IMPORTANT UPDATE: CoE SUCCESSFUL STRUCTURE DEFENSE

Greetings fellow Empyreans,

CoE has successfully defended the first threat to our infrastructure. 

For nearly a year of explosive growth and accumulation of members, wealth, and political power, CoE has endured several threats to our projects. Atlantis and our lowsec holdings have both been destroyed by our enemies. We have always held firm that these were experiments, which meant that we decided to let them go when they were attacked. Some doubted us openly, suggesting that we could not defend. The days were numbered until Pew Bears would come under fire in Highsec, and we might lose everything. Many said we couldn’t defend our home.

They were wrong.

When PNS wardecced us, there was major confusion about the cause of this war. While they were known to be EDENCOM loyalists, Xenuria appeared to claim credit for this attack, long before the war was widely known. PNS and their allies have consistently denied this, and since then Xenuria has continued to subvert both the Kybernauts and CoE, and his prior treachery has also been exposed. At this time we no longer believe he was actively involved in this war, merely opportunistically sewing confusion and unrest. We will likely have to deal with him again.

In reality, the history between Kybernauts and CoE has been touch and go. What was once a dream of working together to provide access to this newest content in EVE has increasingly become a source of misunderstandings, drama, and division. In spite of that, the public connection between CoE and Kybernauts has been observed, and though we have failed to actually work together much, the perception was enough for PNS to attack us. Even those who remained in CoE and were actively promoting EDENCOM were now forced to fight other pro-EDENCOM forces to defend their home so they can mine unimpeded by this in the sites. For the majority of the conflict, the politics were mired in confusion.

At first, we attempted to defend and that went quite poorly, the details of which were reported in my short AAR. The sum of it is, we ended up with our main manufacturing hub and our refinery coming out of hull timer. This woke us all up since this was in fact the credible threat we had all been preparing for. All of CoE kicked into gear.

Too many people to mention volunteered to help. Previously, I had not considered the impact of having our Raitaru be the thing knocked into low power, and I simply could not have brought things together without the incalculable effort put in by our members and friends during this short window, within three days we had a fully functional Machariel + Praxis fleet with Leshak support. It was stressful and fantastic.

However, I also found out something that made it much more difficult than many realize. 

About a week prior to this our much-beloved member of the leadership team GoJess stopped being as active as before and people were starting to notice. The same day I received the wardec, I learned she had a seizure that landed her in the hospital, and that she has scheduled for surgery. 

I won't lie, I didn’t want to do it. Given the circumstances, the last thing I wanted was to throw time and effort into a video game. I worried about my friend. I worried about all of those who put trust in me.

What stood with me the whole time was that you all deserved it. We needed to do it, regardless of how I felt, or what else was going on. If I was capable of helping, I needed to. You all put your trust in our leadership team, and if we fail, I have failed you. If you were willing to form to defend, you deserved a fighting chance. 

So, together we stood, with help of NOIR (who I hired to help). We knew the enemy would come with a counter to our fleet comp, I knew they would know our comp, so I drilled in my head how I would deal with various situations. We had every reason to believe they would bring an armor comp again. However, they brought shields to the timer in Caslemon. They had used Cerberus in the past, and as I prepared I continued to ask myself “but what if they bring the Cerbs?”

The showing was spectacular. Our allies ERB and CoE numbered just under 100 strong. One system away NOIR sat, waiting to refit as necessary to bring disruption and dismantle enemy logistics. 

The call came out from the scout: Cerberus and Stormbringers. 

We all quickly adjusted our fits to adapt for the fight. Thankfully a diligent member had made a veritable cloud of bookmarks around our structures, allowing me to warp the fleet to and cut off the enemy fleet with good effect, and we split the two fleets apart. In the end our allies and the Helldawn fleet who had come to get some kills, managed to dismantle their attack fleet enough that they were forced from the field twice and ultimately conceded the object. The first-timer was saved and our kills nearly doubled our losses:

https://zkillboard.com/related/30004978/202010302200/

The next three hours between timers were long. We passed the time playing some Among Us with my son, thanking those who had to leave, and welcoming those who were joining for the second timer. 

The second report was Abaddons and Guardians. I expected them to be somewhat Kite-y again, but they were Pulse not Beams. However, our Machariels had swapped to autocannons which allowed us to take the slug out and hold the line in spite of taking some costly losses. We knew we were putting extra ISK on the line to defend our home, and they punished us by gutting it. 

The thing is that this is Crimson Harvest now, and 90% drops means a lot of our fits were recoverable. In addition to that, we also recovered a lot of ISK from their own wrecks. 

More importantly, our home was safe:

https://zkillboard.com/related/30004978/202010310300/

Inspired by our victory our fleet decided to take the fight to the enemy HQ, scouting our way past their fleet through the two jumps of lowsec to their highsec island. The infil went without serious event, and while we kept eyes on the 30 or so reported enemies in systems around us, only one lone Structure pilot attempted to stop the reinforcement. 

However, as I had feared the enemy had used this time to secure the lowsec chokepoint out.  It was either log out in the system, or go through the trap. It was obviously a setup to put them in an advantageous position, but we wanted to test ourselves, and we were feeling pretty good. 

As we jumped in they pointed several of us and after we killed a couple of ships, they dropped the first round of capital ships. Once they decided they were having trouble holding us, the second cyno went up and in came the Nyx. We were burning out of the range of the points but soon after enough was enough and with the bagpipe music playing I warped the fleet away to leave my Damnation to be destroyed by the enemy fleet. 

https://zkillboard.com/related/30003044/202010310500/

Though invigorated by our victory, I remained distressed. This was a solid win, but was also spiraling into a deeper and deeper conflict. I was inspired by the strength our members mustered when the time was needed, but I also knew that I could not betray them by using that to drag them into a protracted conflict out of false notions.  I reached out through our neutral leadership to them to explain the situation, and decided to move the Kybernaut Directors out of the fight and informed them that we would not be attacking their timer, as a sign of good faith.  They responded with a willingness to negotiate for peace. While it was not required by PNS, I offered to end the formal connection between Kybernauts and CoE. 

Kybernuats wanted to be their own thing, CoE never wanted to have to get dragged into this forever war, and PNS was willing to back down if we surrendered the war dec. 

Surrendering is a mechanic in which the target of a wardec can effectively request an end to the war. By accepting the surrender the war ends in 24 hours, and cannot be resumed by either side for at least a week. For CoE, this is over. 

Kybernauts channels have been removed from CoE Discord. We still are friendly with Kybernauts, as we are with many organizations across all of New Eden. The Convocation of Empyreans stands together, safe once more. 

Now stronger than ever.

o7

Aug YC 122 Update - Kybernauts and Atlantis

 Greetings fellow Empyreans, what a time to be an EVE player!

Recently, Niarja has fallen to the Triglavians. This was long considered to be the “crown jewel” of the Invasion feature set and represents a massive disruption in trade between Amarr and Jita.

That said, one Empyrean’s loss is another’s opportunity. 

With the separation of Amarr, this gives additional support to Dodixie as a major trade hub, this will likely be handy for our larger efforts, but more on that in the weeks to come.

Kybernauts

While it is no secret that I have struggled to find a place for the Kybernauts, and to give it the support it deserves, it was always intended to function as an enabler of Invasion content, more than in competition to be the “best” Triglavian corp. The goal is to have the Kybernauts corp be a kind of “militia corp” for the TTI. To better facilitate this, we are making two big changes:

1. Senior members of TTI have been brought in as leaders to help manage the corporation

2. The tax rate has been reduced to 0%

Atlantis and the Future of CoE

One of the major impacts of the last couple weeks of Invasions is that you can no longer be 100% neutral to both EDENCOM and the Triglavians, which means you will be persona-non-grata in at least one of the two kinds of Minor Victories. They have slowed down the lock speed of the dreaded Werposts and Gunstars, but this represents a massive disruption to our hauling services. 

All that said, the solution is simple: we must reestablish our logistical command center in Atlantis. The Atlantis Project is one of the core projects of the Convocation of Empyreans, and is focused on securing a low-class wormhole with a high-security static. Yesterday we began the process of occupying a new Wormhole candidate for the Atlantis Project. 

While everyone in the Alliance will benefit directly or indirectly from Atlantis and its services, if we want to have this incredible opportunity it is up to us all to do what we can to make this happen. 

Yvenaas will be the Director in charge of Atlantis and has taken care of our move-in operations. We have plans and assets in place to allow anyone with a will to help to do so effectively and with minimal personal investment. This is a team effort. 

Thank you all for participating in this, and thank you for an incredible birthday present. 

Invasions Chapter 3 Convocation of Empyreans Update/FAQ

Greetings fellow Empyreans!

There has been a *lot* going on as of late. Since the release of Invasions Chapter 3, there are more things to do than ever before for solo, small and mid-sized and even large gang PvP, PvE and a mix of the two! I am so excited for what all of this means for us as players of EVE Online, but also the Convocation of Empyreans itself. Now more than ever EVE Online needs a visible, positive force for learning and growing new, transitioning, and returning EVE players. 

However, with so much going on, it is easy for confusion to take hold. A lot of changes are happening, on top of a lot of changes that were already happening. Ashterothi (the character) has left the Alliance, there seems to be a whole new corporation and discord, and a lack of fleets is causing people to feel listless and antsy. 

I hope to clear some of that up here by answering some FAQs

• Have you left us?

No. Heret Kau is my character, and the Executor of the Alliance. Mortis Astarte is my MALRO Director. Ashterothi is meant to swap around as needed, as she has with AIDER in the past.

• But, what is Kybernauts?

With Invasions Chapter 3 we are asked to choose a side. Because this works with standings, we have to choose a side for each character. The EDENCOM side is the same content we have already done, and the pro-Triglavian (called ‘Kybernaut’) side is full of new challenges and puzzles to solve. 

• So who runs MALRO?

Pockets does, as always. We have promoted GoJess into COO (Chief Operations Officer) and she has done a stellar job so far. Now that we understand what kinds of systems we want, I am fully confident that our leadership team can make it work far better than I ever could.

• How do I get involved with the Kybernauts?

You can solo Forward Posts, we will be coming out with a guide soon but here is some information: <https://forums.eveonline.com/t/please-explain-how-new-trig-invasions-work/246738/7?u=ashterothi> . Beyond that, check out <https://kybernaut.space/> and the Discord linked there.

• Wait, there is another Discord? Why not just have this in the Convocation of Empyreans?

Because we aren’t the only, or even largest players in this right now. The Triglavian Initiative Discord already exceeds ours in size. For the time being, I am trying to work with the other FCs and leadership involved. 

• Are we going to run Invasion fleets like we used to?

Yes! I plan on working this week towards building a Kybernaut doctrine to run the Field Base, which is the equivalent to Major Conduits. The good news is the ISK payout will be 33% better, as it doesn’t give LP.

• But what if I want to run for EDENCOM

We have partnered with Arataka Research Consortium, who runs regular pro EDENCOM fleets. Discord: https://discord.gg/K6JayJn

• Why haven’t you been streaming?

Between the **Wrecking Machine** , setting up stuff for **Kybernauts** , and our wormhole eviction I have had a lot of things going on that are too sensitive for streaming. I have tried to get on when I can, and I like to spend time with other streamers as well, no man is an island after all. I should be getting back to a more regular schedule shortly, but I always say that ;-)

• Speaking of Wrecking Machine, where's my money???

I have started contracting out the Small Skill Injectors to people who won them. **I need** people to accept contracts quickly, so I can put out more. Additional skill injectors will be available for those who didn’t win, and those we feel deserve particular accolades.

• What happened to the Wormhole? Has Atlantis sunk?

Atlantis is gone, but not forgotten. As I stressed before, we needed to have defenses in place before the problem arrived. Unfortunately due to the real-life riots and other events, most of the leadership within the hole could not respond to the event, and therefore we were incapable of mounting any real response. The *vast* majority of the resources inside were rescued. We do plan on rebuilding Atlantis, now that we know what exactly we want it to look like. This was an experiment, and we gathered lots of valuable information. Atlantis will rise again.

In addition to this, there will also be an update from GoJess, and as always please DM me with any questions or concerns you may have. 

o7 

- Ashterothi

Convocation Mining Update

Some simple things to cover moon mining operations in HS.

MINING SCHEDULE:  

Hephastus: Mondays 23:00

Zeus II: Wednesdays 23:00

Gerbersters, Zeus I and Greensfields: Rotating Saturdays 14:00

Every Saturday at 14:00 EVE time there is a moon pop

Participation in Convocation mining activities requires being in the Mining Standing Fleet and responding to call-outs on comms in the event of danger. Failure to do so will be disqualifying for SRP. This is to ensure that we do not lose ships needlessly and expose ourselves as a soft target to hostile groups. SRP will be provided on a case-by-case basis otherwise. 

While I understand that not everyone wants to be on discord in voice Mining channel, this is here first and foremost so you can hear emergency commands. You don’t need to be able to talk, however situational awareness is very important for these operations in EVE.

Be respectful of others. 

When selecting which rocks to mine, try to avoid rocks that already have someone mining them. Not only is this considered polite, but it prevents wasted cycles. As the field gets mined out, it will often be harder to find good rocks, but spreading out and being willing to mine all of the available rocks will ensure the whole field is mined efficiently. Drones can and should be used on the closest rock to you, regardless of whether someone else is mining it.

Use of alts

While we understand ambitious members may have many alts, to try to make things fair for everyone. If you have 3 characters mining, it is considered polite to stick mostly to the lower quality ore in the belt. It all has to be mined eventually, and those who bring larger groups of miners should go for quantity over quality and leave more valuable ore to those who may not have a fleet to mine with. Try to look at it as if you were a solo miner trying to make isk, and a fleet swoops in to grab all the good stuff. Individuals are limited to bringing a total of three mining barges without special permission. We often do not need excessive Orcas, and yours may be asked to not participate if we are already covered. Speak to the Mining Manager, Cyberwolf, for more information or any exceptions needed.

Only members of the Convocation and those Blue to them are welcome to mine in our moons. Exceptions can be made by the Mining Manager. 

Buyback

ALL Ore will be contracted to the Mining Manager (or designated leader for the operation). Once Ore is accounted for, payouts can be made based on contribution. If you wish to keep some of the resources, you can coordinate with the Manager. Ore will be refined by our refining team and resources made available through our Alliance programs. Do not take Ore you mine away from the moon, as we must account for it to do payouts. 

Scouts

We have several players who just sit and scout gates while you mine, so we can all mine more safely. When their name is tagged in fleet chat, please drop them an isk donation, as they are the ones who sit there, bored on gates, watching for gank fleets and for reds in the system.

Happy Mining and if you have any suggestions for the mining please reach out to our Mining Manager, Cyberwulf