Hello fellow pilots o/
For those of you not really interested in FW and not wanting to read a wall of text here is the TL:DR version – The Minmatar are doing quite well, despite falling out with their ex-members and fighting each other 🙂
Cinnamon Rage with a little update on recent events in Amarr/Minmatar faction warfare for April. The Minmatar have made bold gains across the warzone in the past month with no fewer than 14 systems being captured for the Tribal Liberation Force [TLF] compared to the Amarr Militia’s capture of 1 system in return. This puts the Minmatar Militia only two systems away from gaining territorial equality with the Amarr Militia and having recaptured much of their traditional territories in the Metropolis region. This has also enabled the Minmatar Militia to hit Tier 3 for the first time in 6 months, which no doubt will be used to bolster the war chests of the forces loyal to the Republic.
The Republic has not had an easy time out of April however in their efforts to expand their territory, the middle of the month saw heavy Amarr Militia activity in the highly contested Amarr held system of Gulmorogod which had been sitting steadily at around 70% contention for a long time. Suddenly the percentage dropped by approximately 20 points in the space of a day, with TLF scouts reporting heavy activity in the system from a spectrum of some of the Amarr Militia’s finest corporations. This included rumored sightings of Capital ships jumping into stations (Presumably dropping off fitted ships) and fleets of Amarr ships being manually flown into stations and dropped off. What followed was an effort by elements of the TLF to attack the system presumably in order to prevent it being used as a forward operations base to assault nearby Minmatar systems. There was one small problem that the TLF had to contend with that is arguably worse than any of the groups that call the Amarr Militia home, and that problem was The Periphery [RIFT].
[RIFT] are one of the major pirate alliances that base within the Warzone and also happen to call Gulmorogod ‘home’. No matter which FW group holds the system’s I-HUB, [RIFT] holds the true power there. With both Amarr and Minmatar Militias trying to contest the system over the course of days, the opportunities for content must have become obvious to the pirates. Finally the Minmatar did manage to make the system vulnerable however the I-HUB bash was thwarted by the efforts of [RIFT]’s pilots; battle report can be found here. Several other attempts to push the system into a vulnerable state failed as [RIFT] assaulted both Minmatar and Amarr fleets, causing hundreds of millions of ISK damages in ship losses to both sides as the plexing war raged.
In what will become a theme for this update the Minmatar Militias past has proven to be a point of controversy, this is due to the past affiliation of many of [RIFT]’s members being ex-Minmatar Militia themselves; no doubt causing some resentment from current TLF pilots as to the involvement of some of their old comrades in what would appear to be from one point of view their defense of an Amarr Militia system. This struggle seems to be endemic throughout the Warzone as the Minmatar appear bereft of 3rd party allies to call upon, the thread I have just linked to accuses the Amarr Militia (if taken as a whole) of having alliances with almost every pirate group in the warzone, with a different pirate group trying to foil the I-HUB attacks dependent on region instead of the Amarr Militia showing up to contest the attack. Whilst this is likely an exaggeration, the sustainability of the Minmatar advance may be questionable if all of the potential ‘batphones’ already have an Amarr Militia partner.
In terms of enlisted pilots the tide has also turned with Amarr Militia at the time of writing having only 29 more enlisted pilots than their Minmatar counterparts compared to over 500 more just over a month ago. This is perhaps an obvious sign of the ‘pendulum effect’ in Faction Warfare. I wont go into a long explanation however EVE economics appreciate or depreciate the value of each Factions Loyalty Points over time which encourages people who engage in FW for solely economic reasons or ‘farmers’, to switch sides once the dominant faction’s LP depreciate too far in value. Whilst on the subject of new recruits I did say that the Minmatar past would form a certain theme for this update! Good news for the Militia sees the return of Smile ‘n’ Wave [WAVE] to the Militia. These are some of the veterans who left TLF as the warzone collapsed in the face of overwhelming Amarr force. Their return could prove to be an ominous omen for the Amarr, as they had a reputation for being skilled and dangerous opponents when they were last in FW. Since February that makes two entities that were ex-Minmatar return to the fold (the other being Global ISK Network [I-NET] last month). Could this be the start of a trend?
Whilst some reunions no doubt bring pleasure to the Minmatar Militia, others carry a lot more baggage. Another ex-Minmatar Militia alliance has made its return to the Warzone flying the Republics flag; WINMATAR. [WMTR]. For those of you who are unfamiliar with life in a FW Militia, you have to put up with the fact that anyone can choose to join at any time and fly the flag of the entity that you profess to represent. It’s like belonging to N3 Coalition for example, and having someone like ‘N3 Sukz OK?!?’ suddenly join – and you cannot get rid of them. There is no player that can force them to drop the badge, so to speak, yet they appear as ‘N3′ to all outsiders in the game. This reality means that in FW Militias a code of conduct or etiquette is commonly adhered to by the disparate groups that claim the same nominal allegiance, especially since Militias that can’t co-ordinate tend to perform badly.
This code of conduct is broken frequently on a small scale as the turnover of new pilots in a Militia can be high and many leave before they understand all of the things they should not do out of courtesy. Most Militia entities’ diplomats spend some of their time ironing out these minor breaches within the Militia. On a rare occasion two entities may go to war with each other within the same Militia with a minimal effect on the whole, especially if they follow yet more etiquette! However there are rare occasions where either the breach of etiquette is so egregious or several large entities in a militia take such a disliking to how each other operates that the **** hits the fan and the whole Militia has to start choosing sides or run for cover; A civil war. The Minmatar Militia has had one major civil war that I am aware of in early 2014. The different factions in this were [WMTR] versus… Well virtually everyone else! Following the [WMTR] defeat in that civil war they joined the Amarr Militia and proceeded to be some of the Minmatar Militia’s most enthusiastic opponents. For those of you interested in reading about that civil war there is an EN24 article on it.
Now to the present, the return of [WMTR] has been met with hostility by the existing Minmatar entities; After roughly a week of being enlisted, [WMTR] were issued a war declaration from Ghosts of Deep Space [GOD5], Hop lite Brigade [HLPT] and Ushra’Khan [UNITY], the largest and most active groups within the Minmatar Militia’s sub-coalition; ‘Tribal Force’.
EN24 Caught up with Harkon Thorson, CEO of Minmatar Secret Service [ROMSS], a member corporation within [UNITY] and the nominated lead diplomat for the Tribal Force coalition for dealing with [WMTR]:
Cinnamon Rage: So what has prompted the decision to declare war?
Harkon Thorson: As you could imagine the return of Winmatar., Biohazard. and their leader Aslon has caused some confusion within the Militia. Above all because of the way they came back. There was no attempt to contact one of the bigger entities in Militia or anything like that. Just some small forumposts from Aslon telling that he considers rejoining the Minmatar. Given the past I think it would have been important to somehow make contact. When finally contact was made there was no sign of regret or repentance on their side. On the contrary. They were proud of their actions: The betrayal, the civil war and their time in the amarrian militia.
After they came into militia there were some discussions on how to react to that. The “Tribal Force“ contains quite a number of corps and alliances that were involved in the civil war and so there was some bad blood. With Winmatar. not willing to see a mistake on their side made it unlikely to change that. Besides that the whole attitude of their leaders abounds with arrogance and false self-esteem.
The last months have not been easy for the Matari militia and it was hard work to rebuild it with the few patriots left after the exodus. Having them joining with the claim to be here to save us just as we started to make progress was frustrating. Regarding the history we see that Aslon is very good in claiming the deeds of others and that was to be avoided. In addition the chance of them returning to power would have brought the threat of repeating the history of treachery.
Last but not least from a roleplay point of view he simply is a traitor to the Matari people and led many of its previously loyal militia pilots astray.
Cinnamon Rage: Could you give a summary of your dispute with WINMATAR?
Harkon Thorson: This time last year, much of the Minmatar militia at the time had declared war on WINMATAR following their destruction of an allied POS. This put huge pressure on them and they turned to fight for the Amarr. The story is to long to tell it here but infact there is an article on EVEnews24 that summons it up quiet good: http://evenews24.com/2014/02/11/minmatar-fw-update-time-for-civil-war/
Cinnamon Rage: Is there broad support amongst the mainstream militia?
Harkon Thorson: By now 7 militia alliances/corps are at war with them. Those include 8 of the top 10 corps with one of the remaining two beeing TLF. So there is a broad support within the Tribal Force coalition and even beyond it. Of course many pilots in militia are not at war with Winmatar.. They do not see much sense in the war for they do not know about the history of Winmatar. or they simply do not care. But as time passes by and more more “neutral” militia members witness the actions of Winmatar. in the warzone while they are in fleets that are organised by the Tribal Force. In the result the support grows.
Cinnamon Rage: Do you think that Aslon Seredith can change his ways?
Harkon Thorson: To be totaly honest I do not think so. He has proven to be devious and simply is not trustworthy. Even his actions after his return have proven this. When the war was declared Winmatar. made a post on forum and told that they would not fight us at all and that they will continue to run open fleets were even we would be welcome. Two days later the post was edited without an indication in form of a new post. It´s just a few words that changed but now it´s the exact opposite. He also contacted several leaders within the coalition sending them a picture of all the corps/ alliances that had offert help for the war against us and tried to threaten us. After we declined to drop the war he called in pirate corps to help him in his noble fight for the minmatar cause. When Hoplites and U’K dropped the war for some hours he even claimed victory and was full of scorn. Those are just a few examples of his actions that proved that the chances for a peace are very small.
Besides all that I think his approach to the game is simply very different from ours. He stated that he plays for the „pew pew“ and is not interested in roleplay of any kind. As you can read in the history of Winmatar. they follow a ‘zero allegiance’ decree. That`s a reasonable way to play the game and no one wants to tell him how to play the game. But if you take a closer look into the current militia structure you´ll find that most corps/ alliances have some kind of roleplay orientation. And if you consider the exodus within the militia it is logical that it have been those that value allegiance that stayed. It were those that felt connected with the Minmatar. Those that even while facing the total warzone control of the Amarr stayed and tried to keep fighting. They are now the core of current militia. And that is no claim but simply reality. Take a look into the killboard and into the warzone and you´ll know the truth. The approch of the game Aslon shows simply is not compatible with the militia we have right now. There are those that call it pedantic or even immature to wardec them. They argue that this is just a game. The simple truth is that it is a game and that we want to play it the way we like it. For us that includes some passion and getting involved. We want to play with like-minded and don´t want to waste our precious time in the game with people that simply don´t care for whom they are fighting and do not share the values we appreciate.
Cinnamon Rage: Has the war had any impact on your pilots ability to function in the Warzone?
Harkon Thorson: Our open fleets were harassed by small gangs of Winmatar. and some of their pirate friends. Especially during some of the hub-bashes. But all in all it´s not a big deal. It´s like another pirate gang. And as their numbers are quiete small it´s no real threat to our operations.
Cinnamon Rage: How do you see this situation ending?
Harkon Thorson: I think it will end with them leaving the militia. But as Alson seems to be quiet stubborn this might take some time. There might have been a chance to find some kind of agreement but they ruint it.
As a minor update at the time of writing, the number of militia entities engaged in an official war declaration with [WMTR] now stands at 10 with a combined membership of 941 pilots according to DOTLAN.
On the other side of this conflict EN24 also caught up with Aslon Seridith, CEO of Biohazard [-BIO-] and Executor of [WMTR] for his side of the story:
Cinnamon Rage: So what has prompted the decision to return to the Minmatar Militia?
Aslon Seridith: Last summer WINMATAR. completed all of it’s objectives in the Amarr Militia where we finished by leading the Burn Huola campaign. Burn Huola made loads of groups burnout, including us, which was followed with a big exodus of Minmatar groups who were unwilling to face a second Burn Huola. We wanted to experience with our own eyes how deeply hurt and bitter the Minmatar Militia still was after we destroyed everything they held dear. So joined we did and that has been a pretty hilarious time so far. I knew it would give us loads of fun in whatever form it would unfold to. We’re here to PVP
Cinnamon Rage: Could you give a summary of your dispute with Tribal Force?
Aslon Seridith: SHOOT POS; CIVIL WAR; JOIN AMARR; DESTROY EVERYTHING; BURN HUOLA; AMARR VICTOR; MEDAL. “Something went wrong between SHOOT POS and CIVIL WAR. two years back.
Cinnamon Rage: Are you surprised by their reaction to WINMATARS return?
Aslon Seridith: We were operating on intel that Hydrogen was the most common element in the universe, apparently we were mis-informed and it is infact BUTTHURT.
Cinnamon Rage: Is there broad support for you amongst the mainstream militia?
Aslon Seridith: No not if we keep wardeccing them.
Cinnamon Rage: Do you think that you will be able to resolve your differences with Tribal Force?
Aslon Seridith: When they disband and return to the warzone under a different name.
Cinnamon Rage: How do you see this situation ending?
Aslon Seridith: U’K will go for sov, Hoplite will probably go the same way as White Lotus and I have never even heard of Ghosts of Deep Space.
Whilst [WMTR] are currently a fraction of their former strength (In their heyday they had hundreds of pilots, Capital ships etc..), posing what is likely now a negligible military threat to the rest of the Militia and could hardly be called a Civil War, this infighting within the Minmatar ranks can only add disruption to their attempts to defeat their foes in the Amarr Militia. If people are further interested in following the war of words if not the war in space, this thread seems to be following the conflict on the official EvE Online Forums.
Meanwhile I have little to report from the Amarr Militia, they have been pretty quiet as far as I can tell. Although promisingly the Minmatar and Amarr have already started hammering at each other in earnest for any May update I choose to pursue such as this fight for the Ezzara I-HUB, with the Amarr winning in ships killed and successfully defending the I-HUB, however paying a heavier cost in ISK for the victory.
Thanks again to all the Militia pilots who speak to me allowing me to write these articles, all the Militia pilots who keep shooting each other to make content worth writing about and of course thanks to Harkon Thorson of [UNITY] and Aslon Seridith of [WMTR] for answering my questions.
Happy Hunting out there Militias
Cinnamon Rage o7
