Heydieles system, Essence region. On the 10th of November at 23:10 EVE Standard Time, Snuffed Out [B B C] forces and allies clashed with Shadow Cartel [SHDWC] and Escalating Entropy [CHAOS] over a tower in the system.
The battle was fought over a Snuffed Out tower which Shadow Cartel had previously reinforced. With the long bloody history existing between the two alliances, it was only natural for both sides to form up large numbers for the timer. Thus, with the tower set to exit its invulnerability period, the two alliances called their allies and formed for a major clash.
First in the system was Snuffed Out, having formed a 180 pilot Rattlesnake battleship fleet with Project.Mayhem. [16-13], WAFFLES. [N0MAD] and other allies. The fleet also had 5 Minokawa force auxiliaries in tow. The force set up on the tower, with its Minokawa support near its shields and a swarm of sentry drones deployed below the battleships themselves.
Shadow Cartel and Escalating Entropy formed a joint Machariel battleship fleet numbering approximately 130 pilots with 4 Apostle force auxiliary for support. The force made it to the system, bridging on a friendly citadel above the Old Man Star gate before aligning to the tower and warping off, landing on top of the Rattlesnakes’ sentry drones and only 20 kilometers away from the waiting battleships.
The Shadow Cartel\Escalating Entropy fleet however was too late to contest the objective, arriving an hour after the tower exited reinforced mode thus allowing Snuffed Out and their allies to restore the tower’s shields and securing the objective. Regardless, Snuffed Out decided to engage their enemy, seeing the advantage it had both in numbers and support.
The two sides immediately opened fire, the Machariels firing a hail of auto cannon rounds at the Rattlesnakes who retaliated with salvos of cruise missiles and drone fire. The Machariels anchored up and started burning on grid, activating their smartbombs in order to damage the Rattlesnakes’ sentry drones before advancing headlong into the loose formation of battleships. The Rattlesnakes anticipated this and simply abandoned their drones, deploying fresh sets and adding their firepower into the mix.
The auto cannon barrage was poured relentlessly on the Rattlesnakes, slamming into their shields and threatening to overload their generators before tearing the vulnerable hulls below. However with 5 Minokawas on the field, the remote shield transfers were able to restore the besieged battleships’ struggling shields, allowing the fleet to tank the incoming damage with relative ease. The same could not be said for the Machariels.
One by one the Machariels were overwhelmed by the incoming missile salvos. The firestorm unleashed by the detonating missiles and aided by the sentry drones’ fire proved too much for the thick armor plating of the battleships. Even the presence of no less than 4 Apostles on the grid did little to slow down the rate of casualties sustained under the constant Rattlesnake bombardment. The tight formation of the slick brown battleships lit up periodically with the dying breathes of its battleships, as the missile volleys claimed more victims.
The Machariels continued to fight, blasting at the opposition with their auto cannons, but to no avail. As they tried to negate some of the damage, burning back and forth between the hostile battleships and their Minokawa support, losses continued to mount without Shadow Cartel\Escalating Entropy able to respond in kind. Again and again a Machariel would either falter, its inertia carrying it forward as missile fire tore it apart or else drift uncontrollably for a few moments before its damaged reactors unleashed their wrath on their own vessel in a blinding flash that left only a twisted wreck in its place.
Realizing that the fight had become a massacre, Shadow Cartel\Escalating Entropy fleet commanders chose to align out to a friendly tower in the system, burning away from their opposition and prepared to warp off. Snuffed Out and its allies were not about to let them leave so easily and sent their tacklers after the main fleet commanders in order to force them to stay on grid. As the Machariel fleet fought to increase range and remove all tacklers, the Rattlesnake force continued to volley as many of its enemies as it could.
Finally, the majority of the Machariel fleet managed to burn out of range of the Rattlesnake fleet, thanks in part to a command destroyer teleporting a large chunk of them out of the reach of the Snuffed Out\Project.Mayhem.\WAFFLES. fleet, free to warp off, leaving the Apostles on grid. With the Apostles still in their triage cycle, the Rattlesnake fleet descended upon them without mercy. Salvo after salvo of missiles buried itself in the armor of the force auxiliaries, blasting away thick chunks of armor layering. Finally, with the armor plates sheered off the capitals, the missile fire penetrated the vulnerable structure beneath, detonating within the giants and causing untold damage on the critical systems within. Apostle after Apostle caved in to the remorseless fire as series of explosions rocked their great structure, flinging debris into the cold void. Great concentric rings of fire spread out from the wreckage, damaging shields of nearby ships and signaling the death of each force auxiliary.
With the force auxiliaries destroyed, the Rattlesnake fleet dispatched the remaining stragglers on the grid before warping to the hostile tower where the remnants of the Machariel fleet huddled. After destroying 2 battleships which did not possess the shields’ password and thus left outside their protection, the Rattlesnake fleet waited. After finding the tower’s password, the Rattlesnakes burned in, attempting to collide with enemy battleships and push, or “Bump” them out of the safety of the tower’s shields. Realizing the danger, the Machariel fleet warped out and withdrew from the system, allowing Snuffed Out and its allies to claim a complete victory.
With their enemies in retreat and the tower secured, Snuffed Out and its allies safely extracted from the system, bringing an end to the fight.
The Battle from the Perspective of the Rattlesnake Fleet Mainline Ship
Battle report for the Heydieles system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 20 minutes with Time Dilation not reported and the system hosting 326 pilots at the height of fighting.
Shadow Cartel and Escalating Entropy lost 31 ships including 4 force auxiliaries and 23 battleships for a total of 38.82 billion ISK damage.
Snuffed Out and allies lost only 4 ships in the exchange for a negligible sum of ISK.
Salivan Harddin is a member of V0LTA, WE FORM V0LTA, and covers battles across New Eden
