11 December 2006

Quite The Weekend

Lots of fun stuff going on this weekend and well worth me writing a few words on several events including :-

  • ASCN forgeting to refuel a POS in C9N and giving us a foot in the door in the process
  • The take down (largely through deception and infiltration) of 0OYZ-G station
  • CYVOK's rather amusing recruitment post
  • Band of Brothers win our third consecutive Alliance PvP Tournament
I'll start with the C9N POS comedy and a bit of background. Last weekend we steamed into AZN in the heart of Feythabolis with the fleet and deposited a large POS tower to stage out of. The objective being to tweak ASCN's collective nose and see what sort of a fight they'd put up for what is arguably their capital system. So we've been loitering around Feythabolis beating the snot out of ASCN for about a week now, long enough for our tower to start claiming soveriegnty. ASCN have tried to attack and kill the POS a couple of times. They managed to reinforce the POS once losing two dreadnaughts in the process and then failed to reinforce it a second time losing five dreadnaughts in the process (and to be honest were very lucky that they didn't lose all ten dreads in the attacking fleet).

There's lots of armchair generals in ASCN and otherwise crowing about the fact that BoB is incapable of taking a station in Feythabolis through force and the fact that we've had a POS in AZN for a week but have not taken out any ASCN POS's is apparently evidence of this fact. When we start to assault Feythabolis properly ASCN and probably every other Tom Dick and Harry in Eve will know about it. We took our time about assaulting Paragon Soul but when we deemed the time was right it fell very quickly indeed. We're taking our time with Feythabolis as well and when we deem the time is right we'll assault it properly. It's not time yet, so keep waiting and speculating.

However, whether the time to launch an all out assault on AZN is right or not we are not going to look a gift horse in the mouth and pass up a good opportunity. So when one of our covert ops pilots, whilst having a nosey around in C9N on saturday morning, noticed there was a tower offline we weren't going to sit back and ignore it. C9N has only a limited number of moons and every one of them had an ASCN POS on it. Needless to say having even one BoB POS in system would make our assault on the system considerably easier when the time comes.

Early on saturday morning, well about 8:30-9:00am GMT which is pretty early on a saturday to me, all available BoB pilots in the area moved into C9N and started attacking the tower. Over the next couple of hours more and more BoB resources moved in to try take the tower out including some carriers, a mothership, the titan and eventually a couple of dreadnaughts. However, most of the firepower was coming from battleships, HACs etc. i.e. whatever fleet ships any of our guys had available.

ASCN's response was limited. Despite them having a fair number of people online and at least 20-30 active pilots in the area no serious attempt was made to resist us as we downed the POS and put up one of our own in it's place. We literally deployed the tower 1 minute and 16 seconds before downtime started, good timing!

As with all good comedy there has to be a punchline which our good friend Mr McCreedy supplied upon discovering that an ASCN corp had slipped up with refueling a POS and allowed BoB to get a foothold in AZN.

[EDF] John McCreedy
O.K. Allow me to be clear. I will cut your balls off with a rusty spoon if I find another POS is offline. Fuel your POS. You have been warned.
The irony of this little statement will not be lost on anyone reading this blog when we get on to the comedy in 0OYZ-G from Sunday morning.

Good to see that the Sha Khan guys have the same opinion of old Madeye's leadership style as we do when we read his posts, a couple of choice replies to that little declaration of John's are well worth quoting.

[Sha K] Jasmine Dupre

Thumbs down
Quote:
Originally Posted by [EDF] John McCreedy View Post
O.K. Allow me to be clear. I will cut your balls off with a rusty spoon if I find another POS is offline. Fuel your POS. You have been warned.

Real nice asshat

[Sha K] Iceyreloaded

I have no respect for that sort of leadership. NONE.

I kinda like the Sha Kharn guys, they were a fun bunch on BE's TS server during the extended downtime for Revelations deployment and don't seem to take too much shit from the nutjobs running their alliance.

As a backdrop to these fun and games the alliance tournament was going on all weekend but I'll get to that in a moment, firstly it's time to discuss Sunday morning's fun in 0OYZ-G.

Of course I'm not going to explain how we did it, a thousand paranoid minds in ASCN are currently trying to work that one out and good luck to them in their little investigation. As for what happened, well basically we'd prepped our guys for an early Sunday morning op and not told them what we were up to. On Sunday morning bright and early we swooped into 0OYZ-G with a fleet of 80 people including half a dozen carriers, a mothership, the titan and half a dozen dreads. Just as we arrived the last of the EDF POS's were offlined - drama!

0OYZ-G has only 6 moons in it. The station was owned by EDF and all the moons had a POS deployed also owned by EDF. We'd arranged for all the POS's to be offlined when we arrived so that we could destroy all the structures, empty the towers of fuel, get them unanchored and then picked up or destroyed before downtime so that the system would have no soveriegnty after downtime. As I said before I'm not explaining how we did it, needless to say a very cute piece of subterfuge in one shape or another had taken place to give us this opportunity.

We successfully locked down the system, offlined all of the towers before downtime and managed to take the station as soon as the servers came back up again. The rest of the day was spent setting up BoB towers on each of the moons. There'll be no soveriegnty in the system for five days so ASCN can play station ping pong with us but we've now got a POS on every moon starting to claim soveriegnty. In five days if ASCN can't knock our towers down we'll hold that system rather securely and have our first station in Feythabolis.

Some reaction from the enemy, firstly from a post by our favourite Madeye McCreedy on the EDF forums...

There's been a lot of disillusionment with ASCN in EDF over the last 4 weeks and there's been talk of our future in this Alliance. Well BoB, your "clever" plan just backfired and you've earnt the full brunt of EDF's wrath. Something you've not even begun to see. We will retake 0OYZ-G, we will retake Paragon Soul and we WILL kill every last fucking one of you motherless sheep shagging peices of skunk shit.
Congratulations. You just pissed EDF off. I hope you're prepared for the consequences.


This one is just gold. Especially when you link it to some of his posts on the ASCN forums, like the last couple of paragraphs of his official internal response about it...

5. We will retake 0OYZ-G. Because it's the home of EDF? Because BoB have a foothold in Feyth? Because from there they can strike at 7 station systems within a single Dread jump? Nope, because ASCN needs to hurt BoB once and for all. Because ASCN needs to kill these fuckers for not having the honour to bring it and take it in a fair fight. Because BoB are the lowest of the low and cannot face the FULL might of ASCN when we have our expereinced FCs running the fleets. They die each and every time they do. You all know this is not spin. They know this is not spin. The proof of this is on our killboards.

BoB are tards. If they could PvP as well as they can forum smack, we'd be fucked. We'd of lost this war by now. But they can't. They're nothing more than a bunch of quake kiddies who know no honour and who's underhandess proves without a shadow of a doubt that they know in their hearts that ASCN cannot be beat on the battlefield. Todays events have made me believe that more than any thus far.

They also pissed me off and you know what happens when I get pissed off.../me goes to get the rusty spoon...
So EDF were getting pissed off with ASCN and were considering their exit strategy but now he's going to froth and rant about it expecting the rest of ASCN to fight to get his station back! Drama! Excellent, we're glad you're staying EDF, we're even happier to tell the rest of ASCN that as they put their capital ships on the line to retake your station that you were considering leaving the alliance and that the only reason you're now staying is because we've got all your shit locked down in what is now a BoB station. Priceless I couldn't script this stuff better if I had the opportuntity.

Let's hope old Madeye sticks to his guns and the personal aim he so clearly outlined with the classic statement "They and I are in a game of chess that I intend to win". Just a quick note of advice regarding chess, it's your opponents peices you're supposed to be taking not your own. 0OYZ-G was 100% down to old Madeye and when the truth comes out he'll only have himself to blame.

So that was a hoot! Score 1 to The Darkness! Which nicely brings me on to comedy topic number three from the weekend... CYVOK's recruitment post and why BoB is now named after a rather crap rock band. Let's quote the knight in shining armour himself first.

Stand Between the Darkness and the Light

A darkness unseen since the days when the ancestors left the old world behind and journeyed through the gate at New Eden has fallen upon our galaxy once again. In the old world, left behind, our people were consumed by greed, controlled thru Corporate propaganda and driven to the brink of extinction through senseless violence. Our ancestors escaped through the New Eden gate to chase the dream of a new life, a free life, a greater life.

They Failed.

The second age of our great races grew into the same divided & violent factions we sought to escape, perhaps it is simply our nature to destroy creation. We now approach the precipice of yet another violent and fiery end to creation. The battle between good and evil rages here, in our own mists once again.

On one side, the mighty forces of the BoB Alliance and their dark slaves seek total domination over man and space. They do not fight to build an Empire or create a legacy for all the citizens of New Eden, they fight only to destroy and enslave. They are driven by ego, greed and evil.

The Ascendancy was born out of war and designed to follow a greater path. Our Dream, is a dream shared by all those in New Eden. The creation of an Empire, free from the ravages of greed and the importance of social rank. A dream to build an Empire where all Citizens are equal under the law, where all have a voice to be herd and all work for the greater good of their fellow citizen.

Since its inception the Ascendancy has faced many challenges and created many firsts in the history of New Eden. We were the first to build a market in deep 0.0 space that rivals those in the heart of Empire. The first to build a new Station in 0.0, the first to build a Titan Class vessel. Now, we are the first to draw a line in front of evil and say NO MORE.

We have built 14 New Stations in deep 0.0 space, built a robust and thriving market so our citizens do not need to return to empire for their goods, we have built 100’s of Capital Ships, a titan and tens of thousands of space vessels. Yet our dream is in danger.

The Great Evil pushes against our borders with all of its might. It calls in help from the forces of darkness that reside in every corner of space. For nearly 3 months The Ascendancy has held the line against the darkness, another first. No other organization has ever stood in the path and not crumbled in a matter of days.

As the forces of Evil continue to grow in size and numbers the Ascendancy now call upon the forces of light in New Eden to make a stand. Join us, Join the fight and reserve your place in history as a free citizen of New Eden, the alternative is to live as a slave to Evil, a worthless cog in their machine of destruction. You will have no freedom to build your own future, you will not control your own territory, you will not have your own stations, outposts or complexes. Your ships & souls will shield the Evil and all that you could have been will be lost in time, forgotten.

The Ascendancy is looking for fighters, builders, miners, haulers and free citizens to hold the line against the Evil that consumes New Eden.

Join us. Fight at our side and win your place in history. Be a part of another first in New Eden, the first to defeat the Evil and build the new frontier.


-CYVOK-
The Ascendant Frontier


Three (ironic) cheers for the forces of light! Hip hip hooray, hip hip hooray, hip hip hooray!

I was almost tempted to do a full disection of this post just to amuse myself but couldn't be bothered in the end. Three amusing points come out of it from my perspective and I'll mention them briefly before sharing a couple of pictures with you.

  • ASCN's biggest problem stems from their mass recruitment. It dilutes their experience levels, dilutes the skill point levels and pilot capability, it introduces people into 0.0 space who don't know how to live there, it doesn't facilitate the easy creation of close bonds within the alliance and promotes an environment where selfish people can flourish. Why when internally they complain about not being able to match BoB's skill levels, T2 sniper fleets etc are they mass recruiting again I do not know. Why when they get 10% turnouts from alliance members online to combat ops they are mass recruiting again I do not know. You have enough people you daft sods you just haven't worked out how to lead and organise them effectively. Not to mention the fact that if you dilute your combat forces by adding 10% of nubcakes who couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag you're just going to give us more kills and more phat lewt which just makes us giggle.
  • ASCN's second biggest problem is linked to the first and is simply that they leak intel like a rowing boat that's been for a jaunt on a Royal Navy firing range during testing time. They are riddled with spies at every level of their organisation (not just BoB spies either, every man and his dog has spies in ASCN - hi D2 hypocrites!) and it hurts them, it hampers their combat effectiveness, it hampers their ability to organise, it hampers their ability to knit together as a team - in fact it affects every element of their alliances ability to exist. So why oh why open your doors wide during a war against the one alliance in Eve that is going to take the opportunity to stick even more spies in? It beggars belief to be honest.
  • Finally and most amusingly, actions speak louder than words. For all ASCN's HC still crow on their forums about how they are going to beat BoB they are basically crying for help. They don't know what they need to do, who they need to do it or how they are going to do it.... so they resort to their old strategy of just getting more meat for the grinder and throwing it at the enemy. It's a good indication of the real state of the alliance that such desperate measures are being taken.
Now for the piccies!

Thanks to Hostagetaker for my new signature, I really don't like The Darkness but the album cover from their album 'One Way Ticket To Hell And Back' seemed awfully appropriate for a bit of mickey taking.

Thanks to Hippoking for making the following banner whilst we were all having a good laugh at ASCN in the #evetv channel on irc during the Alliance PvP Tournament.

That provides a nice link into the final topic I wanted to cover from the weekend or more precisely the last two weekends, that of BoB's third consecutive Alliance PvP Tournament victory!

Being the winners of the first (see this blog entry for a detailed description of the inaugral PvP tournament and my participation in it) and second tournaments put quite a bit of added pressure on us to perform well and live up to our billing as one of the favourites during this tournament.

We got a reasonably good draw in the group stages avoiding some of the bigger names and tournament favourites like BoB-Lite (The Five a.k.a BoB's second team), MC, IAC, The Sani Sabik, ASCN etc. Although Cult of War who were newcomers to the tournament and relatively unknown came second in our group and proceeded to the semi-finals. We got through the group stage with four wins out of four losing only one ship in the process to one of the random warp aways that plagued the first day of competition.

The finals featured an impressive selection of some of the favourites and some of the newer less fancied teams with BoB drawn against Against ALL Authorities in the first knockout round (AAA being fancied to do quite well being largely made up of RAT and ex-SE corps). We defeated AAA to face Burn Eden's team Terra Incognito in the quarter finals. I have to admit that we were a little concerned about Terra Incognito who had fielded some wildcard strategies during the group stages to come out of the 'group of death' alongside strongly favoured IAC. Besides which, losing to BE would have given Shin Ra and his boys unbearable bragging rights on the forums!

As it transpired Terra Incognito were fairly easily despatched before we faced Nebula Rasa in the semifinals, another new team to the tournament who really acquited themselves well and deserve a lot of respect for their performance and sportsmanship. Of all the teams we faced Nebula Rasa probably gave us the hardest fight and at one point the fight could have gone either way. The BoB team led once again by TWD prevailed through, in my opinion, their superb teamwork, tactics and logistics.

BoB's command channel on irc was quite the laugh throughout the tournament, dbp and I in particular are a right pair of old women at times fretting, worrying and getting more nervous than the guys actually fighting! I got the shakes and could hardly watch before every match, I love these tournaments and I really love being able to watch on EveTV as the fights happen (I think I missed a couple of the early fights and thats it throughout the whole tourny). Much respect to the EveTV crew for bringing us such good entertainment.

The final saw us facing R0NIN, a lot of old friends of BNC's from our days in NORAD and I was really pleased to see they had done so well and reached the final. Unfortunately for the R0NIN we had the perfect counter strategy to their team and the final was won fairly convincingly.

Great to see BoB win all three of the tournaments so far and keep our crown! We're off to get some football shirts with the BoB logo and three stars on the left breast just like world cup football teams now!

All in all a very good weekend, lots of fun and lots of drama, just how we like our Eve to be!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Because swimming uphill is more of a challenge. ;)

Anonymous said...

Nice shot on CYVOK's Avatar :)

Anonymous said...

I'm famous! \o/

Anonymous said...

Lets have some more! more! more!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey BL,

just to clarify some of your facts, ASCN tried 3 times to down our POS in AZN-D2, the first time they lost 1 dread, the second time they lost 2 dreads, and the last time they lost 5 dreads. Our POS still stands .... yarr!

Also i thought 0oy has 7 moons, so we took down 7 large ASCN POS's that day.

Anyway has been an eventful week, worthy of 3 seperate posts to be honest.

PS. TWD is the puppet master!

Anonymous said...

You were spot on with describing ASCN's problems. The same things that made me leave almost a year ago. Being part of ASCN is like fighting an uphill battle every step of the way.

Blacklight said...

Comments on my blog criticising my spelling will always nuked.

Don't like the speeling, fook of and dye :P

Anonymous said...

Oi BL stop slacking you drunken bastard, write a new blog =)

<3 Luc