At this point, Mercenary Coalition has been on contract for almost two months, marking it as the longest contract that I've been a part of since we've joined MC. I should find out what the longest contract MC has taken to date.
We're pretty dug in now; we have a lot of assets in place, we're clicking well with the locals, and activity is high. It's pretty much the perfect situation for a mercenary alliance, no matter who you are.
Most of my play time has been spent doing Black Ops, mainly because it fits my availability right now and because in the late US timezone, we don't have huge numbers. Nevertheless, we've been (usually) pretty effective in the PST TZ. I've always said that the mark of an effective harrassment contract is when the targets stop logging in. Of course, that makes for sometimes boring game time, but when you zoom out and look at the abstract, it's a good thing.
As an aside, making someone not log in is actually terrible game design. That's for another post, I sure won't be digging into it here.
As you can see from our killboard, we've been fighting a lot of CO2 fleets out in Vale of the Silent and Tribute. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out what they're doing here and why we were brought in. So far, our efforts have been very effective at blocking CO2's, which is good since that's what we're paid for.
Unfortunately, MC has lost a corp due to real life circumstances in the corp leadership. We're all sad to see them go, but some things can't be helped. All the corps have opened their doors to anyone who wants to join, and we'll wish them a warm farewell as they go. Their departure won't slow us down in the slightest, but I do hope we bring in another corp to replace their numbers. It's always very difficult to find another corporation who is truly dedicated to the mercenary life though, so it may be a while. But hey, if you think you're cut out for it, I'd love to chat!
I've been trying to take the reigns more often when I'm logged in. I've managed to find time to login for the last 5 days, FCing a couple of minor fleets. I've never been super happy being a regular grunt, so it's a good way to break free of those shackles. I don't know how much I'll focus on the FCing career - I enjoy it, but it's not my first choice as far as playstyles go - but I'm enjoying it for what it's worth.
I feel like I've forgotten a lot of my EVE geography, and right now, that's such an important mental tool to have. Time to study my physical EVE maps again! I love these things, and they never get enough use. I should get them laminated...