RL-1 Blog-0

Some sad news...

I've started my 3rd and final year of university and will therefore be putting the blog on hold for now. I have a dissertation to write which is going to make me rather unenthusiastic about any voluntary writing elsewhere.

I am pressing the pause button on this blog and will hope to be back sometimes in the future. There may even be the occaissonal short post, but regular posting is unfortunately probably not going to happen.

Thanks to all who have enjoyed reading.

o7

-Mr Kha

Feature pt. 2

WARNING: THE NEXT FEW POSTS CONTAIN AN EMBARASSING AMMOUNT OF PROPAGANDA AND SNOBBERY. I AM CLEARLY USING THIS BLOG AS A VEHICLE TO SHAMELESSLY VOICE MY OWN OPINIONS IN NO SUBTLE MANNER.



So a brief reminder of the matter at hand: "What does Piracy mean to you?" Last post I talked a bit about the importance of Comradery (yes it's a word, look it up). Not entirely unique to Piracy but you can bet your life it's to be found in abundance compared to other proffessions in the game. This time round I want to delve a little more into the gameplay side of things...



2. PROFIT





Now let's get something straight from the get-go. Low-sec Piracy is hardly a stable or effective means of income. Ninja-ganking faction fit mission runners in high-sec or corp theft is where you want to be if you want to make good money whilst being naughty. This does not mean however that trying to make a profit where possible, is not an important aspect of the Pirate life as it's one of the things that seperates what we do from general PVP. Here are some extremely vague and obvious points on the subject:


+ Loot more, work less. I resent mission running, loath trade and wouldn't go near a mining laser if it put on a miniskirt. Scraping a few modules and ransoms here and there minimizes time spent doing the above.

+ Money saved is money earned. If you fly ships that you can afford to lose and try not to get blown up as best you can, then ISK is going to be less of an issue for you without having to spend extra effort elsewhere.

+ Adding insult to injury makes you feel fuzzy inside. Blowing somebody up and then extorting them for cash and stealing their possessions causes them extra inconvenience, which in turn makes you the coolest kid in school.

+ Recycling is good for the environment. Everybody knows that most of the time, Pirates are usually fighting other Pirates (or in our case, FW infestations). Ships fit for PVP will drop stuff that might not be worth a ton of cash but will probably be useful to either or you a corpmate.


That pretty much sums it up for me. I'm a rather lazy individual so now that I have successfully pointed out the obvious from a highly subjective angle, I'm going to bring this post to a close. Going back into my final year of University in a few days so will probably have even less time for writing this indulgent bollocks. Gf gf.

-Mr Kha

Noobships vs Vexor (video included)

I didn't want to interupt my "feature series" of posts but something the other day happened that was too good to pass up. First some background on the evenings events...

I had spent most of the day roaming with our friends The Python Cartel and we had a lot of fun and killed rather a lot of Hurricane class Battlecruiser boats, amongst other things. One of the pilots flying with us was a less experienced RL friend of one of their guys. Turns out he was awaiting approval for his application into Python and as I was about to leave their comms channel, he asks me if I could get him into FLA5HY RED temporarily, so he wouldn't get ganked by both corps when not fleeted with us. I told him that recruitment was firmly closed, I mean we certainly wouldn't be taking anyone in to be used as some kind of sanctuary from pirates. He makes his dissapointment known and my parting words with him are "see you on the battlefield". I had no idea how soon that was to be, nor how much fun...

After the roam Python go back to their station and we go back to ours, when we discover that the aforementioned pilot is also with us. We decide to mess with him a little bit, camping him in and entertaining some rather funny threats regarding carriers. We soon get tired of station games and we all go off and do various afk activities. Some 20 minutes later however, one of our high-sec scouts urgently reports that he is in a Rokh approaching the gate to our system. I immediately undock in my Hurricane, to discover it was my nanofit one and not my trusty gate cane. I warp to the gate and burn towards the Rokh...

"POINT!"

The sentrys begin raping my shield buffer and the Rokh has chosen to engage whislt burning away from the gate. A few moments later, a corpie lands in an Abaddon and takes over point while I GTFO with low shields. I warp back in to see the Battleship explode, leaving the pilot apparantly rather upset. We give our customary "gf" in local but are met with some amount of hostility, which is being observed by his prospective employers over in Python. "He seemed an alright guy earlier" I thought, "whats with the sudden emo raging?" He opens a convo with me and seems a little more calm and apologetic...

Dragon Rider1 > haha i had a lil emo rage
Mr Kha > we'll let you off
Dragon Rider1 > now soon to be or not corp thinks im actin like an idiot
Dragon Rider1 > let me off?
Mr Kha > for having an emo rage
Mr Kha > no hard feelings
Dragon Rider1 > its fine i take critisism well
Dragon Rider1 > and once im not a nub anymore ill be back with another rokh yall wont fare soo well on

While this was going on however, it seemed Python had rejected his application on their forums for getting all verbal with us. He is back in high sec at this point and yet again our scout yells as he approaches our gate once again in a Blackbird. Again, he jumps and we pop him. This time he exchanges the "gf" with us, presumably in attempt to redeem himself in the eyes of the overlooking Python guys.

But it gets better, we challenge him to a fair fight: us in our noob ships vs him. He accepts and there is much excitement and comedic discussion of noobship fits and fleet bonuses. Hturt of Python Cartel wants in on the action so we throw him an invite and agree to meet him at Planet 10. I fielded a trusty Reaper with the following fit:


1x Micro Auxiliary Power Core
1x Catalyzed Cold-Gas Arcject Thrusters
2x Tech II 125m Autocannons


We land and immediately begin popping the Vexor's Warrior II drones while a few of our guys are putting dps on the Vexor. I am having a great time at this point, whizzing round with a cap-stable MWD fit noobship popping drones, pretending I'm a heroic interceptor pilot like a little kid. It soon becomes apparant the Vexor has no alternative means of offense and his tank is dropping fast. Attention is duely taken away from the drones and put on the Vexor which much to our delight explodes, causing a mass of hysteria over comms. Seconds beforehand, he successfully manages to take me down with a dying breath. Here is the video, from the perspective of fellow FLA5H pilot, Death Fangs...



Gf sir :-)

-Mr Kha

Feature pt. 1

WARNING: THE NEXT FEW POSTS CONTAIN AN EMBARASSING AMMOUNT OF PROPAGANDA AND SNOBBERY. I AM CLEARLY USING THIS BLOG AS A VEHICLE TO SHAMELESSLY VOICE MY OWN OPINIONS IN NO SUBTLE MANNER.

Ok so up until now pretty much every single post has been about me me me. "But Mr. Kha" I hear you say, "wouldn't it be nice if you did a feature post on something other than what you and your corp did the past week?" Well although the corp has been having a lot of fun the past few days and getting into some great fights, I thought it was time to do the very first "feature series" on my blog. The title of the feature is:

"What does Piracy mean to you?"

And by that, I do not mean some academic analysis of what is technically Piracy and what technically isn't with reference to game mechanics. Here is the first chapter in a short series on what Piracy means to me...

1. COMRADERY







Undisputedly THE most important aspect of any kind of teamwork -oriented game. Forget Dave and his uber skills, or John and his killboard stats, quality people are what make it possible to enjoy multiplayer games without making you want to castrate yourself with a blunt, inadequate object. I would rather be in a fleet of fun-loving, interesting and amicable pilots than a bunch of sterile, bitchy, elitist power-tripping RL idiots who happen to be ruthlessly efficient with internet spaceships. I have witnessed an entire Alliance almost completely disband, owed in large to the arrival of a person with about as much charisma as a dead cat. Personality fail. Incase you hadn't noticed, I am pretty adamant about this issue. Fortunately for us, FLA5HY RED has not yet been poisoned by antisocial elitist nonense and I believe that with the current leadership ethos, it will stay that way.

Personality > Skill
Quality > Quantity
Personality + Skill = Win

It is important to state now that player skill is important to any fleet and I am in no way trying to bash experienced PVPers at all. Who doesn't want to be part of an effective fighting force? By now the "point" of my childish little rant should be perfectly obvious. The pilots I fly with are trustworthy, reliable, intelligent, enthusiastic, good-humored and eager to learn and improve. Anything beyond this should be considered a welcome bonus.

"You can make a good pilot out of a good person but you can't make a good person out of a good pilot"

- Mr Kha 2010

So this concludes the first in a short series of posts that seek to define what is most important in enjoying internet spaceship antics. If my blog was a gig, I'd be performing to the bar staff and a couple of stray dogs, but if you happen to be reading this, then I wanna hear what YOU think. What does Piracy mean to YOU? Be as obnoxious and offensive as you like, I wanna hear it.

And finally before I go and do something more productive, a big shout out to Casey (a.k.a Brielle15) possibly our biggest fan and proud recruit of FLA5HY RED :) good to have you aboard o7


-Mr Kha

"plz i beg u"

Another day, another roam...

Once again we teamed up with our friends and neighbours The Python Cartel and headed out into the stomping grounds. We head to one of the busier systems where we dispense of a suspicious Drake which was either a fail-tarp or he was genuinely alone in top belt at 0m with no backup (rofl). We warp off to our safe spots and then hilarity shortly ensued.

There is a 2 month-old player ASKING to join a fleet in local. This must be some sort of new, elaborate plan. Bearing in mind we are in a low-sec system notorious for gang PVP this seemed utterly absurd. Naturally, we jumped on the oppurtunity and within seconds his name pops up in the fleet window. Everyone in fleet immediately warps to him, ready to dish out some good old-fashioned violence.

He's at a station. Drats. No fireworks just yet, that is until our FC warps fleet to one of the empty belts in system. He thinks we're off on an adventure but we are already laughing hysterically on comms at what is inevitably about to happen. We land and he is immediately locked, pointed and webbed by the entire fleet. Moments later, he is subjected to a world of violence as the guns, launchers, drones and neuts are engaged. Here is the convo rofl...


[22:05:09] Mr NITREX > can i join a fleet?
[22:07:55] Mr NITREX > hey
[22:07:57] Mr NITREX > people
[22:07:59] Mr NITREX > stop
[22:08:11] Crimson Violet > yarrr
[22:08:13] Mr NITREX > plz
[22:08:19] Mr NITREX > i beg u <-----ROFL
[22:08:22] Mr NITREX > dont kill me
[22:08:22] Death Fangs > never accept fleet invite
[22:08:33] Mr NITREX > plz let me go


Unfortunately for him, any sense of remorse was totally eclipsed by the sheer joy of watching him die helplessly in a horrible fire. What is even more hilarious / disturbing is that this turned out to be the first of three, YES THREE successful fleet-invite kills, one of which happened later the same day and one the following.

Harsh? Absolutely. We of course are delighted that there are those actually still interested in low-sec space, but a swift and effective lesson in Piracy is never far away for the overconfident or careless pilot.

-Mr Kha

FLA5HY RED

Formed by those of us who chose to break away from The Black Rabbits, [FLA5H] is a tight-knit group of old-school pirates who keep things simple and don't have time for politics or drama. An efficient and democratic leadership has been established and we have already begun making ourselves known in our new home.





Last night we headed out to the stomping grounds. For me it was new and unknown territory and for some of our senior members it was a welcome return to the place they had never stopped calling "home". We headed out and after some blob-dodging and sniffing about we found ourselves a very cool fight. We had a nice well-balanced fleet ranging from Assault Frigates up to Battlecruisers and our scout had found a Hurricane in a nearby belt. The rest of the fleet was holed up in a safe and poised for a warp-in when the magic word was called.

"Point!"

The Hurricane is doomed as the fleet begin tearing into him with guns and missiles when all of a sudden a Vagabond and a Zealot land simultaneously on top of us. My knowledge of ships is still a little shakey in places, especially with the more expensive non-Minmatar ships and I had confused the Zealot as the Amarr Tech 3 Cruiser. It began locking my little Wolf and expecting more ships to arrive at any moment I took the oppurtunity to bug out.

This was very thankfully followed by "I got 'em both jammed" and there appeared to be no sign of any other ships so I immediately warped back into the fray. I landed to see the pretty fireworks of the Hurricane and I immediately started burning toward the Vagabond. As im locking him, I hit the guns and scram to ensure he doesn't escape. The Zealot at this point had been chased virtually off-grid and had left his fellow HAC pilot to die, neither of which had been able to throw more than a couple of volleys. Just to ensure maximum financial damage, we popped the T2 wreck after looting it and we headed back to our safe spot.

On the way home we found something a little special and decided to bookmark it for later, but for now we felt we were on the road to making our presence known in the local area. I would like to give a big shout out to our friendly neighbours The Python Cartel and hope they continue to shoot us in the face whilst extending their friendship.

-Mr Kha

Saying Goodbye...

I have left The Black Rabbits Academy.

Over the last few days, the majority of TGA has trickled out of Auner in freighters and shuttles owed to dissatisfaction with certain aspects of the alliance. There were certainly a few catalysts involved but for me personally, the guys I fly with and talk to everyday ARE the alliance and when I discovered that almost every single one of them was making a move, it made no sense to be left behind with unfamiliar faces.

There is going to be no finger-pointing or negativity in this post, instead I decided I would give closure to my departure with a summary of the fond memories that I have brought with me into our new venture. My time in the Academy was incredibly fun and crucial to shaping me into a more useful pilot and I have no doubt that it will restabilize and continue to be a great place to learn the trade.



So here, in no particular order are some of my best moments :)




Fond Memory #1: First Gate Camp


On paper this was a total disaster but piracy isn't always about winning. Battlecruiser III had just recently completed and I threw together a functional Hurricane for the sole purpose of joining in group camps. My friends were kind enough to partake in this momentous occaison and we set up a small camp in our home system. To cut it short, we didn't have a proper set of eyes on the other side and we got jumped by the Russians. All future camps were much more successful but I'll remember this one.



Fond Memory #2: First Day in Auner


I had finally arrived. There were some unfamiliar voices on teamspeak partaking in a gate camp but a lowly frigate pilot was not ready for such things. I flew around getting a feel for my new home and setting up various safe spots. The system was quiet but I'd managed to scan down a Breacher ratting in one of our belts. After a little game of cat and mouse I had him pointed. This was probably the most exciting solo fight I had. He decided to fight back but he was melting fast and I was able to repair the bulk of incoming damage. I'd only been here an hour and I'd just bagged a nice victory. "This is going to be good times" I said to myself.



Fond Memory #3: Freighter Ransom


Initiative, planning, patience and teamwork at its finest. We had a guy scouting his Providence in and out of our system with his alt but he was being extremely cautious. Bagpuss had his probes out looking for a Thrasher but turned his attention to the freighter and managed to score a 100% hit on it sitting in an insta-undock. We holed up in the station like hungry wolves and sent out some hi-sec scouts to track his movements. After nearly two hours he returned and the trap was set. He was caught and ransomed for a respectable 500m and let free, much to his joy. This was one of those "EVE moments" that everybody was thrilled to be a part of.





I would like to thank those I met in TGA for being instrumental in my enjoyment of the game and for those of us who haved moved on I wish the best of luck in our exciting new venture.