Trying to make lemonade...

I'm currently trying to make the best out of my mistaken training Large Hybrid 5 by running some skills that were meant to come after finishing Large Energy 5, like Evasive Maneuvering 5, and maybe run up the T2 Railgun line.

As I've blogged before, I've finished Caldari Battleship 5 when I left EVE the first time (financially induced), and as such, my former goal of being a sniper-based railgun podpilot could be attainable alongside my plans of being a T2 laser user.

And on a different note:

Good friends of mine in EVE have just suffered what most corps meet their death with: a wardec by a larger/more skilled/more "for the lulz" corp/alliance. This is a sticking issue with EVE's current empire mechanics when it comes to combat PvP: security standings.

For example, a known pirate is flying through empire space and into the waiting guns of an anti-pirate. Provided the pirate keeps his sec status above -5 and there isnt a current wardec on, the anti-pirate gets a sec hit (and maybe even a visit from CONCORD). Sound fair?

Some would argue its fair, many others would say "wait, what about us anti pirates? Dont we get a break?". It all depends on what side of the fence you are on this discussion.

My personal opinion is that it's a blatant abuse of a game mechanic, one that CCP hasnt done anything about for, I dont know, forever apparently.

One big excuse is that its a take on "vigilante" justice not being looked kindly upon by anyone. By that definition the empires of EVE should have more power over its capsuleer population. Ingame and via Prime Fiction, thats completely the opposite. Fair? Think not.

Ohwai-

Fix is in "Factional Warfare", amirite CCP? <_<

As it currently stands, and as my comment to the discussion that was the fruit of the incident:
A wardec is a wardec, reason notwithstanding. Reason goes out the window once the first shot is fired. Win or lose, its how you take it that counts.

20 in' days...

I come to you now a model of complete failure.

Yes, indeed, a complete failure.

I fail at EVE.

Lost? Well remember my previous entry about training Large Energy Turret lvl5? It seems I've done a major misclick somewhere in the past, and was training Large Hybrid Turret lvl5 instead.

I've even petitioned it to really make sure that the entry in my skill history wasnt faked or bugged.

I had 20 bleedin' days to go and check what the I was training to begin with, and I didnt even make the time, or even bothered, to go in and have a look-see with the myriad number of tools at my disposal to go check.

This, dear readers, is why I indeed, fail at EVE.

Looks like it'll be another long 2 month wait for those T2 guns...

Trust is a weakness, prt2

I've talked quite a bit regarding trust in EVE Online, and how easily it can be abused just for the sake of laughs on either end, or for actual ingame gain, or for something more sinister.

As I've said, trust can be both a weakness, and a strength. If you trust the right people to do the right thing at the right time, you can come out on top easily, and maybe with bragging rights to top it off.

Recently, a forum thread caught my eye, which quickly references a rather new innovation in character development, management, and otherwise quick way of getting info on someone: the API key.

Info about what the API key thing is is on the main website, as well as what it does, and what it can be.

As this is still rather new for some old-timers to grasp, the API key (two versions, 1 limited, 1 full) allows other people to view your character statistics like skills, and for the full key, wallet, assets, corporation, and other such info regarding your character/s on that account. Some recruiters nowadays ask for your API key to look you up, when during the old days, they'd request a screenshot of your character selection screen (to check for possible alts on the same account).

Since spying, corp theft, and sabotage are part and parcel of this game, its best not to take any chances. In fact, some of the actions some recruiters ask potential recruits border on giving RL information over the internet.

You NEVER give any personal real-life information to ANYONE on the internet. Identity theft is a serious crime, and one that can ruin lives forever. I know so, because I'm related to one who was a victim of it. Its been 10 years and still my relative cant completely fix the damage the thief has done.

Besides, why give real-life information over the internet when you could just fake it. Faking RL info is smart, as it throws off not only potential internet thieves ready to pounce on someone's bank history and drain it dry/ruin it, but to those who would use it to just make your life a living hell "for the lulz".

Of course, my real name isnt my character name, and also are my emails, even my work and school one (used for "serious business" even though my professors and boss/es look at my funny when I gave it to them).

Sure it wont be easy when you have to use actual credentials over the internet for some real work, but if you get to that point, IMHO, you're getting screwed. Avoiding the use of an unsecure medium for your personal information is the smartest thing you can do to keep off anyone's target-radar for victimization.

Amarr Oomph

Any EVE Online player who's spent more than a month in this game will tell you that Amarr, in its current game-state, is on a losing stage compared to other races' ships. Cant blame them really, Amarr have been traditionally left out in the cold in terms of adjustment, as the game around Amarr gets stronger, faster, and all in all better, Amarr havent been adjusted that much.

This leaves a lot of mid-game Amarr fliers out in the cold, and scares off beginners into the fold.

High-SP Amarr-centric players have found ways around Amarr's many problems, mostly by pushing highly-used skills like energy-based ones all the way to lvl5. A whole lot of time and SP required, indeed.

Unfortunately, this is not feasable for any normal player, forced to train very long skills just to stay competitive, when the same amount of SP in other races will make you excel in them. EVE is a game, and as a game, it should be fair, at least in terms of the tools of the trade. Amarr is not balanced.

Till now.

Behold, finally CCP have realized the 3-year long problem that is Amarr and have spoken!

Dont believe me?

Really? You think I'm talking out of my arse?

Read those two links again. Its official, CCP are going to do something about it.

Perfect timing that I have had to use my GTC money in buying a couple of 120mm fans for my case too :/

Heat (and no, not EVE Online's Heat mechanic)

After faithful service for 2.5 years, my old 7600GST has given up its ghost and died.

Considering the insane amount of abuse Crysis can give I can understand why.

So, I went ahead and got myself a replacement: an 8600GT (berate me later on the choice, I was short on cash and needed a replacement ASAP for school+work).

So I'm using it as usual, and decided to poke around on how "hot" it runs idling around with the basic non-3d stuff I do.

Its idling at 64 degrees Celsius.

Any techie person will tell you this is quite warm for a GPU core to run idling around, doing low-load work like desktop stuff and surfing.

Then again my ambient room temps are in the range of 30-37 degrees Celsius, so I can understand. Blame the iron works next door and the fact that I live in a tropical country. Yes, horrible.

I've given Nvidia a call and they say that normally the 8600GT should idle around 50, and load at 80. Rated maxing out at 127 before damage appears.

I'm not even going close to 127, but I'm still worried. Reason:

When I booted up Crysis on medium settings (autodetected settings as Crysis set, with a tweak here and there to match my aspect ratio for my widescreen), I'm getting load temperatures in excess of 85+ degrees Celsius (my alarm is set for 84 C).

I immediately closed Crysis and check my temperature logs.

I peaked at 88 C.

This is cause for concern. I've never had a videocard that ran this hot. In comparison my old 7600GST (factory overclocked) idled at 55, load at 75, and ran beautifully (albeit a bit slow with current-generation games), and even with Nvidia's support email saying otherwise, this is quite hot.

Installing Rivatuner and cranking the otherwise low-running fan (which oddly idles at 20% even under some load, WTF) up to 100% does help a bit, but still, I peak up to 90 if I dont listen to the audio warning.

I'm giving half my mind into returning the card to the shop for a no-questions-asked replacement (as I'm still within their month return-policy). Who knows, maybe I should return the card anyway. Who knows, could be just a bad card/badly seated HSF. I'd fix it myself provided that 1. I'm not hemostatic (aka, static magnet. I kill PC components by just touching them) and 2. I had some spare heat paste to put onto the GPU...

The Long Haul: Large Turret lvl5

For veterans of EVE-Online familiar with this, skip this blog entry.

For newbies who have yet to touch up on a lvl5 skillup, read on...

I'm on the running end of a large, 20-day-long skill train which is Large Energy Turret lvl5, a prerequisite for T2 lasers (both beam and pulse).

Yes, its been a long time coming, and to save myself the horror of waiting, I took the time out to fix RL 1.0 for myself.

Family, significant other, and friends come first, after all.

If all goes well, I'll be back in the game with a fresh T2-capable (yet Amarr, OHNOES) skillset to practice with.

On the side, I have been catching up on old times with a good friend of mine during my DnD-tabletop days (though not as a player, more like watching wtf they were on about.) and got deep into thinking up about RPing again. I miss the good old days of playing a character with a story and having a nice (if fictional) excuse to pewpew in EVE.

Expect an update sooner or later down the line. Till then, enjoy Febuary :D

Happy New 2008, and the influx of new people

I know I'm a week or so late, but Happy New Year!

Alright, back to work/school/sh_tty lives/problems of society/etc.

Yes, I'm a bit on the edge as of this year, probably because personal matters just wont give me up to the greatness that is EVE, but that's life, so on with EVE-related talk.

...I hope you're still with me here.

Oh you are? Good, EVE talk commencing...

Alright, with the new year comes a whole new look on how big EVE's gotten lately. More accurately the record numbers of people on the server just got broken yet again.

Yes, Tranquility (the server) just took on more than 35 thousand people at the same time, and lived.

Thank god I wasnt on when this happened. I cant imagine the lag it would have generated.

Yes, a clue: CCP still has trouble keeping the server as lag-less as possible when everyone and their mother is logging on to get some EVE goodness (and on the friking holidays no less, dont you people have families/friends to celebrate with? No, your girlfriend doesnt count because she ends in a jpg, and neither do your chatmates as well in IRC/IM/whathaveyou) and you really cant blame them. Nobody but CCP have the balls to even attempt a single-shard game.

Yet, TQ lives, and CCP gets their paychecks. Surely they must be doing something right.
(no, I didnt just call you Shirley, so clam it)

With the official support for linux and Mac just out, an influx of new people just came onto EVE in droves. That's a good thing since at least, visibly, we know EVE is growing, and gaining. Sad bit is is that we keep running into the newbie-that-wont-get-it, aka the noob, aka F.N.G.

Sure you'll have the well-mannered newbie that just happened to have missed the New Citizen's section of the forums and decided to post in the General Discussion section. No big, right? People make mistakes. Morons commit them continuously.

Thankfully, the amount of noobs with this batch of new blood seems to be little-to-none. Probably because of all the Linux guys being smart people for once (yes, this is a boost to Linux even though I'm a Windows user, oh the horror...can it)

Its not the (lack of) intelligence in this batch of new guys into EVE that is getting to me however, its the sheer amount of them. Seriously, on really bad days, I dont even put up with answering questions for the normal new guy that pops in every 6 hours or so with a question that is either answered in a post below, or in a sticky, but lately, I've had to hold myself back from trolling the new guy's thread when there's the same exact question and answer right below it.

Oh well, it'll go away in time anyhow, so meh. We were all newbies once, after all. (yes you mother-hating arsewipe, you were born from your mother, and there's no way you'll ever be rid of that fact so sit down and take it.)

disclaimer: the amount of infammatory remarks in this post is of leagues higher than my previous entries, and for that I apologize. Some of the remarks are meant at (a) certain key person(s) who just outright deserve it. If you are offended by these remarks, I once again apologize and state that they are not meant for you.

Fallout: Boot.ini and Season's Greetings :D

As the dust settles and people get over the entire boot.ini scandal, the fact remains that due to a simple programming error, thousands of clients were affected, some to the point of them thinking that their PC has turned into a big metal brick.

Of course, the fix is easy, its just that you need to know a bit about how your PC works to fix it, which is a lot to ask for from the common PC user, who at most, rely on Windows in-built security to protect them (Vista is safer in this case though...).

Error of the century? More like the error that would kill careers. Rumormill points to a likelyhood that people were laid off because of this. Frankly its a good thing, and on the other hand, said rumormill points to a lot of people getting laid off, some who arent even close to software/QA.

One would ask the question: why?

Still, it was a huge mistake, a mistake that costed a lot of people a lot of money, and so close to Xmas too. Double whammy anyone?

Trinity is still buggy, as to be expected from huge content/upgrade/codefix patches like this. It certainly felt rushed, considering the timing, but hopefully it'll all get fixed well before the next big one comes along (which is likely to be the station-walking avatar upgrade "Ambulation").

As for me, I've taken time off the game for now (still skilling of course, too bad I missed my regular GTC buying due to seasonal shopping) to wait it out. The word on the forums and in-game is infectious, even if you dont play POS wars/logistics/war/piracy. Everyone in each of these lines of EVE play have their gripes, only renewed by Trinity's rather buggy (and boot.ini killing) entry.

In other news, hope everyone enjoys the Holiday times. Season's Greetings from the tropics! :D

Trinity graphics came, it saw, and it conquered boot.ini

Due to the biggest programming error known to man, the new Trinity update for EVE-Online is a viable danger to any and all Windows XP systems (Vista's saved, more below). Trinity Classic's safe, dont worry.

I dont think I can say it any better than CCP themselves here in this news post.

The summery is this:
Trinity premium graphics patch removes old files like EVE's "boot.ini" file. Unfortunately, due to this massive screwup of epic proportions, the delete command for EVE's old boot.ini file wasnt set to the game directory as usual, but reverted to the root drive (in this case, C:\ drive).

Windows XP keeps boot.ini in C:\, and for those who arent tech-savvy, bottom line is this: if you dont have this file, your PC is a big brick at reboot until you can get its backup (which is always made, thank god) renamed into boot.ini.

Tough luck to even rectify such a thing if the PC wont even start up, right?

IF you installed EVE Online on a different drive from C:\, you're safe.

If you have Vista, you're safe.

If you did not install the Trinity Premium graphics, you're safe.

I am confirming that Trinity Premium has been fixed and anyone who started downloading the premium graphics patch after at least 5am GMT should be safe, but still, KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR BOOT.INI FILE!!!

Keep an eye on your C:\ drive to be on the safe side. I'm keeping backups of my boot.ini file just to be safe myself.

EDIT: A good explanation why Trinity Premium did this before it was corrected can be seen in this post in the current boot.ini sticky thread.

Trinity is coming!

December 5 baby!

Dont believe me? The dev post announcing it does not lie!

Make sure you're ready for the single biggest (literally) expansion to hit EVE. I know I will be :D

Save EVE-TV

I've just come across a bit of news that just shocked me.

EVE-TV has reportedly closed it's doors after it's end of Season 1.

No news is on the website regarding this, but according to this other website, this proves to be a quiet cancellation of EVE-TV.

The website in question is here, or http://www.save-evetv.com.

I'm not exactly sure if should take this as a cruel joke, or the inklings of truth, but either way it hurts, and if it is proven to be true, its a huge blow to EVE's community.

You have to admit, having a TV show dedicated to the game you play, and a chance to get on TV is something unique to EVE. I mean, sure, Koreans have their Starcraft tournaments on TV, but thats just competition. This is EVE in it's entirety, and not just tournaments, or info from the Devs or just the Fanfest coverage. Its EVE. Simple as that.

Having just read the EVE-TV section of the forums, it seems to be true. This is horrible to the extreme.

EVE-TV made EVE-Online bigger than just a game-world. It helped become a society all its own, with its own culture and history. Taking this away is like taking the great museums and media coverage of the world away. What kind of world would that be like? Bland and boring come to mind.

A "bland and boring" game is a stagnating game, and is a dying game.

Yes, I dare use such strong language.

EVE-TV was good enough to be payed for, in all actuality. Heck, I wouldnt mind paying a bit extra just to see EVE-TV for myself, attaching that cost to my subscription. Why? Because it's great, and its a part of EVE. Take that away, and it's similar to trying to... uhh... "satisfy" one's self with someone else's... uhh... "other part/s". It isnt fun and it feels so being left out (not to mention disgusting).

Please, CCP, give us EVE-TV again. We dont mind if we have to click through a lot of ad banners or have to see international advertisements of other stuff not related to EVE-TV, as long as it doesnt jarr us from what makes EVE truly special.

EVE is special CCP. Make it even moreso.

"...is Reborn"

Short blog this time, because frankly I'm knee-deep in holiday work, and partly because I'm still in shock with the new Trinity update.

They just released a new trailer here, with a bigger version, all on the EVE-Online video's page.

Take time to download either version, and watch it. I can wait.

You done yet-oh ewww dude clean yourself up!

jeebus... a bit of self-control please... okay can I turn around now?

Oka-auuhh heck dude cmon!

okay, are you done now?

You'd better be-oh okay good.

You may have a lot of questions once your brain gets off the hormonal high you just experienced, so let me point you to the important facts in links!

The Trinity FAQ is on the forums here.

The "Can you run Trinity" forum post by a Dev is here.

The Patch Notes of the Trinity update here, with a second page linked at the bottom of said patch notes.

Oh, screenshots dont do the new engine justice, but anyway here's the forum thread with all the posts and links of people, in case you're interested. Be warned, some people dont have all the bells and whistles turned on and/or are viewing the ships when the screenies were taken in bad lighting conditions, which make the ships look uglier than thou (like the Dominix).

The good stuff is in HDR, so a mid-high range videocard like an Nvidia 7800 and above would suffice. I'm sorry ATI readers, I havent used an ATI card in my life, so an equivalent ATI card will also do. Its all in the "Can you run Trinity" I linked.

Moar stuff as soon as Trinity hits TQ! Till then, enjoy the trailers and/or Singularity Test server goodness :D

Fanfest '07! ZOMG! Also, serious stuff here, srsly.

The last two weeks have been a load of EVE-related info for me. First off, the Fanfest for this year, covered by the great guys over at EVE-TV, covering many topics such as the Council of Stellar Management, to the new Trinity expansion.

In a bit of detail regarding the Trinity expansion:

The Trinity expansion is a total rework of the graphics engine of EVE Online to allocate for Directx9 graphics capability and the use of Shader Model 3.0. This allows for such fancy effects you would expect in today's games like HDR, not in a game that's 4 years running. CCP do love their baby after all.

In fact, I best not link stuff here about the new shiny graphics and stuff, since the EVE-TV fanfest coverage covers nearly all topics regarding this...

...oh who am I kidding, here, have a teaser trailer made exclusively in the new graphics.
(bigger version here!)

I'll wait till you picked up your jaw from the floor and cleaned yourself up.

Done yet?

Okay, done yet? Okay good. Did you enjoy yourself? ;)

EVE, when it first came out, was a leader in graphics in 2003. Won awards for it, and it shows, still as stunning as it was back in it's day. But wait!

Does this mean we're forced to upgrade to keep playing EVE (albeit shinier and prettier)?

Nope.

You heard me, nope.

This is why, or in case you're too shocked to read a proper Dev Blog...

The reasoning is simple: the old graphics (new engine, just with the shiny bits turned off, but with the core optimizations in place) will be made available still, alongside the new shiny graphics in a seperate optional download in case you wish to (either) burn your videocard to a crisp, or finally see how EVE should have been back in 2003, only in the next-gen age of 2007/8.

Also, omg new stuff?! In my EVE?! Of course! Its an expansion after all. Lots of new Tech 2 ships like electronic-warfare frigates, heavy interdictors, marauder battleships and the secretive black-ops battleships. More toys for everyone to play with, eh?

Also, with the new graphics/engine/updates, comes more user-friendliness, in the form of a badly-needed UI update, along with EVE Voice being made, wait for it...

Free.

Yes, free.

Dont believe me, read it again.

Yes, EVE-Voice, the ingame-based voice communication system, will be made free alongside Trinity for the foreseeable future. This indeed would bolster communication in small corps/alliances who do not have external voice comm systems like Teamspeak/Ventrillo servers for them.

This though brings up a sensitive topic in regards to those who are hearing/speech impared...

And now, regarding the Council of Stellar Management:

Before GM Xhagen was able to write up a dev blog about it, along with a paper, I decided to bring the matter up after reading about it (and subsequently hearing about it on EVE TV's coverage). Barring all the topics said already, I suggest reading up on it, since, player or not, this is an important step in the development of MMO's gaming communities, and not only EVE.

It is the biggest can of worms CCP has had to open in regards to EVE's community, and has all the chance of blowing up all over their faces when they do open it.

EVE's community is rapidly growing out of just being a gaming community into being a sort-of society on it's own. In fact, CCP hired an economist to act as an "EVE Central Bank" to keep the economy in check for it's own good. Here's his quarterly report in a blog if you're interested.

Considering the arrival of Trinity to be before the end of 2007, I'd say its going to be one very interesting holiday for those who are in EVE.

Too bad for me being too busy/unable to play EVE properly as of late :(

Happy Halloween! Also, update on pet project v2

Happy Halloween! For most people, this'll mean lots of tricks, treats, candy, and a fun night of partying in silly costumes and basically a good de-stress moment.

Unfortunately for me, I'm forced to be indisposed to the more trivial and fun aspects of Halloween due to more pressing concerns. Sad, yes, it so very is :(

But at least its less hassle for me to try and find a get-up to get into and going out, only to end up in someone else's couch half a town away. (Yes, happened to me, horribly embarrasing).

Anyway, back to more EVE-related concerns, like an update on my Pet Project v2:

Due to RL matters taking more and more time away from me (normally comes and goes, now it just came in hard), I'm forced to actually be offline from most of EVE and play the login-swapskill-logoff game. It comes at not-too bad a time as well, since I garnered valuable player experience from flying my goal-ships with realistic setups during Armageddon Day.

As it stands, I've just finished armor tanking skills, and am working now on Advanced Weapon Upgrades skill (reduced PG usage of guns, very valuable when fitting T2 guns as they drain PG by quite a margin compared to T1/named). After this, I hit Amarr weapons and ship skills up to BS 4, then hit T2 lasers.

Goal is still mid-Febuary, according to EVEmon. Not bad considering I will be indisposed that long anyhow.

A small addendum to my post for today is a foray of my nephew into an MMO that gets a lot of bad light, or no light at all: Matrix Online. Yes, its THE Matrix MMO, and yes, its still alive. I've been able to sneak a little peek into it and from their latest patch release, they've reduced sight to near-point-blank, making everything darker than dark, and releasing zombies in certain areas for players to fight and gain odd Halloween mask things. Halloween event indeed...

Problem is, trying to play the game with everything as dark as it is due to the Halloween event is basically, well, pointless. Its definately a "niche" game now, nothing much for the newbie to look forward to besides hoping that a kind veteran or a group of them help you along. In any case, its a fun distraction, and worth probably a month or two, too bad I'm already commited to my own MMO choice: EVE Online.

Armageddon Day, and OMG CCP GOT HACKED!

During the past two weeks, I've been knee-deep in RL matters, but not enough that I was not able to join in the test server's Armageddon Day event, which is basically a major stress-test/CONCORD day off day. You can probably imagine, with the lack of NPC police, "super"-ed characters, lots of high-end items seeded on the market at a piddlingly cheap 100 isk, how chaotic and full of PvP that'll entail, and since this was a stress-test, you can probably guess it was nigh-oh impossible to get on, and actually enjoy the supers and free stuff.

I've been able to test certain Amarr ships that I've tested with offline tools like EFT and Quickfit, and found them to be quite to my liking. This only strengthened my resolve in continuing for my Amarr spec training.

And on a more recent note: CCP's unannounced downtime a day or so ago as of this entry sparked huge rumormills and naysayings that CCP is in big trouble. Technically, they were, but they were smart in going incognito as they fixed the unauthorized entry into their system.

Personally, couple this with a rash of isk-seller posts all over the forums, my hypothesis points to not ingame alliances hacking the database itself to gain in the game (of which, they really need to get priorities straight if this were true. EVE's a game for cripes!), but to isk-sellers wanting to profit from easy-to-obtain items and sell them for isk, to sell for RL cash.

Of course, all speculation. The truth is that CCP nailed down the breech, and are watching carefully. I just hope authorities are called into this, and the suspect/s caught and put to trial. I believe I speak for the entire EVE playerbase when I say: We want the blood of the hacker/s, and we want it now for this atrocity.

Pet Project, Update

Its been quite some time since I've mentioned about my pet project, and a lot has changed from it being an alt-to-become-main, to a continuation of my current main into something else.

This is due to RL constraints and RL influence (most in part that my significant other decided that she would like to have the character and name that I chose for the alt-turned-main).

This didnt put a wrench into my plans per se, in fact, it significantly shortened my planned skill training, considering that I already have basic ship support skills up at acceptable levels, and all I needed was a bit more in a spot or two, armor tanking skills, and the T2 weaponry for lasers to fly Amarr well.

Part of the reason why I chose Amarr, even until now, is because of "horror" stories of the Abbadon becoming a force to be reckoned with on the field.

Also part in part that, on paper (and in Quickfit/EFT), the Abbadon proves itself to be the most damaging long range BS there is (albeit the range is short for long-range combat). Combine this that the Armageddon is a feared opponent in it's own right as well...

Months of Caldari missile boat flying have worn down my skills in terms of turret ship use, which is going to prove the make-or-break factor in my plan for Amarr flying. Turret ships require quite a lot more micromanagement because of turret tracking and range issues. Reward pays off in that turrets dont have to worry about flight time unlike missiles as I've said in my previous entries.

One basic technique is to fly the same direction your target is, matching its course, being parallel to it, to reduce turret tracking problems. This also helps as well if you have range, of which Amarr hold the mid-range battle very well.

Unfortunately, most PvP in EVE happens at extreme-close-range (Gallente blaster and Mimmatar autocannon territory) or at extreme-long-range (everyone else's, Rokh as range king with rails). It doesnt mean, however, that Amarr are completely left out. It'll just prove to be harder to fly them, especially solo.

So, actual update on my Amarr plan: I'm currently training Hull Upgrades lvl5 (for T2 armor tank mods), of which to follow would be each specific damage type armor compensation skill up to lvl4, before I head to get Weapon Upgrades 5 in prep for Advanced Weapon Upgrades 4.

Quite a ways before I even start anything remotely Amarr, right? Its a long haul, and plan currently holds it at late-January to mid Febuary for T2 large laser weaponry.

Not that far off, considering that the holidays will keep me busy with RL stuff :D

Improvise!

You may soon come up to a brick wall in your progress in EVE, probably brought upon by the bane of all new players and new corporations: the griefer.

Yes, EVE is full of them, and sadly, is a way of life, but at least there are ways to combat such. One is to fight them by using hit-and-run tactics. Small groups of frigates can weaken, and even destroy, larger ships if they work together. Other ways is to ask help from neighbors. Who knows, the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" saying may come true for you.

Other ways to combat the griefer involve jumping back to an NPC corp temporarily till they get bored and move on. Whist cowardly, as long as you keep playing and having fun, they lose.

On the flipside, lets say you may be having trouble with your current ship skill set as of now, and are having trouble making ends meet. Why not try something new? One great thing about EVE is that it allows for experimentation with a ship and whatever modules you can fit on it to get the desired effect. Whilst it may be downright embarrasing to show your layout to veterans who know the basics of each ship, you may end up with a setup that would work. Most veteran players expect certain things from ships they can see, just because they know how each would fit, and how each would behave when fitted in such a way. Having out-of-the-box setups can confuse potential opponents and give you that extra edge you need to win a fight.

Dont be afraid to try something new in EVE. Whilst many are afraid of change (just go look on the forums at the many whines of the past changes to EVE), its change that brings about life and evolution in EVE, and keeps it fresh for all.

Patience is a Virtue

By this point some players would be skilling up their way into bigger, better ships with better support skills, or working on learning skills here and there. You'd probably are starting to feel the effects of having multiple-day skills to train to get to lvl4, right.

This is why most people leave it at lvl4, and only hit lvl5 for some skills if they're a prerequisite to something they like. The gap between lvl4-lvl5 is often weeks, especially for bigger skills in rank, like, Battleship lvl5 for example, which is easily a month.

EVE rewards patience and smart gameplay. If you plan your skill training alongside how you want to progress in the game, and just have fun while waiting, you'd find yourself in that shiny new battleship and not lose it 5 seconds out the gate to some belt rat because you didnt have your support skills up.

There are many logical paths to take when skilling up for items. Take time to use the very-useful skill planner EVEMon and combine it with the "show info" command ingame for skills, modules, charges/ammo, and ships by checking their required skills.

EVEMon also suggests learning skills to speed up learning times. Take this into consideration, but dont go all-learning right out the gate. Getting all the basics to lvl5 and the advanceds to lvl4 will take 2 months roughly. Thats something you dont want to be sitting around doing practically nothing for the next two months, right?

Just take it slow, and take it easy, and you'll end up at your goal no matter how you do things. As they say, "Patience is a Virtue."

Account Security

Of course, once you're quite deep in the game, you'd probably have items and assets that people would love to have, or just steal for more isk. Account hacking, whilst rare for EVE, happens, and when it does, happens really badly for the victim.

You can do things to help against the likelyhood of such horrible activities happening on your account. Of course this wont stop any determined real hacker, but as long as you make it really hard to any aspirant delinquents, you can make them turn away.

A couple of tips include:

1. Working on a clean PC. Keep your PC clean via using continually-updated anti-virus programs, anti-spy/adware programs like Spybot-S&D, periodical anti-viral scans via multiple on-line scanners (to make sure nothing slips by your anti-virus).
2. Creating a password that is secure. Passwords connected to real life references like family name, birthday, friend's name, significant other's credit card number, etc are horribly bad. Anyone who knows you could just put two and two together and figure it out quickly, let alone a determined hacker just studying you as a potential target. Good advice in creating a strong password is including small, and capital letters, with numbers in and around. If you're really mad about password security, use GRC's "Perfect Password" page. Whilst rather overkill, some people do swear by them especially for other more important accounts, like online bank accounts, etc.
3. Learn about general PC security. Gibson Research Corporation's website on PC security is a good source to work off on, but do take time to branch out and figure out what else could help you in terms of securing your PC.
4. NEVER give away your user/pass to anyone, even CCP. CCP will NEVER ask for your password. They've got a database to look your username up if they ask for it at least. If you really doubt a possible email from CCP, you can always email them and ask for confirmation.
5. When using third-party programs for corp communication like Trillian, Teamspeak, Ventrillo, NEVER use the same user/pass that you use in EVE-Online on these programs. Use completely different user/pass for them, and if possible, just use a screen name connected to your ingame character, not your EVE Online user/pass.

Lastly, I'd recommend taking all this in with a grain of salt. You dont want to go so over-kill that you cant play EVE because you've cut off access to EVE's common connection points/ports. Being aware is half the battle, taking some steps to protecting your PC not only helps you in being secure about EVE play, but general online use as well.

Indepth Guides to Character Creation.

Just to help in case you're still lost in terms of character creation, I've found a couple of videos and links that should help you along.

First off, the videos.

This EVE Online Character Creation tutorial on Youtube can help you in case you have questions in regards to what attributes affect what, and where. Though the speaker has trouble at certain portions, it does achieve its goal.

WANG Character Creation 101 is also a good video to look up on. It refers a lot to Goonswarm's public wiki for information, of which includes the Recommended Base Stat Builds, and the Character Portrait guide.

I have to note that the Recommended Base Stat Builds are very specialized, and often have lower-than-average attributes in important places, like memory and willpower. Still, they score higher in intelligence and preception, which are primaries for many skills. Its often better to leave memory/willpower at least 7, and make intelligence/preception a bit lower than what the linked guide says. It'll help once you're branching out into other skill trees that require a bit more in memory/willpower, due to them becoming primaries, like, for example, tech 2 ship skills or industry.

Note: Goonswarm is a large player alliance that is part of a larger group of alliances fighting a long-standing war. Their reputation with the playerbase and CCP in general is of general dislike, due to their known actions in the past. This doesnt mean they're all bad, just that everyone's bad in one way or another. Goonswarm just made it more apparent about themselves.