Games

After discovering a universal binary patch for Quake 2 (a friend has an Intel Mac), I’ve started playing it again.

We had fun with deathmatch for a while and then figured we’d give coop a go.

Since Quake 2 doesn’t have coop built in I had a look around for a mod. There were quite a few but unfortunately I couldn’t get any of them to work. It seemed they were all designed to work with version 3.1, but we were running 3.2 (and 3.21 - a fix of OpenGL support to make it work on Linux and the one the Mac patch was based on).

The reason why was mind blowing. Apparently in their last update, id software actually added native coop support. Bring up the console and type “set coop 1” and voila, multiplayer single player gameplay (rolls nicely off the tongue eh?).

Although Quake 2 was definitely not designed with coop in mind though. A lot of fighting in corridors where one person can’t fire for risk of blowing his partner(s) up. Although we certainly tried from time to time - occasionally with dire consequences. But fun nonetheless :)

Oh yeah, one more thing. Make sure you change from the default skin as it looks just like one of the enemies…

Yet another dev blog entry includes more information on what will be in the first two phases of Kali. Since it’s all there I’ll just summarise.

The seamless map is integral to the new scanning format and exploration. It seems the scanner interface is now built into the normal view. Lots of hidden things will now be available everywhere for people to find.

Related to the seamless map is improved combat awareness including hierarchical gangs. Have fleets of squadrons of ships along with better gang situational awareness and apparently built in voice chat.

Invention will provide a new path to tech II. Gather random materials and mix them with tech I blueprints to create limited run inefficient tech II blueprints.

Loot will be revamped. No more shiny canisters dropped from ships but actual wreckage with “components” that can be used to make rigs - things that work like implants for ships allowing greater customization.

And all this is in Kali 1, before we get factional warfare.

The Focus of Kali 1 versus Kali 2

A new post has been made in the EVE Dev blog by a guy called Redundancy about the EVE economy. Lots of interesting thing about GDP and stuff. The most interesting is that GDP per capita is on the increase - that is the average amount of money a player earns is going up. In fact is has double since January.

I just downloaded an excellent little program called EVEMon. It’s basically has an item/skill database for EVE and tells you how long it will take you to train skills. You can either select the skills specifically or select an item and it selects the skills necessary for that item. It also reads the XML format that the EVE website makes available so it knows which skills you already have. It also tells you if training any learning skills would make things quicker and the optimal order.

To fly a Leviathan and be able to operate an Oblivion (the Caldari doomsday weapon) will take, at best, 298 days.

PS. Just having an item and skill database readable outside of EVE in an app instead of on a website is quite handy.

The next big update in EVE will be called Kali. This will include a few things, including contracts - an overhaul of the missions/escrow/market system as well a big graphical update. The thing that I think most people are waiting for is Factional Warfare. All I knew about it until recently was vague implications that the name give. But I just received issue 2 of EON (the quarterly EVE magazine) which has a more in depth description of what the developers are hoping for with Factional Warfare.

Firstly, it looks like all the factions will be involved. There’s a two page graphic that has the four big ones in the middle, Gallente, Minmatar, Caldari and Ammar. But the others are scattered around, including Jovian Directorate, Khanid Kingdom, Angel Cartel, Thukker Tribe and even Concord.

But what will it actually involve? Well it seems the big part is the ability to do a “tour of duty” with a faction. This gives you access to special missions of a fairly grand scale involving the factions. This has major downsides. I’m assuming it would also make you a valid kill target for anyone doing a tour of duty for a faction at war with one you’re working for.

Also, factions may eventually be valid targets for war declarations by alliances. Could we see Band of Brothers marching in and taking out a faction? I’m guessing completely destroying a faction would be impossible, but taking large chunks of space would be a laugh….

Remember the magazine is six months old and a lot of it is vague. But exciting things are definitely on their way.

EVE needs a mini client. Something that can run as a normal window without taking up lots of resources that lets you do most thing you might want to do in a station. Things like sending/receiving EVE mail, accessing the market (setting up orders or just plain immediate buying/selling), changing skills, possibly accessing player missions (or contracts as they will become) and corporation management.

There’s lots of times when I don’t want to play EVE as such but I’m waiting for something to happen. And in windowed mode EVE takes up a lot of system resources and performs far less well.

Maybe this would be better mentioned on the EVE forums…

Ooh, after reading the forums I found a way to increase the number of research points you get when doing R&D in EVE Online.

After starting R&D you can also ask the agent for missions. The rewards for the missions are extra research points instead of ISK. The reason I had to go to the forums to find this out is because it apparently isn’t available until a day after you start the R&D.

Pimsleur makes the perfect companion to EVE Online, especially when you’re doing cargo runs or other things that don’t meed much concentration. Why not learn Spanish nipping out to buy that new Battleship? :P

I’m not sure if you can alter the in game music that EVE uses (and changing it to Pimsleur would probably be a hassle since you’re only going to play each track once) but you can run EVE in a window and therefore use whatever media player you like in the background.

EVE, EVE Online, Spanish, Pimsleur

Okay, it’s a dangerous thing to do and of dubious use, but boy do you get loads of buttons to press, I am now the CEO of a 2-man corporation in EVE. In slightly dodgy space no less. But between us (that would be me and the other guy) our capability to defend ourselves is ever increasing.

One thing I’ve noticed is an apparent lack of information regarding running a corporation. Most of it I can work out, but what the hell is gold for instance? If anyone could point me at a guide I’d be much a appreciative.

After picking up a cheap blueprint (a DRMed copy of course) I am now an arms manufacturer and dealer in EVE Online.

I read that making money from selling self-manufactured items was difficult without Production Efficiency skill of 5 and I’m managing with 3. Although I’m not buying all the raw materials though. I buy the Tritanium which I needs loads of and mine the Nocxium myself. I think if I had to pay for the Nocxium then I’d be screwed…

And remember to get your free 14 day EVE Online trial.