Pynekastoh system, Black Rise region. On the 4th of October at 8:00 EVE Standard Time, Snuffed Out [B B C] forces clashed with Escalating Entropy [CHAOS] in the system in a battle that rapidly deteriorated to a super capital fight.
The battle was prompted by Snuffed Out forces, who had reinforced the tower in the system previously. With the tower coming out of its invulnerability period, Snuffed out gathered a 40 pilot Rattlesnake battleship fleet with a Minokawa force auxiliary in tow and made it to the system, warping to it and setting up near its shields. Once in position the Rattlesnake fleet started to hammer away at the structure, slowly bringing it down.
This allowed Escalating Entropy to gather a response fleet, a 50 pilot Proteus strategic cruiser one equipped with 3 Apostle force auxiliaries. The fleet got into a position to bridge on top of the Snuffed Out force who by now managed to destroy the tower and was clearing its modules. As the Rattlesnakes were busy destroying the last remnants of the tower, a cynosural beacon suddenly lit up on top of them and into the field jumped the Escalating Entropy force. The strategic cruisers wasted no time and opened fire on the Rattlesnakes, starting the fight.
Both sides fought at point blank range, Rattlesnakes firing salvos of missiles at the strategic cruisers who returned fire with their own barrages of super heated plasma and focused laser beams. However as both sides quickly realized, their logistics wings were too powerful, managing to soak up the damage and keep almost all of the combatants alive. With neither side possessing enough firepower to break the opposing force auxiliaries, all that was left was to see who would blink first and escalate further.
As it turned out, Snuffed Out blinked first, lighting its own cynosural beacon and ushering in 3 dreadnoughts. The dreadnoughts hit the field, entered siege cycles and started targeting the Apostle force auxiliaries of Escalating Entropy, blasting them with their capital munitions. In retaliation, Escalating Entropy brought its own dreadnoughts to the field, jumping 3 of them as well to its own cynosural beacon. As these dreadnoughts landed, they immediately targeted their hostile brethren and the field quickly descended into a brutal capital melee.
Dreadnoughts started exchanging brutal payloads as their sub capital fleets concentrated their own fire on these behemoths. On both sides, capital ships were felled, series of explosions lighting the combatants periodically as the huge hulls erupted in storms of fire that were swiftly extinguished by the cold space. More and more of their enormous carcasses were littering the battlefield. Both sides continued to reinforce their capital squadrons, jumping in more and more dreadnoughts to join the fight, with Snuffed Out also bringing in 2 more Minokawas. However as the exchange wore on, it became evident that Escalating Entropy had the upper hand, its dreadnought numbers almost double those of Snuffed Out by the end. Thus, in a gambit, The Snuffed Out fleet commander ordered super capitals to commit, bringing forth a full squadron of super carriers to the battle.
The super carriers, much like their lesser brethren, jumped into the center of the melee, deploying their squadrons of fighters to chew through the enemy capitals and any sub capital foolish enough to get caught in the path of their wrath. Unfortunately for Snuffed Out, Escalating Entropy was not about to be outdone. Once again responding in kind, Escalating Entropy brought its own super capital squadron to the field, including several titans.
Again, with the numerical advantage maintained by Escalating Entropy, The Snuffed Out fleet commander had no choice but to attempt and withdraw his super capitals, or risk their loss. Thus, the sub capital fleet quickly focused its fire on the Escalating Entropy heavy interdictors, using the Rattlesnakes’ energy neutralizers to drain their capacitors and shut down their focused interdiction fields, holding the Snuffed Out super carriers on field. With the super carriers freed, the order was given for their pilots to warp out to safe citadels located in the system, while the sub capital fleet and the remaining capitals continued to fight on grid. Once the last super capital made it out, the remaining Snuffed Out ships withdrew from the field.
Escalating Entropy was by now pressing its advantage, its titans and super carriers chewing through the opposing capitals, doomsday weapons removing force auxiliaries and dreadnoughts in devastating volleys, lighting the entire grid with their deadly radiance. The Rattlesnakes themselves, having lost their logistics backbone, suffered mounting losses as strategic cruisers and dreadnoughts started to focus their fire on them. Finally, the Snuffed Out fleet was pushed out, allowing Escalating Entropy to control the field.
While Snuffed Out was re-grouping in the system, bringing in more reinforcements, Escalating Entropy started extracting its capitals and super capitals, having essentially won the fight. Snuffed Out attempted to stall Escalating Entropy’s exit, determined to snag some of its super capitals in retaliation. The re-grouped Snuffed Out fleet warped at medium distance of the Escalating Entropy force, but lacking much of its firepower and with reinforcements still streaming in, it could do nothing to hamper Escalating Entropy’s extraction and was forced off the field for a second time. By the time it finally managed to bolster its numbers and return to the field for the last time, Escalating Entropy managed to extract all of its super capitals and most of its capitals, with only 2 Apostles remaining on field.
With their revenge denied, Snuffed Out forces managed to tackle one of the Apostles, the other one managing to get out alongside its Proteus fleet. Tackled, the Apostle could do little to resist the Rattlesnakes’ fury and succumbed to their relentless barrages. With this, Snuffed Out managed to hold the now abandoned field, and set out to finish clearing the last modules remaining from the tower before extracting its fleet, leaving the moon barren. With this, the battle came to a close.
The Battle from the Perspective of the Escalating Entropy Proteus Fleet
Battle report for the Pynekastoh system can be found here.
All told the battle 35 minutes with the system hosting an estimated 140 pilots at the height of the battle with Time Dilation not reported.
Snuffed Out lost 16 ships including 5 dreadnoughts, 3 force auxiliary and 7 battleships for a total of 26.54 billion ISK damage.
Escalating Entropy lost 8 ships including 5 dreadnoughts and 1 force auxiliary for a total of 17.86 billion ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of V0LTA, WE FORM V0LTA, and covers battles across New Eden
