Absolutely no Machariels were harmed in the making of this video.
THE ENGAGEMENT
On December 5, at 0030 EVE time in the system of Nisuwa, Black Rise region, Imperium forces, and Koreafleet engaged Snuffed Out and Pyschotic Tendancies (TISHU) over towers owned by Snuff. The engagement started with Imperium and Koreafleet fleets, led by Lemba of Goonswarm Federation, destroying two reinforced POSes harvesting R32 Technetium and R16 Cadmium materials. A third Technetium moon was up on the list when Snuff and TISHU’s fleet was bridged into Pynekastoh. With the Snuff/TISHU fleet two jumps over, reports of the incoming fleet reached Imperium command channels. As intelligence suggested, the Snuff/TISHU fleet came in through the Oinasiken gate, where Imperium forces were waiting. Below is a video of the engagement, thanks to Snuffed Out:
THE FLEETS
Snuffed Out and TISHU showed up with a nearly 150-man fleet of Machariels and Guardian logistics. Northern Coalition showed up later with Machariels as well. The Imperium initially entered the fight with a 150-man Tengu fleet and a twenty-pilot Celestis fleet. During the engagement, nearly 100 more Tengus came in to help the dying Imperium fleet, while Space Monkeys Alliance reinforced the Imperium with Drakes. Koreafleet, which lives in Nisuwa, came to the engagement to support the Imperium side with six Archons, a few dreadnoughts, Navy Apocs, Armageddon Navy Issues, and Bhaalgorns.
The Imperium’s Celestis fleet was destroyed immediately and Koreafleet lost nearly everything it fielded. After the smaller fleets were destroyed, Snuff/TISHU turned its guns towards the Imperium’s Tengu fleet. As seen in the video, although outnumbered three to one, Snuff Box made great use of its Machariels, and switched guns during the fight to better apply alpha and raw DPS. Several times, Tengus were completely alpha’d off the field by the hefty ball of Machariels. Once all Imperium reinforcements arrived, coordination between Imperium and Koreafleet helped push the Snuff Guardians past their armor reps, and multiple logistics ships were lost to The Imperium’s heavy missiles. Even after breaking the Snuff logistics capacitor chain and logistics group, armor reps started to hold again and Imperium DPS turned its attention to T3 strategic cruisers, destroying several Lokis.
Towards the end of the fight, Snuff Machariels started to alpha the Imperium Tengus. As most of the Imperium logistics were destroyed, and ships were not holding against the Mach DPS, Imperium fleets disengaged and retreated to their current war staging system.
THE COST
During this engagement The Imperium lost 42.5B ISK with Koreafleet taking 12.5B ISK in damages, while Snuff/TISHU lost a mere 11.4B ISK. The strategic objective, initially held by The Imperium was later lost due to a late shipment in control towers. Due to The Imperium’s inability to tower the R32 and R16 moons, Snuffed Out retowered the moons with fuel and stront, taunting The Imperium for “Round 2”. Absolutely no Machariels were lost during the engagement, which is a statement to how impressive these faction battleships are.
This is the second time that Snuffed Out has completely destroyed an Imperium fleet. Snuffed Out and TISHU also destroyed the Imperium’s new “Beardfleet” (Protei and Legions) in an engagement in Iralaja on December 3.
WHAT NOW?
With this being the second engagement in less than a week where Imperium has been wiped by Snuff Machariels, what is next for the Imperium? How will the Imperium deal with such a solid fleet since sheer numbers don’t seem to be the answer? As most other alliances shift towards different fleet types, will Imperial forces find a way to counter Machariels?
Although the fight meant an Imperial defeat, many of the pilots in both of the fleets were very excited and happy with how the battle went. After all, good brawls are hard to come by these days. Good fight, Snuff and TISHU… Third time’s the charm!
This article originally appeared on TheMittani.com, written by Lemba.
