Epic times ahead

319-3D stats, June 27/28

Tuesday evening I finally heeded the CTA call and moved to Delve, to partake in the war that is now called 'Delve IV'. On our way to C3N-3S, which was to be our staging system, we got stuck in 319-3D, an NPC station system a couple of jumps out; C3N was heavily camped and we were advised to hold in 319. After a while I decided to call it a night and logged; I would try to make the trip to C3N another time.

Yesterday I logged in to see if I could make those final few jumps to C3N, but boy, 319 was busy! Over 400 pilots in local and Time Dilation running between 90-50%.. I wondered if I could get out in one piece. My corp mates were already out and about, as part of a bomber fleet, scoring their first Delve kills, and one of them  - zipping past the 319 station - told me the undock was clear. Quickly I undocked and warped to a safe, waiting for whatever would happen next. At least I could now set my overview to the proper 'large engagement' settings.

There was some TeamSpeak chatter about a Titan somewhere in local, and after a while (around 19.11 eve time) we got the call to warp to a POS to eliminate a Pandemic Legion gang of Tornados that had just landed there. Time Dilation was brutal now and it took me a long time to warp from my safespot. When I landed there were just a few PL pods left, and when I finally could begin to lock someone, the last pod vanished from the screen. But there was, indeed a Titan there!

The Titan turned out to be intended for a Titan bridge: -A- decided that 319 is a better staging system for all those not living in Delve. It is an NPC system and as such unconquerable: anything docked in 319 can always be recovered. I think -A- has fond memories of LGK-VP in Stain, their trusted NPC fallback position for when Catch is under siege: 319 might very well be their 'Delve LGK'.

In the mean time, local numbers in 319 spiked to over 525 with Time Dilation as low as 21%. Reports from C3N and 1DH reported huge numbers there, too. All in all, thousands of pilots where moving about, setting the stage for this next big conflict. Even though nothing 'epic' happened last night, being part of this huge operation already is impressive. Interesting, and possibly epic, times ahead!