War again....

Uni has been war dec'ed again.

We transitioned from civilian to military operations smoothly. Students have been given clear instructions about what activities are permissible and which are prohibited. Alternate corps for those that don't want to fly combat have been provided.

My whole goal in the transition is to be sure that the student's expectations are in line with reality as much as possible. As in all areas of life, some folks read & understand better than others... (seriously, how can you interpret "- No hauling. Period, full stop. Directors will be reviewing the 'Super Sekrit Who Is Flying What' list. If you are seen in a hauler, you are subject to being shot without additional warning or instruction." as allowing you to undock your Badger & move it 3 jumps in the Jita pipe because "I had a frigate escort and an alt scout.")

My main focus is to avoid drama bombs.

We'll discuss combat ops next time (assuming we find any targets...)

Some days you're the windshield, some days you're the bug....

Our last war was in the wind down phase. Not yet on cool down, but the OPFOR had been scarce for a while. Students were getting restless about not missioning or mining and not being able to shoot anything either.

So, Silentbrick scheduled a suicide destroyer only op (which I missed because of scheduling) and a follow on Battle Badger trip to Maila.

I was late getting on and the fleet of haulers had already left. I asked if there was anything special I could bring to help out. Silentbrick says "Well, a Falcon would be evil! Bwaaaah haaaaa haaaa haaa!"

Only having recently started flying Falcons (and being absolutely in love with them!), I agreed, undocked & made best speed to Maila. As I'm jumping into system, Silent calls 'Contact, Curse!' I report that I'm in system. Silent indicates that the Curse has engaged and calls for me to warp in at range.

I initiate warp to Slientbrick, range 100. Fall out of warp right on top of the Curse, which de-cloaks me! This is going to be interesting. His drones immediately start pounding me. I'm aligning to get the hell out and initiating a jam cycle. Jam cycle hits and I'm thinking I may get out of this, start spamming warp button. And then:

"Your capacitor is empty."

Neut-ed. Completely empty. Can you say "Falcon on a stick"? Crunchy on the outside, chewy in the center.

Bad luck for sure, but it still stinks.

Got my pod out and the boys got a bit of my stuff. Silentbrick had a slightly used Falcon he sold me, so it was all good at the end.

War stories....

I had lots of fun in the last series of wars. Most of my time was spent in my trusty Scorpion (Seen in local: "You've been playing Eve too long when you know Dee's Scorpion by name...), but I started flying a Falcon toward the end. Being able sneak around cloaked, uncovering at the most opportune moment to fry eyeballs is great fun!

About mid-way through the war, Sabre & I were messing around with a couple of WT's that were playing dock/undock games. We had a support fleet forming 4 jumps away, so we were failry comfortable even with the WT's having support in the next system, too. So they'd undock and agress, then I'd jam them and Sabre would pound on them until they would dock again... Pretty routine... Couple more show up & join the fun... Still no big deal... The support fleet has started to move and Sabre plots having them jump in & warp to the station as soon as we get one of the WT's agressed.

Some mis-communication later, Sabre & I are facing 6 battleships, expecting our support fleet to be in warp, when we discover that they are still 4 systems out & we are on our own! I have 5 of the 6 jammed, but have drone aggro from all of them. Sabre is trying to kill the drones. The 6th guy has me webbed & scrammed. I'm hung on the station. The situation is going south fast! I miss a jam cycle while aligning & swapping 3 jammers to the guy who has me webbed... I'm already spamming the warp button thinking this Scorp is done for & I need to save my pod...

Then, a near miracle! Jammers hit on the guy that has me scrammed & webbed. Warp initiates. I'm out with 2% structure. Yup, 2%. Those leadership skills & shield/armor bonuses just paid off in spades! Sabre is laughing on TS "Did ya' get out? Ya' got out, right, Dee? Tell me you got out, Dee?"

Shortly after that we're told, OPFOR leadership distributes a "Do Not Engage" list via corp mail. Pretty funny that the biggest carebear of them all (me) is on the list with the designation "EW God! Don't even bother...". After that, it was pretty tough for me to get into a fight.

Next time... I get my Falcon cherry popped.

New Chair

During the latter stages of the latest Privateers war, our Director of Operations (think Chief Operating Officer), Kassie Kelmer stepped down. During war, this is not that big a deal as command of the Uni transfers to Fleet Admiral Silentbrick during war and all peaceful activities are suspended.

The return of peace to the Uni also meant that it was time for this chair to be filled.

I was quite surprised to receive a PM from Morning Maniac asking if I would consider accepting the position. Surprised is not really strong enough. More like stunned. The same way I would feel if Sabre and Riccar announced they were becoming monks & joining a monastery where they could only speak 2 words every year.

I asked myself a lot of questions, because I'm not a 'typical' MMO player or Eve player. I'm older. More, shall we say, restrained and measured in response. The PvP side of things is great fun, but is not my primary interest in the game. The social and economic sides of things are much more interesting to me than pew-pew. (But that doesn't mean I don't fly combat. When the call goes out, I'll be there frying eyeballs in an EW ship of some kind and performing well enough that our enemies take notice... But that's a story for another day!) My play time and my entertainment dollars that I spend in Eve are intended to be stress relievers for me. Would this new chair turn my 'fun' time into just another job.... A job that I pay for!

My decision hinged on these three factors:

• Eve University was unique when founded because of the vision of one person who believed that there was a place for selflessness even in a game that was inherently selfish in design.
• Eve University remains unique more than four years later because of the students, the instructors and the leaders who continually reaffirm that core value by their actions.
• There is not a finer group of people, in or out of the game, than those that have Eve University in their history.

I hold to a belief system that calls me to be selfless in my interactions and unique in my viewpoints. I also firmly believe that a person's in-game behavior and interactions reflect the majority of the characteristics of the real person behind the keyboard. Given that, I was compelled to accept.


I am humbled to have been asked to serve in this position and grateful for the opportunity to assist in the advancement of our mission. I consider myself a steward of great things that exist and a facilitator of great things yet to come. Yes, it is just internet spaceships. But internet spaceships is serious freakin' business! :)

o7
Dee Carson
Director of Operations
Eve University

Bad, Dee! Bad, Dee!

It's true. I haven't posted in a long time.

Some of the silence was due to the protracted war that we were involved in. Previous OPFOR leadership indicated that they were using Uni leadership blogs as intel tools. I don't think there was ever anything useful posted in any of our leadership blogs, but if there's nothing posted, there's no doubt.

Some of the silence was due to RL work issues. My new position is very stressful and the personal time that I had was best used in blowing WT's up. Internet spaceship explosions are great stress relievers!

Some of the silence was due to RL family issues. My youngest daughter was engaged early in the year to a fine young man, a 2nd Lt in the US Army (artillery). His first assignment was to take him to Ft. Hood as part of the 4th ID, which was just returning from Iraq. He was to have at least 18 months at Ft. Hood before any possible deployment, so December college graduation and December wedding all seemed in order. Location secured, dress purchased (mid July delivery), caterer selected. Check, check & check.

Then...

On 4/15, orders change to 4th Brigade of 4ID, which was reflagged to 4th Brigade, 1st Cav at Ft. Hood and set for deployment to Iraq mid June. Brigade S1 indicates that he would be in country by 1 July.

So, we had to respond to the logistical challenge of moving a wedding forward 6 months with 6 weeks notice. And you think COAD is full of drama!

Another dress, another location, an unusual time later, this past Sunday we got them married. Daughter & Son-In-Law report to Ft. Hood 12 June and we go from there.

Bottom line is updating my internet spaceship blog hasn't been very high on my list. I can't say I'm sorry, because even in retrospect, I can see no scenario where I would have changed my priorities enough to get this in.

I will say that I'm hopeful the drama curve in my life has peaked and is exhibiting negative slope! If so, I'll be more regular in updating this.

In my next post, Morning Maniac pays me a great compliment & I get a new set of Eve challenges.