Teaching a Lesson

We were roaming last night in a decent sized Algos fleet with Navitas logistics but was having a hard time finding a decent brawl. One neutral Thrasher fleet was bigger and scarier with all that alpha, and a Cal Mil fleet in Harpies and shlock was more engagable for us but they wanted nothing to do with our fleet (for good reason, we would have eaten them alive). We were picking up occasional one-off kills here and there (incuding an awesome chase with a pro Coercer) but otherwise it was a tough warzone.

Then as we were heading back towards home base we came across a big Eve Uni fleet sporting 12 Thoraxes, 5 Exequrors, 1 Caracal, and a smattering of frigates. At this point we were sporting about 9 DPS pilots and 5 logi and no other frigates. Clearly outnumbers, I was hesitant to try and take on that large fleet. But then a couple people pointed out that Eve Uni doesn't have the best reputation for seasoned PvP pilots and a couple people in fleet offered to sacrifice a battleship to the cause of "Good Fights" so I decided we would try it out.

We rushed to base, upshipped into 6 Vexors, 5 exeqs (or was it 4?), and 3 battleships, a Hyperion, an Armageddon, and myself in my Dominix named Yamato. We also had a Maulus and maybe an Atron. Back in Pynekastoh we found the Eve Uni fleet waiting for us so we warped to the Large Outpost where a couple of their interceptor scouts were stationed and set up.

Now I don't envy the Eve Uni's FC at this point. He has the numerical advantage, but is facing three battleships along with a decent cruiser and logi core. Had we been a more notorious low sec group, he might have decided to disengage and leave us hanging but we're Aideron Robotics, other Faction War corporations look down on us like Null Sec looks down on Faction War corporations. We've been described as "lemmings" and "scrubs" and since we recruit a lot of newer and inexperienced pilots so we don't always come off looking like experts, but the Sunday night fleet brings out the veterans and even our less experienced players live and die in low sec. Plus our logi pilots are some of the best in low sec, perhaps even in all of Eve. Our facing enemy might not concerned of us this fight, but he will be next time.

Meanwhile, as he was setting up and deciding to engage or not, I was running through scenarios that involved us dying in a ball of fire (which to be fair, I strongly figured was going to be the case). I assumed the enemy fleet Thoraxes were operating rails so I was concerned about getting kited, and there was the worry that if they were fitting blasters they would simply clear the field of our logi while we might have some trouble coordinating damage enough to kill their Exequrors if they pulled range and swooped around our slow battleships, leaving our 6 vexors to fight 12 Thoraxes alone.

Then they came in. I hate that first few seconds of any fight, trying to figure out what target to call primary. Once the fight gets going I'm good, but that moment when the overview goes from empty to EVERYTHING IS HERE is always panic inducing. Fortunately the enemy logistics were close enough to engage so I started calling targets and we went to war.

The first minute was nerve wracking. We piled on their first Exeq while they targeted ours. We killed slowly killed it but lost one in turn. We then killed another but lost another one as well. "Crap," I thought, "its going to be a DPS race and we're going to lose."

But then the magic happened; the next three Exeqs fell and our logi wing started to hold. What I didn't know was that my Hyperion and Armageddon pilots pull Veteran's Prerogative and started blapping Thoraxes while my Dominix and Vexor drones attacked the primaries. I'm also hearing from back channels today that the enemy fleet's FC died early. Whatever the causes the end result was telling, the enemy logistics ships were destroyed and we started into the Thorax fleet proper while our logi stood firm. The end result was one sided:

Eve Uni on left, Aideron on right

Props to Eve Uni for taking the fight and committing all in. I feel a little bad for them that they didn't pick up a few more kills or at least one battleship killmail, but that's life in low sec for you. Sometimes you are the hammer, sometimes the nail.

Still Learning

With the Gallente Militia working together to take the entire warzone, I logged in last night to run my weekly fleet and found only nearby Heydieles and Ladistier systems the last holdouts. I organized the fleet starting with Algos destroyers supported by Navitas logistic frigates, and we headed out. There were many engagements but I'm going to cover the big fights.

#1 - UHurt fleet in Assault Frigates

We were in Heydieles and checking things out in Old Man Star when a scout reported fighting by other GalMil pilots in the large complex in Heydieless against Assault Frigates, apparently part of a UHURT fleet run by famous streamer SirSqueebles. I turned the fleet around and we warped to the plex only to find a metric crap-tonne of hostiles. In the ensuing fracas our fleet was overwhelmed and while we took down two Enyos, we lost 11 Algoses and a number of Navitas and Atrons.

Lesson Learned: Get a proper scout report before jumping into a fight.

#2 - Eve University Fleet in Cruisers

We reshipped into Algos and Exequorors and tried to engage that assault frigate once more but they had moved on. We had several near engagements with various other entities but then an Eve Uni fleet was spotted with a decent number of cruisers and logistic support of their own, so we upshipped to Vexors really quick and moved to engage them. With our allies in system piling on we completely smashed the fleet, killing 14 cruisers of the enemy while only losing an interceptor of our own (to the villianous Kelon Darklight none the less!). It was a perfect execution of our Rogue Squadron doctrine and the power of a practiced fleet execution. Props to Eve Uni for taking the fight in a system full of blood thirsty GalMil pilots.

#3 - Soul Takers in Battleships, Battlecruisers, and Cruisers

So things quieted down after Eve Uni was sent packing and we were back on the Old Man Star gate in Heydieles considering our next move. We were going to check out a Ghost site in Old Man Star so we jumped through .... only to have a Soul Taker gang land forty klicks away. Soul Takers, for the unawares, are the local serious pirate group that live in Old Man Star and though they have low numbers compared to other groups they compensate with blingy ships and excellent tactics.

This time was no exception as their fleet included Tech II cruiser logistics, about 4 or 5 battleships, 3 battlecruisers, and a number of other ships. After getting my bearing and letting our allies know there was a fight  happening, we engaged and focused our firepower on their first Guardian in an effort to remove their logistics. Then the smartbombs started and our drones, our main DPS, started to whither and die.

Sadly, I froze like a deer in headlights.

I've had lots of practice in small gangs and small fleets, but battleships with smartbombs? I didn't know what to do and the current action of banging on the Guardian was not working. Fortunately, Marcel was in fleet and overseeing the adventure and realized something needed to be done. He took over and gave the order to recall drones and start bumping the battleships away from the logi. Relieved that someone knew what to do I watched as the plan worked and we were able to send our remaining drones on the Guardian with the battleships out of the way and finally worked out a victory. We lost 2 Vexors, 2 Algoses, and 5 frigates (and an obscene number of pods) but we killed 2 battleships, 1 battlecruiser, and 2 Tech II Guardians and held the field.

Lesson learned: bump smartbombing battleships out of the way of the targets we want our drones to kill.

#4 - Templis CALSF in Cruisers

We went back to Fliet and repaired damage and reshipped as needed. There were reports of a rare Caldari militia fleet in system so we went back in and played cat and mouse with them for a bit. Finally we were at the Abune gate waiting for our scouts to find them when they landed about 80 kilometers from us, a Caracal fleet with logistics support from Scythes and some Moas.

Now we've engaged similar fleets before with our Rogue squadron cruiser doctrine and came away clean so I got a little overconfident and had the fleet charge at the enemy to get some tackle. I watched the kilometers flip by and I aimed at a juicy Moa, got the scram and ... "Kirith, you are out of range of our reps!"

Ah shit.

In my bloodlust, I forgot that our logistics could be outrun and put myself into a sticky situation that ended with my Ishtar exploding. I had Marcel take over the fleet while I ran back to Fliet and reshipped to a Vexor. I made it back with the fight still in progress. We lost 8 cruisers (7 Vexors and my Ishtar), 3 Algos, and 4 frigates and in return we killed 16 cruisers including a Cerberus. Good fight and props to Templis for bringing it.

Lesson Learned: Don't outrun your own logistics. Curb the bloodlust.

* * * * * *

After that we tried to get into a fight with a Black Legion fleet with Augoror Navy Issues and logsitics, but they were hesitant to engage our larger fleet and lost an Onerios while trying to evade us.

Despite getting in on a lot of kills for one night, it was not my best outing as a Fleet Commander. I'm getting better, but still need work in some areas.

Post Script:

Later that evening Heydieles fell to the GalMil forces. For the Federation!

The Art of Oh Shit

One thing I have not mastered in my quest to become a qualified fleet commander is not freezing up by the out of the blue unexpected. Take last night for example...

I was FCing an Aideron Robotics open fleet roam and we were not finding too much to shoot at as the night progressed from an early wild and hairy start. We decided to try and get a tough fight against the local pirate group Soul Takers in Old Man Star so we reshipped the fleet into a cruiser level Rogue Squadron setup (i.e. armour drone cruisers supported by an Exequror wing). It took a while but we finally set out... only to land on the gate in Fliet to find a neutral fleet from EVE University.

Caught flatfooted and unprepared for a fight that I was not expecting for two jumps, I froze like a deer in headlights. They started engaging and I stammered out some orders but between gate guns and the enemy fleet we took it on the chin and lost several ships to the enemy firepower, including this sweet ride that I purchased just minutes prior. My instinct had been to jump through and get ready on the other side but I froze instead. Sad.

We reshipped and later on caught up to the EVE Uni fleet near Tama and after some positioning and sacrificing high ground in a plex to fight them at the sun, we clashed and this time we came out on top with some sweet revenge kills:

Being mentally prepared for the fight allowed me to call targets and respond appropriately (with a lot of useful guidance in the setup period from my CEO Marcel). The important lesson for me this time is to always be ready for the "Oh Shit" moment and follow my instincts.

Good fights EVE Uni!