Interview with The Fuel Rats

One of the community-created groups inside Elite Dangerous, the Fuel Rats are the roadside assistance of the Milky Way. They bring fuel to those in need and ask for nothing in return. So we sat down with DerryBear, the community coordinator for the Fuel Rats to ask all about it.

GameGrin: Thanks for sitting with us. What was the original idea behind the Fuel Rats?

DerryBear: Well, it was back in 2015 when our founder, Surly Badger, was traveling to Hutton Orbital in the Alpha Centauri system. It’s a small outpost roughly 0.22 light years away from its main system star. Generally it takes about an hour and a half to arrive at the outpost from the time you arrive at the main system star. So there he was cruising along when he heard a choke from his engines and ran out of fuel. Now at this stage the Fuel Transfer Limpet Controller wasn’t implemented in the game just yet. But he thought to himself how good it would be if one of his friends could come and save him. And that's when the entire idea of rescuing those in need of fuel was spawned, from here it was only a matter of time before we would be founded.

GameGrin: For those who haven’t read our article, can you give us a rundown of a common rescue?

DB: Of course, it all starts with a client running out of fuel. A harrowing experience to be sure. They first go to our website www.fuelrats.com and hit the big red Get Help button. That in turn takes them to a secondary page with information and a login screen for our rescue IRC channel. They enter our IRC channel and give their Commander name, location in game, platform and Emergency Oxygen Depletion levels. Our trained dispatchers will then greet them and take them through all the steps required to conserve oxygen and fuel while scrambling Rats to their location. While en route we set up Friend Requests, Wing Requests and Wing Beacons to connect our Rats to the client. When our Rats arrive in the client's location they will drop out of supercruise onto the Wing Beacon and if all goes well, which it generally does, the Rats will refuel the client before the client finds themselves with zero seconds to live.

GameGrin: How frequently do you get requests for assistance, how has that grown since you started?

DB: Well, in our first week of operation we were a small outfit of about four or five Commanders working out of a thread on the Frontier Developments forums and we performed two rescues. Just gonna throw a shout out to CMDR Anuranium here who successfully completed our very first rescue. From there the number of rescues we attend on a daily basis has increased dramatically. During a Steam sale in 2015 we experienced a huge spike in rescues reaching a total of 140 rescues in one day. As of the time of writing we average 20 rescues per day. This of course culminated in The Fuel Rats surpassing 10,000 total successful rescues back on 1st April 2016.

GameGrin: Has there been anyone just too far away to save?

DB: “Too far away” isn't really a phrase that appears in our vocabulary. Each Fuel Rat prides themselves on doing epic rescues, and our Fuel Rats have traveled upwards of 56,000 light years to rescue a Commander in need. It may take us slightly longer to get to you, but no where in the galaxy is out of bounds for us.

GameGrin: Have you ever found yourself in need of your own group’s assistance?

DB: Oh dear, well I may as well come clean about it now. Yes, I have had to be rescued by The Fuel Rats. Once when I was new to Elite and then a second time when I was tired and wasn’t paying attention on my way to Sagittarius A. The funny bit about my second rescue was that I had literally just finished training the Fuel Rat who then had to come and save me.

GameGrin: Has organization of duties/issuing jobs changed or become more complex than you originally thought since you started?

DB: In a sense yes but this has affected us less than it would other groups thanks in part to our hierarchy, or the lack there of it. The Fuel Rats don’t really have a chain of command or a hierarchy, we just have those who step up and do awesome stuff in our name. I personally do a lot of community work for The Fuel Rats and even identify myself as our Community Coordinator. But that's more for the convenience for others. My official title in The Fuel Rats is literally DerryBear and I am no more important nor powerful than any of our Rats

GameGrin: Has your positive reaction by the community surprised you in any way?

DB: Well it's entirely accurate to say that we simply would not exist if it were not for the Elite: Dangerous community and their support for us has been simply amazing. It’s because of their attitude towards us that I can proudly identify as a Fuel Rat no matter where I am. The Elite community is an amazing group of people and I have never seen one more likeable and helpful in all my years. Sure there are a few bad apples, but the same is true of any community that has ever existed.

GameGrin: Do you encounter much resistance in-game from players?

DB: There has been a few instances of attacks against us and our clients but we have implemented new procedures to try and negate any future threats. We prefer to evade and dodge any attacks upon us or our clients. We are not combat orientated and we hold a neutral stance with all player groups. Whether it be Imperial, Federation, Alliance, Pirates or simple Traders, if they need fuel, they are all welcome to come and use our services.

GameGrin: How does being a Fuel Rat affect your “normal” Elite: Dangerous play time, does being “on-call” change how you play?

DB: Most Fuel Rats will simply fit a Fuel Transfer Limpet Controller to their ship and carry a few limpets with them. There are more professional setups available if you want a dedicated Rat Ship, but in most cases they just go about their daily business until a call comes in and then rush off at the drop of a hat to save another Commander.

GameGrin: How do you fund what you do? Does everything come from your own pocket?

DB: Well Surly Badger paid for our initial setup costs and now he deals with all our finances and dispatches any Fuel Rats loot that is ordered from our store. We do also take donations but that is always strictly optional. All of our finances can be viewed in full on our website at the bottom of the homepage. Just to clarify, we do not make a profit, we spend any money given or paid to us on even more awesome stuff for everyone to enjoy.

GameGrin: If Frontier Developments ever find a way of enabling direct credit transfers, will you still operate as a purely charitable organisation?

DB: Oh yes. To us it would be cruel for us to make people pay. I shudder to think of myself sitting in front of a Commander who is slowly dying and saying something along the lines of “Now transfer 2000 Credits or you’re going to die”. We do it for the experience and for the stories. For us to stray from that would feel like we were losing our way.

GameGrin: What things would you like to see Frontier add that would aid the Fuel Rats (and other player-ran operations)?

DB: I think that in-game group management tools are sorely needed. Something that would allow us to manage and inform the entire group immediately alongside a group calendar of sorts. Where group members can post events, goings on and even if they are away on holiday or vacation for a bit. That, and I would love to see stations occupied by The Fuel Rats in game minor faction to supply those who dock at them with free fuel.

GameGrin: What tips could you give our readers on avoiding finding themselves in need of your help?