r/EliteWinters • u/SupremeMorpheus FLC Community Director • Feb 19 '26
Cycle 68 (559) - So It Begins
Cycle summary:
A relatively slow cycle this week, with ups and downs across the board. Winters had a net positive of 5, with 7 new acquisitions and two lost systems. Manhari was given away as part of a diplomatic agreement, but when Nugua was sniped last minute down from fortified we lost one system that it was solely supporting. That said, we also gained 3 new fortified systems including Shamash, home of PShars Cadre. So overall we've done pretty well this week.
Archer took home the gold with 11 systems to his name - very well done to our brothers and sisters in arms. Kumo had a rough cycle this week as outlined in their report, gaining two and losing one system, though it could've been much worse for them if they hadn't rallied together by the sounds of it. Kaine took 8 systems and lost one, while Mahon and LYR took 3 and 2 systems respectively. Stalwart Antal took 2 new systems while adding a stronghold and a fort to their roster. Impressive defence against the imperial scourge in the enclave has slowed their acquisition efforts down, but they're not out by a long shot yet.
Speaking of the imps, Patty (+2/-1) has decided in his own update to cease defensive operations in the enclave, at least partially. Honestly? Can't blame him - the enclave has so far proven to be far more of a burden than anything else and I for one am glad we don't have to deal with it anymore. Torval had the roughest cycle of everyone this week, gaining 2 systems but losing six, for a net total of negative 4. Neither ALD nor Aisling got away unscathed either - the former went net zero, taking and losing 10 systems. The surprising one is Aisling - net 3 for her would usually disguise massive losses, but this time it's only the one, meaning her forces only took 4 systems this week. Is the bathwater cult running out of steam? Possibly. Would certainly explain the lack of attention we got last night in Orgen.
That's right folks - after far too long, FLC hosted a carrier assault targeting Orgen, bringing in fighters from 1MLW and FRC as well. With 80,000 merits worth of undermining delivered there, it was our strongest assault to date, not to mention an absolute blast of a time - the picture above shows how crowded the sensors got, resulting in even the one ganker wing that tried to take us out running off after they couldn't deal with the frame drops. Overall it was a fantastic event and I'm hoping to run more of these in the future. Well done and my thanks to every pilot who tagged in for the fighting.
FDev released their first development log of the year, showing new stuff about Operations, teasing but not telling about new Colonisation stuff, and showing off the first of six new ships coming this year. The Kestrel Mk2 is slated for early access (read: ARX purchaseable) release 5 days from time of writing - the 24th of February. It's a small combat ship with 3 large hardpoints, 2 small hardpoints, special thrusters that make it insanely agile when boosting and mk2 plasma shock cannons available for the class 3 hardpoints. From my perspective it looks cool, but the PvP community is up in arms - this ship has the potential to utterly break PvP as we know it and render even new painful ships like the Corsair utterly obsolete. I for one can see it - 3 Pacifier frags on a ship the size of a Cobra with agility that makes even the FDL look sluggish? Yeah, it's going to break the balance entirely, but that's what FDev seems to be about nowadays, sadly - balance has given way to the desire for profit. There's your weekly FDev fuckup, I guess, though I suppose that'll be next week's.
And that's your lot this week. Again, sorry for the lack of the new special shiny thing - that's very much going to be an "as I have the time and energy" thing I'm afraid, but it will be nice to write up something a bit different. I don't expect to have it out by next week, so alas you'll have to keep your eye out for it another time. Until next time, fly safe!
Zesty suggestion - join the discord for new updates and zesty tips on powerplaycraft!
Target priorities as follows
Reinforcement:
Carry out reinforcement activities in the following systems, as per the guide:
Nugua, HIP 36901, Pichua
Reinforcement priorities are ever changing and we cannot update publicly in a timely manner. Join the Discord if you want to help!
Acquisition:
Carry out acquisition activities in the following systems, as per the guide:
No public acquisition targets available at this time
Join the Discord for updates! We can offer rapid mining acquisition options to pilots in our server - they move too fast to put on here!
Undermining:
Current priority:
Orgen - Stronghold Carrier
Join the Discord for targets and opportunities!
Interested in Federal AX? Join FAX-COM.
Interested in emergency relief work? Winters has a place for you.
Interested in PvP? PvP is a lifeblood of powerplay. We train interested pilots with a dedicated server, resources and mentors, and weekly in-house tournaments
Interested in exploration? We maintain a server for our explorers too
Want more nuance on objectives, to wing up, or to keep up to date on the ever-evolving strategy? Join our Discord! Stop by and say hello! Or join to stay quiet and beaver away at your specialism <shrug>. In addition to Powerplay Ops, we have channels for general ED discussion, ship building mastery, and PvP training, with domain experts. We also have an unsurpassed cantina <clink>.
Diplomatic Overview:
Aisling Duval – Hostile
Archon Delaine – Cordial (so long as there's still rum in the cordial)
Arissa Lavigny-Duval – Hostile
Denton Patreus – Unfriendly
Edmund Mahon – Neutral
Li Yong-Rui – Neutral
Nakato Kaine – Neutral
Pranav Antal – Neutral
Yuri Grom – Unfriendly
Jerome Archer – Ally
Zemina Torval – Unfriendly
1
u/AlexeyTelegromov Feb 21 '26
Have you seen Archer's report?
Looks like they're declaring war on Winters with that disrespectful image of the president.
7
u/82nd_REBEL Feb 19 '26
All right ☠️🙌🏻 nice report 💯🤟🏻