Kills of the Week

Looking for something to put a little extra spring in your step? I have just the thing--Kills of the Week from March 24th @ 00:00 EVEtime to March 30th @ 23:59 EVEtime!

KILLMAIL

We begin with Dr Geep's Orca. This is a special Orca. On first glance, those high-slots appear empty, but take a closer look: They're filled with drone augmentors. There's also a drone mod in the mids, and you can see the rig slots are filled with mining drone enhancers. The rigs added something extra to the price tag, but at least Dr Geep didn't go overboard and buy three tech II versions; why spend 207 million on mining drone rigs when you can get away with only spending 158 million?

Yes, Dr Geep was flying an authentic mining Orca. The cargo bay (enhanced by anti-tanking cargo expanders), corporate hangar, and ore hold were filled with rocks. Such an Orca is an abomination. Luckily, Capt Starfox, Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism, Janet Bobo, Wescro2, Agrona Martin, Thunder Rushing, Sara Angel, and Dante Lobos were on hand to rid the world of it.

KILLMAIL

Another interesting fit, courtesy of Mackinaw pilot ScorpiuS SlateR. His mack's price went from the traditional 200 million up to 300 million, thanks to the two tech II cargo rigs. Why didn't he put cargo expanders in the lows instead? First, because Mackinaws rely on their ore bay, rather than cargo. Second, because he needed to fit a damage control, inertia stab, and power diagnostic system. Obviously. And is that a webifier I see? Agents Galaxy Pig and Galaxy Chicken did what was necessary.

KILLMAIL

stheorykim's dead Noctis spices up this week's post. Fawn Tailor killed the Noctis, which was carrying around 100 million isk in modules and loot on top of the 85 million isk ship price. Fawn popped the pod, worth an additional 120 million. Adding insult to injury, the day before, Fawn had killed the same pilot, who was flying the same ship with the same fit in the same system. All told, about half a billion isk was lost. If you're going to salvage stuff, better safe than sorry--get a permit.

This week's pod was lost by Hulk pilot VBeacher, who had over 3 billion isk worth of implants. Caldari Citizen80081355 did the deed. He hasn't uploaded his API to eve-kill yet, but I was on hand to take a screencap. VBeacher's Hulk was killed by Caldari with the assistance of jipjipjip beepbop. Highsec miner pods are like a box of chocolates...

The Change in Highsec

A debate between highsec miners, one of many that has been sparked by the presence of New Order's Agents.

Should miners make the economically rational decision of obeying the New Order, or should they refuse to pay out of principle?

Philosophical debates can last for centuries. In this case, those with the wrong beliefs end up exploding.

Miners don't just buy permits--they proclaim the New Order publicly, in their bios. It never ceases to rankle the rebel miners, because they can see the growing influence of the New Order with their own eyes.

This seems to be a big difference between those who hold permits and those who do not. Permit-holders are easygoing and pleasant. Rebels tend not to be.

Permit-holders don't much care whether someone else refuses to pay. But when rebels see someone else pay, it bothers them.

Ironically, the rebel miners--the ones who claim to be for freedom--tend to be the most controlling and judgmental toward others.

Even supposing a rebel miner gets away without paying his 10 million mining fee, he pays a greater price with high blood pressure, stress, and anger.

Yoona Meronym is like many rebel miners who comb through the bios of people they see in the ice fields. They become disgusted and enraged by what they see.

The rebels tell New Order Agents to leave miners alone, then they pester their fellow miners.

At first, rebels think that by not paying, they can starve the New Order for cash. Over time, that seems less practical.

From time to time, there are new plans for armed resistance, but they always end the same way.

It's a war of endurance. A miner may be willing to fight back for a day, or even for a week or two. But in time, they all come to the same conclusion. Mining is a long-term process. If a mining permit lasts for 365 days, is 10 million worth a year of trouble?

...And so the change continues to sweep across highsec.

Love and Justice

Enemies of the New Order have long theorized that we are part of a galaxy-wide Goon conspiracy.

Every movement of the New Order is tracked alongside parallel activities going on in nullsec. It's all part of a big tinfoil jigsaw puzzle.

But is the New Order really a shadowy hand of Goonswarm reaching into highsec?

I received an EVEmail from Sixx Spades of the Goonswarm Ministry of Love. They, too, were incensed by the illegal mining activity going on in one of their favorite highsec haunts. Who wouldn't be?

A tanked-up mining Dominix piloted by Rudyjarkon was suicide ganked by the Goons. Mining battleships are strange and unnatural--they deserve to die. When they're piloted by Code violators, that is.

Sixx also provided intel on Fred Sandusky. New Order Agents who participated in the Gallente campaign in January may recognize the name. Fred was a vulture who used his Naga battlecruiser to take potshots at our Knights while they were busy cleansing the ice fields.

Kaboom! Fred finally got his just deserts. Fred's Orca was unusually expensive, with a 1.36 billion isk loss recorded. Impressively, only three highly-skilled Goon Taloses were needed to do the gank.

Fittingly, Fred's Naga was lost as well; it was sitting inside the Orca's ship hangar. The Goons recorded this video of the gank.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Love's operation sparked some controversy when Seraphin Foad announced on EVE-O that freighters need to buy security passes to travel freely through highsec, and miners may be taxed as well. I am often asked what the New Order's policy is on such things. Will the New Order attack other organizations that levy taxes on highsec residents? Will we attempt to defend miners from ganks conducted by rival "protection rackets"? People who ask such questions are overthinking it; the Code is very clear. Should the Goons take further aggressive actions, my advice to highsec residents would be this:

Pay to the New Order what you owe the New Order, and pay to the Goons what you owe the Goons. It's common sense!

Sixty-Three Billion in Shares Sold

Three cheers for Hideaki Motsu would not be sufficient for the latest milestone achieved by New Order shareholders. Only a Supreme Protector's Tip of the Hat™ will do, and Hideaki earns it for his purchase of 400 shares, which put us over the 63 billion mark today. Just when you thought we couldn't get any more billions, we get more billions. Onward and upward.

The Mine Teck Negotiations, Part 4

Previously, on MinerBumping... In a desperate gambit to find a solution for Mine Teck's woes, I offered to hold a shareholder vote on his fate. Mine Teck gave me only 48 hours.

Unfortunately, I was not able to even initiate the shareholder vote. I still had a backlog of blog posts to get through, including posts related to the very convos I was having with Mine Teck.

Though the 48 hours had expired, Mine Teck convoed me, demanding a response to a new piece of evidence he had uncovered:

According to Mine Teck, this was proof that he had purchased mining permits for all his characters from ZZEZ 'Murika. But it didn't add up. Mine Teck's original story was that he had paid 90 thousand isk for nine accounts, not that a previously unknown alt had paid 70 million isk. And there was still the matter of the missing loyalty pledge in his bio.

With such incomplete and conflicting evidence, the matter would need to be decided by the shareholders of the New Order.

Shareholder votes take time. The shareholders need to be given background information before the vote is opened. Voting is usually open for two or three days. Mine Teck wasn't prepared to wait that long.

I negotiated frantically, but Mine Teck stonewalled. Time was up, and all hope of a solution was lost forever.

Still, Mine Teck was open to hearing more.

Time was up, but only sort of. I still had one last chance to offer an immediate solution. The stakes were raised even higher now: If I didn't come up with an answer, I would be put on Mine Teck's block list. It was the nuclear option. Without the ability to communicate, peace would be impossible.

You could cut the tension in the convo with a knife. With just four, five, or six minutes left to doomsday, the tecking of the clock was drowned out by the sound of my racing heartbeat. Do I cut the blueberry wire, or the strawberry one? If this were a TV show or a movie, I would naturally find the answer at the last second. But there are no guarantees here--this is real life.

Teck... tock... teck... tock... The world may have already seen its last sunrise in the days of peace.

Teck... tock.. teck... tock... "We must either love each other, or we must die..."

A mushroom cloud filled the sky. There would be no more talking, no more peace. Even if I had an answer, I could not deliver it to Mine Teck.

Mine Teck sent me an EVEmail confirming the worst. He would join the resistance and offer them a free TeamSpeak server, forum, and killboard. It was a disaster of epic proportions. We would never speak again.

...Or would we? Four minutes later, Mine Teck changed his mind and opened the possibility of another talk. The mushroom cloud began folding itself back up.

Yes, and a free netradio.

To be continued...

The Next Frontier of Space Lawyering

In Kamio system, a mysterious traveler sought out an angry miner.

Before the New Order, most miners (assuming they weren't AFK) tended to be a trusting lot. They welcomed newcomers. Now, the rebels are bitter and xenophobic.

New Order Agent ZZEZ 'Murika recognized the troublemaker instantly.

Babatunde B Babatunde, attorney at law, space lawyer extraordinaire and scourge of the New Order! How many Code violators have been able to escape justice because they lawyered up and abused some technicality?

Christofear Parlato was shocked, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. Space lawyers have been out in force, ever since the dawn of the New Order.

Babatunde is far more enterprising than most. The typical space lawyer defends himself, or defends others in the system for free. Something tells me Babatunde never does anything without getting paid.

Turning space lawyering into a proper business is the best new emergent gameplay since Space Therapist. The New Order always supports local business.

This Is How It Starts

Sentences start with capital letters. Proper nouns start with capital letters. And so do much more dangerous things...

What my alt said is true. I have no ambition to become absolute ruler; I would only do it if I had no other choice. My humility is a huge barrier to tyranny.

Despite my benign intentions, some residents of highsec harbor paranoid concerns about me making myself a dictator. Julius Caesar had to deal with the very same kind of nonsense.

A fair number of people compare me to Hitler, but the analogy always breaks down when they're asked to provide an example of a similarity.

I consider myself Hitler's mirror opposite. Think of a Hitler fact, invert it, and you've probably got the beginnings of a good description of me.

On the other hand, the New Order is aptly named: We're something completely new. There's never been a movement quite like ours, so comparisons tend to fall flat. But who needs comparisons when you've got capital letters?