Shadow of Cerberus EVE Community Forum

TEST Alliance Makes the (Almost) Best Decision They Could Have

I don't hate Test. I don't want to see them failcascade. I don't wish to see them disappear from EVE Online. I don't wish irrelevancy on them. Hell, I cheer for them in tournaments, over my own side. Underdogs rule, especially when they find unexpected success.

We beat them in a war and it was fun. They brought a fight. They didn't fuck off and hide. They were a worthy opponent. Now that they're out of nullsec, now that they're experiencing some difficulties, I only hope that they pull out of it stronger than they were before.

I feel for the current fortunes of Test. So many corporations have been so quick to desert them. Corps that came to them while they were a thing, a force in nullsec, and leave the moment the situation turns sour. Take Ponywaffe. I've always considered them assclowns. They consider themselves a nullsec corporation, but only a nullsec without the trials and tribulations. Zero loyalty. Zero responsibility. If there's any upside to Test's current troubles, it's that they identified, quite clearly, the fairweather friends of the alliance, those only in it for themselves. Good luck to the groups that take in the deserters, because they're taking into their families people of the highest-order of character.

I was beginning to worry about what Test was going to do with itself. Aridia was not the place for them. Faction warfare, it's too ephemeral, meaningless, for them as an alliance. To big a change from mattering to not. They had few routes into retaking sovereignty, and to be honest, they're not ready for sov this early after their defeat. They need time to renovate the internal fixtures.

So, Test Alliance's announcement today, that they will start haranguing and harassing Fatal Ascension in Fountain, it pleased me. Not because I have anything against Fatal Ascension (I don't), but because it serves so many needs right now for Test Alliance as a group in some amount of trouble.

What purpose does this serve for Test? Just that. It gives them a purpose. A goal. Something to do. More than anything, they need to keep their troops occupied. Test has a rocky relationship with Fatal Ascension. They're downright antagonistic towards each other. What better purpose than to potentially bloody the nose of a recent victor.

This can only serve to bring Test together again as a fighting unit. They can start retraining fleet commanders. They can start working on their organization and management problems. This gives them time to fix the plumbing, and to do so under operational conditions.

I call it the almost best decision, because I saw no mention of deploying out of NPC Fountain, Serpentis Prime or LZ-YQL for instance. There was so much talk of titan and black ops bridging that I'm guessing they'll remain in Aridia during the campaign. Which strikes me as a mistake. Test is a nullsec alliance, and they need to get the hell out of lowsec as soon as possible. It was a mistake to defend Fountain from lowsec, it is a mistake to harass Fountain from lowsec.

Serpentis Prime and YZ-LQL are a single jump freighter from Hophib. I hope they seriously consider returning to nullsec, even if NPC nullsec in Fountain. It can only do them good to be back in familiar territory and to run their terror campaign from within their old stomping grounds.
Source: TEST Alliance Makes the (Almost) Best Decision They Could Have