A question of timing.

The hunt:

I'm breaking the chronology here, and delaying the post that I had originally planned for today. Instead, I'm going to talk about last night, because it was a pretty frustrating night, and sometimes you just have to get something like that out of your system.

It started when I logged on after work. Wherever I went, the systems were empty, but reports of enemy action would pour in from somewhere else. By the time I reached somewhere else, all would be quiet, and the action would be elsewhere.

In particular, I missed out on a 95 million ISK ransom because I was still one jump away when the fight ended. That's when I became certain that I was going to lose my ship that night.

I seriously considered logging off , but decided to see the night through. It's easy to pvp when everything is going right, but pulling through the tough spells is what helps you grow as a pilot.

Not too long after the missed ransom, I ran into a large fleet sitting on the Onne - Aeschee gate; I had wanted to join a fight that had broken out Adirain, but I didn't make it through the camp.

Heading back to Hevrice to reship, I got a report of a missioning Brutix in Melmaniel. By the time I had reshipped, however, the large fleet was moving through Hev and towards Melmaniel. We all sat tight and gave them time to move on. Twenty minutes gone.

Eventually, I reached Costelle and sat on the Melmanial gate with a couple of other Tuskers. Difficulties with our prober lead to more delay. When the Brutix was probed down, we all jumped into the system, but for some reason the "squad warp" command didn't take. That meant our prober ended up warping to the mission alone.

Whe she landed, we all warped to her, but in the intervening time the Brutix had moved 30km off our warpin (there were no rooms in the mission). He simply warped out as we burned towards him.

Demoralised and frustrated, I called it a night, and made my way back to Hev. Just as I was about to dock, however, Suleiman told us he had a ratting Loki in Oulletta, so I turned around and started back the way I had come. The other Tuskers from the Brutix attempt were closer, of course, so they make a go of it before I got there. Unfortunately, the Loki slipped point and escaped.

I reached the Oulletta gate, and sat there with the other Tuskers, waiting for the Loki to venture out again. A flashy Falcon and Hurricane jumped into us, and we engaged.

We assumed that the Falcon would just warp off, so I pointed and attacked the Hurricane first. When the Falcon jammed us all, however, we switched primary to him.

As we battered the Falcon, the Hurricane neuted us out and started trying to pick us off. Bartomeu, flying the largest ship on our side, lost his Rupture to the larger vessel. Struggling to manage our mods through the neuts, and tanking the damage from the Hurricane, we nevertheless managed to down the Falcon just as Suleiman (who had been baiting the Loki) jumped in.

2011.09.15 20:06:00

Victim: Nicoletta Modena
Corp: Fairlight Corp
Alliance: Rooks and Kings
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Falcon
System: Melmaniel
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 8856

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Phalanx Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 1260

Name: Bartomeu Sosimo
Security: -7.1
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Capsule
Weapon: 425mm AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 3543

Name: Khronoin
Security: -9.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Jaguar
Weapon: Jaguar
Damage Done: 3277

Name: RedBerret
Security: -9.6
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Jaguar
Weapon: Jaguar
Damage Done: 713

Name: Suleiman Shouaa
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Arazu
Weapon: Arazu
Damage Done: 63

Destroyed items:

Large Particle Dispersion Augmentor I
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Sisters Combat Scanner Probe, Qty: 8
Medium Particle Dispersion Projector I
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Cynosural Field Generator I
Expanded Probe Launcher I
Sisters Core Scanner Probe, Qty: 4 (Cargo)
Warp Disruptor II (Cargo)
Liquid Ozone, Qty: 143 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 480 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

BZ-5 Neutralizing Spatial Destabilizer ECM
'Umbra' I White Noise ECM, Qty: 2
'Hypnos' Ion Field ECM I
Damage Control II
200mm AutoCannon II
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 120
Enfeebling Phase Inversion ECM I, Qty: 2
Nanite Repair Paste, Qty: 50 (Cargo)
Core Scanner Probe I, Qty: 5 (Cargo)
Liquid Ozone, Qty: 207 (Cargo)

We immediately turned our attention to the Hurricane, but the neuts and the damage began to add up. We still would probably have carried the field, though, until the Vagabond jumped in. At that point we lost Khronin's Wolf.

The Hurricane was hurting, though, and we had broken his shield tank. However, when the Vagabond started bumping people, in combination with the Hurricane's constant neuting, they both were able to make good their escape.

Completely burnt out, I returned to Hev to log for the night, while other Tuskers worked on salvaging the wrecks.


Afterthoughts:

Not a great night, really. I lost another Vengeance, which hits my profitability, and I missed several other opportunities for lucrative combat.

In hindsight, I'm still glad I stayed online, though. Even on bad days, I love playing Eve and flying with my fellow Tuskers.