The hunt:
My instinctive reaction to drones - to try and race their damage - was formed in the early days of the Punisher Plan. Back when I was still hurling myself at mining cruisers I found that my poor gunnery skills could not land a single hit on even the slowest of drones, and I quickly gave up trying. I've not tried to shoot them since.
However, my gunnery skills are now much better than they used to be. I wanted to find a fight that would give me the opportunity to re-test my ability to shoot at drones.
By happy coincidence, I soon found myself scanning down a ratting Rupture. Jumping into the belt I quickly got under his guns and started shooting at his Hobgoblin I's.
And shooting. And shooting.
While I definitely did better than I had ever done before - getting one drone to half health - it was still a pretty pathetic display.
With my cap gone (despite the nos), and the writing on the wall, I attempted to disengage, but that only hastened my end, as it allowed his autocannon to actually land some hits, which soon finished me off.
2011.05.03 17:48:00
Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Punisher
System: Illamur
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 3016
Involved parties:
Name: Krab701 (laid the final blow)
Security: 1.8
Corp: Native Freshfood
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rupture
Weapon: 220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 3016
Destroyed items:
Gatling Pulse Laser II, Qty: 3
Damage Control II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Small Armor Repairer II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Imperial Navy Multifrequency S, Qty: 2
Dropped items:
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
E5 Prototype Energy Vampire
Imperial Navy Multifrequency S
1MN Afterburner II
Scorch S, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Post battle review:
Well, I got the test I wanted, but I did not like the results. If I'm going to solve my drone problem then I either need to dramatically improve my tracking (probably through rigs) or find a solution that is not tracking based (such as smart bombs or rockets).
Outside of the typical drone issue, the fight went as well as could be expected. I got under his guns and managed to stay there.
Lessons for the future:
Well, the Punisher Plan is officially at an end. I will write up a fourth quarter review and start setting some goals and plans for the next phase of my pvp career. That probably means that the next few posts are going to have less pew-pew in them than has been typical of the last couple of weeks.
Webs are very handy for dealing with drones. Another trick I've read about is pulsing your AB/MWD to string the drones out behind you and lower their transversal. Never actually tried this myself.
ReplyDeleteOf course, another good trick is to use rockets, as they tear through drones. Not so useful for a punisher though :)
ReplyDeleteThe only drones you really need to worry about in a frigate are T2 drones and ECM drones, T1 should be easily tanked if you aren't taking too much damage from the ship your fighting (under their guns or out of their range).
ReplyDeleteI think this is one of the places where the frigs with a tracking bonus (like the rifter) have a fairly significant advantage, not to mention those with webs. The same is true of ships which engage at range, like fleet interceptors (since the drones follow instead of surrounding). I can't think of an easy solution.
ReplyDeleteSo what's next? Crusader by any chance? ;)
I actually think that moving to the cruiser classed Maller would be a good choice at this point; unless you were thinking of staying with the punisher.
ReplyDeleteI know it's over a year since the Punisher plan, but I just found this blog yesterday and have been reading non-stop. Awesome content, great reading and an inspiring idea. I'm a Gallente flyer myself so I'm going to do something similar with the Incursus. I only hope I have as much success as you do!
ReplyDeleteSame here Lucas! I am wondering if I should likewise embark on some kind of pvp career
ReplyDeleteI just found this blog a few days ago. As someone who is trying to save money to buy a computer (primarily to get into eve), this blog really helps to keep the desire sated.
ReplyDelete