Breaking Out of My Funk!
In the past three/four days I've been on a dry spell of sorts. I attribute this to playing other games and putting EVE on the back burner for a bit. Scraping by on cyno's and the random farmer, and racking up a few Rifter explosions along the way as well. Determined to break out of this bad mojo, I grabbed a Rockstar (Lime green flavor), sat down, cracked it open, booted up EVE and got in the zone! My buddy Sam Saboti was online spreading the love along with one of our Prospects Ziro Santos. Whenever Sam and I are online we always pair up and roam space together looking for fights, and rarely do our roams disappoint. Ziro accepted our invite to fly with us and get some pew pew. It was a good roam, snagged a Venture and a couple faction frigs and a pod or two. I logged off wanting more.
Later That Same Day
Later on in the day (about 11pm ish ) I logged in to the ambiance of the station. I had docked up in Melmaniel and I was still carrying the loot from the earlier roam with Sam and Ziro. I reloaded my guns and rockets, put some last minute touches on my Rifter (some duct tape here, a little bit there), undocked and set off for my nearest outpost to drop off the loot. Hopefully on the way I find something to shoot! The flight there was uneventful as I arrived at my outpost and restocked on the essentials. With a fully loaded, ready for anything Rifter, I undocked once more and set off towards Black Rise. I would enter Black Rise through Abune from Heydieles (it was late and not the weekend, which reduced the risk of a gate camp greatly). From there I'd do a half circle through Pynekastoh/Rakapas/Reitsato/Okkamon, hit the Asakai cluster of systems, then victory lap it to Isho.
I don't remember exactly which system, but somewhere in that constellation I saw a Hookbill on scan at a novice. Why not? I loaded EMP and Mjolnir rockets and warped to the plex pumping myself up. Just overheat the afterburner and stay on him. Pretty straight forward plan I had! I entered the plex and the Hookbill was right on the beacon waiting for me. We locked each other up as bullets and rockets flew furiously from both sides. My systems showed a TD being used on me but I ignored it as we continued to shoot each other. The Hookbill began to pull range as it's dual webs were dictating range, all I could do was keep the afterburner overheated and fire away. His shields gave way in the first couple exchanges of gunfire. When my guns broke through and he hadn't repped that's when the thought that he may be armor tanked entered my mine. A chunk of armor was repaired to confirm my suspicions. My own tank was repping incoming damage from half armor as I immediately shut off my weapons to reload to Fusion. Precious seconds ticked away and I was getting pummeled waiting for the guns to be loaded. The Hookbill was about 4,000 - 5,000 meters away as I returned fire and filled his ship with holes putting him in half armor as well. The Hookbill was just stronger than my Rifter as I pumped out my last two nanite reps and began to evade. The ammo switch was working as my Rifter slowly pulled range to escape the Hookbill's scram, but I was in deep hull as Aura assured my narrow escape. Gf gf!! I found a station to dock up and repair the damage and went over the fight in my head. I think if I had Fusion ammo from the get go I would've got him, but how was I suppose to know he was armor tanked! Ah well!
I continued my roam of the Asakai cluster but nothing was there to shoot. I was clinging to my fading hopes that I would find something to shoot on the pipe to Isho. It's funny how you'll roam 20+ jumps away from home, and end up finding a fight either 1 system over or your home system! Lo and behold, as I landed on the gate to the system before Isho, Uuna, the Hookbill I had fought earlier was there as well. We both jumped into Uuna and held cloak. I opened up a novice and watched the Hookbill de cloak as I warped off. This time I was ready! I loaded Fusion and Nova rockets, took the gate and waited right on the beacon. Everything was overheated as seconds ticked by, the shakes already setting in. Unless he switched to shield tank between our first fight and now, I got him. The Caldari frig was on short. I steadied my nerves and waited. The Hookbill entered the plex and I immediately burned to him and spammed target lock. My scram, web, guns and rockets activated simultaneously as I kept my afterburner overheated to keep up with him. His shields fell quickly again as my auto cannons and rockets began blasting through his armor. My shields were about to give so I activated my repper and continued the assault. The Fusion and Nova rockets were overwhelming his repper as he danced between low and half armor! My repper was tanking the incoming damage ok but I had an early lead on him. A volley punched through his armor and damaged his hull. The Hookbill was trying to evade now as I overheated my scram to hold point for as long as I could. He drifted out to 7,500 meters and it was looking like he might escape! I couldn't do anything but stay on with my current tactic. The Hookbill coughed out its last reps as it exploded! Gf! Man! I was stoked! At last I had killed something other than cyno's! I looted 'n scooted and warped to safe so I could shake off the shakes. I jumped into Isho and docked up my battle scarred Rifter, adrenaline still running through me. I just roamed about 15+ jumps from Placid, Verge Vendor and Black Rise to find this fight. I wasn't finished!
Wormholes
Instead of re-roaming the same route in hopes of finding something, I decided to grab my Astero to probe down wormholes in hopes of finding one last thing to fight. I admired the ship for a bit (looks so cool!), ensured I had enough probes along with a mobile depot and my pvp mods (for those explorers I might find!) and undocked. There was only one signature in Isho, so I probed it down and to my pleasant surprise it was a wormhole to another part of low sec! I bookmarked it and jumped through and ended up in the Gallente border zone. There were four sigs in system. I launched my probes and began to scan 'em down. One was a combat site (unrated), another was a wormhole that led to J-Space, and the last was another wormhole that led to another part of low sec! I jumped through the low sec wormhole and was in Minmatar space. I checked my assets because the name of the system was familiar, and again to my delight I was four jumps from our old club house, Gultratren! After a short trip I docked up in Gultratren and grabbed a Rifter, checked to make sure it was ready to go, and undocked.
Something about the warm, rusty red glow of Matar space feels very homey to me. Maybe because I'm a Brutor? I jumped into Arnstur which was empty, and jumped into Brin. I saw one person in system but nothing on scan, so I warped to Helga. There was a few people in system, but all I saw on d-scan was a Comet. I held cloak as it landed on the gate with me. Feeling confident from my last victory against a faction frig, I zoomed in on the Comet to eye ball its guns. Before it jumped into Brin I was able to make out rail guns on the bad boy. Burn back! I decloaked and burned back towards the gate. If I caught up to him, my plan would be to keep my afterburner overheated and hold a close orbit to counter the rails tracking.
I entered system and he was there along with the lone pilot from Helga, but the plex's were well outside scan range. I opened a novice and that's when a Comet and a Kestrel showed up on scan. One was at a small, the other at none of the plex's. I warped to the Kestrel's plex, loaded my shield ammo and entered it. The Kestrel was 15km from the warp in but warped off before I could point it. I checked scan and the Comet was at the novice I opened. Let's dance.
As I warped towards the plex, Fusion and Nova rockets ready, my heart beat increased. The shakes were returning! The Kestrel pilot was still in system, but nothing was on short as I took the acceleration gate and landed right on top of the Comet. We locked each other up and furiously exchanged volleys of gunfire. I was successfully closing range as I eyeballed the speed of our two frigs and I was significantly faster than his Comet. I kept my afterburner overheated anyway and continued the assault. My shields had fallen but he was already into armor, his repper struggling to patch up his ship and keep him in the fight. The drones were the only thing hitting my ship (pretty hard too) but the rails were effectively out of the fight as I stayed right on top of him sending bullets raining and rockets flying towards his ship. I was halfway through my reps as he entered deep armor. I checked short scan and saw a Kestrel on d-scan. You little bastard. I stayed on the Comet hoping to finish him off before the Kestrel joined the fight, but it was putting up a stubborn defense. The Kestrel locked me up and landed his webs, which allowed the Comet to pull range and land solid hits with his rails. I began to zig zag towards the Comet with my afterburner a couple cycles from burning out. My tank was holding steady a bit past half armor but I wasn't in deep trouble yet. A final barrage of gunfire and rockets exploded the Comet, allowing me to focus everything I had left into the little Kestrel. I had about 1/4 of my armor left, with a couple nanite reps left (still cycling to tank the Kestrels rockets), my afterburner about to burn out, and my guns with half heat damage. Immediately I shut off my weapons and loaded EMP and Mjolnir rockets. The ten seconds of doom seemed like ten minutes as the Kestrel was landing free shots on my Rifter. As I choked out my last rep and began the empty rep cycle's, my guns were ready to fire! I burned towards the Kestrel to get a comfy orbit and throw it down in a good 'ol fashion brawl. Steadily his buffer shields were falling, but my repper drained my cap as it began the 60 second reload of death with a bit of armor left. A volley of rockets put me in hull as I could do nothing but shoot back. Our frigs were orbiting each other firing away as my hull was slowly but surely giving way to his rockets. I had 3/4's left with nothing but my DC keeping me in the fight. Finally I punched through his shields and began tearing huge chunks of his armor away. My afterburner had burned out, and I had perhaps a good two or three volleys worth of overheated guns and rockets before they burned out. My Rifter was halfway into structure as I overheated my weapons and ripped through his hull. We both held a bit past 3/4's hull. I didn't align to a celestial and stayed on him. The neocomm pinged as the Kestrel exploded and my smoking, fiery Rifter flew victorious among the wrecks. I let out a deep breath and smiled in disbelief. I threw them a gf in local which they returned as I looted the wrecks and safed up again. The shakes took over me again and I was ecstatic at what just happened. I walked around my living room and kitchen again to shake off the shakes with a big smile on my face! My goodness that was intense! Saint Wensley was pleased.
After I gathered myself, I went to Gultra to drop off the loot, repair and rearm. From finding the wormhole in Isho to finding that battle, only ten minutes have passed. I decided to continue forth! Why end the hot streak?
I passed the Arnstur triangle, went straight through Todi, took a detour into Ofstold and Las, and continued on to Egmar. Bosbogger and Lulm yielded no fights. Even though I miss this place, I remember why we left in the first place. I entered Amamake, the ghetto of New Eden, but nothing was there for me to fight. About twenty minutes in I decided I would circle through Metropolis and back into Heimatar then return home via the wormhole chain. I jumped into Vard and saw a Breacher on scan. Among T1 frigs, the Breacher has been my Rifters nemesis. They're too tanky for my Rifter to break and about 80-90% of the time I explode when I fight 'em. But today was different. Today I was slaying faction frigates and wild T1 frigs alike. Today this Breacher will fall to my guns. I load EMP and Mjolnir rockets and entered the plex. Immediately I see two ECM drones on grid. Ah shit. The second I recognized them and exited warp the Breacher was locking me up, so I ignored the drones and returned fire on the Breacher.
I overheated my afterburner and scram and orbited at 7,500 meters. Now I know missiles hit full damage, but the reason I extend my range on Breachers is my belief that the flight time from when the rockets launch and when they hit gives me just a bit of time to land more hits with my guns before the rockets land. I'm most likely wrong with this train of thought, my knowledge of missiles is just how far they fly out before losing their target and which rockets to use for which tank.
The Breacher was going through his shield reps as my autocannons were blasting through his tank, damaging his armor. I noticed an ECM symbol and hovered my mouse over it to see what it was. The ECM drones were failing to jam me! I continued to orbit and fire my guns as I broke through his shields and begin to tear apart his armor. I was pulsing my reps so I wouldn't waste any nanite cycles and burn through my tank. The Breacher's armor had been destroyed and my guns were putting holes through his hull, so I closed the distance to maximize the damage. I had a few reps left and was still a bit below half armor and holding. As I went in for the killing blow, the drones managed to get through and jam my Rifter. Noooooooo!!! Right as the frigate was in hull!! I overheated my afterburner and continued with my path hoping the extra speed would shave some of the oomph off the rockets. The change in distance was allowing the Breacher to rock my Rifter with devastating explosions. I began to align towards the sun as the ECM jam cycle thing was still halfway and I was now in deep armor. The distance between us was slowly but surely widening and I was still unable to lock him. When I reached about 5,000 meters my afterburner burned out. He realized what I was trying to do and went in for the finishing blow himself. My smoking Rifter continued with its slow trek towards the sun as it got pounded by volley after volley of rockets. Finally the jam finished and I spammed target lock and landed my web and point and fired my guns again. His armor was still gone and his hull was hanging on by duct tape but his shields had fully recharged. Go down fighting. The first volley of bullets and rockets rocked his shields to 3/4's damage. No way. Another volley punched through his shields. DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!? My neocomm pinged as my capsule ejected from the exploding Rifter and I warped off to the sun.
Ah man! SO CLOSE! SOOO CLOSE!
[ 2016.01.19 08:29:06 ] Sem Skord > gf
[ 2016.01.19 08:29:08 ] Sem Skord > nice ecm drones
[ 2016.01.19 08:29:19 ] Shadow Kaundur > very good fight
[ 2016.01.19 08:29:31 ] Shadow Kaundur > so close
[ 2016.01.19 08:29:39 ] Sem Skord > yea
[ 2016.01.19 08:29:49 ] Sem Skord > woulda had you ;}
[ 2016.01.19 08:29:56 ] Shadow Kaundur > I know
[ 2016.01.19 08:30:25 ] Shadow Kaundur > i almost bailed
[ 2016.01.19 08:31:20 ] Sem Skord > o7
It gave me a bit of consolation with him admitting I would've had him if it wasn't for the ECM drones. On the way to Gultra I was going over the fight, replaying it in my head. Should I have gone for the drones early on? Would it had made a difference? I could've, would've, should've the fight but I wasn't gonna let it ruin my night. I had the chance to get out of there when I first saw the drones, but I chose to stay and fight. But Griffins and ECM ships ... I still hate you and your existence.
I jumped through the wormhole chain in my Astero and docked up in Isho. Tonight was definitely fun as hell! I made it just in time to catch my favorite show, CONCORD!
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