Editor’s Note: Due to the number of fights and events, not all battles received the coverage they deserve, thus only short summaries are presented for them. Our apologies in advance.
As the war continues to rage in the north of New Eden, allied forces push forward, making considerable gains. Meanwhile, the Imperium only puts up token resistance at best, leading many to question the state of the organization and its strategy.
Allied forces clashed with local defenders in the UQ9-3C system over towers in the adjacent systems.
As part of the allied assault on the Branch region, allied forces planned to incapacitate cynosural jammers in and around the UQ9-3C system, which serves as Fidelas Constans [FCON] staging point. This was done in order to both increase the pressure on local defenders and open the region for allied movement.
Vanguard Coalition (VC) led the operation, organizing a dreadnought squadron supported by a large Tengu strategic cruiser fleet. The sub-capital force made its way to the UQ9-3C system, setting up on the station while the dreadnoughts were sent to the target systems in order to incapacitate the modules themselves.
Local Imperium forces were alerted to the allied fleet’s presence and organized a Hurricane battlecruiser fleet in response.
As the Imperium force undocked it encountered the allied Tengu fleet, which held position on the station itself. The two exchanged fire, starting a long and arduous battle on the station’s undock ramp.
The fight proved rather one sided. Pinned to the station and unable to advance thanks in part to allied interdictors, the Imperium battlecruisers were volleyed one after the other by the allied strategic cruisers, who kept for the most part out of the enemy’s range. Regardless, Imperium pilots simply re-shipped and undocked once more, leading to an increased body count as the allied fleet continued to hammer at the defenders, keeping them at bay.
Desperate, the Imperium force started undocking carriers and dreadnoughts in an attempt to retaliate, to no avail. By this point the attackers had suffered only minor losses and managed to secure their strategic objective, their dreadnoughts able to move freely throughout the constellation. Deciding to use the aggression of the Imperium capital force against it, the allies lit a cynosural beacon near the station itself and jumped in their dreadnoughts, having fulfilled their main objective.
With the allied dreadnoughts on the field, the battle became a far more lethal exchange, as capitals on both sides pummeled each other. While the Imperium was able to trade rather evenly with its capital ships, losing dreadnoughts but destroying a few in return, its sub capital losses continued to mount.
Finally, with the Imperium sub capital fleet in tatters and having suffered capital losses, the survivors of the battle simply docked up, allowing allied forces to extract their capitals with ease. With this, the allied managed to claim both a strategic and a tactical victory.
Battle report for the UQ9-3C system can be found here.
An Imperium Wyvern supercarrier was destroyed by allied forces in the A8A-JN system.
The supercarrier in question attempted to extract from allied controlled territory, remaining cloaked in the system while securing a cynosural beacon in low security space. Allied scouts were well aware of its presence, but ultimately unable to locate it. It seemed as though the ship might make it to safety.
However, the ship lighting the cynosural beacon was apparently dispatched by a pirate group just as the supercarrier uncloaked, leaving it stranded in the system. Unable to re-activate its cloaking device in time, the ship was visible to allied scouts who quickly probed it down. The scouts then sent interdictors which landed on top of the behemoth, tackling it while lighting a cynosural beacon for a hastily assembled allied force.
With enemy super capitals landing on grid, the tackled supercarrier could do very little. After tanking one hit from a doomsday device, a second volley from an Erebus titan was enough to overwhelm its defenses, leading to its destruction.
Loss mail can be found here.
Allied and Imperium forces met in an escalating skirmish in the VL3I-M system.
Following the allied victory earlier in the UQ9-3C system, Imperium forces had lost cynosural jammers across the JE7-F2 constellation. In order to replace the incapacitated modules, local Imperium defenders were forced to employ a small dreadnought squadron in order to remove the damage modules and anchor new ones.
This drew the attention of a roaming interceptor gang belonging to Test Alliance Please Ignore [TEST]. Coordinating with allied scouts, the interceptors found the Imperium dreadnoughts hard at work in the VL3I-M system and quickly tackled them in order to allow other allied fleets to form up and come to their aid.
The Imperium itself swiftly responded, streaming in reinforcements in the form of a Svipul tactical destroyer fleet to free its capitals. The tactical destroyers were able to rip apart the interceptors who returned fire, as allied capitals were brought to the field in order to engage the Imperium force.
However, by now most of the interceptors were destroyed, putting the allied capitals at risk. This was somewhat alleviated when an allied Cerberus heavy assault cruiser fleet arrived on the field, focusing on the tactical destroyers who were simply volleyed by its swarm of missiles.
Not despairing, Imperium forces continued to re-ship and form up, bringing a Cerberus fleet of their own to the system. The two sides fought on, with allied reinforcements pouring in and threatening to overwhelm the Imperium side, which managed to safely extract its capital force.
With its capitals safe, the Imperium fleet disengaged, leaving the allied fleets in command of the system.
Battle report for the VL3I-M system can be found here.
Allied forces continued their advance in the north, assaulting Fidelas Constans staging system of UQ9-3C. The system had both its infrastructure hub and its station reinforced, and its fall would mark another major loss for the Imperium.
Both sides formed multiple fleets in order to contest the system, with the allies assembling a huge armada which included a Rattlesnake battleship fleet, 3 Proteus strategic cruiser fleets, a Tengu fleet, 2 Cerberus fleets, a Gila cruiser fleet and so forth. As per usual, allied forces were supported by skirmish and stealth bomber wings.
Against this, the Imperium managed to muster a Hurricane fleet and a Machariel battleship fleet, with another Machariel fleet rumored to be held in reserve. The Imperium also had a few squadrons of stealth bombers arrayed to harass the incoming hostile forces.
To delay the allied forces, the Imperium deployed dozens of mobile warp disruptors in the path of the advancing allies, while its own fleets set up on the 9IPC-E gate, the most likely point of entry to the system by the allies.
The plan worked, with the allied fleets considerably slowed down by the warp disruptors, allowing the infrastructure hub of the system to exit reinforced mode and be secured by Imperium forces without contention. However, with at least two hours until the station’s command nodes were to uncloak, the Imperium was forced to delay the allied fleets even further.
Finally, allied fleets poured into the UQ9-3C system, caught once again by a thick blanket of mobile warp disruptors anchored on their in-gate. Imperium forces, stationed at maximum range from the gate, opened fire on the hostile fleets, but were harassed by allied and even Imperium stealth bomber wings. Whats more, with allied fleets streaming in and burning towards the Imperium forces returning fire, the Imperium was starting to take heavy casualties.
The Fighting on the 9IPC-E Gate in the UQ9-3C System
Another Perspective of the Fight, with Brackets from one of the Allied Proteus Fleets
It took a few minutes of mounting losses and increasing enemy numbers to force Imperium fleets off the field. With Imperium forces retreating, allied fleets started to move through the constellation, spreading out to respond once the station’s command nodes uncloak.
Allied fleets fanned out in the UQ9-3C system as well, setting up camps on towers and the station itself, forcing Imperium forces to log off or remain docked as their towers were infiltrated by allied fleets. In no time the allies had the system locked down, with only Imperium skirmish fleets moving about, probing down disconnected ships or picking off victims using command destroyers.
Allied Forces Camping the UQ9-3C Station During the Siege
Finally, the station command nodes became visible, and the allies starting entosis operations, capturing nodes across the constellation. The Imperium itself was unable to muster an appropriate response, which allowed the allies to claim the station, causing it to enter freeport mode.
With the station won, allied forces extracted from the system, having managed to secure the field and one of their two objectives.
Battle report for the UQ9-3C system can be found here.
While allied forces were keeping the UQ9-3C system in the Branch region under lock and key, Providence Bloc engaged retreating Imperium forces in their staging system of Saranen.
Providence Bloc, acting in their capacity as a neutral party, were on their way to secure a different timer in the Deklein region, flying an Abaddon battleship fleet. Their route led them to pass through the Imperium’s staging system of Saranen, where the force lingered on one of the stations in search of targets of opportunity.
It was at this moment that an Imperium Machariel fleet that had possibly acted as a reserve for the battle of UQ9-3C arrived to the system. With the Imperium fleet in system, Providence Bloc forces bounced between the system’s celestial bodies, pursued by the newly returned fleet.
Both fleets ended up engaging on the sun itself, with Providence Bloc’s fleet commander deciding to make a final stand there. As the two fleets opened fire, the Imperium’s Machariel fleet decided to burn into the Providence Bloc force, leading to a close quarters battle as the two sides exchanged blows.
As time went on, the Imperium forces piled in, Proteus and Hurricane fleets formed and joined the fray as the Imperium Machariel fleet lost ground, only managing to trade evenly with the Providence Bloc force, at one point resorting to bringing a supercarrier to the field in order to provide support.
With allied forces too far to send help, as they were still preoccupied in securing the UQ9-3C station, Providence Bloc was forced to bear the entire might of the Imperium by itself. Losses continued to mount until at one point the fleet was unable to break the tank of the enemy Machariel battleships. Realizing that remaining on the field any longer would be meaningless, Providence Bloc began making plans to extract while switching fire to support ships and battlecruisers, as their tank was far more brittle.
Finally, the order was given to retreat and the remnants of the Providence Bloc fleet escaped from the battlefield, though many of the battleships ended up being caught and dispatched by Imperium fleets.
With this, the Imperium managed to hold the field, securing itself a victory.
The Battle from the Perspective of the Providence Bloc Abaddon Fleet
The Battle from the Perspective of the Imperium Machariel Fleet
Battle report for the Saranen system can be found here.
A Circle-Of-Two [CO2] Ishtar heavy assault cruiser fleet clashed with an Imperium Cerberus fleet in G-M4I8 and R-2R0G.
With Circle-Of-Two joining the allied forces after the battle of M-OEE8, the Tribute region opened to allied movement, putting the once secure region of Pure Blind on the front lines.
With much bad blood between Circle-Of-Two and the Imperium, it seems the two finally clashed in Pure Blind itself, with the former’s Ishtar fleet engaging an Imperium Cerberus fleet. The details we have gathered thus far are unclear, but it seems the Ishtar fleet suffered the brunt of the losses, though still managed to inflict some losses on the Imperium fleet.
Battle report for the G-M4I8 and R-2R0G systems can be found here.
An Imperium interceptor fleet, nicknamed “Swordfleet,” was destroyed by allied forces in the X36Y-G system.
The Imperium force attempted to interdict allied operations in the area, in particular hampering and disrupting the capture of command nodes by allied entosis ships in order to halt allied advance in the region.
This time allied forces were prepared for it, and a far bigger Test Alliance Please Ignore interceptor fleet was assembled before being unleashed unto the Imperium fleet in the X36Y-G system.
The Test Alliance Please Ignore interceptor swarm hunted down the Imperium force, destroying many of its ships and forcing it to retreat with its main objective unfulfilled, as allied forces were able to continue entosis operations unhindered.
Battle report for the X36Y-G system can be found here.
Stain Wagon (SW) coalition fleets engaged Circle-Of-Two and allied forces in the M-OEE8 system over its infrastructure hub.
SW forces working under contract from the Imperium deployed to the north of New Eden, targeting Circle-Of-Two holdings in the Tribute region.
SW managed to form a Cerberus fleet, supported by an Afterlife. [D3ATH] Tengu fleet. Against this the allies formed no less than 3 Proteus fleets, a Maelstrom battleship fleet, a Rupture cruiser fleet and a few supporting skirmish fleets. However, when it became clear the hostile forces had no real intent in contesting the timer, and instead only hoped to do hit and run attacks, the vast majority of the allied fleets vacated the system, allowing Circle-Of-Two to engage the hostiles on its own with its more agile Rupture fleet.
A series of skirmishes developed in the M-OEE8 and V0DF-2 systems as Circle-Of-Two worked to secure command nodes while suffering hit and run attacks by the SW and Afterlife. forces. The two sides exchanged fire, with Circle-Of-Two suffering heavy losses, though managing to inflict costly damage on their attackers as well.
Finally, Circle-Of-Two managed to secure the objective, bringing an end to the skirmishing.
Battle report for the M-OEE8 and V0DF-2 systems can be found here.
An Imperium stealth bomber fleet, also known as “Siegefleet,” was destroyed in the U-INPD system.
In a pattern that will repeat itself in future engagements, the Imperium fleet was caught by allied interdictors on the DO6H-Q gate, when a Paisti Syndicate [PSY] stealth bomber squadron uncloaked and launched a devastating bombing run. Though taking some casualties, the Paisti Syndicate bombers were able to destroy the majority of the Imperium fleet in one fell swoop.
Battle report for the U-INPD system can be found here.
Salivan Harddin is a member of Reikoku, Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
