1      Chili & Metal : still a party (9898) [5,29]    41    68896    2283

Lineup: Gard, TCO and Ragnarokkr. This is a drafted family.
Ok so this sucks. My fam is next door neighbor with these guys, so it's gonna hurt sooner or later.
Gard in the lead as attacker with TCO as a resourcing partax and Raggy banking. They will be dishing out damange in abundance. TCO doing infra is like a scientist doing research: methodical, accurate and on schedual. If they are left on their lonesome expect them to outgrow most if not all other fams. Hope for them to loose their internet connection, or that TCO throws a hissyfit. Neither is likely since TCO and Gard is practicly married in this game and Raggy is a pretty mellow guy from what ive heard.

Contenders FTW

2    Dutchies United! (9899) [34,15]    34    47418    2208   

Lineup: Mizzle, Easyway, Etro. Drafted family.
The Flying Dutchmen has set course for your home system so add some extra lasers... Or just leave it and save the iron, Easy will end up with some of your planets anyways. Mizzle in the lead as ressing partax spells bad news for most bankers in the galaxy. Hurricanes will go left and right. Sadly my fam is to Mizzle's left so we spent all our cash on wizzies already. With only one banker per fam and no limits on ops... well you get the idea. Timezone might be an issue for these guys since all are on euro clock and by that open for nightly raids... hint hint...
Depending on how they end up after fighting the other top fams i'm guessing them to be

Contenders top 2

3    Valhalla (9901) [12,14]    31    49950    2170   

Lineup: Looney, Shaitan, Hoffman. Drafted fam.
Pretty vague and unknown names in here, they will probably not last long, so you might aswell focus on more serious threats...
From my knowledge they have no real plan in infra or attacking and most likely just stumbled into an at the moment high rank. The lack of coordination and a clear leader will be their downfall. Nothing can save these noobs.

Pretenders

4     (9912) [29,28]    30    40093    2460   

Lineup: Did not respond. Random join family (?)
Another fam that seems to have stumbled into a decent start. Just a few hours ago, on day 3, they finally manage to elect a leader. A Wardancer, Quantam and a custom race banker. The lack of speed will hurt their ability to spread thruout the galaxy and since this is a last man standing family...

Pretenders

5    So Hardcore (9903) [15,59]    28    40183    2331   

Lineup: Sir Duckie, ??, ??. This is likely a random join fam.
Not much to say about the players so ill focus on the infra and races, tho Duckie has some decent HC experience from Draco and Saggy.
The mix of a Revalon, Wardancer and Partax works wonders in normal galaxies but in a 3man HC i'm not so sure. The lack of speed and relying on only 1 race with attack bonus can prove fatal in the long run. Not even Duckie knows who his fellow fam members are so i suspect a lax communication flow.

Contenders top 3

6     (9905) [51,14]    26    26695    1405   

Lineup: No respone. Likely a random join fam.
Bad structure and seemingly a lack of communication. 2 Wardancers and a Revalon with no elected leader and one of the WDs inactive. Dead in the water, waiting to be killed off.

Pretenders

7    FoxSayXenoWonton (9909) [17,47]    19    30413    1974   

Lineup: See below. This is likely a random join fam.
First i have to congratulate this fam with the most original fam name in ages. If this is the actual members well i have no idea
Xeno has been around for quite a while, Wonton i dont know and WhatDoesThe FoxSay i'm guessing is Rchie... Who else picks that annoying song as a name? They might stay alive for a week or 2 but eventually they are jailbait.

Last minute edit: Just got a message from them and i quote:

Sentinel Wonton Partaxian 19362 13 - inactive
xeno syndicate Quantam 8806 5 - inactive
Fleet Admiral Fox Say Wardancers 2517 1 - super inactive

Pretenders

8     (9907) [1,43]    17    22523    1145   

Lineup: Did not respond. This is a random join family.
Another proof of the concept of random join families in HC galaxies are futile. You rely so, so much on your 2 fam members so in my opinion if they cant find a team beforehand they might aswell not play. Makes you miss the good old Draco days.
Anyways back to PvC.

PRETENDERS

9     (9904) [45,40]    16    26284    1507   

Lineup: Sunstorm, ??. This is likely a random join fam.
Not even the awesomeness of James can save this fam from oblivion. And by awesomeness i mean noobyness. Rest in peace brother.

Pretenders

10     (9900) [29,40]    16    21539    1026   

Lineup: WhiteHeavens, ??. Random join fam.
No hope. No glory. Tonight, these guys won't dine in hell.

Pretenders

11    Smokin' Sexah Spliffs (9911) [41,3]    10    17771    1377   

Lineup: ??, ??. Random join fam?
I vaguely recall hearing about a half decent name in this fam, but boy, was i wrong. No decent names in here! Who plays a HC galaxy and forget to defend homeplanet? Their 3rd member became easy pickings for Easyways fleets yesterday.

Conte... oh wait. PRETENDERS

12    Scorps R US (9906) [31,55]    7    10897    520   

Lineup: Masse, ??, ??. This is a drafted fam.
They seemed so promising. Picking names that spark good emotions and warm fuzzy memories in every IC player.
Hearing rumors that a ingame bug allowed them to be killed off before the 48hour attack halt ended. The 48h attack halt shouldnt have been in the HC galaxy in the first place, so this situation is inviting confusion in all directions.

13     (9902) [52,56]    6    8426    573   

Lineup: ??, ??. Random join fam.
What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?
You're the pretender
What if I say that I will never surrender?

Ok so iv'e been doing this PvC for a while now and can see the end coming up, the light in the end of the tunnel!

Pretenders

14    Triumvirātus (9910) [3,5]    2    4980    462

Lineup: Discreet, ??, ??. Random join fam?
Guys, really. Filling each your homeplanets with 250 of the finest resource or cash producing infra. Dead solid HC strategy. Notice the "dead" solid, cause this fam was killed off on day 2 and 3. Rest in peace.

15 (9908)

Lineup: Joe (Orbit? xD )
The only fam that ended up with 1 player, Joe, decided to go kamikaze and nuked several families to shit. Retaliation came switf and Joe is no more. I realize that it's probably not Orbit in this fam. But it does kind of fit. Orbit is like an old man. Grumpy all day long, yelling at the neighbor kids to get off his lawn. And ending up alone in a HC galaxy might have been the last straw for Joe. Nukes flying everywhere, including double digit amounts on the current Contender FTW fam.