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!