So after the Stabber kill/loss to the drake in my last blog post, I took a few days off of my low-sec roams to jump back into my training clone, and to run some missions to fill the wallet again.
So on Saturday I got back into an empty clone, and jumped in one of my rifters to go out in low-sec again. Eventually finding a Catalyst on D-Scan in Sirekur, and seeing he was a fairly new pilot, I figured he would be a good first target for the evening. That said, I had it in my mind that the Catalyst was a frigate, not a destroyer, so I didn't think I had much to worry about (Lesson 1: make sure you actually check out what kind of ship you're facing, if you aren't sure). Warping in on him in an asteroid belt, he's fighting some rats and is at about half shield. I hit my afterburner and hit approach, hoping that he won't warp off before I close the 10km I needed to get into scram range. Closing in on him, I get my scram, web, and nos on him and start blasting. The remainder of his shields don't last long, but then I realize that even though he's webbed, I have next to no transversal on him, and he hits me pretty hard a couple times, doing some major damage to my shields. That's when I realized that since I had hit approach to close in as fast as I could, I had never switched it over to orbit afterwards, and then rammed him a couple times (Lesson 2: Pay attention to how your ship is flying, and make sure you're using the right commands). Luckily for me, by this time he's gotten through my shields, his armor is gone and I'm starting to get hits into his hull. By the time he kersplodes I'm at around half armor, with my armor rep running full time.
It wasn't my best performance of all times, and his fit wasn't anything to write home about, but I'm happy enough to get another destroyer kill under my belt. Waiting out my GCC I get my loot back to Rens and put most of it on the market before heading back out. Doing a quick lap through some of the low-sec systems, I find nothing and log off for a while to do some things around the house.
I come back a few hours later, and not too long after I see an Incursus on scan in Holfjalgund. We both seem to be hunting each other, as she appears/disappears on d-scan a few times, and I see her warping out of a belt. Eventually we find each other and engage, setting into my 500m orbit, her Incursus blasts right through my shield and is into my armor well before I'm half through her sheild. Thinking I my be in trouble I was really wishing I was a few days ahead on getting my Thermodynamics trained. Once she started hitting my armor though, the damage really seemed to hit a wall, and I was able to keep my armor in fairly good shape while I slowly worked through the shields. Eventually the shields fall, but I keep my focus on pulsing my armor rep and not running out of cap; the last thing I wanted to happen was to lose a kill because I had to drop my web or afterburner to keep the scram up. I was really surprised the next time I looked up and saw that the Incursus' armor was gone, and was deep into structure already. A few seconds later, There was a pod in space where the Incursus was. I was quite happy with this win, though the pilot was younger then I. I was even happier about getting two kills without losing a ship.
To round out that night, I ended up playing chicken with two Thrashers. I kept warping to 50 or 100k out, trying to get a look at them. I saw the one, and right away noticed that it was an AC fit. Not a chance I wanted to fight a 2008 character with a fit like that. After a half hour or so of back and forth trying, I never did end up seeing the other Thrasher.
That is, until this morning. Seeing the same guy in local as the thrasher I never saw yesterday (NegativeTimmy Trald) I don't pay too much attention to it, until I warp to a gate and see him there. Being my newbish self, I don't think to look at him then to see what kind of guns he has fit. Also seeing another target (though I can't recall what it was) on D-scan, I warp to the asteroid belt nearby, not thinking too much about the thrasher who is right next to me as I warp. Another mistake I made right then? Warping in to zero. Soon after I land, and see the guy I was thinking about engaging, the Thrasher warps in on top of me, It doesn't take long and I'm in my pod and warping out. That's life as a pirate.
Going and grabbing another Rifter, I head right back into low-sec, knowing another person not to pick a fight with. Eventually I get to Siseide and see a Claw on D-Scan. Thinking that if I get lucky, and can get right on top of him, it may be fragile enough that I can burn it before it'll kill me. Narrowing his location down to an asteroid belt, I warp in, and find myself within 10k of the Claw. Locking on and getting my scram on I set my orbit to 500 and web him. Soon enough though, I can tell this isn't going to go how I had hoped. His damage output was much higher then I had expected, and I don't think I even made it through his shields before I popped.
After those two losses today, I figured it was about time to get back into my training clone and focus on making some money again. My next batch of rifters should also have T2 armor reps/damage controls, so that should help with my tank. Once I've got the training done for that, I'm going to shift my focus completely onto getting Thermodynamics going, and get that to at least three, probably four before I start training other skills again.
I look forward to seeing how things turn out once I get back out there.
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