My EVE

added episode 4

covers a fight with a common but difficult situation

covers turret range

covers morale and how to stay positive when soloing (thanks laktos)

hope you enjoy!

A note about falloff, at optimal + falloff you actually do less than half damage (was about 37% last time I tested it) due to the fact that it lowers the hit quality (light hit, etc) as well as doing no damage half the time. This seems to be accurately reflected in eft graphs now although they used to have it at 50% in older versions

Soloing drives me to drink

This episode really highlights the biggest frustration I have about EVE. That is, basically, that I was ruined by other MMOs before I got here. Most other MMOs take you by the hand and define success FOR you. You know exactly how good a raider or PVPer you are, because the game has predefined the metrics of success (usually with points or gear drops or something).

EVE doesn't bother with this, but if you've cut your teeth on lesser MMOs then it can be a bit bewildering. I've been playing for a couple of years and I still get lost a lot because I keep expecting EVE to tell me what I'm supposed to be doing. Which, of course, is silly.

Ep 4 was great. Probably my favourite so far (has nothing to do with the fact you dropped my name and talked about my suggestion... honest! :P ).

As usual, eagerly awaiting the next instalment!

I found kovorix's comments about why he loves soloing compared to flying with gangmates really interesting as it's pretty much exactly how I feel too.

I absolutely love my corp and the guys in it. And I get a blast from flying with them and chatting to them. But solo offers a form of freedom you can never get in a gang. To just do what you want to do, with nobody to disagree, or tell you why something is stupid or wrong. Plus it's just a lot more relaxing and easier to make decisions by yourself and for yourself, rather than having to communicate and decide on something with other people.

I tend to fly maybe 50-60% solo over the course of a few months on average. And the rest in small gangs with my corp mates. I miss them sometimes, but I find myself flying solo more and more as once you start to get a feel for it and start to truly enjoy it, the pure freedom can take on a certain addictive quality. At least that is my experience.

I just wanted to say that this podcast is amazing, and i'm gonna go out to pvp because of this.

Thank you for making these!

@ 0:59:00 I'd like to clarify this part because I think you misunderstood my meaning.

Also, I don't think I said anything about reaching a point where you never make mistakes or never die because I think that's impossible (I've died almost 500 times lol). That sort of thing sounds like the domain of people who camp stations with carrier support to scoop their ships while aggressed or those who do the same thing with orcas on lowsec gates into hisec (back when these things were possible).

Anyway, I was refering specifically to roaming solo in frigates when I said that if you've died it's because you've made a mistake.

When learning to pvp I did not like that soloing in larger ships could sometimes result in situations I couldn't control and therefore couldn't really learn from. It's why I chose to do it in frigates (interceptors/t1) because their mobility gives them the ability to completely control when and how you decide to engage. So dying unintentionally (i.e. apart from suiciding for a kill) is because you made a mistake somehow and from that I felt you could learn something from every death. It's true that they are very unforgiving ships but I just saw that as more opportunity to learn from mistakes. I think this control that they give you is part of why the people that fly them solo like them so much.

If I had to make the same type of comment in more general terms, I'd say:

Trying to analyze how you could've handled a situation differently is more constructive than blaming your death on factors outside your control and then dismissing it. There are certainly situations you can get into where there wasn't anything you could've done but in the majority of situations there is usually is something you could've done differently. I don't think this can ever lead to perfection and never losing ships but I think it will make you better at pvp. I think that never making mistakes and never losing ships is impossible unless you don't ever undock. However, you can always improve by learning from your mistakes.

Keep up the good work btw.

Great podcast so far, just finished episode two and there's alot of good info and tips in there. Loving the PVP commentaries on the youtube channel as well.

Forgive me if this has been covered in Ep 3 or 4, but when you were talking about finding fights in episode two, I don't believe there was any talking about determining if a ship or gang is "engagable". When I was starting out, this was something I had a fair bit of difficulty with, that is, does my "x" beat the enemies "y". I understand that this is very situational, but even some general tips would be useful for newer pilots, such as being careful about engaging ships with neuts or drone boats, or what types of ships to avoid based on what size/class of ship you're flying. Perhaps identiy what kinds of ships can be large threats and why, such as recons or fast tackle.

Overall, very good podcasts, can't wait till I get home from work to listen to episodes 3 and 4, and any after that. Keep it up.

Hayley I like that question a lot. I'm not sure if its something that can be pinned down in a very neat way, but I really like the idea of giving some kind of process by which a newer player can maybe make a conclusion about the prospect of engaging a certain group over another. Even if the exact outcome was unknown (which it usually is), doing some work towards establishing what groups might be good to engage and which might not would probably be useful for a lot of folks.

I'll keep it in mind and see if we can work it in somehow, even if just to outline how the decision was made about engaging or not engaging in the first section of the podcast where we talk about a particular fight.

Thanks everyone else as always for feedback.

And thanks Duncan for the write up, I didn't mean to misrepresent you even though I did exaggerate a bit for effect =)

I am trying to get myself into small scale and solo PvP and this Podcast helps a lot. I really enjoy it and I learn a lot. Flying active Ferox now and I must say it's actually an amazing ship in small engagements and a lot of fun to fly.

I really like the idea of frapsing every fight and likely will do it in the future. It sure gives you a different perspective on losses and you have the option of reviewing your engagement and identify stuff to improve on.

As Hayley Enaka suggested I would find it very helpful to know how you guys decide if you should engage a specific gang or not. I think this is where you can loose the fight first (as in not getting, or in not winning).
I'd also like to hear about options how to dodge fights that I decided I don't want to take. I know you can't always dodge fights but techniques to try to could be a topic.


I find it absolutely amazing that you both spend so much time and effort on my (and others) education as an eve player. I really appreciate it.

Shout out to all Movie-makers, you guys are amazing.