Thursday 1 March 2012

Credit where credit is due

- "Have you any last words?"
- YES. I DON'T WANT TO GO.
- "Well. Succinct, anyway."
-- Death at the other end of the scythe, for once
(Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man)


Very early this morning, at a time I really should have been asleep at, I tangled with a Dramiel.
Ordinarily a Dramiel doesn't present me with too many problems, but this one was different. It had a long point, artillery and as I would find out later, an ace up it's sleeve.

I undocked a Hawk, something I'm rather enjoying, engaged the Dramiel, easily dispatched it's drones and then was never able to get within range, the Hawk died.

Thinking is not my strong suit when deprived of sleep but I thought I'd try get him with a Daredevil, the strong, long web maybe more suited to catching him, would still need to fly smart to negate his damage.

I warped in, he's at range and where he would stay for the remainder of this five odd minute long dogfight. I locked him up, then lost lock, jammed? No, Damped, sweet jesus, what a maneuver, very smart, down to a 14km lock range, I would never get close enough to acquire lock, let alone land a web, no matter what I tried, he was one step ahead, the Daredevil died.

An expensive evening, an expensive lesson but two very good fights.

Nicely played :)

4 comments:

Vordak Kallager said...

Missy is famous for his :unusual: fondness for sensor dampeners. Effective, though.

missy lorelai said...

Good thing i didnt use the rifter...

Lords said...

I think the issue here is your reliance on AB frigs. I'm assuming the dramiel was pulling some speed to stay out of range - even with bonuses/26km web, why not go with an MWD fit over an AB fit? (Or was it just a case of zomgtirednotthinking?)

-Lords

Kane Rizzel said...

A mwd certainly would have allowed me to get into range quicker, no doubts there, but I was quite capable of getting into web range, unfortunately my web range far exceeded my lock range. The damp was the deciding factor, I tried my best. I was beaten by the better pilot.