Providence Fight Club: G-5EN2 23.4.2015

G-5EN2 system, Providence region. On the 23rd of April, at 20:00 EVE Standard Time, Providence Bloc forces clashed with Northern Coalition(dot) [NC] in a bloody battle that left 7 Archon Carriers dead on the field.

Since their defeat in the Fountain-Delve war, [NC] has withdrawn from Null Security space to the Hasateem system in the Derelik region. From there it has been harassing Providence Bloc, in particular contesting the G-5EN2 system, which serves as one of the major gateways into the region.

This marked the third time in the week that [NC] has deployed Sovereignty Blockade Units in the system. and while previous engagements proved to be small to medium in scale, this time the ante was raised.

An [NC] fleet, comprised of around 114 pilots, mostly in Loki Strategic Cruisers and with no less than 7 Triage Carriers entered the G-5EN2 system through the 9-F0B2 gate as the Sovereignty Blockade Units came online.

Providence Bloc answered the provocation with an overwhelming show of force, bringing almost 500 pilots to the system divided into 5 fleets: The main fleet was a 205 pilots strong Proteus Strategic Cruiser fleet, supported by 2 Ishtar Assault Cruiser fleets (one of which fielded by Providence Bloc’s long time enemy, Spectre Fleet), a Goku (Uncloaked Stealth Bombers who remain on grid) wing and an ordinary Stealth Bomber wing.

The two forces met each other on the Assah gate in the G-5EN2 system, as the Loki fleet landed at zero on the Proteus fleet’s Logistics wing. Immediately a brutal exchange took place, as Providence Bloc and [NC] slugged it out in close range. Providence Bloc lost nearly half their Logistics wing in the exchange, but managed to take down a few Lokis for their losses. However, the Triage remote repairs proved to be overwhelming, keeping most of the [NC] fleet alive.

The Two Forces Engaged on the Assah Gate

As the exchange continued, a decision was made to switch to the Triage Archons. This was done in order to get the Lokis to aggress on the fielded Proteus, allowing Providence Bloc to bring in their own Triage Carriers. Yet, the damage output of Providence Bloc proved to be so overwhelming, that the first pair of Triage Archons was destroyed with a couple of minutes, prompting the [NC] force to attempt a retreat, burning back to the Assah gate.

Pandemic Legion forces entered the system around this time, flying a Muninn Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet, some 40 pilots strong and an equal sized Maulus Frigate e-war fleet piloted by their newbie friendly alliance, Pandemic Horde.

The force attempted to help the [NC] fleet but was bombed mercilessly by the Providence Bloc bomber wing, and forced off field. At the same time, Providence Bloc managed to destroy another Archon, as well as bubble the rest. Thus the [NC] Loki fleet was forced to jump out to Low Security Space, or risk total annihilation, leaving the rest of the Archons to be destroyed by Providence Bloc, who now had Heavy Interdiction Cruisers to keep them trapped.

Archon Wrecks Drifting Forlornly on the Assah Gate as the Fighting Continues

With the last Archon destroyed and both Pandemic Legion and [NC] on the run, Providence Bloc cleared the field and returned to their staging system.

Battle report for the G-5EN2 system can be found here.

During the peak of the fighting, the G-5EN2 system hosted 700 pilots, with Time Dilation proving to be a factor, as it spiked and subsided throughout the battle.

NCdot and its allies lost 97 ships, totaling 28 Bil ISK in damages, including 7 Triage Carriers. Providence Bloc lost only 81 ships, a total of 8 Bil ISK damage sustained.

As Null Security space adjusts to the recent political upheavals and wait in abated breath to the Sovereignty Warfare changes, the Providence region will probably become ever more busy, as the number one place to get a fight now that BNI had vacated Catch.

Special thanks to ISD for providing the screenshots.

Providence Fight Club: 9UY4-H 21.3.2015

9UY4-H system, Providence region. On the night of the 21st of March, 3 fleets clashed violently in the system, leading to a prolonged battle which saw Providence Bloc’s defeat at the hands of the NPSI community.

The battle started when a combined force of Spectre Fleet and RvB Ganked, some 190 pilots strong entered Providence region in 2 fleets. The first was a Heavy Interdictor fleet with robust Logistics wing and Triage Carrier support, some 115 pilots strong, while the second fleet was mainly Ishtar Heavy Assault Cruisers and Vexor Navy Issue Cruisers fleet, encompassing the rest of the pilots

The NPSI Fleet Anchoring Before the Battle

The force made its way down the pipe from the Assah system, Derelik region, when it ran head first to a Providence Bloc Apocalypse Navy Issue Battleship fleet, some 80 pilots strong, which sat on the 4B-NQN gate at zero. The NPSI fleets immediately anchored up and engaged Providence Bloc.

The fighting was fierce, with the NPSI fleet targeting Providence Bloc’s Logistics wing, while the latter was focusing damage on mainline ships. The exchange saw both forces lose ships, when at last Providence Bloc brought in Triage Carriers to supplement their Logistics wing. At this point the NPSI fleet was unable to break the tank of the mainline ships and was forced to call Triage Carriers of its own.

The two forces continued to brawl, but with so many Triage Carriers on field, no side was able to break the tank of the other. Instead, the NPSI fleet decided to focus fire on the Triage Carriers themselves. When the first one was destroyed, the rest of the Carriers were forced to exit their Triage mode in order to catch remote repairs and tank the incoming damage, managing to survive.

However, this proved to be fatal for the rest of the Providence Bloc fleet. Without the power of the Triage Carriers’ remote repairs, the Navy Issue Apocalypses were destroyed one after the other.

With their damage dwindling and their losses mounting, Providence Bloc decided to concede the field, with its Battleships using their Micro Jump Drives to create distance before warping off. However, this left the Triage Carriers behind. Two of them were unable to jump out and were destroyed by the NPSI fleet.

The 9UY4-H Fight from the Perspective of Providence Bloc (Provided by Mangraa Dementia)

At this point, the NPSI fleet evacuated its own Triage Carriers, as reports came of a Pandemic Legion fleet closing in on their location. The Pandemic Legion fleet was around 70 pilots strong, mainly in Proteus Strategic Cruisers. It arrived into system just as the last NPSI Carrier managed to jump out of system.

The 9UY4-H Fight from the Perspective of the NPSI Fleet’s Triage Carrier

With the Carriers safely extracted, the NPSI fleet decided to retreat to the 4B-NQN system, and re-organize on the other side, resolved to keep on fighting, but in a more favorable position. Pandemic Legion pursued it, after nabbing stragglers in the 9UY4-H system, and jumped into the 4B-NQN system. An intense battle soon erupted on the 9UY4-H gate between the two fleets.

Yet, this engagement proved to be a short and one sided affair. The NPSI fleet tried to concentrate fire on the Logistics wing of Pandemic Legion, managing to destroy two of them before remote repairs could hold. At this point Pandemic Legion had their own Triage Carrier on the field, and were quickly decimating the remnants of the Heavy Interdictor fleet, whose Logistics wing was half spent from its previous battle.

The Ishtar fleet, which was anchored further away from the main fighting, decided to disengage and withdraw, exiting the region to the marginal safety of Low Security space without incurring further losses.

With the Heavy Interdictor fleet destroyed, and no more hostiles to challenge it, the Pandemic Legion fleet made its way home, safely extracting its own Triage Carrier and arriving safely to its staging system without any more losses.

Battle report for the 9UY4-H system can be found here.
Battle report for the 4B-NQN system can be found here.

Time Dilation proved to be a factor in the fighting, peaking at 60% and remaining around that region for a part of the fight. The system did not host more than 300 pilots at the peak of fighting. The battle on its two parts lasted 1 hour in total.

Providence Bloc lost 56 ships, including 3 Archon Carriers for a total sum of 17 Bil ISK damages. The NPSI fleet lost 38 ships in the first engagement, for 7 Bil ISK damages, and 26 ships and 8 Bil ISK damages in the second. Pandemic Legion lost only 3 ships, for a total ISK damage of half a Bil.

All told, the battle proved to be a fascinating game of rock-paper-scissors, as the NPSI fleet managed to destroy the Providence Bloc fleet, only in turn being destroyed by the Pandemic Legion fleet.

Regardless, this fight continues to prove that the Providence region is still one of the most violent, and active regions in Null Security space.

Special thanks to Apex Aubaris, of Hoover Inc(dot), Pandemic Legion for granting an interview, and Mangraa Dementia, of Blue Tridents, Sev3rance for the video of the fight.

Providence Fight Club: The Spectre of Ivy League H6-CX8 15.3.2015

H6-CX8 system, Providence region. On the night of the 15th of March, Providence Bloc forces clashed violently with forces of both Ivy League and Spectre Fleet, in a destructive three-way battle that left many wrecks on the 9UY4-H gate.

The battle began when an Ivy League fleet of mixed Armor Cruisers, some 60 pilots large entered the Providence region and made its way towards the 9UY4-H system. It was quickly intercepted by a 140 pilot strong Providence Bloc Drone Battleship\Battlecruiser fleet, which caught them on the 9UY4-H gate in the H6-CX8 system.

The two forces started brawling on the gate when a third fleet, belonging to the NPSI community Spectre Fleet entered the system as well. The Spectre Fleet force was mainly Ishtar Heavy Assault Cruisers, almost 60 pilots big.

The Isthars entered the system through the 9UY4-H system, straight into the brawl, and quickly burned away from the gate, anchoring at range from the two groups and dropping sentry drones of their own.

While Providence Bloc focused their attention on the Ivy League force, Spectre Fleet focused their attention on the Providence Bloc fleet. Quickly, Providence Bloc found itself unable to sustain the incoming Ishtars’ damage, losing Battleship after Battleship.

After a few bruising minutes, and with the Ivy League force completely decimated, Providence Bloc turned its full attention on the Spectre Fleet Ishtars. By this time, Spectre Fleet suffered only minor losses, but chose to disengage, as Providence Bloc kept re-shipping and reinforcing, thus choosing instead to momentarily retreat.

An attempt was made later in the 9UY4-H system to continue the fighting, but after a short exchange on the station, Spectre Fleet decided to completely withdraw, signaling the end of large scale

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
ZH-CN
HE

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”טבלה רגילה”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Rockwell”,”serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Rockwell;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Rockwell;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

hostilities in the region for that day.

Battle report of the H6-CX8 system can be found here.

View of the Battle from Spectre Fleet’s Perspective

All in all, 113 ships were destroyed in the fighting, with a total of 18 Bil ISK of damages suffered by the three parties. Time Dilation seemed to not factor at all in the fighting, with the system’s local hosting no more than 300 pilots at the peak of fighting. The entire course of the battle took only 30 minutes from start to finish.

If anything, the battle proved once more how effective the Ishtar doctrine is, and how overpowered it still is, compared to the other fleet compositions of EVE Online.

Special thanks for Apex Aubaris, of Hoover Inc(dot), Pandemic Legion, for granting an interview.

Breaking News: Care Factor Loses Five Carriers in G-B22J

G-B22J system, Providence region. On the night of the 22nd of November, Care Factor [C.F] lost five Carriers to the combined forces of WAFFLES(dot) [N0MAD] and Pandemic Legion [-10.0] in what is undoubtedly one of the costlier mistakes to be made by the Alliance in recent memory.

The chain of events that led to the tragic loss of the Carriers started with a [N0MAD] Cruiser gang roaming the Providence region. Since their deployment to the Sendaya system, it has become the custom of [N0MAD] to send fleets to the region in search of fights, with the night in question being no different.

The Cruiser gang, numbering twenty pilots with very light Logistics, came to the G-B22J system on its long journey, encountering very little resistance on the way. It lingered around the station undock for a while, catching a careless Caracal Navy Issue, but finding little prey besides. Preparing to leave the system, the gang gave chase to a Cerberus Heavy Assault Cruiser, while michael chasseur, who was a member of the fleet, kept watch on the station.

His vigilance was soon rewarded as he saw a Thanatos Carrier undock from the station. he then quickly sent the Carrier pilot an invitation to the fleet, a known trick that he used in the past to net quite a few kills. To his surprise, the pilot accepted the invitation. Not wasting a moment, michael chasseur quickly warped his squad, which now included the Carrier, to the second planet in the system, while reporting all of it to the Fleet Commander.

With the news of the Carrier in warp, the [N0MAD] gang quickly warped to the same planet, and deployed interdiction probes, trapping the Carrier as it landed. The [N0MAD] gang then started to quickly apply damage to the Carrier, while an Interdictor was ordered to set up interdiction probes towards the station. This was done in order to make sure reinforcements could not warp on top of the gang, and give aid to the tackled Carrier. This would later prove instrumental in not only separating the Carrier from any possible help, but also catching four more Carriers that warped to their fellow’s help.

Those four Carriers were caught by the interdiction probes, too far to lend help, as the Thanatos dipped into low armor. With the Thanatos destroyed, an attempt was made to tackle the other Carriers, catching two Archons, but allowing a Nidhoggur and a Thanatos to escape. Realizing the lack of damage on his side, as well as his dwindling number of Interdictors, the [N0MAD] Fleet Commander quickly pinged for reinforcements, alerting Pandemic Legion as well to the situation.

While Interceptors burned their way from [N0MAD]’s staging system to the fleet’s location, Pandemic Legion, which was fighting at the time a Providence Bloc Battlecruiser fleet nearby, quickly disengaged and set its destination to the G-B22J system, bringing a sixty pilots Ishtar Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet, mostly unscathed from the previous fight.

Down to their last Interdictor, [N0MAD]’s newly arrived Interceptors were sent to tackle individual carriers, holding them in place for the Pandemic Legion forces which were on route. The rest of the [N0MAD] fleet focused its attention on the trickling of hostile ships that kept warping to the aid of the tackled Carriers, to no avail. At this point, the two Carriers which previously escaped came back to help their friends, only to be tackled this time by the [N0MAD] Interceptors.

By the time the remnants of the Providence Bloc Battlecruiser fleet arrived to help, it was too late, as Pandemic Legion’s fleet was hot on its heels, arriving only a few seconds behind. Bolstered by Pandemic Legion’s numbers, [N0MAD] was able to clear the field of all the hostile support fleet, allowing both forces to finally turn their full attention to the tackled Carriers. One by one, the helpless Capitals succumbed to the onslaught.

With Providence Bloc soundly beaten and the Capitals destroyed, Pandemic Legion and [N0MAD] held the field, looting the wrecks before heading home, a little bruised but nonetheless victorious.

Full battle report for the G-B22J system can be found here.

The butcher’s bill saw one hundred and twenty-two ships destroyed, including five Carriers, for eighteen billion ISK in damages, the majority of which Providence Bloc’s.

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/_Osomp1wig8&source=uds

video of the fighting, warning, explicit language

Apparently, the tackled Care Factor Carriers did not at any point communicate with Providence Bloc and reported what was happening. Only the disengagement of Pandemic Legion and an incidental reporting tipped Providence Bloc to what was occurring in its very own backyard, too late to organize an effective relief force. This was not the first time either, that Care Factor had undocked ships in a display of force, only to end up losing them badly.

Care Factor’s leadership was reached for a comment through mutual channels, but so far has declined to give a response.

Special thanks to m4ster112, michael chausser and Yngstorm Felix, of SinggWaffe, WAFFLES(dot) for granting interviews.

Providence Fight Club: 9-F0B2 20.11.2014

9-F0B2 system, Providence region. On the 20th of November, Providence Bloc clashed head on with Spectre Fleet in a fight that saw more than a hundred ships destroyed, including an Archon Carrier.

The fight began when Providence Bloc and Spectre Fleet each formed for their respective scheduled operations. Providence Bloc had an eighty pilots Phantasm Cruiser fleet, while Spectre Fleet gathered a seventy pilots Gnosis Battlecruiser gang, with a triage Archon on standby.

Spectre Fleet was the first to be ready, and as its habit, traveled down to Providence to pick a fight. Coming from the Mendori system, it entered the Providence region through the Assah system.

WAFFLES(dot) [N0MAD] had information on the fleet’s movements and decided to shadow it, forming a twenty pilots Vexor Cruiser gang in turn. [N0MAD]’s fleet maintained a distance of a system between it and Spectre Fleet, attempting to keep up and waiting for a possible clash between it and another fleet.

Providence Bloc, it seems, decided to oblige [N0MAD]’s espectations, as it was given information of the Spectre Fleet’s existence when it entered the G-5EN2 system. Quickly, Providence Bloc moved its fleet in order to intercept the incoming hostiles.

However, the three fleets became aware of each other as Spectre Fleet arrived to the 4B-NQN gate in the 9-F0B2 system, learning of the awaiting Providence Bloc fleet in front of it, and the [N0MAD] gang sitting at its back.

For a while, all three fleets stood immobile, Spectre Fleet pulling range off the 4B-NQN gate, Providence Bloc doing the same for the 9-F0B2 Gate in the 4B-NQN system, and [N0MAD] waiting on the 9-F0B2 gate in the G-5EN2 system.

In the end, Spectre Fleet broke the stalemate first by warping to the top belt in the 9-F0B2 system, being Planet II Belt 1, at range, with Providence Bloc jumping in and immediately giving pursuit, warping to it and landing twenty kilometers from the Spectre Fleet force. With both parties on grid, an all out battle quickly erupted, as the two fleets slugged it out in close range.

A view from one of the Spectre Fleet members, showing the savagery of the battle

At this point, the [N0MAD] fleet jumped into the system and skirted around the battlefield, picking targets of opportunity. The two major forces meanwhile kept volleying Phantasms and Gnosis’ alike, exchanging ship for ship. As mainline ships were destroyed, Providence Bloc’s Logistics wing, which was far better equipped, managed to finally withstand the assault and stabilize the fleet’s ships. This left Spectre Fleet’s forces at a huge disadvantage, as they kept hemorrhaging ships, unable to sustain the damage.

A call was quickly made to lit a Cynosural beacon and land the triage Archon on field. With the Archon joining the decimated Logistics wing of Spectre Fleet, the loss of mainline ships finally stopped. Yet by now, most of Spectre Fleet’s force was in tatters, lacking the necessary damage output to break the tank of the Providence Bloc fleet. Furthermore, Providence Bloc had a continuous string of re-ships and reinforcements, which did not help the Spectre Fleet situation at all.

Saved by the Nick of Time: The difference created by the triage Archon for the Spectre Fleet

The only choices left for Spectre Fleet at this point, were to either attempt a withdrawal, or stay and be destroyed to the last. Choosing the former, an attempt was made to allow the Carrier to escape, destroying the tackle and Interdictors that were present near it on the field. However, a lone Providence Bloc Sabre Interdictor managed to get on top of the Archon and launch its interdiction probes, sealing its fate.

With his fleet decimated and Providence Bloc’s reinforcements continuing to arrive on field, the Spectre Fleet commander had no choice but to withdraw and leave the Carrier behind, extracting what remained of his fleet.

With the Carrier stranded in system, Providence Bloc managed to slowly but surely overcome its tank, and finally destroy it. At this point, [N0MAD]’s fleet decided to disengage as well, fearing that the Providence Bloc fleet would turn its attention to it now, as it was severely outnumbered and outgunned, choosing to retreat from the system while it still could.

The event ended with Providence Bloc claiming the field, as Spectre Fleet’s remaining forces limped out of the system, and [N0MAD]’s gang hastily returning to its staging system, after sustaining only light damage.

In the end, Providence Bloc lost fifty ships, for a total of five billion ISK in damages, while Spectre Fleet’s losses stand at sixty-three ships, and six billion ISK damages respectively. [N0MAD] lost only two ships, for approximately fifty million ISK in damages.

Battle report for the 9-F0B2 system can be found here.

All told the system hosted almost two hundred pilots at its peak, with Providence Bloc continuously re-shipping, and Time Dilation being a non-issue.

All Fleet Commanders agreed that 9-F0B2 was an enjoyable event, and hoped to see many more of its caliber in the future, as Providence Bloc continues to prove its importance as a major content generator in EVE Online

Special Thanks to Apex Aubaris, of Hoover Inc(dot), Pandemic Legion and Jin’taan, of Volition Cult, The Volition Cult for granting interviews.

News: D-GTMI System Captured by Providence Bloc

D-GTMI system, Providence region. On the 12th of November, the system fell into Providence Bloc’s hands without any further fighting.

Providence Bloc formed a forty pilot Ishtar Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet in anticipation of another skirmish over the contested system. However, for an unknown reason, Northern Coalition(dot) [NC], did not form for the timer.

With no opposition, Providence Bloc quickly reinforced their Ishtar fleet with Stealth Bombers, swelling it up to a hundred pilots, and quickly ground the station, and then the Territorial Claim Unit.

With the station in Providence Bloc’s hands, they anchored their own Territorial Claim Units at a safe tower and took down their Sovereignty Blockade Units. On the 13th of November, 3:09 EVE Standard Time, the system was officially claimed under Curatores Veritatis Alliance banner, effectively returning it to the fold of the coalition.

This marks the last system to be returned to Providence Bloc’s control, with the Northern Catch pocket falling under Providence Bloc’s sway just two weeks before.

News: Providence Bloc Loses Another Skirmish Over the D-GTMI System

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.

Northern Coalition took the D-GTMI system on the 27th of May, in order to create a vast jump bridge network, a highway to allow rapid fleet movement between Northern Associates holdings and the Delve region, which they have planned to conquer. However, with the Phoebe patch introducing jump fatigue mechanics and reduced jump ranges for most Capital ships, the plan had to be abondened.

Providence Bloc used the patch to finally take the initiative and deployed Sovereignty Blockade Units on the night of the 4th of November, 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.

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.

However, on the night of the 9th, the roles were reversed, as Providence Bloc brought a hundred and seventy pilot Ishtar fleet. Northern Coalition(dot) for its part brought a hundred and fifty Tengu fleet. Northern Coalition(dot)’s fleet was the first to arrive to the system, and positioned itself on the T-RPFU gate, the expected entry point of Providence Bloc.

Providence Bloc for its part, did not oblige and chose not to jump to the awaiting Tengus, positioning itself on the D-GTMI gate in the T-RPFU system and deploying sentry drones. Northern Coalition(dot) decided instead of waiting, to jump into the system and engage Providence Bloc on the gate.

What followed was a short and brutal skirmish on the D-GTMI gate. Providence Bloc managed to score a few early kills as the Tengus and Scimitars uncloaked and were volleyed, but as the Northern Coalition(dot) fleet anchored up, it was able to tank the incoming damage, and started focusing fire. One after the other, Ishtars and Navy Issue Vexors were removed from the field.

Providence Bloc continued to fight for a few minutes, but once Pandemic Legion jumped into the system, in an eighty pilot Tengu fleet of their own, accompanied by a WAFFLES(dot) bomber wing, it was time to concede defeat. The fleet beat a hasty retreat, just as Pandemic Legion forces arrived on the grid. An attempt was made to chase the fleeing Providence Bloc forces, with little success.

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.

News: Providence Bloc Loses a Station Upgrade Platfrom to Pandemic Legion

XHQ-7V system, Providence region. On the 14th of October, a Pedestal Upgrade Platform deployed by Yulai Federation was destroyed by forces belonging to Pandemic Legion.

The Providence region is one of the most densely populated regions in Null Security space, and boasts the greatest amount of outposts. Thus, its inhabitants are well versed in the laying and upgrading of outposts. The scheduled operation to increase the upgrade slots for the Amarrian outpost in XHQ-7V seemed no different than the countless others done in the past.

As usual, Providence Bloc forces kept a tight lip on the operation, locking down the system with mobile warp disruptors, Interceptors and Interdictors, as well as having a fleet on standby to intercept any hostile forces. The Pedestal Upgrade Platform, nicknamed “Egg” due to its shape, was deployed an hour before the scheduled daily server maintenance and slowly filled with the needed materials. It seemed as though this would be another boring, unexciting operation, yet things ended quite differently than expected.

Disaster stroke in the final hauling run. With a last load of materials en route to fill the Egg and the scheduled downtime approaching fast, the Freighter pilot experienced connection issues and disconnected from the game. Before the pilot could log back in and transfer the last batch of materials, the server went down for its routine maintenance.

Once it was back online, it turned out to have created a bug concerning the Egg. The materials stored in it prior to the scheduled downtime vanished, and trying to add the last batch did nothing to trigger its conversion into an upgrade slot, nor could it now be un-anchored and scooped back in. To their despair, the pilots of Yulai Federation found that their upgrade had been lost to the whims of the Tranquility server.

At this point, Providence Bloc attempted to turn a positive from a negative, and use the Egg as a magnate for hostiles, hoping to bait an enemy fleet or two. For this, they prepared a Zealot Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet of forty pilots and waited patiently for prey to bite. However, their bait turned out to be too successful, as it attracted the attention of Pandemic Legion.

Two squadrons of Motherships descended upon the system and proceeded the engulf the Egg in a cloud of drones. Unable to counter this display of force, Providence Bloc resorted to using the opportunity to practice bombing runs upon the drone cloud. Several Stealth Bombers though, were unlucky enough to get caught by the Motherships and quickly dispatched.

Attempted bombing run carried by Providence Bloc

Besides the odd bombing run, no incidents were recorded except a lone Drake Battlecruiser who seemed intent on challenging the Pandemic Legion force head on. It showed a display of bravery rarely seen in EVE Online, before being dispatched as well by the now amused pilots of Pandemic Legion.

After half an hour from their initial appearance in the system, Pandemic Legion forces destroyed the Egg and exited without further incident.

View of the Pandemic Legion fleet and the Egg from the outpost

The estimated loss of the Egg and the components is valued at ten billion ISK, however no kill mail was generated (A known issue with such structures). Regardless, it seems members of Providence Bloc took the loss in good spirit. Hopefully, their next upgrade operation will go more smoothly.

Special thanks to Rufus Britton, of Globaltech Industries, Yulai Federation Alliance for supplying the details of the event.

Providence Fight Club: 25.9.2014

On the 25th of September, Providence Bloc successfully fought Pandemic Legion and Specter Fleet in two separate engagements, both in Low and Null Security space.

The first engagement was with Pandemic Legion Alliance. Providence Bloc fielded a one hundred and thirty pilot Tengu class Strategic Cruiser fleet, with quite a few Ferox class Battlecruisers mixed in amongst other ships. The fleet was making its way towards Low Security space when it caught the attention of Pandemic Legion, who attempted to bridge on top of it several times, chasing it all the way to the Assah system in the Derelik region.

Pandemic Legion finally bridged into the Assah system its own Strategic Cruiser fleet, mainly Proteus\Legion class ships, fifty pilot strong. Yet Providence Bloc managed to jump to the neighboring system of Gomati and setup on the Assah gate, waiting for Pandemic Legion’s fleet to jump into them. Pandemic Legion did just that, encountering Providence Bloc head on the Assah gate. A brawl started, with both sides’ main doctrine ships holding firmly, though many support and logistics ships were lost on the Providence Bloc side.

However the stalemate was quickly broken when an error on the part of the Logistics anchor on Pandemic Legion’s side caused the Logistic wing to drift out of range of the main fleet. This allowed Providence Bloc to destroy many of the Strategic Cruisers, as they were now out of Remote Repair range, with one of the first targets being the fleet anchor. This only added to the chaos, ensuring more loses for Pandemic Legion. With too many ships lost, Pandemic Legion was forced to concede the field, after losing approximately a fifth of its force.

Fixed Battle Report for the Gomati system can be found here.

With the Providence Bloc fleet now making its way back to its staging system, reports came of a Specter fleet camping a gate in the XHQ-7V system in the Providence region. The fleet was around thirty pilot strong, a mix of Tech I Cruisers, and situated on the KBP-7G gate. A bait ship was sent in first in order for the hostiles to aggress, thus preventing them from jumping out of the system.

This turned out to work too well, when one of the enemy ships lit a Cynosural beacon and let in a Nidhoggur class Carrier on the field. At this point Providence Bloc jumped into the system in full force to quickly eliminate the Specter fleet and the now present Carrier. Most of the Specter fleet was tackled and then annihilated, with the Carrier dispatched unceremoniously.

Fixed Battle Report for the XHQ-7V system can be found here.

After this second battle Providence Bloc forces returned to their staging system and finally stood down.

In total, Providence Bloc caused the destruction of thirty six ships and ten billion ISK in damages in the two engagement, but suffered in return forty one losses and three billion ISK in damages as well.

Special thanks to Wrik Hoover, of Hoover Inc(dot) Corporation, Pandemic Legion Alliance, Fournone, of Pyromaniacs Anonymous Corporation, corebloodbrothers of Volition Cult Corporation, The Volition Cult Alliance and Blood Siphon, of The Ostrogoths Corporation, Curatores Veritatis Alliance for granting me interviews.

Providence Fight Club: UL-7I8 29.7.2014

UL-7I8 system, Catch region. On the 29th of July, Providence Bloc fought two long battles in order to secure the system from HERO Coalition forces, backed up by The Unthinkables Alliance.

The first engagement took place near the ERVK-P gate, where Providence Bloc forces, numbering around a hundred and sixty pilots in Vexor class Cruisers, were taking down one of the Sovereignty Blockade Units deployed by Brave Collective Alliance in the system. HERO Coalition itself arrived in a one hundred and ten Moa class Cruiser fleet, and a fight developed.

While the two forces exchanged fire, and the fight was leaning ever more steadily towards Providence Bloc’s victory, The Unthinkables Ishtar class Heavy Assault Cruiser gang, numbering fifty ships, joined the fray on HERO Coalition’s side, and quickly set to work destroying Providence Bloc’s logistics wing. With their logistics gone, Providence Bloc forces started losing ground, and a decision was made to retreat in order to re-ship and re-supply.

The fixed battle report can be found here.
The summary of the battle can be found here.

Upon returning to the system, Providence Bloc forces discovered it was nearly empty, with only a hostile bomber gang around to harass them. However, information was received that The Unthinkables were planning a return to the system, re-shipping to Tengu class Strategic Cruisers, alongside HERO Coalition forces. In order to counter this threat, Providence Bloc forces decided to change their fleet composition and retreat from the system. After a second re-form, Providence Bloc returned to the system in a one hundred and thirty Prophecy class Battlecruiser fleet, only to find the enemy already waiting in it.

The decision was made to engage the enemy regardless, and Providence Bloc entered the system through the OXIY-V gate, where the second battle soon flared up. In order to help in the work of logistics, two Thanatos class Carriers were brought into the system by Providence Bloc. With the battle raging on the gate, Providence Bloc forces found themselves losing ground again, their Carriers tackled. The Unthinkables Tengu fleet, backed up by HERO Coalition’s Moa fleet, managed to destroy the two Carriers, leaving the Providence Bloc without the backbone of its logistics capabilities. Thus, the Providence Bloc fleet was quickly decimated.

The fixed battle report can be found here.
The summary of the battle can be found here.

This second battle saw the end of hostilities in the system, allowing Providence Bloc forces to remove the Sovereignty Blockade Units using bombers, thus securing the system again. All in all, it is estimated that Providence Bloc lost more than a hundred and ten ships, and received a total of twelve billion ISK in damages. This is in some ways a repeat of the T-RPFU battle, in which the strategic objective was secured, but at the cost of two tactical defeats.

This battle joins a long list of engagements in which Providence Bloc found itself outnumbered by HERO Coalition and The Unthinkables team up, which in turn led many people within Providence to criticize HERO Coalition, calling it an extension of the N3 Coalition.

Though HERO Coalition and N3 Coalition are diplomatically neutral, sources within HERO Coalition have confirmed collaborations between certain Fleet Commanders in Brave Collective Alliance and N3 entities, calling them abnormalities and laying the blame at the feet of those Fleet Commanders, whom they claim, are not in any way representing of HERO Coalition’s diplomatic stance.

Regardless, this battle, alongside the T-RPFU engagement a few days before it, seem to be souring HERO Coalition’s reputation in the Providence region, and making many wonder at what the future may hold for the two coalitions.