Malediction & Jaguar v Merlin & Rifter

The hunt:

This is a recent fight, which I have been prompted to post by Cable's account here. I always find it interesting to see the same fight from different angles, and so I'm posting this now so that people can read it alongside Cable's account.

I had started my day in New Eden by roaming in my trusty Vengeance. I had encountered a Merlin, piloted by Yarr Beard, that was sitting at the sun. I jumped in to say "hello", but Yarr Beard was a sneaky 300km off the warp-in point. He wanted a fight, but also wanted to be able to choose those fights. Very cunning.

He told me in local "I'm brave, but not suicidal". Fair enough, I thought. It would have been a pretty one sided fight, and he was clearly too canny for my flashy Vengeance to sneak up on, so I continued on my way.

Later in the day I switched to my Malediction as I wanted to test the armor tanked fleet interceptor (with web!) I have posted about previously. As I roamed around, I again saw Yarr Beard sitting at the sun. This presented me with an excellent opportunity to test my fit, so I jumped in again.

As before, I landed about 300km from Yarr Beard, so I started burning towards him. Around this time Cable asked me if I wanted a hand with the Merlin - he had clearly spotted us both at the sun on Dscan. You can always count on Cable for good manners when it comes to killmails (which reminds me - I need to do a post on killmail etiquette), but I could not in good conscience claim to have engaged the Merlin yet, so I told Cable he should feel free to jump in and see if he could land any closer than me.

Of course, 300km is not actually that far for a fleet interceptor, and I do about 4km/sec before overheat, so I actually reached Yarr Beard before Cable landed. Yarr (for short) liked his odds against my interceptor better than he had liked the odds against my Vengeance, so he let me catch him. I broke my approach early so I did not get carried into scram range, and pointed Yarr at a safe distance.

Now, the fit I was flying was not using any missile range rigs (something I intend to change, as I think I can safely lose the locking speed rig as the benefit is negligible), so my theoretical range was only 15.2km. That meant my actual range was closer to 13km; very close to scram range. I danced about the Merlin, peppering it with rockets and evading his efforts to scram and web me.

It was around this time that both Cable and the neutral Rifter landed. Cable, of course, was a long way off, but the Rifter was disturbingly close. He immediately burned towards me and tried to engage.

Now, I probably would have bailed at this point, but the arrival of the Rifter had distracted me from my piloting long enough for Yarr to hit me with a scram. I was stuck, and started to take damage from Yarr's missiles.

I told Cable that I couldn't handle them both, and we quickly fleeted up so Cable could warp to me. I called the Merlin primary (I know it has a stronger tank, but a quick look at the damage coming from the Rifter told me that Yarr Beard was by far the more dangerous of the pair), and Cable started to pile on the hurt as soon as he landed, while I tried to align to a celestial while overheating my rockets.

I knew Yarr would have a strong tank, but I had not realised just how strong it would be. Favouring a cap boosted active tank, he was very, very resilient. Fortunately for me, my Malediction is fairly fast, even without the mwd on, has a low signature radius, and has a stupid amount of ehp for an interceptor (just shy of 6k ehp). With Cable's overheated dps added to the mix, Yarr exploded just as I entered structure.

2011.10.30 20:03:00

Victim: Yarr Beard
Corp: Caldari Provisions
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Destroyed: Merlin
System: Adirain
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2460

Involved parties:

Name: Cable Udan (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Jaguar
Weapon: 150mm Light AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 1193

Name: Taurean Eltanin
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Malediction
Weapon: Foxfire Javelin Rocket
Damage Done: 1267

Destroyed items:

Small Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I, Qty: 2
Null S, Qty: 59
Small Capacitor Booster II
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Light Neutron Blaster II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I, Qty: 2
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 500 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 500 (Cargo)
Null S, Qty: 600 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Null S, Qty: 59
Damage Control II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Medium Shield Booster II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 52
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 500 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 500 (Cargo)
Navy Cap Booster 400, Qty: 8 (Cargo)
Standard Blue Pill Booster (Cargo)

That left just the Rifter. I was so close to destruction that he could easily have finished me if he had not been distracted by Cable opening fire. He allowed me to drift outside of point range, and my mwd roared into life, quickly putting into a wide, safe orbit while I held point on the Rifter. He soon fell to Cable's guns.

2011.10.30 20:04:00

Victim: Kodz Tokar
Corp: Ordo Mercuia
Alliance: Dec Shield
Faction: None
Destroyed: Rifter
System: Adirain
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 1589

Involved parties:

Name: Cable Udan (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Jaguar
Weapon: 150mm Light AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 1589

Name: Taurean Eltanin
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Malediction
Weapon: Rocket Launcher II
Damage Done: 0

Destroyed items:

Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 143
Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Pseudoelectron Containment Field I
Small Capacitor Control Circuit I, Qty: 2
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Small Egress Port Maximizer I
Beta Reactor Control: Capacitor Power Relay I
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 340 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 143
Small Armor Repairer II
150mm Light 'Scout' Autocannon I, Qty: 3
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 143
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 680 (Cargo)

Cable and I both pointed the pod, and ransomed Kodz for 5 million. Cable handled the ransom, as it was practically a solo kill, and asked for 5 million based on the character's age. I think this was a mistake because this was clearly someone's alt; they were very aggressive for a new character and clearly knew what they were doing. There was a good chance they had +4s or +5s for enhanced learning. In any event, they immediately agreed to the ransom and we let them go.

At this point, Cable left with the bulk of the loot while I stayed around to salvage some of the T2 wrecks that were presumably results of Yarr's earlier engagements. As I was salvaging, Yarr jumped back in with another Merlin.

Now, I was trailing hull fire, here, and not being active or passive tanked, I was in no better shape than I had been at the end of our last fight. Rather than engaging directly, then, I simply held a long point on Yarr Beard and gave Cable the warp in. I was unable to offer further assistance, and the fight was a real nail biter - Yarr's tank held out for a long time before it finally succumbed.

2011.10.30 20:26:00

Victim: Yarr Beard
Corp: Caldari Provisions
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Destroyed: Merlin
System: Adirain
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 3501

Involved parties:

Name: Cable Udan (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Jaguar
Weapon: 150mm Light AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 3501

Name: Taurean Eltanin
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Malediction
Weapon: Warp Disruptor II
Damage Done: 0

Destroyed items:

Small Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I, Qty: 2
Medium Shield Booster II
Small Capacitor Booster II
Light Neutron Blaster II, Qty: 2
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I, Qty: 2
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 500 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 500 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 500 (Cargo)
Null S, Qty: 300 (Cargo)
Navy Cap Booster 400, Qty: 7 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Damage Control II
Null S, Qty: 134
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 56
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

We pointed Yarr's pod and offered him warm "gf's" in local; he had fought exceptionally well against above class ships (and 2v1 odds) and then come back for more. We chatted for a bit, and then Yarr asked us to pod him to save him the time spend returning to his home base. We obliged him.


Afterthoughts:

I really like the durability of the plate fit Malediction, but really disliked the lack of regen. I also feel that any mwd Malediction needs at least one missile range rig, which would boost my theoretical range from 15.2km to 17km; enough that kiting becomes less of a chore. I'm going to mess about with things a little, and see if I can come up with something that still gives me a web while also having a little more depth than just a big tank.

I also really enjoyed fighting in the Malediction generally. I think I'll put together an ab fit for solo work. I should still be fast enough to navigate low sec safely, but better able to take on ab frigates, kiting at the extreme of scram range. Of course, my shield fit mwd Malediction has also proved to be a decent solo kiter, so perhaps that's another option.

Reading the Tusker forums, I see that Yarr Beard has put in his application to join us. I wish him the best of luck, and am sure he will be a credit to the corporation.

I suppose I should also thank Cable for, *ahem*, saving my sorry mwd ass when Yarr Beard managed to land a scram on me. Of course, we will never speak of this again.