TEST was missing military directors from the start of the war. TEST had so few FCs that its fleets were usually lead by NC. and Nulli FCs (and yesterday Esildra left too). Thieves were taking SBUs, hangars, everything. The wallet was so empty that they were begging for donations. The remaining leadership was feuding. Everything was perfect for a failcascade.
Instead of apathy or line members jumping ship, TEST broke all records in EVE with the fleet at 6VDT. A fleet matching the size of the largest coalition in the game. A fleet that could have won if it had some remotely competent leaders. I mean the kind that asks "do we have POS-es?". How could this happen? How could a complete disaster make history?
"Being a PvP-er" is considered a necessity in nullsec. But fleet action isn't similar to PvP at all. I'd say it's more similar to incursions. Just because the primaried red cross is a player, it doesn't make it PvP. Just think! No one accepted my highsec ganks as PvP despite the killed miners were indeed players. PvP is considered something where player skill matters and the better one wins. In fleet action, your skills don't matter much. You anchor up, click on broadcast and press F1. You don't have to make decisions, you have to follow the optimized protocol. Fleet fights are rather "carebearing" than "PvP". Probably that's why I enjoyed them so much.
6VDT says that I wasn't the only one. The war was already lost, there was no point defending 6VDT. People still swarmed there because it was fun for them. Similarly the various structure shooting fleets on both sides had volunteer players in them. It seems that there is a large segment of players who find fleet action fun, despite the PvP-er canon says it's horrible. Let's not argue with them! If they all say it, they must be right, structure shoots and 1000 v 1000 battles are boring for PvP-ers. But it seems there is a strange form of carebears who like large fleets, winning objectives, placing flags on the big map.
6VDT and 1-SMEB say that TEST has a lot of this strange form of carebears. In the two weeks I was in TEST I collected almost 2000 upvotes for ideas that would support fleet actions at the expense of PvP. Why did these fleet-bears go to TEST? For the same reason I could only go to TEST: this was practically the only place where PvP experience and participation was not needed. You could get into TEST without killboard history and no one expected you to learn PvP, if you had bunch of loss reports and no small-gang kills, no one cared. TEST was the last safe heaven for these fleet-bears.
There are bunch of PvP alliances out there who want to hold Sov. They could use these fleet-bears very much. However the fleet-bears can't get in because of the PvP requirements. So I cooked up an idea how could a Sov-holder PvP alliance gain thousands of fleet-bears without actually having a single one:
Why would fleetbears flock to this corp? Because it would be the only place for them. Now fleetbears have to choose between being a solo carebear with no fleets, or having to suffer PvP to get into a sov-holder alliance. There they also have to constantly deal with childish jokes, boring memes and general locker room atmosphere. This corp would be a place where they don't have to socialize with random people and don't have to PvP, just do what they want: join well-lead fleets that go for objectives and do PvE in their space. Since there is no other fleetbear corp, yours could pick thousands of them. Remember 6VDT numbers and remember that's just a segment of fleetbears, there must be thousand others suffering in PvP corps or alone in highsec. Liberate them and they will blot out the Sun for you!
If you want me help building such fleetbear corp, I gladly do, and considering my popularity among TEST fleetbears, my blog-popularity among highsec carebears (many are actually fleetbears just couldn't find a place where he can fleet up), combined with the fact that TEST leadership just abandoned Sov, betraying everyone who flied in fleets, I could poach the initial set of fleetbears quickly. Hit me up if you want such fleetbear armada. (No, I can't start it myself, since I can't offer them fleets due to lack of objectives.) Chances are that your leaders don't read this, so if you are a line member and would like to have a huge support fleet, send this post to your leadership. Don't let your enemy have the fleetbears!
You might ask how is the fleetbear corp is not a pet? Simple: while the bears have no control over the big picture, neither they have responsibilities and risks. A pet must operate a complete alliance with HR, FCs, leadership, sov management, finances, everything, without actually controlling it. Also, a pet makes huge investment in stations, POS-es and CSAAs which is completely at the mercy of the master. The fleetbears don't have to care for anything besides their job and don't risk anything but a few fleet and ratting ships.
Instead of apathy or line members jumping ship, TEST broke all records in EVE with the fleet at 6VDT. A fleet matching the size of the largest coalition in the game. A fleet that could have won if it had some remotely competent leaders. I mean the kind that asks "do we have POS-es?". How could this happen? How could a complete disaster make history?
"Being a PvP-er" is considered a necessity in nullsec. But fleet action isn't similar to PvP at all. I'd say it's more similar to incursions. Just because the primaried red cross is a player, it doesn't make it PvP. Just think! No one accepted my highsec ganks as PvP despite the killed miners were indeed players. PvP is considered something where player skill matters and the better one wins. In fleet action, your skills don't matter much. You anchor up, click on broadcast and press F1. You don't have to make decisions, you have to follow the optimized protocol. Fleet fights are rather "carebearing" than "PvP". Probably that's why I enjoyed them so much.
6VDT says that I wasn't the only one. The war was already lost, there was no point defending 6VDT. People still swarmed there because it was fun for them. Similarly the various structure shooting fleets on both sides had volunteer players in them. It seems that there is a large segment of players who find fleet action fun, despite the PvP-er canon says it's horrible. Let's not argue with them! If they all say it, they must be right, structure shoots and 1000 v 1000 battles are boring for PvP-ers. But it seems there is a strange form of carebears who like large fleets, winning objectives, placing flags on the big map.
6VDT and 1-SMEB say that TEST has a lot of this strange form of carebears. In the two weeks I was in TEST I collected almost 2000 upvotes for ideas that would support fleet actions at the expense of PvP. Why did these fleet-bears go to TEST? For the same reason I could only go to TEST: this was practically the only place where PvP experience and participation was not needed. You could get into TEST without killboard history and no one expected you to learn PvP, if you had bunch of loss reports and no small-gang kills, no one cared. TEST was the last safe heaven for these fleet-bears.
There are bunch of PvP alliances out there who want to hold Sov. They could use these fleet-bears very much. However the fleet-bears can't get in because of the PvP requirements. So I cooked up an idea how could a Sov-holder PvP alliance gain thousands of fleet-bears without actually having a single one:
- Create a corp "X fleetbears" where X is the name of your alliance. Make the corp leader the alliance leader's alt, link the corp on the alliance page.
- Set the fleetbear corp to blue enough to have fleet access, but do not take it to your alliance. Give fleet comm and a limited forum access to fleetbears.
- Assign enough space to the fleetbears to live in. Remember, they are closer to carebears than to PvP-ers, they need ratting-mining space.
- Make it clear that they should live in these systems. While they can travel in alliance or rented systems, they shouldn't PvE or loiter there.
- Tell your renters and own ratters to set the fleetbears to -10. Therefore they show up as reds/neuts on local, so they can't awox your members and renters. That makes HR very easy. You still need some basic HR, but not the usual nightmare as you only have to keep out the obvious troublemakers.
- There is no need for corp life in the fleetbear corp, carebears don't need roams, events or much socializing. They are here to enjoy the aspects of the game they like: PvE and fleet action. They can cooperate via the corp chat and a dedicated part of the alliance forum.
- As there is no corp life, no corp sov and the fleet reimbursements are on the alliance, there is no need for corp income. The ratting taxes go to the alliance chest.
- Make it clear that the fleetbear corp is not "waffles", you can't get into the alliance by joining it. It is a pure business cooperation: the alliance gives ratting space and organized fleets, the bear flies in the fleets and fights for the alliance.
- Some alliance managers need to have alts as directors in the fleetbear corp to kick awoxers, spammers and toxic people. Make sure that all necessary leadership positions are filled from the alliance and not from the fleetbears themselves. If they would be good leaders, they wouldn't be fleetbears in the first place.
- Since the fleetbears are outside the alliance, their losses do not affect your killboard. They will have ratting losses which they can easily replace.
- Create a fleet performance measurement tool. Kick inactives and those who don't participate in enough fleets. I mean if someone is in a fleetbear corp he should be participating in fleets!
Why would fleetbears flock to this corp? Because it would be the only place for them. Now fleetbears have to choose between being a solo carebear with no fleets, or having to suffer PvP to get into a sov-holder alliance. There they also have to constantly deal with childish jokes, boring memes and general locker room atmosphere. This corp would be a place where they don't have to socialize with random people and don't have to PvP, just do what they want: join well-lead fleets that go for objectives and do PvE in their space. Since there is no other fleetbear corp, yours could pick thousands of them. Remember 6VDT numbers and remember that's just a segment of fleetbears, there must be thousand others suffering in PvP corps or alone in highsec. Liberate them and they will blot out the Sun for you!
If you want me help building such fleetbear corp, I gladly do, and considering my popularity among TEST fleetbears, my blog-popularity among highsec carebears (many are actually fleetbears just couldn't find a place where he can fleet up), combined with the fact that TEST leadership just abandoned Sov, betraying everyone who flied in fleets, I could poach the initial set of fleetbears quickly. Hit me up if you want such fleetbear armada. (No, I can't start it myself, since I can't offer them fleets due to lack of objectives.) Chances are that your leaders don't read this, so if you are a line member and would like to have a huge support fleet, send this post to your leadership. Don't let your enemy have the fleetbears!
You might ask how is the fleetbear corp is not a pet? Simple: while the bears have no control over the big picture, neither they have responsibilities and risks. A pet must operate a complete alliance with HR, FCs, leadership, sov management, finances, everything, without actually controlling it. Also, a pet makes huge investment in stations, POS-es and CSAAs which is completely at the mercy of the master. The fleetbears don't have to care for anything besides their job and don't risk anything but a few fleet and ratting ships.
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