Another day, another trillion isk battle.

This time it started at the whim of an FC that decided to put one Athanor in reinforcement. Spartan Vanguard, a corporation from TEST, had launched several harassment fleets against Pandemic Legion (PL) in Catch and Providence. The CEO of Spartan Vanguard that was behind much of this early raids and pushing reinforcements of Citadels is named Valkorsia.

LEGACY Coalition (TEST/Brave/Co.) started to notice that the D-GTMI in the Providence region turned out to be an ideal staging area in which enemy titans were able to bridge fleets deep into Catch to hit their own fleets. LEGACY had also noted that Pandemic Legion was also using this Athanor for moon mining operations. So it was providing the sole tether for Pandemic Legion, a strategic jump point for bridges, and economic aid from the minerals from moon mining.

Valkorsia was leading a Jackdaw fleet in defense of timers in the ZQ-Z3Y solar system that Pandemic Legion had hit before. Pandemic Legion didn’t show for the timer, and on the way back home Valkorsia decided to go to D-GTMI to strike Pandemic Legion’s sole citadel, the Athanor. Which, in short time, was put in reinforcement after taking down the shields. In the days leading up to the Armor timer, Valkorsia spoke with progodlegend (TEST) and Vily (TEST) in regards to the Armor timer. Both of these head FCs decided to commit significant forces to contest the Armor timer..

Before this battle, there had been a lot of build-ups, and let downs, on significant suspended fleet fights. As LEGACY fleets had gone to engage Pandemic Legion only to see them not field their fleets if LEGACY was able to beat them on numbers. So when TEST saw 400 Rokhs of Pandemic Legion and Northern Coalition against their 250 Rokh Fleet Progod said: “let’s do this.” Knowing full well of their capital support ability.

Ironwulf (TEST), one of the FCs in charge of LEGACY’s Maelstrom fleet mentioned that the new jump fatigue mechanics had changed significantly. Allowing Dreads to be moved much faster than before. Less fatigue enabled players to quickly field Dreads over greater distances than before. Both sides have big piles of ships that they want to use. “We were not sure if PL would take the fight”, remarked Ironwulf, “we could have fielded at the time a full fleet and a half of capitals but we stayed flexible by our match up we had. PL and TEST have been wanted to use these ships and lose them.”

The 400 Rokh Battleships of Pandemic Legion tethered at the Athanor. TEST dropped their Rokh Fleet in front of the enemy Battleships just outside their range. Then, Progod the FC of the sub-capital fleet ordered the green light, TEST Carriers dropped behind that of the Test Rokhs. At this point in time, PL and Northern Coalition. broke tether, and engaged.

The fighting started and TEST requested further reinforcement from LEGACY Coalition members. LEGACY was able to quickly organize and form a Maelstrom fleet. While the battle raged Pandemic Legion dropped approximately 50 Long Range Dreads behind that of TEST carriers. TEST quickly responded by dropping at zero 5 titans with 15 Faxes for support. The Doomsday weapons of the Titans killed 15 Dreads with their area of effect. Vily admitted they hoped to get more of the Dreads with the Doomsday weapons. They wanted to have more of a crippling blow to instantly destroy more Dreads than they first accomplished. This allowed approximately 25 Dreads to continue to put up an effective fight against TEST forces.

Vily, the FC for the Legacy Capital fleets, watched patiently for PL’s next move, anticipating the counter drop to his own drop. When no drop seemed coming, he wanted to try to clear the rest of the PL dreads from the field and do so quicker than was already happening. So he ordered in roughly half of his Dreads on standby and additional faxes.

LEGACY Coalitions Maelstrom Battleships dropped onto the battlefield to assist in the Sub-capital brawl raging between both Rokh fleets. The Maelstroms dropped very close to PL and NC Rokhs which did not allow the ships to take advantage of their long range capabilities. Upon seeing this the Maelstrom Fleet under command of Ironwulf started to move away from the enemy battleships. Once at range the Alpha strike capabilities of the Maelstroms started to show its effectiveness.. The FCs noticed that PL and its allies had really good logi teams that were well coordinated. Which meant the Alpha strikes were critical to destroy ships before their logi could help.

PL/NCdot was able to bring down a TEST Titan during the conflict. There has been some reports that the pilot was experiencing lag or possible disconnect. It is not confirmed but what is known the pilot had his Titan replaced before the battle was over by TEST leadership.
Legacy Maelstroms, TEST Rokhs, and Carriers dueled that of PL and NC Rokhs. During which Dreads and Titans from TEST fought PL and NC Dreads. Allies and frienemies from both sides jumped into the fray. During the conflict FCs were able to get tether privileges from CVA forces in case TEST and Legacy needed to fall back to a safe haven. Apocalypse Now, a Provi-Bloc alliance, formed with other members of the coalition to assist in the brawl. Even Goonswarm Federation made an appearance to kill their heated foe Panfam.

Vily continued watching for additional PL capitals. As PL and its allies were cynoing in capital ships in small groups. He didn’t want to commit until he saw a large commitment from PL. Finally when they did commit he ordered the rest of his capitals onto the field as well. TEST/Legacy sub-caps were able to push off grid PL/NC Rokhs while the same victory was happening with the Dreads and Titans versus that of the Dreads of PL.

Someone wants to buy some NCPL dreads? Slightly damaged but sold together with Welder II, so you get at least 20 out again. #tweetfleet pic.twitter.com/9sFOfYldnZ

— Shalah Allier (@ShalahAllier) March 25, 2018

[ The battle in D-G can be found here. ]

While the PL and NC Rokh fleets tried to extract, the TEST/Legacy fleet followed them. Finally cornering and bringing to fight again in T-RPFU. In this battle the LEGACY sub-cap fleet mauled the PL/NC sub-caps doing an additional 20 billion isk damage verses less than 4 billion to the Legacy fleet.
Both battle reports together can be found here.

Once the battle was won, TEST/Legacy looted the field. While winning the battle in space TEST/Legacy failed to achieve the objective of the armor timer. However, they put the Athanor into reinforcement mode again. As one Test pilot remarked, “That Athanor is going down regardless.”

Afterthoughts

The battle could have gone either way. TEST and Legacy FCs agree that it was a fantastic effort on the FC teams and guys in the background for cyno-ing in ships and keeping an eye out in other systems. During these times Vily said that there is a lot of chaos going on. It is a testament to the professionalism of the guys he works with that the battle went smoothly. There were special thanks to Skyvyr, one of the heads of logistics that was handing out capital ships for anyone who needed one for the battle. There was also a great deal of praise for many of the Fax pilots that stayed on grid knowing full well they were going to die and going back to reship and die again. Vily said that the “guys” did a very good job. From the carrier pilots that fought tenaciously as well as the Dreads that continued to fire shot after shot.

Ironwulf said that all around there was good fights. “We are thankful that Panfam came down to give a good fight with us. We will take this victory with a grain of salt. There is still a lot we can learn from and continue to make us a more professional force. The FC teams did an outstanding job moving cynos, and it paid off in the end.

Valkorsia which was a backup FC in the fight is a former member of Provi-Bloc. He had mentioned that he has sympathy for what is happening to Provi-Bloc after the brutal invasion from PL and its Allies. So the victory was also “sweet revenge for how Pandemic Legion continued to use Capital and Super capital fleets against Providence’s subcap fleets.” This action denied its defenders from having good fights.

This engagement in D-G could be the beginning of a larger conflict between these two Super Powers. At the time of the early invasion of Provi-Bloc, Legacy Coalition was faced with a two-front war. It had been fighting Triumvirate to the East. It could not focus its entire efforts on Pandemic Legion’s Invasion of Providence. However, they had aided with fleets approximately 8 times against PL and NC.

Panfam with their allies must also contend with Goonswarm Federation which recently had another major battle in ROIR-Y. Goonswarm killed 5 Titans in this conflict alone which helped them win the isk war in that conflict as well.

Provi-Bloc while evacuating from Providence to escape the onslaught of Pandemic Legion was still able to push Northern Coalition. from their territory due to the great effort of Care Factor and allies. This victory was bittersweet as Pandemic Legion continues to take systems uncontested. Provi-Bloc has not forgotten their homeland. They continue to wage hit and run attacks against Panfam in their home systems and attacks of opportunity.
For now good reader, the battles in the South will only continue heating up. Providence may continue to be the site for major battles like D-GTMI. For All the pilots that were there, they all can say there were some great fights and efforts put forth by both contending sides.

Very Respectfully,
Kyle Saltz