Ragnarök, the death of the Nordic gods, took place in EVE Online in the early hours of New Year’s Eve. Hundreds of the game’s most powerful ships congregated in the M2-XFE system, and titans from the game’s two largest factions spent over 12 hours exchanging fire and unleashing their incredibly devastating Doomsday weapon systems. In the end, around 250 of these god-like war machines were nothing more than smoldering debris, including my own.
The battle was reportedly over a Keepstar space station, one of the many Death Star equivalent installations besieged during the War of Annihilation between the Empire and the PAPI coalition, with PAPI attempting to permanently remove the Empire from its seat of power in the game. The station wasn’t of particular strategic importance, but like many of the largest Titans comes in EVEIn the story, the goal wasn’t the important part. During the 12-hour brawl, both sides continually escalated, bringing in more and more titans and other ships in small windows when measures to prevent large ships from using their jump drives to enter the system stalled. Part of the siege of M2 included creating a “cynosural jamming field” in the system, removing the ability for jump drives to find a navigation signal. In the course of the night this interference field was either voluntarily reduced or sabotaged several times. Although the Empire emerged victorious by the number of Titans destroyed, both sides claim victory.
Once a large number of Titans have committed themselves to battle, the first page to blink is guaranteed to suffer terrible, one-sided losses from which it is almost impossible to recover quickly. Nobody blinked last night. When the battle ended at 4:00 a.m. EDT, interrupted by the daily maintenance of the game, both sides were still fully committed to the fight. When the dust settled, the Empire managed to squeeze out a thin line of Titan kills – 129 to PAPIs 123 – which allowed the Empire to claim victory in numbers. A more detailed account of the battle reveals that while the Empire killed more enemy titans, it managed to inflict more financial destruction on PAPI by killing more supercarriers and a very expensive Vanquisher-class faction belonging to the Empire, and successfully chewing through the armor of the Keepstar and prepares him for one last fight in a few days. All in all, both sides went to bed and were very pleased with the results of the fight, both strategically and in terms of securing their places EVE’s Story.
EVE Member of the Council of Stellar Management and real world politician, Brisc Rubal spent the night telling a stream of struggle to keep those who couldn’t be involved in the news. He said Kotaku“This was an epic battle, and the opportunity to stream in front of thousands of viewers was a rare treat. This only happens in EVE Online. To say that I was in the biggest fight in the history of the game and my team won? Priceless. “
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Rubal paid the price of his fame at the start of battle when his Ragnarok-class Titan was singled out and targeted for destruction by enemy forces in the early stages of the battle, and his destruction was trapped and remembered in the Twitch stream he narrated . He took the loss, his second titan to die in his battle EVE Career, step by step, and continued his coverage for the rest of the evening as he battled for his alternate character, a little more confidently without his famous name associated with it.
On the other side of the battle, Elise Randolph, a longtime one EVE Veteran, shared combat experience Kotaku. “I’m old enough in EVE Saying I’ve been to every big fight like this and M2 was without a doubt the craziest fight I’ve ever seen. ”
Elise continued, “Usually in these big brawls the losing side knows they are behind, but 10 hours on both sides firmly believed they were winning and escalating to keep going. It was absolutely wild. Usually there is one in these things [clear] Winner. Today both sides claim victory and if you pulled the leaders aside and said, “Hey, between you and me, if you had to do it all over again, right?” both said, “Oh yeah, that’s exactly what we wanted.”
The duality of both sides winning this battle may seem confusing to someone outside of the game. It makes sense if you look at the idea in terms of what some consider to be the true measure of victory EVE: Moral. Wars are often won EVE through the willpower and determination of players to keep fighting instead of destroying the hardware in the game. Both teams have been fighting for a fight like this since the hostilities began over six months ago, and neither side feels they have actually been defeated in the clash.
Leaders from both sides of the disastrous battle seem to agree with the sentiment suggested by Elise. Dunk Dinkle, a member of the PAPI coalition and the “Electromagical Majordomo” – the official unofficial face of the BRAVE alliance that is part of the PAPI coalition – said Kotaku, “The M2-XFE battle will end EVE OnlineThe story as one of the bloodiest and most balanced butcher’s bills we have ever seen. Records not only broken, but broken too. ”
Dinkle added: “Aside from the short-term stance of the opposing sides, every pilot who has been there is part of a community that extends beyond this war. In the years to come, players’ meetings will gather those who fought in the M2 massacre to tell war stories, laugh, and toast. A bond forged by the thousands worldwide that will last for decades. “
When asked if he had any regrets about the fight or its aftermath, Dunk said: “I just regret that I couldn’t save the wrecks” and added the well-known BRAVE greeting emoji “7o”.
The leadership of the Empire takes great pride in the victory that their side holds for themselves. The Mittani, general leader and spokesman for the empire. told Kotaku“Through focus and dedication, the Empire has won against impossible chances, surpassed and surpassed the entire battle. To win we had to hit way beyond our weight and simply defeat the enemy. There was no room for error…. We worked together as a whole, victorious against the combined might of the rest of the galaxy. “
His views are supported by Asher Elias, the Empire’s leading strategic fleet commander, who maintained overall control of the Empire’s forces throughout the battle. When asked who won and why, Asher said Kotaku“It is obvious that we killed more titans with fewer people. I think I would ascribe superior discipline to our line members. Additionally some of [PAPI’s] The strategy was flawed, which is kind of a repetition of that war. “
The struggle may not be the disastrous end to the war that some expected, but it may be the catalyst for the next phase of the conflict. In the past, these battles often had follow-up battles that were even bigger than the original, which could well happen here in the coming days. Much of the PAPI fleet is deregistered within range of the now endangered space station and guarded by the reinforced and refueled Empire super capital forces. The coming days could usher in an even bigger battle and ensure that the system’s M2 will forever be known as the greatest graveyard of god machines that EVE has ever seen.
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