AT7!

[Mangala]

Started this afternoon.

Matches on http://85.17.147.207:8000/listen.pls  (Voice only).

Video will land on here eventually:

http://www.youtube.com/ccpgames

Live weekend (with live video is in 2 weeks or so):

http://www.eveonline.com/events/alliances/tournament/t7/schedule1.asp

[Mangala]

Best match of todays session: PL vs VVV.

PL lost by 1pt and I cant wait for the video!!!

[peo]

Haha, PL lost PL lost!!!!!

Who are VVV btw?

[peo]

Interesting, v3 didn't have a single bs class ship. Mostly battlecruisers.

[Mangala]

http://at7.eve-ic.net/

Stats etc

[Mangala]

PL vs VVV:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYTQC7D7Bls

Rest of videos for Saturdays games are up on the youtube channel linked in OP

[Warcold]

So, have you discovered a 'winning' setup yet?

From what I've seen BC fleets can be effective, but they won't hold their own against teams that are BS heavy. On the other hand T3 cruisers seem to be very effective against BSs.
Rooks, although used quite a lot rarely seem to decide the battle.
Are T3 cruisers the winning ships?

[Mangala]

So, have you discovered a 'winning' setup yet?

From what I've seen BC fleets can be effective, but they won't hold their own against teams that are BS heavy. On the other hand T3 cruisers seem to be very effective against BSs.
Rooks, although used quite a lot rarely seem to decide the battle.
Are T3 cruisers the winning ships?

Setups wise: Tri's setup is something similar to what theyve done in the past and they have an excellent AT history even considering Illuminati are in PL now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfg3ce8XkIY


T3 are good in the small gang work the tourney encourages, we are seeing them look really strong.  However its all about the group with them, their support - be it ewar, drones, logistics etc - As with anything like this, you are only as good as those around you.  Saying that though - would love to see a pure T3 team take the field!

[Ferrosol]

Surprised at how many Caldari ships there are on the field. I expected to see a lot more Amarr stuff on the field. One thing watching the tournament  as a relative newbie to pvp is how much E-War and ECM drones seem to be flying back and forth. Working my way through the first days Videos but so far it appears that Against All Authorities are the ones to watch.

[peo]

In small groups amarr doesn't shine as much as in fleet it seems.
Same goes for shields, a shield transfer gives shield at the beginning of the cycle so it could perhaps be more reactive.

As for a pure t3 gang, think you would be lacking serious dps with it.

[Mangala]

Saturdays schedule is up:

http://www.eveonline.com/events/alliances/tournament/t7/schedule2.asp

[Warcold]

http://podlogs.com/jamenta/2009/09/08/alliance-tournament-vii-weekend-1-dar-be-many-ships-captain/

Alliance Tournament VII – Weekend #1, Th’ar be Many Ships Captain!
4 Comments » Well,  the Scordite dust settling now over the 1st weekend rounds of Alliance Tournament VII – the preliminary “qualifier” rounds that is.  Next weekend will be a repeat, the schedule of alliances to compete already published (go here) , 16 matches a day, each one lasting up to 15 minutes, with 5 minute breaks in-between.  It is an all-you-can see marathon of PvP gang combat on steroids.

I am going to run the numbers again to get a meta-picture of the ship-hulls in use and costs.  But a few immediate observations:  the rules shake-up by CCP (as they do each year to help improve the competition) I think has proven a success.  The most significant rule impacting round setup and play being the two named ship limit rule and the second most significant change  the allowable fielding of logistic ships, but no more than one. In addition, CCP further refined the 100 point system used to determine ship setup, creating a more interesting range of ship choices and point values for each ship hull to be selected.  Fitting restrictions were also refined further, the most important change being the allowance this tourney of Remote Repping but ONLY by a single logistics ship or interestingly: a Strategic Cruiser.

These new rule changes have indeed altered the landscape of the battlefield this year.  No longer present are the endless blobs of Stabber Fleet Issue Faction Cruisers (indeed has there even been one?)  New on the field and definitely in use: logistic ships, creating an interesting play dynamic and serious question of how much effort should be burned by an alliance in opening-game to drop the opponent’s logistic Cruiser, or whether other targets are to be prioritized first.

And oh boy:  yes also new on the field are  T3 Strategic Cruisers with the butt-load of isk spent along with them.  Have they worked well?  Frankly, it’s too early to tell … but I can say this:  a lot of isk has gone down the drain already, and not necessarily because these T3 monsters are not potent ships in and of themselves.

Let me do the numbers.

But before crunching: a big round of applause goes out to the Eve Online volunteers from CCP volunteer program:  Interstellar Correspondents for putting-up an excellent Tournament VII website, providing well written and interesting after-action reports on each of the tourney rounds, lots of interesting details on the Alliances in competition, and some valuable statistics that we less-than-expert-PVP’rs can look at to get some handle on what is going on out there on the tournament battlefield.  Bravo to you IC!

Numbers, numbers, numbers. First a ship count breakdown and approximate value (using IC ship value reported on tourney website) of types.  I list totals for all ships used for first two rounds of competition (a total of 32 rounds in all).  Ranking is from most used to least used.  In addition, I list  # of ships destroyed of that type, # of times the ship was on the losing side of all matches and ratio, and # on winning side of all matches and ratio.

SOME SHIP STATS – WEEKEND 1 – PRELIMINARIES – TOURNEY VII|


# Ship | Type & (Hull Cost) |  # Destroyed + Loss Ratio | # Lose Side + % | # Win Side + %


41 Rooks T2 Caldari Combat Recon (94.9m) |  -33  80.5%  |  Lose: 22  53.7% |  Win: 19  46.3%
34 Drakes Caldari Battlecruiser  (30.7m) | -17  50%  | Lose: 17  50% |  Win: 17  50%
25 Ishkurs T2 Gallente Assault Frigate (26.9m)  | -16  64% | Lose: 15  60% |  Win: 10  40%
21 Nighthawks T2 Caldari Field Command (238.7m) | -9  43% | Lose: 10  48%  |  Win: 11 52%
20 Tengus T3 Caldari Strategic Cruiser (694m)  | -5 25%  |  Lose: 7 35% | Win: 13 65%
14 Curses T2 Amarr Combat Recon (102.8m) | -9 64%  |  Lose: 8 57% |  Win 6:  43%
13 Hurricanes Minmatar Battlecruiser (31.1m) |  -7 54% |  Lose: 7 54% |  Win:  6  46%
13 Harbingers Amarr Battlecruiser (35.2m)  | -8 61% |  Lose: 8 62% |  Win: 5  38%
13 Scimitars T2 Minmatar Logistics Cruiser (87.9m) | -8 61%  |  Lose: 4  31%  |  Win: 9  69%
12 Kitsunes T2 Caldari Electronic Attack Frig (22.7m) | -12 100% | Lose: 10 83% | Win: 2 17%
12 Dominix Gallente Battleship (48.4m) | -5 42%  |  Lose: 4 33%  |  Win: 8 67%
11 Thrashers Minmatar Destroyer (.77m)  | -10 91%  |  Lose: 3  27%  |  Win: 8  73%
10 Cormorants Caldari Destroyer (.8m) | -9 90% | Lose: 3 30% | Win: 7 70%
10 Brutix’ Gallente Battlecruiser (23m)  |  -6 60%  |  Lose:  1 10%  |  Win: 9  90%
10 Proteus’ T3 Gallente Strategic Cruiser (600m)  | -7 70%  |  Lose: 6  60% |  Win:  4  40%
9 Oneiros‘  T2 Gallente Logistics Cruiser (72.4m)  |  -7 78%  |  Lose: 6  67% |  Win: 3  33%
9 Guardians’ T2 Amarr Logistics Cruiser (72m) |  -5 56%  |  Lose: 3 33%  |  Win: 6 67%
9 Absolutions T2 Amarr Field Command (193.9m) | -6 67% | Lose: 6 67% | Win: 3 33%| -
9 Damnations T2 Amarr Field Command (171m) | -3 33% | Lose: 3 33% | Win: 6 67%
9 Ishtars T2 Gallente Heavy Assault Cruiser (127.8m) | -9 100% | Lose: 8 89% | Win: 1 11%
9 Vultures T2 Caldari Field Command (171.3m) | -4 44% | Lose: 5 56% | Win: 4 44%
8 Sleipnirs T2 Minmatar Field Command (169.6m) | -4 50% | Lose: 4 50% | Win: 4 50%
8 Golems T2 Caldari Marauder (1.07bil)  | -3 38% | Lose: 4 50% | Win: 4 50% **
8 Apocalypses Amarr Battleship (85.8m) | -7 88% | Lose: 5 63% | Win: 3 37%
8 Taranis’ T2 Gallente Interceptor (18.9m) | -3 38% | Lose: 2 25% | Win: 6 75%
6 Paladins T2 Amarr Marauder (1.09bil) | -0 0% |  Lose: 0 0% | Win: 6 100%
6 Abaddons Amarr Battleship (136.7m) | -2 33% | Lose: 2 33% | Win: 4 67%
6 Ravens Caldari Battleship (81m) | -3 50% | Lose: 2 33% | Win: 4 67%
6 Retributions T2 Amarr Assault Frigate (23m) | -4 67% | Lose: 4 67% | Win: 2 33%
6 Succubus Sansha Faction Frigate (60m) | -3 50%  | Lose: 3 50% | Win: 3 50%
6 Cerberus Caldari Heavy Assault Cruiser (110m) | -6 100% | Lose: 6 100% | Win: 0 0%

I have decided not to list ship totals less than 6, although there were still quite a few different ships deployed, of which, I counted about 90 different ship types, this being nearly triple the amount of the 33 different ship types deployed previously in tournament VI’s final rounds.  For those of us who enjoy variety a big plus.

I will make a few comments on ships not listed: first being the remaining T3 Strategic Cruisers,  the 590m Minmatar Loki & the 625m Amarr Legion.  The T3 Loki appeared 3 times and was on the winning side twice & losing side once where it was destroyed. The T3 Legion was deployed once by the Notoriety Alliance who lost the Loki and the round to the Bonzai Boys.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the tournament was in round 7 Dystopia Alliance vs Rough Necks where to most people’s initial shock and puzzlement Dystopia Alliance had deployed a 1m Iteron Mark V Gallente Hauler!  It would soon play out that the Itty V was being used for remote ECM/ECCM boosting in a Dystopia setup that depended heavily on electronic warfare … but after a lengthy match still lost to the Rough Necks heavy hitting 2 billion isk worth of  Paladin Amarr Marauders and 2x Dominix Gallente Battleships, a theme that would repeat itself a number of times throughout the weekend:  electronic warfare setups vs dps setups (approximate, with of course a good balanced mix as well for both setup types).  Other alliances would also experiment with the Iteron Mark V in later setups with no success, the Itty V not being able to win even a single round … (and the surviving Iteron V crews probably wanting to go back to longer life-expectancy hauling in hi-sec).

The other surprise during the tourney was the deployment of 26m T2 Caldari Stealth bomber Manticores and 19.9m T2 Gallente Stealth bomber Nemesis’s.  In the next to last round of the tournament Gentleman’s Club alliance fielded 4 stealth bombers in their setup: and were subsequently eradicated by the Usrha’Khan alliance who didn’t lose a single ship to the bombers.

I will provide commentary  for a number of the ships on the list:

Rook – T2 Caldari Combat Recon: Top of the heap and most used ship for the 1st weekend.  Clearly picked often because its heavy emphasis on electronic warfare and its excellent shield tanking ability.   The Rook also had one of the highest ship loss ratios at 80.5%, being the top primary target in the tourney.   Besides the fact that deploying a Rook was a near guarantee of ship loss, the Rook did not reveal a decisive presence on the battlefield, and in fact 53.7% of the time found itself on the losing side.  34 setups had no Rooks, of these 18 won and 21 lost … thus the Rook whether present or not did not appear to have a significant impact either way.

Drake – Caldari Battlecruiser: The second most popular ship, and much bemoaned by a number of tourney & Eve radio commentators, and now adding even more fuel to the controversial fire: the Drake split an exact 50/50 on its win/loss (being present in setup) record, and also 50/50 on its ship loss ratio.  What can you say about the Drake … except flip a coin?

Ishkur – T2 Gallente Assault Frigate:  Here we have the first indication of an old favorite not performing so well with the new tournament format.  With a 64% ship loss rate and being on the losing side of 60% of its rounds.  We see also that the other less popular Amarr assault frigate Retribution had an even worse 67% ship loss rate and 67% of losing rounds.  Not good, and certainly not as positive as other ship types on the list.

Nighthawk – T2 Caldari Field Command: Arguably last tourney’s “hero” ship having an often significant role in victory.  Yet for opening rounds of Tournament VII, we see not only the Nighthawk but a number of the other 110m+ field command ships performing so-so if not poorly.  The Nighthawk turns in a respectable 43% loss ratio and even displays the first positive winning side record of 52%. However, not the dramatic difference one would expect from last tournament.  We see another the Minmatar Sleipnir Field Command ships turn in an exact 50/50 win/loss side record, and both the Caldari Vulture & Amarr Absolution Field Commands losing more often than winning.

Tengus – T3 Caldari Strategic Cruiser: A good question one might have asked before the commencement of this tourney was whether alliances would field T3’s or not.  The answer is:  yes indeed, and in fact, quite a few.  A total of 34 T3’s made their presence on the battlefield, 20 of which were the Caldari Tengus, and in second place,  10 T3 Gallente Proteus’s.  The Minmatar Loki only appeared 3 times & the Amarr Legion once.  Unfortunately, I would say the impact of these expensive and very difficult to build cruisers was  lukewarm, and in fact, the T3’s for all their high-flut’n difficulty, appeared to have been outperformed by low-cost Destroyers and Battleships!  The popular Tengus did have the best record of the four, due probably to massive shield tanking if anything, and did come out on the winning side an impressive 65% of the time.  But the Proteus on the flip side turned in a 60% side loss record and a whopping 70% ship loss ratio, indicating not a helluva a lot of value for isk spent.

Hurricane – Minmatar Battlecruiser:  Both the Minmatar & Amarr battlecruisers did not have positive side results with a negative 54% and 62% respectively.  The Harbinger performing the worst of all battlecruisers fielded with a horrendous 77% ship loss ratio and winning in only 38% of rounds it was deployed.   We already know the Drake performed an exact 50/50.  But hear this: the Gallente Brutix battlecruiser was present in 90% of rounds won! (the second highest on the list) Anyone want to make a guess why the Brutix was far more successful than the rest?  DPS perhaps??

Scimitar – T2 Minmatar Logistics Cruiser: Both the Minmatar & Amarr Logistic Cruisers turned in powerful and convincing performances, both being present in 69% and 67% of rounds won respectively.  The Gallente Logistic Oneiros oddly performed the exact opposite, present in 67% rounds lost.  It may be the Oneiros proved itself an easier target to take down.  In any case, the Scimitar & Guardian do show that Logistic Cruisers can indeed be deployed in the tournament without detriment, and I believe played a valuable role in winning for their alliance.

Kitsune – T2 Caldari Electronic Attack Frigate: What else to say but fail?  100% loss ratio, and  present in 83% rounds lost.  There was only one other ship type that had a worst statistic: Heavy Assault Cruisers.  It would seem that setups that depended more on E-War may have not done so well this weekend, especially if one looks at how well Battleships, Destroyers & Marauders performed.

Thrasher – Minmatar Destroyer: Whoa!  Can we say off the charts here?  True a 91% ship loss ratio – what would you expect?  But present in 73% of wins.  And the Caldari Cormarant Destroyer, present in 70% of wins!  This statistic, coupled with stats on the Battleships and the Brutix battlecruiser, leads me to believe that DPS vs E-War in this tourney, the DPS’rs are winning.  And in the case of Destroyers, at a bargain basement value.

Abaddon – Amarr Battleship: A previous tourney favorite and not disappointing fans this tourney as well, providing a strong 67% win side record.  Doubling that record is the Caldari Raven with also 67% presence on winning side.  Tripling it is the Gallente Dominix with yet another 67% present win record.  Wow. Battleships certainly proved their worth this first weekend of the tourney.  And my guess,  because of superior DPS and not so much because of tanking  (much like their smaller Destroyer counterparts).

Paladin – T2 Amarr Marauder: The most expensive ship deployed on the battlefield (1.09bil), and sporting a more fancy Battleship hull, the Paladin did not lose in a single round it was deployed, had 0% ship loss ratio and 100% win side ratio.  The second most expensive ship (1.07bil) the Caldari Golem Marauders broke even at 50/50, but get this, former tourney champions Pandemic Legion lost their round by only 1 point – 1 point! And if PL had won the Golem win ratio would have been:  75% win.  In this case, dropping billions on a match by purchasing T2 Marauders makes a powerful argument FTW.

Cerberus – Caldari Heavy Assault Cruiser:  Epic fail.  100% ship loss ratio and 100% on losing side.  Other factional HAC’s deployed didn’t do much better.

Ok there you have it.  Tomorrow I am going to take a look at money spent on each round and the “synergies” of the setups and how some setups clearly dominated.  There has been much talk about how isk spent has no effect on outcome but a quick look at the matches and comparison of isk spent, it does appear that if an alliance was willing to put out billions of isk, especially for Marauders & even the T3 Tengus, their opponents had a harder hill to climb unless they were within the same monetary ballpark.

Also the new rules seem to have put a  dampening effect on the Field Command Cruisers that were so successful in Tourney 6, and providing a significant value for the deployment of Logistic Carriers.  My guess is we’re going to see more use of the Logistics and Battleships this next coming weekend, and not so many Itty 5’s or Kitsunes.  And God no more HAC’s.  And I think those alliances will continue to deploy the Marauders when if they can afford it.  As for the T3’s?  Probably, but may likely just be the Tengas only.  Still hard to tell with T3?s.  Although I have to admit, for all the hulla-balloo and everything that goes into getting a T3 – it doesn’t seem to me to have the impact on the battlefield you would expect.  Who knows?  Maybe there is some killer T3 load-out still to be discovered.

o/

[Mangala]

Despite server outages, 2nd round weekend went ahead.

Videos are up at the link in my OP.

Match schedule for next weekends finals is due up soon, cant wait to see the line up, should be some good matches there.

[Mangala]

Finals schedule:

[Mangala]

GO GHSC (Dystopia)!  Goons fucked in the ass!

Live action in HD:

http://www.eveonline.com/events/alliances/tournament/t7/viewerHD.asp