LSC4-P system, Syndicate region. On the 11th of November at 20:00 EVE Standard Time, a battle over a Mercenary Coalition [MC] tower in the system turned bloody as Psychotic Tendencies. [TISHU] and The OSS [OSS] confronted The-Culture [-T C-] and Pandemic Legion [-10.0].
The battle occurred over a Mercenary Coalition tower in the system which was believed to hold a Titan. Psychotic Tendencies. forces reinforced it before but as the reinforcement timer was set to exit in one of their weaker time zones they asked The OSS for help. The two formed with several allies a joint 90 pilot armor battleship fleet with triage carriers and dreadnoughts in tow. The force bridged on the tower grid first with the triage carriers only, warped to the tower at close range and started shooting it.
Mercenary Coalition, knowing the preference the two alliances have for faction battleships, chose to bring a kiting doctrine, forming a 50 pilot Cerberus heavy assault cruiser fleet and warping at range of the tower. Once on grid, the force attempted to engage the battleship fleet with some success, remaining at maximum distance and lobbing missiles at the battleships while coordinating fire with the tower’s guns. This resulted in a few battleships being simply volleyed by the combined damage output of the two, the Mercenary Coalition’s fleet remaining outside of the reach of the joint fleet.
At the same time, The-Culture formed a 60 pilot Rattlesnake battleship fleet with triage carrier support and dreadnoughts of its own. The-Culture fleet commanders had learned of the upcoming timer and were coordinating with Pandemic Legion whom they informed of the fight. Pandemic Legion for its part brought an 80 pilot Proteus strategic cruiser fleet with low logistics numbers, acquiring two triage Archon carriers from The-Culture for the fight.
While The-Culture was in position to drop on the joint fleet, Pandemic Legion forces were still burning towards the system. The-Culture chose to enter the field, lighting a cynosural beacon on the battleship fleet and dropping a triage Chimera carrier which lit a secondary cynosural beacon, ushering the rest of the fleet in. A close quarters brawl quickly ensued as Rattlesnakes and armor battleships fought each other, missiles, lasers and projectile rounds slamming into ships, rupturing hulls.
The Fighting on the Tower Between the Various Fleets
The-Culture dropped dreadnoughts in order to eliminate the triage carriers of the joint fleet, but as they burned the triage carriers down, another cynosural beacon was lit, this time by the joint fleet bringing in more triage carriers and dreadnoughts. These reinforcements coupled with the battleships already present simply overwhelmed the dreadnoughts and triage carriers of The-Culture, which simply melted. Losing their triage backbone, the Rattlesnakes could do little to tank the incredible damage presented by the joint fleet and several were destroyed in monstrous volleys, forcing the rest of the fleet to quickly burn away from the mass of armor battleships and dreadnoughts. Mercenary Coalition took advantage of the chaos and the momentary loss of the triage carriers for the joint fleet to snipe a few more ships using its tower.
As The-Culture and Mercenary Coalition fleets maintained their distance from the joint fleet, it focused its attention on the tower, slowly grinding it down with its dreadnoughts when Pandemic Legion forces finally arrived at the system, warping at close range of the joint fleet. This turned to be a mistake, as the Pandemic Legion force was low on logistics cruiser numbers and had a tough time tanking, losing its fleet commander and anchor in the first fire exchanges. The fleet then brought in the two triage carriers it secured from The-Culture in the hopes of stabilizing itself, jumping them further away from the joint fleet but with little luck, as the dreadnoughts and battleships simply overwhelmed the triage carriers, destroying them in seconds.
Realizing the predicament they were in, Pandemic Legion forces quickly pulled range and re-anchored, skirting at the edge of their optimal range with long range ammunition. While the joint fleet was unable to chase any of the hostile fleets due to being shackled to the triage carriers’ remote repairers range, the three enemy fleets seemed unable to break the tank of the battleships, as they lacked coordination. This allowed the joint fleet’s dreadnoughts to remove the tower and jump out, extracting safely.
The Tower Destroyed During the Heavy Fighting
As time went on, coordination between the three fleets improved and several of the armor battleships were volleyed. This momentum continued and soon most of the armor battleships were destroyed, their triage remote repairers seemingly not applying for some reason. With battleships destroyed, came the turn of the triage carriers. One by one the three fleets tore them apart, leaving no survivors. With the joint fleet soundly defeated, Pandemic Legion and The-Culture departed, leaving Mercenary Coalition to sift through the wreckage of its tower, thus ending the fight.
The Field of Wrecks as the Last Triage Carriers Were Taken Down
Battle report for the LSC4-P system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 50 minutes with local remaining around 300 pilots and Time Dilation not reported. However many glitches and bugs were recorded by participants such as remote repairers not having skills applied to them, carriers unable to cycle out of triage mode and ships’ capacitor display going back and forth from full to empty every few seconds.
Mercenary Coalition lost 10 ships, mostly interdictors for 830 million ISK damage. The joint fleet of Psychotic Tendencies., The OSS and their allies lost 49 ships including 7 carriers, 1 dreadnought and 36 battleships for a total of 59.53 billion ISK damage. Pandemic Legion and The-Culture lost 41 ships including 9 dreadnoughts, 4 carriers, 4 battleships and 4 strategic cruisers for a total of 48.49 billion ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
