--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

Hulkageddon IV and our new website...

Hulkageddon IV

And we're off!

Hulkageddon IV kicked off on the 19th February 2011 and The Bastards have been in the thick of things. We've gone through a bunch of destroyers already and both The Bastards and The Meatshield are doing a great many evil things to mining ships in high security space. What has been nice and heart-warming have been the cheers of encouragement and well-wishers from those on the sidelines: many of them miners themselves!

The Bastards have enough to roam out far and wide and in two to three gangs. I have noticed that other corporations are using smaller teams of 1-3 pilots and ships and using battle cruisers to enact their suicidal damage. We've opted for teams of 4-6 and in destroyer hulls instead. We found that they're the most cost effective out of all the ship hulls available.

With our scouts out and about and well wishers feeding us information about miners we've been quite active but unfortunately for myself, I have been ill since Friday, 18th February and therefore unable to participate fully. However, The Bastards have leaders far more capable than I activity is as high as ever. Additionally, if people are interested in joining in - we set up a new corp called 'MEATSHIELD' to bolster our numbers for HK IV specifically as well as giving those new to piracy an avenue to pirate with The Bastards over the long-term. The recruitment link is here. We've also enabled a nifty online recruitment website too which leads me to....

New Website and KillBoard and all that!

Yes, you may have noticed that we have updated our website and created an alliance wide killboard that pools both The Bastards and The Meatshield Bastards into one board - in addition to keeping two separate ones for each corp. With an upgrade to our ransom-board and a new skin to the forums; everything looks great.

Long awaited features (well for us) have been added and will be updated over the next couple of weeks. All very exciting and I can't wait to see them live. Thanks has to go to TheHermit for his work on this assisted by RoninData who made his appearance and proved everyone that he was NOT in a Spanish prison but was alive and well.

Anyway, just noticed the new Eve Blog banter. Going to work on that as I crawl back to bed.

More later.

F*ck your Subaru I have a horse outside & The Drunk Roam

Round One - Drunk Roam

The store...

"F*ck your subaru, I have a horse outside!"

My tea

Flash re-scrolled through the ships logs and shook his head gingerly. The alcohol hadn't quite left his system from the night before and jump cloning to a different clone would be counter-productive. The statement, this proclamation was repeated, with some variation throughout the log files. He was a bit perturbed as to what it meant and who started it. Macy, Flashfresh's ever efficient personal assistant, strode in with a hot beverage balanced professionally on a silver tray.

"Sir, your tea as requested."

Flashfresh grunted a thanks and reached over for it. Taking a sip, he relaxed back into his worn leather chair.

"Macy, you are a life saver. Pity it feels like someone took a pee in my mouth. Bleurghh." Flashfresh grimaced and took another deep slurp of some fine Dragon Pearl green tea.

Dragon Pearl Tea

"Some people pay money for that." Muttered Macy under her breath. Flashfresh didn't catch what she said and instead concentrated on the monitor before gesturing at the screen with the cup of tea. Some of the tea sloshing out.

"You see, what I don't understand is - what the hell is this?" Flashfresh played a segment of the voice chat from the roam he was reviewing. It sounded like a bunch of wild hyenas high on some sort of laughter inducing drug. Or a bunch of drunk ass pirates. Then, booming from the multiple speakers:

"F*ck your mitsuibishi, I have a horse outside!"

Flashfresh replayed the last segment twice more to Macy who merely shrugged her indifference. She's been working for The Bastards and Flashfresh for the last five years and frankly, nothing surprised her.

"I suggest sir, that you go back and review all the ship, combat, medical and communication logs from the pilots who were present to build up a more accurate picture? Use the new AI software that was uploaded last week."

I gotta go...

Macy then reached over and her fingers danced across the keyboard. A program booted up and before Flashfresh could say anything, the entire roam was re-assembled into a coherent stream complete with time-line and animation.

"I hope that helps sir. Will that be all?" Enquired Macy, quite clearly on her way out and onto more important things. Flashfresh stared at the new programme in wonder and realised that he could almost re-insert himself into the roam, like a fly on the wall. Superb.

Macy excused herself while Flashfresh sat back slurping his tea.

Flashfresh replayed the mission log, following the fleet as it jumped (or lurched) from one system to another. Flashfresh was apparently, the fleet commander, though he had trouble remembering the exact details.

"F*ck your mitsuibishi, I have a horse outside!"

This is the horse? 

There it was again, being broadcasted to everyone in local....

Anyway, after a few hours of combing through log files and fleet manifests and replaying from multiple view points the picture of the beginnings of the drunk roam became clear.

The composite fleet composed of the following brave and so-to-be drunk pilots:

Flashfresh
Dil'e Mahn
Eloha Lightbane
Peaster
Harlon Mathuin
Max Ursa
Shizraak
Marco Drack
Greygor Butenstein
Sophtia (not drinking)
Leroxee
...and others?

Dil'e Mahn's
weapon of
choice

It appears that Dil'e Mahn thought it would be good for everyone to have at least one smart bomb and with some alarm, Flashfresh realised that he had managed to fit a large smartbomb onto his rupture! Everyone else also fitted some form of area effect weapon. He also decided that we would be going into null-sec too to ensure that we could use said AOE weapons without sentry guns shooting the fleet. So the group, already inebriated slammed into Syndicate space and raced around looking for trouble.

The Hapless Shizraak

Shizraak apparently maintained his reputation of dying first to a non-capsuleer. Last time, he died to some adventurous Serpentis pirates in a belt (he got killed by rats!) but this time he got Concorded. The voice logs was full of laughter and insults as Shizraak raced onwards to grab another ship. Meanwhile, the fleet approached the PF-346, pausing one jump away at FD-MLJ. There was a dramiel buzzing around the FD-MLJ gate in PF-346 so some people thought it would be good to jump and scare them! Marco, took drunk to care apparently dived in with his bellicose. Flashfresh rewound the log and checked again, Marco was indeed  in a bellicose hull. Unusual for Marco, who was more at ease in either a dramiel or a hurricane hull.

Flashfresh continued to play the log and amid the yelling and jeering, Marco said that there were one-, no, two-, no, three Machariel class battleships appearing 200+ km away. All snipe fit no doubt. They started to target the drunken pirate who was trying to get back to the gate. Then Marco did something that took Flashfresh utterly by surprise. The pirate lit a cynosural field.

Marco, he go BOOM. 

Flashfresh replayed the log file and scrutinized the telemetry. Indeed, Marco Drack had dropped a cyno and the three Macherials (plus Dramiel) immediately dropped their locks and sped out of range, fearing for their lives. Unfortunately, the cyno was fitted for laughs only. There would be no capital class ships racing to Marco's rescue and soon the three, initially alarmed Macherial pilots came back and realizing that it was a false alarm, volleyed Marco's bellicose to scrap. Flashfresh grimaced at the last second's worth of telemetry from the battered Bellicose. He also grimaced at the cost of the fuel.

Oddly, the event galvanized the drunken fleet into more acts of bravado. Minutes later, the drunk fleet was engaged one jump away by elements of the same Macherial gang. No doubt, they realised that this fleet was piloted by Captains and crew who were completely drunk and incapable of anything remotely threatening, unless it was crashing into stargates or something.

It was at this time that Flashfresh realised he was reviewing his own combat logs. He was also listening to his own voice, albeit a bit more ragged and slurred but it was his voice. He heard himself call the harbinger primary but went after it with his lone large smart bomb. Flashfresh then saw from the churning combat logs that he was jammed and jammed again. In fact, the enemy brought three falcons into the fray just to even things up.

JManza (was he drunk?) managed to tank most of them in his ferox but unable to fire back, he died. It pained Flashfresh greatly to see that on JManza's killmail, there were alliance mates on it. Such is the danger of the smart bomb. Not very smart when the Captains firing these area effect weapons were drunk. At least people sounded like they were having a blast.

Round Two - My Gun is bigger than yours!

Some of the lads?

After a break and refit - the drunk fleet went out again. This time, Flashfresh discovered that his drunken self had opted for the infamous 'Oversized clip and carbine' roaming theme. This is where one tries to fit a massive weapon onto the hull of your ship. Fitting cruiser sized weapons onto frigate hulls or battle ship weapons onto cruiser hulls for example. Only crazy, drunken Bastards would even contemplate such a fit. However, it looked like part two of the drunk roam was well attended.

My gun is bigger than
yours....

Flashfresh scruntinised the log files and discovered that he had managed to bolt on a dual 180mm auto canon quite easily, which he found very surprising. In fact, Flashfresh managed to cram all sorts of goodies on the destroyer but failed at the almost obligatory smart bomb. With the oversize, weaponised destroyers the fleet undocked - this time, in a very drunken haze.

With scouts racing ahead (a rifter with a large auto canon?) the fleet went North and through Ostingele, a local hot-spot. There were targets for sure and things looked promising. Medical telemetry data that was available told Flashfresh that all the pilots were probably operating at 50% combat efficiency. However, their courage knew no bounds and tried to goad some of the locals into a fight. Sitting in a flashy destroyer on the gate looked like bait but in fact, was some Captain too drunk to bother jumping. The locals appeared to be spooked as their scanners no doubt picked up a fleet of frigates and destroyers, stationary for most of the time. Surely a trap?

The covert scout (also a bit tipsy) managed to get close to a drake a few times but the the fleet just couldn't get round to warping in. All this chasing was interrupting the drinking it would appear. Eventually, Flashfresh gave the order to jump into the top belt and wait.

Soon enough, an assault frigate warped into the belt at 100km and spied the ships. He then took off. Apparently, at the same time - the pod pilots all tried to moon the pilot. How this was possible inside a capsule remains to be debated. Violence was imminent however as the remote medical telemetry detected an increase in adrenaline and endomorphic drugs. The Bastards were ready as can be.

Sure enough, the enemy came in and in force too: hurricanes, drakes, stabbers - it was a good fleet and a right dust up. With some alarm, Flashfresh realised that his drunken self was not paying attention at all to the battle and activated a salvager on a stabber! I died.

Taking a deep sip of tea he replayed the horribly one-sided fight as the Bastards, cackling manically tried to do, well something. It was unclear what worked but the only thing they definitely achieved was bemusing the attackers. A 'good fight' was exchanged in local and it was then that Prophet started to yell out in local:

"F*ck your subaru, I have a horse outside!" - much to the bemusement to all of the attackers.

A link was posted in the fleet chat to clarify and Flashfresh, through the log files followed the hyperlink (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljPFZrRD3J8) and watched the video.

After a few minutes, Flashfresh couldn't help but laugh, other fleet members continued with what looked like the motto of the night's fleet.

"F*ck your drake, I have a horse outside."

It was funnier (apparently) on the night.

Roam three - hiding behind that hi-sec pocket
Amazingly, the fleet still thought that they could continue to roam. Flashfresh checked the logs and indeed, the fleet was largely intact but the level of alcohol in his blood stream was eye-watering high. Flashfresh was sure that this was true for this fleet mates too.

Shhh, we're hunting
er, wabits!

This time, the drunk fleet decided to sneak into a low-sec pocket near Iges. It had a single high-sec system as a buffer and then there was an eight low-sec system ring. Obviously, only fast aligning ships could be used so frigates and cruisers were selected and with barely enough time to refuel the ships, the fleet was back out and jumping into high security space. As was now customary someone shouted out in local:

"F*uck your missions, I have a horse outside!"

Racing through high security space is always interesting as it is a race to see whether the local faction navies can grab you before you align and get out. With only a single jump it was quite easy. Within 30 seconds, the drunk fleet had assembled in the low-sec pocket and started to hunt.

The locals, enjoying the safety of having a high-sec pocket in front as a buffer were slow to react to the presence of the pirates in their midst it would appear....however, the drunk fleet was criminally slow to react too.

It was decided that probing and scanning was hurting the fleet's collective heads so Flashfresh gave the order to sit on a gate and grab 'something'. A cyclone came through and the frigates and destroyers all lit up. Of course, the sentry guns went off too but apparently the fleet assumed that the beer blanket they had would protect them.

How wrong they were. The cyclone pilot had a shock but survived the feeble assault. He even quipped in local.

[23:56:50] X Gallentius: I hope sombody mentions something about going gcc on a gate with a dessie!!

Undocking...

Followed by blagging in local how fail the pirates were in attempting to tackle him on the gate. If only he knew the truth and that it was the alcohol that was directing the fleet and not common sense.

Flashfresh then grimaced as he read his own ship log and he vaguely remembered that he had a cunning plan. He replayed the conversation and heard himself speak to his fleet.

"Chaps, I will get this fool of the gate. I will warp to the gate at 100 km and blow myself up. He will come over and inspect the wreck and boom! We kill him!" Everyone in the fleet failed to acknowledge this plan as either being good or bad. Most apparently were too caught up in whatever they were doing. However, Flashfresh discovered that he went right ahead. Shaking his head at the memory of this, most dumb move ever - Flashfresh replayed the scene from the ship logs. How the rifter landed 100 km from the gate, while still under a global criminal countdown. How the sentry guns reached out and pulverized his ship in about two salvoes and how, well - it was just a stupid idea.

Amazingly, Flashfresh managed to get his pod back into Iges and docked up. He doesn't actually remember leaving his pod but quite clearly he did: he woke up a couple of hours ago in his own bed. He had vague recollections of emerging from his pod, armed and spoiling for a fight. Flashfresh hoped he didn't actually discharge his weapon.

There was a flashing new message notification and Flashfresh clicked on the icon and read the message. It was sent by Flashfresh, last night to everyone. It was rambling:

Who is this asleep on
my table?

"Pointed the door as it refused to open. No idea why my ship died. Who stole my drink. Did you kill it? Asshole. Need another roam. Tomorrow! Asshole!"

Good times indeed.

Drunk Roam - Getting ready

This roam is on: http://i-pirate.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-makeover-therefore-new-drunken-roam.html

Thanks for the updates from people.

Preparation:

1. Half a bottle of 2 litre bottle Disaronno (drank the rest this week)? check
2. 3.5 litres of coke? - check
3. A full meal around 19:00? - Organised so should be ok, check
4. Ensuring that I have a pillow and blanket nearby? - check
5. Ice in the freezer? - Check
6. Tell the missus that I might be away downstairs 'for some time'? - 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 - assuming that I haven't started early then someone will have to lead the rabble out without me!

The so called 'crap T1 cruisers' - let's go for a roam!

I hear a lot of people laughing at the use of the exequoror or bellicose as vehicles for piracy. Certainly, they are not fashionable craft by any stretch of the imagination when compared to the tried and tested rupture and thorax hull, to name two T1 cruiser hulls. Well this is going to change.

I trawled through the so called list of these poorer t1 cousins:

Caldari:  Moa & Osprey
Gallente: Exequoror and Celestis
Amarr: Maller & Augoror
Minmater: Scythe & Bellicose

Am actually quite impressed with these ship hulls, why all the negativity?

I always like to have themes for The Bastards roams (we've had drunk roam, lolfit roam, oversized clip and carbine roam etc etc) and I sense that the crap cruiser roam needs to be looked at. So, there's a roam that I am organising and it will feature nothing but T1-so-call-crap-cruiser-hull roam.

I quite the look of the bellicose and thanks to Lady Shaniqua, I have a decent fit.

Those who have been invited should have an evemail or email from me or TheHermit already. Pirates interested in submitting a request to join this roam need to do so quickly, just convo me or join the in-game chat channel 'INDEPENDENCE' or evemail me.

I would also be interested in some piracy viable fits for any of the above ships. Let's give these ships a little run eh?

More later.

F

Food fleet gank cruiser roam, the disconnect and the arm-chair FC.

VIOLENCE

Violence - T1 style
The T1 gank cruiser is a ship variant that greatly appeals to me. It is based on a relatively cheap T1 cruiser hull and configured to deliver the biggest wallop possible and as cheaply as can be. Usual choice ships include the thorax and rupture.

So it was back to this ship type for some of us though the MEATSHIELD and applicants were in an assortment of frigates and cruisers. Their job was simply: sweep ahead of the main group and run into potential targets and camps and engage them. Since we were heading into low- and null-sec it was going to be an interesting trip.

When we undocked I received some complaints from a few of my pilots that their graphical interface on inside their capsules was having problems updating itself. It appeared to be much more than just a localised event. It got so bad that we ended up losing three pilots to it, taking a significant chunk out of our DPS.


The Food Fleet

Food fleet - everyone loves food

No matter, we raced into Syndicate space eager for ransoms and loot. As per Bastard culture, roams are usually themed and I decided that each ship had to named after a national or regional dish that the pilot was familiar with and had already tasted and felt compelled to share with the rest of his fellow pilots.  Our roams, while fun should also be educational!

To kick off the process, I decided to call my rupture of doom, 'Harissa' - the national dish of Armenia. It is very nice, filling and tasty. I recommend this dish to anyone. Go on, give it try. Now the roam demonstrated the length and breadth of us pirate's culinary experiences from around the world and I was amazed and delighted at the offerings.

As an example we had the following culinary delights (all vouched by each pilot):

1. Deep fried mars bar, a dish peculiar to Scotland and nominated by Lord Breathnach.  
2. Yorkshire Pudding, from Yorkshire, England nominated by Max Ursa.
3. Fu Fu (baby puncher) originally from Ghana and nominated by Red Vegas. The 'baby puncher' was the original name of the ship. He just added 'Fu Fu' to the front of it. Makes me wonder why it was called baby puncher in the first place....
4. Frikandel, from The Netherlands by Fenneck. Loved how Fenneck referred to the main ingredient as 'inferior meat' - a nice, evocative term. 
5. Lutefisk by Dahghda reflecting his Scandinavian origins. Fishey!
6. Watergruwel by Anaka Totoch
7. Scouse by Leroxee - initially, I thought Lero was advocating cannibalism of our NorthWestern kith and kin, but no it is the name of the dish for those who didn't know. 
8. Pupusa by Wamphyrri - this dish looks lovely and I thank Wamp for now making me want to get hold of some pupusa.
9. Cornish Pasty by TFS Tibbs, the humble pasty but what a fascinating history!....and other dishes nominated by the other pilots that I can't quite remember. 

So the rag tag gank cruiser food fleet left our docking station with violence, haikus, food and fun in mind. We blundered towards Syndicate space but there was an odd issue with the global GUI in which some of our pilots frequently disconnected. We lost TheHermit, Captain Blackler and Dil'e. With some reduced firepower we threw ourselves through null-sec space, our Meatshield pilots (with Arrihadeus joining them) racing ahead - imminent violence in mind. 

Just before we got into the entry system into Syndicate we had a tussle with a drake and a stabber. Both pilots then turning up with friends in battleships to continue the fight.....a fight which didn't happen as it wasn't on our terms. We're pirates and there would be no coin in fighting an opponent who had our number. 

The night had to have some comedy though: we spotted a velator, all lonely in space and Leroxee, in his caracal decided to blow it up! He dropped his cross hairs onto the noob ship, loaded up his missiles into their tubes and yelled in joy as they streaked off towards their target! Sentry guns spun up in response (sentry guns? Oh no...) and smothered Leroxee's ship in explosive ordnance. His pod popped out before he could even yell out in alarm. 

There was much laughter. 

We had already exited Syndicate and we were in Solitude region, a low-sec region of space with sentry guns positioned around the gates and stations. Leroxee couldn't even board the velator since he had blown it up already. 

Still space was sparsely populated and then, everyone's GUI flashed with a universal warning: the super-computers linking the capsule operating system was about to go down in 30 minutes! Amidst groans and curses we turned around to head back. Anaka Totoch, in his blackbird was racing ahead, daring for someone, anyone to fire on him. 

We did catch a flashy maelstrom on the gate - he was with a cynabal friend and there was a harbinger lurking around. The cynabal wasn't flashy but we engaged it anyway. The maelstrom pilot ambled back towards the gate without firing on us, we then had him webbed. He then fired back, probably to get rid of the webbers as he was now slow-boating towards the gate. It was at this point that Arrhidaeus' seat broke. I have no idea why but his announcement drew much hilarity. 

BOOM

The maelstrom went down - his cynabal friend did not assist but warped away. We even grabbed and podded the pilot's capsule. 

So we docked up and stepped out of our pods for a while. 

Round 2 had us quickly scan down and grab a stabber. We ransomed the pilot for a haiku and he delivered an excellent offering: 

I began haiku, I cannot remember when, It was in this game

 As we released the stabber pilot, a harbinger came roaring in and started to attack the stabber pilot! We felt mild outrage and decided to engage the interloper. I was in the next system and wondered if it would be a prelude to something: sure enough a tempest came roaring in. We had a rapier, a rupture, a cane and a jaguar versus a harby and tempest. Not too bad but we were in a poor position, tactically - being all spread out. The Harby went down just as our hurricane was blown to bits. We now had to tackle the tempest with a jag, arbitrator, rapier and rupture. We could do.....but not that night. I lost 'Harissa' and everyone else had to bail. The Arbitrator was caught too and shredded by the tempest's might guns. So a good fight but very galling - we had lost the loot!

Doubt Chuck Norris can FC from his arm-chair...

Interestingly, the stabber pilot (Charon Chiron) applied to join us such was our impact on this pilot. Also, TheHermit, while not in space with us was following the entire roam on voice communications. I decided that it would be typical of us Bastards to do something fun and crazy and I am going to ask TheHermit to FC a roam, entirely from his armchair. He will have Ombey's excellent 2D maps and our voice comms and he will do his best to FC a fleet of my choosing through low- and null-sec space without being there. Am going to call it the 'Armchair General Roam', will keep you all posted.

New makeover therefore, new drunken roam needed!

My liver has finally recovered from the pre-New Year, post-Christmas drunken roam and I want to thank all the pilots who attended, all the pilots who sent me funny emails and evemails about it and those who have been asking for more!


Well, I am not the man to turn down a good idea now am I? Anyway, more later on 'drunken roam number 2' and details of invitations, locations etc a bit later.


MY FACE

An older portrait

The newer version

It was with some trepidation that I asked for my portrait to be retaken. I do hate all forms of photography  though Shae's rendering of me is very nice and I approved of it.


Still, I subjected myself to this folly and insisted on a more natural shot - none of this posing for me so a  photographer of some renown followed me around and took pictures. Lots of pictures and I have to say, I am quite happy with the results.  I can also see that many pod pilots, with a constant need for change will be more than happy to pay ISK to tweak their appearances. Just wait and see.


MEATSHIELD [QUORN]
The Bastards have been swamped by applications to the corporation, more so with our recent antics in Hulkageddon I, II & III. With this in mind and our desire to retain as many potentially decent pirates as we could. We set up another corporation to take these pilots in:  a fair percentage of those we didn't accept were either too time poor to join full time or lacking in certain skill sets. Many who were declined a place stayed on with us as friends, flying with us in our fleets and getting to know us. Other interested parties wanted to experience piracy but wanted to do this with lower skilled alts. Then we knew that Hulkageddon IV would be coming along and we were active participants in the event so why not try and kill as many birds with one stone as possible?


Form a new corporation that:


1. Can act as a convenient staging corporation for those who want to apply to The Bastards
2. Will take in lower level SP pirates and get them experienced in low-sec piracy, then pick then for The Bastards.
3. Will allow alts and those who want more casual style of play or who are time-poor to experience piracy with The Bastards.
4. Can provide the necessary man-power to help us achieve greater success in Hulkageddon IV, since all we're asking for is Destroyer IV and a racial frigate to IV.
5. Can provide our budding FCs with small fleets to learn the ropes.


So, forming a corporation under The Bastards Alliance was therefore a complete no-brainer. I asked my good friend Tim Kang to step in as CEO. He was in charge of the 'Offshore Indian Call Centre' corporation, a previous executor for The Bastards and was now looking for a job. Perfect. 


Recruitment post for MEATSHIELD


So any budding pilots who want to get involved with The Bastards and Hulkageddon IV - follow the link above, reply to it (so you can bump it) and then follow the instructions to apply. We've already accepted a fair few and they're settling in nicely. 


We went on a roam last night and it was great fun: a mixed fleet of 20 odd ships racing around. Inevitably we ran into an even bigger group and lost the fight but that is the way the cookie crumbles especially with new members. More to follow but everything is looking great. 


Hulkageddon IV
Oh yes, this has now been officially announced for a February 19th (Saturday) and we can't wait. One of the drivers to get more pilots was to have our new chaps throw themselves screaming into high-sec space and kill miners. What fun! Since The Bastards has always been a small corporation, larger numbers certainly gives us more time zone coverage. Last time, TheHermit more or less stayed awake the entire time. Not this time, I don't think there's enough caffeine in the world to do it!


There's more information here: HK IV FAQ


Oddly, there is a counter-event in response to Hulkageddon called: 'Griefer Geddon'. Details are here and I applaud whoever decided on this event. Good luck to both sets of participants!

Drunken Roam, Guilty Pleasures & Hooray for Hulkageddon Roam!
So, with the formation of Meatshield [QUORN], Hulkageddon IV just round the corner and my liver now just about back to normal, I think it is a fine time to organise another such roam and to celebrate the formation of a new corporation for a fine bunch of pirates and the start of a glorious week-long session of destruction!


Date: FRIDAY, 11 FEB 2010 or FRIDAY, 18th FEB 2010 (will go with the one with the most numbers)
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

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).

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

OMG Whiskey!

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 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. As an added incentive, we do love music so I ask everyone who wants to attend (or who can't but want to be involved) to submit 3-5 music tracks that they file away under ' guilty pleasures' - you know the ones: the 80s power ballads that you secretly sing to, that Britney Spears song that you can't help wiggle to and the Top Gun tunes you have on full blast when you're PvP. You know the ones. Submit them and I will either create a YouTube play list or better yet, submit the lot to Eve-Radio (or some other Radio station) as a two-hour request / dedication. Now isn't that a good idea? 


Everyone read the requirements carefully.

REQUIREMENTS:

++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. 
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.

Pirate force someone to drink to excess

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

Go on, it will be fun (again)...