This morning at 0930 SET (Standard Eve Time) war broke out between the Black Rebel Rifter Club (aka "The Good Guys" aka "R1FTA") and Eve University (aka "unistas" aka "The Blob").
No two more different groups of players exist in Eve.
R1FTA believes in flying small ships solo or in small groups with no rules, no responsibilities, and no electronic support. We fly around looking for a fight and never camp a gate or station as a large group. The only two infractions that will result in immediate removal from the Black Rebel Brotherhood are not honoring ransoms and not honoring 1v1s.
On the other hand, Eve University is composed of many new players and believes in overwhelmingly large fleets of large ships backed by electronic support. They camp gates and stations and rely on numerical superiority and electronic countermeasures to overcome their inexperience. 1v1 fight? God forbid! Everyone! Help our classmate! War breaks out? Unistas are mandated to either stay in station or fly only in large fleets - that used to be one of their many, many, many rules that could get students expelled from the university (not sure if it still is).
What started this war? Well, the unistas moved into our low sec station in Heild a week or two ago and last night (prior to the war) there were a dozen of their ships camped on our station's exit hoping to catch individuals as they left... That's just not right. Plus some of the other pirate groups in Molden Heath decided to fight the unistas and we're joining them.
Let there be no confusion - R1FTA has no chance of winning. But it should be fun and that's our goal.
Note: Personally, I have no real problem with Eve University. Their play style is different and not to my taste, but it suits their corp composition in many ways (lots of new players learning the ropes who would face endless struggles if sent out solo - just witness my blog for what horrors would await them!). And I've learned quite a bit from the various classes that they offer on their website - the audio recordings on all sorts of topics are very informative.
The WSOP (our set of rules for flying and fighting during wartimes) was recently updates. As long as you are in a fleet and on mumble, you can fly what you want, but if you lose something really expensive or a non combat ship, then the management get wound up.
ReplyDeleteAlso, outside wartime, lots of the low sec camp residents will happily engage in 1v1 or other "fair" fights. Once the golves come off in war though, absolutely no reason to waste isk in this way. One of the reasons I dont fly with the camp more often, I dont feel comfie outside e-war ships.
Thanks for the clarification huren! I thought the WSOP had changed a few months ago.
ReplyDeleteOne of the R1FTA's joys is to "waste isk in this way" - 1v1 fights. Nothing we like better than to waste isk in 1v1s... Just points out another difference in philosophies between the two sides in this engagement.
Good luck!
E-UNI has a longstanding policy regrading wars that boils down to "don't make it fun for the other side, make them spend far more money than us". This is why the tactics are to have numerical superiority (not necessarily a true 'Blob' by the way and Unistas are not forbidden from being in small fleets) and make as much use of E-War as possible. Very new members are encouraged to operate as tacklers or cheap EW and given free ships to do so with.
ReplyDeleteWSOP is currentl rapidly evolving, I think it last changed today (essentially a minor tweak to fix a clash of older wording and new rules). It currently boils down to 'Use common sense, do as you wish but expect a chat with a director if what you do is obviously unwise and leads to a costly loss'
Uni operates this way because wars (on it) get in the way of other activites related to teaching and are often an attempt to pick up a lot of easy kills. The idea is deny easy or expensive kills, remove fun as far as possible for the other side and so encourage a prompt end to the war and discourage others from declaring a war. E-UNI is open to mutually agreed wars, though, as they're part of EVE and make a valuable teaching environment.
Thanks for the insight Anon. So far it's been great fun for the R1FTAs and hope that it's been as enjoyable for UNI's student campers. I hope they don't run out of marshmallows and mosquito repellant.
ReplyDelete