Lan Mandragoran
Battle Information
Mouse over battles to see:
- Press and media reports about the battle
- Battle report links
- Screenshots from the engagement
- Unlisted video material
And, of course, context for the engagement within the wider Frontier story.
Default ordering has the most recent engagements first.
This operation was the destruction of the Secret Necropolis, the first Deep Safe broken by Blockchain vulnerability and the first event of its kind in what might be loosely termed Blockchain Gaming.
A paper has been written on these events, discussing the operation as a Vector Attack in Physical Cryptography:
Distance Attack on Frontier Dead-space Hiding
The Battle of B-2AK7: The biggest battle of the Founder Era of EVE Frontier, and it remains so as of autumn 2026.
The most powerful fleet the Frontier has ever seen assembled to finally kill the Mooneater, a huge NPC steeped in Frontier lore.
But the Mooneater's description box says, "Mooneaters bring calamity wherever they travel." And just as the Mooneater was approaching death, a group of Grus battleships from the hitherto unseen corporation Calamity launched a surprise assault to save the Mooneater.
In the longest and bloodiest battle in the Frontier to date, the Mooneater was saved. During the battle itself, a video was released on the Frontier Discord revealing a Faustian bargain with mysterious entities that had sealed the server fleet's fate, and revealing the identity of Calamity.
Click here to see the video released midway through the battle, as the Frontier community pieced together what was happening, why, and by whom.
Watch the video released during the Battle of B-2AK7
Click here to hear a longer version of the story, told by CCP Overload at EVE Fanfest:
Hear the story of B-2AK7 at EVE Fanfest
The Battle of Y:1SII took place after we discovered five reinforced Smart Gates in the system. As in the battle of I.EXP nine days prior, the adversary was once again AWAR and the forces of the Trinary Accord coalition.
While waiting at a safe spot, we observed events. There are no cloaking devices at this time in Frontier, thus preventing us from watching them directly on grid. But there are also no scan probes, thus preventing them from watching us.
Timing the seconds between the gates exiting reinforced mode and their destruction — consistent for gates 1, 2 and 3 — revealed the likelihood of the mighty Caruda battleships.
At this time in the game, Stargates in Frontier regenerate quickly after exiting reinforced mode. This necessitates maintaining a tight schedule when multiple gates are exiting reinforced mode in close proximity in time.
Given the prompt destruction of the gates like clockwork, it implied that the target fleet was warping directly from destroyed gate to fresh gate. Thus an "in-line" spot was made between gates 3 and 4, and we attempted to time a blind ambush on gate 4.
Since the Trinary forces later provided the Frontier community with their perspective, we have an interesting side-by-side view of the engagement, much in the manner of EVE Online videos. The Trinary comms are shifted to the left channel and ours to the right channel.
As you'll see, we actually arrive at Gate 4 ahead of the enemy fleet, who then exit warp into us at point-blank range.
The Battle of I.EXP was, until the monstrous engagement of B:2AK7, the most significant loss of ship steel in the game to that point. It was also the culmination of the rising but unanswered question of what would happen when two battleship fleets actually met.
Battleships in Cycle 1 of the first Founder Era represented considerable toil and grind — certainly more so than in later cycles. For most players on the server who had them — itself a small number — a battleship was the culmination of the Cycle's work, much in the manner of either the battleships of the primordial days of EVE Online or, indeed, the various endgame capital ships of its later years.
In Frontier, the battleship's enormous volley damage made it the apex predator of the ship tree. Unlike its counterparts in EVE Online, it was also very effective against smaller ships and highly self-sufficient.
A write-up is provided here by CCP:
Read CCP's write-up of the Battle of I.EXP
The engagement itself was the culmination of a week-long campaign to bring the forces of I.EXP to a decisive battle. The battle took place in I.EXP itself — the capital of the game's East and the most 'built-up' system in the game.
In the event, AWAR and the Trinary coalition surprised us by unleashing a larger battleship force against us at I.EXP station.
The key to victory was Eldareth's swan dive into and under the enemy fleet, which caused significant damage to two of the hostile battleships through friendly fire. Unlike EVE Online, EVE Frontier has line-of-sight mechanics.
Additionally, the placement of the guns on a Caruda battleship was not uniform, and their ability to fire down at Eldareth was therefore limited. He was able to tank the incoming fire and survive.
With the initiative thus established and the opening exchanges favouring us, our five battleships were able to overwhelm the enemy force of seven battleships.
Build-up to the Confrontation at I.EXP
In Cycle 1, even ships like the battlecruiser-class Axte represented considerable investment of time and resources. Obtaining a larger ship was a target measured in days and weeks of work rather than a trip to a well-stocked trading hub, and was much more akin to the timescales involved in acquiring supercapitals in EVE Online's later years.
Harking back to the early days of EVE Online, groups regularly undertook alliance- or coalition-wide fleet mining operations, with dedicated combat forces assigned to guard the industrial vessels. It was this sort of activity that we continued to target during the Eastern campaign.
I.EXP, the capital system of the East, was the most industrially active system in the game and home to its largest coalition: the Trinary Accord, led by Algorithmic Warfare (AWAR). By exerting continued pressure, we hoped to force them into a climactic battle.
We remained unsure of the extent of what their industrial muscle had already built, and AWAR leader Ergod's prescient allocation of resources during the preceding months would soon be on display when their large battleship fleet engaged us in I.EXP.
As we pressured their industrial operations and defence fleets, many outlandish and Frontier-specific strategies were employed. These included the use of asteroids as cover to avoid detection and aid ambushes, and even the use of Frontier's complex ship-identification mechanics to 'seed' our own industrial Flegel vessel into a hostile hauling fleet.
The loss on the 28th was a neutral alt account that died during this successful action — the noble Sir Gregory Grus. Honour dictates that even in subterfuge there must be a clue offered, and the keen-eyed will note that 'Nainsooks Grandsons Mining' corporation is an anagram of Rooks and Kings.
The Blockade of I.EXP begins
Our Campaign in the East begins with the blockade of the game's industrial capital system, I.EXP, and its surrounding systems and gate networks. The element of surprise allows us to destroy two valuable Grus battleships on the opening day — assets that will prove difficult to replace.
Such is the power and material significance of battleships at this point in the game that even two additional Grus could have made a significant difference to the outcome of the final battle.
Although most of RnK in Frontier were from the original crew, Alpha and Mr. Deadmeat were playing an EVE game properly for the first time. In this clip you can hear the whoop of joy as Deadmeat watches a volley of railgun fire hit the immobilised prize.
Watch the first Grus kill of the blockade
The Second Burning of M.ECK, Capital of the West
Once again, the home system of REAPERS was targeted and all infrastructure destroyed. As documented here in the data from the surrounding days, the reinforcement timers did provide a few skirmishes. Still, for the most part, the work now continued unopposed.
With the campaign to burn the West of the map essentially complete, our eyes turned to the riches of the East. The empire there was run by AWAR and the Trinary Accord, who had recently visited us in our home system of Egon (E.G9N.711). Although that fleet battle in Egon had been won, plans were already being rapidly drawn up for a new campaign.
In Frontier at this time, it was very possible to "follow" the path of a gate network while it was under construction — akin to watching fresh railway tracks being laid into a great expanse. So as not to alert the Eastern powers to our intentions just yet, John orchestrated the construction of a Smart Gate network eastward using an array of alt-corps, dynamic gate-linking, and selective onlining and offlining.
The aim was to obfuscate the true route woven between the many seemingly disconnected paths: a road from Egon straight to the Eastern capital of I.EXP. And once in I.EXP, we planned to blockade it.
With these things in motion, the 19th of January became a long, final operation to conclusively finish our affairs in the West.
Watch scenic footage from the second destruction of M.ECK:
Watch the Second Burning of M.ECK
A Battle in Egon (EG9N)
The forces of the Trinary Accord, led by AWAR, paid us a visit on the 12th of January. We had the good fortune that, during their journey to us, they destroyed an offline structure of ours. The resulting alert gave us live information on their fleet composition, which consisted of a core of Axte battlecruisers. This was a heavy composition for the state of industry at that point in the Cycle, and so we prepared with firepower of our own and awaited them.
Once they entered our home system, a fight ensued. Reps held on our over-tanked bait, and we were able to destroy three of their Axte, after which they realised the battle was lost. Holding on to retreating ships at this point in Frontier was difficult because a warp scrambler could remain active for only a few seconds before cycling off again, necessitating multiple scramblers or alternating ships to hold a single target.
Some set course for home — always a more complex matter in Frontier than in EVE Online, since the home side could lock Smart Gates — whilst others who warped off to the station were trapped there.
On the 14th, KramReipan, who had already been hunting industrial vessels in Egon prior to the fleet battle, took an opportunity to leave with his Axte. On his way, he killed a Flegel cruiser hauling material. This served as a reminder that AWAR were still keen to fight the good fight, and we would later meet KramReipan again during the blockade of I.EXP, where he would be flying his Grus battleship.
The short-term objective remained to maraud westward from the centre of the map, where we had our base in Egon, and target REAPERS. But these incidents also showed that fights were waiting for us in the East.
After the burning of the REAPERS home in M.ECK in the West, we returned to Egon (EG9N), the system we'd somewhat audaciously chosen as our home in the centre of the map. Here, we set about the industrial business of completing our battleship fleet.
But REAPERS, an excellent group always thirsting for PvP, weren't done yet. On the 11th of January, they arrived in Egon with a large force by the standards of this point in the Cycle, numbering some 20–30 ships. Our Smart Gate network detected them en route, and we powered down certain vital gates to give us time to put the industrial work aside and entertain our guests in battle.
Although they had more ships, our composition was significantly heavier, giving us a considerable advantage. The opening exchange gave us an Axte kill along with several Dremars. The long subsequent chase resulted in them extracting from the region with us gaining only one further kill.
It showed that, despite the New Year's fire in M.ECK, the work in the West was not yet done.
While in future we hope to add footage from that engagement here, for the moment we'll instead return to the industrial matter of strengthening the fleet and building apex ships. Trinary Accord members from the East, such as Algorithmic Warfare and their allies Heavy Metal, tried to harass those mining in Egon and the surrounding area. The possibility of building 'locked' Stargates in Frontier made this more challenging, but not impossible for a patient hunter.
The clip here is, in many ways, a nothing incident: an ad hoc response fleet in the middle of the night after Nozaj was tackled in the belts. But as much as it is nothing, it's also everything: the sense of camaraderie of primordial EVE, the sense of a community with soldiers manning the Wall day and night, and the sense of a world continually ticking along with engagements and activity.
Nozaj, a great hero of the past, was probably playing an EVE game properly again for the first time in a decade. You can hear a little relish in his voice at the fact that Heavy Metal, led by DakkanUdan, had attacked him — in the Heavy Metal belt, no less. Also referenced therein is the fact that, a mere day earlier, DakkanUdan had told Caly that his group would be looking for us. Having little narratives like that play out also adds to the texture of daily life in the Frontier.
Watch a random response fleet in the early hours of a morning
The fleet that waited for REAPERS on the 11th:
A New Year's Fire
After we made our home in Egon (EG9N), in the middle of the map, we set about building a Smart Gate network.
When two of Kieser's gates were destroyed by REAPERS, it gave us our first real target. These were not quite the first hostilities: in response to them killing one of our mining Flegels on the 26th of December, we had already destroyed two of their Flegels and a Smart Gate in retribution. But Kieser is a particular man, and this was the slight escalation that sparks good EVE adventures.
During the New Year's holiday, we visited them in the West and operated out of deep safe spots in their systems. The REAPERS home system of M.ECK was targeted, along with an operation to dismantle their Smart Gate network between M.ECK and their hub in Brana, where we were also able to catch their ships.
Although more dramatic and interesting battles with REAPERS would follow, this remained a significant moment for us. Not counting cameos and community events, these were the first 'called ops' by Rooks and Kings in an EVE universe in nearly ten years.
As M.ECK burned and a new year dawned, the future looked violent.
