The Scythe

Although the scythe isn't pre-eminent among the weapons of war, anyone who has been on the wrong end of, say, a peasants' revolt will know that in skilled hands it is fearsome.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Mort)

Earlier this week I was approached by an old corp mate and friend Rex Hargrove for a duel of epic proportions.

We spoke for a bit, he would come slum it in Gusandall, we would battle and then have cookies and tea.

The decision about which class of ship to use was tough, I needed to level the playing field somewhat as I don't have a clone without implants that could massively swing the fight in my favour in a number of ships.

Somehow one ship automatically came up as the choice for this and I proposed Battle Scythes to Rex...

Scythe

The Scythe-class cruiser is the oldest Minmatar ship still in use. It has seen many battles and is an integrated part in Minmatar tales and heritage. Recent firmware upgrades "borrowed" from the Caldari have vastly increased the efficiency of its mining output.

Minmatar Cruiser Skill Bonus: 20% bonus to mining laser yield and 3.5% bonus to tracking links per level.

Role Bonus: 500% bonus to range of tracking links.

Well now, here's a challenge if I ever saw one, how would we turn these into ships suitable for battle. I thought long and hard about this ship and how to fit it. With no weapons bonuses I could choose whichever type of weapon system would suit me best.

My first thoughts though were to undergun and go with smalls. Blasters, while higher DPS, they were short range, autocannons gave me more options damage wise but there was something staring me in the face that I could not ignore... The massive EM hole on the shields of the Scythe. There was only one gun system that would do and that was lasers.

I also thought about going with rocket launchers, but bouncing ideas off another friend, Jonothan Xavier, we decided that heavy assault missiles would fit the purpose of the fit nicely, and also giving me damage options not available to lasers.

Here is the fit I finally decided on:

[Scythe, OOK!]
Damage Control II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II

Y-S8 Hydrocarbon I Afterburners
Large Shield Extender II
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I

Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
'Malkuth' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Hellfire Assault Missile
'Malkuth' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Terror Assault Missile

Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I

Hobgoblin II x1

With OOK! ready for battle and the day of destiny upon us, I would have to wait for Rex to make his way out of zero zero for this epic encounter.

He arrived in Gusandall after a hectic trip from nullsec and went about setting up his BATTLE SCYTHE. I had made arrangements with the locals to mind their own business and stay out of mine as I started to meditate before what was sure to be the battle of my illustrious career.

We formed gang and I made my way to the safespot, Jon came in a Hyperion to make sure we kept it honest.

Rex undocked, an associate reporting his every movement, he made warp for my position and it was time to meet in glorious battle.

Rex landed about 15 clicks away and I hit my afterburner, chosen as it would not be affected by warp scramblers. I closed quite easily as we locked each other up, I launched my single hobgoblin drone and ordered it to attack, attack it did, my lasers tore space apart as they sent cleansing light across the gap, heavy assault missiles spewing forth and assaulting Rex's shields.

Locked in mortal combat, Rex launched that which has been my nemesis for far too long, a single EC-300 drone made it's way towards OOK!...

Rex's shields evaporated, his armour melted and his hull crumpled as the stress of space and my weapons fire was too much, the EC-300 not being able to get a jam on.

One of the more interesting 1v1s I have ever been involved in and a lot of fun.
Thanks to Jon for the advice with regards to fitting and to Rex for making the trip from nullsec for this.