I was just really getting into Space Engineers, I think it stands a
good chance of ranking in the top three of my 'Games that are kind of
like Minecraft including Minecraft' list. The other one is Seven Days to
Die, both of them lots of fun but in very different ways. Too bad this
is an Eve blog and I have Eve things on my mind!
Last
Monday I was convinced to come play a little Eve after many months
away. Amarr had just started their most recent push to take the long
time Minmatar home system of Huola. Within minuets of patching and
logging in, I was fleeted up and headed out to fight.
Amarr
has tried to take Huola before. Most times it was some new group on
the block thinking they could do it easily, other times it was yelled
and shouted about but no real effort put in, and still other times we
used an “assault" on Huola as a distraction to claim another system we
wanted. Every time these attacks failed, the Minmatar claimed victory
and clogged up the forums, blogs, militia chat, and twitter with claims
of their ultimate superiority. Those of us in the loop just chuckled and
laughed at them quietly. We knew that it was good propaganda to keep
the average Minmatar happy, but that was good for us and our desire for
fights. Myself and the leaders of another alliance who shall not be
named went as far as quietly discouraging any plexing in Huola. The less
they had to deplex their home, the more the Minmatar would possibly,
maybe, once-in-awhile, leave and partake in pew-pew with us and ours.
The
Minmatar historically had four home systems: Dal, Auga, Arzad, and
Huola. The first Amarr took was Dal. We remember it as the Dalamo. It
took us over a month to finally get it due to those pesky Russians and
their timezone. Weeks of mindless plexing and some good fights later,
the resiliency of the Russians started to slip. Amarr forces pushed
their advantage and took the system evicting hundreds of Minmatar who
called Dal home. After it fell many of them moved Huola.
Auga
fell soon after to the likes of TMFED and Skunk Works who rather like
that system. Many of the Minmatar occupants moved to Huola.
Arzad
was a blood bath for Amarrian Vengeance for a few weeks as
Flyinghotpocket ground down the occupants will to live. Then the hammer
fell in the form of a 100 man fleet one weekend finishing it off,
evicting the Minmatar residents. Where did they go? Huola.
Every
time Amarr took a Minmatar home system they made Huola stronger. It is
'Fortress Huola', almost every single Minmatar corp or Alliance has a
stake in its defense.
When the offensive first
started the Minmatar were basically caught off guard even though they
knew about it in advance. They probably assumed it would be another
light hearted effort that they could brush off. Then the system shot up
40% plus. Panic deplexing and calls to allies and friends went out. In
the days since, the system has been repeated plexed down to 0% in the
Russian and part of EU time zone and back up in others. The same thing
happened in Dal and Arzad.
I have no doubt the
diehard Minmatar groups will keep fighting for every plex and deplexing
whenever they can. The not-so-diehards will get bored and slowly drift
back to whatever else they do in Eve. Huola will be a battle of
attrition played out over weeks and possibly months if Amarr can muster
the staying power to keep the pressure on. Eventually the Russians will
crack like they did in Dal, if the Amarr can push them that hard for
that long.
