RERZ-L system, Insmother region. On the 25th of October 19:45 EVE Standard Time, Drone Regions Federation (DRF) forces clashed with Red Menace Coalition (RMC) over a tower in the system.
As part of the war between the DRF and the RMC, an RMC tower was reinforced by DRF forces the day before and the two sides were once again gearing up for a major clash.
DRF forces formed 3 fleets; a 120 pilot Proteus Strategic Cruiser fleet, a 120 pilot Rattlesnake Battleship fleet and a small Capital force to remove the tower itself. The Proteus fleet and the Capital force traveled by gates towards the destination while the Rattlesnake fleet positioned itself in bridge range and waited.
RMC had 3 fleets as well, having called allies such as Northern Coalition. [NC] and The Initiative. [INIT]; An estimated 100 pilot in Typhoon Battleships, a 100 pilot Proteus fleet provided by Northern Coalition., and a The Initiative. Ishtar Heavy Assault fleet estimated at 100 pilot as well.
First to enter the system was the DRF Capital force who jumped in range of the tower. Then entered the DRF Proteus fleet which positioned itself on the grid near the tower. It was quickly greeted by the RMC Typhoon fleet which bridged in on grid, only to receive a devastating bombing run by a DRF Stealth Bomber wing before the two forces collided, signaling the start of the battle.
While the DRF Proteus fleet was tackling the Typhoons, the Rattlesnake fleet bridged to a perch before warping at range of the Typhoons and adding its own considerable damage to the mix. Hammered by both the Proteus and Rattlesnake fleets and having absorbed a full bomb payload, the RMC fleet simply collapsed, its mainline ships obliterated in a rapid rate.
At this point Northern Coalition. forces entered the fray, warping at range of both forces and skirmishing a bit with the DRF fleets. The Rattlesnake fleet quickly changed primaries and started putting pressure on the Northern Coalition. Logistics wing which could not sustain the incoming damage. After managing to destroy a few of the Logistics Cruisers, the Rattlesnake fleet switched to the Northern Coalition. Proteus and Legions but found them still too tough to crack. Instead, it switched back to the RMC Typhoons in order to remove one threat.
In a few minutes, the entirety of the RMC fleet was obliterated, the two DRF fleets making short work of it. Northern Coalition. seeing this decided to withdraw, managing to escape moments before DRF forces could tackle its fleet. The Initiative. force was spotted briefly during the fight skirting the battle but did not commit and withdrew without contributing much to the engagement.
Once the remains of the RMC fleet were disposed of, the DRF forces quickly took down the tower – Claiming both tactical and strategic victory. Afterwards DRF forces extracted safely to their staging, putting an end to the fighting.
The Battle from the DRF’s Rattlesnake Fleet PoV
Battle report for the RERZ-L system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 25 minutes with local hitting 600 pilots at the peak of the fighting and Time Dilation being quite noticeable – Reaching 10% at the start before slowly easing up as the engagement unfolded.
DRF forces suffered only light losses – 24 ships only 2 of which were Strategic Cruisers for a total of 2.54 Bil ISK damage. RMC and its allies lost 121 ships including 58 Battleships, 4 Strategic Cruisers and 6 Heavy Assault Cruisers for a total of 26.4 Bil ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
