Pandemic Horde lost 207 ships late Wednesday, February 26, after a little structure bashing in Venal by the ‘Goon Expeditionary Force’ (GEF) worked to get PH’s attention.
“We were shooting a Horde Fortizar to get them to fight us”, GEF FC John Hartley wrote earlier today. “They rage-formed a Ferox fleet and caps, and batphoned Northern Coalition to come save them.” Hartley was using Jackdaws against structures belonging to PH and her allies in XW-6TC. In turn, Horde formed a 220-pilot Ferox fleet, a ship of the line which has been the backbone of subcap fleets used in Venal combating Imperium forces. Not be outdone, GEF formed Typhoons in response. A video of the fight was posted by Hartley.
The GEF Typhoon fleet was led by Hartley and Horde’s fleet by Zach Deninardes. While GEF was forming, Hartley ordered one of his scouts in XW-6TC to broadcast in local that “Goons are coming to fight.”
At 20:19 Eve time GEF undocked from the Gurista station in PF-QHK and warped to the XW-6TC gate. On the other side, Horde was waiting at optimal range with logistics and support ships stationed behind the main force. In an equal battle, this is the biggest advantage one could ask for. GEF forces jumped in and held their cloaks for approximately 20 seconds before decloaking. When the fight began the concentrated fire of the GEF fleet began destroying the Ferox fleet almost 3 to 1. By 21:09 the fight was finished and Pandemic Horde and her allies retreated.
From the outside, the Typhoon has much better Damage Per Second (DPS) and can take more damage than the Ferox. But PH’s fleet boasted a 50-ship advantage, which effectively equalized GEF’s DPS and effective hit point advantage. To understand how most people determine the “winner” of an engagement, there are two primary metrics used. First being, the “ISK war.” This is a metric that some fleet commanders use to claim victory based on the replacement cost of ships lost. When the battle is battleships versus battlecruisers, the ISK war metric falls to Horde’s advantage 4 to 1. Another metric is who holds the field at the end of battle. Looking at the fleets’ compositions, both of the metrics should have favored Horde, however the GEF fleet held the field after PH lost nearly half their fleet.
Neither side had an objective in the fight. It happened because both sides had fleets and wanted to fight each other. Reports have started coming out of Horde that the financial strains of maintaining a military front in Venal to defend against Imperium forces have resulted in unreliable SRP payouts to deployed members. While the “ISK war” metric shows that the Horde won the fight – 10 billion ISK lost to GEF’s 18 billion ISK lost – the Imperium has already begun paying pilots back for their losses and moving replacement ships into the area for upcoming battles.
