G95F-H system, Fountain Region. On the 20th of September at 19:30 EVE Standard Time, Red Menace Coalition (RMC) and The-Culture [-T C-] locked horns in the system over a valuable moon.
RMC forces have deployed to the Fountain region with the apparent aim of expanding their territory, helped by LowSechnaya Sholupen [-LSH-] who is already warring with The-Culture and its allies. The two entities seem to have prioritized targeting and obtaining the lucrative moons held by The-Culture in the area. The moon in question had come under attack twice already by RMC forces, with each time The-Culture managing to mount a successful defense of the tower occupying it. For the third time, RMC forces attempted to wrestle control of the moon, assembling a 100 pilot Machariel battleship fleet supported by a capital squadron in order to siege it once more. LowSechnaya Sholupen contributed 30 more pilots to the fleet, mainly in Talos battlecruisers.
Against this, The-Culture assembled a 110 pilot Rattlesnake battleship fleet with nearly 3 squadrons of capitals, mainly dreadnoughts. Upon hearing that LowSechnaya Sholupen was bringing a fleet of its own, The-Culture contacted Northern Coalition. [NC] for reinforcements, receiving the aid of a 65 pilot Proteus strategic cruiser fleet.
RMC forces arrived to the system first, warping to the tower and setting up. Once they secured the field, they lit a cynosural beacon on the grid to bring in their dreadnought squadron. The dreadnoughts warped to the tower, landed at optimal range and entered their siege mode, guarded by the battleships which surrounded them. With the dreadnoughts committed, The-Culture forces which were waiting for this moment safe in their citadel quickly undocked and warped to a waiting titan en mass. As they landed, they lit their own cynosural beacon in the system and hurried to bridge in. Once in the system, the Rattlesnake fleet wasted no time in warping to the tower accompanied by force auxiliaries and landing directly on top of the dreadnoughts.
At this point, the RMC dreadnoughts were truly tackled as The-Culture interdictors and heavy interdictors did their job, and the Machariel fleet scrambled to put some distance between it and the newly arrived Rattlesnakes. The two fleets opened fire immediately, signaling the start of the battle.
On the field, The-Culture lit a cynosural beacon to allow its Northern Coalition. allies to join the battle. In response, RMC forces also lit a cynosural beacon to bring their own reinforcements in, mainly the LowSechnaya Sholupen forces that had been held in reserve. The two fleets clashed, and the strategic cruisers swiftly and effortlessly dispatched the battlecruisers. At the same time, the Machariels settled into a long range battle with the Rattlesnakes, bombarding them from the edge of their optimal range with their artillery cannons. The Rattlesnake fleet was able to soak up the damage for the most part, losing only the occasional interdictor or support ship, but its main triage support soon came under the heavy fire of the dreadnoughts.
With its force auxiliary stressed to the limit by the heavy barrages of the dreadnoughts, The-Culture’s fleet commander was left with little choice but to further escalate, thus ordering the 3 dreadnought squadrons to jump in to the cynosural beacon. The dreadnoughts materialized on the field and wasted no time in entering siege mode, training their guns on their RMC counterparts and opening fire. Outnumbered 3 to 1 by their enemies, the RMC dreadnoughts were unable to tank the incoming damage and caved in to the remorseless, savage onslaught. However, they didn’t go down alone, and their return salvos managed to fell one of The-Culture’s capitals, a Naglfar dreadnought which suffered catastrophic damage and exploded.
By then though, most of the RMC capital squadron was in ruins, their wrecks drifting across the battlefield. The Rattlesnakes were free to switch their fire to the orbiting Machariels, and artillery fire was answered by swarms of cruise missiles and the crushing volleys of sentry drones. With The-Culture dreadnoughts adding their considerable firepower to the mix, the RMC fleet started to suffer mounting losses. Battleship after battleship was subjected to the Rattlesnakes’ withering fire, which ripped them apart in a series of explosions and added to the detritus coalescing around the tower.
Though suffering losses, the Machariel fleet returned fire, and exacted some revenge on the Rattlesnake fleet, as artillery shells shredded a few battleships in well coordinated barrages. However, it quickly became apparent that the Machariel fleet was outnumbered and outgunned. Whats more, with its loss of its capital squadron it was unable to reinforce the tower, thus making its main objective unattainable. Wisely, the RMC forces simply withdrew, chased by the Rattlesnake and Proteus fleets. Yet they managed to shake pursuit and make it out of the system safely, allowing The-Culture to claim the field.
With victory achieved and the tower once again protected, The-Culture and its allies salvaged what they could from the field before extracting safely, bringing an end to the fight.
Battle report for the G95F-H system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 20 minutes with the system hosting an estimated 320 pilots. Time Dilation was not reported as a major issue by combatants.
RMC forces and their allies lost 54 ships including 7 dreadnoughts, 1 force auxiliary, 16 battleships and 19 battlecruisers for a total of 36.75 billion ISK.
The-Culture and its allies lost 9 ships including 1 dreadnought and 2 battleships for a total of 5.35 billion ISK.
Salivan Harddin is a member of V0LTA, WE FORM V0LTA and covers battles across New Eden
