ECM and the Art of War

There's a lot of people that seem to think that using ECM ships is cheating, which is quite odd when you take into account that CCP developed these ships to be used. If using them was 'cheating', then they would be removed by CCP, Eve Online's developers.

But no, using ECM ships is not cheating.  Instead, it's taking advantage of ship resources (when available) in order to gain an advantage.

"All warfare is based on deception.

1. Therefore, when you can attack, it must seem as if you can’t.
2. When moving your fleet, you must seem idle.
3. When you are near the enemy, you must make them believe you are far away.
4. When you are far away, you must make them believe you are near."

- Black Claw's Art of War

The real issue is not with ECM, but with the people that are too lazy or too stupid to learn how to deal with it. Instead of thinking about the situation and coming up with strategies on how to mitigate the effectiveness of ECM ships, they cry.  Boy, do they cry.

Every time someone complains about something in the game rather than thinking of a strategy to deal with it, I see a child who just hasn't matured enough to cope with a changing environment. Maybe they will, one day.  But for now, they throw tantrums, cry, and complain that their opponents are cheating.  Or they're gay. People that use ECM are gay, they say.

Stupid.  Really stupid.

And it's really sad when people that you once respected as being your adult equals, when confronted by ECM ships and ECM tactics, break down and cry and scream and do their absolute best to show you that they're really small children with no ability to cope or think outside the box.

I have no time for them.

The Art of War Alliance is for smart people who want to use their brain and understand how to fly smart.  Most people fly stupid, and after some recent crying and gnashing of teeth by some ex-alliance members, I've decided that we just don't want those kinds of people in our alliance. 

I've had reports that some corporations and alliances that pass through our operational areas of nullsec do their very best to avoid us, apparently because we use ECM and we cheat.  I laugh a lot when I hear these stories.

"Therefore, to fight and conquer in all battles is not supreme excellence. Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without actually fighting."
- Black Claw's Art of War

You have to remember that OUCH is the primary member of the Art of War Alliance, and OUCH is filled with noobs and carebears.  it's a great feeling to know that elite PVP corps and alliances are wary of us.

Of course, sometimes they want to fight us, and sometimes we fight them back. Sometimes we avoid them.

"It is the rule in war:

1. If our fleet is ten to the enemy’s one, surround him.
2. If five to one, attack him.
3. If twice as numerous, divide the fleet into two.
4. If equally matched, we can offer battle.
5. If slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy.
6. If unequal in every way, we can flee from them."

- Black Claw's Art of War

It amazes me how many people think that 'real PVP' is all about fighting losing battles against overwhelming odds.  You're not a real PVPer unless you repeatedly engage ships you can't win, and you avoid using ships or tactics that will help you win because you believe that doing so is 'gay'.  They're the ones that call you 'gay' or 'faggot' because your single frigate runs away from their fleet of battlecruisers.

It's amazing how much stupidity there is in Eve Online.  If we could smell in space, we would know it is filled with the aroma of stupidity, left in the wake of all those that travel the systems, imagining how 'elite' they are because they lose their ships against overwhelming odds.

The fleets of OUCH and the Art of War Alliance are commanded by people who understand the Art of War.  It's an essential element to our success, especially when our fleets are populated by pilots who are inexperienced at nullsec PVP or even to the game itself.  Most of our successes against the 'elite' are from noobs and carebears who are taught how to modify and use the environment to their advantage,

"There are five essentials for victory:

1. He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
2. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior fleets.
3. He will win whose fleet is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
4. He will win who, prepared, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
5. He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the civilian leadership.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, you will gain as many defeats as victories. If you know neither yourself nor the enemy, you will always fail."
- Black Claw's Art of War

No matter what people say about our tactics, they work. And at the end of the day, if you're going to engage in battle with someone, you should be choosing to engage to win.  If you don't think you can win, why fight?  We're often engaging in guerilla warfare tactics, knowing when to fight and when not to fight.  It means we win much more than we lose.

After some recent experiences within the alliance that have been great for helping me learn new things, I've decided that any potential new members to the alliance must agree to certain expectations based on the Art of War.  If they're going to fight within the Art of War Alliance, they need to commit to learning and practicing the Art of War. And flying ECM ships to gain an advantage over your opponents is allowed and encouraged - with appropriate support and leadership, of course.   :)

I don't want any more stupid in the alliance, it leaves a bad taste.

The Art of War - Tactical Dispositions

Chapter 1: Laying Plans
Chapter 2: Waging War
Chapter 3: Attack by Strategem

To prevent our own defeat is up to us, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy themselves.

What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.

He wins his battles by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the
certainty for victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated.

The skilful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy.

The victorious strategist only seeks battle after he knows the victory has been won, while he who is destined for defeat first fights and then looks for victory.

The greatest leader cultivates the moral law, and strictly adheres to method and discipline.

Thus it is in his power to control success.

The Art of War - Attack by Stratagem

Chapter 1: Laying Plans
Chapter 2: Waging War


Welcome to the third chapter (below) in my Art of War series. This chapter looks at the strategies of attacking your enemy...

Chapter 3: Attack by Strategem

In the art of war, the best thing to do is take the enemy’s resources whole and intact. To shatter and destroy it is not so good.

Therefore, to fight and conquer in all battles is not supreme excellence. Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without actually fighting.

The highest form of leadership is to prevent the enemy’s plans. The next best is to prevent the gathering of the enemy’s fleets. The next in order is to attack the enemy’s fleet in space, and the worst policy of all is to besiege stations.

The rule is not to besiege stations if it can possibly be avoided. The preparations will cost too much, and the losses will be too great.

The skilful leader subdues the enemy’s fleet without fighting. He captures their stations without laying siege to them. He overthrows their leadership without lengthy operations in the field.

With his fleets intact, he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a single pilot, his victory will be complete. This is the method of attacking by stratagem.

It is the rule in war:

1. If your fleet is ten to the enemy’s one, surround him.
2. If five to one, attack him.
3. If twice as numerous, divide the fleet into two.
4. If equally matched, we can offer battle.
5. If slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy.
6. If unequal in every way, you can flee from them.

Though a stubborn fight may be made by a small force, in the end it must be captured by the larger force.

There are three ways a leader can bring misfortune upon the fleet:

1. By commanding the army to advance or to retreat, being ignorant of the fact it can’t obey.
2. By attempting to lead a fleet in the same way as he leads a corporation, being ignorant of the conditions which affect a fleet. This causes restlessness in the pilot’s minds.
3. By employing the officers of his fleet without discrimination, through ignorance of the military principle of 'adaptation to circumstances'. This shakes the confidence of the pilots.

There are five essentials for victory:

1. He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
2. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior fleets.
3. He will win whose fleet is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
4. He will win who, prepared, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
5. He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by civilian leadership.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, you will gain as many defeats as victories. If you know neither yourself nor the enemy, you will always fail.

Capture ships instead of destroying them

One of the strategies that is suggested in chapter 2 of my Art of War series is:

Where possible, force the ejecting of enemy pilots in order to take their ships whole. Enemy pilots who eject should be allowed to live, to provide incentive to eject again in future.

How often does this happen? I've never heard of it happening at all, unless it's an accident, where the 'noob' accidentally ejects from their ship in a panic.

There's a lot of pilots with very expensive implants that they really don't want to lose, and would rather not get podkilled. So once you've locked them down and damaged their ship into structure, stop firing and offer to let them go in exchange for their ship (if you have the time and safety to do this, of course).

They might be hesitant because they'll lose the insurance, but if you really want the ship then offer to pay them for it. Make it worth their while, of course. Maybe just less than the cost of the ship, not including fittings. If they have implants they want to keep, they'll likely jump at the opportunity.

Of course, it would only work if you can fly their ship, or you have someone nearby that can fly it for you. You would also need to have someone there to protect the ship from anyone else wandering by...

You could warp to a safe spot or dock, eject from your ship, and go back and board the new ship you've just claimed, taking it to a station and docking.

This would be better than looting a wreck... you get the whole ship and all its fittings to add to your war or combat efforts. And the victim gets to keep their implants.

Give it a try, you might just find yourself stocking your hangars with new ships and fittings that you can use or sell. You'll still get enough kills from those that refuse to eject.

The Art of War - Waging War

Chapter 1: Laying Plans

Welcome to the second chapter (below) in my Art of War series. This chapter looks at the strategies of actually waging war...


Chapter 2: Waging War

In order to commit forces to battle, the corporation or alliance must have the money and resources to replace losses. You should commit only what you can afford to lose.

When you engage in fighting, if victory is long in coming, weapons will run out of ammunition or charges, and enthusiasm will disappear. If you lay siege to a station, you will exhaust your strength.

If the campaign is long-lasting, the resources of the corporation will not be equal to the strain. When your weapons are exhausted, and your willingness to fight is gone, you will be at the mercy of those who have waited, and they will strike when you are at your weakest.

Cleverness has never been associated with long delays.

It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable ways of engaging in war.

Bring war materials from your base, but forage on the enemy. Thus the fleet will be able to compensate for any losses.

In order to kill the enemy, your men must be roused to anger; there must be rewards to defeating the enemy, and that’s where the foraging on the enemy’s wrecks and cargo containers helps.

Where possible, force the ejecting of enemy pilots in order to take their ships whole. Enemy pilots who eject should be allowed to live, to provide incentive to eject again in future.

In war, let the object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.

Next chapter coming soon: Attack by Strategem

The Art of War - Laying Plans

Some time ago, I created a 'handbook of war' for my corporation, which guided them and advised them on how to operate in times of war. It was called The Art of War (with thanks to Sun Tsu). I have decided to add this handbook to my blog, to share with everyone how to engage in war in the Eve galaxy. Follow these guidelines, and you can only succeed in your endeavours.

Chapter 1: Laying Plans

The art of war is governed by five constant factors: 1) moral law, 2) heaven, 3) earth, 4) the Commander, and 5) method and discipline.

1. The moral law causes people to be in complete accord with their CEO, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.
2. Heaven signifies being available at any time of the day, any season, and any time zone.
3. Earth comprises distances, near and far; danger and security; open space and asteroid belts; the chances of life and death.
4. The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, benevolence, courage and strictness.
5. Method and discipline is the marshalling of the fleet in its proper subdivisions, the graduation of rank among the officers, the maintenance of resources, and the control of the finances.

These five factors should be familiar to every leader; he who knows them will be victorious. He who doesn’t will fail.

Therefore, in your planning of the military conditions, let the following comparisons be made:

1. Which of the two corporations (or alliances) follows the moral law?
2. Which of the two leaders has the most ability?
3. With whom lie the advantages derived from heaven and earth?
4. On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced?
5. Which fleet is stronger?
6. On which side are officers and pilots more highly trained?
7. In which fleet is there the greater constancy of reward and punishment?

By going through these considerations, you can forecast victory or defeat.

The leader who understands this and acts upon it will win. The leader who doesn’t understand
it, and doesn’t act upon it, will lose.

The 5th factor of ‘method and discipline’ will ensure that lack of understanding and success will
be met with appropriate disciplining, usually removal from positions of leadership.

Bonus Tips on planning

1. Modify plans according to circumstances.
2. All warfare is based on deception.
   a) Therefore, when you can attack, it must seem as if you can’t.
   b) When moving your fleet, you must seem idle.
   c) When you are near the enemy, you must make them believe you are far away.
   d) When you are far away, you must make them believe you are near.
3. Hold out bait to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and destroy him.
4. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is superior in strength, evade him.
5. If your opponent angers easily, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, so that he may become arrogant and overconfident.
6. If he is resting, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.
7. Attack him where he is unprepared, and appear where you are not expected.
8. Planning strategies must not be divulged to anyone outside of the leadership structure.
9. The leader who wins a battle makes many calculations before the battle is fought. The leader who loses makes few calculations. The leader who makes no calculations will face annihilation! Victory or defeat is in the planning.

Next chapter coming soon: Waging War

A return to old ways...

I'm tired of missions already. I did a COSMOS mission a while ago and was then refused any more until I built up my standings with the agent's corp. I've spent time - oh God, the boredom - doing some missions with other agents of the same corp, but it's slow going, and the tedium is killing me again.

My entire purpose behind doing these missions was to raise money. I realised something today. Why am I wasting time on missions that are earning me 15 loyalty points and 10,000 ISK per mission when I could be doing something NOW to earn myself MILLIONS?!

So I'm returning to something I used to do some time ago - trading.

However, I'm going to get into it in a much bigger way than I ever used to. In the past, when I was still a 'baby', I used to do more hauling than trading. Buy and sell orders? Never used them. I used to spend time buying in one place, hauling to another place and then selling. I was a hauler. But now I'm going to become a trader. A real one.

If you have any tips or advice for me, please feel free to include them in a comment. Or, if you want to provide me something that you don't want others to see, I'd be most happy for you to contact me in-game. Thanks!

Pirates and honour

I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday, who is also the CEO of another pirate hunting corp. He's a very honourable fellow, and believes that honour is the most important element of a corp's actions. He believes that without honour, it's simply a pointless exercise. We had an interesting debate.

He believes that the anti-pirate that chooses to fight with honour is far better than the anti-pirate who chooses to fight without honour. His opinion is that it's better to die with honour than to survive without.

That just doesn't make any sense to me.

It doesn't make sense to me that some people believe that choosing to fight while knowing you're going to die is better than choosing alternative tactics in order to survive and win. He disagreed with the tactics I used, going back to the concept that it's better to fight than to hide.

What is the point of fighting though, if you know you're going to die? What is the point?

If someone wants to kill you, isn't it better to try and make sure they fail? Isn't the preservation of your own life and those you care about better than 'dying with honour'?

So-called honourable people feel differently, of course. And yet, space is littered with the bodies of honourable people, all dead, while those who ignore honour continue to live. And by still living, they can still fight.

In my mind, surviving in order to continue fighting is far better than dying, and surviving in order to choose the battles you can win is certainly far better than fighting a losing battle simply because there's a battle to fight.

Pirates are the kinds of people without honour, but they absolutely love going up against people with honour, because honourable people will rarely avoid a fight, and that works to the advantage of the pirate.

If you have an honourable pilot in a cruiser who is confronted by 3 pirates in battleships, it will 'violate' his honour to back down from the fight. And so he'll die.

Pirates encourage this, as they want more honourable pilots to challenge them! Why? Because they want to win.

This is completely natural, of course. But when a pirate finds someone who chooses to avoid honour and avoid combat, it upsets them. It upsets them a great deal, especially if their target avoids combat and still causes the pirate to lose.

They feel ripped off!

What I really find amusing about Darkside Inc is that they have been engaging in piracy for a long time; attacking weaker targets and weak corporations, ransoming or destroying these innocents. They have caused a lot of death and destruction in their time, and they have become used to succeeding. So when they lose, it hurts them. And it hurts them even more because they were unable to fight and destroy an 'honourable' opponent. Instead they fought an opponent who preferred to win than preferring to die.

It's been interesting for me to see the comments of so many people, on the forums and as replies to this blog. I have a lot of support, of course, because a lot of people are against the pirates. But then there's the other kinds of comments.

Apparently I 'gloat' over the methods I used against the pirates.

Well, why shouldn't I?

Darkside initiated war against my corp. Like the classic bully, they tried to attack a small and weak opponent, which they have been doing for quite some time now. However, this time they failed. And now all they can do is cry about it and 'smacktalk' on the forums and spread abuse and anger.

They're so angry right now, and I think that's great. They're a pirate corp, and anti-pirate corps are at war with pirates, whether it's official or unofficial. They lost, and they can't deal with that.

Well, you funny pirate fellas, if you don't like it - get the frack out of the pirating business. You're going to lose, and the harder you try to win, the more you'll lose. Change your ways and you'll find that you'll lose less.

The Art of War

I've been an avid follower of Sun Tsu's Art Of War. I re-wrote it as a guide for my corp and its activities during war, and use it as the foundation of my strategy.

Some people seem to feel that the 'art of war' is to go toe to toe with your enemy, engage in battle and may the better pilot win. Nope, that's not the case. In fact, the main proponents of such a foolish strategy are usually those who think they have the biggest dicks... I mean, the biggest ships.

Instead of comparing dick sizes... I mean ship sizes, I instead try to follow Black Scorpion's Art of War. Contact me if you want a copy.

I'll go through some of it here. Maybe it'll inspire other corps to engage more in strategy than in tactics, especially if the tactics can be stomped on by the enemy.

It was obvious to me that Darkside had the military and tactical advantage. Therefore, I needed to outwit them instead of outfight them.

In the wise leader’s plans, considerations of advantage and of disadvantage will be blended together.

The enemy's strengths were the size and technology level of their ships, and the skills and experience of their pilots. They had been fighting much longer and much harder than most of the members of Black Scorpion Ltd. Therefore, we had to turn their strengths into weaknesses.

A clever leader will avoid an enemy when it is strongest.

Since their strength was their combat ability, we had to avoid combat. Since they relied on tactical superiority to achieve their goals, we had to deny them tactical opportunities.

Their strength became ineffective.

Another strategic move is based on this: If your opponent angers easily, seek to irritate him. When you anger him, he makes mistakes. Well, we certainly angered Darkside.

The highest form of leadership is to prevent the enemy’s plans. The next best is to prevent the gathering of the enemy’s fleets. The next in order is to attack the enemy’s fleet in space, and the worst policy of all is to besiege stations.

The skilful leader subdues the enemy’s fleet without fighting. He captures their stations without laying siege to them. He overthrows their leadership without lengthy operations in the field.

With his fleets intact, he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a single pilot, his victory will be complete. This is the method of attacking by stratagem.

When you are unable to succeed engagements of tactics, you must instead engage with stratagem. Once you know the Art of War, you can use that knowledge to aid you in the fight.

Where the enemy was strong, we avoided them. Where they were irritable, we angered them. Where they were weak, we hunted them.

This is the art of war, and ignoring it results in defeat.

We're at war!

That's right, my corp has had war declared against it by a band of pirates calling themselves Darkside Inc. This happened about 5 days ago, and as soon as it happened, I was forced to cancel my travel plans and return back to corp HQ. War plans needed to be arranged.

What an interesting time it's been! I've never been in a war before, and it's actually quite amusing. You have these pirates scurrying around taking it all so very seriously, getting upset when you taunt them by running around the system in a shuttle, then calling you all manner of names for not fighting their group of elite cruisers and battleships in your T1 cruiser.

I mean, really... what kind of idiot chooses to engage in a battle they can't win?

I've always thought that the reason there are scammers is because there are always idiots who fall for the scam, and thus encourage even more scamming. I think it's the same reason why pirates decide to declare war against small or new corporations, because those corps either pay them the money the pirates demand, or they rush out on their noble steeds to do battle only to find they get crushed by the armoured tanks that roll over them. You can't fight tanks with horses...

And so, over time, we have pirates who have learnt that the more they declare war on naive corporations, the more easy victims they'll get.

Unfortunately for Darkside Inc, Black Scorpion Ltd is not a naive corporation led by a naive CEO. When I received their war declaration, I sent them a message offering terms for their surrender. It's a shame they declined.

I know that as a new CEO of a new corp filled with many new pilots, our chances of success in battle against the pirates is limited. Therefore, if the strategy of the pirates is to do battle in order to win, then in the words of Sun Tzu:

What is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.

The enemy's strategy is to engage in battle against an inferior force. Therefore, in order to attack their strategy we must ensure that we avoid battle.

If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If [corp and members] are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

Against a superior force, it would be foolish of us to engage them. This is the naivety that they hope for. Instead, we evade them. Showing themselves to be temperamental and arrogant, we irritate them. It's hilarious. Being new-ish and with no implants, it's of little concern to me that I might get attacked in my shuttle and podkilled. I jumpt in another shuttle and continue taunting them by evading them and leading them on merry chases around the system.

I don't mind telling them this, if they are reading, as I am quite happy to make them understand their war is pointless. It will not be us who surrenders due to losses, it will be them who surrenders due to their inability to succeed.

The final quote from Sun Tzu I'll use is this:

To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

The goals of Darkside Inc is to have us pay them 500m ISK, or our destruction (eg. disbanding the corp). Declaring war on a corp is successful if the goals of such a war is achieved. If the aggressor fails in achieving their goals, then the defender is the victor.

Black Scorpion Ltd is, admittedly, a weak anti-pirate corporation, but we are a growing corporation, and with growth will come strength. There have been a few members who have left us in fear, but this has been expected. This war will make us stronger as it eliminates the weakest links. Victory goes to the pirates only if we succumb to their demands, and that simply is never going to happen.

Pirates like Darkside Inc. need to be taught a lesson. Their strategy of declaring war against weak corporations and showing themselves to be the cowardly 'bullies' that they obviously are, has to stop. It has to stop now. It stops with me.

If any other corporations out there would like to join me in helping make it stop, please contact me. Together, we will show the pirates that they can not succeed against a determined force that will never surrender.