Do you fancy yourself as a trainer?

* Are you skilled at PVP?

* Are you knowledgeable about how to fit ships for PVP?

* Have you spent a lot of time in nullsec?

* Have you had experience as a Fleet Commander (FC)?

* Do you have an interest in helping people learn how to PVP in nullsec?

* Are you looking for a new challenge with your Eve 'career'?

If you answered YES to all the above questions, then I'm looking for you. Yes, that's right - you personally!

OUCH is the Open University of Celestial Hardship. We're sort of like Eve Uni, but we teach people how to survive and succeed in nullsec PVP. We use SISI and real-life nullsec PVP for the training, and we have a policy for our students to only use T1 frigates until they graduate. This helps reduce the financial and emotional impact of their losses, and teaches them how to work together to overcome bigger ships or bigger fleets.

Training Department

We have a Training Department that you, as a trainer, would be a member of. You would answer to our Training Director who oversees all our trainers and is ultimately responsible for the quality of training being given to our students.

Lesson Plans

We already have a documented series of lesson plans that are used by our Trainers when they run their training classes. These lesson plans form the outline of how a class is to be taught, and what they're to be taught about.

You would be welcome to provide your own input into modifying the lesson plans into something better than what they are, but you would need to follow the plans that have been outlined.

Why? Because we're ensuring consistency in our training. All students get the same training, the same way, so that everyone is on the same page when it comes to knowing what to do in nullsec, and how to operate, and what is expected of them.

What are the Lesson Plans?

The lesson plans are split up into modules, and they consist of:

Module 1 - Overview Settings

Module 2 - Client ESC Settings

Module 3 - Client Interface

Module 4 - Bookmarking

Module 5 - D-Scan

Module 6 - Tackling

Module 7 - Weaponry

Module 8 - Fleet Ops

Module 9 - Hunter / Prey

Yet to be documented:

Nullsec Survival - Travelling through nullsec, and Warp Bubbles

Each of the lesson plans includes step-by-step instructions on how to teach students the module, and what to teach them.

Why have you made it so easy?

1. We want to encourage more trainers to come onboard. The easier we make it for people to take on training roles, the more likely we'll have people willing to take on those roles
2. We want to automate the process as much as possible. The current Training Director and current trainers aren't going to be around forever. We have a system that allows new trainers to come in and continue the cycle. There's always going to be students - we need to make sure we always have trainers too.

We've set up a system that allows anyone to become trainers - with a few basic pre-requisites, of course (see questions at top of this post) - and we've made it as easy as possible for them to start training the way we want our students to be trained.

As I said, you'll have an input into making it better, because we're always on a path of improving how we do things.

Interested?

If you're interested in finding out more about how you can be involved as a trainer and helping people grow in this game, and helping them learn how to survive and fight in nullsec, then send an in-game evemail to Black Claw and we'll go from there.

Thank you for your interest.

Recreating my alter-ego, Alexia Morgan

As most of us know by now, we've got a new character portrait creator. Personally, I think it's just awesome, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how they enhance it over the next few months or so.

Last night I created a new Black Claw but unfortunately I, like many others, misunderstood the UI and thought that when I clicked on Save, it would save the 4 snapshots I created and allow me to go back to them later to pick and choose. When that didn't happen, and I was stuck with a character portrait that I didn't want and didn't like - I was pissed! Luckily for me, so was hundreds or thousands of others, and so CCP is going to allow those who don't like what the've created to have another go. Phew!

In the meantime, however, tonight I played with Alexia Morgan's new portrait, and I must say that after 4 hours of playing around with it, I've got a portrait that I REALLY like.

In the process creating the character and ending up with facial features that I really liked, I had this hairstyle:

After doing a bit more playing around, I came up with this:

Do you know how long it took me to get the right hairstyle with the right makeup? Man, I feel like a girl.... Anyway, I started playing around with the poses, lighting, angles, etc, until I finally got the exact look I wanted:

So then it was just a matter of zooming in with the camera, and SNAP! Alexia Morgan is immortalised again:

Alexia is a warrior-woman, a leader of OUCH and the Art of War Alliance (in partnership with Black Claw, of course), and there had to be the look of the warrior about her. She's gazing into the distance, calm but determined, strong but very feminine.

I'm very happy with the result.

When I can, I'll be recreating Black Claw, and I'll take similar snapshots of his development progress, with explanations of why I chose what I did.

New Eden poster

EON Magazine have updated their poster of New Eden. Click on the image to the left there, so you can see a larger version of it.

From EON Magazine themselves:

As it's a new year things need refreshing. So continuing on that theme, we decided to give the New Eden poster a little facelift and an update. Individually they are $14.95 however the cheapest way is to purchase the whole poster bundle.

You know you want this on your wall, so hurry up and order a copy. :)

Is your corp looking for new recruits?

One of the biggest issues that corps have is recruitment. The Eve Online forums have a very popular and effective recruitment section, and you do your best to qualify your potential recruits by specifying exactly what you're looking for. But then you've got a lot of time spent on recruitment interviews, where you ask questions of the applicant about what they're looking for, what their experience is, and why they're looking for a new corp.

Along the way you're trying to guage what kind of person they are, how you feel about them, whether you think they'll fit into your corp or not. Usually an API key is necessary to help you feel comfortable about who they are and what their motivations might be, although this is never guaranteed either.

OUCH's graduate placement program

We're going to start a new program within OUCH now that we've got our training department moving ahead in full swing - the placement of graduates with those corps out there who are keen on not having to qualify or interview their recruits.

You see, those people who have graduated from OUCH have already been qualified for you as fine, upstanding citizens of Eve. They've joined OUCH to learn nullsec survival and PVP. They've gone through 11 modules of nullsec survival and PVP training, have at least 10 real kills on their killboard, and proven themselves fit to traverse large expanses of nullsec without being killed.

What does an OUCH student have to achieve to graduate?

In order to graduate, our students have to complete the following training modules:

Basic PvP

1. Overview settings

2. EVE client ESC settings

3. EVE client interface

4. Bookmarking

5. D-Scan

6. Tackling

7. Weaponry

8. Fleet Ops

9. Hunter/Prey

Nullsec Survival

1. Travelling through Nullsec

2. Bubbles: Mobile Warp Disruptors and Interdictor

During their training, they will be involved in fleet operations within OUCH, our alliance, or with our blues, to practice what they're learning. They need to get at least 10 kills to count towards their graduation.

Once they've completed the modules, they than have to travel across 15 nullsec systems in a T1 frigate. They then have to travel back, so a total of 30 jumps through nullsec. They cannot be killed during the test, and they have to take screenshots at certain points that show their ship, the time, and the system. They have 5 hours to complete this test.

When they have satisfactorily completed all the graduation requirements (this includes a review by senior staff to ensure they have completed their training requirements in a meaningful way), they are given a decoration which they can then proudly display that says they are a Graduate of OUCH.

So how does that help me as a CEO or recruitment officer?

Graduates of OUCH have done the hard yards to learn how to survive and engage in PVP in nullsec. They have proven themselves to be fit and capable members of any nullsec corp or alliance. Admittedly their training has been in T1 frigates and cruisers, but once they've done the basics they're free to start flying T2 ships like stealth bombers and interceptors, etc, as they continue to work on their skills for more advanced ship combat.

* OUCH graduates are unlikely to be looking for a quick buck via corp theft. Any pilots of 'unsavoury disposition' are weeded out during training.

* They're not going to require basic training on how things work in nullsec.

* They're not going to waste a lot of your valuable time asking stupid questions.

* They're familiar with effective 'wartime operations policies' for highsec wardecs.

Would you like to know more?

Contact Black Claw in-game or via a reply below this post. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Where do I sign up as a corp for your placement program?

Again, contact me and we'll discuss it. What we'll need is your corp name, contact details, and a description of what the corp does and what would be expected of OUCH graduates who might want to join your corp.

This information will be put on our forum for graduates to see, and anyone that wants to join participating corps will be able to follow up with your nominated contacts.

We would expect that you have at least 20 active members in your corp to make it worthwhile for OUCH graduates to join you if they're interested.

I'm not a CEO or recruitment officer, but I'd like to join OUCH and do this training!

All pilots of any age or background are welcome to join us. Join our public channel OUCH-UNI if you want to ask any questions, or contact Black Claw via evemail. Alternatively, just join us. We'll accept your application as soon as possible, and get you started with your nullsec survival and PVP training as soon as you're able to.

A day in the life of OUCH's CEO

You know, there's no such thing as a typical day in my life as I manage OUCH and the Art of War Alliance, so this post is going to be more general than specific. I wrote this because it was requested of me - I'm sure they'll enjoy it, but I hope you enjoy it too.

My day starts around 6:30am when I wake up. I drag myself into the study, collapse into my comfy chair (I'm still waking up!), and check my Gmail and deal with all the emails that came in overnight, answering those that need answering, viewing interesting web pages that they might link to, or just deleting them as rubbish. I then check Facebook and see what's new. One of my friends might be sharing the latest US government outrage about assassinating Wikileaks members or torturing people they don't like, and I'll rage a little and then go and get some breakfast. I usually have muesli with yoghurt and honey and milk, and come back to eat it while I log into Eve Online.

As I log in I look at the top left of my character picture see if there's any new messages for me. I know it's going to be an ordinary day when maybe I've got maybe 2 or 3 emails. I like ordinary days. When I see there's 10 messages or more waiting for me, I sigh and wonder who started another war.... Luckily that doesn't happen too often.

Not that war's a bad thing! To be honest, I get excited when a new war starts, because then I start yelling at people via evemails to tell them what to do as I prepare the alliance for the war that's about to unfold.

But on an average day, I continue logging in while eating my breakfast. (Well, I do that on a not so average day too, but I digress...) I wave o/ in all the channels I'm in (corp, alliance, public, blues, intel, personal, and occasionally evebloggers). Sometimes people wave back. Then there's wave parties as everyone waves. I like that.

I log on to Teamspeak but have myself in the AFK channel so I don't have to talk to anyone while still waking up, and then in Eve I check the messages that have come in. These are either enquiries about joining OUCH or the alliance, or requests for reimbursement for lost ships during training or PVP operations, or queries about training, or someone giving me intel about regional activities, or updates on what I missed out on while I was sleeping. Being in Australia, I'm usually asleep during the peak US / EU times, so I often miss out on the all the excitement. Except on weekends, when I can play during the day at the same time as everyone else. Then I can potentially join in on whatever fleet is active at the time in the alliance or with our blues. I like weekends.

I very rarely chat with anyone at this stage, unless they've private convo'd me to ask me something or tell me something. Then I'll briefly chat with them while still eating my breakfast. I try to keep it short though, because I have to get ready for work after I've done my morning Eve routine...

When I've logged in and there's 10 or more messages, I'm usually also inundated with private convo's or lots of corp/alliance chat - "OMG! WE'RE AT WAR! WHAT DO WE DO! WHAT DO WE DO!!!!! I'M A TEAPOT, I'M A TEAPOT!!" Then I have to calm people down and start issuing instructions. I write alliance mails to remind everyone (which will be for the first time for any newer members) about the alliance's Wartime Operations Policies, referring them all to the relevant forum threads so they can get the appropriate information for their wartime activities.

The senior staff have their own operational activities during war, which is usually gathering intel, establishing scouting operations, and informing everyone of what they need to do. My communications to the corp is separate to the communications to the alliance, and I remind everyone in OUCH that all PVE is banned during war, to read the forum for OUCH's wartime operations policies, and I make sure I threaten to kick them out if they continue to engage in PVE during war.

I've kicked members out for exactly that in the past, so everyone knows I take these operational policies seriously. As a result, we've had wardecs against us cancelled by aggressors because of the success of our policies. I consider them 'victories', of course, which I'm very happy about.

So after dealing with the administration of the corp and alliance for maybe an hour, I log out of Eve and check the forum, answering anything on there that I feel I can provide input on. (Sometimes I do this while still logged into Eve.) Then I prepare for work, and then head off to work. If it's a 'new wardec day', then I'm going to be late for work...

I check evemails via Eve Gate occasionally during the day, answering any queries that might come in, etc.

When I get home from work, I usually log in to catch up with the things that I couldn't do via Eve Gate. I'm usually brain-dead from work, so I just quietly chill for a while. Then there's dinner, maybe a movie on occasions, before I get back into Eve in the hour or two before downtime.

At this time it's usually pretty quiet, so I catch up on forum posts, evemails, or consider my strategies for the future of OUCH and the alliance. I occasionally talk to people that are active, answer queries about training, corp or alliance membership, communicate with blues, or - occasionally - undock and go look for a fight. I know - shocking! As if I get any time for PVP....

If we're at war, I usually do less administration and spend the time moving around highsec in a cloaked ship, antagonising the war targets with my presence, gathering intel, and occasionally waiting for the right moment to pounce. Sometimes I'll lead a fleet of members into battle, always conscious of the benefits of guerilla warfare. I treat all engagements as training operations, teaching the members about how to operate during war, and why certain tactics are important.

After downtime is just before my bedtime, but things start getting a little more active in Eve when EU players start coming online in their morning. My 2IC / Training Director usually comes on at this point, and we're often discussing training plans, PVP operations, or dicussing strategy relating to the future of OUCH and the alliance.

As the time approaches midnight, I'm often considering the day's events, taking into account strategic discussions, and then occasionally writing some alliance or corp message to communicate the evolutionary changes, training or strategy of the corp or alliance, and what those changes will mean to members. I also check the forum to see what other input I can provide, or feedback I can take from discussions to help me decide the future plans of OUCH.

One thing I've always been very clear with is my management style. I try to get people taking ownership of various areas of responsibility so that the workload of running this place can be shared. Maintaining a healthy balance between my life and this game is important to me, you see, so I don't go to the extreme with my in-game time.

This has worked out quite well over the past year, with encouraging others to take on training, answering queries from people about training regimes and ship fittings, and forum moderation. My day usually includes maintaining all those different areas, with all the people that are assisting me with them.

I consider myself a benevolent dictator. OUCH and the alliance are mine alone, and I will not let anyone else take on an in-game position that could potentially be dangerous to my position (eg. taking away my CEO role or disbanding the alliance). Everything that ends up happening is in line with my underlying strategy.

You see, everyone is encouraged to give me ideas and suggestions about how they think OUCH and the alliance should operate, and while I listen to their suggestions, if it's not in alignment with the direction I want to go I will end up telling them why I won't allow it. However, if their suggestions are in alignment with my vision, then I'll allow their suggestions to evolve through discussion and planning, and become part of how we do things.

It seems to work pretty well, which I'm happy about as I have no intention of doing it differently.

Communication with other corps or alliances is part of my game too. Some people PVE, some PVP. I communicate. I love communicating, negotiating, and generally being a diplomat. I love the conversations designed to either obtain information from hostiles, or obtain friendships. When TEST alliance recently moved into our area we were almost wardec'd by them, but I managed to change that around to becoming blue with them instead. From that point on we had a wonderful relationship flying with them, being involved in roams and camps throughout various nullsec systems.

Anyway, once I've finished all my conversations in-game or in Teamspeak, finalised all the evemails I need to respond to (or initiate), and checked the forums, I usually say goodbye to everyone, go back to my Gmail and tidy that up before heading to bed. I take my iPad with me to check Facebook while in bed, browse some RSS feeds in Google Reader, and then fall asleep around midnight.

Thus ends a day in the life of the OUCH CEO.

All of the above is, generally speaking, my standard day. It certainly does keep me busy! But I've been doing that for a year now, and still loving it. At this point in time, I have no intentions of stopping - especially since more and more people are starting to get onboard to help me, which means there's just going to be less work for me. Woohoo!

Ahem. I'll go now...

You want epic? I'll give you epic

Yesterday morning in Eve I was involved in the most epic battle of my gaming experience. Let me share the story with you….

The fight started with about 10 of us in cruisers and frigates, camping a bubble and gate in nullsec. Our fleet consisted of the Art of War Alliance, and some guys we were newly blue with. We attacked a small fleet of ships that came through the gate, killling probably 5 of their cruisers. Then another of their fleet jumped in, a Dominix battleship that quickly dropped a cynosaural field, which opened a jump bridge with a system far away. Suddenly two supercarriers appeared!

Yes, our frigates and cruisers killed some cruisers, so they use a cyno-battleship to hot-drop supercarriers against us. Firstly - what a bunch of losers! Secondly - we fled the battlefield, withdrawing to tactical bookmarks.

But then another alliance (Bat Phone) very quickly heard about the supercarriers nearby their own roaming fleet and jumped in and started tackling the Dominix and supercarriers so they couldn’t get away. The Dominix was primaried and warp bubbles went up, but the supercarriers were repairing the Dominix (maybe 'cause it was their way home?). The call went out in local for people to bring battleships or capital ships, and soon enough the Dominix was destroyed. Then the supercarriers became the target of this small-ish fleet that thought we would 'give it a go'.

We rejoined the fight ourselves, offering our assistance as best we could. I was flying a Pilgrim, which is a combat recon ship and good at sucking a target’s capacitor dry, so I was one of the ships doing that against the supercarriers.

Initially there were probably 30 of us, but within 10 minutes there were ships and fleets and alliances coming from all corners of the region. There were phone calls made to people to get them to get in the game ASAP! The supercarriers were repairing each other so that the combined fleet against them was hardly scratching their shields.

A Rapier appeared and dropped another cyno, and a carrier appeared before the cyno and Rapier were destroyed. The carrier immediately added its repair capabilities to the supercarrier that was taking the most damage, but within a minute it was destroyed by our fleet.

Then the pilot of the most damaged supercarrier logged off but the ship was stuck in the bubble for 15 minutes. The other one managed to slowly crawl out of his bubble and warped off, but then came back again to continue repairing his buddy, who disappeared once his 15-minute log off timer was up (your ship stays there for 15 minutes even if you logged off, IF your ship is being attacked and can’t warp off).

So now all attention was given to the supercarrier that had come back, and more warp bubbles went up around it. Someone called out for Titan pilots, and soon enough a Titan appeared on the field to add its firepower against the remaining supercarrier. By this time there was almost 100 pilots in this system in NPC nullsec – a system that rarely gets more than 20 or so. Neutrals passing through were stopping to watch the awesome sight, and we were all too busy to worry about targeting them.

Meanwhile, in the middle of this huge capital-ship battle, there’s me in my little Pilgrim, sitting off the supercarrier at about 7km, doing my bit to neut the hell out of it. The artillery fire, autocannons, lasers, missiles, torpedoes and huge explosions from almost a hundred combatants were lighting up space all around me. It was truly awesome.

Eventually the supercarrier was killed, unable to survive the combined forces of around 85+ ships against it, ranging from frigates, many battleships, capital ships and a Titan.

In the aftermath, everyone agreed in local that the system was now blue, and no one would attack each other. The supercarrier wrecks were looted, and over the next 20 minutes everyone started drifting off, back to whatever it was they were doing before the supercarriers arrived. The watching neutrals moved on.

I was sitting there probably for an hour afterwards, cloaked, watching pilots moving around, looting the wreck, taking photos, salvaging.... Blues, oranges, reds and neutrals – today, for a short while, everyone was blue.

It was awesome.

Black Claw's update

Hello there, I bet you forgot about me, right? Well don't worry, I hadn't forgotten about you. I've just been busy, and haven't really felt that there's been anything really interesting to write about.

OUCH is still recruiting (when we're not at war, that is), and we have training happening on a daily basis, including roaming through nullsec to put into practice the things that the members are learning during training.

Speaking of wars, we've been involved in two wardecs this week, both due to coalition support.

Oh yeh, I should tell you about the coalition. The Art of War Alliance made some new friends over the past few weeks, and we've somewhat formalised our relationship into a 'coalition of alliances'. Since there are 3 of us, and all our names start with "A", we've called it the A3 Coalition. As good a name as any, I think....

First order of business was attempting to support each other with wardecs - if one is wardec'd, the others wardec the aggressor, so that we're all involved. Unfortunately, this had a cascade effect that made it prohibitively expensive, so we quickly learnt that won't work! We're now changing that policy to something more suitable, but I'm not going to tell you what that is. Security measures, and all. I know you understand.

I'm really proud of the fact that we're doing so well against war targets. I don't mean we're killing them repeatedly, I mean they're not killing US repeatedly. This is because of the wartime operations policies I implement within the alliance. As soon as a war starts, I initiate the policies and everything changes. We've pretty much won most of the wars we've been involved in since these polies were created.

However, I'm not going to say any more on that. If you're interested in finding out how to win your own wars that you're the victim of, then contact Black Claw in-game to discuss how the Art of War Alliance can help you.

Along the way I've been doing the occasional PVP myself, and I've learned a few new things of my own. While the Cynabal is a tough ship, it's also a shit magnet like you wouldn't believe. I've had fleets chasing me through nullsec in an attempt to kill me. I'm sure they're phoning up their friends and telling them to log on to help catch the Cynabal, 'cause people have logged in and joined in the chase. I've had fleets of stealth bombers appear out of nowhere in an attempt to blow me out of the sky. All of them failed, luckily for me.

But it made me realise that the ship gathers too much attention, and because I'm more of a solo pilot without any fleet support, I've decided to park it away at the back of the hangar. Instead, I'll use the other ships that don't get so much attention. Like the Hurricane. I've got a setup that I want to test in battle that I think is pretty cool. But I have to find the time first!

It's amazing how much time is spent in-game on corporation management, alliance diplomacy, and coalition setups. While I enjoy it all, don't get me wrong, it doesn't leave that much room for PVP'ing. Thank the Gods that at least training is sorting itself out, so I don't have to do that too.

Until next time, fly however the hell you want.