Monday 25 July 2011

Vengeance v Thrasher


The hunt:

I hadn't actually been looking for the Thrasher. My true target was a Caracal, and the Thrasher was unexpected.

You see, a couple of us had spotted a flashy Caracal sitting on a station. Despite being in frigates, we were pretty sure that we could take him, but we knew that if we all attacked at once that he would simply dock up. I therefore volunteered to sit on the station and see if he would initiate combat. If he did, the others could jump in and help burn him down - hopefully faster than he burned me down.

So there I was, sitting on the station, eyeing the Caracal and wondering if he would take the bait.

From out of nowhere, this Thrasher lands. I don't know if he was hunting me or if he was just planning on docking up, but he instantly targeted me and opened fire.

I'll admit that docking up never even occurred to me, although it probably would have been the best move under the circumstances. Instead, I returned fire and alerted my fleet mates.

Unfortunately, the Thrasher was not flashy, so my none of my backup could risk the station guns. Instead, I overheated my launchers and repairer and made sure that my scram and web were firmly on the Thrasher. From here it was a race; I could neither out range or out track the destroyer, I just had to hope I could out tank him.

Still keeping an eye on the Caracal, I watched as my opponent hit armor, and then structure, before finally exploding.

2011.07.13 18:44

Victim: Teh Tripple
Corp: Saltire Industries
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Thrasher
System: Ladistier
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 3511


Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.5
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Foxfire Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 3511


Destroyed items:

Phased Plasma S, Qty: 222
200mm AutoCannon II, Qty: 4
Medium Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I
Warp Disruptor II
Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II
Phased Plasma S, Qty: 2041 (Cargo)
Hail S, Qty: 52 (Cargo)
Proton S, Qty: 10960 (Cargo)
EMP S, Qty: 2964 (Cargo)
Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I, Qty: 2


Dropped items:

Phased Plasma S, Qty: 555
200mm AutoCannon II, Qty: 3
Hail S, Qty: 2689 (Cargo)
Titanium Sabot S, Qty: 2942 (Cargo)


In the heat of the moment, I forgot all about the station, and targeted the pod with my scram. When the station guns opened fire I assumed it was the Caracal, so I destroyed the pod and warped out, giving the engagement order on the Caracal.

Of course, the Caracal had not engaged me, and he simply docked up when the Tuskers landed. Then we all had a good laugh at my noobishness.


Afterthoughts:

There was not much strategy here; it was a straight up brawl. Fortunately, my Vengeance excels under those conditions, and I was carried through the fight on the back of a decent fit and decent skill investment.

I still have not truly absorbed the gate gun mechanics, probably because (as a frigate) I so rarely engage under them. I'll see if I can't do something about that - if for no other reason than because these mechanics are so fundamental to low sec pvp.

6 comments:

  1. Congratulations to the kill, i have to admit, i expected you to die ;)

    I realy like your blog. I found it by coincidence and started reading a little and your battle storys catched my interest. Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Funny thing I had a similar fight with a Thrasher and I actually died to him. What kind of fit were you running? One thing I didn't do was overheat my guns where I did overheat my repper.

    http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10157719

    I got through his shield buffer but just as I got into armor I went down. He died shortly afterwards to a Jag. So I wish I ran into your Thrasher instead lol.

    http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10157720

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Fantym

    I think the big difference between our fits is the use of a web. By choosing not to use a web, you are sacrificing some of your dps, because speed is to rockets as angular velocity is to turrets.

    This also affects your choice of ammo. I'm told by those that have done the maths that Rage rockets do less dps than faction rockets if your target is moving faster than about 600m/s.

    With no web, the Thrasher would probably have been faster than 600m/s, so you were also using the wrong ammo, further reducing your dps.

    @Leticron

    I'm glad you are enjoying the blog. I blow up an awful lot, but every now and then I manage to pull a fast one and survive.

    ReplyDelete
  4. will you ever learn? i guess not

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Web also gives you the ability to control range which is handy in alot of fights and depending how the thrasher is fit, especially with Fantyms fit.

    With the AB and web the destroyer has no chance to dictate range no matter how he is fit.

    ReplyDelete
  6. @ Korg Leaf

    In this instance yes, you are correct, had he come up against an armor tanking thrasher (ab/scram/web/small neut) things might have ended differently.

    ReplyDelete