Naming Surprises and Cheeky Disguises 5

October 19, 2020 by Pix Severus

Giving a name to your MTU is the hip new trend for capsuleers across highsec, what better way to enhance your impact upon D-Scan and improve your presence in local! In this post I’ll be taking a look at some more of these memorable mobile deployables.

First up we have someone who tried to name their MTU after the Egyptian god of the afterlife, and as we can see, someone already tried to send this MTU to the afterlife, due to the sliver of armor damage it had already taken when I found it.

I put this thing to rest for good shortly afterwards, although I do wonder if we’ll see Annubis XII at some point in the future.

This MTU was found in Aphi, a system well known for having a static COSMOS site with constantly-respawning NPCs that are farmed by AFKers and bots all the live-long day. There are often a lot of MTUs deployed here, but unfortunately you need a key to get past the acceleration gate to this site.

Here we have an MTU owned by MiGhTyFoUrTwEnTy who decided to name it after himself. This MTU turned out to be mightier than I had anticipated, as it had swallowed it’s owners ship.

Kill: MiGhTyFoUrTwEnTy (Mobile Tractor Unit)

Unfortunately I almost exclusively use blasters, so I was unable to make a jibe about how I pewpewed this MTU to death with my lasers. Oh well, moving on.

Here we have an MTU that was surrounded by Orcas. It’s time to crack-out that online translator again to see what this name means.

Romanian: mtu mersi
Translates to: mtu thanks

Well, thanks for that, I guess.

Here we have another MTU surrounded by Orcas, a common sight in highsec these days. This one looks to be a name without proper use of an apostrophe, needless to say I didn’t spot anyone named Sharva or Sharvas in local.

This name is detected as being Swedish by an online translator, but the words remain the same in English as they are in Swedish. Therefore I can only assume that this MTU is named after the mother of someone named Pers. Strange.

This time we have an MTU with a Turkish name, a first for me! Let’s translate it, shall we?

Turkish: Toplayici 1
Translates to: Collector 1

That sounds about right, removing the “1” from the translation results in the word “Picker”, which also sounds about right for an MTU name.

At first glance, it looked like this MTU was named ROBOCOP and I had plans to pepper this post with all sorts of iconic quotes from the movie. Instead, we have some Cyrillic letters to decipher to find the true name of this MTU.

Bulgarian: ГОВНОСБОР
Translates to: S**T COLLECTION

I… wouldn’t buy that for a dollar.

Finally we have the first MTU I’ve ever found with an emoji for a name. MTUs are dangerous space equipment, and I believe more of them should carry warning symbols like these.

No cheeky disguises in this post, but I can guarantee you will get one in the next episode of this series! As always, if you spot any interesting or funny named MTUs out there, please take a screenshot and send it to me (Pix Severus) via EVEmail. Until next time!

Naming Surprises and Cheeky Disguises 4

September 23, 2020 by Pix Severus

It’s time for another edition of what is becoming one of the most popular series on this blog, NS&CD. In this series we take a look at some of the strange, wonderful, or somewhat frightening names that pilots choose to give to their Mobile Tractor Units. I travel all over highsec, so if you live there and currently own a named MTU, there is a good chance you’ll see it featured here at some point in the future.

Before we begin, there have been some wonderful examples of named MTUs featured on Yadot’s blog recently, here and here, and I highly recommend you check those out!

At first I thought this name might be a reference to a certain American celebrity, but upon closer inspection the MTU’s owner (piloting a Skiff next to it) probably named it after herself. I do wonder what happened to Cardy MTU-A though!

Here we have a couple of named MTUs close together, the grammatically incorrect “A MTU”, and DENOS MOBILE. That second name looks Spanish, let’s crack out the online translator, shall we?

Spanish: DENOS MOBILE
Translates to: GIVE US MOBILE

Hmm, an odd one, but you should really be giving me your mobile. If any Spanish speakers can shed any light on this, please do.

Here we have a nice contrast. Quite a few MTU owners like to associate their MTUs with trash, calling them things like bins, trashcans, waste disposal, and the like. Some other MTU owners like to associate them with treasure though, and I personally share that sentiment.

Here we have another MTU that the owner decided to name after themself. MTUs aren’t named like this by default, so the owner had to go out of their way to name their MTU like the default name for a ship. By the way, you should never leave your ship name as default, finding a pilot on D-Scan through their ship’s name is an easy way to hunt them down.

I believe “Scoop” would be a more appropriate name for an MTU, the only swooping involved with MTUs is when I swoop in and blow them up.

These rare ‘Magpie’ MTUs with pretty names were surrounded by a swarm of Ishtars using Wasp II drones. It goes without saying that I was unable to claim them.

This seems like a good name for an MTU, I wonder if Cherry Picker 1 faced the same fate?

Here we have an MTU named after a popular sci-fi character, although I don’t really understand the connection here. Perhaps some Star Wars nerds can fill me in on this one?

Here we have what looks like a cheeky disguise, although upon further reflection it could just be a descriptive name, as in the MTU retrieves items through it’s tractor beam.

Although named MTUs seem to be a lot more common these days, cheeky disguises are still somewhat of a rarity. The search continues, and we have more episodes of this series coming up! If you spot any interesting or funny named MTUs out there, please take a screenshot and send it to me (Pix Severus) via EVEmail.

Naming Surprises and Cheeky Disguises 3

August 9, 2020 by Pix Severus

I honestly wasn’t expecting to make a return to this series so soon, seeing as after multiple years of hunting MTUs I’d only spotted just enough named MTUs to make the last two posts, here, and here. After returning to New Eden from a lengthy break however, it seems that everyone is naming their MTUs these days, and after only a week of hunting I’d already found enough named MTUs to make a new post about it! So, let’s get into it, shall we?

First up, we have an MTU with a Dutch name, this is my first time spotting a named MTU in this language, let’s use an online translator to see what it says!

Dutch: DE DOOS VAN JE MOEDER
Translates to: YOUR MOTHER’S BOX

Oh.. Well, let’s move on quickly shall we?

A quick online search found Aboriginal origins for this name, apparently it means ‘sea turtle’ or something.

This fellow liked to name his MTU after the region he deployed it in for some reason. Or perhaps it was named after the neighbouring system?

This rather.. inventively named MTU was found in the system of Nakugard, a hotspot for both MTU usage and hunting.

Here we have another MTU from Nakugard, this time with a German name, another first for me! Let’s put it through an online translator.

German: Weltraum Putze
Translates to: Space Cleaning

For some reason, if you capitalise one or more of the words before putting them into an online translator, it can come out as ‘Space Plasters’ instead, odd.

There’s nothing more dangerous than an MTU stuck on the “suck” setting. It’s always best to dispose of them as quickly as possible.

Yes, always remember the locale of your MTU, lest a hunter finds it before you!

Here we have a double whammy! Proof that you can’t move for named MTUs these days. I had a hard time looking up the meaning of ‘Xand Vacuum’, the only references I could find were mentions of an old type of vacuum cleaner, but unfortunately those references were hidden behind paywalls, thanks nu-internet.

When I first spotted this MTU, I immediately probed it down, and when I landed on grid with it, a Noctis had just arrived on the scene too, and promptly scooped it up before I could touch it.

I had the last laugh though, two whole nights later, I was hunting through the same area and spotted it on D-Scan again! This time I touched his MTU, I touched it until it exploded.

Click on image for full size.

Kill: Space Keendary (Mobile Tractor Unit)

I’d just like to thank Rent-A-Dream Pleasure Gardens for the assist! o/

No cheeky disguises this time, I’m just putting these up as I find them, but there will be at least one next time! That’s all for this episode, if you spot any interesting or funny named MTUs out there, please take a screenshot and send it to me (Pix Severus) via EVEmail.

Naming Surprises and Cheeky Disguises 2

MTU Mailbag

May 23, 2017 by Pix Severus

Ever since I began my career as an MTU Hunter, I have received quite a lot of mail from capsuleers across New Eden, and now I would like to share some of them with you. Unlike some other hunters out there, I don’t mail the owners of MTUs I have popped, I sit back and let them contact me. I may change this approach in the future.

Kill: katrin zoloto (Mobile Tractor Unit)

After putting this mail through an online Russian to English translator, we get the following:

container
From: katrin zoloto
To: Pix Severus,
Victory: katrin zoloto (Mobile Tractor Unit *) what’s the point for you?

A good question, the point of hunting MTUs, for me, is to clean highsec of unwanted scan signatures, and have a lot of fun in the meantime. I kept my response brief in the hopes that it wouldn’t come out as incomprehensible garbage after putting it through a translator:

Я очистки пространство всех заброшенных сооружений и трутней
(I clean space of abandoned structures and drones.)

This was the second mail I had ever received about MTU Hunting, the first being from a fellow called Jarrod Jones which can be found towards the bottom of my guide to MTU Hunting here.

Kill: Ryan del Maina (Mobile Tractor Unit)

This is the most common form of mail I tend to receive from mission runners whose long-abandoned MTUs I have popped. Many don’t remember leaving an MTU out in space, whilst some know that they had left one out there somewhere, but never bothered to scan it down and retrieve it.

This MTU kill was an interesting one, with the MTU containing ship modules typically found on ganking Catalysts. It is possible, of course, that he was simply using a ship with small hybrid guns, lost it in a mission, and had his shipwreck sucked back into his own MTU. However, as the system in question was Osmon, a popular level 4 Sisters of EVE hub, it is more likely that the modules in the container are the remains of a ganking ship.

Kill: Maks Gotdar (Mobile Tractor Unit)

I received this rather descriptive mail from Maks Gotdar after destroying his MTU in the system of Sheroo, which is next-door to the popular Sisters of EVE hub, Apanake. This mail doesn’t tell us much, apart from perhaps that he was very confused about having his MTU blown up. My response to him clears things up a little, however:

Going out of my way to complete other people’s missions for them is a nice side-activity I do for the benefit of my fellow capsuleers. I would encourage all MTU Hunters out there to do the same if you are given the chance. Knowledge of missions can be very beneficial in the pursuit of MTU annihilation, and I find that mission runners themselves tend to make very effective hunters for this reason.

Kill: DerthGerps (Mobile Tractor Unit)

Some pilots tend to be quite happy after I have popped their MTU, showing gratitude for finally removing that niggling-feeling that they’ve left something behind. Although I detect a very slight hint of sarcasm in DerthGerp’s mail to me, I will take it at face value.

Since killing his MTU, DerthGerps has gone forward and racked-up quite a number of MTU kills himself, good for him!

Kill: NgotoI (Mobile Tractor Unit)

This is one of my favourite mails, and makes a nice change from the rather short mails I tend to receive. I hadn’t heard that song before NgotoI brought it to my attention, you can listen to it here (may not be available in your country). I think this should become the unofficial theme song for MTU Hunting, what do you guys think? If you have a better idea, send me some MTU-related lyrics to your song of choice!

I did not expect the kind of mails I have received since I started hunting MTUs. I was expecting a lot more tears and general bitterness, but perhaps that expectation came from my past experience as a ganker. That isn’t to say I don’t receive any tears at all, mind you, because I do, and if you stick around for future posts, you’ll see them for yourself.