Hello, I am Seraph IX Basarab and I’m a contributor here at EN24 writing articles concerning Eve politics, strategies and some personal insight on a number of topics I might find interesting. I’m not a reporter, I’m not here to give the news. I like to critique and write about my opinion and I don’t make any unrealistic claim at objectivity. Feel free to disagree.
This piece will discuss some of the aspects of the growing “War of Western Dominion” (pun intended) regarding grand strategies among a few other things.
In one of my previous works from January 9th (http://evenews24.com/2015/01/09/seraph-ix-basarab-an-invasion-of-fountain/) I detailed a possible invasion plan for Fountain from the perspective of N3. The main points were that:
1. Fountain needs to be attacked through two invasion corridors, one from Delve and the other from Hophib in Aridia.
2. Pandemic Legion should stop wasting their talent in meaningless fights in Catch, and be part of the Aridia front.
3. N3 needs to come to terms that the west is more important to them than their eastern holdings, and should come up with some agreement with the patchwork of Russians/other alliances to ensure they do not have a second front.
4. N3 should involve BNI in this war against the CFC because flying with NCdot ensures protection (hopefully) from PL while also giving the content starved “Catch is boring, do what now?” crowd in Brave.
5. In order to secure Fountain, pressure needs to be put on the CFC from the north (BL) in order to use the new fatigue mechanics and great distances to tire out CFC members with yet another front to contend with.
So what has N3 done right? Well they have deployed part of their coalition to Hophib, Aridia in order to split up the CFC’s forces and they did bring A Legion with them, although not the one that needed to be brought. They’ve also recently involved BNI into the conflict, but some would say perhaps too late. I would find it unlikely that if BNI were to invest itself in N3’s war with the CFC, that PL would continue attacking them. Doing so would be against PL’s main ally, NCdot.
Unfortunately N3 have not dealt with their eastern border and instead have to divert coalition members to hold up that front. It’s not enough to beat the “Russians” you need to ensure that you have a stable border in order to deploy full coalition numbers to Delve and Fountain. N3 brought Black Legion to the Aridia front and while on a local level this may be a good thing, in the grand scheme of things you’re kind of missing the key aspect of this strategy: the northern front.
For a max skilled super cap pilot, jumping from one of the CFC’s Fountain frontline systems to the other is 3 cynos ( http://evemaps.dotlan.net/jump/Nyx,555/LBGI-2:D4KU-5 )
That same pilot would have to jump much further if he wanted to fight on the Fountain/Delve front and still be active in Venal, the region BL bases out of when attacking the CFC’s northern front. ( http://evemaps.dotlan.net/jump/Nyx,555/LBGI-2:H-PA29 ) Quite a few more jumps.
Perhaps there’s some sort of trick on N3/BL’s side now that the CFC has sworn to invade Delve and have moved major assets to Fountain. If BL were to have a cache of cap assets in Venal all prepped to start doing damage up north, we may yet see this three pronged provide results. This sort of creativity would be a pleasant surprise not because of any partisanship, but because few people would expect such creativity of strategy on N3’s side.
I would recommend that N3 takes a number of actions:
1. Continue to support Brave’s deployment in Aridia.
2. Ensure a stable eastern border so that the full strength of N3 can be in Delve/Fountain.
3. Have Black Legion deploy to Venal.
4. Have Pandemic Legion move to Hophib to work with NCdot.
These four steps would allow N3 to put the maximum amount of stress on the CFC’s forces while avoiding internal friction (BL/PL hating each other).
Overall the CFC seems fairly confident that they will steam roll through Delve and yet at the same time they still continue to repeat the “didn’t want it X anyway.” In essence this allows the CFC to both smugpoast and if their strategic goals are not reached, still allows them to say “see we didn’t want it anyway and we’ve been saying it from the start!” Most large pvp entities follow a similar pattern. An invasion campaign turns into “oh we just wanted gudfites, structure shooting is boring lol!” But the CFC, true to their nature are the best at internal propaganda.
However there is a level of hubris on that front that has cost them a valuable ally. The CFC had been trying to lure BNI into invading Geminate before they took sov in Catch in order to co-opt them into their coalition for a longer time. More recently, Mittens talked on his show about how he had offered BNI sov in Delve and was frustrated that they did not take the offer remarking “it’s literally the best space in 0.0.” Instead they’ve offered sanctuary for any BNI dissident through Karmafleet, a strategy that has not gone un-noticed among BNI loyalists. This sort of meta game is playful at best, and at worst, amateurish and likely to blow up in their face.
I would recommend that the CFC take these following actions:
1. Provide political/resource support for entities such as Red Alliance to push into N3’s eastern border, as well as Stain residents.
2. Continue ‘behind enemy lines’ operations (The Reavers) and Pizza.
3. Use media (ex: TMC) for propaganda highlighting progress.
4. Exploit competing interests/animosities within N3 (GENTS being left to defend the eastern border.)
I also wanted to address another particular “strategy” of the CFCs. There has been a bit of drama going on concerning the CFC’s decision not to fight in certain situations. “It’s either blue balls or a complete victory. No middle ground.” This is in reference to an incident when a line member in the CFC spoke up concerning the FC’s decision not to take a fight even though the CFC had a suitable fleet. The FC shot back that there was no timer along with some other crude remarks.
Now at its basis, this is not a bad strategy. Eve’s not a game about “fair fights.” It’s a sandbox where you’re suppose to use all your resources to accomplish your objectives. I also hate roaming just for roaming’s sake. I prefer to play this game based on objectives rather than just “kill time.” I would rather play Eve for 1 hour and get 10 kills with an objective rather than play for 5 hours and get 20 random kills. I have better things to do.
However, while denying fights to the enemy may harm them and their fleet numbers, it can have the same effect on your members as well. Denying fights is a tactic you need to balance depending on your own side’s morale and as a last resort. A better idea is to provide secondary objectives for your side to accomplish if they are looking to do something in game. This way you keep them interested in logging on and you actually get to do something.
Avoiding fights and simply out blobbing the enemy can be a viable strategy for the time being. However, as sov mechanics are changing in the way that promotes smaller divided fleets, you’re going to see a much larger number of skirmish FCs needed. You will not be able to rely on blobbing your enemy at the one critical fight because the new sov changes require you to have coverage over several systems. No you cannot be obsessive about killboard efficiency and ~elitepvp~ yet at the same time you need to put some emphasis on personal talent. The future won’t belong to the side that can get the most people into one system, but the side that has several competent commanders that can work together simultaneously.
Will the CFC fall if they lose Fountain? No more than if N3 were to lose Delve. The winning side will see it as unquestionable proof of their superiority while the losing side will play it off as irrelevant as the new sov system comes into play. Either way we can enjoy the next few months of Dominion Sov in bitter sweet fashion while the strategist brainstorm new ways to win the future wars.
– Seraph IX Basarab
