Galrick M'kron wrote:I wonder, who managed to crash the EVE economy, and how?
Goonswarm Federation. It first began with the Gallente Ice interdiction in which any mining ship in high-sec that were caught mining ice in Gallente space were immediately destroyed. For a time the price of Oxygen Isotopes, an important mineral refined from from certain ice types, spiked tremendously for a couple of weeks while key traders with inside knowledge of the plot had a stash of said minerals ready to be sold onto the market when it was time to capitalize on the higher demand.
Soon after, just as the market for Oxygen Isotopes was about to recover, Goonswarm launched an all-out attack on the most prominent trade hub of New Eden (Jita 4 - Moon IV - Caldari Navy Assembly Plant) as well as the rest of the system. They attacked freighters and any other ship that wasn't docked or bolted down as hauler ships scrambled at the last minute to get their stuff out of harms way. Many believed Goonswarm would only hold this offensive for no longer than a few hours or even half a day, but the Goons proved us wrong by maintaining the offensive for three straight days. It was the single biggest loss of ISK in terms of assets destroyed in high-sec history.
As an additional note, between the Gallente Ice Interdiction and the attack on Jita (now known as Burn Jita), a fellow female capsuleer by the name of Hellicity Boson hosted and ran a one-month event in which ANY mining ship ANYWHERE in the four empires were hunted and destroyed without provocation just as a mere sport. The event lasted for one whole month and resulted in a total loss of 1 Trillion ISK worth of assets. No, that wasn't a typo. It was trillion, with a 'T'.
Goonswarm practically took a page from John D. Rockefeller's history and created a near-perfect monopoly on the Technetium moons in null-sec space while being able to pay a bounty of 100 million ISK to anyone who manages to destroy 10 exhumers for the weeks following the event.
Then there was the daily assault on Niarja which is a key system that lies exactly on the busiest route between Jita and Amarr where freighters are constantly attacked for their loot. As of today, Niarja is looking a little dormant due to recent changes in the political climate.