Eve Online, you do the math (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

TLDR: I've finally buckled and am playing an MMO game. I love it. I'm also trying to recruit some friends.

The full story:

I'd heard about Eve Online a few times before, mostly on the Ars Technica fora. The game sounded interesting, but I didn't feel like committing to it back then. However, after coming back from Japan I decided to give in and see what the game is about. They offer a free, 14-day trial, so why not take them up on it?

So far I'm loving the game! There's a lot in there that I loved about other games, as can be seen from the "maths" I did above. So why is EVE-O the equivalent of (Syndicate Wars + Uplink + Firefly) x MMO?

Syndicate Wars. The classic cyberpunk game from the nineties, that had you train and customize cyborg assassins in order to subvert the masses. It was a strategic combat game (light on the strategy), that saw your cyborgs fight in urban environments from an isometric point of view.

Quite like the cyborgs in the game, EVE-O presents you with lots of customization options. There is a wide range of ships that one can choose from, all of which can be customized to the T. Your character in the game will need to acquire and train skills in order to operate these ships and weapon systems. Finally, there are mods that can be made to your character's body, in order to boost certain stats.

Also, like in SW, your character will need to take into account his standing towards all manner of corporations, factions, characters and governments. Piss off the wrong people and you're in for a world of hurt.

Oh... And the game is completely from the third person's perspective, never going first-person... Like Syndicate Wars :)

Uplink. A niche game from 2001, that has you playing a computer hacker. Mistoffelees will remember this game well, since both he and I loved it to bits.

The parts of EVE-O that do not play out in free space all happen on board of space stations. Training your skills, outfitting your rig, trading on the market place, communicating with agents (to get missions) and your fellow astronauts: it all happens through text interfaces in windows. This is quite like both SW and Uplink.

Also, like in Uplink, it's common for you to hop through systems to get to the place where your mission will taken place. Although in this case it's solar systems and not computer systems. Planning out your route through the universe feels a lot like the planning of your computer hops in Uplink.

Firefly. A scifi TV series that was very popular among a small group of people. The show was cancelled by Fox halfway through the first season, which ironically has led to its huge popularity. Word of mouth through the Internet has done the show good.

EVE-O isn't like Firefly just because it's set in space. Nope... Because then we'd be able to say that Apollo 13 is like Star Trek ^_^

No... EVE-O is very similar to the Firefly setting, because your character is completely free to choose his career. You can fly solo as a smuggler, privateer, miner, or whatever. You can join one of the many corporations, to fly with friends and to reach larger goals. Or you can join up with one of the empires, to be part of a huge organisations that keeps the universe "safe".

What you can do in the game completely depends on your own actions. You can choose to not fly any missions, but you'll be stuck in your piddly little boat. You can choose to go mining or bounty hunting and rake in some nice dough. That'll get you a bigger ship, which in turn will allow you to do more difficult missions. Or you can join a Corp and ride along on their infrastructure.

You're completely free. You'll never take the sky from me!

MMO. Ask anyone on the street and they'll know the name World of Warcraft. The game that made the mundanes familiar with the concept of MMOs (Massively Multiplayer Online games). EVE-O has over 200.000 players from around the world.

What's different from most MMO's is that EVE-O puts all players together on the same server. You won't need to go to a specific server to join up with your friends and be stuck with only 3000 players on the same game. Nope... EVE has all 200.000 accounts in the same game, with approximately 32.000 players online at the same time. The universe is a big place and it's full of people!

What's also different is the way your character progresses in the game. Most RPG games dish out experience points to your character. By gaining EXP, your char will get bigger/better/stronger and will thus progress. EVE however, works with a time-based system. Learning the skills that you need to progress happens in realtime and thus, even when your offline, he'll still keep on getting better. The side effect of this is that you won't have to login to the game every single night to keep on grinding. This is one of the downsides to World of Warcraft that has kept me at bay: I don't want to commit to nightly games that I can't miss.

Anywho...

All of this put together (to me) becomes Eve Online. So far I'm loving the game and I think I want to keep on playing it. The folks of the Ars Technica corporations have been very helpful and I'd like to join one of them in the foreseeable future. The good thing about EVE is that, if I can't make the monthly payment a few times, I can still return to the game after that time. Nice :)

Of course, i can't help but try and recruit a few souls :p

* Menno, I'd love to have a fellow-n00b wingman so we can go on missions together.
* Mistoffelees, the same goes for you!
* Willow, you disliked the commitments WoW needed of you. How's EVE sound so far?

Sounds interesting? Read What I've learned about Eve Online, for some more details :)

Posted in: eve online , maths , video game , video game maths

It's all becoming a bit too much (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

Damn. I hate doing this, but I'm skipping out on Analysis 1 - Maths. That's the course I wrote about earlier, with all the long calculations to prove that math works bitches.

The course is on my list of "free" courses: I already received all the ECTS beforehand, because I have already studied this stuff before. In essence this means that I didn't have to take the test to begin with. I was just taking this class to freshen up my maths.

Thing is: I wasn't just visiting lectures, I was also doing all of the homework, which eats up a tremendous amount of time. Also, making all my notes look good using LaTex takes up about an hour each week as well. I could spend all of that time on work that actually earns me more ECTS.

I'll still be visiting each lecture, because A) the subject matter is cool and challenging, and B) I enjoy spending time with my classmates. I just won't be partaking in the homework, nor in the exam.

Posted in: college , homework , maths , study , too much

Ouch, Analysis-1 is going to be a toughy (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

Careful now, this may sting a little... o_O

This semester we're covering Analysis 1, which requires a wholly new way of thinking. Where Statistics 1 was pure maths and calculation, this course requires something additional: insight and a sense of logic.

The thing about this course is that it's all about proving maths. Not using maths to prove stuff, but proving the mathematic equations themselves.

Folks who aren't too hot on math may want to skip the next section :D

==========

For example, the calculation show is above belongs to the question "Prove or disprove that (k^2 -1) is divisible by eight, for all values of K that are integers and odd". "Odd" in this case is opposed to "even".

So, how do you even get started on such a question?! Well, you start filing in bits and pieces, starting out by equating k to (2n + 1). Why? Because one can make -any- odd number by taking integer n, multiplying it by 2 (thus becoming an even number) and then adding 1.

Once all of that is done we're left with 4(n^2 + n). In order for the original theory to be right, this'd mean that any value of (n^2 + n) needs to be even. And that's what I'm testing in the second and third lines: first for even numbers, then for odd numbers. And indeed, both tests come out positive: any value for n will result in an even number.

Pulling this back to the original theory means that any outcome is indeed divisible by eight, because four times any even number is always divisible by eight.

==========

Joy!... I've always sucked at being insightful, so a lot of these "tricks" don't come natural to me. Then again, I used to get good grades for math and even for stuff like this. I ought to be able to get the hang of it again.

I hope ^_^;;

Posted in: analyse , analysis , collega , maths , vakgedeelte

XKCD: statistics and the dating pool (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

Funny that this comics should come up on XKCD, just while we're studying statistics at school.

I love the XKCD comics. Just how mr. Munroe succeeds in making stick figures so emotive is beyond me!

Posted in: dating pool , maths , statistics , xkcd

Might as well face it (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

I'm going to have to learn LaTex.

For the uninitiated, Tex and LaTex are typesetting and markup/layout tools. You use them to create reports, documents and such. So why not just used MS Word, or something similar? Because WYSIWYG editors like those are usually horrible at making scientific formulas.

Would you even consider making the image above in something like Word? Or in a graphics program? Or even a piece of DTP software? I sure as heck wouldn't. There's just too much that can go wrong.

Luckily, Tex is a very powerful tool that will allow you to describe the formula. Once your description is done, Tex will generate the text and thus the formula.

My formula above is written as follows:
\sigma = \sqrt{ \frac{ \sum_{i=1}^n (\chi_{i} - \bar{\chi})^2 }{n} }

Of course, a n00b like me can't figure out all those codes by himself, so I've gotten a very useful piece of software: LaTeXiT. Written by Pierre Chatelier, LaTeXiT allows you to click together a formula. Once done, it'll export the formula as a PDF that you can use anywhere. Awesome!

Posted in: formulas , latex , maths , tex