Sunset on my Dramiel

Last night I had 20 minutes so I decided to bomb around in ole faithful, my Dramiel. In Kedama I detected a hostile on a plex gate and warped in. A Thrasher, could be tough so I click on him and ....

WHAT THE HELL!?!?!

So lately every once in a while my computer while playing Eve freezes solid except sound for 4-6 seconds. It's happened three times now, including last night when I started to engage the Thrasher. And when I say freezes I mean no mouse, no keyboard, no movement. It happened when I fought Connall Tara in a duel and a night last week when I was flying around in Korneilia before going to the wormhole and I engaged a Condor.

I don't know what causes it, but it seems to happen periodically at the beginning of some PvP engagements.

When it happened last night, I became very rattled. Now I was lucky that the freezing wore off before the Thrasher had engaged me but I was rattled and made some missteps. I managed to pull range as my shields and armour took damage, but I knew from the damage that I was facing an Artillery Thrasher and I noted with panic that my afterburner speed was less than his MWD speed. I switched to MWD and tried to pull range again as he closed but sadly failed to manually pilot out while keeping transversal up. As I flew in a straight line from him he lined up my bloomed signature perfectly and my damaged ship could not take the hit.

BOOM!

I was not pleased with myself as I limped back to Heydieles in my pod. Lots of "I shoulda"s. Like, I should have not engaged a Thrasher, I know the margin of error against them in my Dramiel is small. Or I should have tried to dive in close to 500 meters and get under his guns with my afterburner. Or I should have flown manually and kept the transversal up. Sigh.

Regardless, I will not be getting another Dramiel for a while. Against trickier and better opponents the ship requires a better pilot than me. I have two Daredevils to run with for a while and a slew of ideas for the improved T1 frigs, destroyers and cruisers I want to try.

* * * * *

Anyways, I got back to Heydieles and decided to jump in my new Incursus to check out the local plexes. I warped into one and saw a militia member in a Fed Navy Comet engaging two neutrals in Maulus ships. I leaped to help out, but my mind was racing.

"Maulus... what's a Maulus?"

The Comet exploded and the two ships turned on me.

"Gallente, right? What do they do now? Hell, what did they used to do?"

Suddenly I was sensor damped all to hell and my locks broke.

"RIGHT! Its the T1 electronic warfare frigate! .... Oh crap..."

Sure enough, the tactic these two were using was obvious and I was trapped in it. Combined their remote damps brought my lock range down to the 4 km range. They were faster than I was and were kiting me from 10-15 km away. I was pointed... and stuck.

I did the only thing I could do. I fought on. Zigged and zagged to try and pull one of the hostiles into locking range. I targeted and shot drones to reduce their DPS. My tank was holding up nicely, so I settled in for a long fight.

Then, fortune shined on the prepared. One of the Maulus must have his approach instead of orbit and flew straight at me. I nearly tripped over my fingers in my hurry to lock him and get a scram on him. Once pointed, the fragile ship was gone in three shots.

With that done his partner warped off and we exchanged pleasantries and fits in a convo. Good fight.

* * * * *

So one fight in which I spazzed out and one in which I fought well and got the kill. I'll take that any night of the week.

Putting November Behind Us

November was horrible for me (3 kills, one of which was an arranged duel and another that was a cyno Velator, and 3 losses including a low grade snake pod) and was especially disappointing after the awesome October I had. I was logging in and looking for fights, they just did not come as expected. I was beginning to worry that the faction warfare and plexing changes had changed the warzone to be less friendly to my playstyle.

Well, last night changed that opinion in a hurry.

I logged in and noticed in teamspeak a whack of people in a channel. "A fleet!" I cried, "let's see if I can join."

I get in and discover that they are roaming around in Tech 1 frigates and destroyers. Not my favourite ship types for gang warfare but beggars can't be choosers. I hope into an arty Thrasher and head out to join the fleet in Black Rise region. The fleet is heading back towards Heydieles but is not standing down. Excellent.

Right after I join the fleet, we come across a Diemos and quickly dispatch it, and I accidently killed the pod (so used to flying solo!). Sorry FC.

Already December is better than October!

We continued on and ran into some Shadow Cartel pirates in Old Man Star (aka OMS). A Hurricane, Stabber Fleet Issue, Federation Navy Comet and Slepnir command ship. Our advance wing engaged and forced them through. The SFI was too fast to catch and the Comet warped off too, but the battlecruisers were caught and we piled in to the command ship. He boosted like a champ but in the end our large fleet (aka blob) proved too much. A few minutes later our scouting wing caught the Comet and killed it too.

We started plexing in several systems as things had died down and I decided to switch to my Dramiel.
Skipping over an uninteresting Thorax kill, we got reports of a Caldari militia gang composed of Crucifer, two Thrashers, and a Cormorant. We gave chase and fought them in a plex in Vifrevaert. I got an inital tackle and allowed us to kill teh tech 1 frigate and one Thrasher as I warped out in deep armour. I came back and found ourselves in a stand off with the two remaining destroyers 150 km off and our group of 9 frigates at the button. One of our cagey Incursus pilots loitered around a wreck 60 km off and lured them into approaching. The FC gave the order for fast tackle and despite still having armour damage I charged in close and hit the afterburner for transversal. I lost my shields and rest of my around, but the gamble paid off as the arty fit Thrasher and rail fit Cormorant could not track me and we dispatched him.

As we headed back to OMS intel reported a small battlecruiser gang headed our way from Pynekostah (pirates or War Targets, I don't remember). As the fleet rushed towards the Abune gate in Heydieles, I chose to upgrade firepower to my Hurricane. We engaged in Abune and I helped kill an Arazu and Hurricane.

But wait! THERE'S MORE!

That Caldari militia destroyer gang we busted up in Vifvaraert? They were in the alliance Happy Endings and we got reports that they were coming back in Drakes and a Huginn. Now fully in our bloodlust, we moved to engage. As we were setting up a Happy Endings Falcon jumped into our fleet and we obliterated it. A few minutes later the 4 Drakes, Bellicose (!), and Huginn warped in at 100 km off the gate. The FC, the always enthusiastic Marcel Devereux, gave the order to attack the Huginn.

Now I admit some hesitation on my part. It seemed unlikely we could catch the Tech 2 Recon with its long ranged webs before the Drakes picked off our frigates and destroyers, leaving our two or three battlecruisers hanging in the wind, so I stayed close to the gate. But Marcel made the right call and caught the recon long enough for the pile on to do its work. With their tackle gone the Drakes made a fight of it but ultimately were overpowered.

With that, and my Hurricane having several perilously overheated modules, I decided to log off. A total of 12 killmails with my name on them, all from decent PvP encounters and not a single noobship amoung them. Best night of PvP for me ever. This calls for Octo-hat and goggles.

DRAM DOWN!!!

I logged in this morning to add a skill to the queue.

"I've got five minutes and there is a war target in local, let's go plex-fishing."

I grab my favourite rod for fishing, the dual prop Dramiel. I undock and see two plexes on scan. I go to the first one, nothing. But on scan at the second one is a Federation Navy Comet. I warp in and activate the gate. There he is. I set orbit for 22 km and head in. He comes towards me and locks. He wants to fight, so let's go.

I am maintaining range and using drones and barrage to whittle him down. He's not targetting my drones so I feel good... but then he boosts his speed somehow and catches up to me!

SCRAMMED! WEBBED! I punch the afterburner and pull my ship into a 500m orbit. But I forgot to activate my web, I think. Not sure; it all happened very fast.

My shields were gone; only Damage Control to help me. I didn't have time to switch to better ammo. SHIT.

We're both in strucutre, going down, come on drones, come on.... low structure... am I going to get him?!?! ...

NO! Dram down, DRAM DOWN!!!

The Comet was in low structure but alive. I warped my pod out and offered a "gf!" in local.

* * * * *

In other news, looks like I have another purchase to make. Another Dramiel, and maybe look into Comets. Hmmmm....

Rise of the Provi-Abaddon

Last night I logged in and saw there was some hostiles in local, mostly pirates and no wartargets. I undocked in my Rifter to look around and had a pirate in an Incursus undock behind me. "1v1?" he offered in local and I said "sure" as I approached and locked.

The new Incursus is a tough opponent for an autocannon Rifter but I gave it my best shot with overheated guns a-blazing. I would get him into armour but his repper (confirmed afterwards its a single rep) always kept up. I dipped into low armour but my Nosferatu kept giving me the energy to pulse it on to try and keep in the fight. We were both in deep structure but mine gave out first. He traded my loot back to me in station as we chatted. (Suddenly I'm struck by the thought that I never looked for his drone... that could have been the difference.)

He left and I decided to look for trouble, so I got into my looking-for-trouble Dramiel and set off.

I love the Dramiel. Its great for jumping into plexes and catching things. But its not so great against hardened targets.

Over in Aldranette I found a Rote Kapelle Thrasher guarding a plex entrance. I was able to easily keep range and send my drones in and was considering diving in to finish him off with autocannons when he was weakened from the drones, but he had some shield repper installed and was back at 100% as my drones died. We declared draw and I took off to get more drones.

Later in Nemmallia there was a fleet of war targets including a Slasher frigate. Forewarned by Anabaric on the deadliness of the new upgraded Slasher, I tried to lure him into a minor plex where I could fight him without his bigger gangmates interfering, but militia member Eldaerin in a Comet was running the timer down and the Slasher thought better of an impromptu two on one.

I moved on and tried to separate a Harpy from a gang and succeeded in Oinasiken, and even had a Taranis in local come over to help, but the Harpy easily dispatched my drones and the interceptor and I was forced once more to leave the scene of the crime.

Frustrated, I went back to Heydieles to upgrade to something bigger. A Hurricane, I thought, before it gets its upcoming nerf. I went out and saw that the Harpy and gang (including two Thrashers and a Hawk) were in local. I tried to find them but they fought someone else in the militia and left to get repairs. I floated around Heydieles looking for another war target when they came back. More dancing, then I waited for them at the Abune gate. The Harpy came first so I jumped through and started to burn off.

The Harpy came at me and I was hitting him pretty hard as the rest of the gang came in. I figured I was going to die but I wanted that Harpy. However I went the wrong direction and he escaped my point. Oh well, I thought, I'll try a Thrasher. A militia mate in a Ferox landed at the gate about 50 klicks off now... and the hostiles up and left. A found out another minute later as to why: there was a big militia fleet on the other side of the gate. Oh my!

I joined that fleet and we swung around to face a large war target fleet in Old Man Star. I didn't know until after we engaged that I was in a fleet with ~50km weapons and my ~2km ranged autocannons were going to be a problem. So I played heavy tackle and helped the fleet kill a Tornado while they got a few other targets with their longer guns.

The fleet regrouped and I docked up to find a better ship for the composition. It was at this point I discovered that the ships I had that were ideal for this adventure required a powergrid implant in my skull that I did not have at this time. GAH! Desperate I grabbed an old faithful friend: A plated pulse Abaddon that I bought back in the days of Paxton Federation in Provi 1.0. But I've got tech II skills now and Amarr Battleship V. Sure, it may not jive with the rest of the fleet (slower and armour plated compared to faster nano and shields) but I was willing to play sacrificial lamb.

We met up with the enemy fleet again on the Abune gate in Heydieles. Our cloaky Loki pilot was asked to try and lure them out so we could pounce. A Taranis burned for the Loki and tackled him; we warped and the enemy fleet warped to bounce spot and came down on the Loki. The battle was joined as we fell out of warp.

We burned down a Hurricane and Drake but we failed to save the Loki and also lost a Naga battlecruiser that misheard the instructions and warped to the gate instead of the Loki pilot.

The slow moving Abaddon was never targeted over the battlecruisers in fleet. Sure it was easy to catch me but my tank was going to be tough to burn through while the rest of the fleet was shooting. I counted myself lucky, docked, and vowed to clean up my hanger for the next time.

All In A Morning's Work

I logged on this morning to update a could skill queues, one for Kirith and one for Selia. Local was pretty empty for Heydieles, and a couple war targets and a Tusker in the mix. I looked with Selia and saw two plexes open, a minor and a medium. Hmmmm....

I jump into a Plex-Diving Dramiel with its 31 km overheated point and headed out with boat violence on my mind.

Boat Violence

I hit the minor plex first. As I landed in the site I see two Condors, one circling the button and one running around out farther with NPCs in tow. Stupid NPCs. I make a run at them in turn but both of warp out before I can get in lock range.

I turn my ship around and warp to the medium plex. Its a long warp, 53 AU, so I'm thinking I'll just bounce back to the minor to catch the enemy coming back to finish it when I land and to my eternal surprise see a Condor there, sitting at zero on the acceleration gate. Point, lock, orbit, weapons and drones free.

The new and improved Mk II Condor is a lot tougher than the old days, but my Dramiel can kite it far beyond the range of its rockets. He kills one of my drones so I send out the spare. Then an Incursus lands, the Tusker pilot. Part of my wonders if I should run but the Condor is in armour and I decide to get range on  the Incursus and let my drones do the work on the former. The Condor explodes (and later I realize its a second Tusker pilot) but the Incursus gets range and rips off my shields and 25% of my armour.

I'm scrammed but dual prop'ed, so I hit the afterburner and pull out of range. From about 20 km out I can ping him with Barrage and my drones, but as I get him dipped into armour any significant amount he reps it back up to full (confirmed dual rep tank through local after the fight).

I debate my options. I could keep him pointed at 20 klicks and keep pinging him and hope to wear out his cap, but if he turns on my drones I'll lose most of my DPS at this range and there is no guarantee he'll ever run out of cap. Or worse, someone else like a war target or another Tusker might drop in. I could let my shields rep up and then try and time an approach for when his shields dip, but I'm nervous about his blaster damage up close and the fact he's a Tusker pilot. I respect those guys.

In the end I decided the risk of trying to kill this Tech I frigate is not worth the reward. Maybe in my own Tech I ship, but not the Dramiel. I recalled my drones and warped off.

Good fight, sorry it didn't have an earth shattering kaboom to end it.