Out of Fuel? - Explorer Rescue Service, The Fuel Rats

Oh my.
A box with "Weird Content" written on it ?
What's this ? What's this ?

EDIT : There's... There's a little something in my eyes and throat. I... I think I need a moment to myself. To... To collect some... Fuel. Yes, that's it. To Collect some Fuel. There, I'm done.

This is Kerenn "Two Jumps" of The Fuel Rats Mischief. I've never been so proud of us.



EDIT 2 :

Administratrivia !

After having read an article on RPS about Distant World ( https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/01/26/elite-dangerous-galaxy-edge-journey/ ) I may have sent an open letter of challenge to one of them.
Please find such letter here.



Dear Brendan,

Kerenn "Two Jumps" from The Fuel Rats Mischief here.
I write to you today after reading your article on the Distant Worlds Expedition taking place within Elite Dangerous' Horizons.
I've been a long time reader of RPS and always enjoyed what I've read up there. Your collective taste in games matches mine to the point that I've followed your recommendations and not been let-down. But yesterday, something came to tickle my fancy.
I'm talking about this line here on page 2 :

About 900 players are now on the expedition roster, many of them adopting voluntary roles as cartographers, prospectors, film makers, photographers, cargo haulers, armed escorts and “fuel rats”.

"fuel rats" ? With no capitalization ? Quotation marks ? wait, are we a "voluntary role" ?
Mate, I'm one of the first Rats. I'm a fan of RPS (I even try to get my real life friends and fellow rats to read you). And I want us both to work together. I want you to talk about us, I want you to be blown away by what we do and put a lot of emphasis on it and so on and so forth.
But this ? I'm truly sadened that the first mention of our glorious Mischief is almost a foot-note on an otherwise great article. You even wrote something akin to our Standard Operation Procedures for the non-initiated and I'm sure the whole Mischief would thank you for it one rat at a time because it makes our "job" easier ! Believe it or not but this kind of publicity is a god-send for us when we deal everyday with people ignorant about the game and have to teach them about it.

So I'll cut to the chase. Fuel Rat Rocks. And I want you to acknowledge it. Publicly.
But I know such a thing will only come if we deserve it and if you feel like it. I know I'm a wee little bit biased when it comes to a community I love and cherish. So here's the deal, mate.

Join us.

Come and be one of us. Come spend some time in the Rat Lounge, may it be on Discord or IRC, get a ship Rat-ready and participate in some drilling exercises, rescue a few people under the purple light of a brown dwarf, save a Code Red from Oblivion (or Morrowind), come feel the ADRENALINE and the GLORY of our little corner of virtual space. We don't bite (too much), I promise.
I could now smother you with details and numbers and stuff, but all of that is accessible on our website ( fuelrats.org ) and I have to say I think it'd be better if you came to discover these things by yourself. At this point, I'm not asking for you to endorse us or be a spokeperson in our behalf. I'm not asking you to change your mind about us and to give us more coverage (although that would be great).

The deal I offer you is simple : Join the ranks (incognito would be better to avoid the "celebrity effect"), see what we do, participate in the actions, and tell me "Wot you think". Maybe even once you've done all this we could have a chat about who we are, where we come from, what we stand for, what we do everyday and how much we've accomplished.

The Fuel Rats are a discreet bunch, we like to do our thing and disappear, but more people talking about us means more earsay, more people hearing about us, more people knowing about us, more people calling us to be saved and in the end, more people saved. So, truly, you'd yourself, your community, and the Elite community as a whole a huge favour.

The Fuel Rats Mischief :
We have Fuel.
You don't.
Any Questions ?

Fly safe, CMDR ! (o_-)7
Kerenn "Two Jumps"

P.S. : I see from your RPS posting history you're some kind of "Resident Elite Guy" so be aware we exist, don't forget to call upon us in times of need. We'l come, no matter the time nor the distance.
 
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Here is an example:
Rescuee: xxxxxxxx
Rescuee's ship: Type-6
Distance: 20J, 7Ls
Dispatch: Tradam
Distpatched with: N/A
O2 left: N/A
Comms: 2-way
Instancing: SC hop
Client scoop: Yes
Client knew filtering: No
Client reaction: Thankful

So why not include those fine examples into the "Notes" section, as an editable template? So: Not as individual options but as plain text in "Annotations". I would fill them out, at least ;)

And may I again poke for a RatAssist option ... squeak ...

@Kerenn: Very well put. get some Rep!

BTW, would love to do a SpatchDrill soon. See ya.
 
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So why not include those fine examples into the "Notes" section, as an editable template? So: Not as individual options but as plain text in "Annotations". I would fill them out, at least ;)

And may I again poke for a RatAssist option ... squeak ...

@Kerenn: Very well put. get some Rep!

BTW, would love to do a SpatchDrill soon. See ya.
That may be something the new database can handle so an option for the higher-ups to create. I highly doubt GoogleSheets can take that much more data at this point (it's sensitive).

Re: rat assists. I'm not personally a fan of this. The first limpet gets the rescue and those assisting bask in the knowledge they were present. There's been plenty of times I missed getting to log it by a rat-hair but, meh, there's also plenty I've won by the same small measurement. Still get the glory.
 
I'm not sure I like the competitive side for what is a service. I much prefer to be part of an organised rescue 'team'. Theres no I in team. I missed out the other day when the rat I was recuing with organised his fr, wing and beacon all through in games comms with the client whilewe were both sat in system, I was still waiting on dispatch co-ordination as I'd been told off for not going through dispatch a few week prior. Before I even got to know the client had even logged back in the other rat had organised it through in game comms and completed the job. I felt a little robbed of my involvement on that one I have to say. An assist would have been nice.
 
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I'm not sure I like the competitive side for what is a service. I much prefer to be part of an organised rescue 'team'. Theres no I in team.
That's in short what I meant with RatAssist. The competitive aspect is fine but well, it sort of feels out of place in a group like ours. A colleague Rat should be seen as a colleague Rat, not potential concurrence spoiling your 10 jumps. We are the Mischief!
And people might even speed to a client just to get the first limpet honour, which is not always the very best idea.
Of course that's just my personal feeling.

I highly doubt GoogleSheets can take that much more data at this point (it's sensitive).
As long as the surplus information is text-only in the Annotations field, Google docs wouldn't get more workload, would it? But then, to make statistically significant use of it, of course the info should be stored in separate fields ... yet we could spice up the reports by including that template text already.


EDIT comment on below:
But, for example, if I'm still jumping toward a system when the limpets fly, I don't think that would classify as an assist in my book.
I am completely with you there. if a RatAssist would require firing a limpet or being in place while limpets still fly, that'd be valid in my view. And clients can never get enough limpets*, so that's even a good motivator :)

On GDocs, okay, thats a point ... maybe later then when the more advanced spreadsheeting works.
---
*)Well in fact they can, yet that should be more or less theoretical ... 10 Rats bombarding a shieldless Sidey ...
 
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I'm not sure I like the competitive side for what is a service. I much prefer to be part of an organised rescue 'team'. Theres no I in team. I missed out the other day when the rat I was recuing with organised his fr, wing and beacon all through in games comms with the client whilewe were both sat in system, I was still waiting on dispatch co-ordination as I'd been told off for not going through dispatch a few week prior. Before I even got to know the client had even logged back in the other rat had organised it through in game comms and completed the job. I felt a little robbed of my involvement on that one I have to say. An assist would have been nice.
I wouldn't necessarily consider that an assist situation but instead a violation of the SOP that Dispatch should have a sit-down about. What I'm thinking of as an assist is, 3 rats actively on a CR, all drop in, only one gets good instancing + the rescue. The other two could log an assist. But, for example, if I'm still jumping toward a system when the limpets fly, I don't think that would classify as an assist in my book.

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That's in short what I meant with RatAssist. The competitive aspect is fine but well, it sort of feels out of place in a group like ours. A colleague Rat should be seen as a colleague Rat, not potential concurrence spoiling your 10 jumps. We are the Mischief!
And people might even speed to a client just to get the first limpet honour, which is not always the very best idea.
Of course that's just my personal feeling.


As long as the surplus information is text-only in the Annotations field, Google docs wouldn't get more workload, would it? But then, to make statistically significant use of it, of course the info should be stored in separate fields ... yet we could spice up the reports by including that template text already.
GoogleSheets is limited to 2mil cells per document. Even our paltry amount of information had exceeded that somehow. After I reduced the number of cells available in each sheet, the document then allowed me to input a bit more data. So while I agree with you in principle, the implementation seemed to contradict.
 
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Not if I were 2 jumps out but I'd been dispatched and was waiting in system with the other rat while the client logged back in following a crash. Next thing I know the othet rat vanishes from SC and an IRC message pops up saying that the client is being refuelled. Nothing said via IRC all done in game comms. For me the fact we were both sat their 'awaiting dispatch orders' following a crash means I was there and that should be an assist.

Botton line though is assists don't exist so its all conjecture really. My point is I don't really feel that a rescue service should be Rats crawling all over each other sticking our claws in each other eyes and dragging ourselves forward by pulling the others back with their eye sockets just to get a limpet off. International rescue it aint!
 
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Mildly against the idea of officially crediting assists except as an assist, separate from a Rat's tally. Otherwise if we did, do we to get to retroactively claim assists? (Quite a part from the fact that not every rat puts assisting rats down, and some draw the line of 'assist' in different places.)
 
Not if I were 2 jumps out but I'd been dispatched and was waiting in system with the other rat while the client logged back in following a crash. Next thing I know the othet rat vanishes from SC and an IRC message pops up saying that the client is being refuelled. Nothing said via IRC all done in game comms. For me the fact we were both sat their 'awaiting dispatch orders' following a crash means I was there and that should be an assist.

Botton line though is assists don't exist so its all conjecture really. My point is I don't really feel that a rescue service should be Rats crawling all over each other sticking our claws in each other eyes and dragging ourselves forward by pulling the others back with their eye sockets just to get a limpet off. International rescue it aint!
*looks at scars on face*. That one was Shinobi, yep, there's Kerenn, that was Rusticuls, there's another one from Kerenn.

We used to call it rat races. Things were very different back then :)
 
I don't know to be honest. What I do know is that saving someone shouldn't be about trying your hardest to mess up the other guys chances of making the rescue in favour of getting your own tick on the leader board. It should be about rescuing the client.

I would have no issue with a seperate assist board. It then at least shows that you were involved in a team effort rather than just a solo effort.

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*looks at scars on face*. That one was Shinobi, yep, there's Kerenn, that was Rusticuls, there's another one from Kerenn.

We used to call it rat races. Things were very different back then :)

True but there were also many fewer rats back then too so that dynamic worked.

These days there are far more rats and you inevitably end up in system with a full wing of other rats more often than not, and even that is on the offchance that the client was close enough to you in the first place for you to be closer than another set of rats.
 
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And clients can never get enough limpets*, so that's even a good motivator :)
*Well in fact they can, yet that should be more or less theoretical ... 10 Rats bombarding a shieldless Sidey ...

It only takes one Anaconda with the right equipment to blow a full three rings of shields and 56% hull out of an Asp.
Does no one remember Anuranium's Insta-Fueller maiden flight ?
 
Hi guys,

First post on these forums as I have only been flying Horizons for a week.

I just wanted to say a big thank you to CMDR Logan Aigaion from the Fuel Rats who rescued me when I stupidly ran out of fuel, he arrived promptly and gave me enough to get me to my destination.

What a great service you guys do and hope I won't need your services again, but something says that I probably will at some point. ;)

Thanks again CMDR,

3instein. :)
 
Cpt_Synergy here with on-topic content from the internal subreddit.

The topic of giving credit to the assists and also dispatchers has a thread on our internal reddit so I'll transcribe them starting Doc Slow.
Doc_SlowPC Fuel Rat
Presuming that nobody becomes a rat for padding stats and earning fame, but I feel our current system needs an update, if this should be feasible without a horrible amount of programming.
I'd like to give credits to my wingmates and I'd like to give credits to my dispatch. Did that in my first reports, but I feel this is somehow not enough as likely nobody ever will see this, except for the few handling google doc administration.
Would there be an easy way to get there?
I feel there is so much I owe to the folks I am winging and who are dispatching while I am flying. I would not have earned my first rescue without Jim Wolfe winging and encouraging, and I would not have made my first long range rescue without Absolver and Rusticolus coaching.
Is there a way we could get this into our stats? Especially thinking of those who dispatch - and who we all need most to do our 'job' while they just help us racking rescues at cost of their own stats?

Cpt_Shinobi
I think that there should be a separate board for wing mates & dispatchers as "Assists". First limpet gets "Rescue board". Dispatchers & Wingmates (who arrive in system) get on a "Assists board". all filed by the Rat getting the Rescue board credit. if we can't make the google doc form send to 2 different docs then maybe the page that loads after you submit will link you the assists form.

iambronco 2 points 10 days ago
I think it would be good to have an assist database, especially for new rats that can't compete in the rat race with starter ratting ships. A long dry spell with no sense of accomplishment may discourage some of them, so some sort of participation reward/stat (hate to call it this, but its what it is) might help to alleviate that.
Oh, and dispatches need their kudos too :)

A couple people mentioned a new bot system that isn't up and running yet but I have no knowledge on that part. I have been staying out of the technorats way for the most part. I'll have to ask around. will look into further:
Absolver said: This is already being covered in the new dispatch/bot system, where all rats and active dispatcher on case is being logged.


~~~~~TOPIC CHANGE~~~~
Orange and I thought it would be good idea for rats to post things that occur on the internal subreddit in a specific thread so they can be mentioned on his show.

By "things" I mean many things like: did you do a long range rescue? Did you save a cmdr with only seconds of air left? Did you reach a personal goal # of rescues? Make rat art? Want to give a shout-out to a fellow rat? or just have any other rat news?
Link to the thread here. Please keep posts about recent news no older than a week. Cut off time for posts is undetermined currently so keep posting there until I lock the thread and make a new one.
 
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Presuming that nobody becomes a rat for padding stats and earning fame, ...
I think that there should be a separate board for wing mates & dispatchers as "Assists".

Even if we might not do it for digital "fame", as Father Cool said it can be frustrating, and that is a bad feature for a GROUP like ours.

As for separate boards, I wouldn't say so. Why not count Assists for individual Rats just like Rescues? it would keep things simpler (not 5 spreadsheets), it would be satisfying for those who just didn't pull the trigger first, and while the data would still be accessible for statistical use, we wouldn't loose anything. One Table, All Rats. Can't see much negative in that.

As for who is assisting: That should be easy enough.
1. Rat must be assigned by dispatch (not as "assist", but just assigned to the case as usual, no changes).
2. Rat must be in same system as client at rescue.
3a. Rat must at least be together with Client and Rescuer at some point of the Rescue, even at DB, OR
3b. Rat must have helped in accordance with the Rescuer, for example by guarding sc around the Client and Rescuer during operation. (I was very thankful when a colleague Rat guarded SC while I was refuelling a Client, since we had the probability of enemies popping up due to Wanted status).
4. The assisting Rat has to do the paperwork for its assist itself. Avoids workload and confusion for the Rescuer. And if you want to get the merits, you do the work, plain and simple.

Would that sound sensible enough?

As for including Dispatchers in pw, that's an excellent idea!!
 
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Oh so more gamification into a thing practically outside of the main game? :p

(tl;dr; Orange doesn't support adding additional stats. Glory is in stories, and pw/stats already cause fix-this-please pleads quite a bit.)


I don't support the 'assists' stat as a separate thing. On oxygène d'urgence it could be viable to attach additional info of the rats who were participating in it, but that too as an additional info. Or even only on Epic rescues (daisy-chains, 10+ kylies).

Reasons:

"Meta" level:
i) What defines an assist really? It is very easy to determine who got the first limpet in. And since usually one or two limpets are enough to carry the stranded pilot to scoopable star or refueling station (barring broken scoops, Robigo-stuff and the likes), then the actual hands-on assists are bit vague too.

ii) Are stats actually required? Isn't this about being nice and fantastic, and not a numbers game.

Practical level:
i) As it happens, even now we get dublicate rescue reports for same case, because people involved don't communicate enough on who does the pw (ie. who really got the first limpet in), and don't really pay attention to that communication and submit the report anyways. This causes data integrity work.

ii) So who submits the assists? If it is the lead (first limpet in) rescuer, then will they be fair on their judgement on who was assisting? Do they always remember to fill out that part, 'cause if they don't (and when they don't), there will again be additional data integration work ("Hey, I forgot to give assists to the rats who were on that one case back in last month sometime.", or "I actually was assisting Cmdr <RETRACTED> on all of their 20 rescues last month and they just forgot to add me, so could you fix that?")

iii) (Almost forgot this.) If dispatch assigns the assists, then we definately will have situations where people get furious "'cause that particular dispatcher never assigns me on cases, because of this and that". Saddens me to have to say that, but that just how it will go sometimes. Also, and this is the big point here: do we want to make the rescue procedures more rigid because of stats? Come on, the SOP should serve only the safety of client.

Glory is not in the stats, glory is in the stories.

Don't make this a game. Fuel Rats is your best opportunity ever to break out from the ancient-old grind, and do something ingame that aims to help other people instead of padding stats.
 
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Different topic: I found it helpful to create a IRC Dispatch command list without the explanations of the Step-by-Step guide, a document to copy/paste into IRC for Dispatchers.
Grab it and correct it. Would be glad if it could be of use.
EDIT: !inject should be followed by !clear at the end.
As it seems, it is neither possible to delete a post nor to delete/update attachments. Well thanks.
Please treat this as s SKETCH with errors, to be completed.
 

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Hmm playing devils advocate then. If its the glory of the story that matters why have stats at all?

Just post a write up story on here if you so wish?

Don't get me wrong it's saving the client that is 100% the important thing, which then makes the competitive nature of the rescue process even more odd, we should be working together to achieve the goal where competition encourages the opposite.
 
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