Tag: Spaceship Samurai

Providence Fight Club: E-YJ8G 18.3.2014

“Station Games” are a favorite of many EVE Players in Null Security and Low Security space. Often involving the undocking of ships with a large amount of Hit Points, and sitting in the docking range of a station. This allows them to comfortably soak the damage of an enemy fleet, while maintaining the opportunity to dock up at the first sign of troubles. Many a roaming gang have been exasperated by this tactic, which is usually meant more to delay attackers in order for a counter fleet to form, or just plain annoyance. The Carrier class of ships has been a particular favorite in this type of Peek-A-Boo games.


However, there are times when “Station Games” go horribly awry, and this is the tale of one of those instances. 

Fardendur, of W.A.S.P, Curatores Veritatis Alliance, is a known Providence-Bloc Fleet Commander, who spearheads the Black Ops division of said coalition. In his travels through the Catch region, he stumbled upon an Archon class Carrier in the E-YJ8G system, piloted by Grozny Ivan, of Imperial Guardians, Spaceship Samurai Alliance. Said Archon was sitting at the docking range of the E-YJ8G station, and willingly aggressed Fardendur. At the time, Fardendur did not have enough pilots in order to make a successful Covert Ops drop, so he declined to engage. On the eighteenth of March, however, things were very much different than that initial engagement.


After a failed drop attempt earlier in the day, Fardendur made his way in a bait ship to the E-YJ8G system, Catch region, in order to see if the Archon would still be there. To his delight, the Archon was sitting on the station, almost daring him to engage. Of course, playing the part of the bait, Fardendur acted reluctant, trying to coax the Carrier pilot into a more even fight, and even running away, warping to a safe spot, once the Carrier did engage him.


Instead, he was contacting Ladel Teravada, of Caldari Independent Navy Reserve, The Fourth District Alliance, in order to quickly form a few Dreadnaught class ships together into a fleet, in order to have enough damage on the field to destroy the Carrier. Fardendur himself had a Dreadnaught in his fleet, besides the two Carriers in reserve for logistics support, as is the case for most Black Ops fleets. Warping back to the station and trying to bump the Carrier off it, Fardendur managed to get the Carrier to aggress him fully, thus denying the Carrier pilot the ability to dock his ship for one minute.


However, Fardendur had to wait a little while to lit his cynosural beacon, as the location did not seem suitable to Ladel Teravada. After a few more moments maneuvering, Fardendur activated his cynosural generator, creating a cynosural beacon and allowing the fleet to jump to his position. Immediately, the Dreadnaughts entered into Siege mode, which multiplies their damage output by seven-hundred(!) percent, at the cost of their mobility and ability to jump out, and started firing their devastating volleys at the Carrier, with the Stealth Bombers adding their own considerable fire power to the mix.


At this point, the Carrier pilot tried to de-aggress, thinking he might save his ship in time. In what he later called a close race, the Carrier could not sustain the incoming damage, and before the minute was done, had succumbed to the damage poured onto it by the Providence-Bloc fleet. Once the Carrier’s lifeless wreck floated before him, Fardendur had the rest of the fleet disperse and cloak, while the Carriers transferred capacitor to the Dreadnaughts, who were finishing their Siege cycle, so that they may jump out as soon as possible. Without further incident, the Black Ops fleet and their Capital ship escorts managed to safely extract back to their staging system.

The Carrier pilot himself, Grozny Ivan, told in a later interview that he knew Fardendur was probably acting as a trap, but engaged him willingly, thinking he would have the time to dock in the worst case scenario, which proved untrue. Outside of that, he does not regret his decision to play “Station Games”, which he did mainly out of boredom, between Carrier fleets. Once he was engaged and started to take considerable damage, he did not call for help, as he did not wish for his alliance to risk more assets due to what he admitted, was his mistake. After he lost his ship, he gave proper recognition to the Providence-Bloc fleet for their successful operation.


Fardendur wished to commend the following pilots for their part in the fleet: Dylan Chan, of GeoCorp(dot), Curatores Veritatis Alliance, for fueling services rendered, republicov, of treu republic, Silent Infinity Alliance, and Wyrm Alnaden, of W.A.S.P, Curatores Veritatis Alliance, for acting as secondary bait and co-Fleet Commanders.


Special thanks are in order for Fardendur, of W.A.S.P, Curatores Veritatis Alliance and Grozny Ivan, of Imperial Guardians, Spaceship Samurai Alliance for granting me interviews.

Breaking News: SOLAR FLEET Avatar Class Titan Destroyed in 9-8GBA [Updated]

A SOLAR FLEET Alliance Avatar class Titan was destroyed today by a combined N3 capital and sub-capital force in the 9-8GBA system, Catch region. An Against ALL Authorities Alliance Tengu fleet was attacking a Territorial Claim Unit belonging to Spaceship Samurai Alliance in the system, however, a Thanatos class Carrier belonging to Hellz Hitman, of No-Mercy, Spaceship Samurai Alliance, kept repairing the Territorial Claim Unit. This prompted the members of SOLAR FLEET Alliance, who were present in the system, to drop a Titan on him, in order to destroy his ship and end his interference. Unknown to SOLAR FLEET, Pandemic Legion Alliance had already set their sights on the dropping on the Against ALL Authorities Fleet. Once the Titan landed on the grid, Pandemic Legion siezed the chance and lit their own cynosural beacon, tackling the Titan, who promptly melted away by the combined firepower of N3’s ships.


Contrary to initial reports, this was an accidental Titan kill, and not an organized affair. The Carrier pilot, Hellz Hitman, reported that this was not the first time SOLAR FLEET dropped super-capitals on the field in the 9-8GBA system. Two nights ago, Spaceship Samurai Alliance scouted the system, discovering it did not have an Infrastructure-Hub installed. Realizing this, they anchored a Tower near the Against ALL Authorities’ Territorial Claim Unit, and used four Carriers to destroyed it. However, afterwards, their operation was interrupted by SOLAR FLEET Alliance, who promptly jumped five super-capitals onto the field. Since the Carriers were not tackled, the Spaceship Samurai force managed to safely extract.


Hellz Hitman reached out for his Pandemic Legion contacts in order to report the ordeal. Today, he was told by a character in an NPC Corporation to leave the Tower’s shields in his Thantos class Carrier, even though the Territorial Claim Unit was under attack by an Against ALL Authorities Tengu force. Having worked with Pandemic Legion before, and assuming something big was in the works, he obeyed. Almost immediately, A Manticore class Stealth Bomber belonging to SOLAR FLEET uncloaked, and lit a cynosural beacon, and the Titan jumped into the system.


Unfortunately for Hellz Hitman, the Titan was in range, and managed to destroy his Carrier, however, the loss was not in vain as a second cynosural beacon lit up, this time by Pandemic Legion. An N3 force comprised of capital ships, a few Motherships and Navy Issue Apocalypses landed on the field, tackling the Titan and promptly destroying it. SOLAR FLEET Alliance did bridge in a Tengu fleet in order to try and save the Titan, but to no avail.


According to James Kordent, the Pandemic Legion Fleet Commander in charge at the time, the initial intent was for SOLAR FLEET Alliance to bridge in their Tengu fleet to engage the Thanatos class Carrier, at that point N3 were supposed to bridge in on top of SOLAR FLEET force, in order to annihilate their Tengus. The Titan’s appearance on the field came as a complete shock to him. However, he decided to go after the Titan, as it did prove to be the better target. While SOLAR FLEET and N3 were engaged, Against ALL Authorities forces decided to extract from the battle, rather than lose ships.

Losing a few Interdictor and Heavy Interdictor class ships, the N3 force safely extracted out of the system, in what was described as Blitz action. The total damage done is estimated at one hundred and forty-one billion ISK for the Titan alone, and promises to grow as more Tengu losses are processed by EVE-Kill(dot)net.


The Titan pilot refused to comment, while both SOLAR FLEET and Against ALL Authorities Alliances remain silent on the matter


Special thanks to Hellz Hitman, of No-Mercy, Spaceship Samurai Alliance, and James Kordent, North Eastern Swat, Pandemic Legion Alliance, for granting me this interview.