28 Jun 2011

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. 




20 Jun 2011

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...

12 Jun 2011

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.