HOP
This operation was the destruction of the Secret Necropolis, the first Deep Safe broken by Blockchain vulnerability and the first event of its kind in what might be loosely termed Blockchain Gaming.
A paper has been written on these events, discussing the operation as a Vector Attack in Physical Cryptography:
Distance Attack on Frontier Dead-space Hiding
The Battle of B-2AK7: The biggest battle of the Founder Era of EVE Frontier, and it remains so as of autumn 2026.
The most powerful fleet the Frontier has ever seen assembled to finally kill the Mooneater, a huge NPC steeped in Frontier lore.
But the Mooneater's description box says, "Mooneaters bring calamity wherever they travel." And just as the Mooneater was approaching death, a group of Grus battleships from the hitherto unseen corporation Calamity launched a surprise assault to save the Mooneater.
In the longest and bloodiest battle in the Frontier to date, the Mooneater was saved. During the battle itself, a video was released on the Frontier Discord revealing a Faustian bargain with mysterious entities that had sealed the server fleet's fate, and revealing the identity of Calamity.
Click here to see the video released midway through the battle, as the Frontier community pieced together what was happening, why, and by whom.
Watch the video released during the Battle of B-2AK7
Click here to hear a longer version of the story, told by CCP Overload at EVE Fanfest:
Hear the story of B-2AK7 at EVE Fanfest
The Battle of Y:1SII took place after we discovered five reinforced Smart Gates in the system. As in the battle of I.EXP nine days prior, the adversary was once again AWAR and the forces of the Trinary Accord coalition.
While waiting at a safe spot, we observed events. There are no cloaking devices at this time in Frontier, thus preventing us from watching them directly on grid. But there are also no scan probes, thus preventing them from watching us.
Timing the seconds between the gates exiting reinforced mode and their destruction — consistent for gates 1, 2 and 3 — revealed the likelihood of the mighty Caruda battleships.
At this time in the game, Stargates in Frontier regenerate quickly after exiting reinforced mode. This necessitates maintaining a tight schedule when multiple gates are exiting reinforced mode in close proximity in time.
Given the prompt destruction of the gates like clockwork, it implied that the target fleet was warping directly from destroyed gate to fresh gate. Thus an "in-line" spot was made between gates 3 and 4, and we attempted to time a blind ambush on gate 4.
Since the Trinary forces later provided the Frontier community with their perspective, we have an interesting side-by-side view of the engagement, much in the manner of EVE Online videos. The Trinary comms are shifted to the left channel and ours to the right channel.
As you'll see, we actually arrive at Gate 4 ahead of the enemy fleet, who then exit warp into us at point-blank range.
The Battle of I.EXP was, until the monstrous engagement of B:2AK7, the most significant loss of ship steel in the game to that point. It was also the culmination of the rising but unanswered question of what would happen when two battleship fleets actually met.
Battleships in Cycle 1 of the first Founder Era represented considerable toil and grind — certainly more so than in later cycles. For most players on the server who had them — itself a small number — a battleship was the culmination of the Cycle's work, much in the manner of either the battleships of the primordial days of EVE Online or, indeed, the various endgame capital ships of its later years.
In Frontier, the battleship's enormous volley damage made it the apex predator of the ship tree. Unlike its counterparts in EVE Online, it was also very effective against smaller ships and highly self-sufficient.
A write-up is provided here by CCP:
Read CCP's write-up of the Battle of I.EXP
The engagement itself was the culmination of a week-long campaign to bring the forces of I.EXP to a decisive battle. The battle took place in I.EXP itself — the capital of the game's East and the most 'built-up' system in the game.
In the event, AWAR and the Trinary coalition surprised us by unleashing a larger battleship force against us at I.EXP station.
The key to victory was Eldareth's swan dive into and under the enemy fleet, which caused significant damage to two of the hostile battleships through friendly fire. Unlike EVE Online, EVE Frontier has line-of-sight mechanics.
Additionally, the placement of the guns on a Caruda battleship was not uniform, and their ability to fire down at Eldareth was therefore limited. He was able to tank the incoming fire and survive.
With the initiative thus established and the opening exchanges favouring us, our five battleships were able to overwhelm the enemy force of seven battleships.
Build-up to the Confrontation at I.EXP
In Cycle 1, even ships like the battlecruiser-class Axte represented considerable investment of time and resources. Obtaining a larger ship was a target measured in days and weeks of work rather than a trip to a well-stocked trading hub, and was much more akin to the timescales involved in acquiring supercapitals in EVE Online's later years.
Harking back to the early days of EVE Online, groups regularly undertook alliance- or coalition-wide fleet mining operations, with dedicated combat forces assigned to guard the industrial vessels. It was this sort of activity that we continued to target during the Eastern campaign.
I.EXP, the capital system of the East, was the most industrially active system in the game and home to its largest coalition: the Trinary Accord, led by Algorithmic Warfare (AWAR). By exerting continued pressure, we hoped to force them into a climactic battle.
We remained unsure of the extent of what their industrial muscle had already built, and AWAR leader Ergod's prescient allocation of resources during the preceding months would soon be on display when their large battleship fleet engaged us in I.EXP.
As we pressured their industrial operations and defence fleets, many outlandish and Frontier-specific strategies were employed. These included the use of asteroids as cover to avoid detection and aid ambushes, and even the use of Frontier's complex ship-identification mechanics to 'seed' our own industrial Flegel vessel into a hostile hauling fleet.
The loss on the 28th was a neutral alt account that died during this successful action — the noble Sir Gregory Grus. Honour dictates that even in subterfuge there must be a clue offered, and the keen-eyed will note that 'Nainsooks Grandsons Mining' corporation is an anagram of Rooks and Kings.
The Blockade of I.EXP begins
Our Campaign in the East begins with the blockade of the game's industrial capital system, I.EXP, and its surrounding systems and gate networks. The element of surprise allows us to destroy two valuable Grus battleships on the opening day — assets that will prove difficult to replace.
Such is the power and material significance of battleships at this point in the game that even two additional Grus could have made a significant difference to the outcome of the final battle.
Although most of RnK in Frontier were from the original crew, Alpha and Mr. Deadmeat were playing an EVE game properly for the first time. In this clip you can hear the whoop of joy as Deadmeat watches a volley of railgun fire hit the immobilised prize.
Watch the first Grus kill of the blockade
The Second Burning of M.ECK, Capital of the West
Once again, the home system of REAPERS was targeted and all infrastructure destroyed. As documented here in the data from the surrounding days, the reinforcement timers did provide a few skirmishes. Still, for the most part, the work now continued unopposed.
With the campaign to burn the West of the map essentially complete, our eyes turned to the riches of the East. The empire there was run by AWAR and the Trinary Accord, who had recently visited us in our home system of Egon (E.G9N.711). Although that fleet battle in Egon had been won, plans were already being rapidly drawn up for a new campaign.
In Frontier at this time, it was very possible to "follow" the path of a gate network while it was under construction — akin to watching fresh railway tracks being laid into a great expanse. So as not to alert the Eastern powers to our intentions just yet, John orchestrated the construction of a Smart Gate network eastward using an array of alt-corps, dynamic gate-linking, and selective onlining and offlining.
The aim was to obfuscate the true route woven between the many seemingly disconnected paths: a road from Egon straight to the Eastern capital of I.EXP. And once in I.EXP, we planned to blockade it.
With these things in motion, the 19th of April became a long, final operation to conclusively finish our affairs in the West.
Watch scenic footage from the second destruction of M.ECK:
Watch the Second Burning of M.ECK
