Archive for the 'General' Category

25
Sep
09

Quickie update

Ok so I’ve been lazy and haven’t updated my blog in a couple of weeks – there’s news to post and stories to tell. Well not so much lazy, but preoccupied with real life at the moment. Work comes with spikes and dips – this being a spike at the moment.

Some things for you to look forward to on the next update….

- Hunting a faction fit Mael
- Me leading a roam as FC (and everyone surviving)
- The tarp drake

Most importantly while I remember

THE BASTARDS ARE RECRUITING

If you are a solo pirate, aspiring pirate or someone who fancies getting into piracy with a good corp and good bunch of people you should consider dropping in an application. You can find the recruitment post below – or just convo one of us.

Useful links – all of which are available via the main EVE-O forum link;

http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=788358

http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1899

http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3683

24
Aug
09

Gatecamps, practice and patience

It’s not all yarr, looting and drinking – although most of the time it is, but not always.  Like today for example, nothing but… well nothing and gatecamps although it did give me a chance to practice the latest set of skills streamed into my mind.  Although skillbooks provided an almost instant access to learning and certainly a lot quicker than the old fashioned pen and paper it still required some time to study, and to practice.

With that, I set about it.  I decided to roam a few systems and see if could find anyone to ransom or attack.  The small and frigate but extreamly high tech frigate slipped out of the docking bay and into the dark beyond, almost instantly dropping into warp and vanished.  “We’re clear of the station Ma’am” came the report, and with that I aligned the ship to our first destination since there wasn’t much going on in our current system.

The ship quietly and stealthily aligned to the gate and we were in warp once again.  Landing on the gate, I activated it and we were soon billions of miles from our original location in a new system.  The ident computers syncronished with the gate control and tactical systems were updated.  We headed to a safe spot ready to start the fun.  I had the skills, I practiced them in my mind.  I’d seen the tutorials and studied them but nothing was good as the real thing.  Finding something of interest on the direction scanner, I launched the probes and then swiftly re-cloaked, lest the hunter become the hunted.

Having got a few hits I quickly narrowed it down and was suddenly startled by one of my fellow corp mates on the comms “Is that your maelstrom on scan?” cut the voice through the silence.  I was so busy concentrating it caught me totally by surprise.  “No, but I’m trying to scan it down now”.  I’d quickly got the location, and was quickly narrowing it down – but not quick enough because the next scan releaved nothing, and local was missing a person.

Had I spooked him?  Had he finished?  I guess I’ll never know.  The probes were still 8au away, so unless he was scanning frequently on his directional and at a great distance I highly doubt he’d have seen them.  Shame, I was looking forward to a decent ransom.  I packed up and decided to keep wandering to see what else I could find, if indeed anything at all.  Jumping through into the next system I was confronted with a half filled over-view of red!

“Crap!” I cursed.  “How the hell did we not spot this earlier?” I demanded.  “Um, I’m not exactly sure Ma’am, they could have been moving around, recently arrived or it might not be a camp”.  Whilst maps and statistical data did give you a forewarning, they weren’t totally accurate and unless you were jumping with a scout then you’re pretty much jumping blind into the unknown.

In the first few seconds I visually scanned the overview and found nothing that could cause a problem, at least not too much of one.  It was mostly large, cumbersome ships and they’d have trouble getting hold of us.  As the seconds ticked by I was aware that the visual distortions that were keeping our ship hidden from view and from sensors were fading rapidly – it was a side effect of jumping through the gate.  Until such times as various particles had dissapated, your ship was essentially hidden from view or until your ship moved and collapsed the field.

Aligning to our destination gate we broke the “cloaking” field and were visible – for a split second.  For as soon as we were I initated our cloak.  The frigate shimmered and vanished into nothingness once more.  It took a couple more seconds until we were away, during which time I kept a close eye on the proximity of the hostiles but they were too far away to de-cloak us.

I ran into a couple more gatecamps that evening, again employing the same tactics it wasn’t any problem.  There were a lot of people out and about tonight, but not many on the upstanding side of the law.  Others, others like myself looking for their next victim.  Being outnumbered and in an unarmed ship meant the only viable option was stealth and subdifuge – which suited me just fine, being a fan of it.

We set course for home and ran into, surprise surpise another gate camp.  This time I was slightly more concerned due to the fact there was an interceptor present.  If the inty pilot was on his game, had seen the gate activate and had is overview properly filtered he could pretty much instalock us, although it would be a close call.  Failing that an interceptor can close the gap down in seconds and possibly de-cloak a ship about to enter warp before it does.  This time, we made good our escape.

I reported the camp to other friendlies who might be interested, although it seemed I bought part of my fan club with me and some had followed home.  They didn’t stay too long though :p

All in all I’m quite happy with the newest feather added to my cap.  It’s taken a bit of time, and a lot of patience but I’m confident that I can do it and do it well.  It also brings another valuable role and an invaluable tool to the piracy arsenal.  On to the next…..

12
Aug
09

Alia, you bastard!

I was browsing the market when the call came in, although I couldn’t really be bothered to speak to anyone at the moment. Whoever they were though, they were persistent and didn’t give up easily. Eventually the blinking “incoming message” light and annoying alert got the better of me and I accepted.

Not recognising the person on screen, I abruptly answered with just a “Yes?”. The originator wasn’t put off and seemed in a chirpy, happy mood. I scowled slightly. “Good morning Ma’am” she greeted “I came across your details in my file and….”. I cut her off mid sentence and interjected “Whatever it is you’re selling, I’m not buying” and went to hit the disconnect button. “Oh no! Wait!” she exclaimed “I’m calling from Fl…”. I interjected again “Listen, I don’t know who gave you my details or what you want but I’m really not in the mood and frankly I don’t have the time.”

Reaching across for the disconnect again she bellowed “Flash sent me!”. My hand stopped in mid air and I slowly looked her over with a smile spreading across my face “Well, why didn’t you say so” I said in a much better mood.

“I did try Ma’am, but you were rather….” again before she could finish her sentence I completed it for her “Grumpy!? Yes, I always am in the mornings, sorry”. She continued her conversation, which was actually rather one sided since I couldn’t get a word in sideways after that. She was Flash’s “secretary” and I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself knowing what that mischievous pilot was like. The long and short of it was that he wanted to see me, and figured the best place might be in the Independence bar – which suited me just fine.

At the designated time I walked through the double sliding doors. The air hung thick with cigar smoke, people huddled around tables playing cards, drinking and muttering to each other in the dimly lit atmosphere. It made a perfect place for discussions and planning. “Oh hi there Alia” said the bartender who knew me pretty well after all this time. I just smiled and winked at him “He’s out back, is he?” I asked. “Yeah”. I made for the back of the bar behind a semi partitioned area. This was the private area where none of the riff-raff were allowed, a personal space. It still had the same dim lighting and was filled with smoke.

I was about to step through when two burly Brutors blocked my path. “Can I help you two esteemed gentlemen?” I said in a sarcastic tone. “You’re not going in there” one of them grunted. “He is expecting me you know” I protested. They looked at each other and snickered slightly, which only served to infuriate me. I didn’t want to cause any trouble in Flash’s haven, and it was strictly forbidden by the bar rules and etiquette “Don’t you know who I am?” I raged. “We don’t care if you’re Tiberius Heth, you’re still not going in there with that”.

“With what?” I exclaimed! One of them extended his arm and pointed to my pistol, which was strapped to my thigh in a holster and grunted “That!”. I looked down at it, and then back at them “You don’t seriously think I’m going to…” but before I could finish he said “It’s the rules, no exceptions”.

“Very well” I sighed. I reached down towards the pistol and unclipped the holding strap keeping it in place securely, the popper opened with a slight “pop”. They were alert and ready for any trouble, you could see the change in their stance but I wasn’t here for trouble. After un-clipping the popper I raised my right hand into the air, making it very difficult for me to get hold of it again and stood still. One of them stepped forward and reached to the holster and removed the pistol.

“Careful with that!” I snapped. “It’s an antique”. After taking it from me they looked at it and snickered again. “You two boneheads don’t even know why I carry it, do you?”. Suddenly the smiles were wiped from their faces and they shook their heads. “Well, did you hear any alarms, sensors or alerts go off? No, no you didn’t”. The reason I carried this antiquated weapon was simple – because it was very hard to detect unless you were visually looking for it. It didn’t have an energy pack, a hybrid charge or any advanced form of projectiles. It was plain, simple and still did the job using old fashioned gun power and cordite – which no one bothered to scan for these days since it was so outdated. I shoved through the pair of them exclaiming “I’ll be back for that later”.

He was sat in the back corner, laid back against a chair with his feet on another. Occasionally putting down one data pad and picking up another, taking a puff on his cigar or a swig from his drink. Waiting I wondered if he’d notice me since he seemed pretty engrossed after a while he did “Hey there, thanks for coming” he said as he rose to his feet and pulled out a chair for me. “Thanks for inviting me” I replied as I looked up at the tall well build Brutor who towered above me. Shaking my hand enthusiastically he beckoned for me to sit down on the chair he provided, which I did and he also took a seat.

“Drink?” he asked. “Usually excessively, but I’ll just have a coffee today thanks”. He pressed a button on the table and spoke “Coffee please”.

“Well then” he said looking me over “You wanted in?”

I nodded but didn’t speak, just an “mmmm hmmm” escaped my mouth.

We’d known each other for a couple of years maybe, along with a few other people here and there. I’d flown with him countless times, and many of his crew. Even so, no favours or special treatment would be granted – and none were expected either. There was a rigorous trial period where you were evaluated, and after which were either accepted, declined or extended.

“Well” continued the Brutor with his shades still rested atop of his head “I’ve discussed it with others, the directors and so on” I nodded, listening intently and focused on each word. “I’m sorry to say….”

My face must have fallen and he obviously saw that and a loud bellowing laugh echoed around “… that we’ve decided to accept you!”. I shrieked with delight “Really?”. “Really” he said firmly.

Standing up, he extended his hand to me. I took it and he gave me a vigorous handshake, which was actually rather tight but I didn’t flinch or look uncomfortable. “Congratulations” he said, also giving me a hearty slap on the back nearly knocking me over. Jesus, did these Brutors not realise how strong they actually were? Probably not.

“There’s one last” he cleared his throat “thing we need to attend to”. Handing me one of the data pads that had been on the table and said “You’ll need to review these company terms and conditions, and sign it”.

I nodded once again and started reading. Slowly taking a seat and taking a sip of my coffee which had just arrived I continued reading the terms and loyalty pledge. Once finished I looked back up at him, he was sat there waiting with a large grin “Think you can work with that?” he said. I nodded in affirmation “Sure, not a problem at all” I replied signing my name at the same time and handing the pad back.

“Great, well welcome aboard once again. I’ve got a few things I need to attend to now, but finish your coffee by all means” and with that he headed out. Stopped on the way by his two bouncers who had obviously started to question him about my pistol, seems they were actually confused about how to unload it. I watched with interest as he took the pistol, flicked the safety on, ejected the magazine, and pulled back the barrel unloading the round in the chamber. I smiled, and the bouncers nodded in understanding – obviously this wasn’t exactly modern technology.

He called back “Oh yeah, I’ll see you at the next op” and strolled out of the bar. I finished my coffee and walked out, standing by the bouncers I just held my hand out for them to return the pistol which was delicately returned a few seconds later. “Thank you boys” I said as I strolled out of the bar.

With that, I was a fully fledged member of The Bastards and loving every minute of it.

The Bastards

The Bastards

07
Apr
09

OOC: Headaches, Hard-disks and Holidays

As the title suggests that’s mainly what’s been going on lately. My hard drive died taking everything on it with it to the big computer graveyard in the sky (thanks Western Digital) so rather than crying over spilt milk – time to get a new one.

I decide on a nice shiny SSD figuring if it’s good enough for CCP then it’s good enough for me. It should also help the grid load a lot faster on warp in (that should have been a clue my disk was dying).

I order it and hope it arrives before my scheduled 3 day break in Barcelona. Does it? Does it hell! When I return home I find I do indeed have a package waiting. Yay! Time to unwrap, install and get on EVE again. Opening the package I find not what I expect (a hard drive) but instead a hardware raid card (wtf!?!). Back it goes, and finally, today I get what I’m looking for :D

That covers the holiday and hard-disk. The headache you ask? Well partly from the hard disk saga, and partly from drinking too much on holiday :p

See you real soon.

19
Mar
09

A pirate, for pirates, by pirates

This will be a brief post as my time is currently short, but I feel compelled to post it.

At present most of the CSM delegate is made up of hi sec empire dwellers, traders, mission runners and so on – with a few exceptions.  There is virtually NO REPRESENTATION for low sec, or pirates – at all!

There have been various threads flying around with some potentional candidates, although none of them particularlly strong.  That is until yesterday, when Larkonis Tassler entered the fray!  He’s the CEO of Neo Spartans (if you didn’t know), he’s a pirate (if you didn’t know) and I believe he would be a great representative for the pirate community, and C&P in general.

I’m sure he’ll have the support of many pirate corps (and also some anti-pies who recognise there is a need for us) and the C&P community in general.

You can see his official thread and manifesto blogs using the links below.

Happy voting (when the time comes)

http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1027388

http://larkonisforcsm.com/blog/

17
Mar
09

OOC: Slightly quiet…

Yes it’s been 7 days since my last post :(  I think it’s also been about 6 or 7 days since I was last online (Why do I feel like I should be in a confession booth? Where’s an Amarr when you need one?), aside for a few minutes of skill changes and convo’s whilst I was supposed to be working.

We have a large product launch at work, so it’s been “all hands to the pumps” – a similar feeling when you’re desperatley trying to rep your ship and maintain your tank whilst under heavy fire.  That said, it launches tonight, so it’s do or die time.  

All being well it’ll be a “do” and it can be put to bed, although it does mean yours truly will be up half the night making sure everything is ok.  No change there, being on call 24/7 kinda sucks – although it does mean I get to play EVE at interesting times of the night when it’s quiet.

Hopefully I’ll be online again in the next day or two.  If you’re after the latest piratey (that should be a word btw) action then remember to check out Flash’s, Kane’s, Mynxee’s or Venom’s blog which I have linked (oh and o/ to the aforementioned).

10
Mar
09

Patch-day domain

It’s that wonderful time of year (well maybe twice yearly) when the devs start bashing the servers with hammers and large wooden mallets.  Hopefully it’ll all go to plan and we should be ready to roll by this evening once more.

So what to do on patch day?  I’m supposed to be working but find myself slightly distracted.  Instead I decided to register a domain and point it at the blog.  AliaXi.com was already gone, taken by some advertising spam registering domain hogging <expletive expletive> so I had to settle for CaldariPiratess.com – which is better than a poke in the eye with a stick.

Keeping an eye on the news, forums and so on until I can get an EVE fix again.  In the meantime I have a yarr related post to work on regarding last nights shinnanigans.  Watch this space….

03
Mar
09

Last chance…

If you enjoy the EVE fansites, blogs and other community sites it’s your last chance to vote today! The closing date for all nominee’s is tomorrow, 4th March.

If you haven’t already done so take a look at the nomination page which can be found here: http://www.eveonline.com/eonawards/

This shows all catagories and nominee’s within those catagories. Yours truely can be found as a nominee for “Writer of the Year” here http://www.eveonline.com/eonawards/default.asp?viewcat=29  and you’ll also find a well known and fellow pirate FlashFresh there too.  You’ll find his blog here (check it out) http://i-pirate.blogspot.com

You will have also probably heard of Mynxee, CEO of Hellcats.  She has been Nominanted in the following catagory http://www.eveonline.com/eonawards/default.asp?viewcat=37 ”Most promising newcommer”. Her blog is available here: http://lifeinlowsec.blogspot.com/

There are loads of others, but I can’t possibly link them all – just a quick “shout out” to Flash and Mynxee there ;-)

There’s some great pilots in New Eden, great people and great fansites and re-counts that people have taken time to design, write and tell.  If you like their content, drop a vote for them – I’m sure it would be appreciated.  I’m not being a shameless vote whore for me personally, I’m being a shameless vote whore for the community in general :p

Whoever wins, it’s a win for EVE in general and I’m sure it will encourage people to continue with their ingame and out-of-game work.

(Edit: If you were looking for a recent piratey tale, just follow onto the next post – or use the “Piracy” catagory)

25
Feb
09

Busy doing nothing…. allegedly

So I’ve had the week off work – great I thought, time to cram in some serious EVE time. Ha! I should be so lucky, my feet haven’t touched the ground.

It’s been about 5 days since I last managed to grab some play time and I’m now suffering major withdrawl symptoms. Hopefully I should be around tonight, or at the very latest, tomorrow.

Apologies to my usual gang mates, I have missed your crazy ways and antics on the vent server.

Just so you know :p

12
Feb
09

Back to reality!

Ok so my last 2 of 4 posts have been of the fictional variety, although the do have a basis and a reason – which is character transition.  It also makes a nice change from re-telling actual in-world events and gives me a chance to stretch my creative side :)

There are a couple of posts related to in-world stuff.  I don’t usually go that heavily into fiction, but thought I’d give it a go.

Anyway, more posts to come with yarring and shooting in the not too distant future I’m sure. If the fiction posts prove popular, I’ll write some more on request or sometime when I get a few minutes.

Here’s a quick re-cap:

Fiction – http://caldaripiratess.wordpress.com/2009/02/03/alexiaxias/
Reailty – http://caldaripiratess.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/creating-hell-and-hanging-with-the-hellcats/
Reaility – http://caldaripiratess.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/back-again-and-back-again/
Fiction – http://caldaripiratess.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/dead-and-back-alia-dead-and-back/