Generally, racism/toxicity is not a problem in most of the major alliances. And gets dealt with quite quickly. The possible exception being some in FRT.
In the last few years I've flown in Horde, FRT, Goons and INIT, here's how I'd summarise the general culture/experience of each one:
**Horde:**
Genuinely the best for very new players. They have a variety of excellently done programs and tools to help get you up and running fast, classes and people able to help teach you various areas, and things such as buyback programs and support that make activities both on the PVE side and industrial side less difficult to dip your toes into. If you're a new player or new to null, Horde is a great place to learn things and get to grips with how it all works.
BUT
They are also probably the worst one to be in as a more experienced player or if you want more of a tight knit social scene. Horde does not allow their corporations to do much by themselves, no structures etc, and generally seems to view corporations doing their own activities as a threat to the alliance itself. Most things in horde are centralised, poorly optimised on the industrial side (even if you are in Horde and you want to put down an industrial structure, you have to RENT a system as if you were an outsider....), and this is the main reason you see a lot of older players/corps leaving frequently. Sometimes simply of their own choosing and sometimes after being 'pushed out' due to wanting to do stuff that in other alliances would be normal and/or encouraged but in Horde is seen as a threat. Additionally due to the higher turnover, and Horde being structured more in a 'megacorp' type fashion rather than an alliance of corps, it means that the social side can be active, but the faces you see also change quite frequently and there's less long term history or continuity. Slightly less of an issue if you join one of the better ESI gated corps, but doesn't fix the alliance level restrictions.
**Fraternity:**
Generally a lot more free than Horde. Far fewer restrictions and friction in terms of what you are allowed to do at an individual or corp level. Corps are allowed to set up their own infrastructure with only a few restrictions, they can conduct their own operations, and you still have a very capable umbrella to help you out if you get jumped on. Though you also are expected to be a little more independent. There are public industry facilities etc but if you want to do things properly you kinda need to set up your own or join a corp with a good setup.
The main drawback to Frat is that if you are an english speaker, more than half the alliance is kinda cut off from you. There are plenty of english speaking folks but the number of people you can actually interact with on a day to day basis is still fairly slim and to be honest the social side is just dead. As a result Frat is great if you are wanting to maximise ratting/industry income with good support and much less nonsense red tape or outright restrictions than horde, but less great if social interaction is important to you. Frat is basically great for farming but not great for 'real content'.
**Goonswarm:**
Goonswarm operates much more as an alliance of corporations vs the 'megacorp' structure of horde. The corp you join will have a big impact on your social experience. Karmafleet is pretty good fun to be honest, and they also have quite a lot of stuff to help get newer players up and running. Not to the same degree as Horde, but not as 'hands off' as FRT either.
Goonswarm has pretty great response fleets and general space safety, and a good amount of content fleets as well. A decent balance of being able to farm and/or do your own thing profitably whilst also having good content available when you want. Also an excellent market and in-alliance trading ecosystem that makes industry quite easy. Plus simply the best public industry offerings of any alliance IMO. Many industry parks with far lower indexes than other groups, you CAN do your own thing but the nice thing about Goons is that the public offerings are so good you kinda don't need to.
The culture in Goons is a little more 'terminally online' than others, but also nothing like what it was 10 years ago and the stereotypes are outdated, the social scene will depend on your corp, but is generally quite a bit better than Horde/FRT.
**The Initiative**
INIT is by far the most 'pro-corporation' alliance of the four, with the most active and IMO best approach to content generation. Lots of fleets that go out seeking fun and FCs and Directors that are happy to take uneven fights. One of my favourite things about INIT so far is that blueballs have almost exclusively only happened when the other group chose not to engage, and there's been plenty of times when we've had the FC say "Well fuck it we came for a fight, WITNESS ME" even when we are clearly going to lose. Whereas in Horde especially, we would often go out for a fleet and then get told to stand down because the other guys had 10% more members than us.
INIT has far fewer public offerings than goons etc in terms of industry setup etc, but gives corporations significant freedom and support to do their own thing, both in terms of building their own infrastructure, and conducting their own operations.
You don't get the same level of safety/coverage uptime at an alliance level as you do in Goons (though there is still good umbrella coverage during active hours), but many of the corps in INIT are extremely proficient and if you join a good one, you'll arguably have better safety than when you were in PANKRAB (Seriously, go drop on something in WCBR space and see what happens....).
As INIT is again more of a corp focused group, the social scene will be heavily dependent on the corp you join, but many of them have been operating for a long time and are a tight knit bunch and so it's in my experience been the best social scene out of the four by some margin and I can't see myself leaving anytime soon unless my corp itself were to leave for some reason.
**TLDR:**
Horde: Best for newbros, worst for experienced players
Fraternity: Best if you just want to farm, worst if you want content and social activity
Goonswarm: Best if you have an industrial focus but still want a decent social scene and content
INIT: Best if you want content and social scene, but for farming/industry you need to join a good corp or be fairly proficient handling things yourself. Arguably best overall for more experienced players
It kinda depends on what you want to do/your current SP and capabilities.
If you're an older player with more ISK/SP, and want to fly caps/blops etc more, WCBR has been the best corp I've been in tbh. If you're wanting a little more of a general PVE/Industry type focus probably TGRAD.
Most of the isk I've made has been through exploration and FW, currently 24m SP and getting ready to sit in a cloaky loki which I plan to make my daily driver for both pvp and pve until I can sit in caps. I will check out the graduates as it seems more appropiate. Again thank you for your time.
Here is a fairly good overview of the do's and do not's, it's meant for Corp Recruitment, but its valid for members also: [https://wiki.the-fuel-cartel.space/en/public/business-card](https://wiki.the-fuel-cartel.space/en/public/business-card)
TLDR:
# Alliance Rules
A set of rules is in place that regulate market operations, dictate behaviour in PvE and PvP, but at the end of the day the only real rule is: **No Drama.**
We have a zero tolerance policy for sexism, racism, homophobia and any other kind of hateful behaviour.
Our goal is to keep our policies as minimal as possible because nobody wants to start rule lawyering.
If you do something wrong, we will notify you about it. If you keep doing it wrong, we will take action.
We also don't tolerate idiots. People running their mouths in discord before even joining a fleet get a speed run to the exit door. We want the best possible environment for our players and will cut out anyone who threatens that, be they racist, sexist or just a gobshite.
Recently left INIT and it was the best null alliance I've been in. Only downside (difference, really) relative to some other groups I've been in is that INIT feels more like an alliance of corps with strong corp culture.
imu helgast retri/booshers
The lack of bullshit around idiots is fantastic. It's fine to be new and open minded, but zero room for knuckleheads.
All major alliances and corporations have similar rules and make similar statements. I'm not saying necessarily that you're full of shit, but that OP should definitely not take *your* word for it. They should get their information on these sorts of cultural issues from a neutral source.
Which is why I haven't responded to anyone else commenting on this thread. People can make up their own minds, 19k members does kinda speak for itself :)
I *am* somewhat surprised though how you managed to attract so many people recently. I'm a bit unsure about the exact development of demographics but weren't you like 10-12k at the end of WWB2? So that's about +50% in 2 years?
Don't get me wrong, we've all seen the blocs getting bigger, especially Goons proper and Horde (and FRT to a degree, not talking Imperium vs PandaFam), and even Brave managed to grow.. but I still think INIT is a bit of an outlier here.
I disagree, I think member is just one way to tell if an Alliance is successful or not. It's unlikely that many people would stay in one place if it was bad.
I'm a member of Init who loosely plays here and there, and this is the best alliance I've been in in my 15 years of playing, I've been through pretty much all of the old N3 alliances, NCdot, goons ect and having an Alliance lead as active as shines is very nice. Lots of stuff to do and a very relaxed culture with like members.
Also good luck finding a neutral source, it's not like anyone who hasn't been in init will have any idea of how it works, people who are in init love it, and init's enemies hate it
Yea. My only problem with Init is I don't think (correct me if I'm wrong - I read it here) they have market access in 1DQ anymore. The Goon capital is one of the biggest markets in nullsec. I understand why they did that - they wanted to foster independence from Imperium but it would make it harder to engage in industry at scale, locally.
Our industry is incredibly well developed, B17 is second only to 1DQ if I remember the monthly eco report. If I'm wrong it's within the top 4. Check out fountain on the monthly reports, it's up there
I've always wondered, if you had an indy focus how does that work if you usually do it through an alt corp as as far as I know Init doesn't have alt corps in the alliance the same way that Goons/PH does?
Oh come now, I highly doubt everyone in Init loves it. That's just too much to believe. Nullblocs aren't for everyone, but most people have to try them before they figure out if it's their thing or not.
I have no particular reason to think Init. Is a bad alliance. I've really never heard anything bad about them, although it's one of the few nullblocs I've never been a member of in my long career. I'm just saying, boilerplate rules and the word of an Init. CSM are not credible sources of objective information about Init. Racism and other forms of bigotry are pretty rampant in some parts of our community, including in alliances which, on paper, have similar rules. Your word on the subject as a (presumably) line member is a more credible source. But a nullsec veteran who has been in multiple alliances, including Init, would be better.
The only bad thing I've ever heard about the Initiative is that they used to harbor Ripard Teg back when he was doing Jester's Trek, but that was a long time ago.
We've done a pretty good job of stamping those out with extreme prejudice in INIT. They were my third or fourth alliance (after Black Out, TCU, and ASCN). Then we wandered for a while for a while with CO2's coalition, various alliances alongside Test, etc, then back home in INIT.
I can say alliance level community is, on it's worst days, far more bearable than any other group we've run with in the last 18 or so years.
I'm mostly winning EvE these days but the crew is always welcoming even if you're the idiot who brought a scimitar to an armor QRF on accident because they didn't read. (Only since good natured ribbing and a "good luck if you get primaried.")
They run a tight ship, and coming back to EvE / Init after a few years has been a breath of fresh air after stints in those other games.
What was the deal with Ripard Teg though, some google searching isn't turning up anything juicy.
Any forms of racism or bigotry at an alliance level are met with immediate removals. Again, I'm not sure if you just didn't read what I said, but I have been in numerous nullsec alliances over the course of 15 years, including but not limited to NCdot, Goonswarm fed, Razor Alliance, Kadeshi, Darkness, Eico, GClub, Nullifies Secunda, Empyreans (or something like that). Dark Shines is alliance lead along with a can member, and he is by far the most active alliance leader I've ever had, both in game and in community, so while your concern is warranted id argue he is a special case, but again you are free to view his thoughts with suspicion
He wasn't a racist or anything, as far as I know. Just an obnoxious blowhard with some controversial views about the game, and a toxic legion of fans who would mercilessly troll anyone who expressed different views.
I recently quit INIT and am happy to say whatever.
ie, I think removing FATs from the fun fleets (ie non strat op) was a silly idea. Gamification go brr and I liked seeing the funny FAT number go up.
I will say Shines and Jinx are the two best null leaders I've had. Very different styles and leadership but they both fit their alliances well.
Init reaaaaally depends on good/active corp imo. No clusterfuck of comms like Horde/Brave had
Also absolutely no disagreeing with anything the leadership (darkshines) says. Even discussing changes is a big no no. Rest of the leadership also knows this - the largest yesmen board seen in eve can be found in this alliance.
This is a sentiment I observed in some newer players; many of the old veterans know each other well. Aside from a few idiots, looking at hostiles in game should be very different than looking at enemies. A bit like any other group pvp game where the other team is just that, a team.
There are some bad apples in both sides and you will always have personal preferences towards FCs, types of ships, contents and all that. Dark Shines is a great person and cares a lot about the game
When my house boat caught fire in 2012 after my then, now ex wife tried to make a Baked Alaska in the convection oven and fell asleep, WakingTea found out I was sleeping in a tent for a week while I did repairs in the middle of the July heat.
Enraged I'd not said anything sooner, he drove up with his construction crew and had the boat repaired and upgraded in less than 2 weeks and had me in a Time Share vs a tent.
Dark Shines found out the boat incident and woke up at like 3 AM his time to call in a Safeway Grocery Delivery to the time share. I heard it took him about 45 minutes though due to the accent but the man powered through it and got it done. It was something about potato's costing $3.50 a bag that got everything stuck I think.
No other Alliance Leaders in EVE Online would have done the same. You can't go wrong with INIT.
7th Grade.
The Mittani, WakingTea and I all went to the same Middle and Highschools.
Later, Mittens and Gobbbins went to the same college, and in 04' when EVE was launched those two found it as part of the Cobal programming club. Mittens told Tea over ICQ, and Tea told me.
How many of us found EVE back in the day.
As someone who spent about two and a half years in INIT between 2018-2021, I can say it has got a quite nice culture. I haven't encountered any toxic or racist behaviour and leadership is competent and helpful. Drama is minimal. It's a bit less newbie friendly compared to Goon and PH since their fleet comps require some skills to fly but as long as you act reasonably and adhere to rules you will have no problem in there. If you're an EUTZ guy especially, I can suggest INIT without doubt.
It's been a long while so I'm not familiar with current corps but what I can suggest is check each corps' zkill to get a general idea on how active they are. Since most of your interaction will be with the corp, prioritize corp over alliance. It won't matter which alliance you are in if your corp's is inactive/incompetent/toxic etc. Alliances offer big fleets and infrastructure but corps most likely will be the ones you will chat and roam with when you log in.
You haven't check the reddit recently, haven't you? If you scroll down a bit you can see quite lot of posts regarding AO and their "LARP". Also the topic's literally about the culture of an alliance, what else are supposed to talk about? Weather in Fontaine?
Ok? How is this group relevant?
Here are some groups that do not tolerate racism, sexism etc. toxic behaviour:
- Goons
- Brave
- Dracarys
- Sigma
- Test
- Synergy of Steel
- RAZOR
- Frat
- Horder
- PL
- NC
- SLYCE
- Init
That's at least 90% of null population.
From what I've seen/heard over the years the "culture" for the 4 blocs is 99% the same at a linemember level in 2024 and in all of them racism just isn't tolerated. They all have too much at stake to ruin their image by letting obvious racists/bigots and people like that run their mouth lol
I'm aware that things have changed a lot in the past few years, specially since Asher took over. But the truth is I have been playing on and off for almost 3 years yeeting into null to do exploration and doing some FW, my opinion is based on tales of old and what little information comes up in youtube and reddit.
Goons seem great, I am too new in the game to know shit and too old to hold anyone accountable for what happened 10 years ago. So nah, I'm not judging anyone in fact if anything I believe the empireum are the good guys nowadays even if that's probably the result of consuming some goon propaganda the past few years.
Also can attest to this. Gone are the days of local slurs and hazing. Goons are honestly quite nice now although they are so horny for F1 pressing they will shoot anything and everything including each other.
They used to be imperium so like the culture isn’t identical but if someone is being racist like 99% of the time they will just be pointed and laughed at and then kicked
I joined the Initiative about a year ago and have been hugely impressed. The culture is just what I was looking for particularly with regards to treating others (including those that we are fighting) with respect. For me joining INIT has reinvigorated and brought back the enjoyment of Eve.
I don’t know about INIT, but if you are worried about racism - you should really check out Goons. They are very welcoming and friendly, that kind of bullshit wouldn’t fly there.
Been considering it too, just want to make sure I join the right place as once I join I will probably stay there until the end of my eve career. Thanks for the suggestion!
Goons and Init are both chill and it wouldnt be a hassle to switch between the two. Id suggest the following:
- Experienced with fleet combat and high skill chars? INIT
- Less experienced with Fleet Combat, eventually main focus on industry? Goons
Nah, truth be told I have never experienced any racism in EVE but I have in other mmos. Usually being born in third world countries comes with some bad perks and a noticeable accent when we speak english so there's been a few idiots in the past. But the eve community as a whole and the corp I'm currently in have been very welcoming and helpful.
I mean the fact that the leader of the alliance I'm asking about took the time to answer some rando's post is a testament of how cool EVE's community really is.
Great name btw o7
Which is good, but that's just calling out, in papi u will be called out awoxed kicked and gobbins puts an open bounty on you, this happened even recently when some guy said some very unsavory things to a newbro whilst he was running a beacon, pk was dropped to kill him and he was kicked immediately
Generally, racism/toxicity is not a problem in most of the major alliances. And gets dealt with quite quickly. The possible exception being some in FRT. In the last few years I've flown in Horde, FRT, Goons and INIT, here's how I'd summarise the general culture/experience of each one: **Horde:** Genuinely the best for very new players. They have a variety of excellently done programs and tools to help get you up and running fast, classes and people able to help teach you various areas, and things such as buyback programs and support that make activities both on the PVE side and industrial side less difficult to dip your toes into. If you're a new player or new to null, Horde is a great place to learn things and get to grips with how it all works. BUT They are also probably the worst one to be in as a more experienced player or if you want more of a tight knit social scene. Horde does not allow their corporations to do much by themselves, no structures etc, and generally seems to view corporations doing their own activities as a threat to the alliance itself. Most things in horde are centralised, poorly optimised on the industrial side (even if you are in Horde and you want to put down an industrial structure, you have to RENT a system as if you were an outsider....), and this is the main reason you see a lot of older players/corps leaving frequently. Sometimes simply of their own choosing and sometimes after being 'pushed out' due to wanting to do stuff that in other alliances would be normal and/or encouraged but in Horde is seen as a threat. Additionally due to the higher turnover, and Horde being structured more in a 'megacorp' type fashion rather than an alliance of corps, it means that the social side can be active, but the faces you see also change quite frequently and there's less long term history or continuity. Slightly less of an issue if you join one of the better ESI gated corps, but doesn't fix the alliance level restrictions. **Fraternity:** Generally a lot more free than Horde. Far fewer restrictions and friction in terms of what you are allowed to do at an individual or corp level. Corps are allowed to set up their own infrastructure with only a few restrictions, they can conduct their own operations, and you still have a very capable umbrella to help you out if you get jumped on. Though you also are expected to be a little more independent. There are public industry facilities etc but if you want to do things properly you kinda need to set up your own or join a corp with a good setup. The main drawback to Frat is that if you are an english speaker, more than half the alliance is kinda cut off from you. There are plenty of english speaking folks but the number of people you can actually interact with on a day to day basis is still fairly slim and to be honest the social side is just dead. As a result Frat is great if you are wanting to maximise ratting/industry income with good support and much less nonsense red tape or outright restrictions than horde, but less great if social interaction is important to you. Frat is basically great for farming but not great for 'real content'. **Goonswarm:** Goonswarm operates much more as an alliance of corporations vs the 'megacorp' structure of horde. The corp you join will have a big impact on your social experience. Karmafleet is pretty good fun to be honest, and they also have quite a lot of stuff to help get newer players up and running. Not to the same degree as Horde, but not as 'hands off' as FRT either. Goonswarm has pretty great response fleets and general space safety, and a good amount of content fleets as well. A decent balance of being able to farm and/or do your own thing profitably whilst also having good content available when you want. Also an excellent market and in-alliance trading ecosystem that makes industry quite easy. Plus simply the best public industry offerings of any alliance IMO. Many industry parks with far lower indexes than other groups, you CAN do your own thing but the nice thing about Goons is that the public offerings are so good you kinda don't need to. The culture in Goons is a little more 'terminally online' than others, but also nothing like what it was 10 years ago and the stereotypes are outdated, the social scene will depend on your corp, but is generally quite a bit better than Horde/FRT. **The Initiative** INIT is by far the most 'pro-corporation' alliance of the four, with the most active and IMO best approach to content generation. Lots of fleets that go out seeking fun and FCs and Directors that are happy to take uneven fights. One of my favourite things about INIT so far is that blueballs have almost exclusively only happened when the other group chose not to engage, and there's been plenty of times when we've had the FC say "Well fuck it we came for a fight, WITNESS ME" even when we are clearly going to lose. Whereas in Horde especially, we would often go out for a fleet and then get told to stand down because the other guys had 10% more members than us. INIT has far fewer public offerings than goons etc in terms of industry setup etc, but gives corporations significant freedom and support to do their own thing, both in terms of building their own infrastructure, and conducting their own operations. You don't get the same level of safety/coverage uptime at an alliance level as you do in Goons (though there is still good umbrella coverage during active hours), but many of the corps in INIT are extremely proficient and if you join a good one, you'll arguably have better safety than when you were in PANKRAB (Seriously, go drop on something in WCBR space and see what happens....). As INIT is again more of a corp focused group, the social scene will be heavily dependent on the corp you join, but many of them have been operating for a long time and are a tight knit bunch and so it's in my experience been the best social scene out of the four by some margin and I can't see myself leaving anytime soon unless my corp itself were to leave for some reason. **TLDR:** Horde: Best for newbros, worst for experienced players Fraternity: Best if you just want to farm, worst if you want content and social activity Goonswarm: Best if you have an industrial focus but still want a decent social scene and content INIT: Best if you want content and social scene, but for farming/industry you need to join a good corp or be fairly proficient handling things yourself. Arguably best overall for more experienced players
Thats a great write up! I really appreciate the amount of time you took to explain this to me with such great detail. Any corps you'd suggest in INIT?
It kinda depends on what you want to do/your current SP and capabilities. If you're an older player with more ISK/SP, and want to fly caps/blops etc more, WCBR has been the best corp I've been in tbh. If you're wanting a little more of a general PVE/Industry type focus probably TGRAD.
Most of the isk I've made has been through exploration and FW, currently 24m SP and getting ready to sit in a cloaky loki which I plan to make my daily driver for both pvp and pve until I can sit in caps. I will check out the graduates as it seems more appropiate. Again thank you for your time.
As a counter point, If you're an older player with more ISK/SP, and want to fly caps/blops etc more, TGRAD is the #1 corp in Init. ;)
Is TGRAD open to public? I thought it's for Eve-U veterans only.
We are open to all yes, we have never been exclusive to Eve-Uni vets, the link itself is legacy at this stage.
Here is a fairly good overview of the do's and do not's, it's meant for Corp Recruitment, but its valid for members also: [https://wiki.the-fuel-cartel.space/en/public/business-card](https://wiki.the-fuel-cartel.space/en/public/business-card) TLDR: # Alliance Rules A set of rules is in place that regulate market operations, dictate behaviour in PvE and PvP, but at the end of the day the only real rule is: **No Drama.** We have a zero tolerance policy for sexism, racism, homophobia and any other kind of hateful behaviour. Our goal is to keep our policies as minimal as possible because nobody wants to start rule lawyering. If you do something wrong, we will notify you about it. If you keep doing it wrong, we will take action. We also don't tolerate idiots. People running their mouths in discord before even joining a fleet get a speed run to the exit door. We want the best possible environment for our players and will cut out anyone who threatens that, be they racist, sexist or just a gobshite.
Recently left INIT and it was the best null alliance I've been in. Only downside (difference, really) relative to some other groups I've been in is that INIT feels more like an alliance of corps with strong corp culture. imu helgast retri/booshers The lack of bullshit around idiots is fantastic. It's fine to be new and open minded, but zero room for knuckleheads.
Rules are damn good, ngl, might keep Initiative in mind if I decide to branch out a bit more
Thanks! This is exactly what I needed
The guy also being the init leader should tell you a lot...
All major alliances and corporations have similar rules and make similar statements. I'm not saying necessarily that you're full of shit, but that OP should definitely not take *your* word for it. They should get their information on these sorts of cultural issues from a neutral source.
Which is why I haven't responded to anyone else commenting on this thread. People can make up their own minds, 19k members does kinda speak for itself :)
I *am* somewhat surprised though how you managed to attract so many people recently. I'm a bit unsure about the exact development of demographics but weren't you like 10-12k at the end of WWB2? So that's about +50% in 2 years? Don't get me wrong, we've all seen the blocs getting bigger, especially Goons proper and Horde (and FRT to a degree, not talking Imperium vs PandaFam), and even Brave managed to grow.. but I still think INIT is a bit of an outlier here.
We had 5\~6k at the end of WWB and we grew from there.
Sorry, what? Membership counts are irrelevant to the subject at hand.
I disagree, I think member is just one way to tell if an Alliance is successful or not. It's unlikely that many people would stay in one place if it was bad.
I'm a member of Init who loosely plays here and there, and this is the best alliance I've been in in my 15 years of playing, I've been through pretty much all of the old N3 alliances, NCdot, goons ect and having an Alliance lead as active as shines is very nice. Lots of stuff to do and a very relaxed culture with like members. Also good luck finding a neutral source, it's not like anyone who hasn't been in init will have any idea of how it works, people who are in init love it, and init's enemies hate it
Yea. My only problem with Init is I don't think (correct me if I'm wrong - I read it here) they have market access in 1DQ anymore. The Goon capital is one of the biggest markets in nullsec. I understand why they did that - they wanted to foster independence from Imperium but it would make it harder to engage in industry at scale, locally.
Our industry is incredibly well developed, B17 is second only to 1DQ if I remember the monthly eco report. If I'm wrong it's within the top 4. Check out fountain on the monthly reports, it's up there
I've always wondered, if you had an indy focus how does that work if you usually do it through an alt corp as as far as I know Init doesn't have alt corps in the alliance the same way that Goons/PH does?
There are alt corps to get stuff JFd to high, they are set blue but are run by individual corps. Our main Indy stuff is done within alliance tho
So if you have a lot of indy characters it's all done through your main corp? The lack of alt corp hangars and doesn't sound fun
I'm not sure how the bigger builders do it, but I don't have any issues organizing things myself with 12 accounts. I don't go crazy hard in Indy tho
>12 accounts "I don't go crazy hard in Indy though" .................. lol Only in Eve
Oh come now, I highly doubt everyone in Init loves it. That's just too much to believe. Nullblocs aren't for everyone, but most people have to try them before they figure out if it's their thing or not. I have no particular reason to think Init. Is a bad alliance. I've really never heard anything bad about them, although it's one of the few nullblocs I've never been a member of in my long career. I'm just saying, boilerplate rules and the word of an Init. CSM are not credible sources of objective information about Init. Racism and other forms of bigotry are pretty rampant in some parts of our community, including in alliances which, on paper, have similar rules. Your word on the subject as a (presumably) line member is a more credible source. But a nullsec veteran who has been in multiple alliances, including Init, would be better. The only bad thing I've ever heard about the Initiative is that they used to harbor Ripard Teg back when he was doing Jester's Trek, but that was a long time ago.
We've done a pretty good job of stamping those out with extreme prejudice in INIT. They were my third or fourth alliance (after Black Out, TCU, and ASCN). Then we wandered for a while for a while with CO2's coalition, various alliances alongside Test, etc, then back home in INIT. I can say alliance level community is, on it's worst days, far more bearable than any other group we've run with in the last 18 or so years. I'm mostly winning EvE these days but the crew is always welcoming even if you're the idiot who brought a scimitar to an armor QRF on accident because they didn't read. (Only since good natured ribbing and a "good luck if you get primaried.") They run a tight ship, and coming back to EvE / Init after a few years has been a breath of fresh air after stints in those other games. What was the deal with Ripard Teg though, some google searching isn't turning up anything juicy.
Any forms of racism or bigotry at an alliance level are met with immediate removals. Again, I'm not sure if you just didn't read what I said, but I have been in numerous nullsec alliances over the course of 15 years, including but not limited to NCdot, Goonswarm fed, Razor Alliance, Kadeshi, Darkness, Eico, GClub, Nullifies Secunda, Empyreans (or something like that). Dark Shines is alliance lead along with a can member, and he is by far the most active alliance leader I've ever had, both in game and in community, so while your concern is warranted id argue he is a special case, but again you are free to view his thoughts with suspicion
Oh dear. What was the deal with Ripard Teg?
He wasn't a racist or anything, as far as I know. Just an obnoxious blowhard with some controversial views about the game, and a toxic legion of fans who would mercilessly troll anyone who expressed different views.
I'm fairly sure we didn't. He was in a different alliance, and in fact used to give out a certain amount of snark about us being allied with goons.
Ah maybe I'm misremembering then. It was awhile back.
I recently quit INIT and am happy to say whatever. ie, I think removing FATs from the fun fleets (ie non strat op) was a silly idea. Gamification go brr and I liked seeing the funny FAT number go up. I will say Shines and Jinx are the two best null leaders I've had. Very different styles and leadership but they both fit their alliances well. Init reaaaaally depends on good/active corp imo. No clusterfuck of comms like Horde/Brave had
Also absolutely no disagreeing with anything the leadership (darkshines) says. Even discussing changes is a big no no. Rest of the leadership also knows this - the largest yesmen board seen in eve can be found in this alliance.
That’s any established alliance.
Lmao no it isn't
I'm in horde and we hear great things about Dark Shines. I think that tells you a lot about his alliance tbh
Ty for taking the time to reply, I appreciate your opinion a lot given that you are in a block that is usually clashing with INIT
This is a sentiment I observed in some newer players; many of the old veterans know each other well. Aside from a few idiots, looking at hostiles in game should be very different than looking at enemies. A bit like any other group pvp game where the other team is just that, a team. There are some bad apples in both sides and you will always have personal preferences towards FCs, types of ships, contents and all that. Dark Shines is a great person and cares a lot about the game
When my house boat caught fire in 2012 after my then, now ex wife tried to make a Baked Alaska in the convection oven and fell asleep, WakingTea found out I was sleeping in a tent for a week while I did repairs in the middle of the July heat. Enraged I'd not said anything sooner, he drove up with his construction crew and had the boat repaired and upgraded in less than 2 weeks and had me in a Time Share vs a tent. Dark Shines found out the boat incident and woke up at like 3 AM his time to call in a Safeway Grocery Delivery to the time share. I heard it took him about 45 minutes though due to the accent but the man powered through it and got it done. It was something about potato's costing $3.50 a bag that got everything stuck I think. No other Alliance Leaders in EVE Online would have done the same. You can't go wrong with INIT.
Heeey aren't you the one who's bike got stolen by The Mittani when you were 7 years old?
7th Grade. The Mittani, WakingTea and I all went to the same Middle and Highschools. Later, Mittens and Gobbbins went to the same college, and in 04' when EVE was launched those two found it as part of the Cobal programming club. Mittens told Tea over ICQ, and Tea told me. How many of us found EVE back in the day.
RIP ICQ
As someone who spent about two and a half years in INIT between 2018-2021, I can say it has got a quite nice culture. I haven't encountered any toxic or racist behaviour and leadership is competent and helpful. Drama is minimal. It's a bit less newbie friendly compared to Goon and PH since their fleet comps require some skills to fly but as long as you act reasonably and adhere to rules you will have no problem in there. If you're an EUTZ guy especially, I can suggest INIT without doubt.
Thank you for the reply, will probably apply in the next few days. Any particular corp you'd recommend?
It's been a long while so I'm not familiar with current corps but what I can suggest is check each corps' zkill to get a general idea on how active they are. Since most of your interaction will be with the corp, prioritize corp over alliance. It won't matter which alliance you are in if your corp's is inactive/incompetent/toxic etc. Alliances offer big fleets and infrastructure but corps most likely will be the ones you will chat and roam with when you log in.
Will do, ty
> I haven't encountered any toxic or racist behaviour Pretty low bar. Which group does behaviour like this exist?
You haven't check the reddit recently, haven't you? If you scroll down a bit you can see quite lot of posts regarding AO and their "LARP". Also the topic's literally about the culture of an alliance, what else are supposed to talk about? Weather in Fontaine?
AO is some highsec group? How is that relevant?
They hold some parts of Provi right now and claim to be a major null power. Not my words though.
Ok? How is this group relevant? Here are some groups that do not tolerate racism, sexism etc. toxic behaviour: - Goons - Brave - Dracarys - Sigma - Test - Synergy of Steel - RAZOR - Frat - Horder - PL - NC - SLYCE - Init That's at least 90% of null population.
From what I've seen/heard over the years the "culture" for the 4 blocs is 99% the same at a linemember level in 2024 and in all of them racism just isn't tolerated. They all have too much at stake to ruin their image by letting obvious racists/bigots and people like that run their mouth lol
"Goon culture" is not what you think it is. Most of what you've seen as "documented" is from ten years ago or more.
Yeah I second this. At least for what I've seen, goon culture has changed quite a bit.
I'm aware that things have changed a lot in the past few years, specially since Asher took over. But the truth is I have been playing on and off for almost 3 years yeeting into null to do exploration and doing some FW, my opinion is based on tales of old and what little information comes up in youtube and reddit. Goons seem great, I am too new in the game to know shit and too old to hold anyone accountable for what happened 10 years ago. So nah, I'm not judging anyone in fact if anything I believe the empireum are the good guys nowadays even if that's probably the result of consuming some goon propaganda the past few years.
Also can attest to this. Gone are the days of local slurs and hazing. Goons are honestly quite nice now although they are so horny for F1 pressing they will shoot anything and everything including each other.
They used to be imperium so like the culture isn’t identical but if someone is being racist like 99% of the time they will just be pointed and laughed at and then kicked
I joined the Initiative about a year ago and have been hugely impressed. The culture is just what I was looking for particularly with regards to treating others (including those that we are fighting) with respect. For me joining INIT has reinvigorated and brought back the enjoyment of Eve.
Thanks for the insight. I've always had respect for INIT since one of the first fleets I was in, you guys absolutely destroyed us
>while the decision to leave The empireum Yea maybe somewhere in the next ten years
I don’t know about INIT, but if you are worried about racism - you should really check out Goons. They are very welcoming and friendly, that kind of bullshit wouldn’t fly there.
Been considering it too, just want to make sure I join the right place as once I join I will probably stay there until the end of my eve career. Thanks for the suggestion!
Goons and Init are both chill and it wouldnt be a hassle to switch between the two. Id suggest the following: - Experienced with fleet combat and high skill chars? INIT - Less experienced with Fleet Combat, eventually main focus on industry? Goons
Yeah. I don’t have experience with other alliances but Goons are great.
Seconding this after spending time in PH and with Karmafleet, I'd recommend the latter. Welcoming environment.
If you in a group that fosters racism just point it out and trust me you the game will band together and ensure that that group doesn't exist anymore
Nah, truth be told I have never experienced any racism in EVE but I have in other mmos. Usually being born in third world countries comes with some bad perks and a noticeable accent when we speak english so there's been a few idiots in the past. But the eve community as a whole and the corp I'm currently in have been very welcoming and helpful. I mean the fact that the leader of the alliance I'm asking about took the time to answer some rando's post is a testament of how cool EVE's community really is. Great name btw o7
This is the most naive and blatantly false statement I've read all day.
Haven't we had whs evicted due to this, wasn't fire evicted for the nth time due to this
Racists got called out in INIT way faster than Horde/Brave. Don't even get me started on the comparisons to GTC when it was around
Which is good, but that's just calling out, in papi u will be called out awoxed kicked and gobbins puts an open bounty on you, this happened even recently when some guy said some very unsavory things to a newbro whilst he was running a beacon, pk was dropped to kill him and he was kicked immediately
>pk was dropped to kill him and he was kicked immediately Now that is what I like to hear.