Gentlemanly Trolling

Titan Falls Caldari Prime Battle

A Titan crashes into Caldari Prime, but who actually won!?

CCP Games quietly made Video game history yesterday with the Battle of Caldari Prime Live Event. The Battle for Caldari Prime was an event spanning two separate platforms, PC and PS3, and two separate games, EVE Online and Dust 514. Over four thousand players participated in it, with over twelve thousand watching it live on stream!

Caldari Prime is the Caldari home world in EVE Online, though it doesn’t lie in Caldari space but instead in the Gallente system of Luminaire (which also contains the Gallente homeworld). Until recent events, just before the start of EVE Online, Caldari Prime was occupied by the Gallente follwing the Gallente-Caldari civil war. But under the leadership of Tibus Heth the Caldari launched a massive invasion to take Caldari Prime, and won, leaving behind the Shiigeru as a military deterrent. Even though the Caldari had won it was still in Gallente space and the planet still had a very large Gallente population.

And there the situation remained, until yesterday happened. The day the federation fought back. Things kicked off in Dust 514 with massive surface battles taking place on Caldari Prime. But it wasn’t long before Concord, EVE Online‘s Space Police, got wind of the situation and sent in a man to investigate. Shockingly though, this Concord agent was shot down by the Titan Shiigeru and her support fleet, because “the DED was in violation of a Caldari Navy-enforced no-fly zone.” At this point the system was already capped, with thousands of players there waiting for the fight to begin. Soon after the Concord agent was destroyed reports of an entire fleet of Gellente Navy ships came in from players using their directional scanners. Seconds later an entire fleet of Caldari capitals warped on the field and took up position around the Shiigeru. Things were heating up fast and with player excitement building, the Gallente finally warped onto the field with their own capital fleet, mostly Moros, Dreadnaught class capital ships. Local chat exploded with players choosing sides, cries of “Glory to the State” and “Glory to the Federation” were spammed, with the Navy also both making demands at one another.

But it wasn’t CCP who would get to fire the first shot to kick things off, instead an organized player fleet, warping in formation and shooting at the Gallente Navy and other players instantly! The battle had begun. Both navies started bombarding each other while hundreds of players jumped in on both sides. And of course, in true EVE Online style, some players were there just to shoot other players with no care for either Navy or who won. As more player fleets warp in and the battle picked up sending EVE Online‘s Time Dilation technology all the way to 12%. Effectively slowing time to run at 12% speed. Player wrecks littered the field as more and more ships went boom. Capital ships on both sides, Gallente and Caldari, exploded as the battle raged in Eve Online.

On the surface the battle also continued with Dust 514. The Caldari had a narrow lead, winning a mere 299 wins to the Gallente’s 297. Over 1600 players were fighting in orbit in Eve Online, while over 1800 separate players were fighting on the ground in Dust 514. At the same time. The Gallente Navy, with player support in the form of a Razor Alliance, a player run alliance of corporations, sniper fleet and many others start tearing through the battlefield, first taking out much of the Shiigeru‘s support fleet and then focusing all fire on the Shiigeru herself. It wasn’t long before the Titan fell under the onslaught of so many guns and players were treated with the death of a Titan that has been in EVE Online since it’s launch.

But the battle wasn’t over yet, and both navies continued to hammer away at each other while something amazing happened in Dust 514. As a direct result of the battle in EVE Online; Dust 514 players witnessed parts of the Shiigeru Titan crashing into the planet. Visible on the horizon, the crash changed the atmosphere and the landscape of the entire battle, pieces of wreckage littered the maps. It was definitely a sight to see, stopping many Dust 514 players dead in their tracks.

There were some cries that the event was scripted, and nothing could have prevented the Titan’s fall, so players had no real affect of the outcome. But it seems this event rallied the Caldari, having lost the battle in space the Caldari Dust mercs went into double time and clearly took the field winning the ground battle over the Gallente Federation mercs.

So who really won? The EVE Online space battle was a clear Gallente victory, but in Dust 514 the Caldari hold the ground. Where will things go next? Did Dust 514 players really just write EVEOnline history and keep control of the planet for now? Only time will tell as CCP releases more of this Live Story and more events. Personally; this capsuleer cannot wait. Gallente Master Race!

Related articles

• The Battle for Caldari Prime is the next step for EVE Online and DUST 514 integration (massively.joystiq.com)
• EVE trailer takes you inside the Battle of Caldari Prime (massively.joystiq.com)
• Trailer: Merging DUST 514 & EVE Online, It’s Happening (ardentdefense.wordpress.com)
• http://www.gamebreaker.tv/mmorpg/eve-online-titans-fall/ (gamebreaker.tv)