The Hellcats and The Bastards in the news.

The Girls are in the news!
Our sister corps, the all-female pirate corp, The Hellcats have been featured in an ISD News report. A nice write-up and yes, they are real-life females. As part of the interview, there's a ventrilo interview and all ops require voice comms. No chance of an account sharing boyfriend jumping in now is there?

Also, The Bastards recruitment is open once more. Click on this link to get the low-down on how to apply and see if you are suitable. We have a FAQ available as well though I apologise for the poor formatting....

Actually, sod it. Here it is below, the current The Bastards FAQ.

Recruitment FAQ

Q) Why do I have to submit my Limited API Key?
A) This is so we can check on your skills, and see how to integrate you into the corp the best.

Q) Is the API Key mandatory?
A) Yes, you will not even be considered unless it is provided. No screen shots.

Q) Why do I have to participate in a corp operation before I can get into the corp?
A) This is to allow the corp to test you and also to see if you like the corp. If you do not want to participate during the trial application period, why bother?

Q) What do you guys do?
A) We are a low sec pirate corp. We kill everything. Mission runners, mining operations, belt ratters, haulers... if it's flying, it will soon be dying (or singing as part of a ransom).

Q) What are the corp rules?
A) Other than common sense rules, e.g. do not kill corp or fleet members, honour ransoms and do not start smack in local. We are professionals after all. We have a corp policy document that all pilots must read and sign up to.

Q) Do you accept trial accounts?
A) No.

Q) Is there an age limit?
A) We require members to be over the age of 18. Some waivers may be given on a case by case basis but this is very rare.

Q) Is there an SP limit?
A) We currently have 6.5mil SP limit. This is still generally regarded as quite low and assumes that the 6.5M SP is focused towards PvP.

Q) I want to be an uber pirate killing everyone! I want to make ships explode starting day one!
A) Okay not really a question, but... you can be useful day one on your account while pirating, but you wont be soloing Battleships in your tiny frigate. However, working as part of a team, you can help us take down these ships.

Q) I'm new to the game, but really really want to be a pirate. I'm brand new to pvp will you teach me?
A) We have specialists covering every field of the game but we are NOT a training academy. If you want to learn piracy, we can assist but we regret that we will not be taking your application any further.

Q) What kind of ships do you all fly?
A) We fly everything, from Interceptors to Battleships. It all depends on what and how we are hunting for that day. You can have fun in anything but fly only what you can afford to lose.

Q) Is Pod Killing ok?
A) We are pirates, of course it's okay! However, we tend to ransom the pod at all opportunities.

Q) How long do I have to wait after submitting my application to know if I have been successful?
A) Normally, two weeks but if you have been rejected in anyway - you will be informed IMMEDIATELY. A decision is usually made within two-weeks.

Q) Am going on leave in real life. Is it worth me applying?
A) No. The two week process is a critical time for all applications and it's your time to impress. If you're not around, how can we assess whether you are suitable and vice versa?

Q) I am a member of a corp that is RED to you! Will I be shot at?
A) You are not BLUE until 1) You have been invited into a fleet and 2) joined our semi-public chat channel and subjected to active assessment. Both conditions will usually be completed together, but until they are met, beware.

Q) Do I have to drop down to -10 security status?
A) If you want to pod people and tackle them at gates, then your security status will drop. Enjoy your flashy status. Wear it as a badge of honour.

Q) Do you have access to 0.0 space?
A) We are free to roam anywhere and we do make frequent forays into 0.0 space, where the carebear is usually fatter but the space less populated. We mainly operate in low-sec.

Q) How about logistics - do you have a way to replace ships and ammo?
A) We do but only available to fully-fledged corporation members.

Q) How do you make isk?
A) Nearly all of us make all our isk from piracy. Whether through ransoms or loot drops. We have even scanned down empty ships and acquired them or forced a pilot to eject from their ship during a ransom. All loot sales are equally split up between all combatants involved. We have a unique and innovative automated system of loot inventory and sales. Check out: http://i-pirate.blogspot.com/search/label/loot

Q) Can I carebear when things are quiet?
A) Up to you but don't make it a habit. Much prefer for you to go out and make some noise.

Q) I have a main but want to pirate on an alt - can I?
A) No. Full-time pirates only please. Inactive corp members will first get their hangar access rights suspended then they get booted unless they have given prior notice to their AFKness.

Q) Can I do solo piracy?
A) Of course you can, just don't turn down too many fleet ops. Otherwise, why bother joining up?

Q) Do you have many blues?
A) Nope: only 2 corps are blue to us. One is our sister corp, The Hellcats. The only all-female pirate corp in New Eden. If you don't behave, they will discipline you.

Q) Do you have a forum?
A) Yes, very active and very informative. Access to corp members on successful application.

Q) You have a killboard?
A) http://www.the-bastards.com/kb

Q) Do you use teamspeak or mumble?
A) No, we use ventrilo and (rarely) EVE-Voice.

Q) You have a KB awards system? Cool!
A) Indeed - check out medals and ribbons here: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=corp_detail&crp_id=8275&view=rank_ribbons and we also have kill of the month with prizes.

Q) What about ranks? I need a rank right?
A) Of course, all that killing has to be recognised somewhere if only to boss others around, so yes - we have a ranking system too: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=corp_detail&crp_id=8275&view=pilot_ranks&page=1

Q) All of this sounds awesome, how do I get into the corp?
A) Step 1: Fill out the application which is located in the forums and you will be contacted in game. Watch your spelling please.

Just an update from Flashfresh.

Just wanted to give a shout out to all those readers who have emailed/evemailed me - I am fine and doing well. I have been with my mother most of this and last month: she's still in hospital and it's been a slow process for her. Another two weeks at least before she can be discharged but she's already got a secondary infection (bloody NHS!)

One never ever assumes that sickness and injury will be visited onto one's own family and when it does happen; your world tilts on it's axis and it can be difficult to find balance.

Naturally, my online time has been nil - though there's been many an occasion where I wanted to log in, jump onto vent and link it up my pirate brother and sisters and find plunder and ransoms. When I finally had time to check the forums after a long hiatus, it was with some sadness to see three of our pirate brothers leave the group - one entirely from New Eden while the other two went to other pastures anew. Our CEO was unavailable due to his own crisis and most of the board of directors were unavailable as well. However, the vitality of any corporation is from the injection of new blood and ideas and the newer members have largely stepped up and continued the looting and killing in our finest traditions. Check this tasty triple combo meal: a thanny, hulk and orca. Well done to Gorgoleon for (I think) organising it. He's turning out to be a right nasty Bastard. In the finest sense of course and younger pilots can learn a lot from him. He is an acknowledged expert in most things Minmatar, so seek him out if you want to find out about fitting a typhoon or maelstrom or cyclone. He's your man.

Happy San and Kamoonga and Persephone too. I love them all. Oh, just wanted to give a shout out to Happy San... he's been working hard on our ransom board and has a stylish blog to boot. Kamoonga is a killer of the highest order and Persephone has been fitting her size nines wonderfully in The Bastards.

So yes, pilot churn is inevitable in New Eden: no-one actually gets paid to log in daily and one's interest can wane quite quickly especially when the corp has too loose a structure with no organisation and active leadership. Luckily, The Bastards are not like that, we have, though it is far from perfect, organisation, structure and RoninData's distinctive style of leadership. An active forum and killboard and free corp resources as well. I can say the same for our sister corporation, The Hellcats though it is an interesting contest over who cracks the whip harder: Mynxee or RoninData. Both are excellent leaders with vision and so long as they're leading, others will follow.

A new cycle of recruitment will be starting very soon; we still have a few holdovers from previous cycles but each has a special case for retention. I hope to be involved in the next recruitment cycle, we've had to up the skill point limit to 6M now and would prefer more. There were some discussions to keep the skill point limit to 4M as a deference to The Bastards roots as a bunch of sweaty, inexperienced but enthusiastic pirates but pragmatism won the day.

This should be a the ideal way for me to keep involved in The Bastards considering my reduced time. I have been told that our new and improved FAQ will be made available and visible on our website so that most of our enquiries can be answered without the need for a personal reply.

Other news: The Bastards alliance is reforming and we've dropped all our war declarations - it's a tad expensive for an alliance to war dec it would seem and since we're poor pirates, our income being solo from piracy, it was, again, the wise and pragmatic decision. In this alliance we bring in The Hellcats as before. Makes the synchronisation of standings so much easier now! Finally, Flashfresh is on Twitter, join in and er, tweet away.

I hope to be back very soon and will start to get involved in the new recruitment and then build up my flight time until I get my pilot's license back....