Pakkonen system, Lonetrek region. On the 28th of April at 17:47 EVE Standard Time a battle unfolded over an Azbel engineering complex in the system.
The battle was prompted by Project.Mayhem. [16-13]. The alliance had reinforced and destroyed multiple citadels and engineering complexes in the vicinity of their staging system in order to provoke fights with the Azbel in question being no exception. The Azbel which belonged to members of the Drone Regions Federation (DRF) was promptly reinforced twice, forcing the coalition to mobilize and defend the structure or risk its destruction.
Project.Mayhem. alongside allies Snuffed Out [B B C] and Pen Is Out [WANGS] formed a 140 pilot Machariel battleship fleet and bridged near the afflicted structure. The structure itself had exited its final invulnerability phase and attempted to repair itself but the Machariel fleet wouldn’t allow it. The battleships each devoted a single artillery cannon to constantly bombarding the engineering complex, halting its repairs and slowly though determinedly chipping away at its health.
DRF forces made best way to the system and arrived a few minutes later. The DRF had fielded two fleets; an estimated 170 pilot Gila cruiser fleet and an estimated 50 pilot Tengu strategic cruiser fleet. The two fleets warped to perches above the grid before warping towards the battleships. The two fleets exited their warp tunnels, landing at long range of the hostile Machariel fleet and prepared to engage.
The Tengu fleet started bombarding the battleships with heavy missiles while the Gilas unleashed their swarm of drones and sicced it on the Machariels. The Machariel fleet retaliated, bombarding the strategic cruisers and cruisers in return. The cloud of drones quickly found itself in trouble as the Machariels had a designated “Firewall” in the form of a Nestor battleships. The smartbombs may have damaged its own fleet members but caused more harm to the drones which quickly found themselves overwhelmed by the constant waves of explosions.
This caused the Gila fleet to lose many drones in the process, neutralizing some of its damage output. Though new drones were sent to replace those lost they were soon suffered the same fate as their predecessors. The Tengu fleet wasn’t faring much better, the missile salvos proving lacking in power to break through the remote armor repair cycles of the Machariel fleet’s logistics wing.
The Machariel fleet on the other hand was having a field day. The fleet was able for the most part volley through the cruisers and strategic cruisers’ shields and destroy the hulls. Coordinated artillery barrage after coordinated artillery barrage found their marks, hitting mainline ships and obliterating them with almost no losses to the attackers. The only major loss experienced by the fleet was when one battleship drifted off anchor. The DRF quickly seized the opportunity and annihilated the ship which was too far for remote armor repairs to reach effectively.
DRF forces continued to fight, trying to break through the attackers’ defenses but to no avail. Losses kept mounting at a steady pace and with more and more flights of drones removed the DRF was forced to concede defeat. The two fleets warped off the grid and left the system, allowing the Machariel fleet to focus all of its attention on the Azbel. With no more distractions, the Machariel fleet concentrated its entire firepower on the structure. The Azbel withered under the constant barrage and finally exploded. With the structure destroyed the Machariel fleet extracted its forces having achieved total victory.
The Battle from the Perspective of the Machariel Fleet
Battle report for the Pakkonen system can be found here.
All told the battle lasted 29 minutes with Time Dilation not reported and the system hosting an estimated 380 pilots at the peak of the fighting.
DRF forces lost 56 ships including 8 strategic cruisers and 33 cruisers for a total of 15.86 billion ISK damage. With the Azbel loss calculated, DRF’s ISK loss rises to 42.66 billion ISK total.
Project.Mayhem. and allies lost 2 ships in the fight, one being a battleship for a total of 594 million ISK damage.
Salivan Harddin is a member of Hoover Inc., Pandemic Legion, and covers battles across New Eden
