ISKMogul new content recap

Lots going on at the new site in the past few weeks.  Here's a quick rundown of just a portion of the new content and goings-on.  So much more than this, be sure to bookmark the new site.

Recap of null sec politics, sov changes, and the future of several nullsec coalitions.

More IWISK promos for hundreds of millions of ISK.

Review of battles and more major developments in EVE throughout March.

The "Trollceptor" SOV Reaction

A lot of people are overreacting about the usage of the Entosis Link in the upcoming SOV changes.  CCP want so encourage more small gang warfare in Null, and they want to make it easier for smaller groups to take and hold SOV, while also making it difficult to have the hug cold war power blocs we do now.

SOV Reworks and the potential for change

CCP Fozzie finally released the long awaited SO changes Dev blog today.  And it's quite dense, and full of a lot of interesting ideas.  As expected it will probably change to degree prior to release.  But that hasn't stopped the usual fanfare of  overreactions, theory crafting, and leadership planning from going into full swing within the EVE community.

February 2015 Nullsec Recap

February was another slow month, however with the coming Sov Rework stated to be unveiled in early March hopes are high that the changes will allow for more consistent changes and wars.

Jan 2015 Nullsec Recap

January was without any major wars, but a few things of note still happened in nullsec. Much of the content worth covering centered around GSF and the CFC as a whole, whether it was Gevlon Goblin sending them an ultimatum or US timezone Goons deploying to Immensea.

The boredom of nullsec and SOV warfare

The game of SOV warfare has always been a tedious one for EVE players.  Even the ones that enjoy it see it as a mostly boring affair with little action, or fun.  "peace time", as it can be described in EVE is simply the lack of a serious threat to one's SOV.  And it would seem that BRAVE, having now been temporarily relieved of constant Pandemic Legion assaults, has once again fallen into the cyclical nature of SOV

Nullsec Highlights of 2014 [Hendrick Tallardar]

Russians begin a new war against one another

Russian aggression between the various RUS alliances and coalitions reached a high point compared to the relative quiet nature in the post-Halooween war era of EVE..  With  Legion of xXDEATHXx being the primary target of a SOLAR FLEET led incursion.  SOLAR FLEET has many potential allies such as Black Legion and various Russian entities.   While xXDEATHXx traditionally has PL and NC. as backup, there was no firm commitment by these groups to defend xXDEATHXx SOV.  It can be expected however that PL and NC. will join in opportunistic fighting.

The initial attack by SOLAR on xXDEATHXx's capital system was halted but now they're moving in again, this time with support from Gorgon, RED, Dream Fleet, and others.

November 2014 Nullsec Recap

The Nullsec Recap makes it's triumphant return! Much of the events in November centered around the Phoebe Update and its Jump Fatigue changes.

Nulli Secunda and it's success post-Phoebe, and a failure in Feythabolis

As N3 alliance Nulli Secunda was busy helping N3 expand it's holdings in other regions, it's CSAA's in DB1R-4 and ZS-2LT were attacked by a combined force of CFC pilots on October 31st.

Another strike in the system of DB1R-4 on November 2nd was spearheaded by soviet-Union and others.

With the loss of 3 CSAA's Nulli has comparatively lost little against what it's gained in successes in the last week.  As nothing was in build at the time of the destruction of these modules, there was only the loss of a few billion ISK to compensate for.


As most of Nulli's defensive fleets were either engaging CFC in northern areas of New Eden at the time along with Black Legion and Gentleman's Club, or were moving assets in preparation for the move to Impass, the most S2N could muster was a fleet of Archons, 20 in number to be exact.  And as the CFC Ishtar fleet was able to overwhelm reps on the tower and even bring down one Archon, S2N seems to have the decision of no longer defending the CSAA's or their POS'.

AS the CFC and anti-CFC forces settle after the hubbub of Phoebe, it still remains to be seen exactly what New Eden will look like.  Although my instincts tell me that as N3 moves southward, the shift in power will create a few new faces in the SOV game.

As of this morning just after the patch hit, Phoebe Freeport Republic has claimed sovereignty

In a stunning bit of success from another EVE subreddit based idea, Phoebe Freeport Republic has claimed a system in Nullsec.  Now only time will tell how quickly or slowly this implodes.

The idea finally came to fruition when the players involved heaped into WPV-JN and blasted a TCU belonging to the Absolution Alliance.

To quote the redditor who originally started this whole thing:

Battle report: We took our system under force and arms, albeit at an opportune time. In the end, we "fought" 3 dreads and 20 cruisers with some blockade runners, cloaky frigs, jita alts, half a billion isk and a hero iteron V... and somehow won. I still can't believe it. I'll write it up, or somebody else will, later.
Recruitment: Come check out http://www.reddit.com/r/PhoebeCrusadeWarRoom - it has links to our public channel, and the corp/alliance you can submit applications to.

Haters: Pretend I pasted all the comments we've received about how a newly formed group claiming sov would be impossible here. Pretend that I taunted them with clever wit. Pretend also also it's likely we'll hang onto this system for the long haul.

Diplomacy: Can somebody invite me to the really cool alliance sov holding blue donut command parties / intel channels / whatever por favor? Do I finally get to meet ~the mittani~?

[opsec]: I'm sure it'll post to Dotlan soon but otherwise I'm not drawing attention to where we are just yet :P {edit for clarity - when I made this thread, it had not posted to Dotlan yet}

Can I have a nap please: christ my eyes hurt

Recruitment again: http://www.reddit.com/r/PhoebeCrusadeWarRoom

LEAK: Kadeshi Ally Update

We are now only 5 days away from one of the most game changing patches in EVE for a long time and there is a lot to do plus the fact that we are involved in a war and taking a new region at the same time. Its been a very busy month and personally i think i’m gonna need a vacation when we are done with this ;D

Delve or Tenerifis or both?

A lot of you guys has wondered what will happen post patch and what will happen with Tenerifis now that we got space in Delve. Reason that i haven’t really answered that question is that up until now we haven’t really decided on what to do about Delve. The original plan was to take the space in Delve as a proxy empire that we could use for PVP, ratting and other stuff while having industry and a place to fall back on in Tenerifis. During the last few weeks things has developed and finally N3 seems to have a real plan on what to do post patch and its gonna be a lot of changes. The entire border of N3 will change and i can’t go into details on how it will look but a lot people will be moved around and its only reasonable that we at some point will have to give up some of our space in Tenerifis for someone else that could use it in a better way with us having a lot good space in Delve.
With these changes that are coming to N3 it has a lot better chance to survive post patch and it also makes more sense to move our main home to Delve and keep our Tenerifis space as a fallback position. We will keep our capital and subcapital ship cache in Tenerifis and jump clones to make sure that we can defend it against anyone trying take our space or threaten our assets. If you want to leave a ratting carrier or some other ratting ships or other stuff you can do that and you can continue to use our space in Tenerifis if you feel like doing that. But the main home of Kadeshi will be moved to Delve post patch. However we will keep corp/alliance moons and stuff in and around tenerifis so make sure you have ships needed to maintain that even after the patch. Set up jump clones and other stuff needed to take care of that. Alliance will continue to supply fuel blocks and other stuff our R64s that we hold in Tenerifis.

Why Delve?

After the last war when we lost all our space and then we somehow got it all back.. and so much more.. Kadeshi’s home has been lost in a sea of blue shit.. no hostiles for regions away.. personally i haven’t set a foot in our home for months.. why? Because it boring as fuck.. i miss the days when we had hostiles next door.. where we could pvp from our home all the time without taking tons of jump bridges and shit to get somewhere.. with a move to Delve Kadeshi could once again be in a border region where we have hostiles close by where we can get fights and have some fun again. Also this patch is about a new beginning for EVE.. and why not take this chance to make a fresh start for us.. embark on a new adventure for Kadeshi. This is why i feel that we should take this chance to make something new for ourselves. I know this might seem scary and it will involve a lot hard work but it will make us stronger in the long run and it is the right choice for us. This will give us a chance to get PVP without being forced to deploy to the other side of EVE and in the new EVE post patch that won’t really be possible in the same way anymore.. and those that does not adapt will die.
This hasn’t been an easy decision to make tho and it has involved a lot soul searching and thought. Kadeshi’s home has been in the south for a long time so its a big change for us in Kadeshi.. its however not the first time that we have thought about doing something different but then we got our old space back again and well then it isn’t so easy to make that leap and make those dreams a reality. We have that chance now and this time we will take that leap and i hope you will take it with me.
I have also talked to a lot diffrent people in the alliance and it became clear to me that i was not alone in thinking that Delve would be a better choice for us to call home. In fact most of the main corps of Kadeshi had already decided that Delve was the better choice and had seen the writing on the wall and was packed and ready to move. So it feels like this change came naturally in a way.

What do i do if i have stuff in Tenerifis?

As i said last week before we went on that 3 day break, no matter what you should get any bigger stuff out of Tenerifis before the patch. If you have bulky stuff that will take many jfs to get out post patch u need to get it out now. Same with supers.. and if you still haven’t moved yours and you want into Delve contact Zeta, Agame or me and we will tell you where to go with it.. for those that for some reason won’t have time or can’t make it we will do what we can to help you post patch.. but moving is going to be a pain and be dangerous but it is possible to do it. But try to talk to your corp m8s and have them help you if possible. If you have a corp m8 that has been afk for some time it is now time go call them or text or something and get them online for the next week so that we can get them moved safely.
We will using Sunday to do a lot of moving and shit, make sure to be around then.
Move any non essential stuff to Sakht and rest we will move to K-6 for now in Delve.

The defense of Tenerifis

As i have mentioned we have no plans on leaving Tenerifis undefended. If someone shows up and knocks on our summer home we gonna burn them down. For this reason i have had 200 battleships built in M-R in Tenerifis. We also have caps staged there and we will use this to defend our sov in Tenerifis and any assets we have there.
I will shortly set up contract in M-R for Hyperions/Scorps and Geddon for our Tenerifis defense fleet in M-R. They gonna be dirt cheap.. so not gonna waste your isk.
A big part of being able to defend what N3 will have in the south will be to have jump clones installed in the right systems. Here is a list of those systems..

- M-R in Tenerifis – Very important

– 02V – in Esotera

– 94FR – Immenasa

– Sahkt – Aridia (Might be changed before the patch to a delve system)

– K-6 – Delve – For now anyway

We might add one additional system that N3 want us to be in closer to our northern border.

Final words

If you have any additional questions about this feel free to leave them here.. or ask your corp leaderships and they will forward your questions to me. I know that some might not like changes and might be afraid of this but i hope you will give it chance before burning it down.

tl;dr We don’t want the sea of shit blues but we’ll fight to death to defend it all over the map.

Why defensive SBUs are important!

In what can only be described as an attempt at trolling in EVE, Fatal Ascension somehow forgot to online SBUs in a staging system to slow down a SOV offensive from their enemies.  As a result, some TEST members were able to essentially sneak in and attempt to online an SBU, forcing FA to destroy said SBU.

The system of 6VDT-H is well known for being one of the final battles of the now infamous "Fountain War".  In which nearly every major nullsec alliance were involved in blowing each others shit up.  And during this time, FA were able to gain SOV over the system from TEST.

The resulting slapfight between elements of HERO and the CFC only destroyed about 2 Billion ISK in assets, and was very much a rout for HERO.  But as there was essentially zero point to this move beyond hilarity for possibly drunken pilots, I'd say it was more than worth it.

In all likely hood this will just pass by without any wider repercussions, but one can hope for this being the catalyst for other chicanery throughout CFC space. /sarcasm.

October 2014 Nullsec Recap [Hendrick Tallardar]

Ahead of the November 4, 2014 patch, Nullsec started to begin preemptive shakeups and shifts to prepare itself for the coming changes.  With all the news and leaks surrounding this topic, Hendrick once again makes sense of it all for us idiots.

For those curious, he uses the EVE SOV maps which are maintained by members of the EVE community to do the visuals for these videos,  The maps are updated daily, and can be found on this very site HERE.

Leaks: Against ALL Authorities Aim Their Guns At NC.

An Against ALL Authorities alliance mail has been leaked, revealing their intention to target Northern Coalition. This will be done as a “Coalition” alongside Afterlife, c0ven and Soviet-Union. The main fleet doctrine will be shield ishtars and they will be staging out of 4GQ-XQ in Stain. The alliance mail is below in both Russian and English.
Пришла пора участвовать в большой войне.

Наша цель NC. и их ситы.

Хоть нас и мало, но мы можем надрать им зад и хорошо помочь коалиции.

Будем летать во флотах с Afterlife, c0ven и Soviet-Union.
С этого момента все кто живой, активный и желает присоединиться (мы не заставляем) переезжайте в систему регруппа наших союзников 4GQ-XQ. До патча осталось 3 дня, используйте их для переезда, пока капиталы могут прыгать безнаказанно.
Для КТА и роамингов используются тимспики Ковенов и Афтерлайф.

Инструкция по регистрации будет отдельно.

Скоро заработает коалиционный джаббер.

Основной формат на текущий момент: шилд иштары.
Надеятся нам не на кого. Из болота выбираться мы можем только самостоятельно.

Те кто кемпит Брейвов – отвлекитесь немного, мы всегда можем к ним вернуться.

У нас есть шанс получить хорошие зарубы, пощупать супера врага.
—
It is a time to engage in a big war.

Our aim NCdot and their citizens.

We have small numbers, but we can kick their ass and help to coalition.

We will fly in fleets with Afterlife, c0ven and Soviet-Union.
From now on all who alive, active and willing to join (we do not force) move to regroup system of our allies – 4GQ-XQ. 3 days left to Phoebe, use them to move until the capital can jump unpunished.
For CTA and roaming we will use C0ven and The Afterlife. comms.

Instructions for registration will be shortly.

Soon the coalition jabber will work as well.

Main fleet doctrine: Shield Ishtars.
We can not hope to anyone. From the swamp, we can only be selected independently.

BRAVE campers – we can always go back to them, take a break.

We can touch hostiles for the supers etc.

Jigsaw wins RvB Tyrian Trophy

Team Jigsaw has claimed bragging rights amongst the Elmos and Smurfs after winning top spot among the sixteen teams contesting the 45b ISK, 5v5 Tyrian Trophy tournament last weekend to cap off a month of RvB's fifth birthday celebrations.
Jigsaw consisted of Master Broski, Bob Mississippi, Joe Grayne and was skippered by Nylund. They defeated Will Dance For PLEX, represented by Shecky THCFan, Gomlee, Cheech Duff and reserve pilot Velosim, skippered by Scyleth. Jigsaw took the title 2-1 after losing the first round in the best of three finals.

The tournament was largely a drone fest, with the rules being brutally min-maxed by keen RvB pilots - leading to many teams fielding a core double VNI, Vexor composition. Will Dance For PLEX had brought out neut Myrmidons and Navitas logistics frigates to good effect in earlier rounds with Jigsaw banning the Navitas in the final two matches, forcing a major rethink on team composition for their opponents.
The tournament was the brainchild of RvB director and CSM representative Mangala Solaris who funded the bulk of the mammoth prize pool out of his own wallet.
The winning team took home a sweet billion ISK apiece along with a pirate battleship of choice. Second place earned themselves 750m ISK and a their choice of navy battleship. Bronze medallists took home 500m ISK and a pirate cruiser. RvB members also chipped in with a range of donations to the cause. In game medals were also handed out.
Corniel Azizora, skipper of Condor Under No Trouble and Will Dance For PLEX’s Scyleth both responded to TMC’s questions.
TMC: How was the tournament? Any particular moments you recall as being either hilarious or tragic or tragically hilarious?

“First match, when we landed our VNI right on top of the other team’s VNI (first match of the tourny) at that point we pretty much knew we would be fucked if they would go for the logis. We didn't managed to catch them, so yeah we got raped,” Corniel Azizora said.
“Other than that we had to go through the torment of MECHcore, one of our team members, singing every national anthem from every country while we where waiting for our next match,”
“The tournament was great fun, finishing in second place I was extremely happy with my team and what we managed to accomplish,” Scyleth said.
“Playing a total of 10 matches caused havoc with our logistics and player fatigue was a concern but we were up for the challenge.
“The tragic moment for me was reading in local that my teammate Shecky THCfan managed to lose his vexor navy issue to concord.
“Then finding out that it was Shecky's last vexor navy issue.”

TMC: What kind of weird ship fits and combinations did you come up with?

“We planned 5 concepts, one of them included a dual cyclone, we wanted to run a blackbird with dua moa and a thorax. But didn't get the chance to test it out,” Corniel Azizora said.
“I don't believe we made any weird setups that were out of the ordinary,” Scyleth said.
“Looking at the points system for the first time I knew I wanted to use logi frigates so they quickly became our core ships.”

TMC: What kind of team-bonding exercises did you get up to in the lead up to the tourney?

“None, we struggled to get a solid team from the start, so we only managed to confirm the full team on last wednesday before the tourny,” Corniel said.
“None, it was rare to see 3 or more members online at the same time to really do anything,” Scyleth said.

TMC: How was turnout and attendance from your team?

“100% we were the first team in system, I had hauled all our concept the night before, we just had to fiddle a few things (doing runs back and forth to jita to take booster pills). Everyone was there on time,” Corniel said.
“All of my pilots were online and active for the entire weekend. We did have a member disconnect during a match but thankfully we were out of danger by that point and just needed to clear up the remaining support ships,” Scyleth said.

TMC: Any ideas on future tourneys?

“Entrance fee of 50 mill would prevent players from signing up and then going afk when they are assigned to a team,” Cornel said.
“Ban the Gecko.” was Scyleth’s forthright response.

Mangala Solaris had the following thoughts on the event.

“I personally think it went well,” Mangala said.
“Like actual sporting events it had its drama, no matter how daft that looks in the light of day!
“Overall though good fights, great atmosphere and some brilliant publicity for RvB. I have to admit I do enjoy showing off that players can create things like this and in ways rival CCP by doing so.
“Any fight Scyleth captained seemed to end really close and really enjoyable.
“I tired of the VNI meta, so any team that brought something other than that grabbed my attention, Way Too Tight and again Will Dance for Plex with their Myrm setups had me screaming like a soccer mom.
“Huge shoutouts to the commentators, Sard Caid, Thecla Elarik, Ceofore Aideron and Julianus Soter.
“Show hosts were myself and Xan Drakov. Clean up crew was mostly my MTU, Thecla and the referee Ophelia Yotosala.
“Extra mention to our awesome camera crews, Tyrendian Biohazard, Boci, BlackwingDMG, Dale Gaterau and noXza.
“I like to think that by running such tournaments and doing so publicly via stream, I am helping to foster an environment that will encourage other player entities to do the same.
“This weekend we successfully demonstrated how a player event can be run without any interference from anyone, and if a big name like RvB can manage that, then Joe WannabePvPer can do the same with his corp/alliance.
“The more player run tournaments and events we see in New Eden, the better for all.”

Mangala Solaris has also announced he will not be standing for re-election to the CSM after this term, his second, finishes. He has not ruled out a return in the future. In a post on the RvB forums, Mangala said, in part:

“Its time I did more to reinvigorate my EVE experience, and that of others both inside and outside of RvB. So many projects I want to get off the ground. Things I cannot do while CSMing and working heavily in RL. Somethings gotta give, in this case my career in Space Politics has to make way for actually playing with spaceships.”

The complete set of tournament videos and commentary are available on YouTube.

PL and CoW brawl in LowSec

In the system of Uanzin, several Cult of War Supercaps were lost to a massively overwhelming PL op.

Although small in terms of actual value lost.  This just goes to show that PL are committed to finding content wherever it lies.

A mixed force of PL capitals and subcapitals were able to entrap the CoW ships in a brilliant mix of luck and timing.  CoW was apparently moving supercaps out of it's home in Insmother through the Derelik region.  Ostensibl;y with the purpose of redploying assets to support N3's gains in Delve and Querious.

PL scouts had spotted the  small force moving through and set an ambush in the system of Uanzin.  And as the supercaps were moving through they sprang the trap.  All of the CoW ships were lost in quick succession.

Leaks: Gentlemen’s.Club Alliance Update

Ok boys and girls I have a lot of ground to cover, so get your reading glasses ready. I DO NOT suggest skimming this post. READ IT! READ IT TWICE! For those of your corp/alliance mates that are illiterate, READ IT TO THEM! Tell them you have a bedtime story, then read them a fucking SWOT, but with the changes coming we cannot have members roaming around aimlessly going “derr… I didn’t know that”.

Overview:

I hope it is obvious, but if not… This deployment is going very, very well for us. We have had some really fun fights, including good capital combat experience for our members along with some very nice capital kills. Honestly I am a little surprised at how well the fights in the North have been going.
In this campaign, our group (GCLUB/Nulli/BL) has been the Vanguard force. Our position is grill to grill with the primary CFC forces, and they have made no secret of the fact that they can freely waive their Epeens with Titans, Supers, and massive blobs. We came here expecting to fight difficult (even overwhelming) odds, and we expected to take heavy losses. That is our role in this campaign, and arguably ours is the most fun (especially when SRP’d :)). However, on a more “objective oriented” note, there is also much more going on strategically, than can be seen from the rank and file on the front lines.
I am sure it is apparent by now that the N3 coalition intentionally divided into multiple groups, and we are attacking the CFC on multiple fronts. Our presence (and our constant offensive) in the north has been forcing the CFC to choose what they defend and where; ultimately betraying the level of value placed on each of their allies. As the CFC is forced to choose, and protect only those things (and allies) that they REALLY care about, a very powerful point is made to those who are not so lucky.
For the CFC this is like a really nice ass whoopin. When you are getting hit and kicked from all directions you have to make choices. You have only two hands. You can use them to cover your face, you can cover your ass, or you can cover your balls. However, you can’t cover everything from a standing position. You have to lay on the ground, curl up into a ball, and take your beating on the floor, fetal position, hands cupped around your nut sack!
So… up here in the north… well we are here to kick balls! It isn’t all that surprising that we are getting the bulk of their attention. The only thing that surprises me so far is how many shots we have delivered to those tiny tender testicles!
Even outnumbered and outgunned, we are pulling even draws and sometimes decisive wins. Though not necessary to complete our objective, this is icing on the cake. Our fights have gone far better than I expected, and all of this is made possible with 3 basic ingredients: Good numbers, good choices, and excellent FC’ing. Those are the ingredients for what I like to call “pussy tear soup”. So let’s keep cooking it up, and serving it to the CFC!
Specifically for GCLUB, I am very proud of what we have accomplished in such a short period of time. We are getting bigger, stronger, and gaining in experience and pilot skill. Our development has been phenomenal, and believe me… it has been noticed! So great job all, keep up the good work, and keep pushing numbers, training queues, and proper priorities. At our current rate of growth and development, imagine where we will be in another year…

Mandatory Doctrines:

Doctrines are never easy to coordinate at the coalition level. Each alliance has their own member base, average skill level, preferences, prejudices, and history (i.e. inertia). Doctrine synching is a very delicate subject, and does require compromise. This is a reality that I am sure you are all used to by now, and sometimes it is one of the most frustrating things I have to deal with. There have been a lot of things mentioned, or half announced in TS by various FC’s and individuals. I have recently made clear that all GCLUB doctrine changes will come from myself and Rhaeghar. Period!
We have managed to sit down and hammer out a more cohesive and coordinated approach to doctrines. We have already adopted a lot of changes since the start of this deployment, and for now… THAT IS ENOUGH. So to re-iterate, after CBwT, our current doctrines are:
Bombers

Ishtars (now shield)

Cerberus/Scimi (with both RML & HML fit options), and a temp preference for Basilisk Logi

Zealot/Guardian

Loki/Scimitar
Those are still the official GCLUB doctrines, and those are the ONLY ships that are mandatory for our members. Recent changes include some fit tweaking, and a temporary preference for Basilisk with Cerbs (which is a direct counter to CFC Tengus). That is enough for now, and we are going to give you guys some time (at least several weeks) to solidify those before we consider anything else.

Nulli Doctrines:

It is no surprise that we will continue to work very closely with Nulli and will try to stay largely synch’d in terms of doctrines. Nulli is considering a number of doctrine changes that are likely to be announced in the coming days. Largely their doctrine changes will be much more in line with ours, but they will likely have another ship or two on their doctrine list that will NOT officially be on our mandatory list. GCLUB currently has a large span of pilot skill:
We have some pilots who are frantically trying to get settled into our doctrines. Believe me I get that. If you think I don’t, I can sit down some time and tell you horror stories of being in Nulli with <5m skill points (and less than half combat). I feel your pain, and I work very hard to make our environment a thousand times more forgiving than that which I experienced. At the same time I gotta push us toward excellence, and ultimately we have to have good fleets. So to our lower skills pilots, I can’t promise it will be easy, but I can promise that it will be realistic, and as long as you do your part, you will have the time and patience to get where you need to be.
We also have pilots who have very high SP, who can easily shift to new doctrines (with little or no training). So for the other doctrines Nulli may roll out, I will tell you for now that you will likely be encouraged to Train, buy, and field them once you have our primary doctrines covered. You will be encouraged to field them in coalition fleets, and they will be SRP’d (provided they fit within our SRP parameters in terms of risk/reward). This will fall into the “strongly encouraged, but not mandatory” category. It is my hope that we have a good number of pilots who do this, and we will be working out alternative solutions for those who can’t (i.e. what GCLUB will field if the coalition is fielding X doctrine). This process will never be perfect or easy, but we are working hard to improve it.

Are We Going to Remain Deployed Through the Patch?

I can’t say for sure, however for sub caps I will say it is extremely likely, and it is possible that our deployment position will be shifted before the patch. The truth is that we have made huge progress, and the advantages of our current strategies are going to be amplified by the November 4th changes. I don’t expect that we will wipe the CFC off the map, but we have an excellent opportunity to cut them down to size, and bring the pain.
We have to remember something: These mother fuckers attacked us last year. They tried to wipe us out, and despite their best “heart stabbing” efforts, we quickly re-claimed everything that was lost (and more), and here we are six month later, right back in their faces, and on the attack. So on some level:
“Revenge is a dish that is best served cold? It is very cold… in space.”

~Khan (Stardate 8130.3)

What About Caps before November 4th?

The big question on everyone’s mind. Unfortunately it is also one that I am not going to answer at this time, but will have an announcement on very soon. What I can tell you is this: There is a plan; it is a good plan; and we will (as always) leverage our assets toward the maximum benefit of our alliance and coalition.
Just in case you are concerned: Make no mistake! I am quite well aware of the coming changes; I am quite well aware of the implications of those changes; and I am quite well aware of the date. So relax!
One thing to keep in mind (whether it be now, or in the future), we will have times that part or all of our cap force will be forward deployed. Even post patch, our caps will travel, our caps will fight in distant locations, and our caps will die in glorious, Titan melting fires! We have been building up to this for some time, and we are at the cusp of an entirely new level of combat in Eve. So trust your leadership, enjoy the process, and pay close attention to announcements!

Immediate Changes To Our Deployment:

Ok, so I am going to go ahead and announce the following, and ask you to sort it out over the next week or so.
We are moving our Zealots home, and we are moving our Lokis & Chimeras to Tartoken. Here is a list of what you should have and where:
In Tartoken:

·    Bomber (at least 2)

·    Ishtar (shield fit)

·    Cerberus/Basilisk

·    Loki/AB Scimitar (Ready to re-fit MWD for Cerb Fleet if no Basi)

·    Dreads

·    Carriers (Archon and Chimera)

·    Roam & Fun Shit (Talwars, Recons, BLOPs, etc..)
In CKX:

·    Bomber (at least 2)

·    Cerberus/Scimitar

·    Zealot/Guardian

·    Supers and Titans

·    HD Shit (Ferox, Brutix, etc..)
Note: You will notice that we want our Cerberus fleet in both locations. This is NOT a typo. This is the first step toward a new paradigm, so get used to this idea. Some doctrines will be duplicated and staged in multiple locations. At present you should have the Cerb doctrine BOTH in deployment AND in home space.
Also very much worth noting, I really want people to get used to the “Isk Deployment” concept (details posted HERE). So if you have a Zealot at home already, and bought one for deployment, you can liquidate it (or keep in the area). However, be sure you have a Zealot/Guardian and a Cerb/Scimi at home. We need to be combat ready from home at all times!

Asset Review:

If your like me, you have a fuck ton of extra ships laying around. I have Geddons, Maelstroms, Scorpions, and shit in various locations throughout the universe. In CKX I have 3 extra Domis, a couple Mega’s, several Brutix, a few extra Scorpions, and a fuck ton of misc. small shit I don’t sue. I strongly encourage members to re-evaluate what they have where, and what they still need and don’t. There are three reasons for this:
#1 – If you do have a bunch of extra, useless ships laying around in CKX (or anywhere else for that matter), that you just haven’t gotten around to moving out and liquidating… remember it is going to be FAR more difficult to do this in 2 weeks. So you might as well take advantage of the long carrier jump ranges, and get that shit moved now if you don’t need it in CKX.
#2 – One of the realities of coming changes is that we will need members to maintain multiple “weapons caches” in various places. We will try to keep this as reasonable as possible, but it does mean that you will possibly need to own 2 or 3 of some doctrines, and if you are short on isk for this, converting that old Mega or Domi or whatever (useless to us atm) into an extra cerb or zealot (or two) would be a far more useful form. Remember all ships are just isk in another form.
#3 – I am very confident in our sov position in Immensea post patch. That said, we are entering a time of change in the Eve Universe. I have ALWAYS encouraged people to be intelligent about unnecessary and excessive isk accumulations in conquerable stations. In the coming months anything can happen. Honestly, I see way more opportunities than threats for us, but we are moving into a more dynamic universe, and being intelligent about asset positioning is always a good move.

Summary:

I am probably going to be releasing a LOT more information on a number of subjects in the coming week or two. I strongly encourage taking the time to read it.
In the meantime, please keep doing what you are doing. Keep pushing numbers to fleets, and get your ships positioned in the appropriate locations ASAP!

Black Legion and CFC clash in HBD-CC

Over the past week, NPC Venal residents Out of Sight. (OOS) have been attacking various CFC-held towers in the region. Yesterday CFC alliance Circle-of-Two (CO2) caught them sieging a tower in 6W-HRH and dropped by to introduce themselves. Today a similar incident erupted into a brawl in HBD-CC between Black Legion. (BL) and CFC forces which incurred an estimated 26 billion ISK in losses among the involved parties.

Prior to the battle OOS dreads were spotted jumping out of their staging system by CO2 scouts and soon after attacking a RAZOR Alliance tower in HBD-CC. CO2 and CFC military leadership were made aware of the situation, and separate broadcasts went out to CO2 and to the greater CFC to form fleets at 17:53 EVE Time. While the CFC formed up a large Harpy fleet in its military capital YA0-XJ under Reagalan, CO2 assembled a dedicated tackling fleet of approximately 20-30 pilots, of whom only one got through the first bridge before the insertion cyno ship was destroyed.
While another CO2 cyno ship was en route to HBD-CC, the CFC Harpy fleet got set up on a titan in YA0-XJ and began moving its own cyno to D-SKWC - one jump out of HBD-CC, which itself was outside of titan range from YA0-XJ. Known to the CFC, but deemed irrelevant to the situation at hand, BL was in the middle of a planned State of the Alliance meeting with approximately 250 pilots logged into their staging system of Tartoken.

Cyno ships for both CO2 and the CFC eventually reached their target systems and at 18:02 EVE Time tackle was confirmed; CO2 interdictor pilot Zuquar Bonaparte had single handedly held down the OOS dreadnoughts for the better part of five minutes while evading hostile fire. The rest of the CO2 tackle fleet bridged in and promptly littered the field with interdiction spheres, guaranteeing the dreadnoughts would not escape. The CFC Harpy fleet, by now numbering approximately 180 pilots, arrived at 18:10 and began focus fire on the dreadnoughts one at a time. Reagalan directed fire first onto the two Moroses, which each took several minutes of sustained fire to kill. During that time CO2 members Sebastian Saintfruqsuin and gigX prepared their titan characters to execute drive-by doomsdays.
Sebastian jumped his Ragnarok in first at 18:22 and instantly destroyed a Naglfar before warping off to a safe spot. gigX followed two minutes later, also obliterating a Naglfar, but there were now combat probes on directional scan and BL cyno characters had entered local. In the time it had taken the CFC forces to kill the OOS dreadnoughts, BL had formed up a Tengu fleet led by Elo Knight and arrived to pounce on gigX's exposed Avatar.
The CFC Harpy fleet immediately engaged the BL Tengu fleet, focusing fire on their Scimitars, while the Tengu fleet promptly headshot Reagalan's FC character. Lyris Nairn took over the CFC Harpy fleet, contiuning to focus on BL support ships while sirens started blaring on CFC jabber and mumble services reporting the tackled titan. BL was reported to be forming a capital fleet and supercapital forces from Northern Coalition(dot) and Pandemic Legion were reported logging in. BL lit a cyno on grid and a single triage carrier made it on grid before the cyno ship was destroyed; meanwhile, heavy TiDi was reported in YA0 due to the number of pilots logging in. The CFC was marshaling its own capital and supercapital forces as well as forming up additional subcapital fleets: a Baltec fleet under Dabigredboat and a Celestis fleet under Reagalan, who had been podded during the fight.

BL and CFC subcapital forces continued to brawl near the tackled titan over the next several minutes while pilots all across EVE were being urged to pile into fleets in preparation for what might have easily escalated into a huge supercapital slugfest. Whether due to temperance or lack of confidence, that fight never came. Instead, the CFC capital fleet led by kcolor arrived on grid to engage the BL tengus and the tackled titan's doomsday timer came off cooldown whereupon the BL triage Chimera was promptly destroyed. Having lost most of its logistics and its second FC during the brawl, as well as suffering from an AFK fleet member having errantly received fleet boss, the CFC Harpy fleet disengaged and fled the field to regroup while the CFC capital fleet cleaned up. In the time it took for the CFC Harpy fleet to warp off, reassemble in a safe spot, and arrive back on grid - with Lyris Nairn now in a fleet member's borrowed Harpy - the BL tengus had also fled the field and were reported to be going home. The CFC Harpy fleet remained on grid to cover the extraction of the titan, then of the capital fleet, before also heading home via the CFC jump bridge network.

HERO and PROVI Call For a Truce

As the changes of Phoebe loom on the horizon and the major Null entities get ready for the inevitable clusterfuck, HERO and PROVI have attempted to end the border dispute that has since become a proxy war involving PL, N3, RUS, and others.

An allegedly leaked image above details the agreement between the two groups.

Some may have enjoyed the progression of the dispute took over the recent months, but it made perfect sense that this would happen at some point.  Catch will be a very hot target in the coming months after Phoebe as more groups look to join the "fun" in Null.  And holding what they have should be the primary concern.

I'd bet my bottom dollar that we will see both groups pour resources into capitals and supercaps for the coming weeks.  And with PL returning to it's roots as a "burn it all" merc group, we may see a very big dustup between them and HERO soon.

Another interesting point is how both groups will seek to define the common enemy portion of the agreement.  And whether or not it leads to seriously bad outcomes for either.