The Boredom Doctrine

At the start of 2010 I was in Paxton Federation alliance, part of the original Providence Bloc headed up by the Curatores Veritatis Alliance (CVA). 

At that time there was a powerful alliance to the south of us called Against ALL Authorities (aka AAA or Triple-A) which we constantly fought against in non-sovereignty warfare. It was a nice situation as both sides provided some PvP content for the other. I fondly remember many visits to HED-GP just a few jumps out from Paxton's capital in D-GTMI.

However, some military geniuses in Provi-bloc's high command thought it was a good idea to start an aggressive war for territory in Catch region where Triple-A resided. Now, at this time Triple-A was in continual sov warfare with neighbours on the other side of them, an entity living in Delve and Querious by the name of Goonswarm, and in a few battles in the opening of the war it appeared that Provi-bloc fleets colluded with Goon fleets although CVA denied that accusation, saying that it merely appeared that way from how the battles evolved and various parties third-partied into the fighting.

Whatever the truth of the matter was, the fact was that Triple-A perceived themselves to be in a two front war with a common enemy and took to the offensive against Provi-bloc in order to eliminate the weaker of the two threats. Any gains made by Provi-bloc were quickly wiped out and Triple-A followed up with in attack on the closest border system which happened to be D-GTMI.

The Battle of D-GTMI

On January 28th CVA and the holder alliances gathered their capital might of over a hundred carriers and dreadnoughts (at the time a considerable force for a coalition) and Against ALL Authorities brought theirs of a similar fleet size for the timer for the system and the resulting battle saw the Provi-bloc capital fleet wiped out without any significant losses on the Triple-A size. It was a true military debacle. 

With the doors to Providence busted wide open and CVA and friends obviously outmatched by Triple-A, the victors of the pivotal battle made an offer to Provi-bloc's leadership: bend a knee and apologize and swear to never invade their sov again, and Triple-A would give back D-GTMI and relations could return to as they were before.

Providence is a region with perhaps the most player made outposts in the game, even to this say. Certainly in 2010 it had the most. And every system was upgraded with Territorial Claim Units (TCUs) and Infrastructure Hubs (IHUBs). So there was a belief that no one in their right mind would want to invade Providence with its lack-lustre resources to claim with having to grind through the massive number of hitpoints facing them in every system.

Whether it was this common knowledge of the tediousness of taking the region or proclaimed roleplay reasons, CVA leadership refused Triple-A's offer, telling their line members and allies that Triple-A would get bored of grinding structure after structure long before they took the entire region. In other words, since they could not match Triple-A's fleets in space they would employ the Boredom Doctrine.

"God forgives, AAA does not."

What the CVA leaders did not take into account was that the Boredom Doctrine only works in a stalemate scenario where the attacking force is making little or no measurable progress. But underestimating a group of EVE players determination to punish someone else is a bad idea, which CVA and the Holders found out personally that winter. Every single TCU, IHUB, and Stations' hitpoints were ground out and CVA and their allies were tossed out of Providence wholesale to wander in the wilderness of low sec for a long time.

Just some history to keep in mind.