Still Learning

With the Gallente Militia working together to take the entire warzone, I logged in last night to run my weekly fleet and found only nearby Heydieles and Ladistier systems the last holdouts. I organized the fleet starting with Algos destroyers supported by Navitas logistic frigates, and we headed out. There were many engagements but I'm going to cover the big fights.

#1 - UHurt fleet in Assault Frigates

We were in Heydieles and checking things out in Old Man Star when a scout reported fighting by other GalMil pilots in the large complex in Heydieless against Assault Frigates, apparently part of a UHURT fleet run by famous streamer SirSqueebles. I turned the fleet around and we warped to the plex only to find a metric crap-tonne of hostiles. In the ensuing fracas our fleet was overwhelmed and while we took down two Enyos, we lost 11 Algoses and a number of Navitas and Atrons.

Lesson Learned: Get a proper scout report before jumping into a fight.

#2 - Eve University Fleet in Cruisers

We reshipped into Algos and Exequorors and tried to engage that assault frigate once more but they had moved on. We had several near engagements with various other entities but then an Eve Uni fleet was spotted with a decent number of cruisers and logistic support of their own, so we upshipped to Vexors really quick and moved to engage them. With our allies in system piling on we completely smashed the fleet, killing 14 cruisers of the enemy while only losing an interceptor of our own (to the villianous Kelon Darklight none the less!). It was a perfect execution of our Rogue Squadron doctrine and the power of a practiced fleet execution. Props to Eve Uni for taking the fight in a system full of blood thirsty GalMil pilots.

#3 - Soul Takers in Battleships, Battlecruisers, and Cruisers

So things quieted down after Eve Uni was sent packing and we were back on the Old Man Star gate in Heydieles considering our next move. We were going to check out a Ghost site in Old Man Star so we jumped through .... only to have a Soul Taker gang land forty klicks away. Soul Takers, for the unawares, are the local serious pirate group that live in Old Man Star and though they have low numbers compared to other groups they compensate with blingy ships and excellent tactics.

This time was no exception as their fleet included Tech II cruiser logistics, about 4 or 5 battleships, 3 battlecruisers, and a number of other ships. After getting my bearing and letting our allies know there was a fight  happening, we engaged and focused our firepower on their first Guardian in an effort to remove their logistics. Then the smartbombs started and our drones, our main DPS, started to whither and die.

Sadly, I froze like a deer in headlights.

I've had lots of practice in small gangs and small fleets, but battleships with smartbombs? I didn't know what to do and the current action of banging on the Guardian was not working. Fortunately, Marcel was in fleet and overseeing the adventure and realized something needed to be done. He took over and gave the order to recall drones and start bumping the battleships away from the logi. Relieved that someone knew what to do I watched as the plan worked and we were able to send our remaining drones on the Guardian with the battleships out of the way and finally worked out a victory. We lost 2 Vexors, 2 Algoses, and 5 frigates (and an obscene number of pods) but we killed 2 battleships, 1 battlecruiser, and 2 Tech II Guardians and held the field.

Lesson learned: bump smartbombing battleships out of the way of the targets we want our drones to kill.

#4 - Templis CALSF in Cruisers

We went back to Fliet and repaired damage and reshipped as needed. There were reports of a rare Caldari militia fleet in system so we went back in and played cat and mouse with them for a bit. Finally we were at the Abune gate waiting for our scouts to find them when they landed about 80 kilometers from us, a Caracal fleet with logistics support from Scythes and some Moas.

Now we've engaged similar fleets before with our Rogue squadron cruiser doctrine and came away clean so I got a little overconfident and had the fleet charge at the enemy to get some tackle. I watched the kilometers flip by and I aimed at a juicy Moa, got the scram and ... "Kirith, you are out of range of our reps!"

Ah shit.

In my bloodlust, I forgot that our logistics could be outrun and put myself into a sticky situation that ended with my Ishtar exploding. I had Marcel take over the fleet while I ran back to Fliet and reshipped to a Vexor. I made it back with the fight still in progress. We lost 8 cruisers (7 Vexors and my Ishtar), 3 Algos, and 4 frigates and in return we killed 16 cruisers including a Cerberus. Good fight and props to Templis for bringing it.

Lesson Learned: Don't outrun your own logistics. Curb the bloodlust.

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After that we tried to get into a fight with a Black Legion fleet with Augoror Navy Issues and logsitics, but they were hesitant to engage our larger fleet and lost an Onerios while trying to evade us.

Despite getting in on a lot of kills for one night, it was not my best outing as a Fleet Commander. I'm getting better, but still need work in some areas.

Post Script:

Later that evening Heydieles fell to the GalMil forces. For the Federation!

The Battle For Heydieles - June 2014

Heydieles system is one of a few battleground systems in the Caldari - Gallente warzone that becomes the site of fierce fighting as both sides try to control it. Its one of the best systems in the warzone in Essence as it straddles a crossroads of four different low sec pipes [1], has all the services including cloning in its stations, has good stations for cynos, only two jumps from contiguous high sec, lots of nearby pirate corps, large system for decent plexing and combat, and lots of moons for starbases. Its lacking in number of asteroid belts in the Kronos age for sure, but as a base of operations for PvP it is ideal.

It has been our base of operations twice in the past but we've been unable to effectively hold on to it as it never ranked as high as other Gallente strongholds like Nennamailia, Nisuwa, or Vlillirier so we our coverage in all timezones suffered. However Aideron Robotics has been regrouping and building up in next door Fliet and made that system into a "southern" stronghold for the militia and other corporations and held it against Caldari Militia assaults for the past six months. We've had some attempts against Heydieles and traded the system back and forth with the Caldari, and this past week Gallente Militia command decided it was time once again to take control of this strategic system.

We started plexing the system last weekend to warm the Caldari deplexers up and start to wear them down, with constant pressure building all week to an expected push this coming weekend. But the Caldari defenders proved unable to keep up to the mounting pressure, or decided to strategically withdraw, and by Thursday night our fleets found Heyd entering the 90% contested mark so we opted to make the push and flip the system. I logged in last night for an hour and joined a fleet as an Atron tackler and while we saw a few pirate and war target fleets coming by for fights, there was no resistance to our plexing efforts. At 0322 hrs the system flipped to Gallente control.

I was quite happy to be part of 14 killmails for the hour I was there speeding around barely in control of my 6-7 km/sec Atron. Need some serious practice in that little ship.

Congrats to all the Gal Mil pilots who made this happen!

[1] - Through Abune to Black Rise, through Fliet to The Citadel, through Indregulle to Verge Vendor, and through Old Man Star to the rest of Essence.

Heydieles Has Fallen!

Congrats to our Caldari Militia foes who made a big push again this week and were finally rewarded. Our battle has made Heydieles one of the most active PvP destinations recently and I look forward to fighting to try and take it back.

Heydieles Won! ... For Now...

Last week I talked about how the War in Essence was going strong:

However, the previous Caldari Militia occupents of this area have found back retaking Deven and Fliet, and have been making a concerted effort to retake Heydieles over the past week which has required some heroic efforts from many members of Aideron and in the militia to hold the line.

Our enemies in OLD MAN GANG (aka OMG) pushed hard in the week since and on Saturday morning Heydieles actually passed into vulnerable state for a brief moment. It looked like despite our best efforts we would not be able to hold the system and plans were being discussed about evac destinations.

And then.... nothing.

We pushed back from the brink and nothing game out of Fliet where OMG based. We deplexed all Saturday and Sunday the sun rose with no Red Dawn. We continued deplexing all Sunday and declared the defense a victory. On Monday night we deplexed the system back to zero. Go over to corpmate Vic Vorlon's blog for a short celebratory video.

A medal was awarded as well:

Assuming OMG is done trying to take Heydieles and is moving on to another target, our next goal is to stabilize systems in Essence and expand our sphere of influence while rebuilding the market in Heyd to attract more militia members and corps to live there for more security.

The War In Essence Continues

A couple weeks ago during a large Gallente Militia (aka GalMil) push prior to TEST alliance joining faction warfare, the faction warfare system in Essence we recaptured from the Caldari and flags were planted in Ladister and Heydieles, the latter the system our corporation, Aideron Robotics, considers our ancestral home.

However, the previous Caldari Militia occupents of this area have found back retaking Deven and Fliet, and have been making a concerted effort to retake Heydieles over the past week which has required some heroic efforts from many members of Aideron and in the militia to hold the line.

Ship/Pod kills over last 48 hours

This has resulted in a lot of kills in Heydieles over a week period:

From Oct 30 to Nov 5

Sure, its not as high as the front lines in Niswua and Innia but it is a constant thrash of deaths for what is usually a quiet low sec system.

Our main opponents, OLD MAN GANG alliance is primarily Russian time zone so the plexing is going back and forth, but they have over double our numbers so without allies we are fighting uphill on the contested values. On the upside, even when deplexing we're seeing plenty of PvP.

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Aideron Robotics is still recruiting, and looking to expand our Euro division!