Nothing but gifts here in these pages - all the time! Enjoy this handy dandy infographic I created for the folks over at JUST.

More to come.

I was reading an old post this morning trying to find something to enter into another Just reward asking us for concepts regarding an Eve Online mini-game. And so I created this concept I call the 5%. Although now that I've done that, I think it should probably be called the "5 Degree", but the name doesn't really matter.

So what does it do? Let's say you have an enemy ship in local hiding out in a safe spot. Right now your ONLY option is to run back home and grab a probe fitted ship, or hope one of your friends has one available. But what if you've been doing the work and have the enemy ship narrowed down on 5 degrees on your d-scan? Shouldn't there be another way?

And that is when this mini-game pops up. Very similar to the hacking mini-games inside of Eve already, but this one gives you a very slim chance of actually generating an on-grid warp-in on that enemy ship. If you can manage to get that lock down to 100% a warp-in is generated. Possibly a randomly generated on-grid warp-in, so you might not land all that close to the enemy. I don't know, I've literally thought about this for half-an-hour this morning.

While the details might need some serious game balance work, I do like the concept. But of course I would, right? Others may not feel the same way.

Anyway, something to think about.

At any one time there are upwards of 30,000 players in New Eden. 30,783 as I write these words. Each of those players is in the game right now trying to achieve something. They could be on-line to check assets, pull contracts, fuel a station, mine some rocks, run an escalation, join a fleet, defend a structure, explore a wormhole, drop some bookmarks, chase the perfect 1v1 fight, or any of a thousand other reasons. Some are solo, some are in small groups, and some are preparing some type of fleet engagement. Point being there is a baseball stadium's number of people in the game doing their thing.

And sometimes those things converge. This is the beginning of what I call the "Convergence of Intent" and I'm going to spend the next few minutes trying to explain the concept to you. Why? Because I think there are a tremendous amount of players that seemingly do not understand how Eve Online works. And Convergence of Intent is a fundamental concept to our sandbox. The better you understand it the more that Eve makes sense to you. Certainly there are other concepts at play in our sandbox, but this one is primary to understanding a fundamental tenet - not everything is about you.

It is natural to believe that the universe revolves around you. And I don't feel the need to dive into those reasons right now, let's just take that stance as a given. This does translate to Eve Online. You are the player and this is a game. Your actions, decisions, and intent are your own. And there is nothing wrong about that. You are the focal point of your own game time. And congratulations on that. I do have some bad news for you however, that is also true of the other 29,999 people in the game with you at any given time. We're all the central character in a game we are all playing together. And sometimes, those intentions can intersect with each other. Often to destructive ends. For one party or the other.

I can't begin to tell you just how often I get yelled at by a player who doesn't understand this concept. They logged in to achieve a goal for themselves and they get caught and destroyed for it. A miner just wants to mine some rocks in peace. Someone just wants to run some escalations in their Gila and be left alone. A freighter pilot just wants to move some assets. There are a million examples. And then, often without warning, some crazy pirate ruins it all. And while it is natural to be upset about this turn of events - you really are getting mad at the wrong person. Because MY goal logging in that day was different than yours - my goal was to catch people like you doing the things you are doing. My day is going extremely well for me. And that, at its heart, is what Convergence of Intent is all about.

It has nothing at all to do with you personally. (At least rarely) If you let loose 30k people with their own goals and intentions - eventually some of those are going to cross paths. People are going to bump into other people. Especially if they aren't paying attention, or are afk, or slow, or doing something dumb like mining in Low Sec alone. Or running an escalation in a Gila and not noticing the probes. And we could spend hours talking about the ways in which you can mitigate those dangers - but the real point here today is that no matter what you do - sometimes your path is going to cross someone else's path. And there is really nothing you can do about that.

One could argue, that you shouldn't. Because engagement is the key to the entire game. It wouldn't be very exciting if we all got to do what we wanted without any risk. That would be horrible. And insanely boring.

When I get caught, blobbed, or fall into a gate camp - I also get upset. But never at the other players involved. They are only doing what they enjoy. I get mad at myself for getting caught. Oh sure, I'm human and if someone blobs me there is a moment of "goddammit!" involved. That is only natural. It sucks. But I should have done things differently. I only have myself to blame.

Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you.

You can also download a PDF of the above graphic.

I did not start out to create a massive timeline of my 17 years in Eve Online, I really didn't. But a couple of things that have happened over the past month lead me to out this together. Obviously one was being at Fanfest and sharing stories both during my Player Presentation and with people both at Harpa and at other locations. This got me thinking about my history in the game. And then recently someone asked me about a piece I created for them over a decade ago and I had to go digging through the archives to find it. And while digging I wandered off looking at all the stuff I've created over the past almost two decades. It's a lot.

And then I thought, I should write a new page on Eveoganda detailing all of this in an easy to follow format. And so I started working on that idea. But then I realized that so much of this history was visual. And once I started adding visuals I started thinking - the whole thing should be visual. And that is when the timeline you see now came into being.

I didn't add everything. Lots of wars are missing. A bunch of projects are missing. I didn't want it to become comprehensive - that kind of project would take much longer and I might want to save that for something else down the road (I'm not done yet!) - so I decided to just hit the highlights and spotlight interesting moments along the road.

I freely admit that such a project may only be interesting to me. Or maybe a few other people. But I did it anyway. Now at least I have something to refer to when I'm trying to remember when something happened, or place something in the proper context. I've been involved in so many things since I started playing Eve Online and this timeline only represents a small corner of that record. Literally. There is so much more I could have included. But I think this manages to get the main threads across.

After such a long time I think it is natural to start thinking about your own legacy and how to preserve some record of yourself. And maybe this is a small part of that effort. Maybe more will follow. I'm working on some videos right now that will help bring some of these moments to life and I think those will be fun to share as well.

In the meantime, enjoy the timeline if you are so inclined.

I'm not finished adding to it.

When you've been responsible for explosively ejecting over 16,000 players from their ships, you tend to notice some larger trends. And while no one in Eve Online is happy about losing a ship by force - few players tend to be as angry as miners. And look, I totally get it, you are out in space just trying to do your job - relax after work or whatever - and along comes some a-hole to ruin your day. And if he happens to be alone, that process can take a painfully long time to complete. It can take almost 10 minutes for my Astero to do 22,800 dps. That is painful. For both of us.

Thing is, just like you, I'm out in space to do my job as well. And I'm playing Eve to relax after work or whatever, just like you. It's just that my job involves explosively removing people from their ships. What you don't know is that for every one of you I do manage to catch, I've probably missed 3-4 others. That Astero catch I mentioned in the first paragraph? That was the ONLY catch I made that day during two hours of playing Eve. Some days are just like that. And while I often feel your pain during those ten minutes, it isn't enough to let you go. Especially when you are determined to be a dick about it.

Getting kills is my primary goal. 

Thing is, without those kills we wouldn't need miners. And no one appreciates industrialists more than I do - I like to have ships. And modules. And a running economy in which we can all make iskies. It is good for everyone. But if I don't remove value from space, then the whole thing gets borked and we are all out of a job. We should all know this. It is basic economics.

We should also be aware that Low Security space is a very dangerous place to be. Not only for mining, but for everything. It even comes with a warning. There are safer places in the game. But no place is 100% safe. Nor should it be.

If you remember anything from this post, remember this. While you are caught I am making a decision about your loot and the safety of your pod. Often I will make these determinations based on your attitude. I get that you are upset, but right now I am risking my own ship, spamming dscan, and hoping no one shows up to ruin my day. Being insulted in local is just going to get you podded. On the other hand, I've had encounters that ended with me taking Strip Miners to the station to trade back to the pilot personally. Simply because they were decent human beings.

I can only speak for myself. Others may not be as nice. 

When you vow vengeance, or swear to return in a larger ship - we don't see that as a threat. We see that as a promise. And we want you to do it. Our killboards are littered with vengeance.

Fly safe. And mine in peace.

Stay Frosty scientists have been working around the clock to develop the latest in munitions for New Eden - Introducing ANNIHILITE - The universes first ever Hull-Penetrating Ammunition! Why start with shields, when you can bypass shields and armor - and focus on STRUCTURE!!

We are revolutionizing ammunition delivery to bring you the latest in Abyssal technologies.

• ANNIHILITE is available in limited quantities due to increasingly dangerous hauling conditions. Mutations are a risk. Often a singularity might open causing widespread catastrophic damages on a stellar level. Do not use ANNIHILITE if you are allergic to risk. Safe minimum distance is 2AU. Use all safety procedures and be sure to have a medical clone available.

TLDR; Why does all ammunition start with shields, what if we started at hull?

Wow, I haven't written one of these posts since July of last year! For those of you just joining us these posts are mini-recaps of fights I've had recently in all their glory, horror, and honest perspective. These are not intended to hurt anyone's feelings, but provide an honest re-telling of the events surrounding each fight. As best I can remember them. I might win 83% of the fights I take but that doesn't mean I don't screw up every so often.

Let's get started.

The Good: Noctis Vs Comet

The Insurgency was raging in our neighborhood yesterday and that means systems in Stage V without the usual worry regarding gate guns. It has been a relatively uneventful series of insurgency in our systems lately and that has been a bummer for the most part. As usual other players tend to cluster up in one of two systems and rarely venture out on their own. I was just landing on the Murethand gate when this Noctis popped out next to me. By the time I reacted he had managed to warp off, but I noticed he warped to the next gate and not a station. So I followed him. And I jumped the next gate ahead of him and set up to catch him on the other side. Sure enough he popped out about 8k from me. The funny thing is that a Rook showed up towards the end. I thought he had come to try and save his buddy, but he just sat there on the gate with us. I did briefly consider attacking the Rook, but I had some heat damage I was worried about and I figured I had already pressed my luck enough.

The Ugly: Vengeance Vs Curse

Sometimes the Medium Advance has a recon in it. All we saw was an Atron and a Catalyst, but they were hiding a darker secret. I had two other pilots with me on this adventure and we had intel on the location of the Curse ahead of time. The only reason I bring this fight up is for two reasons. First of all, you should always wait until your fleet mates are ready. We ended up sliding early and one of our guys was behind. And secondly - damn, sometimes this game really annoys me! I still don't believe I lost this fight. Oh sure I had no cap but I swear that Catalyst died. And if the Catalyst died then the Atron would have died and I could have just warped out. But that is not what happened apparently. Eve can be very frustrating. And even I am not immune to its whims. 

The Bad: Vexors Vs Ferox Navy Issue

I thought a nice fleet of Vexors would be fun to run this past Saturday. And while we always end up having fun, the Vexors weren't the best choice. We had problems getting fights and engaging with anyone. We even took a Wormhole down to minnie low sec and didn't have much luck down there either. But we did manage to grab a few decent kills. And I bring this one up primarily because it happened in High Sec. Yep, that's right. I don't often get a chance to go into HS and, because of the insurgency, we were able to catch this FNI on the far gate after his buddies ran off. The Ferox isn't the bad part of this story though, because we are idiots we ended up losing a couple of ships (including our Logi) because we didn't appreciate the new rules in HS. It was pretty bad. But a few minutes after this we'd catch a Vigilant, so everything worked out.

The Good: Damavik Vs Hookbill

It is rare to see a solo Damavik in space. And I had my reservations about taking this fight, but as usual, I did it anyway. And here is where I would like to insert an encouragement for anyone reading this - take the fight. You never know what might happen. I have literally never fought a Damavik with a Hookbill before, so I prepared as best I could and tried to use the ship's advantages to my advantage. The Damavik is not a particularly nasty ship, but fitted the right way it can be challenging if you are flying the wrong ship against it. Which is what I didn't know, was my ship the wrong one? As it turned out, and it was close, it wasn't. Dual webs are a real bitch.

The Ugly: Harpy Vs Everyone

Some days are just cruel. Earlier this day I had a good fight against a Cruor. For some reason this Cruor decided to attack me in my Arbitrator - probably because he thought it was just another multi-boxer fitted version. But later the same day I slid a Harpy into a Cat Navy and suddenly I had the entire local on top of me. I quickly told my wing to stay away and quietly watched as more and more of them arrived. Only four managed to get on my kill, but at the end there they had at least eight or nine ships in the plex with me. All is fair in love and war, and almost every day in Eve ends with me getting blobbed to death. But even so, this was a bit much. Could have been some fun there, but instead it was just a club. Oh well.

And there you have it. Every day is an adventure and you never know what might happen next. Every fight is a story and sometimes that story is a good one, and sometimes it isn't. But still we undock and try again.

I hope to see you in space.

Stay Frosty is 12 years old this week. Our actual birthday happened while I was at Fanfest, so I'm turning it into a week long affair. I have that kind of power.

It became clear early on that in order to control your own destiny in Eve Online you either had to rely on others, or take the reigns and rely on yourself. Such is the nature of this sandbox of ours. I was fortunate early on to be invited into some truly interesting corporations and alliances. And I learned a lot from them all. Especially from the folks in Dissonance, who I often jumped in and out of early on in my career. Later my short time in Tuskers also helped me formulate both the good and bad of corporation management. It also never hurts to add that I have actual CEO/CMO experience out here in the real world. That also helps. My Son and I tried several times early on to grab the timing and moment in several early corporations like The Brutal Company, Inglorious Bastards, and a few others. But the timing just wasn't right. And then came Lucifer's Hammer (which is still going strong inside of A Band Apart) and we finally almost had the formula we needed. Almost.

And then everything came together in a weird confluence of events, some of which were self-created and some of which were pure happenstance. But often it is those moments when you have a chance to grab the reigns and power forward - that truly make a mark. And so it was with the birth of Stay Frosty. An idea five years in the making that was seemingly born overnight. But that would be a gross misrepresentation of what really happened. It wasn't as spontaneous as it might have appeared at the time. But no matter the forge that formed those very early days - the goal was clear from the beginning. And it was a simple one. To build the greatest pirate corporation that New Eden had ever seen. A group of gifted PvP oriented players who would undock and accept the challenges that Low Sec offered them. And face those challenges with humor, determination, and an undying spirit of YARRR!

It has been quite a journey. There can be no doubt that we have more than achieved our goal. Stay Frosty has indeed become the standard bearer for independent piracy in New Eden. And, even more so, the example of how to build both an aggressive PvP organization that is also a bastion of good humor and care for its players. A corp built on a famously strong Code of Conduct. A corp built to promote solo and small gang excellence and share that passion with the universe through ammo exchange and annual record-breaking events like the Frigate Free For All. Even twelve years later we maintain a 50/50 split between solo and small gang which is unprecedented in Eve's history. And soon, we will pass the magic 100k solo kill marks for the corporation - something we've been working towards for a long time.

Stay Frosty works because I am the CEO and I have never wavered. We are an extremely casual group of independent pilots who all bring their own spirit to the group. Some stay a long time and some stay for a short time, but all are important and bring their own unique style and perspective to our group. And we are always looking for more players to join. Our ethos has always been to accept everyone who shows a desire and let them "sink or swim" based on their own determination. We're a mature group of players and we're here to help, but ultimate success is based on your own desire to succeed. This combination of attitude is what has helped us survive for so long and through so many challenges.

I'm extremely proud of every player who has worn the colors of Stay Frosty. And I look forward to what the next twelve years will bring. The adventures are the ones that remain in front of us as we look forward to the future.

YARRR!

I'm back from Fanfest 2025 and feeling the effects of jet lag today. Nothing serious but a persistent feeling of cloudy brain and the feeling that it should be much, much later in the day. Fanfest was awesome and while I personally think it wasn't up to the high-quality that the last Fanfest reached - for me personally it was incredible. And any criticism I have of the experience overall has been tempered a little more by time. My initial reactions may have been somewhat tainted by several odd things that happened, or in some cases, didn't happen. But it wouldn't be Fanfest if I didn't leave it feeling a little weird about things.

First, the good news. The board game looks insanely good in final production and I could not be happier about that. I spent many hours at the Titan Forge booth drooling over the boxes, models, and all the expansions. So much so that I think Roman felt inclined to have pity on me and send me home with one of everything! So we had to scramble to figure out a way to get everything safely home with limited suitcases. Eventually we decided to buy some nice Ice Wear duffles (which we can use again for other trips) and pack those with clothes, leaving the hard shell suitcases for the game. I am happy to report that everything made it back home safely. And I will be creating an "Unboxing" video here in the next week or so for everything.

My presentation on Thursday could not have gone better. We had a pretty full audience and I think everyone enjoyed the presentation. I'm hoping that CCP recorded it and will have the video available soon. As soon as they do I'll be sure to share that around the community, so everyone can watch. Thanks to everyone who came and helped support me. I'm seriously uncomfortable being on stage in front of an audience even though presenting to clients has always been something I do well. That is the conundrum we often find ourselves in. Desperate for validation and also desperate to avoid situations in which we might potentially be validated. Welcome to human weirdness. Anyway, that went well and I was happy when it was over. I actually enjoyed myself.

If it wasn't for what happened next I never would have thought twice about being given a slot before the "official" start of Fanfest and off the grid for the live feed. However, the weirdness was just getting started. During the opening ceremony CCP mentioned the board game and the new "Dice Game" we've been working on for the past couple of months. During that they showed the wrong box art on the big screen. This was an obvious error and a mistake, but it took a day or two to figure that out. Meanwhile we were slightly panicking and hoping we hadn't done something wrong. Just another example of how a small mistake can have a larger impact.

In the weeks leading up to Fanfest, my friends over at Just had run a reward asking for content creators to create a video showcasing the beauty of Eve Online. The reward was two-fold, a $500 prize and a showcase spot during the opening ceremony of Fanfest. That was a big deal. So I spent almost an entire week and called in a lot of favors to create a video for it. The video won and I looked forward to seeing how it might be used during Fanfest. I honestly had my doubts about it showing up during the opening ceremony until the musical opening number, I was sure it would be playing in the background. But alas, not only did it not get used there - it didn't get used anywhere.

It's easy to get distracted by these kind of things. A lot of people tend to give me a tremendous amount of credit for how I deal with these kind of set-backs. My attitude comes from a life-time of dealing with adversity and challenges. Both personally and professionally. And also knowing what it is like on the other side of planning large scale events. Trade shows. Large multi-million dollar productions. I've been on all sides of those coins and I do understand how mistakes can happen. Or things get steamrolled in the process of just trying to get it done. Getting angry isn't going to accomplish anything. It happens.

And then you realize this happened:

Everything in perspective. Despite all that weirdness I had a great Fanfest. I managed to find time to spend with my fellow players, friends, and Devs (often all in the same person) and share stories. As always there is never enough time to find everyone and I wish we had more time. But that is also a reality of the event, there is just never enough.

I signed a lot of my artwork. Everyone who attended got a mousepad from the folks at Titan Forge that features my art. And I heard from so many players about how my work has impacted their lives and the game we all share. So, all-in-all, those are the most important things.

And, ultimately, why we've already purchased our tickets for next year.

In the coming days I'll be writing more about my feelings regarding Legion and some of the other things we saw from CCP during Fanfest. But right now I need to deal with my emails, DMs, and all the other things landing back at home bring with it.

Until then, I hope to see you in space.

I think most Eve players who are going to make the trek to Iceland for Fanfest start thinking at some point before they arrive, what would I like to talk to a Dev about? What questions would I ask at a roundtable? If I get a chance, what issues would I like to bring to someone's attention? In the past I've certainly had more than my fair share of those pressing issues to address in the past. From Warp Core Stabilizers to Factional Warfare - over the years I've advocated for a lot of changes in Eve Online. And, for the most part, I've been extremely successful at that mission. 

If you would have asked me about this a month ago, I might have told you that this year I didn't have any major pressing issues to discuss. But there is just something about the approaching deadline of major travel investments that spurs the mind. And recently a few issues have been causing myself and us pirates nothing but concern. So let's address those here today and lay out what I believe are some important "concerns" going forward.

And, just to be clear up front, these are Factional Warfare/Low Sec concerns. The rest of you are on your own. As always however, improving the game rises all boats. We all want what is best for Eve. A better Eve makes everything better for everyone.

I am extremely concerned about the insane rise in multi-boxers in our space. I sat and watched yesterday as a fleet of nine Algosi devoured the plex in Agoze without opposition. This morning on Discord it was reported that a fleet of 6 multi-boxing Gila are doing the same next door in the Sleeper sites. And last week I tweeted out a screenshot of a fleet of 40 Nagas swept through system after system, all named the same character with only slight variations. We've witnessed an escalation of these types of encounters over the past year and it is only getting worse. Are all of these multi-boxers? I have no way of knowing for sure. I've been told that some groups are naming alts so that they appear to be multi-boxers in order to avoid encounters. This wouldn't surprise me, but something like that has to be the exception and not the rule.

We do try and fight these groups. But that only manages to bring up another issue. If I'm in a Frigate and I slide into a plex with a Cruiser - I should be able to point that Cruiser before he has a chance to warp off. This just makes sense. Unfortunately, in many cases, this does not happen. It does no good for us to counter a gang of twelve Algosi if they all just run away when we try. There is something inherently wrong with the engagement mechanics that overly favors the defenders. And while I would not advocate for a change that overly favors the aggressor, all we really want is a level playing field. A fair shot. And I believe we are currently not getting a fair shot. Something has changed and it is not working as intended. This needs addressed.

Which brings up yet another point. Pirate Frigates. The Dramiel, Daredevil, Cruor, and the entire list of once fun, unique, and powerful Low Sec hunters has been kneecapped hard in the current meta. They might as well not even exist at this point. Again, unlocking their potential would go a long way towards helping to address the other issues above. I have many ideas on how this could be accomplished, but the easiest solution is extremely simple - let them enter any plex one step above their own class. These are ships designed to engage ships in higher class brackets, so let them do their job. While a Dramiel shouldn't be allowed into Scouts - they should be allowed into Smalls and above. This would unshackle some of the best ships in the game and bring back a more engaging and varied Low Sec environment which is in desperate need of variety. (This applies to Pirate Destroyers as well btw)

Factional Warfare and the Insurgency system have been good to Low Sec. I fully support it. In large part those that participate in those systems have gamed them and they have fallen into a boring routine. Players skip militias to game the LP system. Multi-boxers game the system. The mechanics allow them to engage without much fear as long as they follow some simple rules. Empty hulls are still running sites. There is much to be concerned about here.

For me, the biggest concern is what it has done to our increasingly niche game-play. And while I know full well how selfish this sounds - it is my chosen profession. There are less and less independent pirate groups in Eve Online for a reason. We've been pushed into the corner. And while we are used to being forgotten, the current environment has taken this too far. I will continue to advocate for some type of negative sec status bonuses, or bonused ships. And I will always believe that a vital part of Eve Online is a healthy and thriving piracy gameplay. 

Which is, after all, what Stay Frosty has stood for these past twelve years now.

And here I thought I didn't have anything on my mind.

YARRR!

The last few weeks here at Eveoganda HQ have been very, very busy with Fanfest planning and prep. Community wide requests, convos, plans, and sharing/creating files - you name it and I've probably done it in the last few weeks. This happens every time in the run-up to another Fanfest, but this year has been even more than usual. It could be because of the large gap between the last one and this one, which is certainly making this one seem all the more special. Been awhile.

A month ago, right in the midst of planning for the FF4A, I took a week and squeezed in some extra time to produce a video for a reward on Just asking for our interpretation of the "Beauty of Eve". This reward request was unusual for several reasons. The top prize was $500 and the winner would have a chance for the video to be shown at Fanfest. So obviously that made it worth the investment of time and energy. We've all seen travel style videos of Eve Online over the years and I always strive to do things a little different. So I needed a different approach to whatever I was going to try. So initially I decided I would actually travel, as Rixx, from Thera through Pochven to both the Eve Gate and Molea. Rixx himself has never been to either place because he is -10 and a criminal. Any time I go there it has to be with one of my alts.

Anyway, in the end, that part of the story was left on the cutting room floor because it became too cumbersome to make work. But the spirit of that adventure is still in there. Either way I'm super happy with the way this piece came together in the last day of editing. Yesterday I was informed that it had won the first place prize and while we have no idea what CCP has planned for it, it will supposedly be used somehow during Fanfest.

Fanfest is rapidly approaching. The weeks leading up to Fanfest are always extremely busy, with lots of projects needing help, updating, and creation. But this year has been even more insane than usual with the prep for my player presentation and a very special secret project I've been working on. Which has been keeping me very busy.

So CCP announced the Fanfest schedule and it looks like my presentation will be Thursday at 17:00 in the very same room it was in ten years ago. But this time, instead of talking about the potential of "fan art" in the Eve community - I'll be talking about a real project. The largest Kickstarter in Eve's history, the first new board game based on Eve Online in decades, and a project I've spent the last two years working on - the War For New Eden Board Game. My talk will include lots of art from the game and I'll share some behind-the-scenes stories about the development and process behind the game. All told from my own perspective. And thanks to the schedule, you won't have to miss another presentation to sit in on mine - since it will be the only one running in that time slot.

If you follow the Kickstarter at all then you know we are getting very, very close to having this massive board game in our hands. You also know that Titan Forge has made some recent mistakes with their updates. But I know they will have several people at Fanfest who can answer any of your questions and/or concerns. Obviously I am not on location in Poland and all I hear is positive news about prototypes arriving and approvals and pieces being finalized. So, from my perspective, this project has been running along pretty smoothly. Considering the vast amount of individual pieces, expansions, and an entirely insane alternative 200% version - I think the process has been going extremely well. This is a massive undertaking and I believe you will all be extremely happy when you finally get this beast in your hands.

So make time at Fanfest to come sit in the dark and look at all the beautiful art that is included in the game and get even more excited about it. I hope to see you there.

And yes, there will be a Q&A at the end. So you can ask me anything.

This trend is making its way across the internet, so I figured I should give it a shot. I ended up having to photoshop some things to make it actually work. I thought about adding an actual Eve spaceship instead of whatever that thing is - but it seemed funnier to just leave it.

Anyway, if you are curious and would like to try and create your own character version, it's easy. I used the free ChatGPT version and the following prompt -

"Create an action figure from the photo. It must be visualised in a realistic way. There should be accessories next to the figure like a Space Pirate would use, A Federation Navy Comet from Eve Online, a parrot, drawing tablet, headset etc. Add a hole to the top of the box in the action figure. Also write the text “Pirate Lord” and below it “Rixx Javix - Stay Frosty"



A tremendous amount of time and energy is expended in the Eve community in pursuit of the perfect fit. There are literally thousands of hours of video tutorials, hundreds of community fits, and millions of words on the subject. Streamers talk about them. zKill showcases them. Discords share them. And endless hours of debate ensue. And for a lot of players, perhaps the majority of players, this is all perfectly fine. If you are out there doing something very specific with your time - like running sites, or missions, or whatever else happens in PvE - then all that fitting infrastructure is probably beneficial to you. I wouldn't really know, I honestly have no idea about that side of things.

Let me give you an example of what I'm going to be talking about today. My fellow Stay Frosty pilot Darkon is truly gifted when it comes to flying his Condor. He has over 1,100 kills in that thing and most of those are not only solo, happen in Null Sec, but are insane. The normal reaction is to ask him for his fit, that fit must be incredible right? And while it is a solid fit - I can't fly it and make the damn thing work for me. Believe me, I've tried. The converse is also true. Very few people can properly fly my Comet fit. It's weird and most of the time, when I do share it, people tend to look at me oddly. I've spent years and years fine tuning my own fits to my own game play and style. Darkon has done the same. As have many of our pilots.

Combat fits are constantly changing, being modified, updated, and enhanced to the ever-changing meta around them. That is true. But often forgotten is the importance of the person actually flying these fits. While math is important, it often isn't the deciding factor in a fight. Or at least, in the kind of solo/small gang fights I tend to find myself in. I suppose in larger scale fleet fights were the talent of the individual is of no concern, the importance is more on uniformity and standardization. Dunno, my fleet days are long gone and most of my "large scale" fleets are maybe thirty people these days. I intend no slight to those that seek larger scale engagements, more power to you. This is just my own perspective.

Fits that fit you are more important. Finding a ship that you enjoy flying and a fit that helps you fly it successfully is the key. There is nothing wrong with pulling fits from other sources, community fits, streamers, zKill, Discord, these are all worthy places to get started. But the journey shouldn't end there. You don't fly that ship like everyone else does. You fly it like you fly it. And your fit should reflect that individuality. Don't be afraid to change things, try new things, and keep working on making it even better. It is a process and an evolution. This is how truly great fits are born.

I just want to encourage you. Learn your skills and find your own way of doing things. Learn from those around you and ask questions. Find out the why behind the fits you fly. And always ask yourself, how could this be better?

This is the path to greatness. And before you know it, someone will ask you to share your fit with them.

I realized the other day that I hadn't shared any recent PvP stories of my adventures in a long time. Since back on March 12th when I told you the story about the solo Avalanche kill I managed to score in my Nightmare. So today I'm going to tell you a smaller story about a Catalyst and a Thorax.

As always I want to say up-front that I never tell these stories to be mean or disrespectful to my fellow players. I respect any player that engages with me in space, even the ones who blob or gate camp me into submission. It is all part of the game and I totally deserved it. Live by the sword, die by the sword. All I'm doing here is sharing a story about what happened. 

After coming back into the game after the FF4A I've been itching to try some different ships. Like anyone, I can get myself into a rut. Plus I enjoy my variety, it has always been something I strive for. I have 35 ships with over 100 kills on them and I'd like that to be 100/100 someday. So yesterday I decided to take a Catalyst Navy out for a spin. Nothing complicated here, pretty typical fit with blasters, scram/web, and armor rep/hull rigs. Not the fastest ship and most likely I'd end up dying to a good kiting pilot eventually.

I almost died right away to a kiting Comet, but like most kiting Comets he was using a long range point and it wasn't hard to get away. There was an annoying Assault Frigate gang of 20+ ships out and about yesterday and they were making it challenging to get fights. So eventually I decided to just hole up in a small navy, where AFs can't slide, and just wait. Eventually someone would come to end me. Hopefully.

This is not my favorite strategy, I much prefer to roam and hunt. But sometimes just chilling can bring fights. Eventually a Catalyst decided to slide into me. Now I had previously slid into this very same Catalyst and he had run off. So why he decided to slide into my Cat Navy is unknown. Once I realized he was using Rail Guns and didn't have a web, the rest was pretty easy. I just got under his guns and boom boom with the insane blaster damage. It was a good fight and I said so in local. But the outcome was not in question.

Things dried up after that. I insta-popped a Cyno Venture on a station. I found an empty Bantam inside a Medium Advanced. But otherwise things were looking bleak. That's when I noticed the previous Catalyst pilot had up-shipped into a Thorax. At that point he was hanging out in a plex with a Coercer Navy Issue and there was no way I wanted to slide into both of those. So I continued roaming around. At one point I jumped into about 20 Exeq Navy Issues, but they jumped before I de-cloaked. Always an adventure.

And then I jumped into another system and there was the Thorax sitting about 42k away from me. On the gate. At moments like this I always imagine that meme with the math equations all around my head. I can't shoot first without getting gate guns, but if he is rail gun fit I'll have a chance. So I de-cloak and start burning for him. Sure enough, right off the bat I get wrecked with 700 dps and go into low shields. He is Rail fitted, my lucky day. If I can survive the journey. So I deflect my angle and overheat my armor rep. A couple more hits and I start bleeding into hull, but those three hull rigs are going to help there. And quickly I arrive with the scram/web and lots of beautiful void bullet pew pew.

The Thorax explodes. Turns out it was a serious glass cannon fitted for max damage - not a bad idea to be honest. But the mistake was engaging my Cat Navy when he already knew how it was fitted from before. In his case, he should have played his sec status advantage and just ignored me, jumped through the gate, and returned to his game play. That would have been the smart play. But, like I said earlier, I do appreciate it when people decide to engage instead. So thanks for the fight.

More adventures await.

Growing up my only brother was five years younger than me. I was thinking about this fact earlier today while senselessly orbiting a beacon in Eve Online - and pondering the impact it had early on in our gaming lives. In order to create an environment in which I could play games with my brother, especially board games, I often had to interpret the rules in a way he'd understand. Often I would abandon the written rules altogether and create new, more exciting, and easily understood rules. It wasn't like my brother was an idiot or anything, but he was five years younger than me. When I was ten, he was five.

I haven't previously considered the impact this early creative solution finding has had on my larger gaming life. Even later on when I started playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends, my creative problem solving and rather lose interpretation of the rules tended to make me a popular Dungeon Master. I could read and study the rules as written and pretty much immediately see the flaws, the cracks, and the ways in which they could be made better - or at least "more fun". In the case of DnD this led to a rather large attempt later on in life to create an original fantasy based role playing game with another group of friends. And while that attempt actually turned out great, it never went anywhere for a wide variety of reasons. Sadly. And, because it was created amongst a group, there was nothing I could do about it.

My early years foray into DnD is worthy of another post, but that'll have to wait until another day. The reason I put Axis and Allies up there in the header image is another point I'd like to make. There is nothing wrong with the game, it has lasted a long time and survived the test of time. So full credit. But it was a bit daunting for a 12 and 7 year old to fathom. So I did what I always did, but this time with a twist. I ended up creating a completely new game out of it. I don't remember what I called it, but essentially it was more like command and conquer than it was axis and allies. We played that game a lot and we never once played an actual axis and allies campaign. 

As I got older I started running into other people who did not appreciate this approach. Rule followers abound. But I learned that almost every game has a few elements that tend to muck up the works, make things drag, or turn out to be rather counter to the stated purpose of the game itself. This was always frustrating. And it remains so to this day.

I suspect, at the heart of it, this is what ultimately drew me to piracy in Eve Online. And while Eve requires us all to "play within the rules" it in no way expects us to always "follow the rules" - and I have always appreciated that aspect of it.

I freely admit I was really, really tired of Eve this week. After 12 hours straight last Saturday and the insanity of the Frigate Free For All and everything that goes into that event - I needed a break. I've only logged in a few times so far this week and those were mostly for maintenance. Moving a Freighter and some assets out of the Keepstar and stuff like that. I also haven't logged in for other reasons, primarily because it is Fanfest Season at Eveoganda Headquarters and that means a lot of extra work needs to get done.

One project is the image above, which is the new Eve Charity Badge design you can pick up if you are attending Fanfest. Since Eve Vegas in 2018(?) Graygal has been providing these badges for all the attendees for a small donation. We've done this four times and this Fanfest will be our fifth. Despite some small changes over the years, like for the twentieth anniversary, the basic design has remained unchanged. So we both thought it was time for an update. I hope you like the new badge design and I can't wait to add mine to the collection.

I've also finished up a few other projects for other people and, just last week, I was fortunate enough to pick up another exciting new project (which I can't discuss yet) and I've been hard at work on pieces for that - which I believe will also be announced at Fanfest. So look for more news on that front very soon.

And I finished up my presentation graphics for my upcoming player presentation, which I am very excited about. I don't have any information yet on the schedule, but I hope you will all attend or watch it on stream (if it is available), or later on YouTube if it isn't. I can tell you it is jam packed with lots of art and we're basically going to speed thirty minutes looking at beautiful pictures while I share stories about working on the project. It should be a lot of fun and I hope to see you all packed into whatever room CP decides to put me in.

Only a few more weeks and we'll all be together again in Iceland. As always, if you can't attend, I'll do my best to keep you updated on happenings, news, updates, and whatever else might happen.

More soon.