Omen Nihilo
AQUILA INC
Verge of Collapse
20
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Posted - 2012.12.03 00:27:00 -
[5] - Quote
I've quite enjoyed reading the BR from NoHo's perspective. Here's a BR from AQUILA's perspective. I apologize in advance for the wall of text. 
AQUILA got word that Hard Knocks was being invaded by W-Space/NoHo late Friday night. After a bit of discussion it was decided that we would come and try to help. Hard Knocks planned to gain hole control while most of the invaders were sleeping. We jokingly strategized that if they failed we would chain collapse into them. Funnily enough, our first reroll led into HRDKX's home.  We were a bit unprepared, so only ~6 guys (and a few alts) made it into the hole before they collapsed the hole.
HRDKX made a move a few hrs later and gained hole control. They also killed a hostile Moros in the process (which AQUILA guys had to miss in order to hide our involvement so far  ). Despite gaining hole control, HRDKX weren't able to bring in anymore backup since all their allies were fast asleep.  n++The next morning, the invaders regained hole control, and made sure to keep the system locked down tightly. The timers on the towers still had a good 8 hrs left on them, so both AQUILA and V0LTA began chain collapsing from their respective holes. V0LTA soon opened up into AQUILA, so they joined us in our system.
Somehow the invaders got word that HRDKX had batphoned us and they asked us to stay out of it. When they realized we were determined, they batphoned AHARM. We watched as a decently sized AHARM T3 fleet made its way into the system, but there was nothing we could do except continue to collapse. We decided to also batphone FCFTW and KILL, and they started chain collapsing for HRDKX's system as well. KILL opened up into AQUILA's hole not long afterward, so they joined us in our system.
Our large number of reinforcements in AQUILA's home weren't making any headway, and HRDKX guys were starting to sound desperate. The first HRDKX's tower was about to come out of RF, and we realized we had to do something soon. HRDKX (plus the few AQUILA guys stuck with them) decided we had to make a rush for hole control. We were sure it was going to be a suicidal move, but after almost 8 hrs of chain collapsing we decided that a surprise rush might be the only way to stage a comeback.
Literally 5 min before this rush was going to happen, SSC opened up into HRDKX's home system. We quickly moved to take a defensive position on the hole, and SSC came in to bolster our numbers. They brought in a mostly subcap fleet with 2 Moros dreads. The invaders were definitely surprised, but if they'd engaged at this point the battle might've gone very differently. We outnumbered them in caps, but they still had a decent subcap advantage, and we immediately moved to bring in our reinforcements.
The new fleet consisting of HRDKX, SSC, and a few AQUILA moved to the system's static. At the same time the fleet in AQUILA's home started speed scanning for k-space exits. In about 15 min they had a 20+ wh chain scanned down. n++ We found a nullsec connection only 11 jumps between the two chains, so VoC+KILL moved out to join us quickly. As this was happening, W-Space/NoHo/AHARM started gathering every last man. They bounced off a planet and came in at range, their fleet numbering around 100. Without our backup we outnumbered them in caps quite heavily, but they still had the subcap advantage.
Just as our backup joined our comms the TS channel suddenly died. At first we thought we were being hacked, but someone quickly realized that the channel automatically muted everyone if it had over 100 members. We split comms with capital ships and lokis in one channel, and all other ships in another channel. And it was just in the nick of time.
Just as the hostile fleet warped down on top of us we regained our comms discipline and our backup arrived in the static. Our assigned FCs in both channels start calling primaries and we call our backup through. With our bolstered numbers we now had the capital and subcap advantage. At this point that battle was essentially decided, but it was still crazy how the tables had turned in a matter of minutes.
Battle Report: http://whkills.info/?a=kill_related&kll_id=18...
Loki Perspective: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw0LulVqQ90
Dread Perspective: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T7CYD4FeBQ
Big props to the invaders for bringing the fight. This was one of my top EVE experiences, a thrilling mix of strategy and luck. |