A Comparison of Newbro Friendly Corps: BNI, Fweddit, Dreddit, & Noob Mercs

As March comes to a close, I'm going to have to listen to the Noob Mercs [PHAIL] Director of Newbro Integration, Charlie Firpol, extol the virtues of his growing crop of cannon fodder. His corporation of 280 newbies and reforming carebears (with a small sprinkling of veteran pilots) has not only surpassed its previous kill record, they more than doubled it, and they might do it again next month they way they've been growing lately.

The battle of B-R has seen a huge uptick in newbie applications across the board in most Newbie corps. Noob Mercs is a bit lesser known than most, but even they have added over 60 members in the last month, just from the in game recruitment tool and some word of mouth. Thanks to some solid veteran leadership, the boys and girls in PHAIL are, pound for pound, one of the deadliest Newbie corps in Eve right now.

How deadly are we talking here? Well, to run any numbers in this sort of game, we're going to have to look at some killboard stats.

Direct comparison between PHAIL and other Newbie friendly corps with similar open door recruitment is difficult due to some serious size discrepancies, but some number crunching and averages can help shed some light on the pound for pound nature of this elusive beast. For the comparison, we'll pit the Noob Mercs stats next to Brave Newbies, Dreddit, and Fweddit, all extremely easy to get into, noob friendly, and operating in low and null sec, with 2 of the 3 active in FW as PHAIL is.

The results are actually a bit surprising, and highlight more of a difference in how these corps fly and engage, rather than which is better than the other. While some shine in some areas more than others, none really dominates the board. If you are a newbro looking to get into PVP, read on and see which of these corps might best fit the sort of playstyle you're looking to get into.

Corp Name --->	Brave Newbies	Dreddit	Fweddit	Noob Mercs
# of Pilots	6361	1963	421	280
Kills - March '14	7978	3097	2283	2922
Kills Per Pilot	1.25	1.58	5.42	10.44
Losses – March '14	30229	4748	901	1227
Losses Per Pilot	4.75	2.42	2.14	4.38
K/D Ratio	0.26 - 1	0.65 - 1	2.53 - 1	2.38 - 1
ISK Destroyed	569.59 Billion	278.39 Billion	156.52 Billion	127.10 Billion
ISK Per Kill	71.3 Million	89.9 Million	68.5 Million	43.5 Million
ISK Lost	464.61 Billion	110.87 Billion	28.64 Billion	15.74 Billion
ISK Lost Per Loss	15.4 Million	23.4 Million	31.8 Million	12.8 Million
Power Ratio	21.5%	26%	46.4%	29.4%
ISK Efficiency	55.08%	71.52%	84.53%	88.98%
Top 5 Ships Used	Thorax	Caracal	Crow	Atron
	Atron	Thorax	Hound	Enyo
	Talwar	Talwar	Legion	Kestrel
	Maulus	Hound	Hurricane	Comet
	Slasher	Crow	Proteus	Merlin

The numbers may require some interpretation in a couple areas, but should mostly be self explanatory.

Kills per pilot should give a fairly good example of how active the membership is in some cases, but if Brave and Dreddit are mostly in large fleets, that will drag down this ratio. Losses per pilot is a tough one to figure in this picture. It could indicate PVP activity levels in the case of Dreddit, but with Fweddit flying more expensive ships, it could indicate a relative skill in piloting those ships, or an aversion to putting them in losing situations. Both Brave and PHAIL pilots seem to have a similar average level of being accident prone.

ISK per kill give a fair indication of how big the targets being hunted are. With everyone but Noob Mercs having a presence in nullsec, that might account for most of the difference here. There just aren't as many shiny targets roaming in lowsec. Without decent numbers or solid logi, bringing blingy ships to lowsec is like diving into a pool full of piranhas, especially in PHAIL's home of Black Rise.

ISK per loss gives a fair indication of the types of ships being flown by the pilots, and can give an indication of relative SP of the pilots flying them. Cheaper ships tend to be flown by newbies obviously, and more expensive ones by pilots with higher SP (or with too much money and not enough brains). There is a correlation here with the top 5 ships used by each corp as well. Fweddit seems to have grown up quite a bit since they formed a couple of years ago, Brave and PHAIL are much heavier with their use of T1 frigs, and it shows here.

ISK efficiency can be a very loaded stat. We see by most of the chart that Brave and PHAIL are very similar in the ships they fly, losses per pilot, and isk lost per loss, but they have opened a huge gap in their ISK efficiency. What gives? This one comes down to overall effectiveness and ratios. PHAIL pilots are killing 2.38 ships for every loss they take, while Brave pilots are losing almost 4 ships for every kill they get. The pilots involved have similar skill points, and both corps have a higher percentage of actual noobs than either Dreddit of Fweddit going by the numbers.

I have a theory here, but I can't claim it's very scientific, and some thoughts from you readers would be appreciated.

This is where the power ratio comes into play. It's a percentage of the average value of a lost ship vs the average value of a killed ship. In theory, the lower the %, the more outclassed your ships are in the combat they're facing. Brave is fighting in by far the most outclassed situations according to this number, which may account for their k/d ratio being so far in the tank. PHAIL seems to be hitting a sweet spot at what they're bringing to bear against their chosen prey. Fweddit's higher power ratio also seems to be serving them well. Brave might just need some bigger boats.

Non Scientific Conclusions

Based on the numbers in front of me here, i've come up with some thoughts and assumptions of how these 3 Corps differ and operate. I'd be interested to know how accurate/inaccurate these are.

Brave Newbies: Largest corp of the bunch, highest concentration of Newbros in perhaps all of Eve. Fly in larger fleets, and seem to take on targets of much higher class than what they can bring to bear. Their motto of "Be Brave" seems to be backed up by their stats on that chart above, and they certainly do not fear death in the face of overwhelming odds. Frigate focused, with a smattering of cruisers and larger ships. Loves Talwars.

Dreddit: Corporation populated heavily by reddit users. Last year's war in Delve was a heavy hit to Dreddit, and their numbers have shrunk quite a bit, presumably as more veteran pilots have sought greener pastures. The only nullsec alliance to enter FW and not get pushed back out. Likely have a higher average pilot age than Brave, and more SP. After forming the Hero Coalition with Brave and some other alliances, they seem to be setting their gaze back on nullsec space, but still maintain a small presence in Placid and black Rise FW regions. Their local spam is legendary. They fly a lot of cruisers, but also have a solid love of frigates and Talwars.

Fweddit: Also formed from a base membership coming from reddit, they've come a long way since their early days in the Amarr militia back in 2012. While still somewhat active in FW, they also hold sov in some space formerly occupied by Dreddit's alliance, TEST. They seem to have graduated from massed talwar fleets and into more "big boy" ships, though I can attest personally from occasionally fighting against them when they come to visit that they have not entirely forsaken their roots.

Noob Mercs: After being inactive since 2008, the corp was reactivated and brought into the Monkeys with Guns. alliance as their newbie training corp just prior to joining FW on the side of the Gallente in 2012. At 280 members, they are the smallest of this bunch, but their size has been a benefit to their pilots being able to get more experience with small gangs lead by veteran pilots. Similar to BNI's "Be Brave" mentality, PHAIL operates under the motto "Fly Fearless." They equate the difference from standing firm against insurmountable odds, to charging into said odds with arms flailing and foam coming out of the mouth. They tend to operate in smaller groups than the other 3 corps, and mostly provide suicide fast tackle support in larger fleets. VERY frigate focused. They refuse to fly Talwars, and like to counter them with massed sniping Kestrels, and derp fit Atrons.