War Report: Conflict in the South | EVE Online

War Report: Conflict in the South

2006-03-31 - Por Svarthol

Wicked Creek, Scalding Pass, Detorid - for months now these southern regions have played host to a fierce conflict between two of the largest political entities in this area of space. On the offensive there is a coalition of alliances: Veritas Immortalis, Chimaera Pact, Knights Of the Southerncross and Lotka Volterra, allied originally by their common goal - the removal of the political and military behemoth that is the Red Alliance from the south-eastern regions of known space.

Prior to the war this entire area, from the far corners of Cache down to the outer reaches Immensea, was controlled by Red Alliance; however this is no longer the case. Months of conflict have drastically changed the political landscape - following Veritas Immortalis’ declaration of war in January, the aforementioned coalition has pushed this economic powerhouse back to the borders of Insmother.

The progress the coalition of alliances has made since the beginning of the war has been considerable: since the start of the conflict, over half of the Red Alliance’s former sovereign space has been conquered. Some events, however, indicate that the progress has slowed markedly since the capture of Wicked Creek by the Knights Of the Southerncross, the most notable being the destruction of nine Red Alliance Dreadnoughts on the 8th of this month during an assault on Starbases owned by the Knights of the Southerncross in Q-GQHN - reportedly the greatest number of Capital Ships destroyed in any one engagement since these leviathans became available to pod pilots.

Most pilots would imagine that a military achievement of this magnitude would swing the balance of power in the war more towards the aggressors; however, this does not appear to be the case here. The latest reports indicate very few systems on the frontline of the conflict have changed hands since February, leading any observer to question the reasons behind this seemingly sudden stalemate.

The situation is, however, more complicated than it first seems. Reports from Veritas Immortalis and Chimaera Pact leaders indicate that since the defence of Q-GQHN, Red Alliance has been fighting a guerrilla war, preferring to operate in hit-and-run squadrons whilst avoiding larger hostile fleets. This has forced the aggressing alliances to also change their tactics to that of a logistical war, system by system taking control of Red Alliance’s space through the deployment of a large amount of Starbases - enough to ensure they will not lose the system without a fight. Operations such as these can be a tremendous logistical undertaking, and this is cited as the reason for the slow in the advancing forces.