[Karash]

Inno is basically an expert forum whiner. When he posts, he gives off the air that he knows his shit, smart, and should be trusted. So he basically gave a lot of "on Paper" arguments at the end of Beta about the Tensity not stacking up to the other faction's fighters. A lot of the community was shocked to learn that at the start of retail, they put in his suggestions which led to 2 years of imbalanced BS.

In fact the Quants were so pissed off about it they attacked Sol Core relatively quickly after retail started.

[Taeryn]

There are so many names in this thread that I'd forgotten. So many pilots that I'd seen or flown with or even against and reading this thread reminded me of some good memories of most all of them. That even includes a lot of the people who posted. I remember when I first started playing and getting shot down by more than a few of the pilots mentioned and just getting so pissed off. But then, in some cases years later, flying with those same people and really appreciating them. There's no way I could come up with a list of only 5. There are just too many pilots all bunched up at the top of the list.

[Rix]

I think I just won the thread. I get mentioned and everyone jumps in going I HATE HIM!!!

Because the opinion of some random noob in an online space shooting sim really matters to me.

I can go on about how so and so won in a duel and because solrain medium fighters are OP and their profile is blahblah and lol @ u sux and i wtfpwned you only because i had ff's left.... who cares? It's a game and it happened what.. 6 years ago? Man, you people gotta let shit go!

I'm not making a who's who list because it's just a e-peen contest. I hate everyone equally, and for different reasons. Far as I'm concerned, Jumpgate Evolution will be a clean slate, lets see what ya got.

*edit* wow I have to put html tags in for it to space properly? That sucks

[Luke]

I don't even remember why I hate you Rix. I'm pretty sure I do though. Hi

[Rix]

Hai 2 U Lol Wat R U Doin?

[DLinkOZ]

Originally Posted by Ambrosius

There have been a lot of great influential players, many mentioned already in this thread. I tried to identify five that really blazed a trail. I had to go to six. My list is US pilots since I flew very little on EU and that was fairly late in the game.

baadf00d -- one of the first pilots to really understand the economy and production dynamics.

Gossip -- set the standard for Jumpgate fansites and blazed the trail for 3rd party tools.

lxholla -- Creativity, leadership and the ability to managing a a really diverse group in EEA was a unique accomplishment.

Ridgeway -- For creating the controversial ISU, and its variety of interesting RPs from the Aman Fashfire blockade to the GBS tolls.

Rollio -- there was no one more infamous for making space dangerous. He also was one of the first to really perfect the speed dock.

Rostam {{or whichever Nazgul came up with circle fighting}}

I think this list is just about right for me, as well.

BF was a HUGE influence to me, and even tried to nudge me into the economics in Eve. Jumpgate wouldn't have been the game it was for me without his input. Btw - I just recently moved, and discovered I still have 5 retail boxes of Jumpgate that were yours... how'd I miss that?!

Gossip goes without saying. Jumpgate just wouldn't have been the same in the early days without PJG.

lxholla definitely brought new twists to the game, it was the first time I had seen such time coverage from a single group of pilots.

I didn't have much interaction with ridgeway, but share the feelings in a sort of once-removed fashion.

Rollio was always the guy people loved to hate. I don't think I've seen more "holy shit, he just logged in, LAUNCH LAUNCH!!!" statements about another pilot.

Rostam, or more appropriately Nazgul... wow. I can remember when I got my first shiney new Raven and joined OEC (this was just before HG was put in place). They were the first big battle I was in, and even got a private "hate to do this, but war's war" message just before going down in flames. I don't recall who it was, but it was a fun time. These guys made the phoon an ominous beacon of death for others.

Honorable mention goes to Ulysses. Crazy ass, I can remember him going into battle in a Raven, even though he was level enough to get a nix... just to prove a point and have fun.

[Tobyus]

Having been away from the game for so long, I've forgotten most of the names, but the one name that I never could forget was Rollio. There have been a few others that people have mentioned that rang a bell, but I couldn't remember why without the descriptions supplied.

This thread has made me realize how much I miss this game!

[Ulysses]

Originally Posted by GrimGriz

Brutus, meepl..and someone registered here as Uly and seemed it might be him..and we targeted first because he was a noob civver more than he was any good.

That'd be me. And I wasn't the best pilot but I held my own against most of Nazgul, far better pilots than any Solrain I fought. As for my influential pilots, I'd say

Kirlain - didn't see much of him but what I did see was a damn good fighter and a pretty decent guy

Druss and CL (Rollio, Grimbeorn, etc) - I joined the game in the first place after my UMEC friend told me of their exploits, thought to myself how cool that was.

Handsolo - Never beat him in a fair 1 v 1, great attitude to the game and skills to match that. Partially inspired me to get better.

Oh and PalmPilot - for getting me the XP and cash needed for a 'nix

[Ikeprof]

Originally Posted by Rix

Hai 2 U Lol Wat R U Doin?

In a mere 18 characters you managed to concisely state exactly why some elements of the human race are not fit to go forth and multiply (it's a math term fwiw).

Almost personifies the Capitol One "What's in your wallet" barbarian commercials IRL.

Grats!

[Paktu]

In order to not tax my poor homework warped brain, I'm going to list the top 5 most influential squadrons in Jumpgate Classic.


1. All of the 'official' Legios. I fought against the CL during their reign of terror when I was just a light fighter jockey with the Relic Board Alliance. Despite their small numbers, they always seemed to come out on top in any situation they ended up in. Only once did we spank them and send them running, and that involved the cooperation of the entire Quantar faction... and even then, they regrouped with OEC and drove us all back. They were the primary inspiration for my tactics later in the game and contributed heavily to the anti-Octavian sentiments that led to the various beta faction wars.

I intend no disrespect to any squad I flew with during my tours of duty in Jumpgate Classic, but I've never flown with a better group of fighters in terms of skill and ambition than when I served in the Exosus Legio. Under Ulysses' command, we caused Solrain a lot of headaches, we blew up tons of cargo transports, caused a lot of trouble for the Solrain defense forces... and we generally followed in the long tradition of Legios before us.


2. The Nazgul. They reminded me a lot of the CL... the general fear level when they were reported to be flying around, the havoc and the intensity of combat against them. Of course, I was a much more seasoned pilot when I went up against them compared to when I fought the CL. Nonetheless, it was a challenge to keep up with them and it was always never personal when we went into combat. It was always in good spirits when we fought and no one ever left the fight (on my side anyway) in a bad mood. My hats off to some of the best opponents I've ever had the privilege to spar against.

3. The OEC is next (certainly not any less important than the previous two) for being the heart and soul of Octavia. During my time as a rookie in the Beta, the OEC was probably the greatest force to be reckoned with (and proved it at the end of the CL War). Even when the tables had turned against the OEC, the fight was never over... not by a long shot (remember the Trial of Karash deep in Quantar space? The resulting battle was so huge, it crashed the server... and when the server was restored minutes later, OEC pilots schooled a lot of their counterparts all the way back to Octavian space). When I flew with them in retail back in 2004, OEC hadn't lost an ounce of its tenacity and drive... but our opponents were no slouches and gave us a Hell of a fight. I certainly hope to fly with OEC again in Jumpgate Evolution, as long as Karash wants another old veteran fighter pilot to fill the squad's ranks .

4. [DEATH] comes to mind rather quickly on this list. It may come as a shock to a number of you, but I actually flew with Giomani, BEAR and Rollio for a while. Giomani even supplied the cash before the US-EU split for me to fly without much worries until the end of the US Beta. A lot of the guys in [DEATH] were either experienced pirates or people just wanting to pick a fight with everyone else (I was in the latter category). I'm surprised I even flew with Giomani, considering he defected from the Relic Board Alliance... but alas, we fought together just as hard as the pirate squadrons before us... and at times even rivaled the prowess of the Legios. The aftermath of this carried into my time with OMEGA, when people we had blown up or stopped to POD came after me to settle the score they had with [DEATH] for weeks and months afterward (not generally successful though).

5. Finally, I credit The Dark Path (DP). When I was with the RBA as a rookie pilot, they seemed to be everywhere... Right outside Quantar Core's jumpgate, deep in unregulated territory, Hyperial territory, Amanath territory, etc. We eventually went to war with them for PODing one of our leaders and shooting him down, and we believed we had one the war. Eventually, it turns out they were just waiting for us to wane... and then we got what was coming to us. Then about two months after the CL War, they made a play in the ensuing power vacuum and effectively controlled ALL of TRI space. I got chased from Quantar Core all the way to Wake Station by 50 Dark Path fighters, getting shot down as I was trying to speed dock. Not bad for a "pirate" squadron at that time ;D. Eventually, like other previously established squadrons, the Dark Path's member base and power waned, but the effects of their exploits could still be felt later on.

[jelomadnes]

CptnCrunch...I'm sure I'm blowing the spelling on that, but you blue-dot beta guys should know who I'm talkin' about.

jelo

[Sinupe]

Hmm hard one but I'll put personal feelings aside:

- Baadf00d - the first economy guru

- Slopey - JGT (can't remember if it was Timsky who made it, things get fuzzy now)

- Rollio - He inspired fear in every n00b and hate on every vet (I occasionally flew wing for him back in the CL days and he was a decent fella at that stage)

- Karash - The firmest hand in RP

- Proteus - For remind us that there's a human side to online games

PvPwise I can't refer to only one pilot so here's a (small) list:

- Nazgul (all with myself excluded)

- Ridgeway

- FS_Space (a notch bellow the others)

- Liet (based on 3rd person accounts)

- Tesrend (not exactly that great when I flew against him, again based on 3rd person accounts)

- Nicator (based on 3rd person accounts although when he few with me and then against me he couldn't fly for shit)

Please mind that there were a couple dozen very good pilots (myself among these if I may say so) but none were close to the "Elite" named above.

This said none of the current Jumpgate Classic players impress me as much as those named.


Sinupe
Nazgul/QS/OV/OEC

NOTE: Most US players will know me as the original Qork (Ridgeway, FS_space and even Liet flew it after I quit Jumpgate)