Pages

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Little Guys Playing In The Deep End

One of the questions concerning the new sovereignty system CCP released last week was whether small alliances could find a space of their own amongst the null sec powers. In at least one corner of the Dronelands, the answer is: yes.

The situation in constellation QJ2-0M, 22 July 2015

Shadow of xXDEATHXx, the largest rental alliance in EVE, completely owned the QJ2-0M constellation in Cobalt Edge up until mid-June, when Ministry of Inappropriate Footwork took control of 5-3722 on 17 June. The Russian alliance then lost control over the remainder of the systems over the course of a few hours on 16-17 July. SK7-G6 and 4-PCHD remain unclaimed, but five smaller alliances continue to hold onto at least one sovereignty structure in the remaining four systems.

Perhaps the most defensible of the systems is 5-3722. The 251-member Ministry of Inappropriate Footwork [KICK] made the most of the 30 days head start on the introduction of the new sov system, grinding the system's Activity Defense Multiplier (ADM) up to 5.7. Of course, I imagine that KICK also declared 5-3722 its capital system, thus giving the ADM a bonus of +2. Such a high ADM means that in order to reinforce structures or capture control points, an attacker must apply an entosis link for 57 minutes uncontested, while KICK only needs to entosis a link for 10 minutes in order to conduct a successful defense.

The system is rather poor in both moons (8) and asteroid belts (3), but does have the lowest true sec (-0.47) in the constellation. In addition to owning the Caldari station in the system, KICK owns both the territorial claim unit (TCU) and the infrastructure hub (iHUB).

The second system that Dotlan shows KICK owning is J-A5QD. However, I think the map is a bit misleading. While KICK owns the TCU, no one owns an iHUB. In addition, the 171-pilot alliance Just A Game. [JAG.] controls the system's Minmatar outpost. Looking at the killmails in both 5-3722 and J-A5QD, JAG. and KICK are currently at war. Ministry of Inappropriate Footwork appears to have beaten of an entosis attack last night in 5-3722, but its TCU in J-A5QD is open to attack today.

J-A5QD holds a lot more moons (44) and belts (13) than 5-3722 with almost the same true sec (-0.45). The system potentially could provide a nice home for a small alliance, especially one that makes the system its capital.

The final system with a station in QJ2-0M is BI0Y-X. The system is a hotbed of PvP activity, with the TCU and iHub currently held by The Bastards. [BSTRD]. But just like J-A5QD, the Amarr station is controlled by JAG.. The 119-man long-time low sec pirate alliance is battling JAG. for control of the system, with The Bastards. losing control on 18 July and regaining it in the early hours today. While The Bastards. most likely have no use for the systems 10 belts except for ratting opportunities, the 46 moons may offer some good revenue someday.

The last system containing a sovereignty structure is FV-YEA. In the system that leads to Oasa, the 685-member District-85 [D-85] owns a TCU. Honestly, I'm not sure if D-85 is serious about trying to hold sov or if someone just dropped the TCU for the lulz. Either way, the system lies in the direct path between Shadow of xXDEATHXx's holdings in Oasa and in the neighboring constellation of HNZF-Z. The system also lies in the direct path between Oasa and SOLAR FLEET-owned Outer Passage.

I can't but help think that the near-term future of constellation QJ2-0M is that systems FV-YEA, SK7-G6, and 4-PCHD will serve as an unclaimed highway while Ministry of Inappropriate Footwork, Just A Game., and The Bastards. will fight for control of the other three systems. Ministry of Inappropriate Footwork appears secure in 5-3722, leaving the other two alliances to fight in J-A5QD and BI0Y-X to see who will remain in the constellation. Who knows. Perhaps the alliances will team up and use their three stations as a base to operate against the renters. But at least for now OJ2-0M is a place where some small alliances are trying to establish themselves in null security space during the first week of FozzieSov.

4 comments:

  1. This strikes me more as an experiment. Why would a tiny alliance want to take space in the outskirts of the drone regions - far from any kind of npc space, lowsec, or anything else? They have no way to support that space.

    It seems more like sov-trolling which ended up being unintentionally successful when the Russians turned out not to give a fuck.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Not an accident more just testing the waters and deploying for fun, its not a serious attempt to become a null sec entity. Been there for a while now pre Fozziesov as Nozy points out. Its only a small deployment, with a few interested members of the alliance but all involved have enjoyed it, learnt some things about fozziesov. I think even our neighbours have enjoyed it and learnt some fozziesov tricks also,


    KICK is a WH alliance so logistics are much the same.

    ReplyDelete
  3. As noted, kick are wormholers. W-Space logistics makes everything else look easy. A bit of experience finding, securing and using wormhole routes makes it seem like all the cluster is 15 jumps from Jita.

    I mean, for a while I lived on the wrong side of faction warfare lowsec (an experiment living in a "hisec island" constellation), and took a freighter past it and back every fortnight without issue. Having dealt with the horror that is a c3 with only a lowsec static, anything else is a pleasant relief.


    That said, sov-trolling sounds like the sort of thing bored wormhole players might do. Sounds like at the least they've gotten some fights, and that is what most folk out there want!

    ReplyDelete
  4. As Stefan wrote, Ministry of Inappropriate Footwork (KICK) and The Bastards (BSTRD) partnered in a fun deployment. That was done entirely on a voluntary basis, i.e. not everybody deployed, and not all the alliance members went.
    Only a handful live there 24/7, the rest move in from time to time, when Bob makes it particularly easy or when they feel like it.
    A few members of Drama Sutra have trickled in with the same goals.

    Just A Game is on the side of Spears of Destiny, and the Russians' renters have brought in a few more friends as well. Given how JAG has been promised the very same constellation that KICK and BSTRD are in, the short-term forecast at the end of the article simply is not going to happen.

    Fozziesov makes it imperative to live locally if you want to hold a system. Neither KICK nor BSTRD want to become local residents, so sooner or later the renters will get the place back after he current pirate rabble gets bored.

    ReplyDelete