Greetings fellow capsuleers and viewers of the IGS,
I am making this report on behalf of the Arataka Research Consortium (ARC) and with its consent.
I have led a Drifter Hive Fleet on behalf of ARC on the 4th of July, YC 128. During this operation, the fleet entered the Liberated Barbican Hive wormhole and succesfully got in position to engage the Drifter and sleeper forces at the Drifter Hive. During the engagement the fleet dealt with the Hikanta Tyrannos and 3 additional Drifter Battleships that were being piloted by a combination of Artemis Tyrannos and Apollo Tyrannos.
The fleet succesfully went through the steps to make the Primary Strike weapon or ‘Doomsday’ of these battleships miss its intented target. However upon destroying the overshield on each Drifter battleship, no charging or firing of their Primary Strike weapon was observed. I first observed this when the fleet dealt with the Hikanta Tyrannos. When dealing with the combination of Artemis Tyrannos and Apollo Tyrannos fleet members confirmed this observation.
I have reached out to one of my contacts who have corroborated these observations in their recent engagements at Drifter Hive(s). Another contact reported that this is also happening within Pochven.
At the time of writing this report it is unknown when this abnormality has begun, what is causing or triggering it or how much longer this abnormality will remain. I will support ARC in the upcomming weeks to gather more information to further investigate and report on this abnormality.
Other information I can share on the current situation regarding the Drifter Hives is this:
Besides the Hikanta Tyrannos, there are usually 2 or 3 additional Drifter battleships present at the Hive. ARC fleets recently encountered mostly 3 additional Drifter battleship but there has been one encounter that reported 4 additional Drifter battleships;
During recent ARC Drifter Hive Fleet operations, the damage output from the ‘regular’ weapons on the Drifter battleships seems to have increased, compared to the situation and time before the Drifter Crisis;
Besides Drifter battleships, one will usually encounter 2 Sleeper battleships and a several Sleeper cruisers;
Occasionally its also possible to run into a group or groups of Autothysian Lancers;
It has been observed that each Drifter battleship, group of Autothysian Lancers and Sleeper ships can select their own target.
This split aggression and increase of damage output have overwhelmed recent ARC fleet logistical ships several times, so anyone unprepared for this is in for a very brief and explosive experience;
ARC will continue to monitor and investigate this abnormality further and will provide relevant updates as time progresses. In other news regarding the Drifter Hives and ARC operations within it:
ARC is finalizing its updated fleet doctrine and tactics for the Hives within the Azdaja Redoubt, Liberated Barbican, Sanctified Vidette and Sentinel MZ;
ARC is getting closer to updating its fleet doctrine and tactics for the Conflux Eyrie;
The ARC updated fleet doctrine and tactics assumes that the abnormality in Drifter Pimary Strike weapons is temporary in nature.
There has been another Drifter Hive Fleet on behalf of ARC on the 11th of July, YC 128. This fleet entered both the Azdaja Redoubt and Liberated Barbican and succesfully engaged the Drifter and Sleeper forces at the Hive in each system.
The engagement at the hive in the Azdaja Redoubt includes several abnormalities:
The fleet only encountered the Hikanta Tyrannos. There were no additional escorting Drifter battleships present.
The Sleeper ships were spread out in different groups and at a much greater distance from the warp-in point then usual;
One group of Sleeper ships was 280-300 km away from the warp-in point and ignored the fleet and the combat;
Upon destruction of the overshield, the Hikanta Tyrannos did not charge or fire it’s ‘doomsday’;
A single Apollo Tyrannos warped in some time after the Hikanta Tyrannos was destroyed;
Upon destruction of the overshield, the Apollo Tyrannos also did not charge or fire its 'doomsday.
The engagement at the hive in the Liberated Barbican was mostly in line with what was expected:
The Hikanta Tyrannos was being escorted by only a single Apollo Tyrannos instead of 3 additional Drifter battleships;
Both Hikanta Tyrannos and the Apollo Tyrannos did not charge or fire their ‘doomsday’ after their overshields were destroyed;
Some time after the destruction of Hikanta Tyrannos and the Apollo Tyrannos, a pair of Apollo Tyrannos warped in. Neither of these charged or fired their ‘doomsday’ after their overshields were destroyed.
In order to further look into this abnormality, the fleet has made multiple recordings of during its operation with in the Hives. I have made the recommendation to ARC to share these recordings with the relevant authorities.
The fleet on the 11th of July, YC 128, has confirmed the abnormality within the Drifter Hive systems. I have therefore started preperations to take a fleet into Pochven to confirm reports that this abnormality is also happening there.
There has been another fleet on the 17th of July, to further investigate the reported abnormality. The focus of this fleet was to investigate the Drifters and their Primary Strike weapons in Empire Space and Pochven.
Within Empire Space, the fleet visited systems with a Jove Observatory as these are known to have a Drifters presense. Unfortunately the fleet was unable to encounter any Drifter ships or Autothysian Lancers (attacking them results in a Drifter response).
The fleet next moved into Pochven using a filament. Unfortunately I got split from the fleet as my ship did not enter Pochven with the rest of the fleet. After trying again with a filament and avoiding hostile groups of capsuleers, I was able to link up with the fleet and we were able to check roughly a quarter of the Pochven Systems. No roaming Drifter groups were encountered and only 2 Torpid Sleeper Hives were found. Usually, engaging the sleepers within a Torpid Sleeper Hive results in at least a Drifter cruiser showing up. Unfortunately no Drifter forces were encountered at the Torpid Sleeper Hives. While only a single fleet is inconclusive, multiple fleet members agreed that it was unusual to not have encountered any Drifters during the operations within Pochven.
I am in the process of organising another fleet to further investigate the situation of this abnormality in Empire Space. Further investigation of the situation in Pochven will follow after that.
I would like to take this moment to make a request to the following people:
The Reverend Mother, Santimona Sarpati;
The leaders of the tribes and Sanmatar Maleatu Shakor;
Holy Empress Catiz I;
The members of the Chief Executive Panel and its chairman Akimaka Saraki;
President Alix Moreau;
Provost Marshal Kasiha Valkanir.
Something has changed and it is causing a disruption to the Drifter Primary Strike weapons. That means that there is now a unique opportunity to investigate the cause of this abnormality in order to gain new insights and develop countermeasures to these devestating weapons. It can result in a vastly improved success rate when fighting Drifter forces and greatly improve the security against Drifters within Empire Space and the Drifter Hives.
We know that there is something within Abyssal space that disrupts the Primary Strike weapons from Drifters but now it is also happening in other parts of the Universe. The Empires, Sisters of EVE and EDENCOM are likely all holding pieces of the puzzle. In order to seize the opportunity before the Drifters are able to fix this anomoly, I want to make the request for a joined research effort.
I am making this request as a capsuleer who has long supported the Empires and has fought for them during the Sansha Incursions, Triglavian invasions, Drifter Crisis and race for the Hives. I hope that my records regarding the Drifters and my Tash-Murkon Dreambreaker Shield medal are enough to support my request.
Interesting discoveries. Kybernauts Sub-Clade continues the observation & extirpation of ancient enemy azhdazha within the Perun-krai domains of our narodnya’s sphere of operations.
Requesting detachment of troika’s for the sublimation & extirpation of the ancient enemy azhdazha within our domains & will report if the enemy has had these changes too within the domain of Pochven
The Drifters and Autothysian Lancers are proving to be hard to find in Empire space. We are going to have another go at hunting for different types of Drifters in Empire space. It is assumed that this is connected with the reduction of Drifter and Autothysian Lancer activity after the resolution of the Drifter Crisis. The abnormality in the Drifter Primary Strike weapons could be tied to this as well.
We have received reports from other capsuleers that are investigating the abnormality too. Some reports confirm the abnormality is still happening. We also received reports from ship losses. Going over the data of those reports indicate the Drifter Primary Strike weapon was fully operational and responsible for causing the loss. We will continue to further investigate and look into this matter.
I am glad to see that there are capsuleers within Pochven that have taken note and are investigating the situation within Pochven. Should you be short on the needed numbers, you are welcome to contact me.
As an avid hunter of Drifters and Autothysian Lancers in Empire space, I have also noticed a shutdown of the Primary Strike weapon as well as a shutdown of all targeting system by the Drifter once the overshield is destroyed. I reported this to my superiors all the way back to 01/03/YC128; it has been consistent since then.
Could the Drifters’ weakening by capsuleer forces have provoked the Triglavians, or even the Sansha, to move in and ‘deactivate’ them more thoroughly? They don’t seem to be regrouping. It feels more like they’re hemorrhaging
Do the Triglavian Collective or Sansha’s have such capabilities?
Need to contact Seriatim Foucault once more, If the Triglavians can utilize such weapons in the ancient domains our struggle can very much be alleviated against the ancient enemy. We are yet to test within the domains of Pochven, but preparing to.
Our interests may converge as the ancient enemy azhazha remain a common enemy, within the ancient domains, and Pochven. Kybernauts Sub-Clade seeks narodnya to join our navka in persuit within the domains we reside with. We will be in contact…
We have been able to confirm that the abnormality in Drifter Primary Strike weapons is also happening within high security space. Our most recent fleet encountered 2 roaming Drifter battleships within a high security system with both a Jove Observatory and an active wormhole connection to a Drifter Hive system.
Our initial attempt to engage Drifter forces at an active wormhole connection to a Drifter Hive system was unsuccesfull. Just as the fleet landed on grid, the Drifters battleships entered the wormhole.
The fleet relocated to another system and was able to engage 2 Drifter battleships that had moved away from the connecting wormhole and were at the Jove Observatory. Neither Drifter battleship charged or fired their Doomsday when their overshield was destroyed.
This supports the theory that abnormality is not specific to the Drifter Hive wormholes. The next step is to investigate if this abnormality is connected to specific Drifter entities or not. As such we will be investigating Drifter response fleets to attacks on Autothysian Lancers in low security space and Drifter forces within Pochven.
Your message has been received and is under review. We shall be in contact indeed.
Kybernauts Sub-Clade has run several troika’s against ancient enemy azhdazha within the Pochven domains. And confirmed that the Primary Strike weapon (doomsday) is operational & functional.
It is possible the changes were made only to drifters within the ancient domains of known space, not Pochven.
Today, the 18th of August, a fleet was able to locate, engage and destroy a group of Autothysian Lancers in a low-security system near Jita. In response to their destruction, a group of 4 Cassandra Tyrannos appeared and engaged the fleet.
The fleet has been able to confirm that none of the Cassandra Tyrannos piloted cruisers charged or fired their primary strike weapon after their overshield was destroyed.
At the time of writing we have been able to verify that Drifters that can be encountered in the Abyssal Artifact Recovery sites and the Vigilance Point combat sites do still charge and fire their doomsday. These findings are supporting the theory that only certain Drifters are suffering effected by this abnormality.
We continue to investigate this abnormality and will provide updates when we can.
Your offer is appreciated. Unfortunately this investigation is complete happening in space so I don’t see it being a good match for your services.
Edit:
Thank you for your offer. As this investigation doesn’t include planetary surface or boarding actions, your services are not required at this time.
Considering the efforts such as Operation Trireme(which notable members of ARC participated in), and Operation Gunboat Diplomacy(undertaken by UNF affiliated contractors), and other boarding operation related activities over the years, Warclones do have a place in spaceborne operations Dutch, the specifics of course may not fit here all told but things being out in the black as the reasoning really shouldn’t be it.
A fair remark. I should have specified that the investigation does not include boarding actions. I have therefore adjusted my reply to better reflect the situation.
Some explorers sent by my corporation have also noticed these changes.
We mainly believe this is a new combat and manufacturing strategy adopted by the Drifters to cope with their new situation. Having lost systems, and key infrastructures within them, we theorize that they have had to adapt and develop guerrilla tactics focused on rapid, efficient strikes, while also scaling back Doomsday Weapons production, possibly due to a loss of industrial capacity. This could also explain the changes in the way they deploy their forces.
We also read another interesting hypothesis on GalNet, that the Drifters relied on the hyperspace network to power their Doomsday Weapons. Since the occupants of Drifter systems manipulated the network, this might have rendered the weapons unusable within New Eden and Anoikis. One might even think that this was done deliberately to better control these systems and fight the Drifter threat. However, the Triglavians can also manipulate the network, yet Drifter units can still use Doomsday Weapons in Pochven, which is quite strange as the Triglavians would presumably be the firsts to want to weaken their main enemies within their own territory. We therefore consider this hypothesis incorrect, unless the Triglavians are simply unable to disable Doomsday weapons within Pochven for some reason, even more so within a region where they can seemingly manipulate space-time at will. We hold the same view regarding the hypothesis of a hack by the Triglavians or Sansha’s Nation.
I also plan to keep track of these observations and changes in the thread I started at the beginning of the Drifter crisis.
Keep in mind, we Warclones are eager to help you Capsuleers. For a fee of course. Should you need our services in the future, just pay us a visit at that “undisclosed” location
