Burn Amarr: Final Conclusions

The Burn Amarr campaign has concluded. From downtime on the 19th of June to that of the 22nd, forces belonging to the Imperium attempted to suicide gank freighters and haulers across the space lanes of the Domain region, in and around the Amarr system. The systems affected were Bhizheba, Sarum Prime, Ashab, Madirmilire and Niarja, as well as Amarr itself. During the 72 hour period, roving fleets of Catalyst class destroyers laid waste to one of the most important trade hubs in New Eden, second only to Jita and supplying the South and South East of New Eden. Now with the event finished its time to take stock, mull over the figures and ask whether it managed to achieve what it set out to?

Final figures (per system):

Total figures for the entire campaign:

As previously stated, these figures are not complete because of the usage of alts and the fact that not all kills are recorded. However, they are accurate enough for the purposes of this article. From the looks of it, Imperium forces managed to inflict 360.994 Bil ISK damage in the 3 day period of time, while sustaining approximately 32.141 Bil ISK of losses, mainly in the form of Catalyst destroyers. Bhizheba was the least lucrative, offering only a couple of ganks at the start of the campaign, and was thus quickly abandoned, yielding only 3.09 Bil ISK damage. Niarja was the most deadly, with 152.24 Bil ISK destroyed during the length of the campaign.

Breakdown of the damage of the campaign by system (percentage):

While Amarr system did rank 3rd in the contribution to the campaign, it was easily overshadowed by Niarja, which saw 3 times the action. Niarja is a choke point between Jita and Amarr, much like Uedama is between Jita and Dodixie/Hek/Rens.

What does it all mean?

Statistics, excel sheets and figures are all nice, but meaningless without interpretation. Looking at killboards can tell you that a fight did happen, that someone apparently lost or won, but without an After Action Report, you can’t understand what transpired, why it did, and what was the true outcome. The same can be said for the Burn Amarr campaign. All the tables and numbers do little to explain the simple fact: The Imperium failed.

The previous events held under the name Burn Jita had a massive ripple-effect. They saw the destruction of many assets, the locking down of an entire trading hub, and the flexing of CFC muscle (now referred to as the Imperium). They were a statement of power which even managed to catch the attention of CCP developers. However, the latest iteration didn’t measure up to it’s predecessors.

Proof of Failure

While in previous Burn Jita events the Imperium managed to reach more than half a Trillion ISK in damages, this time it only reached 360 Bil. Not only that, but the Amarr system itself not only saw the least devastation, ranked only third in the damage sustained, but Imperium forces did not manage to lock it down. Reports of failed ganks, freighters running back and forth unmolested and even some clearly taunting Imperium forces, abounded. This, added to the general apathy that both the EVE community and the Imperium forces had shown towards the event, with sources within the Imperium claiming lack of participation, hardship getting enough members to fleet and even that most GoonSwarm Federation [CONDI] representatives were in fact, members of KarmaFleet, the newbie friendly corporation in [CONDI]. Now not all of these claims have been sufficiently collaborated, but they do add to give a very grim picture of the event.

Mitigating Factors

The event itself took place not in the center of New Eden, as Jita can be viewed, but in a secondary trade hub, mostly used as a drop off point by the alliances that inhabit the South and South East of New Eden. The number of concurrent pilots in the Amarr system rarely ever goes beyond 1100, only half of that of Jita at peak hours. Another factor is the timing of the event. While other Burn Jita were mostly kept around the month of April, this event was executed near the end of June. With summer vacation coming up for many people, EVE Online usually sees a decrease in activity around this period of time. Thirdly, with most of Null Sec entities waiting for the new sovereignty mechanics changes, dubbed as FozzieSov, there has been a notable indifference presented by many players, as everyone is waiting for the changes to be implemented.

All of these might explain the low participation, the lack of targets and seemingly minimal damage, had the Imperium propaganda machine not sprang fast to proclaim victory, taking credit from others just to increase the figures:

(1:17:53 PM) directorbot: With Burn Amarr reaching its ‘official*’ conclusion, we present to you these dutifully delicious preliminary results.

In Domain, crushing those infidels who might support the false empress by using her ill-gotten tradelanes, the forces of the Imperium and friends (and a few enemies!) racked up the following:

129 Freighters, 22 Orcas, and 14 Jump Freighters for 439.86B

In The Citadel, where tacit Caldari supporters of the heretic Empress reside, our jointly-ganking friends in CODE alliance and their minions took advantage of the extreme attention brought to the Amarrian trade routes and cleaned up nicely with very little resistance, crushing all cowards who might have diverted their traffic through the crucial Uedama pipe:

79 Freighters, 15 Orcas, and 5 Jump Freighters for 332.01B

These are preliminary results, and we expect them to be slightly low. But, with a combined damage of 771.87 billion ISK destroyed, we can say that we are extremely confident and happy with the sheer destructive power of the Imperium and its friends.

UNOFFICIAL VICTORY LAPS – some FCs may be popping by after our ‘official’ close to run casual, fun ganks (on very unsuspecting targets!) – if you would like to join, look out for pings. If you would like to pack it in, please ensure that you contract your remaining Catalysts to DJ Warr, or log in NOW and trade to Etriza.

Thank you all.

As you can see, Imperium forces took credit for CODE. [CODE.] work in Uedama. Now the two groups have cooperated before, and accusations have been thrown at [CODE.] for being nothing more the an Imperium puppet (no proof was ever substantiated) but they operate independently of each other. [CODE.] has made Uedama its hunting ground for a while, only a few days before the Burn Amarr campaign going on a 24h killing spree in the system. it is more than likely that [CODE.] simply sought to use the Burn Amarr event to its advantage and catch the increased freighter and hauler traffic as pilots attempted to avoid the Domain region. Regardless, even if it was orchestrated by the Imperium, Uedema is an irrelevancy, since the system resides in the Citadel region of Caldari space, and the event after all, was called Burn Amarr, not Burn Domain, and certainly not Burn Domain AND the Citadel.

Conclusions

While I call the Burn Amarr event a failure, I do not deem it a total loss. In its way, the event helped to highlight some of the problems plaguing the Imperium. The fact of the matter is, many in the so-called Imperium either resent their re-brand or care little for it. Their lack of participation was a show of no confidence in their leadership. The propaganda machine inflating numbers and claimed undue credit, a clear sign of the Imperium leadership noticing this worrying trend. It also shed some light on the deeper issues the Imperium has; specifically the tensions between alliances and the inherent indifference much of its pilots exhibit nowadays.

The EVE Mail Sent by Fidelas Constans Leadership Regarding their Pilots’ Participation in the Event

Is the Imperium merely the CFC gasping its final breath?

The answer to that will be a 100% genuine NO. I don’t believe these are the death throes of the greatest super power in New Eden. What I do believe is, that this is part of a worrying trend, that if not diagnosed and treated early, may lead there eventually. Whether it is a year or two from now, it seems inevitable that the Imperium will fall apart, unless its leadership is willing to look at the Burn Amarr failings as a warning sign. Only time will tell.

Feel free to discuss in the comments section below whether I am right or wrong in my analysis, supply your own figures\evidence\analysis and debate the conclusions.

Salivan Harddin writes for The EVE Scribe, Providence Bloc’s News Portal. When he isn’t busy writing articles, he usually jumps into wormhole fights, only to get stuck on the other side of the universe.