Battle of M-OEE8

Most likely the principal battle of World War Bee as it was the final turning point of the war and following it, Circle of Two left The Imperium and joined the good guys side. The battle lasted for over four hours and involved over 5000 pilots.

The following is TEST High Command FC vily's log of the battle:

“Progod was taking the main group. My previous technical difficulties had made me very wary to commit to anything. That meant I was gonna roll bombers again. I’m quite ok with that. Being the kind of “fill” fleet but also with a specialized nature I was not expecting anything really. Ten guys maybe, fifteen? Well in about 10 minutes into the formup I was at thirty and by the time we were jumping into M-O 15 minutes later we were at somewhere around fifty. That’s not deathblow for battleship numbers, but it is enough to do some incredible damage to them or to wipe out smaller sized groups like battlecruisers and non tech3 cruisers.

Once we got setup in M-O and passed around every relevant perch the waiting game began. Being so mobile means that we get in early but it also means we get to wait for everyone else. There was a couple opportunities to bomb machariel fleets out in the open, but with no fleet to follow up that damage the reward is so minimal for the likely loss of bombers on each run that I obviously passed. So we waited and we waited. Then the main fleets began to bridge into the adjacent systems, the primary of which was FY0W. However within no time at all we would find ourselves sitting on the J-GAMP gate attempting to make an impression on anyone that would walk down our alley. Shortly before that however we would claim an important milestone of first blood for the day (ignoring the deaths on Taisy gate) and kill a solo machariel with torp launchers to had the unpleasant luck to find himself alone, away from the group and too far off the gate to make it through.

In a shocker that would take almost no time. With our friendlies on the other side and Imperium forces ready to engage, they would come by and through in droves. While a tech3 armor cruiser gang means nothing to me, assorted BS from a machariel fleet along with droves of support would be our first target. We would unload the better part of a full wing run into them as they jumped through. I don’t know how many hit and how many didn’t but I got the sense damage had been done. We would make another couple of assorted low level runs on the gate after this. Anytime anything juicier than ten frigates looked to be bombable we would take that opportunity. Xdeath would come over with their pete’s, but one squad of bombers would remind them that we were virtues on grid and they decided to stay with their easier prey on Taisy gate. After all this, a fleet of hurricanes would come on grid at range for a little while and quickly disappear before I could get setup against them. Hurricanes are a juicy target for bombers with high sig and lower-ish tank. Juicy juicy hurricanes.

We would not see that hurricane fleet for a while, but probably twenty minutes or so later, just as the fight in J-GAMP was beginning in earnest, they would come back and land on the gate at zero. Normally I wouldn’t even bother, but they didn’t just jump through right away. They immediately dropped a bubble and setup their logi chain as if preparing for something, even if that something was quite possibly just the official order to jump. Even with a bubble on the gate, 150+ man fleet in hurricanes is an incredibly juicy target, so so juicy. I couldn’t not throw some bombs at them and see if some panicked and forgot to press jump.

I will have to describe the next minute in a very slow motion sense. So I fleet warped the whole crew down to the gate, saying aloud for Wing1 to take the fleetwarp. However as I initiated that fleet warp other bombers had begun to decloak, sending fireballs of ringing danger through my head and having my scream for people to stop warp stop warp. The timing however was too late and we hurtled down to the gate pulled closer in than anyone would every normally dare by the bubble, watching as a squad of VOLTA and Nog8s bombers (I think) would level runs into them while my crew watched inches from the explosions, many of us taking bomb damage from the random bomb or two that was fired from 1km further back than the rest. The margin of survival for my thirty or fourty bombers being so incredibly small that it is amazing we did survive. Then realizing, that we aren’t dead and that the hurricanes are still on the gate after a squad of bombs. “Bomb them bomb them” I decried, and so we did. It was ugly, bombers firing from 20km away from odd angle and weird spots. Hell one guy MWD’s right into his own and the other bombs and got a quick trip home. “What about us” asked wing two, who had apparently cancelled the fleet warp because of my “Wing”1 comment now so long ago. Go, do gods work, and as they started warping down our bombs started exploding and by the time they were all done exploding there would be nothing but a couple of bugged pods on the gate. I won’t even try to say that they shouldn’t have been able to jump through the gate. Maybe I subconsciously knew that people would get stuck unable to jump through gate had that’s why I had us camping this gate. I don’t know. Sometimes blind shithouse luck is just as good as skill. Press F to pay respects. Very clever.

After that devastating series of explosion, our next 2-3 hours would mostly be unworthy of note. I would make the epicly horrible decision of trying to move us into J-GAMP, which with a covert bridge and all should have went moderately smooth. However about twenty minutes after I did that the node fell apart. So we spent the next two odd hours merely trying to extract ourselves from that mess as soon as I realized what a giant mistake I had made. Most of us would just gate out through the M-O gate in J-GAMP, as by this time the fighting had split into the more large skirmish style that would characterize the second half of the battle, and do our best to get setup back into M-O.

While most of what we would do from this point on was merely to execute disconnected or solo foes, we did attempt to save Manny’s carrier from a group of init Magus who looked like a juicy target. The problem being, that as we initiated warp the fleet was moving and without any perches the angle we would come in on would put us 5-10km off the magus fleet decloaked. They bubbled right away and we lost 8 or 9 bombers for nothing of note. I would get setup on them again and come in for another run, but magus are not the thinnest of ships and the presence of a large group of ruptures and muninns now on grid would cause many bombs to disappear as their firers died before they could explode. That all being said, there wasn’t any other viable targets for us to setup on, so we would prep for round 3 with the magus fleet right as Laz’s hurricane fleet came onto grid. With the magus very spread out and the hurricanes MWD’ing directly into us, things were looking good. Nom nom. We approached from about 100km out while the canes moved into us. With my hictor ready to come in from a good angle, this was gonna be good. Then just as we hit about 50-60km from the canes they all warped out. Much sadface ensued.

We would probably stick around for thirty more minutes trying to find something to engage, but the hurricane fleet would dock and the large fleets dissolved, leaving naught to do but save ourselves the risk of being in the back end of the escape tidi and get the hell out.

As the C02 announcement came in, much smug would emit from our coalition. It’s a victory to be sure, but not one I like the taste of. Ruining the challenge of this war is the last thing we need. There would certainly be plenty of discussion on the next steps as well. I listened to the fireside chat for a while then went to sleep, with dreams of dead hurricanes to carry me away.

Oh and +1 Dyspro that we took while everyone was still in their victory cheer or defeated dour.”

"World War Bee: The Battle of M-OEE8", EVE Online

"Tribute: Allies Emerge Victorious in the Battle of M-OEE8", EVE News 24, by Salivan Harddin

"EVE Online’s Growing New Great War: the Battle of M-OEE8", EVE Online, by CCP Manifest

"CO2 Resets Imperium after Imperium Loses 240b Defending CO2 IHUB", themittani.com, by Arrendis

"The Scope – Circle Of Two severs ties with Imperium after Tribute Defeat"

Artistic rendition of CO2 joining the good guys, youtube

"Vily's Log", TEST Forums Please Ignore