Shadow of Cerberus EVE Community Forum

Rental Constellations Available Now, Call 1-888-NOT-BOB2

Just kidding. But if there's an opportunity to poke fun at the GSF, compare them to Band of Brothers, then you gotta jump on that opportunity, right?

I don't really care if Goonswarm starts renting space or not. I'm not invested in the Goonswarm Cultural Purity agenda. I figure if there are large tracts of unused nullsec, then might as well make them useful and earn a few iskies from it as well. It's no secret that the big alliances and coalitions own far more space than they need. This isn't the fault of any of those alliances, it's simply a problem with sovereignty nullsec not having economic balance. Groups need to control more than they can use, simply to get access to moons, which are what keep the coalition machines fed. As it turns out, as of Odyssey, moon income alone isn't cutting it. So what other incomes can be gained from space that isn't being effectively utilized?

By now everybody knows that Goonswarm Federation is going to start renting out constellations in their regions. This would seem to go against all previous statements that a) renting is bad, b) BoB was a terrible renting empire, and c) Goonswarm will never become BoB.

There are several reasons for the Goonswarm flip-flop (let's just call it what it is.) And there are several differences between the BoB version of a rental empire, and what is envisioned as the Goonswarm version of the rental empire.

Let's talk differences first. The term renter has a much different meaning now than it did in 2007. Band of Brother renters were forced allies. They were expected to pay for that "privilege." They were expected to help in defense (hell, often they were left alone to defend without help from BoB.) They were often used as cannon fodder in wars. In essence, they were treated terribly and were expected to appreciate being treated terribly.

If the CFC existed in 2007, Gentleman's Agreement would be considered a renter, would be paying for their space in Vale and would be defending that space without Goonswarm assistance. Hell, Gentleman's Agreement would have been expected, ordered, to help in the War in Fountain. CFC renter-ally losses in that war would have outnumbered GSF losses, because under the BoB-model renter-allies were expected to do most of the dirty work for their landlord.

Of course, none of that is the case. Gentleman's Agreement is an almost equal partner in the CFC. Goonswarm has rallied to help defend Gentleman assets when threatened. Goonswarm were the largest participants in their Fountain war. Goonswarm did not sit back and let their coalition partners do their dirty work. Goonswarm gets their hands as dirty as everyone else. The CFC is an actual coalition. And yes, Goonswarm has more say in coalition policy than anyone else, but they don't outright ignore the concerns of their partners. The CFC is NATO. 'Merica has the loudest voice, the bigger vote, but every partner still has their voice, still has some weight in proceedings.

Renting in 2013 is a different beast. For everybody. All of the alliances treat their renters much differently than Band of Brothers ever did. Renters get their space. They are expected to pay their fees. And that's it. That is the extent of their role. They aren't expected to defend their territory. They aren't expected to help in offensive activities. They can just do what they do best with little interference from their overseers. What a renter is expected to do is earn ISK.

Consider what happened when all of NCDot's renter sovereignty was lost last month. Nulli (and friends, Pandemic Legion) dropped everything to pull their renter empire from the fire. In a monumental and quite amazing effort they restored all of that sovereignty inside of 48 hours. The renters had to do nothing. When a pipe bursts in your suite, you expect the landlord to fix it, the landlord shouldn't expect you to do so. That is what renting is in 2013. A far cry different than it was in 2007 under Band of Brothers. Goonswarm will be following this new model. The renter rent, pays their ISK, the landlord manages and protects the property.

As for the reasons to rent. Basically it comes down to ISK and the ability to defend CFC territory. One cannot adequately defend if one doesn't have adequate ISK. And defense is going to come down to caps and supercaps, lots of them. If you thought proliferation was a problem pre-2013, that problem is about to escalate ten-fold. NCDot and friends are building an inordinate number of new supercaps. This of course is a threat to CFC sovereignty, thus the CFC has to counter by increasing its own cap and supercap programs. All of this new manufacturing requires great deals of ISK. Not only do you need to have enough of these very expensive ships to field on the front line, you need an adequate supply of spares ready to cover losses.

Goonswarm Financial has been pushing for a renter program since 2011. The Mittani has always resisted strongly that idea. What changed his mind? The dropping of the Nulli Secunda renter alliance. Mainly the 400B ISK that was stolen. That money amounted to half a month's rent from their programs. Nulli is earning 800B ISK per month from renters. That's what opened The Mittani's eyes. The vast amount of ISK that he has been leaving on the table.

Consider Fountain. The R64s that the CFC captured will result in 250B ISK per month in income. That war cost the CFC over 1T ISK to prosecute. It will take at least six months of production out of Fountain to recover those costs. With renters, those costs could be recovered in under two months.

The CFC will start out slow with their new program, ostensibly called  the Greater Western Co-Prosperity Sphere.) They'll rent out a single constellation, likely in Vale of the Silent, to test the rental waters. See how the CFC reacts to it in the field. See how renters react to it. Build some word of mouth on the CFC as a responsible landlord (which also means that CFC leadership have outlawed all rental scams effective immediately.) There's also the possibility that it will generate some fun small-gang warfare. Not between us and renters, but between us and those who might want to screw with our renters. More fights are always a bonus.

It also means our enemies do not get a free pass to earn. The entire southwest is on the radar now. Delve. Querious. Period Basis. We'll take more moons, rent the remaining property. Deny NCDot and other enemies the ability to earn more ISK, from moons and rental property. There are more wars on the horizon. Deny ISK. Take ISK. That is the name of the game.

So that's the general scoop on the CFC and renters. It's nothing I have a problem with. It's probably good for nullsec, for the time being. Given the economic imbalances of this area of space, renters are the only way to ensure that space is most effectively utilized.
Source: Rental Constellations Available Now, Call 1-888-NOT-BOB2