Ziriert System, Domain region. On the 27th of February, 20:16 EVE Time, Providence Bloc engaged a fleet belonging to Low Security space entities such as Nihilists Social Club, Legion’s(dot) and Resonance(dot) alliances, over the control of an R64 moon in the system. The fight quickly escalated, with both sides dropping Capitals and bringing reinforcements, including a Titan.
Providence Bloc fielded a 200 pilot fleet divided into a Navy Issue Apocalypse Battleship main force, an Ishtar Heavy Assault Cruiser skirmish wing, a Maulus Frigate Electronic Warfare wing and a Capital task force which included 10 Dreadnaughts and 6 Carriers.
Against them the Low Sec entities organized a Navy Apocalypse Battleship fleet of their own, consisting of 30 pilots, with Triage Carrier support. They contacted Pandemic Legion beforehand for support, and as the fight started, it brought a mixed Legion\Proteus Strategic Cruiser fleet of 76 pilots.
Providence Bloc forces were the first to enter system, situating their sub-capital fleet on the tower itself and keeping their Capital force in reserve. A Cynosural beacon was lit 250 km away from the tower, and the Low Sec entities bridged their fleet in, including Triage Carriers and Tracking Dreadnaughts.
Providence Bloc forces warped to the cynosural beacon at 30 km, thus signaling the start of the fighting. Both forces slugged it out, and once it became clear the enemy Carriers were in Triage mode, Providence Bloc lit their own Cynosural beacon and let their Capital task force onto the field. With their Dreadnaughts entering Siege mode, the enemy’s Triage Carriers were quickly disposed, allowing Providence Bloc to focus on the enemy’s Navy Apocalypses.
However, even with their Triage support gone, the enemy’s Navy Apocalypses turned to be quite a challenge, as their pilots were told beforehand to bring a full Slave implant set, generating a massive armor buffer that took a while for the Providence Bloc forces to chew through.
Pandemic Legion entered the fray during the Capital exchange, landing next to the Providence Bloc Logistics wing, and managing to nab a few. With the Pandemic Legion reinforcements on the field, the Low Sec entities felt confident enough to bridge in an Avatar Titan along with a Hel and two Aeon Motherships. The Super-Capital force warped to the grid and started clearing the Providence Bloc Dreadnaughts, who were busy destroying the remaining Low Sec entities’ Navy Apocalypses.
Providence Bloc quickly changed its focus to the Super-Capital force, targeting the Hel, but unable to break its tank. When it became apparent that they could not break the Mothership’s tank, and with Pandemic Legion on the field, as well as the Avatar, the decision was made to start extracting the remaining Capital ships. A mad race began between Providence Bloc clearing sub-Capitals and Pandemic Legion and the Low Sec entities clearing Capitals.
With their enemies bringing more Triage Carriers, the presence of the Titan and its Mothership escorts, and losing most of their support ships, Providence Bloc decided to concede the field, managing to extract most of their sub-capital fleet as well as some of their Capitals safely.
For the Low Sec entities and their Pandemic Legion allies, once Providence Bloc disengaged, they withdraw as well, allowing Providence Bloc to keep the moon and bringing an end to the fighting.
The exchange saw Providence Bloc lose 5 Dreadnaughts, 3 Carriers and 44 sub-capital ships for a total of 27 Bil ISK in damages, while their enemies lost 2 Dreadnaughts, 3 Carriers and 32 sub-capitals, for a total of 32 Bil ISK in damages.
Battle Report for the Ziriert System can be found here.
The battle lasted for 40 minutes, during the peak of which the system saw more than 350 pilots in it. Time Dilation proved to be a major factor in the fighting, varying between 40-70% throughout. Several players complained of lag issues, such as no transition between losing ships and pods, modules not cycling correctly and other lag connected issues.
Regardless, both sides agreed that it was an enjoyable fight, and look forward to having similar brawls in the future.
Note: Videos of the fighting will be added if and when the parties involved will forward them.
Special thanks to Jin’taan, of Pentag Blade, Curatores Veritatis Alliance and Archeras Umangiar, of Delian Legion, Legion’s(dot) Alliance for granting interviews.
