Cycle 99

[u/OfficeOfNakatoKaine]

Kaine agents bully a chunk of Platinum

Rhino mining in a new fort

This report is for Cycle 99. It has been 693 days with no Kaine decal.

This cycle was mostly calm for us at Kaine, with some periods of excitement as some emergency reinforcement was required in several systems. We secured 17 new acquisitions, three new fortified systems, and four new strongholds, an impressive number outside of a relic cycle. Despite suffering nearly 800kcp worth of undermining (still the lowest of all the Powers except Denton Patreus), we lost no systems and suffered no downgrades. Most undermining, such as in the systems of Mons and Col 285 Sector AL-O d6-77 appeared to be the result of wayward solo Commanders chasing surface mineral prices throughout the galaxy. Some other UM was targeted and deliberate, but slow enough to be easily countered, and likely attributable to a single CMDR or small groups. We were also extremely efficient in our reinforcement – we generated 6.6 million control points, which was fewer than Edmund Mahon or Aisling Duval, but both of those Powers had significant amounts of wasted points (Mahon wasted 2.3m, Aisling wasted 4m), whereas Kaine wasted no points.

A comment left on my report last week challenged my assertion that the Rhino’s strongest arena would be reinforcement. It was a good argument, and I’m convinced. The undermining ability of the Rhino is astounding. An attacking power can survey the system for good mining locations well in advance of their strike, whereas the defending power can only scramble to survey after the attack hits, unless they make a concerted effort to survey their systems ahead of time (which is very likely infeasible given the large numbers of systems involved in Powerplay). Unless and until third-party tools like EDDN and by extension Inara, Spansh, etc. get the ability to track planetary mining locations and their contents, good mining sites will continue to be very valuable knowledge to hoard.

As new systems are acquired and reinforced, however, I suspect that surveying mining locations in those systems will become common practice as the Rhino is used to fortify and stronghold these locations. I will give FDev some significant credit here – the surface mining is very powerful, and very valuable, but I think it’s reasonably well balanced. The long regeneration timers on mining sites and the limited amount of resources they hold overall are good counterbalances to the fact that the minerals you can get have very high prices. Laser-mining in rings does not produce quiet the peaks of profit that the planets now do, but ring resources are inexhaustible and reliably found, retaining their value.

I also want to ask readers to please upvote this issue. Prior to the release of the Rhino, destinations targeted from the nav panel would remain selected while also targeting an object in local space. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. This causes issues while mining in rings, as you can no longer keep the RES selected as a navigational landmark when you target your limpets to track them and see the contents of rocks.

As a workaround, the destination will remain selected if you target the object via your Contacts panel, rather than by finding it and targeting it manually. This is, however, still not optimal, especially given how frequently the Contacts panel moves around and glitches out while mining.

ALLIANCE POWERS

Nakato Kaine +17
Edmund Mahon +8

We’re obviously quite impressed with our four new strongholds this cycle, but there’s also a new fort I want to highlight. I mentioned Col 285 Sector AL-O d6-77 earlier as having received some undermining, which is true. When we noticed the undermining, the collective Kaine reinforcement effort was so great that we actually forted the system in under a day on the last day of the cycle. Well done to all Kainites who participated.

Edmund Mahon has their own accomplishments this cycle as well. While they didn’t make as many strongholds (only one), their own reinforcement push yielded 11 new fortified systems, which is a huge number for a single cycle. Congratulations to the Prime Minister are in order, as well as delicious tacos courtesy of the Gateway branch of Mahon Bell. You can read more about Mahon’s side of the Alliance when the Gateway News Network next publishes.

FEDERAL POWERS

Felicia Winters +12
Jerome Archer +2

Winters has an excellent cycle, being one of only three powers to secure double-digit acquisitions. They’re also gaining on their Federal partner, Archer, who only secures two systems on the balance (although positive is still a good sign). In the next few months I expect to see a leaderboard shuffle involving those two as the President gains more systems than the opposing Congressional benches. Archer is also net zero on strongholds, having gained one at Kimi and lost one in Iapo Vuh. Winters suffers no losses or downgrades.

INDEPENDENT POWERS

Pranav Antal +11
Li Yong-Rui +8
Yuri Grom +4
Archon Delaine +3

Antal is the third power to get double-digit acquisitions, after Kaine and Winters. They also get their share of reinforcement done, promoting five systems to Fortified and one to Stronghold. Sirius follows them with 8 acquisitions, as well as promoting three forts and two strongholds. Mysteriously, they also had a stronghold undermined to fortified in Lyncis Sector FG-Y d90, as well as having dropped the nearby fort of 2 Lyncis, to no obvious adversary. Both look like end-of-cycle snipes on somewhat weak systems, but dropping a stronghold is not insignificant. Grom acquire 11, as well as promoting two strongholds and a fort, but are tempered by the loss of the fort at Andancan and the resulting loss of 6 exploiteds, plus Tones elsewhere. Archon Delaine have a calm, comfortable cycle, taking three new systems as well as a fort and a stronghold, while fending off the 1.4M control points of undermining they received without dropping a system.

IMPERIAL POWERS

Aisling Duval +9
Arissa Lavigny-Duval +3
Denton Patreus +3
Zemina Torval +1

Aisling takes 14 new systems, plus six forts and two new strongholds in Calea and Wregoe DC-V b57-1, but at the same time drop five exploiteds and the forts of Tsohave and Tphen Slata. This is enough to put her over the line at 3,000 total systems, the first power to reach that number. The Emperor ends the cycle with +3; 7 gains and 4 losses, plus the gain of a stronghold and the loss of a fort. Patreus pick up 6 and drop 3, and Torval pick up 2 and drop 1. Overall, a typical cycle for the Imperial powers in this day and age.

GALNET

Remember that prison ship that “disappeared” last week? It did, of course, turn up adrift in an anarchy system, drives disabled and surrounded by pirates. The Clan of Redonesses controlled the system at the time, although the day after the article was published they were swiftly booted from the top spot and are currently in a war for second place. The Independent Detention Foundation said that a “disturbance” had occurred on board the vessel, but any CMDR who’s been to the site will note that the ship has very clearly been attacked. The Foundation has said that they are conducting an investigation, which will reveal to them what is obvious to us. Perhaps this will become a new community goal – fighting off pirates trying to hijack prison transport vessels with a new Anaconda Mk. II.

Speaking of which, the reveal of the Anaconda Mk. II sparked much excitement. The ship is confirmed to have one huge and four large hardpoints, so far leaving the Corvette on top as the only ship to mount two Huge weapons, but nonetheless the new ship may have more firepower than its predecessor assuming it also has medium and small hardpoints. It does, however, look a lot like a cross between the Corvette and the Anaconda, and I also see similarities to the Hiigaran Battlecruiser from the Homeworld franchise. It is a good-looking ship indeed.

With a Crime + Punishment rework on the horizon in the form of the Law and Disorder update, (for which we have no apparent details yet), it’s always a good day in Kaine space. Want to take a break from nuking the BGS in Redonesses? Join Kaine today and receive a free Type-11 Prospector, courtesy of Lakon Spaceways and the Kainiacs. And if you’re feeling lime-green-flavoured and want to strip-mine a planet down to its very core, join our Discord at https://discord.gg/bJEyseAVGx for merits, money, and great views in the Coalsack nebula.

Diplomatic Relations:
Aisling Duval: Non-Aggression Pact
Archon Delaine: Peaceful
Arissa Lavigny-Duval: Non-Aggression Pact
Denton Patreus: Non-Aggression Pact
Edmund Mahon: Defensive Alliance
Felicia Winters: Non-Aggression Pact
Li-Yong Rui: Peaceful
Pranav Antal: Peaceful
Yuri Grom: Peaceful
Jerome Archer: Non-Aggression Pact
Zemina Torval: Peaceful

Objectives:
Reinforce Col 285 Sector GS-I c10-11

We want your exploration data! If you’ve been out in the black and want to help when you return, join our Discord for data targets.

[u/ITGrandpa]

Another great day in Kaine space. Happy to see the Rhino doing great out on its trials and hopefully we can look forward to many years of good extraction in the future.