“Shield artillery Machariels are known for their excellent range and alpha, which is why their first primary upon landing was none other than… the triaged Chimera.”
THE STAGE
On January 30, at around 1630 EVE time, a brawl between two Machariel fleets took place in the Lonetrek system of Hakonen. The 54B ISK engagement began as CO2 formed to defend a Cadmium moon reinforcement timer. Attacking the POS was a combined Machariel fleet from Snuff, 16-13, and MC. This was not the first time Hakonen has seen a faction battleship throwdown. On December 13, there was a 67B ISK brawl between the two sides, ultimately ending with CO2 as the victors.
Below is video thanks to a member of the CO2 fleet. Note that he is using the new camera views/angles, and does some pretty good camera work.
THE FLEETS
The defenders fielded two Archons, six Bhaalgorns, sixty-two Machariels, with some HICs and logistics support. CO2 eventually placed fourteen supercarriers on the field towards the end of the fight. The combined force of Snuff, 16-13, and MC attacked with two Archons, seventy-three Machariels, two Nestors and their own shield and armor logistics, respectively. Hax also joined the fight in Ishtars.
PERSONAL ACCOUNT
TMC reached out to Sebastien Saintfrusquin of CO2 for comment on the engagement.
TMC: These towers of yours in Hakonen look like they are providing the means for some really fun fights. How did this one happen?
Sebastien Saintfrusquin: As usual, we had a tower coming out of reinforced mode in Hakonen. It was an early afternoon timer on Saturday for EU TZ, so it was bound to be a good fight.
TMC: How did the fight begin?
SS: The fight began on the tower. Initially the power of the enemy’s logistics proved too great and we lost three battleships while killing only one of theirs. Once repairs on both sides stabilized, gigX, the FC of the CO2 Machfleet started to go through primaries rapidly. The heavy neutralizing Bhaals on our side helped to weaken the enemy logi as well. After a few minutes the first cracks began to appear in the enemy fleet, with targets going down one after another.
TMC: Did they disengage or change their tactics from there?
SS: Yes, they saw we had a smaller logistics wing and elected to primary RedElite’s (CO2) triaged Archon. He managed to hold his ship at 19% hull as he came out of triage and was repaired by our armor logi. Having traded quite a few Machariels in exchange for not killing the Archon, the enemy elected to disengage and regroup.
TMC: In the battle report, RedElite lost that Archon, what happened there?
SS: Well, when they left he faced a problem. With him being so low into hull, he couldn’t remove all of his bulkheads and put back his proper triage fit. He decided to warp to station and repair, but when he did, he landed just slightly out of docking range. This just so happened to be the same time that the enemy was landing on the station and they promptly killed him.
TMC: At one point, MC joined the fight in shield fit Machs, right?
SS: Yes. Well, in the background we moved one triage Chimera to help with the shields. When he started repairing, the enemy quickly came back to the fight, but this time with help from MC. Shield artillery Machariels are known for their excellent range and alpha, which is why their first target was none other than the triaged Chimera. Luckily, the Chimera pilot refit for tank and held off long enough to get back into shields.
TMC: When did both sides disengage and head home?
SS: We went on losing a few more ships than before mostly due to MCs alpha power. We decided to indulge a little bit with our supercarriers and jumped into the fight, launching fighters towards the enemy. 16-13/BBC saw a lost cause and disengaged immediately, while MC stayed a bit longer but didn’t achieve much. They disengaged shortly after. Then the tower was repaired and restronted for the next big fight! It was a good afternoon of spaceship combat.
TMC: Sounds like a lot of fun and I am sure we will see more action in Lonetrek between you two. Thanks again for your time!
THE COST
CO2 won both the strategic objective and the ISK war during this fight dealing nearly 45B ISK in damages to the combined Snuff/16-13/MC fleets, while taking only 9.7B ISK in losses.
This article originally appeared on TheMittani.com, written by Lemba.
