Null Sec Sov FightsOpinion

Fighting in The Vanguard, XlX stands alone. A history of the North.

20150421

The Northern Drone regions of Null sec have often been considered some of the least desirable regions to live in throughout New Eden.  There are however two groups that would wholly detest such a notion.  Especially judging by their constant fighting in the area. The Drone Regions have seen many major groups within EVE establish holdings there, typically with the aim of setting up remote rental empires.   Years ago in 2009 the region was a war zone between two major groups; SOLAR FLEET and Legion of xXDEATHXx, the two were battling each other and various outsiders for effective control of the space.  This was just one example of a long standing feud between them.

October 2009 SOV

The fighting between these groups and their various “fair weather friends” has raged off and on for years now.   With the two groups exchanging complete control of the Drone Regions several times over the last 6 years.  The last 12 months have been particularly interesting for the Drone Regions.

Back in April 2014, Pandemic Legion were busy expanding and administering their control of the regions, working with longtime resident Legion of xXDEATHXx to secure a vast rental empire and the associated ISK waterfall for themselves and their allies.

This was of course during one of the more pivotal wars in EVE history, The Halloween War; which started in October 2013 between N3 and PL vs. various loosely affiliated Russian Alliances.  The Halloween War started on October 30th, 2013, after the leadership of the N3 Coalition received intel that certain Russian and eastern European alliances who once opposed each other, were banding together to form the bloc “RUS.” The supposed goal of this coalition was attacking assets belonging to N3 over grudges dating back to wars prior. Over the following weeks, the war exploded into the largest conflict New Eden has ever seen.

The war ended some months later after the now infamous B-R5RB fight, which was to date the largest battle in the games history.


The period following the Halloween War saw N3 and PL gain ground in various regions. The resulting BOTLORD agreement between PL and CFC allowed both sides to collect wealth and amass their forces in relative peace for a time. The NAP of BOTLORD however did nothing to protect N3 and RUS against outside aggression.

With no official end declared, a state of “cold war” existed between the forces of N3/PL and CFC/RUS.  The security in BOTLORD meant the Drone Regions were safe from strategic escalation by one of the few entities that could effectively challenge Pandemic Legion.  This peace would allow PL to collect vast sums of ISK and amass supercapitals without any real issue.  It wasn’t until October 2014 that the status quo changed drastically in the North.

The upcoming Phoebe patch at the time saw PL abandon holding SOV all but completely.  Scrambling to divest alongside other entities, PL negotiated with XIX to allow XIX to have the majority of the space and a share of the ISK.   The agreement they reached with XIX saw much of the former Brothers of Tangra holdings being transferred to a new renter alliance, Shadow of xXDEATHXx.  Phoebe was the beginning of the end for the traditional vast renter empires of EVE.

The next two months saw the most explosive action in terms of SOV the North had seen in quite a long time.  By December new alliances such as Phoebe Freeport Republic and Total Absolution had smashed their way into the Drone Regions and claimed holdings there.

December 2014 SOV

The life of these new entities in the North would be short lived however.  PFR fell quickly to Total Absolution, who themselves later chose to abandon their holdings and effectively end operations.  The resulting vacuum saw complacency set in among XIX and other members of GemCo (Geminate Coalition).  This perceived weakness was a catalyst for several groups to begin harassing the area.  Principal among these were Triumvirate. and SOLAR FLEET, who at times were assisted by Black Legion..  This group has for the last several months been slowly pushing back GemCo and taking Drone systems.

Now, we’ve seen their previously loose affiliation morph into a full partnership, The Vanguard Coalition consisting of Triumvirate / SOLAR FLEET / Tau Ceti Federation and Intrepid Crossing.  This group has steadily been engaging GemCo and forcing them to fight a two front war against SOLAR in Cache, and the rest in the other local regions.   SOLAR has used this to their advantage to counter their abysmal reputation with other alliances.  Even after Pandemic Legion had been hired by GemCo to push SOLAR out of Cache, the coalition still soldiers on.

As it stands now, Etherium Reach is slowly falling to Vanguard with Cache being a constant tug-of-war over the last month.  Billions of ISK are destroyed almost daily between these two warring factions now, and it seems that Fozziesov will only intensify the ferocious fighting; with Vanguard pushing into other regions only serving to entice more fighting.

The Drone Regions will likely be a battlefield for the next two months.  Once the new SOV system hits, who knows what will become of the area.  Although the overall tone in the rest of New Eden is that XIX will consolidate it’s current holdings to focus on holding Geminate and a much smaller rental empire; leaving Vanguard effectively victorious in the long war.   Then again, anything could happen in the wild emptiness of space.

Just as a sidenote for anyone who is curious; you can view the historical SOV maps by changing the date code in the links on eve file.  IE, to see the map for June 16 2012, use this link:

http://go-dl1.eve-files.com/media/corp/verite/20120616.png

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