Walking around in station and RANSOMANIA2 and RAGE

Walking around and around and around

Incarna and CQ

So Incarna has hit tranquillity and like many a pod pilot, I have decided to have a walk around outside of my pod. My first impressions is that I do like it and it adds a little bit extra to the immersion. It  looks pretty but there's not much content yet available. I can't get coffee or tea nor can I leave the room but at least I can see my ship hangar and my glorious hurricane class battle cruiser 'Arbalast VII'.  A bar where other Captains can mingle would be quite fun. Am sure that is coming too. I do not like how my video cards are struggling however and if you need to turn the quality down just to ease the stutter, one might as well turn the damn thing off; and my rig isn't too shabby either.

Of course, I would be more happier if we had fixes for existing issues as well as enhancements to low-sec. In fact, after the first ten minutes of wandering around - I hit 'esc' and de-selected the 'load station environment'. I then undocked and realised that Eve Online is about space ships and explosions. My quarters can wait. In fact, after racing around after a mission running stabber; I completely forgot about my experience.

Ransomania2

Tibbs with added Quafe

TFS Tibbs is one of The Bastards unsung heroes: reliable and deadly efficient. He is also a mean Chess Player who is doing superbly well in Eve's first official chess tournament. Click the link and follow Tibbs or if you are chess fan - challenge Tibbs. Am confident that Tibbs will be able to beat all comers. Yes, I am that confident (sorry Tibbs!) and will give 100M isk to the first pilot to beat Tibbs, fair and square. 


So what is RANSOMANIA 2 ("divitias estate")?

During the event contestants (i.e. pirates of The Bastards alliance) vie with each other to see who can ransom the most ships and capsules within a given timespan.
Who: Bastard Alliance members only
When: Event will run for the whole month of July
Where: Everywhere
Why: Ransoms are cool

RULES
Ransom everything that moves for one month
Results will be taken from the Bastards Ransom Board
Haikus – valued at estimated price of ship + fittings – or estimated implant value based on character age for capsules
All ransom attempts must use the Yarrsom Channel if possible
All prizes will be awarded after the event has finished

PRIZES
Bounties
You get a 2m isk bounty fee for every successful ransom you are involved in

Pilot involved in the most ransoms
First - 300m + shiny winners medal (we love medals)
Second - 150m
Third - Faction Frigate of choice

Highest earning pilots
First – 200m
Second - 100m
Third - Faction Frigate of choice

Most ship ejections - 100m
Most solo ransoms - 100m
Most Haikus - 100m

Most ships lost during successful ransom attempts
First – 3 ships replaced
Second – 2 ships replaced
Third – 1 Ship replaced

Additional prize
1st person to solo-ransom a ship 2 hull classes above their own
Classes: Frigate>>Cruiser>BC>BS>Cap
Winner gets a pirate cruiser of their choice.
Conditions:
1. destroyers count as frigate-class.
2. ransom has to be for isk / ship ejection, not a haiku
3. value needs to be reasonable, I'll decide if its reasonable.

Nashh's birthday bash

One of many birthday cake for Nashh!

Here's the link. From the killboard, it looks like that it was a lot of fun with wrecks absolutely everywhere. One of our recruits, Zocawi was called primary every time he undocked while Marco managed to kill Nashh's ship during the evening. There was also a few B A N E kills on the board around the same time, did they join in as well? No matter. Happy birthday Nashh!


And what else?
The corp and alliance is going strong - so much done, not enough time to tell. Am currently tapping out a new news-letter for the alliance and it has taken a lot more of my time. Had time to go out and kill stuff too. Watched AT IX and was seriously disappointed by the results though the written coverage this time round was very good and informative.  


The Rage of MT (micro- or is it macro-transactions?)

Well, I haven't been living under a rock and I have been quietly observing the fire storm that is engulfing parts of New Eden. Not going to go into an in-depth report of it, there have been 100s of blogs, reports, websites all reporting the same thing.There has been tonnes of words written about a number of issues all floating around micro- (macro-)transactions coming hot on the heels of Incarna. 


Micro-transactions for vanity items (even if they become stupidly expensive) doesn't worry about me at all. Feel free to spend your $ / isk / Aurum on a monocle or something. I don't mind. However, if MT starts to extend to say, T2 ammunition or new ships being only available via the NEX Store - then I have a problem. The access to New Eden is already through a monthly subscription - surely that should be enough? If additional functions and non-vanity items are only available via the NEX store for more money; then I have a big problem. I don't think it matters what is available via MT abilities. As long as  MT is not the only form to acquire the non-vanity item, then I see no issue.

Yes, I is dumb for paying $60
for this.....

Let me put it this way: the people with too much money will always derive immediate and short term benefit from things like this more than those with no money (like me at about 200m isk to my name)...Those with real life money to spend will continually pump in isk for faction battleships and other toys. Bring it, real life money doesn't always bring success in New Eden. At least not yet and for pirates like me, will try our hardest to separate you from your isk. We like the tears and smack and if your loss actually results in even more real life money, then all power to you! 


Already in place we have the facility where pilot 'A' can buy a pile of GTC's, sell them for isk then go jump in a new faction ship or titan, possibly having to buy a titan-skilled avatar first. For me, not spending any additional money of my own - I will have to train for oh, five months before I am even skilled and even longer before I can afford the ship! If I did, I would be in a dreadnought and firing my big guns. 


At the moment, there is no magical 'Win' button for real life money. Not yet. Ask the NC; they had pots of cash and it didn't save them. I doubt the Nex store would have made a difference. I doubt MT would have saved them unless it conferred on them invisibility and doomsday abilities or access to Jovian ships; now that's a thought.  


The things I do not agree with is the rather condescending communication from CCP. There was zero respect for the player base, nor was there any consultation with the CSM and the responses from CCP so far has been weak and unfocused, fanning the fire even more. They've done real damage to themselves. 


Banning Helcity Boson? Come on. Ridiculous and stupid. 


The 'Fearless' article about what, golf clubs? Mind boggling and patronising. 


Breaking the trust of the community? Damn near fatal. 


I also think, World Of Darkness is probably sucking up too much money. CCP may have had a look at their revenue forecasts for the next couple of years and the drag from WoD and Dust514 doesn't look as rosy as they had hoped. Eve-Online gives them a good revenue stream - so maximising it is makes sense.   


(edit: just saw this thread on Eve-O)


One step at a time

Baby steps, walking slowly ahead

What does the future hold for me? Not going to quit. Nope. Am going to continue leading and dying with The Bastards. I love them all too much (that's for Dil'e by the way..) and have spent too much of my time to quit. Let's see what pans out and cooler heads on both sides start to engage. CCP isn't intending to kill off New Eden deliberately - they could do it through stupidity mind and I hope they heed the community's voice. Not informing the CSM isn't a good sign however but the protests this time round can be heard all over New Eden. They're not deaf. 


Additionally, exciting plans abound for The Bastards - we're expanding and still looking for more pilots to join us for the low-sec life of ransom and yarr. I am planning on a tweetfleet+drunken roam (yes, combining both into one crazy roam) and also deciding whether I should be looking at the Nagalfar dreadnaught. It looks cool, I mean....it is vertical! Problem is, I can't afford one ingame but then , I could always spend some money on GTCs. 

Nashh is 30! Birthday fun ensues - pew, pew and all that.

It was a sad day when Nashh announced that he and The Bastards would part company but I promised that we would keep in touch.

Well, a message came through from Nashh and guess what? He is hitting the grand '30'. So what better way than to celebrate then blowing up ships and all that?

Here's his blog post.

http://nashhkadavreveblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/big-three-o.html

Anyone interested in 'celebrating' his roam, either comment in his blog, this blog or drop Nashh a note. Am sure there will be a pick-up fleet or two...

Two rubbish ransoms means a slow night....

Two ransoms

Sometimes, you know how a night's roam will end up after the first ten minutes of rolling out a fleet. As we undocked into the familiar Evati space, the comms was buzzing with intelligence reports. I normally have almost a dozen separate chat windows open to various scouts, spies and information brokers always eager to sell information of a mining operation or a boat running a mission or something.

Tonight, everything was quiet. Not a peep from any of the channels and I thought I must be experiencing some technical problem with my communications hub or something and was prepared to kick someone's arse in order to fix it. However, no - there was no technical problem. New Eden, at least for tonight in this constellation was quiet.

Not too bothered the fleet aligned out and prepared for our next out gate; still eager for loot and ransoms. Our communications window flashed up as one of our scouts spotted a ship running through the belt clearing the local pirates; completely oblivious to the sudden entry of our -10.0 forward scout. We didn't have any unaffiliated scouts this time round so it was quite obvious that pirates were about.

Anyway, we managed to get someone and z0de jumped in; here's a copy of the conversation.

[19:34:08] EVE System > Channel MOTD:
This is a stick up! You are being ransomed.
Turn off ALL weapons. Prepare your funds for transfer.
Singing ransoms may be demanded.
Read the Bastard Pass for more info on prices
[21:01:07] z0de > Hello
[21:02:35] Mantasia > hi
[21:02:51] z0de > would you like to save your ship?
[21:03:16] Mantasia > yes , but it is a rupture
[21:03:25] z0de > do you have vent? (Edit: THIS IS SO THAT WE CAN GET HIM TO SING)
[21:03:49] Mantasia > no

The crowd is NOT happy

[21:03:59] z0de > ok, you have to tell us a joke then.
[21:04:05] Mantasia > ok
[21:04:06] z0de > if we laugh we'll let you go.
[21:04:14] z0de > so it better be a good joke.
[21:04:25] Mantasia > ok wait
[21:04:33] DeltsBeta > no google
[21:04:38] Mantasia > no no
[21:04:39] z0de > if local goes up we'll have to kill you.
[21:05:39] Mantasia > We ambused wiccan999  just after the DT ,  ceo  from starwinders who WD us , just before the WD finishes,  ,  oeps is no joke
[21:05:57] Naughty Spawn > .....................................That wasn't funny
[21:06:07] Mantasia > opes , sorry
[21:06:07] JManZA > :/
[21:06:10] z0de > that is a bad joke.
[21:06:11] flashfresh > :-(
[21:06:13] JManZA > : /
[21:06:17] DeltsBeta > :(
[21:06:17] Mantasia > i know
[21:06:21] lord Breathnach > :-(
[21:07:03] z0de > try harder next time.

We killed the chap. 

[21:07:10] EVE System > Mantasia was kicked from the channel by z0de.

Racing around, we managed to get yet another pilot and we wanted a ransom, once more General z0de took charge of the ransom.

[21:34:47] z0de > hello kitty
[21:34:55] Kitty Baugh > Hmm
[21:35:05] z0de > have you got vent?
[21:35:18] Kitty Baugh > Nope
[21:35:20] Kitty Baugh > Lets speak here
[21:35:21] z0de > hmm
[21:35:34] z0de > have you got a microphone?
[21:35:51] Kitty Baugh > Unfortunately no
[21:36:07] z0de > ok, you have to tell us a good joke and we'll let you go.
[21:36:19] Kitty Baugh > Hmm
[21:36:25] Kitty Baugh > What kind of jokes you like
[21:36:37] z0de > good ones.
[21:36:52] Kitty Baugh > Let me think a sec
[21:36:57] z0de > if we laugh you're free.
[21:36:58] z0de > ok
[21:37:43] Kitty Baugh > OW
[21:37:46] Kitty Baugh > WHAT THE HELL (Edit: We fired at him)
[21:38:07] z0de > finger slipped.
[21:38:10] Kitty Baugh > >.>
[21:38:18] Maximillian Maxentius > Google jokes faster
[21:38:19] Kitty Baugh > Is that supposed to put the heat on me?
[21:38:20] Maximillian Maxentius > -.-
[21:38:21] JManZA > :P
[21:38:32] JManZA > I'm a dirty whore.
[21:38:45] DeltsBeta > tick tock
[21:38:49] Kitty Baugh > Wait D:
[21:38:51] Kitty Baugh > Im not googling

Booooooo!

[21:38:54] Kitty Baugh > Im seriously thinking
[21:39:30] lord Breathnach > A policeman stopped me the other night, he taps on the window of the car and says: 'Would you please blow into this bag, Sir'. I said: 'What for, Officer?' He says: 'My chips are too hot'. (Edit: This was a good joke, it got a few laughs however, Lord Breathnach is a Bastard...)
[21:39:39] Leroxee > quick, we have itchy fingers
[21:40:06] Naughty Spawn > not horrible i suppose
[21:40:09] lord Breathnach > I went to the doctor the other day I said 'have you got anything for wind?' so he gave me a kite. (Edit: Lord B is on fire tonight...)
[21:40:18] JManZA > whats red and goes like a bomb?...
[21:40:20] JManZA > ...a red bomb
[21:40:39] Kitty Baugh > Went outta the chat
[21:41:04] Naughty Spawn > ya sure ya dont gots 20 mill ?
[21:41:21] lord Breathnach > I had a ploughman's lunch the other day. He wasn't very happy.
[21:41:27] Naughty Spawn > the joke kinda flopped : /
[21:41:44] z0de > hurry kitty, getting bored.
[21:42:27] Kitty Baugh > An airline captain was breaking in a new blonde stewardess. The route they were flying had a layover in another city. Upon their arrival, the captain showed the stewardess the best place for airline personnel to eat, shop and stay overnight.The next
[21:42:32] Kitty Baugh > DAMNIT WAT?
[21:42:42] Kitty Baugh > Stop shooting while I copy and paste crap!
[21:42:51] Naughty Spawn > continue ....
[21:43:00] flashfresh > You're not much of a stand up....
[21:43:03] JManZA > you mean its not original?
[21:43:12] lord Breathnach > heckle heckle
[21:43:13] JManZA > come on come on
[21:43:24] DeltsBeta > no laughter
[21:43:26] Kitty Baugh > 'The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.''
[21:43:37] DeltsBeta > give 20 mil or die
[21:43:49] JManZA > wat?
[21:43:49] z0de > rubbish joke
[21:43:53] Kitty Baugh > Hmm
[21:43:53] JManZA > :(
[21:43:56] Kitty Baugh > Lemme get another
[21:44:06] DeltsBeta > no time 20 mil or die (Edit: We blew up his ship at this point)
[21:44:24] Kitty Baugh > Thats just impolite
[21:44:38] z0de > ok want to save your pod
[21:44:40] z0de > ?
[21:44:46] Kitty Baugh > I wouldn't mind it
[21:45:02] DeltsBeta > 100 mil
[21:45:19] Kitty Baugh > Because someone whos been playing for a week has 100 mil?
[21:45:40] Kitty Baugh > I have about 30k of
[21:45:41] Kitty Baugh > Well (Edit: We blew up his pod at this point)
[21:45:45] Kitty Baugh > You enjoy that?
[21:45:48] z0de > we did give you a chance, better luck next time.
[21:45:49] DeltsBeta > no
[21:45:55] Kitty Baugh > Lol
[21:45:59] DeltsBeta > lol :)
[21:46:03] Kitty Baugh > Enjoy your crappy loot
[21:46:07] Naughty Spawn > work on the jokes mate
[21:46:08] z0de > we wont.
[21:46:09] Kitty Baugh > Too bad I had to lose my implants
[21:46:14] Kitty Baugh > >.>
[21:46:15] Naughty Spawn > soz
[21:46:19] Kitty Baugh > Eh
[21:46:25] Kitty Baugh > Id have done the same if I were you guys
[21:46:28] z0de > o/
[21:46:33] EVE System > Kitty Baugh was kicked from the channel by z0de.
Effective until 2011.05.31 21:47:33.

We managed to snag a ferox but that was it; a slow night with some humour thrown in!

The Meatshields keeping the kill board active

Our younger brethren, the Meatshield Bastards are racing around low-sec: under-skilled, under-gunned but big on balls as they attempt to kill and ransom anything that moves. Hats off to these chaps, they're great.

The Captain's quarters...

I have to confess that I am quite interested in the proposed Incarna expansion come June of this year. Details are here in this dev blog by CCP Zulu. While the list of requested (and required) fixes to existing bugs is LONG; the inclusion of this new content does add a new dimension to the whole experience. I like the idea of not only docking up my ship but leaving it too and having a shower and a cup of tea. Of course, in this first iteration, one is stuck inside one's own room but am sure that all these rooms come equipped with an XBox or PS or something similar to while away the hours.

With the potential amount of customisation possible, I can see that there will be a lot of crazy set-ups and I wonder if it is possible to allow others into your room. The mind boggles. Microtransactions come to mind too.

I really want to see if I could mug someone in the dark corridors, once I can get out of my room; until then - where's my copy of halo?

Like I said, I am quite interested.

A night of the dead sleipnir, dead Chupas and loot.

Dead Chupas

The start of the evening
"Targets destroyed. Grabbing loot." Said one of The Bastards' Captains over the voice comms. I had just linked into the fleet chat as I was going to be leading a fleet out in the evening, but The Bastards were already out and as busy as ever. They just had a successful encounter with our erstwhile neighbours: 'Los Chupacabras' and we had held the field and were looting it and salvaging the wrecks. Piracy can be an expensive business after all.

It was with some surprise that I was informed that our local Mexican space bandit charlatans have apparently joined the Minmatar Militia? What is going on I wonder, but it does look like they have taken up arms for the Republic. Wonders never cease. My best wishes to them as they are extremely good at what they do.

So the night appeared to be starting off well and once things had settled down, I got all the ship Captains together and briefed them on our roam tonight, outlining the route and the ships we would be taken. After some lobbying by Lord Breathnach - we would be taking his Vulture class command ship for a spin aided by a sleipnir. I had some administrative tasks to compete (loot related) but then was ready to roll - our scouts once again racing ahead eagerly seeking out targets. Some of our Captains needed quick bio breaks (their pods were obviously not fitted with the new suck-o-matic urinal, but I digress) before they could get into their ships with their crews.

Once this was all done, the fleet rolled out - a magnificent sight: several battle cruisers heaving past the startled industrial traffic at the undock point with support ships darting in and out. The two command ships, our fleet's flagships, led the way and we were off. Our scouts ranged far and wide and we set our destination that included that well known pirate hub of Eifer and Gusandall, the latter home of the infamous Kane Rizzel, who sadly had to take a long break from New Eden. I think he was last spotted ambling off towards some island retreat on a tropical island in Heimatar. Come back soon my friend.

Our scouts and contacts had informed us of the locals and this time, with some delight we spied M34N coalition ships - mainly from the core M34N corp but some of their newer brethren in the alliance were docked up. A quick scan and we had their ship types and in the absence of any other viable targets we opted to go for them. As we got ready our scouts shouted out a warning:

"EM ships landing on the Ingunn gate. EM ships landing on the Ingunn gate."

The Wait....

Electus Matari - we can't say no now can we? So we switched targets and hastily gathered ourselves. Our sleipnir and one drake raced ahead in an attempt to tackle the EM ships on a gate. The rest of the logistics and fleet would follow in support. We waited and hated it.

Fighting on just one side of a gate with the guns against you is always tricky and required team work and timing. Captains Dame Death, TheHermit and Marco moved to engage and jumped into the waiting ships. They were designated as Red1, Red2 and Red3 to ensure clear communications.

"Contact. Contact. Contact!" The fight was on. The rest of the fleet jumped in, there was some jostling on the gate and the sleepy gate crews were not the most efficient but the rest of the fleet was processed through.We should have jumped in earlier to be honest, my mistake.

"Red1 engaging."

"Red2, engaging."

The adrenaline levels rose as the rest of the fleet jumped into warp. Even from this distance, we could get remote telemetry from the fight and it looked ferocious indeed. We approached the warp exit.

"Hurry, Red1 is going down. Need shields."

"On our way." I said. The short warp felt it was going on forever.

"Red1 is down. Red1 is down. Getting pod out."

Shit.

We landed at the gate and hammered our request to jump. Ominously, there were a couple of M34N coalition battle ships, also on the gate. We had to ignore them and jump.

Red 2 is down

"Red2 is down."

Right, time for revenge I thought and as we dropped cloak we found that our fleet was a bit scattered. Never mind, I thought, we would have to make do with what we had.

"Primary is Hoe Bag. Secondary is Duch Crystal. Tiertiary is TenTon." I called out, selecting the appropriate targets. All around me, The Bastards fleet re-aligned and discharged their ordnance while the EM fleet returned in kind. Actually, there was only one EM alliance pilot (Duch); the rest were a mixed bag - probably all blue to each other. These chaps were too fast and they managed to squirm away before we could lay enough damage. Our webbers were too far to be effectual and we only managed to keep one of their hurricanes and drakes locked down.

"Gatefire! Gatefire!" The Gusandall gate flashed multiple times as more ships came through, a quick check in local and we discovered it was M34N coalition.

As we poured fire onto the hurricane and drake, the newcomers dropped gate cloak. Battle ships with some battle cruiser support.

"Do not engage M34N, concentrate on the EM ships." I said, despite knowing that everyone would be yellow boxing each other. Pretty standard really for pirates: in an unclear situation with multiple actors, go for the anti-pirates and neutrals before you go for other pirates. Simple in theory really but notoriously difficult to execute. Fog of war and all that.

We lost the enemy drake (somehow) but managed to snag Duch in his hurricane. Just as Duch's ships blew up, one of The Bastards declared that M34N had gone hostile and he returned fire. So much for the truce. We locked horns with M34N Coalition as they unloaded on us: Marco's drake was targeted and was blasted into near hull until our scimitars picked up the pace and saved him with some last minute shield repairs.

Ship, it go boom.

Slick Duros in his hurricane was blasted into scrap quickly followed by Escort Zodiak, also in a hurricane. Captain Nessaja in an Armageddon class battle ship, was the next target but the wily pirate knew how to disengage and managed to retreat in good order, his armour smoking and pock marked from our fire.

Vaginitis in his tempest was next, the distinctive looking Minmatar battle ship shook as heavy missiles unleashed from the drakes of The Bastards tore into it. The tempest returned fire but it was ineffectual as the drakes overwhelmed it. Vaginitis exploded in a ball of flame and scrap - his pod whipping away while the rest of his crew died in the conflagration.

Macadee1, in the barrel shaped typhoon class battle ship was broadsided by our ships and was left a smoking wreck. With his destruction, it was over. We held the field and looted it while TheHermit and Dame Death finally arrived after racing back to Evati to re-ship.

Unhappy at missing the fight, Dame Death took his fury out on an absent minded covert ops, even podding the pilot.

Let's continue to roam...
The fleet took a ten minute comfort break before we resumed, with our scouts racing ahead. Our destination would be Molden Heath. Nothing was found between Sotrenzur to Atlar, there was some evidence of fights all over the place with wrecks as evidence. This only made us want more.

Our scouts (and sympathetic contacts) notified us possible targets and it was with some delight that we discovered that one of our targets was Hoe Bag, who managed to squirm away from us in the earlier evening. We definitely had to try and get him!

There was some false alarms but eventually our fleet had managed to manoeuvre into an advantageous position in Bosena (or Bosnia) on a gate. A vexor blundered into us, which we swatted but then the main entertainment piled in. No idea whether the vexor was their scout or whether he was just unlucky.
The enemy fleet dropped in, we immediately noticed TenTon Tommie in his sleipnir. He was quite far from the gate but z0de was on the ball and gave chase and with the arazu's enhanced systems, optimised for warp disruptors and scramblers. At 80KM from us and TenTon Tommie was still unable to escape.

As we raced close to the sleipnir, his friends piled in. Fighting far off the gate didn't give them any advantages but certainly helped us escape the sentry guns.

Thanks to z0de for the initial point, we managed to kill the sleipnir. A rook dipped in and out of the fight, causing nuisance to us but his luck ran out as well, one missed jam and it's thin defences get blown away. The artillery hurricane as flown by Dame Death certainly did the job. The enemy drake died, thanks to Meode (where the hell has he been?) for dealing the most damage with Dil'e delivering the killing blow. Then an enemy smart-bombing blackbird - it probably was scared of drones but well, we had lasers, artilleries and long range missiles. We killed the blackbird pilot too, which was fortunate for us but we lost out on a few more ships who sped away from us. Finally ended up with a myrmidon kill to end this encounter. It was a triple rep fitted but went down easily enough.

It was a mad affair the ten minutes of the engagement: targets appeared and were locked, some died, some escaped. It was a blast and we held the field thanks to our logistical support who saved more than a few of our fellow fleet mates from a fiery death. Importantly, we held the field and had the pick of the loot. Moneys!

We raced home after an exhausting three hour roam.

Latest patch - is good

http://www.eveonline.com/updates/patchnotes.asp?patchlogID=226

A couple caught my eye:

Blueprints
Unique icons have been created for Blueprint originals and Blueprint copies so you can visibly differentiate between them.

At last, not that I have a massive collection of blue-prints but I do have some and I always worried about chucking out originals instead of copies. I hope the unique icons are large and easy to differentiate!

Ships
The capabilities of the onboard scanner have been substantially increased. The range is now 64 AU and the delay to return results is only 10 seconds.

Oh really? I like this one. I think.

Back from a three week sojourn, now what's happening?

Just a quick hello to everyone; I forgot to post up that I was to disappear for three weeks on an assignment (then holiday if possible) - but now that this bit of work has been completed, am back. Was promptly chucked into a logistics role last night. Was fun! New ops being planned and for those who have invaded my inbox with calls for another drunk roam; it will come. I have a new liver....

--Blood on the dancefloor--

The way you make me feel...

The One

A Bastards roam isn't a proper roam until a theme is chosen; Michael Jackson made his appearance this time round and all participants of the roam had to name their ships after a MJ song. This meant anyway scanning for us would be presented with a list of signature 70s, 80s and 90s tunes from the moon-walking one himself. Whether this would amuse, horrify and mystify the viewer is unknown. It was hotly debated whether MJ had any good songs in the noughties or later. I personally preferred his earlier stuff that included the Jackson 5 but I have been often been accused of being nostalgic. 

So a gank cruiser roam with a simple idea: pack as much firepower as you can onto a T1 cruiser hull of your choice, with only a damage control unit as your tank. If you wanted to go bling, fit appropriate damage related rigs.

With the fleet in place, the tactics would be to apply overwhelming DPS to a target and hope the sentry guns didn't pop you if we went after someone at a gate or station. Since the cruisers had no tank whatsoever; anyone firing back had a good chance of destroying the cruiser. The fleet had to do arrive as a group, in numbers and quickly.

We also actively discouraged anyone from repairing their ship - a fiery hull should be the only way to fly!

With a large BC/BS/Logistics fleet streaking through Evati and camping some of our target outlying gates in Metropolis, we decided to turn around and head a different route and sneak into M34N coalition territory to see if we could execute a cheeky gank on them. We spotted two of their number in a loki and tengu and tried to find them either at the Eifer gate or on the station. Since they were nice and flashy (like us) there would be no issues with gate guns. A blessing for both sides. M34N being seasoned pirates themselves, they didn't tug on the fishing line but instead danced around us. Surely, a a T1 cruiser named 'Blood on the dance floor' (released as a single from the Blood on the Dance floor: HIStory mix album, 1997) should have had people salivating to kill it. Especially when he was told to start ratting.

M34N, being wily and smart teased us long enough to keep us in one place. We were then spotted by some of their scouts and decided that we wouldn't get an engagement on our terms. A little bit of chat in local

Darthimus> "We're going to break you Flash."

Such chat was obviously meant to illicit a response. It did - we quickly checked the neighbouring system and in the system next door: Katugumur, sitting on the out-gate was a large M34N Coalition BC fleet. Out-numbering us and with a depressingly high number of hurricanes; the damage potential of this fleet was obvious to all. Sprinkled amongst this fleet included other close range gank battle cruisers such as the brutix and harbinger. It is doubtful that this fleet was set up to counter us, more likely it was on the way back from a roam or operation. We just happened to be in its way.

We were on the other side of the gate and not even aligned but luckily didn't jump into this fleet. Nor did they jump into us. Our gank cruisers probably would have inflicted significant damage and no doubt it would have been 'Good Fightz' all round but we would not have held the field and picked up any loot or ransoms; so for pirates, it would be a pointless and profitless engagement.

We turned and left the system quickly and efficiently led by Dil'E Mahn in his thorax named 'ABC' from the same titled Album released by the Jackson 5 in 1970 and reached number 1 in the US charts. We sped through Ingunn and out.

M34N coalition realising this then gave chase but they were too slow and gave up after two jumps. However, not having a kill made us hungry and a bit reckless. The Michael Jackson gank cruisers spied four hurricanes and a rapier sitting on the Evati gate. We jumped in and gave chase but the hurricanes were fast boats and managed to burn away from us at the gate. They scattered and I made a fatal mistake: I split the fleet up to give chase. The Michael Jackson ships relied on DPS as their tank and swarming numbers and if caught in a 1 v 1 situation with hurricane class battle cruiser, the results would end in a fiery death of one of Michael's catchy pop tunes.

So it came to pass, we all landed in a scattered group around a celestial with Persephone's stabber 'Fly Away' (from the Special 2001 edition of 'Bad'), landing closest. She burned her micro warp drive to get point but was then hammered into hull by the hurricane's 425mm auto canons. We desperately tried to get close to Persephone, some burning towards her - others trying to get over 150km away so that we can warp to her. She started to bail and was in warp when a final salvo clipped her and shattered her hull. The hurricane, still burning away then disengaged and warped away to safety. Meanwhile, TheHermit had raced to the gate and uncharacteristically was caught by the rapier (who had wisely cloaked) who called in the other hurricanes and shredded the blackbird, therefore we bid a fond farewell to 'Children', a hit song from 2001 'Invincible' album.

Our final loss was Marco who, on hearing of TheHermit's tackle had instantly warped to his corp mate and was ambushed by three of the hurricanes, resulting in a not-too-surprising loss. His ship, christened 'Bad' (from the smash 1987 album of the same name) was destroyed in a fire. I finally got everyone regrouped and we licked our wounds.

Michael Jackson had just suffered a breakdown and needed a pick-me-up.

We added to our tracklist with Rae in his curse (his excuse was that he had no T1 gank cruisers in stock) and blaring across sub-space radio was Michael Jackson warbling, 'Human Nature' (from the excellent 1982 Thriller album) to all who could hear.

Wow, orange.

Still, the music wasn't going to stop and and were told by an informant that we would be able to get some action if we hurried. So we shifted gear and ended up in Egmar, a system we still associate with G.I.S and their friends in those by-gone happy days. Hovering over the Taff gate, we caught and melted a drake in about 6 seconds, our first kill of the night. With 'Smooth Criminal' (another hit from the 1987 Bad album),  'Beat It' (from the ground breaking 1982 album, Thriller) and 'I Want You Back' all featuring heavily in the kill. The latter song was from the first highly acclaimed, The Jackson 5's album, titled 'Diane Ross presents The Jackson 5' in 1969.

While seasoned veterans were in force, we had a fair smattering of our Meatshield brothers, those who had recently signed up for a life of piracy. Step forward you brave canon fodder. Hero tackle had to be from one of our Meatshield Bastards who threw his t1 incursus frigate onto the drake to perform a hero-tackle incurring the wrath of the gate guns and surviving. War Wick, you deserve a medal and we want more.

The drake was soon followed by a hurricane and a brutix both melting furiously under the onslaught of the T1. In both cases, we were unable to secure a ransom.


Of worth note, the brutix was tackled on a gate when we were all still under a Global Criminal Countdown after killing the hurricane. Our tactics of overwhelming DPS and a quick warp out saving us. The Dragoons then retired from the field and the Michael Jackson crew flew back home with the loot. Some members had to then drop out but the music just couldn't stop.

Michael Jackson in NULL SEC

So we decided after a 60 minute break where we chatted and chilled out; that MJ had to come out to dance again. Marco brought his Cynabal named 'BAD II' out to pop a cyno generating frigate just for laughs but it did generate some warm fuzzy chat in local from the aggrieved pilot. Just before we had decided that Null-sec was where we would go, Raelyf spotted a badger sitting near the undock and with a whoop, spin and shiny-gloved hand, he undocked in his tempest, 'Dirty Diana' (once again from the monstrously popular Bad album) and blew the industrial to pieces. The drop was pretty good and are harvester drones really that expensive? I think I have half a dozen somewhere.

With no further ado, Michael Jackson took to the skies and the Bastards raced into null-sec, deciding that camping the EOA-ZC gate would be fun. I was in a hound-class stealth bomber, 'Liberian Girl' - yet another smash hit song from the 1987 Bad album. Tibbs and Interdict were both in identical stealth bombers ('Black or White' and 'Man in the mirror') - Mito Rilo had joined us in his dramiel and had no idea why we were calling our ships after Michael Jackson songs but soon got into the spirit of things and dredged up 'Heal The World' from the 1991 hit album, 'Dangerous'. This only made number two in the UK charts and a poor number 27 in the US Billboard. It made number 1 in Spain however, so go the Spanish!  Marco in his dramiel ('BAD III'), Persephone in her Falcon, Ann in her Rupture ('Smooth Criminal')and Raelyf still flying 'Dirty Diana' meant we were ready.

The first catch was a deimos that landed and the MJ crew, with flashing lights, moon-walks and the 'vocal hiccup' we got to work. Rather alarmingly, the deimos withstood a fearsome pounding from the entire fleet. Long enough that two friends in drakes appeared also. We outnumbered these chaps but couldn't bring down the deimos fast enough. The three stealth bombers threw torpedoes at it with gusto while the tempest's own auto canons chattered away at the target. The deimos, finally died. It was well fit. The two drakes, despite being bravely pointed by Milo managed to kill the interpid Dramiel pilot, no more healing the world from this one. Smooth Criminal also died but we managed to deliver enough damage to the drakes that they both died and we held the field.

We congratulated ourselves on this and the power of Michael Jackson but then an enemy stealth bomber decloaked and dropped a bomb. There was panic and Interdict was caught up in the explosion losing his beloved Hound.

We looted and left the system.

Michael Jackson goes back to low-sec but dallies too long...
We then camped a low-sec system for a while, netting a few good kills including a Deimos with a monster tank: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=19525 and some of his friends. Love them stealth bombers!

We ended up the night (a six hour roam!) with a maelstrom kill before the music just had to stop....

I was drunk and was hungover for 24 hours; what happened to my weekend?

Drunken aftermath
After saturday night's drunk roam, where we died gloriously (or ignominiously) - I had a hang-over for most of the next day. I think I must be getting old! Fair play to some of the chaps who started the drunk roam (part one) on the friday night. I believe they suicidally attacked a gang backed up with guardians and other nasties and died horribly. Well done sirs, well done!

Damage to me was as follows (I think):

1. 4L of disarrono with 2l left.
2. 6L of Coke with 1.5l left.
3. I ate three cheese-toasties on the night. All had worcestershire sauce dashed on it with lashings of cheese. There was a fourth semi-constructed toastie on the chopping board the next day. I think it is still there.
4. Paracetamol the next day with at least 2 pints of water.
5. A half-starved cat as I didn't leave any food out during the drunk roam. She's okay now, just don't tell the missus.

My cat....

I seem to recall racing around in a hoarder with TheHermit in his battle badger. I also believe I blew up quite spectacularly on a gate somewhere. Other highlight include our fail-fit cruisers trying to kill an armageddon near a stations's undock and getting it down to 20% hull before the gate guns popped us all. I was in my rupture with a battle ship class weapon strapped to it. It died gloriously. I also remember laughing manically and almost falling off my chair after consuming almost all of my drink in one go. We did kill a bait myrmidon but man, sentry guns hurt....

I think this is what I was
telling people on vent as we
raced in to kill the 'geddon...

I honestly cannot remember how it ended though I know I didn't get podded and probably made it home. Shiz had his tengu in one piece throughout the evening; that I do remember. What does it take for him to lose it?

However, piracy must continue, even if it took 24 hours to get moving or at least my liver to function again. Our ransom board has been integrated into our new back-end system and now pulls graphs into a pirate's statistics. It has always been there but now been made visible - check out MaxUrsa's stats and others. We welcome any comments by the way.

AFK & Drunk Roam, Again.

CSM 6 - the results

I voted but am surprised at the actual turn out and results. Plenty of people have posted about this already but congratulations to the winners and filling the vacant CSM 5 chair (last held by my good friend Mynxee) would be a tall order but step forward The Mittani. Squashed almost all opponents in his journey to the top. The composition of the CSM looks also very null sec oriented this time around with no Empire, Faction Warfare, Wormhole, Industry or pirate focus. Should be interesting to see what pans out. Congratulations to all.

Lost In Eve
Our very own, TheHermit was asked to guest on another excellent podcast with Lost In Eve, as hosted and brilliantly run by Jade. This episode had a low-sec slant and is an excellent listen...
http://www.lostineve.net/2011/03/28/lost-in-conversation-episode-10/

Drunk and AFK FC Roam

Date: FRIDAY, 01 APR 2011 & SATURDAY, 02 APR 2011

Time: 21:15 EVE TIME

Form-up time: 20:15 EVE TIME

Location: Will be sent to those interested in due course but previous attendees should know where it is.

Route: TBD - but all over the place no doubt...

Duration: Until we run out of ships or the FC collapses from too much alcohol

Right, drunk roam this Friday (01 APR 2011) is Part one. Part two will be Saturday (02 APR 2011) same time. The reason is that two drunk roam is better than one. Part One is also going to be an experimental set-up, more details on the night.

Also, it will give us a chance to switch into new fleet commanders.

Flashfresh's preparation for both nights:

1. A full 2-litre bottle Disaronno. Check.
2. 3.5 litres of coke? - Check.
3. A full meal around 19:00? - Organised so should be ok - curry!!!, Check.
4. Ensuring that I have a pillow and blanket nearby? - Check.
5. Ice in the freezer? - Nope, get some!
6. Ensure that the missus has left for a friend's hen do and that I AM TRULY FREE! - Check.
7. Send reminder update via email / evemail to peeps? - No yet.

Everyone else: join our ingame channel 'Independence'. Shout that you want to get DRUNK and shoot things. A squad commander, who I hope isn't drunk, will try and fleet you up.

Kick off from 20:15 onwards on both nights - assuming that I haven't started early then someone will have to lead the rabble out without me!

What shall you bring? 
Anything that won't sting your wallet if you lose it.

Are there any rules for a Bastards drunk roam?


Aim: Crazily fitted T1 frigate/cruiser roam around low-sec and null-sec; it will end when we have no ships left in the fleet (or we fall off our chairs drunk). Of course, I will be fitting a super gank ruppie but there you go.

We are to have fun, drink and be merry. Emphasis on the drink and merry bit. No sad faces. 

Like the last roam, the idea is to have fun. There's no better lubricant for fun then alcohol and lots of it! Ratting for ammo is expected. Throwing ourselves into danger at the first opportunity is also expected.

Of course, we have to pace ourselves as there will be plenty of chances to drink so the roam should still last the usual two hours.

Everyone read the requirements carefully.

++FUN roam, no sad faces!!++

1. Join the in-game channel 'INDEPENDENCE' for details and fleet pick up on the day.
2. Any T1 frigate/cruiser fitted out with whatever you want. Gank cruisers welcome.
3. Yes, fit a rupture with lasers if you want.
4. Or a thorax with arties and missiles.
5. Or a rifter with a cruiser sized weapon.
6. Or bring a Celestis, sorry Lady Shaniqua!
7. Mix your weapon systems. Why? because we can and that's how we roll.
8. Points required of course, we can't have people running away.
9. We each drink a shot of spirits (or beer) every half hour during the roam and after each ship kill and after each ship loss and for every ransom.
10. Aim is to see who can stay up for the longest.
11. Ventrilo - working with mic in place.
12. Needs to be frapsed with some vent recordings as well.
13. If you decide to fit a stab (why not?) then you have to say 'STABBED!' in local, take a shot of alcohol and then RUN like the wuss you are when you get tackled. If you do this and get smack - everyone else will need to take a shot on your behalf.
14. Tell me what is your drink(s) of choice for the night.
15. Any other rules that the FC wants to make up on the night.

Interested? Then contact us using the one of the following methods:

1. Post a comment here.
2. Contact me on flashfresh@the-bastards.com
3. Contact TheHermit on thehermit@the-bastards.com
4. Contact me or TheHermit ingame via conversation or evemail

Bang, bang, your dead!

TL;DR I posted this blog early and had lots (i.e. eight) of people convo me about the contents. Main issue was my rather inept attempt at masking the identity of someone, only for his name to appear in the post further below. Oddly, this had a rather pleasing effect: a few of the chaps chatting to me ended up apologising for the action of others. Ass Muncher might be a poor choice for name in hindsight.


The blog was incomplete and I have added to it in order to complete it. I do love Shizraak by the way, even if he is a low-sec noob but he is learning about gate guns, the hard way. 


People are never happy
[22:58:58] A***** M** "Tomorrow write about how the basterds wouldn't fight"

No one wants to fight me...

His name has been obscured to protect this chap from embarrassment. For now, let's call him, 'Ass Muncher'.

So, indeed here I am, blogging about it. The bit of text above was spewed in local, I do not read local, especially when I am running a fleet so it was with some surprise that the text was forwarded to me by one of his own people in Ass Muncher's fleet on the night. This chap (completely random chap who I never heard of, but thank you) informed me that he was a wee bit embarrassed at Ass Muncher for talking in local as well as bringing a blob big enough to scare almost everyone else into hiding and then complaining that he couldn't get a fight. Not a good FC it would appear.

Why this little bit of bitterness thrown towards us lovable, roguish Bastards? Well, we had another typical night where our gang of twelve battle cruisers roamed around Heimatar and Molden Heath. We were looking for loot and ransoms. We successfully avoided a superior force made up of battle ships, strategic cruisers and battle cruisers. This was Ass Muncher's fleet, roaring up from Ardar for some potential fun. A fleet this size pushes forward a bow wave: people know you're coming. You're fooling no-one. Having avoided them and keeping my fleet intact, we were called out on it, for doing what any sensible fleet would do in our position: i.e. avoid un-necessary losses.

Tactics and common sense appear to be lacking in the opposition this time round. Why would anyone sensible be willing to engage in a fight that they would surely lose? For glory? For honour? For 'Good Fights'?  It amuses me greatly that there are those who think that all fights in New Eden need to be fought irrespective of conditions, numbers, tactics and strategy. That the real fun is participating in a fight, regardless of outcome. Anyone else who subscribes to a different view, is deemed, well - not worthy.

As pirates, we're after loot and profit only. For that to happen, we need to ensure that we hold the field so that we can pick over the loot and salvage. Losing any fight, including those where people exchange hearty 'good fights!' in local ensures that we speed home in our pods with a lowered isk balance and the need for a new ship. We will engage and often but only if there is a chance that we can hold the field. That the conditions are right, the terms being our own. Tonight, against Ass Muncher and his fleet, they were not. So 'A.M.' I reply to your little nugget of frustration and bitterness with riposte: deal with it or bring a smaller fleet. If you want to have a fight with equal numbers - I suggest you play chess.

Another pirate running away from the blob...

Also, it is spelt as 'Bastards' not 'Basterds'. Am assuming that English isn't your first language so you're forgiven.

Anyway, let's go back in time by about an hour or so to the beginning of the night....

The miners
The evening started off with a mining op being busted by our chaps. We grabbed the Armageddon and drake but failed to grab the two hulks. No matter, we piled in and requested for a ransom. We were rejected and we popped the Armageddon (failed to grab the pod), then popped the drake and we managed to grab the pod as wanted to try a second ransom, mindful that there might be expensive implants in the drake pilot's head.

He rejected us again and we podded his capsule. Shame, he could have parted with a few million isk and not wake up with a headache.

We roamed down the metropolis pipe after the snack and chanced upon a stabber in a complex. It was pointed and we started to kill off the rats that were molesting the stabber in order to keep him alive long enough for us to try a ransom. The pilot, 'Boz Bozly' refused to pay the reasonable amount we requested and we couldn't get him to give us a haiku either. Shocking. So we  killed him with some regret. His last words were: 'I have noted down your names....' Well, if you check your killmail we should all be there too.

The Blob
It was at this time that we realised we were being tracked by another corporation: the Chupacabras, famed for their skilled gate camps between Evati to Jita to Yulai and back. They had over a dozen BC class vessels as well as a couple of probers who scattered scan probes everywhere. They scored a hit and managed to bust a safe spot used by one of our fleet pilots. He was caught and quickly dismembered. We were also informed that an even larger gang was en route and we discussed amongst ourselves what we could do. The most obvious one was to see if these new chaps would plough into the Chupacabras. No such luck as the Chupas scattered before hostile contact was made, losing only a brutix to this new fleet's vanguard.

We stayed put in the system, observing the proceedings as my efforts to link up with the new chaps didn't quite work out. Had a lovely chat with one of the fleet members though! It was at this time that we were being childishly goaded in local, no doubt pickings were slim for Ass Muncher's fleet. There's nothing worse than frustrated fleet mates and not enough targets for the evening. So why not resort to childish attempts at getting a fight?

Not wishing to push into the brick wall in front of us, we turned around and came racing back towards home and proceeded to move towards Molden Heath via the Katugumur system. As we moved towards the Katugumur, we were informed that a flashy cyclone and a neutral Tempest Fleet issue was buzzing around the infamous Gusandall / Eifer gate; home of M34N and the infamous Kane Rizzel. The two ships, with a loki were no doubt looking for easy pickings moving between Eifer and Gusandall. It is a great system.

We decided that since the cyclone was red, we could just tackle him on gate and burn him down. Which we did, his friend in the Tempest Fleet issue was the main prize but he managed to wriggle out of the first tackle only to be caught on the other side when he jumped. He managed to escape this attempt as well, return to the gate and jumped back into our main gang. He then raced away from the gate, which sealed his fate.

We then raced back into Laslienur and popped an Armageddon who was hassling a friend of ours.  We missed out on killing a guardian (who docked) and a T3 cruiser, who we simply failed to locate once he warped off.

In these situations, with a battle ship within docking distance, one has to bring overwhelming DPS to burn it down quickly. This is one of the occasions where you need to plough into someone and there's no such thing as 'too much DPS'.

We ended the evening with some false alarms but all in all a great time.

Last week we went a roaming as well and here's the high-lights:
I jump cloned back to Evati and a hello to the new chaps, battle cruiser roam with logistic support. TheHermit was fleet commander with myself as an ordinary team member flying my Sleipnir with command links. A position that I quite enjoyed, TheHermit is an excellent fleet commander and I felt confident that it would be a great op.

Fleet comms was chatty and boisterous but cutting through the chatter was Raelyf requesting for some extra tackle: he had a tengu probed down close by but needed some extra help to take down the T3 cruiser. However, when you have a fleet of about 22, the ransom pay out is quite low. The craziness continued with our regular fleet favourite, the eve-dependable low-sec noob Shizraak getting volleyed by the sentry guns while he was in his hawk! Don't tackle on gates Shiz, you will die - that's the job of the Meatshield Bastards!

While we idled on a gate, preparing to move, a scorpion class battle ship landed and promptly jumped. We obviously followed him and tackled the feared Caldari ship and reduced it to scrap in a matter of moments. The pilot accused us of being cowards but we chuckled and grabbed the loot. Grabbing ships under gate gun fire isn't fun. As we were picking over the loot, we were then fortunate to catch a Loki. It landed on a gate, saw us and jumped. Unlucky for him, I was in a sleipnir and was on the entry gate for the Loki pilot. As soon as he undocked, I had him web scrambled and demanded a ransom, he refused the convo and the Loki unable to move off, fired at me in despairing fashion awaiting his fate. We then grabbed the pod and demanded a second ransom but once again, he refused.

In Katugumur was a drake from an alliance we had not heard of, so we got in close and tried to see whether he would bite. Which he did and we promptly melted him down to structure before I could even try a ransom. The drake pod raced back to the station with us in hot pursuit. It was then that his mate came out in an Abaddon, a deadly battle ship class vessel that had our fleet salivating at the prospect. He made the decision to target Arrhideaus whom we tried to save but the mighty lasers of the Abaddon cut through Arrhi's harbinger just as he was almost into warp. However, we took revenge and dog piled him and smashed him to scrap. Since we didn't want him to dis-engage his lasers and dock up we did not bother to ransom him.

It's a knock out

Of course, the battle ship pilot complained that we blobbed him but we pointed out that the only way to kill a battle ship within docking distance of a station is to take it down quickly with as many ships as possible. Not elegant solution but an effective solution.







Open Night with The Bastards - another drunk roam? 
Anyway, there's been a number of people who have been asking for another open roam with The Bastards, whether it is a drunk roam or not is partly dependent on the state of my liver and kidneys but I think I will manage it. Low-sec and null-sec roam, with drinks and drunkeness the order of the day (or night) with a twist; we will also be doing the AFK FC concept as well.

It is coming up soon, within two weeks so contact either me or TheHermit or leave a comment here and I will get the details to you. Just make sure you get hold of a T1 cruiser hull with as many weapons as you can cram onto it AND make sure you have your favourite drink handy. I have been told to stay away from Jagermeister shots...

Drunk roam carnage

Laters.

F