So I spend a lot of my time learning about PvP. I've flown PvE for almost two years before I joined a PvP corp. There's a funny thing about PvP that I'm finally starting to grasp - bigger is not always better. I've been flying small PvP ships (Interceptors, Assault Frigates) for about 6 months, and I make fewer mistakes than I used to (but I still make them) when taking them into fleet action. I scout pretty well (at least my FCs have said that), but I can fly larger stuff. I'm comfortable in BattleCruisers, and I'm starting to dabble in T2 cruisers (Recons and HICs), and I can fly Battleships.
Or, perhaps I should say, I have the EVE skills to fly Battleships. I've done a little plexing in an RR/Drone Domi, and I've taken a Sniper Mega into two POS battles. The Domi is still around, but both of the Megas died in their first engagements. One was just bad luck (got webbed at a POS bash and alpha'd by the POS gunners), the other was stupidity (never fly a small BS gang without a scout through active enemy space to a POS bash). But seriously, I really don't feel comfortable in those behemoths. Even though I can fit a full T2 Megathron, I don't feel comfortable flying it. Piloting styles are different as your ship gets larger, and flying a Battleship is much like flying a mining barge (in my experience) - big, slow to align, and quick to be targeted. It didn't stop me last night though...
I was in station, dealing with sorting some corp BPs when I started up Vent and looked for fleets. Sure enough, there was a fairly large fleet in action, but nothing in the fleet finder. I started pinging in alliance to find out where they were, what they needed, anything. I'm a team player (not a KM whore) and I'll bring out a ship to help alliance. They were flying sniper battleships at a POS takedown, 16 jumps out, with the last 7 or so in enemy territory. We were warned, enemy is active, and it's goons (a.k.a. SOLODRAKBAN), so be careful. I check in local (we've got 15 alliance in local atm) and only one other guy wants to get into the action, so we set out in our Sniper battleships (Apoc and Mega). That was, as I'm sure you experienced pilots know, our first mistake. Two battleships no scouts, and only intel is that "the road is clear most of the way, but there are goons about."
We get almost all the way to the POS bash (two systems out) when we jump (blind) into a "built-to-kill" gatecamp. Hurricane, Hurricane, Vagabond, Vagabond, Harbinger, Drake, Eris, Heretic, Stiletto, Falcon, Thrasher, Vengance, Cyclone, Stabber, Stabber. Two dictors, AFs, Intys, lots of DPS in Battlecruisers and HACs. I hold gatecloak, analyze the bubble I'm in, and find the nearest edge. Start to burn for the edge, MWD overheated, DCU on. My co-pilot is down in one volley, maybe two, and I'm out of the bubble. Second mistake: I didn't burn for a celestial - just the edge. I'm out of the bubble, and I align to the out-gate (third mistake). The secondary bubbler gets in range and suddenly I'm bubbled again, I'm targeted, and 3-pointed. No MWD, in a bubble, in a Battleship - I lasted maybe 30 seconds. I didn't get my pod out either. Oh well, 10 million isk in upgrading my clone (again). At least the ship was insured, and fitted with mostly T1 mods, so I break (almost) even on the insurance return. So I've flown Battleships twice into PvP combat, and lost them both in their first battles. On the other hand, I lost an interceptor last month that I'd flown regularly for almost 5 months. I'm sure the tides will change, but at this point, I like to fly small ships. I know the cost gets close to a Battleship hull when you fully fit and rig a T2 frigate, and the T2 cruiser is equal in price to a fully fit Battleship (if not more expensive), but I would rather fly those than the sub-capital king.
No comments:
Post a Comment