HACing Around

So, Odyssey 1.1 deployed today and overall I'm not overly excited for it.

What I mean to say is I liked a lot of the changes included in the patch and I'm curious about the applications of the new HACs, Command Ships, nosferatu and repper changes; but overall its not going to change much for me.

One of the major downsides of Faction Warfare for me is that there is not much call for flying bigger tech 2 ships. You see Assault Frigs and Interceptors, but beyond that the violent and sudden nature of low sec combined with the decent cost effectiveness of Tech 1 cruisers after the rebalance dictates that most fleets call for Vexors over Ishtars and Caracals over Cerberuses.

Now, the HACs have been updated for the Tiericide initiative and they may see more use in the Faction Warfare meta, especially since they can enter the same plexes as their Tech I predecessors can. But as long as the cost of the hull for these ships is more than ten times as much I suspect they will continue to be fringe players overall.

That being said, here are the ships I'm most excited about.

Cerberus

HAM Cerberus

The thought of having Heavy Assault Missiles that fly out out over 40km makes me a little giddy. This ship is a straight up skirmisher meant to run away while heaving missiles to the aft as she goes. Probably some better fits with Heavy Launchers but I like the "ouch" factor that the shorter ranged missiles present.

Ishtar

Ishtar

 The Ishtar is the main reason I started training Gallente all those years ago in the first place. The flexibility of a massive drone bay like the Dominix in a smalled and harder form? Yes please! The changes in this patch have only increased the drone applications of this ship and I'm so glad I already have one in the hanger.

No, its not fast, but when it catches something in the double webs it doesn't have to be. God help you if you have to try and run away though.

Tomorrow I'll take a look at the command ships and see what appeals there.

Risk Aversion

Risk

On Sunday night I was involved in a fleet and asked to bring an armour cruiser but all my Vexors were jumped out to a staging system and I had none in base. I asked to bring my Ishtar instead and got the green light for it.

Its been a long time since I've flown a tech II ship bigger than an assault frigate in a combat situation. I was nervous and twitchy. I could feel the risk aversion meter in my head climbing up and up to old levels. Gone was the carefree "and no shits were given" attitude of flying my ship. 

I logged off when my time was up in the system and the last night was heading back to base when I had a second. On the gate to Nennamaila I saw a war target jump in and saw he was in a Corax. In any of my typical ships I would have engaged, even in my Daredevil. But the Ishtar? I jumped for fear there was more on the other side. But only a single Imperial Navy Slicer which cross jumped me. The opportunity was lost. I went home disgusted with myself.

Risk Aversion is the fun killer. As long as you are not flying ships you can't afford to lose and you are not taking obviously bad choices, you should engage. It is better to engage and die than not engage at all. I forgot that while flying the Ishtar. I will not again.