Fireside Chat Transcript Jan 13 2024
Asher Elias:
All right. So excellent form today. We're not in Chinese time zone anymore. I think they had forgotten that. I think that they thought that, you know, Chinese time zone was the only time zone. We had great numbers of capital wise. Our sub caps were awesome. I'm going to give you an idea, just peering into what I think is their strategy and then why I think they're doing it.
So we've been catching up with them on Dreads for a while now. Their capital numbers were still better than ours. But we had way more subs than them. If I was FCing for them, I would have tried to push the capital advantage. Obviously that's the difference between us and them is that we are willing to take these fights that don't look perfect.
A couple, maybe about two weeks ago in Chinese time zone, I took a two one fight with our Raven Navy Issues. We lost that fight, but I asked guys to stay up for it. So I'm like, we're going to get a fight. This time they had an advantage in capitals, they didn't have an advantage in subs that's not enough for them.
What I think their strategic, you know, goal is, is first off, HY- is much closer to them, it's a direct jump for them. It's you know, we have to move there through several gates and can be bubbled and all that kind of stuff. So it's harder for us to get there. So, you know, if I'm them and I see us catching up in Dreads then I want to, you know, force that fight before, you know, it can happen.
They would like to get, I presume they would like to get a decisive Dread engagement before we catch up to them. I think in the next 6 months, if we continue at the pace, we're going, we'll probably surpass them. So what does that mean for us? It means build Dreads, right? First off, it means build Dreads. We've seen that again that they were ahead of us in Dreads, but our subcapitals were awesome .
We had, we had three full fleets from the main Imperium ping. We had a Brave fleet. We had a Sigma fleet. We had Fanatic Legion fighting Siberian Squad to try keeping them from getting here. We had Shadow. I think we had, did I say Sigma? Yeah, we had Sigma. We had a bunch of people formed and ready to go.
Numbers are awesome. Capital numbers definitely need some more work. So, that's the take from this. I don't want to just sit here and gloat because there's something we can improve on. There's stuff we can do better. I'm very happy with what you guys did. I'm very happy with allies. I'm very happy with everyone. And yes, INIT had two fleets. Two full fleets. So our numbers were really good.
They've dropped a Keepstar in F4R2. They have put it in direct range of HY. They have the advantage as far as getting to HY. HY is the first system past EX6, which is the very long gate. EX6 is a system we care a lot about. HY is a system that is nice to have, but it's not the most important thing to us. Still, we want to defend it, but like I said, that gives them an advantage. They got to see everything. We had to put all our cards on the table, and then they chose to stand down. I talked to you guys a lot after what happened with B2, about there's two ways to kill four Keepstars, there's the way we did it, which is we went in there, we took losses, we ate shit to get in, we jumped through bubbles, we jumped through bombing runs, and we did it, and we blew them up.You guys, a lot of you guys were here for that. There's some new people who were not, but a lot of you were here for that. And that was so fun, when we watched those Keepstars explode, it was a great feeling. Also, we alarm clocked in frickin Chinese Chinese time zone for that, right? So That was how we did it.
How they did it was they burned out everyone, right? They burned out B2, they waited until they couldn't do it anymore, and then they killed them uncontested. They still killed four Keepstars, right? They still did it. So, it's a choice of how you want to do things. And yeah, I know, I transposed the words. Thank you guys for typing it out. I appreciate you pointing that out.
There is a way to do it. So, when they were attacking B2, their strategy was this. They would form all the time and just poke, nibble around the edges. And B2 was smaller. And so, they had to always be vigilant. And when B2 wasn't vigilant, they would go ahead and, you know, take a little bit here, take a little bit there. They burned them out. They're trying to repeat that strategy against us. The difference is, is when I was talking to, you know, B2, I'm like, Hey, who are your GSOL guys? They were like, Oh, GSOL? Yeah, that's Francis. I'd be like, yeah, but who are the rest of them? They'd be like, no, it's. It's just Francis, he does all the fueling, right? There was one layer of failure.
For us, we had a jump bridge go low on fuel today, and our GSOL guys sprung into action, did great work, got it refueled, we're just shoveling fuel in it like a train conductor, and it was, it was really good. So What we need to do to win against them is to be ready to outform them on a flash. Whenever they flash form, we flash form, and we outform them. We've done it a few times, but I need you guys ready in the US time zone and the EU time zone to be ready to form immediately.
So, that's their plan. Their plan is to try the same thing, the same blueprint that they worked, where they tired someone out and then got stuff without any resistance. You know, try to get timers into armor and then into hull without being noticed, that kind of thing. We need to be vigilant. We have been so far, but it will only work if we keep it up. So I want to lay out what their plan is so you guys absolutely know. I'm not, like, making this up. It's not, this is not, like you know. This is what they've done and it's what they're doing again.
You already saw today that they do not want a direct engagement if there is a chance of losing. They had an advantage in capitals, they didn't have it in subs, we definitely outnumbered them in subs. That was not enough for them. These people have a particular way of playing the game.
It is boring as hell. It is so boring. These people took, they took the CFC in 2014, and they idolized it. They made fun of it, but they adopted every wrong thing about it. They looked at CFC in 2014, they looked at all the dumb stuff we did, blue balls or hell dunk, and they learned all the wrong lessons.
These people, it's, it's fighting the most boring, the most boring enemies. That is by design, so what I want to do, is I want to make it stop working for them. And we're already on the road to doing that. We already way outformed them today. We outformed them when they tried to flash form a couple days ago.
Keep doing that. They are serious about this. They have put a Keepstar in direct range of us. They're very serious about this, I want you guys to understand. And they're going to do the same stuff that they've done before. We need to be ready for it. As for today, you guys had an awesome form. They were slamming pings well before us.
We did not ping until early this morning. And they had been pinging since yesterday, and we grossly outformed them.
Apple Pear:
I'm going to just share a ping from Gobbins about today that he included in sets of things. So I will link it now in this channel. This was his final ping about the whole situation, and he was very sad.
" (1:16:56 PM) apple_pear-laptop: Gobbins ping: Final subcap tally for this formup is 1578 hostiles, 948 friendlies (caps not included on either side). Thanks for joining but not the kind of numbers disparity that allows for a fight as the attacker.
Not the original intention of the op, but we got to use this chance to also cover allied Rokhs move across Zarzakh as well as moving some beans who were still catching up to the move ops.
We will keep looking for fights in the area and continue reffing objectives in Catch."
He was very precise with his counting, by the way.
Asher Elias:
Yeah, that's like, look at that. Also, the dude is such a liar. We had 1579. I can't believe that. Those lies dudes use all the time. Saying 1578. Embarrassing. Just sad you're right.
Apple Pear:
And, and did you see, like, Cap's not included on either side? He doesn't want to show his capital attendance to his line.
Asher Elias:
Exactly. So, there's two questions here that I want to address, and I think they're great questions. Alright, first is Audemed. He says, How do we form engagements then and prevent our own burnout in 18 months? Not just leadership, but forms are going to suffer after months of blue balls. And then, MysticX says, How are they not burning out their own members with these constant flash forms?
MysticX, you have You have asked the question that is the answer to what Audemed said, is when they were doing this against B2, they had greater numbers, so you can use burnout as a resource. I do not believe in this, but you can do it, and that's what they did. They were willing to burn out their own members to make this strategy work.
Against us, they will have the same burnout that they had before. Their numbers will go down too. The strategy requires you to have more numbers than the other people. If you guys keep forming like this, it will not work. This is what I'm saying. If we're vigilant, if we put up the fight, they can't do it for 18 months because the people will stop showing up.
You cannot, you cannot form like this in Blue Ball over and over and over again, and keep the same numbers.
Apple Pear:
Also, we are willing to take fights that are not completely equal, or we have double the numbers like they always need to have.
Asher Elias:
So if we're going on the offensive, their structure's a timed Chinese time zone. That means that we can take a fight on them if we want. But we're gonna let them attack for a little while, and then we'll, you know, we'll see if we want to try to blow up their Keepstar in Chinese time zone.
I'm very careful about asking you guys To stay up and a lot of you in your thirties and forties now you know, asking you to stay up at this time in your life, you got families, you got jobs, you got friends. It's a big ask. So I, I only ask like you know, as few times as possible. But when it's yeah, some of you type in fifties. There you go. And there are a couple of zoomers. I got you. I understand, but a lot of you aren't. So I'm going to ask you guys to go into Chinese time zone to alarm clock. And I'm going to ask you to do that sparingly. I'm not going to do it all the time.
Apple Pear:
And also make sure you join the fleets that are going, like Ark, Mist, and all those kind of people who have a lot of fun in their space.
Asher Elias:
I want to shout out particularly Ark, he's been going every day and Mist has been going a lot too.
They're going into their space. And they're forming, they're outforming these dudes in their own space. We've seen just better numbers all the times from, from us. And basically, you know, Ark will go in and then they have to ping like four times and bring four different fleets, ask frat to come help them. And he's going every day.
These kind of fleets add up. It's part of, you know, the strategy to fight them, going into their space, attacking them. If you go on Reddit, according to them, we never come. I don't get that at all because we are there every day. So please go on those fleets and shout out to those FCs who are taking them.
Those are, those are awesome. Mist_Artee says, Ark fleets have been insanely fun. Yeah, I've been, I've been chilling on comms for a bunch of them, and they seem like a really good time. Alterarri has been helping out Ark, and I think he's taken a few fleets of his own too, so, those have been some really good fleets.
Yep, Tetra's been doing fleets, that's like, more killing capitals which is very good as well.
Apple Pear:
And of course, don't forget Ninetales and RUSquad.
Asher Elias:
Yeah, yeah, that's a great point. I'm not normally around for those, but Ninetales have been doing really good work. Really good work.
Alright I think I have a couple things I wanted to mention, I'm going to pull up my list, but if you guys have any questions, go ahead and ask them while I pull up my list and I'll answer them as much as I can.
Yes, PI exists.
Yeah, the last thing, Casador was spamming it, I want to call that out. Please build dreads. This is the one thing where we are demonstrably behind them. They have more dreads than us. That is very important to them. It's very important to us to catch up. You know, I want to take dread fights for you guys. That's the one thing where, you know, even a Raven Navy fleet, if we, if we welp that it's like, whatever, I'll, I'll, I'll go two to one and we'll take that fight because I asked you guys to stay up for it, but I'm not going to take a terrible dread fight for us. Cause that takes a lot of time to replace. So get those dreads and cause I want to use them. I don't care if we're a little behind, that's fine. We just need to be within the realm of the possibility of taking a fight. And then I believe in our tactics to win those fights. I believe in our FCs. I believe in our everything that we can do. So get those dreads ready.
Snipereagle1:
One thing I wanted to mention, Asher, if I can hop in for a sec.
Asher Elias:
Yeah, go ahead.
Snipereagle1:
So we have a new SIG related to Beehive people have been asking for this for a while so there's a new SIG called Stupid Idiots, and you can join that if you just want to be part of the response fleet. There's a skill check on it and an asset check, so you have to, you know, you have to have the ships, it's in the Doctrine Forum.
But yeah, you can join that so that even if you're not crabbing in a capital and not in those groups, you can get the pings to join Beehive and dunk on idiots who try to kill our crabs.
[SIG] Stupid Idiots - Goonswarm Immigration and Customs Enforcement (goonfleet.com)
https://esi.goonfleet.com/Group/1593
Asher Elias:
Never has a SIG more appealed to me than a SIG named Stupid Idiots. It's the perfect SIG for me.
Yeah, shout out to Ascee, they've been doing stuff up front. And they've been raising ADMs and, you know, they're actually doing really good stuff.
RIP Marshal Law. Marshal Law is basically Stupid Idiot Fleet the beta. It still exists, but Stupid Idiot Fleet is sort of the wider version of it.
Some of you guys are saying stuff like, stop accepting random fleet invites in 1DQ. If those people were at the Fireside, I would repeat this stuff, but not here, so I'm not gonna say it.
Atrium says the Dread Order is Zirn, PNI, then Rev Navy, but I would say it's Zirn and PNI. I wouldn't say those two. I would say those two are even, and then Rev Navy.
If you guys are looking for a loan, like especially if you need to get dreads LendingBee is lending and that's a good program. We've got a lot of people started out in the way to make money, so I wanted to promo that because it's something I've been thinking about lately. We've loaned out a lot of ISK, and we've got a lot of people making money. There is a ton of easy ways to make money in this game, but a lot of them require startup capital, and that's what it's there for. BEYOND, who is typing in all caps Who has like a lot of good guides on how to get get rich in EVE. So talk to him.
Join scouts. Excellent, excellent, excellent advice.
https://goonfleet.com/index.php/topic/336499-sig-scouts-we-like-to-watch/
ILLUM homies, if you got anything you want me to talk about on the fireside, put it in there. I'll answer some more questions while I wait for you guys. We didn't do our ILLUM meeting today because we were getting ready for the fleets.
Who would win in a fight between Doctor Who and Batman? I'm gonna bother some people with this, I do not like Doctor Who. I watched like two episodes and it just didn't really feel for me. Yep, I knew, I knew I'd anger some nerds with that. I'm quitting the coalition, wow. Some, some real anger. That's the most controversial thing I've said so far.
Palantine Keepstar status. I don't actually know that we've, we were, we've been like collecting stuff for other projects. So I think we're still at like 53.3% or whatever it was last time. We have not been like over the last month ever since the last couple months since the J thing happened. We've had other like reasons or other things to do. Yeah. That's often what happens is we dip into the Palantine to build a normal keep star whenever, because a lot of times our allies request Keepstars. Like most people aren't building Keepstars. We're one of the few people who do it pretty, pretty frequently. So a lot of times our allies come to us, they say, Hey, do you have a Keepstar for sale? And we're like, yeah, we have one. We keep one like hot basically. And then we just build a new one. Right. You know, and put that on, on deck. And the next time someone asks for like, yeah, here's one, then we build a new one. And so we dip into the Palantine pile for that.
Apple Pear:
Also, the question about has the Capswarm thread been updated? It has been, a new post has been made, but one important thing, the carrier fit has been updated and the prop mod you use on the carrier. So please make sure you get your carrier updated. Also, buy a carrier for your super alt. So you have, you can fly a carrier or a super, but make sure you check the fit on your carrier because the carrier fit has changed like a month ago and the last time I asked people about it, half the fleet didn't change, hadn't changed it yet. So please check the carrier fits, update your carrier fit and be ready to fight.
Asher Elias:
Alright, so Shingly links that CD is recruiting for one more week. CD is a very cool thing if you'd like to get involved in the politics of EVE, if that's something that interests you. I can strongly recommend you, CD, you get to see a backdoor into a part of EVE that a lot of people don't get to enjoy. But, you know, it's only for the right kind of person, you know someone who is very into understanding the connections between the people and alliances. If this sounds like you, if you are a people person and you understand social connections, CD might be for you. It's a really fun place to join. So for the recruiting for one more week if you want to go through the application process.
CD is recruiting for 1 more week - applications close Jan 21 https://goonfleet.com/index.php/topic/351078-corps-diplomatique-recruitment-winter-2024-edition/
So, light's there, light, light air, says Palatine Keepstar in 1DQ when? So that's where we're talking about it. We're only 53 percent of the way there. It takes a very long time and we certainly won't be anchoring it here. It's a, it's a, it's like a If you ever played Age of Empires 2, we're building a wonder. And that's our, that's our victory condition, but they take a long time to build.
Best Dread to build for myself? A Phoenix Navy issue or a Zirnitra .
Edible says to beg on the fireside for materials. If I was going to beg for something, I would be like, Please send me Estamels Adaptive Invulns. I'm going to use the fireside to enrich myself, not the alliance. Come on.
Can I join CD and link my cat pictures as a form of communication? I mean, send them in the Blueberry application and see what happens.
Does the Palpatine Keep give anything other than one being allowed to be built? It does have some bonuses.
Are we done blowing up high sec stuff? No, we are not done. Once again, that is Chinese time zone, so we are going to do it sparingly and like I said, I'm not going to ask more of you guys than I think I should. I care about your time, I appreciate that you guys show up to these meetings, I appreciate that you guys show up to these fleets I intend to respect that.
If we build the wonder, do we automatically win the game? I think, I think the, so here's my thought, is if we erect a palatine, and we keep it up for six months, we've won the game. That's my thought. Because that's like, it's like a wonder, right? Like you have to erect a wonder in Age of Empires 2, and then it has to last like, what, a thousand years or whatever it is? So, you need to erect a palatine in six months.
If you do have a six month erection, please see your doctor. That could be a problem.
Is there forgiving someone who became a goon fucker? No. We, we will review blacklists for, let's say, weak blacklist entries from a long time ago, but the blacklist is intended to be permanent. If they goon fuck, then that is a permanent thing.
Are you still the 23rd best FC in the Imperium or has that number changed? Excellent question, Anselm. We have added several FCs. I'm like 27th now, and I just keep getting worse.
Asher, do you need more duchies? I think we've had enough passing today. There's been enough passing for everyone, so you do not need to pass me the duchy.
Any update on the Southeastern Agreement? It is extremely unlikely that we will, you know, we will renew that for a year or any time, amount of time. So In February, expect the Southeast to become open to any kind of, you know fighting or whatever happens there. Diplomacy, fighting allies, enemies any numbers of things can happen. This might not surprise you guys, but Pandemic Horde almost immediately started violating the agreement. Yesterday I pinged out a hilarious thread from one of their FCs where he basically agreed that they violated the agreement, but then said it was on us to enforce their issues. So, that made that was hilarious to me. I, I thank him for being that dumb. That was just really good ping fodder. But yeah, it's It's been ridiculous watching that happen.
Should I focus on supers or dreads for form ups like today, or both? So, basically, level one of being, like, a prepared Eve player is, hey, I have the subcaps that we need. Level two is being like, well, I have a, I can now train my subcap pilot for a dread. Level three is I now have a separate Dread account and the level four is I have Dreads, Supers, Titans, etc. all on different accounts. That's the ideal scenario. Like, I have, I basically have eight accounts that I can, I spin up or down based on the situation. Like right now I have five active and then, you know, I've got Titans and Supers and Dreads on them. Now, I'm a long term player, so I'm, I'm very enfranchised, but that's what you should be aiming for. Is having a Dread on your main is good, but it means that you can't do subs and Dreads at the same time. So you want to, but if your focus is right now Dread or Super, and you don't have either, get Dread first. It's much easier to get a Dread and then focus on the Super afterwards. But right now, what I would even prefer over that, is I would prefer two Dreads on two different characters rather than a Dread and a Super. Focus on getting Dreads for now, Supers later, and then Titans in the near future, or distant future, I should say.
Don't forget to mention that every Titan and Super needs a fax, too. Yes, that's I was going to say common sense, but no, it's probably not common sense. Yeah, every Titan and Super should have a fax pilot available.
You are right, Lordtrenchard. Zirn is also a quick train, get a Zirn. Hti, you are correct. Zirn is one of the quickest dreads to train. Zirns are awesome, please train Zirns.
On Leshak's train, how important is the BS level 5 skill? Does it take prio over dreads? If you have a character who has I don't think Leshak level 5 is super important. The guns, having the tech 2 guns is very important, but I don't think you need BS5 for that. So I would say focus on a Dread if that's what you're making choices for your character. Asher, am I still taking care of your trimps? I looked at them like a week ago. I've sort of, sort of burned out a little bit on trimps.
I made it past zone 500. Zirns also overlap with Leshaks, which rule? Correct. Zirn skill books are impossible to find. I don't know anything about that, but probably.
Is the new Age of Empires game worth getting? I don't know. Someone, someone can tell you.
Play Eve with shorts or no pants? So that's like the classic question. And I know a lot of you guys are no panters, but I prefer shorts. You know, I want to keep everything, everything under control. You know what I mean? There's just a little too much freedom with, with no pants. Someone has linked the Zirnitra Skillbook program. I don't know if that's still active, but it might be.
https://goonfleet.com/index.php/topic/343913-zirnitra-skillbook-program/
For multiple super alts, do you require one fax alt per super alt, or can you decrease from that ratio? Yeah, we, I think technically we only require one fax alt. So if you have three supers and one fax, that would not be a problem for me. Obviously, you want to get more if you can, but one fax is fine for that scenario.
Cap training when? So, they have turned off Sisi, which is the test server, Richodemus. So, that's like, it's a bit of an issue because we've always done that on Sisi. We need to figure out a way to do that on the main servers, I suppose. I'll throw that on the agenda for us to look at.
Apple Pear:
Join if we have like fleets, cap fleets, that when we don't form like 10 subcap fleets, join cap fleets and then ask your questions there. And there's always an FC who is more than willing to help you and answer your questions when there is some time.
X up in Elysium if it's super cold where you are today. Y up in Elysium if you live in Miami or some other tropical paradise like me. I have my windows open right now, it's lovely. It's like 69 degrees Fahrenheit.
What is that in centigrade? Like 21? 20?
Ranger Gama:
It's about 20.
Asher Elias:
Yeah, it's nice.
Ranger Gama:
It's minus 17 C where I am.
Asher Elias:
Woo! Thank you there, guy. It probably will break. Alright friends, so I think we've gotten through most of the questions I could sit here and chat forever, but I'm gonna let you guys go about your day. Let me just say, I'm just gonna wind up and just say, the issues that I want to talk about today that were the most important to me, are, is, like, awesome form. Keep doing that, be ready to flash form on all these fleets. Get into fleets like the ones Arkadios, Tetra, Altarari Mist are taking into their space. Those are really important. Get Dread Alts. Those are our big, our big like issues that I want to keep hitting on and they're very important. I really love the form that we had today.
I love that they stood down. It's terrible for them. Great for us. You guys have a lovely Saturday. Don't stay too cold. If you're watching the playoffs, I hope your team wins. Take it easy, y'all.
