EVE Online: Building an Empire, Part Two
MMORPG.com EVE Online Correspondent Sam Guss writes this second part in his Building an EVE Empire series.
In the last instalment of this series, I introduced the Rule of the Care Bear. Some of the readership base would have preferred I used the term "Industrialist". So, without further ado, I will be using that term as it comes up in the series from this point onward.
Rule of Secured Space, the 2nd Rule
According to our first rule of Empire building, to bring in the Industry base, we also have to have what was referred to as "home turf". The second rule of Empire Building is the Rule of Secured Space and is an extension of parts of rule one, while includes new aspects as well. Secured space is not necessarily your home turf, though it can be referred to as that as well.
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Secured space serves a few different functions. For starters, it allows a safe haven for your Industry-base. While in the last rule we paid attention to the importance of having a "home turf" and its vital role in establishing your Industry base, it is not the only place we need to have secured space.
There are primarily four "secured space" zones that should be implemented and utilized in building an Empire. The first zone is what we covered in Rule 1, Rule of the Industrialist (as it is edited now) and established a home turf in 0.0 space.
The second "secured zone" is any place in your Empire that serves as an entry point toward your home turf. These are the systems that you want to place heavy emphasis on securing and maintaining. In these systems you do need some industrialists who are protected by your PvP pilots. Furthermore, you need a heavy PvP base located in these systems with bubble camps and squads waiting to protect these systems.
This type of "secured space" act as filters and stop-gap measures that should be readily understood and perceived as: crossing into these systems you are entering another Empire's territory. These systems though should NOT be at the border of your Empire. Thinking in medieval terms, your "home turf" system(s) is your castle. This type of "secured space" should be considered your moat, with the pipeline(s) between these systems and your home turf acting as your draw bridge. This means that beyond this moat is your territory, but it is here where you make it clear that this is the beginning of your home.
Entry Systems
The third type of "secured space" are the systems that allow entry into the region you have your Empire in. In the beginning this would mean the closest entry point, while later will include as many entry points as necessary. These entry points have two sides to them and both must be equally held and secure. On one side are your sovereign 0.0 space and the other side in low or high security space. In a perfect universe and in Empire building, the other side of this gateway into your 0.0 home will be a series of low security systems that should belong completely to you. There are ways that this can be done and some of the rules that follow will include these. By having control of both sides of this gateway you control who and how many pilots enter your domain from whichever direction you are in control of.
One of the most important aspects about this type of secured space is that this is where a majority of trading and commerce will come through or out of the Empire. Therefore the more secure you can make this route the better as it ties directly into your economy of the Empire.
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The last type of secured space that needs to be discussed is actually having home systems in high security space. There will always be players who have no wish to enter 0.0 or even low security systems but want to be a part of something big and exciting, such as a major Empire in Eve. The mission runners in high security help out the corporation standings with NPC corporations, jump clone technology, etc. In addition to this, the tax income form these players shouldn't be under estimated.
Traders, haulers, miners, Industrialists who will not enter 0.0 even under protection of secured space and home turf, can still be helpful to the growing Empire. Let us also not forget that having POS in high security systems offers a measure of protection unless at war.
This is where our "secured space" in high security systems will be the most vulnerable - during times of War. There are a couple of solutions to this. The most obvious is that fleets of PvP pilots come out from 0.0 to crush the enemy. The second is already in use today by several successful alliances. They call themselves University corporations and their sole purpose is to teach players how to play and enjoy the game of EVE. EVE University is the most famous of these, though there are others. To all of them: my sincerest respect. How do these types of corporations though relate to our potential problem about being war dec'd in high security?
Using the Blob
Some in EVE call the tactics used: a Blob. The Blob is in my opinion the #1 defense in times of high security war, especially if in addition some serious, experienced PvP pilots are also at hand. One of the first things a fledgling Empire should do when securing a home in high security space is to either bring in or start for them a newbie corp. This serves several functions, primarily establishing future pilots and with success will also bring about enough players to have a Blob.
The biggest piece of advice I have for defending your Empire in high security space though is this: if war dec'd, bring in every possible pilot and crush them fast, hard and completely. In high security space, this means go after everything they have - every POS, every pilot and do so in an overwhelming fashion. The Blob can hunt and take down targets of opportunity. One of the Naval Fleets of your Empire can be charged with destroying every POS the enemy has. Another fleet of experienced PvP pilots can be charged with hunting down and harassing individual pilots of the enemy corporation.
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Last but not least, if ever faced with war in high security space of your Empire you should be prepared for one of two things:
- Dropping high security operations if out numbered or classed in war there.
- Allow the enemy to become part of your Empire.
Yes, I said it. Allow the enemy to become part of your Empire. War in EVE is about control, who has it and where. Make no mistake, as you build an Empire you will draw attention and enemies who want that same control as you do. That leaves you to fight for it, leave it or join alliances.
I find it odd that this third option isn't done more often or even in some cases considered. If many of us want the same things, then logically working together enhances our chances for success. That is what this third option does. It won't work every time obviously, but it should be considered.
Final Word
That brings us to our last point about Rule 2, The Rule of Secured Space. Diplomats. You will need diplomats to make some things happen for your Empire. They negotiate and bring in allies and/or enemies. The diplomats of your Empire should be in constant contact with one another and have a game plan in place for what results they are after in various points within and outside of your Empire. The more information they have and the better planning they are provided will equate to how successful your Empire building is - especially when determining where your Secured Space is.
See you next month, when we will be discussing Rule 3, The Rule of Sovereignty and Rule 4, The Rule of the Onion.
