The Blood Raiders Shipyard Destroyed

There was a chance that I might see the Blood Raiders Shipyard destroyed.  After it was hit, the timer was set locking in when the final assault would come.  I was working from home and the timing was such that it ought to have come out of its reinforcement cycle at just about the time my day was done. I still had my alt parked in the system and the shipyard was sitting there waiting.

Eyeballing the Sotiyo in my Buzzard

As a toiled away I saw the pings come up for the fleets destined for the final event.  There appeared to plenty of interest as a second fleet had to be formed.  As the timer approached I logged in and warped out to a spot I had setup about 600km off the structure so I could see how this was all going to turn out.  I started a long, lazy orbit as the fleet of Punishers showed up and spread around the their target.

Ball of Punishers around the shipyard

A second fleet was watching gates while a fleet of TEST interceptors showed up in system as well and setup on a perch from which they could warp in and take pot shots at the Punisher fleet.

Once the time counted down the Punisher fleet opened up and started plinking the target.

A Punisher blazing away

As before, Blood Raider ships spawned, but they seemed at a loss when faced with the tiny T1 frigates motoring along in orbits around the shipyard.  CCP did not update anything for this particular run.

A Blood Raiders Omen just loafing about, not even trying…

The only real hazard for the fleet came from the TEST Interceptors who would warp in to try and pick off a target every so often.  They were successful, but Jay had stocked ships in the local station so people were able to warp off, reship, and rejoin the attack.  I planned to join in the assault as well, once the structure went down far enough.  I had scrounged a light missile launcher and some missiles locally so I could get in and plink it.

However, at about that point I had to leave for a bit.  I was on the hook to pick my daughter up after school and drive her downtown, something complicated by the advent of early onset Friday afternoon rush hour traffic.  It took more than an hour to get her, drop her off downtown, and get back home, by which time the event was over and most everybody had gone home. (I did see SynCaine in local for a minute or so after I got back.)

I had warped in to launch a couple of missiles at the shipyard before cloaking up in a safe spot and head out, but my shot was too early and I did not even get on the kill mail for the structure.

I also missed the comedy finale, detailed over at INN, where TEST pilot named Karl Kox zipped to the structure wreck in a Claw interceptor and scooped up blue print copies for the Chemosh dreadnought and Molok titan, only to be blown up.  With his ship went the Chemosh blue print, but the Molok surivived and was picked up by Hudders, another TEST pilot in a Claw who was also blown up in short order.  With him went the Molok blue print, and so the drops from the event went *poof* just like that.

And so it goes in New Eden.

So there I was on grid where the Blood Raiders Shipyard had been, cloaked up and looking around.  A fair number of Blood Raider ships were still roaming around rather aimlessly.  I saw a fleet of Blood Raider Augoror cruisers looping and turning and making patterns in search of a purpose.

Augoror fleet does a star burst, just to form up again

I watched the ships move about, then switch to the overview that showed wrecks on the field.  Loot looked to be fairly readily available, with an unlooted Jackdaw wreck visible to me.  I warped over to it, motored into range and found some light missiles on it.  I took those and then started to head over to some wrecks a ways away.  As I drew into range I suddenly got the CAPSULE EJECTING message as the Buzzard blew to bits around me.  A Blood Raiders Chemosh dreadnought had locked me up and one-shotted me.

These things are a menace to the space lanes

That was why there was still loot on grid; grabbing it was a hazard.  I bookmarked my wreck and warped to the station.  On docking I was given one standard issue Ibis corvette, the rookie ship you are handed by the game when you have no ship.  I decided to warp back out and see if I could quickly scoop up some of the items that dropped.  The Sisters expanded probe launcher and the covert ops cloak were worth some ISK, so there was no point leaving them sitting on grid.

I warped out the wreck and then ended up sitting there because I couldn’t fit all of the stuff from the wreck into the cargo hold of the Ibis.  I ejected one item, but as I sat there deciding I was once again blown up by the Chemosh.

An Ibis in the act of exploding

That lost me the probe launcher and some of the probes, but there was still the cloak to be had, and an Ibis is free, so I warped off in my pod for the station and shipped back up in an Ibis.  Then I warped back out to the now increasing pile of wrecks.  This time I laded a bit too far off the spot, but even as I got there to loot the Chemosh popped me again.

That thing must be doing pretty well to hit an Ibis so quickly.

Fortunately the loot fairy was kind to me and I only lost a couple of probes and that single unit of tritanium in the explosion.  The covert ops cloak and the coprocessor II were both still there waiting for me.  So I grabbed another Ibis, warped out, landed right on top of the wreck, looted quickly, and aligned to warp off.  Even as I was moving, the Chemosh took a shot at me.  This time he missed though.

Ibis gets past the beam of death

I was able to warp off safely.  I made it to the gate and through and back up into Delve without incident.  The event had been over for long enough for any hostile gate camps to have either given up or been driven off.

Anyway, that was my own little side adventure.  Soon the search will begin for the next incarnation of the Blood Raiders Shipyard.  Maybe a blue print will survive through the next event.

This past weekend’s Talking in Stations broadcast has some time devoted to the event and includes Imperium FC Apple Pear talking about what happened and how the Punisher plan came into being if you are interested in that.