#he a fellow gamer and the way day 1 ends made me jump

[randomshipperhere]

It’s the way Riker would be torn between answering all my questions and keeping info to himself. I’d be pretty compliant but pester him about having my games.

I don’t care that you want me to think about you every waking moment, I want my fictional husbands too!!! (>~<)/

[hammeredalcoholic]

my only friend

kira yoshikage / reader ;

rating: mature, no 18+ content yet ; kira & reader are portrayed as 18 years old

hey my fellow gamers, i realized that i did not post this on tumblr yet. here is chapter 1 to this fic! it’s also cross posted on ao3 here.

here is a spotify playlist to go with this fic.

"believe the lies that people tell you you've lost your battle and vines and tiny thorns inside your wound,"

Kira made a mistake. He came to you, begging for you to run away with him.

You did.

chapter 2

The stars glittered against the deep blue of the night sky, reflecting softly against the stark ocean waves that licked against the calm beach. It felt so serene-- so gentle, and still. Like time had stopped or slowed, your breath just barely ghosting over your lips. 

It was nice.

Metal pressed against your back, warmed up by your body heat, stiff and hard but yet still so soft. It felt almost too good to be true-- a beautiful night like this. No kids and families stomping all over the delicate sand, interrupting the sound of the waves crashing against rocks. 

A small sigh lifted you from your thoughts. 

Glancing over, you carefully eyed your companion. His blonde hair tousled and glowing in the moonlight-- ice blue eyes cast out against the sea. He was truly something of beauty himself, had you not known what he was really capable of. 

“What’s on your mind?” The words fell from your mouth without a second thought, almost dropping to a whisper. He shook his head lightly, his eyes being torn away from the water to look at you. 

Such a pretty shade of blue. Pale and glistening-- like a fresh dew on the first day of spring. 

A light drizzle against hard asphalt, pooling and shining-- only to be gone in a second’s notice.

“Just-- A lot on my mind.” Ah, so it’s like that.

Yoshikage never dared to tell you what he was thinking upfront. He didn’t want to seem-- vulnerable? Is that the right word? Weak. Docile. Bound to break. It didn’t seem fair. You were always so-- Strong. Incredible. Someone to look up to. Someone who could clean up his mess.

Sighing softly in response, you leaned back against the cool glass of the windshield. Shuffling through your pocket, you pulled out some cigarettes and a lighter you had managed to pick up from the corner store, thanks to Killer Queen. 

Carefully snatching one out of the pack, you quickly lit it and took a long drag. The smoke filled your lungs, heavy and harsh, causing a small shiver to run down your spine. Nicotine was the best way to end a long day. 

“Those are awful for you.” Yoshikage’s words drifted to your ears, and you blew the smoke in his direction. He flinched and coughed, using his hand to try and maneuver the offending cloud away from him. “Hey! That was uncalled for.” 

“Don’t tell me things I already know, Yoshi.” Your tone dripped with sarcasm, and you shot him a sly grin. “Besides, can’t I have a little break once in a while?” As soon as the words left your lips, Yoshikage slumped in his spot. 

“Where are we going to stay tonight?” The question drifted to your ears, his voice soft and oh so gentle. You shifted your leg up to press against your chest, letting your arm wrap around it. “I dunno. I saw a motel back in town, looked decently cheap.” 

Your partner nodded his head in agreement. “Looked kinda dirty, though.” You had to hold back a laugh at his comment, bringing your cigarette up to take another drag instead. “We’ll be fine. Killer Queen can always just kill any unsavory guests we encounter.”

His eyes drifted back out to the ocean, and his hands twitched in his lap. “I can feel another urge coming on.” Blinking at his words, you let your head sit on your knee, nursing the smoke you had in between your fingers. “Think you can wait until tomorrow?” You asked calmly. 

Yoshikage nodded quickly, bringing a hand up to run through his hair, pulling his bangs out of his eyes. “Yeah. I could also use a hair cut.” Grinning against the fabric of your jeans, you laughed. “I’m sure we could find a barber shop. Unless you want me to do it.” 

His eyes opened wide, and he snapped his head over to you. “I’d never let you near my neck with a pair of scissors.” You laughed at his comment, shaking your head just slightly. Taking a final drag from your cigarette, you put it out against the side of the rusty car. 

“Are you ready to head that way then?” 

“Yeah. Let’s go.” 

The drive to the motel was quiet, much like all of the other drives you took together. The radio softly played in the background-- some upbeat song that you couldn’t really catch the lyrics to, but it seemed like Yoshikage enjoyed it. His fingers were tapping against the passenger side door, in tune with the beat. 

You tried to remember where the motel was, only catching a glance of it earlier. It was on the main road through the town, so it wasn’t hard-- ah. There’s the sign. 

Pulling the car into the parking lot, you parked in a lane that was a decent amount away from the lobby. Yoshikage looked up from his seat, glancing at you. He knew what to do-- it was always like this. Opening the car door and stepping out, he began to slowly walk towards the building.

The air was blowing softly, causing a shiver to run across his arms. Pulling the sleeves of his sweater down, he clutched them to his chest. It was definitely a lot cooler now than it was at the beach. Reaching the door fairly quickly, he pulled it open and stepped inside the dimly lit room.

The man sitting at the counter was elderly-- heavy set, reading some sort of newspaper, his glasses practically falling off his nose. Yoshikage cleared his throat softly, moving closer to the desk. “Excuse me,” He stated quietly, “Do you have a restroom open to the public?” 

As soon as the words left his mouth, Killer Queen materialized behind the man. The stand’s eyes were trained on the set of keys hung up on the wall, trying to decide which one it would take. The elderly man barely looked up from his paper, blinking slowly at Yoshikage. 

“Did you not read the sign on the door?” His voice was harsh, somewhat irritated. It made the younger boy’s nerves tingle, and his hands twitch in his sleeves. “Oh- I suppose I must have missed it,” Yoshikage answered, trying hard not to let his voice quiver. 

Killer Queen had successfully grabbed one of the keys from the hooks in the meantime-- pulling it off carefully, and holding it in it’s hand. After the task was done, it’s eyes went to a stack of magazines that were sitting on the other side of the desk. Kira mentally tried to get it to stop-- “No! Killer Queen--!” 

The magazines flew to the floor in a rush, and Queen quickly deposited the key into Kira’s pocket. The man at the desk jumped in shock, looking around for what could have possibly knocked the papers over. “Er-- I’ll just--” 

Yoshikage made quick work of turning around and leaving. He mentally scolded Killer Queen for causing a scene, before pulling out the key from his pocket. Room 312-- it must be on the other side of the motel. He can at least thank his stand for that.

Quickly sliding into the passenger seat, the blond sighed quietly. “Our room should be on the other side.” You nodded, pulling the car around the building. The parking lot was beat up, it was obvious that the back of the motel didn’t get as much work as the front would. Successfully avoiding some potholes, you managed to park the car a good distance from the rooms. 

Turning the engine off and sliding the keys out, you looked over at your companion. He still seemed to be cold-- shivering just slightly, his hands buried in the sleeves of his sweater. It was cute. “Hey, let’s hurry and get inside. You look like you could use a warm shower.”

His eyes met yours for a split second. 

They were soft-- delicate, almost. Frosty blue dancing along in the shitty light of the lamp posts. 

But there was something else there. 

An emotion-- you didn’t quite know how to describe it. 

He looked away as quickly as he had looked at you, just barely nodding his head. “Yeah,” His voice was small. “Let’s go.” With that, Yoshikage opened the door and got out, walking towards the staircase on the side of the building. 

Huffing out a breath, you just shook your head. Always so secretive-- everything must be so hidden with him. You understood that he liked privacy, maybe more than the average 18 year old boy would, but still. Weren’t you his closest friend?

His only friend?

Shuffling out of the car, you made sure that the door was locked behind you. Speeding up your pace, you managed to catch up with Kira, walking beside him in silence. At times like these, you really wondered why you let yourself get into this mess. 

You could have left Yoshikage on his own. You could have refused his plea, and stayed in Morioh. You might have actually finished high school. 

You might have had a different life. 

But no. You decided to be a good friend, and try to help him escape his consequences. Murder, your mind screamed at you, He killed someone. 

Was it worth it? 

Was it worth dropping everything to help him? 

Kira stopped walking, finally finding the door to your room. Being so deep in thought, you accidentally walked right into him, stumbling back slightly and losing your balance. Just when you thought you were about to hit the cold concrete of the floor, something caught you. 

Yoshikage was looking down at you, Killer Queen holding you against his chest. Sometimes, he really wondered about you. 

“Are you okay?” He didn’t sound angry or upset-- genuinely concerned. That snapped you out of your thoughts within seconds, looking up at him like a deer in headlights. “Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I didn’t mean to run into you.” He just shook his head, a dumb little smile playing against his lips. “C’mon. I think you could use a shower too.” 

Ah.

That’s right. 

Despite whatever crime he may have committed-- Yoshikage Kira is your friend. He has been since elementary school, playing with you and only you. He’s been the only steady companion in your life-- and for that, you’d do anything for him. 

Even if that meant dropping everything.

Fumbling with the key, the blond managed to open the door with minimal struggle. The room was small-- one king sized bed pushed to one corner, a dusty TV on an equally dusty entertainment center, and a small grimy bathroom. It definitely wasn’t any 5 star hotel-- but it would do for tonight. 

Walking in, you kicked off your shoes by the door, and flipped on the light switch. It flickered for a few moments, before finally setting the room in a hazy yellow light. Yoshikage followed behind you, kicking off his own busted chucks and shutting the door behind him. He glanced around the room, before settling on the bed. 

The one bed. 

It wasn’t much of an issue for either of you. Kira didn’t shy away from giving you physical affection-- it wasn’t uncommon for the both of you to cuddle up in the same bed after a long day of driving. It was nice, in your opinion. 

You walked over to the bed and sat down, stretching out your arms, and yawning slightly. “Do you wanna shower first? Or should I?” Yoshikage smiled at you, before moving to sit beside you. “Go ahead. I think I’ll just get up and take one in the morning.” Shaking your head at his response, you grinned. “I dunno, you kinda smell.” 

Mocking offence, Kira glared at you. “Hey! I do not!”

“Stinky boy. Fine, I’ll go shower. Find something good to watch before we go to bed, then.”

Getting up, you grabbed the remote on the TV stand and threw it towards the bed. You shed your jacket on the way to the bathroom, letting it fall to the floor with a dull thud. 

The bathroom wasn’t the cleanest you’ve seen, but at least the water in the shower ran. As the stream warmed up, you took a minute to look at yourself in the mirror. Kira mentioned something about getting a haircut at the beach, and it seemed like it wasn’t a bad idea. Less hair to have to deal with, the better.

Shedding your clothes, you stepped into the shower. The water was nice and hot, hitting your skin and letting all the stress of the day melt down your back. It was a great way to recharge, and calm yourself down before going to bed. 

Using the cheap soap that the motel provided, you washed your hair and body, revelling in the basic smell of mint and lavender. It was nice that Kira had Killer Queen-- it gave you guys the opportunity to not have to sleep in the car, as well as giving you both basic hygiene. 

You kinda wished that you could see it. A “Stand”, as he had once called it, was supposedly your embodiment of a fighting spirit. You weren’t sure where he had learned that, but you chose not to question his sources. From the way that Kira described Queen, it seemed to be a big cat. 

Almost like a sphinx, pink in color, wearing only a small blue skirt with gloves and sandals. If Yoshikage was to get any animal to be paired with, you were happy it was a cat. It mirrored him so well-- calm, quiet, with the occasional thirst for chaos. 

As you slowly got out of your thoughts, you realized that the water had started to turn cold. Quickly shutting off the shower, you stepped out, grabbing a towel and drying yourself off. Bed sounded absolutely amazing right now, and you wondered what Yoshikage had managed to find on the TV. 

Slipping on your pants and shirt, you stepped out into the room. 

Kira was laying on the bed, tucked under the covers, his button up and khakis discarded on the floor next to your jacket. Glancing at the TV, it was some form of late night sitcom, with boring characters and an uninteresting storyline. Dropping your other clothes into the pile, you walked over to the bed. 

“Want me to turn the lights off?” Yoshikage nodded his head just slightly, his eyes already dipping with sleep. “Yes, please.” 

Walking over and flipping the switch, the room was cast in darkness, aside from the low brightness coming from the TV. Moving back over, you slid under the covers, making yourself comfortable. Yoshikage practically latched onto you the second you joined him, pulling you close and settling his head against your chest.

You sighed slightly, letting a smile run along your lips. 

“Good night, Yoshi.” 

“Mmm, night.”

[turquoisephoenix]

What’s A Little Galaxy-Wide Destruction Between Friends? - Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Five days after saving the galaxy from the Deplanetizer, Elaris is greeted by an old friend, who wishes to talk to her, vent a little, and give her life advice. Unfortunately for her, her old friend also happens to be a freshly transformed robot version of a dangerous criminal madman that everyone believed was dead. Elaris & Dr. Nefarious friendship Characters: Elaris, Dr. Nefarious, Lawrence, Qwark (mentioned) ————————————————

Author's Notes: I also mainly wrote this to write down a headcanon I had for why Dr. Nefarious wanted to blow up Umbris as his main plan in the movie, when a galaxy-wide explosion leading up to "just" city-wide takeovers and roboticization kinda seems like a downgrade on the evil scale. Plus at the end of the day, Nefarious kinda is a goofy idiot in addition to being an evil mastermind.  

Also because Elaris is a gamer and we stan a gaming legend.

----------------

Three weeks had passed since the incident on Umbris and Elaris couldn't be happier.

The weapons technician was grinning from ear to ear as she entered her workplace, practically bouncing on her heels as the events of today's meeting still making her giddy. She set down a bunch of cardboard boxes she was holding down on an empty table and pumped her fists in the air. A scream of joy filled the air.

At last! She was moving out of the broom closet and getting a proper laboratory! They finally listened to her! No more bottles of cleanser and pails of dirty water! No more having to say "excuse me" and awkwardly shove past the janitor to get to her office! No more terrible smells!

At first the process was as slow as it always was - everyone kept pushing back her appeals because they kept saying they had more pressing matters to attend to, where would we find the space, surely this could wait when we just saved the galaxy, Qwark has another book signing today - but then she did something that they didn't expect from a passive nerd like her. Elaris dug in her heels and let herself get a little angry about this issue. She'd raise her voice a little bit, she demanded a little more respect, until finally the group listened.

In other words, she channeled a bit of her inner Dr. Nefarious.

But just a little bit. The part of him that didn't want to murder anybody.

Elaris looked at the corkboard in her office with Dr. Nefarious's photo still pinned to it, where the perfectly happy and organic Nefarious smiled with the blissful unawareness of what would happen to him after that picture was taken. She couldn't help but smile back, even though the person in the photograph tried to blow up the galaxy - with her in it - last month.

She really did have that weird dream meeting with Dr. Nefarious to thank. As the days went by, she started to see that one incident with the robot version of Dr. Nefarious sneaking on her spaceship and coaching her on her job as less of a thing that happened and more like a vision. A spiritual calling if you will.

Sure, it felt real. And for a while, she earnestly believed that it was real. But as the days went by and as her brain thought about it for a little while longer, Elaris began to rationalize to herself that no, it didn't happen and her patrol shift near Umbris was so boring that she fell asleep and had a strange nightmare of a screaming zombie robot telling her to quit her job.

Which is why she wasn't worried about the notification from a "DrN42" popping up on her account after she started an online session of Resistance: Fall of Blarg after her shift.

Apparently they were already friends and their last online activity was years ago, but it was an older game so she thought nothing of it. She accepted and settled into her chair, also thinking nothing of it when the voice chat booted on. She cracked open a can of Nanotech Gamer Fuel Cola ("the drink of true 133ts!" as it said on the side) and adjusted her headset.

"What's up, DrN42." she said into the microphone, in the tone of voice she used for livestreams.

"Testing...testing..."

Elaris made a tiny yell and jumped, her can of Cola flying out of her hand and crashing onto the floor.

Yes, there was no denying it. The voice on the other end of voice chat was Dr. Nefarious. The Dr. Nefarious that was supposed to be dead. The Dr. Nefarious that was supposed to be a figment of her imagination.

Immediately she remembered why the username was still on her friend's list - before he quit the Galactic Rangers, Elaris would try to get him to blow off a little steam by playing a couple online matches, usually after he got into another shouting match with Captain Qwark. She remembered days where both of them were standing side by side in the crowded broom closet, their shoulders touching as they were both in The Zone...

She shook that memory away before she dwelled too hard on it, her face flushing. She hated how much she missed the company of a criminal mad scientist.

That also meant she didn't just imagine that one meeting back on her spaceship. The weird robot in her dream that was yelling to a Lawrence over a cellphone and breathing like he still had a pair of lungs was real and now he was playing an online game with his old work username. Her mind reeled at the revelation.

"I heard a yelp so speakers seem to be working..." he said calmly, snapping her back into reality.

"How...." she stopped herself. "Okay, seriously, what are you even doing?" Her brain was still trying to play catch-up with what was going on. She fought to calm herself down - it's not like he could physically threaten her over an online game or anything after all - as a harsh metallic voice filtered through her speakers.

"I ran into a bit of inventor's block. Managed to get the wi-fi working from the crash site and worked my way there." he explained evenly. She couldn't see, but back on Umbris, he was currently sitting in a chair made out of stolen spaceship parts and twiddling a small wrench in-between two claws as he gently tweaked the sensitivity of his game controller, which was a Frankensteinian chimera of scrap metal and loose wires sitting in his lap.

Behind him, Lawrence was silently dusting. Lawrence didn't want to play, which was fine for Nefarious, because he didn't want to construct a second controller.

"You..." Elaris was still having a hard time making sentences work.

"If you must know, if you take about five repair droids and rip the wiring and chips out of their miserable carcasses, you can cobble together a working game controller out of them." his voice remained calm and at a normal speaking volume, but running underneath it was a seething undercurrent of hatred. "All you really need is some soldering materials and a small screwdriver."

"This is insane." she said, stating the obvious.

"I get that a lot, yes." he continued. Lawrence made a quiet amused noise under his breath but Nefarious wasn't paying attention. "It takes an additional two repair droids for the headset-"

"What if I tell the Galactic Rangers that you're still alive?" she blurted out suddenly, the words falling out of her mouth. She immediately clapped her hands over her mouth in an act of instant regret, but Nefarious didn't seem phased.

"Then you'd have to explain to them how you'd know this information, Elaris." he answered. Even though she could only hear his voice, she could just feel the smug smile crossing his metallic face. "And wouldn't that be an awkward conversation to your fellow galactic heroes?"

Crud, Elaris thought to herself. No wonder he was so calm.

"I'm also using a frequency jammer so don't try tracing my connection back to me. One of the first things I learned during my untimely stay in a prison cell was how to leech wi-fi and go completely undetected..!" he said with a sinister voice, his words taking on such an evil tone that didn't betray the fact that the main reason he learned how to leech wi-fi was because he didn't want to miss any seasonal events in League of Legendaries and wanted to keep his place in the top PVP DPS lists.

"Are you going to use this as blackmail?" she said in a tinier voice than she meant to.

"N-No?" he said incredulously, taken aback. The way he said it instantly defused most of the tension hanging in the air. He sounded almost hurt, of all things. "Calm down, Elaris. I just want to play Resistance and I just happened to see you online. What kind of person do you take me for?"

'Someone who's backstabbed everyone he's ever worked for?' flashed through her mind and while she didn't say it out loud, Nefarious could practically read her mind from the long silence that followed, which caused him to clear his cybernetic throat in embarrassment. There he goes doing the non-robot things again. At least he was consistent.

"I just want to play one online match. You know...for old time's sake. After that, I'll disappear. What do you say?"

She wasn't sure what made her say yes. Was it something in the tone of his voice? Was it curiosity? Or did she believe this was another weird dream, similar to the previous weird dream back when she was patrolling Umbris?

'Stupidity, probably' she thought to herself as DrN42's character loaded into the waiting room. She did the wave emote. In response, DrN42 shuddered a bit and then started walking into a wall. She heard grumbles of annoyance and the angry hammering of buttons as DrN42's attempt at emoting proved disastrous. He managed to get the dance emote working before he sank into the decorative pool that was in the training area map and drowned.

"Are you having any problems there, buddy?" she asked as he respawned and then proceeded to get his character wedged between two bushes. The hammering of buttons continued echoing into her ears.

"Ever had all of your fingers surgically removed and replaced with sharp, clumsy metal claws meant for rending organic flesh and not much beyond that?"

"No?"

"Well....that makes one of us...." he said glumly as his character lurched forward right into another wall. He controlled like someone who never played a video game in his life. He found the fire button and his character started shooting wildly into the air.

"Did you even practice beforehand?" she said in amusement, watching him figure out the controls.

"N-no...." he admitted sheepishly. His character fell into the pool again. "I'll say I have bad lag!"

"Well, too late for any regrets because our match is starting." She warned him, her eyes locked on the countdown clicking down on the HUD. A smile of amusement crossed her lips. This was going to be a virtual trainwreck and she was ready for it.

"Wh-what-"

Before Dr. Nefarious could finish his weak protest, they were both immediately loaded into bleak post apocalyptic ruins. Shades of brown and toppled skyscrapers surrounded them from all directions. Elaris adjusted her headset like a grizzled war veteran as the heavy metal soundtrack of Fall of Blarg flooded the broom closet.

To say that Nefarious "sucked" at this game was an understatement, and possibly an insult to creatures that sucked things for nutrients. Nefarious was so bad at this game that Elaris wondered if there was a correlation between his sudden drop in gaming skill and his unwanted transformation, and made sure to make a mental note to never turn into a robot. He played worse than someone who intentionally played bad for cheap clicks on YouTube, and that was saying something. Elaris was positive was one of his deaths was because he accidentally shot himself in the face with his own weapon, and she didn't even think that was possible in Fall of Blarg.

"Wow buddy, you're kinda bad at this game!" Elaris said as she killed the soldier that was camping on Dr. Nefarious's body and keeping him from respawning.

"SHUT UP, I'M REALLY RUSTY!" was his response.

Elaris couldn't help herself. She was on the battlefield of Resistance: Fall of Blarg - a game where she livestreamed with the Galaxy's greatest champions, a game where she ruled with an iron fist as Queen. He was in her domain now and not even his new robot form could protect him from her fury.

"Oh no, are you already getting rust?" she mocked playfully.

"NOT HELPING!"

"I could suggest some derusting agents, I know you're new to the whole robot thi-"

"WHAT WAS THAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU, MY HEADSET'S ACTING UP!"

Elaris broke out into a fit of laughter, which caused Nefarious to nervously chuckle on his end. She couldn't help it - as absurd as this situation was, she was having a lot of fun. Not even with the wild difference in skill level between her and her partner did her foes stand a chance. She was in Gamer Mode and nothing can stop her now.

One online match became three. Then five. Then nine. Every match, Elaris carried them to victory. While she did enjoy playing babysitter to a wildly flailing partner that drew enemy fire, Dr. Nefarious was a fast learner and actually figured out how to not suck and die on the battlefield. By the fifth match, some of his old Galactic Ranger skill began to come back and soon he was able to pick off one or two kills himself. Still not as good as Elaris, the Iron Queen of Resistance, but at least he wasn't so much of a dead weight anymore.

And honestly, she was having the best gaming session in months. She missed having a gaming partner. In this brief happy moment of leeching company wi-fi to keep her own Internet bill down, Elaris forgot she was playing video games with a scary robot monster that once pointed a giant space station sized weapon at Umbris and tried to blow up the entire galaxy.

'Umbris...'

The exhilarating rush of video games soon gave way to curiosity. Elaris checked the clock. She had been gaming with a bloodthirsty madman for a solid hour now. Normally she was out of Galactic Ranger Headquarters much earlier than this, even during days where she hung back to fix a few bugs on overtime. Now, she wanted to use the voice chat to its full advantage rather than blast enemy soldiers.

"Hey Nef." she said, setting their group to private and cancelling their next match.

"Hrm?"

Elaris looked around. She checked behind her to make sure there was no one walking down the hallway of HQ and then, after a brief hesitation, she lowered her voice and asked the question that was burning on the back of her head, even though she was dreading the actual answer.

"Why did you want to blow up Umbris and kill everyone?"

There was a quick cackle of disbelief - a sudden, pointed "HAH!" - over the other end.

"Where did everyone in the Solana Galaxy get this idea? How is blowing up Umbris going to kill everyone? Umbris is an uninhibited wasteland where Qwark has his stupid training base for squishy meatheads! I thought my motive would be crystal clear in me targeting that worthless mudball of a planet! No one would miss it!"

"W-what..." Elaris uttered in disbelief as her team partner suddenly broke into a rant befitting of a true gamer.

"Don't think I don't read the news! I've been seeing the propaganda from both Qwark's autobiography and that holovid that I was planning to "wipe out everything". Why would I wipe out everything? There's no one to gloat to when you wipe out everything! What did everyone think I was going to do - go to the Bogon Galaxy and march up to the doors of Megacorp like "guess who has six fingers and blew up billions of people"?"

He drew in a breath to calm himself; yelling at Elaris didn't feel nearly as good as yelling at Qwark or at some weird Lombax kid. "I swear you try to atomize one city in a fit of rage and everyone thinks you're a genocidal maniac." he added at last.

She thought back about the Deplanetizer and the holovid made in honor of the heroics of Ratchet and Captain Qwark. They added a couple scenes for Dr. Nefarious about how he was going to reduce the Solana Galaxy into space dust. The planets were perfectly aligning and Umbris has an unstable core - it just made sense that he would've planned this all out.

"Whoa whoa whoa, you mean to tell me that you set up the Deplanetizer to blow up a planet with an unstable core - a move that would've set off a chain reaction and wiped out everything in the galaxy including yourself - entirely by accident?"

"Yes!" he said instantly. There was then an awkward pause as his brain caught up to him. "...wait that would've actually destroyed the galaxy...?"

"Yes! Yes that would've destroyed all the other planets!" she barked back, a little louder than her normal speaking tone.

He went silent for a long period of time, a disconcerting period of time that made Elaris wonder if he lost connection.

Finally he spoke, and his voice was suddenly really quiet.

"I didn't know that..." he admitted.

"WHAAAAAT?!" she screamed.

She couldn't help herself. Anger was flooding her senses and clouding her thoughts. Maybe it was the heat of the online battlefield but she did not like the idea that Nefarious almost killed her - not because he wanted to! She accepted the idea that he had devolved into a bloodthirsty killer at this point! - but because he didn't know a goddamn thing about geology.

"Wait but that means you would've died too..." he added as his brain put the pieces together.

"YES! YES I WOULD'VE DIED, YOU IDIOT!"

He didn't answer, but his embarrassed silence really said it all.

"I swear do you actually spend longer than fifteen minutes thinking your plans through!?" Elaris said, her voice raising in volume until it became a harsh, almost Nefarious-like yell.

"Wow Elaris, you're getting really mad at that game! Is your teammate a total noob or something?" Ratchet called from the hallway. He had caught the last thing that Elaris had said as he was walking by, a doughnut still hovering near his mouth. Ratchet was usually one of the last people to leave Galactic Headquarters on account of all the extra-curricular training he liked doing.

"Yes! Yes, he's very much a total noob! He's normally much smarter than this but he nearly went and got everyone killed!" Elaris yelled back, gesturing vaguely at the screen where both her and DrN42's characters were staring at a poorly-textured wall.

There was a mild chuckle from the Lombax. "Okay Elaris, talk to you later!" and with a quick wave of a hand and a Lombax tail, he was gone.

Another awkward silence descended between them as Elaris fought to get her emotions back under control. It felt weird being the angry one. She was so used to being the calm, collected nerd next to the angry, raging nerd back when the two of them worked together as the Nerd Herd. She was used to being the one that would calm Nefarious down, not the other way around, and her gaming partner on the other end knew it from the way he hesitantly tried to help.

"Are you okay there, Ellie?"

Ellie. Like a needle puncturing a balloon, all of her fury drained out of her body when she heard that nickname. It had been years since she last heard anyone call her that pet name, the name she said her grandma used to call her one day while she and Nefarious were trying to fix the ammo capacity of the Bomb Glove, and just the tiniest act of him remembering it calmed her down. Her shoulders sagged.

"I swear you can be so stupid sometimes!" she said, but there was no fire behind her words anymore.

"Okay okay...so I made a rookie mistake!" he said with a chuckle. Was he humoring her? Was the killer robot actually trying to make her feel better? Why? "Next time I'll plan better! The best part about being a supervillain is that you can always try, try again until the heroes lose!"

"How did you make it all the way through med school and then build the blueprints for a giant space station armed with a planet-destroying laser without knowing a single thing about astrogeology?" Elaris said, her face resting in one of her palms.

"How was I to know planets had different cores?"

"That's something you learn in the fifth grade!"

"I never did really pay attention to geology in school..."

Despite that, Elaris felt better. Even though it still kinda stung that she almost died because Mr. Loose Cannon didn't think too hard on the consequences of his own actions, thinking about the previous game sessions brought her happy mood back. She found herself smiling again. He may have allied himself with Chairman Drek and nearly killed them all, but deep down he was the intelligent yet idiotic nerd that she shared a broom closet with, and that brightened her mood in a strange, confusing way.

"Sorry for yelling at you, Nef. I did have a great time!"

"I did too!" he shouted back, his mood immediately bouncing back now that Elaris was happy again. The Galactic Ranger decided not to think too hard on the fact that Nefarious seemed genuinely concerned for her. This situation was already weird enough as is.

"Well, I gotta go now, but thank you for talking to me back on Umbris. I wouldn't be moving out of the broom closet and into an actual laboratory if it wasn't for you!" When he didn't immediately reply back, only giving her a stunned silence in return, she didn't even wait for an answer when she turned off the game. Satisfied, Elaris finally removed the headset and ran a hand across her head. It really was time she got back to her apartment. Leftover ravioli didn't eat itself.

She got up from her chair, took one step, and immediately heard the sad, fizzy squish of her foot colliding with a cola puddle that had been laying there for a solid hour.

Elaris sighed in mild disappointment. She couldn't leave yet.

"I spent two bolts on that soda too..."

------------

"Did you have fun, sir?"

Dr. Nefarious looked up at Lawrence as he fiddled with his eldritch abomination of a gamer rig, his claws entangled in some loose hanging wires and a wide, childish grin on his skeletal face. His handcrafted gamer PC made from Deplanetizer guts and some repair bots was like a new pet to him, and he cherished it as such.

"Did you see us, Lawrence!? We won every match! We annihilated everyone that stood in our way! No one could get past our defenses!" he shouted with all the giddy excitement of a grade schooler. He was gesturing wildly, communicating as much with his arms and hand movements as his face, and from the way he was wrapped up in his PC wires, it was a miracle he didn't strangle himself or trip over.

"Masterful work. I can see why you're so popular with the ladies." Lawrence quipped, sounding about as excited as someone filing paperwork at the DMV.

"And then she told me she actually took my advice and then thanked me for it! She listened to me! You remember, back when I first became a robot! She listened!"

"I think she likes you, sir."

"I think she does! Isn't that wonderful, Lawrence!?" he practically screamed.

This would've been a happy moment, and indeed the mad scientist could feel a warm, fuzzy feeling spread through the circuits in his chest as his mechanical heart fluttered, thinking about his old science partner, if Lawrence didn't immediately chime in with a curt "So why didn't you ask for any of Captain Qwark's patrol schedules or passwords from her again?", ruining the moment instantly.

The warm happy feeling went cold. The excitement bled out of him.

Oh right. The real reason why he logged onto Resistance: Fall of Blarg around the exact same time as Elaris. The reason that Elaris had almost guessed before they ended up just fooling around in an online video game. His diabolical revenge scheme that he had cooked up after he realized that he and Elaris still had each other friended. His fullproof plan that would lead to Qwark's demise.

Dr. Nefarious sucked in a breath and dragged a hand slowly across his face, suddenly feeling very tired.

"Oh..."

[theky2aqw-blog]

Dies Irae - Me vs AnimeFeminist

Hey Sorry for the wait. I was watching Dies Irae and thought should I need to go for the funniest thing to exist by searching a triggered feminazi/sjw talking an article about Dies Irae.

But Before that

wow I am quite getting good with this huh?

Dies Irae is an anime adaptation of the Visual Novel with the same name. It contains themes of Nazis, Magic, Immortals, Witches, and Harem because why not.

We will be focusing on Episode 00, the Episode designed for VN viewers to relate with the anime, which highly focuses on the Theresia(Rea) route without the Hentai parts and combines some moments for Marie, Kasumi, and Kei routes. Sadly it removes the interesting bits of Rusalka and her slight romantic and really well defined sexual interest for him in the Theresia(Rea) route.

So what is episode 0 all about?

Episode 0 is actually talking the times of the start of 1939 Germany where the Villain Reinhard Heydrich has a secret meeting with the Obsidian Round Table. Of course the interesting bits of how the Nazi officers were debating and talking back and forth on things they are interested in talking about. And it also slowly ends with the current day Japan where episode 1 will begin.

So what is with AnimeFeminist I mean FemiNazi,

well they are fully triggered over everything especially the depiction of Nazis in Anime, so why not dissect it and the funny claims in their article. so yeah I loved mocking this article to death. Time for us to go with the debunking part. (Yay another reason for me to kill my sanity once more):

1. “ Under normal circumstances, it would be hard to choose the worst part of Dies Irae. The show is a Kickstarted adaption of a 2007 visual novel that’s notorious for originally being released unfinished, among other… qualities. This episode technically wasn’t the start of the story, but a prologue “Episode 0,” serving to set up the villains before the main story begins. ”

- Unfinished? Prologue? What? 

- It was unfinished in its early days and that is thanks to both Sony and Nintendo not really giving them the liberty to do so and that the project was already at its deadline making delays and unfinished content.

- It did finish it all after the release of the first part of the series by extensions and additional content packs for play station gamers to play it and also the PC ports was Japan exclusive so it took many years untiil reached the West. Also its not a prologue just a part of the VN itself.

2. “ this episode was about Nazis. Not “serial numbers filed off,” Marvel’s Hydra-style pseudo-Nazis, but actual, factual Nazis. Sure, the swastika on their armbands is replaced with a vague, meaningless fantasy symbol, but that doesn’t do much to cancel out that this episode focuses on real historical figure Reinhard Heydrich. Yes, that blue-eyed, blond-haired bishounen that background characters call an “example of the master race” (shudder) ”

-At least you made some clarifications in your 2017 article, but still funny how you get easily triggered by this

-Yeah it focuses on the old medieval man named Karl Kraft(before becoming Heydrich) in his time in Germany as one of the generals for Hitler, and the fact that nobody cares if they are nazis or what.

- and Master race? yeah you get afraid when it is said because it clearly talks about people like you who act like actual facists without realizing it.

3. “In the year 2017, with fascism rising at alarming rates worldwide, someone decided it would be cool to make an anime with a bishie-fied fantasy version of the man who systematically murdered tens of millions of people. Heydrich is one of history’s greatest monsters and his atrocities are still in living memory and they made an anime focusing on him and making him look cool. I don’t give a fuck if he’s a bad guy. It’s frankly irresponsible these days depicting Nazis as anything but repugnant.

I’m actually shaking a little as I type this.”

-I am going to laugh, well I did, laugh so badly when I read this part. You are so triggered that you have to type it on the keyboard.

-And who caused Fascism rise anyways, well its puritans like you who did it in the first place. Obviously when you act like your opponent in every manner, you will end up being the enemy outside of your delusion.

-Irresponsible? When how and where? Tell me the details, I love to hear what is it all about. They did not make him look cool, its just Heydrich being Heydrich.

- also why is it repugnant to talk or make something about the nazis when you yourself act like the very nazi you hate. Hello not everyone thinks nazis are completely evil.

4. “ Dies Irae could have the most gorgeous animation (it doesn’t), witty writing (it doesn’t), and likable supporting cast (it doesn’t) full of empowered women (they aren’t), and it wouldn’t matter because they’re fucking nazis. ”

- Your sarcasm ends here huh? ok just because they are Nazis, you really get super triggered that you made an article about it. Hahahahaha even I can make something more sarcastic things without the need to put open close tenses just to say they aren’t. duh.

5. The animation is thoroughly blah. The character designs are bland and the movement is jerky and limited, even in the action scenes. It doesn’t help that most of the episode takes place at night, so everything is muddy.

- Muddy or Moody? also I do have to slightly agree with you that the animation is not really the best but at the same time it does the job it wants to propose.

6. “I have only the vaguest sense of what happened. There was a lot of jumping from one weirdo to another without any sense of transition. The episode concluded with Heydrich making a long speech about how bored he was with everything, with incoherent writing that could only come from a visual novel. The flow of the episode seemed mostly about quickly introducing a big group of characters designed to make the VN fans point and say, “Hey, I know that guy!””

-well the episode just follows what the VN did, so what else does it says.

Now comes the funny part. Brace your seats before you lose your sides from the very words the writer has to say about it.

7. “ One of the Nazis goes on a violent rant about how an androgynous character is “disgusting” for not clearly presenting as a man or a woman, which is going to be flat-out triggering for some viewers. ”

-Ku- Kuhahahahahahaha......I lost myself laughing at this. Why would anyone be triggered because androgynous characters are disgusting except when you are offended this badly. Some Viewers? Maybe just you and your fellow mental patients. Hahahahaha

8. “The female characters might, under different circumstances, be interesting… too bad they’re fucking Nazis.”

- Here we go with the Nazis and shit thing again. This is the funniest thing I had read for my entire life coming from you. Kuhahahahaha! At least you admit Rusalka and the other females were interesting. But Noooooo, because Nazis.

9. “ There’s nothing good about Dies Irae. I can’t even recommend it in good conscience for a hatewatch because of the shocking insensitivity toward historical figures and events. Throw Dies Irae in the dumpster and find a better trashy action-spectacle series to watch this season. ”

- Thanks for throwing good trash to us. Because you are only a pansy who can’t understand others

ok now for the comment that I laughed the most

10. “ Are the Japanese just flat out ignorant as a culture about Nazi's? Considering their country was allied with them during the war and had their own issues with how they treated fellow east countries I really can't understand why anyone let along a publishing company would think a series about damn Nazi's is a good idea. The only reason I can fanthom any admiration a Japanese person could have for them is their own issues with what's a "true scotsman" or maintaining the myth that theyre a ethnically monolitic country. (including but not limited to Unit 731 where they straight up tortured POW's and civilians in some of the most disgusting ways imaginable). ”

-first probably since almost every nation outside the west talks about Nazism that much. So generally every Asian has little to no Knowledge about the Nazis and also they are not insensitive it is just that you westerners are too sensitive about that topic. well if we do not include the Koreans and Chinese who hated Japan the most.

-Yeah because Nazis are interesting to look at and think about you american thot.

well looks like I might end up making myself pissed off on how much they do not understand the world they live in and the fact that they go full on racists when the topic is about Nazis and nations that has some positive outlook on them.

Well I will let you all watch the anime, its fun to watch and sometimes boring. But hey at least we get to know some interesting things that they will never know.

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

The art of the YouTube apology video

When an actor messes up, they typically have a team of managers, agents, and crisis managers to back them up with handcrafted personal statements apologizing for their actions. 

When a beauty guru messes up, they set up their tripods, get the tears going, and hit record. 

SEE ALSO: YouTube breakup videos are basically a requirement now. Here's why.

Much like break up videos, apology videos are almost a rite of passage for YouTubers. Since their content is so personal, their apologies have to be, too. As content creators' offensive internet histories get exposed, apology videos are becoming more and more common. There's almost a formula to them: You sob, you apologize for whatever you did wrong, you sob some more, beg for forgiveness from your fans, and then wrap it up with a teary thank-you. 

The most recent example of this tearsfest is Laura Lee, a beauty vlogger who was once just shy of 5 million subscribers, but lost 200,000 once she was exposed for racist tweets this month. A video she posted, simply titled "My Apology," went viral for all the wrong reasons. 

Content creator Keem mocked Lee in a video that broke down the types of apology videos that YouTubers make, from gamers apologizing for a racist comment to vloggers apologizing for filming a dead body. 

In 2012 Lee tweeted, "tip for all black people if you pull ur pants up you can run from the police faster." 

When fans of another rival beauty guru dug up the vile tweet, Lee went silent. She deactivated her Twitter account, deleted her old tweets, and then came back to Twitter with a lengthy Notes app apology. In the statement, she blamed the fact that she grew up as a "small town girl from Alabama" who lacked the "cultural education" that she has now. 

Five days later, she followed up with this apology video. 

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry to you guys," she whimpers, frequently stopping mid-sentence to sob into her hands. "It hurts me so bad to disappoint you all who have supported me for many years. I know that I'm better than that person." 

The four-minute video was dragged for being (for lack of a better word) total bullshit. One commenter called it "so funny to watch bc it’s so forced." Another joked that it was "proof that youtubers shouldn't be actors."

Someone wrote fake captions over her video, and people turned her into a meme on Twitter. It even inspired parodies. 

whoever wrote the caption for laura lee’s apology is my hero pic.twitter.com/S4406OSgmV

— 𝕙𝕒𝕓𝕚𝕓𝕒 (@denimIester) August 20, 2018

Laura Lee is part of a group of beauty gurus who all apologized for their problematic pasts, but hers is the one getting criticized the most. 

But is there a "right" way to apologize? Crisis manager Eden Gillott Bowe says there may not be a one size fits all way to say "I'm sorry," but there is a basic formula that best gets the point across. Like Olivia Pope in Scandal, Gillott Bowe fixes messy situations. 

"If you know you've done something wrong, you don't want to hide it because the truth always finds a way of coming out," Gillott Bowe said over the phone. "So you just want to deal with it quickly." 

Compare Lee's apology to that of another member of the beauty guru clique that broke apart over this past week, Gabriel Zamora. 

In contrast to Lee's tears, Zamora opens the video by explaining that the version he's posting is the third version he's recorded because he was more levelheaded than in the first two. 

"I'm like, you know what? This isn't just about my emotions," he admits in the video.

Gillott Bowe recommends staying as calm as possible, like Zamora, while doing damage control. 

"Try not to be too reactionary and just take a moment to think about how it's going to be perceived," she said. "If I jump out and say this, how might it be taken the wrong way?"

With that in mind, here's the backstory on all the beauty guru drama.  

Fellow vlogger and Lee and Zomara's former friend Jeffree Star — who has his own history of being horrifically racist and according to the Washington Post, once joked about "throwing battery acid on a black girl's face to lighten her skin so that her foundation matches" — was the subject of a Shane Dawson documentary series on YouTube that examined Star's life and reputation.

The last installation of the five part series discusses the public feud Star had with his ex-friend group. Star says that "people still don't really know what went on" that broke down the group, and that "there's so many versions of things that never happened out there."

In response, Zamora posted a photo of himself, Laura Lee, Manny MUA, and Nikita Dragun captioned "Bitch is bitter because without him we're doing better," referring to Star. Zamora topped it off in a now-deleted tweet that said, "Imagine stanning a racist? I could never."

That kicked off a stan-led scrape through the four YouTubers' Twitter histories, which unearthed hateful tweets from years ago. Manny MUA, Laura Lee, and Gabriel Zamora all made separate videos apologizing for their actions; Nikita Dragun addressed it on Twitter. 

But why does Star get a pass on his past actions, while Lee's getting dropped from all of her brand partnerships? Fans agreed that their apology videos made all the difference. 

The difference is they both acknowledged their mistakes years ago and have actively worked to better themselves and let it show through their actions. Laura barely made an apology, cried fake tears, and tried to blame it on everything else, like "I was raised in a small town"

— Future 👩🏻‍⚕️ (@K_Wolstenholme) August 23, 2018

They felt the same way about Zamora's apology video. Stans thought that compared to Lee's apology, it was significantly more genuine because he walked through how he would improve. Commenters lauded Zamora's apology as "a great example" and "like sitting with a friend." 

if Gabriel Zamora gaining back all the subs he lost and then some isn’t proof that all we want as viewers are real people telling the truth...i don’t know what is pic.twitter.com/Im0NNfCUKr

— spektader (@spektader) August 22, 2018

Makeup fans haven't forgiven Star entirely, though. Some wish he'd face the same consequences as Lee. 

im glad this is happening but i wish the same energy would’ve been kept for Jeffree Star and James Charles https://t.co/8okPymP00H

— deja 🏳️‍🌈 (@dejaistired) August 23, 2018

Gillott Bowe recommends that when crafting an apology, whether to a friend in private or to an entire fanbase through a public statement, you don't want to keep repeating "I'm sorry." 

"You want to be sincere," she said. "You don't want to dwell on it. Once you say you're sorry you don't want to belabor it." 

In Zamora's video, he said, "I don't want to give excuses ... it was ignorant, it was stupid." Instead of jumping to begging his subscribers not to call him racist, he asked them to take time to process his apology. He also linked two videos about the history of the N word and a lecture from author Ta-Nehisi Coates about "words that don't belong to everyone." 

Then, in typical YouTuber fashion, he moved on and exposed Lee and Manny MUA for throwing him under the bus and refusing to take accountability when their tweets were exposed.

Fed up of going on YouTube and all the videos being titled ‘my truth’, ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘my apology’. I just want to watch a fucking makeup tutorial

— georgia (@georgievowles) August 23, 2018

Although that's exactly the kind of drama YouTube subscribers want to hear, Gillott Bowe probably wouldn't go for that cutthroat, spilling the tea approach. She'd rather her clients wrap up an apology by looking forward. 

"You talk about the future," she said. "The things you want to change to make sure it doesn't happen again, and then you stay positive." 

So for future YouTubers who need to make an apology — whether it's Tana Mongeau apologizing for calling her black friend a racial slur or Jenna Marbles apologizing for being an unprepared fish owner — here's the formula that Gillott Bowe endorses. 

1. Open with something positive.

Gillott Bowe recommends "easing into it" by thanking people for their support.

2. Say you're sorry and don't drag it on.

"Focus right on the apology," she said. Don't try to skirt responsibility or avoid taking accountability. It's better for all parties if you just own up to what you did wrong. 

3. End on a good note.

Gillott Bowe calls this a "compliment sandwich." You want to close the apology with something "nice and hopeful," like outlining the steps you'll take to improve.

4. Don't do it again.

She brings up a quote often misattributed to Albert Einstein: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

"People have a tremendous capacity to forgive," Gillott Bowe explains, "But you don't want to keep apologizing if you're going to end up doing shitty things again anyway." 

Navigating the public sphere after a major scandal will probably be rocky for a while, but Gillott Bowe is sure that if an apology is genuine, the person at fault will be OK. 

"There are the kinds of people who are going to hate you no matter what you do," she said. "But if the people in the middle could be swayed either way, those are the people you're gearing toward."

Or, you know, you could also just try not to be racist. 

WATCH: An ancient human species went extinct because it was 'lazy'

[tagnoob]

The current Guardian’s Gala event in EVE Online is the sort of thing that makes me wonder what people really want out of such events or how they should be structured.

Guardians Gala Comes Again

Like such events before it, Guardian’s Gala is embedded in the structure of The Agency.  However, the grasp of The Agency has grown since I last spent some time on an event.  The Lifeblood expansion back in October expanded The Agency from an event framework to the “everything PvE” vision CCP had for it.  So rather than the event being its own thing it is now jammed in the frame with all things PvE though, if you haven’t hidden it already, you will get some event info on screen.

The Agency owns all your PvE

Having read the event preview over at The Nosy Gamer, I had a good idea as to what ship I might bring.  With the NPCs warping in on top of you it reminded me of the Warzone Extraction event from last September.  I grabbed the same alt that I ran those with along with the same ship, a passive tanked Drake.

Big Shiny Drake

I swapped out the resistance amplifiers to explosive and kinetic flavors in order to match the expected damage and, after one run, swapped the Scourge heavy assault missiles out for normal Scourge heavy missiles along with a target painter to improve damage application.

My crappy Drake fit

I’ll paste my crappy fit into a comment on the post if you’re interested… and if I remember.  I don’t recommend this fit particularly, I just happened to have it sitting around handy and my alt has all the skills for it maxed out.  I also cheaped out and shot plain T1 missiles, though I brought some faction missiles along just in case.

As with the Warzone event, the sites are all over New Eden and when you arrive in a site the NPCs have a propensity for warping in on top of you so you aren’t going to pull range and kite.  Unlike the other event, you won’t get warp scrambled or have your capacitor drain.  But you will be webbed many times over by the frigates in the site while the cruisers will sit at range with target painters on you blazing away.  That range turned out to be “just beyond my heavy assault missiles engagement envelope” which is why I dropped the HAMs for HMLs.  With heavy missiles my alt can hit out to 78km and, since I wasn’t neuted, I could run a target painter to help clean up the frigates.

On grid webbed and painted

The goal seems to be to slaughter as many hostiles as it takes… the number seems to be about 20 or so.. in order to draw out the guest of honor, so-called, who arrives in a battleship or a battlecruiser.  You then chase that down, blow it up, and you’re done with the site.

You are seriously done, because any leftover NPCs align out and warp off at that point.  You lose lock on them even before they’ve entered warp.

Anyway I took to shooting the frigates primarily because with the target painter they only required three missile salvos and the less ships slowing me down with webs the better in my book.  Meanwhile the sig of my fat ass Drake, boosted by shield extenders, was probably big enough that the cruisers painting me made no difference at all to damage being applied to me.  So a double win, frigs died faster and in doing so removed something slowing me down in completing the site.

Site rewards come from the wrecks, the primary source being the battleship/battlecruiser who has, for me at least, dropped a SKIN and a learning accelerator with every round.  The smaller ships also have loot, though more often than not it is metal scraps which are hardly worth the effort.

So, in general, easy-peasy.  Warp in, shoot small stuff until the big guy shows up, shoot him, profit.

The details are where things get a bit more messy.

For openers, this seems like a good way to kill new players.  It isn’t as deadly as the Warzone Extraction event, because this one doesn’t lock you down with a warp scrambler so you can escape… and being webbed will get you to warp more quickly… but things can still go sideways fast if you’re not prepared.  My alt with max shield skills and a passive fit Drake that regenerates at 188 DPS won’t have an issue, but somebody wandering into a site with their level 2 mission cruiser may be in for a rude awakening.

But do we care?  If we judge who the event is for based on the level of effort required, then it is something for canny PvE veterans I suppose.  It does seem to require people who can manipulate the overview because, as usual, the NPCs are unselected by default.

Then there is the open nature of the event.  Anybody can see the sites on their overview… even if the ships themselves might not show up because CCP… and can warp on in at any time.  And if somebody shows up and gets the last hit on the special end ship, then they get the loot.  Or, if they can get to the wreck of the last ship before you do and loot it, it is theirs unless you’re ready to take them on in a fight.  That is just the special nature of EVE Online, where you are never fully able to play away from your fellow capsuleers.  I went off to a remote area to run the sites and still had this happen to me once.  I can only image how this is playing out a few jumps from the crowd in Jita.

And then there is the whole point system that events in The Agency use to distribute additional rewards.  This time around they are not too bad in that they are mostly in line with what you are going to do anyway, which is run sites and shoot NPCs.

You earn ten points for killing, in sequence, 5, 10, 50, and then 100 of the small fry, ten points for finishing a site and then a couple of sites, and ten points for killing 1, 2, 5, then 10 of the loot pinatas at that end the site.  I managed 80 points my first night out, though I was thwarted twice on that last set, once when somebody showed up and destroyed the boss ahead of me and once when the boss got bored and warped off.  I’d read that they might warp off and that I should be patient, but after 10 minutes I figured he wasn’t coming back and that I’d been denied rewards and progress yet again.

The second night I passed 100 points and earned my first reward.

Something for my efforts!

Of course, that would have been a lot more impressive if I hadn’t already looted 1,700 Angels Arisen Fireworks already.  To get the next reward I need 300 points and, frankly, the event isn’t that much fun.

Of course, somebody out there is going to be obsessed with the ISK per hour measure of the event, so let me see if I can help on that front.

I timed myself on a couple of sites and it took about 15 minutes to complete and loot in my slow old Drake; extending out to maybe 20 mins if I bumbled my efforts to pick up loot along the way.  With a better ship/fit than mine you could easily cut that back some.  On the other hand, you also have to find a site.  I was pretty lucky out in my area of operation, being the only one in local and having a new site ready every time I finished.  Still, let’s be conservative and call it two sites an hour.

I got 250-300K ISK for just shooting things up.  I think shooing the cruisers more than the frigates could boost that, but whatever.

You get the skill booster which, depending on which one you get, is worth 15-50 million ISK.

And then there is the SKIN, which is the real wildcard.  I imagine the right SKIN would get you some ISK.  The problem is that the market is currently flooded with the Spirit SKINs that drop, all the more so because they are the same SKIN that dropped last year, only they changed the name of the set so I thought for a moment it might be a new SKIN.

But it isn’t.

It is still a good SKIN.  Not as good as a new, hot pink SKIN would be, but good.  In some cases, it is the best looking SKIN that you can find for a few ships.  But it is pretty common so it might be something to save until after the selling frenzy settles down.

The most valuable one I got was probably the Gallente Shuttle SKIN, which you cannot even list on the market.  You have to sell it via contract, a complication that means that there isn’t much competition for it.  But even then, you might get 10 million ISK or so, which isn’t all that much, and which requires somebody to know that the SKIN exists and that it is only available via contracts.

I’ll probably keep it just to add to my collection.

Otherwise the next most valuable SKIN I got was for a Phoenix dreadnought, which might be good for 6 million ISK on a lucky day.

And then there are fireworks.  I got a lot of fireworks off of wrecks.  And metal scraps.  So many metal scraps.  And then there was the odd ship module now and again, some of which were useful.

All told, if the odds were ever in your favor, you could bring in upwards of 100 million ISK per hour with optimum drops.  But that seems unlikely.  Reality is probably closer to 30 million ISK per hour, and that is indirect because you have to schlep back to a market hub to sell your loot.

Basically, you shouldn’t stop ratting in your super carrier to run off and harvest the bounty of Guardian’s Gala.  All the SKINs and learning accelerators you want will be on the market in Jita waiting for you and your ISK to show up.

The advanced booster boost

Even my dank 10-18 million ISK ticks in my little Ishtar are a better value as I get that and all the loot and salvage as well.

But as a distraction from whatever you’re doing in New Eden currently Guardian’s Gala probably isn’t the worst thing you could choose.  And you might even get a SKIN or two that you want.  And it makes for a few nice screen shots.

Big Shiny Drake

The fight starts at the site

Guardian Angels Jaramael shooting me

Guardian Angels Jehoel painting and shooting

Missiles away!

A Jaramael orbiting my Drake

A Jehoel painted in return by me

A Jaramael painted

Missile hits as he zips past

The Barachel end boss flying away from the site

Shields flare on the Barachel as I shoot it

Mucking about looting wrecks

Trying Out the Guardians Galas Sites The current Guardian's Gala event in EVE Online is the sort of thing that makes me wonder what people really want out of such events or how they should be structured.

[takenews-blog1]

People Overseas: New coach for Pulisic, Klinsmann strikes up depth chart

New Post has been published on https://takenews.net/people-overseas-new-coach-for-pulisic-klinsmann-strikes-up-depth-chart/

People Overseas: New coach for Pulisic, Klinsmann strikes up depth chart

Winless in each the Bundesliga and Champions League for the reason that finish of September, and after a 2-1 loss to relegation-threatened Werder Bremen at residence Saturday, the Dortmund board had sufficient, firing Peter Bosz and changing him with Peter Stoger, who himself was simply fired by Cologne after that membership’s winless begin.

A change in coach presents new alternative and new challenges for gamers so it must be no exception for Pulisic. The teenager had definitely gained the approval of Bosz throughout his brief reign, and given his breakthrough the earlier two years, he had a believer in former coach Thomas Tuchel.

However success up to now doesn’t assure success sooner or later, and Pulisic must study one other new coach in Stoger. Bundesliga.com did a breakdown of Stoger’s previous set-up at Cologne, the place he ran a base Four-Four-2. Pulisic has expertise with that with the U.S. nationwide staff, however that might doubtlessly depart him out large, and put him in a a lot much less influential place.

In fact, Cologne just isn’t Dortmund personnel-wise and Stoger might set his aspect up in another way based mostly on the expertise he has readily available.

We gained’t have to attend lengthy to see the place Pulisic might slot in beneath his new boss. Dortmund performs thrice within the subsequent eight days with two league matches earlier than the German winter break with a DFB Pokal showdown with Bayern Munich.

And with an harm checklist that features Mario Gotze, Maximilian Philipp and Marco Reus, Pulisic would appear to be a favourite to begin all three of these contests.

Since his transfer to Hertha Berlin, former U.S. Beneath-20 goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann has shaken off an harm and began for the Hertha Berlin II aspect within the German fourth division. Nevertheless, he obtained an enormous alternative with the membership out of competition within the Europa League as he was handed the beginning towards Ostersunds FK.

Klinsmann didn’t disappoint, making three stops, together with a penalty, in a 1-1 draw.

“Klinsmann had an excellent recreation, he stayed agency beneath stress and saved the penalty,” Hertha Berlin supervisor Pal Dardai stated following the sport. “However it wasn’t simply him who performed nicely.

“Jonathan is a younger man and he had a superb recreation. However he must preserve working arduous, proceed to study and construct on this exhibiting. As we speak he will get an ‘A’.”

Klinsmann’s reward for his outing was a spot on the bench for Hertha’s match towards Augsburg on Sunday. It was the primary time he has made the gameday 18 for a Bundesliga contest. He had made the bench thrice within the Europa League earlier than his begin Thursday.

The competition Sunday led to a 1-1 draw, however Augsburg objective got here on an error from No. 1 Rune Jarstein. If Klinsmann can proceed to impress in coaching and with Berlin II, then an opportunity with the primary staff is probably not far off.

Whereas Klinsmann seems to be inching up the depth chart, Ethan Horvath could also be on his means down. After dropping his beginning spot to Guillaume Hebert, Horvath continued to make benches as a backup. Nevertheless, after Herbert struggled in his audition because the No. 1, quite than flip again to Horvath, Brugge as an alternative has gone with veteran Ludovic Butelle, whom Horvath dethroned final season. And to make issues worse, Horvath just isn’t even making the 18 anymore.

“It’s unlucky for Horvath, as a result of he began the season as a starter,” Brugge supervisor Ivan Leko stated just a few weeks in the past. “However this implies nothing for the following match. That he’s not even within the choice and [Jens] Teunckens is, doesn’t imply that I estimate Teunckens larger than Horvath. Solely I believe that you just want different qualities as a 3rd goalkeeper than with a primary or second goalkeeper. There you want a teenager who’s joyful to have the ability to go alongside.”

Brugge’s issues on the place are unhealthy sufficient the membership parted methods with goalkeeper coach Jan Van Steenberghe this previous week.

Given the uncertainty surrounding the place, it’d be silly to write down off Horvath but. Hopefully for him and his teammates, a brand new voice might help them iron out their latest dips in kind.

There have been fairly just a few occasions in the course of the ultimate of the Liga MX Apertura the place it seemed as if Jonathan Gonzalez’s breakout season for Monterrey was going to finish with a trophy.

The highest staff within the common season, Monterrey jumped out to an early lead towards rival Tigres within the first leg midweek, solely to have Tigres equalize and get a draw. At residence within the second leg, Monterrey was up two minutes in, however conceded twice with Aviles Hurtado lacking a late penalty that might have once more tied the proceedings. In the long run, Gonzalez and Monterrey suffered heartbreak, with a Three-2 mixture defeat within the ultimate.

Gonzalez went 80 minutes within the second leg earlier than being changed — it was simply the sixth time he was subbed off in Liga MX play this yr in 20 begins.

Although it didn’t finish in a title, it has been a meteoric rise for this season as he went from prospect to every-week starter for among the best groups in Liga MX. It’s sufficient to have sparked a struggle for his companies on a nationwide staff degree, although he’s said up to now he’s dedicated to the US. And rumors final week had Gonzalez drawing the curiosity of Borussia Dortmund.

It’s not prudent to place Gonzalez in Europe, or wherever else, but. However the defensive midfielder is making waves in a dream begin to a promising profession.

Bobby Wooden’s troublesome knee points have once more reared their ugly head.

The attacker didn’t make the 18 for the showdown towards Wolfsburg and fellow U.S. worldwide John Brooks due to the issue, lacking out on a scoreless draw. After the sport, Hamburg coach Markus Gisdol up to date his standing, saying it’s potential he may return in brief order.

“Bobby Wooden was not match for motion towards Wolfsburg attributable to a knee downside,” Gisdol informed reporters after the sport. “We are going to determine throughout Monday whether or not he will be an choice once more for Tuesday within the match towards Frankfurt.”

Wooden has suffered from knee issues with Hamburg since final season, lacking time alongside the best way and presumably impacting his kind each down the stretch final yr and at factors this season.

If Wooden isn’t prepared, it is probably not the worst factor on the planet. The winter break in Germany is coming quickly — after video games Tuesday and Friday, Hamburg doesn’t play once more till Jan. 13. An prolonged relaxation could be what Wooden wants to enhance the situation of his knee and presumably rediscover among the kind he confirmed in the midst of final season.

After returning to coaching too late to make it again for Stoke’s towards Swansea, Geoff Cameron was restored to the bench for the Potters match towards Tottenham. The end result was a nasty one for Stoke because it went down in a heavy 5-1 defeat to Spurs however Cameron got here off the bench to get his first motion since Oct. 21.

Cameron performed 15 minutes in his return from a concussion. It could not sound like a lot, however the defender informed the media final week he harbored concern for his long-term future.

“You don’t know when it’s going to get proper and there’s conditions like Andy Wilkinson,” Cameron informed the Stoke Sentinel, referencing a participant who was compelled to retire attributable to concussions. “After the second or third week, it was like, `Am I going to be in a tricky place now? Is that this the tip of me?’

“Chatting with certainly one of my very shut buddies who truly research concussions, a health care provider I’ve identified again within the States, he reassured me I might get higher over time.”

Cameron figured he would solely be a substitute this weekend, however famous the membership has numerous video games developing and taking part in time must be accessible.

One other American again in coaching is Timothy Chandler. The Eintracht Frankfurt defender went down with a torn meniscus Oct. 21 within the first half of a 2-2 draw with Borussia Dortmund and required surgical procedure.

A prolonged spell on the sidelines was anticipated, however Chandler returned to full coaching this week within the lead as much as his membership’s match with Bayern Munich. Nevertheless, he didn’t make the 18 for Frankfurt’s 1-Zero loss to the Bundesliga leaders.

Previous to his harm, Chandler was one of many few People in a prime European league with a lockdown spot in an XI. We’ll see if that continues to be the case after Marius Wolf has are available and finished a stable job within the place, together with scoring a objective final weekend towards Hertha Berlin.

[allcheatscodes]

pikmin gamecube

http://allcheatscodes.com/pikmin-gamecube/

pikmin gamecube

Pikmin cheats & more for GameCube (GameCube)

Cheats

Unlockables

Hints

Easter Eggs

Glitches

Guides

Get the updated and latest Pikmin cheats, unlockables, codes, hints, Easter eggs, glitches, tricks, tips, hacks, downloads, guides, hints, FAQs, walkthroughs, and more for GameCube (GameCube). AllCheatsCodes.com has all the codes you need to win every game you play!

Use the links above or scroll down to see all the GameCube cheats we have available for Pikmin.

Genre: Action, Adventure Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo ESRB Rating: Everyone Release Date: December 3, 2001

Hints

Make Olimar Invincible

To make Captain Olimar invincible, simply press down on the D-pad. Olimar will lay down, then nothing can hurt him.

Turn Back Time

If something goes terribly wrong then press start and hit continue from last save.

The Other Ability Of Blue Pikmin

Blue Pikmin can live in water, but why do they have only 1 thing when red and yellow have 2 features? Fact is blue Pikmin does have another ability. They can save other drowning Pikmin! It isn’t always succesful. If the Blue Pikmin are idle when a yellow or red Pikmin falls in the water near them they will attempt to throw them on shore. This is called the lifeguard. It works well in the distant spring for the part right near the base where you need to throw yellow Pikmin to get a part and they sometimes fall in water.

Many Colors Of Pikmin

If you collect all 30 parts at the end of the game when you lift off to go back to your home planet you will see many differnet colors of onions lifting off

Purple Pikmin!!!!!

to get purple pikmin first get 100 red 75 blue and 45 yellow get out 50 red,25 blue, and 25 yellow.you need the yellow pikmin to have bomb rocks.get all the pikmin by water then throw only the yellow pikmin in then go to base click on go to sunset. then by the next morning you have purple pikmin!

Easy Way To Kill A Bulborb.

when you see a bulborb don’t just attack it from the front.get all of your pikmin then sneak behind it and use the c stick.when they start toattack it will only be around 2 seconds before it dies if you did it right!

All The Colors Of The Pikmin

If you get a happy ending, as you’re leaving the planet you’ll see Onions of all colors following you.

Easy Flowers

On the first day there is no time limit so if you have some spare time you can wait for your Pikmin to turn into flowers. (This doesn’t work for your first Pikmin.)

Purple Pikmin

When your in Forest Navel, go to puffstool for a battle. When your pikmin are fighting puffstool, they’ll hit some gas out of puffstool. If your pikmin get hit by it, they’ll turn purple, their pupils in their eye will go away, and get mushrooms on there heads instead of a leaf, bulb, or flower. They will still attack puffstool, but will also attack you, so be careful. They’ll jump on you and start bashing their head into you, so it’s not easy to escape. They won’t stay purple forever, they’ll turn back in a few seconds.

Knowing The Pikmin

The way to know your pikmin is by knowing that.

Blue Pikmin- can walk on water but can't stand fire.Yellow Pikmin- can be thrown farthest, can pick up and drop bomb rocks and dies in water.Red Pikmin- can stand fire but dies in water.Pikmin with flower tops- fastestPikmin with bud tops- medeim speedPikmin with leaf tops- slowest

Note: If you have a yellow pikmin with a bomb rock and one of is not with you, don’t tell them to come to you with the wistle (the “B” move) or else they will come to you but drop the bomb.

Save Drowning Pikmin

Unless you through them out too far, just keep pressing and holding ‘B’ until they come out of the water and dry off.

Challenge Mode

Once you have saved your progress once, a new option will be available from the main menu: Challenge Mode. This mode lets you go back and compete in the areas that you have already opend up in the main game. The idea is not to find spaceship pieces, but rather to build as big a Pikmin army as you can before the sun sets. The biggest army scores are saved and entered into a ranking.

Pikmin-a-plenty

In the ”Crash-site” area, go over the bridge you made from pushing the box over blow-up the wall blocking your path with yellow pikmin using bomb-rocks (they can be found inside the cardboard box). Once in this area, you’ll see three very large clams (Clamclamps). The one on the left has a part of your rocket, the one in the middle has a pearl, and the one on the right also has a pearl. If you can defeat the clam and take it’s pearl back to an Onion, you’ll recieve a whopping 50 pikmin! This will work for any color pikmin.

Different Pikmin Powers

Each Pikmin as you know are different from each other. The leaf on a Pikmin’s head means that it is the weakest and slowest. A bud means that it is fast and kinda strong. A flower means that it is the fastest and strongest.

Colors!

If you like colors then on the D-pad push down. Your Pikmin will carry you to the Onion.

Defeating Burrowing Snagrets

To defeat Burrowing Snagrets you must stay away from its’ head. Try not to attack it if its’ head is above ground, because you will surely lose pikmin. Wait until the Burrowing Snagret is underground again. Now huddle your pikmin near the spot at which it had appeared. If the Burrowing Snagret comes up again, you will have a lot of pikmin on its’ head where it is unable to eat them. When it burrows underground repeat this step again. Keep doing this until it is defeated. Normally, when I fight Burrowing Snagrets, I lose around only 5 or 6 pikmin, but that is only because I followed this pattern.

Beating Bulbax

To defeat the Emperor Bulbax in the Final Trial try bringing 20 yellow pikmin and 80 red pikmin to the battle. Arm you yellows with bombs on the eastern ledge of his lair. Now go touch him. He will pop up and this is your cue to run to the entrance with all of your pikmin. Dismiss them with X and touch one yellow carrying a bomb rock. Head near the Bulbax’s head. If you see it’s mouth dripping with moisture dismiss the yellow bomber. The Bulbax will lick him up with the bomb, so gather around 40 of your reds and start throwing them at the stunned Bulbax’s face. When the Bulbax pops back up run to the entrance at the suth side of his lair again. Repeat this process again and again until he is defeated. Watch out!! If he jumps run with your pikmin bomber and remember to dismiss him only if you see his mouth dripping with moisture. After the Bulbax is defeated, it will take 40 pikmin to carry the secret safe back to Olimar’s ship. It took me only one try to defeat Bulbax, but that is only because I followed this strategy. Also my end results were that I sprouted 4044 pikmin and lost 267 in battle and by getting all of the parts I recieved the “Happy End”.

How To Beat Armored Cannon Beetles

Use about like 30 pikmin when he turns to you rapidly toss pikmin toward the upper snout clogging it with a pikmin before he fires a boulder at you. He will open his protective shell revealing a weak spot on the back of him throw as many pikmin as you can. If you dont finish him repeat. You need 30 pikmin to carry him and he will produce a whoppin 50 SEEDS!

Pikmin Challenge Mode Target Scores

Impact Site - 194 pikminThe Forest of Hope - 333 pikminThe Forest Navel - 243 pikminThe Distant Spring - 258 pikminThe Final Trial - 212 pikmin

Fireworks

If u like a a good ol’ July 4th fireworks parade, have at least 4 Pikmin out with you and press down on the D-pad. The pikmin will carry you to an Onion and you will go up, and fireworks will come out.

Parts Not Needed

Nova Blaster, Space Float, Massage Machine, UV Lamp and Secret Safe. You dont need these parts to complete the game.

Challenge Mode Option

Save the game at any point to unlock a “Challenge Mode” option at the main menu. Select that option to replay previously completed sections in a time attack type scenario. The objective is to collect as many Pikmin as possible before nightfall.

Cheats

Currently we have no cheats or codes for Pikmin yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Unlockables

Currently we have no unlockables for Pikmin yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Easter eggs

Currently we have no easter eggs for Pikmin yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Glitches

Currently we have no glitches for Pikmin yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Guides

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

[tagnoob]

A new war for a new year, and its first major battle hit yesterday with as many as 4,000 pilots in local as much of null sec declared sides in the war between TEST, Circle-of-Two, and their allies and the Stainwagon Coalition, whose composition I noted in a war preview post last week.

One of those fights – Local at 21:16 UTC Jan. 1, 2017

The location was the system of F4R2-Q in the Catch region where TEST and CO2 had each placed a Fortizar citadel to act as staging points for their invasion of the region.

On the Imperium side there was a pre-battle State of the Goonion where The Mittani spoke of standing by those who had stood by us during the Casino War and opposing those who proved faithless when the going got tough.

I was already in Asher’s just formed Machariel fleet before the address concluded, joining the logi contingent in a Guardian.  The fleet quickly filled up and we ended up with too much logi, so some of them were sent off to other fleets, but I stuck around preferring to fly with Asher and Arrendis and more than a few fellow Reavers.

This was clearly going to be a big op.  As our subcap fleet undocked and moved to where we would get bridged, there were a lot of capital ships hanging on our staging Fortizar.

Cap Fleet still not fully undocked

We hung out waiting for out bridge for a bit, with the usual calls for people who were not in range of the titan or who had accidentally clicked in space and started wandering off.  Coms were busy as we were in the mode where multiple fleets share the same coms channel, so chatter had to be heavily restricted.

Tethered and Waiting for the bridge

I did get a bit cocky though and logged in my alt and got him setup in a pointing Vigil.  I did not join the fleet, but made my way along the gate route to the destination system where I warped out to one of our staging towers where fleets were staging and went into a 150km orbit to just watch from above things.  TEST and CO2 did not have the luxury of towers in the system as, in a repeat of the battle of 6VDT-H (another 4K pilot battle), they let us sneak in and put towers up on all the moons in the system.  They were depending on their Fortizars for safe points.

And then we warped in and the battle began.

What does one say about a battle where the server has hit 10% time dilation and still cannot keep up, so people get disconnected, parts of the UI stop working, where no action is reliable, where ships get stuck in your overview and appear there long after they have gone?

Wilhelm got disconnected four times during the battle.  But things were moving so slowly that I never had to worry about warping back to the fleet.  Even during the peak, when it took me 20 minutes to log back in and load grid, I found myself still on anchor, still capping up my partners in the cap chain, all as though I had never left.  The main problem was once when one of my cap buddies dumped out of the chain at the same time and I had to get back in fleet, get the watch list up, target a new buddy, and start capping him.  That series of actions took 15 minutes.  And then the old buddy got back in and I was another five minutes getting things sorted back to the way they were.

On the other hand, when time is moving slow and your fleet is clearly going to be sitting on grid exchanging alpha strikes, which kill a ship in a single volley leaving nothing to repair, you can find time to do other things.  I managed to go take a shower, make lunch, take down the Christmas lights on the house, and eat dinner while watching a TV show.  I just had to check my position at every set of commercials.

When our fleet started taking a few losses, I put my alt in and had him paint targets as Asher called for it.  But then he got disconnected, so I let him be for a while, choosing to focus on logi.  We did save a few people… more than a few… when attempts at alpha strikes were done badly and ended up as ragged volleys that applied damage over what seemed like a long stretch of time.  We kept Asher alive a few times as opposing fleets locked him up in an attempt to headshot him.

A while later, when things had hit a routine as we sat near the CO2 Fortizar I logged my alt back in.  However, he had been some place bad while I was away, having had his armor peeled away well into half structure, though his shields were back to full.  As he auto-warped onto grid again he landed in the midst of a TEST fleet and the ship wasn’t long for the world.  I did managed to paint and shoot a Flycatcher and a Sabre as that Vigil went out in a blaze of glory.

Painters on, missiles firing

I left him there in his pod as a vantage point for screen shots before eventually pointing him at the gate home where he was picked off by Solar Fleet camp on the gate that was happily taking out anybody trying to leave.  I watched a couple of Oneiros logi cruisers get popped before it was my turn.

That leads us to who took sides with whom.  I am waiting for a full accounting… or at least a battle report that will generate accurately… but it looked like Provi Bloc, led by CVA, came out in support of Stainwagon and we made them temp blue for the fight.  Meanwhile, the Drone Region Federation, the “other” Russians that don’t get along with the Stainwagon Russians came out to join TEST and CO2, which saw us fighting people we had teamed up with in the past, like Solar Fleet, and former enemies like the Dronewalkers and Legion of xXDeathXx allied.

And then there was NCDot who came on down just to shoot targets of opportunity on both sides of the fight.  Have to respect that.

The fight went on and on as reports of the two Fortizars had them inching slowly to their doom.  Eventually the CO2 Fortizar exploded at 03:11 UTC and the fight shifted to focus around the TEST Fortizar, which had been erroneously reported as dead at 23:30, but which didn’t actually die until 04:14.

Somewhere along the way I managed to get a combat drone out and on each of the Fortizars in order to secure myself a spot on the kill mail.  I also was able to get in on a few of the opposing dreadnoughts at the end when the enemy had essentially given up shooting us and was trying to extract what they could from the field.  When the TEST Fortizar went up there was a short period of mopping up as tidi finally rose above 10%.

As the system emptied out, the game sped up, which was almost disorienting.  Things that had been essentially moving in slow motion for hours were suddenly running at full speed.  And then in a euphoric fit, Asher said he would make us ten participation links, one for each hour the fleet was out, something he no doubt immediately regretted as then he had to go make the damn things.  I would have been happy with a few less and a quicker trip home.

However, we did have to cover capitals as the went back to staging.  Fortunately we were only a gate and a jump from home, so it wasn’t a long haul.  We caught a titan bridge and covered a gate for the supers, then docked back up for the night.  And just in time too, as the new season of Sherlock was set to start on PBS just 11 minutes after I logged out.  But it had been a long day in space.

Fleet time – 10 hours 49 minutes

That leaves the result of the battle.

We won the objective.  TEST and CO2 lost their Fortizars and will continue to stage from NPC null sec space for now.  While they are pushing this off as no big deal, just a matter of a couple of gates, when your plan is an invasion and you are repulsed, you have lost.

Then there is the ISK war.  On Reddit, which is largely the sphere of TEST, our foes are claiming a stunning victory, claiming to have killed as much as 600 billion ISK in ships over the course of the battle.  They are oddly quiet about their own losses however.  They are likely less, so they have probably won the ISK war. How much less remains in question until things settle down and a battle report can be generated.  I cannot reliably fetch my own profile on zKillboard, much less a battle report.  All we have right now is ship losses.

DOTLAN report on ships destroyed

But the question arises as to who can afford losses and who can’t.

TEST and CO2 just lost all of their space after a couple months of war in Tribute.  They are currently living in NPC null sec and do not have any territory from which to extract wealth.

I do not know the state of Stainwagon, though they have been hanging out in their space for a long time, so it should be safe to assume they are not poor.

Then there is the Imperium, which has been working to restore it coffers since the end of summer in Delve.  Look at the November economic report and note which region has the largest amount of mining going on.  We lost 600 billion in ISK worth of ships in our own system less than a month ago and were still happy to go to war.  So I do not think the losses will dissuade us from our cause.

Also this is just the first major battle of the war.  Both sides can afford to dismiss what happened and claim it as a victory.  But which side is going to be able to sustain the fights, the losses, the day long events spent in 10% tidi?  That question has yet to be answered.

So the war is on.

Also, I am totally set for participation links for the month, with 11 in already.

Here is coverage of the battle on other sites, which I will update as more show up:

INN – The Traitor’s War Breaks Out – The Battle of F4R2-Q (live blog attempt)

The Nosy Gamer – The Winter War: Death To Supercarriers And Citadels

Video of the Battle from an NCDot pilot

And then some screen shots from my 10 hours in space yesterday:

Cap Fleet still not fully undocked

Tethered and Waiting for the bridge

Bridges up, subcaps on the way

Machariel Ball

Inititive Apoc Navy Issues

Machs with a smart bomb running

TEST Maelstroms

Asher in a smart bomb ring in front of a lava planet… art, bitches!

Vigil over the battle

Fighters and a command burst

Fortizar lit by explosions

Doomed Vigil in the middle of things

Oneiros tackled by Solar Fleet

Fighters in the glow of battle

More fighters

Wreckage and battle

Arrendis in the Dark Guardian

Dreads in the warm glow of an explosion

The CO2 Fortizar dies

Explosions

A Phoenix hanging on

Finally, screw that MTU!

Opening the New War at F4R2-Q A new war for a new year, and its first major battle hit yesterday with as many as 4,000 pilots in local as much of null sec declared sides in the war between TEST, Circle-of-Two, and their allies and the Stainwagon Coalition, whose composition I noted…