History of EVE University: Difference between revisions

Morning Maniac gave a two-hour history lecture in March 2007:  [http://classes.eve-ivy.com/Morning%20Maniac%20-%20Past%20Present%20and%20Future.mp3 EVE University History, Past Present and Future].  It covered the history of the Uni from its founding as a chat channel.  Time passes, though -- half the Uni's history happened after this talk.

EVE University was founded 15 Mar 2004. MM had been answering questions in the Help channel, and wanted to provide something that was more helpful than what 'Help' had become.  The heart of the operation was the EVE University public chat channel.   

Early on, the principle was established that the Uni would remain neutral, so that students can have the widest possible choice of future corporations.

This is interesting for several reasons.  The first is the shift from helpful to slanging through the 13 pages of the thread.  The second is that all of the same issues are being discussed five years later.  This appears to be prior to the founding of The Big Blue.

[http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=232391 Huff Corporation wardecs EVE University]

EVE University was, with NAGA, the Four Horsemen, and others, one of the founding corporations of The Big Blue alliance.  The Big Blue (always with the definite article) was founded in October of 2005, and lasted until August of 2006.  During this busy year, the alliance built two outposts in Geminate: the Blue Pill in BWF-ZZ, and Masada Station in 8MG-J6.  In June of 2006, the Mercenary Coalition declared war on BLUE.  A month later, The Four Horsemen withdrew from the alliance, removing much of The Big Blue's PvP power.  Subsequently, attacks by Euphoria Unleashed and others rendered the situation untenable, and NAGA and EVE University dissolved the alliance and withdrew from the region.  An interesting historical consequence is that the Uni's teamspeak server was hosted with NAGA until late 2009.   

''[http://www.eve-ivy.com/forums//viewtopic.php?f=31&t=3960 And this "looking back' thread from 2007.]''

===Formation of TGRADS===

At the time the Uni retreated from Geminate, a group of Uni members wanted to remain in 0.0, allying with ISS, an organization which itself maintained neutrality.  The Uni as a whole felt that this would nevertheless undermine its neutrality.  Twenty-six Uni members left to form The Graduates (TGRADS), and take over the Cassini outpost of ISS in EC-P8R.

* Privateers (corp) war 24 Oct 2006.  (Privateers founded 6 weeks previous).  TGRADS in <ISS> at this time.  <IVY> at ~700 members, though this includes some inactives. See [http://www.eve-ivy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=2402]

===The Drone Regions===

The drone regions of space were added to the EVE universe in November of 2006.  At some point subsequent to leaving Geminate, until about April 2007, the Uni held space in the drone regions (S-R9J2), while remaining headquartered in Korsiki(?).  In April of 2007, Invictus attacked, and eventually forced IVY out of 0.0 again. Invictus got sov 1 on 28 Jun 2007, per evemaps.dotlan.net.   

[http://www.eve-ivy.com/forums//viewtopic.php?f=41&t=4625]

MD-K declared war on IVY, having first taken the trouble to set up a POS in Korsiki under an alt corporation (Vajayjay), in which they could shelter completely safe from attack -- in high-sec, shooting at the 'neutral' POS would be a CONCORD-able act.  They also used the tactic of putting neutral alts in among their drones, to prevent smartbombs attacking their drones.  Both of these were seen within the Uni as dirty tricks.

MD-K was a ~60-person corp at the time, composed of veteran PvP'ers.  They had recently left the Triumvirate alliance, and had at one time advertised as mercenaries.  It is not known whether their war with the Uni was hired by a third party.  Interestingly, MD-K had apparently absorbed a corp of former Uni members, Direct Intent, a few months previously.  This caused some internal conflict for MD-K, as a number of their members refused to fight the Uni.

[http://www.eve-ivy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=257725&sid=9b80ae91d305f3a05520d183a1472073#p257725 forum reference]

The Uni made a rare wardec, in order to attack the POS in which MD-K was sheltering.

MD-K next wardec'd 2KNOW, suggesting strongly that their primary target in this war was the Korsiki POS.

[http://www.eve-ivy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=4970 forum thread]

=== Significance of the POS Assault ===

MD-K's attack was particularly significant, since the Uni had a capital ship array anchored at the POS in Korsiki.  Game changes had made it impossible to re-anchor such an array in high-sec space, so an irreplaceable asset was under attack -- a rarity in EVE.

After the removal of the highsec capital arrays, the MD-K war quickly wound down, and 2-KNOW rejoined <IVY>.

* Mercenaries discussed, but not contracted?

[http://www.eve-ivy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=6387]

TRAPS (The Really Awesome Players), then a corp in the Privateer alliance, war-dec'd the Legion of Lost Souls.  LOLS had history with the Uni and IVY going back to The Big Blue.  LOLS refused to pay ransom to TRAPS, and joined the IVY alliance for mutual support.  TRAPS later claimed that the cause of the LOLS wardec was LOLS' smack-talking.   

[http://www.eve-ivy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=8132 Wardec thread]

At this time, the Uni was dec'd by a one-man corp.  The Uni's membership was about 1200.  The diplomatic team contacted Ibn Sahl to see why he wanted to take us all on. The answer: '''Honor'''.

[http://www.eve-ivy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8657&highlight= The Uni Thread]

In March of 2008, the Privateers announced on the EVE forums that they would be accepting contracts against the Uni.  It was widely believed that senior leaders in the Privateers had developed personal grudges against the Uni.  For the following two months, the Privateers maintained continuous war against the Uni.

* [http://www.eve-ivy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=7606 forum reactions to above]

The Privateer Alliance was founded in order to facilitate hisec PvP for its members.  Wardec fees at the time scaled only with the number of simultaneous wars the defender had; this made it possible for Privateers to maintain a large number of simultaneous wardecs.  Prior to April 2007, they typically had 75 to 80 simultaneous wardecs -- which provided them with wide scope for shooting people.  The wardec fees were sustainable because of the large size of the alliance, which spread the cost around.  Privateers' corporations were able to sustain themselves from the loot of their kills, but the system depended on having a lot of valid targets in hisec.

Lack of DPS in Uni fleets has been a recurring problem throughout the Uni's history.  After over a month of war with no break, a battleship loan program was started to get more battleship-capable pilots flying the big boats in war fleets.

* Decshield removed (23 Jun 2008)

* Privateers declare war again (23 Jun 2008) <ref>http://www.eve-ivy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=9667</ref>

[http://www.eve-ivy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=9686 24 Jun 08 Privateer War SOP]

Well, there was this one guy, see, with a Drake.  One Man and His Drake was also his corp name.  He thought he'd developed the ultimate tank for the Drake.  He still got blown up, and he wasn't a good sport about it.

[http://www.eve-ivy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=10546 (forum thread)]

The Tribute to Sabre A[http://go-dl1.eve-files.com/media/corp/CUrzonDax/Tribute_to_Sabre_A.mp3]

There is no six.

''' It's been pointed out to me that this section needs significant factual correction.  I hope to revise it in the next day or so; meanwhile, don't rely on this for your homework. --JH'''

Shortly after the destruction of the University POS, Cazzah wrote an article attempting to summarize the situation and provide some background. [http://www.eve-ivy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=16062&start=0]

Another mercenary group that wardec'd the Uni hot on the heels of the POS takedown, FRICK was very, very good at small-group combat.  Fighting them was educational -- they camped several stations at Korsiki with elegant teamwork and well-chosen bookmarks.   

It had become apparent to many by this point that someone with a lot of spare cash was upset at the Uni.  We were getting wardecs every week, and from mercenaries every time.

Subsequent to the SW/Dynaverse war, the number of 'real' wars decreased.  However, a huge number of 'faildec' wars were declared in this time period -- 7-10 member corps who'd show up for a day of fighting, lose a ship or two, and then hide for the rest of the week, causing the Uni membership to spin in station.   

The move to Aldrat has decreased the number of wardecs the Uni has had, though cleaning the low-grade pirates and can-flippers out of the region occupied people for quite a while at the start of the move.

''John Haldane writes:''

Because Aldrat is also near NPC 0.0 space, Uni leadership took the experimental step of opening NPC 0.0 to students.  This seems to have worked out pretty well so far -- students can dip a toe into 0.0 without the political repercussions of entering sovereign 0.0.

===Departure of Morning Maniac ===

At the start of 2010, Morning Maniac announced that he was stepping down as CEO of the Uni, after almost 6 years at the helm.  Kelduum Revaan, the former Director of Operations, has replaced MM as CEO.  Morning Maniac remains a Uni member and Director Emeritus.

== Stuff that needs to be fitted in somewhere ==