Round 32

Dates and Times

Signups opened at 20:00 GMT on Friday, 19th June

Ticks started at 20:00 GMT on Friday, 26th June

Ticks finished at 20:00 GMT on Friday, 12th August

Round Summary

Round 32 saw a decrease in tag limit size down to 70 in an attempt to stimulate the game. This was also matched by Ascendancy carrying out an internal purge, kicking about half of their 120 strong memberbase after Round 31. xVx saw a large number of their members from the previous round leave as well, particularly the LDK core which had provided many of their top planets. This group, led by Cardinal, joined together with a number of ex-DLR players, led by Religfree and a group centred primarily around elviz, to form a new alliance called Apprime. Another new contending alliance also entered the round under the name p3nguins with members joining from various different locations, as well as a new alliance called Violent Realm, with a number of players from Subh and other places, and another as Tides of Vengeance, a merger between ToF and VGN. Other significant alliances included NewDawn, Conspiracy Theory and the smaller Ascendancy.

As the round got under way it became clear that Ascendancy were actually playing at a lower level than they had been in previous rounds and were unlikely to win. Instead the dominant alliance of the round seemed to be Apprime. With their high levels of activity and utilisation of core galaxies, notably 2.10 and 11.1, galaxies led by Cardinal and Elviz respectively, they became progressively more difficult for any one alliance to target on their own. They also possessed many difficult to roid Ter de planets, a highly effective defensive fleet which meant that the entire of a player's value had to be EMPed or killed before it could fire back in order for the attackers to gain roids without losing any ships themselves. Within the first week they had begun to amass a roid lead over the other alliances, with p3nguins and CT trailing them and ND a little further back. At this stage, fearing a repeat of the domination of previous rounds, the other alliances began to make contact with each other in order to discuss how best to slow Apprime down.

One of these discussions, between Ascendancy and EC, finally led to a number of alliances gathering together with the intention of targeting Apprime. A little over a week into the round ND, CT, Ascendancy, EC and p3nguins hit Apprime together, taking some 8% of their roids off them. Despite their initial success this block soon ran into difficulties. With targeting Apprime requiring high levels of commitment most backed off and the block only hit Apprime for one more night as a coherent unit. The involved alliances then returned to raiding galaxies over the next few days. This however was perfect for Apprime, who were able to string together a series of good roid-gain days over the next week, and put up a nearly 20% roid lead over the nearest alliance.

It was now abundantly clear to everyone that without a concerted effort to hit Apprime they would be able to pick off every other alliance's top planets at will. This effort actually almost collapsed before it even started. CT, feeling aggrieved at the perceived targeting of their planets by the others, co-operated with Apprime to roid 10.7, the #1 galaxy and an Ascendancy stronghold. Eventually though everyone was able to come together and agree on some basic strategy. The five alliances from the earlier period of co-operation, as well as Violent Realm on occasion, began to hit Apprime en masse. Grounding fleets to try and maximise defensive coverage Apprime initially held up well under this onslaught. Their fleets were almost universally solid defensively speaking and with experienced [[DC]s, who utilised tactics such as prelaunched defence very well, and a noticeable average value lead they kept roid loss to a minimum.

Unfortunately for Apprime their initial hopes that this block would prove as short-lived as the first one proved futile. Unable to break the block up and with only ROCK willing to help them out Apprime lost roids and, after almost a week of intensive targeting, began to lose a number of fleets. Each alliance in the block was able to recognise that their only realistic chance for the #1 spot, or long-term survival for some, was to keep up the pressure on Apprime. Despite the superior efficiency of Apprime, and a number of crashes from the involved alliances, they were eventually ground down and over the course of the next week lost both their roid-lead, dropping down below Asc, ND, CT and p3nguins, and the #1 spot to CT, with p3nguins also closing in just behind them. At this point Ascendancy, viewing their goal of preventing Apprime domination as completed, left the block. With good relations between many of the Apprime and Ascendancy members and HC they decided to NAP Apprime and, unable to fully cover galaxies themselves due to their decrease in military strength, co-operate with Apprime on attacks.

On the first night of joint Ascendancy/Apprime attacks they struck out at CT, hitting a CT heavy galaxy, 1.10, populated by a number of ex-Evolution members who had joined pre-round. Already somewhat dissatisfied with how CT was being run these members received virtually no defence off CT. With massive incoming from both Ascendancy and Apprime, which they were totally unable to cover in-gal, a number of them decided to leave the CT tag, effectively wiping out a significant chunk of CT's score lead over Apprime. Over the next few days the duo hit CT further, dropping them back behind Apprime on roids. The block, now minus Ascendancy, had decided to take their revenge by hitting Ascendancy's top galaxy, 10.7, which gave a valuable respite to Apprime for a night and enabled them to continue regaining the roids they so badly needed to compete. CT now dropped back behind Apprime again but the relatively untargeted p3nguins were able to take over the #1 spot.

Apprime's attention now switched over to p3nguins and their main galaxy, 7.10, with some two weeks left in the round. This galaxy had five of the largest p3nguins planets in it, including two who had left Apprime for p3nguins during the early stages of the war. Working together with Ascendancy Apprime hit this galaxy twice over the next four nights, taking nearly 25% of their roids off them. With p3nguins top planet also leaving tag in some rather peculiar circumstances their small score advantage over Apprime was soon gone. With a bit over a week to go Apprime reclaimed the #1 ranking and looked heavy favourites for the round win. At this point the block had effectively dissolved, after Ascendancy's departure CT and ND had NAPed, leaving p3nguins slightly isolated. Then first Violent Realm and then ND had left the block, declaring their part of the job done. The departure of ND in fact led to conflict between themselves and p3nguins, with ND raiding where they pleased, often on roid-fat p3nguins planets and p3nguins retaliating on ND galaxies. This diversion of valuable resources from their war effort certainly did not help p3nguins versus Apprime.

The final week of the round saw a potential spanner thrown in the works for Apprime. Seven of their planets were closed by the multihunters, reducing their score lead back down to only just in front of CT, with p3nguins lagging slightly behind. By now very weary Apprime lost a number of roids in an attack on 11.1 and looked in danger of flagging at the last. Regrouping themselves for one final effort Apprime hit CT heavily, with the help of Ascendancy, and were able to secure the #1 spot by a small margin. P3nguins, off the back of some huge XP landings in the last couple of days were actually able to move past CT into second place and Ascendancy overtook ND to finish fourth. Apprime had been targeted heavily and pushed close but were able to emerge as deserving winners of the round.

Galaxy wise the heavy targeting of Apprime over the round had removed their two core galaxies, 11.1 and 2.10, from the top galaxy race. The heavy Ascendancy galaxy, 10.7, and p3nguins' 7.10 were the only two contenders from mid-round on. However with Apprime and Ascendancy roiding 7.10 repeatedly while they were targeting p3nguins they dropped further and further behind with 10.7 winning quite comfortably in the end. Planet wise the main contenders were all from 10.7. LukeyLove of ND held the #1 planet ranking from about four weeks in and looked favourite to win. However Ascendancy wanted one of their planets on top and, despite him being in an Ascendancy heavy galaxy, they roided him on two different occasions. The Ascendancy Ter De planets raced past him in the final days with eksero winning and Reese recovering admirably from being fleetcaught by Apprime earlier in the round to finish in second.

Final Rankings

• Final Planet Rankings
• Final Galaxy Rankings
• Final Alliance Rankings
• Miscellaneous Rankings

See Also

• R32 EORC
• Alliances in R32
• Ship Stats