“No point in mentioning these Catalysts, I thought. Poor bastard will see them soon enough.”
The Gallente Ice Interdiction was announced by The Mittani in a now infamous post on Kugutsumen. For those of you living under a rock, it was an attempt to decrease the supply of Gallente ice through a massive coordinated campaign of hi-sec ganking. Lacking hard numbers, it is difficult to evaluate the success of the endeavor, but great fun was had by all and many a Mackinaw ‘sploded. At the height of the interdiction in October, according to eve-kill.net, 689 Exhumers were destroyed in Gallente space. The actual number is likely higher as not everyone uses the same killboard or even uploads their kills.
The Gallente Ice Interdiction ended in December with the announcement of the war against White Noise in the North. Goons took their commands quite seriously and again, according to eve-kill, Goonswarm only killed 18 Exhumers in the entirety of January. The Gallente Ice Interdiction is over.
We are now half-way through February. At the time of this writing, Goonswarm has destroyed 434 Exhumers and of that number, 416 have been destroyed by a single Goon corp: Bat Country.
If you look at the areas that Bat Country is most active in, you will find that they are mostly targeting Caldari Ice fields. Additionally, if one looks across the ice systems in Caldari space, one will find that we will soon exceed the carnage of the Gallente Ice Interdiction. The Gallente Interdiction is over, but the Caldari Interdiction has just started.
All numbers and statistics were derived from eve-kill.net and should at best be taken as an approximation or a lower bound.
An additional point is in order, Goonswarm has perfected the gank Catalyst. A prime example may be seen here:
[Solo Rigged Catalyst]
Magnetic Field Stabalizer I
Magnetic Field Stabalizer I
Magnetic Field Stabalizer I
Initiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I
Regulated Light Neutron Phase Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Regulated Light Neutron Phase Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Regulated Light Neutron Phase Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Regulated Light Neutron Phase Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Regulated Light Neutron Phase Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Regulated Light Neutron Phase Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Regulated Light Neutron Phase Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Regulated Light Neutron Phase Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
You will notice they are using named meta1 guns, a full complement of Mangetic Field Stabaliers, and two rigs. The significance of this change is that many of Bat Country’s Mackinaw kills are solo. Not only does this allow them to kill more Mackinaws by freeing up people, but they are not using the more expensive Thorax or Brutix gank fits. If one wants to appreciate the sheer magnitude of the ganking that is occurring, one only needs to look in Jita and see that a few days ago Catalysts were listed at prices above 4M a ship! Rigs that were once trading at 100k jumped to over 450k and the market seems drained of the meta1 blasters. Regardless of how one views the change in Caldari Isotope prices, it is clear that this campaign has drastically increased the price of catalysts and their fittings.
Eat the Minmatar 