Interview: Smithy Adama, Minmatar FC

Thank you for agreeing to this interview.

My pleasure.

To start with, explain why you’ve changed Faction War toons? You used to fly under Vordak Kallager, but now you fly as Smithy Adama.

I started my PvP career in Faction Warfare on Vordak Kallager, and for the past year FW is the only PvP I’ve experienced. I moved Vordak out of the Militia in order to see some more of the universe, make some more friends and hopefully get some valuable experience in 0.0 fleet warfare. However, my home will always be in Faction Warfare; I simply can’t see myself anywhere else in the game for any kind of extended period. Besides, Smithy is still a well-trained character and useful in any kind of fleet.

How long have you been playing EvE?

I’ve been playing EVE since 2009, however my first year and a half of that was purely as a PvE pilot.

What other aspects of the game have you tried other than militia?

Besides my initial stint as a carebear, the Militia is the only significant aspect of the game I’ve tried, although I have dipped my toes in most of the different game mechanics. Right now, however, I’m trying out 0.0 PvP with Black Legion. alliance, but it remains to be seen how that works out.

When and why did you first join FW?

Back in my carebear days, a few of us decided to go on a jaunt through lowsec in some battle cruisers to see what this whole PvP thing was about. It ended with our five or so ships being obliterated by a Pandemic Legion Faction Battleship 50man fleet that had been fishing with a cyno Harbinger in a belt. It was fucking epic.

From that moment on, a few friends and I made a highsec wardec corp which got us our first handful of kills and really cemented our desire to PvP. We started looking for a further outlet for our blood lust and Faction Warfare seemed like the perfect prescription.

What is your most memorable experience in FW?

There have been a lot of great fights and moments in Faction Warfare, but there is a single moment that really stands out. I was just starting to get invited to the :ELITE: “Latenite Fleets” with the usual USTZ Minmatar Crew (Bahamut and friends) and I was only in a tackle Rifter. We had an engagement with a similarly sized Locus Industries BC gang and I managed to hold tackle on a fleeing Sleipner as the rest of the fleet polished off the WT Battlecruisers back on gate. However, a second Sleipner belonging to Dake Darkstalker had managed to warp to a tactical off of the gate. As the first Sleipner died, I warped to one of my own tacticals and landed about 40km off of Dake. He must have been distracted as he seemed not to notice me burning the distance until I was nearly in scram+web range, but I managed to tackle his Command Ship and frantically triple x’d for the fleet to warp to me as I was being slaughtered by his neutralizer, drones and guns. I heard someone call a secondary point as the last slivers of my hull disappeared and watched ecstatically as his several hundred million ISK ship joined mine in a fiery death. And that is part of the reason for the running joke that [AUTOZ] (my corporation) is just a bunch of scrubs, but we can fly a mean rifter.

What made you choose to fly with Minmatar over the other militias? (also, have you flown with any other faction?)

I’ve always lived in the Molden Heath and Heimatar regions, so joining the Minmatar Militia seemed like the natural choice. I have yet to try out any of the other factions, although I really have no inclination to do so. I am quite happy as a director of Autocannons Anonymous and will probably end up sticking with AUTOZ for a long time to come. Great bunch of guys.

What do you think of mixed militia fleets to kill pirates in the war zone?

I think they are great fun and I’m always down to fleet up with Predator or Eran to take down some neutrals/pirates. Some people hate these kind of joint-ops, but I like most of the Amarr pilots (except for Vadeim Rizen) and fleeting with them is a cool experience. I make it a point to always honor Non-Aggression Pacts and if any Amarr ever see me in local, feel free to convo me if you can’t take that pirate battle cruiser without a little back up.

Game mechanics allies Amarr to Caldari, Gallente to Minmatar. How helpful is it actually having another militia as allies?

I’m not sure about the state of Amarr-Caldari relations, but a lot of the Gallente FCs are in Minmatar intel channels and they are always willing to bring over a fleet if we can’t handle whatever the Amarr have on our own and vice versa. So in that regard, it is very useful.

Do you participate in plexing and system capturing? Do you even think it is a worthwhile endeavor?

I don’t really run the FW combat plexes for the sake of “flipping” a system from Amarr to Minmatar occupancy, nor am I a fan of defensive plexing to secure a system that has been contested by war targets. Of course, those combat plex do serve a purpose and I’m willing to sit in them in order to get a fight whether it be out in the back systems against Amarr plexers or for the sole purpose of limiting the enemies’ firepower via size-restricted acceleration gates. However, I think CCP needs to class the pirate and faction ships as equivalent to T2 because they dominate in those plexes and give newer players a big disadvantage that the size-restrictions were initially designed to counter act.

What do you think about the use of alt spies, neutral alts for bonuses, and outside cap support?

I don’t mind alt spies, although I would never be bothered to plant one myself. I usually just convo one of the Amarr and ask them where they are and what they have if I can’t find them, haha. Neutral alts are fine and can give an advantage when fighting out numbered or out gunned. On the other hand, non-militia Capital Support is pretty ridiculous in my opinion. This is Faction vs. Faction, not Faction vs. 0.0 Powerbloc. I understand neutral capital support, but cynoing in a 0.0 Super fleet to gank a carrier or two is not what I would consider very classy. It is still possible to kill capitals with a sub-cap fleet, you just have to be organized and prepared.

What do you consider the hardest part of being a newer FC in militia?

Motivating myself to put up a fleet and keep that fleet occupied, especially if there are no immediate targets to go after, is a real bitch. However, in almost any fleet I join I end up becoming pretty vocal about what we should do and how we should go about doing it; this can be a problem when trying to fly with the Daytime Minmatar who have the more traditional fleet organization where there is a single FC directing the fleet’s every movement, haha. I end up trying to propose ideas and get snapped at for stepping out of my place. 😛 Being one of Minmatar’s youngest players doesn’t help, I’d imagine.

How do you think FCing for Minmatar varies from FCing in Amarr?

Although I haven’t been in many Amarr fleets (and therefore don’t have a solid grasp on their particular style of FCing fleets) I do believe that there is nothing quite like the USTZ Minmatar fleet. Someone called it “FC by Committee” once and I think that term is pretty apt at describing how our fleets run. Another way to put it is a bunch of headless chickens blundering about the region until one of them finds something to shoot, at which point the rest of the headless chickens attempt to converge and kill it with whatever tools are on hand. Of course, when the fight actually starts, someone (and having almost everyone in the fleet capable of FCing helps) will end up taking over Primary Calling and FCing, but until that moment the fleet is led by a collective will. In terms of keeping it casual and fun, I think the USTZ Minmatar style of fleet excels brilliantly.

What advice would you give to someone who is just coming into Minmatar FW?

The NPC corp is really not a good place to be for a person fresh to PvP and Faction Warfare. There is a lot of concern about spy alts and being in the TLF doesn’t assuage any concerns about that. Try getting some kills on the board and apply to one of the Player Corps in the militia. From there, your corpmates will be able to get you into fleets and intel channels and the experience will change from being a lonely desolate wasteland with no friends to a fun and casual place to get online, get in fleet and shoot at stuff.

Favorite:

Ship to fly: I have a soft spot for the Enyo as my first Enyo hull went 36:1 and served me well. Otherwise, I actually enjoy flying as logistics or in a Battleship for a big Minmatar v. Amarr slugfest.
FW System: Haras. ^^
EvE Celebrity: Prometheus Exenthal, his videos are great!
EvE Related website: Probably Kuan Yida’s Blog, http://www.kuanyida.tumblr.com (Hi, Kuan!)
EvE related podcast: I don’t listen to any.
Null Sec Alliance: Black Legion. o7
Type of fleet to FC: Battleship slugfests with non-capital logistics.
Wartarget to shoot: Shalee Lianne! or Flyinghotpocket of course.
Corpse: Shalee Lianne’s. Speaking of, please give it back, Shalee??? ):
EvE Online Forum: Don’t spend too much time on forums.

Thank you for your time. Any parting thoughts?

Me love AUTOZ long time. Also, if anyone wants to see a really creative Drake fit designed for fighting Predator’s nano-gangs that Bahamut420 came up with, just send me a mail. ;D

Make your vote count.

Two days remain on the CSM outsourcing voting.  Make your opinions heard, go here and vote today!

Sov Wars Updates

Please join the new, in game mailing list, Sov Wars and in came channel, Sov Wars.  Any member of the four militias is welcome to join!

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Next week’s poll question is “What do you wish CCP would change about FW to make it better?”  If you are interested in responding, please mail your response to Shalee Lianne in game.

Thanks for reading!

Poll: The Batphone, help or hindrance in FW?

“In short, I think overall they are mostly a help but obviously they have their downsides as well. When the Minmatar first started acquiring super-capital carriers, the Amarr had little they could do to counter on their own. In order to make the playing field more level, batphones were used to try to kill these capital fleets. After the batphone is used once though, people often assume that it’s always available and are generally more cautious when deploying ships that have a big target painted over them. This goes both ways as just about everyone has someone to batphone from some random alt-corp/alliance of theirs.

I think it is a shame that sometimes fights are decided by who has the bigger null-sec alliance in their pocket. I’ve always been a fan of “fighting my own fight”, so to speak, and not having to beg some unaffiliated person to bail me or my fleet out of a fight I got us into; E-honor and all that lameness. But all is fair in love & war so in the end e-honor matters naught. I do think it’s silly to batphone in the bigger alliances like PL for only a few non-super capital ships though, and only encourages your enemies to not fight, or “blue-ball” you into boredom.

With the lingering threat of the ‘batphone’, we have seen very few super-capitals deployed in the war zone. I see this as a positive thing as their slippery-ness makes them a pain to deal with in low-sec (since you can’t use bubbles).” Eran Mintor, Amarr

***

“Personally, I think it’s a bit of a hindrance. Hot drops can add a level of surprise and tactics to any engagement, but calling in outside carrier fleets could lead to it becoming a regular practice, which I think will take a level of variety, strategy and balance away from FW.” Raze Valadeus, Amarr

***

“Sometimes a batphone is the only thing we can do to keep up with the Mim’s cap strength.  But at the same time it isn’t really a preferable tactic, so my feelings cancel out.  The worst is when the people you bat phone end up turning on your fleet to get more kills.” Aldrith Shutaq

“I personally hate supercaps, I think they have unbalanced the game.

On the other hand, they tend to keep carriers and dreads off the field, so we have more standard sub-cap fights.

So, I think they are generally a hindrance, but in some ways a help to keep other caps off the field.

CCP is talking about re-balancing ships in significant ways this winter (see a quote and link on my blog). I hope it’s a good balance and not just to suit null-sec alliances.” Kuan Yida, Minmatar

***

“I think batphones are mean.  I know I’m pretty safe dropping my assets knowing that the Amarr can’t counter unless they (Pred) use’s batphone.

So we have to be cautious of who is online and who we are targeting :)” Silence iKillYouu, Minmatar

***

“What BatPhone?  We just roll in guns blazing.” NupetievtVer, Minmatar

“There is nothing wrong with capitals in FW. The problem is the “bat-phone” and the mobility of capitals. Super Carriers are just too mobile and bored 0.0 entities have no issue flying across the universe to gank FW capitals then fly home. It becomes not about militia vs militia but who has better contacts. If Raiden. REALLY REALLY wants to stomp Gallente militia they should be able to. However, they shouldn’t be able to do it simply because they are bored and instantly get back to whatever they were doing before with no cost or penalty (ie fly across the universe in a couple of minutes, gank some ships, fly back across the universe in a couple of minutes with no risk to themselves or home space whatsoever).

If bored 0.0 alliances had to actually think about making a commitment to gank a lone militia carrier, then we would see much more capitals used in FW. I’m torn between having “hot-drop o’clock” keeping FW relatively free of capitals vs seeing them deployed much more often if the 0.0 hot-drop threat was reduced.

This is really a much bigger problem than FW. The problem is simply that the largest and most powerful alliances are able to instantly and cost effectively deploy their power ANYWHERE in the EVE universe. If this was applied to the real world, imagine the United States Army closing all international bases and bringing all their troops home to the United States. The US then gives a “bat-phone” to their allies. Their allies then walk around the world and if they get into trouble they push the button and instantly 10,000 tanks, 300,000 troops, 1,000 warplanes are instantly dropped on the enemy, who is killed, then all the troops are instantly teleported home. After a while, one of the allies gives the “bat-phone” to his son. His son gets into a school-yard fight and pushes the button. Then 10,000 tanks, 300,000 troops, 1000 warplanes are dropped on a fist fight between two 12-year-old boys. FW is essentially the school-yard fight and we don’t want to fight the professional armies of the world. Furthermore, it should not be cost-effective for those armies to deploy billions of ISK of equipment to stomp on a little boy who poses no threat to them and they could care less about.” Andre Vauban, Gallente

***

“Well I think it’s a double edged sword really. On one hand you might have the oppurtunity to stop some of the hotdrop happy low sec alliances operating in the milita war front from jumping in the middle of your fight. On the other hand the idea of an opposing militia using there batphone to hotdrop your fleet, will get old very fast.” Staryed, Gallente

“If the bat phone is on your side its a help! In reality I don’t think we should be seeking outsider help from FW. Kinda ruins the fun! :)” Rigel Vex, Caldari

Interview: Mitara Newelle

Thank you for agreeing to this interview.

In comparison to most FW pilot’s employment history, yours is relatively short; One null sec corporation and then PIE. What made you decide to leave null sec for faction war?

The timing was very good to leave Kudzu. The corp had basically splintered, and many of the pilots had gone their own ways. Faction War was just being released, and it seemed like it would be a lot of fun.

Out of all the FW corps available, why did you choose PIE?

When I first created Mitty, I had it in the back of my mind that someday I would want her to be in PIE and to do some RP. With PIE joining FW, it made my decision to move all the easier.

Tell us briefly about PIE and your role in the corporation.

PIE is the eldest Amarr loyalist RP corp, and one of the oldest corporations in New Eden. Mitty is currently an Admiral(Director) within PIE. I have a hand in overseeing some of our pilot benefit programs and am probably the most available of the PIE Admiralty.

What makes PIE different from other FW corps?

Our ethos and history set us apart from other corporations. We allow only Amarrian bloodlines, fly only Amarr and Khanid hulls, and abide by some strict rules of conduct. We aim to be as Amarrian as possible, even if the game mechanics work against us. It’s not always about winning, but about having fun playing the best race in the game. Amarr Victor!

With PIE being an all role play corp, do you find it difficult to balance your RP character with the demands of FW?

Not really. Mitty is very duty driven, and her focus for the last three years has been FW. Some elements of the militia she detests, but the Empress has allowed all kinds of pilots to further the cause of Amarr in the warzone, so she accepts that… mostly. Some activities the militia at times engage in, she will not. There have been several instances where Mitty has dropped fleet because the FC wanted to do something against her beliefs.

How difficult is it role playing a female character in a male populated game?

Hmm. From the question, I gather you are wondering if there is any harassment or such? My answer to that is that it has not been difficult at all. Mitty is not very approachable, so she doesn’t get random guys trying to hit on her or anything! LOL!

Would you enjoy EVE as much without the RP?

It would still be a damn fun game, but I would miss the RP aspect.

What is your most memorable experience in FW?

Geez, that’s tough. Losing my first capital ship, I remember that pretty vividly. There have been tons of smaller gang fights that I’ve been in that were absolutely a blast, usually centered around FW complexs. Preaching in Auga local is always fun too 🙂

What are some memorable wars/campaigns that PIE has been involved in over the years?

The notable wars and campaigns happened before FW and my time in PIE. We have been at war with EM forever, but I only see them once in a while. A lot of PIE’s history is detailed on the EVE Wiki, EVE History Wiki, and on the PIE forums. Rodj Blake has done a wonderful, and much appreciated, job of chronicling PIE’s exploits on those mediums over the years.

PIE has been at war with Electus Matari for years due to role play reasons. Will PIE ever drop the mutual wardec? Also, how much of an impact does EM have on the militia warfront?

I don’t see us dropping the dec, unless EM renounces their terrorist ways of course! Occasionally, there will be a few EM around the WZ that we have to be aware of. Depending on what is going on, they are usually a lower priority for us than our FW objectives. They will assist the TLF when there is a militia fleet containing PIE pilots, so that has to be taken into consideration sometimes. I’d like to have more fights with EM, but our times usually don’t mesh up, and Mitty does not leave the war zone very often. o/ Gottii.

Will PIE ever leave FW to pursue other goals?

We have relaxed our focus on FW, but I don’t see us leaving it. We encourage our pilots to do other activities to keep things fresh so they don’t burn out. We’re helping out CVA often now days. We’re trying to get more organized efforts started for things like exploration, wormholes, and Incursions.

What advice would you give to someone who is interested in joining PIE?

Check out our forums and join the PIE PUBLIC in game channel. Do a bit of research to see if PIE is a good fit for you. Oh, and don’t call Mitty ‘Sir’ 🙂

Favorite:
Ship – to fly: Armageddon, or Punisher if Shalee is around to taunt with it. Hull: Heretic/Coercer
FW System – Kourmonen, Mitty’s home away from home. It’s a great system, tons of traffic.
EVE celebrity – Vaari – Grandest Hero of the Universe; Savior of Small Children, Pets, and All Things Purple.
EVE related website – https://sovereigntywars.wordpress.com (ok, where’s my 10 bucks?)
RP Arc – anything involving Mit of course 🙂
EVE related podcast – does drunken KotMC vent chatter count?
Null Sec Alliance – Notoriety Alliance, it was fun flying with them back when.

Thank you for your time, any parting thoughts?

Ponies – just STOP!

Poll: Opinion on Caps & Supers in FW?

“Capitals in Faction Warfare don’t give either side a real advantage to be honest. Minmatar have the upper hand when it comes to Supercap strength, but they generally refuse to use them, probably out of fear. And generally the capitals are involved in fun fights, so there’s no real issue.” – Mystical Might, Amarr

***

“The main reason that I came back and stay in FW is for random sub cap vs sub cap engagements. The only op with that I want in FW with a fat expensive ship is a titan to bridge.

Routine cap engagements are best left to those that somehow enjoy the abysmal chore of 0.0 and player owned 0.0 making renters and CEOs rich. In FW, there are no stations to rep/services to cut, no sbus and tcus to quickly nuke and most of militia are understandably reluctant to pos bash. The primary reason for caps in FW beyond station games is to escalate a fight but thankfully that occurrence is a bit reduced with the bat-phone threat.” Nortel, Amarr

*** 

“I personally don’t mind the use of capitals or super capitals in faction warfare. If people are willing to risk expensive ships, whether they be capitals, or faction battleships it makes the battles we get into day in and day out that much more exciting. Nothing escalates a militia battle like hearing that a carrier is tackled. However super capitals in my opinion are currently broken in their difficulty to be tackled and the amount of ehp they have. Regardless I don’t mind our relatively small scale capital engagements and look forward to the next one.” Maz3r Rakum, Amarr

In essence FW has grown up and become an arms race driven war zone. This has its advantages, I find the challenge of flying some of the higher end gangs and ships to be quite fun. It has it’s commensurate disadvantages however, I for one miss the days of kicking back in a gang of assorted stuff with no real thought and co-ordination given to how well the hulls will segue. These days are however gone and that is nobody’s fault – it’s just how the game develops.” Annah Kitheran, Minmatar

***

“I think in each capsuleers quest to gain bigger and better toys to satisfy the time, training and experience they put themselves though, cap/super cap fights are inevitable. As blood hits the floor of the FW arena in cap fights, new warriors spawn from it out of blood lust and more train the necessary skills to join the fights in those ships. But as time goes on, they may become a means to an end for themselves in that losing a super cap may be utterly devastating to a FW capsuleer who is not backed by a multi-billion isk alliance who would replace those ships.

While a pilot may get and use a super cap, it’s like a beacon calling out across all of Eve that an epic killmail may be had. At that time, it no longer is Faction Warfare…at that time, when the cynos light and the Hics warp in and fighter-bombers are deployed, it is not Minmatar versus Amarr or Caldari versus Gallente, it is you versus your nightmare, and in that time…you will feel utterly hopeless, utterly alone.

I’ll stick with my Ranis, thanks!” Sumdumgi, Minmatar

***

“Well personally I miss the days of about a year ago when we all just flew around and shot stuff. Didn’t need to get everyone all gathered together unless you saw a big fleet up that you thought maybe you could take with more number added to your own. The capitols were fun in the early days when you rarely saw them except at a station. Then the Cap Race began, and unfortunately with the number of them growing and particularly in our (Minmatar) favor. Then the good ol’ fashioned fleet fights just died. The addition of the supers made cap pilots afraid to bring them out, then it became about both sides baiting the others caps. I don’t mind the use of caps so much, but the use of neutral parties is lame. This is supposed to be militia against militia. Which by definition isn’t using super powered other parties. It’s supposed to be people from all walks of life thrown together for one common goal. Mainly, beat the other side. In short would love to see supers and titans for 0.0 only and let the dreads and carriers do what they do in low sec. I also miss the fights with a carrier or two on each side that kept us shipping over and over for the course of an hour that the fight lasted. Then the caps from the side that held field would eventually take the loosing sides caps. That’s my two cents but, I am not a cap pilot for the previously listed reason. There just got to be too many.” Dagren Darius

“In every militia you have corps referred to as mega-corps. These are the largest most active corps and generally the ones fielding Carriers to remote rep. However these mega-corps come and go as they swell their numbers recruiting from the militia before heading off to 0.0. In the Caldari militia we have not had consistent use of cap ships in fleet battles. They are used to capture bunkers from time to time, most recently when Damar Rocarian lead joint Caldari / Amarr militia operation to re-capture Harroule from the Gallente. That battle, which was mostly unopposed can be found here .” RueTiron, Caldari

***

“I wish capitals were used more to be honest. The only capitals I have ever really seen is a couple of hotdrops, and a triage carrier once or twice. I would like to see some actual capital fleet fights take place, but it probably wont happen since they are so expensive, and people are to afraid to lose their ships.” Jendryk Epsilon, Caldari

“Most of us love FW for the purpose of ship size. What started as a frig only warfare, has just the tendency to be BC and below warfare. Which is a fair circumstance to veterans and new players. When I found FW, I thought this what the game should have been from the start.

If CCP wanted to institute a new rule for super caps only in 0.0 I wouldn’t blink. It would be a good move.

In all I think it would be better if CCP would do more for FW. Like allied FW colors for our overview instead of just having to rely on a miltia column. More incentives overall by CCP should be arranged. It’s just a good pvp life to be in when you like <30M SPs. IMO. They should be encouraging FW more. And making sure outside super cap help wasn’t allowed would help.” Intaki Kauyon, Gallente

***

“Caps and Supercaps have their place. In lowsec, station gamers and hotdroppers. In nullsec, carebears and lagfest battles. In faction warfare, I feel supercaps are extremely undervalued, and the fact we never see them is they are so overpriced. Furthermore, we have a limited supply of pilots that can fly them. Sure, dreadnaughts have their place. We use them on occasion to bash a POS or ROFLstomp some one’s carrier, but the only real mainstay of a Gallente cap fleet is the carrier.

A carrier can make or break a large fleet battle. You have to know when to drop one, and when not to. The carrier is largely a support ship, as any experienced EVE gamer knows. Repair your fleet and keep the fight alive, allowing the decay of the enemy fleet over time. But if used in the wrong situation, a carrier loss can make your fleet’s losses double and pretty much dishearten the gang.

Gallente does not use many capital ships. As our numbers dwindle and available pilots have been in decline, we do however, see more and more pilots stepping up to the plate with their cap ships. I have been in faction warfare a good while, and since I have gotten here I have seen the face of the game change a lot. Gallente pilots right now feel the walls closing in all around us, with every flashy red noob gate camper banding together and banding with the squids, with increased squid numbers and decreased Gallente numbers, with occasional Amarr roams down to gallente space and an apparent lack of interest to help from Minmatar militia, and lastly (run on sentence), a plexing hotbed of drama from hell. Yeah, I’d say cap warfare in Gallente militia is just starting to heat up.” Saidra Whitewolf, Gallente

Gallente & Minmatar Capitals Surprise Caldari

Author: Eran Mintor

In the early hours of July 16th, Caldari and Gallente forces in the Sujarento and Tama systems engaged multiple times on the star-gates between the two systems. Beginning in Tama, Gallente mustered a shield-battleship gang, fit for range and kiting who were met by a similar Caldari force. The majority of the Caldari fleet consisted of shield-battlecrusiers, which engaged the Gallente for approximately 30 minutes in Tama. ( Tama Battle report)

After he initial engagement, Gallente forces withdrew to the Sujarento gate and jumped out. The Caldari fleet pursued, managing to pick off a few tempests on the other side who failed to take range with the rest of their fleet.

The engagement continued in Sujarento, where the Caldari eventually got a warp-in onto the middle of the Gallente range-fleet, allowing them a clear opportunity to engage within their optimal ranges. As the Caldari dropped out of warp on top of the battleship fleet, a cyno appeared on overview; Gallente had called in capital support.

Shortly after the cyno was lit, a Gallente capital fleet of carriers arrived in Sujarento to assist in the fighting. By this point, most of the Gallente sub-capital fleet had been destroyed and the Caldari were working on mopping up the rest of their support fleet. Once the support was gone, they turned onto the capitals.

However, most of the Gallente capitals had managed to warp off; all except for the carrier pilot ‘texocyo’ who was getting hammered by the Caldari fleet. As texocyo’s carrier dropped into half-hull, the remainder of the Gallente carriers warped back ontop of him and began to repair the damage he had sustained. Soon, a new cyno was lit and more support came in to assist the Gallente; this time Minmatar capitals were on field as well, adding more carriers and dreadnaughts to the fight.

With climbing losses on both sides, the Caldari struggled to hold the field while waiting for additional support to come to their aid. A neutral fleet friendly to the Caldari arrived, but was soon destroyed and unable to assist in the main fighting. Eventually the Caldari had to retreat, both sides neither at a clear advantage but unable to do much to the other.

After the battle, Gunnyt31 of the Caldari militia claimed a tactical victory against the larger Gallente/Minmatar fleet, which in the end consisted of at least 7 carriers and 3 dreadnaughts. The Gallente did not contest this statement but continue to find ways to surprise their enemies.

Sujarento Battle Reports:

Caldari
Gallente

Interview: Galdornae

How long have you been playing EVE? Is Galdornae your first character?
I’ve been playing eve since the summer of 2008. Gald is my first character, and for quite a while my only character, until I started a second account and created the now-omnipresent Corax Lorn. Not that I have an alt, I’m more or less addicted, and he’s always watching. If you see Corax around the 24th station in huola, I’m probably ready to undock 1700dps of hyperion onto your face.

When and why did you first join FW?

The first player corp I joined was mostly a mission/mining corp, but they also happened to be enrolled in FW. A week or so in I took, my missioning caracal and joined a small Amarr fleet, subsequently we got into a fight and I died in a fire, but I had a lot of fun doing so, and I knew I would be back to pvp before too long.

How many Factions have you joined? Briefly explain each faction and what made you decide to fly for them?

At this point I’ve been in every militia except the Gallente (who fit sensors boosters for killmail whoring instead of useful combat mods and will undock 10 BCs to fight 2 frigates on a gate). The Amarr was where I started, and where I’ve had a lot of good times.

Shortly after becoming active in the Amarr militia I joined Gunship Diplomacy, and we were for a time, the top player corp in all of FW, by kills. Once it became harder to get fights, Gunship moved to Caldari for a time with mixed results. After a few months hiatus, I joined Dake’s corp and we spearheaded Locus Industries as something of a gunship 2.0, which was, by some measures, even more successful that gunship.

After that too trickled off I joined Caldari again briefly where I got bored enough to basically say screw it, I’m joining the Minmatar. Having flown against those guys extensively and largely gotten along with them, it’s worked out pretty well thus far.

What is your most memorable experience in FW?

Certainly there’s been quite a few, and the highlights generally involve caps. The first big one was my first carrier kill, smog’s cap booster fit triage carrier, and the surrounding fight:
http://www.amarr-empire.net/killboard/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=38898.

The other big one was “The Kamela Fight” which was essentially the high of Locus’ success, seen here:
http://www.amarr-empire.net/killboard/?a=kill_related&kll_id=162263.

Oh, and the three hours of vent-trolling Undertovv following this:
http://www.amarr-empire.net/killboard/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=93660. Oh Tovvy, don’t ever change.

Do you participate in plexing and system capturing? Do you even think it is a worthwhile endeavor?

FW plexes are, in my opinion, one of the worst mechanics in eve (wait, can I say this or am I suppose be like, in character for this or something?)

But anyway, they’re pretty useless, given that occupancy means absolutely nothing. The only good thing about them is that sometimes fights can happen in and around them, and as anyone who knows me at all knows, I’m in FW for the fights. Shooting things in the face > roleplay.

What would you like to see changed about FW?

Overall I think FW is a great part of eve. It provides an easy place to get some pretty fun pvp. If I had to change something I’d probably want to see FW plexes provide LP to those closing them, so that players would have a more significant interest in capturing them, making them more relevent again.

What do you think about super caps in FW?

I think supercaps in lowsec in general are probably the worst thing in eve to me. Some of my favorite moments in eve have been regular cap fights, with one or two carriers on each side. These days in FW however, both sides are terrified of the other side’s supers, or supercap contacts, that no one really wants to drop regular caps much anymore. I think this is a shame. My proposed fix to this would simply be to not allow fighter bombers to be launched in lowsec. This would go a low way toward removing the constant danger of some alliance dropping 20 moms on your carrier and I think it would be a big improvement toward allowing a larger segment of the eve population to enjoy their personal highest-class ships again.

Earlier this year, Locus (former Amarrian corporation) were involved in inter-militia wardecs. What is your opinion on corporations who fight within their own militia?

I think, largely, a lot of people in FW a little too caught up in who is on whose side. At locus we were elitist douches who liked shooting everything. At the core of our wardecs, none of them were really personal, we were just getting bored with what we could get against the Minmatar. Also intra-militia wardecs can create some very entertaining drama-bombs, so for that reason alone then come Gald-Approved. And the personally butt-hurt ventrage of one Cydak was probably worth all the decs alone. Oh and trolling Cryloud. Anyone remember that guy? He was known for his Autocannon harbingers and for living up to his character name to the fullest extent.

In a previous article, Wendi Wu made the claim that you are one of the few Minmatar who will fight against the odds. Do you think that is a fair statement about both you and the Minmatar blobbing?

Well certainly throughout my entire EvE carear I’ve spent a lot of time flying solo, and as we all know that can quite often lead to somewhat stacked numbers against the solo player. So yes, I guess it’s fair to say that I do fight against the odds, in that doing so is something of a requirement when soloing in such a crowded area. As far as the Minmatar blobbing? Sure, of course they do, but let’s be honest, who in eve doesn’t?

From my experience on several different sides in FW, I really wouldn’t say that the Minmatar really blob more than anyone else. It make seem like it sometimes in the UZ timezone, but it’s mostly just a matter of who has better activity and when. Consider the advantage the Nephblobs generally have of minmatar dayfleet for example.

What advice would you give to someone who is just coming into FW?

Fly lots of t1 ships to start off. Get a big stack of frigates or cruisers and throw them at anything that moves until you get an idea of what you can take and what you can’t. Always do this with ships you can afford to lose, because of course the first rule of pvp in EvE is to only fly when you can afford to lose. One other place I’ve seen a lot fo new pilots go wrong is when they rush into flying battleships too soon. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to strap on bigger guns. A well skilled and fit battlecruiser is much more useful that a poorly skilled/fit battleship.

Thank you for your time. Any parting thoughts?

I’ve answered most of these questions in a fairly serious fashion, so I will throw in the following obligatory smack/trolls:

Ramingo: U ded bro.
Eran: I hear AFKpocs are all the rage, could you please explain the strategy behind them to me?
Pocketrockets: WTS Vagabond. Also primaries are cool mkay?
Locus 4 Life (wait, which side am I on now?)

Interview: Almity, Amarrian FC

Thanks for agreeing to this interview.
Thank you for asking me to do it!

How long have you been playing EVE?
I first started playing EVE a few years ago with a long break in the middle. I started playing again last fall after a friend told me he played.

What other aspects of the game have you tried other than militia?
I’ve tried mission running and mining but they were just for making isk. Pirating may also have been tried a time or two.

When and why did you first join FW? 
I joined FW last fall when I returned to EVE. A small group of friends and I were looking for steady PVP action that we could do as a small corp. FW seemed like the best option.

What made you choose to fly with Amarr over the other militias?
It was a choice between Caldari and Amarr. Since my friends and I were based in the Amarr area we decided that Amarr Militia was the best choice. I think we picked the right one.

What is your most memorable experience in militia so far?
There has been a lot of great experiences for me in the Militia. If I had to pick one it would be the Amarr/PL vs Minmatar/Dark Rising fight in Auga back in January. Getting my first Capital kills was a great thing. It also opened my eyes to how truly huge EVE is. I had never seen that kind of numbers or fire power before and I was kind of dumbstruck.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of militia? What do you think CCP should change about FW?
My favorite thing has to be knowing most nights there is a fight to be had. Having an enemy living two jumps away is a great thing when you love to blow stuff up. My least favorite thing would be plexing if its not to get a fight. Sitting on a button for twenty minutes is a horrible thing. If CCP were to change anything I would ask for a better reward for plexing. Even a small reward of isk would make it much more appealing.

What do you think about the use of alt spies, neutral alts for bonuses, and outside cap support?
I fully understand the neutral spies part of faction war. It is almost a necessity to make sure your not leading your fleet into a trap. The use of neutral boosters and logi is very different in my opinion. Put them in militia if you are going to use them in fleets. Non-militia cap support is fine in most cases but if you have the capitals you need to do the job in militia then stick with them. If you are facing a far superior force then pick up the bat phone.

What do you consider the hardest part of being a new FC in militia?
Intel. Even with eyes and spies its very easy to loose track of a fleet or know if what is on the other side of a gate is there entire fleet. Lack of good intel kills fleets faster than anything else.

What kinds of fleets do you most prefer to FC?
Battle-cruiser and down. They are pretty much the bread and butter of both militia’s and they are very versatile. I prefer armor gangs but I will not hesitate going shield if the situation calls for it. I also enjoy running destroyer and frig roaming fleets but Shalee won’t let me most nights.

What kind of advice would you give for the up-and-coming FCs?
You will loose! I had a hard time excepting that at first and I think it hurt my FCing. Once you get over that you will be able to concentrate on the fight at hand better. When I first started to FC I was more worried about not getting people killed than getting kills. Unfortunately you will loose ships even in most victories.

Thank you for your time. Any parting thoughts?
We have had some nice somewhat balanced fights recently. Lets keep it that way!

Late Night Skirmish In Auga

7-12

After a mostly uneventful night around the Amarr-Minmatar war zone, the evening ended with a surprising turn of events in Auga as Minmatar pilot Bahamut420 undocked from the Auga VIII- M2- Republic Fleet Assembly Plant, commonly known as Auga 3rd, in an Archon.

Amarrian station campers immediately went for the bump as two battleships undocked, accompanying the Ice Fire Warrior’s CEO into battle.

Dolmant was reported to have undocked in an Archon as Bahamut went into triage, followed by several other Minmatar pilots.

The Amarr countered, cynoing in Predator Elite’s Revelation’s as the rest of Amarr scrambled to form up, bringing in an assortment of neuting and dps battleships.

Predator went into siege on Bahamut though the Amarr failed to break his tank.

The fighting ended with several Minmatar losses, Amarr holding the field, though the battle report shows a combined loss of over six billion, with the Minmatar winning the ISK battle.

Notable losses include Amarrian pilot, RTSAvalance’s Bhaalgorn and Minmatar’s Delphaus’s Moros.