DY-F70 system, Cloud Ring region. On the 28th of December at 22:40 EVE Standard Time, forces belonging to the Imperium fought a make-shift coalition of alliances over a tower in the system.
The battle was sparked over a The-Culture [-T C-] tower in the system which Imperium forces were in the process of reinforcing. The Imperium had a 130 pilot Rattlesnake battleship fleet with a few dreadnoughts and carriers for support. The fleet had been reinforcing towers in the Cloud Ring region belonging to hostile entities such as The-Culture for some time. While The-Culture was unable to engage the fleet on its own, preferring to nab stragglers, it did inform potential allies of the fleet’s location.
While at first the individual alliances who live in the vicinity of the region lacked numbers to form fleets to contest the Imperium force, as time went on they got into contact with one another and after confirming the Rattlesnake fleet was still in the region, formed a joint fleet. A 75 pilot mixed armor battleship fleet was assembled quickly, comprised of Psychotic Tendencies. [TISHU], The OSS [OSS], Suddenly Spaceships. [CYN0] and Hax. [HAX.]. The joint fleet raced to get in position to bridge on the Rattlesnake fleet which was still busy reinforcing another The-Culture tower in DY-F70.
Contact was also established with The-Culture who were asked to assist with initial tackle. Thus The-Culture forces re-shipped and formed a 25 pilot Cerberus heavy assault cruiser fleet with a few interdictors. The force entered the system and managed to reach the tower, the interdictors getting in position and waiting beneath its shields while the Rattlesnake fleet continued to reinforce the tower, seemingly oblivious to what was going on.
Once the joint fleet was in position the signal was given and The-Culture interdictors swiftly leaped out of the tower’s shields and deployed their interdiction probes, trapping the Rattlesnakes and the capitals on grid. A cynosural beacon was lit on a perch on the tower and the joint fleet entered the system. It quickly warped on top of the Rattlesnakes and opened fire, thus signaling the start of the actual battle.
The first exchanges proved brutal for both sides, as the fighting was close and personal. The joint fleet’s battleships were quickly volleyed by the Rattlesnakes as their triage support had only just entered system. However, reinforced by a dreadnought squadron, the joint fleet quickly overwhelmed the Imperium’s triage Chimera support and eliminated the few dreadnoughts present.
With their capital support gone, the trade off between the fleets quickly stacked against the Imperium. The joint fleet’s dreadnoughts obliterated Rattlesnakes with the help of the battleships at an alarming rate. As the number of Rattlesnakes on the field dwindled, the joint fleet began to stabilize as the incoming damage dropped severely.
The fight raged on with Imperium forces attempting to gather and send a relief force to the tackled Rattlesnake fleet. Unfortunately for them, the joint fleet had prepared a counter for that and had the gates on the route bubbled, thus buying precious minutes which were used to annihilate more Rattlesnakes. With no help coming and losses mounting, the Rattlesnake fleet attempted to finally extract itself, focusing on clearing tackle and freeing as many ships as possible.
With most of the fleet destroyed, a few survivors managed to escape the destruction leaving the joint fleet to claim the field. Once its capitals were secure, the joint fleet exited the system, safely extracting to its members’ respective staging systems.
Thus large scale hostilities in the system ended.
The Battle from the Perspective of the Joint Fleet
Battle report for the DY-F70 system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 15 minutes with Time Dilation not reported and the system itself hosting an estimated 250 pilots at the peak of the fighting.
Imperium forces lost 92 ships including 3 dreadnoughts, 2 carriers and 41 battleships for a total of 38.07 billion ISK damage. The joint fleet and The-Culture lost 19 ships including 6 battleships and 1 heavy assault cruiser for a total of 7.4 billion ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
