Amarr VIII (Oris) Emperor Family Academy—A Black Frog Logistics pilot has surprised not only themselves but their corporation upon a successful completion of an autopilot route from Jita to Amarr. Crowds flocked to the Amarr undock to greet the pilot of a Rhea-class Jump Freighter as it made its final 14-km approach—at a snail’s pace—to the station docking radius. Local denizens of Amarr such as Market Tycoon saluted the Jump Freighter, with some greeting the vessel in a dazzling spectacle of fireworks.
“I’m not actually sure how I did it,” the flabbergasted pilot shared with reporters on the scene, “I had to go AFK so I hit the autopilot button. When I got back to my seat, I was in Amarr. I just want to thank everyone who believed in me, Bob, and ORE for making excellent Expanded Cargoholds.”
After linking the fit in local, the pilot added that the cargo for his journey consisted primarily of Black Ops battleships, “I saw a contract assigned to us filled with Redeemers made by a one-day old character. Everything seemed to check out so I picked it up and just started hauling like I normally do. Since the cargo was pretty valuable, I knew I needed a ship with stronger resists, so the Rhea was the obvious choice.”
The CEO of Black Frog Logistics declined to comment, but a statement released later in the day by the Red-Frog Alliance read, “Wow.” It is unclear if disciplinary action will be taken by the Red-Frog Alliance, or if the pilot will be presented with an award and special medal for accomplishing the impossible.
The response from the wider EVE Online community has been mixed. Various CCP developers have praised the autopilot function and its ability to safely navigate through the most treacherous Highsec corridors in the game. CODE. has been surprisingly silent on the matter, though Highsec experts believe that the recent lull in ganking activity is designed to place autopiloting pilots into a false sense of security. Conspiracy theorists on the r/EVE subreddit are calling this event a “black frog operation” and point to various tinfoil indicators relating the pilot to possible CODE. activity.
The event has catapulted Black Frog Logistics into the limelight, much to the chagrin of PushX. As both major logistics alliances are vying for the open seat on the CSM as a permanent representative, the atmosphere is increasingly contentious. Rumors from within the PushX hierarchy point to leadership preparing to announce an ambitious plan to provide free ground transportation for all EVE players journeying to EVE World Tour meetup locations in a bid to unseat Black Frog Logistics new claim to fame.
As for the pilot? After taking a brief break for several days to buy PLEX for his account from the Amarr station, he undocked his Rhea and proceeded to autopilot back to Jita.
“Who needs scouts, webbers, or out cynos when you have autopilot?” The player typed in the local channel as he landed on the Ashab gate, “Anyway AFK.”
