Frigate roam and the need for faster points.

Getting back into the saddle is important for all pirates and last night I took out a small frigate gang for a wonder. Pickings were slim that night, with Jmarr snagging a thrasher in his incursus (great kill there mate!) with Persephone in support and us losing Maltrox's rifter to an alpha-striking absolution on a gate.

We did discover a strategic cruiser running a mission and we duly dropped probes for it but the pilot was alert and spotting the probes, exited the mission area and cloaked up. The system he was in had no stations so our conclusions were sound. Not wanting to waste time we moved quickly through - the roam was only going to be for a couple of hours and mid-way through; we had a change in personnel. We lost two and gained through - all pilots slotting into allocated positions smoothly.

A disappointment was not pointing a flashy zealot on a gate. I jumped last, to ensure that we had everyone through and when I got my bearings, there was a flashy (i.e. criminal) zealot. No-one had shouted 'POINT!' and as I ordered some pilots to point it, the zealot accelerated away and warped. We chased after it and lost it. In these circumstances, pilot's initiative should have kicked in and points and webs slapped onto the zealot as soon as we all appeared. Granted am only talking less than seven seconds but instincts should have been sharper if we are to capitalise on these opportunities. So sad panda.


Am running more T1 gangs at the moment to assist the newer pilots into integrating with each other's fleets. I am also using it as an opportunity to evaluate them under moderately high-pressure conditions. We have a three-month probation period after a recruit has been accepted. During these three months they will be accessed by their peers and a decision made on their continued inclusion by a majority vote.

The month of October has seen us hit over 1B isk in ransoms already. This time without the benefit of a single Kronos ransom for 500M isk. Well done chaps, well done. Also, loot sale and split is due to distribution to the interested parties - I have sold about 3.6B isk of loot in the last eight weeks and will be splitting them up between all the pirates. Due to a couple of weeks where I was away from the game, this transaction is now running later than I would like it.

Recruitment is going very well and I have been lax in keeping recruitment statistics up to date on the forum. My recruitment officers have been doing a fine job, I do miss the fun of working with applicants, or rejecting them out of hand (!) and I trust that my guys are doing a fine job. So I just want to thank them. Also, I have not done a pirate speed-linking or participated in a blog banter in a while. CK my friend, I am sorry! However, barring any other international humanitarian disaster - I should be slowly getting back on top of these little, but vital functions.

Finally, I have just got a replacement lachesis. I love this ship, who wouldn't love the ability to point something over 50KM away? Very tempted to get some more faction scramblers and disruptors on this puppy and I would be interested in seeing some ship setups if some of my readers care to share?