While the rest of New Eden was enjoying the IWANTISK.com Titan Event, things were getting hot down in Catch. The HERO Coalition, comprised of the Brave Collective, Test Alliance, Spaceship Samurai, The Explicit Alliance, Nerfed Alliance Go Away, Of Sound Mind and Bloodline., formed up to defend V-3YG7, one of their core systems adjacent to their staging system of GE-8JV, against the aggressing forces of Pandemic Legion, who had reinforced seven HERO systems including MB-NKE, HED-GP, ZXIC-7, WQH-4K, 2J-WJY, U-QVWD.
HERO Formed one of their largest fleets to date, with 834 ships including 86 Tengus, 151 Heavy Assault Cruisers, and 497 frigates.
Once their form up had been completed, the fleet made its way to V-3YG7, formed their defensive lines and awaited PL, the arrival of whom was announced by a cyno going up in system, swelling local as the 249 man PL fleet bridged into the system. The PL fleet consisted of 140 battleships, most of which were fearsome Fleet Issue Tempests and Armageddons, supported by 61 Strategic Cruisers (including Lokis, Legions and Protei) and a number of triage Archons.
Also in system were The Initiative. Systematic-Chaos, The Volition Cult and Curatores Veritatis Alliance, who were harassing stragglers and anyone else they managed to ensnare.
The battle commenced at 22:21 eve time and HERO immediately started suffering consistent losses, the majority of which were HERO’s immense frigate wing, and while PL were also suffering losses they were at a much slower rate. For a span of time time, the combatants were nearly trading ISK value for ISK value as the fight stretched on. After a number of PL Armageddons were reduced to rubble, HERO began to suffer from a lack of discipline and began splitting their DPS between multiple targets, which allowed the PL triage Archons on field time to lock and repair their fleet mates.
Realising the Triage Carriers were posing a significant problem, HERO fleet commander Travis Kelkira switched targets from the battleships and targeted their first triage Archon which quickly fell to the combined firepower of the fleet, a second archon was then targeted and while it managed to last considerably longer it also eventually succumbed to the HERO onslaught. The reason for this became clear when the Archon’s 3.5bn ISK Killmail became available. With the loss of two triage Archons, the HERO forces were able to start inflicting serious damage on the PL fleet with 14 of their battleships falling in quick succession. For a short time this put HERO ahead in the ISK war.
This is not to say HERO was not also suffering considerable losses; on average, HERO lost 20 ships per minute during the battle until 23:15, nearly an hour after the fight began. PL once again regained the upper hand after additional reinforcements arrived in the form of more triage Archons.
The final bell was rung for HERO shortly thereafter as their ability to kill the PL battleships was halted, unable to break the implacable reps that PL’s combat triage wing applied with frightening efficiency. What cemented the scales in favour of PL was a well-timed Void & Electron Bomb run by The Initiative against HERO’s logistics wing, which resulted in a large number of logistics cruisers melting before their brethren could render aid.
After this, HERO was unable to recover as its main DPS fleet were both unable to destroy PL ships and were unable to survive PL’s damage-dealers now that their logistics had been obliterated. HERO was forced to withdraw and cede the field, allowing PL to put the Infrastructure Hub into the next timer.
The start to the new year is looking to be explosive in Catch. How far this conflict will go is yet to be seen, but in any event, with a number of timers still to be resolved, Catch continues to be the hottest place in New Eden.
The battle report can be found here. Total butcher’s bill for the fight: 51bn lost, 909 ships destroyed with 1470 involved.
