TRS - Fitting Discussion: Shield Gank Cruisers

If you have read my previous two fitting discussions, then you'll know that I'm a bit of a fan of brawling ships. I promise that for my next installment I'll write about something else than a brawler, but before that I would like to introduce you to the top end of shield-tanked facemelting T1 cruiser DPS: The Moa and the Thorax.

Yes, you read that correctly. The Thorax as full on DPS shield-tank brawler. It looks like this:

[Thorax, Shield Ganker]
Damage Control II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Large Shield Extender II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Warp Scrambler II

Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Void M

Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I

There is nothing subtle to this ship. With your Nanofiber Internal Structure and your Microwarpdrive, you achieve speeds at which you can outrun some frigates. You use that to charge your enemy, hold them with the warp scrambler and beat them down with blasters. I have left drones out of the setup because they are really up to you. You can use some damage drones, but a flight of Vespa EC-600 drones are also not a bad idea in case you need to break the lock of someone pointing you. Honestly, you don't need much extra damage anyway. This ship can achieve up to 540 DPS with good weapon skills and volley damage in excess of 1300. With a handful of such Thoraxes warping in on an enemy, you will blow things up quickly.

There are shield Vexor fits that can have more DPS than this Thorax, but when it comes to directly applied raw damage, nothing in the same ship class outperforms the Thorax except one, the Moa:

[Moa, Blaster Moa]
Damage Control II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Stasis Webifier II
Warp Scrambler II
Large Shield Extender II

Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Void M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Void M

Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I 

Because the Moa has a naturally higher shield capacity and resist, you can get away with fitting less defense and still get more effective hitpoints than the Thorax. While the Thorax is not bad at all with it's 22-23K EHP, the Moa can easily get 25-29K depending on your skills. With tank in the same range, you can free up a rig slot which makes it possible to put that Ancillary Current Router there and fit Neutron Blasters, and then things get really nasty. Now we are talking DPS of up to 570 and volley damage of almost 1700 maximum.

If you like more heavily tanked stuff, stick to Ion Blasters and put an extra Defense Field Extender on there instead. This will push your effective hitpoints well beyond the 30K mark but you do sacrifice about 30DPS and a significant amount of volley damage. You will still have the same damage output as the Thorax. So when comparing the two ships on the tank/gank scale, the Moa can either have better EHP and much higher damage than the Thorax, or it can have similar damage and much stronger tank than the other ship. 

The Moa has one significant disadvantage when compared to the Thorax: It's speed. At comparable skill levels, the Moa will be a good 600m/s slower than the Thorax. Closing in on fast targets will definitely be more difficult, so it's better to have a ship like this warp in at close range and start shooting. To prevent the opponent from pulling range, you fit that webifier in the midslot. This serves a second purpose too: The Moa lacks the tracking bonus of the Thorax, so you will need a way to prevent your opponent from running circles around you and avoid most of the incoming damage. When it comes to drones, the same goes for the Moa as for the Thorax: ECM can be more useful here than damage.

Variations of both fits exist which substitute Tracking Enhancers for Magnetic Field Stabilizers to get more range and make sure you can hit your target for full damage more often. Personally, I am not sure whether that matters much if you are close and always stay fixed on your opponent instead of orbiting them. Also, the Thorax has a built-in tracking bonus already.

In the end, I didn't call those ships shield gankers for nothing. They are not built for fancy maneuvering but for warping in on a target and blowing them to bits as quickly as possible. One caveat for both: Stay away from opponents with energy neutralizers. They will quickly shut your propulsion, your resistance and your turrets down. Again ECM drones can save your life in that case.

Have fun blowing up things.

TRS: Enaluri 2103

Yesterday Friday the 21st of March, the Faction Warfare system of Enaluri was the site of a large fight escalating from cruisers to capitals and finally to supercapitals. It involved several different parties and made for an interesting story. I am not attempting to write a complete and concise battle report here, but rather a single Gallente Militia line pilot's perspective. As a consequence, the following can contain inaccuracies and bias.

The beginning

Gallente Militia is currently in a state of resurgence. After a recently successful campaign to recapture the Placid system of Oicx, our military command had set it's sights on Enaluri in Black Rise. I had just listened in to our CEO instructing a new pilot when the call came to join a cruiser fleet to go fight for system control. I was a few jumps away but got into my trusty Vexor to join the fray. While listening to the coms channel I became witness of a change in plans. The Caldari weren't putting up much of a fight, but the notorious outlaws of Balkan Express were showing up in Enaluri with a fleet of Legions and Guardians. Our intelligence officers also reported that the BALEX Titan pilot was online, and so we expected a possible escalation. While I was in transit, a call went out for heavier ships.

Now, I am a low skillpoint character and flying HACs, T3s or even Battleships is beyond my reach for now, so I just kept on course while more powerful militia capsuleers prepared to commit everything up to capital ships. We went for the fight and jumped in a Thanatos and an Archon for support while trying to destroy the enemy logistics at the Enaluri - Hallanen gate. To our surprise, BALEX did not stay and fight, but rather chose to leave the field after the loss of only one Guardian logistics ship.

An unexpected turn of events

Considering what was to come, I have to wonder whether they knew something we did not. In any case, our cruiser fleet FC commanded us to follow the fleeing BALEX force into Hallanen. Our carriers prepared to extract themselves and we jumped through the gate. But then the unexpected happened: One of our carriers got pointed by another enemy ship that seemed to have come out of nowhere. The pilot of that ship lit a cynosural field and within seconds we had a very different fight on our hands: Snuffbox jumped in a fleet of carriers, dreadnoughts and battleships. Seeing no other choice if they wanted to get their carrier out, Sicarius Draconis, Blackfox Marauders and Monkeys with Guns counterdropped with militia capitals to fight Snuffbox.

Nobody wants to stand by on the other side of a gate while militia brothers and sisters are fighting and dying, so our FC ordered us to jump through and attack the battleships. Very soon it became clear that we could not break through the carrier reps that the enemy battleships received, but the onslaught from our own heavy weapons platforms did force Snuffbox carriers to enter triage and their dreads to go for siege mode. Since that made the enemy capital ships incapable of receiving repairs, our FC ordered us to primary them to support our own.

A third party and a fourth

It was a pretty even fight with our militia forces being at a slight advantage when Sniggwaffles warped in with a fleet of sniper Nagas. Quickly militia diplomatic operatives were scrambled to convince Sniggwaffles to shoot at Snuffbox rather than us. It worked only to some degree. Having no affiliation with either side, they spread fire among all targets of opportunity. With at least some firepower added to our cause, Snuffbox got put on the back foot and began to lose both carriers and dreads. They decided to escalate further in an effort to hold the field. Nyx supercapitals were dropped into the fight and now things began to look grim for us

The situation became even more dire when yet another group appeared on the battlefield: Pandemic Legion with their infamous supercapital force dropped in. They opened fire on both Gallente Militia and Snuffbox with an overwhelming force of approximately 30 Nyxes and Aeons supported by a contingent of Slowcats and their Sniggwaffles affiliates. The system hit heavy TiDi and PL prevailed. Nothing on the field could withstand such firepower.

Everyone who could, did their best to get out of there. I myself almost died to a smartbomb on my way through the gate to the adjacent system of Nennamaila. None of our capital ships made it out of there alive. When we collected our losses, we had fared better than Snuffbox, losing less capitals and other ships. Pandemic Legion - however - turned what could possibly have been a narrow victory for our side into a route of our forces.

In retrospect

While I have lived in nullsec for most of my EVE life and am no stranger to large fleet fights, this was definitely the largest one I have seen since I resubscribed and lived in lowsec. The development of the fight from the seed of a usual skirmish with Caldari Militia to a fight against outlaws and then into a capital brawl certainly was a special experience that is much different from the large nullsec fights which tend to occur around timers. I can only thank all involved parties for a great fight and I'm happy to now have one Vindicator and six capship killmails on my name ... I even got into the top 25 damage dealers for most of them with my little Vexor.

Good fights all around.

Edit: As of today, 2203, Enaluri is Gallente

TRS: Fitting Discussion - Atron, Btron, Ctron

The last time I discussed a ship that is definitely not something for the new players among us. This time I want to do the exact opposite. Once there was a time when every newbie was told to train for a Rifter if they wanted to PVP. Thanks to CCP Rise, Fozzie and Ytterbium those days are behind us and every race now has decent attack frigates for beginners.

The Gallente version of that ship type is the Atron.

In my discussion of this nasty little bugger I am going to start with one of those counterintuitive fits. A shield-tanked Atron. Here is the option for really new players with low fitting skills.

[Atron, Shield Atron]

Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Emergency Damage Control I

Medium Subordinate Screen Stabilizer I
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

Anode Light Neutron Particle Cannon I, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
Anode Light Neutron Particle Cannon I, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
Anode Light Neutron Particle Cannon I, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
[Empty High slot]

Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I

And here is a version for maximized fitting skills (especially when it comes to CPU). If you lack the CPU, a meta level Damage Control will also work.

[Atron, Shield Atron Highskill]

Micro Auxiliary Power Core II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core II
Damage Control II

Medium Subordinate Screen Stabilizer I
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

Light Neutron Blaster II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
[Empty High slot]

Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I

While this is easy to train for, it comes with a bit of a manual. Your ship is a short-range brawler. Outside of the warp-scrambler range of approximately 8km you are useless, and above 5km you do negligible damage. The idea is to use the Microwarpdrive to get close to the target quickly. That poses it's own problem. The combination of active MWD and the shield tank will make your signature the size of a battleship. While the MWD is running you can be locked in a second by another frigate (as opposed to two seconds without). You will also be easier to hit. That makes it advisable to not fly straight at your target but rather in a spiral course, but you are dependent on closing range fast or your enemy might escape and hit you from distance. In short, you will have to do some manual piloting. Then again, your ship is fast. Even with mediocre propulsion skills you will reach speeds of above 3000m/s. Top speed at max skills is 3700m/s. Your speed can also work as a factor to mitigate incoming damage.

The fact that you need to get some practice at manual piloting makes a fit like this rather difficult for the fledgeling solo pilot, but I can only encourage you to try. Where it really works well is in a small fleet. If your opponents can not shoot down all the buzzing little Atrons at the same time, some of them will get in range, and then the enemy will be in trouble. With volley damage in the mid to high 300 range and DPS between approximately 130 and 150 a squad of those ships can create a lot of problems for larger ships. One very important thing to remember is to turn off your MWD as soon as you are close enough to be in your optimal range (at or below 1km).

So much for that. now I want to introduce you to a very different kind of Atron:

[Atron, Plex Camper]
Damage Control II
200mm Reinforced Steel Plates II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Limited 1MN Afterburner I
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
Warp Scrambler II

Light Electron Blaster II, Void S
Light Electron Blaster II, Void S
Light Electron Blaster II, Void S
5W Infectious Power System Malfunction

Small Trimark Armor Pump I
Small Trimark Armor Pump I
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I

In many ways this one is the exact opposite of the shield Atron. It is slow, but it has a very low signature radius (increasing enemy lock speed and reducing incoming damage). It has pitiful volley damage, but the DPS is higher. It is not designed to get into range with an enemy, but to make sure an enemy doesn't get away and then blast them at short range. Because you have weaker guns, overheating them will almost be a must here, but beware to not burn out your neutralizer.

This ship setup is best suited for camping faction warfare plexes. You can sit inside a plex right at the warp beacon so anybody who comes in will end up right in front of your guns. Your web and scram are there to keep them from pulling away and your energy neutralizer will disable active tanking (except ancillary shield boosters) and everything else active (like lasers or hybrid turrets, or a warp disruptor/scrambler). You can run that neutralizer for quite some time, long enough to prevail in a 1v1 fight. Actually it can even help you escape by neuting out the enemy's capacity to hold a point on you (I can attest to that from experience).

The main downside of this ship is, that it is rather specialized. For example, you better not take a fight against anything that does not use capacitor for guns (Like Minmatar ships or Caldari/Amarr missile boats) Targets that are likely to run an Ancillary Shield Booster are also a bit problematic because you might lack the damage output to bring their regenerating buffer down. On the other hand, since you will be avoiding ships with selectable damage types, you can actually get away with not plugging that explosive hole. You will not be able to take all possible fights, but then again, knowing which ships you do want to fight and which ones you don't is actually a good thing for solo work. Unfortunately if your opponent gets help that usually means you are screwed.

Because this is a fit for a very clear purpose and a simple tactic, it is well suited for the beginning pilot. The fit shown needs mid-range skills, but you can easily manage it if you do not use T2 modules.

When you fly with friends, this Atron can also be a really nasty tackler for an armor frigate fleet if you fit it with a Micro Auxiliary Power Core and a Microwarpdrive like this:

[Armor tackle]
Damage Control II
200mm Reinforced Steel Plates II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core II

1MN Microwarpdrive I
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
Warp Scrambler II

Light Ion Blaster II, Void S
Light Ion Blaster II, Void S
Light Ion Blaster II, Void S
5W Infectious Power System Malfunction

Small Trimark Armor Pump I
Small Trimark Armor Pump I
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I

There are of course other possibilities and variations both for the shield and the armor fit. What that shows nicely is the versatility of the Atron. It may not be a particularly strong ship, but the possibilities it offers can keep your enemy guessing.

Blog Banter 54 - The Definition of a Hero

I have not written anything here in quite some time, and my latest story is still stuck at the cliffhanger before the final confrontation. But rejoice! There is a Blog Banter to contribute to. Here is the premise:

Do classic heroes exist in EVE? Is such heroism even possible in EVE? How would you go about being one without opening yourself wide open to scams? Is the nature of the game so dark that heroes can't exist? How do you deal with that irony? What effect does this have on us and the psyche of new players coming in from other MMOs? Is it something special that we don't have classic heroes, or should we? Are our non classic heroes more genuine?

And I would add to this, who have we elevated to the level of larger than life heroes ourselves in the game, and do they actually deserve it?

Do you know what the definition of a hero is? Someone who gets other people killed. - Zoe, Serenity

Drackarn at Sand, Cider and Spaceships argues that there are no heroes in EVE. Capsuleers are all mass murderers and even the best among them have countless deaths to account for. At first glance he is not wrong. Clearly New Eden is a world of Black and Gray morality. In such a world, heroes are not necessarily nice people, though. As a matter of fact, the idea that heroes are morally impeccable, or even always doing the right thing, is not one that has always applied.

Quite fittingly for my argument, the question asked in the Blog Banter itself refers to the concept of the Classic Hero. Many of those were actually tragic figures doomed to untimely deaths and bound to cause tragedy and despair despite - or sometimes because of - doing heroic things: Oedipus unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother who commits suicide upon realizing what had happened. He gouges his own eyes out.
Heracles kills his own children in a fit of madness and in another similar episode murders a whole royal family when the King breaks his promise to let Heracles wed his daughter. The guy also commits quite a few scams to achieve his famous twelve labours ... basically he's gaming the system in a very EVE-like way.
Odysseus - upon his return from Troy - slaughters all the suitors of his wife who have taken residence in his house, and then he has all the female servants who slept with any one of them hanged.
Jason scams the king of Colchis and runs off with the Golden Fleece and the king's daughter, whom he betrays later to marry another woman for political gain. Speaking of that daughter, Medea: She helps Jason betray her father, kills her own brother to cover their escape and tricks the daughters of a king to cut their father to pieces. To round it all off she kills the girl that Jason marries instead of her and also the two children she had with Jason.


The list of examples like that could go on to cover almost all the heroes of classical Greek myth. Things were not so black-and-white at all in those stories.

Looking at it from that position, New Eden definitely has it's heroes. The Mittani is a hero for Goonswarm. He was instrumental in bringing down their arch enemy and then in the buildup of the largest and most prosperous empire currently in existence. Elo Knight is a hero because he tirelessly leads Black Legion's fleets to victory after victory, often against superiour forces. The same can be said for the great FCs of Pandemic Legion and NC. Makalu Zarya once was a hero who lead Against All Authorities in an epic but doomed defense of their homeland. In classic hero fashion he then abandoned them after a bitter failure. Progodlegend was there for the same heroic defense that Nulli Secunda lost, just like -A-, and he remained a leader throughout the time that Nulli Secunda rebuilt and returned to be a major power in nullsec again, leading up to the largest fight ever in gaming history.

... and then there is Chribba, but Chribba is not a hero, he is a saint. See the difference?

Indeed, New Eden's player-generated narrative is full of heroes in the classical sense. Heroes with all their dark sides, their tragedies and failings who do indeed get people killed. It doesn't even have to be those larger-than-life alliance leaders and fleet commanders. The wormhole pilot who collapses a hole at the loss of her own ship to lock out part of an invading force. The Interdictor pilots who know that they will be primaried but make sure that the rest of the fleet can beat a bubbled enemy. The logistics people who keep large alliances alive risking their immensely expensive jump freighters on a regular basis. All of them are heroes in the sense of the classical definition.

Heroic deeds just usually do involve lots of bloodshed and tragedy as well.

TRS - Fitting discussion: The Shield Enyo

I have often heard about the power of the Enyo, but never really managed to come up with a fit for the ship that convinced me. When I joined Gallente Militia, I noticed the popularity of the shield tanked Enyo and so I looked into that possibility, and then I realized what the whole thing was about: Full-on frontloaded damage; a brawling ship from hell.

So, why shield tank a Gallente ship? Isn't that counter-intuitive? At first glance it sure is, but look again. Just as shield tank competes with tackle and EWAR in the mids, Armor tank competes with damage mods in the lows. When you have a ship with almost even slot layout between low and mid slots, then it is worth considering a shield tank to maximize your damage, except if tackle or EWAR is your designated role for the ship. When it comes to tanking an Enyo with shields, there is also another interesting aspect: Your absolute hitpoint distribution will be very close to equal between shield, armour and structure. That makes it less simple to choose one resistance hole over another with this ship. Most shield tanked ships will be practically dead once their shield is gone, but the Enyo will still be able to fight ... even when it is in structure.

Word of caution, that ship is not something you can fit easily - newbies beware. Even with maximum skills, you will run out of CPU very quickly. That is the main drawback of the Enyo: comparatively low CPU. Shield tank needs a lot of that, unfortunately.

So here is a fit that I can manage with the non-maxed skills on my Faction Warfare character:

[Enyo, Shield Enyo Neutron]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Internal Force Field Array I
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Initiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction

Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
[empty high slot]

Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I

With such a setup you will have an Assault Frigate that outguns many ships in it's class at close range. The ship that it compares most directly to is the Harpy, which is also a hybrid turret/shield tank Assault Frigate. The Harpy will easily out-tank and out-range the Enyo, but at comparable DPS (when fit with blasters) it will have significantly lower volley damage. Since Gallente ships accelerate very quickly, the ability of the Enyo to close range is very impressive, and it needs to be. With the short range of both guns and the meta level warp scrambler (which is necessary or else you wont have the CPU to fit the ship) your first prerogative in any fight is to close range. Once you are there the damage output of this ship excels in it's very high volley damage while still retaining good DPS.

Speaking of DPS, there is an alternative to Neutron Blasters when it comes to the Enyo, and that will actually increase your DPS significantly while sacrificing range, speed and volley damage.

[Enyo, Shield Enyo Ion]
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Internal Force Field Array I
Beta Reactor Control: Reaction Control I

Initiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction

Light Ion Blaster II, Void S
Light Ion Blaster II, Void S
Light Ion Blaster II, Void S
Light Ion Blaster II, Void S
[empty high slot]

Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I

Mind you, this fit is not possible without a 3% CPU increase implant. If you are in Faction Warfare like me, you will be able to afford one very easily through LP. While the Neutron Blaster Enyo shines mostly because of it's high volley damage, this variant impresses with it's DPS which can get close to 400 with added damage from a single drone. It also has a bit more EHP because it lacks the Nanofiber Internal Structure (which costs structure hitpoints). On the other hand, your speed suffers, but not very much so. You will still be faster than a good part of assault frigates out there except, of course, the Minmatar ones.

"So which one is better?" You might ask. As usual, the answer is "That depends." Because of it's stronger volley damage, the Neutron Blaster variant is better at breaking through an active tank. Because of it's high DPS the Ion Blaster variant is better against buffer tanked targets. Ion Blasters have better tracking too, so you increase your damage potential against fast ships or in case you need to defend against drones. On the other hand, the Neutron Blasters have higher range, so you will be able to apply damage earlier, and your ability to get on top of the target is better too.

The main argument that can be made for one over the other is the fact that the Neutron Blaster variant can be fit without having maximum skills and/or implants. The Ion Blaster version really needs every fitting skill at V and even then you lack CPU.

See you in the warzone.

TRS - Brave Newbie's Crucible

I guess everybody who isn't living under a rock of Veldspar has heard that Brave Newbies have formed a coalition with Test Alliance and Spaceship Samurai. In the week since that announcement, the new coalition has deployed to Southern space and began pestering -A- and "The Russians".

BNI very much takes the role of senior partner in that new coalition. They have taken the initiative, they are the most dynamic and fresh of the three groups and they have chosen the location for the deployment.

When I listen to their spokespeople, I hear them declaring wholeheartedly that they have no intention to play "the big boy's sov game" and that they don't care about politics or all that serious spaceship business. "Keep it Classy" and "Fun per Hour" still remain their motto, but can they sustain that when they jump into the shark pool of sov null head first?

It is often said that things you do in EVE will stay with you and might eventually come back to bite you in the ass. BNI and their HERO coalition might want to stay away from the sov metagame; but the question is: Will the sov metagame stay away from them?

The members of the current powerblocs will have their own agenda and their own manipulative tactics to deal with the happily rampaging force that HERO coalition is now. What remains of N3 seem like they might try and use HERO coalition as a meatshield while they retaliate against the "Russians" in the South. Providence is probably also happy to get some relief from the pressure that the resurging -A- have put on them. The CFC seems to stay out of it for now, but I would be surprised if the higher-ups aren't already preparing plans on how to deal with that new force of chaos. No matter how much the Goonswarm leaders of CFC like to pretend that they are a force of chaos, they do not like things that are out of control. The last thing that the CFC leadership want is a magnet for every new or old player who wants to mess up nullsec. They can deal with the elite-pvp crowd of N3 and PL, or the Eastern European alliances which mostly remain an enclave players from a real-world region, but another mass movement with a strong motivating factor is not what they want around messing with their painstakingly built empire.

Already the "friendly warnings" abound. Mostly in the form of "concerned" commentators who warn about getting in bed with TEST. While I believe that the BNI council has the best intentions, I agree, that warning is not to be taken too lightly. First of all, there are certainly parts of the TEST membership who have a very strong "Grrr Goons" attitude and they might want to use HERO coalition as a vehicle to focus that into an actual campaign yet again. The other thing is, Goons and the CFC have beaten TEST and they will want to make sure that they stay down. I am sure that even now there are still enough CFC spies embedded within TEST to make sure it stays like that. HERO coalition would suffer if the CFC decided to move against them because of TEST.

The final and most insidious threat that BNI face is that of possible success. What if they really make it big? What if they really do manage to carve out an area of nullsec space for themselves and become - as the saying goes - relevant? Will the leaders be able to resist the egotripping that has turned other alliances of wild-eyed marauders into bureaucratic nightmares blinded by ISK and shackled by metagaming rules?

I hope it will never come to this. To quote "The Dark Knight": You either die a HERO or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

I certainly don't wish BNI and HERO coalition to die - I loved fighting with them and against them in Placid - but I sure as hell hope they don't become the CFC of tomorrow.

Let chaos reign!