HERO Retakes U-Q, and other SOV News

We start off by visiting HED-GP where Pandemic Legion had some POSes (player-owned starbase) fights. A full battle report is available by clicking here.



As we can see HERO Coalition (Hopefully Effective Rookie Organization) had a Tengu/Eagle fleet lead by Blue Ice (29 Tengus, 56 Eagles, 16 Scimitars, and 14 Scythes), a TEST Ishtar gang (16 Ishtars), a bomber fleet (16 bombers), and an EWAR/tackle fleet (+120 Frigates/Interceptors including 62 Maulus). Around 267 pilots.
Pandemic Legion brought a Tengu fleet (55 Tengus, 21 Scimitars, and 4 Chimeras as support). Approximately 100 pilots.

NCdot/Darkeshi v. CFC in LBGI-2

In the system of  LBGI-2, CFC forces squared off with various NC. groups on November 23rd.  This skirmish marks another in the long line of setbacks for the CFC after both NC. and Black Legion began open hostilities in both the northern and southern regions of CFC SOV a few weeks earlier.

The Kadeshi Ravaged by PL and Lazerhawks

The Kadeshi lost two supercapital ships and several carriers in their home territory to a mostly Pandemic Legion (PL) Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet.  The Kadeshi dropped on a roving band of pilots from the very large (and still growing) Lazerhawks Corporation, who are wormhole dwellers who specialise in PVP.
According to a Lazerhawks pilot, the roaming gang spotted an Aeon Super Capital ship floating outside of a POS.  Kadeshi didn’t know they had been spotted but recounted that a neutral had popped into the system for a few seconds. The Aeon cloaked and left system but the Lazerhawks were intrigued.  When Kadeshi carriers were spotted floating nearby, Lazerhawks returned to their base and changed into the favored Ishtars – Heavy Assault Cruisers with high drone DPS. They also sent a message to Pandemic Legion, complete with wormhole instructions on how to get to the area. Pandemic Legion began to mobilize a medium sized force. The counter attack clock started ticking.

The Lazerhawks moved to make Kadeshi commit their forces. They brought in 2 ramming battleships on the (likely bait) carriers and the Kadeshi reacted by lighting a cynosural beacon and bridging in an impressive ten strong super capital fleet with tackle support. The Kadeshi, feeling safe deep in their own territory, began to easily destroy the intruders. However their progress was not fast enough and Pandemic Legion emerged through the wormhole path supplied by Lazerhawks. Kadeshi were sideswiped by their former ally, as they swept into the fight and tied the Kadeshi supercapital fleet down.

The Kadeshi fleet defended itself by attacking the PL ships that held them captive, but the Heavy Interdictor Cruisers were being repaired too fast to kill. PL and Lazerhawks went to work and started to destroy the Kadeshi’s only  usable weapon systems – their fighters. The capital fleet was trapped but safe now that enemy capital ships could not jump in from far away staging systems or fit through wormholes. They would be indestructible as long as they stayed together and within repair range.

Pandemic Legion and Lazerhawk knew this too, so they began to work on separating them one at a time to bring them down. After a Lazerhawks pilot, Replika who managed to survive the initial attack, used his ramming battleship and was able to repeatedly smash into an Aeon, eventually bumping it 70 kilometers from the pack. Known for their massive armor hulls, the Aeon could withstand a lot of damage. There was still hope, if it lasted long enough.

Knowing they had limited time, The Kadeshi scrambled a subcapital Tengu fleet, and their ‘brolition’ mates, DARKNESS. also tried to lend a hand, to destroy the enemy tackle and save their Aeon. Unfortunately the Tengu fleet was outnumbered and dispatched by the joint PL and Lazerhawk forces. They watched as the massive Aeon was slowly crushed under a hail of drone damage.



Bolstered by the success PL and Lazerhawks followed up by ramming a second supercapital, a Nyx away from the pack. It was annihilated quickly due to it having too many energy modules and not enough defensive tank modules fitted. The pilot of the Nyx had prepared for a different scenario than the one that was unfolding.



Hours had passed and the Kadeshi, mired like giant elephants in a tar pit, were being picked apart and eaten by a pack of hyenas. They came to an uncomfortable conclusion and reluctantly sent an SOS to the HQ of Northern Coalition. (NCdot). Their allies’ juggernaut capital fleet was stationed within jump range. This was a tough decision for Kadeshi. First, for needing help in their own back yard, and second for complicating NCdot diplomacy. NCdot and Pandemic Legion are allies – they cannot fight each other.
NCdot responded quickly, fully appreciating how fast their ally Pandemic Legion could bring down a capital fleet in the past and knowing that, even in Phoebe Pandemic Legion was still a force to be reckoned with and even in this new world of slow travel, they could not be underestimated. NCdot assembled pilots for supercapitals and carriers for a rescue fleet.
Pandemic Legion and Lazerhawks were tearing down their third victim, another Nyx. Lazerhawks had prepared and set up Mobile Cynosural Inhibitors which prohibited NCdot supers from landing directly on the trapped Kadeshi supercapitals. Sue to the Mobile Cynosural Inhibitors, NCdot was forced to jump part of their fleet to a ping over 200 kilometers from the battle. PL put up warp disruption field bubbles to block the NCdot capitals from warping into repair range of the beleaguered Kadeshi force. No shots were fired at each other, but they were wrestling over the fate of the Kadeshi fleet.
Finally, NCdot maneuvered around the PL forces and broke through to the battlefield, landing as the Nyx was deeply damaged. Repair beams lit up from the huge NCdot fleet, making any further destruction impossible. The Nyx was saved, as were the other seven supercapitals. Even with saving most of the fleet The Kadeshi still lost over 90 Billion ISK.

The Kadeshi leadership got an earful from Vince Drakon, leader of NCdot.

Video of the fight from Lazerhawk point of view:


https://zkillboard.com/br/15213/

Kadeshi  post battle assessment:

Providence Bloc Loses Another Skirmish Over the D-GTMI System

NC. took the system in May to facilitate rapid fleet deployment across it's rental holdings and the Delve region. Thsi was originalyl part of a plan to take Delve by force, but was largely abandoned due to the force projection changes of Phoebe.

ProviBloc used this chaotic time after the patch to launch and op against the system, deploying SBUs on Nov. 4th. reinforcing both the Infrastructure Hub and the Station, in order to reclaim the lost system. While sources within Northern Coalition(dot) claimed the system held no strategic importance anymore, they did say that the Alliance would form for convenient timers.

D-GTMI system, Providence region. On the 9th of November, 22:30 EVE Standard Time, Providence Bloc clashed with Northern Coalition(dot) to decide the fate of the system, which was lost to Providence earlier in May.

One such timer was on the 8th of November, 14:00 EVE Standard Time, when Providence Bloc’s Tengu Strategic Cruiser fleet, seventy pilot strong, engaged an Ishtar Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet belonging to Northern Coalition(dot), at sixty pilot large. The fight, mostly carried on the T-RPFU Gate, saw Providence Bloc lose decisively to Northern Coalition.

Battle Report for the 8th of November can be found here.

On the next night, the tables were turned. AS a 170 strong Ishtar fleet against 150 Tengu pilots of NC.. NC took position on the T-RPFU gate and waited for Provi. Provi however elected not to jump into the gate camp and tried to lure NC onto the opposite D-GTMI gate after deploying their fleet there.

NC. very quickly obliged the Provi forces. The resulting skirmish was very short lived. After a few opening kills against Tengus were scored while NC. organized, as soon as they anchored up, the tanks held firm and focused fire wiped considerable Provi forces from the field.

This was exacerbated by an 80 pilot PL Tengu fleet with bomber support that jumped in to join in the fun. This meant Provi very quickly retreated and conceded the system.

With Providence Bloc soundly defeated, Northern Coalition(dot) turned its attention to the Sovereignty Blockade Units  deployed in the D-GTMI system and removed them, extracting safely.

Battle Report for the 9th of November can be found here.

The T-RPFU system hosted at the height of the battle four hundred and sixty pilots, with Time Dilation peaking at 72% but playing no major role in the fighting. Providence Bloc lost a quarter of its fleet, forty ships, for five billion ISK in damages, compared to Northern Coalition(dot)’s thirteen and two point six billion respectively.

Though the Infrastructure Hub was destroyed the day after, the fight over the sovereignty of the system is far from over. With the reputation of Providence Bloc and their recent success in the Northern Catch war, it is not so much a question of whether or not the system will be re-claimed, but what the price will be for its eventual return.

Video of the fight:

N3 Renters Refocused But Still Make Mistakes

Early on the 7th November 2014 a message went out from LadyScarlet of the Northern Coalition. alliance that was meant for the entirety of their renter alliance, Northern Associates.

Sent:2014-11-07 03:45:00
there is much goon activity around omist area you need to watch yourselves don’t be useing caps without proper defense.
shoot hostile sbus when you can
e appreciate all those who been helping keep up the good work!!! please be safe and watch intell channels. Always”

Northern Coalition. are currently stationed in Querious and are concentrating on the local area and Period Basis, having taken a number of systems, and they are making good headway into securing the patch for themselves and the N3 as a whole. However, they are meeting resistance from alliances like Fatal Ascension, Get Off My Lawn and C0VEN, who also live within a couple of regions of Querious.

As NC. makes headway in Querious and other regions post-Phoebe, and as some of it's alliance score victories against their rival CFC, some people are taking losses.  It seems NC. has finally acknowledged the role renter groups can play in an overall war effort.

When asked whether the attacking of hostile SBU's should be the focus solely of N3's PVP alliances, or the task should be split, had this to say:

Well, you first have to understand Omist and so on is N3 space not just NC. space.
NC. is predominantly around Querious/Period Basis and so on. That doesn’t mean we won’t help but we also have russians to deal with in our own area of operation. Nulli Secunda and the other N3 groups are around omist and are dealing with that side of things.

Many of our renters ask what they can do to help out with the war effort. Obviously shooting enemy Sovereignty Blockade Units is the biggest and most simple thing they can do, because many aren’t pvp corps and we wouldn’t want them needlessly dying to stuff they can’t defend against.


This makes perfect sense. There is no reason to divide your forces if you don't have to.  Focusing it's primary PVP elements on engaging the CFC directly, while allowing other groups to pick off easier targets is a solid plan, if it works.

This task delegation can be accomplished by less experienced pilots in cheaper ships, so why not unleash the dogs?  There is one crucial issue.

Logistics.

The over extension of N3 supply lines and it's capital/supercapital assets is a real danger.  Especially given that the careful positioning of rapid response forces is now a vital element of holding SOV, these ships and pilots are absolutely necessary for meaningful ops in SOV null.

This posses a problem of having these assets in the wrong hands and those hands could end up losing them in combat.  Forcing the diversion of resources to replace those lost assets that could be better used elsewhere.The potentially dangerous mix of replacing assets lost on low priority targets makes over extension a real hazard for SOV holding entities.  This move by N3 is expected to be mirrored by other entities to minimize unnecessary losses.

One loss that occurred just after LadyScarlet sent her mail regarding the careful use of capital assets was a Nyx belonging to Lingua Mortis, of Combat Matous, Northern Associates., destroyed by a 70 man CFC Ishtar/other stuff gang in L-AS00 in Omist. There are suggestions that he may have been shooting an SBU at the time of his destruction, however I have been unable to verify this and when asked, LadyScarlet said she had no information about the Nyx loss or it’s activities at the time.



It has been rumoured recently that a small gang of CFC pilots have created what has become known as a ‘Reaver’ gang, with the sole purpose of getting behind the N3 lines to disrupt their ISK making in certain regions while also taking pot-shots at POS in the area to generate annoying notifications for the owners.
Whether or not this kill proves the existence of a ‘Reaver’ gang or whether it is merely evidence that Phoebe has brought back the art of roaming for kills rather than sitting on a titan is still up for debate. One thing is certain: winter is coming.

Nyx Killmail Link

Reddit Post

Leaks: Against ALL Authorities Aim Their Guns At NC.

An Against ALL Authorities alliance mail has been leaked, revealing their intention to target Northern Coalition. This will be done as a “Coalition” alongside Afterlife, c0ven and Soviet-Union. The main fleet doctrine will be shield ishtars and they will be staging out of 4GQ-XQ in Stain. The alliance mail is below in both Russian and English.
Пришла пора участвовать в большой войне.

Наша цель NC. и их ситы.

Хоть нас и мало, но мы можем надрать им зад и хорошо помочь коалиции.

Будем летать во флотах с Afterlife, c0ven и Soviet-Union.
С этого момента все кто живой, активный и желает присоединиться (мы не заставляем) переезжайте в систему регруппа наших союзников 4GQ-XQ. До патча осталось 3 дня, используйте их для переезда, пока капиталы могут прыгать безнаказанно.
Для КТА и роамингов используются тимспики Ковенов и Афтерлайф.

Инструкция по регистрации будет отдельно.

Скоро заработает коалиционный джаббер.

Основной формат на текущий момент: шилд иштары.
Надеятся нам не на кого. Из болота выбираться мы можем только самостоятельно.

Те кто кемпит Брейвов – отвлекитесь немного, мы всегда можем к ним вернуться.

У нас есть шанс получить хорошие зарубы, пощупать супера врага.
—
It is a time to engage in a big war.

Our aim NCdot and their citizens.

We have small numbers, but we can kick their ass and help to coalition.

We will fly in fleets with Afterlife, c0ven and Soviet-Union.
From now on all who alive, active and willing to join (we do not force) move to regroup system of our allies – 4GQ-XQ. 3 days left to Phoebe, use them to move until the capital can jump unpunished.
For CTA and roaming we will use C0ven and The Afterlife. comms.

Instructions for registration will be shortly.

Soon the coalition jabber will work as well.

Main fleet doctrine: Shield Ishtars.
We can not hope to anyone. From the swamp, we can only be selected independently.

BRAVE campers – we can always go back to them, take a break.

We can touch hostiles for the supers etc.