Vengeance & Firetail v Rupture

 

The hunt:

I was roaming around Essense when I spotted a Rupture on Dscan. It's been a while since I tried to solo a Rupture, so I decided to jump in and say hello.

It was a fellow flashy, a pilot around the same age as me, and he was keen to fight too. As we moved towards each other I slipped under his guns, and began working on his drones. Fortunately, he had no neut, so I was able to buffer tank the drones and his guns (which were landing glancing hits) long enough to clear the drones and let my active tank repair the damage.

At this point, the fight was a foregone conclusion if nothing changed. He could not break my tank, and it was only a matter of time before I broke his. However, I was very conscious that we were sitting at a celestial in a busy system. I also knew that next door, in Aeschee, there were about 15 other pirates, and at any moment I might find that I had company.

So, when Valgore wandered by and asked if I wanted a hand, I decided that waiting (and hoping) for a solo killmail was not good business sense. Better safe than sorry, and all that.

Even with our combined firepower, it still took us a long time to break his tank, but we got there in the end.

2011.09.04 12:27:00

Victim: Torrinar
Corp: Lion's Den
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Rupture
System: Adirain
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 20578

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: 14655

Name: Valgore Meurte
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Republic Fleet Firetail
Weapon: Republic Fleet Firetail
Damage Done: 5923

Destroyed items:

200mm AutoCannon II, Qty: 2
Damage Control II
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 2
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I, Qty: 2
Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
OE-5200 Rocket Launcher
Barrage S, Qty: 2000 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 1926 (Cargo)
Hobgoblin II (Drone Bay)

Dropped items:

200mm AutoCannon II, Qty: 2
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 2
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I, Qty: 2
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Warp Scrambler II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 72
OE-5200 Rocket Launcher
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 1120 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 436 (Cargo)

We did manage to point his pod, but he declined a ransom.

I handled the loot split, paying Valgore 3.5 mil for his half (and I must remember that for the monthly accounts).

Afterthoughts:

Looking at the killmail, the Rupture's tank was just nuts; TWO 1600mm plates and two Trimarks. Ugh. No wonder he took so long to kill.

Even without a solo killmail, it felt great to be soloing above class ships again. I've been quite conservative with my target selection, but this kill, against a pvp fit Rupture (albeit, one with no neuts), has encouraged me to widen my engagement envelope. Of course, targets are as much chance as anything else, but hopefully I'll have the opportunity to take on some more cruisers solo.

With several alternative fits in my Vengeance's future, I'm also looking at my fights to see which kind of fit would have served me best. Here, the DPS fit was probably the weakest fit; I needed my buffer to tank his dps while I killed the drones, and then some decent remote repair to restore my buffer and tank the remaining damage.