Fountain of Youth

Site Details

Fountain of Youth
Type	Expedition
Rating	Unrated
Found in	Null
Max ship size	Unverified
Faction	Blood Raiders
Best damage to deal	EM Th
Damage to resist	EM Th
Sig. strength	Escalates from Blood Provincial HQ

Fountain of Youth is an Expedition that can escalate from Blood Provincial HQ.

Walkthrough

This expedition is a very hard one, and may require several people in strong ships (T3C, well-tanked Battleship or Marauder is advised). The first and second locations can be done solo, but the last two locations have very high incoming DPS that can overwhelm a ship running solo.

Escalation start

As the dust settles from the battle, you receive a transmission from someone claiming to be a local vigilante who congratulates you on a job well done. Your computers run a check on his ship ID's and other info they can gather on him in such a short period of time, but come up with nothing. He appears to represent neither a pirate faction nor one of the empires. This person continues to welcome you to the area and offers to point you to some other Blood bases he knows about and have been a menace for the local population. If you want to come and meet him, he will lead the way.

First Location

You land at 0 on an acceleration gate. Take it if no commander spawns or if destroying it doesn't trigger escalation.

		WD	EWAR	L
	3-4 x Elite Frigate Elder Corpii Reaver/Engraver
	3 x Battlecruiser Corpatis Fanatic/Bishop
	7 x Battleship Corpus Patriarch/Pope
	0-1 x Commander Battleship Dark Blood Cardinal/Patriarch

		WD	EWAR	L
	1 x Newly Constructed Acceleration Gate

First Pocket

Simple warp-in can trigger escalation.

Passive ships and structures

		WD	EWAR	L
	2 x Neutral Drone Spy Drone
	1 x Neutral Cruiser Cura Gigno
	60 x Storage Silo

In local (Cura Gigno):
Cura Gigno: Good to see you decided to come. I can not promise you any payment if you take on these Blood Raider bases, but you will earn fame among the locals and the fortune the Bloods leave behind. I'm going to send a couple of my spy drones to see if the Blood Raiders are still where they were yesterday.

Escalation trigger
The radio crackles with the vigilante's excited whispering. "They're still here! Come quick and we'll show them a whole new definition of pain!"

Second Location

In local:
Control Tower Operator: More intruders! Maybe they're connected with the spy drones we just destroyed. I bet CONCORD sent them! Take care of 'em boys!

Ungated pocket. Incoming damage is VERY high. Recommend using a sniper ship to pick of the enemies or activate an MJD away from the rats when you land. Alternatively use a strongly tanked ship that can tank the DPS (like a well-tanked T3 Cruiser).

		WD	EWAR	L
	6 x Sentry Blood Cruise Missile Battery
	14-19 x Elite Frigate Elder Corpii Upholder/Worshipper/Herald
	18-20 x Battleship Corpus Patriarch/Pope
	0-1 x Commander Battleship Dark Blood Pope

In local:
The Missile Battery was booby-trapped! As it explodes, it sends out a blast-wave triggered by a built-in smartbomb. All hostile ships caught in the blast take damage.

Attack the Blood Control Center or the Blood Raider Chapels to trigger escalation if none if received from the commander.

Structures

		WD	EWAR	L
	1 x Blood Control Center
	4 x Blood Raider Chapel

In local:
Cura Gigno: We sure showed them! I'm actually starting to think I'll become a fighter some day. Will you teach me? Maybe after we're done ...

Escalation dead-end

"We sure did show them! You sure are better than no one to have around when the missiles are flying! But there is no time to float here fabulating, we must press on, another division of this same group is close by! I will pop over and scout, check if they are there still! " All these exclamation marks make you dizzy. It may well be that this guy is not much of a fighter, but he is no coward and you wonder if it is not hard to do scouting missions on an industrial ... Around 30 seconds later you receive a transmission "OMG the bastards have scrambled me !! I am getting killed here! Help! Help! I am at moon six, where is everyone, come .. "and then the transmission stops. You turn off the radio, there are too many "moon 6" around for you to go looking, and besides...

Escalation trigger
"We sure did show them! You sure are better than no one to have around when the missiles are flying! But there is no time to float here fabulating, we must press on, another division of this same group is close by! "

Third Location

In local:
As you enter, you see your friend several hundred kilometers off target, complaining about something being rotten in the hydraulic system. With the Blood Raiders on the other hand, it seems like all systems are go.

From Cura Gigno:
Cura Gigno: I hope you will manage without me, but I am going to check the next and last target. It's one of the Blood's holy places, some Fountain of Youth thing, quite a splash! We don't want them to get away. I will hold them busy till you arrive!

Warning: The two stasis towers web you very hard, so expect high incoming damage.
The Blood Defense Outpost has very strong active shield and armor tank that requires about 1000 DPS to break (the equivalent of the firepower of 3 battleships). It only drops T1 ammo and meta modules, so don't bother wasting ammo to destroy it unless you need the escalation.

Initial defenders

		WD	EWAR	L
	1 x Sentry Blood Defense Outpost
	2 x Sentry Siege Beam Laser Sentry
	2 x Sentry Blood Stasis Tower
	1 x Destroyer Corpior Converter
	2 x Cruiser Corpum Dark Priest/Shadow Sage
	4 x Elite Cruiser Elder Corpum Priest/Sage
	8 x Battleship Corpus Patriarch/Pope
	0-1 x Commander Battleship Dark Blood Pope

In local:
The Defense Sentinel calls for backup from a nearby patrol!

Outpost reinforcements

		WD	EWAR	L
	6 x Elite Frigate Elder Corpii Follower/Herald/Upholder
	3 x Elite Cruiser Elder Corpum Arch Priest/Arch Sage
	11 x Battleship Corpus Patriarch/Pope

Escalation trigger

"I will hold them busy till you arrive!" Yeah, right. The only way he is going to slow them down is to stun them with a steady flow of exclamation marks. The Dark Bloods are no joke. This innermost circle of the Blood Raiders is legendary for its brutality and the unparalleled skill of its pilots. Your radio crackles to life again when this chatty would-be vigilante sends a message to his newfound friend: "Yes, they are here, and it seems the element of surprise is on our side! I suggest that you open with a full frontal assault so I can charge from the side, flank them, and then we can crush them between us! I will need to stay off the air for now, though: I am launching a covert ops through stealth tactics in order to get into position! Good luck !! " Come to think of it, this guy might be a 12-year-old who has stolen his mom's ship. But there is nothing to wait for; there are the coordinates, and the enemy is waiting.

Fourth Location

On warp-in (in local):
You see a spatial rift in the distance: This is probably what the Blood Raiders have called the "Fountain Of Youth." Perhaps it was usable at some point in the past, but your computer indicates it is currently so unstable that attempting to use it would mean certain death. You refrain from any thoughts of using it, for now.

In local (gradual)

Cura Gigno: Let me know if you need a hand! Cura Gigno: "Cura Gigno takes on the Blood Raiders." Yeah, I think I'll call my biography something like that. You can be my sidekick, maybe ... the silent warrior by my side. Maybe they'll even give me a medal! Cura Gigno: I'm impressed. You seem almost as good as I'd be flying that ship of yours ... Cura Gigno: I got your back! Keep it up! Cura Gigno: Wait! I'm still reloading !!

This site is very hard, and will require multiple people in strongly tanked ships. Double Stasis towers will make you take a lot of damage. Recommend high resists against EM and Thermal damage. Avoid attacking the Blood Raider Military Outpost unless you can tank the incoming damage. The structure itself drops no loot.
The site has 3 waves, and if you spawn 2 at once, the site is almost impossible.

		WD	EWAR	L
	1 x Blood Raider Military Outpost

Initial defenders

		WD	EWAR	L
	2 x Sentry Blood Stasis Tower
	5 x Sentry Siege Beam Laser Sentry
	5 x Sentry Siege Pulse Laser Sentry
	2 x Frigate Corpii Reaver/Engraver
	4 x Elite Frigate Elder Corpii Worshipper/Herald/Upholder
	9 x Destroyer Corpior Cleric/Devoter/Friar
	2 x Elite Cruiser Elder Corpum Arch Templar/Revenant
	19 x Battleship Corpus Patriarch/Pope

In local:
As the Military Outpost is attacked, a horde of defenders undock to defend it!

Reinforcements (Military Outpost attacked)

		WD	EWAR	L
	4 x Elite Frigate Elder Corpii Herald/Upholder
	8 x Elite Cruiser Elder Corpum Arch Templar/Revenant/Priest/Sage
	3 x Battlecruiser Corpatis Bishop/Seer/Fanatic
	15 x Battleship Corpus Patriarch/Pope

In local:

High Ritualist Padio Atour: So we meet at last. You are most likely the one that has been disrupting our operations recently. I must say, I'm impressed with your ability to crush my subordinates. But taking on me is an entirely different matter. Since you've done so well for yourself, I'll give you the comforting knowledge that your body will be sent to your family in one piece. And if you have any close relatives that show promise in the space-combat business, I'll make sure to offer them a place at my side.

The final wave is the overseer wave. It spawns when the Blood Raider Military Outpost is at 55% structure.

Overseer wave (Outpost 55% structure)

		WD	EWAR	L
	5 x Drone Spider Drone II
	8 x Elite Frigate Padio's Disciple
	1 x Overseer Battleship High Ritualist Padio Atour

Expedition end

This was a hard fight and even though your friend didn't fire many shots, he did his best to call them. Gutsy little fellow. You would think that by now he should have used half of all superlatives in the English language to describe your victory, but surprisingly enough he is dead silent there where he is orbiting the remains of this holy place. Closer inspection reveals that he has taken a direct hit and even though his ship looks intact, all the airlocks have been blasted out and either he must have died from the explosion, or he is lying there frozen from the exposure. It is kind of sad ... not that you will miss him personally, but you can be darn sure that if he had lived to run around and tell the story, you would have been a legendary hero 24 hours from now.