Vengeance et alia v Ashimmu

The hunt:

It started when I encountered a Daredevil flown by a pilot named Vim. Now that I have more experience with being kited, I tend to engage kiters on gates whenever possible; the increased danger of "adds" is worth the ability to just disengage and leave.

Vim had engaged me on the gate, and we had spent some time dancing about. Thanks to my Javelin rockets, I could hit him just fine. In fact, I could easily burn him down. But with a 90% web on me, I couldn't make him stick around long enough to kill him.

Eventually, he either called for backup, or a number of other faction frigates coincidentally showed up to help him out. I popped an exile booster, turned off my weapons, and simply tanked their damage for 60 seconds before jumping out.

I moved on with my roam, and some time later ended up hitting a mission runner with a few other Tuskers. While the frigates were still waiting out their GCC, I spotted Vim again, this time in an Ashimmu.

A quick discussion ensued, and, while none of us had ever fought an Ashimmu before - the Tusker recruitment drive means there are a fair number of newer players in corp right now - we agreed that we could probably take him. 90% webs and bonused neuts meant that he would probably take one or more of us with him, but we should be able burn him down. It was, we decided, a worthwhile sacrifice to take down a pirate faction cruiser.

Well, I probably don't need to tell most of you how this ended. Like lambs to the slaughter, we jumped the Ashimmu at a belt. It turns out, no matter how dangerous 90% webs and bonused neuts seem on paper, it's far, FAR worse in real combat.

Against the Daredevil, 90% web simply meant not being able to hold him or escape. Fine, we thought, we'll kill him quick and accept that we can't escape. Against the Ashimmu, however, it means you take full damage from his cruiser class weapons. Oh, and your tank no longer works.

2011.09.22 19:26:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Vengeance
System: Costolle
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 2349

Involved parties:

Name: Vim (laid the final blow)
Security: -3.6
Corp: Spiritus Draconis
Alliance: NONE
Faction: Gallente Federation
Ship: Ashimmu
Weapon: Focused Medium Pulse Laser II
Damage Done: 2349

Name: Serpentis Chief Watchman / Serpentis Corporation
Damage Done: 0

Destroyed items:

Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Damage Control II
Coreli C-Type Small Armor Repairer
Small Anti-Thermic Pump I
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Warp Scrambler II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 56
1MN Afterburner II
Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 288 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 581 (Cargo)
Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 784 (Cargo)
Synth Exile Booster (Cargo)
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 420 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 56
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 536 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 484 (Cargo)
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 560 (Cargo)

Deeply traumatised, I warped my pod out and wished Vim a good fight. While he clearly understood his ship better than we did, he had not batted an eye at being jumped by three assault frigates.


Afterthoughts:

I can't speak for the others, but I felt really, really stupid afterwards. The fight had been so one sided that I couldn't believe we had thought we stood a chance. Lesson (painfully) learned.

My little Vengeance kept on giving, though. In addition to denying Vim my deadspace armor repair, I also received an Intact Armor Plate when I brought my Malediction back to salvage the wreck. In a bizarre twist, I had actually turned a profit on my foolishness.