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[Matariki Rain]

How come some people can fly pod-ships, and others can't?

A. Is it genetic?

B. Is it some knack of personality and will?

C. Is it the result of a rigorous training regime?

What do we know about the distinction between those who can use the pod and those who can't? Is it binary -- you can or you can't -- or are there shades of success? How well can you sort your candidates in advance? How do you test them?

My reason for wanting to know: I've been challenged to write about Mata's experience of learning she'd be a pod-pilot. So what was that experience -- which must have happened to all of us -- like? I'll take care of the social and emotional aspects, but what would have happened?

[Matariki Rain]

Bits from the documentation:

"All sorts of physiological differences between ordinary humans and their genetically enhanced Jovian counterparts served to make the pod extremely dangerous to humans in its original incarnation, and even the most rigorous training regimens usually failed to save people from the horrors of the mind lock or wetgraving."

"Throughout the period where the capsule and the clone had not yet begun their courtship, pods saw some use among those select few able to handle the intense nausea, hallucinations and general mental instability engendered by prolonged occupancy."

"Excluded from general usage due to drawbacks which rendered it a ludicrously expensive exercise in mortal danger, the capsule lay dormant for years."

http://www.eveonline.com/background/eggers/

Also at http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/The_Capsule_and_the_Clone

[Matariki Rain]

There's also more info than I really want to quote in The Jovian Wet Grave.

This story touches on implants, mind-lock, the colour of pod-fluid (the Jovian version was indeed blue, not the amber of the later video clip), and a bunch of other things. It's also a first -- and only partially-successful, from the pilot's point of view -- attempt at putting non-Jovians into the pod, so I'm not sure how much things might have changed and been refined since then.

[Louella Dougans]

All 3 I think?

also, I suspect that one of the beneficial aspects of personality may be a lack of imagination.

i.e. if you don't have the imagination to realise all the terrible things that might happen, you're very resistant to the terrible things.

[Kybernetes Moros]

My general impression -- which I couldn't really give any evidence for and is probably incorrect -- was that there was some degree of genetic compatibility which would determine whether the person would ever begin training, but it was a combination of, as you said, personality, will, rigorous training and possibly sheer luck that they finished it without mind-lock or similar. I've never had much of an idea as to the frequency of mind-lock, however; I've always imagined it to be not especially uncommon, but despite it having no small degree of significance to Kyber I've never considered any kind of probability of it happening. That said, it seems reasonable to assume that it is far less frequent than it was at the capsule's inception, if only because of alterations to the training process and so on. If I recall correctly, the pilot hadn't had any prior specialised training with regards to the pods before being plugged in, either -- unlike capsuleers today.

Likewise, I thought that success was pretty much measured as either 'you can', 'you can't, despite genetics, for any one of a number of reasons' or 'you can, but then get mind-locked'.

As I said, these are all more or less assumptions that I have made; I couldn't justify most of these with any solid evidence.

[Vieve]

Likewise, I thought that success was pretty much measured as either 'you can', 'you can't, despite genetics, for any one of a number of reasons' or 'you can, but then get mind-locked'.

I've run with a similar set of assumptions.

Sabi and Vieve had capsule-compatible parents (Celeste tested positive for the trait as a teenager, but was talked out of attempting training by her parents:  she became a capsuleer after her daughters did).  Two of their maternal-side cousins were also capsule-compatible.  One, an academic genius, washed out during training.  The other, a lighthearted goofball, succeeded.

[Hamish Grayson]

I think that depending on what sort of background you'd like for your character you can pick between, one all or any combination of the three for your character.   Were they just some random schmuck who won the genetic lottery?  Did they buy their way into the capsule with handfuls of ISK and make it through training on sheer will power?   Were they a specwar operative made into a weapon by one of the empires?  It's up to you.

[Kaleigh Doyle]

Since the nature of capsuleer testing is so elusive and undocumented, I prefer to leave it at "they performed some tests, took some samples, and called me a week later to tell me I qualified as a candidate for the pod pilot program."

What kind of training comes after would probably be dependent on which school trains you.

[Isobel Mitar]

I have no new facts to add. However, I have assumed all three of the above.

My personal mental image of the process is that:

There are no comprehensive, predictive tests. Most people who enter the training programs fail, either by dropping out or being dropped out. And some die or get permanent injury/disability that makes them unable to continue. Becoming a capsuleer is a success, becoming a capsuleer but getting mindlocked is a partial success.

Genetics determine whether you can train with a chance of success but one also needs certain traits to be able to make it thorough. I also imagine that the training regime is always to some degree tailored for each person specifically, and how well they manage to do the tailoring affects the chances of success considerably. They do not know all of the variables involved, and cannot tailor for others.

Couple of nitty gritty details I've specced as being part of Isobel's backstory (she trained in RUN); feel free to use or disregard:
 - The training takes years (not months) but includes also general education subjects that are not strictly necessary for capsuleering itself. One can fail those but get to proceed as long as one does well in the actual capsuleering stuff.
 - While there are groups that enter the training at same time, everybody progresses at their own speed.
 - The process includes several extensive surgery sessions to get the implants and other stuff in.
 - There is a big, wild "Podding Party" before the first actual dry test run with a capsule that could get the trainee mindlocked.

[Raden Creed]

First off thank you for posting this. I have been trying to figure out the same thing the past few days. I came across this : http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Capsuleer
It gives bit about how it was in the past but it leads me to think things like 'mind lock' and 'wetgraving' were things of the past, at least for the most part.
I was just trying to figure out why some are scrubbing launcher tubes and others are in pods. It would seem a little strange that pod pilots would have children being immortal and lacking much physical contact.

[Ulphus]

- There is a big, wild "Podding Party" before the first actual dry test run with a capsule that could get the trainee mindlocked.

This is a fantastic idea. I can so see young pilots who might be about to "die" trying to live as much as they can in a short time.

Onto the topic at hand, it seems to me that there must be some reason that empire/Republic/State/Fed train pilots who are not the most loyal (or politically correct) of the people they have available to them. If that reason is genetic/innate and rare, then maybe they don't have a choice in who they train. That's about the only thing that makes sense to me.

Ulf

[Kaito Haakkainen]

Relevant material that comes to mind:

Jamyl Sarum, along with the other heirs, were trained capsuleers.

Tibus dropped out of public school at the age of fifteen upon receiving official word that he would never qualify for capsuleer status due to 'insufficient discipline and cognitive abilities'.

Would like some more information on this. Genetics would make the most sense as a limiting factor, especially for the small numbers, presence in family lines, and the fact that the empires aren't producing legions of them. Though even then with the level of biotech, massive factional wealth, lack of morality, and the success of the Tube Child program there would have to be more to it than that, possibly something difficult to reproduce to do with how the mind itself has developed (that makes the heir thing somewhat odd but we can just file that alongside capital Ravens and the Scorpions that came before them).

That being said who knows how many capsuleers are out there within the assorted NPC organizations.