Auga system, Heimatar region. On the 11th of February at 16:25 EVE Standard Time, a battle unfolded in the system between forces belonging to Did he say Jump [JMP-N] and Siege Green. [SSGRN].
The conflict was sparked by Siege Green.. The alliance had scouted a Did he say Jump Proteus strategic cruiser fleet of 60 pilots making its way via wormholes to aid Shadow Cartel [SHDWC] in the south. Hoping to capitalize on this, Siege Green. and its allies, including Lost Obsession [FATE] formed a 50 pilot fleet, mainly of Machariel battleships with a robust logistics wing. The force hoped to intercept the Did he say Jump fleet on its way back.
However, Did he say Jump caught wind of the force and managed to use an alternate route to return to its staging system Siseide. The fleet decided to engage the hostiles, reshipped to a Machariel fleet and prepared a capital squadron in case of further escalations. The fleet then undocked and warped to the Auga gate, the hostiles having attempted to waylay it in the same system.
Siege Green. scouts reported this, and the alliance decided to take the challenge. Its fleet warped to the Siseide gate, landing 60 kilometers away from the gate. Did he say Jump at the same time managed to jump into Auga via the connecting gate and anchor up. The two sides then proceeded to warp around the grid, before finally settling down and starting the fight proper.
From the start, Siege Green. was at a disadvantage. Did he say Jump had a slight advantage in numbers but also in the configuration of their Machariels. Having originally planned to counter a Proteus fleet, the Siege Green. Machariels had been equipped with autocannons, which are notoriously short ranged weapon systems. Did he say Jump had its Machariels equipped with artillery cannons, allowing it far great range not to mention the ability to volley through remote repair cycles.
At the start, both sides traded losses, each going after Guardian logistics cruisers before changing focus to mainline ships. Each fleet lost a couple of Machariels in the first few barrages but as the fight continued Did he say Jump managed to tank the incoming damage, remaining out of the optimal range of the autocannons. Did he say Jump kept its distance, maintaining between 60 to 40 kilometers from the Siege Green. fleet which kept attempting to burn in and get in optimal range.
Out of optimal range, all Siege Green. could do was to try and return fire while sustaining losses. As more mainline ships were destroyed during the fighting without reprisal, Siege Green. resorted to bringing force auxiliaries and combat carriers to supplement its dwindling numbers. Even with combat carriers and force auxiliaries, Siege Green. was unable to stabilize. Whats worse, with force auxiliaries, the Siege Green. Machariel fleet was effectively chained to the range of the capital remote armor repairers.
Did he say Jump counter escalated, bringing its own combat carrier squadron to the field while continuing to inflict losses on the struggling Siege Green. fleet. As hostile Machariel after hostile Machariel was dispatched, Did he say Jump seemed to be in control of the field and threatening to annihilate the Siege Green. force. Realizing this, Siege Green. decided to withdraw, warping its fleet out along with most of its capital force. Did he say Jump attempted to snag as many of the hostile ships as possible, managing to catch 2 of the Siege Green. combat carriers.
Having won the fight, Did he say Jump disposed of the Siege Green. stragglers, destroying the 2 combat carriers and started the process of looting the grid while extracting its capital assets. However before it could finish salvaging the wrecks strewn around the gate, Snuffed Out [B B C] and Project.Mayhem. [16-13] appeared in the system. The two alliances had a joint 90 pilot Proteus fleet of their own and had come to support Siege Green. against Did he say Jump. Arriving late, the fleet managed to snag 1 Did he say Jump Machariel while the rest of the fleet beat a hasty retreat, leaving Snuffed Out and Project.Mayhem. in control of the field.
With Did he say Jump declining to fight the Proteus fleet, the battle effectively ended, leaving Project.Mayhem. and Snuffed Out to return from whence they came empty handed.
The Battle from the Perspective of the Did he say Jump Machariel Fleet
Battle report for the Auga system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 21 minutes with the system hosting 150 pilots at the peak of the fighting and no Time Dilation reported.
Did he say Jump lost 9 ships, including 3 battleships for a total of 5.07 billion ISK damage.
Siege Green. and its allies lost 45 ships including 2 carriers and 18 battleships for a total of 20.65 billion ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of V0LTA, WE FORM V0LTA, and covers battles across New Eden
