Leaked conversations from a BRAVE leadership channel reveal severe cracks within their command structure, doubts relating to their strategy, and concerns about the war. In what is probably the largest breach of operational security the war has seen, logs from the meeting were ‘paste binned’ and posted on reddit. The subject of the conversation revolved around BRAVE’s recent announcement to occupy systems within Querious.
The leak pits BRAVE’s military chief Shattered Armer against de-facto alliance leader Dunk Dinkle and logistics director nOrman. It is an alarming conversation for BRAVE members, and the PAPI Coalition, highlighting the difficulties facing the alliance – pressure from hostile groups in Catch, lack of funds to support a re-staging operation to Querious, and overall frustration with the war against the Imperium.
All About the Spin
The leak sits at the centre of two other BRAVE announcements. The first detailed their planned move to Querious, which coincides with TAPI’s occupation of Delve. The latter, named “BRAVE Damage Control,” sees Dunk Dinkle and his team attempt to justify the contents of the leak. A third, reiterated the key damage control points to members in later time zones.
In the leadership channel, Dinkle actively discusses how they are going to “spin” this announcement as it will clearly be unpopular with their line members. “I’ll do an impromptu alliance chat Wednesday morning (my time)” Dinkle says. “I’ll explain we have the opportunity to have more fun with people in Querious and that we are going to help with this part of the war. “kills to be had and ISK to be made”. The modified spin is SibSquad giving us a new place to hunt.”
Spin is of course commonplace within EVE Online and we should not be surprised that alliances have spin-strategy, but this leak raises questions about any further leadership announcements.
All About Supplies
Of course, every group in EVE Online will have disagreements within its command group, this is natural. However, it appears that decisions made by Shattered Armer had not been agreed to by Dinkle and present further problems for their logistical team to try to resolve.
Shattered Armer X:02 — Move ops will commence Friday and into the weekend.
Dunk Dinkle X:03 — What are you talking about? What move ops?
Shattered Armer X:03 — Into Querious, our new deplyoment staging.
Dunk Dinkle X:03 — We have to be on the same page here.
BRAVE have endured a war that was not of their choosing for around eight months. Initial successes, during the early parts of the war, saw them regularly contribute to fleets and obtain systems in Querious.
Yet, as the war raged on, their gains were lost, and since The Initiative’s move to Curse they have failed to absorb the extra pressure. Compounded with The Watchmen collapsing, an ever more aggressive Simple Farmers and DREADBOMB, their ability to finance the ongoing war is questionable.
Dunk Dinkle X.49 — Mainly, we don’t control the market in P-Z. We don’t have the ISK to buy the KS + other structures.
nOrman X:17 — just pointing out, once again, that we have no money to ‘get established’.
nOrman X:17 — its all going to SRP i mean, we’re draining our coffers.
Supporting an offensive war is an expensive business. All sides will struggle to manage increasing SRP. Then add scarcity changes implemented by CCP into the mix and costs becomes an issue. Many BRAVE members have cited the issues about “cloaky camping” by their enemies within Catch and Immensea, often accompanied by Black Ops strikes onto mining and ratting groups. In addition, with The Initiative now claiming sov in Catch, their reach stretches further into BRAVE territory. Recently a BRAVE Machariel group was destroyed upon leaving their home system of GE-.
All About the Culture
BRAVE is seen by many EVE players as a new-player gateway into null sec. They offer a comprehensive program for members in BRAVE Newbies, many channels devoted to development, standing fleets for protection, and free ships to help travel. Additionally, one of the main draws to BRAVE is the expensive relic sites within Sansha space, with exploration being a primary source of income for new players. Moving to Querious will deny them of as much as 75% of that exploration yield.
The leaked conversation also reveals a “Barnes & Elias” effect between Dunk Dinkle and Shattered Armer. The former attempting to save his alliance from the destruction of the war, and the latter jumping on the back of TEST’s movements and gunning for blood. BRAVE’s tag line has always been “Be Brave, Stay Classy,” yet throughout this war many opponents and allies have noticed BRAVE members spouting the worst vitriol in local chat and on reddit.
Sure, everyone has members who have unfunny thoughts they spew into local. But this has reached new levels and started to detract from the “stay classy” mantra that has made BRAVE one of the more liked alliances in null sec.
All About the Future
Dunk Dinkle now faces a number of challenges, both internal and external. He was quite right to state in the ‘Damage Control’ chat that they needed to be a member of a large coalition for their own survival, but with that coalition dragging them away from safety the future looks bleak.
Furthermore, internal arguments can always be overcome, but an organisation must emerge from them with a clear strategy that is supported by leadership, delivered in a coherent manner, and supported by their ability to enact it (logistics). With Catch on fire, Querious the new home of Siberian Squads in RUS tz, and the majority of BRAVE members having established production at home, the question remains – why would they leave Catch?
Dinkle and his team will have the more difficult job of keeping the culture ‘classy’. Their alliance depends on new players, and a toxic community will not support that model. The war has been tough on all involved, and although fights are fun, watching the home that you and others have built over the years burn to your old enemies is not. One thing can be certain, whether it is in Querious or Catch, there are tough times for BRAVE whilst they remain tied to the PAPI Coalition.
