Amarr Serve Up a Dozen Supercarriers

In a brief fight late Tuesday between Amarr and Minmatar forces a dozen supercarriers were dropped on a Minmatar fleet, scoring two carrier kills. (Amarr KB Link; Minmatar KB Link)

The fight itself was actually spread out into several small engagements as Amarr and Minmatar fleets engaged in their usual back-and-forth, each taking turns forming up, shipping out, retreating and regrouping, scoring only a handful of individual kills here and there between Auga and Huola.

Eventually both sides reached their “upper limits”, with the Amarr heading to the Auga stargate in Kourmonen with a fleet of approximately 25-30, many in battleships as well as a single carrier that warped to the gate with the fleet.

The Minmatar fleet eventually deployed to meet them in a heavy battleship fleet containing at least 20 battleships as well as three carriers on standby.

When the fight began Minmatar forces predictably cyno’d in their three capital ships — with the exception of one who was oppurtunistically tackled on his Auga station by an Amarr interceptor and so could not make the jump. Several seconds later a second cyno fired, this one belonging to the Amarr; within seconds at least a dozen supercarriers suddenly appeared, all belonging to Northern Coalition. [NC] Alliance, as well as 8 carriers.

The Minmatar carriers were destroyed with alarming speed at the onslaught of a dozen flights of fighter-bombers, but the Minmatar subcap fleet remained largely unscathed; only 3 of the 20 battleships of their subcap fleet were destroyed with the rest managing to escape. The Amarr lost a comparable number of subcap ships in the engagement before the arrival of the supercarriers.

It seems likely the Amarr had hoped to bait out Minmatar’s new supercarrier due to the inclusion of HICs on the field, however the supercarrier failed to show up — whether it was ever planned is currently unknown however Predator Elite, FC of the Amarrian fleet, was seen saying he belived the supercarrier pilot was offline at the time. This raised questions as to why the Amarr decided to show their trump card when the real prize was unavailable.

 

Rare Mid-Day Fleet Fights

Today saw a relatively rare series of large fights as Amarr forces more regularly seen later in the evening squared off against Minmatar “day fleets” in Auga and Kourmonen (Amarr KB Link; Minmatar KB Link).

Such large fights have been rare over the past few months as the Minmatar seemed to have fallen into a routine of low activity during the day and high activity during the night, a situation which led to relatively low activity on the Amarr side as well.

The situation is somewhat opposite of the norm 1-2 years ago when Minmatar and Amarr forces traded periods of high activity which saw both sides fielding massive gangs involving as many as 50 pilots on a daily basis. Over a period of several months during this time each side would take “turns” dominating the other for several weeks by fielding these large gangs that would go almost unopposed, until eventually the tables turned.

This is perhaps an early indication of renewed Minmatar activity during the day to counter the usual Amarr dominancy during this timezone. Though going by the results of the fighting today  — with the Amarr destroying over twice as many ships as their opponents — the Minmatar have a ways to go.

IFW Unveils Surprise Supercarrier in Fight That Sees 3 Capitals Destroyed

Minmatar corporation Ice Fire Warriors [IFW] turned heads tonight after surprise-dropping a supercarrier during a massive fight in the Amarr militia stronghold system of Huola (Amarr KB Link; Minmatar KB Link – Warning: Both battle reports are heavily garbled).

In all approximately 10 billion ISK worth of ship and assets met a fiery end tonight after a series of engagements. The first involved a Minmatar battleship/battlecruiser fleet that was engaged by an Amarr battleship fleet with carrier support. Minmatar forces, led by Ice Fire Warriors, reshipped to counter the threat, with one difference — the inclusion of a backup Supercarrier which until now has remained a secret.

Minmatar forces then deployed to Huola to re-engage the fight, jumping into a waiting Amarrian fleet with an Nidhoggur, piloted by King Rothgar, on the gate. IFW forces immediately opened a cyno, bringing in the first of their carriers. The Amarr fleet then cyno’d in its own backup — Predator Elite’s Revelation and a Nyx piloted by PCaBoo.

The arrival of the Amarrian-allied Nyx came as no surprise as it has been used in similar situations over the past two weeks. It was at this point that Minmatar forces brought in their real backup — their own Nyx, piloted by mina wolf, and two more carriers, piloted by Bald Beaver and 5ick Boy.

Despite the arrival of further support, efforts to save an Archon piloted by Bahamut420, which was the first to cyno in to trigger the Amarrian supercapital drop, were in vein. However the battle immediately turned to favor Minmatar forces, with King Rothgar’s Nidhoggur and Predator Elite’s Revelation being destroyed as well as the majority of Amarrian assets on the field.

Attention then turned to the Amarrian Nyx which was caught by a Minmatar HIC. However quick action on the part of the Nyx pilot as well as several Amarr militia cruiser and battlecruiser pilots succeeded in bringing down the offending HIC and allowing the Nyx to escape.

The engagement marks the end of a brief period that saw Amarrian capital dominance during the late night NA timezone which until now was dominated by the ever-present threat of Predator Elite’s supercarrier support. With their own supercarrier now able to be fielded, Minmatar forces will likely not hesitate to meet the Amarr’s capital escalations in the future.

In all, while exact casualty tallies for each individual engagement is impossible to determine, killboard reports appear to indicate that Minmatar forces, which numbered approximately 50, destroyed over 6 billion ISK of enemy assets, while Amarrian forces, of which approximately 35 took part in the action, destroyed around 4 billion ISK of enemy assets.

Amarr Militia Archon Destroyed — By Amarr Militia

In an ironic twist, an Amarr Militia Archon was destroyed earlier today by members of Amarr Militia.

The Archon, belonging to Locus Industries [LOSER] though piloted by an NPC corp character, had been involved in various skirmishes between an Amarrian HAC gang made up of members of Szwadron and Bloody Amarr’s corporations, and Locus Industries, a corporation well known in the Amarr militia for their offensive attitudes, often-disruptive activities and at the center of an inter-milita war.

After an initial fight which saw several HACs destroyed, other Amarr Militia corporations and pilots, including militia personalities Predator Elite, Nephilim Xeno and BattleStar Crusader, arrived to support Szwadron and Bloody Amarr’s. Coupled with an inconvenient computer crash on the part of the Locus Archon, the battle ultimately claimed the carrier and several Locus battleships. In all, approximately 40 Amarr militia ships were involved in the destruction of approximately 1.5 billion ISK worth of Locus assets. Locus forces inflicted approximately 650 million ISK of destroyed ships and assets on their  targets in return.

This marks a noted escalation of the inter-militia war as more Amarr corporations — 8 in total — are currently at war with Locus Industries, with many others providing support against them. While the causes and reasons for the conflict vary from person to person, FW Report received this explanation from Locus Industries:

“Locus has been ruffling feathers for awhile now but it didn’t come to blows until about 2 months ago when a Locus fleet, which included a neutral former-member, were engaging Minmatar forces in a small gang fight in Lamaa. Right at the end a group of Szwadron pilots warped into the fight (which was at a complex) and attacked and destroyed our neutral member who had gone GCC to fight the Minmatar. Szwadron then began smack-talking in local, so we wardecced them. Then they got their friends — Bloody Amarr’s and Black Souls Industries — to wardec us back. Then some other members of the Amarr militia — mostly Germans and other Europeans who were friends with those corps — started vilifying us all over the place, telling Minmatar where we were if we were in local, following us around smacktalking and trying to annoy us, so we wardecced the most vocal of these idiots, Cryloud (puntacular name), who in turn got his friends to wardec us back. During this whole time we were acting pretty ornery towards the rest of the militia as well and essentially burned our bridges with the rest of the militia one at a time. Eventually nearly everyone had hopped on the “Locus hater” bandwagon so some more wardecs were thrown back and forth including KOTMC and some carebear highsec alt corp of theirs, and Invelious’ proto-Star Fraction alliance.”

Some have drawn similarities between this current predicament and the events surrounding the Heretic Army’s fall from grace from the Minmatar militia. Heretic Army had been at one time a well-respected central corporation in the Minmatar militia but eventually boredom and other factors led to them turning on and eventually leaving the militia for a life of piracy.

Minmatar Fleet Clashes with Pirates; 3 Carriers Downed

Minmatar forces clashed with local pirates in Sahtogas yesterday, an engagement which saw three pirate carriers destroyed (Minmatar KB).

Events began early in the evening as a general Amarr Miltia fleet of battlecruisers and light support were seen moving around the Dal area.  Responding to this presence, the Ice Fire Warriors-led “LateNite” fleet deployed a similar force to engage the invaders.  Shortly after undocking to maneuver into an engagement,  however, the Amarr fleet disappeared from the area, returning to their home systems of Huola and Sahtogas.  With the lack of any immediate resistance, the Minmatar fleet traveled to the Sahtogas system in hopes of catching them on their way.

They were surprised, on arrival to find a pirate Proteus-class strategic cruiser on the Oyonata gate, which immediately attacked the Minmatar forward scout.  In response, the Minmatar fleet quickly moved in, deploying on both sides of the gate to prevent his escape.  Shortly after the Proteus pilot realized he was unable to escape, a pirate Archon-class carrier entered and began providing logistics support for the T3 pilot.

Within minutes, additional forces in the form of several battlecruisers, another Archon, Thanatos, and Nidhogger, some belonging to Amarr and some to suspected Amarrian-aligned pirates, the Dragoon Federation alliance, arrived to assist the tackled Archon.  Supported by two Scimitar-class logistics, the Minmatar were able to hold out against them while waiting for their own capital response.  This came in the form of two Revelations, a Phoenix, two Thanatos, and an Archon.  Obviously outgunned and outnumbered, the mixed Amarr-Dragoon Federation fleet hastily deployed a Scorpion and Falcon, which were destroyed in a successful effort to free the Amarr Nidhogger.

Once fighting had ceased, the Minmatar fleet began cleaning the field of debris, only to be interrupted by a separate Amarr battleship fleet led by Predator Elite.  Caught off guard and expecting the Amarr FC to have supercarrier support on standby, the Minmatar fleet decided to withdraw rather than engage, with minimal losses in the escape.  Overall, the Minmatar destroyed a total of 4.87 billion isk in enemy assets, while receiving less than 400 million ISK in losses in return.  This event is a tremendous turnaround from the “LateNite” fleet’s four capital losses to Locus Industries exactly a week ago.

Amarr Militia drops Supercarrier; loses bait Bhaalgorn

In an upsetting turn of events, a supercarrier hotdrop maneuver executed by Predator Elite resulted in the loss of his Bhaalgorn with most Minmatar ships escaping the subsequent capital trap. (Amarr KB Link; Minmatar KB Link).

Prior to the hotdrop, Minmatar and Amarr fleets had skirmished in Auga and Amamake, beginning with an Amarr militia BC fleet being attacked and largely decimated by a Minmatar battleship fleet which was “accidently” fielded when Minmatar forces, believing themselves outnumbered, ended up bringing as many battleships as their enemies had battlecruisers.

Several minutes later Amarr forces returned in their own battleship force, with Militia FC Predator Elite leading the charge in a Bhaalgorn-class faction battleship. This prompted Minmatar forces, according to one source, to investigate Huola for signs of Amarr capital ship activity. One Amarr carrier was spotted.

Surprise was on Amarr’s side however as after entering Siseide and waiting for their enemies on the Auga gate, they jumped into the roughly equal-sized Minmatar fleet and almost immediately lit a cyno, which brought in not only a carrier but a Nyx-class supercarrier. Despite the show of force however, a last-minute decision to “suicide gank” Predator Elite’s Bhaalgorn proved a success with the FC’s ship going down, followed by an immediate Minmatar withdrawl. A Dominix and two Raven-class battleships were caught and destroyed.

Predator Elite according to sources indicated surprise that Minmatar forces sacrificed their ships to kill his. Minmatar forces indicated that the destruction of a 1.3 billion ISK faction battleship was worth the loss of approximately 250 million ISK worth of ships on their part.

The Latest News

Not much has happened since our last article, so I will truncate the more minor events to keep you up-to-speed.

• Sporadic small-gang skirmishes continue to dominate the Minmatar-Amarr warzone with both sides trading blows. The European timezone period, lasting approximately from 11:00 (downtime) to 24:00, is typically dominated by the Amarr Militia, while the remaining period from 24:00 to 11:00 is usually dominated by Ice Fire Warriors-led “LateNite” fleets.
• Tensions in the Amarr Militia appear to have increased with corporations Locus Industries [LOSER] declaring war against Knights of the Merciful Crown [KOTMC]. This comes after a botched attempt by KOTMC to kill several Locus members by GCCing in Huola. KOTMC lost over 500 million ISK worth of ships and assets in the attempt, most notably  a heavily faction-fitted Rapier, to no reported losses for Locus. The attack was prompted by accusations from KOTMC members that a Locus fleet stole loot from them after a battle the previous day, as well as an incident in which a Locus member destroyed a KOTMC assault frigate just hours before the larger fight.
• Reports were received of a massive fight between Caldari and Gallente which involved nearly 300 pilots, including members of the Amarr and Minmatar militias who came to support their respective allies in the fight. After-action reports indicate a clear victory for Caldari forces, with some second-hand sources saying that Minmatar forces withdrew from the battle after a breakdown of communications with their Gallente allies. The Caldari-Gallente front is known for its massive fleet fights, which far surpass the much smaller 10-15 man fleet fights common on the Amarr-Minmatar front. Despite the 300 pilots involved in the fighting, only 3.5 billion ISK worth of ships and assets were destroyed.

That’s all for now. As usual, if you have any leads on fights and events taking place in either warzone, don’t hesitate to contact me with information.

Massive Fights in Kamela See Multiple Minmatar Caps Destroyed

A series of escalating fights has led to two massive battles in the Kamela Solar System tonight as Minmatar and Amarr forces squared off at the system’s Control Bunker.

Hostilities began earlier in the night as various small-scale skirmishes dominated the warzone from Auga to Huola. Predator Elite led an Amarrian fleet that traded blows with the Minmatar Late Nite fleet, each side seemingly taking turns poking into enemy territory, scuffling with local forces and then withdrawing back to their respective home systems.

Things escalated when Amarr pilots belonging to Locus Industries [LOSER] organized a corp fleet when the general Amarr fleet disbanded. They quickly deployed to Huola in an attempt to draw the Minmatar out of their home system. The Locus fleet, which numbered approximately 12 including two command ships, two battleships and two logistics, didn’t wait long before the Minmatar fleet — composed of about 20 pilots including 5 battleships and two logistics — arrived.

Fighting was brief with Locus managing only to destroy two of their targets while Minmatar forces managed to destroy every single ship with the exception of the two Logistics and one battleship, netting a total of approximately 1 billion ISK in destroyed ships while Minmatar forces lost only 40 million of assets. Locus FC Dake Darkstalker initially escaped the fight but not for long; his Sleipnir was destroyed several minutes after the fight when he was tackled by a thrifty Rifter who had burned into range unnoticed. The rest of the Minmatar fleet quickly warped in. Dake Darkstalker is reported as being uncharacteristically angry over the loss and the result of the fight, lambasting Minmatar forces in local chat and promising a hefty escalation. At that, Locus pilots returned to their home system of Auga to reship and continue the fight — with the inclusion of capital ships being assured by Locus.

Several minutes later Locus forces redeployed to the Kamela solar system in an all-battleship fleet numbering approximately 13. Tailed by Minmatar scouts, they were watched as they warped to the Control Bunker in the system and immediately deployed drones. According to reports the decision to force the fight on the Control Bunker was to ensure that neither side — whether Locus or Minmatar — would be able to escape the fight by jumping away or docking.

Minmatar forces rushing to organize a fleet capable of meeting the obvious and expected capital ship drop eventually began to trickle out of their home station before moving en masse into Kourmonen. Their fleet, numbering approximately 25 and composed primarily of seasoned Late Nite fleets — but also including “…some pilots not accustomed to the Late Nite fleet style and command structure” — initiated hostilities, jumping into Kamela and warping to the Control Bunker.

Immediately as they entered warp Locus forces lit their cyno, their two capital ships — two Archons piloted by grimreaper1988 and IndustrialBOB — appeared on grid as the Minmatar fleet landed, seconds later joined by a single Minmatar Archon piloted by dolmant. According to members of the Minmatar fleet a second Minmatar capital ship was supposed to have joined the fight but realized too late that they were outside of cyno range.

The fighting quickly reached its pinnacle of violence as two Minmatar and one Amarr battleship were destroyed. However as the two Locus Archons established themselves further Locus losses were averted, while heavy cap warfare initiated by them quickly reduced the Minmatar Archon to near-uselessness as Minmatar lost 5 more battleships and a battlecruiser. The Archon, devoid of its support, was then destroyed. Locus forces proceeded to clean up the field and celebrate their victory.

Their break wouldn’t last long however; several Locus members, ferrying loot to the station in-system, were aggressed by a handful of leftover Minmatar forces, causing several other Locus ships to head there in support. The move turned out to be a ruse, according to reports, as the Minmatar fleet jumped in. Having reshipped primarily to new battleships the Minmatar fleet warped to the Control Bunker, catching FC Dake Darkstalker alone and destroying him before Locus forces could return. As the rest of the Locus fleet landed and the battle started anew, another Minmatar cyno was deployed, bringing three Moros-class Dreadnoughts and two Thanatos-class carriers.

In the ensuing fight Locus forces again utilized superior cap warfare capability, quickly neuting out all three Moros’ just in time to save one of their Archons, which at its lowest was dropped to 44% structure damage before enough of the sieged Dreadnoughts’ capacitor was neutralized, allowing the Archon to regain rep stability. From that point Locus forces lost another two battleships, including a Scorpion caught outside of the fight by several fast T2 cruisers. That would be the extent of their losses however, with all three Moros’ along with 4 more battleships destroyed on the Minmatar side; quick action on the part of a Minmatar Falcon pilot allowed both Thanatos’ to slip from their tackles and warp out of the fight. (Minmatar KB Link; Amarr KB Link; Locus KB Link)

In total, Minmatar forces lost a staggering 9 billion ISK in the fight, including three Dreadnoughts, a Carrier, 11 battleships, 1 battlecruiser,  and 1 Recon; while Locus forces lost 4 battleships and two non-Locus Amarr frigates for a total of approximately 480 million ISK.

This is by far one of the largest fights in ISK destroyed seen on the Minmatar-Amarr front, particularly over the last 6-12 months which have seen a marked decrease in the average size of fleets, a stark difference from the 50-70 man gangs that were the norm a year ago. In contrast to this however is the heavy increase in capital ship use. Whether these two trends are due to balance changes CCP has made over the past year or simply a random occurence is ultimately unknown and subject to opinion.

 

Battle Royale in Auga

Auga was the scene of more spaceship violence as Locus Industries [LOSER] and the Minmatar Late Nite fleet butted heads on the Siseide gate. (Amarr KB Link; Minmatar KB Link)

It began as the Locus Industries gang returned from a missioning campaign in Metropolis (described in a previous post on the blog), running into a disorganized Minmatar force in Auga which already included at least one battleship and several battle cruisers, with more spotted elsewhere in the system. Locus Industries pilots, under the command of CEO Dake Darkstalker, rallied into battleships and pursued the Minmatar fleet to the Siseide gate. Outgunned the Minmatar fleet made the logical decision to ship up themselves, while Locus members held position on the stargate.

After several minutes the battle began as if a pre-planned event as the Minmatar fleet warped in. Initially Locus Industries seemed to be gaining the upper hand as they killed several battleships in short order with no initial losses. Numbers were not on their side however, and as Minmatar Logistics support in the form of two Scimitars arrived and established themselves and more reinforcements arriving the tide quickly turned to the Minmatar force’s favor.

In true all-out-slugfest fashion, pilots on both sides returned to the fight after being destroyed in fresh ships, however numerical superiority on the side of the Minmatar meant a stronger continuous presence on-field; at several points in the fight the Amarr fleet was reduced to only one or two ships while others were in the process of returning, while Minmatar forces were able to keep a larger presence despite their losses.

The final blow came with the destruction of Dake Darkstalker’s Typhoon Fleet Issue which signalled the end of Locus resistance on the field. In all, Locus forces lost a total of 12 ships worth approximately 1.7 billion ISK, while Late Nite Minmatar forces lost a total of 11 ships worth approximately 1 billion ISK.

Animosity was low between the combatants post-fight, with one Minmatar pilot quoted as saying “That was one of the more solid fights we’ve had. Even number of pilots, no backup, no caps.” While there were no capitals or backup fleets called in during the fight, both killboards report a total of 9 Amarr pilots and 16 Minmatar pilots involved in the fight. Locus Industries pilot Zverofaust replied to the statement, saying “It’s an accurate count. One of our pilots is worth two of theirs.”

 

A Night On The Town: Locus Industries PvE Fleet Tears Through Metropolis

by Zverofaust
Tonight was an interesting night to say the least. I logged on at roughly 8pm EST to find that my Locus comrades were in the midsts of organizing a PvE fleet to storm some L4 FW missions. Naturally, enjoying the company of my good friends, I decided to join them, and there’s where our journey began…

After half an hour or so of buzzing around the Bleak Lands picking up missions from the top agents we headed out in a rag-tag group of shield ‘canes, Drakes, a Sleipnir and an Ishtar. Our first stop: Lulm. Before we even got started though, our very first jump — from Auga, our rally point, to Amamake — turned out to have a surprise as we found ourselves in the midsts of a rather large Heretic Army fleet in the process of ganking some poor schmuck. “Oh shit, we just jumped into a giant Heretic fleet” yelled Dake in alarm. They had plenty enough to massacre us; a bunch of battlecruisers and recons and their usual triple Scimitars.

Fate is a fickle bitch however and it appeared that our sudden run-in was as much a shock to the Heretics as it was to us, as they quickly began to warp off in complete rout. Perplexed, the order was quickly given to tackle whatever we could — which turned out to be a Huginn and a Rapier, which died in a glorious fire.

Cutting our losses we quickly went on our way before the Heretics could retaliate. Lulm awaited, and we quickly dashed those NPC haulers and Field Commanders and continued, sneaking back through Amamake and into Siseide and Lantorn to tackle two more missions.

Those done, we headed for Dal and Metropolis — and another run-in with the ‘Tics. Susan Black, Locus’ resident blonde-trapped-in-a-brunette’s-body, managed to get herself caught by the Heretic fleet that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, but still managed to escape by re-approaching the gate and jumping back into Lantorn.

After hitting Hofjaldgund and Eszur it was apparent the Heretics weren’t in pursuit so we continued our romp. Gebuladi, Ebolfer, Sirekur felt the bitter sting of Locus Industries elite PvE squadron.

By the time we hit Klogori we’d gone for at least 20 minutes without fighting an actual human being. Thankfully the Eve gods complied, sending us a beautiful GCC’d Onyx for us to kill. He was part of a moderate-sized neutral cruiser/BC gang that ditched their friend and ran for their lives.

More PvE; the Minmatar Republic will surely be sent staggering by the ferocity of our lightning assaults. With 4 battlecruisers, a command ship and a HAC — all nano’d — we tore through Metropolis like shit through a goose. And throughout, Susan’s corp title rang truer than ever as she consistently showed up late to mission after mission, landing just as we headed off to the next.

Finally, after 2-3 hours of living the high life, we were done. People started trickling back towards Auga, when suddenly a report of a neutral gang in Egmar. It appeared the Onyx pilot had gotten some friends and shipped up — we counted a Nighthawk, Tengu, Brutix, Rupture, Loki and Rifter. By the time we finally regrouped they had spotted us and swooped in for the attack — a vicious assault spearheaded by their Tengu, which unfortunately died in a shameful fire of humiliation before the rest of his fleet had even aggressed. One by one the rest fell; the Loki escaped but the Nighthawk and everything else burned. No Locus Industries members were harmed in the making of that travesty.

Looting the field we quickly continued on our way, only to be immediately informed of yet another pirate fleet on the Ardar-Hadozeko gates. This gang seemed much meatier; 3 Hurricanes, a Prophecy, a Phobos, a Maelstrom and a Falcon.

Again the clarion call of battle was sounded and Locus Industries dove into the attack. Honourable warrior grimreaper1988 was felled in his Harbinger, but the three Hurricanes, the Prophecy and the Maelstrom were destroyed — the last two after they deaggressed and jumped into Ardar, where bold warrior Inora Aknaria lay in wait (after completely pussying out of the fight and jumping into Ardar the moment he started getting shot — a true execution of the Faust Maneuver).

Finally our PvE op came to a close. In total we amassed approximately 600,000 loyalty points between us after a total of roughly 35 missions, and ended up destroying somewhere in the vicinity of 1,627,000,000 worth of stuff. Not bad for a missioning fleet.

Zverofaust is a member of Locus Industries [LOSER], one of the more successful Amarr Militia corporations. FW Report thanks him for contributing this interesting and entertaining story.