What's up Homie?

Home.

  What does that make you think of? A place where you feel safe, secure, and know you can always go to and be happy. Most people hate to move. You have to pack all your stuff up and either rent a truck, or hire movers, or con your friends into helping you for a six pack and a pizza. It sucks, no two ways around it, and no one wants to do it in Eve either. There are many places in Eve that you can find yourself constantly moving your stuff, and I'm not talking about working out of a home system and moving some of your stuff to a staging system to be closer to combat operations. I am talking about being in a corporation or alliance that is constantly on the move with no place to really call your home. People will end up creating their own home in some station that they feel is beneficial to them, not your corporation or alliance. You really can't blame them everyone needs a place to live even in Eve.

  There are some corporations, and alliances that have made it work for them and their members and that’s fine. I am not that kind of person, so this is for those of you that are like me and want a little stability in your Eve universe life. It has been written that if you can provide three basic needs to a person then there moral and happiness will be better off for it. Shelter, food, and clothing are these staples, but in Eve it’s different. Food is non existent, and clothing for most of us is as well. Shelter though in Eve terms is there, and needed if only for a place to keep my stuff.

  Stations are our shelter, be it in high sec, low sec, wormholes or 0.0 we need a place to keep our stuff. How many of us pull up our assets screen and it’s a mile long? Hands anyone? There are only a few stations that truly hold what is most important to us, the rest is just space junk for some of us. When you join a corporation or alliance they will tell you they are based out of some station somewhere in Eve, so we as good little pilots start our trek to the HOME system, and station. This is now going to be our home where we will live, and socialize with our merry band of brothers until death, rebirth and death do us part.

  Corporations usually run out of one system. I say usually because there are different types of corporations in Eve and this statement is and will be modified by someone. I can tell you that when I started I lived in Jakenerva almost extensively for more then six months. Mining, ratting, planetary interaction, what have you was always done there, except for jumping a system to ice mine. It was and is a good system, and it was my home for awhile. When your corporation decides to move forward you begin to realize that you have to move forward as well. Depending on what the goals of your corporation are, or you join an alliance and may have to move to a lower security system or wormhole space to continue to be a part of it. Where ever you end up, you want to feel somewhat stable, you want to know your going to be there for a little while. Constant moving is a drain on resources, logistics, and time better spent play the game. Understanding that if you PvP at all you will still have staging systems, and fleet deployments that you must attend. There isn’t really a problem with moving some combat ships into the area of operations, as long as you know you have a home somewhere to go back to, work out of, and generate some kind of income no matter how small.

Welcome to the jungle

  I also want to know that there is someone watching over my home, and providing security for it. Enter the home defense fleet that rag tag group of guys that make sure the system we call home stays that way. Who are these people? Look in the mirror, because if you live there you're one of them. Yes you, being a part of a corporation or an alliance means there are no free rides. You wanted to be part of something bigger, congratulations you are, and you are now part of defending it.

     Home defense fleets differ depending on the corporation, alliance, and the system or systems that need protection. Corporations that field a home defense fleet are usually protecting their assets, and not really the system. Depending on the size of the corporation it could effectively protect a whole system, but usually other corporations would band together to do this.

  Alliances are a different story. Depending on the size of the alliance, you could have several corporations tasked with defending a system from your enemies. Alliances would be more structured in how this is done. Alliances would select corporations that will work together to defend one or more systems, and to be the early warning system to put out a call to a bigger fleet to assist. Generally it’s a good practice to have these fleets up and active at all times, to make sure everyone involved is on a communication channel, and to have a special chat channel for that home defense fleet running.

  Making the CEO’s and directors “fleet leaders” should ensure that those responsible make these things happen, and to adhere to whatever the policy or current orders from the alliance leadership are in place. If your little piece of space heaven is safe, there could be a rule in effect that says go and check the surrounding systems. I personally wouldn't go more than one or two jumps from your assigned system. Corporations that are not actively on communication channels, chat channels or in fleet should be looked at to see if there’s a problem, and what can be done to fix it.

  The bonus to doing something like this is over time you will start to see potential fleet commanders come from these positions. Using this method you can move these “potential commanders” up and into larger fleets, and have someone else step into their old position. This allows the process to begin again, and the new fleet leaders of home defense forces become the new candidates for fleet commanders in time.

Home is important, it is yours, and everyone elses in your corporation or alliance. Treat it well, take care of it, and be proud of it. Moral is based on pride, trust, knowledge, and the successes that come out of work as a team.