Elite Dangerous Wiki
Register
Advertisement

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.[1] 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.

Overview[]

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.[2]

Fuel Rats ship

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.

The Fuel Rats don't require or request any sort of payment in return for their services, though feel free to offer anyways. 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.

Fuel Rats Decal and Paintjob

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. Intentionally attacking a Fuel Rat who is on duty is a very good way to turn the every single player group against you.

As of May 3308, the Fuel Rats have made over 131,000 successful rescues.[3]

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 rescue involving a Fleet Carrier[]

On June 9, 3306, a few hours after the first Brewer Corporation Drake-Class Carriers went on sale, the Fuel Rats received their first call for a rescue that only Fleet Carriers could attempt. The client was a pilot who had made the one-way trip to HD 76133, a system that could previously only be reached with the aid of FSD Supercharging. Since HD 76133 lacked a neutron star itself, it was impossible for any pilots who traveled there with conventional ships to leave unless they chose to destroy their ships and return to inhabited space via escape pod. Drake-Class Carriers, with their 500 ly jump range, did not have this problem and could safely jump to and depart from HD 76133 as long as they had sufficient Tritium fuel.[4]

The client had originally contacted the Fuel Rats for help months earlier, but was forced to wait until Drake-Class Carriers became available and contact them again. The Fuel Rats quickly stocked up their first carrier, The Rat Nest owned by CMDR RatMama, with Tritium and proceeded to the client's location. The outbound trip required six jumps made over the course of two hours. The client was then secured aboard The Rat Nest, and safely brought back to the edge of the Core Systems, where he parted with his rescuers and made his way back to his base in Vega under his own power. The Fuel Rats considered the operation a resounding success, apart from a handful of their members who undocked from The Rat Nest during the trip and were left behind when the vessel jumped.[4]

Timeline[]

22 JAN 3307

  • The Fuel Rats announce their 100,000th successful rescue.[5]

09 JUN 3306

  • The Fuel Rats successfully made the first ever Fleet Carrier-based rescue in HD 76133, site of the Anaconda Graveyard. The carrier The Rat Nest, owned by CMDR RatMama, picked up a commander who had been trapped in the system for months.[4]

10 MAR 3306

  • The Fuel Rats announce their 70,000th successful rescue.[6]

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.[7]

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%.[8][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.[10]

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.[11]

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 [12]

01 APR 3302

10000rescues

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.[13][14]
  • To celebrate this, Frontier manually handed out exclusive In-Game Decals to anyone who had participated with The Fuel Rats before this date.[15]

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.[16]

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.[17]

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.[18]

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.[19]

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.[20]

24 JUN 3301

  • The Pilots Federation backed the Fuel Rats.[21]

Videos[]

Gallery[]

References[]

Advertisement