News: Apocalypse Now(dot) Alliance Deploys a Refinery Upgrade in 6-OQJV

Apocalypse Now(dot) Alliance has deployed a tier two refining upgrade in the 6-OQJV system, Providence region, on the second of April. This was done in preparation for the upcoming summer expansion, which will see major changes done to the refining mechanics of EVE Online. This marked the completion of over a month of planning and work done mainly by the higher echelons of the Alliance.

Overseeing the initial donation drive and preparing the needed materials for the upgrade itself, was Breahur Laeonas, of Burning Skies Corporation, Apocalypse Now(dot) Alliance’s High Security space Commander. According to her, it took three weeks to assemble the needed materials, partly due to the difficulty of obtaining specific items as they required the need of re-tooling existing Planetary Interaction chains in order to construct them as well as gather certain products which are exclusive to Relic Sites alone.

The second challenge was the purchase and delivery of the two construction platforms into the Providence region, as each possess a volume of seven hundred and fifty thousand cubic meters, necessitating the exclusive use of Freighter class vessels for the hauling.

With the Pedestal Upgrade Platform needed to construct the upgrade costing at seven point two billion ISK, and the Minmatar Outpost Refinery Platform which allows the expansion of station services to begin with, estimated at one point eight billion ISK, it is easy to see how a Freighter moving those “Eggs” as they are commonly referred to (Due to their shape) would present a tempting target for gankers.

Thus an effort was made to mobilize Titans, scouts and escorts in order to safely move the two “Eggs” while maintaining the operation’s complete secrecy. The Freighter pilot, who wished to remain anonymous, said that though the operation itself went smoothly, there were several times when caution dictated he should dock and wait, rather than continue on his journey, with much of the hauling done in times of low system population on the route in order to avoid discovery.

However, even delivered and awaiting assembly, the troubles of Apocalypse Now(dot) Alliance were not over, partly due to the recent deployment of H.E.R.O Coalition to the Catch region and partly due to the influx of hostile activity caused by the Halloween War winding down, making the target system to be frequented by roaming gangs and hot dropping fleets at a greater rate.

Since in order to install the upgrade a complete lock-down of the system was required, so that it wouldn’t be destroyed by any hostile force that came by chance into the system, the Australian Timezone of the Alliance was recruited to completely shut off access to the system, led by Event Horizon Expeditionaries Corporation and its CEO, Sienna d’Orien, who set gate camps and deployed warp disruption bubbles on all the entry points to the system.

Just before the server’s scheduled maintenance the “Eggs” were deployed and filled, with the server start-up registering it as installed. After the deployment, the participants of the operation celebrated the success of the operation on the station undock.

Deployment of the "Egg" and the protection fleet 

With the current upgrade, it is now possible to get a perfect refining yield in the station with only level four reprocessing skills, though this will invariably change once the summer expansion rolls in. No doubt, other entities in the Providence-Bloc are probably hard at work preparing for the upcoming change as well.

Apocalypse Now(dot) Alliance’s Second in Command, JedsZero, of Burning Skies Corporation, wished to commend all those who donated and took part in the installation of the upgrade, and the Event Horizon Expeditionaries Corporation for providing security for the operation. The Unnamed Freighter pilot wished to thank all those who gave their time to scout, escort and Titan bridges for him

Special thanks for the following JedsZero and Breahur Laeonas of Burning Skies and Sienna d’Orien of Event Horizon Expeditionaries, Apocalypse Now(dot) Alliance for granting interviews.

Article: Know Your Mark

A cautionary tale about over-eagerness and its disastrous results

One of the main sources of income in Null Security space are anomalies. These sites, which are automatically scanned by Player ships once they enter a system or undock from a station, offer ISK in the form of spawning waves of NPC ships, whose bounties can, in total, amount to quite a substantial figure. This is especially true of systems with low enough "True Sec" value, who get a wider range of anomalies. The sites themselves re-spawn at a set rate, allowing to "Chain" several together for maximum monetary yield.

Those who run these anomalies, called "Ratters" usually invest in ships with high tanking and damage output. The Carrier class of ships is the one most often utilized, due to its ability to ignore most of the NPC ships' damage, while maintaining a decent damage output of its own. Others may opt to use several Battleship class ships on multiple accounts together, in order to do these anomalies at a faster rate, thus increasing their income. Drone boats have been mostly favored in that setup, as NPC ships would not target the Player's drones with more than one Player ship present, thus splitting the damage and allowing for the drones themselves to engage the targets with minimal Player intervention.

Some Players though, prefer to use expensive ships, specifically Marauder or Pirate Faction class Battleships. These ships, which usually cost four to five times the price of their brethren, have a slew of bonuses which allow them to tank and damage far better than other ships, to twenty or even thirty percent degree. They are mainly flown by Players who prefer to do said anomalies solitary and most efficiently, or because of skill constraints. 

Often times, these ships are fitted with expensive Faction or even Dead Space modules, whose bonuses are much higher than the Tech II variants, and at times easier to fit. This is done partly for the "Bling" factor, i.e. as a display of wealth, and due to increased bonuses to damage, tank and tracking or just capacitor stability, which makes the activity easier and less stressful to handle.

Thus, this class of ships is very attractive for "Roamers", Players who cross the vast emptiness of space in search of a decent fight or an expensive kill. Part of it, is of course, the "Smug" factor. Getting an expensive kill can offset many a losing streak, not to mention do wonders to a Player's efficiency. The other factor is the drop. Every Player ship destroyed has a chance to drop some of its modules. If enough expensive modules drop, the incursion can be proven to be quite profitable, and able to fund more ships in the future, granted the Player manages to escape to High Security space with his loot.

All of this was surely in the back of Exclevori's mind, of Asturm Fidelis, Apocalypse Now(dot) Alliance, when he flew alongside his CEO, Dragoshi Drambuie, to the Catch region. Dragoshi made quite a name for himself roaming the adjacent regions to Providence, picking a fight with the various members of the Stain-Wagon Coalition.

However, for the most part, the journey proved to be unremarkable, as the pair jumped from one empty system to the next. They were ready to despair and set course to deeper, uncharted territory when something quite unexpected happened - They stumbled upon a populated system. With four Machariel class Battleships showing on the directional scanner in the HP-64T system, Catch region, hopefully still oblivious to their presence, the pair split up in order to find their victims, covering the most profitable anomalies in the system. 

Warping to zero in a Forsaken Hub, Exclevori landed right between the four Machariel class Battleships. Screaming on their coms for Dragoshi Drambuie to warp to him, Exclevori didn't notice one important piece of information - The Machariels were using smartbombs. 

Smartbombs are modules that do moderate damage around the Player's ship at regular intervals. However, the damage itself is quite anemic compared to missiles or turrets, and its range is very short. Yet with four Machariels using smartbombs together at the spawn point, it is guaranteed that the NPC ships will be destroyed before they manage to move away from the smartbombs' range. Not a traditional choice for running anomalies, but one that requires even less attentiveness than a drone based setup.

While Exclevori was too excited to notice, Dragoshi Drambuie, who landed a bit further than him, and had his friend on the fleet's watchlist, saw immediately the peril Exclevori was in. Shouting to him to burn away from the Machariels, his warning proved too late, as Exclevori's Stabber class Cruiser was taking damage from the Machariels' smartbombs. Quickly, it succumbed to the damage.

Unable to break the tank of the Machariels by himself, Dragoshi Drambuie had to warp off as well, leaving the enemy's ships to continue their activity unmolested, probably not even aware of what has transpired.

If anything is to be learned from this story, is that one should always choose his victims wisely, and never give in to excitement, or else end up in his pod.

Special thanks for Exclevori of Asturm Fidelis, Apocalypse Now(dot) Alliance, for giving me this story

Article: The Great Wormhole Heist

Wormhole residents learn the hard way the price of being KOS to Providence

Providence residents are all too familiar with wormholes. It is a common occurrence in the region, and usually, an irritating one. Not once do wormhole corporations descend from unknown space to harass and pillage the region’s systems. At other times, unfriendly groups from remote sectors of space use these wormholes to travel to the region and raise hell. Certainly, no decent, hardworking Providence pilot wants to see one in his system.

However, two nights ago, a group of Apocalypse Now. pilots tipped the Karma scales back a bit by executing a brilliant heist, netting them approximately 10 billion ISK in ships, modules and loot. This incredible feat proves once more how a little bit of luck, and a lot of boredom result in a fantastic tale of theft and, ultimately, profit.

A Prober Probes a Hole

All great stories start innocently enough, and this one is no different. Araikas Rhal, of Helghan Imperial Armada, Apocalypse Now. Alliance probed a wormhole in 08Z-JJ. He bookmarked it in the corporate tab and thought no more of it. Findrahis, his corpmate, was bored at the time and decided to explore said wormhole. Flying in, he might have expected to get an easy kill, do a site maybe, but not to find an offlined POS, and one with a Ship Maintenance Array to boot belonging to a KOS corporation.

Without hesitation, Findrahis got on the Apoc TeamSpeak server and called all available pilots. In a few moments, seven brave pilots were willing to go into the unknown and wreck some revenge on the wormhole residents. They warped to the offlined POS and started popping modules. When they blew up the Corporate Hangar Array and found nothing in it they must have thought that their operation will result only in a few killmails and a well deserved feeling of revenge. And then they killed the Ship Maintenance Array…

Cash Pinata

I am sure that as the Ship Maintenance Array exploded and they examined its wreck, there was a moment of sheer disbelief followed by a dawning realization and then a flurry of activity. The structure yielded its bounty, and it was plentiful indeed. two billion ISK in ships alone was found in the wreck!

However, more surprises awaited the Apoc pilots as they boarded the Orca and Chimera in a plan to smuggle them out of the wormhole and into Providence. Seven fully fitted Tengus were discovered in the carrier’s hold, estimated worth close to five billion ISK, as well as approximately one point six billion ISK in salvage, loot and skillbooks.

The last, but not least, surprise was the Chimera itself, which was fully faction fitted, and carrying a full drone bay, estimated at three billion ISK, hull, fittings and drones.

 

Aftermath

All told, Apocalypse Now. managed to steal ten billion ISK in assets from the wormhole residents, who were taught a valuable lesson about starbases and refueling. The Tengus themselves were divided between the raid’s participants, while all other ships and assets were donated towards the Apocalypse Now. SRP fund*.

All in all a happy ending to an unexpected adventure, well, except for the original owners of said tower..

*If you are interested in purchasing any of the ships or materials shown in the article, please contact JedsZero ingame.