The Best Revenge, Part 67

Previously, on MinerBumping... The war between the Imperium and Pandemic Horde was finally heating up. In the midst of aiva naali aka FighterJets GuitarSolo 1000Years's preparations for Operation Devil's Night, fighting broke out up and down the line. Perhaps the long stalemate between the two great powers was coming to an end.

Test Alliance Please Ignore threatened to upset aiva's careful calculations. So he came up with the novel strategy of posting scouts in key systems to monitor enemy traffic.

As the Imperium's chief strategist, aiva had access to pretty much everything anyone in the coalition knew. Some of the intel was priceless, but other pieces of information merely cluttered his desk.

aiva had a system for filtering the important information from the miscellany: He memorized everything. aiva's brain was like a juggler simultaneously juggling an infinite number of balls.

aiva tactfully brushed aside his council's concerns about eco-ganking. Right now he was more interested in hearing about how the Imperium was holding up against Pandemic Horde's relentless border raids.

Earlier, aiva had been pleased to hear of the victories he'd engineered against Pandemic Horde. But aiva was about to get a lesson in the law of unintended consequences.

When Pandemic Horde originally seized its territory, the previous occupants quit EVE. With Pandemic Horde's fortunes threatened by aiva's fleets, the quitters came back. These former EVE players didn't know aiva; they could be friend or foe.

On the one hand, aiva remained at war with Pandemic Horde. On the other hand, zombies were rising up against him.

Exactly as he had anticipated.

In wartime, there are no vacations. aiva expected the Imperium's line members to train between battles.

Despite the zombies and everything else, things were going smoothly for aiva. Which meant that something he didn't like was probably about to happen.

Ugh. aiva's least favorite subject.

Now matter how high aiva ascended in every other field of endeavor, he just couldn't master the art of recruitment. Total members recruited to his highsec mining corp thus far: Zero.

aiva shook off his disappointments by changing the subject: He had discovered a new way to kill titans.

To be continued...

The Best Revenge, Part 63

Previously, on MinerBumping... Imperium chief strategist aiva naali aka FighterJets GuitarSolo 1000Years was beset by financial woes and embarrassed by anonymous comments on MinerBumping posts. But through it all, he persevered.

aiva's otherwise dazzling résumé was blemished by his failure to recruit anyone into his highsec mining corporation. Members of aiva's council tried to coach him, but to no avail.

Although aiva wasn't a good corp recruiter, he was one heck of a strategist. He always managed to find an answer to the most insoluble problems.

...Provided he was supplied with sufficient data, of course.

In a matter of minutes, aiva managed to get the Goons out of another jam. Nevertheless, it wasn't in aiva's nature to be reactive; he preferred to initiate the action himself. And he had a new plan in the works:

The centerpiece of said plan was a fellow by the name of Sort Dragon.

Sort Dragon is--or was, at least--one of the most widely known nullsec leaders. For one thing, he is known for being a member of the CSM.

...But Sort Dragon is best known for his reliable treachery. Every year or two, news breaks on Reddit about Sort Dragon expectedly selling out his allies. To which the public replies, "Why are people still trusting Sort Dragon with things?"

Now aiva naali wanted to ride the tiger--to recruit Sort Dragon for some special mission.

Hopefully aiva knew what he was doing.

Someone like Sort Dragon doesn't just appear on command, though. aiva would only be able to open a channel of communication with the notorious nullsec leader by tapping his highest-level contacts.

Luckily, aiva's council was full of important people.

The game was afoot.

To be continued...

The Best Revenge, Part 62

Previously, on MinerBumping... Normalcy in post-civil war nullsec meant a lot of theorycrafting for aiva naali aka FighterJets GuitarSolo 1000Years. Unfortunately, unwelcome realities like the need for more isk kept intruding upon aiva's happiness.

The simple fact was that aiva had high ambitions and expensive tastes. He wasn't content to mine in a highsec asteroid belt; he wanted to buy a titan, a Nyx, and a directorship in Goonswarm Federation. Even if that meant engaging in RMT in the other games aiva played.

Although aiva had briefly toyed with the idea of becoming EVE's richest player by manipulating the PLEX market, isk wasn't aiva's first love. He longed to focus on what he did best: war and the weapons of war.

BUT. THE. MONEY.

For now, aiva was allowing himself to fall behind on his payments. His high-level contacts in Goonswarm could only hope that aiva wasn't stringing them along.

aiva knew perfectly well that his late payments wouldn't go unnoticed. As time went on, he would run the risk of losing his chance to buy Imperium supercaps and director roles. Therefore, in the meantime, he needed to prove his worth to the Imperium in other ways.

No one studied EVE's game mechanics more intensely than aiva did. If he continued to provide valuable theorycrafting to the Imperium's leaders, perhaps they would cut him some slack on the money he owed.

Luckily for aiva, two new secret weapons were nearly ready for field testing: Dog Box and Jugernaught.

Project Jugernaught was a departure from aiva's usual preference for massive fleets. Instead, he would find the highest-quality pilots in the Imperium--warriors capable of winning against insane odds. aiva himself was one of these Top Guns.

By now, aiva was a hard-boiled member of the Imperium's deep state. He had developed a very thick skin. Occasionally, however, he found himself annoyed by the comments left on MinerBumping's The Best Revenge series. Something said by an anonymous commenter on Part 38 bothered him greatly.

Months earlier, aiva had put in a bunch of work restructuring the Imperium's renter system. He bristled at the notion that outsiders perceived them as ghettos. Did people really think of him as some sort of heartless slumlord?

Nevertheless, aiva knew that MinerBumping posts about himself couldn't always be taken at face value: They presented a mere slice of what was really going on. Only aiva and his council knew the full truth.

And as long as The Best Revenge series served the Imperium's interests, aiva was willing to be portrayed in an unflattering light. If that was the price of victory, he'd gladly pay it.

To be continued...

The Best Revenge, Part 60

Previously, on MinerBumping... aiva naali aka FighterJets GuitarSolo 1000Years struggled mightily to secure the Imperium's future in the midst of chaos and civil war. But for all his wisdom, aiva couldn't solve the ultimate mystery: How does one go about recruiting a highsec miner into a highsec mining corporation?

aiva temporarily put aside his recruitment drive for Mission Ready Mining RELOADED corp. Obviously it wasn't his passion. Theorycrafting carrior tactics, on the other hand...

Over the past few months, aiva had surrounded himself with the Imperium's best and brightest. He needed good advice from experts in every field.

aiva sensed that the moment was ripe to unveil his latest plan to destroy Pandemic Horde.

aiva's plan was all about timing. You might say he was interested in stealing Pandemic Horde's schedules.

But unlike lanceing fleets, skank traps, and other ideas that can be used repeatedly with great results, the "lax hours" attack was a single-use, all-or-nothing tactic.

Luckily for aiva, the geopolitical situation of nullsec was nearly ideal for a lax hours attack. While Pandemic Horde was busy fighting DeadCo coalition, aiva would push the big red button.

aiva envisioned a Pearl Harbor of sorts. But aiva had learned from the mistakes of all those WW2-era Japanese admirals. His surprise attack would be decisive. He would not give PH an opportunity to regroup.

The more he pored over the details of his plan, the more involved it became. There was so much potential; every resource needed to be diverted to the lax hours attack.

Alas, all of aiva's careful planning couldn't account for the random nonsense of life.

aiva felt that DDoS'ing was outside the scope of fair play, even for EVE. Indeed, it was grounds for a ban from the game. This was a reasonable view--so what zany spin would aiva put on it?

...There we go. aiva would test for potential DDoS attacks by firing off doomsdays and seeing if their trajectories were altered.

The doomsday DDoS tests needed to be done right away, of course.

But the money.

To be continued...