Friday 9 August 2013

Signing Off

I'm sure to some of you this won't come as much of a surprise, but it's time to make it official; the Altruist is officially going dark.

I've played Eve for five going in six years now without a gap, far longer than I've played any other game. I've had a great deal of fun doing that - it's a testament to the depth of Eve that it can hold someone's interest for that long and still provide enough challenge and enjoyment to keep them coming back. However, it has also been quite a considerable commitment. Eve may be a game that can be played casually, but to really get the most out of it - to be fully involved in the community, take an active role in running a corporation, or these days simply to stay on top of balance changes and keep the rust off as a PVPer - requires a level of both time and effort that shouldn't be underestimated. That's before you add in silly things like running a blog, teaching classes, and so on.

The decision hasn't been an easy one, but I feel like I've reached the point where I need to let that commitment go and start freeing up time to spend on other things.

Wednesday 24 July 2013

Confessions of a Lowsec Pirate


As you'll know from my last post, I recently renounced my wicked ways of lowsec piracy to pursue other things. CONCORD were willing to overlook my sins in exchange for a fat wad of isk, and I'm now once again an upstanding pillar of the community. Well, sort of anyway - I'm still -1.3, but that'll have to do!

Having spent a little over a year in lowsec including my previous stint in faction warfare, I felt like now was an appropriate time to look back at the highs and lows of lowsec life.

Thursday 27 June 2013

Of Sleepers and Sec Status

It won't come as much surprise to you if you're following the blog (or rather, the lack of blog), but my motivation to play Eve has taken a bit of a dive recently. I've been having a lot of fun with some other games (in particular Dota 2, The Old Gods expansion for Crusader Kings 2, and more recently a bit of AI Wars) and combined with some RL goings on I've not really had the urge to log in very much.

Part of that has also probably been down to the gameplay I've been focusing on. When you're a solo pilot in a solo-centric corp it's really down to you to make your own fun, and unless you put the effort in things can easily become fairly routine. I have a more detailed post on the ups and downs of lowsec piracy that I'll be posting in the near future, but suffice to say I decided it was time to try something a little different. In fact, I'm going to try two different things!

Wednesday 15 May 2013

Know Your Enemy - Disruption Cruisers

Commonly referred to as Electronic Warfare or EWAR cruisers, Disruption Cruisers specialise in the suppression and - you guessed it - disruption of opposing ships. Like the smaller Disruption Frigates, each race's platform favours a different form of electronic warfare - ECM for Caldari, remote sensor dampening for Gallente, tracking disruption for Amarr, and target painting for Minmatar.


They may not offer the raw power of Combat Cruisers, but make no mistake - Disruption Cruisers
exist to ruin your day.



The disruption cruisers range from pseudo combat ships like Arbitrator and Bellicose, through to dedicated electronic warfare platforms such as the Blackbird. While they do see varying levels of use as solo platforms, these ships are most at home in a gang environment where they fill a crucial supporting role. In the right hands, against the right opponent, the disruption cruisers can easily be some of the most powerful in their class.

Monday 15 April 2013

Know Your Enemy - Attack Cruisers

Combat Cruisers may top the chart in terms of raw strength, but Attack Cruisers are the masters of speed and damage application. These ships offer greater mobility than any other cruiser, with bonuses to range or tracking giving them a more flexible engagement envelope than their slower counterparts.


If Sigmund Freud played Eve, he would definitely have flown an Attack Cruiser.

While some Attack Cruisers (particularly the Thorax) make excellent brawlers, the main strength of this class is in kiting. The combination of flexible range and great mobility allows Attack Cruiser pilots to dictate the terms of an engagement on the fly, and makes them particularly dangerous to any smaller ships which might attempt to pin them down.

The Altruist is the Eve Online blog of Azual Skoll, PVP instructor and small gang PVPer.

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