Roles

One of the more recent benefits of being in TBRA or TBR is that members will have access to free skillbooks from the Rabbit Library. Originally pioneered by Jarek K, the library has already proven to be a valuable resource for many pilots. There was however something missing: A trustworthy and handsome individual was needed to tend to the various tomes and manuscripts...



Mr Kha is now proud to be the very first offical TGA Librarian! (despite being instantly ridiculed by Mail Lite :p ) This oppurtunity coincides nicely with the new wave of recruitment we have open for the Academy and as such I will be making a conscious effort to keep a healthy stock of books to help out our new recruits. The Library also contains a limited stock of advanced skillbooks for more experienced players and certain "elite" (ie. expensive) books may be available subject to certain member requirements (no I'm not talking about genitalia).

All alliance members are able to browse the Library's collection however, if you would like to have one of the books then you should ask either me or one of our directors and we will be happy to give them to you. Only one of each skillbook is going to be given to any individual toon and we hope that you are able to put them to good use out in the field o7.

-Mr Kha

Recruitment

The Academy is once again open for recruitment. I have been informed that there are a total of 75 places open for players accross all time-zones. Take a look at the following before considering an application...


REQUIREMENTS:

•No Trial Accounts.

•Mature players only

•You must submit your LIMITED API to a Director for review

•Voice Communication software MUST be used (Team Speak 3)

•Willing to reach -10 security status

•No smack-talking or crying in local

•Ransoms and agreed 1v1 fights MUST be honoured


If you're cool with the above, then you need to go here and after registering, submit an application in the Academy recruitment channel. One of the stickies there will be a template for the application which you must use.

IT IS IMPORTANT YOU DO THIS BEFORE JOINING OUR IN-GAME RECRUITMENT CHANNEL

Which brings me to the next bit. Once you've posted an app on the forums, sit around in our recruitment channel for a couple of days and await your interview. Try and be patient, as the ratio of applicants to recruitment officers is naturally quite high.

As someone who has been with the Academy for the past 2 months I can say that TGA is a great alliance to be a part of with several established "characters" and good oppurtunites for the up and coming pilot. I look forward to recieving you into our enterprising and bloodthirsty organization.

-Mr Kha

Fleet Commander pt.2

After a little station-spinning I'd decided it was time to brush the dust off my little rifter and go out on a good old fashioned solo roam. Before I head out I notice a corpmate is online (big shout to Caps!) who is usually ready for action. I ask if he wants to join and he responds with " yeh let's do it man!" While he is setting up, several alliance buddies log in and word catches on that there's a roam going and before I know it theres about 5 or 6 of us.

Certain corpies are often relied upon to take the bunnies out on their evening walks but I figured it might be interesting / courteous if I decided to step up for the role of FC instead. The last time I led a fleet we didn't manage to get any kills and we got a suprise visit from a Falcon while taking down a Thorax, losing a couple of our guys. This time however, it was going to be different...



Not too long ago, one of our corpmates (big shout out to Dark Avatar!) introduced to me the concept of "shotgun scanning" as an alternative way of moving an agile fleet. After some camp-dodging en route to our destination, we jump into a neighbouring system, and begin the new tactic. Pretty soon we're chasing a Rupture who doesn't want to play with us and shortly afterward he is cornered and helpless, thanks to the fact we had more JAM! than the NBA (yes 3 Blackbird pilots in a 7-man fleet is excessive). First kill as FC under my belt, I was a happy bunny. Things got even better on the way home.

Theres a Hurricane pilot in system apparantly interested in our Ishkur pilot. He takes the bait and a truly hero-tackle on behalf of Otto Jarvis nets us a warp-in for the fleet. Otto is forced back out of point range as he bleeds into structure but the nanocane is caught on an asteroid while I burn toward him with a handful o' web n' scram. Our Arby and Blackbird pilots are doing their job of negating the damage and the only problem we have now was the Warrior IIs. The drones are set upon me and quickly bring me into deep armor while the rest of the fleet is shooting them down. I GTFO and come back just in time to fire off some final shots and see the ship explode.

What a cool experience it was. I would reccommend giving the task of FC a chance to anybody who is willing to try it out. It's pretty challenging stuff but when a plan comes together it is really something to be a part of. GF to the Rupture and 'Cane pilots and job well done to our guys, we will be doing this again soon. Wolfpack pvp at its finest. o7

-Mr Kha

Public Enemy

I haz been very naughty for the last couple of months...

It's official: Mr Kha has reached -10 security status!

Stand and Deliver!

Not much worth mentioning as of late, however the last the few days have been quite prosperous relative to the expectations of Piracy. The Rabbits managed to secure 200m worth of ransoms in just over an hour during a rather profitable gate camp and later went on to follow up the success with a good old fashioned rabbit roam, netting a further 50m in ransoms and two very exciting engagements. I put my cut of the iskies into my little pink purse (which broke my fall) and headed home where I proceeded to wire the funds to my ninja/hauler/mission runner alt.



The next day the Rabbits were out and about through the stomping grounds when Mr. Otto Jarvis finds a juicy Drake, seemingly lost in an asteroid belt. After a brief game of cat and mouse he is ensnared and subjected to a slow and inevitable death. For some reason he decided to throw a single volley of faction missiles at my Rifter and then apparantly ceased fire while we finished him off. The upside-down yellow triangle was approached and looted immediately and it turned out our friend had been quite unfortunate. Five Arbalest launchers and several other pricey named mods had dropped and according to current market prices would yield us a cut of about 18m each, with the total loss for the Drake pilot nearing 117m isk. Fortunately I was not carrying the loot because on the way home, for the first time ever I made the facepalm-inducing mistake of jumping into the wrong system and losing my little Rifter to the Po-leece :-( fortunately they are ten-a-penny and the loss made a very minor dent in the week's profits.

Conclusion? Though far from being the most profitable proffesion in the Universe, Piracy can still have its moments in providing some respectable income. In addition to the epic Freighter ransom, the past week or so has been a rather good case for why the "shoot first, ask questions later" approach isn't always the best option. In addition the weeks events also help to prove the benefits of honouring your ransoms and the reputation and trust that it brings, both for you and for Pirates everywhere.


-Mr Kha

Gate Camp Fail

Recently Mr Kha has been training some necessary skills to fly a Hurricane and although I'm far from fitting one properly, I managed to throw one together with a T2 tank and enough EHP to take part in group camps.

"Would someone like to come and hold my little hand while I do my first Gate Camp?"

Otto Jarvis is quick to appear in his Drake and an aptly-named 'boredom fleet' is initiated by Cebit, which brings one or two more Battlecruisers to the fleet. Nothing is happening and the Gate Camp becomes quite a casual affair, with people coming and going and a lack of eyes on the other side *facepalm*.

I'm the only one left on the gate, determined not give up on my first ever camp. Minutes later, a Drake jumps in. I lock him up and call for back up over comms to which there were several replies so I confidently point and engage the Drake. The sentry guns start going apeshit and I'm not faring too well on my own. Backup arrives and the future looks brighter for Mr Kha, that is until the rest of the Drake's fleet jump in...



Falcon, Falcon, Tengu, Nighthawk, Zealot, Hurricane and God knows what else (not quite managing to think clearly at this point). The Hurricane is shooting me along with the Drake and the Sentry guns. I'd already aligned and started trying to burn away but this was no nippy little frigate, taking forever to turn around and doing a pitiful 700m/s with the microwarp on. I continue to spam the warp button but to no avail.

I'm the first to go down, shortly followed by my companions. The pod makes it out alive but the damage is done so I dock up at the station. The Hurricane lasted less than an hour and my first gate camp had ended in disaster. Otto takes pitty on me and finances a replacement Hurricane which was extremely generous of him and we decide a change of pace is required and put together a roaming fleet while our GCC is cooling off. I was looking for some action and I got it. Better luck next time me hopes!

-Mr Kha

Epic Freighter Ransom of Win

Well...


If there was any case example for the rewards of patience, careful planning, initiative (and a stroke of genius/fortune on behalf of Bagpuss) then this was it. Definately one of the highlights of my pirating career so far (it's up there with first solo kill).

It had been an uneventful sunday for me. There was some excitement in our neighbouring system trying to get hold of a Maelstrom but sadly that did not come to fruition. Some time later we were trying to probe down a thrasher in our home system when suddenly a freighter appears on D-scan. Intel was gathered and shared and it appeared that we had a guy who was dual boxing with an alt who was acting as a scout in a Rapier. There was an attempt to pin him down away from the station but it didn't quite materialise. However Bagpuss took the initiative and ran a scan of his probes around the station, shortly after the ship is reported to have undocked and warped. 100% scan strength on one Providence frieghter, bookmarked and being warped to. Bagpuss arrives just as the freighter is heading out. It's an insta-undock safe for the station. That will come in handy. For what seems like a missed oppurtinity, our corpmate appears optimistic.

"Doesn't matter. We'll get him later."

Almost 2 hours later to be precised. One of our rabbits was doing some shopping in a local high sec system where he spotted the freighter pilot in local. At this point there was an official lock-in at our station. Nobody was to be floating around in system as not to spook off the freighter, who's Rapier alt was still in system serving as a scout. Our contact in high-sec reports that he is headed back towards our direction. After what seemed like an age, the silence is broken...

"Providence on scan."

Comms goes silent. Everyone is equally co-operative in making sure we nail this guy. Soon enough the pilot is now with us in the station and inevitably headed out again at any moment. The big question on everyone's mind at this point is 'Is he going to use that same insta-undock?' He's left the station and he's still in local. Everybody is crossing their fingers and preparing to undock on the word go.


"Warp to Bagpuss. I'm right on top of him"

This was met with a rush of excitement from the men....

"EVERYBODY UNDOCK!" "IN WARP!" "WARPING!!"


Local was clogged with an eruption of YAARRRRR. This was it. I finally land and sure enough there she was. I spammed ctrl-click on the boat like my life depended on it and followed up the scrambler with the Wolf's guns. The fat, immobile freighter sat there like a beached whale while me and the crew tore into it with everything available.

"Don't stop firing. We're gonna take him to half structure and then ransom"


(actual screenshot)


The ship crashed into structure and from there it was a steady decline to 50% hull. I hurridly tuned in to our ransom channel to witness the dialogue. The freighter pilot is suprisingly calm and co-operative whilst being given the terms and conditions. Our FC asks firmly but politely for the goods: Five hundred million isk. Again there was silence, but only briefly.

"Points off! He's paid!"

"Anyone with a web, help him out"

The freighter pilot wastes no time getting into a warp to a nearby gate. There was much cheering and laughing and exchanges of congratulations followed by a rather sizable isk deposit in my account. The money was obviously nice but it for me personally, it was merely an added bonus to the satisfaction of seeing a plan come together and being part of a celebratory moment with my new corp.

Perhaps one of the greatest outcomes of the event was that the freighter pilot left pleasantly suprised with having his ransom honored and thus gained our trust and respect. We were congratulated on our victory and were even extended the offer of future business relations by the grateful pilot. Hats off to the ransomed pilot for being a good sport and a special "nice one mate" for Bagpuss who orchestrated almost all of the planning and leading.

-Mr Kha

Fleet Commander

It's even harder than I thought, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy giving it a go. I've been going on fleet roams almost since day 1 of EVE but last week I found myself in the position of emergency FC trying to lead an 8-man fleet through our stomping grounds.

Having taken over from the previous FC (big shout out to Otto Jarvis, renouned target-magnet and master of all things E-War), I found myself immediately overwhelmed with tasks. Where are all of our scouts? Where is the rest of our fleet? How do I get that window thingy to come up where I can see who is flying what? Why are 4 people relaying information to me at once? Who is "me" and where is "here"? Gahhh!




The goal was to get our merry crew home safely while looking for potential customers. I decided that the rest of the roam would be doomed to an epic fail of disorganised confusion unless I started slowly from the ground up. I'd have to keep things simple as not to puzzle myself and to keep a hold on things. Once the fleet was fully assembled in a safe spot I sent out a pair of scouts to stay ahead of us and report their findings. The rest of fleet was with me.

Our scouts had begun relaying information on the next system over comms. I drew upon my experience of previous roams to aid my duty...

"Fleet warp to the gate, jump on contact and hold cloak"

Was that right? I'm sure that's what I'm supposed to say. After a while one of our scouts reported a flashyred Cynabal hovering on the gate on the otherside of our system. All I knew was that cynabals were expensive, looked cool and put out silly DPS. Our Blackbird pilot was confident he could jam him up while we pecked away at him in our frigates. We wouldn't incur a GCC and if things went badly we could just GTFO. At this point in the night we'd had no action and the general consensus was that we would give it a shot.

The gate read clear on D-scan and thus I signaled the fleet to warp. We landed on the gate and began orbiting it, waiting for the word from our man on the other side. Suddenly the overview is an endless list of expensive-sounding space boats. Panic stations!

"Everybody jump now!"

Literally as I gave the order, our scout on the other side checks in on comms.

"Erm you guys..."

He didn't have time to explain what had happened. There was an even larger camp on the otherside, the overview at this point being an endless list of doom and impending fail. You know things are bad when you are having to use the scroll-down button. Zealot, Myrmidon, Hurricane, Hurricane, Drake, Drake, Drake, Thorax, Harbinger and our good friend Mr. Bait Cynabal. We Were were trapped in what I like to call a "Gate Sandwich".

"Everybody warp to something you are best aligned to. Every man for himself!"
(rofl every man for himself, what a great leader I am)

There is silence over comms as each pilot prays to get into warp. The frigates managed to escape but our faithful and heroic Blackbird pilot (shout out to Caps!) just did not have the agility or the acceleration of the prodominantly rifter-piloted fleet. He was toast. Either we were the victims of some very bad timing or more-likely, we had been the victims of a very well executed trap. With our prized E-War boat blown to smitherenes, we decided to burn for home but for one reason or another the stars had aligned and we were treated to another gate-related fiasco on the way. We jumped into one of the remaining systems en route home and were duly greeted with another overview-rape-fest.

"Don't panic, everybody remain calm!"

I hurridly scanned the overview looking for anything that might have a fast lock time. Oh dear I thought to myself, theres a few ships here I've never even heard of before. Burn back to the gate? I didn't fancy the chances in our paper-thin fleet of T1 frigates and I wasn't about to dock up and log off in a rifter. We've got to warp and we've gotta do it fast and in unison. I fleet warp us to a safe and cross my fingers.

"Is anyone getting locked?"

There was no reply. Inundated with an overview full of flashy red pirates, the gatecampers failed to get a lock on our nifty little frigates and we had successfully made it through the camp with no casualties. Phew! From here on the path home was relatively safe. We docked up in our home system and called it a night. Despite not blowing up any spaceships, we'd only lost one pilot and I managed to get some valuable experience in the field of Fleet Command. I have been nominated as emergency FC again since the events of this post but unfortuneately it didn't go as smoothly, being victims of some serious bait (no officer I swear I do NOT have a cloaked Falcon sitting 10km from me).

Conclusion? FC'ing is just like anything else in EVE and requires practice. It is certainly very knowledge-based in the sense that you need the knowledge and experience from which to base your decisions; common sense will only get you so far. At it's core, fleet commanding relies on the ability to multi-task, make decisions and maintain good communication with the rest of the fleet. Will I be trying it again? Definately.

-Mr Kha

Updated: Pirate School

The 'Pirate School' section of the blog has been improved with pretty videos and pictures and a welcoming introduction by Mr Tim Curry! Additional information and links have been added including overview settings and some other stuff to help expand it.

The page is also an on-going project and I will hopefully be sharing some of my own advice for brand new pirates as part of the tutorial pack. I will be posting news of future updates in the blog section also.

-Mr Kha

Announcement

On behalf of our CEO I would like to announce that recruitment for TBRA is now officially CLOSED

Recruitment for TBR and TWR is currently still OPEN

I like to imagine theres a legion of wannabe pirates out there reading my blog but this is probably about as accurate as a drunken stream of piss. Nonetheless in the interests of Guristas Asociates Personnel Department it is my duty to make this known.

-Mr Kha