Laser Cannon Incident
The Laser Cannon Incident was a major military engagement in the Vega-Nova War located at Ilios Research Station in western Ilios. The battle saw the deployment of experimental Laser Cannon-based Destroyers by Imperial Nova, by means of which a small Novan force sunk an extremely large Vegan-allied armada with comparatively few casualties. The battle was the first and only significant usage of such powerful Laser Cannon arrays on Survival; even prior to the incident on 15 March, Laser Cannons were already slated for a significant nerf the following evening due to a widespread consensus that they were unbalanced. The Laser Cannon Incident was the most lethal battle of any in Horizon's End history, with a total of 24 ships being sunk over the course of the 90-minute engagement.
Context
On November 9th 2024, the server received an update that included a change reducing Laser Cannon weapon capacitor power drain to 160 from 1600, allowing Destroyers to fire over 70 of them at a time. The change occurred with little fanfare and was an open secret among a small number of players until the following March, at which point the change's potential became widely recognized. By this time, the Vega-Nova War had begun, and Imperial Nova opted to use the tactic before its inevitable nerf.
Two days before the battle, the siege station had been captured from Imperial Nova by Vega.
Summary of Events
(Video credit: AssassinXX)
On March 15, Novan and Separatist forces gathered to take back siege station IliosResearchStation. Novan forces had freshly printed 3 12ks that were equipped with laser cannons on the broadside, which at the time of the battle remained extremely powerful. The plan was to bait Vegan forces into deploying a Battlecruiser to counter the 3 12ks, so that it would quickly be sunk by the laser cannons.
The response time from Vegan forces was too great to prevent the siege, meaning the siege was successful, and Vega's mission changed to simply sinking the 3 12ks and separatist support.
Vega and allies rallied to fight the 12ks, bringing an initial fleet of 1 4k, and several 1ks.
Vegans successfully dispatched the 2 separatist 1ks, then turned full focus to the 12ks.
The Novan forces were able to sink 1 4k, and 2 Starfighters over the span of 18 Minutes, before revealing the laser cannons equipped on their ship, sinking an additional 1k using the laser cannons.
Solesey of Vega contracted Lonestar 30,000c to assist Vega in the fight, summoning 1 500 Gunship, piloted by CursedSaturn, 1 4.9k, piloted by XiJinping_, and 1 2k, piloted by eyrzeke.
Vega and allies were able to finish off Thrawn31's 12k.
The 2 remaining Novan 12ks were able to sink another 2k, 1 500 Gunship, and 5 Starfighters.
Thrawn31's 12k wreck had regenerated, and eyrzeke, who had been sunk, navigated to the wreck, and was able to pilot the wreck as a 6.5k, using the wreck to make a last stand against the Novan 12ks, using the remaining functioning laser cannons.
Separatist forces redeployed 1 Starfighter which was also sunk.
The fight continued for an additional 30 minutes after eyrzeke's wreck was sunk, with Vegan-aligned forces losing an additional 1k, 500 Gunship, and Starfighter.
Results
The battle concluded after Vegan forces decided to withdraw, failing to recapture the station or kill Novan forces.
Some time after the battle, server staff refunded most Vega-aligned losses.