Call me old fashioned, but I firmly believe that when someone publicly excoriates a person for some failing and is proven to be wrong, that person should eat some crow—publicly. Please pass the ketchup. Asher engaged not only with aggression and élan, but also with a plan that would have dealt a mighty blow to the attackers, if only the server had worked. This fight will go down as a loss, but the commander bears none of the blame. He was right, the previous keepstar fights were not the time.
YZ9-F6
The battle of YZ9-F6 will go down in EVE history as one of the greats. The Imperium lost 2.5 trillion ISK. The Anaconda Invaders lost 800 billion. Trading at 3 to 1 against their opponents and winning the fortizar timer that started the battle makes the battle a resounding Anaconda victory.
The battle started with subcapital fleets engaging each other on a fortizar in the NPC system of YZ9-F6. The Imperium had used fortizars like this one as staging to attack and destroy the 3 previous Anaconda keepstars. So, it was clear that the Anaconda Coalition wanted to clear out NPC Delve in order to have an easier time anchoring their keepstars.
Battleship fleets fought each other across the citadel. And then Snek dropped dreadnoughts to attack the Mittens’ Kittens battleships. The Imperium counter dropped their own dreads. Anaconda dropped on those dreads.
Escalation
Finally, Asher decided it was time. He told the supercarriers to insure and undock. Yours Truly was a part of the superfleet, and being told to insure was an interesting moment in the fleet. We knew we were going in hard. I knew then that crow was back on the menu.
The superfleet jumped into YZ9-F6. Aside from the jump taking two whole minutes to accomplish, the server didn’t seem horrible. We tethered and waited.
Snek dropped their dreads right on top of us. Asher ordered the supercarriers to kill dreads by range. At this point, for me, the server started to be a bit uneven. One account would process outgoing calls rather quickly; the other account would take twice or even more time for calls to clear. Still, things mostly worked, and fighters went out to attack enemy dreads.
An Imperium carrier fleet dropped in to attempt some space superiority. Bully good for them. I think it worked. I certainly didn’t lose a tonne of fighters.
Enho, Enho, Enho
Finally, Anaconda escalated with their super fleet. Just like Asher—fresh from being featured in the latest trailer—predicted. The Snek supers jumped into the system in a tight formation, and Operation Enho played out perfectly.
Alas, the server, that fickle thing on which hinges the hopes and dreams of every null sec commander, decided not to work. The titan boson only activated twice or thrice and the Anaconda superfleet lived.
The Imperium loss wasn’t for lack or trying. It wasn’t for lack of fighting spirit, or aggression, or the will to fight. It wasn’t because the commander was inadequate. The Imperium lost because the server decided not to work, in PAPI’s favour. This isn’t the first time that the server has not worked on important fights, and regretfully won’t be the last. But dammit, it robbed Asher Elias of his victory. CCP, fix your shit.
Now, will someone please pass the salt, too?
