Mass panic grips New Eden

Image by crazykinux via Flickr

It seems that a hell of a lot has been happening in the world of EVE Online while I was out today. Over the last 12 hours, there has been over fifty news articles posted to the downtime news page. There are just so many events (and possibly more coming), there’s no way I can link to and talk about them all individually. So below is a timeline of sorts of the many events with the newest story at the top. I’ll keep an eye on the downtime news page and update the timeline as news events are posted.

• 9:07 EGT (EVE Game Time) – BREAKING NEWS: Minmatar-Thukker Fleet Reappears in Yulai – Stargates Shut Down
  Mysterious Minmatar-Thukker armada re-appears, seems to be at least twice as big as before. CONCORD shuts down all gates leading into Yulai
• 9:38 EGT – Eyewitness reports from inside Yulai
  Reports are filtering in to various news networks from eyewitnesses on the scene, who are now trapped inside the system of Yulai.
• 10:08 EGT – Mass panic in Yulai
  Mass Panic has taken hold in Yulai and waves of civilian ships have been spotted leaving stations in a bid to escape Yulai, ignoring CONCORD intructions to stay clear of the locked down stargates.
• 10:13 EGT – CONCORD BUREAU STATION UNDER ATTACK
  Dozens of Dreadnaughts from the Minmatar-Thukker fleet open fire on the CONCORD Bureau Station while smaller escort warships open fire on CONCORD vessels. Eye witnesses report massive casualties on both sides before transmissions are jammed.
• 10:58 EGT – First images of battle in Yulai
  Scope News manages to wire a compressed packet from Yulai through an independent local transmitter. Images are distorted but explosions can be seen ripping through the CONCORD Station. CONCORD reinforcements arrive at the fight with every passing minute.
• 11:10 EGT – Major CONCORD network outage reported; Yulai connections reopen
  CONCORD’s cluster-wide data network suffers a severe and unprecedented outage. Communications to Yulai re-established. Small engagements break out in the system between civilian ships and local law enforcement but CONCORD assistance is nowhere to be seen.
• 11:15 EGT – Servant Sisters of Eve urge calm
  Sister Elaya Selnaarei urges the the cluster not to panic amidst the pandemonium in Yulai.
• 11:18 EGT – BREAKING NEWS: CONCORD BUREAU STATION DESTROYED – CONCORD DISABLED
  Scope News confirms that the CONCORD Bureau Station has been destroyed and that all rapid defence capabilities of the police agency have been disabled.
• 11:45 EGT – Scope data recorder salvaged, images recovered
  An independant pilot finds the wreckage of Scope’s on-site media shuttle and salvages the data recorder. Images are found that show the horrific battle between CONCORD and the Minmatar-Thukker fleet unfolding.
• 11:50 EGT – Markets crash across the cluster
  SCC-run markets in stations across the cluster come to a grinding halt following the destruction of CONCORD Headquarters.
• 11:53 EGT – Trade hub turning into a warzone
  With CONCORD out of commission the Jita is struck hard by pirates trying to take advantage of the lack of defence for all traders now leaving the biggest trade hub in EVE.
• 12:01 EGT – Majority of CONCORD Assembly delegates accounted for
  After a frantic search of the Yulai system following the sudden and devastating assault from the combined Minmatar-Thukker fleet, multiple evacuation shuttles are secured by search and rescue teams.
• 12:17 EGT – REPORT: Minmatar-Thukker Armada Invades Ammatar Mandate
  Minmatar-Thukker warships engage and destroy several Ammatar Fleet patrols in Jarizza, a system in the Derelik Region. The unprovoked attack appears to have completely caught the Ammatar Fleet by surprise.
  

Minmatar Armada in Yulai?!

As I’ve been quite busy over the last week or so (bar a couple days), I haven’t really been able to get into EVE for any great amount of time. But fortunately, I’ve been able to keep updated through my feeds on Google Reader; and from the looks of it, tensions are rising to huge levels these days.

Higher resolution video can be found here.

It seems that a huge (and I mean HUGE) Minmatar fleet, made up of ships from the Republic fleet and the Thukker Tribe jumped into Yulai and surrounded the CONCORD Bureau Station. As could be expected this resulted in a stand off between the Minmatar and CONCORD forces.
Fortunately, that’s all it was. No shots were fired and the Minmatar fleet left without incident. Although, that wasn’t quite the end of it all.

The sudden appearance of such a large fleet, and their ability to jump so many capital ships into secure space has baffled the CONCORD “higher ups” and has left them scrambling for answers. Also, the fact that the Thukker Tribe and the Republic fleet have never worked together before has left people confused.

While it seems that the armada’s appearance may have been intended to act as a show of force, a spokesman for the Minmatar Republic Prime Minister firmly denied any involvement with the mystery fleet. He also stated that the claims against the Minmatar Ambassador have “very serious implications for Mr. Yun which are yet to be verified”. The CONCORD Chief of Staff has stated that Keitan Yun has become a person of interest but as of yet his current whereabouts are unknown.

I can’t wait to see what kind of responses the other races will give to this incident. The only one I can really predict is the Amarr response, which will (as always) be pretty much calling the Minmatar savages. But I guess we’ll see. Fly safe, people.

CONCORD Gatecamp?!

Last night, I finally managed to join a new corporation. I’m now a member of the Skies Tis Moiras Corporation, who have just recently become a member of the Xenotech Celestial Coalition.

Anyway, while transporting a couple ships to my new home-system (Warouh), I came across a huge amount of CONCORD ships flying around the Kaaputanen stargate in Niarja. I’d never seen so many ships in one place, let alone CONCORD ones. There must have been at least 60 of them, just sitting there doing whatever it was they were doing. There must have been a hell of a fight there for that many to turn up, the most I’d seen turn up at one time was about 10.

On a side note, I’ve been reading some of the news on the EVE site and it seems that tensions between the four empires are getting worse. Recently the Gallente Federation Navy and the Minmatar Republic Fleet begun a joint military exercise in Metropolis. Even though the Federation Senate and the Republic Parliament delayed the military exercise by a few days, they still went ahead. Much to the aggravation of the Caldari State and the Amarr Empire.

A spokesman for the Caldari Navy said “It’s bad enough that they feel the need to rattle sabres. It’s alarming that they have the audacity to do it on the border of the State, but most of all, it’s disgusting that they feel they are able to conduct this exercise so soon after the atrocity at Malkalen.”

Personally, I can’t wait to see how this plays out while we’re waiting for the Empyrean Age release.

Fly Safe.