Pandemic Horde has accepted an official mercenary contract from the Drone Region Federation to attack Triumvirate space in the South. This marks a significant step for Horde, as it means they have been recognized by the greater EVE community as being worth taking seriously. Enough to be paid to fight on behalf of someone else.
In Gobbins’s usual style, he recounts in his announcement post what led up to this point. The recent victory in the North, regardless of how anyone wants to spin it, showed just how effective the PanFam and its allies can be when they need to protect their turf. Pandemic Horde played no small part in that endeavor, providing over half of the subcap strength in some battles.
VICTORY IN THE NORTH
Gobbins includes TRI along with TEST and Goons as being part of, as he put it, “Feed the North” starter pack. Talking about how while a lot of smack talk was said, in spite of claiming “successful deployment” when in the long run, not a whole lot seems to have been accomplished. He makes it clear that the past year, he’s been waiting for a major retaliatory war, and was sorely disappointed.
SOUTHWARD BOUND
In short, the south is a mess. Gobbins mocks TEST for its inability to put its money where its mouth is, recognizes that CO2 is a more useful enemy than ally due to some poor decisions recently on their part. He also mentions that FCON has actually been fairly friendly to Horde, pointing out that while they are known for “feeding” (losing ratters in silly situations), they did right by Horde by helping with some timers in Querious.
Here’s where TRI comes in. Apparently, in spite of Horde having no reason to fight with TRI, they have been just as bad as TEST on Reddit when it comes to mocking Horde. Not only that, Gobbins points out that Horde has actually helped TRI multiple times in the past. An example he gives is during last winter when Horde was at war with INIT at the request of TRI and TEST. They had asked Horde to keep INIT occupied by hitting moons in syndicate while TRI/TEST and friends were able to take space from Russian and Imperium held territory. However, in spite of this, when the Imperium attacked the North this past summer, Horde asked TRI to do the same and hit Delve. They said no.
Now that the conflict in the war is over, Gobbins explains that the initial plan was to deploy south similarly to how I explained in my previous post and just “third party on everybody” since that’s where the content would be. Because of this, Gobbins made a point to poke his head around south diplomatically to check who would be up for working together with Horde. He was received far less warmly than he was likely expecting. Apparently, TRI was “deeply offended” that Horde had the audacity to ask for them to return the favor previously mentioned. Here are some logs he linked to accentuate his point:
[2:31 PM] Gobbins [HORDE]: we’ll help whoever offers us the best deal capt
[5:53 PM] Cpt Patrick Archer: Good luck with that [2:37 PM] Gobbins [HORDE]: Hi Garst, how are you? Like I told patrick yesterday, I am trying to figure out which side horde should be on with the southern conflict
[2:37 PM] Gobbins [HORDE]: do you guys want horde’s help or not interested? if yes what do you have to offer
August 27, 2017
[1:38 AM] Garst Tyrell: why do you HAVE to be in on the conflict to begin with?
[1:38 AM] Garst Tyrell: pl and ncdot are gonna come down to curse anyway, and youll do whatever pl does
[1:38 AM] Garst Tyrell: so seems like a moot question across the board
The above was taken to be that TRI feels that it can take advantage of Horde’s generosity, and in spite of adding insult to injury, expect to see little to no repercussions. He points out that this is nothing new. Escalating Entropy, Snuff, as well as The Culture have done this as well. Because of this, Gobbins states that Horde has recently become more selective in who it sides with and how far they are willing to go.
A few days after Gobbins reached out to TRI, The Drone Region Federation had responded to his diplomatic inquiry. They requested that Horde burn TRI sov for isk. He asked if it would be possible to stay neutral to Brave, TEST, CVA, and any of the other locals. They said that wouldn’t be a problem.
MERCENARY DEPLOYMENT DETAILS
If you’re really curious about the details, the Pastebin has the specifics. The short version is Horde will be deploying with its “just get yourself there and we’ll hand you a ship” usual style which has proven immensely useful in the past. They have a few programs specifically designed to make the most out of alpha clones (called “Zombeans”) as well as the “Bean Foreign Legion” which is a more organized group of Horde’s deployments. Triumvirate sovereignty is the primary target, with a secondary priority being given to TRI’s allies such as CO2 and Fraternity, as well as any others. Curse is free game for hordelings to go roaming, and he lists a few specific hotspots for those who want to FC smaller roams.
DIPLOMATIC RULES FOR BEANS
Gobbins states a few guidelines under “Rules of Engagement” that Horde will follow:
- TEST, FCON, BRAVE, and everyone else in Curse is neutral
- There are no restrictions on hunting ratters or roaming to find brawls.
- Strat ops against TRI take priority or at least make sure not to get in their way.
- TRI, CO2, and their allies are primary in any fight.
FINAL NOTE
While the point was already mentioned at the beginning of the article, as a Hordeling, this last bit hit me in the feels. I’ve gotten to be a part of a much bigger experience since joining Horde, and this just sums up what it means to watch your group’s work pay off.
For the line members, this is a great source of new content. For the FCs and organizers however this is a big step for horde, the generous contract we have been offered shows that our effort has been recognized and someone deemed it worth their money to pay for our help. It is especially sweet that we get to go up against elitist people who regurgitate the reddit koolaid and see us as pawn without our own identity. So let’s get rich burning their shit.
If you’re looking for content, Go South young man.
