It is difficult to decide for one certain ship that is underrated in all of New Eden, so I want to tell you about a ship I personally got to know as underrated. My Exequror is a repairing support ship that is fitted for PvP and gets a surprising amount of fights because it looks harmless. It has great tank and is really fun to fly. Just don't tell too many people it has got teeth!

It is actually one of the few ships I fly dirty to have the visual and lore of the dust collecting on the hull. I even got it a special skin shorty after SKINR dropped. While I cannot really fly it while looking for fights, it is nice to look at while traveling to my next hunting grounds!

This is somehow a bit of an unfair reward for me. I do not even have to log in to submit something... xD

Pochven is one of my favourite regions to take screenshots, so every time I'm in the area, I get some new pictures for my collection. These screenshots were taken a while back during a frigate roam in Triglavian space. It was quite a fun evening!

The glaive is a polearm of considerable size and weight. Believed to originate from Wales, the weapon consists of a curved blade, typically with only one edge, mounted on a long pole. Some glaives even had hooks or thorns on the non cutting side of the blade to break armour or pull enemies of their horses.

So, for this challenge I wanted to get to know a bit more about these weapons, so I dug up some info. After reading up, I took a closer look at the ones used in Empyreal and noticed a few things. Empyreal glaives are symmetrical and posses two cutting edges. They do not seem to have hooks or thorns, but have several glowing parts.

Then I got to work with a first design and decided to make a sketch to get the lines right.

After I was satisfied with the basics, I scanned it and started working in Gimp.

I used screenshots of the other two weapons available to keep me on track for the proportions and general art style. First I made one half, then I mirrored the image and managed to get a nice symmetry.

After a while, everything came together and I decided to see how my new blade would fit into the world of Empyreal.

I managed to paint out the original weapon, using two overlapping screenshots. Thank you to the Devs who made this a lot easier by keeping a clean movement and idle animation!

Now I only had to add my own blade and tweak some last spots on the hands.

I am quite satisfied with how it turned out! My general inexperience in working on projects like this one still shows in the end result, but I am happy I got this far. Maybe I can add a list of stats in the end.

Ok, this was a pretty long break down, it was a fun challenge to learn and improve for this result! :)

I really enjoy hidden treasures, so I always like to climb around and check behind every corner. If you focus on the fight next to this room, you'll probably miss this sphere, so I wanted to share it's location for this bounty. I hope that is what you mean by loot cave, but if not, maybe it can still be of use to some players that did not find it yet.

This was a bit easier then expected, but also not at all what I thought I would find!

It reminded me of the Australian thorny devil, but it moves quite a bit different. I'd love to read other people's ideas on what kind of "lizard" this is. Maybe it is fictional and native to the monolith, but I feel like I've seen something like it on earth as well.

I guess Rixx Javix won't like me very much for taking "his" submission, but since I live in the area as well, I guess I'll sneak it in...

If you travel around in New Eden, you should certainly visit Old Man Star. You can find it's yellow sun in the Vieres constellation in Essence. This system has a special star gate with a great background story and nice visuals. When I was a newbie, my CEO told me the story during a gate camp with the corp and I always like taking my own new players to the gate to show them this landmark and tell them about it's lore. We even caught a few tourists on the gate over the years.

A unique stargate constructed by Ceul 'Old Man' Darieux using a fleet of drones of his own design, following a disastrous navigation accident that left him as the sole survivor of a Federation gate-building expedition.

In YC11, a Gallente gate-builder vessel was sent to construct a link between the then Ouperia system and Villore. A critical error in the gate-builder ship's jump drive navigation systems placed the ship several light years off course, in the middle of an asteroid cluster. In the confused aftermath, an asteroid struck the vessel and killed four of the five crew. Ceul Darieux was left with the daunting task of regaining control of the ship and somehow completing his mission or returning home.

Given the relative distances, Darieux decided to press on to Ouperia, though without the benefit of a functioning jump drive the journey would take decades. In YC55, the gate-builder ship arrived in system and the work of building a new gate back to Villore could begin. The effort to correct the ship's flight path had been difficult but hardly took four decades. With the time on his hands, Darieux, knowing he would need help, had worked to design tools and drones to replace the materiel and crew lost in the accident.

Setting up a drone assembly station on a conveniently located asteroid in Ouperia, Ceul Darieux managed to use a combination of intact gate components, drone-built replacements and cannibalized elements of the ship's systems to construct a functioning stargate back to Villore. The labor he and his drones carried out took five years but was a remarkable success given the disaster and long decades of Darieux's solitude.

In YC60, the Federation was astounded when the dormant Villore-Ouperia gate activated and established a stabilized gate wormhole to the abandoned Ouperia system. The stripped-down and patched-up core of the gate-builder ship carried the now elderly Darieux and some of his drone crew back to Villore to a hero's welcome. Old Man Darieux went on to found the CreoDron corporation on the strength of his designs and fame, while the Ouperia system was renamed "Old Man Star" in his honor.

Although much upgraded, the original Old Man Star to Villore gate is still located within the cleared and stabilized cluster of asteroids Darieux used as a base and source of materials. CreoDron drones continue to watch over the stargate, maintaining its systems and ensuring the stability of the link to Villore.

Finally done! This video certainly took far more hours to make then I intended it to. I wanted to get a high quality guide and it went a bit out of hand. Nevertheless, I'm quite satisfied with how it turned out and I hope it can be of some use to younger players!

Just some number crunching

This is a fun idea for a bounty!

The Charon wreck on the second screenshot is real. I found it on the Nouvukaiken gate in Tama once. Of course I had to take my tiny rookie ship for a visit and get some pictures...

I decided to go for a cinematic approach once more. With over 3 hours of total footage recorded, this was certainly a giant event. Sadly I experienced some lag in the recordings, but I quite like the music I found. I hope it's still enjoyable though!

Thanks for this fun event, I'm certainly looking forward to next year's FFFA.