Mapping the Labyrinth

Well I finally bit the bullet, and spent the hours needed to map out a route through the labyrinth! Getting there wasn't that bad though, because I made lots of isk on the way in. :)

The Labyrinth is an Amarr COSMOS site in the Aphi Solar System. It is the location of an ancient Takhmal Temple and is probably the best place in all of known space for an Archeologist to hang out.

In order to enter the Labyrinth, first you need to have completed the missions for The Museum's Curator. The museum is another COSMOS site in the Zimse solar system. You will need the archeology skill just to get in the Museum, and you will definately need it to complete the Curator's missions as he will have you searching for artifacts within the Museum. Once you have completed The Curator's missions, he will give you a 'key to the Labyrinth'. Don't forget to put the key in your cargo holds. :)

When you're ready to enter the Labyrinth, take a battleship to the Aphi system, and warp to the Sun. There you will find the 'Entrance to the Labyrinth'.

The Labyrinth is made up of at least 10 different 'rooms'. These rooms can be distinguished by the placement of the acceleration gates within the room. Using the sun as true north, rotate your view so you are looking down on your ship and the sun is at the top-center of the screen. This is the first room, with the compass directions attached for reference.

Here is a list of the 10 rooms I've mapped so far, labeled with their respective cardinal gate placement:

Room 1 - N, E, S, W ---------------------------------------------- North(to 3), East(to 2)

Room 2 - N, E, SW, NW --------------------------------- North(restricted*), East(to 3)
Room 3 - NE, SE, S, W - Northeast(to 4), Southeast(to 7), South(to 1), West(to 6)
Room 4 - E, S, SW, W -------------------------------------- Southwest(to 5), West(to 8)
Room 5 - N, E, SE, W - West(restricted*), Southeast(to 1), East(to 2), North(to 6)
Room 6 - N, E, S, SW -------- Southwest(to 5), South(to 7), East(to 3), North(to 4)
Room 7 - N, E, SE, S - East(to 5), Southeast(to 1), South(to 6), North(restricted*)
Room 8 - N, SE, W, NW ------------------------------------ Southeast(to 1), West(to 9)
Room 9 - N, NE, E, S -------------------- North(to 6), Northeast(to 10), South(to 4)
Room 10 N, S, SW, W ----------------------------------------------- North(TO TEMPLE)

*All restricted gates are limited to t1/t2 Frigates and Destroyers, t1 Cruisers, and Industrials

The shortest route to the temple site is:
From Room 1 >
North(to 3)
Northeast(to 4)
West(to 8)
West(to 9)
Northeast(to 10)
North(TO TEMPLE)

Bring an Analyzer, and a TANK.
Fly safe! :)
Prophet

Destiny, Loyalty, and Faith: Part 4

I was fully aware of the fact that I was passing out. I could feel the blackness creeping over the back of my skull, and around to the front, closing my vision to pinholes. The funny thing is, once I had passed out completely, I felt lucid.

Everything around me felt real...

I was aboard an Abaddon, in space. I wasn't in my pod however. I was drifting down the main deck toward the forward observation area that extends beyond the capsule encasement chamber. I had only ever been here aboard my own Abaddon for inspections. Then I fell to my knees.

Empress Sarum was standing before me! She spoke, and I went numb, no longer lucid. "This had to be a dream.", I thought.

"There is an event coming.", she said calmly. "It will change the face of New Eden forever. Whether you know it or not, the work you're doing out here is invaluable to The Empire. You and those of your chosen profession, whom are also loyal to God, and their Empire are needed. Be ye not afraid of the 'unknown', surrender yourself to God's will."

...I awoke in "The Scientia". My armor repairers were running, and the radar site had been cleared of the Blood Raiders inhabiting it. In my cargo, were the bounties of codebreaking their terminals. I immediately commanded the ship to warp for the nearest stargate, and began to contemplate the implications of 'the dream'.

I thought, "There's no way The Empress would ever speak to me. I have never been worthy of her presence."

I thought about what Okhansa had said, "I knew you were coming, Prophet. I also know what I need to tell you, even though I don't know what you want to ask...Follow it."

I knew that no matter what I thought, I had to keep looking, following this path of strange signatures and anomalies. I wasn't even sure what I was looking for. I just knew that my God, and my Empress had asked service of me.

And I surrendered...

Destiny, Loyalty, and Faith: Part 3

I can still hear Darth's voice comming over the coms channel...

"I'm gonna engage him!"

We had returned to the Exit solarsystem to search for the source of those strange signals. Darth had joined me in his Retribution class assault ship, while I was in my cov-ops scan probing ship. There was a lot of hostile movement in the sector. On the way in, we had passed systems with handfulls of known criminals... But we weren't deterred.

Once we were in the Exit system, Darth began searching for cosmic anomallies, while I looked for cosmic signatures. Two hostiles jumped into the system, and immediately started chasing Darth. Darth finally jumped to the Access system and the main aggressor followed him. The second stayed behind to keep an eye on me. After a short time of not being able to find me, he too left.

"I'm gonna engage him!", Darth shouted.

It was an Ishkur, another assault ship, so his chances were fair. I took the opportunity to examine the radar signature I had located. The last thing I heard was Darth saying that his ship's hull was breaking apart...

...Then I passed out, which is not something you want to do in space...

Destiny, Loyalty, and Faith: Part 2

I exited my quarters into the hallway of the Kador Family Bureau orbiting Kador Prime. At the end of the hall was a doorway, with a large banner of the Amarr crest on one side, and the Kador Family crest on the other. I had studied here under one of the families personal theologians, Jin Okhansa, before I was old enough to go to The Royal Amarr Institute.

When I entered, Okhansa was standing at the alter in the ceremonial red robes of the Amarr clergy, "I knew you were coming, Prophet. I also know what I need to tell you, even though I don't know what you want to ask."

I knelt before Okhansa, "I do not seek council, M'lord. I am here to profess, in God's house, in your witness that I am prepared to do whatever it takes to serve His will. I am now, and will remain His faithful servant until the end of time. By His light and His will. Amen."

"I know your affirmation of faith pleases the Lord, Prophet. But He has brought you here for me to tell you only one thing... Follow it... Follow it Prophet."

I rose, gave Okhansa a nod of conviction, turned, and walked back down the long corridor to the docking bay.

Destiny, Loyalty, and Faith: New Series

This series of blogs is going to be driven by in-game events, told from a 1st person perspective, in-character.

Here's a little character background:

My name is TheOnlyProphet. I am a Ni-Kunni loyal to the Amarr Empire. I started as a prospector by trade, and now I am a full fledged scientist. I am the CEO of Altus Provisio, a loyal industrial corporation that has because of duty joined the Amarr Militia, The 24th Crusade. I am our corporation's only explorer, as well, so I regularly fly off for days, sometimes weeks at a time, excavating archeological sites, and codebreaking top secret pirate faction's scientific information.

Watch here for the Destiny, Loyalty, and Faith series.

Prophet

Destiny, Loyalty, and Faith: Part 1

------------------------------------------------------------
Actions Log
Listener: TheOnlyProphet
Session started: 2009.01.29 23:09:09
------------------------------------------------------------
[ 2009.01.29 23:12:31 ] (notify) Warping to Stargate (Exit)
[ 2009.01.29 23:13:19 ] (None) Jumping to Stargate (Access) in Exit solarsystem......

...and that's when I snapped out of it...

For those that don't know, I'm a bit of an explorer. I often disappear for sometimes days at a time, to the border systems, and nether regions of space. Most times I am looking for ancient technologies, or foreign decryption components. But this time, I was following something different...

For several systems I had been moving along, dropping scan probes as I went. And in each and every one I found traces of an unknown cosmic signature. It was very faint in some systems, and very large in others. I quit using the map entirely and just jumped from system to system. When I snapped out of it, I realized I was sitting in the 'Exit' solar system in the Genesis Region.

The Genesis region is the origin of all our races, now scarred by a cataclysmic event in which the wormhole called the EVE gate collapsed. Most of you know that much of our history. But the fact that the entire region is mostly bare of natural resources has left the area deemed low-security by CONCORD. I had before this day, never been near the EVE gate.

... and there it was staring me in the face. I had been drawn there as if God was directing me toward my fate. I turned around and made full speed for Empire, where I promptly setup a Battlecruiser class ship, called The Scientia, specifically for scientific exploration, codebreaking, and artifact analyzing. I'm in position now to begin a full scale investigation into these mysterious signatures. I will report my findings here.

"By His light and His will."

T3 Production Chain

I'm already planning my first expedition into wormhole space!

how do i build a strategic cruiser?
reported by CCP Chronotis 2009.02.15 16:10:30
By now you should know that Strategic Cruisers are the new group of modular ships we are adding in Apocrypha and that these ships are assembled from five subsystems which fit into the ship hull/chassis. You should also know that most of the raw materials will be sourced from wormhole space...

...The Short and Sweet Summary
Subsystems and hulls are manufactured from components; components are manufactured from a mix of Sleeper NPC salvage and Polymers. Polymers come from a reaction of minerals and fullerenes. Fullerenes are a new type of harvestable gas. The blueprints or reactions needed to facilitate these are also found within wormhole space.

New Eden Translation
We're going to have to find ways in-and-out of wormhole space with ships that can kill Sleepers(which are using advanced AI), or ships that can mine the new minerals, or harvest the new gas. Of course that ship had better have a way to scan for wormholes, or have a friend that can, else you'll never be able to get your resources to where it matters...

The Production Chain
There are new starbase structures that will be required to run these new reactions, as well as manufacture the hulls and subsystems.

- Polymers
Polymers are going to be made from a reaction of minerals and fullerenes. This will require a regular silo(minerals) and a biochemical silo(fullerenes) as inputs to a polymer reactor w/ the appropriate polymer reaction blueprint, and a polymer silo(polymers) for the output.

- Components
While manufactured on a normal component assembly array, the blueprints for the components can only be found in exploration sites(presumably also in w-space). They will require 3 different types of Sleeper NPC salvage, and 4 different polymer types.

In effect, every member of our corporation, no matter their proffession will have some way to contribute to our T3 production, whether it be through ratting and salvaging in w-space, or mining the new w-space minerals, exploring to find not only the wormhole entrances and exits, but also to find the blueprints and other valuable links in the production chain.

I'm very excited, as an explorer and resource gatherer, and also as a CEO for all the new industrial opportunities this will introduce, including role-playing scenarios. Thumbs up to CCP for concept. I'm anticipating the implementation so much I can't stand myself. :)