[OOC] Need Help with Annoying Image Borders in Blogger

Have you noticed those stupid borders around my images like in my guide to ship effects post? I have. If you know how to remove those borders through the Blogger HTML, please help! I hate those unevenly spaced borders and want to get rid of them altogether!

Know Thy Ship Effects (Part I)

Ship effects refer to the characteristic graphics that accompany the activation of certain modules on EVE spaceships. Some modules do not show any effects at all, while others have special halos or projections. Many pvp "tutorials" or "classes" often fail to inform new players about effects and their importance in combat. Why are they so important, you may ask? For example, a smart suicide ganker will know to recognize shield hardener or repair effects on an otherwise tempting target; a small fleet may choose not to primary a carrier in triage mode; a fleet commander may choose to call someone out for fitting a sensor booster on their battlecruiser rather than a more useful module. It is also extremely important in small gang or solo combat to study what kind of modules your opponent(s) are activating. Knowing these ship effects will greatly enhance your combat capabilities. (That, and knowing when and how to run away!)

I will go through the following effects in 2 or 3 posts, not in this order:
- Sensor booster
- Tracking enhancer
- ECCM
- ECM/Warp disruptor/Tracking disruptor/Sensor dampener
- Shield hardener
- Armor hardener
- Active shield repairing
- Active armor repairing
(No hull repairing, sorry)
- Remote shield transfer
- Remote capacitor transfer
- Remote armor transfer
- Triage
- Siege
- Salvager
Lasers/Projectiles/Railguns/Blasters (in a separate section later maybe, with videos and sounds)
Let me know if I'm missing anything else!


One of the easiest auras to recognize, the sensor boosting ship emits shining white rays from its core. Watch out for interceptors with these modules if you're with them in a gate camp, since it usually means you won't catch anything before they do. Effect is the same with either scripts.

This one's not too difficult. Most often emitted by scimitars, basilisks, ospreys, and caldari capital ships. Looks like a white pulsating beam with regularly spaced rings.

This module is used to counter jamming ships. It is often fitted on logistics to prevent them from being jammed. Looks like a white spiral mosaic, don't know how else to describe it but the picture is true to life. Unmistakable.

A triage carrier will repair itself and remote repair its friends much more effectively, but at the cost of not being able to move. This one is a bit subtle, but it looks like small golden worms are crawling across the body of the carrier.

Just in case you want to try to battle someone else for salvaging rights, know that it looks like a bright beam of zap zap.

More to come in part II!

Long-Awaited New Banner!

As you may all know, Rixx Jarvix from EVOGANDA has been a renowned banner and signature designer for many EVE corporations and blogs. I contacted him some time ago because I wasn't happy with the crappily-assembled banner that I made on some winter night when I was learning how to use Photoshop. He's been a very easy guy to work with and I'm really happy with the way my new banner has turned out. Check out his other lovely pieces of work at his Eve portfolio and his blog. Thanks Rixx! <3

"Tackling is for Men"

One of my favorite ships has got to be the acclaimed Crusader. Ever since I started switching into Amarr ships, it's been my staple scout ship for many 0.0 gangs. Arguably interceptors are just as effective, if not more effective, than their interdictor cousins due to their excellent base agility and speed. I prefer flying them over heavy tanking battleships and even cruisers, although I do occasionally favor the armor-tanked Ishkur in low sec or tiny gangs.

IT Alliance has recently deployed to Syndicate and I am in good company thus far. (Much better than Atlas pvp, thank the lords!) Tonight, in my second fleet with iT, I was extremely successful with my beloved Crusader, tackling an ishkur at a belt, even managing to get heroically take on a vexor, a neuting dominix, and a cyclone, smashing the concept that tackling is a tough aggressive job meant for manly men and impressing (scaring?) my fleet mates. Unfortunately, on our way home, my scouting/tackling career ran into a screeching halt after I stupidly lost my crusader to session change timer on a gate. Why? I was sitting cloaked, reporting "sabres killing maledictio..." and as I went to activate my MWD, I was locked (because I decloaked as the session timer expired) and promptly got shot to smithereens. My fleet didn't even have time to catch the offending frigates, and to add insult to injury, a few systems later the rest of the fleet proceeded to kill some Tempests and juicy dramiels while I was providing intel for them in my capsule and gazing helplessly, wishing that my capsule had the capacity for even one puny Civilian Gatling Railgun. But alas, dreams become dashed hopes...

I hate missing out on killmails. *sheds a tear*

Back at Blogging - About Atlas and AT8

Ever since my last post in 2008, I've gone through a lot in Eve. To summarize, I went inactive for about half a year (more, actually) in 2009 due to RL/getting stressed out, then got back into the game, culminating in becoming a commentator for the Eve Alliance Tournament 8 this past summer. Now that I'm no longer in Atlas, I feel a bit more motivated to blog about things in general. So please pardon the length of my post.

First of all, everyone has been asking me why I left Atlas. I am quite surprised at the number of people who had actually noticed this - after all, I've been trying to stay out of the limelight since AT8. I do not read or poast on Eve forums, unless I wanted a game time card. For those of you who aren't too familiar with 0.0 politics, Atlas alliance was a space-holding superpower who recently saw their fall from heaven in a rather spectacular and entertaining fashion. As I said, I was inactive in 2009, so did not know of the reasons why Atlas had acquired such a huge swath of Angel space, but when I returned I decided to join a corp (Phantom Squad) consisting of many ex-Insurgency members. I joined around the time of the Providence invasion with the expectation that I will be getting lots of sweet pew pew, but I was a bit disappointed with the quality of the fleet fights I was getting, and lag was not to blame then. Nothing quite like Insurgency... sigh...

In hindsight, the Atlas spirit had started to die, little by little, even at that time.

After Atlas deployed up north to help with iT Alliance's campaign against the Northern Coalition, someone lost a titan in battle and Atlas' leader, Bobby Atlas, recalled everyone back to home space. This was the beginning of the end. The better fleet commanders like Quesa left for greener pastures, which made pvp even more uninspiring than before. In fact, right as Pandemic Legion showed up in the Drone Regions, I stopped pvping with Atlas and started moving my assets out of the Atlas home system, 0-w778. You could say that I saw this coming months before it happened...

Long story short, the Russians hired PL to kick out Atlas, and they were so successful that I pondered briefly joining PL to take out the moronic, rich players in Atlas who were very careless with their supercapitals. My bf was absolutely aghast at this thought and told me I'd probably be trolled very hard in PL, which is most likely correct. By this time, I was so disgusted with the quality of pvp in Atlas that by this time, I roamed with only my dear friends (thank you NoTR and the ladies in WGOE!) and mostly avoided fighting with Atlas, choosing to return only to fatten my wallets via ratting. During this time, I also acquired an Archon very cheaply. One day, I was happily getting trolled by the gentlemen from BANE Alliance in Amamake, a famed low sec pirating system, when I suddenly realized that I had rather recklessly posted a bunch of killmails with a friend in Pandemic Legion on the Atlas killboard... So I left, since I was going to be branded a spy and did not want my corporation to get in trouble.

There you go. This is why I left the sinking ship. I have never felt any allegiance to it; I was in Atlas solely to farm their ratting space. Oh, and I was absolutely removed from Atlas' Alliance Tournament team, in case you were wondering.

***

Some comments that I'd like to make about my experience in AT8...

Ever since I was invited to commentate on the Alliance Tournament, I had preferred to remain relatively unknown. Perhaps some people thrive when being put into the spotlight, but that kind of stuff really isn't meant for me. First of all, I could never measure up to the other commentators who participated: the veritable Verone and Kil2, who had a long and brilliant record of pvping; the enthusiastic and sometimes obnoxious Darius Johnson from Goonswarm; and the boy from DICE, AngelHun, who I admittedly didn't know much about. I was a nobody, really... I applied to the tournament because I thought it was really cool to get to go to CCP HQ, to meet the people who made this awesome game called Eve.

Now, everyone else except for me had either gone to Fanfest or something and had met CCP before, so the group quickly became very clique-ish. I was never one to act like a toady to get into a "cool" group, so I did not mix in with the group very well. I was not there to look for a job, and I paid for a lot of my own expenses (it was a very expensive trip for me), so I simply did my job and got out.

AT8 was fun in some sense - I met lots of devs at a party, saw some of Iceland, and was given tours around the CCP offices - but all the fawning quickly got to me and I wanted no part of it. I was very glad that I had my bf to hang out with me in Reykjavik, without whose support I'd probably have enjoyed the trip even less. But but but! I was most impressed by the very friendly devs like CCP Mindstar and Soundwave and all the down-to-earth backstage crew who worked very hard to make the show successful. These people were lovely and I wish I could've had more time to know them better. And of course, I have the utmost respect for the original people who designed and ran Eve - most notably, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Magnus Bergsson, the mastermind who came up with the Tournament and who will likely be spearheading future game releases from CCP, as someone who was passionate enough about Eve to make a guest appearance on the Tournament despite his busy schedule. I wish I met more devs like that...

(By the way, for all the grief that everyone gave me, please note that I put in more effort than any other commentator to memorize and analyze ALL of the matches from the qualifying rounds. I even made notecards for alliances, ship effects, and scores, something that I noticed no one else really bothered to do. I did this because I didn't want to make a fool of myself. Perhaps everyone else has photographic memory? Who knows.)

***

Anyway, I've just joined Reikoku again, and our first op today in Syndicate was a blasty blast. Since we are not allowed to post in local, I'd like to say GF! to the brave Ev0ke/CH/Dead Terrorists pilots who weren't afraid to take up a challenge in low sec. I was surprised that my zealot lived through the fight, during which I couldn't do much due to lag. Props to the iT logistics pilots!

http://www.killboard.it/?a=kill_related&kll_id=197749