In the past two weeks, three wormhole capital escalation fleets worth a total of over a hundred billion ISK have fallen to Hard Knocks Inc. [HRDKX], a class-5 wormhole corporation. Capital escalations involve using dreadnoughts and carriers to spawn extra sleepers in high class wormhole anomalies, requiring the commitment of a sizable and immobile capital fleet.
The first fight occurred in the home of corporation Merchants Trade Consortium [MTCU], with [HRDKX], Isogen 5 [ISO-5], Sleeper Social Club [SSC] and Lazerhawks [LZHX] bringing a combined hundred pilot T3 cruiser fleet to gank a large [MTCU] capital fleet.
The battle report reveals a single sided fight with the death of six dreadnoughts, eight carriers and an assorted support fleet, but a video produced by [HRDKX] pilot EMU EVIL reveals that the initial fleet caught in the anomaly was far smaller.
The video indicates that throughout the course of the battle, more [MTCU] carriers were brought on field in an attempt to overwhelm the attacking fleet. Furthermore, according to [HRDKX] Operations Director NoobMan, the [HRDKX] fleet of around fifty cruisers held the field for over forty five minutes before reinforcements from [SSC], [LZHX] and [ISO-5] were brought in to finish off the capitals.
However, [HRDKX] leadership refused to comment on how they caught the capital fleet.
Although [HRDKX] have been endlessly hunting wormhole space for targets, this gank also speaks to a larger conflict between the residents of class-5 and class-6 wormhole space. Aggression between wormhole residents in the form of large capital escalation ganks and evictions such as the eviction of BAND of MAGNUS [BOBAS] from their home of J144420.
With a few large class-6 wormhole alliances evacuating their homes, namely No Holes Barred [NOHO] and Exit Strategy.. [EXIT], the aggression from [HRDKX] has turned to the few PVP aliances left in class-6 space.
The remaining two fleets (one and two) belonged to wormhole corporation The Dark Space Initiative [TDSIN], totalling up to seventy-five billion ISK of ships lost.
The combined [HRDKX] and [LZHX] T3 cruiser fleets vastly outnumbered the twenty-four man fleets of [TDSIN]. Although the victims in all three ganks had the advantage of capitals and reshipping, few alliances can form enough to fight a sixty-man fleet given the small size of wormhole entities as a result of mass limitations.
Comments from members of [HRDKX] again failed to give a clear story of how the capital escalation fleet was caught. However, such encounters often arise from rage-rolling (repeatedly closing the static connection of the wormhole) or log-off traps (logging off for an extended period of time in hostile space).
With Hard Knocks on a rampage through wormhole space, it remains a question whether the credit cards of TDSIN member Lou2550 will be able to replace the capitals in time for the next anomaly spawn cycle.
