Arbitrator vs Cyclone

Quick combat evaluation.

I have been flying an Arbitrator in low sec this last week. Not the one I have described on this blog earlier but  a tracking disruptor and nano version. It still does about 370 DPS with a 17k tank and 1425 km/s. The biggest downside for me is its cap. It doesn't have a large reserve of that so running the MWD too long isn't really an option ( which is prob not a good thing on a kiting ship^^). Decent I'd say on paper so I wanted to try it in real combat.

Today I got my chance vs a  Cyclone. He jumped into a system  with me and I decided to warp to a planet at 70km while trying to make it obvious where I was warping to. So I picked one of the 'outer rim' planets not one near the sun.

He shortly followed me after. My strategy with this ship is to kite while mitigating his DPS with my TD and let my drones and own 2 turrets do the damage. So I warped to 70km thinking he would warp to 0m. Unfortunately he managed to land right on top of me and scrammed me before I could manage to get out of scram range. So first part of my tactics had fallen to peaces already but.. it wasn't lost yet so I activated my TD , launched my drones and piloted my ship to fly away from him to see how the fight would develop. Then his drones jammed me... And I was jammed most of the fight. I managed to regain lock when I was in about 20% shields but at that moment I was still in scram range. Unable to get away my ship slowly died. I did manage to get some distance between me by clever piloting which delayed my inevitable demise for longer that I had expected. But die it did. Goodbye Arbitrator.

 Thinking back there are a couple of things that I could have done better. One; once I had landed at the planet I aligned to the gate where I came from ( and the gate the cyclone was coming from) . So it might have been that he warped to 100km and that I had flow back in the same path that he was coming from making it more likely that he would land closer to me. It would have been better if I had made a 90 degree turn and burned away for a bit from the trajectory he was coming from. There is always a chance that someone will come in at unpredicted distances so it is safer to burn of in a different direction.

Secondly I should have had drones on my overview. I didn't because I like to de clutter my overview as much as possible and I have a separate tab for drones but now I didn't see the drones fast enough so I could not respond to him launching ECM till I was too late.

And I should have launched my drones before he landed. It was clear we were going to fight, why didn;t I?! Ah well.. Mistakes will be made.

It sucks being pawned like that though.. damn. Anyways, tomorrow is another day for another fight.

Glad to fly an Abry again, btw. I Love it so, I hope I can make it work with the new drone mod.

Sometimes...

.. I just want to slap myself in the face while PvPing. (fortunately I don't)

After a few weeks of non PvP I took a few cruisers out to play.

The first , a Stabber that  I manage to loose in a pefectly manageable gate camp: couple of T3 BC 250 from the gate and 2 tackle frigs near the gate. For some reason I panic... forget all I have learned since I started PvPing and fuck everything up.. I even forget to activate my guns and MWD.. Total blackout on my side and my ships pops without much of a fight followed by my pod..

Later I am flying around Placid in low sec and spot an Ishkur.. we fight and I get him to structure when a falcon decloakes and jams me. I warp out.. <sigh> later I realize I still had six drones unused in my drone bay.. That Ishkur would have so died if I had thought of launching them. Would have made my day too after the Stabber loss. I could also have stuck around longer as my tanks was fine and I had neuted the Iskur to hell.

Anyways, more lessons learned.

Now for something totally unrelated:

http://mimiandeunice.com/

Merlin vs Taranis

Yesterday I took my little Merlin for a spin again into Syndicate. I was really looking forward for the thrill of a PvP fight since I hadn't been able to log in to EVE for a week or so. Well I did go into low sec with an Arbitrator looking for trouble but nothing came out of that short adventure so I wanted a quick fight in null. So I head out to 6-CZ49, Syndicate enrty system from Verge Vendor. 

When I enter 6-C is the only time I have used a scout so far. I have run into to many gate camps in that system and I think it is such a waste of ships to jump in blind that I have stationed an alt there to spy on the gate before I jump in. I only have one account so I need to relog twice to do that but it is worth it.

This time I spotted with my alt a Taranis, a Merlin and a Kitsune on the Reblier gate in 6-C. The Merlin is a good target for my Merlin, The Taranis.. well not sure if my Merlin could take it on but worth a shot, the Kitsune is not a target. I would avoid the Kitsune like the plaque because of its ECM. But the Kitsune left so I decided to jump in with my main VR Highfive. 

Before I jump though I switch my Hybrid ammo to Null S. A few moments later this turn out to be and important decision. When I make the choice before I jump I am playing with the though to 'kite' the other blaster ships using my web/scram/afterburner trio and use the range of null to wear my target down while staying out of their blaster optimal range (assuming they will use antimatter). The optimal of null is 3,6km with 5,7 km falloff while antimatter has 1,1 + 3km. That is why I decide to switch to null. It it really just based on a hunch and curiosity to try this tactic.

So I jump thru and the Taranis sits at a tactical bookmark 300km from the gate or something like that. I warp to a tac as well to get off the gate. By then I have decided to take on the Ranis. I am pretty confident about my setup and I have nothing to loose. What a good opportunity to try something new. The Ranis doesn't approach but warps to a wreck as a invitation to fight or so I interpret his move. I am only to happy to oblige so I warp to the wreck at 0m. I land at 10km from him and the fight starts.

I approach and orbit at 500m AB running... and there it is.. I made the first mistake.. my whole plan out of the window and I am flying like I am using antimatter ammo..  I didn't realize this during the fight only after . So what happens is that we approach and I start damaging him pretty early. Its going really well and his shield and armor go down fast. He has a small armor rep and he is repping as hard he can but in the first 15 sec the fight is going my way. I start feeling hopeful .. might I actually kill a Taranis in my T1 frig? 

But .. when he is at 10% armor the DPS I do to him stops. I wonder is he tanking my DPS with his rep? He isn't regaining armor? Am I not hitting, he is now fairly close and blasting away at my shield which are holding oke even though his blasters are taking big chunck from it every volley the ASB can keep up with it somewhat.  But as I am not damaging him anymore.. I am not sure what to do at that moment but wait for the inevitable; my boosters running out.. I keep hoping for hits but it doesn't happen and after my ASB runs out my ship pops seconds later. 

It was still pretty close and am not unhappy with my fight vs a T2 frig but I am left with a feeling that I could have gotten more out of that. After the fight when I had warped my pod to safety I remembered I had null loaded.. and later I realized that was probably the reason why I failed this time. 

First of all the decision to orbit at 500 while having null loaded  was a bad move. When the Taranis got close I prob could not track him anymore. I assume he was dual prop fitted. I always assume Ranis are Dual prop:).  So with me and him orbiting with afterburners on tracking might have gotten real difficult with null ammo. 

Had I loaded Antimatter I might have done much better as it had better tracking and more DPS.

With null I should have followed my original plan: try to stay at  3,5km. Not sure if that would have worked with a dual prob adversary but it would have made more sense.

Anyways.. it was a good lesson. Next time I will try something else; Stick with tha initial plan.