The Most Valuable Resource In Eve

If you were to ask the average Eve player what is the most valuable resource in all of Eve? It would be curious to see what response you would get. I'm sure many would immediately propose that is was Technetium and its derivatives or other rare moon goo. Some may suggest that certain Null Sec regions with good ratting belts, DED sites, and anomalies are the most valuable. Others may argue that expensive or powerful ships are the most valuable.

My answer to that question would be simple, its the players and pilots themselves, the Human resource. Without active pilots no Alliance could achieve any of its goals. In the current state of the game, the success of any one battle usually rests with the side that can rally the most troops. This has almost always been the case in real world history also. Sure, technology advantages can act as force multiplier, as well as disciplined training, and tactics. But given an equally equipped and motivated force those with greater numbers and resources usually prevail thru attrition. In Eve the technology gap is not very small, even between a Drake and Tengu, its not enough to prevail with significantly fewer numbers. The success of CFC and HBC are testament to that. Aside from just the combat potential of a large membership, there is also the scaled wealth generation both for the alliance thru taxes and the individual income for the pilots themselves. Simple math tells us 1000 pilots each with 5bill have more wealth than 100 with 10bill.

You may suggest that I'm just pointing out the obvious, that any large alliance is stronger that a small alliance. It is obvious, yet I'm astonished at how many Null Sec alliance/corps don't seem to get this. There are many sov holding alliances/corps, that have a disdain for newer pilots or have such restrictive entry requirements that only the elite can enter them. Many of these corp/alliances consider themselves as Elite PvP centric and set the entry bar high either thru SP or killboards stats. Rather than growing their alliances in the same way as nations they are more of an exclusive club, where being a member is a form of status. In fact letting the average bad pilot into there club degrades its worth. Not every alliance acts this way, CFC and HBC are looser in there entrance requirement but they still have their own forms of exclusion in terms of culture.

The so called Elite PvP alliances often complain of the blue blob tactics and the state of the game, and often when they lose space they declare they don't care about Sov anyways. We can all see thru that, of course Sov matters, its a human condition to want a homeland, even nomadic cultures. I believe the age of the Elite PvP alliance is now in its final decline. The recent collapse of AAA is the perfect example. AAA was one of the most skilled PvP alliances to ever exist and only the best performing corps could remain. Like a care salesman at the bottom of the sales list, if pilots or corps don't perform, they get the boot.

I was previously a member of another PvP centric alliance called NulliSecunda, and I would describe them as an average alliance who aspired to be like AAA. They had very skilled FC's, and well thought out fleet concepts but for all that eliteness combined with support of an even greater AAA eliteness, they were woefully ineffective against the "blueblob" HBC and CFC. They were trounced out of Delve/Querious in a matter of weeks. Nullisecunda has regrouped and formed a new coalition N3 to consolidate the south that AAA has vacated. There coalition is a collection of some of the best PvP alliances in the game. Unfortunately, I don't think they will be successful, the Elite PvP model is not tenable against the model that the HBC and CFC uses.

HBC and CFC are more successful simply because they have more active pilots. Their hold on the memberships is due more to a combination of space communism and Internet culture. However, one thing that I believe all these alliances have in common is that they do not respect their membership. When a new alliance forms that respects its members, is openly accessible, and allows members to share in the resources within the sovereignty, then we will have an alliance that players will flock too and a power bloc to contend with. I hope to form my own alliance in that model.

Welcome to Providence

For those that have never visited, Providence is a region south of the Amarrian and Minmatar empire regions bordering the hi-sec regions of Domain and Tash-Murkon. It has a rich history being originally infested with capsuleer pirates, and at one time the battleground between the amarrian paramilitary faction CVA and the minmatar freedom fighter faction Ushra'Khan. It has been under the control of CVA, one of the oldest exisitng alliances, for some time now. The region is generally considered as insignificant since it has neither good moon resources or ratting grounds. As if often stated by larger alliances, no one really wants it.

Providence holds significance to me, since like many other new players, it was my first foray into null sec. I entered the region as part of a corp with lofty goals to acquire a few sov systems in the region. The plan was to help to defend the area in hopes CVA would give them something in return. Needless to say, the corp never got any systems, and when they tried to make a move to buy a system from an exiting CVA coalition member...CVA put a quick stop to it. The lesson to learn is sov isn't gained by favours or promises. It takes power to take sov, by combination of diplomacy, isk, and force where required.

A unique thing about Providence is that it employs the NRDS policy (not red don't shoot). Effectively this means that neutrals in theory could enter the region, dock at stations (for a fee), and fly about in relative safety. In practice it wasn't so simple, you could never trust a neutral was in fact neutral. There was of course a convoluted website app called KOS checker (kill on sight) that CVA uses to tell good neutrals from bad neutrals but imo it really defeats the purpose of the NRDS concept.

NRDS as a concept has good intentions, it can attract non-aligned players into a region to live, rat, conduct business and hopefully help defend the area. I think in practice this fails to materialize, partly due to how the standings mechanics work in the game, and due to the security of the region. It didnt help that CVA has the reputation of turtleing/blue balling during any major incursions by hostile alliances. Would you want to live or setup shop in a neighbourhood where the police hide in their stations when the criminals come out? If I were to form a corp/alliance I would stick to the standard NBSI (not blue shoot it) policy. Unless there was some game mechanic change to the standings system that allowed non-aligned corps to share or identify the standings set by the sov holding alliance its too messy to know friend from foe. Perhaps some form of criminal flagging system could work in null sec with the criminal status set by the sov holding alliance for all to see.

Although I don't believe NRDS works as policy I do believe in the concept of opening the region up to attract non-aligned but friendly players/corps. The question is how could you make a system work to attract these corps and solve the issues of who can shoot who? The answer to this will have to wait for a future post.

Introductions

Hello, as for my first post I thought I would start with a more detailed introduction of the eve player behind this blog. I've been an Eve Online player for a few years now and have a handful of characters in my stable. I originally started my first trial account in late 2009 but like alot of new players I didn't subscribe right away. I was initially attracted to Eve by the beautiful imagery, sci-fi lore, and very much liked the open sandbox concept. Unfortunately I was invested into other games at the time and could not justify another subscription. I finally chose to subscribe to Eve in mid 2010 and played very casually mining, hauling, but mostly just training skills. It wasn't until 2011 that I made Eve my primary game and have been playing it steadily for the most part since then.

I have chosen to start this blog for a few reasons but mostly to allow me a platform to express my visions, thoughts, and ideas for Eve Online both within and outside the game world. Much of my focus will be on the experiences of the average player especially how they fit into the Null Sec dynamic. I wish to relate many of my own experiences as a player to demonstrate how this game world could be shaped by us for the better.

A major goal I have is to start a Null-Sec Corp/Alliance that will bring fresh ideas and concepts to how an alliance should be run for the benefit of its membership. I hope by sharing my visions, thoughts, and ideas that this blog can also be used as a recruiting tool for liked minded players. I believe that there is a silent majority of eve players that could come together to achieve great things.