Vengeance v Crusader

The hunt:

I was roaming the low sec space ways when I spotted a Crusader on my directional scanner. He seemed to be at a belt; either ratting or looking for a fight. Painfully conscious of how easy I am to kite, I considered whether or not to engage. Assuming he was pulse fit, I could match his range with Javelin rockets, so I thought the risk was worth it.

Jumping into his belt, I landed just as he was warping off. I did not see any wrecks around, soI guessed he was looking for a fight. Staying where I was, I tried to scan him down again; I had not seen the direction he warped off in and I wanted to start moving in that direction to mess with his sense of distance. Crusaders are fast, though, and he had turned right around and jumped back in before I could get a decent fix on his location.

He had jumped in at range, which favoured him. We burned towards each other, and I hoped that our momentum would carry us into web/scram range. My opponent corrected, though, and danced just beyond my overheated range.

I immediately brought my ship about, and began heading back the way I had come. This turned his correction into an over-correction; he was outside of his weapon's range and there was a risk that I would get away.

He spotted this quickly, and counter-corrected, tightening his orbit. As soon as he readjusted, though, I did the same, and once again his correction became an over-correction, this time one that brought him into scram range.

From there, the fight was a foregone conclusion.

2011.08.08 19:03:00

Victim: nOH4Uk
Corp: WAR TEAM
Alliance: Desman Alliance
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Crusader
System: Adirain
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 1266

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket
Damage Done: 1266

Destroyed items:

Nanite Repair Paste, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Tracking Enhancer II, Qty: 2
Small Energy Locus Coordinator I
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Qty: 4
Medium Shield Booster II (Cargo)
Scorch S, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Imperial Navy Multifrequency S, Qty: 2

Dropped items:

Warp Disruptor II
Gistii B-Type 1MN MicroWarpdrive
Warp Scrambler II (Cargo)
Overdrive Injector System II, Qty: 2
Scorch S, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Imperial Navy Multifrequency S, Qty: 2
Light Ion Blaster II (Cargo)


Afterthoughts:

A good fight, although a very different kind of fight from those I usually have. This was all a battle of maneuver, rather than a battle of tank and dps. This really highlights the weakness of the Crusader as a kiting ship; it's operational range is very narrow, and piloting within that range is very demanding.

If I had been the Crusader pilot I would have erred on the side of caution, even if that meant losing dps. I would have started off in a wide, safe, orbit and slowly closed into operational range. Using the "look at" function would have alerted me to changes of course as soon as they happened, and I hopefully have kept me out of trouble. I think the worst thing a kiting ship can do is make a fast approach, because it is so easy for things to go wrong in those first few seconds, which is all it took in this fight.

All in all, I'm very pleased with this 1v1. It's not often that I get a solo fight with an evenly matched ship (ie, a T2 frigate); I think my last one was with a Harpy about a month ago.

Edit: Admittedly, that's partly my fault for not being online much recently because of real life issues and commitments.