OK, this is the story about the one that got away. It was THIIIISSSSS big, I tell you!
It was, too.
So there I was in the Kaimon belts, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a feller named SirCoWart of Fanatic’s Inc. [FANS]. He was mining in a Raven battleship and jetting his ore into a can, alternating between tech one mining drones and tech one combat drones. I had to look. Yes, he was all of one month and five days old.
If there was ever a mining battleship that I could kill in my combat Crane, it would be this one. Breaking the tank with one heavy missile launcher, that’s always going to be the problem. But who is to say that he has a tank at all?
The attempt, it must be made. It may cost me a Crane, but unless he’s specifically tackle fit and baiting for ruffians like me, I ought to have speed on him and be able to get away regardless.
So, in to his can, flip his can, and hit the orbit button. He wastes no time in locking me up and firing at me with what feels like a couple of cruise missiles. Tickles, but not painful. For me it’s turn on the warp disruptor and heavy missile, away!
Of course, he’s in a corp, and my biggest worry is that he’ll summon friends. So I’m watching local like a fanatic. Meanwhile, he’s showing no sign of active tank, and my missiles are chewing nicely through his passive regen. My own passive regen does the trick until he launches his drones, and then I need a few rep cycles. But he just plain doesn’t have the DPS to break my tank. I can do this until I run out of missiles. Phew!
When his shields drop to about 20%, he turns on a booster. Oddly, it doesn’t have the oomph to fill him back up; even when I pause to reload missiles, he doesn’t get back to full, though he gets close. We go through several cycles of this, and each time, his shields are lower. It’s a near thing, but I feel like I am indeed getting ahead of his tank.
What’s more, his time to summon friends is running out — looking at the timers, his corp aggro against me is down to its last minute. If something doesn’t happen soon, he’s going to be toast, and I’m going to have the kill of my Crane career.
Finally, he realizes he’s got a problem, and commences to beg in local for some assistance:
[22:40:59] SirCoWart > anyway wanna help me kill this pirate in Kaimon 3 belt 3 ?
Of course I deny being a pirate and explain that I plan to keep shooting until I run out of missiles. I might have been better off staying silent, because two things happened pretty much simultaneously, either one of which were fatal to my evil plan. First, I ran out of Fury missiles, and the backup Caldari Navy ones just weren’t hitting as hard. Second, an unaffiliated Basilisk showed up and started repping my friend in the Raven. So, that meant it was pretty much all over.
Drat.
We exchanged some friendly words in local (he admitted he got lucky) and some more in private; he even linked me his fit, which confirms my suspicion it was a near-run thing. He had four mining lasers, two cruise launchers, a salvager and a tractor high. Mids were a large best named shield booster, a boost amplifier, ballistic and thermal amplifiers, and a couple of cap rechargers. Lows were a damage control, three ballistic controls, and a large armor repper. Rigs were all cap controls.
A pilot that young has GOT to be very short on basic support skills to be in a Raven at five weeks old, which explains how I was getting past that one large shield repper; even with all that cap gear, he could not keep it fed. So, I assume, the armor repper would not have done him any more good.
Moral of the story: carry more missiles, and keep mouth shut in local.
Thanks to SirCoWart for being cool about it and providing me with an excellent challenge! I don’t blame you for saving your boat by whatever means necessary, but words cannot describe how badly I wanted to see it go “Kaboom”.
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