Provibloc vs. Mercenary Coalition

Since quite some time now Mercenary Coalition (MC) has staged in Hasateem close to the borders of Providence, from where they are starting daily attacks in Providence. Unfortunately we don’t know what they try to achieve so far, but the best bet is, someone paid a lot of ISK to get MC to harass us.

Since weeks now Provi is under siege and having almost daily fights with MC. With MC attacking mostly POS tower that host Jump Bridges and creating timers by doing so, Provi forces are mostly on the defensive side of things for now by taking those timers, most of them uncontested. But from time to time both forces meet each other on the battlefield and those fights have been brutal so far with multiple billions in ISK lost for both sides.

The first of these fights was in 9UY where MC called in reinforcements in form of 28 Carrier and 15 Force Auxiliary Carrier to support their usual Machariel fleet. Provi forces managed to kill quite a number of Machariels during this fight, but had to retreat a bit later unable to break the triage reps from 15 Force Auxiliary carrier. This fight saw quite some losses on both sides, with both sides being almost ISK even in their losses.

A couple of day later, on February 16th, another major fight in this conflict was about to happen. After Provi forces successfully managed to guard a Raitaru class Engineering Complex through its repair timer, the fleet decided to do some damage to MC as well and began heading towards Hasateem. Once in Hasateem, Provi forces began to reinforce the staging POS of MC, which triggered the response all were hoping for. MC placed a bait Ninazu a bit off the station and the Provi fleet took that bait. Once the Ninazu was under attack MC undocked a good number of Carrier and their usual Machariel fleet to support the Ninazu and to kill the Provi fleet. But the Provi FCs were prepared for this and brought in their own capital fleet with quite some Carriers and Force Auxiliary of their own to support their Nightmare fleet that already was engaged in this fight. With this, Provi forced were killing MC capitals in a rapid succession and MC eventually retreated to get the rest of their capital fleet under the safety of their POS force field. A more detailed report has been written by EVENews 24 in their article Low Sec Rumble: Providence Bloc Confronts Mercenary Coalition in Hasateem. For a link to a battle report scroll down please^[1].

After this battle MC changed tactics a bit to reinforcing more and more POS tower right before the daily server downtime to create more and more timer and even using Entosis Links to reinforce sovereignty structures of low ADM systems. Most of the POS timer have been secured and the SOV timer so far as well.

Two days after the first major fight in Hasateem, there was another fight between the forces of Providence and MC. This time also Northern Coalition. (NC.) made an appearance. Unfortunately I don’t have the details on this once, but Provi forces suffered heavy losses this time. (If you were there, contact Rounon Dax please with your report and we will add it here as well). For a link to a battle report scroll down please^[2].

The latest fight happened on February 26th, where Provi again formed to safe a POS tower in 9-F0B2, that got reinforced by MC earlier. With MC already being on the field with their usual fleet of Machariels and some Dreadnoughts shooting the POS tower, Provi entered the system and warped directly on top of the sieges Dreadnoughts of MC and focusing on killing those. MC quickly cynoed in reinforcements in form of Carrier and Force Auxiliary, only to force Provi to focus on the Force Auxiliary to get this massive repping power off the field. The fight developed quite fast and as another Machariel fleet from Triumvirate (TRI) entered the field on the side of MC, Provi fleet commander ordered to retreat. But even with the second Machariel fleet on grid, Provi managed to kill quite some capitals of MC, inflicting 26bil damage to MC. A day prior there was already a fight in the same system over another POS that Provi was not able to defend. For a link to a battle report scroll down please^[3][4].

Update (2017-03-12)

Today at the 12th of March, another battle took place over a POS in KBP7-G. Actually the Ihub and Jump Bridge POS in that system. Again Providence formed their signature doctrine, Nightmares, supported by a Goku Fleet. Gokus are generally Bomber and T3 Destroyer with frigate sized Logistics and work pretty well as support for larger fleet engagements. This time MC teamed up with Shadow Cartel and Did He Say Jump, fielding their signature doctrine, armor Machariels with a good number of T2 Guardian class Logistics.

The Provi forces already early in the KBP7-G system began to repair the shields of the no longer reinforced tower, as their scouts reported the Machariel fleet of MC and friends undocking in their staging system Hasateem. At this point, Provi warped to a close by Astrahus class Citadel waiting for their opponents to arrive. Didn’t take long and  Cyno was lit in system for MC and friends to jump in. They warped to a ping above the POS and a moment later down to the POS. Provi forces also warping in on close range, anchoring up and their FCs began to call targets. The Provi Goku fleet also began to work on the hostile fleet and a small group of Capitals where cynoed in on the side of Providence who also began to work on the hostiles.

After some brutal minutes exchanging fire the hostiles, unable to hold for much longer, began their retreat. First towards the Dital gate, where they have been cut off by Provi fleets already. Unable to make a run for it, they decided to try their luck with the XHQ-7V gate, which they managed to pass. Followed by the Provi Guko fleet, which immediately engaged the remainders of MC, Shadow Cartel and Did He Say Jump to buy Provi’s main forces enough time to catch up and jump to XHQ-7V as well. Now both Provi fleets engaged the hostiles, dismantling even more of their Machariels. Eventually the hostile fleet managed to pull enough range to warp off and make a run for it. For a link to a battle report scroll down please^[5].

Update (2017-03-13)

Another POS Timer in the system of 9-F0B2 where Provi had a small fleet of Hurricanes with some shield Logistics up to take care of the POS shields. MC apparently saw the small fleet and decided to undock a fleet of Legions and Proteus, accompanied by some Dreadnoughts to have a go at the Provi fleet. Provi at the same time had also a pretty decent sized Dreadnought and Carrier fleet up, that was looking for a Super Carrier to catch nearby. So not really involved in that POS business in 9-F0B2. But the capital fleet got word of what happens in 9-F0B2 and decided to reorganize a little bit to drop in and have some fun as well. So, a cyno was lit and the Provi capitals jumped in to 9-F0B2 and began their brutal exchange of fire with the capitals of MC. After a while and a lot of dead capitals on both sides MC decided it was time to bail out with what ever remains alive in their fleet and head back to Hasateem, only to reship into Machariels and come back. Provi forces also reorganized their fleets into a proper Nightmare fleet to welcome the MC Machariels. So a 2nd round for this evening began, with a lot of Machariels ending up dead.A more detailed report has been written by EVENews 24 in their article Providence: Mercenary Coalition and Providence Bloc Clash Repeatedly in 9-F0B2. For a link to a battle report scroll down please^[6].

Videos of the fights against MC

Images:

Links:

[1] Hasateem Battle Report – 2017-02-16
[2] Hasateem Battle Report – 2017-02-19
[3] 9-F0B2 Battle Report – 2017-02-25
[4] 9-F0B2 Battle Report – 2017-02-26
[5] KBP7-G Battle Report – 2017-03-12
[6] 9-F0B2 Battle Report – 2017-03-13

This report is far from being complete, we know that, and if you have knowledge of more battles please let us know and we will add those as well. Same goes for links to battle reports.