On baiting, Kaal, Discos and 1vs1.

Writing a quick blog post after returning in my pod after being killed by the number one pilot on battleclinic. Was a fairly uneventful roam up until that point, only other action was a drake that I'd baited in top belt (who complained both in local and on his own KB of 'crashing' mid fight, butthurt much?). Ceo Cyber Ten often uses me as his plus1, scout and bait pilot for our guardian roams. I'd like to think that this is because he trusts me to get the job done, but more likely its because of my ability to attract targets and be called primary (as a note, I've only ever brought a harbinger home from a roam once, luckily the Veto gang decided to primary Kaal instead).

Talking of Kaal, this guy is really starting to impress me both with his attitude and abilities as a pilot (who else do I know who's crazy enough to engage a (mining) fleet solo?). He's started flying solo more, even managed to do the one thing I haven't: solo'd a battleship in an assault frigate. No KM on this one, as the pilot ejected and Kaal sold the ship. Still, my hat is off to him as that's been one of my long term goals flying solo and he gets it on his first night flying out XD. Just need to get him into an Ishkur and he'll be the perfect wingman, amirite?

In all seriousness, he's a pilot that's always up for a good fight and seems to share my passion for hunting large prey in small ships.

On Thursday, four of us dropped disco-battleships on an ice mining fleet. Hilarity followed. Poor ice miners, didn't see that coming.

Now, here's a fact I'm rather proud of: to date, I have not lost a prearranged 1vs1 to anyone outside of my alliance (Cyber just keeps kicking my ass). Usually, my ishkur/veng can either beat my opponent or drive them off the field in a couple of minutes. Recently, I did some theory-crafting in anti-dramiel combat, which has met with limited success (that is to say in 5 fights, 5 dramiels have run away with their tails in-between their legs). Last night I finished a quiet roam, with only a self destructing drake to speak of, and so I was bored. Jumping through a gate, I saw tusker Kishin Hattori in a dram warp off towards a belt. Banter in local lead me to conclude that he was in a similar position to me: nothing to shoot at and so bored.

Now, I've read of Kishin's exploits in a dramiel here. Under normal circumstances I would have continued merrily home to lisb, logged and played the Guild 2 for a bit. However, I was curious to see how my ishkur would perform against his armour dram.

To summarise:

1. 1vs1 is arranged, we fight at a belt.
2. I land on dram. We both point, td and drop drones.
3. For the next 15 minutes we knock out each other's drones.
4. His td and speed mean my blasters can't hit him; his auto cannons cannot break my tank.
5. Flycatcher lands and we bug out.

Now, that might sound fairly tame reading it, but I was on edge for most of the fight: micromanaging overheat on my rep, pulling in and swapping out drones, managing active modules to keep the important ones running. This fight stands out in my mind for the shear length if nothing else (frigate duels are often over in under two minutes, often less). Economic victory to him (10 warriors vs 3), but I'm just happy that my tactics worked and I didn't lose a ship.

Anyhoo, I'm rambling here so until next time

o/