The previous day a corp mate, Chuck Sanussi, got me a gift. It was a badass new skin, and it looked sexy on my Rifter. I took it out for a spin to admire the new look and to break it in.
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| Uhm ... it's there! |
There's nothing more to that story then just a new skin and it looks cool. Now to the pew pew!
Neighborhood Watch
Within the following days, it was time to search for the good fights. I hopped in a Rifter and set out. D-scan showed an unnamed Vexor, and a quick search narrowed him down to a Rogue Drone Swarm site thing. These events that bring people into low sec are a real winner. It encourages people who wouldn't otherwise venture into low to fit up a ship, take a deep breath and take the plunge in search of loot; and gives us low sec denizens some fresh targets to hunt. Win win!
I went back and forth between going in with a Rifter or switching to a Rupture. R1FTA pilots are frigate junkies at heart, but from time to time we dabble in other ships. Plus there were only two other people in system (including the Vexor pilot), and the other pilot was in a Tristan fighting the good fight for the Caldari. A golden opportunity for a cruiser 1v1! I parked my Rifter in the Bar and scrambled through the hangar searching for my Rupture. Damn! I must've exploded it a while back and not remembered because there was none available. There's gotta be one in Isho! I jumped back into my frig and burned to Isho which was one jump over, hoping there would be a Rupture there. Isho was empty as well, so the prospect of a legit cruiser 1v1 grew a bit stronger. Once again I scrambled to find the Rupture amidst the rows of Rifters, and there it was. I jumped in and before I undocked, made sure it was fully fit with the guns and repper loaded. Good to go!
The Chase
I love my Rifter, but there's something majestic about undocking a large ship as the sun shines along the hull and the auto turrets spin. The cruiser slowly turned as it aligned towards the Nikki gate and prepared for warp. The seconds that ticked by made me anxious that perhaps the Vexor pilot was either chased away or finished the site. I entered the system and it was still only us three. Beautiful. The Vexor was still on scan and at the same site, so I warped and prepared for space battle. I landed on grid with the debris of a large damaged station of some sort, and the Vexor was 24km away with his drones out working on the rats.
I locked him up, activated my AB and let loose the drones! I was soaring close to 600 m/s as the Vexor recalled his drones and warped off. Nooooo! He warped towards a cluster with a belt and a planet, so I warped to the planet and gave chase. I landed near the customs office but no cruiser. He was still within 1 AU so I scanned the nearby belt and there he was. I hit warp and scanned the belt once more, but now he was gone. Damn. At some point during the chase one more pilot entered the system. I expanded the scan range to 5 AU and it showed the Vexor, Tristan and now a Tengu. I scanned the gate and plex's within 5 AU in search of my quarry, but nothing. Maybe he went back to the drone site? I scanned one site and the Tengu was there. Nope. I scanned the other and a Vexor popped up. I hit warped and went over a game plan. One more pilot entered system to make it five of us. The Rupture was in warp and there was no going back. I did a 360 scan and there was now a Claw in space. Welp! Go out guns blazing man. I shortened the range to 1 and it was only the Vexor at the site as I landed. As the ruined station came into view, another scan revealed the Tengu on short as well.
The Vexor was 17km off working on the rats again (committed!) as a flash brought the Tengu on grid. Oh man. I went back and forth between the two unsure of which to go for. I don't know anything about Tengu's, the Vexor is probably the deadlier target, but he's probably the tank between the Tengu and the Claw (who was yet to arrive). Tengu. I burned towards him as he was closer (16km) and spammed lock. I kept my Fusion ammo because the reload would take too long and shit was about to go down. My Rupture got to 13km of the Tengu, and just as I activated my web he warped off! The Vexor was 16km away from us so I burned towards him and locked him up hoping to grab him before he took off again. The Vexor warped off towards the same cluster! This time I warped to the belt and readied myself. I landed right on top of him and just before I got a lock, he warped off again! Word to self, swap the AB for an MWD.
I warped to the cluster he went off to, but no Vexor at the belt. He was still 1 AU from me, but the only things in range was the cluster I was at, the infra hub and a medium plex, neither of which our Vexor was at. The Tengu and Claw pilot had left system as well, so once again it was myself, the Vexor and the faithful Caldari pilot plexing away. I was at a loss as to where the hell the cruiser was! He definitely didn't go to a safe because he warped directly towards the celestials in the cluster. The sun? Nope. Planet. Nope. Customs office?
He was at the Customs Office the entire time! I spammed warp once again. The Vexor was motionless as I exited warp. No drones out and no movement as I landed right on top of him. I spammed target lock and burned towards him. He came to life and targeted me as I landed my web and scram and fired the cannons! It's a fight! The Shakes returned as he landed a solid volley with his blasters. Orbit outside their optimal! GET OUT OF BLASTER RANGE! The guns were louder and the hits were bigger as our drones joined the fray. A lot of time with quick, nimble frigates didn't prepare me for the lumbering, slow moving cruisers. By the time I began to orbit outside blaster optimal I was well within the Vexors kill range (700m), as he landed heavy shots. His shields were already down and his armor a quarter damaged at the start of the gun fight, and now he was entering mid armor as his blasters and drones were chewing through my shields. All in all I was sitting pretty in the fight! I overheated my afterburner to get out of range quicker as another volley broke through my shields. I was drifting slowly but surely outside the range of his blasters as the hits grazed my armor or missed entirely. Suddenly I lost my lock on him. What the hell?? I went for another lock and burned back towards him. Maybe I got out of range or something? I webbed and scrammed him again and checked to see if any ECM drones were out. Nope. That was weird, but I returned to business. I orbited at 5,000m and was comfortably outside his range as his armor began to fall. My armor was relatively unscathed as the auto cannons shredded the remainder of his hull, sending the cruiser to space Valhalla. I enjoyed the beauty of the explosion as his pod warped off. We exchanged gf's in local as I went in to loot the wreck. That was fun! I checked out the killmail and saw why I lost point. He had an ECM fitted! It would've been a bummer (for me) if he managed to get away, but thankfully it all worked out in the end ;)
The Faithful Caldari Pilot
Throughout the entire ordeal, the Caldari militia pilot was still plexing away in his Tristan. Since I was going to take the loot back to Isho, I figured might as well switch ships and fight the Tristan in the chance of me getting more loot and saving an extra trip. I docked up the Rupture at the Bar and hopped in a Rifter and warped off towards the plex. Tristans are very versatile in their fits. They can be shield/kitey/rails, shield/neuts, armor/hull/brawl/neuts, shield/brawl/rails, or armor/hull/brawl/blaster fits. Add in the drones, and you have a solid opponent.
My rule of thumb (thanks to fellow Rifter gear head 47 Goon) is to fit for armor and get in close. That way if he's kitey, just align towards the sun and pop the drones until he has no way to hurt you. If he's brawl, neut and shields, the Fusion ammo is enough to break through his tank and tear apart the armor and hull. I entered the plex and the Tristan was 40km off with the drones out and ready. I burned towards him and zoomed in to eye ball his ship. Rails. Charge! At 35km he began to lock me up and I killed the zoom. My Rifter was burning towards his ship, he still wasn't moving. At 16km his drones swarmed my ship as I locked him up and began firing my auto cannons. His speed jumped to 800 as his rails landed a solid volley breaking through my shields as his drones followed up with a volley of their own, damaging my armor. My Rifter was getting rocked as I struggled to get a tight orbit to mitigate the damage from his rails. At half armor I activated my repper, which by this point is pretty late in the game in terms of frigate fights. My repper was struggling to repair the incoming damage as I creeped towards deep armor. I wasn't getting the range I wanted! I checked out the speed and his speed was enough to keep me in the sweet spot of his rails. Another volley from his rails and drones rocked my ship as I overheated my afterburner to go in for the kill. I broke through his armor and began to take huge chunks of metal out of his structure. My repper was holding my ship together at 3/4's armor as his ship continued to fall apart. Moments later the Tristan exploded as I locked up his pod. It was just us two in system still, now with his pod pointed next to the wreck of his Tristan. It's been a while since I ransomed someone, so I decided to give it a go. I got straight to the point in local:
[ 2017.06.16 06:51:02 ] drex orlan > gf
[ 2017.06.16 06:51:09 ] Sem Skord > gf
[ 2017.06.16 06:51:15 ] Sem Skord > how much isk is your pod worth to you?
[ 2017.06.16 06:51:20 ] drex orlan > none
[ 2017.06.16 06:51:28 ] Sem Skord > very well
[ 2017.06.16 06:51:29 ] drex orlan > it'd be faster transsit
[ 2017.06.16 06:51:34 ] Sem Skord > o7
He went on his journey as I scooped up the loot and the corpse. I returned to the Bar to grab the loot from the Rupture as the ping for the pod km appeared on my neocomm. Whoa! If close to 160 million is nothing, then this guy must be swimming in ISK! I'm a reasonable man and would've settled for 50 - 100 mil! No matter, he made his decision and I obliged.
After consolidating the loot and rearming, I continued on my roam but there was no more action outside of Nikkishina. Nature of the beast, but I didn't complain. Two gf's (and a chase!) back to back, that's what the pew pew is all about ;]
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