There are few things in the piracy experience quite like jumping into a low-sec system and seeing a huge list of people in local in all different corps. On one hand, it means plenty of unsuspecting people out and about, ready to take their place in the food chain of Eve. On the other hand, it's a system full of people who you don't know, who might be prepared for you, who may have friends about. And sometimes, if you disrupt that balance, they may even put aside their usual rivalries to take you down.
Today's story begins with two truckers. Working in battleships and covert ops ships, two of us had spent the morning moving ammo and supplies into the Old Man Star system for a POS kill that would take place later that day. As noon rolled around, we found ourselves reconning the tower in covert ops frigates, bored to the point of dozing off, when a cynosural field popped up on overview. With nothing better to do, we warped in at 100km to check it out, and found a massive fight in the making.
Cleared for publication by: Ander
From the cover of our cloaking devices, we took in the situation. Fifty kilometers off my starboard side, I sighted an Ishtar heavy assault cruiser, with the flashing red background of a globally flagged player. Surrounding him was a rapidly-moving nanogang: a Vagabond and Zealot accompanied by interceptors and Tech-1 frigates. Nimbly dodging his drones, they were slowly making progress in breaking his hefty armor tank. To port, a Damnation command ship floated 30km away, with the cynosural field formed just above it. As two interceptors held the heavily armored ship in place, the screen flashed white, announcing the arrival of a Nidhoggur-class carrier on the field!
Almost instantly, the Nidhoggur turned its remote repairers onto the Damnation and Ishtar, flagging itself as an accomplice to piracy. It seems that we had arrived at the scene of a gank gone horribly wrong, and the aggressors were settling for getting out intact. However, to the nano-gang's credit, several interceptors peeled away from the Ishtar's impending demise and immediately tackled the Nidhoggur. Then, a Falcon uncloaked above the carrier, jamming its sensors and forcing the capital ship's remote armor repairers to shut off. Things had just gotten interesting!
As the Ishtar exploded and the Damnation started taking heavy fire, we debated what to do. Our current empire war had been lacking in good fights, and a carrier kill sounded like the perfect thing to break the monotony; we had battleships in system, capable of dealing the damage that a nano-gang could not. Since the carrier had just jumped in, he'd only have 25% of his capacitor available, and would be unable to tank for extended periods of time. All parties were neutral to us. In the end, the final call was: "What the hell, they're insured." As I attempted to convo the Falcon pilot to pass on our intentions, we docked, switched to a gank-fit Typhoon and Tempest, and warped in without waiting for a response.
I'm not sure what the tacklers thought when they saw two battleships arrive beside the carrier; we instantly locked and started hitting the carrier hard, waiting to see the reaction from the larger gang... and nobody locked us. The fight was on!
As the carrier's shields started dropping under our fire, more and more random people from local started arriving; none of them related or organized, but contributing as they could. Even employees of NPC corporations showed up in tech 1 ships to tackle his fighter drones and add extra damage. Without a gang or common corp to organize our overview, we simply had to work by eye, figuring out who was friendly and who was not by the lines of turret fire. As more and more random locals arrived, we started tearing into his armor, fighting against two Capital Armor Repairers. Our drones were crushed by a smartbomb, as were some of the frigates in orbit, but we were slowly making headway.
The Damnation finally fell, costing the carrier some valuable resistances, as did a Scimitar that came to aid the carrier; the fight was reduced to 25 random locals in mismatched ships, against an ailing but deadly capital ship. With his capacitor nearing empty, one of his repairers shut off, and the end of the battle was in sight -- it was just a race against time before his allies showed up in force.
Finally, local spiked; we feared it was the long-awaited reinforcements, but none of the newcomers were from the carrier's corporation! A pack of Raven battleships appeared below us, followed by a Moros-class dreadnought and another carrier; with his armor already 75% gone, the Moros put him into hull in a single volley, and we were rewarded with the smoking wreckage of a carrier shortly afterwards.
With the Nidhoggur destroyed, it was time to bug out; uneasy battlefield friendships tend to disappear very quickly once the target is down! We immediately aligned for a deep safe, hoping that none of the remaining interceptors would decide to add some extra battleships to their killboard. Luckily, nobody targeted us, and we warped out largely unscathed.
In the end, the killmail had over thirty participants on it, from 14 different corporations. Having been the first heavy hitters on the field, our two battleships had together done over 30% of the damage in what was a nearly ten-minute fight. Props to the carrier pilot for having the balls to bringing an expensive ship into an unpredictable battle :) And props to all the random people in local for not turning on each other in mid-gank!
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2008.01.29 20:31
Victim: Paedagogus
Alliance: None
Corp: Master Miners
Destroyed: Nidhoggur
System: Old Man Star
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 666548
Involved parties:
Name: JarikArmada
Security: -2.0
Alliance: Varangian Syndicate
Corp: Dire Trucking
Ship: Tempest
Weapon: Tempest
Damage Done: 110526
Name: Namamai
Security: -1.7
Alliance: Varangian Syndicate
Corp: Dire Trucking
Ship: Typhoon
Weapon: Unknown
Damage Done: 89936
Name: Nick Summers
Security: 0.4
Alliance: None
Corp: Noob Fight Club
Ship: Zealot
Weapon: Zealot
Damage Done: 85157
Name: Yitro (laid the final blow)
Security: 3.2
Alliance: Frontal Impact
Corp: M'8'S
Ship: Moros
Weapon: Ion Siege Blaster Cannon I
Damage Done: 54369
Name: Jenny Bergmann
Security: -0.5
Alliance: ParadoXon Alliance
Corp: Community for Justice
Ship: Drake
Weapon: Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Damage Done: 41531
Name: Evirim Nistreon
Security: -1.3
Alliance: None
Corp: Imperial Academy
Ship: Zealot
Weapon: Zealot
Damage Done: 37311
Name: Mirackle
Security: 4.3
Alliance: None
Corp: SMILEY DRONES AT UNIMATRIX ZERO
Ship: Megathron
Weapon: 425mm Railgun II
Damage Done: 31765
Name: Edgar Boron
Security: 4.8
Alliance: Frontal Impact
Corp: M'8'S
Ship: Thanatos
Weapon: Firbolg
Damage Done: 29843
Name: menai deteis
Security: 2.7
Alliance: Frontal Impact
Corp: Complex Laboratories
Ship: Raven
Weapon: Caldari Navy Bane Torpedo
Damage Done: 27721
Name: Kat Alexander
Security: -2.0
Alliance: Varangian Syndicate
Corp: Dire Trucking
Ship: Brutix
Weapon: Brutix
Damage Done: 24668
Name: Bahaja
Security: 2.8
Alliance: Frontal Impact
Corp: 20th Legion
Ship: Typhoon
Weapon: Typhoon
Damage Done: 24102
Name: Ctharth
Security: 5.0
Alliance: Frontal Impact
Corp: Frontier Innovation
Ship: Armageddon
Weapon: Armageddon
Damage Done: 22355
Name: DeepPenetrator
Security: 4.6
Alliance: ParadoXon Alliance
Corp: Community for Justice
Ship: Drake
Weapon: Heavy Missile Launcher II
Damage Done: 15779
Name: KaffeeTasse
Security: 4.9
Alliance: Frontal Impact
Corp: M'8'S
Ship: Raven
Weapon: Caldari Navy Wrath Cruise Missile
Damage Done: 15068
Name: Akemi Teiko
Security: 3.4
Alliance: Frontal Impact
Corp: M'8'S
Ship: Raven
Weapon: Caldari Navy Devastator Cruise Missile
Damage Done: 11648
Name: Commander Tork
Security: 3.6
Alliance: Frontal Impact
Corp: M'8'S
Ship: Nighthawk
Weapon: Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Damage Done: 10679
Name: Zheng Guo
Security: -1.8
Alliance: ParadoXon Alliance
Corp: Community for Justice
Ship: Maelstrom
Weapon: Maelstrom
Damage Done: 9352
Name: PerpetumMobile
Security: 4.0
Alliance: Soviet Mercenary
Corp: Soviet Fleet
Ship: Thorax
Weapon: Thorax
Damage Done: 9133
Name: Xoranger
Security: -1.0
Alliance: None
Corp: Noob Fight Club
Ship: Huginn
Weapon: Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile
Damage Done: 8583
Name: Opasan
Security: 0.0
Alliance: None
Corp: Republic Military School
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: 200mm Light Gallium I Machine Gun
Damage Done: 3328
Name: Liteik
Security: 0.9
Alliance: None
Corp: Noob Fight Club
Ship: Vagabond
Weapon: Dual 180mm AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 1271
Name: Medison Id
Security: 0.1
Alliance: ParadoXon Alliance
Corp: Community for Justice
Ship: Unknown
Weapon: Heavy Missile Launcher I
Damage Done: 1236
Name: AndyKir72
Security: 2.1
Alliance: None
Corp: Center for Advanced Studies
Ship: Arazu
Weapon: Phased Muon Sensor Disruptor I
Damage Done: 555
Name: Angelreaper2d
Security: -0.8
Alliance: None
Corp: Noob Fight Club
Ship: Taranis
Weapon: J5 Prototype Warp Inhibitor I
Damage Done: 460
Name: Ursus R
Security: 2.2
Alliance: Soviet Mercenary
Corp: Soviet Fleet
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: Stasis Webifier I
Damage Done: 172
Name: baha78
Security: 0.5
Alliance: None
Corp: N.O.V.A.
Ship: Unknown
Weapon: Initiated Harmonic Warp Jammer I
Damage Done: 0
Name: Blackmumbo
Security: 0.6
Alliance: Soviet Mercenary
Corp: Soviet Fleet
Ship: Merlin
Weapon: Warp Scrambler I
Damage Done: 0
Name: enggarin
Security: -0.5
Alliance: None
Corp: ProgresseR
Ship: Taranis
Weapon: Warp Disruptor II
Damage Done: 0
Name: Vaa
Security: -0.5
Alliance: None
Corp: superkillmegacorp
Ship: Rook
Weapon: 'Umbra' I White Noise ECM
Damage Done: 0
Name: Tokoso Tomimo
Security: -1.2
Alliance: None
Corp: Noob Fight Club
Ship: Falcon
Weapon: Enfeebling Phase Inversion ECM I
Damage Done: 0
Destroyed items:
Drone Control Unit I
True Sansha Heavy Energy Neutralizer
Warp Disruptor II
Cap Recharger II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Capacitor Control Circuit I, Qty: 3
Valkyrie II, Qty: 50 (Drone Bay)
Hammerhead II, Qty: 5 (Drone Bay)
Heavy Armor Maintenance Bot I, Qty: 50 (Drone Bay)
Garde I, Qty: 5 (Drone Bay)
Hammerhead I, Qty: 8 (Drone Bay)
Infiltrator I (Drone Bay)
Hornet II (Drone Bay)
Medium Shield Maintenance Bot I (Drone Bay)
Hobgoblin I, Qty: 4 (Drone Bay)
Heavy Shield Maintenance Bot I, Qty: 16 (Drone Bay)
Vespa EC-600 (Drone Bay)
Firbolg, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)
Warrior II (Drone Bay)
Bouncer I, Qty: 7 (Drone Bay)
Ogre II, Qty: 6 (Drone Bay)
Dragonfly (Drone Bay)
Berserker II, Qty: 3 (Drone Bay)
Acolyte I (Drone Bay)
Acolyte II, Qty: 3 (Drone Bay)
Mining Drone I, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)
Dropped items:
Large 'Notos' Explosive Charge I
Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Capital Remote Armor Repair System I
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Armor Explosive Hardener II
Capacitor Power Relay II
Capital Armor Repairer I
Capital Armor Repairer I
Armor Kinetic Hardener II
Hydrogen Isotopes, Qty: 17157 (Cargo)
Warrior II, Qty: 98 (Drone Bay)
Warden I, Qty: 20 (Drone Bay)
Bouncer I, Qty: 13 (Drone Bay)
Firbolg (Drone Bay)
Vespa EC-600, Qty: 3 (Drone Bay)
Heavy Shield Maintenance Bot I, Qty: 3 (Drone Bay)
Garde I, Qty: 15 (Drone Bay)
Hobgoblin I, Qty: 5 (Drone Bay)
Hobgoblin II (Drone Bay)
Hornet II (Drone Bay)
Hammerhead II, Qty: 15 (Drone Bay)
Acolyte II, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)
Hammerhead I, Qty: 13 (Drone Bay)
Mining Drone I, Qty: 47 (Drone Bay)
Curator I, Qty: 20 (Drone Bay)
Templar (Drone Bay)
Berserker II, Qty: 64 (Drone Bay)
Dragonfly, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)
Ogre II, Qty: 27 (Drone Bay)
9 Comments
Old man star sometimes brings a lot of fun ;)
hehe that sounds like one of those epic fights you will always remember.
dude.... thats fucking awesome...
I remember the good old days in Placid with about 30 of us mission runners in an anti-piracy channel. We had plenty of 'unsuspecting' pirates thinking they were picking off lone mission runners, miners and haulers... only to get jumped by a bunch of carebears. We lost some, pirates lost more. Great times and kudos to all pirates and carebears out there.
LOL that guy must have been pissed
It's things like this that make EVE the game it is :)
Wish I'd been there, sounds like a damn fun fight.
this is the type of gameplay that i started playing eve for
different people with different desire coming together for a common need possible past enemies fighting shoulder to shoulder against a common foe, and doing it with respect and honour to boot
great story and as some hav commended i have no doubt that this fight will stay with all involved for years to come
TTFN
You might not know this but some of the guys on this killmail are keen lowsec cap hunters and work together a lot. Chances are they were all in a fleet with each other even if you weren't in on it.
The corps superkillmegacorp, Soviet Fleet, Noob Fight Club and N.O.V.A. at least all tried to hotdrop our caps once when we took on one too many poses in a row. Some detective work can tie some of them back to the formations of Red Alliance.
In the good old days these pirate capitals were the daily bread of Noob Fight Club aka NFC =)) just search any major killboard for Tokoso, Nick Summers, Angelreaper2d, AndyKir72, PerpetumMobile, enggarin, Vaa, Xoranger etc, you will be much surprised. Oh, and Jenny is also listed...
As Martin has pointed out, they were feeding on the fat of the land, roaming lowsec and/or camping entrances to lowsec, looking for pirate gangs and (!) pirate capitals (sweetest target!). They were never affiliated with RA, and actually had a big red -10.0 standing from this alliance (most likely, for killing RA Eos back in 2007). Their connections with AAA were more formidable.