Returning from exploration? - The Guard Dogs, Providing Safe Passage to the Bubble

aRottenKomquat · Oct 28, 2015

Hello, Commanders. CMDR aRottenKomquat here with a new tool I hope will be valuable to us explorers who are worried about getting interdicted by NPCs on our return trips and losing months worth of exploration data! Visit our IRC channel and wing up with other Commanders who can escort you safely into the Bubble for those last several hundred light-years!

Rules:

Wing up for protection when < 1 Kly from home.
If you want to be a Guard Dog, use a fast, well-armed ship, and watch IRC for explorers who are nearly home and want protection.
If you want to just chill in the IRC channel, that's fine too!
If you want to use your own IRC client, you can use server irc.us.gamesurge.net and channel #EliteGuardDogs

http://www.eliteguarddogs.com

Cmdr Frawd Digger · Oct 28, 2015

Great work Cmdr!! I look forward to meeting members of the Guard Dogs on my way back into the bubble in a few weeks' time.

Thanks for setting this up. +1rep

Frawd

aRottenKomquat · Oct 28, 2015

My apologies to anyone who tried to use the site last night, I somehow put in the wrong IRC channel name when uploading the web page to my host. It should be #EliteGuardDogs, not #EliteDangerous. It may be overridden by local cookies if you've already been there, so you might have to type in the correct channel yourself, or try CTRL + F5 to reload the web page without cache.

EUS · Oct 28, 2015

Going to use open? Mobius? Private group?
'Cause I'd rather take my chances in winging up in Mobius and potentially face NPC, than go in open and potentially face NPC & CMDRs.

Stoo · Oct 28, 2015

How are you vetting your 'guard dogs'?

aRottenKomquat · Oct 28, 2015

EUS said:
Going to use open? Mobius? Private group?
'Cause I'd rather take my chances in winging up in Mobius and potentially face NPC, than go in open and potentially face NPC & CMDRs.

Whatever people want.

Stoo said:
How are you vetting your 'guard dogs'?

I'm not. Right now my plan was to simply provide a tech resource to make it easy for explorers to meet up. If anyone wants to become more organized than that, that's fine with me and I'll gladly help, but I'm just a tech guy.

OfftheRails · Oct 28, 2015

Great idea +rep

newman1702 · Oct 28, 2015

That's amazing, I had very similar thoughts and was entertaining the idea of starting something along those lines. Glad my procrastination habits turned this into a self-solving issue with someone else doing it for me

Great idea, hope it pans out. BTW, do consider Mobius or even creating a private guard dogs group - this way anyone breaking the rules would be quickly removed from group, improving security.

jadefriendly · Oct 28, 2015

rep +1 for this

might take advantage of this when i get back from my current trip, and offer my services after that

Fian · Oct 28, 2015

I appreciate the idea but tbh I would far rather return in solo than wing up with players I don't know.

EUS · Oct 28, 2015

Vetting is easy, there's a list of CMDRs who have done the Sag A run.
Does anyone think that those CMDRs would blow up returning explorers?
There's a list of lonely explorers, many of whom I've friended, and i'd say the majority of the friends are back in the bubble. If they want to volunteer, why not?
Use Mobius as default, because PvP'ers are taken care of quickly.
In short, I'd trust anyone who is part of Mobius, and/or has done the sag a run, and on the friends list.

aRottenKomquat · Oct 28, 2015

EUS said:
Vetting is easy, there's a list of CMDRs who have done the Sag A run.
Does anyone think that those CMDRs would blow up returning explorers?
There's a list of lonely explorers, many of whom I've friended, and i'd say the majority of the friends are back in the bubble. If they want to volunteer, why not?
Use Mobius as default, because PvP'ers are taken care of quickly.
In short, I'd trust anyone who is part of Mobius, and/or has done the sag a run, and on the friends list.

Good idea. I will look into Mobius.

AstirTII · Oct 28, 2015

Great idea

Genar-Hofoen · Oct 28, 2015

I definitely think such a group within Mobius would be the best - great idea BTW

CMDR AKIRA MASAKARI · Oct 28, 2015

Fian said:
I appreciate the idea but tbh I would far rather return in solo than wing up with players I don't know.

With the new NPCs probably solo is the most dangerous. Group or even Open, winged, in an High Sec Sytem with few players and the station close to the star is probably the best bet right now.

tafkabb · Oct 28, 2015

I'm so relieved I decided to go away in an Orca. If I do get interdicted when I get back they'll never be able to bring me down.

darkwolf79 · Oct 28, 2015

Great stuff! Thanks for settings this up! +rep

Personally I'm perfectly happy in Open. It's not other CMDR's I'm worried about but mad NPC's.
My experience in Open with other CMDR's so far has been exclusively positive.

I've never tried Mobius myself but if it is just PvE then that might of course work, too.

It's down to the individual CMDR's what to use when organising a Guard Dog escort.

I will definitely join up once back.

aRottenKomquat · Oct 28, 2015

darkwolf79 said:
Great stuff! Thanks for settings this up! +rep

Personally I'm perfectly happy in Open. It's not other CMDR's I'm worried about but mad NPC's.
My experience in Open with other CMDR's so far has been exclusively positive.

I've never tried Mobius myself but if it is just PvE then that might of course work, too.

It's down to the individual CMDR's what to use when organising a Guard Dog escort.

I will definitely join up once back.

I've only had one bad experience with a CMDR. Another player decided to attack my empty Type-6 right after I finished a trading run. He disabled all my systems, then must have scanned me and saw I was empty, then left me to die. I had to self-destruct.

NPC's on the other hand have always been a bother, even before the 1.4 update.

aRottenKomquat · Dec 8, 2015

Hello, fellow explorers! Wanted to give this thread a bump and try to organize the first Guard Dog escort. I'm on my way back to the Bubble and now only about 6K north. I was wondering if any other explorers will be returning within the next couple weeks? If so, I can stay out a bit longer and we can wing up for that final 800 light-years or so.

EDIT: Membership in the Mobius group is highly recommended, they discourage PvP.

CMDR Heisenberg B. Damned · Dec 8, 2015

You'll need to plan where to meet up. The problem is a good fighting ship will have way less jump range than even a reasonable explorer. I made sure I was available for a commander on my friends list who was coming in to drop off data at Lave from Sag A. I'd already checked out Lave and for a CG it was pretty quiet. I was just planning a good place to meet without hitting an inhabited system when they came back to Open (they'd been in Solo due to lag). Had a quick chat about Lave being safe then they jumped right past me due to their range.

Well the important thing is they got back OK once they remembered about landing gears and docking (how soon we forget how to dock) but those last few jumps you'll have to match the jump range of the dog ship. Can't go on IRC at work aRottenKomquat but if you get no responses just PM me when you've got a reasonable idea when you'll hitting the bubble and if a fighting Python's fast enough then we can arrange a time/place to wing in.

I'm on a PC and play in Open (on the Sag A list if that makes any difference).