Editor’s Note: We got another another entry added in our Signaleer Series! It’s been a while since our last one, so I hope you enjoy. Xavec truly embraces our motto of “Be the content you wish to see”. In that spirit he has started and continues to operator two great in corp services.SCRAMS, Signal Cartel Relocation and Moving Service, is offered to new Signal Cartel members to help with relocation of their assets to one of our corp offices and SCRUBS is a BPC buyback Service for members. Huge shoutout to Xavec for stepping up! – Katia Sae
What attracted you to EVE Online and how long have you played?
Xavec
The short answer to this is that my housemate, while I was studying at university, told me about this amazing game with a 2 week free trial. That was all the way back in 2009 before alpha was a thing! I remember being blown away by the concept and execution of the game, including the absolute total vastness of New Eden.
I remember doing some easy missions and a bit of High-Sec mining and being shockingly disappointed at how little isk I was making. I didn’t understand the game at all and didn’t understand skills properly. As an impoverished student I didn’t feel ready to commit to paying for the game. I trained some random mining skills and when my free trial was almost up I started to train leadership to V – I thought that the mining benefits would help me make more isk. Like I said, I didn’t understand skill. In those days all accounts could only have skills in the skill queue that started training in the next 24 hours.
Then one day 9 years later a colleague made a passing comment about Eve Online. I had completely forgotten about the game. He told me about Alpha accounts being free to play. Soon after that on a day off I downloaded the game again. I still had the same email address and managed to recover my account and found the same character sitting there with a number of skills trained. I’ve had one break since then of around a year when I got Zelda The Breath of the Wild on the Nintendo Switch – this was the first time since then that I had the same mind-blowing experience. I soon came back to Eve though!
What is your background as a pilot? Did you jump right into exploration, start in the military, hired by a corporation, or something else? How would you describe your characters career path?
Imicus
Quite simple, really. I started out a bit lost and without purpose. I did a bit of mining and a few missions but found that the returns were pitiful and I really wasn’t enjoying it. I remember Googling income streams and reading that exploration was the easiest way to earn isk for a new player. I did a whole bunch of reading about wormholes and fitted up an Imicus. I scanned down a wormhole in my high-sec home and warped to it.
I remember feeling my heart rate go up as I splashed into a wormhole for the first time. I’d read that wormhole space was dangerous and was sure that I’d basically get shot within seconds. I didn’t; but neither did I find any faction relic or data sites on that first occasion. I loved exploration and this new potential for earning enough isk to fly cool ships as well as the adrenaline of entering lawless space from my safe High-Sec home meant that I’ve been an explorer ever since.
What attracted you to explore New Eden? What is your goal and have you achieved it?
I’m more driven to explore Anoikis than New Eden! But I also like to explore New Eden too. There are so many unique things to see! The planet Eyjafjallajökull in wormhole space, Choonka’s Shipwash, EVE gate, the statue of Katia Sae. The new Jita trade hub station is quite a sight too!
I can make isk as I go. My goal is simply to have fun and I’ve met this goal frequently! My time at the moment is divided between exploring wormhole space as a wormhole dweller and fleet flying with Signal Cartel and other PVE fleet groups.
Choonka’s diner “The Pit” (Image credit: Tamayo)
What attracted you to Signal Cartel? Any corp related experiences you’d like to share and/or any Credo related stories that would be of interest?
My first contact with Signal Cartel was seeing the Eve-Scout Rescue Caches in wormholes that I was exploring. I thought it was neat but hoped I’d never need it. Then one day I forgot to bookmark my exit and lost my probes. The pilot who helped me spent time explaining that you don’t lose all your skills if you die and that self-destructing was a much quicker option! I learnt from this mistake but also ended up in the Eve-Scout Public channel where there was information on joining the corp. I read up about the Eve-Scout Credo and then read the very thorough directory of important information that is sent to all new members. It’s a goldmine of useful information. I learnt very quickly about all the rookie mistakes I had been making. Plus everyone was so friendly! I have been a member ever since. If I hadn’t joined Signal cartel I probably would have left the game long ago. For me the Credo embodies my real-life values of helping others and not harming others. In real life I am a healthcare worker so this resonates with me.
I have so many Credo related stories! Hugs fleets are one of my favourite corp activities. We fit up frigates and destroyers with festival launchers, reps and tank, and go seeking out people to “Hug” with snowballs or fireworks. It makes pretty lights in space and often people don’t know what the heck is happening to them until they kill us and read the Killmail and see how we were fitted. Sometimes we paste some relevant memes into local chat for the fun of it.
On another occasion we invaded Brave space with a competition to see which squadron could make it there the quickest. The squadron I was leading won, getting from our home in Zoohen to the Brave home system in Nullsec in under 3 minutes. The second place made it in around half an hour. We then charged their Keepstar and hugged them. At one point I was receiving remote reps from one of them and missiles from another. I felt like they were toying with me before they eventually destroyed me, but at least I got all of my fireworks away!
I have recently taken on joint leadership of our Fleet-Operations Division so this is something I am definitely going to try to promote.
Some of you may have heard of Chappy’s Birthday Bash. A terminally ill capsuleer brought his dreadnought into a Lowsec system and thousands of others came to have a massive friendly brawl. I was in the Signal Cartel fleet and we were very happy just lobbing hugs at people like the weird kid at a birthday party throws Maltesers.
I have been allowed through gate-camps and wormholes, sent isk and o7, in chat on many occasions, purely for being in Signal Cartel. Through my work as a 911 operator, I have seen that so many people are so generous with their time and their isk! Far more people than I thought have been assisted out of wormholes by people who you would otherwise assume hostile. (Helped Out by Locals)
In Signal Cartel we often say that reputation tank is the best tank.
What is the name of your favorite ship that you enjoy flying the most while exploring? Why is it your favorite?
My stand-out favourite ship is the Astero. Someone recently joked that Signal Cartel that we probably keep the Astero market afloat. It’s such a versatile ship and it’s great for exploring. It can cloak, it has bonuses for hacking data and relic sites as well as scanning signatures. All bread and butter for an explorer. It’s also super agile and doesn’t require mad skills to fly and it’s easy to fit to align in under 2 seconds. Oh and it can use drones. The other thing is that nobody ever really knows what sort of heat an Astero is packing so they think twice before engaging it. Mine has got me out of many tight spots!
My fit is geared towards stealth and evasion. I work on the assumption that if I get target locked, I am dead. So my fit is all about quick align time, cloaking, and low signature radius. Anything that gives me that extra server tick to warp away to a safe.
Astero at the EVE Gate by Triffton Ambraelle
In my high slots I fit a Sisters Core Probe Launcher loaded with at least 16 but preferably 24 Sisters Core Scanner Probes and also a Covert Ops Cloaking Device. In the mids I put a Zeugma Integrated Analyzer which is great when paired with a Blackglass Implant. I often fit a Microwarp Drive and also an Afterburner so I can get out of bubbles quickly. My last slot usually has a Scan Rangefinding Array in it. I often swap out one of the prop mods for a Burst Jammer II to use as a last ditch attempt to warp off if I get scrammed. In the lows I fit a Damage Control II, enough Nanofibre Internal Structure modules to make my align time under 2 seconds and if I have anything left over something to augment my drones. The rigs are again usually dedicated to agility. In the drone bay I usually have a flight of T2 Light Drones and a flight of ECM Drones. In the cargo hold I keep a Mobile Depot (seriously, being a 911 operator has taught me NEVER to go into wormhole space without one) and supplies to create and replenish our wormhole rescue caches. In my implants I usually have a set of High-grade Halo implants to get my signature radius nice and low, plus the Blackglass.
All neutral ships are set to a nice bright colour on my overview. If a ship is warping in I usually have a good few seconds notice before they are able to fire on or scram me. I can usually cloak and warp away to a safe before they’ve even been able to start locking me. I need to make sure I’m always more than 2000m from objects so I can insta-cloak.
During your travels, what has been the most interesting fact, amazing sight, or other aspect of New Eden that has surprised you?
It’s vastness! There is a reason so few people have explored every solar system in New Eden and even fewer to explore every one in the game – as far as I know our own Katia Sae is the only one to have done so. It is just mindboggling how many light years across the place is and even travelling at multiple AU per second it takes hours and hours to get across it. I’m sure that there have been things in the game for ages that nobody has yet discovered. And this is all before you even consider player-generated content. I think you could play Eve for a lifetime and still find new things to do.
What advice would you give to someone interested in exploring New Eden?
Always know where your towel is.
But seriously, always think of what your worst case scenario is and what you would do in that scenario. Run mini drills with yourself so you don’t get paralyzed by fear when you are engaged. Join a corp, fly in fleets and have fun! If you just sit in an NPC corp forever not doing anything social then you are missing out on a huge part of the value of Eve.
The beauty that is Eve Online today began with the Dominion expansion that was released on December 1st, 2009. Starting with the planets, the expansion was the first in an effort to re-beautify the cluster which over the course of the following years included: the background nebulas, character models, the suns, and the gates as well as the recent update to Jita 4-4. Dominion was also the expansion that inspired me to begin my ten year long journey to explore all of New Eden to take in the re-beautifying effort.
Since the completion of my journey in March of 2019, I’ve been wanting to showcase some of my favorite images of the 50,000+ that I took over the course of my adventure as well as showing what it looks like to visit 7,805 (+ 1) systems. So, to celebrate the 11th anniversary of the Dominion expansion and my journey’s kickoff from Saisio in The Forge, please enjoy this video “The Journey of Katia Sae”, dedicated to CCP Games, especially the Art Team, and Signal Cartel.
Editor’s Note: Every once in a while we like to post some of our fleet AAR’s (After Action Report) so folks can get a glimpse of life in Signal Cartel. This one had a bit of a fun twist brought to us by Sir Fiddle Sticks. I hope you enjoy reading his call to action and after action report! – Katia Sae
Call to Action!
Sir Fiddle Sticks
We have been very fortunate to have some exiting content provided to us over the years by the residents of Ienakkamon, they have provided many of us with spectacular rapid disassembly of hulls big and small! I for one will be forever grateful to them for all their selfless effort!
However this has resulted in innumerable Fedoes being stuck on the Solitaire with no prospect of rescue. This is an intolerable state of affairs that must be corrected, we can no longer standby knowing that hundreds of little Bobs family and friends are left marooned.
Fedo
To remedy this situation and thank the residents of Ienakkamon I propose, dare I say, an ingenious rescue plan, a plan of singular genius, audacity and cunning!
But for even the most brilliant plan to have a chance of success, I will need the assistance of all the dedicated, talented, and daring Signal Cartel pilots. Failure will result in the brilliant destruction of the fleet, while success will guarantee the glorious destruction of the fleet and the possible liberation of a great many Fedoes now and in the future.
After Action Report
War plans can be formed in many different ways, ways which embrace a myriad of tactics and philosophies. But however brilliant the plan , however great the genius forming a plan of war, they have one thing in common. They are all just destined to justify the phrase: “No Plan survives the first shot !“
It was thus with our endeavor, no sooner had our brave cohort assembled and the plan was launched, that we ran into our first and greatest obstacle. One which was absolutely beyond our control, but for a few disinterested locals partaking in factional warfare, the field of battle was deserted. How were we to pay our respects and light up the antagonists of our little fable? How were we to impress upon them our great appreciation for their tireless toil to keep New Eden a vibrant colorful place that it is? We could not and as such had to change our approach to an alternate tack.
Refitting all available ships with entosis links we set to the task of freeing as many Fedoes as time allowed. Some of our fleet had difficulty in snagging Fedoes and mostly collected junk, but others managed to pull Fedoes to safety with the greatest of skill. To which end, the rescue of thirty Fedoes was achieved! A number which far exceeded our greatest expectations.
My personal thanks to all who assisted in this worthiest of causes!
Thanks to Lixiana Vor’shan for the pictures!
But wait, that is not all! While we would have been happy to pack up after our allotted time and head back with a justified sense of accomplishment, lo and behold like specters out of the night, our “friends” appeared on d-scan and before we could react they landed on grid to perform their celebrated duties as the Guardians of the Solitaire.
Springing into action, every remaining Fedo was rushed to safety and then the fun began. All possible launchers were targeted and a spectacular pyrotechnic barrage was implemented! Implemented so successfully that after our loss of a mere six ships our new friends could do nothing more than recall their drones, admire the show, and after a time departed the system. Departed with what I imagine a shake of their heads and a newly found appreciation of the uniqueness of the sandbox that we all fly in.
For those who are new to Signal Cartel, this is one of the best examples I can offer to the effectiveness of our credo and its inspiration and guidance in approaching seemingly impossible situations.
Hail the Mighty Hugs Fleet!
Sir Fiddle Sticks
Shout out and thanks to Knoerp N’beekie for the video below!
Editor’s Note: So glad to see another entry added to our Signaleer Series! It’s been a while since our last one, so I hope you enjoy this latest entry from Aldar Roanaok presented in character. – Katia Sae
Aldar Roanaok
“You know, I always wondered why the Sisters placed two stations here.”
Katia tilted her head and looked down at Aldar Roanoak, who was lounging in the seat beside her. Outside the station pale blue flashes tore at the planet below and even in Paleo Station it was enough to cause shadows to flicker around the bar. He was her next interview in the Signal Cartel Signaleer series she had been working on, but only if she were able to meet him in Thera. She didn’t mind too much as it was an opportunity to escape, at least for a little while, the responsibilities of her new life.
“I mean I did until I considered two things; one the Sisters are secretive zealots, and two Thera XII is a bloody maelstrom of interference.” Aldar smiled and waved Katia towards the other seat.
“It’s a fantastic place down there. It looks like Thera XII always had a ridiculous rotational speed but add in the relentless irradiation from the epicenter, and you don’t just have normal levels of lightning but enough to stir the pot on its own. The clouds rip past each other so fast the triboelectric effect along with gravitational settling pushes the electrical discharging into overdrive.”
Settling into the offered seat, she raised her eyebrow inquisitively, “And the Sisters?”
“Secretive, religious zealots with a scientific bent. Sitting here in their Institute of Paleocybernetics you could throw a fedo and hit their Surveillance Observatory and both are lovingly nestled inside a cacophony of EM radiation courtesy of our friend out there.” Aldar’s glass swung out and saluted the planet below. “I imagine you could get up to all sorts of interesting things and no one would ever be able to catch a sniff of it.”
“Aldar, you’re a cynic.” Katia said with half a grin. She could already tell this interview was going to be unique.
“You don’t think melancholic? Or maybe prudently skeptical?” He grinned.
A small snort was the only reaction and Aldar smiled even wider and leaned in. “Katia, where did you want to start? I was only planning on slipping through Thera, wave at the locals and then get back to chasing down a few things. Honestly, I was surprised you’d managed to slip the fans, hangers on, and stalkers just to catch up with me.”
Katia chuckled at his last comment which had now completely thrown her off her game when it came to conducting interviews. Clearly she had already lost control, but that was assuming she had any to begin with. So, she decided to just roll with it and asked, “What? Thera not really your style?”
Tapping the glass against his chin he looked around the bar. “I don’t think I’ve ever really stayed put anywhere. At least not since leaving the Center for Advanced Studies. I still remember slipping out of Cistuvaert as a real Capsuleer… thick as a plank and half as useful. Big massive gas giant hanging there on the undock and me floating in a capsule expecting a combination of blaster and mining laser to be able to take on all comers.”
“You mine!?”, feigning shock, Katia allowed a chuckle to escape.
“Not so much, though I’ve an oddly extensive skill set around it. Makes for a nice little Zen moment, slipping around a small mountain and carving it up. No, I slipped out and jumped into a wormhole and managed to not get lost; I was at a bit of a loss after that though. I suppose I was lucky, I had an older pilot reach out to me early on – absolutely terrified me.”
Aldar continued, “There I am frantically flipping overviews, d-scanning, warping myself left and right convinced I was about to be shot. Looking back, I’m fairly certain they were safed up and just checking local.”
“Was it anyone from Signal Cartel?” Katia asked, curious to learn just how it was Aldar had found himself in their corp.
“No, was a pilot named Sven Viko VIkolander. They had their own solo corp I think but they were great, letting me ask questions and everything. I remember them explaining they were in a bomber and planned on heading out to hunt. That absolutely captured my imagination – the whole idea of having an idea to do something and then just flying out to anywhere.”
“So that was me for a while.” Aldar further explained. “I had no real idea of New Eden’s regions but I flew, and died a lot, in low sec systems. Ouelletta was the first, I think. I jury rigged my Imicus just to try combat probing and salvaged orphaned drones for a while.”
“Eventually I made my way to Simela and contracted myself out to our lovely hosts. Or at least while I wasn’t throwing my Catalyst against sites that it really shouldn’t have tried. I’ve a weakness for flying wings, I think that’s why I sunk so many days into tactical destroyers – just wanted to sit in a Hecate.”
“So it sounds like you pretty much stuck with Empire space, no wormholes then?” Katia asked, settling into the interview.
“Not so much – I love slipping over the event horizon and threading spin networks and Yang-Mills fields, but no I never really spent much time there back then. I loved the freedom the gate system gave me. I could do anything and fly anywhere with no effort at all. Heck I rigged up a Thorax with probes and a mobile depot and went hunting Nexus chips. You must get that – a wanderlust.”
“I think all of us in Signal Cartel get that.” Katia nodded in agreement. “Sounds like a busy life Aldar, but you stayed with the Center?”
“Sure. I was happy on my own and the corp comms channel was entertaining enough, I guess. Basically, I was busy and worked to my own schedule and didn’t think I’d be able to make a decent contribution to a corp. And of course, all of the usual high drama and petty stakes of capsuler politics put me off. You’d think immortality would engender a certain self-reflection, but you’d think wrong.” He filled his glass and gave an inquiring look across the table
“Whisky?” She asked, eyeing his glass, “Sure, that is, if it’s any good?”
“Good? This was specifically pilfered from Igaze’s hanger, of course it’s good. It’s also an excellent reason to make sure I’m at least 4 jumps out before he gets back. Neat or a splash of water?”
“Neat is fine, thanks.” She accepted the poured glass, then raised it in a toast with a light laugh, “Here’s to Igaze never catching you.”
Taking a sip of the whisky, she nodded in approval then continued, “So what convinced you to come in from the cold and join Signal Cartel?”
“I’d had a hard run – I was trying mining missions in Angils out in Metropolis and I’d died a few too many times. Things had become frustrating and immortality stretched in front of me. So, I parked myself and queued up some training from the GalNet and went to sleep. Just floated off in a corner of space.”
“When I woke, my queue had been long empty, the Center’s comm channel was filled with new people I couldn’t care less about and I was casting about for a project. Eve-Scout was still around, and Signal Cartel’s model of solo capsuleers being alone together appealed to me. That and the idea of wanderers – going wherever they wished, whenever they wanted to, however they could. So, one official Tamayo approval letter later, I was onboard reading up on corporate policies and procedures when I met Allison.”
Years of flying by yourself does not prepare you for a neural plugged auditory hallucination that tells you to clean up and stand up straight like Allison does.”
“Was it the self-destruct?” Katia leaned forward smirking.
Aldar put his arms out wide, “I mean how could it have been anything else?”
Heads around the room turned towards them as they laughed a little too robustly from their inside joke.
“I’d just finished the ESRC portion of my readings and threw myself into the next wormhole. From there I fell into the rhythm of align, locate, and bounce to the cache. I mean I‘d like to say it came naturally but I was on Alliance chat laughing about skittering past the cache often enough early on to never be able to pull that story off. Still I managed it and then wound up in a search and rescue system with Auds Lenneluc, great pilot that came out and walked me through the setup, and prep for the extraction. It was great fun.”
“The real hook was The Great Hunt though. I’d joined just a few weeks before Talon Commander Fedi rolled in and Allison’s Skylab routine began driving us deep into Anoikis. It scratched an itch I’m not sure I could’ve articulated beforehand. Puzzles, lore, and that delicate balance between stringing data points together into a coherent story and self-deception.”
Katia faked a pout, “You missed my homecoming fleet though.”
Glancing down slightly and refilling his glass Aldar shrugged.
“So, what do you do now? I never see you in Saisio.” Which wasn’t too surprising, Katia’s home system was a quiet one and Signaleers were wanderers after all.
“Oh, this and that. There’s a caching milestone I’m slowly working towards. My tending has slowed down as other things take my interest. The new bookmark framework makes it easy for new people to join and contribute. They’re far exceeding any slack I might have introduced. I’ve really spent my time on research; chemical labs, trying to characterize these transient pirate gatherings that seem to come around year after year, unlocking Skylab routines, and working with ARC. That part sort of started when the Hives began spawning even more connections.”
“Captain Crinkle and a few of us spent time trying to nail down the new statics and mechanics. Allison still gets huffy when I point out I know there’s more than a single C2 static in Redoubt. A.D. Parrot tells me she’s unconvinced I know what I’m doing.” A smile flitted across the reflection in the window.
“Out of that I worked with ARC on Project JuRE which led me to try and run a small project on Triglavian invasion systems, Jove Observatories, and Drifter wormholes. Wonderful time working with Void Raven, Consolation Nutmeg, Troubled Watters, Nac Audene, and Sloopy Noopers. Other ARC specific projects rolled through. Fit well with my approach to flying… go anywhere and find something interesting.”
Katia sat back holding her glass like a crux and frowned slightly, “Like gate clouds?”
Aldar ran his hand through his hair and gave her a crooked grimace “I have it almost written up you know… or at least I’ve a definite outline.”
She rolled her eyes and waved her glass at him “So Pochven must drive you nuts?”
“Not initially, no. Slipping through Trig liminality systems was easy enough and fun. Getting pictures for the Observatory and then jumping away before the trig patrols could catch me kept me on my toes. Luckily the EVE-Scout Rescue Cache team had more productive ideas and setting up caches inside the Final Liminality systems seems to have been a solid one. You know, I don’t remember feeling anything as the Trigs pulled spacetime like taffy but once in Pochven it was just an empty walled garden. Few connections and few things of interest. I stayed to run some wormhole characterization and then left. Been at a bit of a loose end ever since.”
“So back to travelling then?” She asked taking another sip of her whiskey.
“Back to roaming.”
He stood, peering out at the undock and watched bubbles blossom around the station. ”I don’t really have a destination in mind. I’ve a few things I need to try out and a few new ships to die in.”
A real smile crept back in “Besides there are caches to sow, pilots to rescue, and things to figure out, out there in the dark. It’ll be an adventure.”
“That it will be.” Katia affirmed. “Fly clever Aldar. Thanks for the interview and the whiskey.” She smiled, raised her glass in a final toast, and downed the last of her drink.
Editor’s Note: I’ve always wanted to feature real life science and exploration in conjunction with SciFi and how one inspires the other. Huge thanks to Vega Blazar for being the first in what I hope can become a series of like minded post! – Katia Sae
Vega Blazar
“You are sucked through the wormhole…” As dedicated explorers of New Eden, we are quite familiar with this flavor text upon entering a wormhole in EVE Online. For me, it’s a sign that fun and adventure are about to begin. In part, the inclusion of wormhole mechanics and wormhole space in EVE makes the various playstyles of Signal Cartel possible. Thank you wormholes! But how much do we actually know about wormholes? Are they real or just complete fiction? Let’s go exploring for some answers.
First, what is a wormhole? The term was coined by physicist John Wheeler in 1957. However, the first mathematical proof of the structure was demonstrated in 1935 by Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen, which is why wormholes are more formally called Einstein-Rosen Bridges. A wormhole is a theoretical shortcut through the curvature of spacetime based on solutions to the Einstein field equations of general relativity. In essence, a wormhole can be visualized as two distant “mouths” in spacetime connected by a “throat”.
Thus, this tunnel through spacetime could allow for much shorter travel between two distant points than traveling through normal space (green arrow vs the red arrow in the above illustration). Everybody loves a shortcut, right?
If humans ever want to explore distant parts of our universe, we will definitely need to find a cosmic shortcut to deal with the immensity of space. Why? Well, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light (unless you read science fiction), which is 300,000,000 meters per second. If human explorers were somehow able to travel at this speed, it would take us 2.5 million years to reach Andromeda, the galaxy closest to our own Milky Way. To cross the observable universe at the speed of light, it would take about 90 BILLION years. Our universe is utterly overwhelming. For reference, the maximum speed achieved by humans traveling through space is 11,082.5 meters per second during NASA’s Apollo 10 moon mission in 1969.
So, do wormholes actually exist? As of now, wormholes could exist, but scientists just don’t know if they do or not. Humans have never observed an actual wormhole. In fact, the wormhole’s one-mouthed cousin, the black hole, which has been much more thoroughly studied and even imaged for the first time in 2019 (see below), remains riddled with mysteries of its own.
Credit: Event Horizon Telescope collaboration et al.
One such mystery is the black hole information paradox. Black holes are intense regions of inescapable gravity and it is believed that anything that falls past the event horizon is irretrievable. Thus, the black hole seems to violate a principle of quantum mechanics, which states that the present always preserves information about the past. One possible solution to the paradox derives from quantum entanglement. The entangled particles inside and outside the black hole could be linked via wormholes, which provide tunnels for information to escape the interior of a black hole. The visualization is quite startingly and conjures images of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu.
Credit: Olena Shmahalo/Quanta Magazine
Returning now to a more earthly setting, in 2015, scientists from Spain created a magnetic wormhole in a laboratory. The device is capable of transferring an electromagnetic field from one point to another. Thus, the device acts as a spatial wormhole as if the magnetic field passes through a magnetically invisible tunnel. While the magnetic wormhole is not the same spacetime wormhole proposed by Einstein and Rosen, the potential applications could include advances in MRI medical imaging and even the future development of an invisibility cloak!
For brevity, we won’t touch upon the scientific ideas that spacetime wormholes are likely extremely small, highly geometrically unstable, possibly more circuitous, potential portals to other universes, or even the implications for time travel since we are shortcutting through the spacetime continuum. For now, wormholes are the realm of theoretical physicists and science fiction writers, so let’s move on to their first appearance in sci-fi as my head is starting to hurt.
Wormholes have been widely used as a literary device in science fiction as a means to bypass Einstein’s speed limit (the speed of light), to travel through time, and to enter other universes. In 1900, L. Frank Baum appears to have been the first writer to use wormholes in a work of fiction. In his iconic children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is swept up into a tornado that transports her (and her little dog too!) from Kansas, USA to the decidedly different land of Oz. In this instance, the tornado acts as a portal through spacetime to another dimension. Since then, wormholes have made numerous appearances in books, movies, TV shows, and video games, including in our beloved EVE.
So next time you are piloting your cloaky frigate through a wormhole, take a deep breath and admire its beauty – sometimes fact is stranger than (science) fiction.
GENESIS REGION – MIH CONSTELLATION ZOOHEN SYSTEM – PLANET III THEOLOGY COUNCIL TRIBUNAL
8 June YC 122
SuperCacher Vladimir Korff
After my lucky escape I spent two days attending to my tending and avoiding more exciting activity like hacking relics in an uncloaked Buzzard in the middle of J-Space. While I was calming my nerves by methodically opening small secure containers, I suddenly received an urgent invitation to a corporate meeting in Zoohen. Wondering what it was all about I found a hi-sec exit and made my way to the corp base at Theology Council Tribunal Station.
I wasn’t sure what the dress code was but decided it would be a good opportunity to wear my Polar Aurora Exploration Suit. Having washed off the pod goo in a shower I headed straight to my item hangar where I still kept all prizes from Tender Games. Passing a young female mechanic I noticed that she gave me a strange look. She then turned to her teammate and surreptitiously, or so she thought, pointed at me. Her companion shrugged, muttered “Capsuleers” and impassively turned away. At first I thought that the girl somehow noticed the neural interface slots on my body but then I realised that it was the body itself that attracted her attention. It was naked!
Can’t say I was embarrassed – I was never shy about my skin – but I was shocked to discover how twisted my mind became. While I carefully planned what I was going to wear at the corporate meeting, I didn’t give any thought to putting anything on in order to walk a hundred metres to my item hangar through public space. Was it a result of spending too much time floating nude in a capsule? Was I developing that infamous capsuleer’s disregard for baseliners? I don’t know. I just pretended that everything was perfectly normal, made a snooty face and walked past the dock crew. If I had to choose between looking like a snob and looking like an idiot… well, the choice was obvious. The rest of the way I walked with a straight back, eyes looking above other people’s heads. Having reached the hangar I closed the door and hastily put my new suit on. Feeling myself much more comfortable, I headed to the Signal Cartel office.
The conference hall was full and buzzing; people were talking to each other and didn’t pay any attention to the newcomer. I looked around and realised that I hardly knew anyone in the audience. Well, I could put names to faces since I saw photos in forums but I never met those people in person. It was an awkward situation – I knew that I knew them but I didn’t know if they knew me. Suddenly, I heard someone calling my name. Having turned in the direction of the voice I saw Maxwell Kurvora wave his hand at me.
“Hey, Vlad. Come here, we have a free seat.”
Maxwell was one of the corp members who would definitely know me as he was a reader of this very blog. Grateful for the invitation I squeezed myself past other Signaleers and dropped into the chair.
Max shook my hand and then, nodding at his neighbour on the other side, asked, “By the way, have you, guys, met before?”
I looked at the blonde lady with a cybernetic arm who sat next to Maxwell and said, rather formally, “I don’t think I had the pleasure, but I know who you are, Ms Tamayo.”
“I can say the same about you Vladimir,” replied Tamayo and shook my hand. I noticed that the artificial arm had a strong but measured grip and wondered whether it was power-capped or Tamayo had such fine control of her prosthetic appendage – those things were strong enough to crack coconuts.
“And please no honorifics,” added Tamayo, “in Signal Cartel we call each other just by name regardless of a person’s position.”
“Works for me,” smiled I, “in fact I thought about addressing you by your full title but couldn’t decide whether it should be Recruiter Tamayo or Anoikis Division Manager Tamayo.”
Tamayo frowned, “That would be quite a mouthful, huh? By the way, would you be interested in joining Anoikis Division? We always look for new members. You seem to spend a lot of time in J-space so this may be a good choice for you.”
“I thought about joining AD but it requires a C2 title, and I don’t even have C1. And to be honest, I am not sure if I am eligible for it. One needs to show participation in corp programs and I don’t know what kind of proof is required.”
“Maybe this man can help you with that,” said Tamayo with a faint smile, nodding at a person who was talking to Thrice Hapus, our CEO.
That person was Igaze, Eve-Scout Rescue Director, who oversaw Eve-Scout Rescue Cache and Search and Rescue operations.
“What do you mean…” I started asking but was interrupted by a loud clap.
That was Thrice Hapus clapping his hands to attract attention of the audience. The room went quiet and everyone looked at him.
“Dear Signaleers, thank you for finding time to attend our corporate meeting. As you know, we have a full agenda, but first we need to deal with some very serious matters. I’ll let Igaze explain.”
Igaze took the stage and looked sternly at the assembly.
“It has happened again,” said he in a grave voice. “In fact, with the recent influx of new corp members, we’ve noticed an uptick in such activity. Signal Cartel management quickly responded to this development and dealt with it accordingly. We are not making a secret of it and we would like all Signaleers to know about the consequences that their actions may have.”
Igaze made a pause to let his words sink in, looked around and suddenly stopped his eyes on me.
“Signaleer Vladimir Korff, would you please make your way to the front?”
My heart sank. Was it about that ill-fated starbase theft? But I returned the bloody thing to the owners! Maybe that was not enough. Maybe management didn’t want me to get off that easy. With all those thoughts racing through my mind, I stood up and walked on wooden legs past the fellow corp members who stared at me coldly.
When I approached Igaze, he gave me a quick look and turned to the audience, “Everyone, look at this man. This is Vladimir Korff and I want every Signaleer to know what he has done. And, as our surveillance showed, done not once, not twice, but a hundred times!”
I was totally bewildered. That couldn’t be about the starbase, I stole only one!
Igaze continued, “This could not go on unnoticed anymore, and today on behalf of Signal Cartel management I announce that Vladimir Korff…”
I cringed.
“…has become our newest SuperCacher! He has sown and tended one hundred caches! Please congratulate him on this significant achievement.”
Suddenly everyone was smiling and clapping and cheering. With an idiotic smile I watched Igaze attach a medal to my suit, shook his hand and returned to my seat.
“Congratulations, Vladimir,” said Max. “I must say you handled it really well. Some people actually fainted when they got their first medal in such manner.”
I had a lot to say about that ‘manner’ but that required some coherence which I was badly lacking at the moment. All I could manage to croak through my constricted throat was “Thanks, Max. I think I need a drink.”
“Oh, there will be plenty of drinks after the meeting. And don’t worry, it won’t take long. Despite what Thrice said, we actually aren’t big on management reporting. As you should’ve guessed by now, we are big on fun!”
With the official launch of EVE Echoes (EE) this week and in the spirit of our Signal Cartel (SC) motto of “Be the content you wish to see”, we had enough members to express interest in representing us in this new universe. So, we’ve created a new chapter of Signal Cartel in EVE Echoes with the same name, but a different ticker of “I420”. That’s actually the letter “i” and 420, since it had to contain a letter and was limited to 4 characters.
[I420] Signal Cartel
With no current exploration gameplay in Echoes as of yet other than sight seeing, what can you expect of us there? We’ll be fully embracing the core tenants of our Credo, so you can expect us to be neutral and friendly to all capsuleers in our travels in this New Eden as you would expect of us in EVE Online (EO). With no wormholes and no Thera at the moment, our rescue and Thera scanning services are not available. We’ll have to see how that develops in the future, but we will be engaging in PVE and other peaceful endeavors in a family friendly environment together like we do in EO.
Can you join? We’re currently limiting our EVE Echoes membership to only current, active, in good standing Signaleers of our EVE Online community. We wish to protect our reputation that we’ve spent years in developing and this chapter was created in response to our members wishing to represent SC in EVE Echoes. We’ll be watching and evaluating this as we go to see if it grows and where to take it in the future.
Fly clever in whichever universe you find yourself in!
Editor’s Note: There are as many measures of success as there are corporations in New Eden. Some measure in profits, some measure in kills, but for me there is no greater measure than service to the community. I’m honored to fly with a corporation that measures success in Capsuleers rescued. – Katia Sae
The following is an AAR (After Action Report) submitted by Signaleer Sydney Selket.
Sydney Selket
Today I got to unwittingly participate in an historic event in the Eve-Scout Rescue program. Long-time Rescue Coordinators Xalyar and Captain Crinkle have been racing each other to 100 rescues for a while now, and when they recently both landed at 99, we started to think, “Wouldn’t it be cool if they happened to do their next rescue together so they both won the race?”
I had forgotten all about this, and maybe they had too, when we received a ping that a Search and Rescue system (J103924) had been located by Renek Dallocort. Xalyar was first to answer the call. I was trying to step away for a shower, but mentioned that I was available if needed. The chain provided to us by ALLISON was what we would call “ugly”: many jumps through a web of C4s and C5s before any high-sec or low-sec exit. The system itself, that Renek was just beginning to scan, had only a null static. With this challenge in mind, Xalyar asked for backup and I began logging in, with Captain Crinkle also chiming in that he was coming.
Renek Dallocort
Xalyar had actually been the 911 dispatcher on this rescue when the call came in 3 days earlier, so he was the obvious person to reach out to the pilot. Normally we won’t contact the pilot until the system is secured by rescue personnel and we have a way out, because we don’t want an over-anxious pilot to log in before the system is safe and ready for quick rescue. However in this case Xalyar’s notes from the dispatch indicated that the pilot was wavering on whether it was worth waiting for rescue, so we made an exception just to make sure they didn’t choose the next half hour or so to give up. Xaylar was able to reach the pilot on Discord before we even made it to the system, and we knew the pilot would be available for immediate rescue when we were ready.
We entered the chain from different directions and eventually met up in the middle where the chains converged, providing bookmarks for each other to follow, while Renek fed us the next sig in the chain to speed our scanning. Once I got into the SAR system, Renek was able to take off to continue exploring, and I held the system while Xalyar and Crinkle split off scanning more promising routes out, as the way we came in was very long and unstable.
Now that enough time has passed for this not to be active intel, here’s a pic of the chain as it looked as we were arriving (the SAR system is in green). I came from Pelkia, Xalyar came from New Caldari, and after checking out some options from Thera, Crinkle also came from New Caldari.
Chain as provided by ALLISON
Xalyar and Crinkle ended up finding a C1 and a C3 which each had a low-sec static and either would make a better exit than the way we came in. Crinkle, with his 99 rescues of wisdom, was the first to point out that depending on what kind of ship the pilot had, a C1 could only take up to medium ships, and might be too small (we knew based on the fact that the pilot was lost in a C2, they couldn’t have a capital, but it could be a battleship). Xalyar reached out to the pilot to confirm, and found out it was a Drake. A C1 is indeed one of the places you can bring your Drake, so we decided on that as the first option for exit, with the C3 as a backup in case the end-of-life hole to the C1 collapsed.
Captain Crinkle
We organized ourselves for a 4-jump exit to low sec. I would be the warp-in point for the pilot to the wormhole out of the SAR system, as I was already there, and then I would sprint ahead to get what I thought was the final exit to low sec, but we ended up improvising on the way and I held up to take the 3rd jump instead, as Crinkle took the 2nd jump and Xalyar followed with the pilot. After the pilot made the jump past me into the C1 I ran ahead again into low sec to see what things looked like in local. Crinkle had found 2 in local a few minutes earlier, but when I splashed in it was deserted. Xalyar, with his 99 rescues of wisdom, immediately asked if there was a station there for the pilot to dock in, which there was not. I quickly checked that the next system in the direction of high sec had a station, and that’s the direction we pointed our pilot in when he reached the safety of K-space.
It was at this point after we waved o7 to the pilot, and were commenting on how smoothly that extraction had gone, when we realized Xalyar and Crinkle had done their 100th rescue together. And I was overcome with honor to have accompanied them, especially on a rescue that had benefited so much from teamwork and experience. Surely this deserved some more acknowledgement beyond the glittering Beacon of Anoikis Medal they will be receiving for their incredible achievement, so here I am to tell you more about them.
Xalyar
From the time I joined Signal Cartel it was my dream to be a rescuer, and Xalyar and Crinkle took me under their respective wings and answered my questions and included me when my explorations crossed paths with rescues. Crinkle taught the class I took on rescue cache placement shortly after I joined the corp, and while he didn’t teach my class, I have had the privilege to sit in on Xalyar’s 911 operator training course to see the guidance he gives our new trainees. During my time as a 911 operator Crinkle and Xalyar were always around to provide guidance on those trickier calls, and to make sure rescues were running smoothly. Even when I became a rescue coordinator with them, I’ve always looked to them to have the definitive answer to the even trickier questions. They’ve just recently been promoted to the title of ESR Manager, to reflect their seniority among the coordinators and the special role they’ve taken over time to help ESR Director Igaze handle the increasing workload as our rescue program grows.
How fitting that despite their constant friendly competitiveness to one-up each other, they arrive at the most prestigious of rescue milestones at exactly the same time. Congratulations to two amazing mentors! I’m sure the race to 200 has already begun!
Editor’s Note: You’ve likely heard of our two main services that we offer, EvE-Scout Thera Connections and EvE-Scout Rescue, but you’ve probably not heard about another service we offer and that would be our Expedition TripTik’s. Our former CEO, Mynxee, started this effort that follows in the footsteps of our friend and fellow explorer Mark726 as a complement to EvE Travel, but it’s certainly not meant to be a replacement. Sadly, over the years we’ve not kept it going, but in her honor and in the spirit of our motto of “Be the content you wish to see”, I set about to fix that by rebooting the service with an in corp event over the last couple of months called TripTik’s 2.0.
I had one goal and two hopes. First, it was my goal and hope we would double the size of our library, which I’m happy to report we did! Second, it was my hope that someone would be a “star”, rising to the occasion, and embracing the spirit of our Expeditions. I’m thrilled to report that we did indeed have someone step up. Please welcome Yankee Sullivan as our newly appointed TripTik Historian, who in real life is a Public Historian. I’m excited to see where he takes this new service. – Katia Sae
Following is his post on TripTik’s and Preserving the Rich History of EVE
The Set Up
Yankee Sullivan
Recently, like so many other players, I returned to EVE online. This time before jumping in I decided I wanted to find a Corporation to join first. Already half knowing in my mind what I wanted, I found my way to the Signal Cartel website. I wanted to brave J-Space and rescue other capsuleers. Partially because I’m a nice guy, but more so because I wanted a service-based approach to the sandbox, a focus… a duty.
Well it’s been almost two months and I haven’t rescued a single person or tended a single cache. Why? Because I’ve been acting as a historian for EVE Online along with several other members of the Signal Cartel. You see, just a week or two after I joined, while I was getting myself sorted out and figuring out why I had left assets randomly scattered across the galaxy, the famous Katia Sae announced a new program to revitalize SC’s “TripTik” program.
TripTiks are lore- and player history-based guided tours throughout New Eden. Offered by the lesser known Expeditionary Division of the Signal Cartel. When I was initially snooping around the website, I saw them and noticed that they were a nice idea that were unevenly and non-uniformly done and had a feeling of having been abandoned. At the time I thought to myself, “Aw neat, maybe at some point I’ll put one or two of those together”. Well, Katia aimed to change that by providing an ISK incentive for Signaleers to create new, more fleshed-out TripTiks to coincide with the launch of “TripTik 2.0”.
I gave it a bit of thought and realized that this wasn’t just something I wanted to do. In a way, it was something I was ideally suited to do.
A Brief Bit About Me
Once upon time, freshly returned from 8 years of military service, I determined I wanted to become a Historian. So, I went to college and earned my degree and then took on a specialized certificate program to become a Public Historian. While in the process of earning that degree, I helped create an educational program about maritime history that included a kids and young adult program for Library settings, several lectures, and a walking tour. Later I took on a job at a local Living History Farm Museum and quickly found myself in the role of Program Director. It was then that I pivoted into working in Human services in general and truly I have never been happier.
But I’ve never lost my love of history, and even now I study it avidly and systematically and try often to find time to volunteer at historic sites. Then suddenly, I was being offered a chance to make ISK at something I used to love to do, researching and organizing a history into easily digestible tours…
EVE’s Two Histories and Why they are a Treasure
EVE is just recently seventeen years old and at its core it is a game from a different era that still fundamentally has a different design philosophy. Harder, unforgiving, and often inscrutable. Though, as the Bitter Vets and Doom Sayers will often point out: perhaps not as hard as it once was. But EVE is also a game from an era when games were just bigger. Don’t get me wrong, many modern games are certainly grander. But few are “game worlds” quite the same way that the early first and second generation MMOs were. Even those MMOs that remain no longer focus on the world as much.
But EVE is still a game world (technically a Galaxy) not only filled with planets, jump-gates, stations, and Jita scammers. But also a game with sites of cultural significance, forgotten and remembered battle fields, strange artifacts, and so much more. All of these things lovingly placed there by CCP. These things are in support of the EVE Universe and its rich lore, which has been the subject of countless web articles written by CCP, a bunch of novels, at least one magnificent source book, and of course a handful of other games aside from EVE. It’s eons of lore made manifest in the current game world and the weight and scars of its violent history can be found throughout the galaxy.
Then there’s the player history, the emergent history. More battlefields (naturally). Monuments to the player based efforts to aid real life science. There was a monument created to celebrate a group of players solving a galaxy spanning riddle, and then that monument had its model updated to a “destroyed state” after the player base spent a few weeks shooting it one summer in reaction to a change in direction to the game. There’s a cemetery maintained by a player that’s a monument to the corpses of dead in game characters, but has also become a place for players to memorialize other players who have passed on in real life and sometimes their loved ones or friends who didn’t play their game at all. There’s even been a history book written by a historian about the titanic player wars that have taken place in Null Sec. And a really big statue of Katia Sae.
EVE lore goes back before the game began, and since it launched 17 years ago, both the players have created history, as have the non-player characters controlled by CCP. EVE has changed a lot since it launched. Not only is this an incredibly unique thing in gaming, but it’s a powerful thing as well.
Most players get lured into EVE, typically by a friend talking up the game’s deep complexity, merciless player base, brilliant player driven complexity, or giant record-breaking battles. But I know many players stay or keep coming back because of the sense of history and lore the EVE universe has. That and the way that the players can have a very real impact on that history. It was players who destroyed the Caldari titan over Caldari Prime and right now it is players determining how many systems in Empire space the Triglavians will control. It is that sense of history that helps to mark EVE players for life and, even if they do eventually “win EVE” and never come back, the game will always have a deep place in their heart.
The Problem that TripTiks Help Solve
The greatest issue EVE faces has long been accessibility, and while CCP have made strides to fix the new player experience, this remains true of the Lore and History. There are disparate and unevenly written articles across the internet, there is a source book that is a bit expensive (and I think out of print). There are player blogs and almost two decades of Reddit and other forum posts. But most of these things require you to know where you look or to possess a patience and investment that not necessarily everybody has.
Nor should they have to. EVE can do better at revealing its secrets. As is so often the case, the solution to this (at least for now) is left to the players. So here at the Signal Cartel we have decided to try and help.
TripTiks help to fix this, in one of the best formats possible. The 2.0 TripTik system takes players to the most important and unique locations in the game and then provides carefully written summaries of their importance. Then, they offer links to further information and reading. TripTiks offer a guided way in which players can learn the lore and history of the game by flying their spaceships instead of trudging through google searches and wiki stubs.
TripTik 2.0 includes in-game lore, such as the ancient races of EVE, tours of at least two wars between the Empires, and the aftermath of the Seyllin incident. On the player-created side, you’ll find out where the Capsuleer cemetery is, monuments to player accomplishments, a tour recording the state of Null Sec in YC122, and the location of one of the largest players battles ever. All TripTiks include publicly available bookmarks to help players find the critical locations, travel tips, and other helpful notes.
TripTik 2.0 certainly doesn’t include everything in EVE. In fact, it’s just a drop in the ocean. But hopefully it can inspire other projects, or perhaps even help CCP realize that the player base does care passionately about its lore and shared history, just as much as we do about sweet new zappyboi ships (Well, maybe not as much as new ships, but a close second or third).
It’s my genuine hope as a historian of the EVE sandbox that these TripTiks help preserve this lore and history and that you’ll enjoy experiencing them as much as I enjoyed researching them.
Believe it or not, it has been nearly a year since our last State of the Signal. While we are a little smaller than we were this time a year ago, we are busier than ever and our pilots today are more universally active within the corp. In fact, I have worked consistently over the past several months to ensure that our membership roster reflects active and engaged pilots. I want for every capsuleer who joins our ranks to get a true sense right away of just how active we are as a group — and lately, that has been quite a lot! 😀
You’ll notice a few new names in the divisional reports that follow, and even a new or renamed division or two. While many details have changed over the course of Signal Cartel’s existence, the core of who we are has not. We remain one of EVE Online’s preeminent service corporations and a true counter-culture to the “gung ho” PVP traditions that are so commonplace. While we respect and applaud these valid playstyles, I am happy that New Eden is big enough and the sandbox deep enough to accommodate our unique approach to life amongst the stars, as well.
I celebrated my fourth year in Signal Cartel this past May. I can still say confidently and without hesitation that there is no other group in New Eden I would rather belong to. Signaleers are a rare breed: dedicated, consistent, passionate about their areas of expertise, always willing to share info and help our newer members — and they do it all with kindness, friendliness, and little expectation of acclaim. Our division managers are excellent examples of this ethos, and it is my hope that their reports which follow will encourage each of our members to step out boldly and, in the time-honored phrase of Mynxee, one of our founders, to “be the content they wish to see in New Eden and in Signal Cartel!”
Thanks to each of you for being part of the fun. Fly sharp!
Tamayo
THE ANOIKIS DIVISION Manager: Tamayo Assistant Manager: Maxwell Kurvora
As the manager of the Anoikis Division since the Spring of 2019, I, Tamayo, am pleased to report that the division is very active and in great shape. Currently, the division has 37 members. Our two structures in the C3 have been improved and now are fully rigged and module equipped.
Due to the implementation of the new shared bookmark mechanics, we now have a shared AD bookmarks folder for our wormhole connections and other signatures.
A new medal was created for division members, the “Anoikis Advocate.” It is awarded to those who embody the frontier spirit by actively living and working out of our wormhole. The medal has been awarded, so far, to:
Mia Rosseb
Sir Fiddle Sticks
Sanja Burus
Palis Airuta
Ano Nimus
Maxwell Kurvora
Maxwell Kurvora
Maxwell Kurvora has been promoted to Assistant Manager of the division. I was the only person who had the roles to change modules and a few other of the day-to-day operations. Maxwell was an excellent choice to promote to address these issues and represent the division.
The division is financially sound. Between our wormhole Planetary Production (PI) and Null-Sec Ice mining, we are supplying our own fuel for the stations. We have back-up structures available in case we are ever evicted.
Members are active in PI, PVE mining, manufacturing/research/invention, reactions, and ESRC/SAR. We’ve had our first official mining fleet operation and have now started official AD PVE combat fleets. Our AARs will be posted in the forums for the corp to view.
The Anoikis Division has a great core group of excellent and enthusiastic pilots who contribute to the success of the division, whether it be through donations, organizing events and activities, advice, intel, Tripwire mapping, just chatting in our channel, or the Fedos.
Come and join the fun!
ENGINEERING Managers: A Dead Parrot & Sky Diamond
A Dead Parrot
The Engineering Division has been very busy pushing many buttons this past year. In case you were wondering, the Engineering Division (never to be referred to by our acronym, E.D.) supports all of our in-house programming projects such as Corporate Buyback, our Member Management Application, the 911 service, the Eve Scout Rescue division, Fleet Ops Division, Thera Scanning, the in-character OPSEC story lines, and Allison in all of her forms (note the Oxford comma).
The division is run by the “Odd Couple” of myself, A Dead Parrot, and Sky Diamond. Sometimes we let Thrice code a little bit, but only on small projects that aren’t flammable.
We are currently working on a new application aimed at helping inexperienced 911 operators as they learn the ropes. The application was the brainchild of Jehan Dante and we should have a beta version to show to the Rescue Division shortly.
A fairly medium project we are looking to complete this year is an application for supporting the Signal Cartel Academy’s (SCA) class offer and acceptance program, a single location where members can advertise a class they are willing to teach and other members can sign up. The program would automate and organize the current system taking place manually in the forums now. The back-end REST API for this is already written and we would welcome any volunteers who feel they might have the time to help produce the front-end for the ever-helpful SCA.
I would also like to mention the Thera Scan application , a project written in 2019 by Mzsbi Haev, which is a brilliant tool to manage the bookmarks and signatures for our Thera scanning volunteers. Though the application was not originally developed under the Engineering Division, we are now getting in position to support it in the future, should Mzsbi decide to win Eve or something dreadful like that.
And one last special mention to Arturon Megumi, who has been contributing to the Allison Discord bot as well as keeping Sky on the JavaScript straight and narrow. Arturon also recently brought us the automated #ccp-news channel on our Discord server. Thank you, Arturon, for “being the content you want to see.” Incidentally, Arturon is the same Signaleer that brought us this amazing animated visualization early this year which shows every one of the 46,672 sows and tends done by the Rescue Division in 2019… in just over 2 minutes!
So if you ever have questions or suggestions about our projects, or you just find yourself in need of advice on asynchronous recursive functions (or cats), look us up in the #developers channel on Discord.
Sky Diamond
Buyback Buyback Business Report for 2020-07 The buyback program, currently run by Captain Crinkle, Katia Sae, and Sky Diamond, is now in business for more than 18 months and during that time:
4,071 appraisals were created
2,365 of these appraisals got approved by our customers
1,847 contracts got delivered to our offices
We bought goods worth more than 250b ISK
300 courier contracts to Jita were created
6b ISK got payed on courier contract rewards
290b ISK collateral were on the courier contracts we created
The profits of up to 20b ISK are reinvested within the corporation as working capital
When profits exceed 20b ISK, the surplus will be donated to Signal Cartel
Since last time EvE-Scout Rescue has continued to grow thanks to the contributions of many, many, many enthusiastic rescue pilots!
Our coordinator team has grown a little more and now is comprised of Xalyar, Sydney Selket, Dagmar Maulerant, Miruxa, Catbriar Chelien, Angel Lafisques, Captain Crinkle, Triffton Ambraelle, and our newest coordinator, Ace Rimmer Midumulf! We now have pretty solid coverage around the world’s time zones. Their skill and dedication are crucial to ESR, so much so that Xalyar and Captain Crinkle are now Assistant ESR Managers and will be helping me with various tasks that have grown with the program.
Our 911 Operator program has also continued to grow. So much so, in fact, that our developers had to come up with a way to deal with too many operators responding to single calls. Allison now has a 45-second lottery program that randomly selects from requesting operators who gets to respond. Thanks to Arturon Megumi and Sky Diamond for this addition to Allison. We also introduced dispatcher medals for this team: 36 pilots now have over 5 dispatches, 18 over 50 dispatches, and five master dispatchers have over 100: pris Naari, Triffton Ambraelle, Xalyar, Catbriar Chelien, and Ace Rimmer Midumulf.
An amazing thing has happened with our rescue caches! Over the last three months our cache numbers have stabilized at over 2500 caches, around 97% of Anoikis. There are a couple of factors at play here, one being the changes to bookmarks that allows us to share bookmarks to cache locations. While long discussed, it took a CCP revamp to the bookmark system to make it possible. We then had some long discussions about how to implement this and the formal system went into place on December 10th, 2019. Cache numbers started rising immediately and eventually climbed to a record high of 2554 or 98.1% of Anoikis. This was helped along in no small part thanks to Jehan Dante’s Tender Games which created a huge spike in activity.
This increase has also led to an increase in our medals, with 12 Signaleers reaching UltraCacher status (over 1000 caches) in the last year. Aldar Roanaok and Troubled Watters both exceeded 3000 caches, while Tamayo, Mako Koskanaiken, and Renek Dallocort broke through the 5000-cache mark. They were all left in the dust by Captain Crinkle, who earned The Crinkle Crown with over 10,000 caches.
The increase in the number of our operators and the increase in the number of our caches has led to a massive increase in the number of rescues we are able to accomplish. Kudos to our team of 911 Operators!
April 1, 2019 – July 1, 2019 ESRC: 44 SAR: 44
April 1, 2020 – July, 2020 ESRC: 202 SAR: 103
Since formal tracking began, we have completed 1421 rescues (ESRC: 825, SAR: 596). Our total a year ago was 733.
Igaze, Xalyar, and Sydney Selket all earned SAR Golds for over 50 rescues, while Chaim Achasse became the first to earn the Beacon of Anoikis medal for over 100 rescues. There are a couple of other pilots very close to earning that medal now, too.
And a huge thanks to A Dead Parrot and Allison. They are the linchpin to this division. Allison’s continued growth is incredibly important to the success of ESR!
The last year has been a great one for ESR, and I am constantly amazed at the quality of our pilots and all the work they put into the program!
FLEET OPS DIVISION Manager: Reynauld Lachapelle
Reynauld Lachapelle
Hello everyone! A lot has happened since the last State of the Signal! I will try to keep down to a few key elements, don’t worry.
Back in November last year, a new team comprised of Null Flare, Xalyar, Katherine Skysong, Aldar Roanaok, and myself, Reynauld Lachapelle, took over the management of what was then the Signal Cartel Fleet School (SCFS). We very recently rebranded the division as the Fleet Ops Division (FOD), which more accurately represents what it is that we have been up to since then: running and supporting fleets of all kinds. Jehan Dante and Vanessa Pacht Feng also joined the team on the occasion of our rebranding.
As far as content goes, here is a breakdown of our most popular activities:
We have continued expanding on the staple wormhole fleets you have come to know and love. We are now firmly with one foot in C5+ territory, which brings a whole new host of danger, frights, and excitement. These fleets are for the most part spearheaded by Null Flare and Katherine Skysong.
We have introduced new Abyssal Deadspace fleets to our roster of group content. These have been a lot of fun, and we are slowly but surely climbing up the difficulty ladder as we collectively get better at it! Vanessa Pacht Feng and myself are working hard on making these happen!
We have brought the Hugs fleet back to life with incredible vigor thanks to Jehan Dante‘s tireless drive to end all wars and spread the love!
We also have the pleasure of flying with our friends over at ARC or Vulfpeck (VP) every now and then and maintain great diplomatic relationship with them. If you ever want to get in touch with either of these entities but don’t know how, come have a chat with me, and I’ll introduce you. All the content they have provided so far has been Credo-compliant, and they make it a point that it remain so.
And now for some stats because you nerds love numbers:
Since November 23rd 2019 we have ran 18 fleets, with a total of 219 pilots.
Our most popular fleets are our wormhole fleets with an average of 20 pilots in each of them.
We have lost a total of 14 ships in the course of our regular PvE activities and 66 ships during Hugs operations.
Our total ISK earned is ~7 billion and the average payout is ~63 million.
Our current loaner fleet contains 149 ships, excluding Hug ships, for an estimated value of ~6.5 billion, without fittings.
We also have ~650 Hug ships spread around our various headquarters, as well as ~2,000,000 m^3 of fireworks ready to be fired.
SIGNAL CARTEL ACADEMY Division Manager: Xalyar Admin Team: Maxwell Kurvora, Dagmar Maulerant, Sloopy Noopers
This is the first State of the Signal contribution I am privileged enough to have to write, and the first one for the Signal Cartel Academy (SCA) altogether.
Since its inception and announcement on the 23rd of November, Y121 (2019), the Academy has started its wild run across the lands of the Corporation, spanning far and wide in topics and offerings.
It did not take long for the first class to be requested: just 4 days, with the first [NEED] request being posted on the 27th of November, by Emy Noxx. Since then, in the two hundred and twenty-plus days that have passed from the creation of the Division, we have offered more than 52 total classes, spanning many topics and addressing many needs.
The SCA is just 32 weeks old, and some simple maths mean we have offered to the Corporation an average of 1.625 classes per week so far. That, quite frankly, blows my mind.
We have, with the passing of time, found ourselves with a consistent set of topics requested with regularity, but also with the flexibility to be able to respond to specific requests and to address specific topics on a per-need basis.
Many of you have taken advantage of the SCA offerings, and many have volunteered their time and energy to respond to a request and set up a class. I express my gratitude to both sides of this equation equally. Hopefully myself, and the rest of the SCA Admin Team, will be able to continue to provide the Corporation with an easy way to help each other and to share the vast amount of knowledge we like to call EVE Online.
The Discord Direct Messages inbox of myself and all the team are always there for you all.
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” – Albert Einstein
Keep being willing to learn: I can promise you the SCA will be willing to teach you.
SPLUNKWORKS: Manager: Null Flare
Null Flare
Splunkworks handles day-to-day running of ship fits and related questions in the Signal Cartel Corp. I’d like to say “we,” but as of this moment in time, there is only one member: Null Flare. That was the biggest change the Division saw, with the departure of the old admin crew: I got promoted and left to my own devices…
I’d be interested in accepting some new candidates if interested, but that’s for a later time! We, Splunkworks, and myself personally get a lot of day-to-day questions about fits and mechanics, and I love helping you all out! But rather than just fit a ship and leave it, I’d like to help YOU understand the fitting! So in my work with the SCA, I have run a few Fitting 101 Classes, to help both newbro and veteran alike be able to fit some basics and stop bombarding me with…
Um, I mean stop the need for asking me. I also monitor the forums for any fitting related questions but these don’t come in as often as they used to. There usually isn’t a lot of work involved, unless some big patches hit (Surgical Strike was fun!), but I’m always around if you need something helped with, be it fitting or just general ship advice. It’s a hobby! Pyfa as well is an important part, but I just scratch the surface where all these graphs and maths are concerned. As you all know, any questions regarding ships/fits/hulls/ammo/drones/prop mods, etc., I’m here if you need me! And if I’m not around, there’s usually someone to help on Discord or in Alliance chat.
RECRUITERS Manager: Quinn Valerii
Quinn Valerii
A lot has happened since the last State of the Signal: Mynxee stepped down as head of recruitment and has won Eve, I stepped up to try to fill the role she managed so effortlessly, and there have been other changes within our recruitment team.
I am happy to say that, supported by Tamayo and Sky Diamond and with the recent great addition of Aldar Roanaok to the team, recruitment continues to run well. Continuous improvement and development work by Sky Diamond and others has helped improve our day to day work and, thanks to Aldar Roanaok, who has become an invaluable addition to our team, our timezone coverage is now in a very good place.
My thanks go out to our entire recruitment team who work tirelessly behind the scenes and to those Signaleers who regularly step up in the absence of a recruiter in our public chat to signpost prospective recruits to our Joining FAQ and online application system and who answer basic questions.
CENTRAL SERVICES Manager: Katia Sae
Station Quartermasters
Gelhan V – Moon 10 – DED Logistic Support – Vanessa Pacht Feng
Zoohen III – Theology Council Tribunal – Void Raven
Thera XII – The Sanctuary Institute of Paleocybernetics – miruxa
QMs Helper – Billie Idol
Katia Sae
Since we are The Exploration Corp, we try to keep in stock those ships and items that support that endeavor, such as free T1 starter exploration frigates, ESRC supplies, fireworks, and more. We do our best to keep the stocks up, but if you see something that’s not on-hand, please let your local QM know. And thanks to Jehan Dante being the content you wish to see, you should start seeing Hug Destroyers and Hugs Fleet packs.
Huge shoutout to Asa Kansene, for serving over a year now as our Saisio Quartermaster. Thanks so much for your efforts!
Also, special thanks to Void Raven, miruxa, and Vanessa Pacht Feng for stepping up and filling our QM vacancies when the call went out during our time of need. Can’t forget our very own Billie Idol either, rock on! We can’t provide these services without you!
The posts for 2019 have been indexed and you can check them out here.
Also, if you’ve ever thought you’d like to try blogging or enjoy writing and wanted to post your work publicly, then be sure to check out this post on how to get started and submit your work. If you’d like to participate in our Signaleers series then check out this post.
TripTiks 2.0 We’ve had a great response to our rebooted Expedition TripTiks. With the reboot we’ve already added 10 new TripTiks, which has doubled our content! We have another 6 in the works. To see all our current TripTiks you can check them out here.
New Services! Here’s just one of the many things I love about Signal Cartel and that is our motto of “Be the content you wish to see.” Most, if not all other corps, have the mentality that leadership is responsible and must provide the content for its members. Not so here. We are not only a service corp to all of New Eden, we are also a service corp to each other. If you see a need or content you’d like, then step up. It can be a rewarding experience for you, and I’ve no doubt others will appreciate it.
With that in mind, along with Jehan Dante mentioned above for the hugs ships, we had Xavec step up and offer the following two new services. Great stuff and thanks to you both!
Xavec
SCRAMS New member and want to relocate to one of our corp stations? Then be sure to check out our Signal Cartel Relocation and Moving Service – For New Signaleer Recruits!
Since the program launched, Xavec has averaged 1 contract per week. Seeing how many new members we get, that seems low, so if you’re new and have stuff you’d liked moved, reach out to Xavec !
Period 1: 6 contracts for 305,000m3 and 40 jumps
Period 2: 2 contracts for 120,812m3 and 32 jumps
Period 3: 3 contracts for 964,621m3 and 53 jumps
Period 4: 2 contracts for 119,590m3 and 43 jumps
Period 5: 2 contracts for 134,894m3 and 28 jumps
Period: 6 2 contracts for 520,729m3 and 39 jumps
Totals: 17 contracts for 2,165,646m3 and 235 jumps
SCRUBS BPC buyback Service for Signal Cartel To date, the program has paid out 2.5+ billion to 25 contracts plus 125+ million in donations to Signal Cartel.
There have been 7 Punisher and 5 heron hulls donated to Signal Cartel as well, with another 33 more Punishers on the way. Currently the service has broken even, with the possibility of a small profit which will be used to cover time and expenses associated with running the program.
Observatory The EvE Scout Observatory has for the most part found a permanent home on our Discord server’s #eve-observatory channel, after having moved away from Flickr and the limitations imposed there for free photo storage. Please visit, share, and like your favorites!
Johnny Splunk
THERA SCANNING Manager: Johnny Splunk Asst. Manager: Captain Crinkle
Eve-Scout’s Thera Scan service was formed before Signal Cartel itself, and this year we have set about increasing the profile of this service across the corporation, and the number of our members who take part, for the aid of all pilots across Eve.
Beginning in March this year, we began to send out weekly summaries of Thera activity in the recent week, including relevant links to forum topics, and latest developments. Additionally, some basic information on Thera activity was added to the corporate Co-Pilot tool. Our latest development has been the announcement of new corporate medals for contributions to Eve-Scout Thera Scan. These medals are designed to recognise consistent contributions over an extended period of time, and we look forward to awarding the first.
Captain Crinkle
To aid with promotion of the service amongst our newer members, Tekufah has made a giveaway offer for a free Covert Ops frigate to qualifying pilots. This has proved popular, with twenty-eight new pilots already claiming their prize.
To aid with the process of scanning Thera, Mzsbi Haev has created a webtool , including full instructions and integration with Tripwire through bookmarklet integration. To help our pilots learn how to use this tool, Maxwell Kurvova has held training classes as part of work at Signal Cartel Academy.
To conclude, we would like to thank all who have contributed to the service in the past, and encourage the curious to try it out. Our work to improve the profile continues, but significant progress has already been made in a short period of time. In May of this year, we had 42 different pilots contribute to Thera scanning, the most we have had in a single month for over four years.
