Welcome to the round up for the third week of war between The Imperium and PanFam. If you want the full reports from previous weeks you can find them here (Part 1) and here (Part 2). Before diving into the events of this third week of war it is necessary to clear up a contentious point from last week. Well at least contentious for some. That is the numbers allocated on either side.
In week two it was made very clear how the numbers were calculated and the effort that went into them. Then, as completely expected, some jumped in and said that there was no way that PanFam numbers were that high. At the same time they seemed adamant that the numbers of the Imperium were totally accurate or should even be higher. As was said in the comments, the only people who can truly assess who is on each side would be the likes of someone like Squizz. Work would be required to identify active combatants on each side. I do not have access to the data and no one was offering to use that approach. If someone is willing to step up with actual numbers then I am more than happy to accept them. You see, here at INN we are more than happy to admit error when such things occur. If we did not then The Casino War would still be called “The War of Sovless Aggression” by members of the Imperium. But the main point I was making is that PanFam are not outnumbered to the degree that some claim them to be. In fact I would be surprised if it was even close to 2:1, more like 1.1:1.
The Undecided Name War
I loved the responses from the first week of war with regard to the naming of this war. At this time there still seems to be no real front runner. Although some of the suggestions in the comments were very good. I just hope that a good name sticks and that we do not resort to some lame name such as “The Norther War”. Perhaps some third party will come up with a good name as was the case with The Casino War that will ultimately gain traction.
Events of the Week
During the course of this week there have not been any significant battles. There were a few fun fights to be had, but the numbers of participants and ISK lost was, in relative terms, pretty small. But there has been plenty of action of a different sort for both sides. PanFam continue to pick their battles in the Northern theatre of conflict. These however seem to be few and far between. There are the occasional fleets that are sent out to interfere with the efforts of the Imperium, but with little real effect. The region of Tenal has almost been cleared of all PanFam influence. Additionally the region of Tribute has had most of the strategic iHubs destroyed. But in the south PanFam can lay claim to greater success in their continued killing of those from the Imperium who decided not to deploy to the north. If anything it could be easily argued that the efforts by PanFam in the south are even helping the Imperium. With PanFam being active in the south it only serves to encourage members of the Imperium to head north to the front lines. And of course the industry folk within the Imperium are unlikely to be too vexed about the increase in demand for the products they offer.
The forces of the Imperium meanwhile continue to ravage the north. For instance on one morning alone the Imperium destroyed 38 citadels. Of course all of these citadels were un-rigged, empty and in some cases not even belonging to PanFam at all. Oh those silly goons. One of the main objectives of the Imperium was to allow for the development of new talent in the various war departments. This goes from GSOL to FCs to logi anchors and a host of other supporting roles required to effectively conduct a campaign. Given that PanFam have decided not to contest the actions aside from minor efforts, it has proven to be an excellent time for new people to step up and get their feet wet.
With the different approaches from each side to this war both sides are able to claim victories of sorts. PanFam continue to have fun in the south, or at least those that are able to hunt the area. As Imperium forces continue to “glass” Tribute and develop new talent. But it is hard to say that both approaches are beneficial in the long term. One is focused on doing new things with new people and the other is reliant on doing old things with old people. I will let you decide on which is which.
Where did all the rent go?
One of the major unanswered questions so far of this conflict is where has all the rental money gone for PanFam? Even a cursory glance at Dotlan or the Coalition Map should raise some questions for the more enquiring minds. In the east there is a dozen or so regions that seem to fall under the influence of renting. Should you even be tempted to say “but those are not owned by PanFam members” just take a look at that map again. If you really think that there is no relationship between “non-PanFam” rental empires and PanFam itself then you should just stop reading right here.
From the Alliances tab on Dotlan you have three alliances that seem to exist mainly for renting. Between them they control a total of 505 systems. Even at just a few billion ISK per month this soon adds up to a more significant number. Yet we also know that renters have been responsible for providing upgrades to their rented systems out of their own pocket. So almost all of this income can be seen to be profit. But profit for who exactly? Additionally you have to consider how long these regions have offered rental income. It has been many years for most of them.
I will not dwell on this matter more here as it is worthy of an article or two in its own right. Perhaps someone will be inclined to report more on this intriguing story at some point. The fact remains that content opportunities are being missed because one side does not or cannot afford it. A truly sad state of affairs for their members.
Wrapping up
So although there have been very few major headlines with this weeks conflict, activity has been very high. At least on the side of the Imperium. We will have to wait and see if this coming week offers more content as there are some key battles due to take place.
