Catch\Period Basis\Impass\Feythabolis\Esoteria\Stain: New Beginnings
First, a short overview of the war so far from the most unbiased poster on this forum!
Part I: The first sightings of the Drake.
It all started with XWY on October 11th. After the successful campaigns by PL\WN\IT\Init\XIX and others to remove AAA and ROL from their sov possessions in Catch, Impass and Feythabolis, they encountered their first speedbump in Stain Empire's XWY jump bridge system in Impass. The system was used to harass CO2 and their renters with black ops and the united Old South, which became known as Stain Brotherhood put up a fierce resistance in defending it.
Despite multiple attempts and the presence of competent PL force, the system could not be broken and the momentum swung in their opponents favor. It all culminated in the battle of 13 alliances, when both PL and WN were unable to defeat their opponents and provided Stain Brotherhood with the first decisive victory.
Part II: Feythabolis Reconquista
The very next day NC plans on attacking Drone Regions was announced on the news, which later forced WN to leave the South front to provide assistance to Drone Coalition. PL contract has expired, and they also retired from the South, so Stain Brotherhood decided it was the right time to go onto offensive. Just like in their previous battles with Goonswarm, they staged from C9N system in Esoteria and attacked Feythabolis station system in AZN. The results came quickly, thanks to good piloting by ROL dictors, they managed to catch and hold several DT\C02 Supers until reinforcements have arrived. A slaughter of 5 supers and 20 capitals significantly hurt DT's morale and boosted the spirits for Stain. (Battlereport) (Video) That was quickly followed by the death of another DT super.
As the war was going into a full swing, Initiative requested assistance from IT and received it. IT decided to send Sys-K down to reinforce Initiative efforts in their defense against Stain. The battle for Feythabolis raged on, focusing on AZN, E-PROS and TRO stations.
Despite some initial setbacks, Stain had a good showing, which made their enemies complain about the current course of the war. Setting the timers to deep US timezone helped DT and CO2 to save AZN from its initial assault. Then came "The Firewall", a smartbomb RR\Logistic mid range BS concept from Initiative, which they boasted was able to defeat a 300 man drake gang with just 130 people in their gang, while ignoring the presence and death of their numerous allies in the same battle.
As the timezone wars for Feythabolis continued and LXQ in the North was stretched to record breaking 3000 people in local, Stain managed to nab a Sys-k Nyx in Period Basis. That was possibly one of the many reasons, which caused a ragequit by Sys-k main FC. Finally, after a couple of attempts, Stain managed to break Sov and take systems in TRO and E-PROS with a landslide victory. (Video). They later successfully defended their TCUs and accomplished the first significant territory gains in this war.
Part III: DT downfall.
The battle for AZN, however raged on. Stain managed to kill the I-HUB there and win several sub capital battles, which culminated in putting the station into a second reinforcement cycle. Initiative, witnessing a deteriorating state of affairs in Feythabolis decided to stage from Impass to get more involved into that front. A red pen CTA was called by all major alliances and IT alliance came over, which resulted in a node crash, leaving the node offline for several hours. As the local time got later and later for the Eastern European players, a large part of them went to sleep, so when the server came back up, Init block was able to save the station.
Despite the loss, Stain Brotherhood was controlling the system for the majority of the day and started to issue out payback to all involved. Initiative was first in line and their Firewall fleet was annihilated the following morning. The next day Stain decisively destroyed CO2 forces yet again. (Video)
The third payback was the broken morale of DT. A couple of their corps decided to leave and return to their lowsec roots, leading to a chain reaction of other followers, which didn't sit well with Initiative. DT was reset and trapped deep in null sec, surrounded by enemies. Then ROL managed to destroy their supercarrier, which proved to be a breaking point in making a deal with Stain. Their Sov was transferred over to ROL, and they were given a safe passage to Empire through the Stain logistic route.
The timezone war continued, as both sides tried to challenge each other for the control of the region. However, after several major victories against Firewall BS (Video 1) (Video 2). Stain was able to secure the region for themselves and prepare for an attack on Impass.
Part IV: Impass is broken, harassment of Period Basis.
Right around the short break between the wars for Feythabolis and Impass, Peanut Factory was insulted by some Sys-K pilots and invited Burn Eden and Havoc to punish the offenders. Much hilarity ensued from that decision, when completely outnumbered BE\HVC force was able to inflict terrible losses on Sys-k, reinforce their CSAA systems and cause various mischief. Eventually IT was forced to attend to that region and protect Sys-k assets from 40 angry people, and Sys-K was forced to move back to Period Basis.
In the meantime, Stain managed to reinforce the entire Impass region in one quick swoop. Then came the night of 2 victories, when Stain Brotherhood managed to defend ROL station system TSG and reinforce Initiative and CO2 staging system of 68ft, while scoring decisive victories in both instances. (Report) (Video). This time Initiative finally abandoned their "firewall" concept and tried out different strategies, albeit to no avail.
Lacking confidence in their ability to save Impass, ED and Init ordered its members to relocate assets to Catch. The South momentarily froze up in anticipation of the largest battle of this war. People suspected IT and WN would show up to help Init defend 68FT as it exited the last reinforcement cycle. However, WN did little except for trying to distract Stain by reinforcing some systems in Feythabolis and losing dreads to a Stain hotdrop. IT in retrospect did not disappoint and brought more people than Init themselves. After hours of lag ridden, horrific fight of resilience, patience and determination in a terrible timezone for both sides, Stain managed to come out on top and claim the system. (Report 1) (Report 2)
Part V: The Aftermath and new beginnings.
After Stain Brotherhood managed to win the battle of 68ft, despite IT's assistance to Initiative, they have successfully taken the main staging system for Init block in Impass. Ta8ula Rasa, one of the smaller Initiative allies disbanded. The battle for the region was won, when CO2 decided to move back to Providence and stop contesting Stain Brotherhood for Impass. After a month and a half of fighting, Stain Brotherhood successfully claimed 2 regions from their enemies, removed one Init ally from the picture and forced another to retreat to another region.
IT is right now under some pressure, with Stain roaming and killing their Supercarrier (Video), BE/HVC/NC. destroying Sys-k capital fleet in Period Basis, and Deklein Coalition threatening to open "The Eye of Terror" in Fountain. At the same time they have to provide some assistance for Init in order for them to have any hope to hold off Stain Brotherhood.
Stain will take a short break to clean up Impass, just like we did after the war in Feythabolis. Then we might strike again, with one strong possibility of Init as our next target in the Catch region. I can't disclose any further information on that and a lot of the future depends on the Eve political situation. Nevertheless we are all looking forward for some fun times ahead and ~good fights~.
Originally Posted by Mintberry Crunch
Please never stop posting.
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