Heavy Fighting in Delve over Capital Ship Assembly Arrays
8WA-Z6, Delve - The battle for Delve blossomed to epic proportions over the course of 12.02.111. Many of the control towers necessary for holding sovereignty claims fell, supercapitals were slain both in space and in construction and system sovereignties changed hands.
Territory-grade sovereignty in most of Delve is currently held by KenZoku. Under its previous registration as Band of Brothers, the corporations currently comprising KenZoku held Province and, in some systems, Constellation Capital claims on the region's ownership which have left many structures anchored - such as capital ship assembly arrays - that cannot currently be operated. These arrays are currently under attack by a coalition of KenZoku's enemies apparently seeking to cripple the alliance's supercapital production capability before it can be restored.
The Campaign Records of the factions involved show the following approximate coalitions of forces:
Defending Delve against the invading forces are KenZoku, their allies and a force from Against ALL Authorities.
The invading forces comprise GoonSwarm and their allies, Morsus Mihi and RAZOR Alliance of the Northern Coalition, Pandemic Legion and Sons of Tangra from Fountain, B.L.A.C.K. and KIA Alliance.
Meanwhile, GoonSwarm's campaign records show their home territory under attack by forces from Against ALL Authorities, RED.OverLord, Stain Empire, C0ven and Systematic-Chaos; it is not yet confirmed whether this is an organized coalition of forces or simply separate groups attacking a common target. More detail will be forthcoming in follow-up articles.
Zenith Affinity also managed to seize the sovereignty of 3-LJW3 in Detorid from KenZoku.
KenZoku Towers Fall
On the 11.02.111, in OGY-6D, Northern Coalition forces destroyed a FinFleet Dark Blood Control Tower, causing KenZoku to lose their claim upon the system today.
In a statement recorded on the now-public Band of Brothers directorial forums, Darius JOHNSON of Goonswarm allegedly announced that Goonswarm will no longer be defending their old home systems, abandoning them so they can push with everything towards the conquest of Delve.
Goonswarm's attacks have so far focused on three systems: J-LPX7, 5-6QW7 and QY6-RK, felling 8 large control towers and two Capital Ship Assembly Arrays in 24 hours according to their combat records:
03:35 - QY6-RK - Amarr Control Tower - Reikoku
04:29 - QY6-RK - Amarr Control Tower - Reikoku
04:52 - QY6-RK - Gallente Control Tower - Reikoku
05:15 - QY6-RK - Amarr Control Tower - Reikoku
13:53 - QY6-RK - Amarr Control Tower - Evolution
14:44 - 5-6QW7 - Caldari Control Tower - Black Eclipse Corp
15:42 - J-LPX7 - Dark Blood Control Tower - Relentless Construction
17:14 - J-LPX7 - Dark Blood Control Tower - Reikoku
Trzzbk of GoonSwarm issued the following statement about today's fighting:
"Today GoonSwarm successfully quashed a KenZoku counter-offensive in Delve. GS and allied forces over the course of the day destroyed two CSAAs, with another KenZoku tower with CSAAs coming out later tonight. We also killed at least 7 carriers, one dread, an Aeon mothership and an Avatar titan.
"GoonSwarm received intelligence earlier this week that KenZoku, along with their allies [Against ALL Authorities] and their assorted pets were going to make a massive stand against the [GoonSwarm] offensive in Delve in today. We rallied massive forces between [GoonSwarm], [Pandemic Legion], [Tau Ceti Federation] and our other allies and successfully defeated their attempted defense and we are now on track to take [sovereignty] in at least four of KenZoku's outpost systems.
"Today was, shall we say, favorable to GoonSwarm."
Tobruk of Pandemic Legion claims that today's operations by KenZoku were classed by its leaders as a "Red Pen" operation, an all-out effort in which the defenders would bring everything they could to bear. A KenZoku spokesman could not be reached to confirm or deny this claim prior to publication.
As well as working with GoonSwarm on the tower demolitions between 13:53 and 17:14, Pandemic Legion's campaign record shows another 3 tower kills the same day:
17:44 - MJXW-P - Amarr Control Tower (Small) - Constructive Influence
19:13 - MJXW-P - Amarr Control Tower (Small) - Destructive Influence
21:12 - MJXW-P - Amarr Control Tower (Small) - FREE GATES / Skunk-Works
Supercapital Casualties
As well as the towers themselves, where capital assembly arrays were anchored at the towers, these were destroyed - GoonSwarm claim that two have been torn down so far.
Dianabolic, CEO of Reikoku, stated that the capital ship assembly array at the Relentless Construction tower destroyed in J-LPX7 was building a Nyx mothership, which would only have been 2 days from the end of its cycle if sovereignty could be restored. Goonswarm members heatedly deny this, citing a post from the publicised Band of Brothers directors' forums but there is much dispute about possible interpretations of this document.
Also lost in the defence efforts were an Aeon mothership belonging to Waagaa Ktlehr in J-LPX7 and an Avatar-class Titan belonging to Shrike that perished outside a control tower's shields in 8WA-Z6. While this is Shrike's fourth loss of an Avatar on the Band of Brothers/KenZoku killboard, she has claimed almost 2,500 ship kills with her titans in her time in Evolution.
Goonswarm Towers Fall
While all of GoonSwarm's forces were engaged in Delve, however, Against ALL Authorities, C0ven, Stain Empire, RED.OverLord and Systematic-Chaos attacked sovereignty-claiming towers in the Feythabolis and Esoteria regions GoonSwarm claim to have abandoned in favour of conquering Delve. GoonSwarm's campaign records show that 17 towers and a cyno-jammer fell to these attacks in the course of 24 hours:
01:02 - DB1R-4 - Minmatar Control Tower - Ars Ex Discordia
01:48 - ZS-2LT - Minmatar Control Tower - Ultrapolite Socialites
02:26 - ZS-2LT - Domination Control Tower - Ultrapolite Socialites
03:04 - ZS-2LT - Minmatar Control Tower - Ultrapolite Socialites
03:42 - ZS-2LT - Minmatar Control Tower - Ars Ex Discordia
08:58 - GHZ-SJ - Amarr Control Tower - GoonFleet
09:18 - QS-530 - Gallente Control Tower (Small) - Ars Ex Discordia
09:32 - GHZ-SJ - Amarr Control Tower - GoonFleet
09:56 - PE-H02 - True Sansha Control Tower - GoonFleet
10:15 - GHZ-SJ - Amarr Control Tower - GoonFleet
10:25 - PE-H02 - Amarr Control Tower - GoonFleet
10:43 - PE-H02 - True Sansha Control Tower - GoonFleet
10:47 - PE-H02 - CynoJammer
10:48 - OXC-UL - Gallente Control Tower (Small) - Ars Ex Discordia
10:51 - GHZ-SJ - Amarr Control Tower - GoonFleet
13:27 - BJD4-E - Minmatar Control Tower (Small) - GoonFleet
13:50 - GHZ-SJ - Amarr Control Tower - GoonFleet
14:35 - GHZ-SJ - Amarr Control Tower - GoonFleet
In recent days, destruction and anchoring of towers in key Delve systems has continued. Several outposts are poised to fall to the combined forces of GoonSwarm, Pandemic Legion, the Northern Coalition and their allies. The main KenZoku force is currently pinned down in stations in PR-8CA, with over 400 pilots in the system even during lulls in the fighting, so the defenders are forced to sally in periodic breakout fleets.
Shortly, the Interstellar Correspondents will be providing in-depth reports on the sovereignty situation in Delve, and an interview with Haargoth Agamar, the former Black Nova Corp director who defected to GoonSwarm.
GalNet Resources
11.02.111 Verite Sovereignty Map
12.02.111 Verite Sovereignty Map
GoonSwarm Campaign Record
KenZoku Campaign Record
Pandemic Legion Campaign Record
Against ALL Authorities Campaign Record
Northern Coalition Campaign Record
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