War Report: Sol Invicta Mining

Back at It
I've been out of the game for awhile. Those of you who know me know that when last I blogged I had been running the wardec arm of CODEdot, and that I had vowed to destroy Brave Newbies Inc. Well, things didn't go according to plan exactly. My computer died and I couldn't justify spending the money to fix it right off, so I unsubbed and spent most of this year focusing on events taking place out-of-game.

Well, now I'm back. My corp looks to have been removed from CODEdot due to inactivity, which is fine. I have great admiration for the good works that CODEdot does, but I had found that running wardecs from within the alliance was less fun for me than running them from the outside. I also noted that although I had dropped the ball on destroying BNI, Pandemic Legion and Black Legion seem to have stepped up and done the job for me. My thanks to all the pilots involved - BRAVE was a cancer that needed to be rooted out at all costs. I take full credit for having proposed the idea. That the dregs of the alliance live on in a sort of walking death does not trouble me. For all intents and purposes BNI is destroyed, due in full to my heroic blogging.

Getting to work
It's clear that a lot of things I don't yet fully understand have happened while I was away. This was by far the longest break I've taken from the game since I started. After every long break I feel like a disoriented newbie when I return, but never more so than I do right now - PvP instincts gone right to shit, overview all outdated, not sure what to do with myself. I'm thinking that soon I'll move back out to low/null for a change of flavor and a chance to get back to my roots, but for now I'm picking up right where I left off - wardeccing carebears in highsec for fun and profit.

I decided to kick things off with a war against Sol Invicta Mining, a 33 man mining corp based in Bahromab, a convenient 3 jumps from Amarr. They had never been wardecced before. Marmite decced them the same day I did but apparently came to some arrangement and dropped their wardec the first day after 1 kill.

Usually I investigate my targets a bit and give them a day or so to come into compliance with the Code before I declare war, but on this occasion I had a strong hunch that they were Code violators and I was eager to start shooting them, so I put the wardec in and then contacted them, sending a mail to all of their known members.

Then I went to bed. Twenty-four hours later I started hunting. When the war went live they had 8 or 9 pilots in their home system local. My spies reported three Retrievers in an asteroid belt, watched over by one of their veteran members in a Vagabond and a newer player in a Thorax. There were a couple more in space that I didn't have eyes on.

First contact

I happened to be flying a Federation Navy Comet when I resubbed, so that is what I took. I first flew it to Amarr so I could be somewhere convenient while I formulated a plan. While I was there one war target turned up in Emperor Family Academy. I undocked and shortly after caught him trying to leave in a Magnate and killed him with his pod.

After this my eyes reported three war targets, including the Vagabond and Thorax, rapidly exiting Bahromab in the direction of Amarr. The report also stated that the Retrievers were still in belt unguarded. I seized the opportunity and ran for Bahromab as fast as my Comet could jump. I passed the enemy defense fleet en route and sped towards the miners in belt, hoping that I would have time to kill a Retriever before that Vagabond could get turned around. The plan worked.

The Vaga returned as I was celebrating my victory in local chat. He chased me around the system for a little while but I wasn't going to engage him in a Comet, so I just focused my efforts into trying to make him feel as frustrated and ineffectual as possible. After a bit of this I called it a night.

First Battle of Bahromab

The next morning I returned to see what my targets were up to. Four of them were docked in their home station, so I taunted them for awhile. A Caracal and a Drake soon undocked and aggressed my Comet on the undock. I quickly took the Caracal down and started chipping away at the shields on the Drake with my blasters while my drones made short work of his Hobgoblin 1s. Just as his shields were beginning to fail a second Caracal undocked and tried to rescue his mate. I finished the Drake off quickly and then took him down too, and his pod. It happened to be the same pilot I had killed in the Magnate the night before, so I ended up with not one, but two of his frozen corpses to add to my collection. Here's the battle report.

Again I celebrated my heroic victory in local and attempted to educate them on the Code, but they refused to engage in civilized conversation.

Shortly after this battle I began to search for some of their other members who remained unaccounted for. While I was working on this, I received a request for a private conversation from Sol Invicta's CEO, Soul LionHeart Orlenard.

[ 2015.09.28 17:12:41 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > do you wanna stop taunting my members?

[ 2015.09.28 17:12:50 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > hmm

[ 2015.09.28 17:12:56 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > that's one way to go

[ 2015.09.28 17:12:59 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > or...

[ 2015.09.28 17:13:05 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > you could surrender

[ 2015.09.28 17:13:15 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > surrender? to what CODE?

[ 2015.09.28 17:13:23 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > that bullshit set of rules

[ 2015.09.28 17:13:36 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > that makes it near impossible for a noob alliance to get anywhere?

[ 2015.09.28 17:13:36 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > buy mining permits for all members and agree to obey the code

[ 2015.09.28 17:13:50 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > plus enforcement fees of course

[ 2015.09.28 17:13:54 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > fuck off am i paying 370 mil for mining permits

[ 2015.09.28 17:14:07 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > especially when i know damn well theres alts that will attack us

[ 2015.09.28 17:14:10 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > it's the right thing to do

[ 2015.09.28 17:14:16 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > it isnt the right thing to do

[ 2015.09.28 17:14:18 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > its blackmail

[ 2015.09.28 17:14:23 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > its not fun

[ 2015.09.28 17:14:31 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > see www.minerbumping.com for details

[ 2015.09.28 17:14:36 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > :D

[ 2015.09.28 17:14:41 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > its always gonna end up coming out of my own fucking pocket

[ 2015.09.28 17:14:45 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > there is another way, of course

[ 2015.09.28 17:14:55 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > the code only applies in highsec

[ 2015.09.28 17:15:00 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > of course

[ 2015.09.28 17:15:04 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > im well aware of this

[ 2015.09.28 17:15:17 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > move your entire corp permanantly out of highsec and you'll be out of our jurisdiction

[ 2015.09.28 17:15:19 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > but in low sec we arent protected

[ 2015.09.28 17:15:24 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > so its free reign

[ 2015.09.28 17:15:32 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > i applaud the cleverness of code

[ 2015.09.28 17:15:34 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > you aren't protected here either, obviously

[ 2015.09.28 17:15:41 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > but you know what its fucking me off

[ 2015.09.28 17:16:07 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > you taking away the freedom of players who want to enjoy the game

[ 2015.09.28 17:16:09 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > the war will continue until *you* bring it to an end

[ 2015.09.28 17:16:32 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > i'm happy to do this for months on end

[ 2015.09.28 17:16:39 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > so the choice is yours

[ 2015.09.28 17:16:42 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > im sure you are

[ 2015.09.28 17:16:48 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > but for what?

[ 2015.09.28 17:16:53 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > fun

[ 2015.09.28 17:16:54 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > what do you gain?

[ 2015.09.28 17:17:02 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > amazing

[ 2015.09.28 17:17:07 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > it's a video game, fun is it's own reward

[ 2015.09.28 17:17:11 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > couldnt you do this in low sec?

[ 2015.09.28 17:17:23 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > nah more fun in highsec

[ 2015.09.28 17:17:28 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > instead of blackmailing corps

[ 2015.09.28 17:17:38 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > you think we have the 50 mil maintenence a week?

[ 2015.09.28 17:18:04 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > 200 mil a month on top of the base mining permit

[ 2015.09.28 17:18:18 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > that's just if the war continues

[ 2015.09.28 17:18:19 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > i have to ask my players to put their hands in their pockets

[ 2015.09.28 17:18:24 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > for the pleasure of other corps

[ 2015.09.28 17:18:26 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > end it early and you pay less

[ 2015.09.28 17:19:35 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > it's a pittance really, you could make that in an hour trading

[ 2015.09.28 17:19:44 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > congrats

[ 2015.09.28 17:19:49 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > guess what

[ 2015.09.28 17:19:51 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > we arent traders

[ 2015.09.28 17:19:59 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > we're miners

[ 2015.09.28 17:20:18 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > or just ask your verteran guys, i'm sure some of them have many billions in their wallets

[ 2015.09.28 17:20:51 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > once again

[ 2015.09.28 17:20:53 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > money

[ 2015.09.28 17:20:55 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > money

[ 2015.09.28 17:20:57 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > money

[ 2015.09.28 17:21:00 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > all you think about

[ 2015.09.28 17:21:03 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > killing and money

[ 2015.09.28 17:21:09 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > or wardec some other corp and get them to pay you so you can pay me

[ 2015.09.28 17:21:09 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > were you not a new player once?

[ 2015.09.28 17:21:15 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > i still am

[ 2015.09.28 17:21:32 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > or how about this

[ 2015.09.28 17:21:48 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > if you guys manage to pod me once i'll give it up

[ 2015.09.28 17:22:04 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > that's fair, right?

[ 2015.09.28 17:22:35 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > sure is

[ 2015.09.28 17:22:58 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > excellent

[ 2015.09.28 17:23:08 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > i have to warn you though

[ 2015.09.28 17:23:22 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > it's said that Code agents can't be defeated in battle

[ 2015.09.28 17:23:53 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > uh huh

[ 2015.09.28 17:25:08 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > i will also accept assets worth 370 mil in trade

[ 2015.09.28 17:25:19 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > see, you have lots of options

The Second Battle of Bahromab

My suggestion that I might end the war if they succeeded in podding me seemed to have motivated Soul Lionheart. I was docked in the enemy base during this time, and I soon began to see a mounting number of flashy reds in local. Soon there were eight of them, with only 2 docked. I undocked and saw a Drake, a Caracal, a Cormorant, and a Gila flown by none other than Soul LionHeart himself sitting on the undock. This is the moment where I learned just how badly my PvP instincts had suffered during my time away from the game.

I went for a frontal assault first in my Comet. I orbited the Gila at 500 and gave it everything I had. Unfortunately, I forgot a few things, like that I should turn my Damage Control on or that I should maybe use the Small Armor Repairors that I had fitted. Unfortunately, my Comet fell to the hated enemies of highsec.

A lesser man might have given up the fight at this point, but as an Agent of the New Order, I could not allow the forces of darkness to prevail. Besides, I really wanted to kill that Gila, and I was convinced I could do it in a Comet. So off I ran to Amarr to reship, and I came back ready to give it another try.

This time when I came back there was the Caracal and Drake sitting right on the undock, and the Gila was 60 km out. I positioned myself so that the Gila was in between me and the other ships and tried to lure him even further away from them. It wasn't working, though, so I moved in and attacked. I figured with my DC and armor repairers running I could tank the incoming damage, so I ignored the drones that were buzzing around and poured all my dps on the Gila. It became a tough, drawn out brawl, with the Sol Invicta fleet unable to break my active tank, while I slowly ground down the Gila's shields. We fought like that for what seemed like about 15-20 minutes, me firing my blasters, reloading, firing them again, pulsing my reppers, occasionally feeding my Comet cap booster charges. At some point they thought to kill off my drones but I was still doing okay. Finally I ran out of cap boosters and had to disengage. I started aligning and spamming the warp button. I was in structure and just about to enter warp...and then my shitty computer dropped power and shut down.

This was my only moment of true panic - I was certain that they were going to pod me as I frantically rebooted my machine and logged back in. I had opened my big mouth and told Soul LionHeart that I would drop the war if he podded me, not believing that he could ever pull it off in highsec and now I was facing the likelihood that the impossible had indeed happened. Imagine my relief when I logged in and found myself in my Comet at 30% hull but safely away from the fight. Oh yeah, carebears don't generally use warp disruptors. I should have remembered.

I wasn't done though, not yet. I still wanted to kill that Gila. I made a quick run for more drones and ammo, and came back for more. A few Sol Invicta pilots had started logging off by now, some 2 hours into the running battle on the station, and when I came back the Drake pilot was still in local, but the Gila was all alone 50 km from the station. I went in and gave it another try. This time I focused on killing off his light drones first before he could use them to kill mine. The Integrated Vespas that he had left couldn't seem to hit me, and his missiles were doing light enough damage that I could slowly repair them without worrying my capacitor at all. I was winning. Then as his shields dropped down below 25% suddenly the Drake warped in and sicced his Warriors on me. I took enough damage fast enough that I decided to warp off again and regroup.

The battle still wasn't over. After I resupplied and returned, I found the Caracal and Thorax had returned and joined the enemy forces, along with a Cormorant. I tried a new strategy - circle slowly in on them from range until one of them set his drones on me, kill the drones, then repeat until they were out of drones and low on ammunition. Then I planned to move in for the kill. I killed off a few drones like this, but they seemed to get wise. I started thinking that maybe if I moved in and took a more conventional approach - killing the squishier ships first and then moving on to the Gila after the field was cleared, I might stand a better chance. I spiraled in and set my orbit on the Cormorant, only to discover to my disappointment that at some point during the evening, Sol Invicta had discovered Stasis Webifiers and Warp Disruptors.. Frankly, I had forgotten about webs during my months away. I was slowed to a crawl and lost another Comet with nothing to show for it.

I still wasn't finished though. I wanted that Gila bad. I hopped quickly over to Amarr and assessed my options. The Comet wasn't doing the job, time for a change of plans. I looked over my skills and relearned how specialized my PvP main had been trained. He couldn't fly shit, actually. I was hoping that my training plan for a Proteus had completed itself during my idle months, but apparently not. I could fly some frigates, maybe a Thrasher, and nothing else. A Daredevil appeared to be my best option so I went with it, although it was only marginally better suited to the fight than the Comet. First time I ever flew a Daredevil on any character actually.

Back in Bahromab, the whole crew was still waiting for me. I flew circles around them, appreciating the handling of my new ride and the satisfying thump of their missiles ineffectually hitting me. I took a few screenshots. Missiles look cool. There were still too many light drones buzzing around for comfort though. I tried for another half hour to spread them out, or draw their drones away and kill them, but it was no use. They weren't falling into my traps. Then my wife started calling so I docked up in their HQ and went afk for the rest of the night. This was when they finally broke their local chat code of silence.

[ 2015.09.28 21:55:42 ] Samalya > well hello there Syeed

[ 2015.09.28 21:55:46 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > should i tell ou...

[ 2015.09.28 21:55:47 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > Samalya o/

[ 2015.09.28 21:55:50 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > no i wont tell you

[ 2015.09.28 21:56:58 ] Syeed Ameer Ali > brb

[ 2015.09.28 22:01:45 ] Sir Wolfy > hello mudda, hello fadda.

[ 2015.09.28 22:02:03 ] Sir Wolfy > Here I am at, camp grenada

[ 2015.09.28 22:03:18 ] Sir Wolfy > come on! don't you know this song!?

[ 2015.09.28 22:03:57 ] Sir Wolfy > ur boring.

[ 2015.09.28 22:07:57 ] Sir Wolfy > Now you are like, REALLY Boring

[ 2015.09.28 22:08:02 ] Sir Wolfy > Seriously.

[ 2015.09.28 22:09:06 ] Samalya > Syeed Ameer Ali > i've managed to keep you fellows from violating the code for a couple of hours so victory is mine ;D <--- not really, i don't mine i can do this all day long

[ 2015.09.28 22:09:57 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > reminds me of hunting combat sites

[ 2015.09.28 22:10:06 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > half the time hey're bullshit

[ 2015.09.28 22:10:50 ] lior bers > maybe went to the bathroom? needed some refreshing?

[ 2015.09.28 22:11:17 ] lior bers > or eating a meal

[ 2015.09.28 22:14:18 ] Sir Wolfy > Syeed Ameer Ali why do you have to be so boring?

[ 2015.09.28 22:14:33 ] Sir Wolfy > cum play with us.

[ 2015.09.28 22:14:35 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > zzzzzz

[ 2015.09.28 22:16:03 ] lior bers > Syeed you are AFK you are breaking your own code

[ 2015.09.28 22:16:18 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > AFK MINING

[ 2015.09.28 22:16:25 ] Sir Wolfy > YEAH YOU FUCKING HERITIC!!

[ 2015.09.28 22:16:31 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > DOWN WITH CODE

[ 2015.09.28 22:16:35 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > DOWN WITH CODE

[ 2015.09.28 22:16:46 ] Sir Wolfy > DOWN WITH THE CODE!!!

[ 2015.09.28 22:17:05 ] Sir Wolfy > PUT IT RIGHT UP YOUR ASS AND MAKE YOU SPIN!!!

[ 2015.09.28 22:17:42 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > CODE ARE FOR THE WEAK

[ 2015.09.28 22:18:14 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > AND WE WONT SLEEP TILL YOUR ALL FUCKING DEAD

[ 2015.09.28 22:18:15 ] Sir Wolfy > ONLY ASS PRIRATES FOLLOW THE CODE!!!

[ 2015.09.28 22:20:03 ] Sir Wolfy > If you were going to be afk, you could have at least undocked., I want aa free daredevil!

[ 2015.09.28 22:20:31 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > guys maybe we've banished the demon that is code

[ 2015.09.28 22:20:35 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > maybe we're finally free

[ 2015.09.28 22:20:55 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > maybe we can finally mine for dat sweet sweet scordite

[ 2015.09.28 22:21:34 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > whoooooooooo

[ 2015.09.28 22:22:05 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > flew in a comet all through space and time

[ 2015.09.28 22:22:15 ] Sir Wolfy > AFK mine every day!

[ 2015.09.28 22:22:17 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > SYEED AMEER ALI

[ 2015.09.28 22:22:35 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > he keeps getting killed now he hiding from thee

[ 2015.09.28 22:22:41 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > SYEED AMEER ALI

[ 2015.09.28 22:23:10 ] Sir Wolfy > cum with us! and we can afk mine all day every day!

[ 2015.09.28 22:23:21 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > DONT STOP

[ 2015.09.28 22:23:24 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > RESPAWNING

[ 2015.09.28 22:23:42 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > HOLD ONTO YOUR FEELINGS

[ 2015.09.28 22:23:56 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > WE WILL, CONTINUE TO FIGHTTTTT

[ 2015.09.28 22:24:22 ] Sir Wolfy > hey, Syeed.

[ 2015.09.28 22:24:33 ] Sir Wolfy > Wana know a secret?

[ 2015.09.28 22:24:46 ] Sir Wolfy > Well do ya?

[ 2015.09.28 22:24:59 ] Sir Wolfy > Well, fuck you then

[ 2015.09.28 22:25:01 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > MY GILA BRINGS ALL THE BOYS TO THE YARD

[ 2015.09.28 22:25:03 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > THATS RIGHT

[ 2015.09.28 22:25:08 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > ITS BIGGER THAN YOURS

[ 2015.09.28 22:25:10 ] Sir Wolfy > Guess you don't get to know

[ 2015.09.28 22:25:10 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > DAMN RIGHT

[ 2015.09.28 22:25:14 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > ITS BETTER THAN YOURS

[ 2015.09.28 22:25:18 ] Sir Wolfy > Fucking bitch.

[ 2015.09.28 22:25:29 ] Sir Wolfy > I CAN TEACH YOU

[ 2015.09.28 22:25:31 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > MY GILA IS A FUCKING WZARD

[ 2015.09.28 22:25:37 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > DAMN RIGHT ITS GONNA KILL YA

[ 2015.09.28 22:25:53 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > DAMN RIGHT YOU MOFOING HEARD

[ 2015.09.28 22:26:09 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > im so fucking bored right now

[ 2015.09.28 22:26:18 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > im just sitting here flying around

[ 2015.09.28 22:26:21 ] Sir Wolfy > Let go mining!

[ 2015.09.28 22:26:29 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > please undock our dear friend syeed

[ 2015.09.28 22:26:38 ] Sir Wolfy > AFK MINING!!!

[ 2015.09.28 22:26:40 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > so i can shove a rocket between your buttcheeks

[ 2015.09.28 22:26:54 ] lior bers > im getting my Retriever out

[ 2015.09.28 22:27:02 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > guys

[ 2015.09.28 22:27:06 ] Sir Wolfy > yey mining!

[ 2015.09.28 22:27:08 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > lets go mine in high sec :o

[ 2015.09.28 22:27:19 ] Sir Wolfy > So exciting!

[ 2015.09.28 22:27:45 ] Katara Hope > i think im gonna go mine without a permit and go AFK

[ 2015.09.28 22:27:55 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > too right

[ 2015.09.28 22:27:58 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > remember those bots

[ 2015.09.28 22:28:05 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > you know those ones that we never had

[ 2015.09.28 22:28:08 ] Sir Wolfy > Make sure to auto pilot to amarr!

[ 2015.09.28 22:28:12 ] Katara Hope > ohhhhh yeah

[ 2015.09.28 22:28:25 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > and dont forget to buy a permit

[ 2015.09.28 22:28:26 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > i mean

[ 2015.09.28 22:28:29 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > do forget!!!

[ 2015.09.28 22:28:33 ] Katara Hope > of course

[ 2015.09.28 22:29:29 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > ive just thought

[ 2015.09.28 22:30:12 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > SYEED HAVE YOU PAYED FOR A MINING PERMIT!!!

[ 2015.09.28 22:30:30 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > I HAVE FOUND YOU UNDER VIOLATION OF SOL INVICTAS MINING CODE

[ 2015.09.28 22:30:39 ] Sir Wolfy > Syeed Ameer Ali HAVE YOU PAID FOR A DOCKING PERMIT!!!

[ 2015.09.28 22:30:42 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > KILLING PLAYERS WHO ARE WAR TARGETS

[ 2015.09.28 22:30:55 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > FOR THIS YOU MUST PAY A FINE OF 1 BILLION DOLLARS

[ 2015.09.28 22:31:09 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > OR HELL BE CURSED UPON YOU

[ 2015.09.28 22:31:25 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > BY THE LAW OF HIS ALMIGHTY WOLFY

[ 2015.09.28 22:31:36 ] Sir Wolfy > Damn straight.

[ 2015.09.28 22:31:59 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > YOU ARE SENTENCED TO LIFE IN NEW EDEN METROPOLITAN ASYLUM

[ 2015.09.28 22:32:08 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > FOR CRIMES AGAINST STATIONS AND SHIPS ALIKE

[ 2015.09.28 22:32:31 ] Sir Wolfy > Where you will become big bubba's bitch!

[ 2015.09.28 22:33:07 ] Sir Wolfy > He will bend you over, and he will fuck you. Hard.

[ 2015.09.28 22:33:20 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > NOT BIG BUBBA

[ 2015.09.28 22:33:25 ] Sir Wolfy > And that is just not right, for your ass.

[ 2015.09.28 22:33:28 ] Soul LionHeart Orlenard > HE SCARES THE SHIT OUTTA ME

[ 2015.09.28 22:33:59 ] Sir Wolfy > So pay up for your crimes, or become big bubba's newest wife.

[ 2015.09.28 22:35:30 ] Sir Wolfy > tisk tisk syeed.

[ 2015.09.28 22:35:49 ] Sir Wolfy > You are going to be big bubba's new boy toy now!

For a moment I thought that the Second Battle of Bahromab was a total loss. Then I realized that I had effectively prevented Sol Invicta from violating the Code all evening long right up until the point where I left them to their own devices, in fact I had gotten a bunch of miners out PvPing and even given them their first taste of blood. Therefore I declare the battle to have been yet another total victory for the New Order of Highsec. Long live James 315!

A most valuable Executioner

The next day I logged on early. There were two guys logged in from Sol Invicta. I began to run locates on one of them and my spies spotted another zipping around the area in an Executioner. My first instinct was to leave the frigate alone until my locate came back, not to tip them off that I was active for a mere Executioner when the possibility of killing a mining barge or mission boat was still there. Finally the locate came back that the other guy was some 20+ jumps away, so I decided that fuck it, I'd chase the Executioner. I made a couple of jumps and caught him soon on a gate in Amarr and killed and podded him without any resistance worth mentioning. The loot fairy was kind, dropping an Imperial Navy Tachyon Beam Laser worth enough to cover my losses and the war fees for the week. Note to self - always kill people zipping around in fast frigates, they may be trying to be clever with their valuable cargoes.

What's next?

Will Sol Invicta Mining accept the Code and buy mining permits? Will they continue to resist the lawful authorities of highsec? Will they move out of New Order jurisdiction? I cannot answer these questions yet, but I can tell you that these guys are pretty fun war targets, and I have no intention of letting the war end without good reason.

27 January 2013 - The day EVE came down with cancer

Note: God love the ISDs who moderate the official EVE Online forums. These tireless volunteers donate many hours of their personal time to protect us all from the danger that we might actually have conversations with each other instead of logging in and playing EVE. The article below was one I posted on those forums only to see it locked almost before I finished posting it. The reason given was "ranting ". Eh, probably accurate, but I thought it was funny enough that people should have the chance to read it. Fortunately I have a blog, so I can publish it myself. Enjoy!

Asakai, 27 January 2013

Good morning, class, time for a history lesson. Keep reading, I'm actually going somewhere with this one.

The Battle of Asakai
In the days leading up to this pivotal moment in the history of EVE, nullsec had been dominated by two entities known as the Clusterfuck Coalition answering to Goonswarm Federation and its younger brother the Honeybadger Coalition, answering to TEST. These two groups had long been allies and had effectively rendered all opposition in nullsec irrelevant, leading to the first grumblings about the "blue donut."

Everyone involved was pretty bored with the situation, but even back then the leaders of nullsec were completely burned out on sov warfare and just wanted some content with a better ratio of fun:effort, so they stirred up some pretext and declared that CFC and HBC could now shoot each other, they just couldn't try to take each other's space. It was an effort to basically turn nullsec into RvB, just with a larger theatre of operations.

The line membership, like most nullbears most of the time, we're tired of ratting and feeling starved for content. So they seized the opportunity and started fighting. Drama ensued. Then one day the Gods of Pew clouded the eyes of a certain titan pilot and caused him to jump himself into a certain fleet. Batphones were dialed, then those that came batphoned others, and pretty soon most of EVE was there trying to ***** on as many Titan kills as they could. It soon became the largest fleet battle in the history of EVE up to that time.

That's my take on it all anyway. Probably inaccurate, since I was like "**** Tidi" and spent the evening safariing some noob corp that was too out-of-touch to know that anything was going on.

Anyway, I tell this story not to remind you all of the details of some long-gone fight, but to set the context for the real topic of today's conversation - the aftermath of Asakai and the consequences it had for EVE online, some of which are only now becoming truly clear.

The Baby Boom
Following the battle, Asakai was widely featured in the wider gaming media. The reddits lit up and thousands of World of Warcraft players who had never heard of EVE Online before were suddenly subscribing in record numbers. These players had no knowledge of the culture of EVE and were only here for one reason - they wanted to get in big awesome nullsec fleet battles.

For the most part the great powers of nullsec took a look at these eager, simple minded newbies and shook their heads. TEST was the only established power who really opened their doors to them. But soon after, the CFC decided to put down their old allies and thus eliminate the last unstable element of any significance in sov-null, so that they could get back to their ratting anomalies and their contrived Pewpew encounters without worry that anyone would try to stir the pot.

So nullsec for the moment was out of reach for these poor lost WoW players, and they were all milling aimlessly around high and lowsec bumping into things and getting eaten alive by the natives. A clever fellow named Matias Otero went to reddit and said, "hey I just got in a PvP encounter and it was fun, anybody want to form a corp together?" And within a week Brave Newbies Inc. surpassed 1000 members. BNI became the banner carrier for the post-Asakai generation.

Brave Newbies Inc - the Excitement, the Disappointment, the Reaction
As Brave Newbies ballooned, it created a lot of excitement not just from the new generation, but from EVE veterans as well. All these newbies were doing it right - they were heading out to lowsec and suicide-blobbing massive fleets. They had no idea what they were doing but didn't care. 

The population of Hek in that period rivaled that of Jita, and most of them were blundering around in space doing things most of the time, so of course they became the corporation to wardec. Which, of course, is entirely right and natural - as it should be. But it was cool because Matias Otero was like, "Bring it on, we embrace EVE as it is." Soon BNI moved to lowsec and started killing everyone in the neighborhood. I even joined for awhile, but I found that in PvP fleets I would tackle a target and try to call the fleet to kill it, only to find I couldn't get a word in edgewise on comms (over all the gay male pornography being read aloud and the associated commentary.) I wished them well but decided that it wasn't for me.

A year after Asakai, another great battle went down in B-RB5RB. It was a fight over some silly nullsec thing that I can't recall at the moment. The reasons for the battle are not important. What is important is that it brought another enormous tidal wave of bright-eyed WoW players whose only interest in this game was getting in massive nullsec-style fleet battles, like the children of Asakai. BNI was quick to recognize these kindred spirits and to bring a large number of them into the fold.

In those early days, EVE players of all stripes opened their arms to BNI and to others of their generation. I published my own Handbook for Evil Shenanigans as a BNI member to teach my young corpmates how to have a successful and profitable career as an EVE pirate with less than a million SP. Some were interested, but the large part of the group didn't understand the concept of piracy or care about it - they were only there to blob people. Which is fine, such as it www.everevolutionaryfront.blogspot.comSoon, though, the dark side of the character of the post-Asakai generation began to show. When their leaders were contacted by the New Order of Highsec to welcome them to our game and make arrangements for their mining permits, they scoffed and refused outright. BNI initially seemed baffled by the New Order, but soon their prevailing collective opinion of the legitimate and democratically elected government of highsec became negative, even accusatory. James 315, of course, anticipated this and took a dim view of the Brave Newbies from the beginning, but many of his followers (including myself) were more naive and made efforts to reach out to them in friendship. Legendary "griefer" Psychotic Monk joined the Newbies and made efforts to help them find their place in the EVE community, but vocal elements opposed his right to even be in their corp. Other infamous AWOXers tried to join and help them, but were rejected. BNI had abandoned their philosophy of "all are welcome," and changed it to "all who share our weird values are welcome". It became clear that as the BNI generation grew up, they were becoming aware that other people also played this game - people who cared nothing for the giant fleet battles that they had come here from WoW for, people who had other interests altogether, and had started playing when CCP was advertising things like AWOXing and corp thefts to lure new players to the game. And the BNI kids did not like or approve of this. Not one bit.

Soon forum posts began popping up in which prominent BNI members condemned time-honored EVE play styles like wardeccing, ganking, and corp infiltration. At one time these things were advertised features of the game. Remember "EVE Online - Where your dreams can be someone else's nightmares..."? Remember "HTFU?" But the children of Asakai did not transfer over from WoW for these things. They came to fight battles in nullsec, and nothing else. Any aspect of the game which did not appear to lead to that end was perceived as flawed mechanics or senseless griefing.

Matias Otero and several other BNI candidates ran for CSM9 largely on an anti-wardec platform. They wanted to nerf this great playstyle into the ground, simply because it wasn't their own and had inconvenienced them at one time or other. During the campaign I confronted Matias (my old friend) about this. "What happened to your 'come at me bro' attitude?" I asked him,"What happened to accepting EVE as it is and going at it with courage and style?" He replied to me with a sad story of how wardeccers drove BNI out of highsec with their relentless griefing. It was a revisionist fabrication - BNI left highsec because their sights were always on low and null, not because of anything anyone did to them. Matias had fallen - he had begun to believe the poisonous narrative of his generation.

The atmosphere of Brave Newbies Inc has only gotten worse since then. Two weeks ago, a normal and happy thread popped up on reddit. A corp thief had robbed a highsec mining corp to the tune of 20 billion isk by posing as a jump freighter pilot and had come to brag about it. A great EVE story - one that any true EVE player would congratulate. The top comment on that thread, with over 800 upvotes, declared hatred of the OP and said in no uncertain terms that anyone who would deceive another player to scam them of their isk was a sociopath and a terrible person in the real world. There were rumors, which I believe, that the leadership of BNI had treated upvoting that comment (which any sensible person would regard as pure crackpottery) as a CTA. It was an organized effort to disparage a playstyle that did not fit into the narrative of EVE as a game of pure nullsec fleet battles.

But is BNI the sole problem with EVE's community? No. Brave Newbies Inc is the softball-sized malignant tumor lodged in the brain of EVE Online, but sadly the cancer is well advanced and has spread throughout the body of this game's community. The disease that threatens the game we love, gentlemen, is the entire generation of players who started this game since the battle of Asakai.

The generation of entitlement
People who know me know that my newbro-friendliness credentials are absolutely impeccable. I got my start in EVE University, where I stayed for roughly my first year. I created the Solitude Rifter Team there, and thereby helped a lot of brand new players to get their first taste of small gang PvP. I was a founding member of their Nullsec Campus in Syndicate, and it's first resident FC. After the Uni I started a successful new-player oriented pirate corporation. I've posted hundreds of times here in NCQA, and I've published highly regarded guides for newbros to get started in pirate career paths. There is only a very short list of pilots in this game who can honestly say that they have done more to help new players than I have.

But in spite of all my efforts, I have failed to save the children of Asakai from themselves. Part of it is their own fault. They came to EVE for the wrong reasons. They took no interest in the history and culture of this game. They came from other games which pampered them and offered risk free Disneyland-style content. Part of it is our fault. We should have destroyed them when they were still weak. We should never have allowed them to infest our game without submitting to it's true nature. We were all just so excited to have a lot of new faces around and foolishly thought we could influence them to our own playstyles by being nice. We were wrong.

Part of it is CCPs fault. The generation of Asakai never knew an EVE in which a 10 hour alt in a T1 Thrasher could solo gank a Hulk in 0.7. They never knew the exquisite pain of dying to canflippers in their rookie systems, or the sweet justice in doing the same to someone else. They never knew an EVE of unlimited wardecs for 2 million isk per week. They never knew Hulkageddon. All the nerfs which came before, which made the game less than it once was, all these contributed to their smug sense of entitlement.

The damage they have done over the last two years is undeniable. Time and time again this most foul generation of players, accompanied by their allies the carebear apologists - the Ripard Tegs and Veers Belvars of the world - have loudly cried for the removal of other playstyles from the game. The results have been plain. Over the last two years ninja salvaging has been virtually eliminated and suicide ganking has become more difficult by an order of magnitude. Under this pressure, CCP stands poised to eliminate highsec AWOXing completely from EVE with the next patch, leaving a whole segment of our player base to choose between finding another way to play EVE or to leave the game. And they are not satisfied with these nerfs, but are calling for more - nerfs to corp theft, scamming and especially to wardecs, and a more draconian stance on perceived "griefing" overall.

Why do they want to eliminate other people's playstyles from EVE, you ask? Because they were lured here looking for the next Asakai, and take offense to the fact that other people are here for other reasons.

”But Hedo, I started after Asakai and I'm cool…”
It would be dishonest of me not to acknowledge that there are many fine players who came to EVE in the last two years and who do not fit into this generalization. They just happen to be a minority so small as to be easy to miss. Some have proven themselves to be alright through long experience. Many more have the potential to be good EVE players but aren't there yet.

When this generation started out, we all gave them the benefit of the doubt that they would turn out alright. Sadly, most of them disappointed us by trying to kill EVE to suit their own agenda. So now the burden is on them to prove they are worthy to play Everyone vs. Everyone online with the rest of us.

If you are a player who started this game after January 2013 and you feel that you do not fit into the stereotype that I have described, you should make a personal commitment today to embrace HTFU and swear the following oaths. You can do this alone by whispering them quietly to your heart, but it would be better to swear publicly in front of witnesses, either in this thread or on the voice communications server of your choice, or at home among your family and children, holding hands in front of the cool glow of your computer screen while your wife quietly weeps tears of joy. It would also be wise to copy these oaths in your bio, or include some message of similar content so that we will know that you are one of the good ones during the coming purge.


"I swear to honor the God of Pew, and to offer him the sacrifices he loves best - the frozen corpses of noobs and their salty, salty tears.

HTFU is my creed. I hold it in my heart.

I swear eternal warfare against Brave Newbies Inc and all who give them aid and friendship. I renounce all ties to them and swear that I will not rest until they all have either embraced HTFU or quit this game.

In all new endeavors I will ask myself, "What would James 315 do?"

I solemnly swear that Haedonism Bot is awesome and that I will "like" his forum posts.

I renounce Ripard Teg in all his forms. I swear to block him in all forums and chat channels that I frequent, and to never again knowingly click on a link to Jester's Trek. It shall be as if he never existed.

I swear to vote for Sabriz Adoudel and Tora Bushido before all other candidates in the upcoming CSM elections. Long may they reign."


Once you have sworn these oaths you will be ready to stop being a part of the problem and to become a part of the ultimate solution.

Treating EVE's cancer
Cancer is generally treated, in this age of modern medicine, by some combination of radiation treatments, chemotherapy, and surgery. Unfortunately, the cancer in our community can not be cured by such straightforward methods. And yet, they offer us some compelling metaphors.

We can perform surgery to physically remove tumors. Likewise we can operate on our corporations and alliances by kicking out any members who belong to the post-Asakai generation and refuse to swear the Oaths, unless they have proven their benign nature by demonstrating a commitment to HTFU through unmistakable actions.

Chemotherapy poisons cancerous cells with toxic chemicals. We can poison the cells of our enemies by infiltrating their corporations - particularly Brave Newbies Inc and the members of the HERO coalition - and attacking them from within. Once in we can steal their stuff, or go on wanton killing sprees, or discover their valuable assets and vulnerable operations and hotdrop our friends on them.

I can't think of a great metaphor for radiation therapy right now. But anyway, we should all just make a point of attacking and destroying all the new players we can find and then trying to get them to either swear the Oaths or quit the game. This may seem harsh, but make no mistake - they are here to destroy us and all we stand for. It's kill or be killed. Only through fire and imaginary spaceship blood can we save the game that we have given years of our lives to. If you can't kill them, then scam them or steal their assets. It is your duty as a good citizen of EVE. History has shown that we cannot count on CCP to preserve our sandbox - we must shoulder that responsibility ourselves.

It is sad the direction that EVE has gone in its development over the last few years, and nobody can deny that we have lost some of the best among our fellow players along the way. It may well be that the disease afflicting this once-great MMORPG has advanced further than any of us realizes - that EVE is already dying a slow and torturous death of a thousand and one nerfs, and not even the most heroic efforts will suffice to save it. But for those of us who love this game, who truly love it, we will not go down so easily. We will go down fighting, and when the day comes that Tranquility finally goes down for the last time, we will be able to say that we were here, that this game changed us and that we changed it in turn. 

And that we blapped noobs in the face. 

Lots of noobs.

Pod new players every day!