Captains Blog: I love this Community!

I had something happen to me in a video game that I did not expect...Someone recognized me. When I say that it might not seem all that odd at first...after all if you know me and have played a game with me or at least been around me while I gamed, then you would know that I use my last name as a screen name," Abshire". I for a time used to play with some very successful streamers and I would use this last name as well. I even made a half-hearted attempt at being a streamer and YouTuber myself but found my talents at being entertaining exhausting and I was honestly just not very good at it...I am not one for pandering after all. So I am saying all that not to toot my horn, but to say that every now and then, and I truly mean its a rare anomaly, someone would ask "Are you the same Abshire that used to play with so-and-so..." and it gave me a tiny bit of a warm fuzzy. I can pretend and posture all I want but it really would make me smile and I would often gloat about it to my very understanding Fiance, who is NOT a gamer but placates me cause I am and its important to me. Why was this different this time? Why am I making such a big deal about this, so much that I have come out of hiding and return to writing about Cloud Imperium Game's greatest dream-slowly but surely-coming true "Star Citizen"? Someone recognized me...under a different name. A name that I have only reserved for Massive Multiplayer Online games and it's a name I have used for many years. Zebulon (Zeb) Vance. It is a name I use on this blog. That is how I was recognized. I was flying with my Organization last night doing some legit cargo runs from Magda over to Yela. We had been jaw-jacking, as we are one to do, and over the course of some horseplay, I managed to accidentally hit "enter followed by the apostrophe key. Which of course broadcast "ZebVance: ' " for the 50 person universe we were currently occupying to see.

I gotta be honest I didn't even think about it, it did not even register as something of any significance and I went back to doing whatever absolute slope headed dumb shit we were doing to pass the time while we made the 6 min jump back to Crusader. Not long after that, I was actually tabbed out of the game trying to find a movie quote video to make a reference to something we were jabbering on about like Tarintino characters in a diner, one of my org mates says "Are you done Fly fishing Zeb?...hey someone in Chat is talking about you and fly fishing...".

It took me a min, a wave a paranoia rushed over me. How the hell does this person know me and know that I fly fish. I never mentioned it in the chat, I don't post on Reddit under this name...so what in the hell who the hell knows me! WHO SENT YOU! The mind of a man with severe anxiety and PTSD is a spooky place sometimes, however rational thought soon took control over me and I started to put it together. All be it I was unsure if it was possible, I replied in global "I am never done fly fishing, I keep checking on Yela to see when the thaw is going to happen so I can catch some trout..." all the while I am thinking "Play it cool man, maybe he just knows you from the org or some other conversation, because no one could possibly know you from writing..." "I read your blog and really enjoy your style of writing a lot..." Are you kidding me? Out of the entire verse that is Star Citizen right now, and all be it limited in scale due to server size...it is not limited in scale by active players. So out of all the servers, in all the games, and all the players...someone recognized Dr. Zeb Vance and his stupid blog...and I gotta say that is a cool feeling. It is also very humbling, self-esteem is a mother sometimes. Now I assure you this entry into the Captain's Blog is not as self-serving as it seems. You stuck with me this long, trust me I am not tooting my own horn (too much) I am coming to a point which is simple, I love this community! This community is awesome. I truly adore everything this community has to offer, and no not because someone recognized me and complimented my writing, although it was nice to hear that from someone other than my fiance (who pretty much has to tell me my stuff is good) no it is something more than that. It was a series of comical errors that led to us having a random conversation, that made me reflect on countless others. It made me remember the service beacons and space Uber. It reminded me of the single service friends and enemies that this game dishes out to you on a regular basis. It reminded me when Levski was bugged and people conducted rescue missions to get people to Port O. When the same happened in Hurston the community responded with help! It made me remember how anytime anyone has any question about the game, a key or how something works, all they have to do is ask. It made me think really hard about a lot of aspects surrounding the community in this game and I came to a pretty damn good conclusion. Star Citizen is going to be successful because of its community.

We get called suckers, people that have been scammed, we get shit on, spit on, kicked and cursed for having the audacity to back Scam Citizen and Christ Roberts followers. We are often asked "why" or "how" we could part with money and time in such a way. We get made fun of, we get talked too like we are ill-informed fools that have been duped by an evil cash grabbing mastermind. They have their evidence, their talking heads, their bad press, and all their negativity...all of it combined...still cannot derail the hype train for us. We might bicker about what ship is "best" we might argue about re-works, re-designs, concepts, and ideas...perhaps we differ on what is piracy and what is griefing, we might not see eye to eye on anything outside of the fact that we all believe in what Star Citizen will become...and we all believe it for the same reason. The Community. The community is what drives this game, its what makes it fun and enjoyable. Right now its essentially a series of really cool tech demos showing off a taste of a few gameplay elements...yet with the right community its really a sandbox. If right now we can take what we have before us and play for hours on end, every day...pushing limits and exploring new and uncharted aspects of the game. I will give you an example. I saw someone on Global demanding payment to NOT destroy ships landed at Jumptown and attempted to extort them for money or face a fiery death. They responded and had a nice back and forth. Which kept them occupied long enough for people to show up and soon a fight took place. Which prompted me to organize my org to scramble Fighters and a HammerHead Gunship to deploy to Jumptown and establish a No-Fly Zone. Which we did and broadcasted over Global our intent. For the two that showed up to challenge us, I tip my hat to you. The 3 seconds you lasted against 3 Fighters a Stealth Bomber and a Fully Crewed Hammerhead were absolutely gorgeous. Even if one of you showed up, caught us with our pants down while we were trying to cross load a member from our Hammerhead over to another ship in a hover...pure jackass level stuff. Ya, while we were screwing around with all eyes focused on this circus stunt, a Cutlass flew between us...in our "No-Fly Zone". These unscripted experiences like this are why we play. (Video Below)

All of that started by a simple text on global. People in the community are doing all they can to make the most fun out of the current Alpha we are presented with, and for the first time, we can. Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) has done it, they have given us the building blocks of what will come.

So all I can think about now...with the community we have now, what will it be like when we actually have all the game. With all the loops and features...what will we have then? I think we will have at least a decades worth of content full of lasting memories. I am part of this community and as such, I want to continue to serve this community through writing. I am bringing back this blog in full force. This was something I have wanted to do since 3.3 dropped and thanks in no small part to being recognized I am making it happen. I owe the community a debt for making Star Citizen what it is...an unforgettable experience. So thank you for that, and thanks for noticing me. I notice you all of you too.

Space Uber: How Service Beacons make me feel like a "Citizen"

It has been a while since I have taken the time to write about Star Citizen. If I am being honest, a lot of it had to do with the state of the game, it was virtually unplayable for me. I was experiencing a ton of crashes and my performance actually appeared to be A LOT worse in 3.1 than I had in 3.0 and 3.0.1. I draw my influences from writing from real experiences, be it fly fishing or playing Star Citizen. So in order to write about Cloud Imperium Game's Star Citizen...I need to play it!

Over the past couple of days, it has been a total 180 on performance. I now average closer to 40 FPS while in port and the spikes are few and far between. I still, of course, get crashes, bugs, and issues associated with playing an Alpha, but the stability is better. So I was able to get in and play and as it turns out, I have inspiration again. I got my mojo back!

I often forget that this game is an MMO because I am very much an “In the moment” person. I can plan for the future, but my plans extend from what I am experiencing now. For now, I have had very few player interactions. I would see other ships and players in passing, but they might as well have been AI to me. There was no real interaction or even a need for one. Perhaps the obligatory flashlight flick greeting or an emote wave...but nothing of substance.

My very first player interaction happened the very first time I played Star Citizen in 3.0 and landed planetside. I landed at the Javelin crash site with a friend and we were doing one of the dreaded black box missions. Soon after we landed, we heard a series of explosions and weapons firing...followed by a large explosion and a shower of debris from what was once my Avenger Titan.

A Cutlass black had come in, saw the vacant ship and proceeded to destroy it...which really was not that big of a deal. After all, I come from playing Milsim games, and Survival games, being randomly ganked just because I was there, is sort of the status quo for my gaming experience. Shit happens, I should have planned better...oh well.

It didn't end there, as I crested the hill that my smoldering titan was sitting on, I just HAD to see the Cutlass closer. I got a pretty good view when he started to open fire on me. I ran among the fire and brimstone he unleashed around me. I get into games when I play them, I live in the moment after all...and I was living in that moment. It was a combination of fear and joy as I ran from him and he continued to miss me. I was laughing as I spoke to my friend and org mate “Ape” on discord.

“This fucker can't hit shit...” I yelled as I ducked into the aft section of the derelict ship we had been combing for a stupid black box.

Ape had gotten into a good position so he could observe, from a safe distance, my predicament. He saw me run in, he knew the rat was in the hole and all he had to do was wait. I assumed he had no idea Ape was there, it is a 1 man ship I was in after all he had just ridden in the cramped cargo bay.

In true Butch and Sundance fashion, I drew my pistol and charged out of the opening to face the Cutlass Black version of the Bolivian Army. I maybe got 2 or 3 shots out before his aim improved and he smoke checked me like he was taking out the trash.

So, of course, knowing that his prey had been killed, the Cutlass pilot landed and decided HE was going to make off with the black box...so when he landed he left his cargo door open. So while he poked around trying to find the black box, Ape climbed aboard his Cutlass and waited.

It was not long that the righteous hand of fate dealt her final cards. The Cutlass asshole clambered aboard his Cutlass, arms encumbered by a black box. He turns, closes the door and the interior of the Cutlass dims as the sunlight is closed off.  Ape then closed the door on the Cutlass pilot's life and dimmed his light with several well-placed shots.

“Bro...we got a fucking Cutlass now...”

That was it...that was really my only experience with another player, and that was right around Christmas 2017. I have had a few random encounters where people came in with weapons out, and we drew down, had a standoff and everyone left unharmed. I killed someone that stole my friend's ship while I was taking a piss, and I got a pretty sweet video of a Top Gun intro style dogfight situation that was improvised fun, but not really a true player interaction.

So for me, Star Citizen has been a Sandbox (missing some sand, and some box...but some elements are there) but mostly a single player or co-op experience. Most dog fights were against AI pirates, and as I understand it the game is truly meant to be more of a PVE experience with PVP being sort of seamlessly mixed in and of course random player encounters (Pirates, Gankers, Role Players with a story reason to kill you, etc).

Then Service beacons come out with 3.1..and I finally get to experience the missing piece of the puzzle. Even without having VOIP (which for me is a feature we need more than any right now) I was now having what felt like, real interactions with people. People were using them, and I was more than happy to oblige.

Requests for rides because they were left stranded, seriously you owe it to yourself to take out one or your smaller or starter ships and go play Uber in Space for a while. It is just good clean old fashioned fun to me, someone calls for a ride and I fly out and pick them up and they pay me. It is not really any different than doing an AI mission, but for that moment the fate of a real person sitting on the other end of a computer from god knows where around the world, and mine are intertwined. I have to trust that this is not some kind of an Ambush, and they have to assume that I am not going to just show up and kill them or fly off with them as a makeshift prisoner. Its a mutual, shared trust and a little bit of that old-fashioned mutually assured destruction that makes these single-serving player relationships so fun.

Now Star Citizen feels like a living and breathing world to me, because now I can actually see the consequences of others actions and how they affect me. Likewise, others get to take advantage of my consequences for actions.

I seriously thought the beacons were going to be kind of neat, but not hold much appeal or value to me personally. I thought it would serve as a means for me to pay members of my org to assist with trading or to give friends and org mates some cheddar now and again. I figured when repairing, rearming, and refueling was added the beacons would mean a lot more to me and open the door for what I thought player interactions would be. I never thought I would enjoy playing Taxi. I never thought that playing Taxi would actually be the one thing that breathed life back into Star Citizen for me.

Because of the service beacons, even in their early state, I feel like I am a Citizen in the verse. For the first time for me, Star Citizen has felt alive with Citizens. So keep creating and accepting those service beacons...you really owe it to yourself.

Star Citizen: Role-Playing the benefits

I have always said that games are only as good as their community. There have been some truly wonderful games to come out that started in one direction and ended in another due to the community. I remember the days of playing DayZ when it was a mod, and people role-played. Not because they were trying to, but because they felt immersion in what was going on. We were living out our zombie apocalypse fantasy with friends. I remember spending countless hours collecting materials, weapons, gear, and stocking up tents. Soon it evolved into kill on sight, it was battle royale before there was a battle royale.

What started as people playing a game and getting caught up in the moment soon turned into, get the best gear, kill the most players. Other mods would come along and we would get that fresh and re-vamping feeling, but sooner or later we would "run home to momma" and it became a game of hunting players, their bases, and destroying their toys. The immersion was gone, and it was just a first-person shooter.

The community, in turn, answered the call to fill the void that was missing with people that wanted an immersive experience. Soon role playing servers cropped up with communities functioning strong. Striving for the best immersive environments possible.

That is what I love about Star Citizen. Cloud Imperium games is making an immersive environment that will draw people in, no doubt. People will role-play or at least play the roles they are working through as their in-game avatar. Since the game is immersive, the missions are as well and so is the in-game economy. These living worlds working in tandem with AI, and players are going to be so in-depth that role-playing will happen, even without your invention.

I cannot help but re-tell stories from exploits in game like they actually happened to me. Because in the moment the truly feel like they are real. The very nature of the game forces a functioning and working community that feeds off the experiences shared by each other.

We all have an opportunity here, to see this evolve into a real-life butterfly effect. Where your actions will impact others across an entire virtual universe. Let's say we go into a bar for drinks after doing some space trucking. We get into an altercation and a fist fight breaks out. The heat of the moment kicks off and now someone pulls out a weapon...escalating the situation. They fire a few rounds and run out of the building in a panic. 

The three rounds, two of which hit nothing but the wall leaving a couple of holes and the third hitting the window leading into the bar. This destroys the windows, showering glass on a few patrons, cutting them.

They now have to treat their minor wounds. Perhaps go seek medical attention to ensure that everything is okay. The window will need to be repaired, so a mission will be generated for an NPC to fix said window (Players might also get missions like that as well to earn extra money). That window is an item that exists in the world and will need to be created. Therefore a virtual factory will make those windows.

In order for those factories to make those windows, they need to have the raw materials needed in order to make glass. Those materials are going to need to be mined. Factories are going to generate missions for players and NPCs to mine the materials needed in order to make glass.

In order to find the materials that need to be mined, exploration organizations will have to go out and find those resources. They are going to use scanners to locate jump points that have never been found before. They are going to go to the far reaches of the galaxy on missions to find new materials for fuels, building supplies, weapons, ship's hulls, and even food.

Those items are going to need to be shipped once they are mined and refined. There are going to be people and NPCs operating all over the galaxy. There is a war going on that will require materials and people. Nothing in the galaxy will be able to function without the logistics. Space Trucking. 

The same Space Truckers that had a barroom brawl, destroying a window and scaring a few people. That is now wanted for arrest, for disturbing the peace. They now have a bounty on their head, all be it a small one, someone wants to be paid. A.I. security forces will be on the lookout and maybe a player will pick up the contract and see to it you are arrested for the altercation.

As a Space Trucker, you have had to deal with a lot worse so a simple fine will cover the cost of this annoyance. After all your job makes the galaxy work, but it also creates another job that hurts what you do. Where there is a need for goods and services, there is a need for people who do not wish to pay for those goods and services. There will be people that want wealth, power, and all the respect that goes with the titles but they won't want to put in 'honest' work. Pirates, scam artists, corporate spies, black market dealers, smugglers, organized crime syndicates, if it exists in the real world it stands to reason it will in the virtual.

All of this, connected in one ever-changing, living and breathing (well virtually living and breathing) universe. That is why I do not worry about Star Citizen going the direction of immersion gained and lost, there is simply too much going on. Too many direct consequences for actions compounded with the thousands of unseen consequences for actions for the "role-play" to die.

So there will be still a need for role-play communities. There are plenty of organizations that promote Role-Playing and the game itself promotes that through its very nature. I know that with so many driving factors pushing in the same direction that we are going to be fine. 

Star Citizen: Sierra Hotel

Inspiration. There are so many things out there that inspire us to do things in our lives. I wrote in an earlier post about how Star Citizen has inspired me to dabble in flexing my creative muscle. There is a lot more to my creative process and inspiration than just what Cloud Imperium Games have promised us.

Movies are a MASSIVE inspiration for me. I am a slave to movie quotes in that I speak in fluent conversations with friends. Quoting movies are so emblazoned in my dialect that it has become part of my daily speech. So I am not really sure if its life imitating art, or in this case art, imitating art but I am able to draw a lot of parallels from experiences to movies.

Maybe it all goes back to me saying that Star Citizen brings out the child within us. When I was a kid I played out movies, constantly. I was an only child. My parents worked late at night running a restaurant and golf resort, so they were busy or sleeping a lot. I was gifted with a very powerful imagination and I grew up in the era before video games were on my radar. They exited, but I was intent on playing out Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in my backyard. My mom had this exercise contraption that was mostly used to dry her work clothes, for me, it was a speeder bike as I zipped across Endor. Couch cushions and pillows from the spare room piled high on in the living room were the defensive positions at Rourke's Drift where I fought shoulder-to-shoulder with Michale Caine in Zulu.

So when its almost second nature for me at this point to draw parallels to movies when I am presented with the opportunity. Star Citizen is ripe with opportunity. I have long said that fighter pilots are cliche. Their macho bravado, cowboy-like swagger and the way they just carry themselves as the biggest and the baddest that ever lived. Fearless, and with a cold and calculated way they go about solving problems. I grew up watching Top Gun, Flight of the Intruder, Black Sheep Squadron, Iron Eagle not to mention the endless classics that came on television during patriotic holidays.

There is an old saying, that there only difference between a fairy tale and a "war/sea" story is how they begin. A fairy tale starts with "Once upon a time" and "war/sea" stories start off with "There I/we were no shit...":

So there we were, no shit. Shooting guns and blowing things up on Daymar. There was not much going on and we were just making some jokes, kicking some brass, and playing with some fun toys. Just kids with new shiny things showing off, and having fun. We were enjoying a good laugh as we pretended to be those annoying YouTube tactical celebrities. "Just drive it on target..."

Caught up in the moment. Situational awareness was gone, and before I realized it, there was a pair of Avenger Titans above us, boxing us in...slowly. We were not in an armistice zone, and we have been showing off quite a bit of wanton disregard for noise ordinances. The hair on the back of my neck started to stand up as I realized how naked I was not being in my hornet fighter.

I told you that I have been playing wargames with these guys for years. It's nice to know how often we can all be thinking the same thing, at the same time. As I mentioned to the guys "Hey they are starting to box us in..." I started to move to my Hornet. At the same time, my squadron mate makes his way to his Cutlass.

A newcomer in the group speaks up about the situation and mentions that perhaps we should consider not being on the ground in the open, but rather in our ships. To which we laughed and replied, that we were not only on the same page, but we were already halfway through the boarding process of getting in our ships.

Flight ready and off the deck, we move to show our new "friends" that we are awake and ready to rumble. If they wanted to bushwack us, they would have. So unless they showed any signs of aggression I was content on just "communicating" with them.

Several high speed, head-on, close but neutral passes later, I started to notice a trend. I was having to make more sudden movements to avoid collision. This avenger was trying to clip me, or at least it felt like he was...still no "real" aggression so I kept on "communicating".

My wingman was busy with the second avenger. I kept in constant communication with him and we knew where each other were. I never really felt more people would show up, but you never really know out there. He was reporting similar behavior, it appeared the Avengers were trying to ram us.

I am not sure what happened but one of the Avengers decided that enough was enough, bugged out and went home. Leaving his wingman out to dry. Looking back I wonder if the pair were having a similar conversation that was going on between my wingman and myself. I was having to talk my wingman down who was ready to engage them from the moment we dusted off. Perhaps the conversation ended with one of them saying that he was going to be more aggressive and the other fellow left him to face his fate, alone. Or perhaps he had to go take the trash out, who knows. My guy bugged out and gone, I turn to backup, my wingman.

Just as I got to full burner and make my way to my fellow aviator, he reports a hostile action. The Avenger collided with him, damaging his shields and hull. From that point, it was fight on. It was not pretty.

This was in the days before 3.0.1 so not naturally our missiles did not lock and fire properly. Well, they didn't do shit at all, just a red circle giving me the middle finger as I close the range and go to guns on the ramming prick.

Well, of course, the fight goes on as he continues to try head-on shots on me, over and over and both of us failing to make much of an impact. At one point I placed a few good shots and he decided that playtime was over. He headed for the deck.

This made my mouth water. I was so caught up in the moment that I actually thought that him heading for the deck was a mistake on his part because I had this cocky, larger than life, I am a living god feeling that once he broke atmosphere I was going to wax the dog shit out of his tail. I actually said to my wingman who was reporting him diving for the deck "Good" I wanted the prick down there because I knew I was better.

As it turns out, atmospheric conditions are not currently as much of a factor as I would like them to be when it comes to flying, and it's not really much different than flying in space. The ships act the same its just now there are rather large objects you can drift into. Which is exactly what this moron in the avenger did...killing my mood. He just dead sticked it right into the ground and started to flop like a trout the out of water. I laugh as my wingman and I close the distance.

He laid there helpless as we proceded to remind him of the consequences starting shit. For he that does not start shit, knows that there shall be no shit. We blew him all over the red mood and went back to doing whatever random nonsense we decided to move off on. 

(Actual Footage From entire story)

I got to live out the opening scene from Top Gun and Iron Eagle II ...I was right there with Maverick and Cougar dealing with Migs. I was chasing the angles with Cooper and Cobra over Soviet Airspace...only it was not a movie. It was a real experience with a real-life friend shared in a virtual environment.

The Fighter Pilot community has a term, Sierra Hotel...shit hot. To be Sierra Hotel one has to be good, and I mean really good. It is not a term that is simply thrown around willy-nilly and it carries a lot of meaning.

CIG, and Star Citizen are both Sierra Hotel.

Fan Fiction Citizen: The Vanguards of the Void

Growing up I always wrote elaborate stories about Dinosaurs being locked in never-ending wars, crack commando units out to do in Hitler's Jerries, Bomber pilots flying pointless sorties over Vietnam, I even had a series of stories I wrote about a mountain man living near a town for the first time. Needless to say, it's not new for me to be creative, it is just not something I have gone into much recently. Here recently I have been mostly writing gear reviews for magazines and online publications. I have been telling tales of my real life adventures around the world, but nothing fictional. I was having trouble with inspiration. Playing in the verse has really got my creativity at an all-time peak.

I have my inspiration. Cloud Imperium Games has made a universe that lends itself to storytelling. Not just because of their own great and talented lore team. Their lore team paints a vivid picture of what is going on in the verse and that has only added fuel to an already intensely burning desire to create, but its also my experiences with friends. That is what is worth writing about.

Now my writing of fiction in the past has been basically just rough drafts and first-hand scribbles. Nothing I really sank a lot of time into or invested a lot of thought. So when I first started writing Star Citizen fan fiction, it was just stories from my experiences in-game. I allowed myself for a moment to remember what it was like as a little boy sitting in a box in my living room pretending I was in space. I put myself in my character's shoes and thought about "what if this was real?"

This is what started my new process. I was now taking writing fiction seriously and I was dedicated time, effort, and planning into making this work. What I decided to do was, adapt stories of my friends and I playing Star Citizen, into a blend of both "actual" (virtual) events mixed in with a fictional backstory.

At the time a few of my Org mates had their hands on some Vanguard Wardens and we started to play with them as a group. The large size of the ships and the nature of their mission appealed to us as milsim players. You see we started off a Military Simulation community and evolved into a Star Citizen organization. So when the time came to talk about coming up with a backstory, I started to connect a few dots here and there.

Most of the founding members of Shackleton Enterprises are lifelong friends of mine. Some of these friendships date back to when I was in High school, almost 20 years ago. I have a diverse background of friends from all walks of life, but most of them have one thing in common. They have seen the "Elephant". We have a lot of combat veterans in our mix. I myself was never in the service, but I served in West Africa in a Private Military Company. I was the director of training and logistics for a company called Osprey Security Services. So my time spent in West Africa was spent with actual mercenaries, cutthroats, pirates, and a cannibal or two.

All these friendships, stories, personalities, growing up and seeing changes within ourselves and each other, all of that coupled with an overactive imagination and a game that is like heroin for someone who dreams...and you have the makeup of a story.

The "Vanguards of the Void" was born. A series of novellas covering our adventures as we grow our Organization and experiences in the game. It is a mix of real-life adventures, stories from the past in other games adapted to Star Citizen, the Lore within the Verse, and from the collective imagination of my group. This is without a doubt a collaborative effort, and I am merely doing the effort of connecting all the dots.

So what I have now is, I take what we do in game. I link it to a story that I have started to develop and it basically tells our story. We are a group of Civilians, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and I even think we have a coastie floating around. We have known each other many decades and have followed each other on many adventures, around the world, and around the virtual world. I call on those experiences and here is what I have:





The Vanguards of the Void

A group of unlikely heroes, bound and determined to map the vast endless black void of the unknown Univers. They never seem to get where they intend on going. Through these misadventures comes their sense of humor. Those that have been in dark places develop a dark sense of humor and the Vanguards of the Void are without a doubt, dark.

The First book of the series is entitled Ugly but Well Hung and chronicles the formation of this friendship. A group of Navy Pilots from the UEE are stationed along the outer rim in a series of Frontier Outposts. They are tasked with providing security to a group of former mercenaries, now contracted explorers, Shackelton Enterprises.

The Naval squadrons on the Frontier are known as Vanguard Squadrons. Part of the focus will be on two rookie pilots, "Badger" and "Ripper". They are former Hornet pilots who got themselves into a little bit of trouble. Bounced out of their dream position as hot dog pilots in a Hornet squadron, they are assigned to a Vanguard Squadron. Squadron 143, the Pukin' Dogs.

Teaser

I am growing near the completion of the first book. So to wet your whistle a bit and to show you a little behind the scenes  here is a little Excerpt from the first chapter of  TheVanguards of the Void: Ugly But Well Hung :

(Text in this color, represents an excerpt from the book)

“Hey...Badger...”

“What?”

“Do you think it will fit?”

“What...through that? No...its not going to fit...”

“Oh, ye have little faith...”

Pressing the throttle forward causing the engines to whine and howl like a demon possessed, Ripper, squints his eyes and with his cocky tell-tale fighter pilot grin (The kind of grin one can only obtain by truly believing they are a living god) as he aims his Hornet fighter on his intended flight path. The path of course was set between two rather large pillars of rock that jutted out from the canyon below.

The Canyon was carved out from some ancient river that flowed through this now desolate, red and dusty moon. A tiny stream was all it took to carve out this massive gash across the barren moonscape, eroding away the rock and sediment over the course of millions of decades. The two pillars were made by the winds, an unseen but driven force that also chipped away at the seemingly indestructible rock. Time is what shaped this landscape, time and patience.

For Ripper, Time and Patience were “four-letter words”. He was a man of action, quick thinking, snap judgments, and clear action. Great qualities for a fighter pilot. You need to be able to process a lot of events and information at once. You need to be a speed reader, a quiz boy champion, a cowboy, and a math major all while straddling a few tons of screaming hate and discontent. So for him, the ideas of “slowing down” or “taking your time” were beyond his radar. Not even a tiny blip. The only thing on his mind right now was...

“How fast you think I can get this fucker to fly between those two Pillars?”

His Hornet now making a screaming run right at the pillars bucked slightly as he puts the spurs to her...kicking on the Afterburner he lets out a yell hearkening back thousands of years to what was once known as the American frontier.

“YEEEEE HAWWWWWWWWW”

Pillars that have stood for millions of years and were carved by both wind and water understood the virtues of patience. It took a long time to mold what they would become so they not only demand your respect. They demand your obedience. An object that approaches an immovable object soon finds itself greatly impacted by both speed and time. Especially when that object clearly will not fit between two, rather large, pillar-like objects.

“Caution...Caution...Caution...starboard shield failure, weapon system destroyed, hull damage critical...”

“Oh are you fucking kidding me....this is bullshit..”

What was bullshit to ripper, was a reality for him as well. Badger was confident in his voice when he told his wingman ripper what he thought of his plan...his half ass-ed plan. Seeing the incident from his safe, and higher vantage point, Badger saw the tip of Ripper's hornet clip the edge of one of the pillars. The blue pules of his shield indicted that there was an attempt to stop a foreign object from penetration. The shield was apparently not rated to stop “mesas” and penetration was achieved. The pillars that took so long to mold, made quick work of the tip of the hornets metal frame. Sheering it off and taking with it one of the craft's weapons hard points, and laser cannon. As they spun off and impacted below the shock wave of the explosion cause the hornet to pitch up violently and to the right. Throwing it off course and into an uncontrollable spin.

This, of course, leads to a series of ass chewings, and if there is something that I love to write or see on film, its a good ass chewing. I could not include a teaser without including part of the epic ass chewing that follows.

“He tried to shoot a gap he should not have. He asked me if I thought it would fit and I replied in the negative. He proceeded to try anyway and failed. In doing so he impacted his starboard wing onto a rather large pillar jutting out from the surface of a canyon we were flying inside...”

Badger trailed off as the C.O.'s head snapped up in anger.

“We? So...you were right there with him...”

“Aye sir, we were flying the canyon to better aquatint...”

“You were being hot dogs...don't bullshit me.”

Watching the C.O.'s face Badger knew he would not be able to cover for himself or Ripper.

“Sir I would never bullshit you, we were absolutely being hot dogs.”

“Okay Hotdog #1, since you were in charge you get to be #1...proceed...”

“...at the point of impact Ripper lost most of the end section of his wing taking with hit a missile rack and a weapons hardpoint...I believe it was a laser cannon...made a helluva explosion when it went up...you should...”

Seeing no signs of life on the planet that was the face of his now, beet red, superior officer, Badger decided not to finish that sentence, clears his throat and continues forward.

“The explosion from the weapons caused Ripper's Hornet...”

“The fuck did you just say? Rippers what? Hornet? That isn't his fucking Hornet you arrogant egocentric cocky little shit...that is the United Earth Empires fucking Hornet! The 12th StarFleets fucking hornet! The 185th Squadron's Hornet! In other words, it's my god damn Hornet, so let's get that fucking clear right now. He broke MY fucking Hornet. Not his. I let him borrow the Navy's Hornet to do a job, that was not his property to fucking bend.”

The Inspiration

Here is a video that shows what led to this story. Org mates and I were just flying around Daymar, showboating and having some fun. We decided to have a little race and it ended up not going so well. From that and coming up with a fun and engaging story. I also, of course, draw on a lot of movies that I love, I am after all writing what I want to read and what my friends want to read. I just also hope, that you want to read it...and enjoy what I have come up with.

I should be done with my first book around the time 3.1 is released for Star Citizen. I will post more updates and show more inspiration for the story behind the story.

Star Citizen: The Consequences of Accountability

I think after I came out of the closet as a backer for Star Citizen, the number one question I am asked is "why", "Why did you back that scam?"

My knee-jerk response is to punch them in the throat and grab them by the scruff of their neck as I yell at them my detailed reasons why. I enjoy that fantasy in my head for a split second and then I give them my reason and it is simple. The Free Market.

Don't worry, I am not going to leave you hanging. Why on earth would the Free Market be a suitable argument for backing Cloud Imperium Games and their endeavors in the form of Squadron 42 and Star Citizen? Accountability. Which is what I love most of all and why I backed and encourage others to as well. We get to hold them accountable, and they know that. That means more than anything else in the world.

Let me break that down for those that are going "The fuck is this dude talking about, tell more Stories!" ever heard of a little company called Electronic Arts? Not to long ago EA tried to do some really stupid...like REALLY STUPID nonsense, they tried to basically tax gamers for playing their game by making them pay for questionable at best, content.  It was an attempt to grow an extra set of tits on a cash cow and it FAILED, horribly. Why did it fail? Gamers held them accountable. They demanded EA to go fornicate themselves and EA responded by changing their position. They still managed to be dirtbags about it but in the end, they caved and changed out of fear of losing money.

That cost them still, we all know a lot of people that have sworn off their games and other AAA companies due in large part to them acting as nothing more than cash grabs churning out the same cookie cutter bullshit they always do.

CIG is attempting to make a game for gamers, one that we have always wanted. It is the single most crowdfunded project on the planet...a lot of people want this to be successful. If Cloud Imperium Games screws the pooch on this and buys the farm, guess who is going to suffer in the end? The backers? Nope...I mean some of us are out of some cash but we would be lying if we all said we did not know the risks. We Han Soloed it and said, "Never Tell me the odds" and forked over our cash. In the end, we will not suffer long term. Our lives will remain the same. We will have spent whatever we spent, and have nothing to show for it but a blog and a T-shirt. Literally the same situation we are in right now.

What about the developers? Well I mean its safe to say that anyone working for Cloud Imperium games in the upper echelons will obviously have made money on this project. They also will be in a lot of debt. Those buildings, employees salaries, travel expenses...hell the power needed to run the damn offices is well more than most of us could imagine. It's not like they are sitting on a ton of money, they are spending it on development. So if they tank and fail to produce, and the rug is pulled up from under all of us...they are FUCKED and I do not mean proper fucked. They are going to be without money, without any sort of credibility in the market, and they will be shunned. No one will want to touch them. They will be Maverick if he just "Screwed up Just This much" and had to fly that Cargo Plane full of Rubber Dog shit.

These people will in some cases be forced to move, give up possessions, and they again will have a hard time finding work. The market right now is such that they will eventually find work again, but their name is sort of "Mudd" and people do not forget.

How do I know people do not forget? Ask all the backers of "The War Z" if they forgot that developer. So when the developer changed names, production companies, and development teams...we still knew his first and last name. So anything associated with him was considered a disgrace...so much in fact that when a game came out made on the same engine everyone assumed it was associated with him and started to shit all over it, gamers don't forget. The Market does not forget. They have more riding on this than we do.

So that is why I back them. I back them because I know that they are standing in a corner. Their ego has written some checks that they believe their bodies and minds can cash. They have shown a viable proof of concept now, and they are being more transparent with their development than anyone else has ever been before.

They are rocking the boat, and at times they rock their own boat. They are human, and people need to understand that. They also need to understand that if these people screw up, the free market will crawl inside them and eat their soul. They will be crushed. The weight of the world will come down around them as they spend the next 10 years saying "The Fuck did we do that for?".

CIG is internationally known now. They are too large to just go into obscurity if they screw up. They will not go the way of Dean Hall, people will write (You bet your ass I will) about what a failure they are if they do not live up to the expectations they set. So that is why I have faith that they will not. They have too much riding on this to not win, they have no choice. They set the bar high and now they have to make it work.

Never underestimate the power of people backed into a corner. I have seen people overcome things that were truly the impossible when facing the prospect of no-tomorrow. For CIG there is No tomorrow if they are not true to their word.



We, the market, will hold them accountable. They have no choice in the matter. We have our demands, and if they are not met...there will be consequences.

Star Citizen: Playing with Myself

I got into Star Citizen to play with friends. No Doubt. The fact that this game allows me the opportunity to go into space with my friends was the entire point of focus for getting involved in the first place. I would not have invested more money if this was just going to be a strictly "solo" experience.

The idea of riding a wormhole and emerging the other side with my friends facing an unknown system for the first time, all sharing that experience together, ignited the fire. However, it is worth noting that the experiences we have on our own in the verse, even now in Alpha, are what keep the flames fanned.

I find myself saying this a lot, "It is hard to describe this..." followed by an hour-long attempt at explaining myself. Having said that, it really is hard to explain this, but I love the simple pleasure and joy I get out of "Space Trucking" by myself.

Picking some random location on some far-flung moon, landing under less than perfect conditions in the dust and wind. It felt oddly very real, walking down the ramp of my Freelancer to take on a load of Tungsten for trading. 

Crusader was just rising in the distance and it was still fairly dark out when I took on my payload. My ever trusty Space Truckin' Playlist on Spotify playing Billy Thorpes Children of the Sun as I fired up the engines and pointed the nose straight up before giving her the juice and lifting off. Breaking atmosphere, directing the ship to an Orbital marker to get around the Martian-like moon. Set a course for Port Olisar and left the red moon of Daymar in the dust.

Landing on the port I see a host of other ships. The station appears to be teaming with life. I see fighters like the Hornet and Saber, freighters like my Freelancer and other cargo vessels like Starfareres and Catipillars. Avengers, Aurors, Mustangs, and one crazy ass Dragonfly attempting to slalom the pilings on the giant rotating wheels on Olisar, and failing. Eventually ending up a small impact of random parts and a tiny explosion. Amidst the circus, I call for clearance and land on my assigned pad. 

I have the option to exit out the side of my Freelancer. Through a door that opens to a ladder that lowers. When I exit in this fashion my ship secures tightly behind me without thought or effort on my part. I do not use that option with cargo. Seeing the cargo you are hauling before you in clearly marked shipping containers...piled high to the ceiling and you see every bit of space that can be used, filled with cargo. An odd sense of pride knowing that you just flew it a tens of thousands of kilometers across pirate-infested space. So I exit out the ramp so I can walk past my cargo and maybe...just maybe show it off a little for those with prying eyes. 

Once my cargo is sold and I am back on board I decided to take a more challenging, expensive, and risky cargo. I was going to haul some Medical supplies form Cellin to Grim Hex. I had a hunch that the cutthroats and vagrants at Grim Hex might benefit from a run of supplies. Basically, I was going to be going into the lion's den to see if they needed a thorn taken out of their paw. Only instead of being a mouse, I was going in as a big, fat, juicy steak. Prime cut, Freelancer medium rare is every pirate favorite. Especially laden with cargo. After all, they would not have to travel far to sell what they get off my destroyed ship and over my dead body.

Star Citizen is all about Risk and reward.The pirate takes a risk jumping me...maybe I have friends or maybe I am not a bad pilot. I take the risk jumping along a known trade route that will be surely watched by those with nefarious intentions. I can mitigate the risk of pirates by taking longer routes and going with others watching my back. However its 2am in Montana and "No Sleep till Brooklyn" is on the playlist. I am alone on this leg of the trip for sure, but I am also tired and making decisions based on haste rather than security and safety.

After all what sort of gambler would I be unless I was willing to bet the farm once in a while? On this run of medical supplies, I had done something I preach to others, never to do. I placed all my eggs in one basket and said...fuck it... let's roll the dice. I spent almost every dime I had to have a full load of Medical Supplies. So everything I have is riding on this trip. What would Mike D do? He would demand my respect.

Which is exactly what I am sure that group of pirates that Interdicted me had in mind. It was my cash and my jewelry that they expect. Now I know with the current state of the game being interdicted is more of an annoyance than anything, but I was in a server that had the interdictions better managed and It was the first time in many hours it had happened. Normally I think most players just wait for the cooldown, press B and fly on to their destination. I know I do...especially when it was well past my bedtime and I was already risking it all. I say normally, but this was not normal. I was caught up in the moment.

The soundtrack going on in my headphones, being a little more tired than normal I sort of gave into temptation and let myself be a kid again. 

"Looks like trouble...PIRATES!" I say to myself and to the Co-pilot, my 95 pound Boxer, Bubba. He, of course, is snoring like a wild beast on the couch. I now felt more like the Snowman with Fred in Smokey and the Bandit...and them Bears were thick as bugs on the bumper. I decided to slug it out with them, it was time for them to know who the Snowman is yes the Jerry Reed intensified. I was East Bound and Down. 

It was the first time I got the try the combat out on the latest 3.0.1 patch. I figured having a fight that meant something rather than just an arbitrary mission or random fight was a better field test. Probably not the best gambles when you are closing in on a Drake Cutlass and Buccaneer in support of a Caterpillar, in a Lone Freelancer filled to the brim with profit. The cat kept her distance but I closed on the fighters, the violence of action had to be mine despite the enemy taking the initiative. 

I close to missile range and get a quick lock on the Cutlass. I let 3 fly and break off as the Buccaneer comes into my gun range. I get a couple hits on him before he is able to get well away from my gimbles range and crafts maneuverability. My missiles track and It appears 2 hit the Cutlass destroying it in a huge fireball.

"Huh, So missiles work..." Bubba snores in approval.

I focus all attention now to the Buccaneer as it makes attempts to fly circles around my Freelancer. Now Mind you I am not the best pilot, but neither was he, and he gave me an opportunity at a rear aspect shot, at close range. I press down my guns and very quickly I watch his shield go down, parts fly off, fire, flames, explosion, killed.

"Holy SHIT the new combat is nice!"

Of course, I am still closing on the burning remains of the Buccaneer and not slowing down. My ship was already damaged slightly in the fray and my shields were being damaged now by the Caterpillar I was trying to ignore as a threat. I make movements to avoid collision knowing full well I can fly right through it, but not willing to lose the immersion now. I nose down, giving the Cat a good target and it sheers off the left side, losing me an engine.

I point my nose at her midsection and fire every remaining missile I have on hand and let loose with my guns. That Catapilar was no more, it had ceased to be. I blew that son of a bitch out of the water with a full broadside to her midsection and broke her back. I then pointed my way back to Olisar. To sell my cargo and call it a night.

Satisfied with my victory I press B and hear the Quantum drive spool up and I am soon told there is yet another emergency and that my quantum travel would be canceled. Interdicted again. Immersion be dammed it was bedtime, that last fight was cool and all but I lost an engine playing Maverick out there so its time to go buzz the tower and head home. It was time for business as usual, I pressed B and headed on back to Olisar. My plans of selling my cargo at Grim Hex were changed by fatigue, a fight, and a damaged ship...I rolled the dice and decided to just sell where it was safe. I still managed to make a good profit, but what an experience. 

The immersion is there, you just have to be willing to allow the magic in and let it do its thing. Once it takes root its hard to not see it, and soon you will find yourself alone or with friends, truly feeling like you are part of the verse. I love it, and cannot wait to experience more!