Firstly The Bastards have grown, we have joined forces with old pirate corporation The Black Rabbits. Our numbers almost doubled and we have now bunch of guys able not only fly frigates rather well but also project greater force. Our day to day job still involves mainly hunting frigates and smaller targets.
My personal growth in EVE was of a slightly different nature. I established new manufacturing business in my new home and slowly tricking my products onto new market. Fortunately for me Ishimilken is only 8 jumps from Jita, which means there is always a place where one can liquidate some assets and restock ships and modules quickly.
Couple of weeks ago I have finished Gallente Cruisers 5 and immediately purchased new shiny Ishtar. I fitted it for brawling with medium neuts and sets of medium and light drones. My plan was to purchase set of crystal implants and not to undock it until I have full set - ship, implants and pills. Opportunity came knocking on the door sooner than I expected.
I was spinning my new ship in station when Tanner on comms announced 2 Scythe Fleet Issue jumping into Ishomilken and asked if anyone wants to fight them, I looked at my new purchase and though what the hell... We checked pilots killboards and they didn't look particularly frightening, I undocked Ishtar and chase was on. Tanner was flying fast and tanky Wolf and followed Scythes next door to Nikkishina.
I undocked my Ishtar and warped to the gate, Tanner reported one Scythe in medium plex other one was not on scan. Obvious bait is obvious and we wouldn't be worthy The Bastards tag if we didn't take it, Tanner jumped into plex and I jumped into Nikkishina. While warping to the plex smy scanner was sweeping surrounding and unsurprisingly detected second Scythe, it landed on plex gate second behind me. We both were committed and there was no doubt in anyone mind that there is no way back, we will have explosions and someone will be going back home in pod.
Upon arrival I have found Tanner to be deep in armour but both ships very close to me. I quickly neuted Scythe hoping it will release Tanner from it's scram but I was couple of seconds too late. I remember vividly right clicking Gecko in my drone bay and choosing launch, followed by launching group of Valkyries. Now I had to deal with 2 Scythe Fleet Issue and I needed every drop of DPS I could squeeze from my drones. To my utter disappointment it took alot longer than I expected to finish off first Scythe. He had a massive amount of shield and my drones very slowly nibbled it bit by bit. On top of that both enemies put all their neuts on me and were dishing scary amount of damage.
My overheated shield booster was no match for combined assault of those two ships and I was in armour when finally first Scythe yielded to my drones assault. Even before that I knew I am in trouble, second Scythe was untouched and I was out of cap, and out of shield, something was wrong with this fight. my cap booster was reloading slowly and I had healthy supply of them but I could not afford to neut my opponent and he had autocannons which do not use cap anyways.
DPS race was on, can he break me before my drones strip him off his massive shield or will I be able to hold up. Again to my desperation and disappointment my drones had little impact on his shield, my shield booster was repping like crazy but combined force of his drones and autocannons was chipping away bits of my armour in between shield booster cycles. What kind of shield he has I was thinking why is he taking so little damage and then I noticed it... My Gecko, which I though I launched after landing in plex, was still sitting comfortably in my drone bay!
Suddenly my low damage was completely understandable, I immediately recalled Vespas frantically trying to keep my ship intact but it was too late. Before they even made it back to drone bay my newly purchased Ishtar reached it's final destination. To make this loss even more painful both B-Type shield boosted and Gecko dropped as a loot. GF were exchanged in local and this sore looser went back home.
You learn alot from every fight but probably you learn more from loss than from victory. Few things come to my mind when I think about this fight:
- My Gecko didn't launch most likely because I tried to launch it before I have exited from warp and I didn't check if it launched afterwards.
- I bought supply of Blue Pills specifically for this ship and obviously forgot to take them, they were left at the station
- Finally probably most embarrassing admition - I am pretty certain I was stationary in this fight. What can I say, like a complete newbie I was paralysed with excitement and I forgot to move!
If it wasn't for those 3 issues I am certain we would have won that fight, I really like that Ishtar and despite my clear incompetence it was holding up very well in this fight, I have already purchased 2 more and waiting for next opportunity to put them to better use.
