As of the 8th of August the Imperium had taken 24 systems in the region. The League of Unaligned Master Pilots [LUMPY] had lost all but one system T-J6HT. Tactical Supremacy [TIKLE] had lost nine of their fifteen systems in less than a week. Things were looking somewhat bleak for the residents of Delve (aka Delve Core in the absence of any coalition name).
The systems in Delve as they stood on the 8th of August
There have been a small skirmishes during the week up to the 12/8. Including an Imperium Carrier ambushed by Delve Core supported by a Provi Block Tech 3 destroyer fleet, although supported may be incorrect as a number of Delve core Tornadoes also died to some Provi Block ships but overall advances had been somewhat slow.
As the weekend approached the Imperium began its now regular three day push for systems. Pushing further south the Imperium claimed systems from White Sky. [W.SKY], Dangerous Voltage [DV], and Wing Wanderers [WSHOT] in the constellation of O-EIMK after overwhelming their defence fleet. The Imperium also took a couple of systems in the constellation of SPNZ-Z.
Fighting however appears to have become limited to small skirmishes. Most notable of which was LUMPY managing to catch a lone Apostle travelling from Sakht to 1-SMEB. LUMPY’s 69 ship Gila fleet tore their way through not only the Apostle, but also a Panther and 25 Tech 3 Destroyers. They lost only one Interceptor while giving a 10bn ISK bloody nose to the Imperium. However The Imperium not long after returned the favour by dropping a super capital fleet onto another Gila fleet two days later destroying 4.15bn ISK.
On the 14/8 the long awaited announcement from Test Alliance Please Ignore [TEST] made its way to reddit revealing the start of their move operations and details of their deployment to Delve.
And so the weekend ended with the Imperium having claimed seven new systems for itself. Fourteen systems belonging to Delve Core are reinforced, in particular the constellations of B4H-9W (consisting of all but two of the remaining [TIKLE] systems) and SG-CTQ (representing all but one of Caladrius Alliance [-000-] systems). But interestingly so are ten Imperium systems spread across the constellations of 1-A81R, D5-SOW, and O5K-Y6 which are also renforced. This weekend also saw the Imperium briefly lose the systems of LUA5-L, 5-6QW7 and E3OI-U before reclaiming them a few hours after dropping soverignty. Over the next week there as are some 40+ timers to be contested.
The systems of Delve as of the 15/8 with systems actively being contested in Red, reinforced in Orange. The system of E3OI-U shows incorrectly as unclaimed.
Will [TEST]’s presence in the region change the tide of the war? Will the extra manpower they provide add enough pressure to the less fortified Imperium constellations of 1-A81R, D5-SOW, and O5K-Y6 to allow Delve Core to flip them back permanently? Or will the Imperium continue its slow march into the heart of Delve one constellation at a time?
Current Estimated Losses from known battles.
-Imperium +Allies – 153.51bn ISK
-Delve Core – 85.88bn ISK
-TEST/MBC – 0.81m ISK
-Others – 3.88bn ISK
Previous articles in this series
9th August – War In Delve: Reinforcements to deploy to Delve as the Imperium Advances
4th August – War In Delve: Imperium defeats LUMPY and captures systems
31st July – The War for Delve Begins as LSH and The Imperium strengthen ties
Big thank you to Boomer Nakrar and all his hard work on his blog ‘Game Of Sov‘ without which this analysis of the war wouldn’t exist.
Are you involved in this war? Do you have a story you want to share? Get in touch with Tiberius StarGazer in game or @TiberiusStarGaz on twitter.
