OUCH Frequently Asked Questions

Thanks to our Training Director, we have a Frequently Asked Questions post about the student requirements within OUCH, which currently sits on our forums in the student area.  I just wanted to add a few notes for you to be aware of while you're reading the FAQ:

1) The FAQ applies to students within OUCH, and is from the perspective of "Now that I'm in OUCH I have some questions..."  From reading this, you'll understand a lot about what is expected of our students.

2) The Student Folders mentioned in the FAQ are a requirement for all students to create on our forum. This is where a record is kept of their training, achievements, and any relevant discussions they might want to engage in with trainers or mentors.

3) If you're intrigued by the training concepts described in the FAQ and feel like you'd like to be a part of it, then join us so you can be. :)

4) If you're reading this and you've been playing for a few years and now you're looking for a challenge in your Eve career and you think that helping OUCH with our student training, PVE or PVP in some way just might be it, then contact me to discuss this.

And now, on to the Frequently Asked Questions!

The graduation requirements say I have to graduate within 90 days of joining OUCH. Real life might make this impossible. Can I get an extension? 

Yes. We strictly adhere to a real-life-comes-first policy. If more time is needed, post a reply to your student folder letting us know. At some point, however, your ingame title will be changed to Trial and if your absence is prolonged, you might be removed from the corp. If this happens, when you become active again simply re-apply to OUCH and we'll re-activate your student folder.

I'm a six-year-old character and can fly every ship in the game. Do I have to fly the student-fit frigate? 

Yes. We will train you to competently pilot a no-frills frigate. The skills you learn while a student can be applied after you graduate to other ships and fittings, but will serve as a solid foundation. Your student time in OUCH will focus on a very particular small-gang role, that of secondary tackler.

Are there any exceptions to the student-fit frigate requirement? 

Yes.

1) You may travel-fit a frigate for navigating through null. Typical travel fits include a cloaking device, microwarpdrive and warp core stabilizers. You may put your combat modules in the cargo hold and re-fit when desired in nullsec. You may also use the travel-fit frigate for the nullsec run graduation requirement, though an empty cargo hold is advised.

2) If you wish to participate in PVE activities, consult the folks in Logistics about what ship and fitting you should bring.

Do I have to set up on the Singularity server? 

No, you don't have to, but it is highly recommended. Some things will be taught and practiced on SISI that won't be available to you on Tranquility, such as how to place the mobile small warp disruption bubble.

The training module sessions conflict with my real life schedule. Is there a workaround? 

Depends. Our trainers have real lives too. We do sometimes hold module sessions outside of the times scheduled to accomodate groups of students who have similar time constraints, and in some cases will hold one-on-one sessions depending on a trainer's availability. However, please do your best to make the scheduled sessions.

Will OUCH help me make ISK to support my PvP habit? 

No. However, we do have a Logistics Department that is involved in ISK-making activities and you are welcome to participate.

How then do PvPers support their habit? 

Varies by pilot. Some buy PLEX, some engage in PVE, some in industry or trading, some have other accounts they use for making ISK. You'll need to figure out what works for you.

How do I become a permanent member of OUCH? 

Within 30 days of graduation, apply to one of our Departments: Operations (PvP), Training, or Logistics (essentially PVE). If accepted, you then become a permanent OUCH member, though pilots in the Operations Department must maintain a monthly combat record of at least four fights to remain permanent members. Failure of an Operations Department member to meet this requirement will result in that member being removed from Operations and placed in 30-day post-graduation status

What if I graduate and don't apply to one of the Departments? 

If you haven't applied to a department within 30 days of graduating, you will be removed from OUCH.  You're either a student or a permanent member - there's no inbetween.

Do you have a ship replacement program? 

No. However, some modules can be made available to you in our nullsec HQ and we do offer a number of ships at a discount to the market via corporate contracts.

Does OUCH have a POS or sovereignty? 

No and no.

Does OUCH have corporate hangars? 

Yes. However, as a student you will have read-only access to a couple of the hangar divisions.

Does OUCH have a loot policy? 

Yes. What that policy is differs between Operations and Logistics. Ask your op leader.

Tales from the front line #2

I proudly bring you another 'tale from the front line'. This is a recent engagement that our OUCH members were involved in.  I want to remind you that these warriors were - only very recently - noobs and carebears, just like you probably are. There's no shame in being new, or being a carebear, because OUCH exists to help you grow.  Just like it helped the below-mentioned members grow.

Please enjoy:

‘Maelstrom's in the Bubble’
I log onto Teamspeak after logging off for a short break from EVE to see nine killers in the PVP OPS 1 channel.  So I  drop down to the channel to see what’s going on. “Maelstrom on D-Scan” is called out, seconds later “Second Maelstrom on D-Scan” is announced.  I immediately begin logging into EVE.
I hear primary being called and pilots calling out points all the time I’m frantically trying to log into game only to find myself in [CENSORED] station instead of the system of the engagement. Jamm’s are announced on both battleships.
“He’s shield boost tanked” is called out. I immediately begin assessing the situation in my head as I wait for session change to be able to change ships. Another pilot announces “We don’t have enough DPS to break the tank!” I select my Sacrilege to bring the pain…
As I undock I call to my fellow capsuleers to hold onto them, I’m on the way with more DPS. As I’m warping to the gate I’m going over the info that has been given out in my head when I realize that comms are eerily silent. I hit the gate and jump on contact calling it out over comms. Once on the other side I warp to a tactical bookmark, and then with gritted teeth into the fray I warp.
As I'm locking the primary still our comms are pretty silent.  My ship acquires a lock and I unleash hell. At this point I go into combat mode and the military trained part of my brain engages and assumes control. I begin asking for reports from out ECM pilots and begin assuring we have points on both BS’s.  The flow of information begins again, I smile.
“+1” is announced over comms.  “Any relation to the Mael’s?” I ask.
“No, we have a rifter on D-scan” is the reply.  The gears in my head begin to spin even faster now. Do I let the Rifter go and keep my focus on the battleship? Or do I feed him to the the blood-frenzied sharks currently swarming the battleships? A few heartbeats later I decide. This is our system - intrusion will not be tolerated by a single rifter.
I call for two of my best tacklers to move to the bubble and greet our new guest when/if he arrives.  A few seconds later “Rifter in the bubble!” is called.
“Grab him” I call, and almost immediately the tacklers respond with their confirmations of tackle. They have been trained well.  I quickly give orders for two of my pilots to hold the battleships and for everyone else to get on the Rifter. “KILL IT” is the order given after I receive the confirmation that all free pilots are on him. He pops almost instantly and his pod is scrammed quickly thereafter. Not wanting to waste time I call for the pod to be killed without waiting for everyone to get on it, and give orders for everyone to get back on the primary Mael.
The Maelstrom's shields begin to very slowly melt way when he engages his shield boosters again. Concern on whether or not we can break his tank is voiced in comms. Seeing how much shield is being boosted I realize that he must be dual boosted, which means he’s running a cap booster. “He’s using a cap booster with charges and they cant last forever.” I assure my pilots over comms.  Sure enough, his boosting amountv soon cuts in half which means he’s dropped down to one booster. His cap charges are running low. His shields begin to dissipate at an increased rate and before long he is in armor.  As his structure begins to quickly bleed out I call for my tacklers to prepare to grab his pod and for the rest of my fleet to switch primary to the second Mael upon the first's destruction. The Maelstrom explodes in a glorious ball of fire, but unfortunately his pod escapes.
Having tasted blood my pilots descend up the second Maelstrom like a pack of rabid piranha. And his tank doesn’t seem to be quite as strong as the first. It begins melting at a much faster rate. When intel reports that a small fleet consisting of interceptors, Dramiels, and a Flycatcher have landed on the gate next door with a Dram jumping into our system. “Stay on target” I call out, “Dram on D-scan” calls out another.
Decision time again, I quickly assess our situation and decide to not and try to get a tackle on the Dramiel unless he attempts to engage us first. We are so close now to bringing down the Maelstrom that I need every bit of DPS we can muster to pop it before this fleet jumps in on us.
“Dram in the bubble” is called. I watch as it quickly turns and begins burning for the gate, “He’s bugging out,” I call out over comms.
“Fleet jumping into system,” reports our scout next door just as the Maelstrom drops into structure.
“Bring him down now, we're about to have company!” I demand over comms, and like the vicious killers they are, they comply. The Maelstrom pops just as the fleet is identified on D-scan. “Warp to tacs” (tactical bookmarks) command is given out and all pilots warp off to safety with zero losses. We decide to give the incoming fleet a free pass while we reload and let the adrenaline run its course out of our system.
While I know this is not a AAR (after action report) in its true form and more of a narrative from my POV, it gives an account of what I saw and my emotions during the engagement.  I am extremely proud of all the pilots involved in these kills. An extraordinary job was done by our ECM pilots who kept our opponents jammed for the majority of the battle. All fleet members followed orders precisely and quickly. While I am aware that my spelling, grammar, and just general use of the English language is frighteningly horrible I hope you enjoy this account as much as I did. I am a proud member of Art of War Alliance and look forward to killing with you all again.

Takedown of a Cynabal

Just recently, some of our guys had a great time taking out a neutral Cynabal in nullsec. Below is the action report from one of the OUCH fleet members. (I've taken the liberty to censor some sensitive information.) This is an example of what our OUCH members are doing out there:

The [CENSORED] gate bubble in [CENSORED] was slow. Very slow. So slow that the FC had asked the fleet if a roam would be more fun. Just as fleet members were considering the roam or logging for the evening, intel comes in from [CENSORED]: Neutral in system.....Cynabal on scan.

I keep open on another computer several webpages, one of them is an eve-wiki page. I quickly look at Cynabal and see this:
Fast. Really fast. Faster than a Vagabond due to # of low slots + base speed.

25% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret rate of fire
10% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret damage per level
10% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret falloff per level

Hmm. As one of the fastest ships in our little camp with a scram (the other being [CENSORED] in his Incursus), I am going to share primary tackle duty. Noting that there is no bonus to tracking speed, I felt that if he came into the bubble, we could hold him and I could stay under his weapons if I kept the afterburner on.

He lands on the [CENSORED] gate in [CENSORED] and enters are system. We wait. "Cynabal on D-scan" is called out. And then he lands 5km from me. The fight is on.

It takes almost 4 seconds for me to get a lock once he became vulnerable. "Scram!"...."Web!".... a few more calls came out. I am about 6-7km or so, well within my scram range and web. Afterburner is on. Drone: out. I start to apply damage. Shield buffered. Going to be a long fight.

FC calls out "Drones. Target drones". I quickly hit my drones tab and target the Hornet EC drones he has. I switch damage over.

During this whole time, our quarry has targeted me and had begun shooting and applying a neut. I watched my capacitor run dry. It didn't take long. Once I slowed, his 425 Auto IIs caught up with me.

"[CENSORED], get out of there", called our FC. I was into structure now. With the neut, I didn't have the ability to warp away. Once I started aligning, my transversal was gone. No warp, no transversal...*poof*.

I was spamming warp already, so my pod zipped out (he didn't have a point, but I didn't want to be an easy target). As I left the field, the FC called out that the Cynabal's shields were gone. The ship didn't last much longer after that, nor did his pod. No one else in our fleet was lost. 17,500+ damage was delivered first class.

In essence, we traded a student-fit Incursus for a 170 Million ISK Cynabal. It was a good deal.


Lessons:
1. Know what you're going up against. It helps to have cheat sheets if you're memory is as alcohol-damaged as mine.
2. Speedy frigs can be effective.
3. Neuts suck.

I do want to thank those in the fleet last night. What a crew! And especially the FC [CENSORED]. I really appreciated [CENSORED]'s precise and calm FC-ing. A real pro.

An OUCH poster for your desktop

I've been very excited to engage the services of Rixx Javix and, as I'd hoped, he's outdone himself with his work for OUCH.  Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a poster for OUCH.  Feel free to save it to your desktop or share it with your friends.

[Click on it for a larger view]

Tales from the front lines

The below is what I hope to be the first of a series of 'tales from the front lines'. These are stories written by members of OUCH about their experiences out there on the front lines of nullsec combat. If you like what you read, maybe you'd like to join us

I'm a relatively young combat pilot, on the staff of a non-profit null security space survival corporation. Our job is to train pilots of various levels of experience to be unafraid of living in null sec, and to give them the skills they will need to move on in their careers as combat pilots. We have decided to do that by "maintaining a blockade in null sec, interdicting traffic bound for Empire".

Blockade duty is boring: Sometimes you fight, sometimes you run, but mostly you wait. And wait. And wait some more. And it seems like nothing is going on. Then BAM, a stealth bomber decloaks in the bubble, or a small T2 gang jumps in come in and tries to gank you, or a large gangs sweeps through and your gang runs to your safes, your skirts flapping in the wind. Sometimes, you don't see a soul for hours, and you ask yourself, "Isn't there something better that we could be doing?" It seems to be a lot more fun to be in the small gang looking for a bubble camp to break, or the large gang sweeping through null looking for a battle. But then I look at it from our adversaries point of view.

* * *

A member of a neutral alliance based a half dozen systems away lands in a bubble and loses his ship. He tells his corpmates that there is a camp in system N1-4U2. An hour later, another guy gets caught in the bubble and he complains about it to his mates. After a couple of days of this, there are a bunch of people in that alliance that really are annoyed that their travel been restricted. A few of them head over to N1-4U2 to "teach those guys a lesson". They pop one or two ships but they don't get away clean, the campers kill the bait. The next day, they attack the campers using the same tactic, but the cowards don't give them a fight. They kill the bubble and leave. The campers put up a new bubble, and later that evening, kill another alliance pilot.

Days later, the bubble camp is up again and a recon ship lands in it. The campers web and scram and take the ship quickly down into armor. Then local comes alive: stealth bombers and recons appear from nowhere, lock and kill several of the bubble camping fleet. They just got hot dropped by a Black Ops gang, who are very pleased with themselves for the battlecruiser kill they got today. That will surely teach the campers not to be so predictable. But hours later, those stupid noobs are back, camping the same gate in N1-4U2.

On the weekend, the alliance organizes another raid, a dozen ships. They scout N1-4U2 with a cloaked ship for an hour, bring in their fleet and the campers run off to safes like a bunch of screaming girls. The only casualty in the contest is a Mobile Small Warp Disruptor. The fleet leaves, and the campers set up another bubble.

Meanwhile, the alliance from the system next door, they jump in and engage the campers every day. Sometimes they get kills, sometimes they get killed, but most of the time, they just kill the bubble, smack-talk a bit and move on. Our campers look forward to them coming by to visit, and put up a new bubble.

But a few of the members of the big alliance down the street decide that something must be done about this camp. They get a recon ship and station it spying on the camp and wait for the opportunity to implement their plan. A fleet stages in at the closest POS: cruisers, recons, HACs and battlecruisers, ready to take on a camp of, well, pirates from their point of view. They closely orbit one of the largest ships in the game, an Erebrus. They are ready.

The recon uncloaks and lights off his cyno and 20 cruisers and battlecruisers jump in and destroy a 6 ship frig and cruiser fleet in seconds. They cheer, and pat themselves on the back, sending a clear message to these pirates:

Your scouts cannot protect you. We can take you, without warning, anytime we want. We own you.

A few hours later, they get word from one of their corpmates: The bubble is back up in N1-4U2. Don't those noobs ever quit?

They put out an advisory to their alliance: N1-4U2 is permanently camped. Proceed with caution. Various members place dedicated scouts in system, alts to log in and check the system status. Some place cloaked alts and leave them up for hours at a time. They are not the only corporations to do so.

All of them watch and gather intel. They fly through in big fleets. They fly carefully when solo. They change the way they operate to avoid this camp when they remember. When they forget, they end up in the bubble and more often than not, in their pods. N1-4U2 becomes a very popular system. The pilots of the region start to learn that they can find a fight there if they want it, but if they go overkill, all they'll find is a bubble.

* * *

I'm just one pilot, in a small alliance. We've got a handful of experienced combat pilots, teaching brand new players how to fly and die in null. We fly mostly T1 Frigates and Cruisers. We're nobody special, yet what we are doing, playing our Eve, affects hundreds, maybe thousands of pilots as they fly through a small "useless" system in a quiet region of NPC space.

Proceed With Caution. That's a snapshot of the Eve PvP dynamic. No TCU required.

How to be a CEO

I've had the pleasure of being a CEO now, in one form or another, for the past 5 years. In that time I've run an industrial Corp, an anti-pirate Corp, a pirate Corp, and now a PVP and nullsec survival training Corp.

But I do know that I'm not an expert - there are others out there who are much better and more dedicated than I am at building highly successful Corps and alliances. All I've done is developed my own style, in line with my own interests, and achieved some success along the way.

But when someone asked me the other day if I had any advice for them on how to start their own Corp, I felt reasonably qualified to give them some tips and advice. As a result, I decided to put the results into a blog post, so that you readers might get some value from it too.

So let's get started...

1) As a CEO you're going to have to acknowledge to yourself that you can't do it alone, and you shouldn't even try. You need to get some dedicated people onboard with you that share your goals, so that you can work together on them. So you need to...

2) Develop a 'mission statement' for what you want to achieve in the game, and how you want to achieve it. This is going to define everything you do, and even how you do it. By making this public in some fashion you will attract people who want to be part of your vision or even support it, and it's the latter who may end up becoming your 'senior staff'. If your mission is simply to relax and have fun, then make sure you detail that, or you'll get people joining who might take it all too seriously.

3) Establish operational policies for all activity within the corp. The policies establish the rules for all members, so that they understand what they can and can't do, and what the penalties are for disobeying the rules. Make sure these policies are in line with your mission statement, and the image and reputation you want to create. Include policies for industrial activity and logistics, security and PVP operations, and even wartime operations when affected by wardecs. Common sense goes a long way.

4) Get dedicated department chiefs to manage each of the depts, eg. a PVP Chief, PVE Chief, Industrial Chief, etc. You won't have the time to manage the departments individually, nor are you likely to have the expertise, but you WILL have time to manage the Chiefs who'll each have their relevant expertise in those areas.

5) As soon as you can, form a group of 'senior officers' from members that are eager and willing to step up and give you advice about how things should be done. These people need to have experience to back up their advice and support. Make sure they are sensible and obviously promoting the best interests of the corp and your goals. Only trust those who want to support the growth of the corp, and don't lose sight of what your vision is. Anyone who tries to change your mind or lead you in a direction away from your vision, dump them immediately. You'll be better off without them.

6) Never give anyone Director status, and never give anyone access to the Corp wallet. However, if you really think you must, then make sure you protect your assets by doing the following:

- transfer most of the corp funds out of the master wallet and into your personal wallet where they can't touch it
- transfer needed Corp assets out of Corp hangars and into your personal hangars

The reason for all the above is because anyone can betray you at any point, and you want to minimize the temptations that might encourage them to betray you. If more money is needed, you can transfer it back into the Corp as needed. If assets are needed, you can hand them out one at a time as needed, and make sure you get them back when finished.

7) Transfer at least 51% of corp shares to your CEO. This will ensure that you maintain ownership of the corp and even if you do make people Directors and they try to vote you out of ownership, they can only succeed if they can get a majority vote against you, as voted by shareholders. If you own the majority, you can always ensure any votes you don't like will fail.

8) Always pay your bills. If you have offices, make sure you pay your monthly rental costs, or you'll lose it. If you have assets in Corp hangars, you don't want the hassle of having to go to that station and retrieve them from being Impounded.

9) Run your corp as a 'dictatorship', where the final decision is yours and yours alone. Running by committee will ensure that your decision-making process is tied up in committee discussions which never go where you want them to go. Let your senior staff and even Corp members provide advice and suggestions and feedback and input, but at the end of the day it's your decision as to how you want your corp to move forward. When people make suggestions that are in line with your vision, allow those suggestions to move forward as actions. But if the suggestions are in opposition to your vision, then smash those suggestions into the ground where they belong.

If people don't like it, they'll leave. Let them. You want people that support you and support your vision (make sure you publicise it to your members, as per rule #2 above).

10) Learn everything about the Corp Management tab, including corp wallet, setting up divisions, managing and monitoring members, accepting applications, and how titles and roles work. Understanding all of the Corp management options is essential.

11) Blog about your experiences. You'll be surprised at how many people you'll attract and recruit simply because you're writing about your corp, its' activities and your own activities. Be a public figure, as that helps with your notoriety. But...

12) If you want professional, fun, respectable members, make sure that you are being exactly what you want in your corp. If you're an idiot and smack talk others all the time, then that's the kind of recruit you'll attract. If you're mature and talk about the level of fun you have, then you'll get mature people looking for fun as well. Be the kind of person you want to attract. (Interestingly, this works in life too. :)

13) COMMUNICATE. It's very important that you establish and maintain effective communication between yourself, your senior staff and the corp members. Set up a forum to allow discussions between members - it's essential, regardless of what type of corp you run. Learn about how to administrate the forum, including various levels of permissions related to different sections of the forum. If you don't want to learn that, find someone who is skilled in forum administration who can do it for you.

Communication is what keeps a corp together, and is what motivates it to work together. Keep everyone informed about changes, new developments, or items of interest. If the leader is silent, the members lose morale and move on. If there's very little for you to actually communicate, make sure your senior staff and dept chiefs are communicating about their departments instead. Always keep communication going, so everyone knows what's going on with whom.

I hope all the above helps to get you started. It's a lot of work to run a corp, and it's a lot MORE work to run a successful corp. But working out what you want to achieve from running your own corp will be very important to determining how it grows and operates.

Don't forget to keep it in alignment with your own personal values. If you're not passionate yourself about the corp and the goals you have for it, then it simply becomes a huge chore that will bore the hell out of you and make you want to quit playing. Keep that in mind.

This isn't enough! I need more...

If anyone wants more personal help, I'm willing to offer my time and knowledge on Corp management in exchange for ISK (which will be considered as donations to OUCH's funds). Also, I'm available to create an alliance for you if you can't do it yourself.

Contact me if you would like to discuss anything further.

Help Wanted

There's two things I need help with, and I decided to put it out there to the community.

The first thing: admin assistant for www.evebloggers.com

I lead quite a busy life, and give myself only a small amount of time each day to Eve Online. in that time I'm usually managing OUCH (nullsec survival training corp) and the Art of War Alliance, dealing with administration issues, membership queries and management, and diplomatic relations. I rarely get time to actually fly, but that's ok, as my game is now admin and management.

But as a result of the immediate need for my daily involvement in this way, I have very little Eve time for anything else. That means that evebloggers.com is suffering from my lack of time to manage it. It's a project in its own right that serves the Eve community, and it's suffering.

I've been able to organize some assistance within OUCH, which has been fantastic and freed up a lot of my time to focus more on 'big picture' management.

I need that now for evebloggers.com

What I need is someone to help me with adding new blogs to the site, so that I can focus on other admin-related tasks for the site, as well as promotion of it to the greater community.

If you have time, and you'd like to help me and the Eve community, please contact me at evebloggers@gmail.com. I'll provide you with training to know what needs doing, along with ongoing support.

The second thing: tell me when you're mentioning OUCH or evebloggers.com

I read every single blog update that passes through evebloggers.com. I get excited when people mention OUCH and I usually visit their site and thank them for the mention. I also have an alert that tells me when someone sends or includes me in a tweet (to either @Alexia_Morgan or @Black_Claw or @eveblogs) so that I can keep up with mentions in the community.

However, I don't listen to podcasts at all. They just take too much time that I don't have. And if I'm listening to anything, it's usually relaxing music to wind down from the rest of my life...

So I'd like to establish a couple of new hash tags for you all to use with your tweets that would really help me out:

#eveouch
#evebloggers

If you promote either of those, or even if you just mention OUCH or evebloggers.com in a podcast, please use those hashtags in your tweets so that I can receive them in hashtag alerts, have a listen, and then promote you even further with my own comments or posts.

Thank you for your help!