Spring is in the air, pilots!

Sakura cheery blossom trees are some of my favorites, and I was seeking the cheery blossoms and perhaps the greenery of new life and peace with this pattern for the Orca.

Fly safe and enjoy springtime!

If you want to be a leader, start by being a good follower.

 That’s exactly what was taught to me in my early life when I first began pursuing leadership roles.

Those who wish to learn first learn to follow.

Then, when they assume command, they understand all of the special fleet roles, they remain calm under pressure, they remain patient with their followers (especially the brand-new pilots), and they designate a backup fleet commander in the event they go down.

Likewise, one of the best things you can do as a fleet commander is to make sure your fleet is informed of the expectations, fits, form-up times and locations, and goal of the fleet prior to its launch. Of course, OPSEC is important, but so much time and efficiency can be saved and gained if everyone is prepared long before launch.

Major Adam Steiner from Battletech taught us…“Information is ammunition!”

A profile is worth a thousand words or a good laugh.

On occasion, you’ll find something in someone’s profile that makes you laugh.

I remember two entries in my time:

“Flying Minmatar ships is like riding a wheelie chair down a flight of stairs while dual-wielding AK-47s and firing on full-auto!”

“Your EVE Online addiction hits your marriage for 9999 damage, inflicting a devastating blow and resulting in endless alimony payments.”

Most recently, I got to rewatch the “This Is REALLY EVE” video, made in parody of the “This Is EVE” video which gave us a look inside how players play EVE and exchange voice communications. It’s definitely great for a laugh, and should come with a million warnings labels about its level of extreme raging language!

Fly safe and calmly, capsuleers!

Every player has a role to help them meet their goals.

And those goals are met via your corporation.

All EVE Online players are divided into groups known as “corporations.” Simply put, a corporation is a collection of individuals organized with a particular purpose or goal in mind. Corporations are comparable to “clans” in most other online games.

Alliances are groups of corporations.

Corporations consist of anywhere between a single pilot or hundreds of pilots. Alliances work the same way, encompassing anywhere from two to dozens or even hundreds of corporations.

Corporations and alliances are run much like companies or teams are organized and run in the real world, with a single leader or board of directors crafting policy, rules, operations, and incentives for the corporation members to participate on or by which they are guided. A tax rate can be imposed on any income over $100,000 received by pilots of the corporation, and this tax helps to fund corporate operations and pay expenses (like rental fees).

Corporations establish their legitimacy by setting up “offices” in stations or headquarters in Citadels. Both allow the corporation to gain a foothold and set up station hangars to store and share items and ships between members. Some members may be assigned certain roles in the corporation that gives them access to certain items or features (such as auditors to review records, access to item boxes and hangars, and the ability to recruit or remove members). Alliances operate in similar fashion, and can claim sovereignty and territory in null-security space.

A pilot can join a corporation simply by reviewing a corporation’s profile page and clicking “Join.” Much like a traditional job, a pilot’s application may be reviewed by a recruiter, who may contact the pilot with a series of questions. Joining alliances requires some more finesse and political engagement. Diplomatic representatives and CEOs will often engage each other in dialogue to discuss joining or forming alliances. In the case of null-sec alliances, the dialogue will be more in-depth and may come with concessions, business deals, or territorial exchanges.

Once you join a corporation, your profile and employment history will change to reflect your enlistment into said corporation. You may have access to certain parts of the corporation’s office and hangar if those are available. As a corporation member, you will gain access to Corporate chat, allowing you to communicate directly with your corporation members. If the corporation is part of an Alliance, you will gain access to Alliance chat, and any hangars and structures the alliance has set up, if the access is permitted.

As a corporation and even alliance member, you will be able to participate in alliance fleets and operations. Some major alliances may even impose a certain number of hours of flight time as a requirement for remaining in the alliance. Participation in fleet operations for some null-sec alliances is a requirement to maintain enlistment.

Goals and missions of corporations vary between groups. Some may be mercenary bands which hire out their combat services to those in need of protection (or removing their adversaries). Others may be industrial groups of miners and manufacturers. Others may be social groups who mostly talk and roam the stars. Others may be pirate bands who engage anyone who is foolish enough to stumble into their space.

Corporations and alliances are as diverse as the player base, and all share one major goal: bring pilots together, to fly together, and to play the game that has made all of us immortal.

Experimenting with the Randomizer button was pretty cool! On my very first press, I ended up creating the "Sharp Edges" pattern for the Scorpion. Note the blood splatter at the edges.

I ended up crafting some really wild patterns!

EVE is pretty – let’s show it off!

I’m a photographer at heart, and I love taking screenshots. Let’s see what kind of photography skills our fellow pilots have got!

Take a great-looking screenshot of anything in EVE; be it a station, sun, planet, formation, ships, and the like. Let’s see what this amazing universe is all about.

Maybe there’s some forgotten corner of EVE that needs to be brought back into the light? Perhaps there is a climactic battle in progress that is worth the front-page news? What about inside the stations and Citadels? Does your ship look pretty in the pale blue light? Show it off and let’s see some awesome screenshots!

Pilots can take screenshots and have them judged for composition, lighting, color, activity, and the like. Of course, the organizers of the reward would be the judges to see what screenshots look pretty and amazing, and of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder – but seeing as how vast this universe is, there must be something out there in some corner of EVE that is worth showing off and will make a judge lose their words over how amazing this game looks.

Want to get rich quickly? Here’s the dirty secret – you can, if you sell your soul!

Seriously; one mistake that people make in EVE Online is when they hear someone bragging about how much money they’ve made in a single hour, they forget that raking in that kind of cash takes significant investment in both time and money. The kind of wealth that would buy capital ships (or PLEX at this rate) takes time, ISK, investment, knowhow, skill, and maybe a little luck, all combined into one. It especially takes consistency and diversity.

Likewise, the term ‘quickly’ is relative to the individual, depending on how desperate and driven they are for ISK.

If one wants to truly get rich in EVE, it’s a good idea to diversify one’s portfolio, and treat it seriously. This means having multiple streams of income, such as missions, salvaging, planetary infrastructure, mining skills, and the pursuit of some kind of activity that can not only keep you engaged, but also reward you for your time and effort on a relatively consistent basis.

Sure, you might find a billion-ISK item while traversing a wormhole, but if you find that item once a month (or longer), that kind of ISK might run out before you know what to do with it. And if that becomes your only activity and doesn’t yield consistent profit, you’re going to end up driven to pursue some other path.

Sure, you could descend into the dark rabbit hole of scamming people in trade hubs, but will you be able to sleep at night? Will you be proud of yourself and your ill-gotten gains?

One component of EVE is the balance of time-to-profit and risk-versus-reward; high-risk means high-reward; lengthy investment and improved skills typically yield greater profit, or at least raises your chances of higher profit.

If one is just starting out, mining, missions, and selling the salvage from both are good starter pursuits, which can generate a good income as you improve your skills and performance.

Longtime veterans might run more advanced missions, Incursions, Agency events, or PVP and sell the dropped high-yield gear.

Personally? I fly Incursions, but I’ve also been flying Incursions since 2013 almost non-stop; I’ve made investments to prepare for and pursue Incursions no matter where they strike in the cluster. And I am rewarded handsomely for my time.

EVE Online is what you make it. It is Job 2.0, or a great way to relax with new friends. It is a grind towards success, or a new way to soar into your dreams of setting fire to the stars. EVE is you, and everyone you meet.