Header art by Cryo Huren
Two days after a large sov victory in which the Imperium captured one IHUB and reinforced several more in the Karmafleet pocket in Delve, PAPI forces have held the line in the followup battle and prevented the Imperium from flipping any of the reinforced IHUBs. Several hours of fighting in Karmafleet’s SG-CTQ constellation as well as the Imperial capital system of 1DQ1-A resulted in more than 150 billion ISK in losses for the Imperium, with only 60 billion on the PAPI side.
The fight was an opportunity for the Imperium to demonstrate that the previous victory demonstrated a true shift in momentum in the fighting in Delve. It also represented a chance to significantly disrupt PAPI’s efforts to fully pacify the region in preparation for an assault on 1DQ. As it is, the Imperium remains fully on the defensive.
According to Imperium FC Dave Archer, the Imperium brought two HAC fleets–Muninns and Cerbs–against PAPIs Muninns and Eagles. Unfortunately, given the TiDi that developed, the missile-shooting Cerbs proved to be something of a liability. “We had equal numbers of HACs,” said Archer. “But an issue came from the TiDi as it made the Cerbs take longer to apply.” The hacking battle itself was not close. “PAPI steamrolled,” said Archer.
After the sov battle wrapped, the fighting moved to 1DQ where shots were traded over a trapped Imperium Nyx which ultimately died. Despite the loss, Archer is pleased by the Imperium showing overall. “Our numbers in US TZ are constantly growing,” he said. And for both sides in the war, that remains the most important metric.
“Losing a fight, or a timer, or even a Keepstar, doesn’t mean we’re losing the war or giving up,” said Goonswarm fitting director Arrendis. “We’re on the defensive. We’ve been forced into a corner. These things are undeniable. But victory comes only with endurance. Wars in EVE are always won by one thing, and one thing only: Will. The will to outlast the other guy.”
To date, PAPI’s gains do not appear to have had any appreciable impact on the Imperium’s will to keep fighting.
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It’s only sov football. And since the time zone switch only came through the day of this event it’ll take a wee while for US to get into the game of it. They’ve been on structure watch the past 3-4 months.
The fighting has no impact because these are side events. Placebo goals and timers to just try to draw out fights for the sake of them. If you’re looking for impact you need to do something, hit an objective which would break into the enemy leadership’s perception. Shake them up a little. None of this gets near that on Imperium, since we’ve done more hostile SOV operations than PAPI combined. We know how entosis works. It’s easy come, easy go. The way CCP designed it to be. So in terms of significance, there is none here. Except in the fact that PAPI really seem to get riled up quite easily by these simple things. As such, they won’t affect anything unless a battle in a whole different region gets decided.
March 18, 2021 at 9:05 AMGuilford Australis
I often wonder whether anyone in PAPI has considered the endgame if they get what they want. Their coalition controls 90% of conquerable nullsec. They have perfected the biggest of big blue circle-jerks that ever existed in EVE while preposterously lecturing others about what’s “good for EVE.” PGL and Vily have sworn to “exterminate” Goonswarm. Gobbins has said PanFam won’t be done until all of The Imperium’s remaining structures are gone and 1DQ is toast. Noraus has said PAPI is “going to be around a lot longer than people think.” One writer here at INN has said that the ideal scenario for PAPI is that The Imperium is permanently crippled and never returns to a position of strength.
Is that what these cretins think is “good for EVE?” Legacy gets the entire southern half of nullsec and PanFam gets the entire northern half, because they have no more competitors and they’re all friends with each other forever? That’s what’s “good for EVE?”
When The Imperium goes to war, we kick some teeth in, blow up some big toys, and go back home after about three months. These asswipes have decided they’re just going to live on top of us for the rest of eternity until we’re completely gone. So what then? Are they going to do the J-space thing, where Inner Hell, Hard Knocks, and LAZERHAWKS have aligned themselves to establish complete control of the entire region and all they have left to do is walk around evicting 50-member alliances out of sheer boredom?
March 18, 2021 at 12:04 PMReally? Guilford Australis
New PAPI motto: Four legs good; two legs better.
March 19, 2021 at 11:00 AM