Joining Signal Cartel FAQ

Mynxee

NOTE: This forum post was migrated to the Signal Cartel Wiki and can be found via this link: Public:Joining Signal Cartel FAQ

The thread is locked as the content is no longer maintained here and is considered OUTDATED.

UPDATE [09-Jan-2021]: The page below is no longer updated and is preserved here only for historical purposes. It has been superseded by the related page on our corp wiki. Please go there instead.

Thrice Hapus, CEO

What does Signal Cartel do?
Signal Cartel is part of the EvE-Scout Enclave alliance. We are a peaceful, neutral exploration corp (and alliance) focused on activities related to exploration content in the game. This includes wormholes, sites which must be probed to find them, landmarks and associated lore/in-game events, and various activities and content of our own design, which include:

Participating in roleplaying and lore-heavy activities, particularly as regards the Drifter story arc, Sisters of EVE, and the mysterious wormhole system of Thera.
Scanning and publicly documenting Thera wormhole connections for our sister corp EvE-Scout.
Designing and publishing Expedition TripTiks which others can use to plan thematic expeditions to sites of interest around New Eden.
Seeding and tending EvE-Scout Rescue Caches, which make probes and probe launchers available to stranded pilots in wormholes.
Conducting rescue missions for pilots stranded in wormholes.
Participation in a variety of training, logistics, and PVE activities conducted by members and friends of Signal Cartel.

What is this Credo I’ve heard you guys follow?
Our alliance culture is founded on a Credo which our pilots are expected to embrace and reflect in all their actions in-game and in other venues where they are representing as a member of Signal Cartel:

Signal Cartel is a service corporation to all of New Eden. In this role, members are encouraged to treat all players with respect regardless of affiliation. In challenging situations, our goal is to look for a graceful resolution and set an example of dignity and friendship through our actions.

We embrace the attitude of a true explorer: we are friendly to others in our travels, neutral and never initiating aggression, and endeavoring at all times be perceived by the New Eden community as a non-threat. Although we never intentionally seek to harm, we may defend our friends and our ships. In suffering losses, we respond with good cheer and shed no tears. In this way, we aim to be recognized and respected by all across the cluster and left in peace to do our work.

Among our own ranks and with others, we are patient and generous with knowledge, ideas, and experiences. We foster a mentoring culture by answering questions, freely sharing experiences and learning resources, and when possible offering rookies one-on-one tutoring.

In endeavoring to uphold the Credo, it is important to understand that specific actions in the game are not aligned with it. All characters in the Alliance are representing Signal Cartel and what it stands for, while in New Eden or on related forums or media. Certain activities in the game, while legitimate game play for others, are not considered acceptable for pilots in our alliance. This includes: Piracy, baiting, or scamming; initiating aggression on other players’ ships, pods, or deployed structures; sovereignty interference; participating in NPSI fleets; aggressive actions in support of PvP fleets including boosts, cynos, bumping, or target intel; use of mobile siphons; corp or other theft; placing bounties. Note: Ships, wrecks and drones abandoned in space are considered salvage and may be harvested. Abandoned ships may not be destroyed.

Every applicant must write a brief essay on what the Credo means to them. Your submitted application is your agreement to abide by our Credo with your Signal Cartel character if you are invited and join the corp. ( Protip: Writing "Don't be a dick" or similar vulgar/profane language as your assessment of the Credo will get your application declined for lack of effort and use of the exact kind of language we discourage in our corp venues. ) Our members are expected to know and embrace the Credo such that it informs all of their actions. Before you apply, be sure to read the Credo carefully and think about its implications for you. The importance of the Credo to our corp culture cannot be overstated. If the Credo doesn’t resonate with you, we will probably not be a good fit for you.

What other conduct rules are there?
In addition to the Credo, we have a family-friendly rule for all in- and out-of-game communications channels/platforms. This policy extends to character biographies and character names. Many of our members have children or early teens who may be watching or listening to them play. We therefore do not tolerate toxic, vulgar, hateful, mean-spirited, or foul-natured conduct or language. We also do not tolerate drama or rabble-rousing. The one thing we hear most often from departing or returning members is that “this is the nicest corp and group of people I’ve ever met in a game” and that is exactly how we aim to keep it. If you violate our rules of conduct and ignore requests to stop, you will simply be kicked from the corp and banned from returning.

What happens if I violate the Credo?
Observed or reported Credo violations are reviewed by leadership. In order to preserve our corp culture, reputation, and the Credo itself, we treat Credo violations with extreme seriousness and generally operate on a two strikes and out policy. A Credo violation can result in a strike being assigned to the pilot at fault, as can failure to respond to leadership emails within a specified timeframe that are related to such violations. Any pilot who receives two strikes is removed from the corp without exception. In certain cases of egregious disregard for the Credo, a pilot may be kicked immediately without notice. Failure to make the effort to fully understand and embrace the Credo before a violation is no excuse and will not result in leniency.

Can Alpha clones join and stay an Alpha clone?
Sure, as long as exploration is your primary focus.

My character name got changed to a generic "Citizen" name. Can I still join?
No. We do not accept characters with generic "Citizen" names. If your character's original name was reported and changed by CCP to a generic "Citizen" name, you can petition them to change it to a different, more acceptable name. Once they do, apply then. Applications submitted from characters with generic "Citizen" names will be declined without further notification.

Do you have other policies about character names?
If we determine that your character name violates our family-friendly policy, your application will be declined. This policy applies to all characters even if they have been in Signal Cartel previously.

What is life like in Signal Cartel?
The replies from our members in this post will give you a good idea! You can also watch the presentation that corp founders Mynxee and Johnny Splunk gave at EVE Vegas 2016 on cultivating a counter-culture in New Eden. It shares how Signal Cartel came to be, the foundation of our decidedly counter-to-EVE-stereotype culture, how things have evolved since the corp was launched, and factors for success in any corp, group, or project in EVE. The slide deck for the presentation can be seen here. We maintain a family-friendly policy for comms, chats, this forum, our Discord, and character in-game biographies. When you represent in any EVE-related venue as a Signal Cartel member, you are expected to adhere to this policy and the Credo.

For some insight into our organization and various division activities, read our State of the Signal #13.

What kind of support is provided to rookies?
We provide all rookie explorers (including Alpha clones) with a supportive, personalized mentoring experience in learning to play EvE and becoming engaged in the wider New Eden community. We also provide free T1 fitted exploration frigates, basic modules, and skillbooks. We have very active discussion forums, a library of useful exploration links, frequent fleets and in-game activities, training activities, and plenty of exploration-related programs to occupy your playtime in interesting ways.

Do I have to be an explorer to join?
Yes. Our entire focus is exploration and we expect exploration-related activities to be our members' primary focus, although many also do other activities on the side for a change of pace or to buff their wallets. We are not the corp for those whose primary activity consists of living in high sec and running missions, doing incursions, or mining asteroids. Our fleet ops, corp programs, and expertise are focused exclusively on exploration. We conduct random 30-day reviews of new members for fit that look at a variety of activity metrics to determine whether your focus is exploration. If it is not, you will be considered a poor fit and potentially be removed from the corp.

What activities are members required to do?
We are a laid-back corp. Space hippies, you might say. Our requirements are few: new members must post an introduction on our forums within 72 hours of joining, and all members must adhere to the Credo and be actively engaged in exploration. We do not have mandatory ops or specific fleet requirements. However, our goal is to have a vibrant corp with a highly active and engaged membership. Therefore, we do expect our members to log in and actively play on a regular basis.

New members are accepted on a probationary basis. If we observe behavior within your first 30 days that suggests a poor fit with the corp, we'll talk with you. After that, if a leadership review of your activity metrics suggests you are not engaged in activities expected of an explorer, we will reach out for a conversation. We are not interested in housing those seeking to build a respectable corp history, warehouse multiple alts, or leverage our reputation for their own self-interest, nefarious or otherwise.

All members are subject to random activity audits, which may cause leadership to inquire about your activities if we don't see visible exploration activity for you. Inactive members or those who fail to respond to inquiries from leadership are rigorously purged.

Should members decide to move on from Signal Cartel at any time, we will do our best to help you with contacts in other corps that might suit your evolving play style.

Do I have to live in Thera?
No. Our headquarters are there because of EvE-Scout, but our members may live anywhere they wish or just be nomads. Most do not live in Thera, although many do use it as a travel hub. We have three highsec offices just off the beaten path from trade hubs which are a good starting home for new player members. The hangars are well-stocked and there are usually several fellow members in Local in case you need help getting needed items out of the corp hangars.

Do I have to be on voice comms?
Regular presence on voice comms is not required. However, FCs may require that fleet members be on comms at least to listen. Having a mic and being able to talk on comms is almost always optional, although an FC is within his or her rights to require that for a given fleet. We don’t require member presence on any text chat platform. We do have a Discord server and the forum you are currently on for discussions.

Can I participate in NPSI or other staged events or PvE sites that involve PvP?
The Credo applies to all activities in game. The only Credo-compliant way you may participate in player- or CCP-organized PvP events is to fit ONLY Festival Launchers and shoot only fireworks or snowballs. No ECM use is permitted in such events because of the potential to interfere with the outcome of others' PvP engagements. We must AT ALL TIMES endeavor to be neutral. Any Signaleer appearing on killmails associated with NPSI or staged events is subject to harsh action by leadership (to include being kicked). Self-defense is usually not an accepted excuse because the large fleets associated with organized PvP events are well-advertised and easily noticed and avoided.

Because of their forced 1v1 mechanics and potentially negative impact on our reputation as peaceful neutrals, the Triglavian Proving Conduits in Abyssal deadspace (and likely any sites in future with similar “forced capsuleer cage fight” mechanics) are off limits to members of Signal Cartel.

What kind of and how frequently are fleet ops scheduled?
Fleet ops are scheduled at the whim of FCs. There are a few different types of fleets that go out regularly, for example: Sleeper Eradication PvE fleets in wormhole space; Hugs Fleets (festival launchers, and snowballs/fireworks..."hugs", and jammers) to greet war deccers; Surprise Party fleets (Black Ops Hugs fleets); Vulfpup and Vulfpeck fleets geared toward maximizing profit from wormhole sites; YOLO fleets that do any crazy thing the FC chooses; expedition fleets to visit interesting landmarks and other sites; kitchen sink fleets where you bring whatever you can fly; and more. Anyone who wants to lead a fleet can just step up to do it. We encourage everyone to give it a go. Even if everyone in fleet loses their ships and gets podded, if the fleet had fun then that’s all that matters. We do have a Fleet School which runs regular training and ISK-making fleets and provides opportunities to learn how to perform in various fleet roles, including as FC.

Will I get in trouble for losing ships?
No. We are not overly concerned about losses. In fact, one might joke that we are solely responsible for keeping the Astero market afloat! In the business of exploration which happens in dangerous places, there will always be losses. Our pilots are expected to learn how to fly clever in order to avoid losses as well as to become self-sufficient enough to replace their own ships. However, if patterns of losses to war deccers or others are noticed, we may talk with our involved pilots to see if we can help them understand how better to avoid losing ships. We will also follow up on losses that appear to be related to kills by the same pilot but in a different ship, as well as losses to CONCORD.

Do you have a Ship Replacement Program?
We offer fitted T1 exploration frigates for free and occasionally compensate fleet losses to a limited degree for not-for-profit or doctrine-testing fleet ops. But otherwise we do not offer the traditional kind of Ship Replacement Program that many other organizations offer. Besides, if you're doing exploration even a little bit right, your earnings will far outweigh your losses.

Are you subject to frequent wardecs?
We are nearly constantly wardecced. Exploration tends to happen mostly in null sec, wormhole space, and to some degree low sec, meaning that war decs are largely irrelevant to us and have little impact on those focused on exploration as those who join Signal Cartel are expected to be. In fact, we keep structures anchored in the alliance specifically so that we remain intentionally eligible for wars, thus discouraging activities outside of exploration for our members. We are first and foremost an exploration corp. Those pilots who prefer to focus on activities which mainly take place in high sec, especially near trade hubs, are at least some of the time at great risk of loss and are probably not a good fit for us.

It is strongly recommended that you move any assets vital to your day to day exploration activities out of trade hubs prior to accepting an invite to join Signal Cartel. You run far less risk of losing your assets that way, if we happen to be under a wardec at the time you join.

What is Signal Cartel’s response to war decs?
Our general response is to ignore them and simply go about our business away from high sec, while keeping an eye on Local no matter where we are. We sometimes form up a Hugs Fleet to engage our war deccers with snowballs and fireworks for laughs. We do not form PvP response fleets, hire allies to do our fighting for us, or ship up to seek revenge when we lose ships to war deccers. We only engage in a fun, positive, friendly way in accordance with our Credo or else not at all.

From a more practical perspective, we encourage the use of alts and hauling services to deal with the logistics of getting your ships and gear from trade hubs to wherever you are. We maintain a corp hauling mailing list to help facilitate this.

How do I join Signal Cartel?
Joining requires you to submit an application on our Web site. We do not use in-game applications (and will automatically reject in-game applications that do not have a corresponding Web application). You can find more details here. If you plan to apply with a character whose name was changed by CCP to a generic "Citizen" name, please petition for a name change to something more personalized before applying.

Please note that if you choose to ignore our family friendly policy in your application by using vulgar language or profanities as part of your response to the application questions, we will automatically decline your application without notice. We expect mindfulness of our policies to be reflected in your application.

If I join but decide to leave to try other activities in-game, or get kicked out for inactivity, can I come back?
If you quit the corp or are removed for inactivity, you must wait out a timer to rejoin. For those with us more than 180 days the timer is 60 days; shorter memberships will have longer timers. Reminder: If you were removed for being a poor fit (determined by leadership) or for a Credo violation, you are prohibited from rejoining.

Can my corp join the EvE-Scout Alliance?
Sorry, no. We are a closed alliance consisting of Signal Cartel, its sister corp EvE-Scout, and support corps run and populated by leadership alts only.

Do you have an in-game channel?
Yes! Come talk to us in the EvE-Scout channel. Our recruiters, many members, and loads of friends hang out there. There is always a lot of chat about exploration sites, ship fits, and so forth.

I have a question not covered here; who do I ask?
Please join the EvE-Scout channel in game and ask for a recruiter or any Signal Cartel member. We’ll be happy to answer any other questions you have there.