Fuel Rats

Template:PlayerGroup The Fuel Rats are a group of pilots who provide free aid to ships that have run out of fuel and have no means to refuel themselves due to either lacking a Fuel Scoop or having insufficient fuel to reach a star via hyperspace or supercruise. They primarily use fuel transfer limpets to refuel these wayward ships, but they have also adopted repair limpets. They are represented by two minor factions: The Fuel Rats Mischief in Fuelum in the Core Systems, and The Fuel Rat Colony in Rodentia in the Colonia Region.

Background

The Fuel Rats are a hierarchy-less collective. That means they have no leader and no assigned jobs within the organization. Members who disagree about something work it out by listening to each other, suggesting solutions, and (hopefully) deciding collectively what to do. Not having leaders does not mean chaos; it is not the dog-eat-dog world of a nihilist/survivalist. "Our collective is more like the communes of the ancient Greek philosophers Aristotle and Epicurus: they did not need government or leaders because they were basically in agreement about what needed to be done." The “collective” is more like a team, sharing a common goal. Military units have to resort to hierarchical command-structures in order to get people to do the right thing in a situation where disagreement is fostered by political pressure. The Fuel Rats prefer to expect people to do the right thing. If someone doesn’t fit in, they’ll get polite suggestions to find another hobby than Fuel Ratting.

File:Fuel Rats ship.jpg

Fuel Rats ship

The Doctrine of Individual Excellence is "If we do our best, individually, then collectively we’ll be awesome."

Even though we are leaderless, we are a collective; the actions of each individual reflect on how others perceive the collective. (so, be Glorious!) Every member makes all the Fuel Rats collective look good. Which also means that if a member misbehaves, they make everyone look bad. If one Fuel Rat feels another is making the collective look bad, their starting move should be: “Hey, please think how your behaviour reflects on the collective.”

The Fuel Rats consider themselves the The Good Guys and first and foremost their job – their only job – is to save stranded pilots quickly, courteously, and professionally. Some of them are fairly serious role-players. By all means, role-play if you like. Or not. If a fellow Rat is role-playing, it’s probably nice if you play along.

Since the game hasn’t got a very good fee-structure or means of exchanging wealth, the Fuel Rats talk a lot about charging a 100t of platinum, an arm, or a liver. If you want to work something out or role-play something with a rescuee, have fun.

Members should not mix other game-play with their Fuel Ratting; while you’re out on a rescue, you represent the Fuel Rats. If you decide to get creative, just be thoughtful.

File:Fuel Rats Decal and Paintjob.jpg

Fuel Rats Decal With Orange Squadron Paint Job

The Fuel Rats are not a war guild. Yes, they'll equip good shields, fast ships, even guns, but it’s hugely unlikely that a Rat-pack will go to war. After all, many of the Rats are on different sides and factions. When they’re being Fuel Rats, they’re all on one side: The Fuel Rats. Otherwise… it gets complicated.

If you are interested in joining, Please use the button located in the get help section to chat with the rats and possibly join.

First Fleet Carrier Based-Rescue

On June 9, 2020, a few hours after the Fleet Carriers Update went live, their first call for a rescue only a Fleet Carrier could do arrived.

There is an area of stars known as the Anaconda Graveyard, reachable only by a long-range ship with a neutron boost. The trip is one-way though, as there is no way to get a boost large enough to return from the system. The CMDR in question originally contacted us months ago, wanting to know if it was possible to be rescued. After being informed it would take the capabilities of a Fleet Carrier to pull it off, the CMDR went on their way - and came back just in time for the first official Fuel Rats fleet carrier to be in the middle of the commissioning ceremony.

A quick turn-around to send rats scurrying for a supply of Tritium to fuel the carrier, and RatMama was on her way with The Rat Nest to pick up the Commander, who at that point had spent months in the same system. The trip out to the Anaconda Graveyard took a little over two hours and six carrier jumps for RatMama and a team of intrepid rats along for the ride. (They only lost one of them on the way there).

After a quick turn-around, they headed back to the Bubble with one rescued commander aboard, who parted ways with them on the edge of the bubble to head to their base in Vega. (They only lost 3 rats on the way back).

Fleet Carriers may not be the first go-to stop for Fuel Rats when it comes to rescuing people, but their value is still undeniable, if nothing else for comedic flair of rats not making it in time for the lockdown.

Timeline

10 MAR 3306

• The Fuel Rats announce their 70,000th successful rescue.

19 DEC 3304

• The Fuel Rats undertake their most daring rescue yet in Oevasy SG-Y d0. CMDR Persera attempted to break the distance record from Sol by traveling to Oevasy SG-Y d0 and continuing to travel into deep space via supercruise for 48 hours, but she realized she had miscalculated her fuel consumption and would not be able to break the record or reach a star to refuel. The Fuel Rats were contacted and launched "Operation Beyond The Void", which reached CMDR Persera on December 23 and gave her enough fuel to jump to a scoopable star.

04 NOV 3304

• The Fuel Rats announce their 50,000th successful rescue at 17:42 Universal Galactic Time. After almost 3.5 years in operation and 52,116 total cases, their success rate for rescues is calculated to be 95.9%.

08 JAN 3303

• The Fuel Rats rescue their 20,000th Client and it does not look like they will stop at any time soon.

12 AUG 3302

• With advances in their rescuing technology, The Tech Rats (Development Team behind The Fuel Rats) meet in Sweden, Earth, Sol to activate their new IRC Network and API to allow for quicker and more reliable Service.

10 JUL 3302

• In a highly unusual incident, CMDR Chris Soar had accidentally launched his SRV into orbit above Nervi 3 A, the spaceborne CMDR was returned to the surface after CMDR Gridwolf physically pushed the SRV planet-side

01 APR 3302

File:10000rescues.jpg

10.000 rescues celebration poster

• Whilst always improving their technology to help stranded pilots even faster, The Fuel Rats reach 10,000 rescued Pilots on April Fools Day of 3302. Even though some may have thought of it as a joke, the Data collected with every rescue has concrete proof that CMDRs Zatie and Hansa successfully rescued CMDR Ripa Moram in ICZ BQ-Y D111.
• To celebrate this, Frontier manually handed out exclusive In-Game Decals to anyone who had participated with The Fuel Rats before this date.

12 JAN 3302

• Ever growing, one of the most popular ads for The Fuel Rats gets made by CMDR RadLock and released to the public.

29 NOV 3301

• A joint venture between the Pilots Federation and the Fuel Rats resulted in a new colour scheme for search-and-rescue vessels. Commander Father Cool, who designed the livery, originally intended it to be used by the Fuel Rats.

09 OCT 3301

• Commander F-Zlim, pilot of the 'Korblah' and member of the exploration arm of the Olympus Corp, experienced a fuel emergency after losing consciousness due to a CO2 leak while on the home stretch of a six-month galactic tour. He had exactly two minutes and 48 seconds of air remaining when Commanders Orphius and Lokda Babybel of the Fuel Rats saved him. Olympus Corporation awarded them the first-ever Korblah Medal.

21 JUL 3301

• The Fuel Rats undertook a massive relay operation to rescue Commander Neospike, whose fuel scoop had broken on the way back from Sagittarius A*. The effort involved roughly 540 limpet drones and several ships, including those piloted by Commanders Domaq, Paul_Kavinsky, Rusticolus, Cpt_Shinobi, Surly_badger, and Anuranium.

07 JUL 3301

• The Fuel Rats rescued Commander Fionn Mac Cumhaill, who while returning from deep space ran out of fuel in the PRAEA EUQ SY-S B3-3 system, which has no scoopable stars. Commanders Beornfrið, Kerenn and Anuranium located the drifting Asp Explorer just as its oxygen level dropped to 41 seconds of sustainable life support.

24 JUN 3301

• The Pilots Federation backed the Fuel Rats.

Videos

• File:Fuel Rats Advert
• File:Fuel Rats Case Red (Elite Dangerous)
• File:Elite Dangerous search and rescue with the Fuel Rats
• File:Educating Ed Episode 1- How to Fuel Rat
• File:Tutorial Out of Fuel? Call the FuelRats!
• File:Tutorial- Joining the Fuel Rats
• File:Elite Dangerous - Drawing Timelapse - The Fuel Rats 2
• File:Sagittarius Eye Bulletin - Mischievous Galactic Logo Complete
• File:Calling The Fuel Rats live on stream - Elite Dangerous
• File:Fuel Rats - Fleet Carrier Rescue

Gallery

• The Fuel Rats' guidelines for players who want their help.
  The Fuel Rats' guidelines for players who want their help.
• Fuel Rats logo
  Fuel Rats logo
• 10.000 rescues celebration poster
  10.000 rescues celebration poster
• Ancient Ruins, Monthly Rattatoons
  Ancient Ruins, Monthly Rattatoons
• Fuel Rats, Need Fuel
  Fuel Rats, Need Fuel
• Fuel Rats Logo 2
  Fuel Rats Logo 2
• Fuel Rat meets a Thargoid
  Fuel Rat meets a Thargoid