Rust Riders Hit Tier 5

Since I started FW a few days post Inferno, the Amarr have always been outnumbered.  I am speaking of course of total numbers in the militia.  Initially, it was quite noticeable in pvp as well, however, over time (peaking perhaps just before the Amarr tier 4 cashout) the numbers became much more even, at least in regards to pvp.  Sure, LNA (ie: fleets composed strongly by LNA at least) had our fleets outnumbered by a few ships on some nights, and at other times, we outnumbered them, but in general, it had a very "even" feel.  There were many good fights in the area of Kamela, Kourmonen, Huola.

A photo of Kourmonen, after the "Great Exodus"

With the departure from the war zone of Fweddit, Wolfsbrigade, Moar Tears, as well as Nulli (amongst others), coinciding with the Amarr Tier 4 cashout, the time was right for the Matari to strike.  In the weeks that have followed, Amarr militia chat (at least in my time zone) has yet to break triple digits; 70-90 is the norm (While Minnie militia is typically between 200-250 during this same period).  This is including, of course, the additional numbers provided by Agony Empire on behalf of the Amarrians.  This is why, it was  prime time for the Matari to strike.  And strike they did.  Over the following few weeks (was it only 2, or was it 3?), the Minmatar pushed the Amarr back to only 1 system (albeit, since the weekend the Amarr have recaptured 2 additional systems, ("Fortress" Kamela, as well as Lamaa)).  

Kamela, after many days of plexing

In the process, the Minmatar have reached tier 5, and held it for a substantial amount of hours (perhaps a total of about 8-10 hours sunday), and have had a cashout of their own.  Susan Black writes on her blog "Without the help of Iron Oxide., Late Night, or other larger Minmatar alliances, general militia pushed the warzone to over 85% control".  Irregardless of whether, the large Minmatar alliances did not participate because they wanted to maximize profit (let the general militia pay for the gravy train, and then capitalize on it), or because they wanted the victory to "belong" to the general militia, they were all able to profit because of it.  (For those of you who don't know, it costs 8M-12M LP to be spent on upgrading systems, depending on how many systems you control, to attain tier 5.  More, if you want to pay for a buffer.  This could easily cost those donating the LP a combined 30-50 Billion ISK in opportunity cost).

So how are the Amarr adapting to all this Minmatar success?  You'll have to stay tuned for the next post to find out.