Hello Capsuleers!

I've been getting a few comments here and there that people are missing me on Capsuleer. Since I know I was on CK's Eve Blog Pack, I was wondering what was going on, but I didn't do anything about it. Until today.

So I think that after Twittering CK about it, I was added to the Blog Pack RSS feed that caters to Capsuleer. Woohoo!

It's good to be 'back'. If anyone on Capsuleer wants to say hi in the comments, I'd love to hear from you. And I hope you'll be looking forward to getting more of my posts in future! :)

OUCH is readjusting itself

OUCH is no longer a member of the alliance we were part of. Things went chaotic very quickly after the alliance executor decided to create a new corp and effectively go his own way. He tried to drag OUCH along for the ride, and I was torn between doing what I felt was best for OUCH and the goals I had for it, and doing what a number of corp members wanted - which was to follow the new corp.

In the end it got quite messy after I ended up vetoing his attempts to take control of OUCH's destiny. He then tried to manipulate OUCH members into following him instead of me, and used comments taken out of context to 'prove' to everyone in OUCH how much of a bad idea it would be to stay in OUCH.

If one were so inclined, one might suspect he was even paid by some other training organisation in the game to do what he could to destroy us, as it looked like that was his intention. His attempts to manipulate OUCH's failure were very, very obvious. But it's a good thing I don't believe in such conspiracies.

Politics is a funny creature, isn't it?

Like anywhere in this world, there are people who will fall for the manipulations of others, and so it is in OUCH too. A number of members have left OUCH to follow the one that tried to destroy it. I wish them well.

I remember a time long ago when I ran another corp called Black Scorpion Ltd. I had a trusted Director who put so much into the corp to help it grow, but then he didn't agree with how I handled a war so he provided intel to the enemy in order for the corp to die in a screaming heap. I won that war, and I found out what he did and kicked him out.

Every time I think I can trust someone in this game, they prove to me that I can't, and that I shouldn't have in the first place. Corp thefts, political drama... It's all such bullshit.

So no one can be trusted any more. It's a real shame, but such is the nature of this game.

They fuck you and fuck you and fuck you, and just when you think it's over, that's when the real fucking begins!
- Conrad, The Game

So no one has full access to hangars any more. No one has access to the corp wallet. No one gets any major assets given to them for corp or personal use without first providing a signifcant collateral so that it's not in their interest to steal it. They get that money back after returning the asset.

I'm talking about freighters, in this case. The corp is still giving away free ships to its members, and that won't be changing in the short term, although we'll be moving to a different business model soon. Basically, any ships that get donated to the corp will be given to its members to fly and use for their training or personal use. Any ships that the corp builds for its members will be sold to them at 80% of retail value. So we'll be working on a combination of donated items handed out for free, and built items sold cheaply.

I rcognise this past month has made me cynical about the people behind the characters in this game, but that's not going to stop me from driving forward with the goals for OUCH. The nullsec training continues, and now even stronger than ever.

What we're left with is over 150 members who are committed to the ideals of OUCH. We've had our 'trial by fire' to see who is loyal and who's not, and I'm impressed with what's come out of it.

We have our blues in the area, who are happy we're staying. There will be continued training operations, along with joint training and PVP operations for the purpose of training and clearing out our own territory. We have 2 POS's for moon mining to help bring in an income, and we're looking at a third POS for building and researching over the next few weeks.

The corp is being restructured to facilitate a more focused and dedicated approach, and a lot of people are working together to help make that happen. In just over a month I'll be ready to create my own alliance, and our blues can come together under a single umbrella.

Our future looks bright! Where's my shades...

Looking for ex-Goonswarm trainers!

I've heard that Goonswarm has disbanded. Wow, that's huge.

Well, I thought I should put this out there....

If you're an experienced trainer of PVP or anything else that could be related to nullsec survival training, I'd be interested in discussing with you how you could join the Open University of Celestial Hardship (OUCH).

We need trainers, and you might be able to help us!

So if you enjoy training, and want to do your bit to get more people into nullsec, contact me to discuss your interest.

Note: you don't have to be a trainer to join OUCH. We're an 'open university', and we take anyone and everyone that wants to learn how to survive in nullsec. We'll teach you.

OUCH's motto:
"You're going to die. A lot. But we'll help you learn how to die less."

OUCH's growing pains continue

One of the really annoying things about providing ships and fittings to OUCH members to help them with training is that eventually, one of them decides that it's a really good idea to steal everything they can.

As a result, our security measures have been increased so that corp theft is (almost) impossible, and members can still get what they need to receive their nullsec training. Everyone wins, albeit with a few minor inconveniences to ensure stuff's not stolen.

We're planning on moving to another region soon, as there's been a number of homeless alliances that have moved in to Curse, taking advantage of the NPC corps there. So we're packing up and shipping out to find somewhere a bit quieter, but that will continue to allow us to proviide nullsec survival training to our members.

Our alliance is growing along with OUCH, and we're getting more joint operations occurring to go roaming and getting kills. It's nice to see the trainees forming up and taking the 'pain stick' to the nullsec locals. They're getting some decent PVP and some decent successes too. I love it. :)

Our industrial arm is beginning to take form, so that we'll be starting to build our own ships for members soon, and sell any excess on the market.

It's all very exciting! We're approaching 200 members and still growing, with a lot of self-sustainability occurring. It's been an interesting and busy time, but we're getting there and establishing ourselves as a decent training corp that's providing a service that no one else is.

On the more personal front, I'm training Megacorp Management V, and once I complete that I'll do Empire Control I, which will allow 2,000 members per level. That should keep OUCH going for a while before I have to train level II.

Alexia Morgan, my alt, has just completed everything she needs to fly a Vagabond, so as of last night, I've been playing around with it. No combat in it yet, but it's only a matter of time. I'm reading up on tips and tactics for it, and if anyone out there has some good advice for me on succeeding with Vaga's, please let me know in a comment.

Eve Uni teaches you how to be a carebear

From all the stories and complaints I hear about Eve Uni, amongst others, it's obvious that all they do is teach people how to be carebears. Their trainers are carebears, their fleet commanders are carebears, and their students are taught to be carebears. It's just ludicrous if you have a few dozen fleet members who are forced to hide in a station or POS because the fleet commander is afraid of a lone hostile in local.

No wonder there's so many carebears in New Eden when you have major universities teaching them how to be that way...

Sure, if YOU want to be a carebear, and if YOU want to learn how to be in a fleet of 30 people and hide from a lone frigate, YOU can go join Eve Uni or any of those others that teach you how to be a carebear.

But there needs to be a shakeup of the status quo. There needs to be a new kid on the block. And... there is! It's OUCH.

It's training organisations like Eve Uni that made me decide to start OUCH (Open University of Celestial Hardship). It's the 'celestial hardship' that we promote. You don't succeed in life by being pampered to, by being protected, by being trained and encouraged to hide.

OUCH offers 'nullsec survival training', with an emphasis on survival and PVP. We provide free ships, fittings and skillbooks so that our members don't have to worry about losing their own hard-earned possessions (unless they want to, of course). We sit on the border of empire space and nullsec, and most of our training and operations are in nullsec itself.

Our motto is: "You're going to die. A lot. But along the way we'll teach you how to die less."

We stick to that. We don't mollycoddle anyone. All our training is operational, in lowsec or nullsec, against real hostile targets. If there is opportunity for combat, we're often taking that opportunity. Even if our members don't win the battle, they learn from the experience.

We don't force our members to hide in stations. We encourage them to get out there and seek out PVP in the hard and painful areas of deep space. We provide them with the ships and training that empowers them to do so without worrying about their own ships.

We don't kick anyone out for moving their assets around. We don't let the possibility of combat stop us from doing anything, as that's entirely what we're about - teaching our members how to survive, prosper and win in the harshest areas of space.

We're an 'open university', which means anyone can join for any reason, stay as long as they want, help or learn, and leave when they want. The only time we'll ever kick anyone out of OUCH is if they try to cause harm to their corp mates or the corp itself.

We're new, and we just started in December. We want people to join us to learn how to survive and fight in nullsec. If we're at war, that's fantastic! It just means there's more targets for our members to shoot at and learn how to improve their aim and tactics.

So if you're interested in being part of a real training corp, please consider joining OUCH.

Remember - you'll die a lot, but dying is just part of the game. Along the way you'll learn how to die less, and then you're going to kick some serious butt!