Crusader v Rifter et alia

The hunt:

It had been a slow day in Molden Heath, and I had wandered beyond my usual stomping grounds in search of a fight.

A few jumps out of Molden Heath I spotted a Rifter sitting in a belt. Outside of my patch, I did not recognize the pilot or his corp, but I did want to try my Crusader against another Rifter.

Now, although the Crusader is a T2 frigate, a well fit and well flown Rifter is more than capable of taking it on and winning. Obviously an experienced pilot, I also had no idea how quickly he might be able to call for assistance. I would have to hit hard and fast.

Warping to the belt, I landed within point range of the Rifter, and immediately settled into a tight orbit. Although I would suffer higher damage, the Rifter would have a relative speed advantage if he was packing a web, and I did not want it to be easy for him to disengage.

Activating my mids and overheating my guns, I tore into the Rifter, but my opponent immediately returned the favour.  No hesitation or delay; he was as fast on the draw as his sec status suggested. I started up my repper, and it was clear that this was going to be a close race.

He seemed to be active armor tanked, and my heart sank as I saw how little progress I was making against his armor. I was not able to dwell on the matter for long, however, as two more Rifters landed in the belt.

The first newcomer landed right on top of me and immediately started to attack. The other pilot was about 40km off; he was out of the fight for the moment.

At this point I overheated my afterburner and tried to burn away, but with two webs on me, it just was not going to happen.

2011.05.17 18:31:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Crusader
System: Aralgrund
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 2516

Involved parties:

Name: WayCharles
Security: -9.9
Corp: Mountain Militia
Alliance: Mountain Sprouts
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: Rifter
Damage Done: 2144

Name: xxxAlloxxx (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.8
Corp: Mountain Militia
Alliance: Mountain Sprouts
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: 150mm Light AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 372

Destroyed items:

Small Energy Burst Aerator I
Gatling Pulse Laser II, Qty: 2
Small Energy Collision Accelerator I
Small Energy Transfer Array I (Cargo)
1MN Afterburner I (Cargo)
Scorch S (Cargo)
Medium Shield Booster I (Cargo)
Small Armor Repairer II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Proton S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Small Shield Transporter I (Cargo)
Imperial Navy Multifrequency S, Qty: 2

Dropped items:

Gatling Pulse Laser II, Qty: 2
Damage Control II
ECM Burst I (Cargo)
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Scorch S, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Heavy Missile Launcher I (Cargo)
Heat Sink II
Imperial Navy Multifrequency S, Qty: 2
1MN Afterburner II

Warping my pod out, I left a "gf" in local. They had sprung their trap well, and flown their ships perfectly.


Afterthoughts:

My reaction to the two additional Rifters dropping in was all wrong. I was never, ever going to get away with two webs on me, and trying to do so distracted me from doing what I should have been focusing on: taking someone with me.

What I did not notice (until too late) was that I had broken the cap of the first Rifter. Thanks to my Amarrian cap skills, my repper was going strong, but he was deep into armor. I had a real opportunity to kill him, but my attempted flight had taken me out of Multifrequency range, and I did not notice this for several seconds.

I switched to Scorch, but I exploded just before he reached hull. If I had stayed focused, I probably would have killed him, especially as maintaining my transversal would have meant taking slightly less damage from my target.

So, with the same skills, ship and situation, a veteran pilot would probably have come away from this encounter with a killmail. I reacted poorly, and came away with nothing as a result.

Part of the problem is that I have focused so much on what is happening to me that I have not ever really considered what is happening to my opponent. I saw that my opponents tank was holding and assumed that there was nothing I could do. I did not consider his cap situation - largely because my own cap tends not to be an issue.

Some real food for thought here, and if I can properly absorb the lessons of this fight I will be a far better pilot.