AT8 update & CSM5 news

Look mum we're on TV! (actually is it going to be televised?)

Details are here.

At least we have a well-known team for our first round and previous winners to boot. What will a pack of low-sec living pirates do against HUN Reloaded? I have no idea but I hope we get into a position to ransom one of them!

Our prep is progressing but it is no secret that the Bastards are going to have a great time. We've been more aggressive in our roams just to ensure that we can properly battle-test our ships and tactics, Sisi is too controlled in some ways and the sheer randomness of tranquillity is the best test. Unfortunately, we've had a few set-backs but some successes too.

==Other bits==

Biggest news items by far is that Mynxee got the most votes for CSM5, automatically making her the chair-person. To be honest, she's the best bet for that position and I am immensely proud of her for stepping up and volunteering to do it. I just hope she has time to squeeze it all in!

Check this out:

Votes	Character Name	Real Name	Country
4,116	Mynxee	Carole Pivarnik	United States
3,360	Ankhesentapemkah	Eva Jobse	Netherlands
2,521	Dierdra Vaal	Valentijn Geirnaert	Netherlands
2,196	Korvin	Andrey Antonov	Russia
1,649	Vuk Lau	Vuk Lau	Serbia
1,553	TeaDaze	Jason Renouf	Guernsey
1,519	Meissa Anunthiel	Stephan Pirson	Belgium
1,463	Trebor Daehdoow	Robert Woodhead	United States
1,260	Sokratesz	Tim Heusschen	Netherlands

Now that is a mandate for Mynxee as as Keith had pointed out, the number two on the list has quite different views on piracy so we shall see.

Oh, shout out to Kane and co for reversing a carrier drop to their advantage; nice!

Frigate Roaming...love it.

I linked into our communication server, slightly sleepy-eyed and tired but I knew that Arrhidaeus was running a frigate class roam this evening. I linked in and was happy to see that the chaps had come back to Evati to replace lost ships. I was invited into the frigate fleet and my rifter ('SENTINEL PRIME') blasted out of the hangar.

The fleet was an interest mix of frigates all named after either Autobots or Decepticons. I was SENTINEL PRIME and I was joined by a collection of esoterical named robots. All fun and we raced ahead with scouts and probers pinging ahead. Love frigate roams, they fast, cheap and a hoot.

However, it started poorly for us with The Bastards fleet losing a rifter, crusader and a punisher in quick order. It didn't dent our confidence as the pilots raced home to re-ship. We did manage to catch a nicely fit jaguar with our frigate blob of nine but lost a griffin and a nemesis to a very well flown hurricane. It had mad speed and appeared to be able to hit, hard from range. After losing these two, we quickly disengaged, a wise decision to be honest in order to minimise losses.

We then killed two ruptures and a punisher but we bumped into the hurricane for a second time and he popped me. Damn that hurricane, not one of us could lay a finger on it to slow the beast down.

That's why I love the 'cane...

Solo kill - a thing of beauty...

Just tidying up some forum posts and I was updating our Solo Kill Of The Month (KOTM) thread and I was (and still am) seriously impressed with the solo kills that The Bastards pilots have managed to pull off, through a combination of skill and balls.

The corporation celebrates the SOLO KILL within the corp and z0de currently in the lead with two medals. Scroll down and have a look and enjoy.

==Past winners==

Arrihidaeus: April 2010

Ard: Oct 2009

Coochie: July 2009

Fish Brain: April 2009

Hera: Jan 2009

Jirat: Nov 2009

Mr Frog: Jan 2010

Nova: May 2009

P'XEL: June 2009

Rodneystar: March 2009

z0de: Sept 2009, Feb 2010

==The Months==

April 2010

Arrihidaeus crusader v Zealot

Killmail: http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=16011

Thread: http://www.the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5133

March 2010

Raelyf's rifter kills a cynabal

Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=15451

Thread: http://www.the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5000

February 2010

z0de's prober on prober action

Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=15263

Thread: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4952

January 2010

Mr Frog catches a vaga in his vexor

Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=14808

Thread: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4781&start=0

December 2009

Killmail: Unknown

Thread: Unknown

November 2009

Jirat's solo kill of a proteus in his Cyclone

Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=13447

October 2009

Ard's super Vigil v Coercer

Killmail: http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=12583

Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4129

September 2009

z0de's taranis versus Typhoon

Killmail: http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=12325

Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3958

August 2009

Did not run.

July 2009

Coochie in Thorax vs Harbinger

Killmail: http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=11566

Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3643

June 2009

P'XEL in Ishkur pops Arazu while under fire from Broadsword and Sac

Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10727

Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3528

May 2009

Nova in his Rapier and his 4 cruiser kills:

Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_related&kll_id=8700

Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3244

April 2009

Fish Brain in Wolf - 5 Frigs

CAN'T FIND KILLMAIL LINK

Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3044

March 2009

Rodneystar in Rifter vs rep fleet firetail

Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=7161

Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2834

February 2009

Unknown.

January 2009

Hera in taranis killing a vagabond

Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=5825

Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2447

=Other News=

Recruitment is going well, props goes to Nashh K for working his butt off over the last couple of months as our sole EU Timezone recruiter. He's also been working hard on project rifter AND on his blog. A busy, well-liked and valuable individual. Nashh my friend: RIFTERS ROCK!

We've been messing about with Stealth Bombers on the test server for the AT - with extremely promising results; not worrying too much about the ship or pod loss on SiSi helps!

Finally, it's a bit late but Viginiti - one of our hardest working Directors became a dad to a very large baby (!!) - congrats Vig.

Farewell Arbalast IV

So long, old friend
After almost six months of combat, my hurricane class battle cruiser, 'Arbalast IV' fell to a camp in Todifrauan. I was racing towards another system to assist z0de but our intelligence was faulty and I got neatly grabbed by a BC camp. As soon as I saw the ship types, I knew that I would be doomed - after all, this type of hard-hitting BC gang, able to tank sentry fire, speedy with good DPS, I was familiar with and respected.

Considering we were practising with a HAC and Recon gang for the AT8, it was nice to be back rolling in the BC ship class, even only for a few hours! So why do I love the hurricane battle cruiser so much? It is the combination of speed, firepower, cost of ownership and versatility that appeals to me. The fit in the kill mail above is my standard fit, it has become less effective since the nano-nerf (where we had propulsion rigs) but it can still move and shoot with gusto. The tank isn't designed to last long, just long enough to kill something equivalent (or slightly bigger) before you're into armour. Of course, against a fleet of 7 BCs and a falcon - it wasn't going to last long but one can't win everything can you?

Death of a Paladin
This week, I was very pleased to see a Paladin class marauder on our kill board. TheHermit, Nashh et al were going to ransom the pilot for 1B isk but in an apparent rage, he disconnected his capsule from his ship in the hopes that it would cause the ship to emergency warp. Unfortunately, it came to no avail but the loot drop was tasty enough.

EVE-Uni had a bait brutix in III-1 and we went in with a rifter and griffin, just for lols. It was so obvious but I went in anyway and warp scrambled him and also slapped a tracking disruptor onto it. The brutix didn't have any drones or decided to keep them inside. I quickly rattled through my ammo hoppers and knocked the brutix down into armour. Since the brutix was an armour tanker, it was now that the pilot would call for help. A mere few seconds after this thought, local jumped and yes indeed, EVE Uni came rolling in. With my griffin wing-man (TheHermit) and I, we chuckled and hit the warp button as an ares, arbitrator, taranis, rifter and others came screaming into the space around the bait brutix. To be honest, if we had a close range gank cruiser (thorax or ruppie) we would have probably smashed it down before help arrived.

Hindsight and 20/20 eh?

KISS - 80's theme roam

The Bastards have always tried to keep things interesting, after all it is important for retention if nothing else. Persephone (that 80s rock chick!) has stepped up to FC this roam. I can't wait to see the results. There are other roams coming up with a distinctive musical theme: our Tusker alliance mates want a Country and Western themed roam while someone (Sule? Zombie?) said that Rolf Harris songs would be an ideal theme. I turned off as soon as he said 'two little boys...' The imagination boggles.

It isn't just enough to name the ships after songs and singles to match the theme, oh no. One needs to make an active effort to engage with the theme. In the past, our star trek roams had all pilots resort to using well known Star Trek quips ('The Dilithium Crystals cannae take it anymore!', 'It's life Jim, but not as we know it', 'Fire photon torpedo', and the best 'KHAAAAANNNNN!!!!!')

Am sure you get the idea. So peeps, give me some ideas. Am open to anyone's suggestion for such roams. It's good for us and good for a laugh.

Arrhidaeus - RIP Navy Slicer

RIP
It was with some sadness this morning that I saw the destruction of Arrhideaus's Amarr Navy Slicer. This ship has been one amazing little craft, made more so by Arrhideaus's skilled piloting. In fact, his solo efforts this year has been recognised with a strong vote for the April 2010 solo kill of the month. It is May now so I will tally up the votes and present a medal to Arrhidaeus soon with a shiny new T2 frigate hull of his choice. I think I might have an Amarr Navy Slicer in the hangar already, so might just drop it in...unless I lent it out to someone already? Hmmm.

This has reminded me that I need to update the list and post it - there's some impressive solo kills over the last 12 months from us and why shouldn't I toot our own horn now and again?

Speaking of tooting horns, the campaign and voting for CSM5 has begun and I have decided to throw my vote behind Mynxee. There are other fine candidates out there but I like her message and ideas in general, especially when turned on the direction of low-sec. All low-sec needs is to make it more attractive for people to come and occupy it. There is no need for 'pirate' content - so long as miners come to mine, mission runners arriving to run missions, traders trading etc - then piracy will thrive. So am against the idea of tweaking sentry guns for example. It doesn't benefit anyone except those who camp - and they do it so well already.

Anyway, like the current UK elections - go out and vote and make it count.

Tournament preparations

The Tusker Bastards have been busy preparing for the AT8 for a few weeks now and we just can't wait to get our teeth stuck into the competition. While preparatory work is important, it all boils down to how well the team of team will perform on the day. We've seen the list of participants and there's no fear here. Our AT fund is growing (albeit slowly) so if there are any well-wishers who want to aid us poor and rag-tag pirates with purchasing new ships and modules - drop your donations to me, Flashfresh and I will promise that it will be put to very good use. Persephone and TheHermit are also thinking hard on what special event they can organise to help us. It's all go-go here and the energy is great!

The Tusker Bastards are in and PI - what's in it for us?

http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1309401

Yes, the Tusker Bastards are one of the teams now participating in Alliance Tourney VIII - but I think keen followers already knew this. My impression of the Tuskers are all positive; we've already flown together on several occasions and it has all been good.

We've had to close recruitment for the time being just to ensure that we could concentrate on the important matters of preparation as well as cutting down on potential spies.

Last night, I FC'ed a roam through low-sec and we had a hoot.

There was already a buzz from the assembled ship captains as just barely 30 minutes before, they had engaged a small camp and destroyed three ships and netted some good loot. The plan was to go back and kill them again but they had scattered by the time z0de landed on the gate and we snagged a devoter only. We tried to ransom the pilots but it came to nought.

As the night progressed, we lost z0de to a cyno-bait-domi. Carriers came blasting into the space around z0de's dominix but what really surprised us was that the newcomers weren't strangers but friends and ex-colleagues! Some frantic last minute private conversations to sort the mess out didn't help as they gleefully detonated a smart bomb and podded z0de ensuring a painful loss.

The fleet continued killing a couple of drakes, an afk faction fit dramiel and a few other bits and pieces. After 2.5 hours, I passed the fleet over to Arrihdaeus who continued with the roam netting more kills, loot and ransoms. All in all a great night.

As I stepped down and got back into much needed administrative work, keeping the fleet chat to a pleasant murmur in the background, I reviewed a slew of information packages all revolving around increased planetary interaction. Looks like Concord had lifted the age old prohibition on capsuleers from creating, controlling and managing assets on planets. The possibilities for The Bastards might prove to be quite lucrative but what could we do? What options are out there?

The possibilities are endless...