Finding myself with an hour of freetime this morning I decided to log on an alt I've been training up and head out to low-sec for some fun. With just a basic Rifter fit and a desire to kill, I set out on my way. The area was quiet. Seven systems in a row with little or no activity. Then, upon entering the last system on my predetermined route, I spot three Rifters and a Hookbill on D-scan. Only six in local, one is me, one is a 3 day newb, the other four are piratey types. YESSS!
I make sure to be spotted on d-scan and begin hitting the belts. While leaving the third belt, a Rifter lands just as I enter warp. This gives me enough time to get the pilots name and look him up quickly. Now, sitting in a safe and aligned, I put out a request in local. "Hey (name-withheld) wanna 1v1?".
The response was delayed. By now these guys have figured out I'm in a safe and ganking me probably won't happen as easily as they thought. After four minutes I finally get a response. "Sure. Pick a belt or a planet." So I warp to a belt and give my location in local. I've warped in at "0" hoping this pilot is not an arty rifter coming for me at range, if so I'm screwed. Nope, He's standard fit, and lands 2200 off me.
And so it begins. Immediately we lock and point each other. What? No web? I'm not webbed? He's way out DPS'ing me but now I begin pulsing my AB, messing up his tracking just enough for me to hold on. Due to fitting issues on this new alt I'm using 125's and tracking just fine. Then, I capped out. That's right, completely dead as far as cap goes. Web and scram drop, I'm into hull and no juice to run the repper. So I start pulling away hoping to get some regen while outside gun range. The other rifter was already aligned to something the whole time, no idea why, he was winning. So I'm quickly able to get out to 25k from him.
Now this guy's buddies begin showing up. But they are 50-75k from the warp in and sitting still. Good, they aren't going to interfere. I spot my opponent turning towards me and see his speed rising. This new alt has really only basic skills so I need to relock as I've gone out of targeting range by now. The distance is closing quickly and at 18k I begin clicking in space, spinning my ship up then around, getting some transversal and hoping he glides right into my waiting web. I'm not going to point him this time. That might sound stupid to you but my reasoning is that he probably won't run with his buddies watching, he's not MWD fit, and I just need whatever cap I can save.
The fight resumes. Same as before. I'm not webbed? This time I settle my orbit in as close as possible and hope for the best. I'm getting smashed again, but so is this guy. He's not repping anymore! His point drops! He's capped out! I've got enough for one or maybe two cycles on my repper. I'm below half structure at this point and screaming at my repper to "hurry-the-fuck-up" thru it's cycle. And yes, just enough armor to hold on for another few seconds. The other Rifter is about 90% structure now. Then 75%, then 50%, then 25%. I'm almost thru his hull and I'm sitting here on fire with about 10-15% hull left on my own ship. Then the shiney explosion. It's him, he's popped. I instinctively lock the pod, then think better of it and warp the hell out. His buddies might not let me get away with podding this dude.
I get convo'd by the dead rifter's pilot. He thanks me for the fun then immediately starts in with the excuses. That's pretty normal. A lot of people feel it necessary to tell you all the reasons they think they lost. But this guy begins telling me his web was offlined from burning out his mids earlier, repairing in station, then forgetting to online it before undocking. That makes sense. It's unfortunate for him, nice for me. Even so, this guy had everything else going for him, gang bonus's I'm sure, a ton more SP's, more DPS, more tank, better cap, etc. I may sound arrogant but I think I just flew better, I never once saw this guy give any indication of manual piloting or deviating from any of the basic tactics. It was a nice feeling to out fly that guy.
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