-- (Terry Pratchett, Eric)
A Hurricane is a mighty test for the ship I was flying, but it was a test I was going to take, or as the case was to be, let the test take me.
Cyclone
The Cyclone was created in order to meet the increasing demand for a vessel capable of providing muscle for frigate detachments while remaining more mobile than a battleship. To this end, the Cyclone's eight high-power slots and powerful thrusters have proved ideal.Battlecruiser Skill Bonus: 5% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret rate of fire and 7.5% bonus to shield boosting per level
99% reduction in the CPU need of Warfare Link modules.
I had been hunting a Tengu running a drone complex in Eifer, but headed back to Gusandall. As I jump through a Hurricane pilot that was reported earlier appears in Gus local, so I warp straight to belt 1-1 and wait...
... Didn't have to wait long as the Hurricane warps in at range. His MWD pulse clearly showing he was quicker than me, getting into range of my scram was paramount, as I started the approach under full MWD speed, I needed to get under 12km for my scram's overloaded range and it wasn't easy as the Hurricane easily outran and out ranged me, pulsing my shield booster as the Hurricane's 425s tore into me.
I pop a strong blue pill, the universe takes on a blue hue, an immediate headache a side effect, reducing my ability to keep my shield capacity at full strength but the massive boost to my neural pathways allowing me to maximize the shield boost from the shield booster.
Massive chunks of my shield being ripped away, massive chunks of my shield being repaired, timing of my cap boosts becomes critical as dual neuts from the Hurricane putting pressure on my capacitor, the time has come, I overload my MWD, a cap boost charge fires, I force the engagement into scram range as I get within 12km, my overloaded scram bites hard and the MWD of the Hurricane is nullified, I close to point blank, second cap booster fires, shields bouncing like crazy, I'm starting to miss timings on cap boosts, the dual neut pressure hurting, the 425s hurting, my shields dipping further, armour hitting red, my drones seemingly off on their own mission to kill an Angel cruiser, double you tea eff guys?
It doesn't take long for me to get my timings right, overloaded shield boosts and cap boosts allowing me to stay ahead of the damage and neut cycles... Just.
My drones, having killed the cruiser, decide to come back and help me.
At this point though, I have broken the shields of the Hurricane and am biting into the soft underbelly of the passive shield, its weak armour being ripped apart by my rockets and 220s, and in no time his structure starts to vaporize under the assault, my weapons near melting point as the Hurricane explodes.
A rather good fight, sentiments shared in local comms.
I'm having fun in active tanked ships of both shield and armour variants and for the first time in a very long time I suffered side effects of the drugs that help boost them to insane levels. Some of the fits might not be conventional but damn if they don't keep you interested :)
Active tanks fell out of favour as of late, replaced by logistics and remote repair chains, but for solo they can be really effective in my not so humble opinion, whilst still vulnerable against neuts and large amounts of deeps, choose your targets and have fun.
Edit: To include the ship I was flying, thanks Trony for pointing that out :)
