War Record: Cop killer

You know what's frustrating? Patrolling for Crusaders, but finding only Tribal Liberation Forces saturating the contested zones.

Fantastic news for the Republic, and I'm sure a multitude of slaves are embracing freedom for the hundredth time in the never-ending spat between Empires, but for the lowly dog-of-war looking to capture space and take Amarr bounties, it's fairly frustrating.

Still, there are still pockets of Crusade resistance. I eased into system, and warped off to capture a novice complex. I was flying the Agkulis Condor. I don't usually like to capture complexes, least of all in a brawler, but with nothing but allies around, I couldn't think of anything more productive to do.

Quick tip: If you find yourself with nothing to do, think of some way to earn a little bit of extra cash. There's an opportunity cost argument in there somewhere, but basically you should keep yourself doing something. Avoid ship spinning at all costs.

I jumped in, and Scourge rockets popped the Amarr Crusader lackey with ease. I reloaded, starting orbiting the beacon at 500m, and warmed up the weapon systems.

The timer ticked down, and it really looked like I was going to capture the point without incident. For a change, I started orbiting the complex itself rather than the warp-in beacon.

A TLF capsuleer in system commented on my ship's name, but that was the extent of interaction. Not that my ship's name was offensive or even interesting... but that was literally the only thing someone could talk about in system.

Until the police showed up...

Well, the Police Comet.

Piloted by a pirate.

I didn't have time to think about the irony of that, since it jumped straight into my complex and started shooting. Didn't even read me my rights first.

I don't know much about Comet's beyond them being Gallente, and Gallente generally means Blasters. I leapt towards my opponent, starting in a tight orbit, and widening out to the limit of my rocket range(~8km). I intended to fight in the blasters' fall-off.

Rockets flew and little pulse of light erupted from the Comet's guns. My shields took a beating, but just a few pulses of the booster brought them back up.

I took a closer look at the guns, and noticed they weren't blasters at all! He had fit rails! I re-adjusted my orbit to point blank range (500m), and damage to my shields dropped the a trickle.

My neutraliser came into play, and soon it was dead in the water, rockets hammering on its hull, rending great holes in the metal, exposing the soft innards to hard vacuum!

And soon, it was little more than a rapidly expanding cloud of debris!

Victory was mine, and 'gf's were exchanged in local. Remember your post-fight etiquette.

At which point the TLF member who commented on my ship name warped in to the complex. He inquired what 'gf' meant, and I replied 'good fight'. He then made a coarse comment, and that was it for our little interaction. His character was revealed by waiting around the complex to leech the Loyalty Points for capture.

I didn't really care. The LP is a nice bonus, but the loot the Police Comet dropped covered the price of my Condor. The thrill of bringing down a faction frigate in a T1 hull is nothing compared to a few thousand LP, and a solo kill mail is a treasure beyond that of monetary gain. And I picked up some drones too!

Wait, where did the drones come from?

Oh...

Review

I was a little lucky. The Comet was fit for kiting, and was clearly expecting a kiting Condor to match. However, had my reaction of getting into a tight orbit and hitting the scram and web on fast meant he had little chance to escape. There may be something in orbiting the complex as opposed to the warp in spot.

It was good that I checked his weapons early on in the fight. If I had remained out at scram range, eventually his higher firepower (and drones) would have carried the day. I'm pleased that I was able to adapt my strategy mid-fight.

The neutralizer worked out great as a engagement shorten-er. I doubt it was the defining victory module, but I'm reasonably confident it helped speed things up. Against laser ships it'll certainly prove more useful, but in this fight it shut down his armour repairer.

Apparently, the Comet has a complement of drones. I did not realize this, and as such, did not have my drone overview settings open. I didn't even find out about them until after the engagement, when I scooped them into cargo. The oversight here was lack of knowledge. Hardly a fatal error, but something that should be considered for future fights.

About the rather rude TLF member, well, that's an issue I had in the Crusade as well. Nothing much you can do about it. When you're a dog working with other dogs, you can't be surprised if a few of them are mangy or ridden with fleas. Just remember to take a bath regularly and don't hang around the vermin. You might catch their fleas.

Action Plan

Study Gallente ships a little more thoroughly.
Take a bath.


Overall, I'm very happy with this fight. It stands as a shining example of how good planning, and prior knowledge (with a healthy dose of luck!) can give you victory. Even if you fly a T1 attack ship against a faction frigate.

For records of other engagements click here.

Strategikon: Agkulis Condor

I've never liked Caldari ships.

Too many hard lines, and all sense of elegance thrown out the window for practicality and cost efficiency. That's not to say they aren't good ships... I doubt anyone on the wrong end of a Drake's missile tubes would say that. But I do like a bit of style to my ships.

And also speed has been a consideration. Caldari have some of the slowest ships in the universe, and no thick bulkheads to make up for it, instead relying on shields. Fair enough, but flying without a few dozen meters of metal between me and hard vacuum isn't what I call peace of mind.

That said, with Mordu's Legion releasing their own designs, I find myself in need of learning how a Caldari fights. And for that, we'll start at the beginning: The Condor.

This may be a popular ship soon because it's being re-designed. I think I prefer the current design, but can't complain about the new one!

This is an attack frigate, and like all attack frigates is designed to be completely cap stable with tackle and propulsion running. It's also a missile boat, so despite having a definite range limit and lower on paper firepower, you'll be able to put out that damage much more reliably and consistently within your range.

Unusually for a Caldari vessel, it also comes with a utility high-slot, and in fact shares a slot layout with the Slasher. 4-highs and 4-mids make for some interesting choices when it comes to electronic warfare, but 2-lows limits the amount of hull customization you can make.

It's a natural shield tanker (as given by the 4-mids), but there are some inventive armour brawling set-ups out there too. The Condor is actually incredibly versatile, quite a departure from the usual Caldari philosophy of specialization. That said, its bonus only works on Kinetic missiles, so you are restricted in what damage you can apply efficiently.

Without further ado, here's the ship fitting for my Caldari training.

[Condor]

[High Slots]
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Rocket
5W Infectious Power System Malfunction

[Med Slots]
1MN Afterburner II
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Medium Ancillary Shield Booster, Navy Cap Booster 50

[Low Slots]
Damage Control II
Ballistic Control System II

[Rigs]
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Auxiliary Thrusters I
Small Auxiliary Thrusters I

This is a rocket brawler, and the fitting is terribly tight. Similar to most Slasher set-ups, it's designed to get right next to most ship hulls, and gently stab them to death underneath the tracking of their guns. The Condor can do this a little more reliably that it's Matari counterpart, thanks to the use of rockets.

This really is a rather standard flexible brawler. Standard tackle trinity (Afterburner/Webifier/Scrambler) gives you range control, some speed tanking and, of course, the snare to keep people from warping off.

The majority of the tank is in the Medium Ancilliary shield booster. This provides a massive shield repair, if only for a while. It's not designed to be maintained full-time, and once your charges run out, so does your tank. A lot of your survival will come from where you position yourself in a fight. A note on charges: Navy capacitor charges are smaller than common ones, and so you can fit more into your Ancillary booster. They cost a bit more, but if you have access to the militia LP store, they won't hurt too much.

I said that this is a flexible ship, and that your position will keep you alive. Similar to the Rifter, come in close against ships with poor tracking (e.g. lasers), and widen your orbit against those with poor range (e.g. blasters). Rockets will hit reliably out to (nearly!) their maximum range, and will do the same damage at all ranges.

A note on using rockets: Transversal velocity does not affect them, but it will keep you alive against turreted ships. Rockets will do more damage the more you can slow down your opponents. You can rig or implant for better rocket damage (which we'll discuss later), but slowing your opponent down is the only way you can do so in a fight. So land the web/scram first. Then fire rockets.

There's a neutralizer in the utility high. This will drain your opponents capacitor, and leave them more or less helpless. I haven't used this extensively, but it's been done to me a many times before. It can cripple a laser boat, but even has use against other ships. Drain the cap on the enemy well enough, and they won't be able to keep their warp disruption on you. This gives you control over the engagement, in that you can run when you like to.

Procedural Plan

Preferred orbit 

• Start at 500m. 
• Widen to 8km if needed.

Pre-activated modules 

DCU2, AB2, Overheat all

Combat activation order

1. Lock
2. Orbit
3. Webifier
4. Scrambler
5. Rockets
6. Neutralizer
7. Manage heat (Turn off heat on tackle modules first)
8. Shield booster (Re-heat module after deactivating)

Final thoughts

This is very similar to how you fly the Kontarion Breacher. What you lose in firepower and defenses, you gain in lowered signature radius and speed. You also swap out the drones for a neutralizer.

Hard to say which one is better for newer pilots, but I'm more inclined to say Breacher. The drones help you to apply damage at all ranges, while you learn to slingshot kiters, and the greater tank will let you react to changes in fights more comfortably.

I'm also acutely aware that the Mordu's Legion ships, with their warp disruption bonus, are more likely to be suited to kiting. However, as shameful as it is for a Khanid to admit, I'm still learning how to use light missiles.