Malediction v Catalyst

The fit:

Rocket Launcher II x3
Salvager I (offline)

Catalyzed Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Disruptor II
Cap Recharger II

Damage Control II
Small Armor Repair System II
Adaptive Nano Plating II

Small Rocket Fuel Cache Partition I
Small Hydraulic Bay Thruster I

I was looking for a solo Malediction fit, and this is what I threw together. I had been going to put a Cap Booster in the third mid over the Cap Recharger, but when I saw it in my hanger I decided to give it a go. In part this is because my mwd skills are weak (something I will be working on in the coming year) and I'm not cap stable with the point and prop running (something like 9 minutes). With the Recharger, I get get full cap stability.


The hunt:

I went on a local roam, checking out the nearby systems while looking for a likely target. I wanted something slow and short ranged, and preferably without an active tank; I wanted to be able to kill it on my own rather than have to call in dps once I landed a point.

After a few jumps, I spotted a Catalyst bouncing around some belts. I was a little uncertain, as destroyers tend to have good range and tracking, and they have received a damage buff recently that I've yet to have any experience with. On the other hand, I ought to be able to leave if things got tough, and many Destroyers are fit for point blank brawling to maximise their dps.

Rather than try and jump in on the Catalyst directly, I jumped one belt ahead and waited; I would rather he jumped into me than the other way around. However, he took a little longer to arrive than expected,and I did not want to miss my opportunity, so after a minute or so, I jumped into his belt at 20km.

Landing perfectly (within my point range but beyond his) I immediately began to orbit at 20km while activating my point. I then turned to my combat log and my overview for more info.

According to the overview, the Catalysts speed never exceeded 800ish m/s, so I guessed he was AB fit; range dictation would not be a problem. He also could not seem to land any hits on me at 20km, so I moved my orbit to 15km (which means an actual orbit of about 17km), well within my striking range (if I enjoy the fit I can move up to T2 rigs, which pushes my range to 22km).

Switching to Javelin rockets - because of the speed penalty I like to start fights with faction ammunition - I opened fire and reduced his ship to a wreck.

2011.12.12 20:09:00

Victim: Jimmy English
Corp: Federal Navy Academy
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Destroyed: Catalyst
System: Lisbaetanne
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2943

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Malediction
Weapon: Foxfire Javelin Rocket
Damage Done: 2483

Name: Serpentis Chief Spy / Serpentis Corporation
Damage Done: 460

Destroyed items:

Gyrostabilizer I
Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters
Light Electron Blaster I, Qty: 3
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 660
F-M3 Munition Inertial Suspensor
Small Hull Repairer I, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Dual 150mm Railgun I (Cargo)
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 8049 (Cargo)
50mm Reinforced Titanium Plates I (Cargo)
Stasis Webifier I (Cargo)
Small Energy Transfer Array I (Cargo)
Cargo Scanner I (Cargo)
Ship Scanner I (Cargo)
Tungsten Charge S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Civilian Shield Booster I (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Tracking Speed Disruption
Damage Control I
Light Electron Blaster I, Qty: 5
DDO Photometry Tracking Disruptor I
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 660
Hammerhead I (Cargo)
50mm Reinforced Titanium Plates I (Cargo)
Small Energy Transfer Array I (Cargo)
Thorium Charge S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
200mm Reinforced Nanofiber Plates I, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Ship Scanner I (Cargo)
1MN MicroWarpdrive I (Cargo)
Civilian Shield Booster I (Cargo)
Light Ion Blaster I (Cargo)
Uranium Charge S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)

I also captured his pod, and he offered me 5 million for his implants. While this might seem a little low for a 2009 character, the killmail heavily suggested that he was a returning player. He paid the ransom, and I sent him on his way.


Afterthoughts:

Obviously, I'm quite happy with how that worked out, but the truth is that pretty much any interceptor fit for range could have made this kill simply because he couldn't hit out far enough to threaten me. As a result, I can't really comment much on my fitting choices.

So Recharger v Booster is still up in the air. I suspect the Booster is the way to go, especially when my skills make me cap stable without the Recharger. This guards against heavy neuts (or medium neuts against long point Cruisers where I need to get in close to get under their guns, and also allows me a period of heavy repping.

I'm tempted to put a BCU in place of the Damage Control, but this would drop the EHP (and rep power) of the fit significantly. I'm not sure if it's worth it.

The truth is, for this kind of work, a shield Malediction is probably better, having higher ehp and capless regeneration. The difficulty is that the range rigs won't fit unless I downgrade the shield extender to meta 4, the added sig makes me easier to hit, and I have no rig space to patch the EMP hole, making my Crusader/Slicer matchups a nightmare.

Still, I may give it a try, depending on how my armor fits work out. Equally, once I have Caldaridps, and an inbuilt range bonus.

Very sexy.