The Flying Zabutons | AU TZ J-Space Hunting Corp | Small Gang, Highsec Staging, Newbros Welcome
o7,
I’ve recently returned to EVE and started The Flying Zabutons, a small corporation built around a simple idea: hunting J-Space from Highsec without the overhead of traditional permanent wormhole living.
I’m based in Australia and during COVID I was the CEO of a modestly sized C4 wormhole corporation, living in a C4 with C2/C5 statics. We did the usual mix of scanning, chain control, PvP, PvE, rolling and general wormhole nonsense.
When life returned to normal I stepped away from the game and have had a few intermittent periods of returning since.
This time around, I’m looking to do things differently.
I don’t currently have any interest in rebuilding another traditional wormhole corporation with structures, logistics chains, multiple accounts and all the administration that comes with maintaining a permanent home.
What I do want is to get back to the part of wormhole space I always enjoyed most: hunting.
Before running my previous corp, I spent a lot of time staging from Highsec, scanning entrances into J-Space and hunting whatever could be found down the chain. It’s a playstyle I know well and genuinely enjoy, so I’ve started The Flying Zabutons specifically around doing exactly that.
What We’re Building
The goal is not to become a huge corporation.
I’m looking for a small handful of pilots who enjoy scanning, exploration, hunting and small gang PvP and want to help build a tight-knit group around that style of gameplay.
The basic idea is:
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Stage from Highsec.
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Find wormhole connections and scan chains.
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Look for active systems and potential targets.
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Take small gang fights where they make sense.
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Abandon dead chains and go looking for better ones.
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Keep administration and obligations to a minimum.
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Build around a small active group rather than chasing member numbers.
There will be nights where we scan half of J-Space and find absolutely nothing.
There will also be nights where somebody gets lazy with D-Scan and pays for our evening.
Both are part of the game.
Not Traditional Wormhole Living
At least initially, the corporation will not be permanently based in a wormhole.
I’ve done that before and know exactly how much effort goes into keeping it running. This is deliberately intended to be lighter.
Assets stay safely staged in Highsec, we find entrances when we want content, and then head into J-Space looking for trouble.
I am, however, very interested in nomadic wormhole living.
Living out of ships, moving through chains and spending extended periods deeper in J-Space appeals to me. I used to run multiple accounts, which made that easier, but I no longer maintain the collection of characters I once did.
If we build a small group of capable pilots who are interested in experimenting with nomadic deployments, that’s absolutely something I’d like to explore.
Newer Pilots Are Welcome
You do not need years of wormhole experience to join.
If J-Space interests you but you’ve never really known how to get into it, that’s completely fine. I’m happy to mentor newer pilots and teach the fundamentals of wormhole life and hunting, including:
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Scanning and probing.
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Chain mapping and bookmark management.
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Wormhole identification, mass and polarisation.
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D-Scan and situational awareness.
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Finding and evaluating targets.
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Hunting PvE pilots.
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Positioning and setting up engagements.
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Basic rolling concepts.
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Staying alive when there is no Local.
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Ship selection and fitting.
What matters more to me is attitude.
You need to be willing to scan, understand that hunting doesn’t guarantee instant content, and be able to lose a ship without having an emotional breakdown.
Ideally, you should enjoy the process of tracking someone through a wormhole chain nearly as much as actually killing them.
Making ISK
The corporation is primarily being built around hunting and PvP rather than organised krabbing.
Personally, I use Abyssal Deadspace to fund my PvP. It gives me something productive to do when nobody else is online and lets me efficiently finance poor decisions later.
I’ve got plenty of experience with Abyssals and I’m also happy to help pilots learn that side of the game, from lower-tier progression through to higher-tier running.
The philosophy is simple:
Make ISK efficiently so we can spend more time doing the things that are actually fun.
Timezone
I’m Australian, so AU TZ pilots would obviously be ideal.
That said, I work from home and my playtimes are reasonably flexible, so I can overlap with other timezones depending on the day.
I’m more interested in finding the right people than enforcing a strict timezone requirement.
Who I’m Looking For
I’d particularly like to hear from:
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Experienced wormholers who miss J-Space but don’t want permanent WH living.
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Returning players looking for a smaller group.
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Solo hunters who’d like a few people alongside them.
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AU TZ pilots looking for something outside the usual Nullsec options.
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Explorers wanting to transition into hunting.
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Newer pilots interested in learning wormhole PvP.
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Abyssal runners who also want to shoot people.
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Players interested in eventual nomadic J-Space gameplay.
You don’t need 150 million SP.
You don’t need five Omega accounts.
You don’t need a perfect killboard.
I’d rather recruit someone with a good attitude who wants to learn than someone with ten years of experience who is miserable to fly with.
What This Corp Is Not
If you’re looking for a giant Nullsec alliance, mandatory fleets, endless structure management, heavy bureaucracy or a place to permanently spin your ship in station while somebody else scans for you, this probably isn’t the corporation for you.
I’ve already done the CEO job where half of EVE starts feeling like administration.
This time I want to undock and shoot people.
Where It Goes From Here
I’m intentionally starting small.
If The Flying Zabutons starts with three or four active pilots scanning chains together and dropping on unsuspecting Praxis pilots, I’ll consider that a perfectly successful beginning.
From there, we can develop into more organised small gang hunting, specialised fits and doctrines, rolling for content, extended J-Space deployments or nomadic wormhole operations.
I want that evolution to be driven by the people who actually join and play rather than writing a five-year strategic plan for an internet spaceship corporation before anyone has undocked.
For now, the mission is simple:
Scan wormholes. Find targets. Shoot them. Make ISK when necessary. Make questionable decisions with that ISK. Repeat.
If The Flying Zabutons sounds like your kind of EVE, reach out to me via forum chat or send me an in-game mail and we can have a chat.
New pilots are welcome.
Experienced wormholers are welcome.
Returning bittervets are also welcome, provided you’re not too bitter.
Fly dangerous.
o7