My adopted home is great for sneaking in there's not much there so not many visitors. Chances are now since I've been away from it now for 3mths this time all likely to have changed and somebody made it the galaxies hot holiday destination, or the pirate agm location. I guess my pew pew ship is all rusty from lack of use.
Out of Fuel? - Explorer Rescue Service, The Fuel Rats
- Thread starter Surly_Badger
- Start date
New Rattatoon is out. Now on ... dadadah ... griefing 
Hope you enjoy it, Rats, great community.
Hope you enjoy it, Rats, great community.
Rescue Report #74 :
It happened in LHS 2447.
It was the start of a sunny winter day, I was on my way to Hamilton Gateway in the WOLF 406 System to clean up my Diamondback (before selling it !).
Comms light up with an anxious voice asking "Hey, is no one in the Bubble ?". Theone Smith, Dispatch.
I look up at the Coriolis is 7.51km ahead, sigh at the fact I can't request docking permission yet. I ponder. Younger Rats might be there soon. Where is he needing us ? 71.xx LY ? That's like 2 jumps, right ?
Aaah, what the heck, curse those younglings, let's show them what the rear guard is all about !
"- Station Control, if you don't want me kissing your hull you'd better get me docking permission FAST, I'm coming in HOT !
- Docking cleared on pad 38."
Good. One far from the entrance to allow deceleration. Quick thinking there, pal ! A minute later I have a Fuel Transfer Limpet Controller and two canisters full of the goods.
"- Station Control, this was quick and dirty, see you in a few."
As I point my ship through the mailslot, I check jumps. Three. Damn heavy Limpets. I check Comms.
"- In position." says Kathryn. Just you wait, Kathryn, I'm coming to get you... -r target.
As I enter the system, I see an Asp circling me. I try to get a lock on her position but to no avail. I decide to get away from the main Star, to get better acceleration. The Asp follows. Once 200Ls out, I stop and turn around and start scanning. It's Kathryn alright. And it looks like she's overshooting me ! Hah !
Beacon Lights up. Smile goes down faster than the Throttle does. Time to get serious. This is no drill. Thankfully the navlock takes care of everything and I see a little Sidewinder appear on my Starboard. Limpet Away !
As it stars heading for my prey, I hear a "Bang" and see Kathryn coming from Starport and going for my Stern. Too late, little one ! She fires a Limpet just as "Fuel Transfer Complete" lights up on my display.
Excellent !
It happened in LHS 2447.
It was the start of a sunny winter day, I was on my way to Hamilton Gateway in the WOLF 406 System to clean up my Diamondback (before selling it !).
Comms light up with an anxious voice asking "Hey, is no one in the Bubble ?". Theone Smith, Dispatch.
I look up at the Coriolis is 7.51km ahead, sigh at the fact I can't request docking permission yet. I ponder. Younger Rats might be there soon. Where is he needing us ? 71.xx LY ? That's like 2 jumps, right ?
Aaah, what the heck, curse those younglings, let's show them what the rear guard is all about !
"- Station Control, if you don't want me kissing your hull you'd better get me docking permission FAST, I'm coming in HOT !
- Docking cleared on pad 38."
Good. One far from the entrance to allow deceleration. Quick thinking there, pal ! A minute later I have a Fuel Transfer Limpet Controller and two canisters full of the goods.
"- Station Control, this was quick and dirty, see you in a few."
As I point my ship through the mailslot, I check jumps. Three. Damn heavy Limpets. I check Comms.
"- In position." says Kathryn. Just you wait, Kathryn, I'm coming to get you... -r target.
As I enter the system, I see an Asp circling me. I try to get a lock on her position but to no avail. I decide to get away from the main Star, to get better acceleration. The Asp follows. Once 200Ls out, I stop and turn around and start scanning. It's Kathryn alright. And it looks like she's overshooting me ! Hah !
Beacon Lights up. Smile goes down faster than the Throttle does. Time to get serious. This is no drill. Thankfully the navlock takes care of everything and I see a little Sidewinder appear on my Starboard. Limpet Away !
As it stars heading for my prey, I hear a "Bang" and see Kathryn coming from Starport and going for my Stern. Too late, little one ! She fires a Limpet just as "Fuel Transfer Complete" lights up on my display.
Excellent !
WOW, a story, an actual rat rescue story. Here, have some rep! (hear that younglings ... write about your exciting tales of daring do and you too could receive rep).
Hell, I'm actually so envigorated I've done a new poster ...
RATS!
I would like to write a press article about our group. I am both fascinated and intrigued by how this works out, and I am both honoured and love it to be a Rat and RatDispatch in service. For a start, I would first like to do a little survey on who the Rats are and why we are here.
Therefore, I would be grateful if you could send me some details via PM. I will share anonymized statistical data with RatTech (not if you explicitly don't want that) and of course anonymize all answers.
I will use the answers only to get a better picture for the article, and of course not for any marketing crap. And yes, I will post the article link when and if it is published.
So if you would be so kind to answer whichever of the following questions you want ... thanks!
THANKS!
I would like to write a press article about our group. I am both fascinated and intrigued by how this works out, and I am both honoured and love it to be a Rat and RatDispatch in service. For a start, I would first like to do a little survey on who the Rats are and why we are here.
Therefore, I would be grateful if you could send me some details via PM. I will share anonymized statistical data with RatTech (not if you explicitly don't want that) and of course anonymize all answers.
I will use the answers only to get a better picture for the article, and of course not for any marketing crap. And yes, I will post the article link when and if it is published.
So if you would be so kind to answer whichever of the following questions you want ... thanks!
- Your age?
- Your current profession?
- Since when are you an active Rat?
- Are you a casual player, someone only now and then playing E : D, a hardcore player or a full-time E : D'er?
- Why did you join the Rats?
- Do you think the Rats are special? If so, why?
- Do you know other player groups that are similar to the Rats (and in which game)?
- How do you experience the response of the E : D player base?
- Any other thing you deem important in connection with the Rats?
- Any topic you deem important/essential to mention in a press article about the Rats?
THANKS!
1. Nearly 21.
2. Ingame or RL?
RL: Student, Ingame: Rat/Mercenary/Whatever-brings-the-most-credits3. Since 5 months ago.
4. Someone only playing now and then. I'm mostly for the lolz in the channel.
5. Started as a client, finished as a rat.
6. By far the uniquest community/player group in the game. The rats have a goal besides from "push that minorfaction/push that powerplayfaction/shoot everything that moves".
7. Hahaha, no.
8. 99% positive. 1% trolls.
9. Epic Rescues. Fan fiction. Ratatoons. Lolz and the daily dose of insanity in #RatChat. The political stance of absolute neutrality. We're basically the swiss of E : D.
10. The change of the community since the start. From fairly unorganized, anarchistic to organized, hierarchyless and how well it works. SoP, Dispatch, people work together voluntary for a common goal. You don't see that everyday in human society
21
IT Instructor
January
Daily player
To help my fellow CMDRs and to have a purpose in the galaxy
Unique, but not special.
No
Positive and constructive - the player base always seems willing to help and appreciate of genuine attempts to do so
Impartiality
Professionalism - the SOPs make this a well oiled machine when there are many moving parts.
- Your age? Older than Becks..... (51)
- Your current profession? Smuggler (Not Robigo), Rat, Explorer, Bounty Hunter, the usual
- Since when are you an active Rat? Close to the beginning. So long ago we didn't have IRC when I started. :O
- Are you a casual player, someone only now and then playing E : D, a hardcore player or a full-time E : D'er? I play nearly every day for a few hours, you can pick the label.
- Why did you join the Rats? To help others and it seemed the right thing to do. [cool]
- Do you think the Rats are special? If so, why? Special. Others may be not I.
- Do you know other player groups that are similar to the Rats (and in which game)? There are other games???? :S
- How do you experience the response of the E : D player base? Most seem ok.
- Any other thing you deem important in connection with the Rats? Yes. It's an honour to serve along side such an awesome bunch. [praise]
- Any topic you deem important/essential to mention in a press article about the Rats? Sure remember and plug the Lore section of the forums, there are some wonderful writers in there and I'm not sure some get that far down in the forums. (This is not a plug for mine cos Becks, Marra and others are waay better.) [redface]
Cmdr Aitken
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Your age?
47 earth years.
Your current profession?
RL: Production managar for an IT security company, Ingame a trader , miner, explorer and bounty hunter. PvE only. The only times i am in open are if the RatClient cant be talked into a private group.
Since when are you an active Rat?
Since the very beginning, there were about 10 rats when i joined the mischief.
Are you a casual player, someone only now and then playing E : D, a hardcore player or a full-time E : D'er?
Lets just say i have 3 accounts and about 2000 hours combined play time now... ;-)
Why did you join the Rats?
Because i like the idea of friendly interaction, i am no PVP killer at all.
Do you think the Rats are special? If so, why?
Because they hold up the value of generosity and having fun on cheering up others rather than destroying fun of other players. Like so many other groups.
Do you know other player groups that are similar to the Rats (and in which game)?
I know of no other player group that isnt into combat. And i certainly dont play any other "MMO" games.
How do you experience the response of the E : D player base?
Mostly friendly, but with a surprisingly high percentage of triggerhappy people at any place/time where one would see other players in masses.
So much that it convinced me that Open is a lost cause, and i switched to Mobius group for good half a year ago.
No fun in being forced to be others content.
Any other thing you deem important in connection with the Rats?
Not that i could think of right now.
Any topic you deem important/essential to mention in a press article about the Rats?
Not that i could think of right now.
(yes i know you wanted that as a PM but i think its also useful as a kind of "player introduction" so its here
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1.) 38
2.) Real life: Architect/Project Manager, ED - everything
3.) mid-January
4.) hard-core (way too much play time)
5.) It was different than any group in any other game. Helping out players was a big draw.
6.) Players from all over the world. No PC vs. Xbox is also pretty unique among gaming communities. Everybody just wants to save the clients
7.) No, we're pretty unique
8.) It varies likeep any other gaming community, but overall I think most people want to help others. Maybe due to the steep learning curve, many people look to help newbies
9.) Just that we try to be involve in the community and give back to everyone
10.) Maybe find out his many countried are represented by The Rats
Good luck with the article. o7
2.) Real life: Architect/Project Manager, ED - everything
3.) mid-January
4.) hard-core (way too much play time)
5.) It was different than any group in any other game. Helping out players was a big draw.
6.) Players from all over the world. No PC vs. Xbox is also pretty unique among gaming communities. Everybody just wants to save the clients
7.) No, we're pretty unique
8.) It varies likeep any other gaming community, but overall I think most people want to help others. Maybe due to the steep learning curve, many people look to help newbies
9.) Just that we try to be involve in the community and give back to everyone
10.) Maybe find out his many countried are represented by The Rats
Good luck with the article. o7
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(yes i know you wanted that as a PM but i think its also useful as a kind of "player introduction" so its here
Well fair enough, already sent a PM but here goes
1) 22
2) Aerospace Engineer
3) July 2015(ish), it was pretty early but see the blurb at the end.
4) Hardcore but dropped recently to mid-level gamer barely scraping 5 hours per week after leaving uni and starting full time work. Xcom2 and Fallout4 may take partial blame
5) Seemed like a great idea, personal experience of cutting the insurance too thin and running out of fuel before limpets were a thing. Saved by the loan system.
6 & 7) Unsure, not played many MMO's, tend to avoid multiplayer in general a lot of the time unless personally know or can physically slap the opposing player if they are being "silly".
8) Pretty darn awesome, don't know of a group with more footprint and acclaim. Awesome has become the norm for many now
9 & 10) The relative speed between 1.3 and the high profile rescues (Neospike amongst others). The amazing and modest leaders/founders and lack of hierarchy/structure. The amazing attitude of members, the cool loot and general enthusiasm of being altruistic.
To be honest I'm a part time rather unsuccessful rat. I try but due to networking issues at uni and generally being busy doing my own things I tend not to be rescuing people very much. For example took 28 fuel limpets when exploring but been out since December and haven't had chance to use 1 yet
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I see you lot abiding by the "PM" suggestion.
Fuel Rat, Dispatcher, Drill Overseer, Drill Damsel, Fuel Rat Historian, Fuel Rat Representative to Frontier, kind of Press-conference-guy.
- Your age?
- Your current profession?
Fuel Rat, Dispatcher, Drill Overseer, Drill Damsel, Fuel Rat Historian, Fuel Rat Representative to Frontier, kind of Press-conference-guy.
- Since when are you an active Rat?
- Are you a casual player, someone only now and then playing E : D, a hardcore player or a full-time E : D'er?
- Why did you join the Rats?
- Do you think the Rats are special? If so, why?
- Do you know other player groups that are similar to the Rats (and in which game)?
- How do you experience the response of the E : D player base?
- Any other thing you deem important in connection with the Rats?
- Any topic you deem important/essential to mention in a press article about the Rats?
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I don't think that's possible yet. At least not with a limpet since SRV and ship run on different kind of fuels.
/me absolved the Fuel Rats Fuelcademy
Maybe (hopefully) FD considers such an option in the future.
Does it still retain power to move? If so, recall your ship and hope it lands close enough to reach before the air runs out...
- Your age? 42
- Your current profession? Retired Military
- Since when are you an active Rat? A month or so, have yet to make an official rescue yet.
- Are you a casual player, someone only now and then playing E : D, a hardcore player or a full-time E : D'er? Depends can be any of those
- Why did you join the Rats? Like to help people
- Do you think the Rats are special? If so, why? Yes, because even with all the crap going around Rats are still willing to help others
- Do you know other player groups that are similar to the Rats (and in which game)? Not currently
- How do you experience the response of the E : D player base? NA
- Any other thing you deem important in connection with the Rats? Neutrality of Rats in any conflict
- Any topic you deem important/essential to mention in a press article about the Rats? Neutrality
Ahh what the hell, may as well share this openly like everyone else ...
Your age?
0x34
Your current profession?
Software Engineer
Since when are you an active Rat?
Around June 2015
Are you a casual player, someone only now and then playing E : D, a hardcore player or a full-time E : D'er?
I play about 1.5 hrs a day, every day (is that hardcore or full-time?)
Why did you join the Rats?
I just loved the idea really. I'm interested in emergent gameplay that I can engage with on my on terms and in my own time and this was perfect for that.
Do you think the Rats are special? If so, why?
I think they're truly extraordinary actually. I'm not really aware of any other emergent gameplay style/group in any other online game that's quite so altruistic and that's run with such professionalism or selfless dedication.
Do you know other player groups that are similar to the Rats (and in which game)?
Not really (See above). I'm also a member (whatever that means) of the Buckyball Racing Club and that has a similar, non-combatative, play whenever suits you, kind of feel to it and is another style of emergent gameplay so I guess there are similarities.
How do you experience the response of the E : D player base?
Do you mean how do I think other players react to us? We seem to be held in almost universal acclaim actually. I did wonder if we'd reach a point of Fuel Rat overload where people were sick of hearing about us but I don't think that has ever quite happened. We are awesome basically!
Any other thing you deem important in connection with the Rats?
Unlike Surly Badger I'm not really that educated/interested in politics but I do think the idea of the anarchic collective works really well for an MMO group, at least in this case. It genuinely feels like we're all pretty equal (Derry Bear expressed this much better in the recent Orange Sheets' Fuel Rat radio interview) and that people who want to have a voice and come to the forefront of the group can do so but it also gives us an excellent get out clause in tight situations (e.g. with pirate/pvp groups) where we can just basically make a mockery out of the situation. Our Raison d'etre is clear and simple. We have fuel. You don't. Any questions? That's the bottom line.
Any topic you deem important/essential to mention in a press article about the Rats?
We have fuel. You don't. Any questions?
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- 39
- RL: Self-employed Computer Service Technician, trader/miner/bounty hunter in game.
- Autumn 3301
- 0-4 Hours a day, 0-5 days a week
- The prospect of interacting with and helping other people, instead of just degrading them to "game content"
- The only (known to me) altruistic group in the entire game that calls itself "dangerous", even so that it's almost on the opposite side of the spectrum, better than harmless, but helpful to others.
- Only on closed servers, or niche games, none in MMO.
- Grateful, mostly, some indifferent, but that might just be the language barrier.
- open group, little rules, astonishingly low rate of jerks (in fact I can't think of one, really)
- We have fuel. You don't. Any questions?
We call ourselves "Dangerous" ? When we are "Triple Elite" ? :S
EDIT : Today has seen the release of a community spotlight in a French website, so I'm going to translate what you can find here :
This column makes an entrance today in Elite Dangerous. New groups will be presented each week. For today we are with Kerenn, French Representative of a galaxy-wide known group : The Fuel Rats.
History of the Fuel Rats :
One day in december '14, just after the game's release, in the Void near Alpha Centauri...
CMDR Surly_Badger tries to reach Hutton orbital, a station extremely far from it's star, and finds himself short of Fuel at roughly 3/4th of the way. Before pushing the autodestruct an idea comes to mind... How nice would it be to transfer fuel between ships so he could finish his journey ?
The day of Beta 1.3, Surly_Badger reads in the patch notes about a module enabling fuel transfer between ships ; it's a revelation. He immediately explains his plan to another explorer, Mossfoot, who advises him to post his Idea of a group bringing fuel to commanders in need. He takes it to the official "exploration" forum to see if others would be interested. Soon, many pilots join the cause.
The day of 1.3 : we're ready ! One week later, we got our first victim... Erm, Rescue !
What's the objective ? What makes you so uniques ?
Our objective ? Bring fuel to those who don't have it. What makes us unique ? fasten your seatbelts...
Fuel Rats act on Individual Excellency. We expect each and every one of us to give his best, pushing the boundaries of service further so that the whole group may benefit from his Glory.
We offer service above and beyond expectations. Stuck at the other side of the galaxy ? We're on our way. No fuel scoop ? We'll make a chain relay so you can jump between systems. Scared of the next jump ? We'll escort you to a station.
But that's not all ! Calling the Fuel Rats is learning :
- what modules to buy (fuel scoop)
- how to use GalMap and the filter to find scoopable stars (KGB FOAM, Oh Boy A Fine Girl Killed Me, Oh Girl A Fine Boy Kissed Me... you name it !)
- how to add friends
- how to form a wing
- how to activate a beacon
- discover about peer-to-peer architecture and technology, the instancing problems...
- and many, many other things...
Why the name ? Is there a motto ?
Surly_Badger, when he created us, wanted us to be an Anarchic Collective, with no specific organization and fully devoted to individual excellency so that we could easily evolve and adapt to each and every situation we could encounter. He wanted to use something reminiscing the hectic nature of our work, thus using the scurrying rat as our image.
We have evolved a lot and now consider us a Cooperative.
A motto ? We have many, but the main one is this one :
- We have Fuel.
- You don't.
- Any Questions ?
Orientation and activity :
We are a group based on Player WITH Player cooperation.
For our group (and activities) to function, we need the first commander to come to be able to trust us in EVERY occasion, which forbids us from any political relationship (be it federal, imperial, allied), with a Power Player, a specific Player Group to avoid finding ourselves on one side of the fence and becoming the target of the other side... We are more neutral than the Swiss !
Hierarchy ? Organization ? How are the Fuel Rats governed ?
No Hierarchy. Every Rat can take the responsibilities he/she wants of his own volition, provided nobody else is doing what he intends on doing. We've got an inter-group relations expert (DerryBear), an IRC Janitor (Orange_Sheets), I deal with Press things and am the group's historian.
Concerning Dispatch, anybody can do it provided they train a bit before, but once "certified" you just go "I'm taking the hat" and do it.
We are organized as a Cooperative. For example, Dispatch will handle the room with the information he's given, and Rats will refer to him/her to know where to go. Let's say Dispatch is a rescue coordinator. If he has to leave his seat, another can take his place in a very fluid manner and Rats will refer to the new Dispatch. But it's always a cooperation.
What's your opinion on the game ?
Difficult question. I'm going to answer it based on my experience and a bit of my discussions with other players.
First, to give you an idea of my experience I've been playing since release, have been to the core twice (holder of a 9Hxx buckyball), am the 45th "old school" member of the 65K Club (those who crossed the whole galaxy to reach the point furthest from Sol). After 600-700h of gametime I haven't reached Elite, nor done PvP, nor participated in PP. So, clearly, there are a lot of things beyond my understanding in the game.
Also, my reference in term of spaceship games is Escape Velocity Nova (from which my forum Avatar is taken) and to a lesser extent Endless Sky.
Now about the game :
Elite sometime feels like its Galaxy : It's there, but for the most part it's empty. That's why our revered Founder did what he did, to breathe back some life and positive human interaction, to give players a meaning and a goal, to defy the mistakes everyone makes one day or another.
This game has a steep learning curve. It does not forgive a lot. It asks for an investment, but the reward is proportional. You spend a lot of time hunting villains in a Viper but how awesome is it when you can finally buy a Vulture ?
Speaking of game systems, let me tell you the game is a lot more intuitive than when it started. Reputation bars are magical, mission variety is welcome and missions are more attractive than before. Community Goals are very nice, too. And what about those sounds, that physics simulator ! Each and every ship has a very distinct personality and flies like no other !
I only lament the lack of options in the outfitter.
Frankly speaking, I don't know what to tell you. There's good, there's bad ; and we work with all of the group "leaders" (and with the Pioneer's Cooperative) to submit constructive criticism so we may better the game and what surrounds it. Check the many streamers, the Galactic Academy created to help teach newcomers the ropes and our very own lessons about how not to run out of fuel...
I could speak of the BGS and how wonky it is, the actual state of PvP, the many problems of PowerPlay but we'd be here for a while. The official forums are bountyful with information on those topics and I wish the French Forum was more active.
So ! to wrap up the game is far from perfect but thankfully the community greatly helps to patch the holes !
An anecdote about the Fuel Rats ?
Only one ? The first one that comes to mind is that guy asking for help, suddenly goes unresponsive. Some weird chatter comes up and he says "sorry, my cat walked on the keyboard and my kitchen's on fire." And then he logs out !
Or the time this commander sees a ship come out right in front of him, thinks it's a pirate and jumps to another system when it was his knight in shining limpet !
Your biggest accomplishement ? A memorable moment ?
There are so many...
- Arrakaij brought limpets beyond the 65K line
- Kavinski & Rusticolus travelled 32K LY in less than 48H to save someone
- We saved a pilot with 00:00 on his countdown.
- I hold the record for fastest operation with 03:33 between Rat Signal and Safe Signal.
- Last time I checked we had two rats with more than 200 rescues to their name.
- We're nearing 10.000 succesful rescues.
- The very famous NeoSpike Operation ! Where we escorted someone over the course of 3 days and over 3600LY, using 540 limpets !
How to become a Fuel Rat ?
Just ask. There may be a Drill involved.
It doesn't matter if you're a merchant, explorer, fighter, pirate, miner, hunter, imperial, federal, allied ; you are welcome.
Being a Fuel Rats is kind of an aside. While on a Rescue we expect you to be your best Self. Once successful (or not, it happens) you. Do. What. You. Want.
How many members ?
1400 and growing.
Any big events ? Regular ?
You mean, apart from the 15+ daily rescues ? We got a few things underway but nothing precise for now.
What language do you use ? Can we speak french and be a Rat ?
Sadly no, you have to master a bit of english. We're actually working on a translation mechanism for our instructions but it's more for the "clients" who don't speak english.
3 Fun Facts about your group !
1- Surly_Badger sent a T-shirt to each of the 20 best Rats. I shed a few man(l)y tears when I received mine.
2- There are people singing songs (and advertisements) about us ! Look for Hotel Dalgarno and Hutton Orbital Radio.
3- We have one (1) Official Cheerleader.
4- Did you know ? The Rescue One Skins you can see ingame were made by one of our own !
What about the future ?
I think there was a Movie planned (even though we already did some), I'm still compiling our story, we have a Minor Faction playing the BGS (and some of our client do missions for them to thank us), and a few other projects that are... Secret ! #BlackRats.
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