[Poetic] The War in Fountain - Hemorrhaging ISK
The War in Fountain - Hemorrhaging ISK
So far, Goonswarm has been able to keep the ISK flowing, even in the face of quite a few things not going to plan. Morale remains high within the CFC as a consequence.
Take Goonswarm. I doubt this war has been what the leadership expected. Whereas they knew there would be resistance, I doubt they figured, three weeks in, that we would still be staging out of Cloud Ring. The very first day of the war, Goonswarm set up an outpost in 4-EP. We are still not using that outpost, not at any significant scale. We'll likely be in 4-EP eventually, but not until we can connect J5A and 4-EP via a jump bridge. That won't be until July 19, at the earliest.
I doubt the leadership expected the level of resistance from non-Test Alliance forces. Whereas they were aware of our great number of enemies, I doubt they figured we were going to be dogpiled the way in which we have been. We've encountered so much resistance from the likes of NCDot, Pandemic Legion, Black Legion, and The Retirement Club (just to name a few), that Test Alliance itself became overshadowed by everybody else in the warzone. Not so much a comment on Test Alliance's skills at diplomacy as it is the CFC's skill in making enemies. The resistance has been so virulent that extraordinary measures had to be taken (i.e., buying off Black Legion, so that we weren't fighting a two-front war, one in Fountain and one in the north.)
What about belt tightening? Goonswarm started the war with an expensive Tengu doctrine. That doctrine was dropped after the first week and half of the war. Some very expensive losses were taken. We've since dropped down to a less expensive, perhaps more effective, Megathron doctrine. An expensive Loki doctrine has been created, it's far more expensive than the Tengu doctrine, yet I've not seen a single Loki fleet fly. If any have flown, it's certainly not a doctrine we're using even nominally. My guess is that the Loki doctrine is a bit of a red herring (I probably should not have bought one.) If an expensive doctrine is created and pushed, then the obvious take away is that the ISK coffers are still in excellent shape. Of course, you have to fly that doctrine to really drive the point home. On the other hand, this Loki doctrine we were all asked to buy, yet do not fly, might have been a plan to put some ISK into the coalition coffers. Goonswarm Financial might just be sneaky like that.
(Whelping thirty dreadnoughts, last week, in an attempt on a Test titan also doesn't help any argument toward more expensive fleet doctrines.)
I believe that the CFC bank is still doing fine, if much lighter. I believe all that is happening is some smart belt tightening. The war is going to last a lot longer than leadership expected, so a much longer view of the ongoing financial situation has to be taken.
Test Alliance on the other hand. I believe their ISK situation is now in dire straits. They've never been a financially competent alliance, and a long war was going to be particularly punishing. They already have a large backlog of ship reimbursements. Try as they might to assuage fears among their membership that all is fine, that the issue is one of manpower rather than an empty bank, I don't think their membership is buying that argument. (They certainly had the manpower to pay out early in the war, one can assume they have the same manpower now that they had then.) Have the delays in ship reimbursements had an effect on their members logging in? Probably. Morale is going to be tied to the effectiveness of the war effort, and an inability to fund losses speaks to that effectiveness.
Test Alliance is at a point now where it has to rely more heavily on the CFC's enemies to put up an adequate defence for them. NCDot is already being pulled in two directions, a war in the east with the Russians, and the war in the west with the CFC. This last week they've been frantically bouncing back and forth across New Eden. I doubt they can keep that up much longer, and they'll have to make a choice. I suspect they'll choose the east. And then there's Pandemic Legion, and it was being reported today that they were attacking Test Alliance. What Pandemic Legion wants to do on any given day is a roll of the dice, but if they decide that Test is the losing side (and Pandemic Legion is an organization that avoids actual challenges at all costs), then Fountain is lost. Test cannot win this war without NCDot and Pandemic Legion on their side of the conflict.
This war could very well be finished by the middle of July, but it will really depend on what PL and NCDot decide to do. How invested are they in this conflict? Do they really care if the CFC have more moons?
Read more about the War in Fountain:
The War in Fountain - Battle For J5A-IX
The War in Fountain - What Are The Russians Doing For Us?
The War in Fountain - Fweddit Chooses a Side
The War in Fountain - Test Alliance Has a Bad Day
The War in Fountain - The Depth of Gameplay In Sovereignty Wars
War Poster - J5A-IX
The War in Fountain - The Importance of J5A-IX
The War in Fountain - Divide and Conquer
The War in Fountain - Gnrrr. History.
The War in Fountain - Cracking Down on Pornfleets
The War in Fountain - Blueballing
The War in Fountain - Old Montolio Had A Jump Bridge, EI-, EI-O0O
Source: The War in Fountain - Hemorrhaging ISK