Phantomite - Lowsec is still here and so am I - CSM16

Council Of Stellar Management CSM Campaigns
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Hello to the Eve online community! I’m here, again, to continue my crusade for consistent, smart conflict design and against abandoned, stale mechanics that have not been iterated upon as the game changed around them.

I’m not happy to have lowsec ignored as it has been for years – FW, meaningful conflict generators and the lack of personal income sources that don’t force group consolidation are at the top of my list of passions.

I’ve lived in lowsec for most of my career. It’s very much my home, though I do have plenty of experience from times spent in a few nullsec groups – smaller scale fleet action is where I feel most at home.

My depth of knowledge and quality of experience, life and death, in lowsec make me suitable for this position. This suitability and my championing of important, neglected causes was what got me into the CSM last year. This year, I have an extra advantage: A year’s experience in conversing with CCP, getting to know who to ask which questions, building connections and experience in communicating with the community about what developments have been discussed.

Even more importantly, I want to keep the same pressures on CCP regarding the dire need for lowsec regeneration. I don’t want to lose the progress I’ve made in helping the developers to understand what makes lowsec unique, what used to make it fantastic and what needs to change to regenerate the hive of varied activity it once was.

I’m driven by my displeasure with the current state of the game, so I will not offer a vague promise to bring anything from anyone, but I will continue to advocate strongly for the areas I seek to give voice.

I’m an independent candidate, who gives a rare point of view to CCP not dictated by powerblocs or shaped by politics.

Please do join my discord server to speak to me any time - https://discord.gg/EJhfm6FNSD

I will happily speak with groups or individuals from any part of the universe in DMs or on voice. Send me a message any time and I will get back to you to discuss your combat, lowsec, or my suitability for the CSM.

If you would like to read things I have written or watch PvP videos I have made in the past, please check out my website at https://www.whispo.us/

And my youtube playlist which includes a combat video made only a few weeks ago: https://bit.ly/3txCUTS

EDIT: My CCP interview! Twitch

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Hi, can you please list a few things that you have done, for lowsec, or are work in progress in your current CSM15 mandate? I’m interested in FW aspect of things but any LS improvements are welcomed.

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Absolutely.
My main work-in-progress items at the core of lowsec include

  • An entire revamp of faction warfare to reduce the impact of multi-billion isk setups that gank T1 small ships out of plexes - perhaps through shiptype limitations being more stringent on novice entrances

  • Methods to mitigate the almost invulnerability of FW bots

  • Expansion of FW goals that are not instantly stoppable by groups simply by dropping enough capitals to blot out the sun

  • Expanded viability for FW fleets to form, and objectives for them to work towards that are worth doing

  • Actual meaningful objectives for lowsec groups, FW or not to fight over - the removal of passive moon mining decimated income sources and fleet combat for alliances in lowsec and CCP has done nothing to return similar mechanics.

  • Rorquals as a source of personal income require that you join an already large coalition to be able to mine in relative safety. I am pushing for personal income sources in lowsec that do NOT require multiple billions of investment and do not benefit from being part of a very large group.

And some items that extend far beyond lowsec:

  • Citadel proliferation has been slowed with quantum core requirements, abandonment mechanics and something I personally spearheaded: Multiple clones in single citadels/stations. Citadels are still painful to attack as medium/small groups and that’s still not okay.
  • Citadel placement is still virtually unlimited, with citadels being able to be positioned in opressive locations such as directly on gates - this is unacceptable.

I have written in the past in closer detail about some of the main issues facing eve on my website, www.whispo.us

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Last year I said:

I’ve known, flown and talked with Phantomite for 6 years or so, and fully endorse him as a candidate. He is intelligent, very knowledgeable and experienced, well spoken, and will be effective at communicating his thoughts, ideas and feedback to CCP as a member of the CSM.

Change the 6 to a 7, otherwise my sentiment remains the same. Big +1 for Phantomite on the CSM.

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I’ll vote for Phantomite, even though he was rude and refused to purchase a mining permit.

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You’ll get my vote, from the days of DiamondDog, Sirius Fog, MhG, + Zantheons. :heart:

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He will be getting my vote, and I hope both us will serve on the CSM together! :smiley:

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I hope very much that circumstances eventually allow us to meet in person again <3

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A big issue with a lot of the Low Sec systems in the game is they just are either out of the way in every imaginable facet, or there is absolutely no reason to go there.

Would you ever consider pushing CCP to redraw the routes of Low sec systems so that they have more interactions with High sec? An example of this would be Vecamia, or Fruleger, Rancer/Ambeke, Anhere/Hagilur.

These systems are prime locations tha are often fought over because they have a monopoly on trade routes or direct routes. Would you advocate more routes that go through high sec, have shorter routes that go through Low Sec? I.e Hek → Jita, you must go through rancer.

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I certainly feel that while chokepoints are good for conflict, there’s too few of them that are too heavily traveled.
In an ideal world, I would split the empires apart with lowsec between all of them - but I would only want that to happen with MORE options for routes AND with the “intel” from the map regarding kills in the last hour etc brought closer to people’s eyes so they can better make informed decisions.

Gates are one of the last places in the game where non-consensual pvp can regularly occur.

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I would agree with that, the low sec route should not be the only route, but it should be the fastest is basically what I’m saying. Obviously you have a lot of goals going in, but hopefully you can take into consideration that more of these kinds of routes need to be made, because they are great areas of conflict that actually have value for low sec players, most low sec players have no passive income, and rely on the destruction of other players ships as a means of their own income, most of us try to be goold stalwarts of that by making sure we send isk to new players who come our routes and give them suggestions on how to avoid it till they are ready to risk it again.

Low sec choke points like this also bring forth content, I can link you a stack of loss mails from WH players, and from baiting Big ships/indie ships, hot droppers, etc, coming to donkey stomp us on the gate. So it is an eco system of content, not just for the people who rule those systems.

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Passive moons are famously one of my big subjects, and I maintain that an adequate replacement is vital for the income and combat opportunities.

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Good luck on your CSM run - every voice advocating for lowsec is a step forward for all of us.

If you were CCP, what would be your approach to revitalizing lowsec (particularly: making FW great again), in light of the fact that previous mechanical changes (wcs, Ventures) have only shifted the meta from Venture bots to Atron bots, Coercer bots and AFK Tristans?

I recognize the job of CSM is not junior game developer, I’m just asking about high-level views, so all three of us lowsec miners know who’s advocating for us and how :slight_smile:

Edit: What’s your thoughts about the state of lowsec “livability” for tiny groups / solo players?

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Hi Lin!

Almost everything that I was angry about last year is still here causing problems - CCP didn’t budge, but showed interest in all the subjects this first year i’ve served.

  • For FW, there’s no Plex that limits to T1 non faction frigates. Adding that or changing novices to be that would be the first good step toward levelling the playing field between the rich and the poor in this situation.
  • Overall, FW needs the full revamp treatment anyway. CCP has shown what they can do with NPC AI with the diamond rats - why are there not Empire Navy NPC fleets zooming around doing battle? There’s huge opportunities available for individuals and groups to be “assigned” roles from agents to go and assist the NPC navies - this would be great “fleet-like” PvE where there’s virtually none in the game. I beleive CCP is currently particularly receptive to this type of idea.

On the non-FW specific side of things, lowsec STILL DESPERATELY NEEDS AN ADEQUATE REPLACEMENT FOR THE EFFECT PASSIVE MOONS HAD.
I don’t just find it to be in need, I find it insulting that CCP removed this content and have now spent over 4 years not replacing it.

Regarding the state of livability for solo and small groups… this has risen in recent months to be perhaps my number one concern:
there’s nothing in lowsec for a decent income aside from Rorqual mining (needs large groups to protect) or Level 5 missions (very large capital investment, large amount of time creating pulling characters)

I already have proposals that CCP devs have read, and I want to continue pushing them forwards now that i’ve started.

As ever, thank you for your question and please do join my discord to grab me whenever you need :slight_smile:

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you get my vote

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Phantomite is very cool and you all should vote for him.

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Phantomite has done a huge amount for wormholers this year. I’ll be voting for him again

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Thank you!
Lowsec is my speciality but there’s plenty of room to, when CCP are considering other areas, make sure I can talk with other experts to get improved results from upcoming changes.

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If you can magically get CCP to lower broker fees and/or sales taxes you’ll have my votes into perpetuity.

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im running as well, i would vote for you over me just to get lowsec out of the grave its in

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