The next day saw me in Geminate and a new corp, though not a corp in Geminate if you understand my meaning. That would be awful.
I will start again.
I decided to join Wingspan Delivery Services. This was not a reflection on Stay Frosty who I will probably end up rejoining at some point. I had been spending a lot of time in Thera, hunting through wormholes and random connections to null with the result that I was rarely seeing any corpies. At the same time, I was frustrated with finding targets that I could not kill alone.
As I was saying, I found a fresh Thera exit to Geminate. I warped my Svipul in, narrowly missing a ratting Ishtar. Never mind, dotlan promised more opportunities to come. Two jumps in saw an Exhumer and Ishtar waiting patiently at a safe spot for me.
Innocent sent Zappity on her way to the probe result using what is, according to CCP, a heinous, game-breaking manoeuvre. Zappity landed at the probe results on top of both the Ishtar and Exhumer. She chose the Ishtar and tackled it while the Exhumer warped away to safety. Nice to have a bit of choice.
The Ishtar put up a rubbish performance, immediately launching sentries at my low sig ship. What is it with Ishtars and sentries? Anyone would assume they were all that your average ratting Ishtar carried. These drones, of course, achieved nothing.
Much more concerning was the appearance of a Taranis who immediately pointed me and started to orbit. I had seen him coming but decided not to warp out. First, I figured that the Ishtar was a worthy trade. Second, I thought I might be able to kill the Taranis, too.
The Ishtar popped in a most satisfactory manner. I then turned my attention to the Taranis who was foolishly orbiting me at close range. I tackled him back, switching off his MWD. He didn't last long.
Ishtar: https://zkillboard.com/kill/47399652/
Taranis: https://zkillboard.com/kill/47399661/
I left the system to repair some overheated modules and have dinner, courtesy of a mobile depot and cloak which was no doubt infuriating to the locals. When I returned, well sated, I hopped through a couple of empty systems before finding a Gila at a signature.
Innocent warped Zappity in to the probe result (she's going to get banned, you know) where an acceleration gate was waiting. Dammit, surely the Gila will disappear now!
The Gila waited patiently while I jumped through two successive gates plus the time it took me to burn 60 km out to the waiting ship. Honestly, I didn't have a clue what to think at this point. If he had been waiting for PvP then why wouldn't he have had drones out, hammering at me the instant I landed? If he was PvE, why wouldn't he have warped off? The only thing I can assume is that he was just too busy doing whatever he was doing and ignoring his d-scan.
I tackled him when the overheated afterburner finally brought me into range. Unfortunately, the afterburner was overheated and I merrily continued past the waiting Gila, straight out of scram range. The 10mn afterburner fit isn't particularly agile!
I managed to get back into range to tackle him for a second time. He finally sent out some drones, nasty faction heavies which hurt badly. I had flashbacks to the last Gila I fought with less than stellar results.
I decided that orbiting with the 10m afterburner was decidedly dodgy. I was constantly overshooting and going into odd trajectories so I switched to recurring approaches instead. The Gila was tough but eventually died:
Gila: https://zkillboard.com/kill/47400027/
My modules were badly overheated so I applied the paste while deciding on my next move. What I should have done was turn around and leave the area. I had clearly tormented the locals enough and given them plenty of time to form a response.
Balanced against this sensible position, however, was the fact that there were still locals around to torment. I hopped into the next system.
An Assault Frigate, Stratios and Omen Navy Issue were on d-scan. I initially had thoughts about finding the Stratios but when the Omen landed on the gate I decided that he was good enough.
He burned off the gate, aggressing me as he went. I followed with overheated afterburner, gradually catching up to him. I finally landed a scram and started chipping away at him, unfortunately with the wrong ammunition loaded. Then the Stratios landed on the gate, and the Harpy and I knew that my first instinct had been correct. The Harpy was piloted by the ex-Gila pilot, clearly looking for revenge.
The Stratios drones were really starting to hurt but I decided to see it through instead of running. The Omen was at half armour when I popped. Oh well, gf. The two cruiser pilots responded in kind but not the Gila pilot! He said ".!." which I thought was very rude when I had spent some time thinking about it.
Svipul: https://zkillboard.com/kill/47400208/
What did I learn? Should I have run away? No! I just need a bigger repper, of course!
I will start again.
I decided to join Wingspan Delivery Services. This was not a reflection on Stay Frosty who I will probably end up rejoining at some point. I had been spending a lot of time in Thera, hunting through wormholes and random connections to null with the result that I was rarely seeing any corpies. At the same time, I was frustrated with finding targets that I could not kill alone.
As I was saying, I found a fresh Thera exit to Geminate. I warped my Svipul in, narrowly missing a ratting Ishtar. Never mind, dotlan promised more opportunities to come. Two jumps in saw an Exhumer and Ishtar waiting patiently at a safe spot for me.
Innocent sent Zappity on her way to the probe result using what is, according to CCP, a heinous, game-breaking manoeuvre. Zappity landed at the probe results on top of both the Ishtar and Exhumer. She chose the Ishtar and tackled it while the Exhumer warped away to safety. Nice to have a bit of choice.
The Ishtar put up a rubbish performance, immediately launching sentries at my low sig ship. What is it with Ishtars and sentries? Anyone would assume they were all that your average ratting Ishtar carried. These drones, of course, achieved nothing.
Much more concerning was the appearance of a Taranis who immediately pointed me and started to orbit. I had seen him coming but decided not to warp out. First, I figured that the Ishtar was a worthy trade. Second, I thought I might be able to kill the Taranis, too.
The Ishtar popped in a most satisfactory manner. I then turned my attention to the Taranis who was foolishly orbiting me at close range. I tackled him back, switching off his MWD. He didn't last long.
Ishtar: https://zkillboard.com/kill/47399652/
Taranis: https://zkillboard.com/kill/47399661/
I left the system to repair some overheated modules and have dinner, courtesy of a mobile depot and cloak which was no doubt infuriating to the locals. When I returned, well sated, I hopped through a couple of empty systems before finding a Gila at a signature.
Innocent warped Zappity in to the probe result (she's going to get banned, you know) where an acceleration gate was waiting. Dammit, surely the Gila will disappear now!
The Gila waited patiently while I jumped through two successive gates plus the time it took me to burn 60 km out to the waiting ship. Honestly, I didn't have a clue what to think at this point. If he had been waiting for PvP then why wouldn't he have had drones out, hammering at me the instant I landed? If he was PvE, why wouldn't he have warped off? The only thing I can assume is that he was just too busy doing whatever he was doing and ignoring his d-scan.
I tackled him when the overheated afterburner finally brought me into range. Unfortunately, the afterburner was overheated and I merrily continued past the waiting Gila, straight out of scram range. The 10mn afterburner fit isn't particularly agile!
I managed to get back into range to tackle him for a second time. He finally sent out some drones, nasty faction heavies which hurt badly. I had flashbacks to the last Gila I fought with less than stellar results.
I decided that orbiting with the 10m afterburner was decidedly dodgy. I was constantly overshooting and going into odd trajectories so I switched to recurring approaches instead. The Gila was tough but eventually died:
Gila: https://zkillboard.com/kill/47400027/
My modules were badly overheated so I applied the paste while deciding on my next move. What I should have done was turn around and leave the area. I had clearly tormented the locals enough and given them plenty of time to form a response.
Balanced against this sensible position, however, was the fact that there were still locals around to torment. I hopped into the next system.
An Assault Frigate, Stratios and Omen Navy Issue were on d-scan. I initially had thoughts about finding the Stratios but when the Omen landed on the gate I decided that he was good enough.
He burned off the gate, aggressing me as he went. I followed with overheated afterburner, gradually catching up to him. I finally landed a scram and started chipping away at him, unfortunately with the wrong ammunition loaded. Then the Stratios landed on the gate, and the Harpy and I knew that my first instinct had been correct. The Harpy was piloted by the ex-Gila pilot, clearly looking for revenge.
The Stratios drones were really starting to hurt but I decided to see it through instead of running. The Omen was at half armour when I popped. Oh well, gf. The two cruiser pilots responded in kind but not the Gila pilot! He said ".!." which I thought was very rude when I had spent some time thinking about it.
Svipul: https://zkillboard.com/kill/47400208/
What did I learn? Should I have run away? No! I just need a bigger repper, of course!
I was cringing when I read the parts where your over-sized ab was causing maneuver problems. I know why you do it, but man, a lot of work. Not that work is something you have a problem with. Fearless!
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