The Tiacken Tribune

Loads has happened since our last publication. The Tribune apologizes for the unseemly delay. It seems that a Preywinder, a hitherto undiscovered creature that escaped the aperture, found the Tribune printing station irresistible. Despite our best efforts, the Tribune was delayed. We thank Thornal Malat and Shwabrer for their valiant attempt to reach the presses and bring you your tribune, but their efforts came to naught but their own destruction. Still, unfortunately, the Tribune lost many reporters in the aftermath of the Aperture, so this week’s issue is a little light on reading material.

Walkingrazor - In Memoriam

The Tribune would like to start this week with a tribute to Walkingrazor. According to GNN, Walkingrazor could no longer “cope with the dangers and stress a pilot has to undergo, and has decided to retire from the universe. He is going to spend the rest of his life in a minor colony on the edge of the galaxy and will soon be forgotten by most.” The Tribune believes that this base accusation merits the strongest sort of redaction by our “peers” at GNN and will be taking violent action against them…as soon as we figure out who “they” are.

Walkingrazor was one of those pilots who defined the Universe and helped to shape it. His goal as a rookie was to become Scorpion Lord — something he achieved approximately a year ago. He also gave his time selflessly to the Tribune, and was one of the first (along with his arch-nemesis Thornal Malat (already 2 mentions in this issue…so you know it’s good)) to explore the pardus core. His exploits are explored in greater detail in the Tribune archives. Lord Razor’s reign as Scorpion Lord ushered in a new era of openness in the Guard. They opened their doors to more recruits, and successfully completed numerous contracts.

At the Tribune, we have lost not just a contemporary, but a friend and correspondent. Thank you, Walkingrazor, if the Tribune reaches your minor colony. We appreciate all of your help through the years.

Kaela’s Cashbox (Kaela Angeles - Tribune Economic Corerspondent)

Greetings again my loyal readers…

This week I’m glad to take the time to answer a question from a reader. The question is “What can you do when you’ve inherited a failing Starbase?”

This is an excellent question, and many pilots find themselves commanding starbases in difficult situations.. This is especially true of younger pilots who haven’t realized the major issues with running a starbase.

So, the first step is to analyze why the Starbase is failing. Usually there are two major reasons for this. The first is the pricing is off. This is very easy to solve. Most traders running FWE look at the credit per time earnings rate. A highly profitable run will net a
value somewhere in the 80s to 90s, while an average run is about 60. Anything less than this will be hard convince traders to help you out. In the end, all you will be doing is running food, water, and energy everyday, all day. Unless you have the patient of a saint, you will be chewing bulkheads and going crazy. The answer to this is to first determine how big of a base do you want to run. Remember, larger bases are more friendly to mission runners who can supplement your income. The second step is to use one of the various spreadsheets floating around to track your cash flows from commodity sales and purchases. You will probably need to do this for at least a week to determine what your optimal prices will be. Then you will need to communicate to anyone
trading at your base that the prices will be changing. Be a little flexible.. you may lose some money at first, but working with the traders, they will understand (to an extent) that they need to help you out, otherwise the SB will fold up.

The second scenario is more complicated. This is a situation where the Starbase is located in a hard to supply spot. This problem usually can be resolved by setting up some support buildings. You will need to entice any pilots to build in the area, balancing the inputs and outputs. Remember money is the key driver here, and everyone needs to make a profit. You will have better luck with
getting other people to build if you as the owner own the first few buildings in the area. Make sure they are support buildings like Space Farms and Recyclotrons. You will lose traders fast if you make them do all the work, and you take all the money. With enough pilots, you will make the poorest location a profitable and succesful venture.

Finally, the last bit of wisdom that I will impart.. a Starbase makes money on the sale of ships and equipment.. a the starbase commander of a sector, people will ask you what to build.. make sure you plan your economy with this in mind. Ship and equipment sales will be your bread and butter… Make sure you can build for at least 20% less then the cost at the planet… you will then be able to offer a 10%-15% discount to your customers, which will lure in more people. This is a crowded market, but if you’ve been listening to my advice, you will know that those who trade with are more likely to buy from you when it is time for them to change ships.

That’s all for now, and thanks for reading…a big thank you to all the nice messages I’ve received.

Please keep them coming.

The Tiacken Tribune Presents! (Tribune Staff)

Well folks…this is it. The moment many of you have been waiting for for months and months. The top 10. This is your last chance to make the list. And we sincerely hope you did.

10 - Shwabrer — The combat champion of the Federation, Shwabrer’s Doomstar is likely the most feared ambush breaker in the whole universe – not for his survivability but for the fact that he usually kills half of the pilots that ambush him.

Shwabrer’s place has always been firmly with the Federation. His career began in the Federation Human Core. After a brief time with the Rangers, Shwabrer flew without an alliance for a long time and was a distinguished ranker (and one of the first pilots to achieve the rank of an admiral). He once again joined up briefly with the Freedom Fighters but found his true destiny with the Federal Guard.

He is the Federation’s greatest war hero of all time and only barely missed the first Gold Medal of War ever awarded. Investigations with the imperial high command yielded that a number of operations succeeded and fell with Shwabrer’s presence on the battlefield during the second Usube war – there likely can be no greater compliment for a federal fighter pilot than that.

Rumor has it that Shwabrer himself stopped the influx of creatures during the aperture into federal space. The Federation High Command would not comment to a related query – but knowing the High Command, this is as good as a confirmation.

09 - Bobo — Bobo is a good example for the saying that one man’s mass murderer is…another man’s mass murderer. The long-time leader of the Mooninites has been what most of Pardus would call a “pirate” from day one. Initial tasks included gathering intel for a sector whipe in the Empire Keldon Core. But his real potential unfolded when he founded the Mooninites, moved into Beethti, and began terrorizing the neutral zone.

He has killed more pilots than anyone else - as a side product, he also became one of the top bounty hunters of Pardus. He has destroyed countless buildings, starbases and even whole sectors. With this track record, it was only a question of time until he would face some serious resistance. This day came when an unlikely alliance of imperial, federal and even some union pilots moved to destroy the Mooninite stronghold in Beethti in the West Pardus Rim – a battle that is now legendary and known as “The Fall of Beeththi.”

After the fall of his stronghold, Bobo didn’t have a safe haven any more – which didn’t change much though; it only meant that he had fewer things to worry about while continuing his vile acts across the galaxy.

In the recent Empire < -> Union war, Bobo was, however, one of the key players on the Union side. Now, it seems that he has reformed – or at least E.R.A. is trying to make everyone believe that. We at the Tribune have the popcorn ready and waiting for the time he starts his massacre among the ranks of Union newbies.

08 - Angelus — Angelus began his career in the Federation. When he found that faction space basically was boring, he moved on to join the then newly formed GUA – where Paradis, Bird the III, Freewind, Dragaurang and other pirates of yore provided all the excitement a single pilot could ever hope for.

After securing GUA space from pirates, Angelus wandered off to explore space a bit on his own. By an interesting chain of events, he soon found himself in command of the Guild Commerce Nexus – alas, this alliance had a “history” with the then-powerful Mooninites which eventually forced it to be disbanded, since it was mainly composed of traders and couldn’t do much against its powerful foes.

After suffering a heavy trauma from his struggle against the Mooninites, Angelus was advised to stay at the Mental Hospital for a while – a position he used to spread insanity across the galaxy. After a while, mental torture wasn’t satisfying for Angelus any more and he joined the ranks of the Tiacken Slave Traders, where he would try and get the lowest of all slaves to stand up and fight for their rights – if necessary, at gunpoint.

His glory, however, stems from the days when the Union re-entered the galactic stage. With a few friends, he founded today’s largest and most successful Union alliance, the Edethex Rule of Angels – better known as E.R.A. to most. E.R.A colonized each and every sector and turned them into economic paradises – selling off E.R.A. holdings to younger Union alliances also helped the cause of the Union a great deal.

After seeing E.R.A. in good hands, Angelus left for temporary stays with most of the other Union alliance in order to improve inter-alliance communication and to form a lasting network of Union leaders. Recently, he has formed LCN, an alliance dedicated to the defense of the Union, no matter the cost.

Angelus likely holds the record for most ships flown in Pardus – so far, he has been in the cockpit seat of more than 20 different vessels.

07 - Atrellium — Even though less active recently, it was Atrellium’s leadership after the flight of the Triad founders, that was instrumental for the Triad to achieve a great deal of its current power. Atrellium started his career in the Federation Human Cluster and quickly joined the ranks of the Federation and the Triad. Through a number of stations within the alliance, he rose to the leadership of the Triad where he remained for a great time. Through this time, he led the charge on the Lalande MO owned by the then-infamous pilot Gorath. He also was one of the key players in the fortification of the FHC during the first Usube war and also led the Triad into battle during the second Usube war.

During his lead, the Triad has become the largest alliance of Pardus – and likely the only one that can more or less claim a whole faction cluster for itself. We sincerely hope that he will be back with us soon.

Atrellium enjoyed several months as the galactic record holder for the most “experience” and was the first pilot to ever be issued a license for a fifth building slot.

06 - Kora — Pardus’s longest serving alliance leader, Kora has led Ruby Legion ever since its creation in the early days of the Empire. Kora is an exemplary alliance leader and a model citizen of the Empire.

Even though he is highly skilled in trade and combat, he has never achieved much of personal fame but has always been willing to sacrifice everything for his alliance. Even though there are few pilots in the universe that have been longer in a trade ship than him, he has never even been in reach of the credits top 20 since he invested each and every single credit for the good of the Legion. All in all, Kora is a model pilot that every alliance and every faction can only dream to have in their ranks and is well liked and respected even by the foes of the Legion.

Kora is also renowned for his skills as an artist that he has displayed in a number of famous paintings and graphics that are the star of every exhibition from Oldain to Gresoin.

Oooh — the tension mounts….top 5 people! get excited!

05 - Kevorkian — Pardus’s most famous mercenary and champion of the Empire, Kevorkian looks back on a long history with M.E.R.C. and as an imperial pilot. He has been with M.E.R.C. nearly since its foundation and has participated in every major operation – from the early battles with Ruby Legion to more recent struggles with the Scorpion Guard. Even though the majority of the founding members of M.E.R.C have now mysteriously disappeared (many wiped from existence by members of the Pardus Black Ops), Kevorkian remains as the key member of this powerful mercenary alliance.

His combat skills are legendary – the whole universe stands by and watches in awe whenever he clashes with the federation champion Shwabrer. Even more legendary than his combat skills is his drug use – rumor has it that 20 tons of drugs are barely enough to get him “warmed up”.

Kevorkian’s history is tarnished only by one controversial role, when he was hired by the Mooninites to defend their stronghold in Beethti and attacked the Imperial Guardsmen and Prince Aerre. However, his efforts in the second Usube war on behalf of the Empire have more than made up for this. It was Kevorkian alone who was the decisive factor in a number of victories of the Empire.

Recently, Kevorkian has become a symbol for the liberation of Nari from the federal occupation, with him leading the charge on the 13 Thor MO and being the owner of the gateway MO to the nook. Surprisingly, his willingness to make considerable concessions was also one of the main factors in bringing about the peace treaty between the Federation and the Empire.

04 - Xump — Xump is one of the most mysterious figures in our Universe. He started his career with FTS where he left quite a mark. He rebuilt Free Trade One and led FTS as High Chancellor in a time of trouble for the Universe’s oldest alliance. At a point, he realized that a “conventional” alliance just didn’t do it for him – and had the foresight to anticipate that other pilots would sooner or later feel the same.

This is how Extinction Agenda, arguably the most controversial non-Alliance alliance of Pardus, was founded. While the concept of a collective entity as an alliance that is based on individuality is sometimes difficult to understand, EA sure as hell has the guns and the guts to silence anyone that has doubts about it.

His skills as a diplomat and negotiator are legendary. At several times, he managed to convince the usually thick-headed Imperial Paladins to take Extinction Agenda off the imperial foe-list, a task that it is murmured even the Emperor himself would fail at.

His motives for recently joining the Empire are shrouded. While most suspect nothing but fraud, there are some voices within the Empire that suspect that he is actually willing to change his ways. We at the Tribune suspect as always an elaborate plan that will likely end with Lar’nak being discretely replaced by Xu’ump.

Xump further maintains for the good of all space-faring pilots the Pardus Data Vault, an excellent compilation of economic tools, maps and other information located at www.pardusdv.com.

03 - Thornal Malat — The man who is as close to the Don as any Unionite could ever hope to be started his career in the Empire, more specifically in P.O.T.W.O.R. Since he only narrowly escaped the fate of a slave on Canaab, he swore himself to take a pragmatic approach on the matter and one day become a famous slavelord himself, something which he has arguably succeeded at.

After fighting in the Christmas War against the Ranger invasion of P.O.T.W.O.R space, Thornal Malat stayed in the Empire for some time – a time where he also gained most of his remarkable combat skills by training with the best of the imperial fighter elite.

After a stay with M.E.R.C. where he first tasted the ways of the mercenary, he snapped up the charter and property rights of “Ye Olde Candy Lords,” a galactic alliance at a bargain price on the Ururur space bazaar. Some people say that he blackmailed the former owner into handing over the alliance. Thornal Malat claims that these people are dirty liars. Further inquiries yielded that they also tasted delicious with BBQ sauce.

He used his position as the leader of YOCL to start a small but highly successful alliance focusing on the production of drugs and focused assassination. To the current day, YOCL has successfully completed more than 100 contracts.

Shortly after acquiring Y.O.C.L., Thornal Malat was involved in an… incident with one of the Emperor’s daughters. As he was only a lowly Count in the Empire up to that point, and thus unworthy to be connected to truly royal blood, the Imperial palace advised him to retire from service to avoid a scandal. Thornal Malat claims that he was allowed to keep the PASC as a sign of gratitude from the Empire – we at the Tribune are more inclined to believe that he just stole it.

With the advent of the Union, Thornal Malat was the one of the first experienced pilots to join its ranks after having received a personal invitation from the Don himself. Since then, he has become the pilot that every Unionite wants to be and was the Union’s champion in the recent Empire < -> Union war.

02 - Orsan — Unknown to most, the mastermind of the Federation started his career in the Empire. After a brief time with the then newly formed Shadow Order, Orsan moved on to join the Paladins as the enforcers of law and order in the Empire – and boy, did he enforce law and order. His adamantium armored SSC was legendary at the time as were his skills as a bounty hunter.

It were these skills that did their share to start the first major imperial conflict, when the then-considerably more aggressive P.O.T.W.O.R declared war on the Paladins, citing the bounties collected on their members as one of the major reasons. This war also saw Orsan shot down by the likely most-feared pirate of all time, the long-retired Stryker.

Orsan’s remaining time in the Empire was brief. After he had shot down the then-revered Cassandra Aegwynn (the founder of the first publicly available free map) and then killed her friend Fiona (who would later be one of the founding members of Red Cell) in a duel, he was chased out of the Empire and moved to the Federation Human Core, where he ranked up quite quickly.

At a point, he went on to found Quinto Imperio, which he soon left. He also founded the first military federal alliance, the “Federation Guardians.” Since the sentiment in the Federation wasn’t in favor of such an alliance at the time, it was quite unsuccessful and disbanded soon thereafter.

What followed was a time of changing alliances for Admiral Orsan. After a brief stay with the Scorpion Guard after the destruction of Urhoho, he went back to his old alliance Quinto Imperio and helped them out considerably to reach their current power. Later, he joined MERC where he successfully completed a number of contracts.

Orsan is best known for his efforts during war time – which is well deserved. He was one of the only federal pilots to actually fight back during the first Usube war and conducted some highly successful raids in the imperial cores. It took the then-overpowering Empire considerable effort to evict him and his Gauntlet.

Most of his fame however stems from the second Usube war, where he got his fame as one of the best and most successful military commanders in the history of Pardus. He was on the spearhead of most federal assaults and has been a symbol for the long federal reign over the now imperial Nari. While he isn’t particularly liked by his enemies (or even many of his allies), he is still well respected for his abilities and victories.

After the war, he left Federal Guard in disagreement about some internal policies and joined Extinction Agenda.

What the future will hold for Orsan we don’t know. The current bets at the Tribune are that he’ll try and seize power over the whole universe, so things will remain interesting.

Ladies and Gentlecrabs - your Tribune #1 pilot.

01 - Evilpenguin — If ever a pilot symbolized economic savvy, diplomatic wile, and combat awesomeness, it is Evilpenguin. Evilpenguin began his career in Ruby Legion, and called that alliance “home” for a long time. During his tenure with RL, Evilpenguin constructed one of the first starbases in the Empire. Around that time, Evilpenguin had the honor of being noted as richest being in Pardus. That money was soon spent on the establishment of the Ruby Legion MO wall that stands to the current day.

His time with Ruby Legion was filled with valiant deeds. He fought in the RL vs. PACK conflict, a little remembered battle over long-forgotten political differences. In the course of this conflict, Evilpenguin became among the first pilots to have skills over 70.

When MERC and RL clashed, Evilpenguin responded and fought back. His efforts yielded kills of several famous MERC pilots, including Baart.

He also heeded Scorpion Guard’s calls for aid and rushed to the defense of Urhoho…twice. At one point, EP clashed with Gorath, the legendary pilot responsible for galactic regulations of drugs, whom he nearly defeated.

During the first faction war, Evilpenguin was one of the first imperials in federal space and may have been the one that stayed longest there. He was podded by Triad ultimately but went down fighting.

After the first faction war, Evilpenguin moved on to IG after discovering some internal policies in Ruby Legion that he fundamentally disagreed with. Back in my Behemoth, he was once again noted as one of the 20 richest pardusians. This time most of the money was spent on the IG Nusakan MOs and on Empire defense.

While in IG, Evilpenguin continued his renowned career - he played a significant role in the fall of Beethi and chronicled all of those events. He was the mastermind behind the “space farm” strategy in Nusakan and coined the term “broccoli war.”

In the second faction war, the Emperor approached Evilpenguin directly and asked him to form an imperial war alliance — the first in Pardus history. This alliance as known as “The Emperor’s Claw” and was the spearhead of many Imperial operations, including the leveling of Begreze, the destruction of Zelada, and the first recapture of Nari.

After the war, the Emperor ordered the Claw disbanded. Evilpenguin wandered, allianceless, through the aether, but was fortunate to be in good company. He joined Eldritch in the CASH movement, and when that was disbanded, went on with our editor to found The Pardus Order of the Temple. TPoT attracted many of the biggest names in Pardus, but swiftly lost traction as events conspired against the brave followers of the Order.

With the Union < -> Imp war imminent, Evilpenguin returned to IG in his Boa, where he played a vital role as supply trader in a number of major operations.

One of Evilpenguin’s most defining characteristics is the ease in which he makes friends. He is rumored to have contacts and friends in virtually every major alliance in Pardus, making him the quintessential diplomat. It was this trait that had him tapped as the semi-official Imperial diplomat during the last war. EP negotiated the emp-fed peace treaty at the end of Usube II, and was named Guardian of the Nari nook, since he was the single pilot in Pardus that both feds and imperials would trust with that responsibility.

Congratulations, Evilpenguin. Your service stands as a shining example of what a career should be. You can now add this to your list of accolades.