Likely Suspects / NOTME

A BRIEF HISTORY OF IRONPOINT, LEGENDARY PIRATE CREW

With the physicalization of cargo, the pirates of Ironpoint became a nomadic crew. While bobs were plentiful in all areas of the game, Ironpoint’s activities would change from patch to patch depending on where they could get the most hits of the greatest value.

Come patch 3.22, they settled in the belt of Yela. This was auspicious because of its close proximity to their watering hole Grim Hex. With the introduction of hull-breaking, bobs flocked to the belt looking for a quick payday. But none was quicker than Ironpoint’s with their devastating attacks. They need only to skirt the belt until their sensors picked up large cross-sectional signatures, indicating the presence of their preferred prey: the reclaimer. They would board the vessel in packs and quickly dispatch the salvaging crew before emptying the hold and buffer of the plentiful construction materials. It would be a short jaunt to Grim Hex to sell their spoils and head back out to continue the hunt.

In patch 3.23 the bobs had shifted their attention to the hauling of RMC. The material was very expensive and was only sold at 2 ground locations on the surface of Hurston: Rappel and Picker’s Field. Bobs would land at these outposts with their Caterpillars and their C2s ready to make a very large investment of cargo. Ironpoint was quick to pounce, as they would regularly stalk these locations, lying in wait for their prey.

Patch 3.24 saw the introduction of cargo elevators, and the many issues that came with them. The pirates of Ironpoint became very lean as the elevators did not function until several code revisions. They often resorted to camping OM points, stealing equipment and ship components just to get by.

With the arrival of Patch 4.0 and the addition of Pyro to the verse, Ironpoint’s opportunities diversified. With the wallet wipe, the bobs were out in full force. Stanton saw the return of salvage, and Ironpoint feasted in the Yela belt and at Lagrange points which became full of vultures and reclaimers. In the Pyro system, ground locations in the moons of Pyro V were full of lucrative commodities that the pirates could snatch from the bobs as they raised their cargo elevators, often as simply as lowering the elevators back down as the bob would turn his head. Asteroid clusters were for a time full of wrecked ships full of valuable cargo. Ironpoint did not have to search the vessels. The bobs would dutifully scan each one and when they extracted the quarry, the pirates would pounce.

2955 was a prosperous year. The arrival of new content brought myriad in-game activities to the ‘Verse, and with each one came a new opportunity for hits. The Contested Zones were discovered, and the pirates lay in wait in the executive hangars to relieve the bobs of their compboards. The Supply or Die event came with its cargo hauling quotas. QT lanes were life with bobs and the snares of Ironpoint were full of bobs running copper, corrundum, and tin. With hathor came the new valuable material caranite, a coveted mineral due to its demand by Wikelo. Many battles have been fought over those mining sites, with Ironpoint emerging with the spoils. And as the game’s economy swelled to the point of nearly collapsing on itself, no wallets grew quite as much as the pirates’ of Ironpoint.

Finally, at the beginning of 2956, Ironpoint’s fearless leader was called away from the ‘Verse, ascending to a higher calling, and with it bringing about the end of the fiercest pirate crew to dote. The end of their story saw the beginning of a new one, and Likely Suspects was formed from their remnants, led by a new captain with a passion for stolen cargo and a taste for blood.

We will continue to follow their career with great interest.