News: Providence Bloc Captures the UL-7I8 System

UL-7I8 system, Catch region. On the 18th of October, Providence Bloc took the last system that was lost to it in the start of the war, defeating HERO Coalition forces in a frontal confrontation that lasted four long hours.

The battle started at 23:00 EVE Standard Time, when Providence Bloc forces, in a hundred and twenty Tengu Strategic Cruiser fleet, entered the system and warped to the Infrastructure Hub, which was exiting its final reinforcement timer. 

Providence Bloc forces started shooting it when two HERO Coalition fleets entered the system, a twenty pilot Ishtar Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet fielded by Test Alliance Please Ignore, and a hundred and forty Eagle Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet manned by the rest of the coalition.

The two fleets warped to perches above the Providence Bloc fleet, when for some unexplained reason, the Ishtar fleet warped to zero on the Providence Bloc fleet. This allowed the Providence Bloc force to quickly dispatch of the Ishtars, who were quickly tackled and overwhelmed by the Tengus. The HERO Coalition fleet for its part warped to a sniping position and a fight flared up between the two coalitions, with both forces maintaining a considerable distance from one another.

Providence Bloc, however, seemed to have had the upper hand, and soon HERO Coalition Logistics ships were dropping at a rate of four a minute. With much of its Logistics wing annihilated, the HERO Coalition fleet attempted to maintain its distance, with Providence Bloc closing in each time. However, once it was made obvious the HERO Coalition fleet was merely stalling for time, Providence Bloc switched targets and fired at the Infrastructure Hub which quickly succumbed to the volleys.

With the Infrastructure Hub gone, Providence Bloc decided to go after the Territorial Claim Unit next, instead of attempting to force HERO Coalition into a full confrontation, which they seemed to decline. Once setup on the Territorial Claim Unit, Providence Bloc forces were continuously harassed by both the main HERO Coalition fleet, and by reinforcement fleets. The first was a twenty-five pilot Caracal Cruiser gang which managed to land next to Providence Bloc's Logistics wing. Losing quite a few Logistic ships, Providence Bloc managed to destroy the gang before returning its attention to the Eagle fleet which kept drawing it away from the Territorial Claim Unit.

After the Caracal gang, a Cormorant Destroyer fleet of thirty-seven pilots came next in an attempt to disrupt Providence Bloc Logistics. They managed to destroy one before once more being overwhelmed, only able to destroy some of the Interceptors and Frigates that accompanied the main fleet.

View from HERO Coalition's Cormorant gang

By this time the Providence Bloc commanders realized that HERO Coalition was in no position to dispute their control of the battlefield and decided to concentrate their efforts on the Territorial Claim Unit, instead of wasting time on chasing the elusive Eagle fleet. Their focused fire quickly dispatched the Territorial Claim Unit, and allowed them to anchor their own on a Tower that was prepared beforehand.

HERO Coalition forces attempted to destroy the Providence Bloc Territorial Claim Unit a few times but could not contend with the tower and stood down. Providence Bloc forces on their part extracted from the system, and on the 19th of October, 10:18 EVE Standard Time claimed the system as their own.

Fixed Battle Report for the UL-7I8 system can be found here.

During the fighting both forces kept reinforcing their fleets, with HERO Coalition attempting to seal the system and yet leaving an opening to the OXIY-V system, which allowed Providence Bloc a steady stream of reinforcements during the fighting. 

Time Dilation did not play a noticeable part in the fighting and local peaked at around two-hundred and eighty pilots at the beginning. Two hundred and nineteen ships were destroyed during the battle, for fifteen billion ISK of damages, the lion share HERO Coalition's. No third parties were present in the system.

With this conquest, Providence Bloc has regained all the systems it lost in the beginning of the war and is now looking to conquer the G-AOTH and ERVK-P systems, completing the occupation of the Northern Catch pocket. 

At this point, the war that HERO Coalition started to reclaim the Northern Catch pocket seems to have backfired on it, and yet, the tables may turn once more, as the Phoebe patch looms ever closer.

Special thanks to corebloodbrothers, of Volition Cult, The Volition Cult, vyshnegradsky and Hidetoshi Rushd, of Pentag Blade, Curatores Veritatis Alliance for granting interviews.

News: Providence Bloc Re-Takes 7MD-S1 System

7MD-S1 system, Catch region. On the 17th of October, Providence Bloc forces captured the system, which was conquered by HERO Coalition at the beginning of the conflict, continuing their streak of victories from S25C-K.

At 19:00 EVE Standard time, Providence Bloc formed an Ishtar Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet and reinforced HERO Coalition infrastructure throughout the Northern Catch region. At 21:30 the fleet re-shipped, to a Tengu Strategic Cruiser fleet, around a hundred and seventy pilot strong. The plan was to attempt and pin down HERO Coalition forces in the T-RPFU system in Providence, who were en-route to defend the Infrastructure Hub in the 7MD-S1 system, which was coming out of its final reinforcement timer.

HERO Coalition on its part, had a hundred and twenty pilot Eagle Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet, and managed to enter the 7MD-S1 system seconds before Providence Bloc forces could intercept it. A chase was on, as the HERO Coalition forces declined to engage the numerically superior Providence Bloc fleet. However, jumping into the ERVK-P system, they found Pandemic Legion forces awaiting them, in a sixty-six pilot mixed Proteus\Legion Strategic Cruiser fleet. 

Forced between a rock and a hard place, HERO Coalition chose to engage the Providence Bloc force in 7MD-S1. They managed to warp to a perch on the T-RPFU gate, then to a sniping position on the Providence Bloc force. However, the Tengus were able to cope with the distance and HERO Coalition started losing Logistics ships at a rate of four a minute. With much of their Logistics wing annihilated, and Pandemic Legion entering the system, HERO Coalition chose to disengage, freeing Providence Bloc to attend to the Infrastructure Hub.

While shooting the Infrastructure Hub, reports came of HERO Coalition attempts to leave the system. Providence Bloc decided to chase them, and warped to the ERVK-P gate, at the same time Pandemic Legion did. A few tense seconds passed before the two forces decided to jump and tackle the HERO Coalition fleet. An intense fight ensued on the 7MD-S1 gate as both fleets focused fire on the HERO Coalition Eagles, who died one after the other before the remnants could clear the warp interdiction probe fields and flee.

Fixed Battle Report for the ERVK-P system can be found here.

While this was going on, a Cynosural beacon went up in 7MD-S1 and a Pandemic Legion Mothership squadron jumped into the system. It quickly destroyed both the Infrastructure Hub and the Territorial Claim Unit before leaving as abruptly as it came.

With Pandemic Legion forces extracting, Providence Bloc was free to take possession of the system, yet another intrusion came, in the form of a CFC Hawk Assault Frigate fleet, some sixty pilot large. The fleet curiously decided to engage Providence Bloc on their Tower. A quick one sided battle developed, with the Hawk fleet being obliterated by the Providence Bloc Tengu fleet, with only one Griffin Frigate kill as their sole consolation prize.

After this last disturbance, Providence Bloc forces managed to take down their Sovereignty Blockade Units and online their own Territorial Claim Unit, under the flag of Evictus.

Fixed Battle Report for the 7MD-S1 system can be found here.

In total, one hundred and twenty-four ships were destroyed in both engagements, with HERO Coalition suffering the brunt of the losses, followed closely by CFC. Nearly ten billion ISK in damages was incurred.

This marks the second system to be re-captured by Providence Bloc, as S25C-K was re-taken only a week before, though mostly due to HERO Coalition's reluctance to form up and defend it, due to continued third party intervention. 

In a message to HERO Coalition, corebloodbrothers, one of the lead fleet commanders for Providence Bloc, promises that the war will not end before ERVK-P system returns to Providence Bloc's hand.

corebloodbrothers' message to HERO Coalition

With this, the tide of the war is certainly in favor of Providence Bloc, the question is, will it stay this way, or will it once again change?

Special thanks to corebloodbrothers, of Volition Cult, The Volition Cult and vyshnegradsky, of Pentag Blade, Curatores Veritatis Alliance for supplying interviews, as well as Tristan Enkura, of Terra Nanotech, Yulai Federation for the youtube video.

News: Providence Bloc Loses a Station Upgrade Platfrom to Pandemic Legion

XHQ-7V system, Providence region. On the 14th of October, a Pedestal Upgrade Platform deployed by Yulai Federation was destroyed by forces belonging to Pandemic Legion.

The Providence region is one of the most densely populated regions in Null Security space, and boasts the greatest amount of outposts. Thus, its inhabitants are well versed in the laying and upgrading of outposts. The scheduled operation to increase the upgrade slots for the Amarrian outpost in XHQ-7V seemed no different than the countless others done in the past.

As usual, Providence Bloc forces kept a tight lip on the operation, locking down the system with mobile warp disruptors, Interceptors and Interdictors, as well as having a fleet on standby to intercept any hostile forces. The Pedestal Upgrade Platform, nicknamed "Egg" due to its shape, was deployed an hour before the scheduled daily server maintenance and slowly filled with the needed materials. It seemed as though this would be another boring, unexciting operation, yet things ended quite differently than expected.

Disaster stroke in the final hauling run. With a last load of materials en route to fill the Egg and the scheduled downtime approaching fast, the Freighter pilot experienced connection issues and disconnected from the game. Before the pilot could log back in and transfer the last batch of materials, the server went down for its routine maintenance. 

Once it was back online, it turned out to have created a bug concerning the Egg. The materials stored in it prior to the scheduled downtime vanished, and trying to add the last batch did nothing to trigger its conversion into an upgrade slot, nor could it now be un-anchored and scooped back in. To their despair, the pilots of Yulai Federation found that their upgrade had been lost to the whims of the Tranquility server.

At this point, Providence Bloc attempted to turn a positive from a negative, and use the Egg as a magnate for hostiles, hoping to bait an enemy fleet or two. For this, they prepared a Zealot Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet of forty pilots and waited patiently for prey to bite. However, their bait turned out to be too successful, as it attracted the attention of Pandemic Legion.

Two squadrons of Motherships descended upon the system and proceeded the engulf the Egg in a cloud of drones. Unable to counter this display of force, Providence Bloc resorted to using the opportunity to practice bombing runs upon the drone cloud. Several Stealth Bombers though, were unlucky enough to get caught by the Motherships and quickly dispatched. 

 Attempted bombing run carried by Providence Bloc

Besides the odd bombing run, no incidents were recorded except a lone Drake Battlecruiser who seemed intent on challenging the Pandemic Legion force head on. It showed a display of bravery rarely seen in EVE Online, before being dispatched as well by the now amused pilots of Pandemic Legion.

After half an hour from their initial appearance in the system, Pandemic Legion forces destroyed the Egg and exited without further incident.

View of the Pandemic Legion fleet and the Egg from the outpost

The estimated loss of the Egg and the components is valued at ten billion ISK, however no kill mail was generated (A known issue with such structures). Regardless, it seems members of Providence Bloc took the loss in good spirit. Hopefully, their next upgrade operation will go more smoothly.

Special thanks to Rufus Britton, of Globaltech Industries, Yulai Federation Alliance for supplying the details of the event.

News: HERO Coalition Loses and Re-Captures CNC-4V System

CNC-4V system, Catch region. On the 13th of October the system became vulnerable due to human error, prompting Stain Wagon Coalition to attempt its seizure, to the detriment of HERO Coalition and Northern Coalition(dot).

The system was managed by Spaceship Samurai, but in the process of being transferred to Brave Collective. Thus, both the station and the Territorial Claim Unit were put under an alt corporation. However, the pilot managing the transfer was called away from the game for a long period of time, and as the days passed and sovereignty bills slowly ticked away, the corporate ISK reserves dwindled down to nothing, resulting in the loss of sovereignty on the 13th of October, 2:15 EVE Standard Time.

Test Alliance Please Ignore attempted to re-gain the system for HERO Coalition, taking the station and putting their own Territorial Claim Unit up, however, the sovereignty drop did not go unnoticed by other entities, such as Stain Wagon Coalition, who still views itself the rightful owner of the region. A small Stain Wagon Ishtar Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet was quickly dispatched in order to destroy any Territorial Claim Units in the system and put their own instead.

A Tower was anchored and more Territorial Claim Units brought in by Stain Wagon entities, as well as a far larger Ishtar fleet that quickly secured the station for them. At the same time, mobile warp disruptors and mobile cynosural jammers were brought and anchored around the Territorial Claim Units, in order to slow down any attempt to interfere with them, as information indicated that Northern Coalition(dot) were planning to come to HERO Coalition's aid.

 The TCU Tower set up by Stain Wagon forces in order to slow down Northern Coalition(dot)

Once done with their preparations, Stain Wagon retreated from the system, in order to re-ship. HERO Coalition on its part broadcasted a ping to all its pilots to form a fleet in order to re-take the system. Northern Coalition(dot) also had a fleet announced for the system. All parties were gearing up to meet in CNC-4V at 16:15 EVE Standard Time.

First in were Stain Wagon forces, who bridged into the system in a hundred pilot Cerberus Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet. While they were flying around the grid where Territorial Claim Unit Tower was located, a Cynosural Beacon was lit at a ping above them, and into the grid jumped Northern Coalition(dot) with a full Mothership wing, supported by another wing of Archon Carriers, reaching a hundred pilots.

Northern Coalition(dot) fleet bubbled and held down by Stain Wagon forces

The Stain Wagon fleet attempted to keep range from the Northern Coalition(dot) force as well as keep it under a blanket of warp disruption probes. However, it was losing quite a few Scimitars, Scythes, Sabres and Cerberus who got tackled by the Archons, who were fitted just for that purpose. Losing ships, the Stain Wagon force nevertheless remained on field, hoping to at least inflict some damages on the Northern Coalition(dot) force, even if it was only in ISK, and buy some time for their Territorial Claim Units to online.

At this point, HERO Coalition entered the system in a hundred pilot Eagle Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet, and warped at optimal range of the Stain Wagon Cerberus fleet. A brief fire fight ensued, with HERO Coalition suffering quite a few losses, before warping off. By then, the Stain Wagon fleet had lost most of its Interdictors, freeing the Northern Coalition(dot) fleet from the blanket of warp disruption probes it was in, and warping as close as it could to the Territorial Claim Units. One by one, the units were destroyed by the cloud of drones, ensuring the system would not fall to Stain Wagon's hands.

With the hope of securing the system dashed, Stain Wagon forces attempted to fight HERO Coalition a few times. Short estrangements took place with both sides exchanging a few losses, however, no decisive battle took place, and Stain Wagon forces quickly extracted from the system, allowing HERO Coalition to re-take the station unmolested. With their Territorial Claim Unit anchored and online, HERO Coalition managed to secure the system once again.

Fixed Battle Report for the CNC-4V system can be found here.

At one point in the fighting, a Stain Wagon Avatar Titan jumped into the system. It is unclear whether this was pilot error or an attempt to activate its Doomsday module and pick off a few of the Archons on field. Regardless, the Titan quickly extracted from the system without performing any action, prompting much speculation on the part.

The Titan present on field during the fighting

In total, seventy three ships were destroyed in the fighting, and eight billion ISK in damages incurred. The majority of the losses and cost being on Stain Wagon's part. At the peak of the fighting, three hundred and forty-three pilots were in system, with Time Dilation peaking at 80% at the start and subsiding rather quickly.

Video of the fighting from Stain Wagon's perspective

With the intervention of Northern Coalition(dot) in the fighting, the question of whether HERO Coalition could have saved the system or not remains unanswered. Though the events of CNC-4V are a fruit of coincidence, they illustrate once more the interest Stain Wagon Coalition holds for the Catch region. At this rate, HERO Coalition may find itself fighting a two front war, and with the changes to jump ranges and mechanics in the upcoming Phoebe patch, fighting it alone.

Special thanks to Elazar Keon, of Ugandan Hit Squad, Against ALL Authorities Alliance for supplying an interview as well as screenshots and videos, and Xeron Vann of Concordiat, Spaceship Samurai Alliance for giving an official response.

News: Hostilities Re-Ignite in the Northern Catch Pocket

S25C-K system, Catch region. On the 12th of October, Providence Bloc and HERO Coalition forces clashed once more in the system, re-igniting the conflict over the control of the Northern Catch pocket. This came after more than a week of a forced truce due to a Sansha incursion in the NNLX-K constellation, which effectively ground operations to a halt.

The system was previously held by Providence Bloc but lost in the early stages of the war, though almost reclaimed at one point. It remained highly contested in the last couple of weeks, with the Infrastructure Hub coming out of its final reinforcement timer in the early hours of the 12th of October.

Both parties geared up for the fight, with Providence Bloc bringing a Zealot Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet, with a few Augoror Navy Issue Cruisers mixed in, in total - A hundred pilots. HERO Coalition brought  a Cerberus Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet, with many Caracal Cruisers mixed in, a break from their traditional Eagle Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet, numbering a hundred and twenty pilots, with a secondary Ishtar Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet. thirty pilots in size.

Though outnumbered, Providence Bloc did have the advantage of choosing the place of engagement, and waited for HERO Coalition on the BR-N97 gate. HERO Coalition forces entered the system only to find themselves at the optimal range of the Zealot fleet. In rapid succession, Cereberus, Caracals and Scythes were destroyed, while Providence Bloc forces managed to hold well, losing one ship for every five or six their enemies lost. Quickly realizing they cannot hold the field, HERO Coalition chose to retreat to a Tower in the system and await reinforcements.

This allowed Providence Bloc to go and work on removing the Infrastructure Hub. A squadron of Dreadnoughts was called in, who quickly entered siege and destroyed the Infrastructure Hub within one cycle of their guns, and quickly extracted without incident. 

With the Infrastructure Hub gone, the Territorial Claim Unit in the system became vulnerable, with its removal, the system could be again claimed by Providence Bloc.

An attempt was made to pin down HERO Coalition's reinforcements, with little success, but in the end a second engagement flared up between the two fleets once more on the BR-N97 gate. This time Providence Bloc took more casualties, but it was the HERO Coalition's fleet that was forced to concede the field again.

At this point Providence Bloc forces decided to focus on the Territorial Claim Unit, leaving HERO Coalition to focus on the Sovereignty Blockade Unit. A race was on to see who can basically win the system, with both sides calling in Capital ships. However, it was Providence Bloc which emerged as the clear winner, while HERO Coalition had the added misfortune of attracting Pandemic Legion's attention, who brought a whole Mothership squadron to the system, managing to destroy a Moros Dreadnought while the rest of the HERO Coalition Capital group hastily extracted.

With the hostile Territorial Claim Unit removed, Providence Bloc planted its own unit and left the system after the rest of the hostiles cleared. In total Providence Bloc inflicted more than a hundred and sixty losses to HERO Coalition, with damages amounting to twelve billion ISK, and suffering fifty losses and six billion ISK in damages in return.

Fixed Battle Report for the morning engagement in S25C-K system can be found here.

This would have proved a turning point in the war for Providence Bloc had Pandemic Legion not interfered once more. With only an hour left for the Providence Bloc Territorial Claim Unit to online, Pandemic Legion brought in an entire Mothership wing, and quickly removed all Territorial Claim Units in the system. Not content to simply remove them, they planted three of their own before finally leaving. 

This forced Providence Bloc to remove said units while hauling and anchoring their own once more. This was done by amassing a large Stealth Bomber fleet, more than a hundred pilot strong, which worked a better part of an hour in removing said Territorial Claim Units, and interrupted briefly by another incursion of Pandemic Legion, this time in a fifty pilot Muninn Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet.

 Providence Bloc shooting one of the Pandemic Legion Territorial Claim Units

With Pandemic Legion getting only a few kills and the Territorial Claim Units down and new ones set up in their place by Providence Bloc, HERO Coalition saw an opportunity to re-take the system. A ping was sent to all pilots of an emergency fleet scheduled for 18:00 EVE Standard Time. Providence Bloc, however, intercepted the transmission as well, and prepared to meet the HERO Coalition fleet head on. Thus, the two coalitions were poised to once more fight to determine who will have control of the system.

Providence Bloc brought its signature Sentry fleet, mainly Dominix and Armageddon Battleships with Prophecy and Myrmidon Battlecruisers as well, reaching a hundred and sixty pilots, and a thirty pilot Stealth Bomber wing. HERO Coalition brought their signature Eagle Heavy Assault Cruiser fleet, a hundred and seventy pilot strong, with a thirty Ishtar Heavy Assault Cruiser wing giving support. The two sides were quite evenly matched in terms of numbers.

Providence Bloc ships awaiting the arrival of HERO Coalition forces

Providence Bloc was set up on the Tower where their Territorial Claim Units were set up, sitting at the edge of the shields and in a position that would make it impossible for HERO Coalition to get a good warp in. A few short skirmishes between the two sides yielded little in terms of damage and losses, until once more Pandemic Legion, for the third time that day, intervened. 

Pandemic Legion fielded a one hundred pilot mixed Legion\Proteus Strategic Cruiser fleet. Taking the side of HERO Coalition this time, Pandemic Legion targeted the Providence Bloc Logistics wing, which was quickly overwhelmed. They then turned their attention to the Battleships and Battlecruisers who promptly retreated into the shields of the Tower.

If Providence Bloc forces thought they were safe in their Tower, they were in for a nasty shock, as Pandemic Legion apparently managed to acquire the passwords for the Tower's shield. This allowed them to jump an Erebus Titan into the system and warp it to the Tower at zero. The sudden appearance of the Titan caused quite a few ships to scatter, thrown out by its sheer mass, with several bumped out of the Tower's shield, easy prey for Pandemic Legion and HERO Coalition. After a while a Machariel Battleship was used as a substitute to bump a few more ships out, while the Titan jumped out of the system.

Once more, Pandemic Legion extracted from the system, and the fight between HERO Coalition and Providence Bloc resumed in earnest. However, it was heavily one sided in favor of HERO Coalition, and could not be continued much longer as Pandemic Legion returned to the field once more, driving Providence Bloc back to the confines of their Tower.

The two sides used the time of the forced truce by Pandemic Legion's presence to bring their reinforcements into the system, and after Pandemic Legion seemed to extract for the final time, confronted each other again. Though both fleets exchanged losses, it became quite obvious the the bruised and battered Providence forces were no match to HERO Coalition's fleet, and had to concede the field. 

HERO Coalition used this opportunity to destroy two of the Providence Territorial Claim Units, while setting their own. With only one Territorial Claim Unit hours away from reaching online status for Providence Bloc and under the threat of HERO Coalition's fleet, the battle for the system seemed lost, and yet, Providence Bloc did not seem to despair, but returned with force to the system, bringing a hundred and sixty pilot Tengu Strategic Cruiser fleet.

This exchange between HERO Coalition and Providence Bloc took a different course than before, as HERO Coalition started losing Logistics and mainline ships one after the other. Though Providence Bloc sustained losses, most of them were Tech I ships, such as Ferox Battlecruisers. As the fighting continued, both fleets quickly exhausted each others' Logistics wing, and Providence Bloc retreated to the BR-N97 gate, allowing HERO Coalition to take down the last Territorial Claim Unit.

And yet, Providence Bloc were not done, and a battle erupted on the exit gate, as Providence Bloc effectively cut HERO Coalition's path of retreat, and forced a battle on the gate. The battle itself went badly for HERO Coalition, until the intervention of Pandemic Legion, who were down to only seventy pilots. The battle unfolded both in the S25C-K and in BR-N97 systems, as Providence Bloc attempted to disengage, inflicting a few losses on Pandemic Legion but suffering quite a few in return.

During this commotion, a HERO Coalition Thanatos Carrier was destroyed by Pandemic Legion. The Carrier was sitting in a Tower with its shield down, in order to give fighter support to the HERO Coalition fleet. Providence Bloc attempted in previous fights to destroy it, but each time it raised the Tower's shields, making it invulnerable. This time, though, it was not so lucky, as an Avatar Titan was brought into the system. With one cycle of its Doomsday weapon, it obliterated the Carrier, which seemed oblivious to its impending doom.

Fixed Battle Report for the first two engagements in S25C-K system can be found here.

Fixed Battle Report for the last engagement in S25C-K system can be found here.

This marked the end of Providence Bloc's attempts to re-capture S25C-K. Pandemic Legion lingered around and engaged HERO Coalition this time, with mixed success in the BR-N97 system.

Fixed Battle Report for the battle in BR-N97 system can be found here.

In total, Providence Bloc lost forty-four billion ISK, suffering three hundred and seventy ship losses. HERO Coalition did not escape unscathed, with twenty-two billion ISK in damages and two hundred and fifty ships lost. Pandemic Legion suffered the least amount of damage, only losing ten ships throughout the fighting, for two billion ISK in damages.

What should have been a victory and a turning point in the war for Providence Bloc turned quickly into defeat due to the continued interference of Pandemic Legion. However, it was the same Pandemic Legion which previously saved the BR-N97 system for Providence Bloc. 

From an outsider's perspective, it seems Pandemic Legion's involvement so far is an attempt to maintain the status quo in the war, possibly in order to create more opportunities to intervene and thus force more battles. 

Absent though throughout the day, were Northern Coalition(dot) who have been until recently heavily invested in the conflict, on HERO Coalition's side. This may be attributed to their recent relocation to the Khanid region.

With the impending changes in the Phoebe patch, the EVE universe will grow larger as systems will become more distant due to changes in jump drive ranges and mechanics. The question of whether this will cause the Northern Catch conflict to escalate further, as HERO Coalition and Providence Bloc are allowed a breathing space due to their newly acquired remoteness and thus commit their entire arsenal without fear of third party involvement, or will the rumors of an imminent invasion to the region by an unknown party turn true and shuffle all the cards? Only time will tell.

Special thanks to Draken Forlorn, of Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk Amarr branch(dot) Corporation, Sev3rance Alliance for granting an interview.