text: bloodbath of b - r5rb the bloodbath of b - r5rb or the battle of b - r5rb was a massive - scale virtual battle fought in the mmorpg space game eve online , and was possibly the largest player versus player battle in history . the coalition and russian alliances ( cfc / rus ) against n3 and pandemic legion ( n3 / pl ) , the 21 - hour - long conflict involved over 7 , 548 player characters overall and a maximum of 2 , 670 players in the b - r5rb system at one time . the in - game cost of the losses totalled over 11 trillion ( isk ) , an estimated theoretical real - world value of $ 300 , 000 to $ 330 , 000 usd . this theoretical value is derived from time cards which are purchasable for real currency and can be converted into a tradable item in - game . part of a larger conflict known as the halloween war , the fight started after a single player controlling a space station in the star system b - r5rb accidentally failed to make a scheduled in - game routine maintenance payment which made the system ( a key staging area used by n3 / pl in the war ) highly vulnerable to capture . the cfc and russian coalitions began pouring players into the system in a swift offensive , and n3 / pl moved in a large fleet of players as a response as well . a massive battle erupted in the system and numerous smaller engagements occurred throughout the game universe as players attempted to block reinforcements from joining the battle . cfc / rus gained a clear win by inflicting heavy losses on n3 / pl and successfully capturing b - r5rb . the losses totalled 576 capital - class ships including 75 titans ( the largest ships available to players ) , along with thousands of smaller vessels . to commemorate the sheer size and cost of the battle , the game 's creators , ccp games , erected a permanent monument in the system b - r5rb named " the titanomachy " , consisting of non - salvageable capital ship wrecks . background eve online is a mmorpg space game in which players engage in a variety of activities including mining , piracy , manufacturing , trading , exploration , and combat . a few dozen players form corporations ( called clans , guilds or alliances in other video games ) , and these corporations in turn can formally join in alliance with other corporations . many of these alliances create informal coalitions to work toward common goals and fight competing alliances . the halloween war was a conflict in the game universe which started around halloween in late october 2013 and pitted the cfc and " russian " coalition and their allies against the n3 and pandemic legion coalitions and their allies . b - r5rb , located in the region , served as the staging ground for all pandemic legion fleets . a few days before the fighting in b - r5rb , the cfc and russian coalition suffered a decisive loss to n3 and pandemic legion forces in the battle of hed - gp in the catch region , due to the n3 / pl 's " wrecking ball " formation of titan and " " ships in the center of a huge sphere of mainly archon carriers . battle outbreak of conflict on january 27 , 2014 ( yc 116 in - game ) , the one - year anniversary of the immense battle of asakai , player corporation " h a v o c " , a member of nulli secunda , which in turn is a part of the n3 / pandemic legion coalition , mistakenly failed to make a scheduled payment to in - game security force concord . this resulted in the star system b - r5rb losing its sovereign status , which meant that other players could capture the system without needing to wait for the normal " reinforcement timers " ( real time waiting periods of several days designed to allow defenders to rally ) . an enemy scout discovered nulli secunda quietly attempting to regain control with their territorial control units ( tcu ) . at around 14 : 00 utc , with an hour remaining on the clock before nulli secunda could regain control , the cfc and russian coalition sent a capital fleet to the station . alliance took the station , and the russians destroyed the n3 / pl territorial control unit and set up its own tcu in order to establish control . as capturing this system would enable them to trap pandemic legion assets , including hundreds of capital and sub - capital ships , inside and prevent them from joining the war , cfc alliance and russian - heavy coalition forces scrambled to gain control of the system , with thousands of players logging on and preparing their fleets . manfred of pandemic legion claimed that the missed payment resulted from a bug , as he had enough isk in his holding corporation wallet and had checked . battle for b - r5rb pandemic legion and n3 moved to retake the system , but the russians destroyed all territorial control units anchored in the system . n3 / pl then deployed their super - carrier and carrier fleet in the " wrecking ball " formation just off the system 's space station , a formation which had previously defeated the cfc and russian alliance . as the conflict was a surprise and occurred on a monday workday , cfc and rus decided to take advantage and gain field superiority before n3 and pl could respond and so deployed their entire capital fleet to the system . meanwhile , they deployed their sub - capital fleets to n3 staging systems , including i - and - , to delay any reinforcements . each side then attempted to rush all available pilots into the system , and the game 's time dilation software engaged . time dilation is a game feature created by developer ccp games to handle heavy loads on the game server without the game lagging or disconnecting players . in time dilation , the game slows to ten percent normal speed , with each second of game time displaying as ten seconds of real time . the two sides traded titan kills every hour , when their doomsday weapons could fire again , and the system became filled with warp disruption bubbles , making extraction difficult . for a while neither side gained any real advantage , though cfc / rus managed to on - line their territorial control units and held a slight lead in the number of enemy titans destroyed . throughout the engagement , related battles played out across the entire game universe as fleets tried to block reinforcements , destroy fleeing capitals and super - capitals , or trap pilots attempting to enter the fray . the tide of the battle started to turn when manfred , the initial n3 / pl fleet commander , handed control to vince draken , ceo of northern coalition . vince draken managed to concentrate fire on and destroy several cfc / rus titans , and forced some additional russian titans to leave the system with depleted shields and armor . however , n3 / pl overestimated their success and began to focus their attacks on the titan belonging to sort dragon , the commander of all remaining russian forces in the field . this titan had very high damage resistance , and sort dragon drew upon his entire fleet to assist in repairing it , enabling it to hold out much longer than most other titans up to that point . by the time his titan fell , the cfc / rus had managed to destroy five n3 / pl titans , putting the alliance well ahead . james carl , a member of the n3 / pandemic legion coalition , reported to the associated press that " it looks like cfc is winning , but we 're hoping now that all of our us players are online , we 'll turn the tide . " but when the us - timezone players logged on and reinforcements became available , pl did not see the numbers they had expected , and the cfc blockaded adjacent systems to prevent them joining the battle . eventually , n3 / pl could no longer destroy any titans , and ordered a retreat . they switched their fire onto cfc / rus 's dreadnoughts in an attempt to take out as many ships as possible during retreat . due to their spy network , cfc knew that n3 / pl had ordered a retreat and deployed and heavy to prevent the withdrawal . n3 / pl lost several more titans , super carriers , and capitals in the extraction , with many trapped by the warp disruption bubbles strewn throughout the battle area . aftermath over 7 , 548 unique characters participated in the overall battle , of which 6 , 058 participated directly in the b - r5rb system with a maximum of 2 , 670 in system at the same time . these numbers included 717 unique player corporations and involved 55 unique player alliances . joystiq called the battle potentially the largest recorded pvp battle in any game to date . the 21 - hour - long conflict resulted in the loss of 75 titans , 13 super carriers , 370 dreadnoughts , and 123 carriers , along with thousands of smaller ships and innumerable fighters and drones . n3 and pandemic legion lost 59 titans while the cfc and russian coalition lost only 16 . an estimated 11 trillion isk in assets was lost during the battle , and media outlets reported the battle as the biggest and most expensive in eve online 's history , estimating that the battle cost $ 300 , 000 – $ 330 , 000 in real - world money . this estimate comes from a figure listed in the official report by ccp games , which the report based off a theoretical conversion of pilot license extensions , or plex , into real - world usd . while direct conversion of real currency into isk , or vice versa , is strictly prohibited , and plex units are purchasable in - game , additional plex units can be purchased for $ 20 usd , and it is from this theoretical real - world value that the estimated dollar amounts lost in the battle are drawn . however , this does not mean this amount of real - world money was expended , as many ships were purchased through in - game currency or corporation assets . dr. guðmundsson , an economist hired by ccp games to oversee eve online 's economy , stated that " to me , as an economist , that doesn ’ t really matter . in both cases this is economical value that is created by people ’ s work , either in real life or in virtual life . they put their blood , sweat and tears into making stuff so they can have an advantage in a battle , because in this battle like in any other battle in meet worlds , in real life , it is the resources you have available . " alexander gianturco , who goes by the in - game character the , ceo of ( the largest corporation in the federation alliance and hence the largest alliance in the cfc ) , reported to polygon near the end of the battle that " as vengeance for [ the battle of ] asakai goes , it 's somewhat ironic ; our forces lost three titans and seven supercarriers last year in asakai , and lost the battle . this year we 've killed 40 + hostile titans and we have seven more hours of killing before downtime . " also near the end of the battle , ali aras wrote on , an eve online - devoted website , that " the kills made here decide not only this war , but the next , and the next after that . " aras also noted some of the economic repercussions , stating that " the price of has been creeping upwards , anticipating the flurry of industrial production to come . " following the battle of b - r5rb , pandemic legion withdrew from the southeast theater and formed an agreement with the cfc which allowed them to evacuate billions of assets from the b - r5rb system . other n3 forces retreated in from the south , and in the following few days cfc alliances managed to capture a total of twenty three systems in the regions , catch , , and from n3 / pandemic legion alliances . the cfc then withdrew from the southeast theater . in the weeks after , the russian bloc suffered internal troubles , allowing n3 to regain all of the territory lost after b - r5rb and conquer most of the russian bloc 's territory . in the longer term , b - r5rb established cfc , later re - branded as the imperium , as the predominant superpower in eve online , with little serious resistance challenging the coalition for the next two years . commemoration once the game went into downtime , developer ccp games announced that it would create an in - game monument in the b - r5rb star system to commemorate the battle . " titanomachy " was created using brand new titan wreck models introduced with eve online : rubicon 's 1 . 1 release which came out immediately following the battle . ccp games posted on the eve online website that they planned to install " titanomachy " during downtime of january 31 , and were " hard at work placing the wrecks in a hauntingly beautiful arrangement . " placed around the seventh planet in the b - r5rb system , the installation is " off grid " from the space - station . ccp games stated that " thereafter , any player who plays [ eve online ] can make the dangerous pilgrimage there and marvel at the scope of destruction . we expect some of the ' travel ' bloggers to do full write - ups on it almost immediately and [ eve online ] videographers to make some moving tributes as well . "