Here is the fourth in a series of profiles with FCs from the most recent war in the north. This time, meet Kendarr, of the Zebra Corp (ZEBR) corporation in the Goonswarm Federation (CONDI).
Gray Doc (INN): On November. 9, 2018, you posted an article on reddit regarding the new cyno jammers. Just days after being posted it had received 159 votes and 189 comments. You really seemed to touch a nerve with that post. Why do you think that people are reacting so strongly?
Kendarr (KD): Some people need the new changes explained in a way they understand; how the changes will affect the fights . . . in nullsec warfare. I think in that post I managed to explain the basic challenge that we will have to face. Once you share that perspective, people can see flaws for themselves.
“The bar has been raised with these new jammers”
INN: We have seen Keepstars falling like autumn leaves in the past few months. Is that over now with these new cyno jammers?
KD: I don’t know. Likely not, because the jammer is still tied to the defender needing an iHub. Killing the iHub removes the ability to jam. I can certainly say that the bar has been raised with these new jammers, but how the meta settles around them in the long run has yet to be seen. It is worth noting that only one of those keepstars you mentioned were contested by defenders, if my memory serves me correctly.
INN: I was in some of those battles and I would call it minimal resistance, rather than none. But that leads to my next question: Will the offensive counter to this change be to kill the iHub and disable the jammers?
KD: Yes, I would expect so. This is a tactic we used in the last war and any other bloc would have approached it the same way. However, this is going to change in the future with the new gates that don’t cause fatigue. With the changes, any group can project subcaps to the otherside of the map, if there is a bridge network available.
INN: I expect that will also mean that the meta will have to evolve to deal with gates as well. What are your thoughts about the gate changes?
KD: I like the gate changes a lot personally. I see a great number of ways they affect things and can affect the kind of game play which I am often involved in.
INN: Are you and other FCs talking among yourselves, developing some strategies, both offensive and defensive, for how to deal with these structure changes?
KD:Yes, a lot of the FCs discuss meta changes like these. It has been a great think tank of theory crafting since the CCP announcement. A lot of this is slowed down by facts, however. We still do not know about the bridges, jammers and beacons; progodlegend and Legacy have publically invited Imperium and others to test out the jammers on the test server this evening. This experience will answer a lot of our questions, I suspect.
“My next goal was, ‘Become an FC’”
INN: When did you start to take on very large fleet FC roles?
KD: My FC origin story starts with me joining Zebra Corp, which at the time were part of Gentlemen’s Agreement (GENTS). This was before the Fountain War (when we, the CFC, evicted TEST) and GENTS lived in Vale of the Silent. They had this amazing culture that led their FCs to hot drop the living f*** out of everything that came into range of their staging capital. Later, GENTS closed down and multiple corps from The Bastion (BASTN) took sovereignty of the Vale of the Silent Region. The hot drop culture was lost with that transition. At the time, I had a Nyx and wanted an Erebus (because my favourite FC at the time, Kippig, had one) so my goal was “upgrade the Nyx into a titan” but I had to have something to do after I had reached that goal. So, my next goal was, “Become an FC.” Once I had the titan, I would bait and hot drop anything in range, from small fleets to solo roaming players. From these first few steps of “Cyno up” to “Bridge up,” I learned to FC and became an FC.
My corp moved from Bastion to Goonswarm and I had been regularly leading 100 man Caracal fleets into Geminate to fight XIX. When we joined Goons I was scared to death of the thought of leading 250 man fleets. This is when I found and joined the SIG, Space Violence Squad. Its fleets were a lot smaller than regular Goonswarm main fleets. The squad, in time, grew in size and with it, so did the size of the fleets until I just became comfortable leading 250 people to their deaths.
INN: Since the northern war ended with the ceasefire, we have had about six weeks of relative calm. Have you been restocking your wallet in that time and if so how? How do you make ISK in EVE?
KD: No, I haven’t really been restocking my wallet. Space Violence has had one week of calm in those six weeks because, from the moment we could, we deployed. When I do need to make ISK, I focus on multiboxing rorqs and moon mining, but the way it works in the alliance for an FC is that anything you lose in the pursuit of FCing is replaced by the alliance. My alliance also pays its FCs for leading fleets. I would guess that is my only source of income most months.
INN: Are you surprised by the turn of events in the north, with the groups up there moving around and breaking apart and turning on each other?
KD:: Yes, I actually am very surprised. You would think after the war they would understand “United we stand; divided we fall” better than anyone.
“It is Pandemic Horde’s turn to feel the knife”
INN: You’ve been in Zebra Corp since 2013. Have you enjoyed your time in the Goonswarm Federation? Do you feel able to exercise your FC abilities?
KD: Yes, I think Goonswarm Federation is the best alliance in this game currently and I think it is most definitely the best place in New Eden to FC. The scale of what you can do as an FC is huge.
INN: Any groups you would be very happy to go to war against?
KD: Truthfully, I would be happy to go to war with anyone in New Eden because some people, like myself, just want to see the universe burn. If you are asking me if I have a specific alliance or group in mind, I’d have to say it is Pandemic Horde’s turn to feel the knife.
INN: How long do you think this game will last, with a significant player base?
KD: Forever. There is simply no better community than the gaming community of EVE Online; it is EVE’s greatest strength. I’ve never experienced anything that even came close to it and I have spent years of my life playing MMOs.
INN: Sum up your time in EVE Online.
KD: I have never regretted anything I have done. I have not hated anyone I have spoken to in New Eden. It has been, and always will be, nothing but a joy and a pleasure for myself.
