Women? In MY SPACESHIP? Is she from Mars as well?

Welcome to another special installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by myself, CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to me. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

EVE Online, as the saying goes, is probably the most hardcore MMORPG currently available to the gaming masses. Hell, let's be serious it's one a the very few true MASSIVELY MULTI-PLAYER Role-Playing Game out there, and one of a handful who's seen its subscriber numbers go up since its launch. But gentlemen, we have a problem.

I say gentlemen because, though there are few ladies roaming New Eden, the truth is, there are too few of them. As @Mynxee wrote about in "The Real Sisters of EVE", in a recent issue of EON magazine (issue #018 for those curious souls), EVE is an MMO that is overwhelmingly played by male, and where the female player population hovers at a about 5% of its total subscriber base.

I am one of those who believes that, though the game should not be changed to specifically go after that part of the gaming population, EVE Online would greatly benefit if somehow the balance the 2 genders roaming New Eden would lean towards an equilibrium. So I ask...

What could CCP Games do to attract and maintain a higher percentage of women to the game. Will Incarna do the trick? Can anything else be done in the mean time? Can we the players do our part to share the game we love with our counterparts, with our sisters or daughters, with the Ladies in our lives? What could be added to the game to make it more attractive to them? Should anything be changed? Is the game at fault, or its player base to blame?

I'm not trying to provoke or lay blame on anyone or any group. I'm simply trying to get your neurons and opinions working on finding solutions to this interesting problem we're are faced with. I know you can come up with interesting and innovative ideas. And I'm willing to reward for those...

So I want to try and break this down and make grand sweeping generalisations as I amble my way through this banter.

There are not enough women in New Eden.

Sorry, let me re-phrase: apparently there are not enough real-life-women-behind-the-keyboard in New Eden. There are plenty of female avatars for sure but most have a GIRL (Guy In Real Life) as the puppet-master. It does appear that the female of the species is sadly lacking in representation in New Eden. However, is the status quo of 5% women subscribers really an issue in New Eden and to whom?

It is an issue to CCP as bringing in more woman will help with their subscription numbers!

A strong argument here and one that I cannot find fault in. If a commercial company has almost 50% of a potential market population not using their product - for some unknown reason, it would pay dividends to them to find out why and to rectify the situation, without driving out the existing subscribers before someone else finds the winning formulae.

This alone would probably encourage CCP in fiddling with the game to increase the appeal of EVE-Online. I just hope they don't fiddle too much and in the wrong area (:-))

It is an issue to the Pod Pilots in New Eden as there a too few real women in New Eden and I need feminine company!

In my New Eden travels, I have had the pleasure of knowing a few real life women. Apart from their voices on ventrilo/eve-voice or teamspeak - there isn't too much differentiating them from their male counter-parts when communication is via chat only. Some women are noobs and clueless; bumbling around New Eden and crying when a nasty pirate (er, me) ransom their ship and pod and demand a ransom. This then might be a cue for some hilarious banter as they whine and complain. I love it, especially when they tell me they're a woman in real life.

I say, 'good on you' and continue to apply the pressure.

Other women are savvy and blood-thirsty and I have their back in any fight. They can fly, have earnt respect and can mix with the best and one wouldn't want to cross them in this life or the next. I look at Mynxee, Shae and Persephone to name three.

To me, the sex of the pilot has nothing to do with their playing ability, desire to succeed and longevity in the game. However, men and women are different and these differences probably make a difference in certain decision-making the sexes make, in and out of the game.

So why is there a 95% male subscription base to EVE-ONLINE? Surely there is something appealing in New Eden that attracts the males more than the female?

I was attracted to New Eden all those years ago because it promised space ships and the freedom to explore. It reminded me of Elite, the first ever game that had me hooked. New Eden appealed to me. However, I think there is something that appeals to males more so than females, but it isn't solely related to EVE-ONLINE but online games in general. My own circle of friends and colleagues, it is approximately 50/50 in terms of male to female across a massive age range from 16 to 80. Most males of my age are active in one or more games, (EVE, BattleField, WarHammer etc) while females are also active online but in social networking venues such as Facebook and Twitter.

Interestingly, equal numbers partake in collaborative Nintendo WII games if opportunities arise.

A closer analysis (small sample of my own friends!) reveals that my male friends all started playing these games solo and only joined in corporations/guilds a few months later; many stay solo for their entire lives. The females were not attracted to the solo aspect (with one exception) of play but would be interested if they could identify with a group then they would go in as this group. For example: a bunch of female friends all decided to give SecondLife a try and subscribed en mass and had an instant community in place as they learnt the ropes. They carried on their social circles inside the game. Conversely, I had male friends who started EverQuest around the same time, they talked about it, egged each other on and all subscribed on the same night but they never identified themselves with this initial group inside the game past the first few hours. They frequently hunted each other down. They wanted the biggest weapons. They wanted to succeed and success was defined by winning and winning was through getting more points from killing / stealing from someone else. Maybe this is something inherent in how males need to find their place in the pecking order of their social construct, even if it is a fake one while females feel more collaborative from the outset? In real life, the definition of 'man-hood' has been changed, altered, to the point where many men are confused and when they think they've figured it out - existing institutions (usually the work place but social life as well), prevents them from achieving this goal through assumed male strength and aggression alone.

Are you saying that New Eden encourages such anti-social, pseudo-alpha-male tendencies?

New Eden isn't anti-social but because it is, ultimately, a fantasy, people feel that social norms do not apply. Attitudes that a 'politically correct' world would frown upon is simply not enshrined in any law or regulation in New Eden. Many pilots, feel that they can say and act however they want. Be someone they are not in real life, or may be, be someone who they would like to be but cannot in real life? Either way, some pilots I know act appallingly. They're juvenile and infantile and reinforce the unfortunate stereo-type of nerdy geeks with poor social skills. Introduce a female into this mix and it can cause all manner of poor social interactions as the boys try to first impress and then failing, attempt to apply power over the interloper. 'Hur, hur you're a girl!'

Maybe what I have just described above has entered into popular folklore that many people believe it is the truth and not bother with it? So this can be a massive barrier to the prospective female capsuleer's entry into New Eden. This crazy, fantasy universe should not be regarded by some as a bastion for the socially inept and the juvenile behaviours. Unless you're a Goon (or what's left of them) of course...

So you say that we keep this disparity in place and not seek to change it?

No, I don't think radically changing New Eden's parameters is the answer to a much wider social phenomena. What can one change when everyone is still trying to understand this question? No-one has identified the appeal/repel factor accurately enough. I also think CCP's own figure of 5% female subscribers is too low and 10-15% is closer to the mark. It is still 'low' but I come back to one of the central points: why do some people consider it to be 'low' and why do we want to change this?

I also offer up an example where female gamers did come together. Mynxee and her woman only pirate corporation, The Hellcats was a fine example where a bunch of likely minded ladies got together and formed New Eden's first (and only) all-female pirate corporation. So not only a corporation made up of real-life females but exclusively those who wanted to deliver piracy to the masses wearing lipstick, nail-varnish and mascara. Sadly, it was the only example (that I know) of this type of corporation. It still continues, albeit in an alliance and without Mynxee at the helm.

OK, Flashfresh - you've convinced me that there isn't a definite answer but I do want to attract more female subscribers as they add to CCP's bottom-line. That's good for everyone. So what do you suggest?

I know I ramble so let me collect these stray strands together and offer up some suggestions:

1. New Eden should not change in its tone and feel. It will attract those who want a truly massive, persistent, MMORPG that has space-ships, planets and warp drives; regardless of their sex. Am sure that there will always be a heavy bias towards the males, rather than female. Sexual parity will not be reached. We don't even have parity in the workplace in real life. I honestly don't think this will change any time soon in New Eden.

2. While women make up a small percentage of the New Eden population, social norms and attitudes need to improve to ensure that they stay in the game for the long term. In short, some sort of harassment policy needs to be in place and widely publicised. Policing it is another matter however. CCP has a decent one in place and forum and account bans are useful policing tools.

3. Everyone who cares for the game should attempt to challenge engrained sexist and racist attitudes. Yes, it is a game and everything is pixel but the social interaction is real. The challenges needs to be tempered within the bounds of reason but most people will know when certain lines of behaviour have been exceeded. Action then needs to be taken.

4. By attracting more players, CCP and New Eden will bound to get more women subscribing - just through probability alone. With Incarna and Planetary Interaction, it adds more features to an already exciting world and will pull through more players. Incarna and PI are not exclusively female centric additions to New Eden and should attract more players, a % being female. This is a good thing.

5. CCP should explore more innovative ways to spread the world of New Eden and it's dynamic content to the world at large. The depth of social interaction inside the game and the bounds that form between players and corporations and alliances needs to be celebrated. More exposure = more interest = more potential players. More potential players = more women.

6. Don't do anything gimmicky to appeal to women gamers - they're gamers first and foremost. Most don't want to be treated any differently from their peers anyway...

So, some ideas, half-formed and half-baked but there you go. With a large demographic, it isn't possible to appeal to everyone. We just have to accept it and move on. Spaceships isn't for everyone (men or women) but I do love a woman who gets excited over a 425mm auto canon loaded with hail ammunition.....

Other blogs along the same theme include:

• Astral Dominix - Is Eve A Man’s World?
• The Cataclysmic Variable - Sorry, No Pink Spaceships Here Please
• EveOGanda - Chicks n’ Ships
• The Ghosts Report - The Girls Who Fly Spaceships
• Eve’s Parity Bit - Is there something special about women?
• Eve SOB - It’s not about fluffy bloody kittens
• Max Torps - Space Boobies are bad, m’kay?
• Arukemos - I like girls
• Garhead - Making Eve more casual
• PsycheDiver- What women want
• Capsuliere - Women in Eve
• Keith Neilson - The female of the species
• Where the Frack is My Ship? - It's a Woman's World...
• Sweet Little Bad Girl - Eve vs Women (related but not a Blog Banter post)
• Life in Low Sec - Think outside the spaceship

Busy but can't keep a pirate down now can we?

EVE-Uni and HACS

A busy few weeks but little time to put it all down, it has all been a blur!

I did organise a HAC/RECON roam into low-sec, the initial plan was to take the northern route up through Paala and into LXQ-2T but we were blocked by a large and hostile force. Our ships were not really designed to sit long at gates against RR BS class ships so we opted to go 'south' and head into Metropolis and Faction Warfare country. I was piloting my lachesis class recon ship and loved the ability to through out the warp disruptor to a fantastic 50KM+ range. An excellent tackler and with a rapier in the lot, it made for a potent combo.

The night was an excellent roam resulting in our HAC/RECON gang popping ten ships and losing only two (both of them were Viginti's curse recon!) - the loot drop was very good but no ransoms from any of the targets.

The Bastards have been busy preparing and training and improving ourselves; New Eden is a harsh mistress and she punishes those who are ill-prepared or who take her for granted. I like to think that The Bastards are far from this. Recruitment is ticking over nicely and I will have to find time to put together a new newsletter for everyone. It is April 2010 already and so much has happened that it deserves a newletter.

Meanwhile, I have been informed that my dearest Mynxee has signed up with NOIR. A

well-known and respected mercenary corporation. She has posted about her move here. Shae has left the Hellcats (actually joined U'K for a bit) and moved to VETO while Venom Orchid has joined Ard Unjigo with The Tuskers. Change indeed across all fronts but it does appear that The Hellcats and HellFleet are in capable hands. As ever, The Bastards extend our best wishes to the Lady Pirates of EVE.

Due to real life issues, I missed out on an open panel invitation organised by EVE-University. Despite gunning down ten of their fellow pilots a week ago, I didn't think that they would hold it against me and was much looking forward to joining in. However, real life gunned me down and I found that I was unable to attend. All was not lost, Mynxee who did attend also had the time to posted an update for everyone to read. Verone, Ka Jolo and other notables also attended. Fine company indeed.

EVE-Uni Say Hi

A couple of days later, I was passing through Ofrold and ran into an EVE-Uni camp. It was a mix of frigates and cruisers and they all pointed my Lachesis and let rip. I couldn't warp but turned around and pulsed the MWD to get back to the gate. I noticed that all the ships there had red-boxed me so if I could just get back through the gate - then all would be ok. My shields held (thanks to ex-Bastard Jaxxon and his Lachesis fit!!!) and activated the gate. I whipped through and safed up. The campers were no doubt spamming the gate activation button frantically but alas, to no avail.

They eventually came through and we had some banter in local. It was ever funnier once it was realised that MrMasterShake was part of the camp. My cargo hold contained all his dropped mods. I was only making the trip this evening just to pick them up! Nice chaps EVE-Uni nonetheless.

Battlecruiser bruiser

So, onto last night - FC'ed a successful BC roam. We had some applicants with us and it was a typical Bastards roam: constant banter, focused violence and witty repartee. For the loss of one myrmidon (which we should have saved), we took down a domi (x2), harby and a catalyst. We failed to kill a drake and 'phoon. Decent loot but no ransoms. We were tracking a similar size BC gang with logistical support but lost the opportunity when the gang moved into high-sec. The best opportunity was at the beginning.

DeepSafe Nerfs

Deep safes are being removed. I wonder how many people will lose ships and anchored containers in supposedly 'safe' and un-probeable areas? I know without these deep safe spots, that gang we were shadowing last night would not have remained hidden for long.

What else?

Recruitment is moving along albeit slowly - our recruitment officers have been too busy with RL and with the spring here and summer coming along, people are (quite rightly) spending more times outside with friends and family than in New Eden. However, I have decided to pitch back into the recruitment pool just to take the slack off some people. If you have an application with us and there is apparently no movement or decision on it, drop me a line and I will seek out a solution.

Some exciting times ahead...

The Party

Party time tonight at Evati with The Hellcats.

There will be the full release of the video 'Celebrity Death Match #16' - the trailer is here and make sure you vote for the results.

Hope to see you all there.

Stealth Bomber roam and party

First things first: Hellcats party; this weekend. Join in and be merry!

I hope to be there but work calls; however last night was a stealth bomber and recon roam that did not end very well. It was a quiet run for the first hour and as we headed back for the home straight we spied a M34N absolution loitering around the gates. We were clearly interested as our stealth bombers were itching to fire their missiles at *something*; however this was clearly bait. We left behind a scout between Ingunn and Gusandall just to be sure.

Most of the stealth bombers were in Gultratren when the absolution was pointed and pushed through from Ingunn by z0de. It was then promptly pointed, webbed and dps poured on. The stealth bombers are designed to go after bigger ships but the abso would do!

It had a huge tank and as soon as we decloaked and tackled it, our scout informed us that a similiar sized gang was on their way towards the obvious bait. We had to drop the absolution fast and with all five target painters on it; the signature radius of the absolution was that of a small moon. Even if it was designed as a bait; we killed it before its support could arrive. We then cloaked up and warped out. Congratulating each other on a well-executed kill. To be honest, we should have left it at that and grabbed the loot and went home.

However, the M34N gang jumped in and orbited the gate. A mixture of ship types: hurricane, crusader, brutix, rook etc. A bit too much for our stealth bomber gang but we decided to have a go anyway. It was a poor decision and M34N made us pay; their crusader pilot was down to hull but did a sterling job in scrambling z0de's arazu; shutting off his mwd and thus making it vulnerable to the M34N brutix that powered into him. We also lost maltrox in his rapier and Inko in his hound. We failed to kill any of the M34N ships; apart from the triple-repped, tri-marked absolution and left local licking our wounds. M34N offered us bait, we took it, killed it and got away...only for us to come back and get a kicking anyway from M34N.

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....

My Glasses and Shae...

Just wanted to give a shout out to Shae and her real life artistic talents. This image of me has been blogged but I wanted to inform people that she started this drawing using pencil then scanned it before finishing it digitally. Am hoping she can do more of me and The Bastards and Hellcats, on a commission of course (!) - as I would be honoured to have it done. What's your rate Shae?

She's a talented young lady is our Shae and we're lucky she's flying with us and Mynxee is even luckier to have her as a reliable pirate in her all-Female pirate corp, The Hellcats.

Love ya Shae.

XXX


The above drawing is copyrighted by Shae and no reproduction without her express permission is allowed...unless it's in a cool blog with pretty pictures.

Frigates are deadly

Battlecruiser roam. 20:00 ET. RD
That was the message of the day on the main corporation chat channel. After the alliance tourney had completed with PL victorious; it was business as usual for The Bastards. Nothing like a battle-cruiser roam to start the ball rolling. With new recruits all lining up to join in; it was important now to get some momentum going with the corporation. I flipped open my ship inventory and scanned the war-machines available to me. Five hurricane-class battle cruisers glowed a welcoming green, indicating their ready status. All fuelled up with a full complement of ammunition and drones. Too many times we have had pilots spending time fitting and re-fitting ships when they should have been undocking and roaring to action. I have vowed to avoid this as much as possible.

"All fleet assemble at undock point in three minutes." Said RoninData; our FC for tonight.

Slipping into the pod and linking into the ship was completed in less than a minute and I was out in the familiar Evati sky.

As we ambled through into and then through Egmar we loitered on the gate; checking intel and communication channels when there was a gate activation. Whoever it was, held the gate cloak for as long as possible but then physics kicked and a lovely Nighthawk de-materialised right in front of us.

I got a point and barrelled into it.

"Point!" I said as my ship went into red alert. Already my crew were preparing to swap the ammunition hoppers from the ever reliable Rep Fleet EMP to the more specialised Hail ammunition. My 425mm auto canons spun up and belched out the deadly ordnance, as did the rest of the fleet. The Nighthawk is a specialised command ship with the typical Caldari top-of-the-range shield systems. It didn't stand up to the massive punishment dished out by this battle cruiser gang. Within another 15 seconds it was down to a sliver of hull and then it disappeared in a blossoming ball of debris as our fire power pulverised the once deadly ship.

We killed the nighthawk but should have moved on - however the presence of a Fed Navy Megathron was just too juicy to avoid. It screamed 'trap' but we went in anyways and would have killed it if it wasn't for....another Fed Navy Mega and an oneiros with friends...oh well.


Frigates can still kill you!
However, with great pleasure that later on I read a fantastic account of how a Bastards Frigate gang with some potential new recruits tackled and killed a rorqual just outside of his POS! Mynxee was in on the action and her recounting of the tale 'tis a fun read indeed!

New recruitment is open!
Yes, the pool is now open and many thanks for all your patience. In the space of a week we've had over a dozen apply; in addition to the applications we had to put on hold. Of note we have had an application from the famous Caldari Piratess herself, Alia Xi as well as some long term residents of the Independence channel in 3Jayne and others. A strong crop indeed and already, a couple have been involved in some hilarious kills. Just to show you that a recruit can have an immediate impact: Hera Darkthorn (time in corp: one month) has been top of the killboard for weeks and has generated some of the best responses....

Hera Darkthorn > hey g***a
Hera Darkthorn > 50m for the pod
G***a Lucifer > you stupid c**t. i am on a f**king trailaccount... go f**k yourself you f**king idiot bastard motherf**kker... my every demon in satans legions f**king kill you in your sleep.

Please note that this individual came back to grab his loot and was promptly podded. Am sure the rant continued. He was in low-sec and no doubt disregarded the Aurora warning.

So please keep the applications flowing in and you might get your own stalkers and fans. Haven't been on many more fleets due to processing the applications but I don't mind!

Saving Private Frog

A Frog is in Trouble

While we pirate and make life a misery for mission runners and ratters; we're not *that* cut-throat and we do stick together and watch each other's backs...providing we don't expose ourselves to too much danger of course. We're all focused on the loot and ransoms as that is how we make our living in New Eden. So all combat to us is a balance between gaining and losing isk. Sure, sometimes people fight (or duel) for honour and reputation but we mainly fight to secure more isk. Isk is God to us pirates.

I was in my gank-tank rupture with Jorge Belda in his malediction, assisting Mynxee in wrestling some decryptors from the local Angel Cartel pirates. Yes, we were running an exploration site and the destruction of the Angel Cartel ships under my guns, was deemed a good thing by CONCORD. So good in fact that they increased my sec status from -9.998 to -9.995; thus the perfect '10' was now getting further. I was obviously heading in the wrong direction.

The Bastards, as a whole were between corporation sanctioned excursions - some pirates were holed up in the station, drinking and wenching while others were out trading and scheming. Mr Frog was in null sec and chasing down the bounties on some low- to mid-range Guristas pirates. The credit crunch has hit even New Eden and forced Mr Frog to 'rat' to make much needed isk.

Mr Frog has the honoured distinction of being the only Bastard to be awarded the 'Running Away' award. Something that he is very proud of.

Anyway, the ratting wasn't going too well.

"Those gits! Can't they leave me alone to collect the bounties?" Complained Mr Frog.

"The locals giving you problems, Frog?" I asked half concentrating on taking down yet another Arch Gistii raider.

"Yeah - they have sovereignty of this area but does that give them the right to stop me from doing what I want to do?"

"Absolutely not." I nodded, chuckling as the raider blew up in a thousand shiny pieces.

"And just because they have gone to the effort of securing this space, does this mean that they have the right to hassle an honest bounty-collecting pilot, harming no-one?"

"The sheer gall and audacity of that alliance." I nodded.

"I just told them to 'leave me alone' and they laughed at me. They're now dogging me with a zealot and raven."

"Damn. The locals sound down-right unfriendly."

"I just want to make some isk. There's no empathy in this part of the world. I fear for the youth of today!" Said Mr Frog, now in full flow.

"You can always run away?"

"And that is exactly what I am doing..." Fired back Mr Frog. I could see from the star map that he had gone deeper into null-sec and was now into the Vale of the Silent region. "Shit. A shuttle on the gate. Am cloaking!" Mr Frig was flying a cloak enabled Vexor.

Mr Frog is not a coward, he is just very, very cautious. He came back to the group, sounding a bit more worried.

"They have an onyx here and that bloody zealot again. A dominix, malediction and astarte too. Damn it. I can't rat in peace! Have to find some empty space for myself."

"I think they are determined to chase you down Mr Frog." I said as a plan slowly formed in my mind. "Did you say an onyx, zealot, astarte and domi?"

"Er yes and bugger me with a sharp marrow. They're camping the two gates in this system. Am stuck!" Wailed Mr Frog as he realised that, at least for tonight, his ratting excursion would be seriously curtailed. Nothing makes a pirate cry than a lot opportunity to make isk.

I glanced at the various corp and corp related chat channels. We had plenty available tonight, I thought, along with the two resident Hellcats (Shae and Mynxee), a decent fleet could be assembled. Clearing my throat, I asked around and tried to find out if anyone was interested in an incursion into null-sec space to rescue our very own Mr Frog.

Indeed there was interest and Kulmid stepped up as FC.

A fleet was already set up but its first task was to deal with an ishkur that was dogging Khaled Urduni. We completely overwhelmed the plucky assault frigate with excessive amounts of firepower. As we waited for our Global Criminal Flags to disappear, I updated all the available pilots on Mr Frog's 'predicament'.

"Chaps, we have an onyx, zealot, domi and drake dogging Mr Frog."

"Yeah, so we hear." Said Jed. "Frog, you're a knob-end. Why are you collecting bounties on those Guristas?" This brought a lot of guffaws from the assembled crowd.

"Well, it's easy isk innit?" Replied Mr Frog.

"You're a pirate. A PI-RATE. By definition it means you pirate other people not chase down bounties."

"Yeah....but the isk is good; but that is not the point. We have some fools here who have been dogging me. You coming to help me or not?"

"Well, we're not too sure if we want to risk our ships. Any idea what the loot would be like?" Asked Euan.

"Dunno, but the onyx, domi, malediction and ishtar has been joined by a second domi. Come on guys, there's isk to be had here!" Pressed Mr Frog. "They're Interpid Crossing Alliance [IRC]; who are dogging me, am sure we can take them. Come on chaps!" Exhorted Mr Frog. The inability to make isk from the bounties was making him mightily antsy.

There was a general murmur of agreement on the potentially lucrative loot drops and Kulmid, who was still eating something, asked for a vote to either 'rescue' Mr Frog or leave him to the tender mercy of the null-sec alliance. The show of hands was definitely for a pirate romp into 0.0 with the full intention of stomping anyone we could find.

"Mr Frog. Tell your new found friends that your help is on its way."

There was a pause and then Mr Frog came back.

"Those guys laughed at me........"

The Fleet moves out....and along blundered in a raven
So we had assembled the following:

Kulmid (FC) - Armageddon
DanMart - Drake
Mynxee - Hurricane
Shae Tiann - Myrmidon
Jorge Belda - Maller
Jedziah - Omen
Euan8 - Vexor
Flashfresh - Rupture

and of course,

Mr Frog - Vexor (with cloak - good for running away)

Not too shabby, plenty of points but a bit slow on the locking front. An interceptor or frigate would have been useful but we wanted tank and we had it. There was much yelling and hooting and the FC was (once again) having trouble establishing order but eventually, Kulmid made himself heard.

"Fleet! Destination set. Assemble on the Todi gate. We bum-rush."

The fleet rumbled out of the dock bays - a surge of ships, blinking red and angry in everyone's overview. Aligning, we completed the three jump journey and arrived at the EOA-ZC gate in Akkio. On the other side of the gate was null-sec. I love null-sec due to the absence of effective gate guns but hate it for the sheer emptiness of the place. Shae muttered 'here we go again' not too quietly to herself.

Our destination was 7G-H7d, IRC space (we think), where Mr Frog was trapped and the rescue fleet jumped into null-sec, with no scout and a shout of 'BUUUMMMM RUUUSSHHHH!!!"

There was nothing in E0A-ZC; the scene of many a bubble camp but not tonight so the fleet moved on; neglecting the use of scouts we moved as one angry mob of ships and guns. Jumping through on gate-contact and making best speed to 7G-H7D. At QPOK-B; we assembled at the 1W-0KS gate - there were some ships around in local space and we tried to give chase but they were too fast and evaded our efforts. Grumbling, most of the ships gathered around the gate when our computers detected an incoming gate fire - an indicator of an impending arrival from 1W-0KS system.

"All ships, orbit the gate." Ordered Kulmid. The fleet parted and moved around the gate, maximising the size of our 'net'.

"Overheat your warp scramblers." I added.

"He's holding cloak for as long as he can." Chuckled Euan; his voice dripping with eagerness. A few seconds later, there was a shimmer about 7km portside and the distinctive shape of a raven-class battle ship materialised. The gate induced cloak finally wearing off. The raven was already frantically aligning to get away.

"Point." Said Shae and that was it.

With the warp core on the main drives disabled, the ship was helpless. We quickly pummelled it into scrap and grabbed the pod; Kulmid led the ransom but after some time wasting; the raven pilot (his corp is part of the alliance that claimed local sovereignty) was killed out of hand. His last words, before he was exposed to hostile vacuum, were: 'Chill and let's hang together, man."

The cavalry is here!
We finally jumped our ships into 7G-H7D and local spiked up high enough that the locals dogging Mr Frog ran off. We tried twice to point them but they were too quick, who said nano and therefore speed, was dead? Part of the reason is the increased size of the star gates but the roam to 'rescue' Mr Frog was successful. We even bagged a raven at the beginning of the journey. So nothing to complain about.

Leaving Mynxee and Jorge as tail-end charlies to ensure we were not followed; the fleet turned back. Mr Frog was already busy eyeing up the null sec systems between us and Akkio and telling everyone about how he was going to earn millions of isk. Partly concerned for his turn to carebearishnish (is that a word?) we secretly plotted to blow him up at a belt.....

It was Jorge who cut through our chatter.

"Local spiking. It's jumped by five. Six."

"Mynxee here. IRC Astarte arrived at gate and is locking me." There was a pause. "He's aggressed. Am jumping."

"Jorge here. I see IRC Domi, domi, onyx, zealot and raven on scan. They're in line from outpost to gate."

"Jorge, this is FC Kulmid. I think they're coming. Come back and rejoin Mynxee. We're leaving." Said Kulmid, aware that we had been in one place too long. He had his armageddon to think about as well as those lovely +5 implants in his head.

Jorge joined Mynxee on the outbound gate, passing the still hostile IRC Astarte.

OMG - Runzor!
"Okay guys, we are leaving." Announced Kulmid as the fleet began to align to the next gate. Mynxee and Jorge one gate behind us. As we jumped to the next system, both of them caught up with the fleet. An unknown number of hostile ships now following us.

We run but we don't (can't) hide
So yes, we ran. With an unknown number of hostile ships chasing us, we had no idea what we were facing. We're pirates and we lose isk and if the fight yields no coin for us. We ain't interested. We ran but due to the mixed nature of the fleet (cruiser heavy); there was a risk that Kulmid would be left behind. He was having none of it.

We pirates did not get any further than two more jumps when the same Onyx dogging Mr Frog, raced past us and landed at the gate we were heading to. The IRC trap was beginning to close on us. Already, IRC had a good idea of what ships were in and how many of us.

"Wait for him to jump. Wait. Wait."

The Onyx jumped ahead of us, into 1W-0KS - no doubt eager to catch us as we raced through.

"Here they come!" Yelled Kulmid

Local was filling up as more IRC Alliance pilots answered the call and came in.

"All fleet, jump! Jump!"

We activated the warp gate and jumped in after the Onyx. The onyx pilot did what any HIC pilot in null-sec would do: he dropped a warp disruption sphere and bubbled us all up.

The Epic fight and resulting loot
"Kill the onyx now!" Shouted Kulmid, who later, fully confessed that he was trying to save his implants if he lost his ship during the inevitable fight. "Primary is firestrm!"

"Flash is on the onyx." My 425mm auto canons, pre-loaded with EMP spun up and delivered a furious broadside to the Onyx just as the rest of the fleet did the same. Laser fire, rockets, missiles and projectiles showered the Onyx and it went down quickly. It's shields stripped off in a pyrotechnical display of symphonic destruction. The onyx died and there was much hooting and laughter.

1-0 to the pirates.

"Gatefire. Gatefire." Said someone. The rest of the chasing IRC fleet came in, no doubt eager for the kill and to avenge the destruction of the quite ineffective, onyx. A malediction, flown by Aelux existenz decloaked but he bugged out before anyone could finish target locking him. The remaining enemy ships, mostly T2 variants winked into existence on our overviews.

It was game on.

"Primary is Matthew2451. Secondary is Alan Flease." Commanded Kulmid as he was counter-targeted by the IRC fleet. The shields on his armageddon flashing and blurring as it absorbed the multiple impacts from the hostile fleet.

Matthew2451 was in a Zealot, deadly in close combat and it had to go down. Jedziah bravely pushed his omen into his optimal and started to track the zealot.

"This is Shae. Am being primaried but am tanking." Her myrmidon's repairers working furiously at patching the holes being punched into her thick armour.

"DanMart here: more gate fire. I see a second Domi."

"Check. Check. Check. This is Jorge; new contacts: second ishtar and raven."

"Primary is down. Switch to Alan Flease. Primary is Alan Flease. Secondary is Greyform." Commanded Kulmid.

2-0 to the pirates.

"Yaarrr, I got the killing blow!" Interrupted Jorge.

"Christ, there's a lot of drones out!" Continued Kulmid.

Sure enough, the two dominix and two ishtar-class ships spat out swarms of advanced combat drones that buzzed around us. We replied in kind.

"First ishtar is going down." I said. There was a burst of light and my own shields flared as shrapnel peppered my cruiser from the destroyed HAC. "First ishtar is down." I said.

3-0 to the pirates.

Off to my left, Jorge Belda was now being hammered back by a mass of ogre II heavy combat drones as well as the close range attention of Shinzon Ren's Astarte and his blasters. IRC were obviously wanted to avenge Matthew2451's demise.

However, it was Jedziah in the omen who went down first; succumbing to the horrendous damage dealt by the Zealot in the very first opening moves of this, most deadly dance.

"Jed is down. Jed is down."

3-1 still to the pirates.

Mynxee's hurricane held the centre of the line alongside Kulmid's Armageddon but a newly arrived raven levelled it's missile launchers and unleashed a salvo of paradise cruise missiles, cutting her battle-cruiser in two.

"Mynxee is down. Mynxee is down."

3-2. We're in the lead by one.

"Primary Killljoy. Secondary Shinzon." It sounded like Mr Frog. Where was FC Kulmid? I thought, but didn't bother asking as my 425mm auto canons reloaded and sought out the Dominix piloted by Killljoy. It was already in half armour when I resolved my lock. The dominix died under a hail of fire, followed by Shinzon's astarte, the latter's blasters shredding off all my armour.

5-2 to the pirates.

"Jorge is down. Jorge is down."

5-3.

"Euan is down, Euan is down." I saw Euan's vexor tank a massive stream of cruise missiles but it could not take any more and exploded.

5-4. We're in the lead by one.

"Frog is down. Frog is down." NO! I thought bitterly to myself, we were to rescue him not see his demise.

5-5 and it looked like IRC were drawing level.

"Shae is down. Goddamn raven!"

5-6 and IRC took the lead.

"This is Kulmid. Kulmid is FC again! New primary is Suboran and secondary is Cavalera. ECM drones on the raven. Points and webs on the ishtar!" I had no ecm drones left but hit the afterburner to close the distance to Suboran. I was starting to run out of ammunition and some of my weapons were close to shorting out, due to my excessive over-heating; pushing them beyond the original design parameters.

I glanced at my watch list and we were down to three ships: Kulmid's Armageddon (how did it survive for so long?), DanMart's Drake and my rupture. However, IRC were down more. There was Cavalera's raven , a plucky harpy, a second ishtar and second domi. Aelux in his Malediction was nowhere to be seen while Brendalin Kerr, in the rapier had sustained enough damage from Kulmid that he wisely retired from the field.

The second ishtar went down.

6-6.

The the second domi.

7-6.

"All fire on Cavalera! Take it down!" Ordered Kulmid, I did not need telling twice and locked the magnificient Caldari battle ship. Kulmid's laser beams, long and as thick as palace columns, streaked the short distance from his laser pods to the raven, boiling off it's shields. Cavalera tried to match the damage output but this is where missile based boats have problems. Missiles need time to travel to it's target and it can be slow. Rapid fire systems such as lasers, deal their damage almost instantly. The raven melted under the combined fire. So did the harpy. Even more odd, some of the pilot capsules stay around; spectators it would seem. They obviously were not paying attention as DanMart (in his drake) managed to lock one pod and proceed to send the unfortunate pilot back to the clone vats.

With the raven and harpy dispatched. We held the field and floated, victorious amidst the detritus of battle.

9-6. Quite a high scoring and thrilling match if it was a football game.

Us Pirates (9)
Kulmid - Armageddon - Survived
DanMart - Drake - Survived
Mynxee - Hurricane - Destroyed
Shae Tiann - Myrmidon - Destroyed
Jorge Belda - Maller - Destroyed
Jedziah - Omen - Destroyed
Mr Frog - Vexor - Destroyed
Euan8 - Vexor - Destroyed
Flashfresh - Rupture - Survived

Them Null Sec'ers (11)
Greyform - Dominix - Destroyed
KillJoy - Dominix - Destroyed
Cavalera - Raven - Destroyed
Firestrm - Onyx - Destroyed
Shinzon Ren - Astarte - Destroyed
Alan Flease - Ishtar - Destroyed
Suboran - Ishtar - Destroyed
Ron Bacardi - Harpy - Destroyed
Brendali Kerr - Rapier - Survived
Aelux existenz - Malediction - Survived
Matthew2451 - Zealot - Destroyed

(Matthew 24:51 --> And shall separate him and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.)

We held the field. My goodness. Instead of running back to base however, we eyed the wrecks with hunger. There must have been much good tasty loot considering the enemy IRC fleet was largely made up of advanced tech 2 and battleship hulls.

"We should loot up you know?" I suggested.

"Hell yeah." Agreed Jorge - in his pod, no doubt racing back to home base.

"This is Kulmid, I am going to a safe. Grab as much loot as you can and dump it with me."

"Roger that. Flash is going back for the goods!" My rupture turned around and burned towards the gate.

"DanDrake is joining Flash."

Those in the fleet who were in pods, raced home and despite the presence of a half-hearted gate camp at EOA-ZC into Akkio. All pirates got back safely.

Dan and I grabbed all the loot we could and each made over nine separate journeys between the gate and Kulmid's safe spot. We were eventually joined by a friend in his hauler and some other corp members returned in salvagers.

The very late Cap Drop
In all, the loot drop alone was about 300million isk and it practically filled a viator's cargo hold. With all the jangling loot, we escorted the precious ship blockade runner home. As we left; Jorge (now back in another ship) announced that IRC had come back into the system and instantly dropped a cynosural at the gate bringing in two thanatos and archon-class capitals.

We had long gone by then. Too little, too late.



The battle statistics make me warm inside:


The wrap up and Sarvic with them smart bombs.....
Once the fleet had returned to HQ safely, we had passed a massive frigate swarm around the EOA-ZC to Akkio gate. They didn't appear to be too good at the camping as even in a rupture, they failed to lock me let alone point me. Sarvic and a couple of others linked into the fleet, just as a few left for the night, satisfied with the kills. Sarvic loved that there was a frigate swarm around and came out in his smart bombing typhoon just for the occasion. After some missed opportunities, Sarvic was finally 'tackled' at a belt by one, then two then the rest of the frigates. The smart bombs were activated and much laughing and ewok-dancing ensued. Sarvic even podded some of the unfortunate pilots.

'Tis good to be a Bastard.