And so it begins…

EVE University is going to war against RvB today!

We do have our fair share of experience with highsec wardeccers, as anything else, we use these always as an opportunity to teach our members about safety protocols, such as using voice coms and standing fleets as well as organising QRFs when targets show up around our campus locations. Of course, these wars are also a great opportunity to organise bigger fleets to take out the enemy’s war HQ as quickly and efficiently as possible.

This war is going to be a different beast altogether though. RvB and EVE University have taken up their old tradition and agreed to a mutual war with some specific rules, with the most important one being: keep it classy! We are looking forward to a week full of fun fights around the clock and constant opportunities to learn for all involved parties.

Of course propaganda and banter is part of any good war in EVE, so our Communications Department (now War Propaganda Department) has created some dashing media you might have seen pop up around various channels already. Most notably this animation by Fudster:

And these amazing posters by Marcel en Distel:

We are also holding an ongoing internal propaganda competition which has already yielded some gems as well:

Throwback to the Battle of Aldrat

We are lucky that Jalxan – a seasoned veteran who led the battle of Aldrat against RvB almost a decade ago – has recently returned to the Uni and found some time to share his thoughts:

Back in 2013, we were facing a war with RvB, with their intention of taking down the Eve University Player Owned Station (POS) in Aldrat. At the time, we were in a transitional phase, where the Ivy League Navy (an ancient predecessor to our now existing FC Team) was leaderless due to real-life commitments from its leadership, and we had no organized defense against them.

I decided at the time that I wanted to defend the POS, and requested permission from Kelduum Revaan (Eve Uni’s then-CEO) to help run the defense of the POS. In the end, I was given the temporary rank of “ILN Commodore”, to oversee the war.

From there, I got the ball rolling; after RvB put the POS into reinforced, I knew I needed to drum up interest to defend it once Reinforced Mode ended (old POS mechanics worked differently than today’s reinforcing of structures). I wrote up a lengthy heroic-style speech via Evemail, and hoped that I would get the numbers. I was blown away; by the time the fleet formation was done, we had enough to fill one fleet of 255 members, and the remainder which added together to about 450. It was – and may still be to this day the biggest fleet Eve University has ever fielded.

Leading such a fleet would not be easy, but thankfully I took the time to prepare. One of the things I organized before the battle was to split up my fleet into wings of 50 (which was based on how Eve Online handled fleets back then as well), with each one having their own individual shot-callers (to spread out the damage and make it harder for enemy logistics to protect their fleetmembers). I had most of my Wings hold at the Aldrat gate – this is where I wanted to hold them for the duration of the battle. I also had one Wing as a “firefighting” unit where they would respond to any escaping RvB members attempting to re-ship in-system (and oh boy did they try!). If I recall correctly, I was able to let logi set themselves up in their own squads, allowing them to do their jobs independently.

Separately, an RvB spy reached out to me, and helpfully provided me the name of the enemy FC; this was pivotal in the early minutes of the engagement, as their FC’s had to keep rotating for quite some time until they switched to out-of-corp ships. Eventually, RvB arrived.

At the time I thought they had numbered 150, but recent days I learned that they had at least 250, based on newly dug-up footage of the battle I found from the RvB side. Equipped with decent ships versus our kitchen-sink fleet of whatever we could pull together (back then we didn’t have doctrines nor SRP), it wasn’t going to be an easy fight.

I mostly-silently oversaw the battle, and allowed my Wing Commanders to make their shot calls, while I listened in carefully, giving boosts to the entire system in my Vulture 350km off-grid but within visual range of the battle (back then boosts worked system-wide). Occasionally I would interject with special orders (ie. “Spread your points” to the tackle, giving orders to my “firefighting” squad, giving priority targets against the enemy FC’s, etc). The battle raged for quite some time.

That being said… don’t be afraid to take risks either; after all, when I led the Battle of Aldrat, I had never FCed any fleet with more than 50 members before, and I was honestly going by the seat of my pants. I may have led the Battle of Aldrat and some other battles to victory, but I’ve also lost some as well. And that’s okay! We’re all here to learn.

If you’ve never done PVP before, this is a great time to learn it. This is also a great opportunity to sign up for the FC Team! It is not often when we get to fight a war with terms, instead of having to defend ourselves in a war with none. Expect lots of good-fights, and expect lots of explosions! Don’t forget the SRP program, which means your losses will be covered if you follow doctrines.

Faces of EVE University: Seamus Donohue

 

The Faces of EVE University are colorful and intriguing. With this interview series we want to bring to light some of the personalities that make up the staff of our alma mater, who tirelessly work to the advancement of learning.

For this installment of our series we sat down to talk to one of our valued teachers and EVE Uni veteran: Seamus Donohue. Famous for his educational videos, especially his signature series “How to survive EVE Online”. He recently redid the whole series and improved it for the 2018 experience! He also finished up a new series on the Sisters of EVE epic arc “The Blood Stained Stars”

As part of the EVE University faculty he is also known for his encyclopedic knowledge. Every week he hosts a game mechanics Q&A on our public mumble and answers questions about any topic pertaining to EVE. Six years ago he started his first iteration of “How to survive EVE Online” and since then he has made countless videos about a huge range of topics. Always focused on clear and concise information understandable by even the most inexperienced EVE player.

How to Survive EVE Online

Hideo Date: Thank you very much for taking the time, it is much appreciated!

Seamus Donohue: Not a problem! Glad to be here!

Hideo: For those who don’t know you, who are you and what do you do in EVE in general and in EVE University in particular?

Seamus: I am Seamus Donohue. I’m a High Security missionrunner and incursionrunner, and I’m also a member of the Education Department at EVE University. I teach a regular “Game Mechanics Q&A” session, and I produce YouTube videos on behalf of EVE University, most notably my “How to Survive EVE Online” series which introduces EVE Online gameplay to people who have never seen the game, before. (Very similar to Paul Soarez Junior’s “How to Survive Minecraft” series, which is what inspired me years ago.)

Hideo: Was that the only push you needed to start up your signature series? Did you just always want to make videos on EVE?

Seamus: That was the push, yes. Back in 2011, some fellow Unistas were starting to play Minecraft (which was new at the time), so I was starting to look into whether or not I wanted to buy the game. At the time, minecraft.net had Paul Soarez Junior’s videos linked on their page, and after watching the 23 episodes that existed at the time, I decided “Yes, I want to play Minecraft!” I’ve been playing that off and on ever since. But almost immediately afterwards, it got the idea into my head that I could make a similar series for EVE Online.

Hideo: That is wonderful! Now that you redone your original series and updated it for 2018, what are your plans moving forward?

Seamus: I’m trying to get back into making videos on a regular basis, again. As a personal effort (separate from the University), I’m also expanding into instructional videos about other games. So, my most recent videos are about how to visit the Voyager 1, Voyager 2, and new Horizons ancient probes in Elite: Dangerous (not a trivial task). But, I’m also working on a video explaining turret mathematics in EVE Online.  [Editor’s note: That video was uploaded after this interview was conducted, and can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEWJMHkK7fc ]

 

Teaching in EVE University

Hideo: You are not only known for your videos, but as you stated earlier you are also part of our faculty, how did you become a teacher in EVE University originally?

Seamus: Let me think. [pause]  I started the game early September 2009, during Apocrypha, and first joined E-UNI just before the end of that same month. I think I joined the faculty in 2010.

Around that time, I had been acting as a defensive scout/picket for E-UNI daytripping fleets in wormhole space, scanning down sites to run and being on the lookout for other players who might try to ambush us. After some small number of months doing that, I created (and started teaching) a “Scouting in Wormhole Space” class, based on my experiences.

When I started actually teaching that first session is when I was surprise-inducted into the Education Department by Deirdre Vaal, then Director of Education. I’ve been a member of the department ever since. I was actually surprised to learn, recently, that I’ve been with E-UNI for 60% of it’s history.

Hideo: It seems that you build your vast knowledge very much from personal, hands-on experience. Is that the case for all of it? Especially with regards to your Q&A session where you answer questions about any and all topics.

Seamus: Part of it is hands-on experience. Part of it is taking the time, over years, to browse the different item types in the Market (because the Market almost doubles as an encyclopedia of item types in the game) and the different skills available in the Character Sheet. [stops to think further]

The rest is stuff I’ve learned from other Unistas secondhand, for the most part. I’ve only very rarely been in player-sovereign space, and never involved in sovereignty battles, for example. I don’t usually go on PvP roams, though I’ve been on a couple of Dragonslayer operations and a wormhole POS bash. Things like that.

Hideo: Alright. What do you find interesting or appealing about doing your Q&A sessions?

Seamus: When I started the sessions, it was just a formalized form of what I had already been doing in the Mumble: answering questions that sometimes come up. So, it was a natural extension of my existing EVE Online activity.

Hideo: So I am sure you are constantly giving players much appreciated information and advice. But I am going to put you on the spot: If you could give new players one piece of advice, what would it be?

Seamus: Do I go with the standard that everyone always gets? Don’t fly what you cannot afford to lose? Always important. But new players will be likely to hear that from someone pretty quickly. So I think I’ll go with an equally important piece of advice, which might be less commonly heard:

Experiment around a little bit, see what you like doing in-game. Then find a group of like-minded players that you can get along with and (very importantly) trust.

Hideo: So to wrap up, I just have a few more questions:

Seamus: Certainly!

 

The Fanfest Experience

Hideo: Except your teaching experience and your video making, are there any other projects you are currently, or have ever been, involved in with regards to EVE?

Seamus: The only one I can think of was that I once taught an E-UNI class as a FanFest presentation. “A Study of Geometry in EVE Online” I had originally titled it “The Shape of Things That Are”, the joke being that Fanfest was about seeing the shape of things to come. Other than that, I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.

Hideo: Last question, looking at recent events: you actually attended Fanfest together with a delegation of other Unistas this year. I heard quite a few great remarks about your singing at both the karaoke night as well as the wedding ceremony for Irma and Tairon [Editor’s note: here is is a time-stamp on a video where you can actually hear Seamus sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=823&v=XM7If2z6kQo]. I am curious: do you have any formal training or experience in singing?

Seamus: Experience in singing, yes. “Formal training” depends on how you want to define that. I’m a member of a church choir in Real Life™, and we’re very lucky to have as our choirmaster someone who /also/ works as a professional operatic voice coach. He teaches professional opera singers how to sing.  He once told me that I’m what is known as a “serious amateur”.

Hideo: Alright. Then thank you very much for your time. And continue to be the great asset, that you are to the Uni!

Seamus: You’re welcome, and thank you for your effort in organizing and conducting these interviews!

 

E-UNI to host CCP Falcon in a public Q&A

CCP Falcon

CCP Falcon

On Saturday, May 10 at 16:00 EVE time, EVE University will host a live interview and Q&A session with Paul Elsy, better known as CCP Falcon, EVE Community Manager for CCP Games. The event will be open to everyone on EVE University’s public Mumble server.

The session will be moderated by Neville Smit, E-UNI Director of Education, who said, “We’ll talk about the future direction of the EVE Online community – and promoting a balance between good, supportive player content and some of the more nefarious activities for which EVE Online is famous. We will also talk about the reveals for the upcoming EVE Online expansion announced at Fanfest.”

Participants will need to set up Mumble access – follow these instructions for set-up: http://www.eveuni.org/publicmumble

E-UNI to host CCP Guard and CCP Dr.EyjoG in public Q&As

CCP Guard

CCP Guard

EVE University will host live, public interviews and question-and-answer sessions with two CCP Games staffers: CCP Guard and CCP Dr.EyjoG.

First, Eyjolfur “Eyjo” Guðmundsson, better known as CCP Dr.EyjoG, the official on-staff economist for CCP Games, will be E-UNI’s guest for a live interview on Thursday, March 27, starting at 14:30 EVE time.

Next, Sveinn J. Kjarval, better known as CCP Guard, the celebrated Community Developer for EVE Online and emissary for the CCP Corporation in New Eden, will be E-UNI’s guest on Friday, March 28, starting at 17:00 EVE time.

Neville Smit, Teaching Director for E-UNI, will moderate both sessions. “We’ll talk about the EVE Online community and economy, how they have changed, and what the future may hold for EVE Online players,” Smit said. “All are welcome. You do not have to be an EVE University member to attend, so bring your questions!”

CCP Dr.EyjoG

The Q&A sessions will be held on EVE University’s public Mumble channel. Participants may use this guide for set-up: http://www.eveuni.org/publicmumble

These sessions are parts of a series of public interviews with prominent EVE Online personalities, conducted in recognition of E-UNI’s 10th anniversary since its founding. Recordings of prior interviews may be found in the EVE University recorded class library, available to anyone for download.