Infinite Incursions 8/31/2023: After-action Report
It can be easy assume that our victory means that we did all the things right and there's no room for improvement, but US36's initial struggle to respond and react to US17 proves that there are challenges to the current modus operandi that US36 in general (and [TOLL] in specific) should address. US17 was a powerful enemy, and we cannot rely on being "the comeback kids" too often. We have broken even over the course of the last 8 incursions, and we're still coming off a losing streak of 4 losses in a row.
US17 gave a solid example of how to work together as a server, regardless of whatever in-server politicking they may have going on outside of Incursion events. They had extremely even coverage of the sub-18 systems to the point finding a system that could be a "safe haven" for longer than a few hours was impossible. If you 'jumped over,' you were pretty much guaranteed to be picked off if you let your shields drop, sometimes for less than a minute.
US17 didn't show any level of advanced inter-Alliance teamwork, but there was a clear, prearranged strategy that absolutely served them well in the first half of the incursion. The took a solid lead early and it was nearly six hours before US36 was able to claim a lead. The even distribution of player bases in the sub-18 systems combined with the established plans to 'scorched earth' any discovered shield-less bases meant that, early on, it was hard for any US36 player to gain a significant advantage.
Simultaneously, the invasion was near swarm levels of effective, hammering darn near any player base or ship available almost as soon as the incursion started. Nearly all the invading players were high level, meaning the response was challenging to say the least. The invaders were excellent tacticians, high-power, and ready to bring the pain early.
US17 has an appreciable number of "whale" players, as indicated by the lvl. 60 stations with maxed out ships and fully leveled crews. While few enough they could be avoided by anyone unable to directly take them on, the unusually high presence of them was cause for concern.
The long-term strategy for US17 appears to be to high hard and fast early on, then ride out the remainder of the incursion from the early successes. Clearly, this did not work out for them in the long run.
Alliances had some clear in-game communication and coordination happening. Several times we encountered a station that was defenseless and left to let the 10 min. timer elapse before alliance player bases appeared in-system and the full power of their strongest ships with PvP crews showed up to pick off the US36 players that showed up to target the "helpless" base. As soon as the more powerful stations/ships arrived to defend the system, the "weaker" station shielded up.
Tactically, individual players displayed similar tactics, searching for compromised S17 bases and lying in wait with cloaked ships or positioning their station nearby and waiting for a S36 player to target the 'bait' station.
This indicates that the practice of 'honeypotting' is a common one on US17 and should be expected from any incursion event with them in the future.
US17 had some impressively fast response times. Ranging from 10 minutes to as little as a few seconds to respond to an attack on one of their players.
Response was nearly always overwhelming, indicating at the least some communication within alliances if not the entire server.
US17 faltered during the "long tail" of the incursion. As the battle became one of attrition and the blitzkrieg became a thing of the past, allowing the more 'slow and steady' approach of US36 to win the day.
This author would like to point out that this may be the only reason US36 won this incursion.
The absolute lack of unity, or at least diplomacy, among US36 was obvious. The distribution of safe-harbor systems was a good indicator of this, and the simple fact was that [TOLL], at the very least, was expecting other alliances (or at least other non-[TOLL] players) to use the incursion to snipe our players in attacks of opportunity was, perhaps, the clearest indicator of this division. The only 'teamwork' between alliances on display was the willingness to 'salt the earth' by destroying non-alliance player bases and ships with extreme prejudice.
US36 has few whales, though the alliances do tend to be "top heavy," meaning that a solid attack/defense could be mustered to counter 80%(anecdotal) of any significant incursion attacks.
The majority of the strategy for US36 is, "Each player must be able to stand on their own, and other players helping you is a mercy at best."
Very Klingon philosophy, that.
US36 response time was...lackluster. Part of this was the lack of communication between alliances/factions. A player in [TOLL] couldn't reliably reach out to a nearby [IRON] player and expect a response.
The 'factioning' of the server, even during a larger event intended to pit the servers against each other regardless of inter-alliance politics, meant that there was almost no communication between allies-of-circumstance.
Response time is low and slow, which works for attrition but not for emergencies. There's no consistent emergency response protocol in place for US36.
Reaction is on a per-alliance level. Some alliances, like [TOLL], have a response based strictly on who happens to be online and in the right server at the moment.
[TOLL]'s collective team cohesiveness is spot on. There simply aren't examples of one team member being unwilling to work with another.
The 'working together' aspect is...spotty. If two members happen to have engaged in some level of teamwork in the past, then they generally performed well.
While top-heavy, [TOLL] does not have any 'whale' members.
Power concentration in levels is diffident, at best. Members with similar levels may have wildly different power levels/load-outs/crews/etc.
[TOLL]'s organization is akin to an ant colony. The queen can direct inside the 'hive,' but the ants largely are allowed to roam free. There are 'scouts,' members who are more willing to explore and expand [TOLL]'s sphere, and the rest will follow, but there's no organization. Members fall back on habit more often than not, and said habits may not mesh well, depending on the player.
Training as teams is non-existent and it shows.
Response time largely depended on who happened to be up and active at any given time. Standouts notably included Jettearoo, SpaceyDykeBLM, and DriveByBaggins, though this is reflective of this author's personal experience and fully anecdotal.
Teamwork and response are [TOLL]'s worst features. As a ragtag band of marauding misfits and rogues, adherence to team structures is a notable weak point for the alliance.
All lvl. 25s and above should be coached in the best way to prepare for incursions and the differences between invasion and defense fully explained to all members. Additionally, leadership should work with the team members to achieve the best options of their personal goals and tailor their ships, load-outs, and crew members to best fit with the team dynamics during Incursions.
Increased membership would always be a good thing, and outreach both on the server and to the larger communities in which players operate should be encouraged. The more players we can get to join the game, US36, and [TOLL] specifically, the better we'll perform from sheer numbers.
Even when US36 has a bye month or Incursions are put on hold for dev work, as incursions can be the single most challenging aspect of gameplay given how comparatively rarely they happen vs. anything else in the game, all players should be reminded that they'll either need to kit for Incursions or bunker down during incursions.
Better team divisions (see "Teamwork" below) will help, especially as team members work together during other events and assisting each other with dailies.
Encouraging all [TOLL] members to join the Discord server is a start, though in-game chat will continue to be the best option for fast response. With this in mind, the following recommendations may be the best methods of communication.
Up-to-the-minute and alerts: In-game chat - The in-game DM and Alliance chat system is still the best way to get attention directly to something immediately to players actively in-game. This is good for: Alerts (Base attacks, territory invasion, armada disruption, cloaked ship, etc.), in-game conversation, passing coordinates in-game, etc.
Real time, non-critical two-way communication, anything private to [TOLL]: Discord - Send invites to the Discord on a regular basis (weekly? monthly?), especially to members who are less active on in-game chat. ALTERNATELY: Some players don't like/trust Discord. Alternate methods should be explored for similar group-style communication.
FAQs, How-to guides, explanations, and dossiers: Tubmlr - Anything non-private should be posted to Tumblr (in other words, anything where the same information can be found in open spaces/sources, e.g. - "bunker" systems used in incursions, dossiers of problematic players and alliances, etc.)
Announcements and High-priority Alerts: Mailing list - A dedicated [TOLL] mailing list should be established to keep members up-to-date with the latest actions, how updates and announcements will impact [TOLL], etc.
Calendar: An events calendar that incorporates the in-game events, the schedule for territory defense, and related should be established on a shared-account service that syncs to personal calendars (Apple and Google calendars, Outlook, etc.)
Greater outreach to other alliances is a must for continued success in incursions, and just enjoyable gameplay in general. Alliances of friendship (like [KATZ] should be pursued, and players helping other alliance's players should be encouraged. (Individual discretion should be allowed for players in alliances in Caution or Unfriendly status, and players should be advised to not interact with Enemy alliances without orders otherwise)
This diplomacy could be extended to allowing members of [TOLL] to use the semi-protected resources in neighboring territories, and this should be encouraged as a benefit to working with [TOLL].
Teams should be established, similar to Strike Team She-ra. 'Badging' can even be done via usernames, though we'll want to ensure we conform to character counts and Scopely allowed guidelines.
ellievsbear
gummygunk
prguitarman
tangentwithtanner
yousharknotpass
