Noobs Night in the Hole
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This page is specific to EVE University. Other corporations or groups in the game may operate differently. For a summary of EVE University's rules and code of conduct, see EVE University Rules. |
Noobs Night in the Hole
Noobs Night in the Hole is a Wormhole Community (WHC) tradition that allows people interested in joining WHC a chance to experience wormhole life in a controlled setting. It is both a recruiting event and a tradition that brings in some of the best and brightest WHC has to offer. It's one of the more involved events to plan, but is extremely rewarding and counts towards completing the Community Content Initiative requirements. Even for those who don't join WHC, Noobs Night in the Hole acts as a crash course in what it's like to live in wormhole space.
Scheduling
Because Wormhole Community is such a tight-knit community that requires a certain level of consensus, it is essential that conversations happen in advance with fellow members. This is an opportunity to ask those who attended previous Noobs Night in the Hole events what they liked about it. It may provide inspiration for what to do during this upcoming event. If you are close with folks in other timezones (typically WHC alternates between being more active in EUTZ or USTZ) you might want to see if there is someone who would want to coordinate with you to do the same event in their timezone so as to offer Noobs Night in the Hole for the two most active timezones. You may also considering scheduling it on the weekend during EU primetime (18:00-20:00 EVE) which will allow more USTZ Unistas to participate since there is a lot more overlap between timezones over the weekend.
Requirements
What will people do during Noobs Night in the Hole? PvP? PvE? Mining? It is pretty common for the plan to be a krabbing session that then turns into PvP unintentionally, but that doesn't have to be the Noobs Night in the Hole every time. Consider reaching out to other wormhole corps and ask if they'd like to plan for some "Pistols at Dawn" pew pew. This can take some considerable effort as both members of WHC and the other corp will have to make an effort to roll into each other. A slightly easier way to approach PvP for Noobs Night in the Hole is to rage roll on the day of the event until WHC is connected to a few different corps. Reach out to them and ask if they'd be interested in a planned fight in a few hours. If one says yes, roll off the connections to any other corps to avoid getting third-partied. Always be prepared for the possibility that another corp will say yes and then as everyone is forming up on the wormhole that you'll find out the other corp can't form after all. If PvP is the desired activity, have a backup plan and be prepared for the hassle of reshipping an entire group of people who aren't accustomed to reshipping quickly.
If krabbing, decide whether to krab out of the C3 static ("Bravo") or in home. Krabbing in home offers greater control over the variables and won't require rage rolling the static until someone finds a suitable Bravo for farming. The advantage of krabbing out of the static is that it opens up the possibility for other kinds of content and it gives the visiting Unistas a chance to see more of how WHC operates, especially if the group is looking at Pathfinder (all Unistas can see WHC's Pathfinder map, but only WHC members can make edits). The obvious downside is that having a bunch of people down chain, even if only as far as the static, means that the group might get dropped on by a hostile fleet.
Keep in mind that whatever activity is planned for Noobs Night in the Hole, the doctrine needs to be as basic as possible. If the ships and fittings are too skill intensive then a lot of newer players who are checking out WHC will not be able to participate. One of the better doctrines that came about thanks to Yuri Levnik consisting entirely of Caracals. The benefit of this fit is that it can do both PvE and PvP with right modules (i.e. have some people swap out the target painter for webs, some people swap out target painter for scram). With the large numbers that Noobs Night in the Hole attracts (20-30 guests), it is not important to have logi in PvE because rats die too quickly. If attendance is low, it may be a good idea to ask a few WHC members to fly PvE fit Ospreys for logi.
Recommendations
Making Noobs Night in the Hole happen is not something that can be pulled off by one person. Fortunately, there are a number of people who may be able to help. Whether or not you utilize their help, all of these people should be contacted and made aware that Noobs Night in the Hole is happening and when.
The first people to talk to for additional support would be the WHC Community Coordinators. They may have advice and guidance to consider throughout the planning and execution of the event. Chances are that a few of them have seen a few different iterations of Noobs Night in the Hole and can help steer away from mistakes previous organizers made or say what worked well in the past. Be sure to avoid expecting them to plan it for you as they are very busy being coordinators.
EVE University tries not to waste special purpose ships and that's true of Noobs Night in the Hole ships. When you contact the Quartermaster to let them know the event is happening, it may be worth asking what ships are held in reserve for the event. This may save time and effort as there may be ships ready to go.
When contacting the Production Department, ask about how ships made for events are paid for. Keep in mind that ever since EVE University 2.0 (i.e. the switch from campuses to communities and staging areas) WHC does not have its own budget separate from other EVE University coffers and therefore WHC cannot front the bill for any ships unless members raise the funds for it themselves. If you need to put in an order for ship production, the form can found here.
In the hours leading up to and during the event, Noobs Night in the Hole will require people in a variety of roles to help make the event happen. One such role that will be necessary is to have a few people act as concierge for the guests. The concierge will lead the travel fleet from Stacmon to Echo, assist with handing out ships (if they are not on contract), shepherding people from place to place, and helping collect stray guests who may have wondered off. Keep in mind that guests will not know how to read or use the bookmark scheme. It is a good idea to figure who these people will be in advance and make sure they understand what their role is. Comms chatter will be at an all time high and having consistent voices of authority giving directions makes it easier for people visiting to follow.
Fitting
Remarks: You will want to have meta versions of any T2 module. No matter how many times you give advance notice and encourage people to train into this fit, people will still show up unable to fly it as is. Here is a list of recommended meta modules to have on hand:
- IFFA Compact Damage Control
- Compact Multispectrum Shield Hardener
Recommended Skills:
- Caldari and Missile part of Basics Skill Plan
- Pyramid Skill Plan T2 Tank
- Heavy Assault Missile III
Warnings
The nature of event planning is that not everything will go according to plan. This is exponentially true because of the unpredictable nature of wormhole life. It all boils down to variables and how many there are. The ones that are within control can be used to get a good result from the event, but there will always be variables that are outside of control. Consider the following when thinking about variables to control and what is beyond control (and how to plan ahead for the uncontrollable).
A few hours in advance of the event, people will need to rage roll for a close connection to Stacmon (10 jumps or less is ideal). It is also a good idea to rage roll for the kind of C3 appropriate to the content planned for Noobs Night in the Hole. Wandering connections will need to be rolled off or monitored in the event that desirable content is down the chain through said wandering hole. Once rage rolling begins, Pavillion is effectively under hole control without door stoppers. People who are outside of the chain won't be able to get in easily and people who are in the chain will be stuck in home unless they're rage rolling or scanning. When the chain looks like it has the right content for Noobs Night in the Hole be sure to mark Pathfinder with the "preserve mass" to signal that the statics are being saved.
Reshipping to address the threat of PvP while krabbing is a skill that requires practice. The guests will not have this skill and therefore reshipping quickly is impossible. Have a plan for what to do in the event that hostiles drop in while krabbing. Will there be PvP ships? Will everybody dock up and wait? The benefit of the NNitH Caracals shown above is that they do not require reshipping for PvP. Swapping out a module is a much more manageable task for guests than completely reshipping.
EVE University fosters experimentation and has safety nets in place so that when people try something and it goes poorly they don't feel too discouraged. While there are some restrictions, there are very few directives about what people should do. People are free to try out whatever playstyle interests them and they don't have to do it in any particular way. That is the culture that EVE University strives for and it works really well in helping people find out what they want to do. WHC is a subculture that has its own informal and formal rules and policies. A big part of becoming a member of WHC is adjusting to the way things are done. Noobs Night in the Hole guests will have no time to acclimate and therefore they do not understand what to do or why. Explaining some of the what, why, and how of it all is part of the experience of the event, but when things go wrong like being dropped on by a hostile fleet there isn't time to explain.
Be prepared for people who will not do what they are told to do. Know when to be flexible, accommodating, and genial and when to be firm. If someone shows up to the travel fleet from Stacmon in a ratting Praxis and they won't reship, they can stay in Stacmon. 99% of the time people who don't do what they're told do so out of ignorance. They are still learning and can't be expected to understand everything that takes WHC folks weeks to grasp.
Additional information
In 2019, a little tradition evolved and has been carried on through the years. It is not required, but it is memorable and popular with guests. It is intended to be a surprise for the guests and therefore has been hidden.
Do not read the text inside if you do not want to be spoiled on the Noobs Night in the Hole surprise.
| Surprise details |
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| Have everyone in the travel fleet from Stacmon to Echo fly in corvettes. Meanwhile everyone in WHC reships into something equipped with festival launchers. When the travel fleet jumps into Pavillion, bubble the Echo connection and launch fireworks at the group. It's completely harmless and it looks pretty. |
