IPAY-2 system, Vale of the Silent region. On the 2nd of January at 03:00 EVE Standard Time, a Ragnarok titan and a Nyx supercarrier belonging to Circle-Of-Two [CO2] were destroyed by forces belonging to Pandemic Legion [-10.0] in what turned out to be a well designed trap.
Imperium forces attempted to “Stream Snipe” which is the action of following a popular twitch.tv persona while they roam and dropping an overwhelming force on their fleet or ship, including often times a super capital or two. The intended target was Christopherwow, a streamer who has recently risen in popularity using the character Icer Xx to roam New Eden.
The first attempt by Imperium forces was on the 24th of December, when Christopherwow made the mistake of entering the Vale of the Silent region. After engaging a few random The Bastion [BASTN] pilots on the IPAY-2 gate in the EIDI-N system with his Kronos marauder, a cynosural beacon lit up and an Aeon supercarrier with two Archon carriers and a small fleet jumped in. Managing to barely escape, Christopherwow took note of the entire incident.
The Failed Attempt to Stream Snipe
Unknown to Imperium forces, Christopherwow was actually a member of Pandemic Legion. Relaying the information of the failed stream snipe to his allies, a plan was quickly hatched by Pandemic Legion’s fleet command team to exploit the eagerness shown by Imperium forces and hopefully net a super capital kill.
Thus preparations went underway. Dreadnoughts were secretly brought into range of the EIDI-N system and a friendly titan’s cooperation secured in order to bridge the support fleet and tackle. A triage Archon carrier was also prepared to serve as bait, with a second one added shortly after. For his part, Christopherwow announced another charity stream marathon, choosing to bring a heavily tanked Vindicator battleship with a cynosural field generator fitted.
With the date of the event upon them, Pandemic Legion’s forces assembled a 90 pilot Sleipnir command ship fleet. The force made its way to the bridging system utilizing wormholes before sitting on the friendly titan and waiting for the signal. The dreadnought pilots were put on standby while the triage Archon carriers prepared to jump, cynosural field generators fitted to them as well as back up.
With everything in place, Christopherwow’s Vindicator made its way to the Vale of the Silent region. Entering the IPAY-2 system, it didn’t take him long to find a fight. Battling a couple of Armageddon battleships on the P3EN-E gate, the amount of heavy neutralizer pressure exerted by the two ships forced the Vindicator to bring the triage Archons earlier than expected or risk destruction.
Thus, the Vindicator lit a cynosural beacon to let the two carriers jump into the system. With the triage Archons on grid, the Vindicator managed to tank the incoming damage when a The Bastion Zealot heavy assault cruiser fleet entered the system, estimated at 30 pilots. The force quickly tackled the carriers and the Vindicator and started engaging them.
At this point both Christopherwow and Pandemic Legion’s fleet commanders were certain the bait was unsuccessful. Yet, out of the blue a second cynosural beacon flared up near the gate and into the system a Circle-Of-Two Ragnarok jumped, a Nyx following him a few seconds later.
With both super capitals at such close proximity, sitting literally at the edge of the bubbles, the triage carriers lit their cynosural beacons in order to usher in the Pandemic Legion sub-capital force. However as this was going on, the titan activated its doomsday device and quickly dispatched one of the triage carriers. As it happened to be, the beacon which the Pandemic Legion fleet was bridged to was on that carrier. With it destroyed, the beacon quickly disappeared and instead of landing on the gate, the Sleipnir fleet was scattered across the system.
Hastily, the fleet re-grouped on the P3EN-E gate with a lone interdictor managing to keep the two super capitals bubbled before help arrived. Though the Zealot fleet was caught by surprise, it quickly attempted to clear the Pandemic Legion’s interdictors from the field and free the trapped friendly super capitals. However with the Sleipnir fleet re-grouping on the gate, the Zealots could do very little against the sheer numbers and firepower the Pandemic Legion fleet possessed. In rapid succession the Zealots were destroyed, the survivors forced off as heavy interdictors finally secured focus points on the hostile super capitals.
As the fighting went on, the dreadnoughts jumped into the system and targeted the Ragnarok, attempting to quickly take it down. With the Pandemic Legion forces re-grouping and adding their firepower to the mix, the titan quickly melted under their combined barrages, the Bhaalgorn battleships present adding their heavy neutralizer pressure to shut down the tank of the behemoth. In what seemed as only a few seconds, the titan lost its shields, then large chunks of its armor before finally going into structure and exploding in a great conflagration.
The Titan’s Killmail
With the titan gone, the Pandemic Legion force turned its attention to the remaining Nyx supercarrier. It managed to resist the incoming damage far longer than its brethren, but in the end shared its fate as the combined firepower of the dreadnoughts and Sleipnirs simply overwhelmed it.
The Nyx’s Killmail
Having secured the field and looted the wrecks, Pandemic Legion’s forces managed to safely extract all their assets without further incident. As for Christopherwow, he continued on his marathon stream with one hell of a highlight.
Thus fighting in the IPAY-2 system came to a close.
The Battle from the Perspective of the Vindicator, courtesy of Christopherwow
Battle report for the IPAY-2 system can be found here.
All told the fighting lasted 10 minutes with Time Dilation not reported and the system hosting 150 pilots at the peak of the fighting.
Imperium forces lost 26 ships including 1 titan, 1 supercarrier and 11 heavy assault cruisers for a total of 160.62 billion ISK damage. Pandemic Legion and its allies lost 7 ships including 1 carrier for a total of 2.22 billion ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
