Hey all,
Quick introduction here: I’m Coltitus Mando, although I usually go by Colt. When I made and named this character back when I was a teenager in 2013, the name sounded cool but time has taught me that to most people it sounds more like a disease of the bowels. You live and you learn.
Like so many other people who play EVE, I have in the past been a very cyclical player. I’d get the itch to play Spaceship Game, play for a few months, lose expensive spaceship one too many times, then hibernate for years. As a stubbornly solo player (at the time), it was hard to grasp the breadth and depth of content available to me in the sandbox. It wasn’t until the Equinox expansion last year that I actually found a group that I felt at home with. The whole schtick of Totality Squad is to treat the game like a game and to find niche things to do together as a group with drastically different timezones of activity.
Although I missed out on the Triglavian Invasion and formation of Pochven, I’m very proud to say that I am a Pochven resident despite its flaws. The unique culture and history of this relatively young region, along with the Goldilocks combination of region mechanics, has sucked me in and made me a wiser and more knowledgeable player.
What’s my expertise? What am I bringing to the table?
I think an issue a lot of candidates for CSM face is that their perspective can be narrowed by their main activity. CSM candidates who run to be the voice for regional space might not be able to grasp the wider implications of a change they champion.
An in-game example would be the Skyhook changes that were implemented in the Equinox major update. This made it easier for Null Sov to keep their infrastructure fueled and Reagents protected but crashed the Reagent market and the low-level Moon Goo market along with it. The change also throttled an emerging gameplay style for small-gang PvP and left many to abandon this brand-new content.
A comparable real-world example would be the Australian government’s introduction of cane toads.
My expertise lies in seeing the bigger picture, mostly from a solo/small-gang perspective. Although I reside in and spend the majority of my time in Pochven, I am keenly aware of opportunities all over New Eden as well as how these activities mesh together in the larger ecosystem.
As a software developer in real life, I have a proclivity to try and defeat puzzles. I love optimization and theorycrafting. When new content is announced, I’m the first to try and dismantle it. Those who flew with me in the Triglavian Collective Discord server during the recent Drifter Crisis and Capsuleer Day events can point to numerous times I came up with ways to break or defeat the content.
It is my belief that in this game, where so much knowledge and so many game mechanics go undocumented, my understanding of how things work will be an invaluable perspective on the CSM.
Why am I applying for CSM?
Pragmatically speaking, I’m tossing my hat into the ring because I think it’ll be a fun thing to do. I’m looking forward to talking with people who share my interest in the game and care about how it’s developed and balanced. There are many truly awesome people in this game with their own stories and experiences, and I feel this could be a great opportunity to connect with more players like this.
Ideally, I’m running for CSM because I want to help make the sandbox more fun to play in for small gangers and smaller groups in general. The CSM roster should reflect the diversity of gameplay styles in EVE, but in my perspective there has historically been an overrepresentation of Null Sov interests. If I have the opportunity to potentially represent a significant minority of players, I think I am obliged to try and put myself forward.
What can you expect from me?
You can expect for me to advocate for, at the bare minimum:
-
Rework of Mercenary Dens, a dead-on-arrival piece of content from the Revenant expansion that was promised to be a significant PvP opportunity for small gang groups but has delivered nothing but a new wealth generation tool for Null Sov.
-
Rework of Skyhook raiding mechanics. A few iterations of updates to Skyhooks has yielded very little improvement to pervasive issues like self-raiding, Reagent value deterioration, and the lack of pressure on Null alliances to moderate their sovereignty expansion.
-
Introduction of more lucrative small gang PvE in Pochven. Recent changes introduced by CCP Rampant with the help of CSM Drake Iddon have done a lot of good for the region, but an area still lacking significant improvement are the smaller combat anomalies in Pochven. Several sites still need to have their value reworked to make them worth running, and more sites need to be added to fill the gap between the 3-man anoms and the 15-man Observatory Flashpoints.
-
Removal of Hospodar farming in HiSec. Triglavian salvage, necessary for the manufacturing of T2 Triglavian ships, is singularly propped up by a bug with the K-Space wormhole connections to Pochven. The value of this salvage is absurdly high because of the limited ways of finding NPC wrecks to salvage, and a multiboxing marauder pilot in HiSec can earn billions per hour in safety. A functioning Trig LP Store needs to be introduced to replace the necessity of this bug abuse, and to bring T2 Trig ships more in line with their Empire counterparts.
-
Availability of Abyssal materials like Zero-Point Condensate and Isogen-10 in Pochven. T1 Trig ship manufacturing needs to be unbound from Abyss runners to bring them to a more reasonable price. There is no reason that Pochven, the region mutated and controlled by Triglavians, should not contain the materials necessary to build their ships.
I hope that you’ll join either the Triglavian Collective or Vyraj Discord channels and get to know me a little better or ask me any questions you might have about my candidacy. Wherever you might fly, I hope to see you soon o7
…and may the best will win ofc 
)