[Fitness] Project Geek

I am in shape. The shape I’m in just happens to be blobby and formless.

Which shape would you like to be in?

In Eve, we’ve heard about the terrors of The Big Blue Donut [TBBD]. It is large and shiftless mass which threatens to absorb all with in its path. You can not fight TBBD, at least not by conventional means, and most view TBBD as a detriment to a healthy existence. The most disturbing thing about TBBD is that it can also describe my ass. Okay, that’s a bit dramatic, but it is one hell of an opener for fitness blog post!

Recently my brother Michael passed away and it hit me pretty hard. Michael was a huge influence in my life. He introduced me to video games and was one of the few people who would stick to canon when playing My Little Ponies. Even as an adult I followed in his footsteps seeking an internship at Disney (a former employer of his) and getting in to entertainment.

His passing caused me to reflect on a number of things including health. Michael was a diabetic and our father is as well. My brother lost his vision and use of his kidneys from the disease. It played a factor in his passing. Every time Michael and I spoke he would ask me about my general health and remind me to watch my diet. In return for his brotherly concern there was nothing more than lip service as I reached for another handful of Doritos and a swig of Dr. Pepper. My brother deserves better than lip service.

It’s time to keep my word which means getting serious about my health and fitness. After weeks of sitting in my darkened living room with the shades dawn, eyes glazed over as I watch pixels shift on my computer screen, it’s time for me to make good on the promise I gave to my brother. It’s time for Project Geek to commence.

Project Geek is a promise made good to my brother and all are welcome to join in with me. All the preparations are in place including the group on Fitocracy. Blogging and cataloging is to maintain focus while tracking goals and successes. Including fellow geeks makes it fun while adding a social element.

Being a geek is great fun, but it can lead to a sedentary lifestyle. My typical geek out sessions lead to a lot of hours spent sitting and include little physical activity. The plan is to geek out in a new way. Take the passion and enthusiasm I have for gaming and AV production and transfer some of that passion in to my health. It’s going to be a hard adjustment, but it one well worth making.

Project Geek’s main focus is to geek out on fitness. It doesn’t matter what kind of fitness it is. Weight lifting, cardio, healthy eating; it doesn’t matter. If it can lead to a better health I want to at least want to touch on the subject. Here’s to a better life.  Here’s to Project Geek.

Holiday Special

This holiday I'm hosting a special over on Eve Radio.  There will be three different shows each with it's own theme.  I hope you'll join me in have a little holiday fun Eve Online style.  As an extra special treat, the two Sunday shows will be four hours instead of the normal two.  Yippie!

Me Lore You Long Time!

Are you an Empyrean Age expert or an Arek’Jaalan archivist? If you consider yourself to be an aficionado of Eve Online lore; then this post is for you!

I have this idea for a game on my Eve Radio show (Sundays 1800), but I need you! If you are free December 23rd, would enjoy appearing on live radio and want to show the Eve Online community you are the Maestro of Mythos while having a good time and spreading some holiday fun; then continue reading!

The Game Show:
The show will consist of a host, me, and three Celebrity Panel members. The panel members will be asked Eve Online Lore related questions by the host and prizes will be won based on correct answers, but just like Eve Online there’s more to it.

Prizes:
ISK will be won based on if the
panel member is able to answer the question correctly. Unfortunately, the panel member doesn’t get to keep the ISK. Instead, prior to the game show, the panel member will pick and Eve Online organization they will be playing for and at their end of the game, their ISK will be donated to that organization.

Audience Participation:
The listening audience participate in two ways.

Player:
Audience members can act as a “player.” Players will “apply” with the host. Once they are selected the lore question will be asked. Once they have heard the lore question, they will be allowed to pick one of the three contestants to answer. If the contestant answers correctly, the contestant's organization will receive ISK and the player will receive an in-game prize.

Benefactor:
Audience members can act as “benefactors.” Benefactors can donate ISK and prizes to the game to be given away. Benefactors are able to submit their own lore questions and will be memorialized most likely on the Voices website.

Where do I sign up?!

If you are interested in participating please contact me via twitter DM (@Arydanika) or email (arydanika[at]gmail[dot]com) for more information.

If you are interested in donating, please contract/send ISK in-game to DJ Arydanika.  That is my DJing alt.  Also, please ensure all contracted items are in Jita 4-4.  Thank you!

PS - I'm a terrible blogger. :/

Babby's First Scam

This video is the wrap up of an Eve Online recruitment scam. The footage was recorded and edited by me, but all the credit for the actual scam and set up goes to my corp mate Acidronin. Four days back in to Eve Online he's already bringing in ISK and some pretty entertaining kills. The story goes like this...

A particular pilot was persistent in attempting to join Eve Online corporation, Am0k., and his efforts did not go unnoticed. He was contacted by a "corp recruiter" after being ignored for approximately a month. The recruiter was Acidronion and he was on the verge of being the newly returned pilot's first mark.

It didn't take much for trust to be gained. The mark was pleased someone finally contacted him and the two quickly got down to business. The discussion went on like any typical corporation recruitment would. The usual questions about characters, skills and assets were asked and the usual answers were given in response. It was discovered the pilot was in possession of two carrier pilots and a titan pilot in training. They also had a fair amount of wealth.

Once it was determined the mark could be "accepted" in to the corporation, the discussion shifted to what to move to null and how to move it. First there was the matter of a the security deposit as well as the option to buy in to the corporation titan fund. Then came what ships to bring. In the end several billions of ISK worth of ships and modules were contracted over including a Tengu, a Macherial and several faction modules. The total estimated to be approximately 5+ billion ISK.

It would seem the mark had their suspicions. When the subject of moving their Archon and Thanatos came up, they decided they would move the ships rather than contract them. Even more curious, the ships were unfitted when jumped in to the final system. It's hard to say if this was a move to mitigate possible losses or if the pilot just wasn't aware they could use a travel fit.

In the end the mark lost it all. They were invited to a fleet and told they had an "Honour Guard" waiting for them at the end of the beacon. The cyno and bubble were lit and once both carriers were in system, they were quickly taken down by the waiting fleet. The contact was cancelled and its contents stolen.

You have been warned.

On That Grind II: The Plan

Whenever you’re about to dive into a whole mess of something awful, it’s good to have a plan. The six P’s apply to everything, even internet spaceships. Actually, it especially applies to internet spaceships. What are the six P’s you ask? They are:

Proper planning prevents piss poor performance.

In my effort to make this venture suck a little as possible, I’ve tried to do some planning ahead. My planning has two areas of focus which are my method and my ship. I believe these two things will be the key to my success since you can’t buy up your security status with tags yet. If that were an option, well… this blog series would be very different.

The Rules
It should be no surprise there is a strategy in Eve Online surrounding the correction of security status. CCP has instituted several rules when it comes to security status and it’s important to be aware of them. Pilots receive a security status gain every 15 minutes per system for the “rat” they are currently shooting. Each system has its own 15 minute timer. Security status given is on a sliding scale with battleship rats giving the largest percentage increase and frigates giving the least.

Keeping those rules in mind, it’s easy to develop a plan to efficiently raise my security status. I’ll find a cluster of linked systems I can rotate through easily. I will shoot one battleship in each system I’m in and then move on to the next. Repeating this pattern will allow me to maximize my security status gains. Good plan so far.

Seeking out battleships is a also a huge part of the plan. I want to avoid shooting cruisers as much as possible. If I’m out in null sec, I’ll have to pay attention to the security status of the systems. -.01 to -.5 will have easily available battleships. It will be harder to find battleships in lower security systems and that can eat up a lot of time. I may also have to “prime” systems and build up the kind of ratting fleets I’m looking for.

If I do need to prime, I’ll use a “Chain Ratting” approach. Groups of only frigates or cruisers will be cleared for a new spawn. Groups with battleships plus frigates or cruisers will only have the battleships destroyed. Through some wicked mix of spreadsheets and space magic replacement battleships should reappear at some point.

Mah Ship
The next issue is my ship. There are quite a few good ship choices when it comes to this form of ratting. Some folks like to go all out and get themselves a blinged out tengu. Some prefer a minimalist approach with a stealth bomber, though with the recent-ish changes I’m not sure it’s a viable method anymore. I went middle of the road a chose a Drake.

[Drake, Deeps4Rats Fit]

Heavy Missile Launcher II

Heavy Missile Launcher II

Heavy Missile Launcher II

Heavy Missile Launcher II

Heavy Missile Launcher II

Heavy Missile Launcher II

Heavy Missile Launcher II

Prototype Cloaking Device I

Experimental 10MN Afterburner I

Thermic Dissipation Field II

Kinetic Deflection Field II

Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

ECCM - Magnetometric II

Medium Shield Extender II

Ballistic Control System II

Ballistic Control System II

Power Diagnostic System II

Damage Control II

Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

Warrior II x5

I’ve always found Drakes easiest to rat in. It has a good amount of highs, mids and lows for fairly balanced DPS, & tank. It has excellent natural resists. Plus, I’m pretty much at near max skills due to the Drakes being so popular the north for so long. It’s the best DPS and tank for where my skill points are. I’m in the process of training for a Tengu and will be able to fly it with adequate skills. Still, the idea of a T3 is scary to me.

You’ve probably noticed a few weird things on my fit. I do put a cloak on my ratting drake. People love picking on poor little psudo-goons such as myself and I also have an overwhelming sense of paranoia when I PvE. This fit is also over on CPU for me. I usually alternate with my cloak/afterburner off-line. Plus, I should be a little extra vigilant as a blog series about ratting may cause some people to start thinking opportunistically.

You’ll also notice the ECCM module in my mids. Normally there is second Adaptive Invulnerability Field II there, but I’ll be going against Guristas. In case you weren’t aware, some Guristas rats are able to jam which make them the biggest assholes in all of rat-dom. On the flip side, their damage dealt type and weakness is Kinetic and Thermal which makes them the optimal targets for my Drake.

ECCM’s effect against rats has been long debated in various Eve Online communities. I tried looking into it myself, but only found conflicting information. There are posts boasting percentage decreases to the rats jamming success ratio with use of an ECCM module and there are posts stating the fundamental mechanics don’t allow ECCM to effect rats. We even went back and forth in the Voices from the Void channel, but still no definitive answer. I “feel” a difference in my experience when I use ECCM on my Drake, but I’m also aware that doesn’t mean anything. If you know definitively if ECCM modals affect rats, please let me know.

I’m pretty happy with the end result of my fit. If I use a 50% Kinetic/50%Thermal damage pattern in Pyfa, this fit gives me 81.9K worth of effective hitpoints and 22.3K in raw hitpoints. If I use scourge fury heavy missiles; my damage per second will be 304 with a volley of 2511. If I use regular scourge, my damage per second drops to 238 with a volley of 1962. I typically run with scourge fury and my average volley hits for about 1500 on a battleship.

This is going to take forever.

I have my spot all marked out and I’ve moved in and gotten down to business. The first day of ratting sucked balls and I only made it down to -8.4. As I’m writing this post, I’m actually on my second day of ratting and after making a few corrections, I’m down to -7.7.

That’s enough words for today though. The next blog will detail my progress as well as a few huge blunders I made. Until then, I’ll be on the grind.