Now with extra advanced notice
In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Co2 has announced that they are “at war with the Goon Swarm Federation, The Imperium“. Now a call for war is definitely not the surprising element here. It is rather, surprising that Co2 have decided to announce this one, which is in stark contrast to their previous form. Historically Co2 have been inclined to simply turn on their allies with mere minutes notice. Perhaps this treatment is something that they simply reserve for their allies and not those who they have already betrayed.
You can listen to the whole Co2 State of the Alliance / Declaration of War here.
If you should not wish to listen to the whole thing I have taken the liberty of covering the key points from their SOTA, with a touch of history thrown in.
Right off the bat, and for almost 20 minutes, Gigx pushes the new armour carrier doctrine. There is a fair bit of talk here about Ship Reimbursement Program details such as “would fighters be reimbursed?” or “will cap boosters be reimbursed?”. These are generally met with a “stop being poor” response from Gigx.
Heading to war
Gigx then makes the “AT WAR” announcement. Gigx states that The Imperium is working on lowering ADMs in Impass in order to prepare for an invasion. As such he is rather insistent that ADMs have to go up to level 6 for all Co2 space. He further expands on this to say that it is “Hornet Squad”, a special interests group within The Imperium that has been sent to mess with Co2 sov.
As is typical in this kind of statement Gigx goes on to recall the events of their recent past where they were fighting “all of Eve” for three months. This must have been a war that went unreported as there had not been any articles that I am aware of on this matter. I do remember Co2 “fooling” everyone with an unmanned and unfitted Keepstar. Then for the second timer, they mainly stayed tethered. For the final Keepstar timer, they decided to go and shoot at XIX battleships instead of defending their Keepstar. I also remember that Co2 would fight with everything that they had for Tribute. Then how they would fight to retake Tribute. Of course, we all know that the reality of this one is that they left their longstanding home in the North far faster than The Imperium did. But leaders are allowed to revise their own history in order to placate their line members.
Assurances
Co2 line members were reassured of their victory. Gigx has worked out what the main weapon of The Imperium is. According to Gigx the “main Goon weapon” is talking via the Metashow and their Fireside chats. He also added that the “Goons” did not fight in any of their wars so know a lot less about sov than Co2 do.
Instructions are also given for Co2 members to send cloaky interceptors and bombers to the heartland of The Imperium, Delve. These are to have cloaks, scrams, and cynos fitted. This is in preparation for the Co2 black ops group being sent that way.
Gigx was then questioned as to who else will be joining Co2 in this war, for instance, Test or FCON. In his reply, Gigx says that he is expecting help from The Legacy Coalition as well as from others. As is often the case with Gigx, he was not overly specific in his reply.
There was some talk of strategy with the attacking of random citadels around Catch that are owned by The Imperium. Gigx simply said that these were not under the sov control of Co2 so he did not care. Gigx was keen to point out that they had set a timer for the 4-07MU system in Catch for an IHub owned by The Imperium. He went on further to say that as this is set to a US timezone he was not sure if he would follow through with its assault. By the time this article is published it is very likely that the fate of the 4-07MU IHub will already have been decided.
History
During this SOTA, one member recounted a story from a fleet that Gigx was on one and a half years ago. During this fleet, as the member told it, Gigx said: “don’t worry guys, some time we are going to kill goons“. This story was not corrected in any way by Gigx. This only gets a mention here as it is in these moments that a greater clarity can be gained. With this small story and the fact that it was not rebuked, it seems to prove that Co2 were far from the loyal coalition member that they insisted they were.
The membership numbers for Co2 rose once they set up a safer home in Impass. This fact was not lost on Gigx and he stressed the importance of going on all strategic fleets. As is usual there was the veiled threat of consequences for those that did not perform suitably.
It seems that Gigx has matured in the last year. He made it clear that he was not able to tell other alliances how to respond and can only do this for his own alliance. This is quite different from his stance leading up to the Co2 betrayal of The Imperium. At that time he was very insistent on what others should be doing to aid Co2 despite the plans of The Imperium to base from Saranen.
Gigx was quite keen to underline that the “Goons started this first”. It is not completely clear, though, how this is the case. Gigx mentioned a squad looking to lower ADMs although no attacks on Co2 sov have been reported of any note. Additionally, Gigx failed to mention the numerous Co2 fleets that have been reported in Delve. Finally, there are no sov timer events for Impass at all as it stands.
As ever the real reasons for this war will probably remain hidden and lost. I am sure that this time, The Imperium is most grateful to Co2 for deciding to announce this war so far in advance. Especially when compared to their last declaration of war against The Imperium. With it almost being a year to the day when Co2 betrayed their long-standing allies, you have to wonder if Co2 just misses The Imperium. I for one am not expecting great things to come from this supposed war. It feels more like a bitter ex, pining for attention near to an anniversary where they did so much wrong.
