Week five of World War Bee saw more hostile action than either of the last two weeks as PandaFam continued to clean up Imperium citadels in Fountain and skirmishes simmered across Querious, Period Basis, Esoteria, and Paragon Soul. The ISK split in the major theaters of conflict since the war began is about 63% to 38% in favor of the attackers. Total losses since July 5 are about 10.2 trillion ISK, per the major theaters battle report. More than 300 hostile actions have taken place since the inception of the war, with the Imperium losing 6.4 trillion ISK versus 3.8 trillion isk for PandaFam, TEST, Legacy, and their affiliates.
Action across the New Eden battle report since July 1 shows a roughly 50-50% split for the war across the Galaxy, which includes guerrilla actions and cross-regional rivalries which have been simmering. Parties involved in the war have lost a total of 14.3 trillion ISK, with the Imperium losing 7.2 trillion ISK to 7.1 trillion ISK for all of the forces arrayed against them. The forces have collectively lost 135,000 ships for an average value of 106 million ISK.
Week five’s action included six fights that exceeded 20 billion ISK, three of which were strategic wins for the Imperium, two were wins for Legacy forces (which excludes structure bashes since they were nearly all uncontested), and one was a third party battle in Lantorn.
The two major theaters are the North (Fountain and its border with Aridia and Cloud Ring) and the South (Delve, Paragon Soul, Querious, Stain, Period Basis, and Esoteria).
The Northern Theater
The Northern Theater, primarily composed of fighting in Fountain, was almost exclusively structure bashes as PandaFam’s clean up work continued. Two Initiative (INIT) iHubs were lost on Sunday, as well as a Fortizar and a faction Fortizar. Monday’s action saw an Imperium Harpy fleet wipe a PandaFam defense fleet, Bastion lost two faction Fortizars, and INIT lost a Tatara. Of the seven iHubs up for contest in Fountain on Monday, the Imperium defended two and lost five. Tuesday’s action was relatively quiet, as INIT lost a Sotiyo and Fortizar, and another seven iHubs were challenged with the Imperium losing four. Wednesday was another day of structure bashing, with Infensus losing a Tatara, Azbel, and Fortizar while INIT lost a Fortizar.
Thursday was a full day of structure bashing with eight citadels lost in Fountain by the Imperium. This included three more Tataras, four more Fortizars (one faction), and an Azbel. The last of the action included PandaFam reinforcing the IGE-RI Keepstar into hull, setting up a timer for Sunday when the structure was destroyed. One of the last fleet fights of the week in the North took place Friday as two Cormorant fleets sparred in the Y-2ANO border system. Citadel clean up continued Friday as PandaFam killed three Goon Fortizars while Infensus lost two Fortizars and a Tatara themselves.
Saturday’s major headline was the loss of the J5A-IX Keepstar as 3,100 pilots showed up to finish off the hull timer in the border system. On INN’s The Meta Show Saturday, The Mittani described the origin of the Keepstar since it was inherited from The Culture. While the loss of the Keepstar represents the first major citadel lost in the war, the final timer was unchallenged by the Imperium. The remaining Northern structure bashes included Infensus losing a Fortizar and a Tatara, while The Initiative lost a Sotiyo.
The Southern Theater
Week five of World War Bee in the South had nearly four fleet actions per day as both sides increased operational tempo in anticipation of the locus of combat shifting South. Sunday included several small fleet actions with two battles exceeding 10 billion in losses. Imperium bombers and Dabigredboat’s solo PVP dreadnought kept a hostile citadel from repairing until reinforcements could arrive, costing the Imperium 6.8 billion in exchange for 3.8 billion ISK. Querious had some excitement in border system 49-U6U as Karmafleet’s gatecamp caught some expensive prey, costing Legacy and allies 13.3 billion ISK. This had the added benefit of delaying a Legacy Jackdaw fleet from approaching strategic objectives long enough for a Goon Harpy fleet to arrive on grid and wipe them, costing Legacy 3.2 billion in exchange for 812 million ISK.
Monday’s action continued the border clash excitement as a Goon Muninn fleet made its way into G-M4GK, killing two dreads before withdrawing, losing 1.1 billion in exchange for 7.4 billion ISK in TEST losses. Additional action in G-M4GK included TEST supers dropping on Goon Sacrileges and Caracals, costing Goons 12.1 billion in exchange for 4.6 billion ISK, as well as an INIT fleet killing another pair of TEST dreadnoughts, costing TEST 7 billion for 2.6 billion ISK in losses. Goons also challenged the UYU-VV iHub, retaking the former United Earth Directorate system, as well as saving the 8QT-H4 iHub, while losing a UED iHub further down the pipe.
Tuesday was a busy day in the South. A PandaFam Cerberus fleet attacked and destroyed an Ansiblex but were caught by a Goon Sacrilege fleet, losing 9.4 billion and costing the Imperium only 532 million ISK. On its way to catch the Cerebus fleet the same Sacrilege fleet caught a Caracal gang in the Imperium capital of 1DQ1-A and wiped them, costing the attackers 1.4 billion while taking only 134.7 million ISK in losses. Goons formed a third fleet of Feroxes that took fights across the G-M4GK/TCAG-3 divide, provoking a capital response by TEST, with the Imperium losing 4.1 billion and destroying nearly 2 billion ISK.
A small skirmish broke out in Delve as a kitchen sink response fleet came to rescue some Imperium dreads from a PandaFam Jackdaw fleet, with the Imperium losing 971.3 million for 1.6 billion ISK destroyed. A short time later, a Goon bomber fleet caught a Brave dread in the Legacy/PandaFam capital staging (FAT-6P), losing 1.2 billion for 6.1 billion ISK. As the day came to a close, the Imperium and TEST/Legacy faced off across both the TCAG-3 and 4-07MU borders. The Imperium Muninn fleet in 4-07MU got dropped by TEST/Legacy capitals, losing 15.1 billion to 7.1 billion ISK for TEST/Legacy. At roughly the same time, a TEST Muninn fleet showed up to duel Goon Muninns in TCAG-3 and received a similar treatment, losing 27.8 billion for 13 billion Imperium ISK lost.
Wednesday kicked off with a fight in Stain as the Imperium received word that a fight might be brewing. Imperium Skyteam FC Asher Elias said “they fail-jumped their Titan and we took a swing for it. I had a bad warp-in which bumped some of our pilots off their caps and we lost too many logi, which swung the fight against us.” The Imperium lost 50 billion for 32.8 billion ISK destroyed in enemy assets. Later action in the day included a Horde Jackdaw fleet destroying an Ansiblex, a Talwar fleet getting blapped, and a small iHub defense. Other major fights of the day included Imperium caps and subcaps destroying Army of Mangoes (AoM)/TEST Muninns and Harpies, 4.3 billion Imperium ISK lost to 12 billion TEST/AOM ISK lost. The Initiative destroyed a Legacy Jackdaw fleet with smartbombs while whaling in Impass, 10 billion in Legacy losses versus 300.7 million ISK lost by the Imperium. The Imperium took a fleet into 4-07MU to try and reinforce its iHub during the vulnerability window but got turned back by TEST/Legacy caps and Eagles, losing 14.1 billion versus 5.3 billion ISK in TEST/Legacy losses. Goons returned to 4-07MU to close out the day, killing 3.2 billion for 2.1 billion in losses.
Thursday was quiet in the South with only two actions: an Imperium bomber gang getting wiped and a Caracal skirmish in TCAG-3. Friday was slightly more exciting as another fight broke out on the Catch/Querious border of 4-07MU/49-U6U. Imperium Skyteam FC Asher Elias said “it was a really good 1 v 1 fight and our guys performed really well. Fighting over anchoring citadels, Voltron didn’t have to engage us, they opted into the fight (thanks for that). Goon logi was on point and dictors were really good. Both sides went for links but Goon logi caught more, lots of maneuvering in the fight, the kind of HAC fight that is really fun.” Goons destroyed 16.8 billion while losing 8.1 billion ISK, where 3.6 billion of those Goon losses were a single pod. Imperium SIG Black Ops, a guerrilla warfare and bombing group, caught a TEST Ark jump freighter later in the day. Two more border fights took place as Goons lost a buggy Ferox fight 14.7 billion to 4.7 billion ISK and an Init Caracal/Muninn fleet lost out to Legacy Muninns 10.9 billion to 3.9 billion ISK.
Saturday finished with only two fights, but set up a number of iHub timers in Querious. A Stain alliance Tornado fleet welped a TEST Munnin fleet 7.5 billion versus 829 million ISK lost. At the end of the day, a wide ranging campaign of iHub challenges across TEST/Legacy space led to an NC. carrier being destroyed, with the Imperium losing 8.2 billion while destroying 17.3 billion ISK. Of particular note during the week in the South was continued fighting between Army of Mangoes and Fraternity, as Fraternity assaulted an AoM move op with 2.2 billion being destroyed. While many Imperium observers were perplexed, many Legacy and PandaFam people maintained that Fraternity and Army of Mangoes refused to “blue” one another, resetting their frosty relations. Posters online also suggested that the two parties are only allied on major engagements against the Imperium and maintain their simmering feud otherwise throughout the duration of World War Bee.
Elsewhere in New Eden
Some particularly surprising action took place in Low Sec systems in both Amarr and Minmatar space as erstwhile allies took advantage of one another for content. In Irmalin, a system at the end of the Budar constellation in Khanid, an NSH (NullSechnaya Sholupen) dreadbomb took out a Darwinism Ragnarok Sunday. The attack surprised many onlookers in the Imperium as Darwinism, NSH, Brave, and others have done their utmost to take Querious for themselves.
The biggest fight of the war took place in Lantorn, a system at the heart of the Hed constellation in Heimatar, as a dread brawl broke out over a Snuffed Out faction Fortizar’s armor timer. Over a four-hour battle, nearly 1,400 players lost 825.2 billion ISK as Horde, Siege Green, DarkSide, and others were beaten back by Snuffed Out, Infinity Avenger, and CVA. As CSM member Phantomite discussed on INN’s The Meta Show Saturday, “Lantorn has, for a few years, been a … retreat for Snuffed Out. Trips to Lantorn are for the purpose of turning up and saying ‘here I am, want to shoot me?’ There’s nothing that Snuffed is trying to gain. In the past two weeks, there’s been multiple dread bombs involving Snuffed, not on this scale, not always with Snuffed coming out too well on the other end of it.”
