Some things confound me more than anything else. My weak spots, whilst obvious, is no less frustrating for being so. In fact, it's much more irritating because of it.
On a recent patrol, I took my Kataphract Slicer into a Medium complex. The Republic Fleet cruiser gurading it was relatively easy to take down... a close orbit of less than 5km meant it's slow guns couldn't track the agile Slicer.
This was the first time I had entered a Medium Complex, and I was looking forward to finding what targets I would face. A cruiser? A destroyer? What ship would seek to end my Kataphract's survival streak?
A pirate frigate appeared on scanners.
Disappointing, but I readied my weapons, and quickly exained what type of vessel it was.
A Maulus. An Electronic warfare ship, specializing in Sensor Dampening. It also fields drones, making it an excellent kiter.
Sensor Dampeners do exactly as the name suggests. They reduce your locking distance, or increase your locking time. For a kiting ship, this is effectively a combat nullifier... if you can't lock a target at range, your strategy is useless.
But, foolish and cocky from my recent good luck, I attempted to close to short range against the frigate, loading Multi-frequency crystals, determined to brawl the target down.
The Maulus entered, and sure enough, the Sensor Damp hit, bringing me down to a limited lock range. What followed was the most tragic display of piloting on my part, and an excellent display on his. He was similarly fit with a MWD, and could kept out of range of Kataphract, sling-shotting around me with ease, his drones pummeling my ship.
I believe I got off one salvo on him.
Seeing my armour slowly whittled away, I decided disgression was the better part of valour. I overheated my MWD and burned away, putting enough distance between him and myself to escape.
After a quick compliment on his skill, I left the system, soundly defeated, my tail between my legs.
Review
This patrol highlighted all of my weak spots, and lays them bare for me to think upon.
First of all, over confidence will get you killed. I underestimated my opponents advantage, and did not act cautiously enough when attacking a new threat. Lesson learned: act with caution against EWar frigates.
That said, I do not know the weakness of the Maulus. I assumed paper thin defenses, but that's not something you can count on when you can't even lock. Does it have low speed? If I destroy his drones, is he out of options? These things I must know.
Second, my piloting skills are terrible. The Kontos Exectuioner largely removed this problem for me, the equipped Webifier allowing me to make mistakes and maintain distance at the same time. I've come this far by working around my problem. I must tackle my failings head on.
Third, I have not considered defenses against EWar. I was unprepared to counter Sensor Damps, despte having lost a ship to one before. I lost a Coercer to a Hookbill wielding a Sensor Damp (I can't find the kill mail... I do however have an odd capsule loss I don't remember). I must find a defense against Sensor damps...
All in all, a reminder that I have much to learn from these shadows.
On a recent patrol, I took my Kataphract Slicer into a Medium complex. The Republic Fleet cruiser gurading it was relatively easy to take down... a close orbit of less than 5km meant it's slow guns couldn't track the agile Slicer.
This was the first time I had entered a Medium Complex, and I was looking forward to finding what targets I would face. A cruiser? A destroyer? What ship would seek to end my Kataphract's survival streak?
A pirate frigate appeared on scanners.
Disappointing, but I readied my weapons, and quickly exained what type of vessel it was.
A Maulus. An Electronic warfare ship, specializing in Sensor Dampening. It also fields drones, making it an excellent kiter.
Sensor Dampeners do exactly as the name suggests. They reduce your locking distance, or increase your locking time. For a kiting ship, this is effectively a combat nullifier... if you can't lock a target at range, your strategy is useless.
But, foolish and cocky from my recent good luck, I attempted to close to short range against the frigate, loading Multi-frequency crystals, determined to brawl the target down.
The Maulus entered, and sure enough, the Sensor Damp hit, bringing me down to a limited lock range. What followed was the most tragic display of piloting on my part, and an excellent display on his. He was similarly fit with a MWD, and could kept out of range of Kataphract, sling-shotting around me with ease, his drones pummeling my ship.
I believe I got off one salvo on him.
Seeing my armour slowly whittled away, I decided disgression was the better part of valour. I overheated my MWD and burned away, putting enough distance between him and myself to escape.
After a quick compliment on his skill, I left the system, soundly defeated, my tail between my legs.
Review
This patrol highlighted all of my weak spots, and lays them bare for me to think upon.
First of all, over confidence will get you killed. I underestimated my opponents advantage, and did not act cautiously enough when attacking a new threat. Lesson learned: act with caution against EWar frigates.
That said, I do not know the weakness of the Maulus. I assumed paper thin defenses, but that's not something you can count on when you can't even lock. Does it have low speed? If I destroy his drones, is he out of options? These things I must know.
Second, my piloting skills are terrible. The Kontos Exectuioner largely removed this problem for me, the equipped Webifier allowing me to make mistakes and maintain distance at the same time. I've come this far by working around my problem. I must tackle my failings head on.
Third, I have not considered defenses against EWar. I was unprepared to counter Sensor Damps, despte having lost a ship to one before. I lost a Coercer to a Hookbill wielding a Sensor Damp (I can't find the kill mail... I do however have an odd capsule loss I don't remember). I must find a defense against Sensor damps...
All in all, a reminder that I have much to learn from these shadows.
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