So, Assault Ships. Those frigates that are so popular right now. I love them, I hate them. I love them, because of what they can do. The firepower they pack in such a small, maneuverable package. I hate them, because I'm still not all that used to them, and I sure don't know what they really can do. The second part of that gets me into trouble more often then not, as either I try to engage something I really shouldn't have, or I don't know the capabilities of the one I'm attacking, and do something I shouldn't.
Case in point, Assault Frigate IV had just finished training, and I was eager to get out and try them. I hadn't done too much on what the FOTM frigates were yet, but as I had enjoyed flying the shield-fit Firetail, I figured the next step from that would be to grab a Jaguar. I figured it would act like a tankier, and gankier Firetail, with a little less speed, and, I wasn't disappointed with that. Roaming around, I eventually found a fight with it, there were two pilots in system Phloater of the Tuskers, and one other.
Crossing my fingers that it wasn't the Tusker, I loaded Barrage and set orbit to 6km hoping to stay out of his optimal, and I jumped to the planet he was on scan towards. Landing, and seeing that it was the Tusker, I wound up my Afterburner and went for it. Lock. Scram. Squeeze the trigger and start firing the Autocannons and launching the rockets. His shields fall quickly to the hail of metal slugs and rockets, but his armor holds well. My shields start failing before too long. Looking down at all the modules I have active and starting to push my afterburner to overheat and try get out, I notice that I had never turned on my webifier. Pushing my ship to it's limits trying to get out still wasn't enough, as his railguns punched a final hole in the hull.
Lots of mistakes in that fight, from not looking at what guns he had, to not using my web. Did I have a chance? If I had flown perfectly, it could have ended differently, but that's the fun in this game. Mistakes happen, and even if you should win, you won't always.
Having a couple of Wolves in my home station, along with the couple of Jaguars that I had intended to use first, I decided to fit one of those up as a brawler and use that as something different. Pretty soon the call came in that atanV had found a Myrmidon running missions, and was probing him down. Heading his way, he soon called that he was warping into the mission, and would call when he landed point. Shortly after that he gave the call for me to come in and warp to him. The Wolf hit warp and soon enough I landed there and started to primary the battlecruisers drones. It didn't take long until he was starting to pull them in so we wouldn't kill them, reducing his damage output considerably. Starting to work on the Myrmidon itself, it was soon crumbled under the autocannons of my Wolf and the Stabber Fleet Issue atan was flying. On comms with atan before it popped we decided that I would drop point and go for the pod. Catching it, we right away invited him to the ransom channel, which he decided to decline that, and forfeit is rather expensive pod.
Liking the Wolf more and more, I started to use it as my primary ship. Flying it out to Ansou, I had a Rifter and Taranis on scan. I attempted to find the Rifter, but it was bouncing around to various celestials, and then safed up. Figuring that my Minmatar frigate would be a good match for the Interceptor that was flying around, I loaded Fusion, hoping that it would be a brawler of some sort. Landing at the planet the 'ranis was at, we both came towards each other, and landing a hit that wiped his shields clear out in one volley, I figured this could be an easy fight, until I realized that I had missed my scram at the same time, and he got himself out to 15km and proceeded to pick away at my shields with his railguns. After attempting to sling him into range once, with no success, I decide to get out of there before he breaks my cap, as I'm needing to rep his damage in my armor now. I overheat my MWD and align out, just as I notice the rifter landing on grid with us.
Heading back home to Iges, it wasn't long before I notice the Rifter pilot. Knowing for sure now that he's with the Taranis, I figure that I'll give it another shot. Scanning the rifter down to belt 4 in the VIII cluster, I warp in and engage. Taking his shields out in two volleys, and making quick work of the tech one frigate's armor, the Taranis lands 10km off of us. With the Rifter out of the way I get to focusing on the Taranis again, but even with Barrage, he's still too far out of my Autocannon's range to land decent hits, and is steadily running me out of cap with the use of my armor rep. As his orbit came around behind me, I aligned to the sun and burned out my MWD as I got out of there. GFs were exchanged in local as I docked up and repaired.
Once again, back in the Amoen/Avaux loop, it's quiet until I get to Avaux. Getting in there, I scan down Oneida27 in an Omen, sitting on the station. Normally people on stations don't make me think twice, but being that he's flashy red and had cost me a kill earlier, I decide to go in for it. Landing quite far from him as I warp to the station, I dock up quickly, so I'd hopefully be by him on the undock, and I was correct. Locking up and opening fire, he launches his drones. Blasting his shields in a couple volleys, his drones quickly work through mine, so I decide they're the biggest issue here, as his lasers aren't tracking my Wolf at all. Soon enough he's microing them in whenever they take damage, so I decide that's the time to overheat the autocannons and blast into his ships tank. With my nos stealing the capacitor to fuel my rep, I'm able to shrug off most of the remaining damage from the drones, along with the odd hit his Cruiser is able to land, but his armor is failing under the constant gunfire. Soon enough his structure gives out, and I go to scoop the loot, when I notice I hadn't deposited the loot from an earlier kill, and am unable to grab everything. About to warp out and drop a can, Phjil, his corp mate comes out in a Thorax, and I decide to just leave what's there. Pondering going for Phjil yet, I decide that discretion is the better choice here, as I've got a full cargo of modules that are good for the bank account.
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