Cyno-Jammers and Faction War

Though apparently low on CCP's list, cynojammers in coordination with FW system upgrades was brought up at the summit and discussed in some detail. Cynojammers implemented in FW has been a somewhat heated topic of discussion in various FW circles ever since the idea was broached during FanFest. Part of the controversy lies in the fact that unlike station docking, which only affected Faction War pilots, cynojamming would affect neutrals.

Guide: How to Join Faction Warfare

I have been getting a lot of questions about Faction Warfare lately. How does one join? What ships should one expect to need on the front? What tips would I give to a new Faction Warfare recruit?


Let's start at the beginning.

Prelude to a Blood Bath

I logged in early Sunday morning to a flurry of activity going on within the Minmatar militia. The Amarr had not formed, or made an attempt to push any system yet, so Minmatar pilots were forming fleet, and arranging logistics to get in as many reships as possible into base systems.

With the influx of fighting, a lot of Minmatar groups have stepped up to support the cause. Galdornae and Silence IKillYouu, of Ka Pow Pow in Late Night Alliance, purchased and freightered over 100 ships into the warzone in the early morning hours, along with fittings for around 70 of them. Over 50 fit thrashers, 20 fit ruptures, and stacks of other ships were distributed by early evening yesterday --all at sub Jita prices or even free.

The Star Fraction donated a huge fleet of fully fit griffins and blackbirds to the cause yesterday as well. By the time I logged, all the blackbirds were gone and a larger percentage of the griffins. A large number of other pilots were also distributing hulls, fit ships, and supplies in systems all over the warzone in one of the largest joint supply efforts the Minmatar has ever seen.

Total distributed ships yesterday numbered several hundred.

The Most Dangerous System

Last night was another evening of non stop pvp between the Amarr and the Minmatar. I logged on just in time to help the Euro time zone take down a control bunker in Lamaa. Apparently, the Amarr came out in full force during the day to attempt to take Kourmonen, and the resulting pvp made the system one of the most dangerous in EVE according to the statistical star maps.

However, while day fleet kept the Amarr busy in Kourm, they were also taking over Lamaa one jump away. The little to no resistence that was met in Lamaa made many of the  Euros assume that the Amarr were unaware of the situation--until it was too late. The Amarr now own 13/70 systems.

Survival of the Fittest

If you had asked me 9 months ago who would come out on top in a survival of the fittest war between the Amarr and the Minmatar, I would have  said the Amarr without hesitating. Having experience in both militias, (I was in the Amarr for a year) the Amarr seemed much more able to work together, even with general militia pilots who present a certain risk. They also had several central leaders that could easily pull people together.

The Minmatar were an irate bunch. Many corporations refused to even fleet up with anyone else, or associate with anyone outside there own circle of friends. Not to mention that there was frequent in-fighting and wardecs.

Evolution

"A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon."  ~Napoleon

Weeks, if not months ago, I wrote a post discussing the differences between goal-driven pvp and pvp-driven pvp. While goal-driven pvp includes pvp that naturally occurs when either side is driving toward some purpose (taking space, defending space, defending assets, acquiring assets or resources, etc.) pvp-driven pvp is pvp that happens for its own sake.

For years, Faction War has lived off of pvp-driven pvp. While in original days there were bloody battles over Occupancy, this waned as pilots began to realize that there were no benefits to having your Faction's name in the left corner of your screen.

The Minmatar Prepare for Inferno