Combat log 020612

Starsystem: ZNO-SR

Cormorant vs Crusader, Vengeance, Rifter, Drake

I ended up in this system earlier today before downtime while roaming. There seemed to be some activity there judging from the map but when I arrived no targets of interest were in space. Just a few people in local. I docked up and called it a day .

This evening I logged in again to find the number of local had increased to 20+ . Usually I don't like that many in local especially when many of them are from the same corp or alliance but I had the impression from my earlier experience in this small pocket in Syndicate that the occupants were more into carebearing than PvP. Although I expect that if people carebear in null that they also have experience in PvP, At least some as they need to defend their ' territory'  on occasion I assume. 

I am usually pretty careful when it comes to picking opportunities to roam and fight but this evening I felt more reckless and thought what the heck lets loose a ship. If it happens it happens, I just really wanted to get some action. 

So I undocked expecting ships  to sit at the undock and ready to hit 'shift - space' and redock if needed. But noone was there so I started to warp around celestial to scan for ships. I spotted several. A Bestower, a Crusader , a Drake and a Naga. So I used my scanner to locate them and found the Drake at a gate.  I warped to the gate wat 100km ( I didn't have a tactical there) I just wanted to have a look and see who the Drake pilot  was, let my presence be known and maybe lure the Crusader in if they were from the same corp ofcourse. Which I didn't know at the time. So I hung around the gate at 100k while nothing  really happened. The Drake didn't move and nothing appeared on scan. 

The next thing I did was warp to a planet.  A planet that is one of the farthest from the sun so it is Cristal clear that I am warping to that particular planet if the Drake pilot was paying attention. In this case it had only one belt I believe. If anyone was interested in catching me he would know where to look (assuming again that these people are talking to each other on comms).

So I arrived on the planet and F***^*&%$#@ fly right into the customs office. I HATE that because I usually bump of it in some unexpected direction and then it costs me valuable time to align to something else. If I was being chased I needed that precious time to get away. This almost always happens when I warp to planets even when I warp to other distances than 0m. I find it very annoying to say the least. Anyways, rant over lets continue..

When I arrived at the planet a Bestower appeared on scan. It wasn't there before so I know its not at a POS or something, there are no POSSES on scan..  could it be that he has warped to the office to deliver or pick up PI goods?? And yes, he has. Moments later he arrives at 0m from the CO right beside my little Cormorant. I can't believe my luck .. I lock him up as fast as I can ... and that is that.. his tank drops quick and a few moments later the hauler is a molten wreck. Happy days:). Ofcourse his friends are not pleased I assume .. and the crusader and a Vengeance show up on scan.. It is time to decide.. Fight or flee?

I stay to fight. And fly away from the CO as fast as I can. I don't want to end up in a blob as they start arriving. I am assuming at that moment that  the Crusader and the Vengeance are the first of many that will arrive soon.  

As I mwd away the Crusader arrives. I decide that I am going to focus on that ship. To kill just one of them would be a plendid victory for me. And I don't expect to make it out with my ship. 

He locks and approaches. He even comes withing scram  range. I lock him back, scram, activate TD and my guns. He goes down quick but manages to increase the distance between me and him. I give chase but to no avail, he is way faster. He passed 4 km and the damage I do stops when he has 20% structure left. He is prob active tanked and I see his armour go up again a little. I pray for 1 more hit on his ship to finish him off but the vengeance and a Rifter  are upon me. I didn't even notice the Drake until I saw my loss mail. Apparently he had arrived as well.  A few moments later my Cormorant pops and I warp my pod to safety.

So what could I have done better. What is there to learn from this experience? Well I did everything right I think up until I started having tunnel vision about killing the Crusader. 

I lost situational awareness there. I didn't notice the Drake come in but ... that didn't matter at that time anyway. Once the Drake arrived the frigs were on top of and me there wasn't much that  I could have done that would have made any  difference to my survival, I think. And I was unlucky with the crusader. 1 more hit would have ended him but hey that is life in EVE.  Gratz to him for surviving.

Battleclinic

Aftermath:

After the fight I logged off in my noobship thinking I would save myself the trouble of undocking after I logged in next time and get out of the system quick. Unfortunalty , and this was my mistake, a timer was still running when I logged to my ship was still very visible on scan for I expect 15 min. The locals and the Hauler pilot decided to get some payback and probed me down. When I logged back in I was it was in a new clone 35 jumps away from syndicate..

That didn't feel to good.I won't make that mistake again though :).

High5