EvE Online: A social game in an increasingly anti-social genre.

I was recently invited to the third broadcast of the podside podcast. It was a hilarious experience getting to talk with Jade, Frfrmpukin, Cyph3r and Snowman, whom I've listened to for so long was great. Getting to catch up with Pinky was also a good time. When I went to work the next day I really began to think about the connections we make in the game and even more in the community. I also began to ponder why such connections seem so strange or off-putting to some new players.

I've made it no secret that I was a guild officer and raid leader in that most maligned of MMO's, World of Warcraft. While I wasn't there for release I was able to play some of the legacy content from Vanilla and the game's first expansion The Burning Crusade. The content as one approached level cap was such that it required group coordination and planning, increasing in difficulty as one progressed into large PvE encounters (Raids) or group PvP (primarily in the Arena system). The raids consisted of teams that ranged from 10 players for the initial raids (Blackrock Spire, Kara) to 25 and 40-man content in the highest tiers (Naxx, Black Temple). The groups that ran these dungeons were organized and cohesive units. They knew their role in the group as well as the strengths and weaknesses of their class. They were very social and were often very tight knit because of it.

Near the end of the second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, a new random group generator was launched. The idea was to help players get into groups if they were not affiliated with a guild or couldn't find a group on their server. Unfortunately the mechanic was soon populated by people who were not interested in the content, just stealing the loot from the boss kill. Since the offender was not on the same server as the rest of his party members the element of anonymity was added to their actions thus invoking the full brunt of the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory illustrated below.

Why do I bring this up? Simple. In his latest installment of Sins of a Solar Spymaster The Mittani mentions a sense of entitlement borne of other MMO's. It is my strong belief that part of that mentality is the result of actions by game developers like the one illustrated above. I have since learned that Blizzard has doubled down on the stupidity by allowing raid groups to also be generated from a random pool. When faced with such abominations spewing forth from other MMO developers, where there is no need to have a community to achieve large goals is it any wonder then that the newbies to our "Dystopian Heaven" of a Sandbox have such foolish preconceived notions about EvE?

The Hulk: Black Sheep of EvE

If there is any one ship that seems to be in desperate need of an upgrade it is the Hulk.

"The Hulk is the largest craft in the second generation of mining vessels created by the ORE Syndicate. Exhumers, like their mining barge cousins, are equipped with electronic subsystems specifically designed to accommodate Strip Mining modules.  They are also far more resilient, better able to handle the dangers of deep space. The Hulk is, bar none, the most efficient mining vessel available." -Eve ship description

The ship functions well enough, if all you want to do is mine.

A simple max mining fit looks like this.

[Hulk, Max Mining]
Mining Laser Upgrade II
Mining Laser Upgrade II

Survey Scanner II
[empty med slot]
[empty med slot]
[empty med slot]

Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II


This yield runs 1624 m3 /min with all skills at 5 and has a paltry 9217 EHP


This fit is a little more survivable.


[Hulk, Tanked]
Damage Control II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core II

Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
'Poacher' EM Ward Field

Strip Miner I
Strip Miner I
Strip Miner I

Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I


Mining Drone II x5

This 32,609 EHP fit still gets 1428 m3/min but is more survivable. However this fit is incredibly tight. (You might have to use a +CPU implant)


The hull could most directly benefit from a serious upgrade to fitting resources. It's current powergrid base is a paltry 35. This is comparable to a Tech II Frigate. The CPU is rated at 300 which is just below that of a Caracal. It has 2 rig slots (med) while it's Tech 1 base, the Covetor, has 3.

If the fitting resources were increased to 250pg and 350cpu you could run a fit with large shield extenders which would increase it's survivability substantially. Now you may be asking why they should do this. Well to start with Hulks have the same base invention success rate of 20%. This is the same as a Command Ship (Tech II Battlecruisers). The ship has the signature radius and the medium rig slots of a cruiser yet it doesn't have the fitting resources of even a Tech I cruiser.

In addition to the difficulty of inventing the BPC, and the high cost of the materials required to make it (over half of a Hulk's cost is derived from Technetium.) So, all in all if there is any ship that is in need of some serious love from the devs it's the Hulk.