Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval completed what appears to have been a very smooth “self-turmoil” last cycle, successfully avoiding outside interference. Having ended the previous cycle with four unprofitable systems in turmoil, she maintained this and a total of 63 Command Capital (CC) was reclaimed every turn by losing the systems of Caerape (20 CC), Col 285 Sector QN-T d3-77 (9 CC), Anganaha (7 CC), and Ngurui (18 CC). In addition the unprofitable system of Lopemakinn is now in turmoil, and the Emperor may choose to remain in turmoil another cycle to shed it as well.
Princess Aisling Duval failed in her expansion to Wilintae by 50,000 merits. The expansion would have contested 26 CC from Shadow President Felicia Winters, but at the substantial cost of 94 CC per cycle. Although the final margin of loss was comfortable, it was a late push and there is speculation the Federation might have been debating whether or not to let the expansion succeed.
Meanwhile, Winters’ heavily-weaponised expansion to Diegakul was crushed by a similar margin. Had it succeeded it would have cost Winters 63 CC at maximum overheads, but contested 112 CC from Princess Aisling and 18 CC from the Emperor. Winters is now yet again expanding to Baal in what is being seen as a “safety expansion”, and it is widely expected this will fail as usual.
By far the most intense fighting of the cycle was seen in Senator Zemina Torval’s expansion into LHS 184. This weaponised expansion would cost Torval 51 CC at maximum overheads, but contest 55 CC from President Zachary Hudson. Although triggers favoured expansion by more than 3.5 — a massive advantage — Torval casualties were huge with Federation forces destroying over 18,000 of her ships over the course of the cycle. As a result the opposition delivered a last-minute snipe of around 250,000 merits to cause the expansion to fail by a mere 6400 merits.
Torval has not let this defeat slow her, and has launched another weaponised expansion to L 206-187. The system would cost her 76 CC at maximum overheads, but contests 6 CC from Dictator Yuri Grom and 101 CC from Hudson. Triggers are also 3x in favour of expansion, fighting appears just as intense, and at the time of writing the expansion attempt has a slight lead of 7000 merits.
CEO Li Yong-Rui of Sirius Corp is now at second place in the PowerPlay leaderboards which is believed to be his highest placement yet, although as usual debate rages over what placement in this leaderboard actually means. His power has an expansion underway to the system of Shasir, which has triggers over 2x in favour of expansion. Unfortunately the system will cost him 65 CC at maximum overheads and the expansion appears to be the result of internal sabotage.
Dictator Yuri Grom’s forces have two expansions this cycle. The system of Xi Ophiuchi would contest 11 CC from Edmund Mahon, 26 CC from Hudson, but also cost Grom 50 CC at maximum overhead. Whether or not Grom intended to launch this expansion may be a moot question as it has triggers over 6x in favour of expansion and will be very hard to oppose by anybody. The second expansion is to Yurok, is a straight cost to Grom of 55 CC at maximum overheads, and has nearly even expansion triggers. At the time of writing, neither expansion has seen any action on the GalNet boards, with neither expansion getting over 40% yet. However, note that Grom expands by combat, and therefore both expanding and opposing sides can hide “snipes” that will not show up on the GalNet boards until the end of the cycle.
Sagittarius Eye Breaking News team