanking ormodules to help you deal more damage.

Additionally, capacitor rigs are extremelyuseful in shield tanks. It’s now possible to usean X-Large shield booster and have it run per-manently, making the Raven an even bettermission-running tank than before. Other use-ful options include the shield rigs for rechargerate and hitpoint amount. Those rigs, com-bined with the new Tech II shield power relays,have turned passive shield tanks from second-class tugboats into somethingincredibly scary. This year may very well be agood one for the Caldari pilots out there.

LESS USEFUL RIGSSome rigs, unfortunately, fall under the catego-ry of fairly useless, possibly a waste of a rig slotand your ISK. One example is the Warp Core

Optimizer, which decreases the amount ofcapacitor required to warp a given distance.While this sounds like something that mighthelp new pilots with low skills, it requires justas many components to build as many otherrigs, rendering it as expensive as more usefulrigs like the Capacitor Control Circuit.

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Rigs provide usefullittle boosts toeverything fromspeed to weaponoutput. Just bear inmind that not all rigsare cost-effective inISK and CPU terms

Wreck salvaging isthe key to findingthe various bits andpieces needed toconstruct effectiverig modules

For many players 0.0 (or nullsec) space isthe final frontier. It represents a land of

untold riches, a place where you can stake yourclaim and stand against the universe; a placeyou can craft to your own design.

It is, for the most part, unclaimed by NPCentities, with a few notable exceptions such asDelve, The Syndicate, Fountain and Venal.This means that you can construct your empirein the lawless wastes of 0.0 without fear of lim-itation by the statutes and laws imposed upon

you by the fat bureaucrats sat in their plushoffices on Caldari or Amarr Prime. 0.0 is what-ever you choose to make it, and it represents afundamentally different style of living thananything possible in Empire space.

Unfortunately, someone else got there first.So you may find that in your quest to create autopian paradise, the locals may take offence.But never fear, it’s lawless space! You don’t haveto worry about those pesky drugs laws, or a lit-tle bit of petty enslavement. No one is going to

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passionate about the space they call their own, and will often be founddefending it to the last man standing.

As a result, many newer players find the idea of 0.0 to be very daunt-ing. It’s rare for new players to venture boldly out into the unchartedreaches of 0.0 and stake their claim. This is exacerbated by the skill sys-tem in EVE. People see the character age of their opponents as a hurdle,not their capability as pilots.

The flip side to this argument comes when a new player calls on hisfriends and tries to lead the surge forward. When facing a foe of muchlarger size, it doesn’t matter if your opponents are relying on simpleCivilian Gatling guns, one thousand of them shooting at you will still killyou as much as a dozen older players with their fancy-pants Tachyons.This is the turning point for all 0.0 conquests.

NEW REAL ESTATEWith the recent expansion of 0.0 through CCP’s release of the much-anticipated Drone regions, the game very suddenly had vast tracts ofunclaimed space up for grabs.

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come knocking on your door should youchoose to test your next batch of psychoactivechemicals on an entire planetary population,and if they do, they won’t be coming backwhen you unleash your latest foray intoweapons technology. 0.0 is, for the most part, ablank canvas, and where it isn’t, you and yourfriends, with enough backing, can tear downthe canvas that someone else put there, andstart putting up your own.

STAND YOUR GROUNDNullsec allows you to establish your empire ina number of ways. If you choose to venture tospace already owned by an NPC entity you willinvariably find a slew of stations willing to har-bour you and your ship, but you will find thatbecause the space is already owned by anotherentity, you can’t truly stake your claim and getyour name on the map.

Alternatively, you can impose yourself uponspace that is claimed by other players, andattempt to forcibly remove them by takingtheir space from them. This obviously requiresthe establishment of a player infrastructure inthe form of Player Owned Structures and out-posts. What this allows you is complete free-

dom. You set the taxes, you police the space andyou decide who comes and goes. At least, untilsomeone bigger and stronger comes along anddecides they like the look of your garden andthat it would look a lot better if it belonged to them.

The cut-and-thrust of 0.0 is the almost con-stant warfare for territory. The ever expandinghegemony of alliance A running up against theborders of alliance B, who call in their friendsalliances C and D to lay the smack down.Almost without failure, 0.0 requires a player tonot only dabble in the physical and logisticalinfrastructure, but to also begin crafting a net-work of allies, so that when that day comes,and it invariably will, that someone wants yourspace, you can call in the cavalry to at least tryand save the day.

Such levels of freedom are almost unprece-dented in any game. The sandbox that CCPhas created in 0.0 allows players to craft, inalmost every way possible, a player-created,controlled, managed, distributed, and enhancedsociety. As a result, people become immensely

TEXT: IFNISome call it nullsec, most call it 0.0, butto the galaxy’s most coherent experton such things, it’s simply called home

THE INSIDER’S GUIDE TO 0.0 SPACEIF NULLSEC WAS A REAL PLACE, IT WOULD BE A BENCH OUTSIDE A TRAIN STATION IN A RURALENGLISH TOWN – RAMPANT WITH NIHILISTIC, DRUNKEN, TEENAGERS EAGER TO IMPRESS THEIRPEERS… WHO ARE NOWHERE NEAR AS INTIMIDATING AS THEY MIGHT AT FIRST APPEAR

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Cover feature:Super Size EVEThe Titans are coming, but they’ll be more than just big ships with big guns; fleet battles are evolving and the changes CCP has planned will go far beyond the reach of ‘Kali’, EVE’s second major expansion.

TestflightDigitalCommunist hops aboard each of the eight Heavy Assault Cruisers to bring you his verdict on the strengths and weaknesses of this most versatile of combat craft.

New ChroniclesThree new stories, each one illustrated by CCP’s immensely talented in-house artist, Börkur Eiríksson.

Insider GuidesTwo guides this issue; one on how to stay alive whilst traversing EVE space, the other the first part of an extensive guide to trading.

In CharacterWe meet up with three of EVE’smost celebrated and notorious players; Cyvok, Trigger and Freewheeling, who tell us of their histories, achievements and long-term plans.

EVE-IDancer and Kreischweide have been the driving force behind the development and success of the EVE-I website since it started prior to EVE’s release. They sit down to tell us their story; the highs, lows, past, present and future.

PlusInterviews with CCP’s KjartanPierre Emilsson and B. BörkurEiríksson, a look at Fanfest2005, a full report on CCP’s visitto China and a chance to win$500 of EVE gear!

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Cover feature:‘Empires Strike Back’The Cold War is about to heat up as the blood-nations of EVEjostle for power against theexpanding ambition of the outeralliances. Will you return to your roots and fight for your kin,or remain astride the frontierregions picking up trade as themilitary build-up increases.Read what CCP has in store for when Factional Warfarebreaks out in 2006.

In CharacterZeepo, Hinik and Pulgor tell usof their histories, achievementsand long-term plans.

TestflightDigitalCommunist returns, thistime creeping across the heavens aboard the eightempire Battleships. Far frombeing redundant, these shipswill remain the mainstay of fleetbattles for some time to come.

New ChroniclesStories that will make you laughfor joy and weep bitter tears ofsadness. Or maybe they won’t:‘The Eighth Plague’ by IstvaanShogaatsu, ‘Anima Oscura’ byWinterblink and ‘CountingStones’ by Herko Kerghans.

Insider GuidesPart 2 of Kaaii’s guide to trading,an exhaustive guide to tanking,courtesy of Nyphur, plus a lookat the tricky subject of corprecruitment.

Hit the decksWe’ve been playing the EVE cardgame so you don’t have to… atleast not yet.

PlusInterviews with CommunityManager, kieron, and GameDesigner, Rúnar Thorarinsson,more Postcards From The Edge,a look back at Fanfest 2005,news of the EVE PlayerAwards… and then some!

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Cover feature:‘Rebuilding EVE’The Trinity engine is in theprocess of being overhauled, withdazzling effects and new ship textures that will help ensure EVEstays ahead of the competition foryears to come. That’s the plan, atleast. But how will these updatesaffect the gameplay? Should theyaffect the gameplay? These questions and plenty more areanswered, whilst others are neatly sidestepped. Still, youshould see the screenshots!

Testflight DigitalCommunist returns fromlast month’s look at the ironcladsteamers to the Red Moon eraand jumps inside the must-haveships this season – the four ForceRecon Cruisers – to see what

they’re capable of and what youshould be using them for. Or not.

Insider Guides We have a massive guide to electronic warfare (which shouldbe helpful for newcomer and vet-eran alike), plus the first part ofa look inside ISD.

In Character Seleene talks business, Hardintalks self-flagellation and CountTaSessine is searching for a nicespot for a new outpost.

Gemini HistoryMost of us missed the party andthose of us that were there haveshaky memories (clone tech hascome on leaps and boundssince), so for the benefit of all,Reiisha takes us back to beta,

EVE’s literal big bang, where theroots of today’s alliances beganand where legends such asRagnar, Hellgremlin and TAOSPwere forged.

Plus Interviews with Hellmar andFuhry, more Postcards From The Edge, the story of EVE Radio,three great new Chronicles, EVE China update and plentymore besides.

Cover feature: ‘Holy Trinity’CCP can talk the talk, but canthey walk the walk? After lastissue’s wordy coverage of CCP’slong-term plan to fluff up EVE,it’s time to let the pictures do thetalking. Inside this issue are newships, old ships, stations, planetsand shimmering stars, rebuilt totake advantage of per-pixel lighting, HD range filtering andother nonsensical gfx jargoneffects. This is in-game stuff,mind. EVE’s tomorrow today (or should that be the other way around?).

CareeringPirate, industry mogul, spy,haulier, miner, serial corpseabuser – these are well-established paths to fame andfortune, open to all, new or old.

Soon, however, there will be evenmore to put on your resume; howabout explorer, hobo – sorry,‘salvage expert’ – or, maybe, justmaybe, bounty hunter?

Testflight: InterdictorsTools for territorial control or aDev’s tribute to the lazy ganker?Somewhere in between, says E-ON’s chief testpilot,DigitalCommunist, as he strapshimself in to the Flycatcher,Sabre, Heretic and Eris.

Insider Guides to Skills and PiracyWith the number of skills everincreasing and the time requiredto excel in all of them now counted in decades rather thanyears, it’s time to maybe thinkabout planning which skills to

train to be more effective in yourchosen speciality. Also, the darkart of piracy is laid bare in amonster, eight-page guide by all-round bad egg and cad of the highest water, Verone.

PlusCCP’s E3 experience; Interviewswith CCP’s Hammer and ArtDirector Kari; new shots from the Evolution movie, Darwin’sContraption; Profiles of JadeConstantine, Maggot and ShamisOrzoz; EVE History Part 2; twomore exclusive new Chronicles,and much, much more…

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E-ON #005 E-ON #006

Cover feature: ‘200 Rounds’Tom Czerniawski – better known to some as scumbag mercenaryIstvaan Shogaatsu – pens a tale ofthree scavengers lured by the legendof treasure aboard a desolate ship,an opulent cruise liner that onceferried the rich and famous acrossspace. The mission is simple; getin, get the loot and get out, andperhaps buy a small orbital platformamong the gated farways of Jita…at least, that’s the plan… Other stories are ‘The Dragon’ by AndrewDice and ‘My Better Half’, also by TC.

New EdensAtmospheric flight was first demo’dto a whooping crowd at Fanfest2004, but since then CCP hasdiverted all mention of players everbeing able to fly across mountainsand land at ground bases acrossEVE’s countless planets. Until now.

Movie EpicWe talk to the talented team behindDarwin’s Contraption, the CG movietrilogy that’s been more than twoyears in the making. Plus EveTV’sanchorman, SpiralJunkie remembers what it was likepreparing for, and broadcasting at,the second Alliance PvP Tournament.

Iron Tide poster (for subscribersonly, while stocks last)This issue we bring you a fantasticfree poster, the acclaimed Iron Tideby Meridius. This poster is huge,virtually a meter wide in fact, ofpure EVE pleasure you can hang on your wall. On the reverse is apicture of what EVE looks like during downtime. This poster is forALL subscribers (whether new or current – we’re too good to you), so if you want a poster click on that link.

Insider GuidesWith the EVE CCG in the hands ofplayers, we’ve decided to start a regular look at the game, with thisfirst installment looking at deck construction. Our other guides aremore concerned with in-gamemechanics, with in-depth probinginto to moon mining and missionrunning.

PlusDigitalCommunist takes StealthBombers for a spin in Testflight,CCP’s Magnus and Redundancy tell us their stories and we havecharacter profiles on OmberZombie, Raem Civrie and CaytlynRose. Somewhere amongst all this,Stavros also pops up, but that pageis easily removable.

Cover feature: Look Who’s WalkingFresh from his Fanfest appearance,CCP’s Technical Director, TorfiFrans, talks the talk about walkingthe walk in EVE Online. You didknow there was going to be walkingin EVE, didn’t you? Well there is,and although much is still to bedecided about what we’ll be able to do with our new appendagesbeyond prancing about and pointingat celebrity players, Torfi gives apretty good idea about what we’llbe getting up to.

Fanfest 2006Having neglected to inform E-ONthat he would be attending the 2006Fanfest, and in failing to make himself known to us while he wasthere, we sought fit to punish thewayward Winterblink by makinghim recall his Fanfest experiences:Viking bear hugs, foyer blobbing

and marvelling at the Icelandiclandscape in his underpants.

Alliance ProfilesNew to this issue is what willbecome a regular and exhaustivelook at alliances in EVE. First up wehave FIX and The Star Fraction (yes,more apolitical posturing from Ms.Constantine – you love it really). As for the player profiles, EllisaAnnasan talks tackling, MeinirMuireann defends freedom ofspeech and Darth Solo talks aboutfathering an army of mini-Darths.Eek!

Free CCG Booster Pack*Everyone who buys E-ON (not justsubscribers) will get one of thosenice, shiny, foil packs containing 15 cards from EVE: The SecondGenesis CCG worth a Titan-busting$3.20. And if there’s a rare foil card

in there (which is possible), thepack could be worth a whole heapmore – but that’s not the point. Thecards are each works of art thatyou can collect, play with or justsilently admire. (*while stocks last)

Insider GuidesTo complement the free cards, wehave the second part of our guideto playing the CCG – this timeweighing up the benefits of theships in the game. We also take anin-depth look at scanning, andthere’s the second part of our mission-running guide.

PlusDigitalCommunist goes out with abang trying out the new Tier-3Battleships, we have interviewswith Oveur and Clover, and threemore exclusive Chronicles. Sadly,no more Stavros…

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Cover feature: Turning Up The Heat“She can’nae take no more!” is acry many have heard from a certainbrusque faux-Scots engineer overthe years, and it’s one you may bescreaming at your monitor whenCCP introduces module overclocking,or rather, Heat. EVE TV’s Ifni chatswith Tuxford and Hammerhead onhow combat might be affected andwhat the future course is for TechIII and, perhaps, beyond.

E-ON AwardsIt’s time to announce the candidatesyou nominated to go through to the final round of voting in theinaugural E-ON awards, in recogni-tion of the unending greatness ofthe EVE player community. We profile all the nominees and passjudgment on their brilliance.

Insider GuidesAs well as part 3 of Boda Khan’sguide to The Second Genesis CCG,Nyphur offers an extensive guide tothose new-fangled rig thingamajigsthat came out with last year’sRevelations I. And if that wasn’tenough, the combined literary forceof Joerd Toastius and Dnightmarehas resulted in a guide to exploration, which serves as a finecontinuation of last issue’s ProbingGuide.

TestflightWith all the hoo-hah happeningbetween the axis and allies in EVE,it’s lucky we managed to find areplacement to take over as E-ON’schief testpilot. Step forwardFarjung, who kicks things off with athorough appraisal of the Tier-2Battlecruisers.

PlusGM Arkanon talks Internal Affairs,CFO Ívar talks business, we havedetails on the CCG expansion andan interview with its Producer,three more great new Chroniclesand news of the return of EVE TV!And as if that wasn’t enough, morePostcards from the Edge, AneuAngellus and Tyrrax Thorrk talkshop and Bruce takes its placeunder the alliance spotlight.

Cover feature:Pirate Faction BattleshipsE-ON has featured Testflight sincethe very first issue, but with Factionships becoming evermore popular,and more affordable, it seemed theright time to get our ship expert,Farjung, to go into the ins and outsof fitting and using each of the fivePirate Faction Battleships. UntilTech II Battleships arrive, and evenafter, these ships are seen verymuch as EVE’s high-performancemuscle cars, and whilst that factwould hardly be likely to impress a potential mate, the ships areimposing enough to impress apotential enemy.

E-ON Awards WinnersVoting in E-ON’s first EVE playerawards is over. We’ve tallied up thevotes (or, rather, a computer did)

and inside we announce who thewinners are and who will receive a specially designed laser-etchedaward, of which only a few will everbe made. Read who you voted foras the Alliance of the Year, who isthe best CEO, writer and ultimately,who has been crowned EVE Idol. Noacceptance speeches, sadly, thatwill have to wait for a future editionof EVE TV.

Insider GuidesAs well as our final guide to TheSecond Genesis CCG, Nyphur follows up his previous guide toRigs with an in-depth look at finding the raw materials requiredto make them. We also have Ifni’sguide to living in the evil realms of0.0, with its relentless pirates,mired politics and deserts of emptyspace just waiting to be claimed.

Happy Birthday CCP!Having recently turned 10 yearsyoung, we go back to the dawn ofEVE to find out how it was duringEVE’s big bang, the grand ideas,what the development process was like, all the way to the game’sfirst release in 2003.

PlusHellmar on EVE TV, Profiles ofFREGE Alliance and INVICTUS,Stavros talks caps, Gunhilda Zettergets excited about mining and partying, CCP’s Gnauton and TomBopen up and we have three exclusive new E-ON Chroniclesprofiling love, money, lies, betrayaland slavering hounds.

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