Week 13 of World War Bee had 11 fights and 26 total battle reports, per INN’s tracking, down slightly from Week 12. Querious continued to dominate headlines as PandaFam and TEST/Legacy continued to try and consolidate their hold on the region.
The ISK split in the war zone in the Southwest held steady at about 62% to 38% for the attackers, week over week. In theater, 24.9 trillion ISK has been lost in theater, up about 1.8 trillion since last week, with 246,000 ships killed, an increase of nearly 20,000 ships. Across New Eden, since July 1, the ISK divide is 50.30% to 49.70% in favor of the attackers, with 33 trillion ISK and 298,000 ships lost, an increase of 2.5 trillion ISK and 47,000 ships. The war populations are holding steady at roughly 53,000 pilots for the Imperium opposed by nearly 150,000 enemy combatants. The average ship lost cost 111 million ISK, down from last week’s 122 million ISK. A rough estimate of the real world cost of the war so far is no less than 459,000 USD/344,000 GBP/385,000 EUR.
There were four battles in week 13 with exceeded 20 billion ISK in total losses. The Imperium accomplished its strategic objective once, PandaFam accomplished their objective, and two battle reports were capital gangs getting ganked.
The two major theaters are the North (Fountain and the border with Aridia and Cloud Ring as well as northern Delve) and the South (the rest of Delve, Paragon Soul, Querious, Stain, Period Basis, and Esoteria).
THE NORTHERN THEATER
Week 13 in the North started mid-day in Aridia as a very odd battle went down, with the Imperium showing up to third-party a Keepstar deployment in Aridia by LowSechnaya Sholupen-aligned groups and defended by members of PandaFam and Legacy. Nearly 415 billion ISK in non-Imperium assets were destroyed as Siege Green and other low-sec dreadbombing groups deployed capitals against LSH and Snuffed Out capitals. 188 billion ISK of the battle report is the Keepstar itself, but the LSH groups took the brunt of the losses.
Tuesday was also interesting as The Initiative (INIT) had a capital gang get wiped out by a battleship group in Fountain, with INIT losing 27 billion ISK for 578 million ISK killed. Action continued Wednesday as the Imperium destroyed a Horde Fortizar in Aridia. Things picked up again Friday with more structure bashes as INIT killed a TEST Fortizar and a Pandemic Legion Fortizar.
THE SOUTHERN THEATER
Week 13 in the Southern theater began with structure bashes in Querious as Goons lost two Tataras, two faction Fortizars, and a Fortizar. The day closed, however with Goons black ops counter-dropping on a third-party gang, killing 4.5 billion ISK with no losses.
Monday was busier as Goons put up some light resistance for a Fortizar and a faction Fortizar, both in Querious. Early in the day an outnumbered Goon Ferox fleet arrived to fight the PandaFam and NullSechnaya Sholupen Ferox and battleship fleets attempting to reinforce a faction Fortizar. As the battle developed, PandaFam dropped capitals on the Goon fleet, eventually shredding the subcapital fleet, killing 11.7b ISK in Imperium ships for 6.7 billion in losses. In the fight to close out the day, an Imperium Tornado gang showed up to harass the PandaFam and TEST/Legacy fleets chewing through the faction Fortizar’s final timer. The Fortizar was killed in the combined attacker’s subcapital staging system. The Imperium lost 58.2 billion ISK, nearly 54 billion ISK of which was the faction Fortizar itself, while killing 5 billion ISK.
Tuesday included the Imperium killing an Fraternity (FRT) Fortizar that had been anchored just inside of Delve. The Imperium supercapitals, dreadnoughts, and subcapitals shredded through the final timer on the Fortizar, hoping to provoke a bigger fight inside of Delve proper. The Imperium lost 857 million ISK while killing 9.3 billion ISK, 8.7 billion ISK of which was the Fortizar itself. Later that day, FRT began anchoring a Keepstar in 8QT, one of the border systems into Delve.
Wednesday was relatively quiet with only one fight to speak of, as Imperium Feroxes and Tornados took a beating defending a faction Fortizar in Querious against a number of fleets from PandaFam, Legacy, and NullSechnaya Sholupen, losing 25.5 billion ISK and killing 11 billion ISK. Thursday was more interesting as both sides formed in AUTZ to battle over the anchoring 8QT Keepstar. Goons attempted a novel tactical approach incorporating sharing warp-ins with a massed bomber fleet as PandaFam and TEST/Legacy fleets swarmed the grid. The shared warp-ins, however, had a fatal flaw in that all players with access to the bookmarks had edit permissions, and either by mistake or malicious intervention, the bookmarks were removed and the operation called off.
Additionally Thursday, an Imperium Ferox fleet showed up to defend the final timer for an Astrahus in Querious, and PandaFam dropped caps to secure the kill. The Imperium lost 10.1 billion ISK, 2 billion ISK of which was the citadel itself, while PandaFam lost 7.4 billion ISK. Lastly, Goons lost a faction Fortizar in Querious to round out the day.
Friday had another pair of structure bashes as Goons lost a Fortizar and a faction Fortizar in Querious, while earlier in the day, Imperium Feroxes and Cormorants dueled PandaFam capitals, Feroxes and Jackdaws to a draw in Northeastern Querious, each side killing 7.6 billion ISK. Saturday had some more structure fights, with Goons losing a Tatara in Querious and had a Tornado gang take a beating try to make havoc as PandaFam assaulted another faction Fortizar, losing 801 million ISK and killing 62.4 billion ISK of Imperium assets, roughly 54 billion ISK of which was the faction Fortizar itself. Some of the last action of the week was an Imperium Cerberus fleet taking a hiding against TEST Nightmares and PandaFam Eagles, killing 5.7 billion ISK but losing 11.2 billion ISK.
ELSEWHERE IN NEW EDEN
One of the most interesting events of the week took place in Branch, as Brotherhood of Spacers, Dreadbomb, Rote Kapelle, and UFC ambushed a Fraternity locust fleet of Rorquals, killing nearly 110 billion ISK for 20 billion in losses. The ambush comes as accusations of botting in Fraternity space have increased on Reddit and players have increased calls for CCP action against suspected bots, although it is not clear that any of the ships killed in the fight were bots.
