This war in the Geminate region has stirred up a hornets nest with different organisations declaring for different sides. SOLAR FLEET are the aggressors, along with a loose coalition of allies comprised of Black Legion., Triumvirate. and Confederation of xXPizzaXx while the local residents such as Legion of xXDEATHXx, Infinity Space and Total Absolution to name but a few have formed to push back the incursion.
Over the course of the last few weeks the ‘SOLAR Coalition’ have managed to take 4 systems from the residents of Geminate including one of the border regions with Metropolis, AD-5B8 which has good routes in and out to local trade hubs. Currently the SOLAR Coalition are pushing to take the system of 54-MF6.
Around 1900 Eve time on the 31st January 2015 the I-Hub shield timer for 54-MF6 came out of reinforced. The defenders, Legion of xXDeathXx and friends formed up in a fleet which is rarely seen these days due to the current meta, Battleships.
Legion of xXDEATHXx decided to form over 100 Dominixes and around 20 ECM armor-tanked Scorpions for their battleship core with a logistics wing consisting of approximately 15 Oneiros and a similar number of Exequrors, with a couple of Scythes and Scimitars thrown in for good measure. This is very much against the current meta within EvE as most people believe you can’t fly battleships in nullsec these days because they will be bombed to smithereens and this is, to some extent, very true. However, Legion of xXDEATHXx know that bomber wings are very rarely used by the opponents they were going to face that night.
The Black Legion., xXPIZZAXx and Solar Fleet forces (SOLAR Coalition) didn’t feel the need to change from the tried and tested Tengu fleets. Combined, they had around 160 Tengus with a nice support wing of 20 or so Basilisk logistic cruisers. Triumvirate also attended the fight bringing an Ishtar gang numbering around 40 and 20 Scimitar logistics cruisers.
The fight started as the shield timer for the I-HUB counted down, with the Legion of xXDEATHXx gang coming through a cyno which was lit on the SOLAR Coalition’s in-gate of AD-. The SOLAR Coalition re-thought their route and decided to enter the system via G-7 rather than try and take a fight on the gate where the xXDEATHXx fleet were engaging the attacking forces’ first SBU.
The SOLAR Coalition fleet arrived on the battlefield and opened up on the defending forces’ ECM Scorpions, managing to take down 8 of the Caldari battleships in quick succession. Both the SOLAR Coalition forces and Tri managed to consolidate their fire on these targets to great effect and it swung the fight hugely to the attackers’ advantage.
At that point a Pandemic Legion cyno bomber arrived on field and a group of around 40 Pandemic Legion Ishtars and a small wing of Logistics jumped to the beacon. The defenders’ bomber wing, made up of pilots from Infinity Space, Total Absolution and Hard Alliance, made it’s first successful bombing run on the massed attacking forces, taking down a couple of Ishtars and a Basilisk.
Pandemic Legion, who had only been in the system five minutes, were then caught by a dictor gang 100 kilometers off the I-Hub. The SOLAR Coalition warped in and took down a number of PL’s Ishtars and logistics. Pandemic Legion decide at this point to call it a day and leave the system.
Just after Pandemic Legion were manhandled, a Sovereignty Blockade Unit on the AD- gate in 54- was destroyed by the Legion of xXDEATHXx defenders. The defenders’ bomber wing then attacked once again, destroying another couple of the attackers’ logistic cruisers, however they lost two of their own during the run.
Black Legion. and their allies decided enough was enough and it was time to go on the offensive, they ordered their dictors in to get bubbles on the enemy fleet and then warped in the DPS to their optimal while a small dreadnought force was brought to the field by SOLAR Fleet. One after another, the Dominixes of Legion of xXDEATHXx and their logistical cruiser were destroyed by the overwhelming DPS.
The defenders focused their fire on the newly arrived capitals and brought in what they hoped was their ace in the hole; a group of Archon triage carriers. However the DPS was still too much and the Archons and remaining logistics for the defenders were unable to keep their battleships alive. However, for roughly every 6 of the Legion of xXDEATHXx battleships down, Solar Fleet lost a dreadnought.
Even though the combined defending forces had managed to take down the Solar Fleet dreads, they had lost too much of their DPS to now be a threat to the remaining Tengus and Ishtars of SOLAR Coalition and decided to pull back and leave the field, abandoning 4 of their bubbled Archons to save the rest of their forces.
The I-Hub was put into it’s final reinforced timer by the attackers and both sides put up a ‘GF’ in local. The SOLAR Coalition had won the fight, securing the tactical advantage and destroying nearly 33 billion ISK in ships while only losing around 25 billion. As a side note, Pandemic Legion lost 4 Billion Isk to the SOLAR Coalition.
The full battle report can be found here.
The I-Hub came out of reinforced again at 1945 EvE time on the 1st February 2015, and it was a carbon copy of the fleets that were used the day before however the numbers where larger with the defenders bringing over 150 Dominixes. They decided to leave the the ECM scorps at home for this fight. The SOLAR Coalition group again favored a mix of Tengus and Ishtars and both fleets brought a mix of logistical and tackling ships.
However, unlike last night and the shield I-Hub timer, the Legion of xXDEATHXx forces had already set up on the I-Hub, while the Solar Coalition forces arrived afterwards and set up on perches on the grid.
Upon orders from the SOLAR Coalitions FCs the fleets warped to engagement range and started calling primaries on the Dominix battleships, however all but one of them managed to catch repairs from their logistical wing. Once it became pretty obvious that the SOLAR Coalition group was not going to break the Dominix fleet they moved on to primarying softer targets along the lines of logistical T1 cruisers and a couple of the T3 cruisers that were on the field. Meanwhile the xXDEATHXx Dominix fleet began primarying Triumvirate’s Ishtar fleet and managed to take down 10 of their Ishtars along with a couple of the logistics.
Again the xXDEATHXx bombers tried to make themselves a nuisance by bombing the Black Legion. logi, however a number of them were caught by a bubble from a BL. Sabre and this caused 4 of the bombers to explode in quick succession.
The SOLAR Coalition watched the triaged Archons on the I-Hub rep the armor and called for a withdrawal from the field.
During the fight the SOLAR coalition lost around 3.4 billion ISK, mostly in Tri Ishtars while the xXDEATHXx group lost only around 2.1 billion ISK and that was made up of the lone Dominix that was destroyed and a FC Tengu that was headshotted.
The full battle report can be found here.
What is the next chapter in this war between the SOLAR Coalition and the residents of Geminate, led by xXDEATHXx?
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