Eve News 24 received permission from the author to syndicate and post this article. It was originally posted on Reddit by Schenck-the-Prophet. This may be one of the better posts I have seen in a while. Despite being tongue in cheek it contains a pretty solid write up on what most are considering the first major engagement of the current war. We have posted this without edit with exception of minor spelling corrections. Enjoy!
During the early morning hours of August 8th, deep space Doppler Relays recorded fleets from both the United Northern Coalition (UN/UNC) forces made up of GOTG, Pandemic Horde, Pandemic Legion, and Northern Coalition., forming in preparation for a Goonswarm Federation Fortizar onlining in the Goon deployment system of Hakonen. UN forces formed three full Mach fleets, several tackle and EWAR wings, alongside a PL Abaddon fleet, and a large contingent of supercarriers and Force Auxiliaries, intended primarily to siege the onlining Fortizar. Goonswarm Federation and its Imperium allies, as well as Test Alliance Please Ignore, constitute the Coalition of Southern Alliances (CSA). CSA forces formed three full Typhoon fleets, a Nightmare fleet under TEST, a Slippery Pete Tengu wing, a sizable Claw fleet and EWAR wing, and a Jackdaw fleet as well. They additionally formed a sizable capital group, anchored on top of an Astrahus at range to the onlining Fortizar.
UN forces quickly bridged into system around 01:20, setting up in a position around the onlining Fortizar, ‘The Beacon of Amon Din‘, with local approaching 2700 easily. A Mobile Cynosural Inhibitor, dropped to prevent enemy capitals and supercapitals from coming into system on a perch around the onlining Fortizar, was brought down at 01:49. Multiple CSA fleets then warped into the battlefield as UN supercapitals cyno’d into system, clashing heavily. Asher Elias, renowned GSF fleet commander, was one of the first to go down in his command Legion, with other CSA fleet commanders targeted heavily by UN Coalition forces. Headshot attempts were traded on both sides, some successful and others not. Multiple Damnation command ships, all CSA forces, began to go down in the ensuing struggle.
Machariels on the UN side split weapon groups, and began to target either Typhoons (in the case of Pandemic Horde and NCdot) or Jackdaws (in the case of the GOTG fleet). Jackdaws were targeted primarily due to their application damage to fighters and fighter bombers, already hitting the Beacon of Amon Din, and also their effectiveness in killing battleship class vessels. Many Jackdaws and fighter groups of CSA forces would die over the next half an hour, as crippling TiDi began to set in. Target locking was reportedly very difficult, with jammed weapon groups, weapons that wouldn’t cycle, and scripts refusing to load into tracking computers all repported during the fighting. Intermittent Machariels on the UN side evaporated under heavy fire from the multiple CSA Typhoon fleets present, increasing as time went on.
While trades were fairly even early on, by 03:00 the tide had shifted against CSA forces heavily. UN supercarriers began to target their Typhoons, destroying many of them. A fleet led by a reshipped Asher Elias reengaged the UN forces at point blank range, intensifying lag, but were forced off field again when Asher was headshot by UN forces. CSA command destroyers, which had been attempting to boosh hostile logi wings off field, now worked to boosh friendlies off field, and succeeded in rescuing many Typhoons. By 03:45, CSA forces were retreating, pulling back to friendly Astrahus and Raitaru citadels in system, leaving a field of wrecks in their wake. The Beacon of Amon Din was then attacked, and destroyed around 04:15.
A full battle report can be found here.
CSA forces, in particular many Goonswarm Federation pilots, remain buoyant even in the face of what would to many alliance be a devastating loss. Spirits run high in the GSF camp with many celebrating the “goodfight” in Hakonen after the tense, but ultimately tepid standoff between UN and CSA forces earlier this past weekend over a UN Sotiyo that has been put into a secondary reinforcement cycle. One Goonswarm line member, when asked how he felt about the Hakonen battle, had this to say:
I don’t care if we won or lost, we got to undock, we got to fight, and best of all, we got to shoot NCPL and hordelings! I lost my Typhoon last night before I even had a chance to broadcast, not that it probably would have done much good in the lag, but you know what? I loved it! I can’t wait until the next one
GSF line members are riding a wave of enthusiasm that will doubtlessly be put to good effect by their commanders in the upcoming days. Rumors circulate that GSF forces are preparing a fresh offensive along the Tribute/Vale of the Silent border, attempting to blitz and generate many timers for the beleaguered defenders. Hunting groups have also been dispatched, intended to hit Rate My Ticks [WERMT] renters in these regions.
The destruction of the Beacon of Amon Din in GSF staging is a victory for the UN forces, but how long it will last remains to be seen. Imperium leader the Mittani has reportedly vowed that this will not be the last Fortizar to be deployed in Hakonen, potentially signaling that there is more fighting to come. Sources note that the Mittani may order the vast resources of GSF to be put to the TEST, potentially deploying multiple Fortizars at once in system or across the surrounding areas in an attempt to force UN forces to split in order to deal with them.
After a schizoid two weeks of deployments from the GOTG forces, intrepid reporters in the north report that large convoys of caps and battleships moving southwards from their previous Venal staging of WLF-D3. While some believe that they are moving to the M-OEE8 Keepstar, a mere two jumps from Imperium/GSF staging and three jumps from TEST, more reputable reports corroborate that the GOTG forces are shifting to 0-YMBJ, on the Tribute/Pure Blind border. However, it remains to be seen whether GOTG will deploy in force (with supers and titans) or if they will merely deploy with travel caps and battleship fleets.
With the movement of GOTG out of Venal and southwards into Tribute, this now means that the majority of northern forces will be deployed in striking distance of CSA forces from their twin staging systems of Hakonen and Obe. With the increased presence of GOTG forces in Tribute, a formulating CSA offensive is likely to strike weak points in the Vale of the Silent, while main fleets roll through Tribute and attempt to siege citadels anchored throughout the region.
Outlook in Deklein at the moment still suggests that frequent TEST roaming gangs are circulating in the area, as well as many cloaked hunters looking for easy targets.
