While CIR has the same things every other corp out there says they have; a nice gang of people having fun together, social atmosphere, blah blah... What most people ask us these days is, what makes your corp different from the other corps out there? We attempted to tackle this difficult question, and come up with a list!
1. Adaptability
Consider the nature of PVP. It is constant, ever-changing process of evolution and neverending improvement of oneself and one's Robot/Mech fits. Every fight we've been in that makes us pay attention and go "hey that was a great fight!" gets analysed: What did we do good, what did we do wrong? What fit could help us better in this situation, what sort of pilot are we looking for who can perform this for us? How are they doing that? How do we counter it?
While we are human and will certainly blunder into obvious traps (e.g. myself jumping through a teleport with a speed-fit Kain into 2 close-range fitted Seths), we do our best to make sure mistakes and bad judgement calls happen only one time. Next time, there's already a strategy ready and waiting to counter it.
2. Dedication
We usually have our list of short-term and long-term goals. Most of our veteran players - the core of our corporation - has been playing together over the last 10 years in a myriad of games; we've been there, seen it and done it all. When we want something, we determine the most efficient course to obtaining it and it will be obtained - regardless of the cost.
Do we want to deny our enemy resources? Entire Alpha islands will be strip-mined of Ore. Harass the enemy? Their miners will be bombarded with NPC's, attacked and griefed left right and center until they dock up and ragequit. Interdict a Beta island? The enemy will be subjugated to constant pressure and camping of their island, until the objective is achieved. The tech-tree completed? A daily corp-wide kernel quota will be made, and everyone will be participating in the grind.
We dont *** about. What other corps do on an individual level - making money, mining, producing, PVPing - we take to the next level.
3. Teamwork & assistance
We're first and foremost, a team. Ever been in a situation where your team left you to die, so the rest of them could safely escape? Ever accidentally moved after jumping into a hostile force, and were gunned down while the rest of your team waited for their instability to go down so they could jump out? Yeah... We dont do that. Either we all fight, or we don't fight. No man or woman is left behind to die in a "blaze of glory", the unlucky one who is the slowest will not be left to the wolves. If a team-mate is stuck behind enemy lines because he had to dock up & logout in the middle of an operation, we will organize a task-force to come and rescue him.
In short... We got each others back. Always, and under any circumstances.
4. Principles
We keep to ourselves most of the time. We prefer our actions to do the talking; with our one underlying principle as a guideline: Give ten times as good as you get.
There are multiple examples - just in Perpetuum - of how dedicated to this principle we are:
The Civil War
While we were part of the Vindictive Alliance, Euro-Corp Syndicate aka ECORP attempted to sacrifice of a fellow alliance-corporation to aquire the services of three other corporations, who were at the time each twice as big as the unlucky corporation ECORP was plotting to betray.
When we moved our assets off the island and were preparing to officially leave the Vindictive alliance, they opened fire on one of our members. We immediately turned around and began our first war campaign in Perpetuum; this conflict would later become known as the Domhalarn Civil War.
ECORP went from running an alliance and controlling an entire Beta island, to owning an outpost, to retreating to Alpha, and ultimately disbanding on the pretext there was not enough people in the community to support a large corporation like themselves. The other three corporations they enlisted left the game.
The Norhoop War
During the war between Norhoop and Infestation alliances, we kept to ourselves; content in building up our own alliance - by that time, in full control of the Domhalarn Beta island - and enjoying the peace we have won after the Civil War ended.
While halfway through owning all stations on Infestation's island and grinding them down with brute force of numbers, a rumor was started regarding the possibility of our alliance entering the war. Immediately the self-appointed leader of the Norhoop alliance signed his own corporation - JOKE - for all intrusions on Domhalarn, and delivered us an ultimatum:
[23:21:25] <Syndic> thx Joke for signing up for all intrusions on Dom.
[23:21:53] <Jita> NP. Turn up tomorrow and enjoy alpha.
[23:22:57] <Syndic> 18 february, 23:23
[23:23:06] <Syndic> remember.
We immediately entered the war, and signed a Non-Agression Pact (cease-fire) with Infestation, and engaged in a united campaign against Norhoop's Alliance. After a short and bloody campaign, during which Norhoop went from being the most secure Beta island in-game to completely blown wide open, JOKE announced they were closing their corporation and merging into Roving Guns(RG).
After RG lost Karapyth Outpost (still in the hands of the Infestation alliance at the time of this writing), they officially severed ties with the Norhoop alliance, and departed to Alpha.
The principles by which we operate as an organization and as a corporation, always take precedence. Every slight, insult and disrespect is noted, remembered and examples were and will be made in the future, to the best of our ability.
It works both ways - and to hell with the political repercussions we might face. We do not abandon friendly corporations when the going gets tough, or when they're going through a rough time. Respect is rewarded with respect, disrespect is rewarded with annihilation.
5. Continuity
As an organization, we have been gaming since 1997. We've been through more then enough FPS, RTS, MMO games then we care to remember. After Perpetuum is dead and buried, we will still be around in some other MMO, gaming. People have been coming and going over the last 14 years, and its a comfort to know that CIR will be waiting when we're ready to come back to gaming.
Our history also gives us a motherlode of experience when it comes to organization, logistics and military matters. As said before, we've been there and done it all. We know what works and what doesn't, it's just a matter of figuring out which approach works best for a given game.
Our goals remain always the same - PVP, and Territory Control.