Ahoy Crew!
Service update: Pegasi Sentinel correspondents and editors closed the shop and went on summer holidays (they deserved it!). As a result, from this Cycle report and onwards [very likely until the second half of August], coverage and other news may be/will be shortened and limited to the most relevant headlines/topics (this notice will be published as long as necessary for the courtesy of readers).
It was to be expected... CG trading on Minerva (a mini gold rush during the holidays) went very quickly... and in addition to giving away many CPs to Sirius (unfortunately, most of them wasted), it became popular for "easy" credits. The first tiers were burned through in a few days, so FDEV added new ones to avoid having to close it early (compared to the initially planned four weeks).
Even though credits are now a "commodity" and there are numerous billionaire players (and perhaps even a few trillionaires), for those who are just starting out they are certainly useful. At least this CG made Kumo Crew pirates happier as they had some fun time in Minerva doing what they love the most: hunting haulers and freeing up some cargo for the Archon’s cause (watch CMDR HairyHogg “A Night in Minerva”). Afraid of pirates when hauling, our fellow Dark Marauders CMDR STAR O You NO shows in this YT video some escape & evade tactics with the “old cow” T9.
But the news of the week is definitely the teaser of a new ship, which appeared on FDEV's social media, picked up by partners, and then published on the forum. Just one frame, as has happened for previous teasers, but it was enough to unleash the hype among players... especially the miners, since the new ship is moving in a rocky ring. The teaser preceded Frontier Unlocked by a few days, where some details (around minute 6, instead of being put at the end of the stream) of the ship have been revealed: it’s the Lakon Type-11 “Prospector”, a medium ship dedicated to mining… which is coming out in autumn, together with a new “specialised” mining module (there has been a mention about an unkown “new/different type of mining”.
In the other news… it seems that the “Vanguard” (squadrons) update has been postponed a little forward (ETA is now at the end of August).
Powerplay (Back to Ngurii)
Like an unstoppable storm, decay continues to lash the Powers, severely impacting the CPs of all territories. Those who have been a little careful are ultimately affected less than others (councillor Kaine seems to be on the right track), and those hardest hit are obviously those at the top of the leaderboard. Even if it is decreasing, to 37 from 42 million, it is still an unimaginable amount for players’ groups (that sum requires at least >140+ million in personal merits).
A. Duval +50
Yong-Rui +28
A.L. Duval +22
Antal +21
Grom +16
Winters +15
Torval +13
Mahon +12
Archer +10
Kaine +9
Patreus +5
Delaine +3
Cycle 39 reinforcement numbers are somewhat "displaced" by the CG outlier (in favor of Sirius), however the activity gained a late substantial push as Ngurii offering Soontill Relics at 600t on the last 48hrs or so of the Cycle helped some Powers to push at last minute hauling rush, with a total of +204 systems added and nine Powers with double digits led by Aisling Duval (+50) (OOF!) and followed by the expansionist Yong-Rui (+28). The leaderboard remains substantially unchanged: the belly remains the "hot zone" besides the bald Antal (+21) is taking some advantage over the barman Archer (+10), followed by the gypsy Kaine (+9). Sirius is closer to the bear Grom (+16), and the auntie Winters (+15) keeps pushing with good numbers to catch the jelly-haired Denton (+5). Kudos to the granny Torval (+13) for having broken the 600 systems mark!
The Ngurii runners pushed the R\U ratios to some better percentages (around 90% for the best performers as the matriarch Zemina), given that the overall numbers were pretty much lower (R\U increased from 20% up to around 55-65% for the bulk of Powers) before the Civil Liberty raised to the maximum the Soontill Relics quantity. We are excluding the techno-nerd Yong-Rui from the average numbers, due to the extra-income of CPs raining from the CG in Minerva.
The Scallywags (Who Dares Wins)
As happened in the previous Cycle, this time too, some invisible enemies have targeted another of our systems: Yash. An industrial/mining system located on our frontline against the Empire (in this case, the blue-haired princess Duval and the vexed senator Patreus). At this point, perhaps it would be time for those responsible for this initiative to find the courage to [
We don't want to sound “polemic”, but this is another of the many cases where it is clear that a challenging Powerplay can only be in open play. These [
With the exception of Cuberara, where we had to leave counter undermining a bit behind, further attempts have involved well-known systems such as Atins (thanks to Kumo Crew CMDR DaRanger for having helped there), Shaplini, 241 G. Aquarii... as well as Albardhas and those where we continue to suffer the effects of another shameful practice (AFK-boats). Honestly, once again (we will never stop saying it), we don't understand why FDEV decided to leave "uncovered" such a [
In Cycle 39, we once again had a low number of acquisitions. The God of PCZs gave us no assistance for the Atata refinery system, where the forces of the self-proclaimed dictator Grom (supported by HIP 103138 stronghold) obtained a close victory against the King. Maybe they didn’t consider the stubbornness of scallywags, when Archon Delaine took the lead in the CPs race for the system… and many millions merits flooded into the contested system (last update was around 600/700k CPs for each side [
Anyway, despite having Soontill Relics at 600t to push more acquisitions, the focus was on reinforcements (always balanced where decay can burn efforts) and our R\U in the 50% ballpark is definitively a good result. In general, we will continue to provide this guidance in the attached [see below] targets.
The acquisitions backlog, barring any last-minute surprises or contested systems, is still listing a few of "pending" situations, so these targets are maintained for the Cycle 40. Our recommendation is to push acquisitions at least in the first part of the Cycle, then address reinforcements in the second part (where and if necessary).
Cycle 40: Preliminary Targets
Reinforce: Senufan, LTT 8716, HIP 110806 (new acquisitions), Atins, Cuberara and Shaplini (to counter undermining), Wuy Jugurra, Ngola and Warla (in general all systems below the 25% threshold are in the need of being reinforced).
Acquire (clearing the backlog): HIP 113699, HIP 110623 and Guerrongal.
Undermine: OpSec.
FOR THE ARCHON!!!
Source: Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/kumocrew/comments/1mdzs38/cycle_39_stubborn_ahoy/
