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| Image from Crossing Zebras |
Null sec wars in the Dominion and now Aegis eras both have a similar feature where if you start to lose battles consistently without any wins, pilots start to abandon ship so to speak, making it harder to win the next battle. Meanwhile on the other side, winning tends to attract more pilots making it easier to win fighters. This double negative-positive feedback loop tends to make the contest of sov warfare end very quickly, and this war is no exception. The Imperium lost, Money Badgers won. And no Boredom Doctrine is going to save them.
While this is bad news for the Imperium coalition and their blinded-by-their-own-success leadership, this is great news for the member alliances who have been starving for real content and challenges for years now. After all, solid stable sovereignty is a millstone around long term viability and enjoy-ability for any alliance. We've seen it happen again and again: long term alliance living safely in one place loses the best FCs and PvP pilots who go looking for adventure and fill the holes with ratters and F1 button pressers (which to be fair, every alliance needs to a point) and when a real challenge comes along, they collapse under the strain of trying to replicate the success that brought them together in the first place. This normal pattern is further compounded by arrogant Imperium leadership who lived in an echo chamber of backslapping and yes-man-ship.
But Goonswarm, you are about to be freed from this prison of your own making! Let the Imperium burn, let the fat cat ratters and other fair-weathered find new lodgings. Let your hatred of the Money Badgers keep you warm in a new less appointed hearth in low sec as you plot your revenge. Sharpen teeth in fleets roaming free from timers and CTAs, develop new FCs and new doctrines, build new spy networks and relationships.
And when you are ready, when you are truly free from the shackles of past Imperuim arrogance, let war wage again.
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Home before Christmas heh? I am surprised "The Imperium lost, Money Badgers won" already?
ReplyDeleteMaybe you will be right as per the sov war, but not even that is certain yet...
Also mere taking of Goon sov will feel empty if Goons are still around as a force- thus I am not sure the victory conditions are really losing sov only.
http://absenceofsubstance.blogspot.com/2016/04/he-said-she-said-and-other-agressive.html
You touch on a number of valid points, though. Losing people and alliances also means losing power, so could be.
Burning down Deklein is pretty much the only practical victory condition for the MBC. Most of the other conditions are out-of-game and can't be forced. But a severely diminished Imperium dwelling as lowsec scrubs is pretty a clear enough metric.
DeleteI can go with that - emphasis on "severely diminished Imperium" though.
DeleteWith sovlessness now in vogue (a la PL, NC) I am not convinced merely dwelling in low sec is enough.
Well I don't buy this equivalence between Imperium and PL at all because PL doesn't rat whereas it is pretty much a defining characteristic of the Imperium. Being relegated to lowsec does not fit their playstyle at all.
DeleteFair point. Low sec does not fit Emporium play style at all.
DeleteAs an aside, how does PL (and horde) finance their members/ships if they don't rat?
I think a lot of their membership is very rich. Killah Bee stated in an interview that they all buy whatever doctrine is needed. Plus they take very expensive mercenary contracts.
DeleteI'm a little surprised that the ten thousand angry bees with no particular place to go, or particular thing to do hasn't been mentioned more. It's a somewhat terrifying prospect imho. Burn Jita? Let's hellcamp it for months. New citadels? Kill 'em all. Take over Thera? Done. Unshackled from sov, they can rampage pretty much anywhere they like. War dec the everything in hi sec. Marmite it x10. Tithe nearby sov holders so they won't be attacked for income.
ReplyDeleteScary stuff indeed. Or opportunities, depending on your point of view...