As the Bor LC, this is how I remember the beta...
Bors really didn't have more activity than other legions from the start, it wasn't so much luck of the draw. It increased as it normally does when there's consistent leadership (ie constant nagging from myself), ships building up in levels so players are more vested, taking the initiative to move around the map instead of waiting, camaraderie towards the middle/end stages. I was really surprised to see the big change in Tibs from the start when they looked so dominant. I think the mistake for you guys was to jump into PK a second time, thus building up all their firepower?
We started off third or fourth place when I was voted in (not by choice
), we couldn't stay in Roids, were at a loss on what to do. Thankfully the Jax(?) went to Boraxus so it gave us some easy points. We had plenty of bombers so we clawed our way up with empty bases (being annoying urban foxes and disliked by every legion). When we had our two fights against the Krils in 81103 (well played Krils) and against Jax in Tripe (well played Jax), we ended up losing ships! Maybe due to our lack of reppers, lack of fighters, lack of firing discipline. So we dropped back to third place - that's how close the beta was for a long time. Jhpyhi commented that before he went on vac, we were third place... when he came back, we were still third so he thought nothing had changed, then he noticed our big losses on the ATT
I'm very glad that blip didn't destroy our activity, it could easily have gone downhill from there.
So we didn't naturally have it easy. It was only through bombing (points were too high, it's good that they've been nerfed) that we caught up again. Nice to have more reppers too. I'm glad that Fwiffo and Faulcon's original cloakers were converted into more useful ships
Turning point was that fight with Krils in Roids, which I didn't plan and didn't want. I remember it was a Saturday lunchtime and I was out meeting a friend. We had moved up to Apollo overnight but I didn't want to fight Jax in Ajaxus. I sent a message to everyone apologising that we were stuck between a rock and a hard place and we had to fight our way through Roids to get home
Not much of a response on a weekend so I thought it was a bad idea, but thankfully with enough notice and AP, we all piled in. The Krils at that stage maybe had slightly more firepower than us, or we were very equal, so it was essentially a game of chicken. Thankfully we had the advantage with PDS and it broke the Krils, so we were back on top. From then on, the Jax seemed to gain in activity and were our main rivals.
There was a time when we could have killed precruiser Durandal in Ajaxus when the Jax only had one carrier. Lucky for them, they were about to have a second carrier, so it wasn't worth the effort and risk. I think that's when we went across the map to Tibrar, against conventional wisdom.
Later on, jumping back from Tibrar facing potentially three legions in our base was pretty scary (Jhyphi warned me against precisely that
). I was prepared to lose our precruisers to a NAP because that's how things go. When I saw the Jax jump out at tick change, I was so relieved and surprised, sending a comm saying "WAIT WHAT LOLZ?!" or something to that effect
After that, it was an easy ride for us to dominate, but I think I did become too nurturing towards our ships and didn't want to lose a single one in battle (esp our new fighters) when we were waiting around for our two reppers to reach carriers.
For the time we lost Devilishly, we probably should have stayed at least one tick to fight in Ajaxus but I felt we weren't on full health and the intention was always to jump out. Too late to change the autopilot orders as well. It was unfortunate to lose Devilishly but he didn't read the LN before he moved 5 times that tick. Instead of a hard fight in Ajaxus trading ships, I decided on going to PK instead, especially since the Krils were in Tibrar.
I do regret that we didn't have more fights, but I find base fights unnecessary when there are other smarter choices. I didn't want to lose the ships we had built up and be in a weaker position incase the Krils and Jax NAPed. After PK, the Tibs were on our side because they disliked Jax, so the ending was a forgone conclusion. Without the Tibs (obviously I'd be a fool to refuse their help, politics are in this game for a reason), it would have been a pretty hard fight in Ajaxus... not sure we could have taken it down with a strong active force defending it, especially without Devilishly's cruiser and Zypher's cruiser on vac. The Tibs had built up for a force of level 4 bombers, so they could easily have been chipping away at Boraxus while we were trading ships with Jax. In the end, the smallest legion decided the outcome of the game, hence the reason I helped them out as the biggest legion!
Autopilot was vital to our success, but sometimes counterproductive when I wanted to change my mind - LCs use with caution! =)
