PL Loses a Titan: Reading Between the Lines

It always amazes me, how in one breath militia pilots talk about small-gang warfare without all the political drama crap of nullsec blocs, and in the next they are talking about some drama bomb militia has recently unleashed. (Or they are screaming the drama from the top of their lungs.)

This weekend, members of militia downed a Pandemic Legion titan, and I wrote about it here. It is true that leadership from all four militias met together to discuss such an operation. It is true that they met to discuss a plan hatched by Amarrian FC, Predator Elite. It is true that the plans that were discussed were not the plans that ended up happening. It is true that the titan kill ended up costing those involved significantly in lost Dreadnaughts.

However, it was not the whole story.The whole story is a story of politics. It is a story of inter-militia drama and back stabbing. It is a story of corruption, hatred, and war.



It is a story that makes me glad I was far away at the time --oblivious to any plans to go after Pandemic Legion--oblivious to any drama --oblivious to anything except roaming around with some Late Night Alliance friends, looking for some fun pew.

A careful eye would not need me to tell this story. A careful eye could easily put the pieces together for themselves between the various public postings, rantings, trolls, and rebuttels posted from the forums to Eve New 24.

Speaking of EVE News 24, I hooted aloud in laughter when I read this post, where Heretics speak of their 'involvement' in the titan kill. I did not laugh because someone outright told me that Tweety Bird was a known troll who had been reported previously for blatant racist and other public derogatory remarks.

I laughed at the idea that people would believe that the Amarr militia would entrust their cynos --cynos for a titan bridge and major capital drop--to a bunch of trolling pirates that the Amarr can't stand.

 I laughed because moments before, I had watched a FRAPS of the fight, where this character named Tweety Bird was obviously trolling in local during the op.

-10 to Riverini for posting this drivel on his 'news' website.


The titan was killed by two primary corporations: Wolfsbrigade of the Amarr Empire, and Shadows of the Federation of the Gallente Federation. There was a smattering of other Amarr/Gallente involved, but the killmail clearly shows that these two corporations were the dominant involved parties.

Reports by members of Wolfsbridgade and reports from Shadows of the Federation clearly show that there was previous planning. But this is kind of confusing since there are confirmed reports that planning also took place between all four militias -- planning of a much different kind.

While militias were planning a four way collaboration, Wolfsbrigade and Shadows were obviously planning something far different --something that did not include even their own militias. The back stabbing that took place within the Amarr militia, where Wolfsbrigade FC First General purposefully upset an op planned by fellow Amarrian FC Predator Elite was complete.

It was not a matter of luck or good timing, it was a matter of clashing Amarrian FC egos. One source told me that First General talked to Predator Elite during the op -- letting him know what was going down at a precise moment where Predator Elite would not be able to offer support, or respond in any way--a clear attempt by FG to rub his fellow FC's nose in his own superiority. A chest beating and back stabbing of epic proportions that could lead the Amarr to the brink of civil war.

However, with all this drama and nonesense that was obviously going on, there was yet another side of the story amongst this mess -- that of Pandemic Legions.

There are two things I know about Pandemic Legion's side of things:

1. The titan pilot was offline. Whether he rage quit or dropped connection, I do not know. However, I wouldn't be surprised if he dropped, as the guy running the FRAPS dropped also during the fight.

2. Pandemic Legion took less than one siege cycle to respond. One source said that they were on field with their capitals and super capitals in less than 3 minutes. Even if they were nearby preparing for another operation, this is extremely impressive. "I can't even log on and get into a ship in that period of time." someone from Late Night Alliance said, commenting on PL's response. "Let alone get cynos on field and organize a massive capital/super capital counter drop." 3 freakin' minutes.



It will be interesting to see what comes out of all of this mess. I freely admit that the idea of a four-way inter-militia operation is an intriguing idea, though it sounds like it would be somewhat of a blob-fest, red and blue mess of epic proportions. However, I seriously doubt that even without the backstabbing plans of Wolfsbrigade that it would really have come off. Most FW pilots can't even play nice within their own militias -- let alone play nice with pilots they've been shooting for years.

As Wolfsbrigade and Shadows showed, a few pairings up might work. There are occasional corporations who, even on opposite sides of a war, can still work together on occasion. But trying to apply this on the scale of all of Faction War is a different story. There is too much distrust, hatred, and long standing vendettas.

There are too many leaders, too many strong personalities, too many FCs, too many egos. Too much arguing, too much smacking, too many accusations, too much bad blood.

After all, this is Faction War, not a Faction slumber party.