A weekend of hellcamping a wormhole lies behind us, and at the end of it all only one thing remains. Call this OP a success, write up everything that happened, give newbros some insights into how OP Command works for this kind of stuff, list the lessons learned so we don't have to learn them again next time, and award some pretty medals.
Let's dig in.
The preamble: Through a wormhole darkly
So, OP GriefSeed was originally conceived about two months ago targeting a system different from the one that we ended up in. The setup was similar - POS belonging to previous war targets' alts, etc etc, and we ended up seeding logged-off scanning alts of trusted members over the next week or two.
(If you're a spai, some of those alts are still there. Be afraid.)
Some early lazyplanning for an eviction began, but because we had some potential ~other things~ to amuse the masses potentially coming up (that ended up not happening) no actual hardplans were made.
The find: Sharp eyes, burning like fire
Then, the night of the 11th of October happened. As I was about to head off and call it a day, at 04:42 EVE time, the familiar sound of a slack notification stopped me. The message was simple. "There's a POS with a public-enemy Sabre in this C2. What do we do?".
The correct answer, of course, was to not tell anyone else and bring scanning alts in. My own alt was the first, racing to scan for a way out of the previous target system and make it to J144739's current end-of-life highsec connection before it collapsed. By 05:37, I had made it to the target system, through the wormhole and logged off in a safe spot without being noticed. The connection did not even last another hour, but it mattered little. We were in.
The planning: Smoky Gentlemen's Club
That day, planning began in earnest, especially as it was becoming increasingly clear that the ~other amusement~ wasn't happening anytime soon. A date was fixed, pretty spreadsheets were made, the initial corp mail was sent, and we started procuring vets' skilled alts to fulfill support roles. WHC was also pinged to be ready to form up on Friday at 1730 in the most awesome armor ships they could bring to form the initial bridgehead. A week before the scheduled date, we finally released the fact that this was going to be another structure shoot - though opsec mandated we'd still not give everything away; for example, the announcement thread referenced "deep wormhole space, where k-space connections were rare" while the actual target system was a C2 with a highsec static. After all, it wouldn't do for our targets to pack up and leave before we could burn it all.
The WHC invasion: Glorious glorious T3 gang
The day of the invasion came, and the WHC formed up at 1730, and what a glorious formup it was. In the end, we left campus with six Logi V Guardians, an ECMgu, three neuting Legions, a HIC and over 15 DPS, most of them in T3s, accompanying the two Orcas and two DSTs carrying the requisite bubbles, control towers and the like. It was a sight to behold (and I sincerely hope someone took a screenshot).
The trip was quite eventful: Kivena and the orca DCed on a lowsec gate, I found out after five jumps that some of my bookmark copies (copied from the scanning alt to his corporate bookmarks, then by another alt from that corp's bookmarks to personal, then jettisoned in the WHC, scooped with Titus, and copied to my personal bookmarks) had fallen prey to
, leaving my second alt (the only one with access to these vital remaining bookmarks) stuck in the WHC (which was deserted) probe- and bookmarkless and us a good ten minutes away (we ended up inviting one of Lelira's alts to my alt corp and pulling a fresh copy of these bookmarks), and also one guy got himself banned from mumble for swearing at us when we asked him to leave the channel - but eventually we reached the highsec connection.A few jumps prior, I had already copied the current chain bookmarks (there were four outgoing connections - an EOL wandering wspace, the EOL C1 static, a wandering C3 and the HS static - at the time) and tacticals into the E-UNI corporate folder - any spies would now know exactly which system we were hitting. The race was on.
I jumped the fleet in and immediately warped the combat part plus my DST to the C3 and launched the first T2 large bubble for corp. Siernan began the anchoring process and the HIC bubbled. Everybody except the HIC warped off to the other connections one by one, beginning to anchor a T2 bubble on each one. We dared not roll the EOL connections as they could collapse on thier own at any time, but the HIC was tasked with beginning to roll the non-EOL C3 once the bubble on that connection had finished anchoring. We didn't find any resistance, and the connections remained quiet. The first important step was done - we had established control of connections leading to the system.
Thus, Kivena's Orca, which had waited in a safe spot, decloaked and began anchoring our own staging tower on a moon next to the targets' own tower. Meanwhile, the WHC fleet landed on a tactical bookmark on top of the first cluster of POS defense structures and, being greeted by autocannon fire and heavy jamming, began the long and tedious process of grinding through the modules' non-negligible shields and armor. Yet the Logi cap chain did not break, the reps held, the DD did their thing and the modules were dying. At the same time, my own alt's DST (an Occator) began establishing the bubble wrap on the target POS - one bubble on each side, centered between the battery clusters, one at the top, and one at the bottom. Siernan began the anchoring process for each one, and it completed without a hitch a few minutes later. The targets were trapped. Step two was a success.
Now, our only job was to not die, grind modules, and obliterate any resistance that cropped up. Oh, and as it turns out, towers do shoot anchored bubbles automatically, so keeping those alive would help, too. We failed at that one once (and redropped it straight away). Nothing more happened, and at 1930 the first travel fleet left from Aldrat, though they'd take a while to get here. Melkor can do an AAR of that one - I'll just skip straight to the arrival.
The Uni arrives: Drrrrrrooooones
So, the travel fleet got to the (wandering, it had spawned in the meantime, and we figured we might as well have the travel fleet roll it) highsec and was sitting on the other side. I jumped out to see what we had and what we'd bring in first, and was quite frankly shocked by the turnout and the quality thereof. Upwards of 20 VNIs, double that number in Oracles, and numerous Vexors, as well as a light spattering of tackle frigates. The frigates were told to go in first, as we were sorely lacking in fast tackle, and followed by the VNIs (best DPS to mass ratio). The connection collapsed, leaving the travel fleet to move on to the static, while the VNIs landed on the tower (whose entire defenses had been incapacitated at this point) and began hammering the shields. Not much happened at this point, and about half an hour later the tower had entered reinforced mode, timed for the middle of Sunday afternoon. Step three had gone without a hitch, and better than expected. (As our targets hadn't logged in before the tower entered reinforced mode, all the items in the various hangar arrays wouldn't be able to be removed.)
We left some frigates to keep watch on the tower and alert us of any movements and moved the bulk of the fleet to the first customs office, joined by the remaining travel fleet that had managed to come in through the highsec static without collapsing it. It did not last long, and was swiftly followed by the other customs offices, netting multiple reinforcement timers for Saturday night, as well as one for Sunday evening. Step four of the initial operation had been completed. What came next was the long wait.
Watch and wait: Entertainment Optional
Saturday was a slow day. Fleet chat and comms were filled with empty chatter, as pilots shuffled between the starbase and the wormholes, keeping watchful eyes on any that would bring aid to the besieged foe while looking to pass the time with other games in the meantime (#rekt). Connections collapsed and respawned, and we made sure to keep the C1 static crit to prevent any hostilities from that end while rolling any wandering wormholes that appeared. The highlight of the night was the destruction of the first four customs offices to exit reinforced mode - or so we thought. After that was taken care of, it seemed as if not much would happen anytime soon...
Loki-re what I found: Peeking into death (I regret nothing.)
Suddenly, our cloaked scout on the highsec side of the static connection pipes up on comms. "Gnosis on grid with A1H. Another Gnosis. Loki. Stabber Fleet."
Huh.
Well, there wasn't much time for consideration, but admittedly also not much to consider. "All DD to the A1 hole. x up if you can fly guards, I want logi. OK, you guys who x-ed up, reship to guards." What seemed like mere moments later, we had three Guardians and a token Augoror on the hole, combined with increasing numbers of DPS ships and alongside them the trusty tackle frigates that had been picketing the hole so diligently. Suddenly, the scout speaks again "Loki no longer on grid. Loki jumped, Loki jumped." Moments later, the call of "Activation. Tackle get ready."
Why you would ever sent the most expensive thing in first to check out the hole you're blindjumping into is, I fear, a thing I'll never quite understand. Nevertheless, jump cloak only lasts for so long, and with numerous tackle frigates waiting to pounce, our oh-so-sudden prey wasn't going anywhere. Cloak ran out, and the Loki made a token effort to burn back towards the safety of the wormhole - so close, yet oh so far. Webs went up, scrams went up, bumps were applied, and the Loki lasted about two cycles of Oracle and sentry fire, and due to the anchored bubble we also collected the pod.
As for what the Loki and his three friends were trying to do, no-one knows for certain. Some say they were looking to shoot some red crosses to make ISK. Personally, I prefer the version where they were highsec gamers looking to play silly highsec games on the wormhole, if only because doing so carries a certain irony and sense of satisfaction. Oh well.
Sunday Night Fever: This Is Why We Roll
For this one, I can only give a word-of-mouth representation of what happened, but I feel I should include it regardless. Mere minutes before downtime on Sunday, the fleet was experiencing the typical pre-EUTZ slump, with USTZ pilots having already logged off but not many EUTZ pilots having yet logged on. In addition, the new C1 static connection that had respawned during the wee hours of the morning had apparently not had its mass reduced by the standing fleet FC at the time. These two factors combined when a small gang of three neutral pilots entered through the connection (precisely the thing that critting the connection is meant to discourage) and proceeded to eliminate the defenders immediately present before leaving the way they came (something that critting the hole would've almost certainly prevented) as reinforcements arrived from other parts of the fleet.
There's a few things to be learned from this. One, if you're actively defending a non-crit wormhole, especially in well-tanked cruisers, you want to be as close to the wormhole itself as possible. This gives you the option to jump through the wormhole as your armor starts to dip low, and would've in this case almost certainly prevented losses long enough for backup to arrive and drive off the aggressors. Two, if you don't have the numbers to swiftly respond to any incoming threat, keeping connections close to collapse is a critical part of hole control.
Gun Meets Control Tower: Waiting for a POS to fall
Then, at last, Sunday afternoon was upon us. For two days, we had watched, been vigilant, and successfully prevented any significant assets leaving the target tower in ways that could've been avoided. Now, at least, the final minutes of the reinforcement timer were counting down, the fleet was assembled ready to shoot, and the spoils were to be collected.
The final killmail serves as a show of force. 130 pilots, 130 of you awesome people, made it to the tower kill. Many more helped, in small ways or large, with the success of the OP, pilots mere days old working alongside pilots who already need more than one hand to count the years.
And we will strive to turn this final killmail into even more of a show of force, nay, a show of unity, a show of all who contributed to this. Every single pilot, every single one of you that contributed to this OP will be added to this killmail.[/color]
But for now, it would seem I have a story to finish - for with the tower destroyed, what remained was to collect the spoils of battle. As it turned out, quite a large number of ships had survived the destruction of the ship maintenance array, so while poor Kivena in the Orca still struggled to wade through the remainder of the loot collecting everything valuable, those ships would be put to a better use...
Guns For Auction: The Shitfit Sale
Ejecting all the ships from the SMA, I surveyed the mess. Multiple battleships. Numerous battlecruisers. Mining barges. Moving these out and to a place where they could be sold would take an enormous logistical effort. Then suddenly, the answer came to me. Who ever said we needed to haul them out to sell them?
And thus, with the help of a ship scanner and a cargo scanner, I began auctioning off the unpiloted ships one at a time. As I was surveying the fifth ship to be sold - a Harbinger-class battlecruiser - something caught my eye. Tech 1 Quad Light Beam Lasers? Mixed with regular Focused Medium Pulse Lasers? A combination of a 1600mm plate and a Tech 1 Medium Armor Repairer? I could not allow such an abomination to run free, could I? And, as it turns out, people are just as eager to buy the right to die in these fits as they are to live in them...
From this point on, every time I found a horrible fit on one of these ships, I mandated that whoever purchased it would then have to also die in it. As it turns out, some are willing to pay 105 million ISK to be the last person to die on the OP.
Other highlights include mixed-gun Oracles, Trimarked Small Shield Extender WCS Procurers, Double Trimarked 1MN Prop Procurers, Triple RCU industrials with a 1MN prop mod, triple 200mm plated WCS double trimarked 1mn prop mod Miasmoses, Double tanked double WCS unrigged Epithals, and 200mm plated exploration frigates. It was quite a sight to behold, indeed.
The Not-Quite-Final Tally: Pecunia Non Olet
We don't actually have exact numbers just yet - some parts of the loot are still being collected together and put up for sale. However, here's one number I can give you. The auctioning-off of the ships in the SMA brought in a grand total of 1,426,000,000.00 ISK, all of which has been forwarded to the corporate wallet. As for a total count, I can't say - but initial projections would probably be somewhere around 3 to 4 billion ISK on the low end.
Also, as is customary for coordinators on these kinds of OPs, I've recommended multiple pilots that I feel have excelled beyond the ordinary in their contributions for the Star of Valiant Duty. While I haven't heard anything on that front, I have a feeling there may be an official announcement about that in our near future...
Closing Words: Thank You All
And thus, we come to the end of the story. It's a story of two days in which we showed the world why declaring war on us means you always need to watch your back for the rest of your careers. We do not forgive. We do not forget. A Unista always pays his debts.
It's a story that was made possible by all of you. By every single one of you that joined this OP, that diligently watched a wormhole for hours on end without knowing if it would ever pay off, that looked at the spinning sphere of the POS shield until your eyes were spinning too.
Here's your payoff. This is your story. You made this happen. And it was awesome.
Chomp chomp.
~ Titus
if I remember right that makes Ancalanna only the 2nd or 3rd person ever to get that! Gratz!
)
Looking forward to the next one.
