Lovecraftian Interlude

Left DEV today. Changed into my Halloween "costume" of Yog-Sothoth. Then I left the fleet to terrorize all equally for the 31st.

Put on this avatar and sent the mass mail.

Subject     MM: So I was reading the R'lyeh texts
I was reading the text of the manuscripts of R'lyeh and I came across a strange passage. Upon translation, which I performed out loud, I found what seems to be the completion of the Mad Arab's summoning chant. I think I am going to have to listen to the voices from beyond. They keep saying things like, "N'gai, n'gha'ghaa, bugg-shoggog, y'hah: Yog-Sothoth, Yog-Sothoth!"

It might be better if I left the fleet for a while. I keep seeing weird things in the corner of my vision. And there looks like there's an extra dimension in my ship's cockpit...

I also temporarily joined a Halloween fleet for us Old Ones. Here's the fleet page:

[IA] Whispers in Darkness

So, you thought you were safe from the Old Ones?



Life is a hideous thing, and from the background behind what we know of it peer daemoniacal hints of truth which make it sometimes a thousandfold more hideous. Science, already oppressive with its shocking revelations, will perhaps be the ultimate exterminator of our human species -- if separate species we be -- for its reserve of unguessed horrors could never be borne by mortal brains if loosed upon the world.

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.
—Abdul Alhazred, The Necronomicon

Anyway, Happy Halloween! I think I might check out M1N next.

DEV - Day 8

So, we fought a war. We (a term I mean loosely since I was mostly an observer) killed the #3 fleet on the ladders in 2.5 hours or so. This definitely shows that the magnitude of the fleet HP at the top of the level is not a problem. However, the HP differential between fleets may well be an issue. If they were able to do damage at 170% of our rate, they could have beaten us. Otherwise, they had no chance. This may well indicate a need for changing the way HP is calculated.

It has just occurred to me that perhaps the level of both fleets should be taken into account when determining war points. Perhaps the difference in level can be used to select a maximum differential between fleet HPs rather than giving each fleet an absolute number for HP.

So, after a bit more than a week, what is DEV like? 

Active, involved and enthusiastic, especially if your focus of interest is maximizing your investments (in time and points) and serious game-play. These guys are very focused on being the best at the things that matter to them. In a lot of ways they constitute their own best audience. It's not so much that DEV is inward-focused - they aren't. In fact, they are actively looking for other power-levelers who share their outlook. It's that they play in a way that only other people doing the same things will appreciate. If you're not analyzing large chunks of your own statistical data about the best build against a specific NPC or looking at thousands of points spent in different stations, you're not going to be into the random chit-chat going on here.

In wars, they are all about experience. There's not a whole lot of chatter because they all know what to do.  Some fleets get way more social during wars. This is not one of them. That's no indictment, just an observation.

I've enjoyed talking to the various people in DEV I didn't already know. They're interesting, perspicacious people, if dispassionate with outsiders. They were welcoming to me, though.


Hmm. I think that's about as much as I can say about this unless people have specific questions. (Hint, hint - comments!) Looks like I need a new fleet to get to know.

DEV - Day 6

Of Wars and NOMs:

War was imminent, but it is postponed. Soon we will fight a good old-fashioned war with M1N, the fleet of... chaos? Looking forward this one - should be a real slugfest.

Today NOMs became findable. That means the Nano-Optimization Modules that make the good stuff even better can be found without breaking apart weapons and shields and whatnot. The upswing in my fleeties' searching has been astounding. I have been seeing reports of 1,000 points or more being spent on searches just to see what can be found. As a player, I am looking forward to drops in the price of NOMs. As an analyzer I look forward to seeing what the practical impacts of the findable NOMs will be on their price and to see about how commonly they will be found.

DEV - Day 3

Also, a lot of these guys use SP as a break from Spy Battle, Snake Head Games's game about spies. As such, this game is a secondary focus for a lot of them, though that doesn't stop them from being power players as Star Pirates. Quite the opposite.

Since many don't really engage in the social aspects outside of the fleet, this brings the whole policy of not online attacking, raiding, or even offline attacking into focus. Interacting with other players detracts from leveling. And attacking other players, especially the online ones is interaction. Distractions like that slow down the slog to the next level.

In-fleet socializing is a whole different matter.

DEV - Day 2

I heard one member describe the fleet as, "a roster of guys playing a single-player game on a PVP server." This is probably a bit unfair, but there is definitely a culture of inward focus, especially among the pirates who have been here the longest. I can see how that might make them all seem indifferent to the community, or even somewhat jerky. This is not my experience as I begin to interact with them, though. They are very social after a clinical fashion. Breakdowns of builds, battles, etc. are sure to garner some replies and spark an analytical discussion as in-depth as any I have ever had in-game.

The Dare Devils, especially with some of the newer members, are actually quite friendly in this succinct way. I wouldn't call them chatty, of course, but they're not jerks. And they are very loyal. I think they're peripherally aware of a certain reputation for arrogance or pomposity, but are genuinely mystified by it. These guys (with a couple of exceptions) spend all their time playing the nuts and bolts of the game experience. They log in, spend a serious chunk of time power-leveling, and log out. The focus of their experience is about basic gameplay. It's not just the primary focus, but possibly the entirety of the experience. For them, something like a war is only interesting as a way to achieve something in-game. I suspect the #1 spot on the ladders is something DEV wants for the search turns and the medals more than the bragging rights.

Wars are a means and not an end in themselves. Compare this to a fleet like the Gizmonics or the 633's, who love the sheer chaos and challenge of war for its own sake and you see some really big differences in approach. This Saturday, we're going to fight in a war with a revised hit point total to test out a proposal for less war points for the higher level fleets. I am looking forward to exploring the culture of war and how it plays out.

DEV - Day 1

DEV has a truly huge stash of research gear, so I expect to be able to get some nice boosts on my stats. Top notch in the armory regard, for sure, but that really is no surprise.

Internally, they seem like a quiet fleet, at least as far as the Mass Messages go. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as I could definitely imagine places where the talk is a truly miserable thing to have to endure. Looks like we'll be going to war sometime soon, too. I'm looking forward to seeing what that looks and feels like from the inside. Hopefully I will also gain access to parts of the fleet forum as well.

Interesting thing: The fleet ranks are pretty much entirely based on level and not stats. This definitely reflects the focus on level, both individually and as a fleet. These guys are all about power-leveling and getting the experience. I might be all about raids and money, but they're all about gear and XP points.

A Star Pirate's Life for Me

Hi, my name is Qilapid and I am a pirate.

Actually, I am a player in the game Star Pirates. I was a fleet leader for a time and came from a pedigree of powerful fleets. Like a true pirate, I look for profit in every possible avenue, so I sold my most recent fleet, the Erisian Exiles. Newly unattached to any fleet, I bought a Dreadnought-class ship upgrade for myself, and I decided to pack up and become a wanderer among the stars.

Okay, let me back up a bit. Star Pirates is a browser-based, free-to-play game in which players take the role of pirate spaceship captains in a post-apocalyptic Solar System where the surface of Earth was rendered inhospitable by the StarCrash event. Big ol' asteroids smashed everything up and us survivors have to scrabble, steal, and kill to survive. This game plays like a browser-based MUD, but is far more interactive. Imagine a game that is fun like WoW, has a really great community of people to talk to, doesn't need fancy graphics, has great PvP, and that you can play anywhere, even on phones. Star Pirates in a nutshell. In the game, players organize into fleets in order to fight wars and enjoy mutual protection as well as share the most valuable items in the game.

I was going to be a neutral pirate. I could live a fleetless existence without trepidation, but the deluge of people inviting me to come hang with them sent me down a different path these last few days. One of the great things about the game is the people who play, and I would like to get to know them better. I am going to use the opportunity provided by my freedom to join fleets to get to know the players in them and hopefully provide an entertaining and useful catalog of the experience.

My first fleet?
I am starting at the top.
#1 on the Universe and #1 on the Pluto war ladders: [DEV] Dare Devils (link only works when logged in to Star Pirates)