Fireside Chat Transcript 2025 01 18

Asher Elias:

This time I actually believe you guys. I think it was my mic.

Apple Pear:

Mike is not here. He's in the army.

Asher Elias:

Sonreir, thank you for the uppercase clap. If there's anyone I want to get the clap from, it'd be you. Alright, so I don't expect much, uh, because there are a lot of goons out in Vegas. We, uh, cancelled our meetings this week because of that. It was just like, three quarters of the team not going to be there. So we just, uh, decided not to meet.

So I have a couple things to talk about, then I'll answer some questions. And that'll be all for this fireside. Um, let's see.

Next week. So next week, uh, after the fireside next week we are doing a move op from 49-U to UALX. So that means that you need to be in 49-U at the start of the move. Op, you cannot go from 1DQ you need to get yourself to 49-U. It is a jump across keepstars. So if you have not moved yet, uh, you can get yourself to 49-U and then move next week. So be aware of that.

Alright, and, this is something interesting, um, Stickz are you here? Alright, I'm gonna guess not. Okay, so, um, no Jeremy we're not moving again, we're just catching people up. Here is some intel, some details for you guys, something to know about. So, uh, Pandemic Horde has done a Dread Census. They got all of their guys, uh, to show up to a, like a particular system in Dreadnoughts and then counted them. Um, and they've started calling this the Year of the Dread. So they're putting a lot of emphasis on Dreadnoughts. Um, and then they're even doing a Census. Um, and it's, very interesting. Obviously, we've been saying, you know, the Dreadnought is the most important ship, but it is, you know, it is very interesting to hear what they're calling it the Year of the Dread. Um, you know, and something that obviously we need to respond to in kind and make sure that we are arming ourselves appropriately with Dreadnoughts. I think we're pushing towards that, but, uh, now you guys know that, you know, that they are seriously, you know, serious about countering it. Um, and they are also doing censuses like it's 1904. So, um, that's some intel for you guys, a little leak.

Uh, I have been watching the Horde leaks, and uh, basically what they do is they just put Reddit posts up on their, on their, their intel channel for their members. Um, and then credit their, their spy org for having read Reddit. They don't actually credit them with reading Reddit, they say it's a leak from somewhere else, but they just saw it on Reddit. Um, so, that's been, that's been enjoyable to see. Um, And I think that's about it that I have, uh, Stickz asked for some time to talk and then didn't show up, so he loses. And, um, if you guys have questions, go ahead and ask them and I will answer them.

Uh, Zohana, I am not in Vegas. Just, most goons are.

Can we do a census just for the lols? Uh, I don't think we'll be doing our own census.

Apple Pear:

I think we did a census. Like, we, we, we did a move op, etc. We saw many capitals, I think.

Asher Elias:

Yeah, there you go. \Yeah.

Uh, I'm, I'm not teetotaler Moa, but I don't drink a lot. No.

Uh, Init is not blue to us, so they can hunt us, which they do for, basically they find a wormhole, they'll try to get a capital, that's how they work.

Uh, Takeda says, Asher, Horde have been using long range dreads for a while, a fair while now, are we planning on responding to this with some sort of reasonable counter? So, uh, for, uh, at least a year now, if not more, I have been saying for people to get in Zirnitras and Phoenix Navy issues. And you'll note that those are both long range dreads. So, um, uh, yes, that, that, that has definitely been thought of.

Alterari, I'm not a big beer guy. If I drink, I would drink scotch. I'm mostly an occasion drinker. I don't drink just for the going out type of drinking.

The Zirn is long range? Yes, it is long range. What is its range? Uh, it can shoot to about 190 kilometers. Um, that is sort of max, max range with the right setup. But, um, it is long range, yes.

Apple Pear:

The great thing of the Zirnitra is it's both long range and short range. You don't have to do anything about it, just change the ammo.

Asher Elias:

What's my favorite, uh, dosh? I would say, well, it's just whiskey, but I'd probably say that just the best overall value is Jameson. It's always good. It's never too expensive. I would just go with the Jameson. Kirkland brand, yeah, if you guys are Costco members, uh, especially Kirkland brand vodka is like the best value for vodka. It's, it tastes like a premium vodka and it costs a, you know, mid shelf, uh, so. But yeah, the Costco Kirkland brand alcohol is really good.

Mifune sword god, setting me up. I don't know if it's intentional or appreciated either way.

Asher Elias, how are you feeling about the alliances doing after the move? What's the Asher prediction for the immediate geopolitical future? Yeah, uh, man. Such a good question. Unfortunately, people talk about Kirkland hot dogs right now and I, I, I'm so distracted. Um, but, uh, I will, I will answer your question and also get you a... Liliana. Uh, do we have a move op after this fireside? No, it is after the next fireside in 49-U a week from now.

Can I give you guys a hot tip for Costco? If you get the pizza slices, um, you know, they have cheese or pepperoni, the cheese pizza, they like, it, they like double the cheese on it. Like, if you look at the calories on each slice, the cheese pizza has like 300 more calories because it has way more cheese. I think it's like too much cheese. It's a little overwhelming. So, even if you don't like pepperoni, pepperoni, just take them off, man. It's still the better, it's still the better slice. This is a pro tip.

Are dreads going to be $1.50 and come with a drink? Excellent.

Charlotte Nateed says, Asher Elias, have you or our CSM made any progress towards our number one priority, catears?

All right, Mifune, I want to answer your question. Uh, to read it again. How are you feeling the alliance is doing after the move? What's the Asher prediction for the immediate geopolitical future? Okay. So great question Mifune. Um, the answer is how we're doing is great. Like all of our metrics are off the charts. Um, and I mean that literally we have had to, you know, recenter the charts, um, for the metrics that we look at daily. Um, you know, we have a suite of information that comes in daily and we have weekly reports and then we have some monthly reports and then we have reports that we can run when we want to see them. So it is all very, you know, um, interesting, you know, in a nerdy kind of way. And all of those metrics are just off the charts up or down as appropriate. Um, we are seeing increased membership interest, you know, like, uh, you know, a line member is doing better. Our line member average wealth is going up. Um, our corporate taxes and income have gone up. Our Alliance taxes and income have gone up. It's all, all basically improved. So as far as like the health of the Alliance, you know, it is better than it ever was in Delve. The only time it was maybe better and we actually looked at the numbers on this and it's not even sure is, you know, during the Rorqual era. But the fact that we are even close to that is impressive. Political, geopolitical future. So this is always, you know, hard to guess because it takes two to tango, right? Um, and obviously our number one enemy is the most risk averse group in the game, and it's not even close. You know, they are, um, timed to Chinese time zone, uh, structures, even though they're not in Chinese time zone. Um, they don't want to fight. Uh, they say it's the year of the dread, but they don't ever use anything aggressively. So, uh, geopolitically, that is, is probably not as interesting as it could be. Um, but once again, it does take two to tango. Uh, there is a lot of other stuff going on in the game that's interesting. Obviously, the resets are happening. Um, and, uh, there are some new powers developing. The last time a new power came up in, in, like, in a serious way was B2. And, um, you know, Panfam, uh, immediately went to crush them. Cause obviously they do not want a competition in the game. They're not interested in it. And so they immediately went to kill them. I imagine that will happen again, uh, when that new group becomes actual mid power threat. Uh, and if so, we will probably likely be allied with them just like we did with B2 because, uh, we are in support of, um, you know, a healthy NullSec environment.

Pyres, I really liked that. Year of the Dread, not. That's fantastic.

All right. Oh, soliloquy there. And I may have missed some stuff. So let me get this real quick.

Uh, Dalsim says, hey Asher, is all Imperium members can rat in all Imperium space still a core value of the Imperium? So yes, but, um, you know, it means that you need to come to the table. So if an alliance in the Imperium is not doing the basics, like such as getting their members registered, um, then they can lose that. Right. So, um, it's, it's something where, you know, right now. Uh, if you're in Goon Swarm, that is not a concern. If you're in most alliances, not a concern because your your members are registered on services, right? And you need to be registered on services for reasons of security on just the stuff like I was just talking about where, you know, that information feeds into our reports, which feeds into us understanding the situation. So it's it's all very important stuff. Um, so it is a core tenant, but it's something that alliances can lose if they're not doing the basics.

Is Curse floodplains? I mean, it's not, it's not, um, sov that we can own, so I don't really think it would be floodplains in that sense, and that, you know, the floodplains is always stuff that you owned, but you weren't really going to defend, and Curse we don't own, so it doesn't really fit that definition.

I have a Zirn, can I get a spare or save for a super? That's a good question. Um, I don't think there's any wrong answer there. I think I would probably go spare than super. That's probably how I would do it. But I don't think if you want to go straight to the super, if that's more enticing to you than do that.

Sonichie says don't jinx it, CCP might hear you and nerf us again somehow. That's very possible. Um, I'm not. I, you know, we've always adapted to, um, to, you know, whatever's around us. So I'm not super worried about it unless they literally try to break our backs intentionally. That's the only thing I'm ever worried about. And I don't think that they're ever in that place where they would want to do that intentionally. Now they've done that before unintentionally, but that's not the same thing.

Ace Hawk Lower Sioux says, which style of pizza is best? I like, um, you know, the brick oven pizza. Where it's sort of, it's pretty thin, they cook it in a super hot, you know, brick oven, like 850 Fahrenheit. That's like, what, uh, 390 C or something. Um, and they cook it really fast. Yeah, tavern style, yeah.

Your favorite super and why? The Wyvern. It looks like a hammer.

Bladewheeler says, be registered. It's so Asher can look at your panties in the panty drawer. Yeah, that's just one of the perks of being the executor.

Are you worried about recent capital losses while ratting? Okay, that's a great question. This is from Karek Efrem. Uh, Harpy fleets sometimes do not manage to save the cap. So, no, I'm not worried at all. Our, our capital ratting numbers are way up and our losses are way down compared to Delve. So, um, there will always be losses. You cannot take losses personally, like it's just going to happen. And if you're flying a capital, you know, once again, these things are just ammo, right? If you're in a dread, you need to be like looking at, I've made enough money to replace the dread. And everything after that is just gravy, right? If you, if you take your own loss hard, that's bad. But if you take other people's losses hard, you will never have fun in this game. First of all, remember that a lot of times these people are going. I'm going to put it this way. It's sort of like when you watch some documentary on the Serengeti and you watch the predators. They don't ever go after, you know, the prime. Um, it's not buffalo. What are those, what are those horde animals on the Serengeti? Help me out here. Wildebeest? They don't go after the prime wildebeest. Thank you, Sonreir. They, they go after, um, they go after the young, the weak, the laggard, and, like, the people who drop intentionally look. They, they, you know, they're like, okay, let's drop on a Chinese person in a different time zone. Maybe they can't communicate, you know. They're not getting the prime beef, right? They're not going after the prime wildebeest. They're going, and it's the same thing after people who maybe aren't on comms, who are maybe in the wrong time zone. Um, sometimes they're literally checking in comms to see if these people are logged in. That is something they do. Um, you know, they will use a low, you know, low effort spy, and they will look in the, uh, the Beehive channel to see if that person who they're looking at is in comms. And if they are, they won't go for them. Um, so, What I'm saying here is that there are always going to be losses, and our guys are doing a fantastic job at defending them, and reacting in like mere seconds. The amount of saves that we have is insane. Can someone find that really funny quote from yesterday about the person who didn't believe they'd be saved? I really enjoyed that quote. If someone can put that in here while I'm talking, I would appreciate that. Um, but yeah, do not take other people's losses as, you know, in a front to your manhood. You will, you will always hate this game. I've been playing this game for a long time. I've seen a lot of ships die. And, you know, three quarters of them were idiots, and one quarter were just bad luck. And that's just how it's gonna be. Don't, don't worry, worry about other's losses. As far as, like, institutionally, um, then we're gonna, you know, institutionally we're doing great.

Is this it? Yes, I really love this from Melly Girl.

"You know, when I first heard of this beehive thing, I was doubtful that people would come save me, but then I learned y'all are a bunch of bloodthirsty psychopaths, and crabs are just your bait."

I love that so much. That's fantastic. Someone put that quote up on the wall.

Alan Merkin said, Asher, do you two miss the rains down in Africa? I love that song, I know everyone loves Toto. Um, when I lived in Africa, I especially took time to bless the rains. That is something I would, it was stupid, but I did bless the rains down in Africa. It was fantastic.

Regina says, any comments about Ankh Lai Gooniversity? Yeah, uh, I'll keep it brief, but, like, you saw the post on Reddit, he leaked the details. Um, you know, most people were like, you know, you're hating your job, um, and you're surprised that your resignation is accepted. Um, you know, he, uh, In, in Illum, he didn't leak this part, but in Illum before he more explicitly, you know, uh, offered a resignation and then he messaged me and said he was not having an enjoyable time. Um, and, you know, so I accepted his resignation. There's, uh, and by the way, I'm not going to lie and be like, I was super happy with the job he was doing. So, um, you know, I had the option not to do it. But I wasn't super happy and I accepted his recognition and then he decided to flame out and he's in Initiative now. And you know, that's, that's just life, uh, in an all volunteer org. There are people who are going to flame out and then they flame out, um, you know, spectacularly. It just happens. I've seen it happen many, many times. And once again, it's not, it's nothing you can take personal. And there, you know, It's always going to happen because the type of personality who is attracted to these jobs sometimes is the wrong personality. They're in there, um, for self aggrandizement or their church ladies or whatever. And, you know, I talk about this in leadership a lot in our, in our private channels. So it doesn't come out here that much. Um, there are a lot of people who are here because they like to help you guys. Uh, but there are some people here because they like to feel a certain feeling from being a leader in any kind of organization. And unfortunately, you just, you can't always sort them out, you know. I wish I had the Harry Potter sorting hat. We would have all Slytherin. Um, you Gryffindor people would get fucked. But, uh, I don't have the hat, sorry.

Yeah, let's also, Juris Dawson mentions, Uh, Goodeversity is back up and running. Um, yeah, it is, it has come back from basically, um, you know, the guy stole the server, um, and that was another thing, by the way, he wasn't supposed to have ownership of the server, but he messaged the guy who was the owner of it, who was the holding it, and, um, said, oh, yeah, I think what happened was he said that, like, he was told to give him the server, and that's how it happened. Uh, so that was just unfortunate, but we, but we rebuilt the server. Uh, it is full, it is teeming. If you haven't joined the new Gooniversity, you can go on, uh, and get the ESI invite right now. Uh, it is, the server is up and running, and I want to say credits to the faculty, by the way. Um, the faculty have done an amazing job getting everything back running and basically missing no, no beats.

It's funny because Ankh said Zintage is going to be the next Kontan, but then Ankh became the next Kontan. Yeah, uh, that is amusing. Although, wasn't he saying, talking about Toaster, not Zintage? Or maybe he said it for both. One thing I don't, one thing I especially don't like, in general, is I don't like political backfighting. And so, sending me a message saying, this guy is, you know, uh, is in it for the wrong reasons, um, is, is usually not going to work with me. I can tell when someone's in it for the wrong reasons, um, and that's, that's, yeah, it's just a bad look. Don't be the person who DMs your boss about the other guy who you're competing with is really the bad one.

Uh, I saw your PM Mifune, um, but I wasn't, uh, I was just, trying to get things back up and running as fast as possible. So I didn't look into it more than that.

Cassador says, sounds like a great way to be put on the radar. Exactly. And not in a positive way, but who is here for the right reasons? Um, so. It's an interesting question. Roni's here for some reason. And if you get, and I'm talking about anyone in leadership position of it, if an FC or a director gets a sense of satisfaction from being an important person in the organization, that's not necessarily like a disqualifier. I'm not here to judge your, your, you know, what, what makes you happy. And as long as you're doing good work and it's not getting in the way of the work, then then that's fine with me, but it's when it becomes your main priority. And when your main priority is increasing your bit of power in a fake online video game, then I start wondering why? Why is that so important to you? What is the reason for that? And I think that those are, there are two sides of the same coin, like that, like, I'm an important person versus I like helping people. It's probably just different sides of the same coin and how your brain, you know, rationalizes it, but I think it is important that you rationalize it in a different way.

Who does have the biggest epeen in GSF though? We should figure that out.

Jeremy Joringer says, I came here to ruin the game for others. Good job.

Come on, Eve is life. Yeah, there you go.

Cassador says, I'm here to provide laughs for some people and anger for others when they click links. Yeah, good job. And you do it so well.

Luna Le Fay says, I have enough responsibility IRL, I don't need fake space responsibilities too. Excellent. That's the smartest thing I've heard all day.

Sonreir, I'm not going to read that out, but, uh, I'm sorry, buddy.

DarkMajorNick says, I'm here for the great family I found in Ascee. I love hearing that. That's good shit.

Carlotte Natide has mentioned cat ears twice. Alright, we got it. We are a one, uh, one subject voter.

I'm just here so I won't get fined. Aren't we all?

Burn Jita when? Okay. So I've addressed this before, but it's just, um, a lot harder to do than it was before. It is not impossible, uh, but it is unlikely. Put it that way. It is unlikely for there to be a burn Jita. Um, it doesn't mean it can't be done, but, but CCP have changed things so that it is harder for them to do, or harder for us to do, I should say. Um, and, um, Uh, we've talked about doing it, you know, we've talked about how can we do it, but it's one of those things where it's not, it's not high on the priorities because it's pretty hard to pull off.

Burn Poitot, uh, what's Poitot?

Deglong says, they play this game for the camaraderie I miss from being once in the military. That's an interesting, that's a really interesting point, and that's sort of relatively close to how I feel Deglon is. I really do enjoy the camaraderie of this game. I don't like playing solo games anymore.

Uh, Diogenes has been kicked by himself. Well done. I love that whenever that happens. Always, always good.

What is the alliance thought on the mercoxit shortage? So, um, this is something first off. I want to address this um, this is not mercoxit, but you know, uh I have thoughts on the mercoxit shortage. I have smart people who tell me about the mercoxit shortage, and I was reading some of the fallout from the leaks from Ankh earlier, and some of the, you know, constantly negative people who always shit on me were saying, you know, that the prisoners run the asylum, which I found very, very funny because previously our previous leader had a more dictatorial style and the same people would say, you know, it's a dictator, you know, the people over there have no freedom. Now that I consult the experts and listen to them, it's the, you know, prisoners running the asylum. And so the point is that you just can't win. Like there are always going to be people who will attack you. And if I flip to the other style of, I just made all the decisions with listening to no inputs, I would get the same, I would be, the same people would be saying the same thing, right? I mean, they'd be saying something different, but it would be the same point that how bad I am, how worthless I am, et cetera, et cetera.

Um, so, uh, mercoxit shortage. Uh, we have definitely been watching it. It's something we've discussed a lot. I think that it is. I don't think, from what I've heard, there's no, it's not going to affect us as far as we're still going to be able to make the ships that we need to make. Um, and it's not going to keep us from, you know, having any warfighting capabilities. And so that's my number one concern. Um, if, you know, Kaz or someone wants to comment on it, they're welcome to. Uh, but that's all I, that's all I have about it. And that's, you know, that's what's important to me.

Mercoxit just turned to the toilet paper during the pandemic. That was a tongue twister, but yeah, exactly.

Ranger Gamma says, You nerds are why the leadership is stuff and things for GSF. Thank you, Ranger, for making me read that. I really hate you. EVE is only fun when you all are here with us. Exactly. I mean, that's my angle. I'm actually working on a video about this. So, I think we'll see. You'll get to see a little bit more, uh, when that comes up.

Ranger Gama:

So for the Mercoxit that came up, guys, we do monitor the MER that CCP puts those out to look at, you know, should we be changing anything in terms of mining? So we monitor that to see how it will change.

Asher Elias:

Let's see, someone asked if I'm watching the Sumo Tournament. I have not started, but I am going to catch up.

Aoife says, is this the same video you lost the script for? Uh, no. So, I have been able to recover some of that script. It needs a lot of work. Unfortunately, it was like eight edits ago. I'm going to do this one first, then we'll go back to that one.

Richodemus says, Le Leshak when? Uh, we will see.

Mecka says, notice some dread ammo shortages in UALX. Alright, um, well now that it's been brought up, hopefully someone will stock it.

Does anyone have a link to the sumo thing? Jalon, unfortunately, uh, the NHK, which is the Japanese broadcaster, is super annoying about, um, shutting them down. So it's kind of hard to link video. Uh, I think I will be doing some on stream, though. So, a lot of people enjoyed the sumo stream before, so we'll probably do some sumo stream again.

E-War Fleet Doctrine when? That is mostly a thing, Rose, when we have, um, like, significantly better numbers than our opponents. And that's not really a situation that we're in right now. Uh, E-War fleet is more of a luxury. There isn't, there isn't, like, you know, there are a time where it makes sense even in, uh, a similar number situation. I would say the other thing is that people don't really like to fly E-War fleet. And again, that's mostly on CCP. You do not have a really good indication of what you're doing with E-War. I pitched this to CCP. I'm like, can we get like TDs to have a little indicator, just like guns do, but just have it be like a percentage of the range jammed, you know, reduced, I should say, um, and same for damps, you know, show how much of show what percentage of their lock range you're disrupting. Just a small little gauge like that would make E-War so much more satisfying. Uh, and they said, we'll look into it, which, you know, I'm sure it got thrown in the appropriate pile.

Apple Pear:

I can tell you one thing that, uh, from the Black Hand. We sometimes get very, uh, information that people in enemy fleets are very annoyed with E-War. Yes. So it has some effect. Only, like, that's the only way we get it. One thing we should do, and like, we have talked about F2s a lot. Like, if you are in big fights, you should get your secondary account either in a Sabre or another Dictar, or in a Command Destroyer, or in an E-War ship. So you have, uh, if you can multibox multiple primary ships, that's fine also, but it's very low key and easy to have a secondary character in an E-War ship that you bring with the fleet and, uh, or in another fleet or something like that you bring with and you can just set it on the enemy, uh, orbit it at a hundred kilometers and, uh, be done with it and, uh, don't look at it and dies at one point. So, but that's a very easy thing to do with E-War. Not have a specific fleet for it, but have your secondary account do it.

Asher Elias:

Uh, I think that's a great point. It is a set it and forget it. It's not hard to do. Uh, and time they spend hunting down E-War is time they're not spending shooting mains. So, um, when we get into that kind of situation, we will get up again.

Charlotte Natide says, yeah, if you have a ton of accounts mining or something, stick one or two Doctrine's and put the other ten in Griffon's. No loss when they die, but you can guarantee the Logi are crying. That is true. Uh, I wouldn't need to do Griffon's though, but yes. I think that's absolutely true. Crucifiers would be way better.

Alright, looks like we're getting to the end of the questions. Uh, so I'm going to wrap it up here. Thank you guys for showing up. Much appreciated. I hope you have a lovely week, and I will see you all next week.

Unrui, I'll answer your question before I go. Is the Stormbringer the most efficient for Anom Haven routing? Um, I don't know about, I don't know how you define most efficient, but it is a fantastic way to do it. And I think, as far as efficiency goes, it's probably going to be right up near the top.

Blade Wielder says, when a fleet is forming a suitable F2 that it FC wants, could it be listed in the ping perhaps? Because goons like me don't have large brains. Um, that's a good question, or, sorry, yeah, a good suggestion. I will, uh, I'll look into that. I do believe a group for that, and that might be a better way to handle it.

Thank you all, I just wanted to give those last questions because they came in right at the end.

See y'all later.