Oijanen system, The Forge region. On the 13th of November at 12:17 EVE Standard Time, Project.Mayhem. [16-13] met the Drone Regions Federation (DRF) in a bloody fight in the system which quickly escalated to a dreadnought brawl.
The two sides have recently been locked in a bitter struggle over the valuable moons of the system, with Project.Mayhem. time and again challenging DRF’s supremacy in the area. This battle was no exception, with Project.Mayhem. reinforcing DRF towers in the system and forcing the DRF to respond. With a tower coming out of its invulnerability period at a convenient time for both sides, a major confrontation was sure to follow.
Project.Mayhem. assembled a 120 pilot Machariel battleship fleet as well as several mixed capital squadrons which included a few Apostle force auxiliary and many dreadnoughts. The force bridged to the system on a friendly citadel, keeping its capital support in reserve. As the Project.Mayhem. fleet landed on the citadel it found DRF forces already in the system. The DRF brought a full (256 pilot) Machariel battleship of its own with a robust logistics wing and a dreadnought wing which was kept in reserve as well. The DRF fleet warped at 70 kilometers of the Project.Mayhem. cynosural beacon, eager to start the fight.
Still sorting their fleet, Project.Mayhem. fleet commanders declined to fight, ordering their fleet to dock up in the citadel while they organized their various wings and squadrons. Once the fleet was ready, it un-docked once more only to find the DRF fleet at a ping above its citadel. The DRF battleships warped downwards, landing at medium range of the Project.Mayhem. Machariels and the two fleets burnt towards each other, opening fire.
Hails of explosive rounds were exchanged between the two fleets as they continued to burn ahead, closing the gap which separated them. Within moments, Machariel faced Machariel as the two fleets maneuvered around each other at high speeds, auto cannons spitting ammunition as fast as their barrels and loaders would allow them. Ships on both sides were simply torn apart in the bullet storm as explosive rounds dug through thick armor layers and shattered the defensive plating. The relentless barrage did not let up for a moment, burrowing into the hulls themselves and shredding internal systems and entire sections of the ships. Within moments, battleships on both sides gave in to the torrent and either exploded once their reactors were damaged beyond containment or reduced to unrecognizable chunks of perforated metal.
While in the opening salvos Project.Mayhem. was able to fell a few of the DRF’s battleships, as the battle progressed the DRF’s robust logistics wing took charge and managed to stabilize its fleet, soaking much of the Project.Mayhem.’s damage with apparent ease. On the other hand, Project.Mayhem. was taking losses. Battleship after battleship was ripped apart by the DRF’s concentrated fire volleys, leaving the Project.Mayhem.’s logistics wing flailing. Realizing the danger, Project.Mayhem. fleet commanders decided to escalate further, lighting a cynosural beacon on the battlefield and bringing in an Apostle as well as 3 dreadnoughts. As the dreadnoughts materialized on the field, the DRF fleet switched its focus to the capitals. Auto cannons swiveled wildly to zero in on the giant ships and lit once again with fire. The roar of the auto cannons could be felt throughout the battleships’ decks as the rounds were fired without pause, hurled at the dreadnoughts.
Project.Mayhem. used its dreadnoughts as a damage sponge, giving a reprieve to its battleships from the DRF’s onslaught. With the focus taken off the Project.Mayhem. sub capitals, the Machariels used the opportunity to thin the DRF’s logistics wing. Exequror cruisers, Guardian and Oneiros logistics cruisers, all fell to the determined fire of the Project.Mayhem.’s battleships.
By then though, Project.Mayhem. had already lost a couple of dreadnoughts. The DRF Machariels blasted away at the ships, ripping entire chunks of armor with seemingly relative ease. Each dreadnought could do very little to resist the downpour of auto cannon rounds that slammed hard against its rapidly thinning plating. In a minute, a Naglfar dreadnought caved in to the fire storm, its hull splitting apart in great chunks as the explosive rounds cut huge swathes of its structure. A minute later, a sister ship also succumbed to the DRF’s assault, exploding in a great ball of fire as its reactors overloaded and unleashed their fury within the damaged hull, ripping it apart in the process.
With only a couple of capitals left for Porject.Mayhem., things looked dire. Needing to once again draw the attention of the DRF’s Machariels away from their own fleet and give it more time decimate its logistics wing, Project.Mayhem. fleet commanders allowed another Apostle and a couple of dreadnoughts to jump in to the cynosural beacon which still burnt on the grid unmolested. The Project.Mayhem. commanders had also hoped the DRF would escalate, so they could counter escalate with their remaining dreadnought force.
Seeing the new arrivals and hemorrhaging logistics ships at an alarming rate, DRF commanders decided to finally counter, lighting their own cynosural beacon on the grid and ushering in a full dreadnought squadron (10). The DRF dreadnoughts wasted no time in entering their siege cycles and taking aim at their hostile brethren. To the hail of 800mm bullets were added a wide assortment of capital munitions, all concentrated on the Project.Mayhem. capitals. This was the moment Project.Mayhem. fleet commanders waited for. They gave the order for the rest of the capital group to jump in. In pairs and trios, dreadnoughts and carriers materialized on the grid, capital turrets brought to bear on the DRF capitals as squadrons of fighters were launched to aid in the task of disposing of them. It was however, a miscalculation on Project.Mayhem.’s part. Unknown to its commanders, the DRF had a large capital reserve on standby as well. Within moments of the Project.Mayhem. capital reserve hitting grid, the DRF’s reinforcements entered as well. The battle had became a capital exchange.
Dreadnoughts targeted each other, enormous auto cannon rounds the size of shuttles hurled at each other alongside gigantic torpedoes and painfully bright laser beams as thick as frigates. Super heated plasma charges burnt across the void, illuminating the darkness as they passed through before striking shields and armor plates with great force. As the giants dueled, the battleships contributed their firepower to the mix, blasting away at the opposing dreadnoughts.
In a few minutes, the void around the citadel filled with debris as capitals on both sides gave in to the brutal assault and were destroyed, unleashing their dying breath and damaging any ship close by. The wreckage of dreadnoughts and battleships started to coalesce, forming a mock asteroid field which lit periodically with the explosions of dreadnoughts and sub capitals who continued to bitterly fight within its confines.
As the fight wore on, it became apparent that the DRF had the advantage in numbers and firepower. Already commanding the field with its sub capital fleet, it managed to outnumber the Project.Mayhem.’s capitals, who already suffered a few losses before escalating. The trade off between the two fleets was unequal, Project.Mayhem. often exchanging 3-5 dreadnoughts for each of the DRF’s. As its capital numbers dwindled, the Project.Mayhem. fleet commanders realized they could not continue to effectively fight and that staying on the grid would only spell disaster. Instead, the order was given to disengage, and the Project.Mayhem. battleships warped off, conceding the field.
The DRF attempted to tackle as many of the battleships as it could, destroying all those it could hold on grid before concentrating on the remaining Project.Mayhem. capitals still on the field. One by one, the remaining capitals were disposed off.
Controlling the grid and having saved the tower, DRF forces lingered only to dispatch all the remaining Project.Mayhem. stragglers before safely extracting, having achieved complete victory.
With this, the battle of Oijanen came to an end.
The Battle from the Perspective of the Drone Regions Federation Machariel Fleet.
Battle report for the Oijanen system can be found here.
All told the battle raged for 30 minutes with Time Dilation not reported and the system hosting an estimated 326 pilots at the peak of the fighting.
Project.Mayhem. lost 67 ships in the fight, including 25 dreadnoughts, 3 force auxiliary, 3 carriers and 21 battleships for a total of 112.28 billion ISK damage.
The DRF lost 35 ships, including 6 dreadnoughts and 4 battleships for a total of 23.46 billion ISK.
Salivan Harddin is a member of V0LTA, WE FORM V0LTA, and covers battles across New Eden
