With One Hand Tied Behind My Back

Last night I organized a fleet of kitchen sink armour cruisers (with logi) and went on a roam to find some trouble, when half way through the fleet we get reports of a Caldari Militia Athanor refinery anchoring in Asakai. We burn over there with 6 minutes left in its vulnerable period and start putting firepower into the structure.

Just as an enemy fleet arrives to drive us off, we succeed and waltz off field.

As we regroup we see that the Caldari controlled Reitsato system is vulnerable so we decide to bash the infrastructure hub.

Soon after we started we got reports of our old foe Templis CALSF forming up a fleet to fight us, and later they undocked in a standard Caracal / Osprey fleet and started moving our direction.

I knew our kitchen sink fleet despite having logi support was undergunned in mostly short ranged weapons to take on the current apex cruiser doctrine, but allies from Spaceship Bebop alliance reshipped into some Oracles and after much debate I decided to try to take the fight against my more conservative gut instinct.

As the fight loomed, problems surfaced. The 5 Oracles from BEBOP were not in fleet and not on comms, making coordinating with them difficult. I didn't want to take the fight on the I-hub grid but getting the message clearly to the Oracle pilots was not working fast enough and I did not want to be the one to leave them hanging in the wind.

Templis arrived on grid and I made the call to dive in, hoping the firepower of our blasters and lasers would overwhelm the reps of the Ospreys. It did not.

Oh well, you win some and you lose some.

Snowstorm

Not only did my area of Canada get inundated with snow the past few days, my poor wife has been sick with a nasty virus so I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off around here lately. Hence my lack of posting.

I did get to command a fleet on Sunday night and has some fun scouring the warzone for some targets and kills including some battlecruiser kills against a roaming NCDot fleet, so I have that going for me.

I do want to talk a little about the end of the fleet though. The fleet had been running for over two hours and while at peak we were over 30 pilots of kitchen sink destroyers/frigates with a handful of frigate logi, at this time as we were heading home we had shrunk down to about 20 tired pilots with less logi and less coherent thinking.

That's when my scouts reported a fleet of 25-30 Templis pilots in catalysts in the system ahead.

Now I know the power of the massed attrition catalyst fleet, and even though we had some Tech 3 destroyers and a few logi pilots, I knew that was going to be a losing fight from the get go. Kill a few catalysts at 4 mil ISK a pop while losing multiple T3 and T2 ships? At best case scenario? Bad idea. Yeah, no thanks.

Since we were close to home I ordered the fleet to dock up and take a powder. I felt a little bad for the Templis pilots that formed to fight us, but I have a responsibility to my pilots to not make them throw their ships away needlessly. Too many times in the past I fought Templis when they brought the perfect counter to my ships after seeing what we were flying and I like to think I've finally learned that lesson ;)

The Battle of Aivonen

The Gallente Militia launched an all out offensive on the Caldari Militia stronghold of Aivonen in Black Rise region last week and over the weekend the fighting was fierce as both sides jockeyed for control of complexes to drive the Contested Value up or down.

The result has been one of the fiercest battles in recent memory.

Aivonen over just the last 24 hours has been a hotspot of massive proportions in the cluster:

That red circle is Aivonen.

Despite intense resistance and determined leadership from CalMil in general and Templis CALSF in particular, the contested level continues day over day to inch up.

The next few days will be the most important. Can the Gallente forces continue to keep up the pressure? Can CalMil turn the momentum around?

Immense shoutouts to all pilots in both militias who are making this a memorable battle we'll talk about for years to come. The Siege of Aivonen... how will it end?

Slugfest in Akidagi

Last night we joined up with other Gallente Militia corporations/alliances in a Navy Mega/Mega fleet and went to shoot at a Templis CALSF Astrahus in Akidagi system of Black Rise.

Our fleet was about 45 pilots and we anxiously scouted the Templis HQ system of Aivonen and other system of known pirates and other Cal Mil forces for incoming fleets. Soon reports of a Rattlesnake fleet in Aivonen were heard, as well as an incoming Megathron fleet from The Bastard Cartel. As Templis jumped in we warped to the Aivonen gate and engaged the enemy, but it quickly became apparent we lacked the reps from our erstwhile Guardian logistics wing so we called in FAX triage reps and the enemy called in a Dreadnought.

Over the next 30 minutes we exchanged blows, targets, kills, and deaths. We lost one of our two Apostles but destroyed an enemy Naglfar, and as our fleet moved from one battleship target to the next we finally forced the surviving enemy to retreat. Despite being significantly outnumbered we held the field and won the ISK war.

Click for full size, link to BR here.

Major props to Cal Mil foes for bringing the fight and our Gal Mil bros for a great battle! Video incoming...

Riding the Unicycle on the Cliff-side Trail of Doom

Last night was crazy in a good way.

I decided I wanted to fly and probably lose an old Abaddon battleship I had in the hanger from my Paxton Federation days. Specifically, an armour buffered Large Pulse Laser behemoth whose purpose is to kick ass and chew capacitor... which is not a great fit for Aideron where doctrines are light on cap transfer logistics. But I was out for insurance fraud so that was OK.

Usually when I start the Aideron Sunday Night Fleet we get about 7 pilots at first and build up slowly over the next hour to our normal size around 22-24. Last night we started at 14 pilots and peaked later at 32. I guess people were excited at the thought of watching my battleship go boom.

Source

So we immediately shipped into Vexors and Exequrors with supporting frigates and my Abaddon Mace and went looking for trouble in all the right places. Specifically, we started with Tama.

The Nourvukaiken gate (aka Nourv because spelling is hard) had a small group camping so Bait Abaddon is Best Abaddon and in I went. It was nice being in something with heft to it, no fear of being blapped off the field by 7... no wait, 10... no... 14 hostiles... OH SHIT! "Jump and warp to Kirith now!"

What enfolded was a crazy fight between us and possibly multiple groups of hostiles in a variety of ships including frigates, cruisers, logi, recons, stealth bombers, and at one point I swear I saw a Redeemer. Calling targets was tricky due to ranges and security status as I wanted to kill some things but didn't want to stress our logistics wing with gate guns until it was necessary, then we turned on the weapons on some neutral recons and stealth bombers to clear the area. We held the field with minor losses and scoring some nice kills including a Navy Omen, Rapier, and Armageddon, scooped loot, and headed home to drop it off and let some pilot reship.

The next hour was quiet excepting a scuffle in a medium plex I could not fit in so Marcel took over that fight. We heard rumblings that frequent sparring partner Templis CALSF of the Caldari Militia so we ran some plexes down in Sujarento while keeping eyes on the Templis home system of Hasmijaala where their numbers slowly increased. We moved into Nagamanen and waited for reports on the enemy fleet. When they showed up, they did not disappoint so we set up in a Large complex and prepared to fight.

We had about 24 cruisers including my battleship, with 7 of them being Exequrors, one blackbird, and the rest Vexors and Vexor Navy Issues. The Templis fleet was more of a mixed bag of Thoraxes, Vexors, Vexor Navy Issues, a couple Ashimmus, a Sacrilege, a Rupture, 2 Blackbirds, and supported by some Exequrors and Oneiroses (I think 2 of each to start), a total of 23 cruisers. Both sides had a smattering of frigates and there might have been a Destroyer here and there.

The Blackbirds were a serious threat to our logi wing and nice and squishy so they were primaried early to remove the jamming. Our ECM pilot met the same fate as the Templis FC had the same concerns apparently. I ordered our DPS to start into the hostile Exequrors and we took one down in what felt like an eternity but was probably closer to 2 minutes. Then our Logi anchor reported an Ashmmu was on them and neuting hard so we diverted attention to it but it could not break with the CalMil logi firing on all cylinders. I ordered switching primary to one of the Oneiros pilots but Marcel wisely suggested we keep blasters on the Ashimmu and only send the drones after the logi pilot. I agreed so we split our damage and this seemed to work by unsettling their reps enough for one, then the other Ashimmu to be worn down before the Onerios pilot died. We went after the other Onerios pilot to remove their reps (or so I thought as I missed one of the Exes #FCfail) and once it was gone taking out a third Ashimmu before concentrating on the last Exe someone finally pointed out to me.

Now, we were losing ships in this process over the 5 minutes since the fight started, and our logi commander was reporting that reps were not holding. I asked what was hitting them and they said "drones!" HEY! That's our shtick! So with enemy logistics and neutralizers removed we started into the high DPS and drone cruisers taking down the Sacrilege followed by 2 Vexors and 2 VNIs and then tearing into the vulnerable trio of Thoraxes. Templis, seeing the tide turning against them as their DPS failed ordered the retreat and we held the field, battered and bloody.

Not 100% accurate but close.

The end tally showed that both sides caused a lot of damage with Aideron losing 17 cruisers and Templis losing 17 cruisers plus 3 Tech 2 cruisers. However, the faction and Tech II ships' costs gave us the ISK advantage, plus holding the field means we declared this a victory. Hard fought and won, but victory nonetheless.

Great Fight Templis CALSF, you guys bring the fight and its always a pleasure.

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.

* * * * * *

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!