A Mackinaw. Shadow Cartel bait? I dock up to jump into my Wolf, which I bring out for special occasions. I felt the extra firepower on the Wolf would help bring down the Exhumer faster than a Rifter would, incase I'd need to get out quickly or something. And my assault frig had collected a large amount of dust and didn't want the guns to get clogged up or rust! I warp to a safe in the cluster the prey was sitting at and scanned the belts until I found a winner. In warp I loaded the appropriate ammo and overheated everything. I land in the belt and the Mackinaw is 19km away, drones out and getting its mining on. Man all the extra debris and rocks floating around really make it feel like an asteroid belt! I burn towards him and lock the Exhumer. I quickly close the distance and get point on him and fire away. My initial volley damages his shields and they quickly began to fall as my guns pound away. The Mackinaw begins to lock me as my ship crashes into the asteroids, causing my Wolf to bounce all over the place as it attempts to return to its close orbit. As his armor takes huge hits, his drones start firing away and hit my shields. My guns are tearing apart the Exhumer as he falls into deep armor and his hull starts to fall apart. Moments later, a glorious explosion illuminates the darkness of space. I attempt to ransom his pod, but he responded with some unkind and vulgar words that I will not utter here! No ransom, no life! I collect the loot and return to the station to dockup. I jump back into my Rifter and undock. I check D-Scan again and see a Venture on scan. Some quick D-Scan work reveals that he's in the same belt where the Mackinaw just died! I return to the belt and there was the Venture mining away, meters away from the wreck of the Mackinaw. I burn towards him and his wreck joins that of his mining brethren! I grab his pod as well, didn't offer a ransom as the player was very new.
My corp mate informs me that Crake frequents the systems of Hevrice and Costolle nearby, also adding that Oulletta and the surrounding systems is a hotbed for frigate action. I make my way towards there, checking the systems as I go. I fly around Placid searching for a fight or a sign of Crake, but nothing. Plex's are in space but either no one is in them or it's a gang. When I enter Intaki, only two other relatively young pilots are in system. As I land on the outgate, I check D-Scan and see a Vexor at a belt. I halt the ship and warp towards the belt where the Vexor is ratting. I load Phased Plasma because 1) I don't know how a Vexor is tanked and 2) I don't want to waste the good ammo on the drones I'm definitely going to have to take out. I land 20km away and immediately the Vexor locks me up as I burn for him. A swarm of Hammerheads (tech 1 thankfully!) bring my shields to half as I land point and close orbit the cruiser and begin to target the drones. I activate my repper and begin firing away at the drones. My shield holds and I waste two reps as I shut off the SAAR, and as soon as I do that my shields fall! His drones fall as I web and shoot 'em, but there's still a lot more to go. The Hammerheads begin to work on my armor but my Rifter is able to tank the damage comfortably. Just four more drones to go and my repper pumps out it's last cycle as I deactivate it so the 60 second reload can begin. Three drones, two drones, 1 more drone. Boom! I still have 3/4's of my armor left and my repper is halfway through the reload, I'm in a good spot right now. I focus my fire on the Vexor and his shields fall surprisingly fast as he begins to take armor damage. Even with Phased Plasma and Inferno rockets, the ship is falling fast. A couple minutes later, the Vexor explodes. I grab the pod as well, loot the wreck and warp off. Man, I'm enjoying the area! Miners and ratters, let's see what else is out there!
I continue on my route already on the way back to the Jov/Hevrice/Costolle pipe through Oulletta. I scan around and see a Tormentor on scan. I hold cloak and can't pin point it at a plex so I warp to a novice and wait. In warp, I scan around again and D-Scan tells me the Tormentor is sitting at a small plex. Soon as I land at the novice I warp off towards the small. I load Fusion and Nova and keep an eye on local and short scan because people are coming in and out. Inside the small the Tormentor is 13km away *fist pump* I burn towards him and begin to lock. He's faster on the trigger as he lands a solid hit taking out 1/4 of my shield 10km out. I return fire scratching his shield as he lands another solid blow, my shields warning me they're about to go down. I activate my repper and close the distance allowing my autocannons and rockets to tear his shield apart and blasting his armor. My speed is messing with his lasers as I shut off my SAAR and hold my close orbit of projectiles and rockets! My guns blasted through his armor putting him into hull as his reps bring him back to half armor. Another volley rocks his ship and puts him in deep hull, but he reps the damage again to 3/4 armor. His tank is choking as it struggles to keep up with the incoming barrage, but it's too much for the Tormentor and explodes. I almost locked his pod but he managed to get away. I loot 'n scoot, dock and repair.
A Black Jacket, Kage, is in the area causing explosions as well. We catch each other in Muetralle heading in opposite directions. We spot a Thrasher on scan and go after it. Soon as we saw it on scan it was gone, I noticed there was a large plex outside scanning range so I warp to it. I see a Maulus and Thrasher on short scan *uh oh*. I land and the Thrasher isn't there but the Maulus is 12km off. For a moment I hesitate because I imagine EWAR ships as things that can sneeze and boom you're jammed! But I decided to go for it because it's right there. I lock the ship and see its shields are gone, it's armor is gone, and it has a sliver of hull left. Just as I activate my web and scram, the Maulus warps off. Well then! Back to the Thrasher! I ask Kage if he's over there with him on his side of the system and says yes and calls out the plex he's at. We land and he isn't there. Kage suggests one of us hang out at the medium plex, and the other go to the large and we'll catch him when he starts warping around. Sounds good! I warp to the large again and the Thrasher is there on short scan. I land but the plex is empty but the destroyer is still on scan so I decide to chill and wait. Moments later the Thrasher warps in 6,000 meters away from me. I calmly mash XXXXX to inform kage he's here as I scram and fire away orbiting at 5,000. That way if he's autocannon fit I just pull range to 7500 and try and take less damage, or if he's arty fit I just burn in and orbit close. His initial volley nearly brings down my entire shield, as I fire back and begin to pull range. It's a rapid and heavy exchange of autocannon fire from both of us. My repper struggles to tank the damage to keep me in the fight. When I hit half armor I realize my afterburner isn't on *derp* and my web isn't on him either *double derp* That explains why I wasn't getting the range I wanted early on. It's a dps race at this point, I enter hull first and he follows suit. My SAAR patches my armor a bit allowing me to bring the Thrasher to deep hull. Oh man oh man!! I got this! The gizmos on my ship go off with the screeching beep noise as my Rifter explodes! The early errors cost me the fight. I get my pod out. Kage informs me that the Thrasher has escaped his clutches. Ah well. The Rifter died a good death, and I made it back to Adirain in my pod safe 'n sound.
No Crake this time, but it's only Monday!
No comments:
Post a Comment