On 13 October at around 19:00 Eve time in the Oijanen system of The Forge , a Fortizar belonging to Synergy of Steel [SYN] became vulnerable. Circle-of-Two [CO2], Project. Mayhem.[16-13], Snuffed Out [B.B.C] and allies turned up to attack. A defense fleet was formed from allies of [SYN] in the Geminate Coalition, including Legion of xxDeathxx [X.I.X], Solar Fleet [SOLAR] and Triumvirate.[TRI], among others.
Initially, the battle was going the way of the defenders, with Project Mayhem taking dreadnought losses and struggling to gain the upper hand either with sub-capitals or capitals. It looked like it would be a story of CO2 being rolled over by the Russians, as the with dread losses piled up. Lowsec locals in the Forge region complained of TiDi slowness as they made their way to the Jita market.
Then at 19:30, the attackers began bringing in Apostles to repair their damaged dreads, but these were picked off by the defending fleet, and it looked as if it was turning into a bloodbath for CO2. Caps were dropping, and CO2 & friends looked to be heading towards an expensive excursion against the Russians.
EVE streamer, Daopa, carried the fight live as it happened, reaching over 1,000 viewers. As the numbers in local rose, as both sides called for assistance.
At 2000, rumours began to spread of a Revenant on the field, on the Russian side, taking damage.
Ultimately the ship was damaged beyond repair and exploded. The killmail followed shortly afterwards, with the pilot, Mr Mojo, having left the alliance by the time of writing. This is a tactic used to keep the humiliatingly expensive losses off the killboards.
One Revenant loss alone would have made the fight report-worthy, but, then, at 20:04, another Rev was spotted taking damage.
Within five minutes, this Revenant was down as well, with CO2 and friends now well ahead in the ISK war (combat efficiency) of the evening.
Reports indicate that when the Russians escalated, XiX had armor supers and triage on the field, without adequate support for the shield tanked Revenants, leading to them being effectively large floating pinatas.
The loss of these ships indicated the end of the battle, and, whilst the Fortizar itself survived, the defenders sacrificed almost 500b ISK to defend a 20-30b structure. It is also worth noting that the Fortizar itself was secured long before XiX committed supers, or the Revenants to the field. The structure was secure before all the defenders had even arrived, leading to the question of why not one, but two of the most expensive ships in Eve were entered into a fight unnecessarily and without proper logistical support.
The Battle Report shows 1,200 players involved in the fight, and the attackers, while not successfully attacking the Fortizar, will walk away happy with the destruction of the Revenants.
How the Russians will respond to these losses is something that will be seen in the coming days.
Thanks to Saeka Tyr for providing the screenshots, and also for the running commentary on the fight before all hell broke loose!
