Vengeance v Thrasher

The hunt:

I hadn't actually been looking for the Thrasher. My true target was a Caracal, and the Thrasher was unexpected.

You see, a couple of us had spotted a flashy Caracal sitting on a station. Despite being in frigates, we were pretty sure that we could take him, but we knew that if we all attacked at once that he would simply dock up. I therefore volunteered to sit on the station and see if he would initiate combat. If he did, the others could jump in and help burn him down - hopefully faster than he burned me down.

So there I was, sitting on the station, eyeing the Caracal and wondering if he would take the bait.

From out of nowhere, this Thrasher lands. I don't know if he was hunting me or if he was just planning on docking up, but he instantly targeted me and opened fire.

I'll admit that docking up never even occurred to me, although it probably would have been the best move under the circumstances. Instead, I returned fire and alerted my fleet mates.

Unfortunately, the Thrasher was not flashy, so my none of my backup could risk the station guns. Instead, I overheated my launchers and repairer and made sure that my scram and web were firmly on the Thrasher. From here it was a race; I could neither out range or out track the destroyer, I just had to hope I could out tank him.

Still keeping an eye on the Caracal, I watched as my opponent hit armor, and then structure, before finally exploding.

2011.07.13 18:44

Victim: Teh Tripple
Corp: Saltire Industries
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Thrasher
System: Ladistier
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 3511

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.5
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Foxfire Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 3511

Destroyed items:

Phased Plasma S, Qty: 222
200mm AutoCannon II, Qty: 4
Medium Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I
Warp Disruptor II
Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II
Phased Plasma S, Qty: 2041 (Cargo)
Hail S, Qty: 52 (Cargo)
Proton S, Qty: 10960 (Cargo)
EMP S, Qty: 2964 (Cargo)
Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I, Qty: 2

Dropped items:

Phased Plasma S, Qty: 555
200mm AutoCannon II, Qty: 3
Hail S, Qty: 2689 (Cargo)
Titanium Sabot S, Qty: 2942 (Cargo)

In the heat of the moment, I forgot all about the station, and targeted the pod with my scram. When the station guns opened fire I assumed it was the Caracal, so I destroyed the pod and warped out, giving the engagement order on the Caracal.

Of course, the Caracal had not engaged me, and he simply docked up when the Tuskers landed. Then we all had a good laugh at my noobishness.


Afterthoughts:

There was not much strategy here; it was a straight up brawl. Fortunately, my Vengeance excels under those conditions, and I was carried through the fight on the back of a decent fit and decent skill investment.

I still have not truly absorbed the gate gun mechanics, probably because (as a frigate) I so rarely engage under them. I'll see if I can't do something about that - if for no other reason than because these mechanics are so fundamental to low sec pvp.