Week 20 of World War Bee was a fair bit slower than week 19, with 17 major actions and 11 relatively noteworthy fights, per INN’s tracking. Action was predominantly around Delve and its environs, although some of it took place in Esoteria, part of the new ‘Eastern Theater’ classification.
The ISK split in the war zone of the Southwest was still almost exactly 66% to 34% in favor of the attackers. In theater, the belligerents have lost 46.3 billion ISK, up 2.1 trillion ISK week over week, with 410,385 ships lost, up 18 thousand week over week.
Across New Eden, since July 1, the ISK divide is now 55% to 45% in favor of the attackers. The belligerents have lost 58.7 trillion ISK, up 3 trillion ISK week over week, with 486,570 ships lost, up 21 thousand week over week. The average ship cost 120.6 million ISK. A rough estimate of the real world cost of the war is no less than 816,000 USD/612,000 GBP/685,000 EUR.
There were five fights in week 20 that exceeded 20 billion ISK in total losses. The Imperium achieved its goals in three of those fights, one fight was a draw, PAPI achieved their goals in one fight. All five were relatively modest affairs, all of them less than 75 billion ISK in total losses.
The three major theaters are the North (Fountain and the border with Aridia and Cloud Ring as well as northern Delve), the South (the rest of Delve, Querious, and Period Basis), and the East (Paragon Soul, Stain, and Esoteria).
THE NORTHERN THEATER
The North, as ever, is largely a lawless area where smaller gangs and fleets are able to cut their teeth against similarly sized opponents or unsuspecting capital ships. The largest action was two separate incidents in Fountain’s U-SOH2 as a pair of ratting gangs were dropped by hostile groups. In the morning, some PanFam Feroxes showed up to beat on an Initiative ratting gang, including a Rorqual, killing 10 billion ISK and losing 1.2 billion. About 10 hours later, a neutral kitchen-sink gang showed up and killed a Ranger Regiment ratting group, destroying 10 billion ISK for 1.2 billion in losses.
THE EASTERN THEATER
After last week’s announcement that The Initiative (INIT) would be forward deploying to Esoteria, there was a pair of particularly noteworthy fights in the area. The first was Sunday, when the Stain alliances showed up to drop the hammer on an Army of Mangoes Nyx, among other ships, one jump from TEST’s capital D-PNP9, killing 32.9 billion ISK for 2.6 billion in losses. The second noteworthy fight was Friday, when PAPI showed up to fight on a Bastion Fortizar in Esoteria. The two sides traded fairly evenly with the Imperium and Stain allies losing 28.7 billion ISK while PAPI lost 27 billion ISK.
THE SOUTHERN THEATER
Week 20 in the South began on Sunday with some Imperium Feroxes getting dropped on in Fake Querious. The Imperium Feroxes were dueling with PAPI Feroxes only to have a Muninn fleet and some dreads dropped on their heads. Unable to pull range, the Imperium Feroxes were largely mulched, losing 32.1 billion ISK for 12.3 billion in kills. Later in the day, an Imperium Harpy fleet got smartbombed, losing 3.6 billion ISK for 387.9 million in kills. The bad week for Imperium Feroxes continued Monday, as they showed up to fight Horde Eagles, only to get bombed by PAPI on their way home, losing 14.3 billion ISK for 3 billion in kills.
Wednesday morning, the Imperium successfully destroyed the K-6K16 iHub as it was within a week from allowing PAPI to online a cyno jammer in system to inhibit a potential defense of the Imperium’s local Keepstar. In a tense tug of war, NC. was nearly able to reclaim the iHub until the Imperium was able to bottle up the PAPI fleets in D-3, isolating them from the rest of the large constellation. The Imperium killed 19.8 billion ISK for 10.8 billion in losses. Later on Wednesday, the Imperium fended off an unusual attempt by Fraternity to drop some cyno jammers in D-W, killing 11.4 billion ISK for 6.9 billion in losses. Lastly, on Wednesday, TEST held a State of the Alliance address, where they announced, in part, their intention to move into Delve, Querious, and Period Basis, and that their line members should expect to begin moving out of Esoteria.
Thursday saw a neutral Leshak gang beat up a TEST Hel in Period Basis. Friday was a bit busy as the Imperium began their day killing the PUIG-F iHub over an Imperium Keepstar in the W-4U1E constellation. The fight was largely decided in W-KQPI as an Imperium Cerberus fleet fended off a PanFam Muninn fleet, killing 10.3 billion ISK for 2.7 billion in losses. Then, later in the day, an Imperium hacking crew killed the D-W7F0 iHub, another Keepstar iHub, before they attempted to drop a new one. Unfortunately, their delay allowed PAPI to form capitals and subcaps to wipe the Imperium’s hackers off the iHub as Goons scrambled to form Muninns and counter-drop. The Imperium ended up killing 9.6 billion ISK for 7.5 billion in losses, but PAPI forces were able to capture the iHub, resetting the countdown to a cyno jammer. Action Friday finished with a scrum in T5ZI-S, hours after TEST began to anchor a new staging Keepstar, one jump from the Imperium’s capital system of 1DQ1-A. Imperium Muninns showed up to fight PAPI Nightmares and Feroxes, largely chasing them off, killing 11.7 billion ISK for 2.7 billion in losses.
The week ended with Saturday’s busy news day, as TEST’s T5ZI-S Keepstar onlined. Shortly afterwards, during INN’s The Meta Show, Pandemic Horde’s leader Gobbins made an announcement affirming Pandemic Horde’s casus belli and their victory conditions. Action for the week largely finished as Goon Cerberuses showed up to rescue an INIT Abaddon fleet in North Delve, killing 34.9 billion ISK for 31.1 billion in losses.
