Following the recent humiliation of TEST Alliance Please Ignore, Pandemic Horde just seems to be going from strength to strength. Relentless Destruction, formed up of prior IED pilots; and Bat Country, formerly of Pandemic Legion & Goonswarm Federation; have become the latest independent corps to join the alliance. This is a continuation of what has been a momentous shift for the alliance from a single-corp organization to a more traditional multi-corp alliance.
The new recruits haven’t taken long to get involved in Horde’s post-war effort to clear Geminate and the remaining area of TEST’s structures; today, six citadels belonging to ex-PanFam Tr0pa de Elite in nearby lowsec fell to PanFam; worth a total of around 150 billion ISK.
Relentless Destruction joining them isn’t just a boost to Horde’s numbers; it’s a real degradation to Immediate Destruction’s capabilities in Geminate. Horde’s refocus on high sec over the last week or two has been marked, indicating that they might be eyeing up TEST’s landmark keepstar in Perimeter as the prize for such a decisive victory.
Until the acquisition of multiple former Circle-0f-Two corporations, Pandemic Horde was very much run like a step-ladder. You would start by joining Pandemic Horde Inc, which is open to everyone except those who have earned a place on the alliance blacklist; then you’d have the option to move to A Blessed Bean by providing your SSO scopes and maintaining a minimum activity requirement; and finally, if you were noticed as having done a lot for the alliance, you’d be offered a place in Horde Vanguard.
These step changes offered a few distinct benefits; members of the more ‘demanding’ corps pay lower tax rates and gain access to exclusive space, primarily to reduce the risks of using their expensive ratting and mining ships in an open alliance, as well as serving a secondary purpose of freeing up spots in the base corporation to allow for more recruits.
There are advantages to this hierarchical model: an easy model of alliance access controls, a single corporate culture, and a simple centralized form of governance which doesn’t have to look to please member corporations. However, there are also advantages to their newfound multi-corp model: the broader appeal of multiple cultures, a greater depth of leadership, and the ability to learn from other corps’ policies and practices.
It’s still too early to truly tell what effect this new type of expansion will have on Pandemic Horde, but one thing’s for certain: for Horde to able to attract names like these will certainly turn some heads in New Eden.
