20 Nov 2007

Scan probers in the team

Coming back to Gusandall, I was happy to go camp this station but a gang had already been formed by Jubes and Ren. So off we went; General Coochie was also invited into the Independence channel - she is a skilled scan prober but lacked DPS to crack the ships she did probe out. Our group was the opposite, we had DPS but a weakness in scan probes. Sounds like a well-made match. So we sat and waited as General Coochie started to drop scan probes around Evati, we had already spotted another gank team (abaddon, domi and helios) and we decided to engage them. However, when the fleet was only one jump away - the enemy gank team had already engaged a drake, which was joined by another drake then another ship. All reported by General Coochie in her helios.

We decided to wait until there was winner one way or the other but it looked like the drake would be toast and so it was. The fleet jumped straight in as the Domi disengaged and warped and then the Abaddon straight after just as arrived. We were too slow and didn't get a point.

Pity.

We then scattered to our safespots and let General Coochie do her thing. As she scanned, we did out local scans too - Evati was just a busy, busy system.

It was Ren Surkova (a smart sassy Caldari) who spotted a new mark: a megathron and a rapier. She asked to leave her position to investigate and so she did.

"Tackle! Tackle!" She shouted, "I have the megathron and I have a point on it. Rapier nearby too."
My God she tackled a megathron in her myrmidon? I thought. She's braver than I thought. She's er, got balls.
"Go! Fleet warp to Ren." I replied.
"Rapier is primary. Rapier is primary." Stated Grunaca, our own Rapier-class pilot. He knew that the recon cruiser was the force multiplier in this encounter. The tackled megathron was the ganker and would be dealt with later.

I arrived seconds after Jubes. We all primaried the Rapier though Jubes, from what I could see, had landed close to the distinctive shape of the megathron. I locked the rapier and started to blast it. The rapier is pretty tough so I sent my drones after it and clamped my nos on it too. The firepower from two canes and a rapier was too much for the enemy rapier. Ren was locked in combat with the megathron but we were a bit too slow in taken down the enemy rapier and we were a myrmidon down as the Megathron took revenge.
Jubes' hurricane, being too close, was the next target for the megathron. The space between the ships was filled with hybrid rounds and missiles and auto canon shells. It was thick and heavy. Jubes went toe-to-toe with the megathron, just like Ren. I went in close to help and opened up with my hail ammunition but the armour on that battleship was thick and the pilot was not a fool.

Jubes eventually succumbed to the tremendous damage and then it was my turn. General Coochie meanwhile had leapt back one system to get his celestis and it's dampners. I took the full brunt of the megathron's fire as I was also too close. A heavy nos was clamped on me and his drones (Ogre IIs) buzzed around me like angry bees. My smaller drones tried to fend them off but it was proving to be difficult. I tanked the damage from his blasters and thank my stars for a damage control unit II and Cap boosters. So long as I had enough cap boosters, I could tank and so I did. The megathron did get me down to hull but the DCU II helped me. Grunaca's dual-webs on the megathron meant that even if I was webbed, I could still get some distance out. I need to get some range on the megathron and started to switch to barrage ammo. I managed to get out from the warp disruptor range just as Grunaca, concerned for the damage I had already sustained, called out:
"Flash, disengage and rep. Go!" As I aligned to leave, my cap now dry, General Coochie came in with her celestis and clamped a whole rack of remote sensor dampners on the unlucky megathron.

It was now dead - it couldn't warp, lock or run away and we could chip away at it until it was dead. However, I had another idea and called out in the fleet chat.

"We should ransom the megathron, we don't have enough DPS to kill the megathron quickly enough before help arrives."

I warped back this time, primed with barrage ammunition when the megathron burst into bright cloud of light and expanding cloud of debris. The megathron pilot, knowing it's hopeless situation, decided to self-destruct this ship.

Pity for all concerned.

Also, it appears that BLACK-FLAG had their first kill? I think so. Well done!

Concord, impassive as ever - recorded the kill.

2007.11.20 16:13
Victim: D0INK
Alliance: Molotov Coalition
Corp: Vale Heavy Industries
Destroyed: Rapier
System: Evati
Security: 0.2

Involved parties:
Name: flashfresh (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Independent Pilots
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: 425mm AutoCannon II

Name: Ren Surkova
Security: -3.7
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Down In Flames
Ship: Capsule
Weapon: Ogre II

Name: Jubes
Security: -9.7
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Brutor tribe
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Flameburst Light Missile

Name: Grunanca
Security: -9.7
Alliance: NONE
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Ship: Rapier
Weapon: Warrior II

Destroyed items:
Power Diagnostic System II, Qty: 2
Nanofiber Internal Structure II, Qty: 1
650mm Artillery Cannon II, Qty: 2
Large Shield Extender II, Qty: 1
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator, Qty: 1
Republic Fleet EMP M, Qty: 2742 (Cargo)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't understand why someone would self destruct? Do they still get their insurance? Is it just to screw you guys out of loot?

Anonymous said...

Well, self-destructing his ship is a big 'F*** YOU' to us. No big deal, he lost a ship and we were deprived of a killmail and loot. Only the ammo survived from what I recall.

A rather desperate measure but we were going to ransom him for the isk.

Since I have never self-destructed a ship, I can't say whether you get the insurance or not.