To say it has been a bad month for the Imperium would be an understatement, and while Stategos continues to monitor activity and predict burnout on Pandemic Horde players, it’s definitely safe to say that similar trends are easy to see in the Imperium Member Alliances, particularly in Get Off My Lawn and The Bastion. Despite their continued efforts against the money badger coalition, the rebranded CFC have seen large losses in membership recently as World War Bee has led to most of the Imperium being shoe boxed into the low sec system of Saranen as the Money Badger Coalition forces continue camping the Imperium staging station.
In a previous article, we identified the two Imperium Alliance Members with the highest rates of loss (and thus who are most at risk of destruction) as being Get Off My Lawn and The Bastion, both of whom had (at the time) a member loss rate that, if continued without check would see the two Alliances fold within the next two months. While the Bastion member loss has recently plateaued, LAWN have seen their largest remaining corporation, The Graduates, decide to leave them this week to join long-time allies The Initiative. Alliance. This has resulted in a sudden loss of 55% of the remaining LAWN membership, bringing their total membership to 371 members.
The Graduates (TGRAD) describe themselves as ‘a large megacorp, with high activity and strong esprit d’corp.’ ‘Strongly PvP focused with a generous PvP ship replacement policy.’ They are well known for their policy of good sportsmanship, experienced player base and operating a Gentlemen’s Corporation in the Wild West of Nullsec. Recent losses in LAWN corporations has severely hindered their ability to field large fleets, and line members of The Graduates have suggested this as a major reason for moving on. TGRAD have a long history of PVP and an impressive killboard, and are generally viewed as a very active, well disciplined and experienced corporation. While LAWN retains combat effectiveness in the impressive activity of some few members of Jolly Codgers, and Big Diggers corporations, the actual number of PVP active players has dropped to 37 members in the last 7 days. While the TGRAD move doesn’t weaken the Imperium as a whole, the sudden drop in membership for LAWN will be even more keenly felt losing their principle PVP corporation.
TGRAD have chosen to join The Initiative. (INIT) Alliance, their allies in the Imperium with whom TGRAD have had a good, long standing relationship. They have joined their new alliance in Syndicate, where INIT have been staging along with members of Razor Alliance (now moved on, having left the Imperium) to take advantage of NPC Sov, the move made easier as many members of TGRAD had already been storing their assets not deployed in Saranen here, making for an easy transition. Strong feelings have been reported about leaving for Syndicate by members who wanted to hold their ground, but TGRAD members are still being encouraged to participate in Saranen and will still be a frequent sight in Imperium fleets. Line members have reported that there is no interest or plans to change the corporation ethos of good sportsmanship, fair play and ‘all for one, one for all’ approach to PVP and Alliance warfare, and that very little will change inhouse due to the move.
As this brings the overall LAWN membership down to 371 today, the question remains what will become of the rest of Get Off My Lawn if the current trend continues. To date, there has been no official announcement or plan from Goonswarm Federation or Imperium leadership regarding what will happen if the Alliance breaks up, but Karmafleet are ‘accepting refugees’ from other alliances, and it has long been the opinion of The Mittani that Fozzie Sov mechanics favour the creation of Super Alliances rather than large Coalitions for easier home defense. Whether or not LAWN’s current situation will initiate a takeover of the remaining LAWN member Corporations, and the corporations of the other Alliances like The Bastion, remain to be seen.
