Crow v Malediction

I've been having connection issues for the past week, which has meant no EVE and no updates. Hopefully, I get that sorted soon. In the meantime, here's another old fight I pulled out of my draft posts folder.


The hunt:

After chasing around a Talos in my Crow, having a Rifter flee from me, and generally being avoided like the plauge, Lacal told me about a Malediction looking for a fight in Vif, just of the Lad gate.

I jumped in, and quickly scanned the Malediction to a belt. I jumped in at range, and closed the distance fast.

I could tell from his speed that he was AB fit, which meant a scram. So I settled into an orbit and opened fire, whereupon he would race towards me. I'd pull range to avoid getting scrammed, and he'd zip out of weapons range while repairing the damage he had taken. Rinse and repeat.

Having flown the Malediction extensively, I was not surprised by his point range, and managed to keep evading him for about 10 minutes. However, as he kept repping up to full armor, I was no closer to winning than he was.

Now, the smart money, the profitable money, would be to just leave, but after such an intense maneouver fight, I did not want to just let this go. So I decided on a risky move. I'd load close range ammo, overheat, and charge into range. While the Maledicition was a tanky ship, so is my Crow. I had a decent chance of overloading his repair system and taking the win. After all, I had a higher dps than him, and probably a bigger buffer (he was too fast for a plated fit).

On the other hand, my shield tanking skills are still weak. And without my mwd, he'd be doing full damage with his rockets, while mine would still suffer "tracking" penalties.

Despite the risk, this was the only way to end such an awesome fight. I charged in.

It was a very close battle. I think I took him by surprise, as I took out most of his armor buffer before he overheated his repair system. In the end, though, my weak tanking skills made the difference, and I was the one leaving a wreck in system.


Afterthoughts:

I spent some time chatting with the pilot after the fight, and (ironically) he reads this blog, and was flying a Malediction inspired by one of posts. Heh. That'll teach me.

Apparently, I was also very, very close to burning out his repair system when I went down, so decent tanking skills might have swung things my way. It's good to know that my "cunning plan" was not completely off the wall.

Despite the loss, I was really happy with the fight. My opponent flew superbly, and it's one of those close fought battles can still give me the shakes. Absolutely fantastic.

Arbitrator 04.01

The hunt:

I was roaming, as usual, and due to time constraints I kept myself fairly local. Several times I encountered a Vexor running faction warfare plexes, and seeing this as the perfect opportunity to test my Arbitrator, I kept trying to jump in.

Unfortunately, the pilot was always some distance off the gate, and every time I jumped in, he'd warp off to a station and log out. I'd see him again ten minutes later, one system over, doing another plex.

After repeating this pattern about three times, I switched to my Crow, jumped into his plex, overheated my point and mwd, and actually managed to catch him. From there, it was a simple matter of outrunning his Hobgoblins and evading his guns while chipping away at his tank.

Eventually, he exploded.

I had a video of the fight, but it cut off half way through because the partition I had FRAPS on ran out of space. And watching me kite a Vexor down is going to be about as interesting as watching paint dry if you don't get to see an explosion at the end. So no video today.


Afterthoughts:

I could have posted this as a standalone Crow v Vexor fight, but I chose to post it as an Arbitrator fight. Why? Because the fact that I couldn't kill the Vexor in an Arbitrator is just as important as the fact that I could kill the Vexor in a Crow.

I'll be honest, I'm not liking the Arbitrator as a solo boat. It just doesn't let me do anything new. I'm a pretty decent frigate pilot, and I can reasonably attack most frigates or cruisers (and some battlecruisers) in just an interceptor - active tanks are the only thing that I really struggle with, and I can escape from those fights fairly easily.

With that in mind, I'm not really sure what the Arbitrator offers in a solo environment. I'm not saying it can't be a decent solo boat (pilots I respect have sworn by it), bit I'm not feeling that it fits my roaming and fighting style. I don't bait, and I don't camp; I go on long roams and try to catch lone pilots before they know I'm there. Ship handling (keeping range and transversal) is the single most important factor in my fights.

So I don't see myself flying a solo Arbitrator much more. Instead, I'll be looking to explore the Arbitrator in a fleet role, as that does offer something that an interceptor does not.

Of course, because I'm posting about a week or so behind my flying, and I make this claim secure in the knowledge that I've already flown in a couple of gangs as fleet ewar, and am very much enjoying the role. It's what Arbitrators were made to do, and they do it well. I'll have some posts coming up all about that, so expect to see plenty more Arbi action, just not in solo fights.

Oh, the frustration.

Sometimes, my killboard looks a little empty. No wins, no losses.

But that doesn't mean I'm not active. There's a ton of stuff that just doesn't show up on a killboard. The following encounters, for example, all took place over the course of a single evening.


Crow v Hurricane

I logged in for an hour after work and found a Hurricane sitting in a belt in Adirain. I didn't think I was likely to win, but there was a chance that he was artillery fit, so I jumped into the belt.

As it turns out, he had autocannons. I hit about 50% shields on the approach, but then actually managed to get under his guns - he was missing nine out of every ten shots. He also had a flight of light drones, though, and I was fairly certain that I could not clear the drones fast enough to avoid exploding (although I have rockets, it takes a few volleys to down a drone if it isn't webbed), so I bailed.

We both wished each other a "gf", and the pilot confirmed that he did indeed fly artillery fit Canes some times. Luck of the draw, and all that. He also complemented me on my approach, which was nice of him, as I'd been feeling like I really screwed it up. Apparently, just surviving an approach against an auto 'Cane gets you points.


Crow v Jaguar

After waiting out my GCC, I engaged a Jag in Jov. I approached, took control of the fight, and started beating on his shield tank. He tried very hard to close with me, but my speed advantage was enough that he stood no chance at all.

After he hit 50% shields, though, his two buddys show up in a Falcon and a Nemesis (wtf?). I laughed, and left when the first jamming wave hit me.


Malediction v Tengu

After dinner, I log back in and probe down a missioning Tengu in Jov. I come back in a cap boosted, active tanked Malediction (all the other Tuskers were too far from home to participate, so I needed a fit that could tank the Tengu's damage while I solo'd it), and jump into the mission.

The acceleration gate puts me 160 km off the Tengu. I'm fast, but not that fast. He warps out, while I sit in the mission, chatting with Dian. He doesn't come back.


Afterthoughts

I've posted about the less cinematic aspects of solo roaming before. Here, I had three potentially awesome fights, and yet I ended the day with nothing to show for my efforts but some heat damage and a repair bill. Such is a pirate's lot.

This sort of thing happens reasonably often. The Crow (and the Malediction before that) has given me the ability to escape fights that I would otherwise have lost (which is probably all of the above, if I'm honest).

It's a mixed blessing, however. On one hand, I'm able to engage in fights that really push me, without always having to pay the "stupid tax" that comes with trying to solo above class ships. On the other hand, "almost" rarely makes a good story. These fights are the pirate's equivalent of a fisherman's "one that got away".

Crow v Vexor

 

The hunt:

The last time I took on a Vexor in my Crow it was largely because I could not find anything else to fight. This time, however, I decided to engage simply because I knew that victory was possible, and I was prepared to take my chances in order to get an above class solo kill - my very favourite kind of kill.

He was sitting in a belt, either bait or ratting. Vexors aren't usually bait ships because their drone bay makes them scary for frigates, so I though the chances were good that he was ratting. Since he had probably jumped to zero and then moved some distance towards the rats, I warped in at 20 km with a preheated point.

I had guessed the range correctly, and landed my point as soon as I dropped out of warp. I activated my mwd and settled into a 18km orbit while loading Javelin (I tend not to jump in with Javelin loaded, as I may need to close - or open - some distance in a hurry).

He opened fire and sent his drones after me, but they were not Warrior drones, so they stood no chance of catching me. With that established, it was simply a matter of whittling down his tank before he exploded.

2012.01.22 10:33:00

Victim: Damad Aideron
Corp: Federal Navy Academy
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Destroyed: Vexor
System: Lisbaetanne
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 7380

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Crow
Weapon: Thorn Javelin Rocket
Damage Done: 7380

Destroyed items:

250mm 'Scout' Accelerator Cannon
Uranium Charge M, Qty: 154
10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Core Scanner Probe I, Qty: 4
Expanded Cargohold I
Overdrive Injector System I
Core Scanner Probe I (Cargo)
Uranium Charge M, Qty: 256 (Cargo)
Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 310 (Cargo)
Tungsten Charge M, Qty: 80 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

250mm 'Scout' Accelerator Cannon
Reactor Control Unit I
Salvager I
Medium Shield Extender I
Core Probe Launcher I
Medium Shield Booster I
100mm Reinforced Nanofiber Plates I
Heavy Neutron Blaster I
Warp Core Stabilizer I (Cargo)
Praetor I, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)


Afterthoughts:

From the killmail, and the lack of rats in the belt, it looks like he was actually doing some exploration. Huh.

Fights like this tend to be very one sided. However, you don't know who's favoured until you actually engage. If he had been packing Warrior II drones, or I had landed within medium neut range, or one of any number of things had been different, I would have stood no chance of winning, would have had real difficulty just saving my ship.

But once you find out that they don't have any of those things, then you have inevitability on your side. That really front-loads the excitement in many cases, although I've still been known to mess up even "safe" fights.

Crow v Bellicose

The hunt:

This was another fight that happened because I let someone engage me on a gate. Flying an Interceptor, I'm pretty much immune to all but the best gate camps in low sec, and I'm certainly not going to be caught by a random encounter on a gate unless I'm unlucky or not paying attention.

In this case, I was happy to let the fight happen. I knew I could not kill the Bellicose, as if things went wrong for him he would just deagress and jump out. That said, I wanted to see how I would do - I'm still interested in seeing how large my engagement envelope is.

He could not hit me worth beans, so I played tag with his drones. He kept pulling them in and putting them out, so it was slow going. The lack of web means that while I can still hit drones, I hit them for far less damage. It also makes it easy for him to recall injured drones, so only managed to kill a couple.

At about 30% shields, I decided to leave. There were no celestials directly away from him, so I chose one on a tangent and hit warp. My change of course carried me into medium neut range, however, which canceled my warp and shut off the mwd. That allowed him to hit me with a scram, and I was done.

2012.01.08 10:12:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Destroyed: Crow
System: Ladistier
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 4125

Involved parties:

Name: Remus Starwinder (laid the final blow)
Security: -1.4
Corp: Rep-X
Alliance: Bringers of Death.
Faction: None
Ship: Bellicose
Weapon: Piranha Light Missile
Damage Done: 4125

Destroyed items:

Rocket Launcher II
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I
Salvager I
Warp Disruptor II
Thorn Javelin Rocket, Qty: 597 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Thorn Javelin Rocket, Qty: 150
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Catalyzed Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters
Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Medium Shield Extender II
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 552 (Cargo)


Afterthoughts:

This was a pretty safe fight for both of us, although my own margin of error was lower than his. It's not so much that Remus (gotta love the handlebar mustache, btw) did anything clever to beat me, he just remained alert enough to take advantage of my eventual screw-up. And good for him, too.

In these little ways I'm learning that the habits I developed flying an Assault Ship don't always carry over well to Interceptors. The truth is, Assault Ships are very forgiving, with beefy tanks and significant dps, and so your piloting does not need to be as clean as it does when flying an Interceptor, where your piloting is your tank.

This explains why I did not enjoy flying Interceptors when I first tried them; whereas AFs require high character skills, Interceptors also require high player skills, and it's only been in the last few months that my player skills have been high enough to actually make good use of the Interceptor's strengths.

Evidently, though, I've still got some room for improvement.

Crow v Rifter et alia

The hunt:

This particular fight went down when I was heading back to Hevrice after salvaging my wreck from Crow v Slicer, and I saw a flashy Rifter sitting on the gate. I was not interested in fighting, as I had a load of loot and salvage, but he jumped through with me, with the obvious intention of engaging me on the other side.

He broke cloak first, and was 10 km from me. I tried to remember if an overheated scram reaches that far, but it had been so long since I used one I couldn't remember. To be safe, I decided to align to a celestial and activate my mwd - my initial speed ought to ensure I was carried out of point range. It seemed to work, so I activated my own point and began to orbit him outside of scram range. He'd done me the favour of aggressing, and I was not about to waste the opportunity. Opening fire, I began to chip away at his tank.

That's when a Catalyst and a Velator jumped through the gate, and started targeting me. No, that wasn't a typo, I was ambushed by a Velator. I don't think the three ships were all together, but for some reason, whenever I'm fighting someone on a gate (or elsewhere, for that matter), any third parties are guaranteed to target me first. I have no idea why this is.

The newcomers forced me to break dps (ie, effective range) on the Rifter for a few moments while made sure I was not going to get into scram range of the other two ships. I resumed dps, but the pause was enough that the Rifter survived long enough to deagress and jump out. Damn it!

I then turned on the Catalyst, noting that while I had been keeping range on the Rifter, the Catalyst had managed to strip my shields away. Now that I was able to focus on avoiding his dps, however, I managed to stay in high amour and so I began returning fire. He was not tanked nearly so well as the Rifter, and he went down fast enough that I was also able to hit the Velator.

2012.01.07 18:27

Victim: Tod Aldent
Corp: BlackBird Technologies
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Destroyed: Catalyst
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 3204

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Crow
Weapon: Thorn Javelin Rocket
Damage Done: 3204

Destroyed items:

150mm 'Scout' Accelerator Cannon, Qty: 4
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 21
Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters
Damage Control I
Nanomechanical CPU Enhancer I
Small Armor Repairer I
Plutonium Charge S, Qty: 2488 (Cargo)
Hobgoblin I, Qty: 4 (Cargo)
Small Ancillary Current Router I, Qty: 3

Dropped items:

150mm 'Scout' Accelerator Cannon, Qty: 4
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 35
'Langour' Drive Disruptor I
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 3032 (Cargo)

Afterthoughts:

My first 1v3! Although I obviously had ship quality on my side, both Rifters and Catalysts are more than capable of taking on an Interceptor solo, let alone in a gang. It was really quite exciting, trying to evade all those pilots while putting them down one by one.

This is part of what makes flying an Interceptor so different from flying an AF. While my Vengeance might have been able to tank all the incoming damage (or it might not), I certainly would not have been able to out manoeuvre my opponents in this way.

I wish I'd managed to get that Rifter, though. I probably would have if I'd overheated my launchers early in the fight. Something to consider for next time.

Crow v Stiletto

The hunt:

I was on a roam, when I landed on a gate with Stiletto sitting at zero. He was not flashy, so I jumped on through. I saw him jump after me, so it seemed that he fancied his chances.

He broke cloak first, and the range between us made me feel fairly comfortable engaging - I was beyond scram range, and I was pretty sure that he couldn't keep me in the fight if I really wanted to leave.

So we began orbiting each other. He was artillery fit, and had a rough time hitting me. When he did hit, he did very little damage. If my shield skills were any good, there would have been a real question about whether he could break my peak shield regen.

On the other hand, I found myself unable to hit him at all. I have no range extending rigs on this Crow, because with Interceptors V, it hits out to 22km with Javelin rockets. Of course, I don't have Interceptors V (And yes, I am aware that I am sounding like a broken record on this point, and Interceptors V is clearly the most important skill in all EVE, but I'm training it as fast as I can!).

Because CCP can be very cruel, they have left the speed penalty on Javelin rockets, despite removing it from gunnery ammunition. While probably an oversight, and will be fixed "soon", it left me in the following situation:

If I loaded Javelin, I was too slow to actually dictate the range agains the Stiletto, and my imperfect skills left me unable to hit him. If I loaded faction, however, the rockets were not actually fast enough to catch him (faction rockets have a velocity of 2,250 m/s before skills and bonuses, whereas Javelin has a base velocity of 3,375 m/s). Because Interceptors V adds a 10% velocity bonus to my rockets, either tactic would probably have worked if I was at max skills.

Still, I was not about to give up; all I needed to do was figure out a way to get close while having Javelin loaded. Cunningly, therefore, I broke away and very obviously warped to the sun at 50 km. This gave my shields a chance to top up, and I expected him to expect me to expect him to warp to the sun at range (ie, 20-30 km), and so would actually warp in at 50 km. Putting him right on top of me.

Dissappointingly, he didn't warp to the Sun at all. Even though I'd not laid a finger on him - which meant that he was "winning" - he did not appear to fancy his chances. Instead, he just waited out his aggression timer and left.


Afterthoughts:

Another fight made difficult by my lack of a clear speed advantage. While I may grumble about my rockets, the truth is that it would have been very hard to hold onto him if I had started winning - just as he was unable to hold onto me.

Of course, rockets give me a huge advantage here: I can get in close (making it harder for him to escape) and actually keep hitting him (theoretically - max faction rocket velocity in a Crow is 5,062.5 m/s), whereas there is no way the tracking on his artillery is going to be up to the task.

Crow v Slicer

The hunt:

I'm getting serious about my little Crow. I'm enjoying her fun, fiesty nature, that irresistible blend of speed, tank and dps. Sure, she's not much to look at, but I love the way she moves.

Getting serious is not always easy, though; that "getting to know you" phase can be a real roller coaster as you put her in unfamiliar situations and find out what she will (and won't) do.

And let's not forget the cost! Sure, there are some fun things you can do on a budget, but eventually you are going to have to splash out to cover expenses.

Amusing metaphors aside, any ship you decide to fly heavily needs to be thoroughly stress-tested. By pushing the envelope until it tears, you find out what you and the ship are truly capable of. This is why I've been throwing myself at Cruisers recently, and this is why I engaged the Slicer.

I tried to jump in on him at a belt (so he's obviously pvp fit and skilled), but, as so often happens, he jumped out before I landed, probably trying to jump in on me. I stayed put, and he warped back in for a fight.

I knew that I was never going to be able to out-range the Slicer, and even if I could, he would be fast enough to break free of my point - a Slicer moves at about 3.2 km/s before overheat. However, my Crow tops 4 km/s before overheat, so I decided to try and get in close and evade his tracking; Slicers are often quite greedy, and fit the heaviest guns they can.

My ehp should be a little higher than his, and my damage fairly consistent, so if I could get under his guns, it would be a fairly short fight. Of course, if I couldn't get under his guns, it would also be a short fight; Slicers have insane dps.

So I set my orbit for 500m and immediately overheated my launchers. Because I was not trying for range, and because I wanted a speed advantage, I loaded faction rockets, which have a higher dps than Javelin. I rammed them straight down his throat.

While I did not chat with the pilot afterwards, I think I surprised him, as Slicers do not usually expect to be involved in a close range brawl. And my combat log tells me that I managed force a miss on about one of every three of his shots. That's not as much mitigation as I had hoped for, but then his speed was so high that he kept managing to temporarily gain some distance whenever my ship slowed (as it does, settling into a 500m orbit). As I turned to pursue, he'd land a few shots until I got close again.

What I had not anticipated, though, is that my own dps was being mitigated too. Although I could hit him easily, each volley was at a reduced damage because of his high speed. An issue I had overlooked simply because I'm not used to engaging targets as fast as a Slicer.

I was far too close to the Slicer to disengage, so I simply gave it all I had. Ultimately, though, I lost the damage race, and exploded.

2012.01.07 17:28

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Destroyed: Crow
System: Ouelletta
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2556

Involved parties:

Name: razzukel certiko (laid the final blow)
Security: -7.2
Corp: DAXUS-AG
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Imperial Navy Slicer
Weapon: Medium Pulse Laser II
Damage Done: 2545

Name: Serpentis Guard / Serpentis Corporation
Damage Done: 11

Destroyed items:

Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Catalyzed Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Disruptor II
Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Thorn Javelin Rocket, Qty: 900 (Cargo)
Small Bay Loading Accelerator I
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I

Dropped items:

Salvager I
Rocket Launcher II
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 117
Medium Shield Extender II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 450 (Cargo)
I got my pod out, and wished the pilot a "gf". He'd earned it.


Afterthoughts:

This is a perfect example of being too cunning for my own good. I thought I had a plan, but ultimately I overlooked a key factor: the mitigation of my own dps.

While I think that Slicers are definitely outside of the "safe to engage" box, if I had to do it again, I'd make a few changes to my approach.

First, I'd wait till I had Interceptors V (it will finish in late January). I have no idea what kind of difference that would make, but tracking is a funny beast. Glancing hits aside, it's pretty binary: you get hit or you don't. That means signature tanking sucks all the way up until it's horribly, horribly broken. Perhaps the reduced signature radius would have made a difference here.

Second, I would have set my orbit for something a little wider, such as 2-3 km. The Slicer was able to pull range because my ship slowed down. If I had used a wider orbit, I may well have given him the same tracking problems, but without allowing him to pull away as easily. If he could not pull away, I would not have needed to pursue him, giving him perfect shots.

Because I'm looking for ridiculous situations this month, I'm expecting a net loss - which I can afford, thanks to my profit last month - and I'm going to try hard not to think about my efficiency rating.

Crow v Vexor

The hunt:

So, with Caldari Frigate V I was finally ready to set out in my new Crow, using the fit I posted here.

I made my way south towards Essence, which is usually a good way to find a pvp frigate to tangle with. That's really what I was looking for; something to put me through my paces so I could try adapting to my reduced point range.

However, it was early, and most of the pvpers seemed to occupied with other things, much as I had been lately; holidays are like that. Because of the lack of targets, I did not immediately write off the Vexor when I saw it on D-scan.

In truth, I'd think twice about taking on a Vexor even in my Vengeance. They have a decent tank and enough drones to actually apply dps. If they have a neut, it gets even harder. I probably could do it in a Vengeance, but it would be a close run thing.

On the other hand, my Crow would (hopefully) engage outside of neut range and be able to get out if things got too hot; that's what that MSE was all about, right? So I jumped into his belt at range, and landed a fast point.

In my Malediction, I would have orbited at 20+km while I took out the drones, but with only a 24 km point, I needed to start a little closer; 18 km felt about right. I wiped out the first wave of drones, but ignored the second wave; they were Hammerheads, and simply couldn't catch me.

I then turned my rockets onto the Vexor itself while tightening my orbit to 15 km to ensure solid hits - I still only have Interceptors IV, so I'm a little short on range. I marveled at the simplicity of having a racial damage type (something I've never had to worry about since giving up turrets about six months ago); choosing my ammunition was very straight forward!

While not stupendous, the Crow's superiour dps (as compared to my kiting Malediction) was immediately evident as I began chipping away at the Vexor's tank. He was doing his best to hit me, but to no avail. Eventually, inevitably, he popped.

2011.12.31 09:46

Victim: Kenner Plaude
Corp: Center for Advanced Studies
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Destroyed: Vexor
System: Melmaniel
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 4430

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Crow
Weapon: Thorn Javelin Rocket
Damage Done: 3974

Name: Serpentis Chief Scout / Serpentis Corporation
Damage Done: 309
Name: Corelum Chief Infantry / Serpentis
Damage Done: 147

Destroyed items:

Limited Neutron Blaster I, Qty: 2
Small Nosferatu I
Overdrive Injector System II
Uranium Charge M, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
200mm Railgun I (Cargo)
Medium Armor Repairer I, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Medium Capacitor Battery I (Cargo)
Hammerhead I, Qty: 7 (Drone Bay)

Dropped items:

Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 176
Limited Neutron Blaster I, Qty: 2
Sensor Booster I
Overdrive Injector System II
Local Hull Conversion Expanded Cargo I
Type-D Altered SS Overdrive Injector
10MN MicroWarpdrive I (Cargo)
Medium Shield Booster I, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
F-293 Nutation Target Coupling (Cargo)

This is when my reduced point range came back to bite me. I hit "approach" just as the Vexor was about to blow up so that my trajectory did not carry me away from the pod. I then landed a point on the pod, and hit my orbit button so I could begin ransom negotiations. I've done this dozens of times in my Malediction.

However, my Malediction has a 30km point, whereas the Crow only has 24km. Somewhere between my residual motion, my orbit command and the pod's motion, I was thrown out beyond point range, and the pod warped off. Damn!


Afterthoughts:

I was very, very pleased with how the Crow performed against the Vexor, and I very much enjoyed flying it. I can see myself spending a lot of time in this ship, and I'll be making an effort to max it out over the coming month or so.

Obviously, I need to adjust my flying habits in light of the reduced point range, but simply hitting "approach" a second time (after targeting the pod) rather than "orbit" will probably solve the problem.

Crow v Caracal

The hunt:

Recently, I've been feeling that my roams have become a little too comfortable. There's always a fair amount of action around Aeschee, and I can usually find something within four jumps of Hevrice. These systems are so heavily bookmarked that I'm never in any real danger of having to fight something that I don't want to, and I don't even need to look at the system maps; I jump from HS1 (hunting safe one) to HS2 to HS3 and, ta-da, I've scanned the entire system.

With this in mind, I took a long, meandering roam through Essence, Placid, Lonetrek and Black Rise, looking for fights outside my home turf. It was good to be in unknown space again; checking system maps and bringing up unknown profiles on pilots in local.

Many systems were completely empty, and I could enjoy the new views of Cloud Ring and other nebulae. Other systems offered targets, but most of these proved elusive, or obvious traps. I tried to engage a Slicer, Jag, Rifter gang, thinking that I might be able to isolate the Slicer and take him down. They decided they had better things to do, however, and I moved on.

At some point in my roam, found a Caracal ratting at a belt, and I immediately decided to try my luck. While in warp, I needed to make a snap decision regarding the ammo I used; a choice that would potentially make or break the fight.

Obviously, a Caracal would have no trouble hitting me. However, my speed would hopefully mitigate a significant part of that damage, and allow me to try and brawl him down. If I used Javelin rockets, then I would be able to stay safely out of scram range, but my speed (and thus, my damage mitigation) would be lower, allowing him to hit me for more damage.

On the other hand, if he was purely fit for ratting (rather than being bait or using a pvp fit) then I could load faction rockets, increasing my dps and speed, but reducing my range. If I went for faction rockets and he had a scram (or long point and web) then I was simply going to die.

Being a long way from home, I decided to play it safe and loaded Javelin. I was surprised at just how much damage I took from each volley the Caracal sent my way, and I again found myself wondering what kind of difference Interceptors V would make - I promised myself that I'd find out before the end of January.

However, I was doing a decent amount of damage in return, and I was chewing into his tank. Unfortunately, my shields beeped the 30% warning at me while he was still at half shields, so I wished him a "gf" and warped off to wait out my gcc.

The rest of my roam was fairly fruitless as I found myself in the wake of a large fleet that had made everyone skittish. I ended up only catching an Imparitor and the owner's blank clone.


Afterthoughts:

This was a fight that my Vengeance would probably have won fairly easily, assuming I could have caught the guy in the first place. For this reason the mwd bonus in the proposed AF changes really interests me, as it would make AFs decent at actually catching targets, an area where all but the Jaguar really fall short at the moment.

That aside, I was impressed my how much of a beating the Crow actually took, and how much damage it actually put out. I need to max out many of the relevant skills, and I'm looking forward to the difference that will make. Despite being depressingly ugly, the Crow is fast becoming my favourite solo ship, although a buffed Vengeance could probably give it a run for it's money.

Fitting a Crow

In my last post about flying a solo interceptor I reflected that I might try flying a Crow after I train Caldari Frigates V. This got me messing about with Crow fits on EFT. I was blown away by the results.

As an aside, when I first started playing my instinct was to always look for other people's fits on Battleclinic or somesuch. Now that I have more experience, and more confidence in the way I fly, I always build my fits from scratch.

The fit:

Rocket Launcher II x3
Salvager I (offline)

Catalyzed Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Disruptor II
Medium Shield Extender II

Damage Control II
Nanofibre Internal Structure II
Micro Auxilary Power Core I

Small Bay Loading Accelerator II
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer II


Further thoughts:

That extra 15 CPU just makes a huge difference. With the extra fitting space, I can drop a fitting mod in the low slots and put in the Nanofibre. This actually makes me faster than my Malediction fit, despite the lower base speed - about 200m/s faster!

The inbuilt range bonus means that Javelin can hit out to 23km without any range rigs, letting me plug the EM hole AND get a damage rig in place, bringing my dps up to 80, which is about what I was doing in a Punisher. That's fairly respectable, and lets me break a fair number of active tanked frigates, providing they are not hardened against kinetic damage.

Against other fast ships I can switch to faction rockets (which still have a 15km range) and up my dps to 98. Still not very high compared to a Crusader or a Slicer, but I'll actually apply most of that damage as I have no tracking issues.

I could drop the Damage Control for a BCS, which would boost my dps to 115. However, that would drop my EHP from 5117 to  4045 and my peak regen from 20 hps to 17 hps. Not a worthwhile exchange, in my view.

There is a price to pay, though. I lose the Malediction's extended point, which means I have less ability to just back off while holding the enemy in place. It also means that I'm much easier to hit; the MSE and shield rig push my signature radius way up.


Conclusion:

I'll need to test this, of course, but my instincts tell me this is better. I commented at the end of the Punisher Plan that while the Punisher was a fine ship, if I had to do it all again I would have flown Caldari.

As a new Eve player I thougth that my true love would be lazers and cap warfare, putting me squarely in the Amarr camp. As it turned out, what I really enjoy are missiles and regenerative tanks. Trying to incorporate these both into small Amarr hulls has been a struggle, largely because active armor tanks are poorly designed for small ships (Oh, how much better would it be if regenerative plating actually, you know, regenerated?); you need two modules to provide buffer and regen when a shield tank incorporates both into one module. On small ships, module space is at a premium.

So after a year of forcing myself into a limited range of - admittedly excellent - Khanid ships (and enjoying myself the whole time, let it be said), I'm now keen to broaden my horizons and start flying the ships I probably should have been flying all along.