Punisher 7

The fit:

3 Dual Light Pulse 2 (Navy Multifrequency & Scorch)
5W Infectious Power Malfuction

Cold-gas Arcjet Thrusters
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Inhibitor

Small Armor Repair System 1
Adaptive Nano Plating 2
Damage Control 2
200mm Rolled Tungsten

Small Auxiliary Power Relay

The hunt:

After being away for a bit, I decided to spend some more time in Molden Heath making bookmarks with my Punisher, looking for a fight.

A few opportunities came my way; a Daredevil spent some time trying to pin me down, but I wanted a fight I at least stood a chance of winning.

After about 30 minutes I noticed that a Navy Comet was trying to track me down, and I decided to let it. I warped to a planet and then burned off the warp in point by about 30km and played afk.

Five minutes or so later, the Comet warped in and started burning towards me. I used the time to plan for the coming battle.

The pilot, FeistyOne, was a 2007 character with nearly a -10 security status. I was pretty sure I could assume that her ship was maxed out, which did not bode well for me. I could have bailed at that point, but that would not have taught me very much

Looking at the bonuses on the Comet I guessed that she was going to get in close and orbit at 500 or so to disrupt my tracking. My velocity column on the overview confirmed that she was faster than me, and so I would not be able to kite.

This was my plan, then. I would start moving away from the Comet once she got close to Scorch range. She would still catch me, but I would get a little more time to apply damage. Once she was in close I would switch to Navy, but I would also start neuting; if I could cap her out then she would loose her speed advantage and I could try to kite.

That was the idea, at least. However, when starting up my engines I did not properly take into account acceleration. It took me far longer to come up to speed than I had expected, and she was on top of me before my speed came up. So much for free damage.

As I had expected, FeistyOne pulled into a tight orbit to wreck my tracking, but she also launched three Warrior II drones. This shocked me; I had not realised that the frigate carried drones, and it was clear that this was where most of her damage would come from.

Now, my only plan was escape. I had to survive long enough to cap out FeistyOne and warp away. The odds were long, but it was the best I could do. I doubt I would have been successful even if a Rupture had not warped in and finished me off.

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: Strategic Conflicts Incorporated
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Punisher
System: Atlar
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 1640

Involved parties:

Name: FeistyOne
Security: -9.8
Corp: Twisted Inc.
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Federation Navy Comet
Weapon: Warrior II
Damage Done: 1462

Name: Ariartus (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: Gunpoint Diplomacy
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rupture
Weapon: 425mm AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 178

Destroyed items:

Angel Silver Tag (Cargo)
Small Ancillary Current Router I
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
EMP S (Cargo)
Scorch S (Cargo)
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Qty: 3
Supplemental Screen Generator I (Cargo)
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

Dropped items:

Damage Control II
Imperial Navy Multifrequency S, Qty: 2
Scorch S, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Small Armor Repairer I
Proton S (Cargo)
5W Infectious Power System Malfunction
Adaptive Nano Plating II
200mm AutoCannon I (Cargo)

Post battle review:

I made a lot of mistakes here. The worst was my failure to properly review the Comet's capabilities. I also vastly underestimated what a 2007 pirate was capable of. In hindsight, I stood no chance at all.

I also regret not offering a "gf" in local; I was too busy spamming warp to get my pod out. However, FeistyOne clearly deserved the "gf", as she had completely out skilled and out piloted me.

Lessons for the future:

Molden Heath offers plenty of fights, but I need to work harder to find ones that I can possibly win.