This post features Harrigan VonStudly or Harri as most of us know him, a long-time Eve player, pirate and opinionated, but lovable member of Tweetfleet. Harri is one-of-a kind. And we are all the better for him being a part of our Alliance.
• Tell us about your background in Eve
Queue some Beastie Boys~
It started way back in hist-o-ree with a laugh and tease at my girlee.
When I first met my now wife she was playing Eve. I used to laugh and tease her for playing a spaceships game online. Two years later I decided to try it. The rest is history.
My first attempt was to train my pilot and learn the game from my then girlfriend. I trained, under her advisement, a Drake pilot to be able to run level four missions. It was 2008 after all. And running level 4's solo in a well skilled Drake was easy enough. Heavy missiles weren't useless back then.
As I learned more and more about Eve I eventually created Harrigan for the sole purpose of PvP. I was enthralled with the depth and complexity of Eve. I decided that I would not undock Harrigan until he was well skilled and I had read and learned enough about Eve to decide specifically what I wanted to do with him. I didn't want to keep carebearing like she does. Still, to this day.
An advert for Suddenly Ninjas had caught my attention one day. By the time I finished reading it I had realized what it was I wanted to do. Suddenly I was a ninja. Life was hilarious. Ganking and fucking off high sec loot pinata's was worth every second spent doing it. Oh the tears.
Being in SN led to meeting Zedrick Cane, a former Stay Frosty member, by the way. Zed eventually left and started his own corp which led to a war dec. The war dec led to a mercenary alliance getting involved on Zed's side. It was a giant battle that had hilarious as well as serious undertones. If I remember correctly the CEO or someone that was Zedrick's in-game target had looked up real life information on Zed and began a personal attack on the man and his family. That's just a no no. The target threw numbers at Zedrick who was a one man corp. Zed opened his corp to people from all over Eve who were joining to fight the good fight to help Zed kick the snot out of such shit bags. The honorable Le Soulteur, CEO of Underworld Excavators, a well known mercenary alliance and others joined the noble cause to in-game punish these pieces of crap who do not know how to separate real life from a game. It was quite a large story on the Eve-O forums back then. And having known Zedrick already, well, it wasn't a question to join his corp and join the war effort. Once over the affiliations we had made from the war led to some of us being invited to join the merc corp/alliance. Zed had wanted to return back to his corp being a one man corp comprised of just himself. And so it shall be. We left his corp and let him do his thing again. Yes, I've done the honorable warrior thing.
Eventually the merc thing fizzled out and all the crew moved over to a new corp founded by our leader, Le Soulteur. Low sec pirating was the new mission for us. For the first time ever those of us who held sec status to the utmost sacred for the purpose of chasing targets in high sec now became -10. And with pride we did so.
I've been in high sec ransoming/terrorizing corps. I've been in and out of null sec corps/alliances doing both NPC null and sov warfare. However, I've never committed to industry/mining/manufacturing/trading. That stuff is too boring. PvP is all I do. I try when I have time. Sometimes I don't try either. I've taken a large interest in the meta-game of Eve. While my blog is pretty much unwritten on with any regularity I was a co-host of a podcast with a mate of mine for awhile. I am a regular on the Podside podcast. I also try to get over to Eve Radio and join DJ Wiggles on his live show when I can. The meta game is sort of my niche now.
• How did you first hear about A Band Apart?
I first heard about ABA on the corp forums. Doy yay!
Seriously, ABA wasn't a thing when I joined Stay Frosty. We knew that it was an eventual dream of Rixx's. However, I heard about SF by reading Rixx's tweets on twitter and his blog. Eventually my time in game came to a head that I was able to finally join Rixx's band of merry murderers. The concept of and what Rixx was doing with the corp with his vision had created this explosive, contagious train ride that I wanted to be a part of. And so here I am.
• What is it that you enjoy the most about your Corp/Alliance?
Freedom. Neither the corp nor the alliance nor the leaders demand anything. There are no demands for a certain number of kills per month. There's no kill/death ratio that must be maintained. There's no call for people to HAVE to do anything. We are given the freedom to do as we please. Honor thy word and don't be a complete asshat in local is all that is asked of us.
• What have you learned since joining?
That I suck at solo pvp. Holy shit I suck. I've been a small to super fleet player for so long that I totally suck at solo pvp. I hope to overcome.
• Do you have any advice for players just getting started?
Read and research. Read and research everything you can about Eve. Youtube, twitter (hashtag is #Tweetfleet). And just get out there and do it. Find a player corp that is new player friendly. Forget about Goons, NC, PL, TEST, etc... and all that null sec bullshit. If you like being a puppet meatshield then by all means. The riches are lies. They're for the chosen few. And that ain't you.
• What are your goals for yourself, and your Corp?
As for me I'd like to achieve a goal of being as fine a solo pvp'er as possible. I'd need to undock more and get away from the meta game stuff that I love so much. All in due time I suppose.
As for the corp/alliance I hope to see the prosperous growth and identity that is Stay Frosty/A Band Apart continue as it is and be a force to reckoned with in both the nature of warfare within Eve and the successful brand that it has become. It's a great time being a member. Long shall it continue as long as Eve continues to breathe life.
• Do you have a funny Eve story you can share?
Yes. I had decided a few years ago that I wanted an Orca for my first created Eve character. Not so much because I wanted it for its intended uses as much as I wanted to steal one and happened to have a pilot that could fly one.
One evening I set out in high sec looking for one of those foolish people who liked to eject a mining barge from their Orca and leave the Orca unpiloted in a belt. I literally warped to the first belt in the system I was docked in. Voila'! An unpiloted Orca.
I needed a plan. It was a dead-end system. The Orca was positioned with asteroids between it and the only star-gate into the system. To warp to the Orca from the gate, or any other celestial for that matter, as the Orca was smack in the middle of this asteroid cluster, would surely mean the capsule of my Orca pilot would likely bump off rocks and be delayed getting into the Orca having the plan foiled.
We didn't play to lose. This Orca would be liberated from its foolish owner. Myself and two of my fellow pilots, yes, we were still mercenaries and honorable blokes at this point in time, spent over an hour devising a plan. I had to maneuver myself in to place cloaked around to the opposite side of the asteroids without being decloaked and noticed by the target to get behind the Orca so my two mates who were fitted in MWD bump Stabbers could get a warp to and land directly in line with the only slight clear path from any celestial, the gate into system and warp in to the Orca' without being bumped by the rocks themselves. There was an ever so slight clearing to get the bump ships warped in and a direct path for them to align to the Orca and a slight, narrow path for them to bump it through the rocks out of range. It was literally like bowling Orcas down a residential street sideways. It took detailed and careful planning/piloting to say the least. Over an hour, close to two hours, we spent creating this plan and getting myself into position. Patience Daniel son is no bullshit.
Finally. The cloaked warp to was in place. My Orca pilot was in place and ready. The two bumping pilots were in place on the in gate. The plan was for my two mates to jump in, warp to Harri at distance and make bump runs at the Orca to bump it out of target lock range of the Hulk that he ejected from the Orca and was piloting. You see, if the owner of a ship ejects from his ship and targets the ship he ejected from it can not be boarded by someone else.
Everybody ready? Clear comms was ordered. We had a listening audience of non participants. Jump Jump! Bump Stabbers in and warp to Harrigan at 20. Stabbers warped, landed, aligned to the Orca with MWD activated.
It was perfect execution. No rocks interfered. The Stabbers successfully bumped the Orca away. As they worked their tail flame magic I jumped my Orca pilot into system, warped to the warp in and boarded the Orca. The last image burned in my mind was the Orca making a sharp turn to the starboard side aligning to its gate of freedom while those Stabbers bumped the living piss out of that Hulk.
A o/ and thanks for the Orca was said in local. No response. None. Nothing at all. After about five minutes the victim finally responded. The guy was totally unaware that anything had happened. He was afk having a pretty bad argument with his wife. All that planning, checking, double checking, and detailed cloaky flying was all for nothing. Of course we had no way to know. No, I did not give the Orca back. I named it Freedom from Stupidity before leaving local with it.
In game I have a public medal. FLAPS project medal. Found Laying Around in Plain Sight for my planning and operational patience to pull off a heist that deserved pulling.
• What is your favorite thing about Rixx? (lol)
The guy is a machine. Literally one of the most talented people I've ever known. He has a talent of running a successful corp/alliance that just works. Without question his graphics artwork is phenomenal. Plus he's one frosty cat.
(EDITOR: Meow baby!)
Are you looking for a home in Eve? A place without bubblegum? Then join our in-game channels EVEOGANDA and/or The Frosty Hammer and give A Band Apart a try. We have a Corporation for every taste bud, Pirates, High-Sec Industry, Wormholes, and everyone gets to play together as God intended. No one looks down on anyone else. True Story bro.