Imperium forces successfully repelled PAPI attempts on Wednesday to control all systems in the O-EIMK constellation, home to their capital of 1DQ-A. In a grueling fight that saw equal numbers form from both sides, the Imperium emerged victorious winning the ISK war with 274bn ISK killed to 216bn lost. Although PAPI were able to destroy two of the three cyno jammers – stated as one of their objectives – they were unable to reinforce the iHub and their own cyno jammers were destroyed by the end of the battle.
PAPI Increases Tempo
Since the M2- breakout, PAPI has increased the speed of its operations around Delve, while the Imperium remains focused on the M2 hellcamp and 1DQ. There have been rumours that Pandemic Horde leadership has taken the reigns of the PAPI armada, which has resulted in a far more aggressive approach to conquering systems within the region. This new tactic has seen PAPI flip a number of constellations without serious opposition.
The operation on the O-EIMK constellation might have been in response to criticism of the TEST leadership that the war was not accelerating fast enough. With war weariness clear on both sides, the clock is ticking for PAPI to conclude the war and return victorious. This constellation holds the keys to 1DQ.
Poking the Bees Nest
As PAPI forces assembled early, light skirmishes started erupting throughout the constellation with small groups vying for grid control. In response to intelligence stating that PAPI would assault their home constellation, the Imperium responded in full. The fighting commenced on a gate in 3-DMQT where Eagle and Cerberus fleets from both sides traded logistics before repositioning.
Photo by Lafiel Perun
Then PAPI forces converged on cyno jammers in 8WA-. For a further four hours, fighting would rage there in heavy time dilation. Strategically placed within range of the systems Keepstar, the Imperium quickly dropped supers and carriers on the station and “skynetted” their fighters to support the engaged HAC fleets. PAPI responded with their own carriers to engage and destroy the jammer.
Multiple Dilemmas
With one cyno jammer destroyed, PAPI forces moved to destroy the second, but with and equal numbers of HACs from the Imperium, they failed to sustain grid control and suffered heavy losses. Concurrently, attempts were made to start flipping all systems in the constellation, however with the majority of the PAPI fleet engaged in heavy fighting over 8WA- (and in 10% time dilation) they could not muster the numbers to support their entosis fleets.
Photo by Dark Shines
Proximity to their home of 1DQ allowed the Imperium to escalate these entosis fights with impunity, regularly dropping dreadnoughts and supers to eliminate PAPI ‘toasting’ Minokawas.
As the second cyno-jammer fell a follow-up fight emerged over a Dreddit Wyvern that disconnected and became separated from the rest of the fleet. As the Imperium descended on the lone supercarrier, PAPI retaliated with a dreadbomb. As the Imperium fleets scrambled away from danger, the isolated supercarrier managed to escape, only to land in close proximity to the Keepstar. Tackled and cut-off, it was swiftly destroyed in a swarm of fighters and HACs.
The Aftermath
In an unusual move, TAPI Head FC progodlegend recorded his address to his forces where he blamed CCP server management for their lack of success. He stated, “We got a very short end of the stick, we requested these nodes to be reinforced…they put all of the nodes including the one we requested in T5Z on the same node, but 1DQ was not. So not only did we have to fight in the same god awful lag, Goons got to reinforce with no lag…we did alright all things considered.”
In response to this, CCP GM Baldur posted the following:
CSM and Initiative member Brisc Rubal commented, “It’s clear that Panfam is getting tired of TEST’s slow structure grind route, and wanted to push hard to see if their belief that the Imperium was ready to fall over was true. They learned the hard way that we’re stayin’ alive. They were unable to complete any of their true objectives, and got yet another taste of what happens when they have to fight with anything close to even numbers. I wish I could be a fly on the wall in their command comms to hear the bickering after this very public failure.”
