War Record: College Boys

So back in the saddle at last.

I went out on patrol in my Xiphos Executioner. Simple scram range kiter, with a single ancillary armour repairer for defense.

It would be fair to say the Executioner is one of my favourite frigates, and hardly qualifies as Amarrian at all. Yes it has lasers, and the shiny hull, and yes it prefers an armour tank. But it's design focus is downright Minmatar.

A slim profile, and basically all engines with pulse lasers attached, this ship is designed to control range and apply firepower. Not much for cheap tricks (although I do have a couple of ideas that might surprise), but a very capable skirmish ship, fighting out in scram range.

A laser boat that can dictate range is king. Your weapons have phenomenal projection in warp jammer ranges, and very strong damage output. A speedy ship with lasers on it needs some kind of unusual strategy to counter it, be it dual propped Firetails, sensor damped kiters or neuting Slashers.

A little interesting fact, tracking on pulse lasers being what it is, you'll hardly ever want to switch from Scorch. Unless you ca be sure of an orbit at 4km, you'll be far more effective using Scorch. Less than 4km, and you'll be hitting nothing anyway.

And also... have you seen this thing in Matari space?

Crimson metal... I love it!

I warped out of Hek and entered the warzone.

A few jumps in I saw my first complex. A novice, with apparently some Rifters sitting in it. I eyed up local, and it was full of people doing things.

Nothing else for it... I had to check and see if they were friendly, and jumped in to the plex. Damn the odds, I've got a job to do!

Neutrals.

After a fashion.

I locked them up, and orbited at 8km, lasers blazing away in the void. Shields stripped quickly on both sides. Armour Rifters, meaning this was going to be a close fight. And 2 vs. 1 meant the tough was all on me.

Bullets rained in from all sides, but the Rifters could not close distance on me. The first one popped, and although my nanite paste had run dry, my little Executioner hadn't broken a sweat!

It was close between myself and the last Rifter. My capacitor eventually depleted, and he got away,

The plex was mine! But with weapons overheated and nanite depleted, I was in no position to hold it. I warped out to my perch.

Good fights were exchanged in local, and the two neutrals showed themselves to be some fresh faced university graduates trying out the Warzone for fun. Not a particularly grand victory, but not bad for two on one!

I gave them some advice then went to find some extra nanite paste. This ship was not allowed to make it back to Hek. And of course, this kill puts me no closer to getting to the next rank in the militia. Still have some work to do!

Good luck in the future Gardner Khronnus and your buddy whose name I didn't catch! A little more training and you would have had me. I recommend switching to Slashers right now. Rifters are excellent with Barrage, but if you can't use it, the knife fighting Slasher is a little easier to use.

Review

Never underestimate the enemy... but equally, never forget how capable you are.

War Record: The First Week

Whilst I'm not strictly at war with anyone, I still like to prepare reports. It's a good tool for skill development.

My initial hunts didn't turn up much, but the behavior of capsules in the Federation/State war zones is... odd.

I found a Caldari State militia man defending a complex with a Venture mining frigate. Despite it being a civilian ship, he was participating in a combat role, so I engaged. Unfortunately the Venture's overpowered warp coils escaped my warp scrambler.

Quite why he was in a mining frigate is beyond me, but his ship is well equipped for running away. I'd like this to be an isolated incident, but, well... read on.

The second target I found was a kiting Tristan. The Tristan is a drone specialist ship, sporting 5 of the little bees at any one time. A very flexible ship, able to deal damage effectively at any range, due to it's drones. Brawling fits are typical of brawlers (very tough and damaging), whilst kiters, again, are typical, if a bit on the slow side.

I affectionately dub this ship the War Bunny.

When fighting a kite Tristan, there are two possible tactics. Simply engage, ignoring the drones, treating as a regular turreted ship, or target their swarm, crippling the damage output.

Initially, I treated it as a normal turret ship. However, my attempts at a slingshot were thwarted quite handily, so I set to destroying his drones instead.

The fight ended with me unable to catch the frigate itself, but taking out his entire complement of drones. Cost of rockets used was much less than the cost of the drones, so, despite a lack of kill mail, I'll count it as a victory.

The rest of the week devolved into several cat and mouse games, with no real engagement, except for this peculiar kill.

An unfit Executioner, defending a complex. Even more strangely, the pilot self destructed his capsule, even before I had a chance to lock him again. Not that I would destroy his pod, but I stayed to watch him commit suicide, simply out of curiosity.

I'll say this for the Minmatar Republic. They're not as weird as the Gallente and Caldari.

Review

My hunting strategy isn't getting me any worthwhile engagements. I shall need to think upon this some more.

War Record: Routine patrol

Today I completed a routine patrol of the Crusade conquest zones.

Why? Well, whilst I hardly think of myself as a mercenary, there were a few items in the loyalty store I wanted for my projects, and needed to endear myself to the armorer. I also felt a little guilty about leaving the front lines so abruptly.

In any case, I planned my patrol as usual, hitting Minmatar held complexes, as usual, flying my favorite frigate, the Kontos Executioner. It's upgraded a little now, since my fitting skills allow a bit more power, but the idea is the same.

Nothing much of importance happened. A few ships dropped in on me as I was capturing, but wisely thought better of tackling a Khanid fighter! My fellow crusaders have been doing well in my absence, so there were few systems for me to capture in.

On the way back I noticed a friendly complex whose cloak had failed, and went to provide cover until they repaired it.

Another Executioner appeared on scans.

After a quick comment to the complex crew not to panic, I readied my weapons, and the capsuleer working for the Minmatar entered.

The fight was short, and altogether uneventful. I was a little rusty, allowing the other ship to graze my armor, but he was defeated in good order.

I sent him a quick courtesy, which was ignored. No matter.

After the complex was restored, I flew back to my staging area, and repaired my ship, and went to smile sweetly at the loyalty store vendor.

Review

My piloting was sloppy. I failed to maintain my orbit of him, and lost warp disruption twice, and over compensated my orbit allowing him to get close. Foolish.

It was not a display of my skill, but more accurately his pilot errors. Even when I was close enough to his scrambler range, he failed to shut down my Micro Warp Drive. I was lucky.

I must maintain better discipline when it comes to orbiting. I think perhaps my early tent-pegging exercises are no longer enough.

I will begin working on my manual piloting skills.

War Record: Honourable Rebel

Today I lost a Kontos Executioner.

Kill mail

Very briefly, I was surprised by the auto-canons hitting me out to 12km, and made the mistake of believing them to be artillery. I closed to range to finish him off... where his rocket launcher made short work of me. A shame, as the foe had burned out his weapons trying to kill me. I could have won, if I stuck to my strategy.

Review

Trust in the strategy if you are winning.


However, the pilot was gracious in victory, offering me his fit so I could see how I lost. We had a nice post match discussion, and he admitted he couldn't believe how much trouble he had with me. I take the compliment, since I am still a very poor pilot.

He was even gracious enough to give me some information about his corporation and where they operate. I appreciate this. When I set up my own Savaran, I will base it in a system where the most tenacious and skilled pilots are. My own pilots will need the practice.

Details aside, the best thing one can do after a fight is engage your fellow pilot in conversation. Polite conversation I might add.

I don't believe in the so-called 'smack talk' which is the posturing of inexperienced pilots who only seek a superficial rush of adrenaline in combat. This kind of pilot will inevitably find himself humilated as he strokes his own ego at the expense of others.

Far better to be like the honourable warrior who discussed tactics with me. I may have lost a frigate, but I come out of it with valuable information. He has his kill mail, denies me my objective, and also comes out with information, improving upon his victory. Had he reverted to tribal chest-thumping, he would have lost this opportunity to learn more of his enemy.

I hope to meet this man in battle again. I hope to fight his Firetail once more. This, I believe, is why so many are fascinated with this solo patrolling.

I still have to explain to my King exactly why I lost my frigate to a ship with no guns. That's not a conversation I relish.

My kill counter will revert back to 0. Five more to go, before I allow myself to command a fleet.

Hunting Ghosts

I was flying back after an extended patrol in space.

There were no engagements so far. The Republic seemed unwilling to fight with me that day. No matter. I had a productive time capturing some minor stations deep in enemy territory. The Republic will pay for its lack of defense when these systems are made vulnerable.

Entering a system, I noticed a war target broadcasting in Local communications. My sensors picked up the distress call from a minor training outpost. Readying my defenses, I warped to the invader! He would pay for threatening such young recruits!

I leapt into the complex, ready to do valiant battle.

My foe wisely turned tail, and fled, before my warp disruptor could catch him. The outpost recruits thanked me, and I defended the system until they could bring up their cloaking systems again.

As I was about to leave, a distress beacon was lit in system again, this time a small patrol fleet discovering they were the target of a Republic mission.

Two stealth bombers appeared in Local, and I hunted them down, daring them to engage the fleet so I could ambush them in return.

Eventually, they decided my pulse lasers were too much of a threat, and left the system, their objectives thwarted, at least for now.

Minmatar aggression subdued, and without firing a shot I might add, I continued on my journey home.

On my flight back, there were many targets of opportunity. Many small stations were captured without retaliation.

Some of the braver Republic pilots scouted my operations, including another elite Firetail, but declined combat. Their reasons are their own, but I saw none for them to give up their complexes to me without a fight. They were content to menace me from the furthest extent of my scanners.

These are minor victories. No kill mails are attached to them, but each one furthers the Crusade's objectives. Remember, it is capturing points that will win this war, not the number of wrecks floating in system.

This should be your mind set when engaging in combat. You are there to deny your opponent his objectives, and further your own. This is best achieved through careful planning and maneuvering. Once you come into contact with the enemy, you invite variables which can lead to you losing your objectives.

That's not to say you flee from combat. But choose the fights that further your goals, rather than simply attacking the first thing that moves. Ships are expensive, and you shouldn't treat fighting in one like a drunken bar brawl.

War record: I-Hub siege

Shortly after my initial sortie, a call went out to an Infrastructure Hub siege, commonly referred to as a 'bash'.

Once a system is taken to a vulnerable state, the I-Hub structure becomes open to attack. The attacking force then spends a long time focusing fire on it to capture. I will write a Strategikon post on this later, once I am in a position to enact good strategies for this.

I flew to the bash. It was a relatively small group, but I was shown immediately that my Kontos Executioner is unsuited for the task. A mere 120dps was barely registering compared to the battlecruisers and stealth bombers hammering the structure.

Nevertheless, victory comes with taking systems, and so I set my frigate to hammering the station, whilst researching viable siege ships.

About half an hour into the bash, everything went bad.

The I-Hub was brought to 50% shield strength when a Minmatar fleet of missile cruisers and battle cruisers dropped in, scattering the Crusade's siege fleet.

I was caught unawares, but remembered my running orders. I picked a target, orbited and took him down, before warping out.

I very nearly escaped, but unfortunately, the frigate was lost to combined fire from many cruisers.

I escaped in my pod to a celestial, and retreated back to the staging area. The loss of my first Kontos Executioner is not a heavy blow. It was able to garner about 20,000 Loyalty Points before exploding. More than enough to cover it's cost, with some profit, and I still have 9 back at the staging area, ready to go.

Review

It was short-sighted of me not to notice the sudden increase of Minmatar militia in the system. I must keep an eye on local chat for sudden population increases.

Equally short-sighted is not having a ship ready for siege work. I will research this thoroughly, and have a ship waiting at my staging area for such tasks.

The siege was a failure due to the low firepower brought to the field. Strategies for bringing firepower must be found.

War record: First Kill

This was the first time I used the Kontos Executioner. Apologies for the late posting, but I had no idea how to post information about the kill. Turns out it was rather easy, a subject for a later discussion.

A course was plotted throughout The Bleak Lands, starting at Kamela.

Strategy:

• Offensive capturing of points.
• Fly high orbit of structure
• Utilize Tent-pegging

Kamela is a popular staging area. There are probably good duels to be had here, but I dislike it due to the high population.

Lamaa by comparison was nearly empty. I warped to a Novice complex, and began my strategy. Whilst I waited, I made myself a cup of coffee. I didn't have to wait long.

A Firetail appeared on D-scan outside my complex.

Adrenaline kicked in, and my hands started to shake. The enemy appeared in the complex, I clicked to lock and started to orbit, pulse lasers pummeling purple destruction into the foes frigate.

So far so good.

He managed to close to 13km, and I activated my web, pinning him back. His shields went down.

He closed again to 13km, and I clicked my web, but it did not activate! The overheat had shut down, reducing it's effective range to 10km!

He closed the gap rapidly at that point. A warp scrambler landed, killing my MWD. He was faster than me, with better tracking.

I fumbled the crystal switch, loading Multi-frequency crystals. He was into armor now, but my flimsy shields were failing.

I noticed I was simply traveling in a straight line, easy prey for his guns!

His bullets crashed into my ships plating, armor stripping off with every shot.

And then suddenly... his ship vanished.

All that was left was a rapidly expanding cloud of debris.

I had won.

I complimented him on the fight, and thanked him for his participation in my first kill. He took it badly, but I was too high on victory to care. His loot was mine, and the complex captured, and my first kill is now a Faction frigate in a common hull.

I retreated to a station to repair my armor.

Review

After the fight, I realized that letting him close the distance could have been easily avoided. Making sure the web is over-heated is crucial to maintaining distance from the target.

I fumbled the crystal switching, leading to valuable seconds of damage lost.

I was also remarkably lucky. Not only was his ship set up for close range fighting, but he did not even have long range ammunition ready.

In retrospect, traveling in a straight line at the end probably gave me the victory. He had far better tracking than I did. It would have been better for him to be on a tight orbit, where my pulses would have trouble hitting him.

And finally, when I am in an engagement, I must remember to put the coffee cup down. It was only after I looted the wreck I realized I was still holding it.

Appendix: Those cunning enough to check the rest of my kills will see a number of losses before the Firetail, and a 'kill'. I assure you, I was nowhere near that Incursus when it exploded. That pilot beat me without breaking a sweat.

Strategikon Arcani: Tent-pegging

A practice drill used by ancient Khanids to perfect lancing techniques.

The drill is simple. A small object is placed on the ground, often a ring or a tent peg. A rider must charge at it, and pick the object off the ground with his lance or spear. It teaches accuracy in the placement of the lance, and also controlling the distance at which you approach the peg.

Why is this relevant to space-ships? Kiting.

Kiting is a tactic of using a long range weapon system, and keeping the enemy at distance. You can hurt him, and he can't hurt you.

This is smart, and is actually my preferred tactic. A traditional weapon of the Khanid is the kontos, a cavalry spear about four meters long. It requires two hands to use it effectively, meaning you control your mount with your knees, and you can't carry a shield. However, it has the excellent advantage of length.

It other words, all the danger happens at the other end of the stick.

With that in mind, I present you with my first series of ships:

Kontos Executioner

This ship is fragile, but has relatively good range in the world of frigates. It does require a high degree of training to use. You will need strong Engineering training, and also should be well versed in Advanced Weapon Upgrades to be able field it. Alternatively, you can use Implants to make up the difference whilst you train in these areas.

The kontos is still a melee weapon. Like the ancient weapon this frigate also uses close ranged weapons. Accuracy will be higher, as given by the tracking of close ranged weapons, but is not a true long ranged set up. Caution must be used in maintaining range.

As I am a terrible pilot, this is a good set up for me. The tactic is simple: Maintain distance.

• Overheat weapons and web.
• Orbit the enemy at 15km, using the MWD
• Fire.
• Manage heat.
• If the enemy closes to 13km, use the overheated web.
• If the enemy closes and lands a scram on you, switch to Multi-frequency crystals, and hope God is smiling on you that day.

In essence, you will practice tent-pegging. Control the distance, and keep your guns accurate. Overheating the web is important, as an overheated Warp Scrambler can hit out beyond 10km. Once that lands on you, your MWD shuts down, and your speed advantage is gone.

The caveat to this, is that you'll be controlling the ship with your knees. Be wary of the enemy frigate's movements, but focus on the range for now. Work on the more subtle placements of the ship later.

My code urges me to learn, so if there are any suggestions anyone has, please let me know.

(I also apologize for the horrible layout. I'm still learning to use this blasted technology.)