Punisher v Rook

So I've spent the last few days on EFT, trying to work out what I'm going to fly, and how. Because I fly solo, and can't rely on Faction Warfare, or RvB, or some other conflict to guarantee targets, finding and catching targets needs to be part of the fit, which to my mind means a long point and MWD.

Now, I have over 8 million skill points in missiles, but only about 1 million skill points in turrets, so I'm a noob all over again. I'm still waiting for Medium Energy Turrets V and some turret support skills to finish training, so I'm stuck in frigates for the next little while.

Looking at the Amarr frigate lineup, the Punisher, which conveniently happens to be the hands-down most gorgeous ship in all New Eden, seems like a good place to start. And it has changed so much since I last flew it. Gone is the silly utility high slot that tried to force a slow ship without full tackle into a close range role. Instead, we see more turrets, and more low slots. It just screams 'kiting fit' to me.

This is what I'm currently running:

Punisher

Small Focused Beam Laser II x4

Warp Disruptor II
5MN Cold-Gas Microwarpdrive

Small Armor Repairer II
Damage Control II
Overdrive Injector System II x2
Adaptive Nano Plating II

Small Energy Locus Coordinator I
Small Capacitor Control Circuit I x2

With perfect skills (and mine are far from perfect), it 3654 km/s with 3774 EHP. It's cap stable without the repper, and can hit out past point range. Ideally, it wants to engage at roughly 15 km, where it does 96 dps with IN Standard S. Once I get the measure of my opponent I can boost the damage significantly by moving closer and using stronger crystals; I just need to be confident that I'm not going to eat a neut or web.

I was out testing this fit in a lowsec pocket, where ratting lets me get used to how the ship flys, and how I need to manage my crystals, while slowly raising my sec status. Not really looking for a fight, I only had T1 crystals, and my dps is an anemic 75 with Standard S.

Having now properly set up my overview, I noticed immediately when Annetoli warped into my belt in a Rook. I was fairly certain he was not there for the rats, but I was content for him to make the first move, as I didn't want to take the sec status hit so close to -2. What I did do was put my ship into a 20 km orbit around his, practically before he finished landing on grid.

He immediately pointed me and opened fire, as well as launching some drones. I returned fire with Radio S (I was keeping at 20 km at this stage), but did not point him. Partly because there was no need to do so as long as he though that he could still win, and partly because I did not want him to know that I was fit for pvp.

It turns out, Annetoli could not catch me, and he could not hit me. His Hobgoblin drones trailed uselessly behind me, so I didn't bother trying to destroy them. In retrospect, that was a mistake because I would have liked to have tested the tracking, but I really need to have Gleam loaded for that, and I was not carrying any.

I could hit him just fine, though, so I started to whittle away at this shields. That, of course, is when he hit me with ECM.

We went around like that for a while, with him not able to hit me, and me not able to target him, until eventually I warped out, and we had a good chat.

Rook

Damage Control II
Ballistic Control System II x2

Large Ancillary Shield Booster x2
Adaptive Invulnerability Field
50MN Y-T8 Compat Microwarpdrive
Multispectral ECM II
Warp Disruptor II
EM Ward Amplifier II

Heavy Assault Missile Launderch II x5

Medium Ancillary Current Router II
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer II

The ECM is an experiment with for Annetoli, and I think it was a good one; if nothing else it meant that he could escape a fight that might otherwise have turned against him. Taking Warriors rather than Hobgoblins might have made a difference, as the extra speed would probably have let them apply damage.

He also needs to carry some Javelins.

Because I got to set the range of the fight, neither of us were in any real danger. But it was good to feel the old habits coming back, and it was a nice little test of my nano-Punisher.

I moved on to do some more ratting, and the fit clearly needs work. I'm moving so fast that even at 20km I'm having trouble tracking targets, even cruiser size targets. I also get hit so rarely that I probably don't need the Nano Plating; my repper can easily handle the incoming damage.

So, back to EFT.