Who are Goonswarm Federation?
Goonswarm Federation is an alliance of about 34,000 people living in the Delve region of 0.0 space. Autocracy run by TheMittani and an attendant directorate, Goonswarm places a strong emphasis on providing services and opportunities to line members. ISK-making is just one of these opportunities. Due to a combination of territory and expert talent, they are the richest alliance in the game.
Goonswarm Federation is also the centerpiece of a coalition known as the Imperium. A number of other alliances, most notably The Initiative, stand with them in this massive coalition. They also run the Querious Fight Club, providing an area for smaller alliances and corps to engage with nullsec productively.
Where do they come from?
Goonswarm Federation has a long and storied history. They first erupted into New Eden in 2006 following the defeat of the Coalition of the South at C-J6MT. They allied with the Russians who had won that particular victory and cooperated in sweeping the CoS out of south-east EVE. Then, they ran into a wall in the form of Band of Brothers, a semi-feudal alliance which took umbrage at the free-form and irrerevent character of the Goons.
This dislike was sparked by geopolitical tensions into open warfare, and the 1st & 2nd Great Wars ensued, over the period of 2007 to 2010. As a result, Goonswarm cemented their status as a serious power in New Eden, leading the charge against Band of Brothers. Ultimately, Goonswarm destroying BoB in a combination of espionage and vast fleet actions that spanned 3 years. But after this victory, a disaster struck; a combination of incompetence and malicious intent in the Goonswarm director team saw them lose all of their space in Delve and the south.
This might have been the end, but Tau Ceti alliance in Deklein, to the north, gave them a place to rebuild. Over the next six years, Goonswarm went from strength to strength, building up a large coalition (known as the Clusterfuck Coalition or CFC) which – at its peak – spanned the entirety of the western portion of the map. One particular achievement was the defeat of the N3PL supercapital fleets at B-R5RB, which propelled Goonswarm and the CFC to superpower status.
However, a combination of internal rot and external pressure from ISK based casinos saw the eviction of the CFC in World War Bee from the north in early 2016, when almost the entirety of the rest of the game turned on them. They evacuated, bloodied, to Delve where they have rebuilt and fortified against the possibility of another such war occurring again. This brings us to the present day.
What are the positives of joining?
Goonswarm Federation has a number of key positives which strongly encourage joining it:
- The most generous Ship Replacement Program in EVE bar none. In some cases, you can even make money losing ships.
- Access to a massive variety of interest groups. For any profession in EVE, Goonswarm has a group of players involved in it. For new players, this is a great way to access parts of the game which might otherwise be hard to get into.
- Strong industrial and mining content. Many condemn Goons as krabs, for good reason. They have access to expert individuals in all fields of EVE Industry, and extensive facilities. This allows the more peacefully inclined player a great deal of content.
- Consistent PvP action of any conceivable size, from supercapital fleets to small gang roams.
What are the negatives of joining?
It would be dishonest of me to just write hagiographies of Goonswarm. They do have a handful of points against them:
- Goonswarm is, voluntarily, typecast as the villains of EVE and have active roles in scamming and high-sec ganking. Any player looking for roleplaying or profoundly moral behaviour will be very disappointed.
- Goonswarm is not an elite PvP organisation – its strength lies in an effective directorate and crushing numbers. If your killboard stats are something you worry about, it might not be the place for you.
- Goonswarm has a particular culture, and it is important to bear this in mind when joining. Some may consider it a little toxic or otherwise unappealing.
What are they up to at the moment?
Goonswarm is currently, as of November 2017, in Delve making outrageous amounts of ISK. Of course, the directorate appears to be regarding the ongoing Blue Donut War with some interest. Right now, though, there are no active alliance or coalition scale deployments.
Delve certainly appears to be where the money is.
If you would like to join Goonswarm, a good way to start is to read up on Karmafleet.
