Just over a month has passed since I interviewed Kurisu Makkashi, the CEO of Cruis3rs Cr3w. In this interview, he spoke about how Cruis3rs Cr3w were planning to declare an informal war on Shadow Cartel, with the main objective being to capture Shadow Cartel’s money moons in the Placid region. An awful lot has changed since then, with Northern Coalition. (NCDOT) and Black Legion moving to Black Rise and Cloud Ring respectively. Black Legion have since fail-cascaded, but Pandemic Legion and their associates have also turned their eyes towards the Placid, Black Rise and Cloud Ring area, with early signs suggesting that they may be pushing to claim sovereignty in Cloud Ring.
Since then, Cruis3rs Cr3w have entered into a coalition with Snuffed Out, called BBCrew, and have been making headway on seizing some of Shadow Cartel’s valuable moons on the back of a massive victory for BBCrew on Friday. (You can see the battle-report here.) I thought it would be the perfect time to catch up with Kurisu and his new allies, and see how they felt the Placid War was progressing, so I sat down with Kurisu, and Capitol One and Jen Moriaty of Snuffed Out.
Me:
A month ago, you said that Cruis3rs Cr3w was going to war, and you have stuck to that promise. How would you feel the war is going?
Capitol One:
Ok, so from a Snuffed point of view, we originated in Sujarento, from there, we deployed to Rakapas before the Phoebe update. Post-Phoebe, we couldn’t hit as many moons, or protect as many assets, so after we hit all the moons near Rakapas, we decided to throw all in in Placid, to make the next step in controlling money moons. To counter that, Shadow Cartel have called their blues in to help defend against our campaign, and the big timers. They feel they have to bring more numbers to counter our capital superiority. Lately, we have been losing the objectives, but recently we, we have adapted, tried different doctrines, and Shadow Cartel have countered our doctrine changes. But in this fight today, we used tracking dreads, which worked very effectively, but we feel like we are gaining ground, and the pendulum is moving our way. It also appears that Shadow Cartel are not fielding as many numbers.
Jen Moriaty:
I’d like to add that we aren’t going to back down.
Kurisu:
Cr3w feel the same, we won’t back down. We came here for good fights, and we have been getting them. We originally moved into Placid with the intention of killing everyone, but since Dead Terrorists got involved, and blobbed Snuffed, we decided to join up with Snuffed because we wanted in on the content. They openly welcomed our offer to ally against Shadow Cartel, they have been courteous, they share the moons with us, and they have treated us with more respect than anyone else. To get that respect from an entity that has been here for years, and held their ground, my pilots are appreciative of that. we don’t have the skill points that they have, or the numbers, or the capital fleet, or the money, but we are getting there. And we are working with all we have to support the joint campaign against Shadow Cartel. It’s going very well for us.
Capitol One:
Yes, we agree, Snuffed out would not have survived post Phoebe if we hadn’t recruited more corps, if we hadn’t expanded our network of blues. we have expanded on all fronts, although not on the level SC has, we are still comfortable enough to stand our ground
Jen Moriaty:
For us, the strategic objective is secondary, our primary objective is to get good timers and good fights, and have fun. That is why we go out of our way to think of tactics to avoid being blobbed. Today, we saw the blob, and thought of creative ways to counter it.
Capitol One:
Today, the fight wasn’t nearly as one sided as usual, their fleet was half the size as it usually is, they didn’t pull the numbers they usually do.
So do you feel like you may be gaining the edge when it comes to morale, or winning a war of attrition?
Capitol One:
I can’t really speculate on Shadow Cartel, we haven’t really seen a trend, they may bring massive numbers next time, so I can’t comment on their morale, but Snuffed Out is experiencing a morale high, it has been for a few months. Our leadership and FC’s are really good, and our FC’s bring morale boosts.
Me:
Kurisu, you said Cruis3rs Cr3w are definitely on a high after teaming up with SC and winning fights?
Kurisu:
Yeah, we have recently kicked a few corps from the alliance that weren’t really on board with what we wanted to do here in Placid, and didn’t want to meet our standards. We’ve also recruited corps, including nullsec corps hat would rather be here than in nullsec. Our recruitment is going well, capital pilots are joining us, because they see our killboards, and see the content. Because eve has been lacking content recently, and we have been creating a huge amount of content. We’re shooting things, creating content, having fun, and recruiting. A lot of pilots say the same thing, Placid is a great area, no one is risk-averse, it’s not the bullshit blues and non-aggression you see anywhere else. That’s why people are in Cruis3rs Cr3w, because they can’t stand the blues circle-jerk of null-sec. We do things ourselves as well, whether roams, or Blops or other forms of content.
Me:
So since the creation of BBCrew, thing have been going really well, the war has turned in your favour. How do you feel about the war right now?
Kurisu:
We came down here with nothing, we’re taking Shadow Cartel POCO and money moon empire. Snuffed have their money empire, and they’re well established. We weren’t when we came here, we had absolutely nothing in our corp funds. We want a bit of the pie, because we want to support that content creation. We want to support our pilots that use Dreads, other caps, and faction Battleships. Shadow Cartel have a huge ISK empire, and allies to support it. Us and Snuffed are going to take some of that away from them. People are on board, they see the vision, and Snuffed Box give us a great example, and we are very grateful for the relationship we have with Snuffed, look at what we are doing, PL show up and whore, Dead Terrorists show up with 50+ man fleets to support SC. We have to adapt, it what you have to do to survive in EVE.
Me:
So, the Placid war is probably going to be long, and drawn out, what is the objective of the war? Do you want to force Shadow Cartel out of the area?
Capitol One:
Our primary goal is to have good fights, we don’t want to force anyone out of the region. The moons aren’t even the primary goal of the campaign, sure, we like taking the moons, but it’s more about the content. We have our own moons, we are financially stable, so the ISK is not an issue. Our primary objective for this war is to create content, and we are achieving that objective. We are in this to have the greatest challenge we can get, and win.
Kurisu:
Everyone likes the good fights, and the content, but you guys are stable, you have been around here for a long time, and are well situated. We want content, true, but we also want a piece of the pie. I want to look after my pilots, and be responsible for them. You guys had your ISK building campaign, and this is mine.
Capitol One:
Yes, we didn’t always have a reimbursement programme, but we do now. Particularly in this campaign, we have a very good reimbursement campaign.
Kurisu:
And how do you feel that effects your morale?
Capitol One:
Of course when our pilots know their stuff will be reimbursed, they show up for the fights. Its natural when people don’t have to worry about their ISK
Kurisu:
I know I can rarely log in to make ISK because every time I log in, we have PVP content. Its constant.
Me:
Kurisu, its been a month since we spoke first, how would you say your situation has changed since then?
Kurisu:
We are expecting a counter-attack soon, because that how wars happen. Our members are training into better ships, we are recruiting more. Shadow Cartel could increase their aggression, but we are still taking fights, we’re still having fun. Our outlook is completely positive. We are adapting, we have made blues as part of this. Could we hold our own against 300 man fleets, the answer is obviously no. We have people joining us because of the huge amount of content available here. Placid is the content centre of EVE right now.
Me:
Everyone is moving towards Placid, and these moves have only really begun after the start of the Placid War, would you agree?
Kurisu:
I would say that we acted at the catalyst. We came in and shook things up. Its not all about Cruis3rs Cr3w, but yes, I’d say we shook up the barrel. We are here causing fights, and now everyone is coming because of the big fights that Cruis3rs Cr3w and Snuffed Out are creating.
Capitol One:
I’d like to say that we are not arrogant, we aren’t smug. Shadow Cartel are worthy adversaries. It is a very good, back and forth war. This is the first fight that we can claim a landslide victory.
Kurisu:
When you talk about smugness, I understand exactly what you are saying. Our smugness comes from proving ourselves in the face of people’s previous comments. The naysayers who told us we were nothing, that we were not good, our satisfaction comes from our success in the face of other people’s comments. Cruis3rs Cr3w is successful, and no one can deny that. We would like to thank Shadow Cartel for providing content. We respect our enemies, and they are what make the game fun. I send an invitation to pilots of all skill levels and experience. If you are looking for a new experience in EVE, Placid, and Cruis3rs Cr3w, is the place for you!
With Cruis3rs Cr3w making a name for themselves in the Placid region, and rapidly rising with the help of Snuffed Out to be a well known and successful PVP corporation in the region, who knows what the future holds. What is your opinion?
