Ignoitton system, Sinq Laison region. On the 28th of January at 19:50 EVE Standard Time, Aridia locals and Snuffed Out [B B C] dreadnoughts clashed in a bloody battle in the system.
The fight was prompted by an attempt of Aridia local alliances to bait a fight around the Sinq Laison region. For that purpose, the Aridia force had 3 dreadnoughts constantly siege on top of a station in the Ignoitton system while a dreadnought fleet waited in range, with heavy interdictors waiting on a titan to bridge in as well.
However, for more than 2 hours no one seemed to take the bait leading to both the titan and the heavy interdictors to disperse, with dreadnoughts starting to make the trip back to their respective staging systems. Unknown to the Aridia force though, was the fact their force had been scouted by Snuffed Out, and the fleet infiltrated by a spy to boot.
Snuffed Out forces had scouted both the bait dreadnoughts and the main Aridia fleet, later inserting a spy into it. Deciding to take the fight, Snuffed Out organized a dreadnought fleet of its own, numbering 30 pilots and moved the fleet into range of the Ignoitton system. Once the fleet had reached the midpoint to Ignoitton, it waited in order to burn some of its fatigue.
With its scout confirming the dreadnoughts had entered siege again, a cynosural beacon was quickly lit on top of the bait dreadnoughts and only one squadron of Snuffed Out dreadnoughts jumped in. This was done in order to bait the Aridia fleet into committing. Regardless, the Snuffed Out dreadnoughts quickly entered their siege cycle and opened fire on the enemy dreadnoughts, starting the battle proper.
This took the Aridia fleet by surprise, as their forces were standing down. Regardless, those that remained and some who were en route home turned back and prepared to engage the Snuffed Out dreadnoughts. A cynosural beacon was lit on top of the Snuffed Out force and into the system jumped the Aridia dreadnoughts. This was the moment Snuffed Out fleet commanders were waiting for and quickly gave the order for the rest of the dreadnought to jump in. Finally, both sides would slug it out in a pure dreadnought battle.
A murderous exchange took place on the station as the two dreadnought fleets engaged each other. Snuffed Out forces had the numerical advantage, as well as a spy in the ranks of the Aridia fleet, and managed to take down 2-3 dreadnoughts for each one they lost. The Aridia fleet fought hard, but having lost many pilots due to the long wait and the initial call to stand down, was unable to field as many dreadnoughts as the Snuffed Out force. With the battle being a pure damage race, this meant the Aridia fleet was handicapped from the start.
A View of the Battle from one of the Aridia Dreadnoughts
As the battle raged on it became clear the Aridia fleet was losing. Only a handful of its dreadnoughts managed to escape, many others caught by Snuffed Out heavy interdictors and destroyed, leaving Snuffed Out to claim victory of the field before extracting back to its staging system as well.
Battle report for the Ignoitton system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 11 minutes with Time Dilation not reported and the system hosting an estimated 100 pilots at the peak of the fighting.
Snuffed Out lost 7 ships in the fighting, including 6 dreadnoughts for a total of 20.57 billion ISK damage.
Aridia forces lost 21 ships, all of whom were dreadnoughts, for 66.65 billion ISK damage.
*The screenshot in the article was provided by Quindaster of Infernal Laboratory, Infernal Octopus [DBLOC]
Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
