Why Faction Warfare is really Interesting..

I've been writing on the eve-o forums the last few days.

I had this a-ha experience come to me in a second the other night (why roaming around) and finally got why CCP left out Alliances in FW.

It's simple really, it's a balancing mechanic that I don't think anyone really got (including me). I think they tried to explain in a way that frankly sounded like a circular argument.

Anyway, here is my basic premise -- from Eve-O forums -- I thought it might be a good blog entry to see how others in my bloggersphere world would relate.

What if Faction Warfare allows large local militias fighting in empire to re-form (coalesce) those militia fleets in 0.0 alliance locations (we know Alliances can't participate in FW, but Militia can sure as hell blow up alliance stuff in 0.0!). With some of the numbers that I'm seeing in gangs (75-100+) in empire fighting, albeit horribly with no real chain of command.. with time (and experience) they will improve

.. what if those same militias decide to move their large local influence and fleets into 0.0? what stops them? a titan? warp bubbles? bleh.. nicht don't think so... what if they re-form into their own corp aligned to a militia (around a regional fighting stronghold in Placid for example) - generating allies and critical mass that the best alliances could only help to generate. I mean look at the numbers for the Gallente Militia.. and that's in 1 week.

I wonder if someone in empire gets wise to the equation and uses FW as a mobilization mechanic to generate critical mass against large (or mid-size) alliances.. it comes down to numbers, large empire noob, experienced militia fleets against dedicated 0.0 alliance pvp'ers and there 100 care-bears industrial meat-shields.

0.0 alliances rely on static defense. If this defense not properly implemented it is designed to fail (just look at the Eastern Front WWII) - The defenders deploy in depth in heavily fortified positions suitable for all-around defense. The attackers can penetrate between these "hedgehogs", but each position continues to fight on when surrounded. This keeps large numbers of attacking troops tied up, attacking the well-defended strong points, while allowing the defenders to successfully counterattack against the units that bypass these strong points with their own armored reserves by cutting them off from their supporting elements.

Personally, go around all those death-stars - and fight them at their weak points - it's a numbers game. When Vendetta was fighting down south against FIX, the towers that had POS gunners (since many alliances FAIL at POS gunners - they have none) we went around and killed the travel lines - it was easier to bubble the station systems and wait them out - and kill the towers with no gunners. ALL successful eve corps are build on solid order of battle and delegated leadership. I think FW will DO THIS and MORE. You will get new leaders that normally would never have the chance to earn and learn that craft; you will get battle tested eve players making up those core fleet elements. Frankly, I now I completely get why they didn't allow alliances in FW - the basic tenant is FW is designed to balance or curtail large alliance dominance. Now 0.0 is no longer one directional, it's bi-directional. Alliances will need to figure out how to deal with incursions IN FORCE inside their cocoon (some not all) 0.0 locations.

This was my post - and surprisingly many felt that this was an interesting dynamic that might really change the game balance of Eve. I think that the notion that recruitment into corps will be some sort of training exercise is completely changed by this - you can now have a group of like minded individuals using FW to empower many who would not normally ever get the chance to PVP. Pirating is lonely and has just too many bad consequences.

I for one will be looking at this more and more over the coming months..