There has been much talk from many people myself included about the solutions to 0.0 and and how to bring competitive balance in EVE Online. Many very credible people ( much smarter than me ), and all with their own take on how to do it, but at the same time suggesting ideas that work to their own advantage. Is the wrecking ball and the “apex super fleet” unfair, absolutely. However, it is an effective counter to the absolute ridiculous amount of bodies that that another group may be able to field, which by the way also absolutely is unfair. Welcome to warfare people its not fair, its not nice, and ITS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE. A war requires establishing tangible objectives, deciding on acceptable losses, and having the will to win. Oh, it also requires that someone win!!!
The battle of B-R5RB, which followed the previous battle of HED-GP was an absolute surprise and caught all sides off guard. That they were able to muster such a coordinated attack and defense of the system speaks greatly to the combatants organizational, logistical, and competitive efficiency, and rightly so. However, there was something that followed the battle that left many including me scratching my head in confusion. B-R5RB didn’t become what it should have and that is a breakout. CFC had just scored a huge victory, N3 was on its heels, they had to retreat and save what supercaps they had ( guess the wrecking ball isn’t unbeatable ), they had to prevent a total rout. This gave CFC something that they had not really had up to that point, clear tactical advantage, the personnel to push forward, and an enemy that was in no position to oppose them with the necessary will and resources to push them back. In my opinion what should have happened was that CFC should have gone on the offensive. As depleted and demoralized as N3 was there was more than likely not much chance of them turning the tide without giving up a significantly large amount of territory. PL probably was even worse off as demonstrated by the Botlord accord, which i get the feeling they started drafting as soon as it became apparent that they were going to lose B-R5RB. Which included their subsequent abandonment of N3.
Then why didn’t that end up being what happened, CFC after that took a few systems that they promptly lost without even a scrape, they just went home. It didn’t make sense, well it didn’t make sense then it makes sense to me now. After spending some time in an alliance taking sov I have learned one big lesson. Sov grinding sucks, it gets boring, it’s time consuming, and it takes freaking forever with the timers, and more timers, and more timers, and still more timers ( I need a drink just thinking about it ). After doing this for several weeks to take just one region I get it. I don’t even want to suppose what it would have been like for them had there been an actual offensive resulting in regions (plural) changing hands. I think CFC looked at the map saw visions of structure grinds and said “OH HELL NO”, turned around and went home. Which I am sure N3 and PL are glad for since it helped them keep them keep their territory.
Which makes me wonder with these kinds of sov mechanics in place why would any organization go on an offensive following a battle like B-R5RB, you can’t maintain momentum because the game mechanics simply don’t allow it. I will tell you that I am still a relatively new player and sov mechanics are something i am still learning. However, just from the grinding experience I can say that there needs to be a change. There has to be a way that allows sov taking to be more fluid and less time consuming. That these timers are so essential to taking, holding, flipping, and simply contesting a system needs to be addressed in a serious way, and soon. I don’t know a lot but one thing I do know is that CCP needs to address this in a serious manner. A map that is like the map we have now very static, not moving, not changing, not ebbing, not flowing, is a bad thing and is a direct result of these mechanics that don’t allow for war to be the fluid and ever changing contest that it is, and should be both in real life and in EVE Online. To use real human history as a an example during World War 2 the Germans employed the blitzkrieg warfare to overwhelm and push forward their conquest of Europe, and they were able to take the continent pretty quickly and effectively. The same thing happened after the D-Day landing, the allies were able to land and quickly get a breakout into the open that allowed them to take back the continent. Now lets attach EVE’s sov mechanics to this bit of history. Lets imagine that you are George Patton, and after smashing your way onto to European continent, with your enemies in full retreat and victory in site it dawns on you. I can attack the enemy but i have to anchor an SBU which will take hours to even anchor, deal with these infrastructure upgrades, which have multiple timers i have to wait on. Oh, and there is a town here that i have to wait through more timers to take, before I can go to the next province and do this all again.
So General, do you press on through all of that to defeat the enemy. Or do you just shake your head, mumble something about what is wrong with the Germans that they would go to all the work to take the territory that isn’t that nice.
