A few weeks ago, RvB found itself needing to declare war on a small corp local to our bases in The Forge; This corp was called Rock Huggers Inc & depending on who you ask, they had either been flipping cans in RvB fights, causing the less aware members of RvB to become flashy to them or they had been “innocently” leaving cans of ammo around, and merely defending themselves when RvB pilots “borrowed” that ammo. Either way, Command deemed them a nuisance – all 8 of them – and war was declared.

Given it was a cheap war against RvB, several other parties a long the way allied themselves with Rock Huggers Inc and lots of explosions – on both sides of the fence – occurred. Eventually the combat wound down till only one of the enemies allies continued to fight, and only against Blue with whom they now have a mutual war, while the remaining allies finished their period of support and went on their way.

And then roughly at the start of last week, Rock Huggers formed an alliance, which inherited the now mutual wars with RvB.

For a few days we did not think anything of it until they started advertising free mutual wars against us.

It was at this point when the fun began. Following a short, sweaty & hot period of action in the form of the original war declarations, it seems RvB became a carrier – if not the Patient Zero – of the internet spaceships version of an STD.

Basically, should you hop into bed with Purple Legion or The Marmite Collective you will become embroiled in a mutual war started by RvB – wars which we freely admit to starting, for various reasons stemming back to the original war with Rock Huggers Inc. However, once you get out of bed with those entities, instead of leaving the war behind, you take a fresh case with you. No matter how much protection you use. Then when you meet a new alliance, go to dinner, maybe dancing and then back to their place for “coffee”, you give them a dose too, all the while continuing to play host to your own infection. And each time the alliances have new corporations back to theirs, they too leave with a new case of Aggressive RvB Mutual War Syndrome. Ad infinitum. Indeed, Rock Huggers Inc used the executor corp of Purple Legion to pass a solid dose of this syndrome on to Dec Shield, who are now spreading it to every corp that passes through their doors.

The following is the list of current wars caused by various entities bed hopping:

Mutual

RvB Blue v Skunk Works (Consequence of mutual war with The Marmite Collective) RvB Blue v Kicking Smurfs (Consequence of mutual war with The Marmite Collective) RvB Blue v The Marmite Collective (EDIT: Was mutual, seems to be changed now) RvB v Belteaters (Consequence of mutual war with Dec Shield) RvB v Madre Del Amor Hermoso Corp (Consequence of mutual war with Dec Shield) RvB v Purple Legion (Consequence of mutual war with Rock Huggers Inc) RvB v Impromptu Asset Requisition (Consequence of mutual war with Purple Legion) RvB v Purple Legion Holding Corporation (Consequence of mutual war with Purple Legion) RvB v Dec Shield (Consequence of mutual war with Purple Legion) RvB v Ba’als Deep Space Mining (Consequence of mutual war with Dec Shield) RvB v Epicurus Philosophy (Consequence of mutual war with Dec Shield) RvB v CEBEP DV (Consequence of mutual war with Dec Shield) RvB v Battle BV (Consequence of mutual war with Purple Legion)

None Mutual

(Should have gone mutual when these entities left various alliances, but did not, despite leaving after the mutual wars had gone live. Yet another bug?)

RvB v Beyond the White (Consequence of mutual war with Dec Shield) RvB v Pulsar Engineering (Consequence of mutual war with Dec Shield) RvB v Benedictus Ordinis Fessa Milites (Consequence of mutual war with Dec Shield) RvB v Army Ninja Society (Consequence of mutual war with Dec Shield) RvB Blue v Lonetrek Salvage and Scrap (Consequence of the former mutual war with The Marmite Collective) RvB v Entek Heavy Industries (Consequence of mutual war with Dec Shield)



As you can see, all the above have happened in a little over a week, think of what this could look like in another week, or a month, should this keep spreading like it does. Could we be looking at the eventual doom of peace in high security space, or will a vaccine be forthcoming?

Now here is the crux of the matter, is this a bug as the folks at Dec Shield claim or is it a mechanic working as intended with the usual lack of documentation? Answer’s on a postcard please. And if you do send one, wash your hands first.

So kids, protection does not always save you does it. Still, remember

EDIT: This is not me – or RvB – complaining about the wars, as we like to fight given it is the RvB raison d’etre, but merely me wondering exactly what is going on with mutual war declarations right now.