The First Duel in Ages

Entry: four hundred fifty-three.

System: Mara
Security Status: 0.4
Local Count: 2

It was a long trip from Catch to here. I had a specific plan in mind with this trip, namely setting up a clone to fly with the RUDE pilots and the few in Shadows of the Federation now that that corporation is going full pirate.

Six jumps out in my somewhat unorthodox armor rifter, I see Suddenly Swag pop up in the RUDE public chat. He's looking for a fight, but low-sec is empty tonight. I offer up a duel, being only six jumps out. He agrees, and I continue my course while scanning the market for nearby faction ammo.

I didn't find any. I have lots of crap ammo in the hold, just no faction ammo. These rifters weren't designed for laying the smack-down in PvP, they were designed for tackling the crap out of hostile targets in null-sec fleets and killing drones. I don't use good ammo for killing drones.

With my four hundred plate, one twenty-fives, microwarp, web, and scram, I'm as ready as I'm going to get. I load up Fusion S, expecting an armor rifter.

I jump in Mara, and the location is agreed on as Mara planet two. Swag warps to zero, I warped at fifty. I'm fit to brawl, but I like to leave a little leeway to see if I need to change ammo to EMP S.

As we burn towards each other, I'm not seeing shield related speed, but he's definitely moving at afterburner speed. I microwarp at him, prime my guns, and aggress at fifteen kilometers, web set to overheat.

As I pull in range at about seven kilometers, I'm seeing that I'm having a very hard time with his shields. Thinking perhaps he was shield fit after all, I disarm and swap out for EMP S. Ten seconds pass as he pounds into my shields, stripping them and knocking me into top armor as my guns finish reloading.

Web and scram on him, scram and web on me, I've set the orbit for five hundred to get under his guns, almost certainly bigger than my one twenty-fives. His shields evaporate, but his armor is taking a bit longer than I would like, and I'm nearing a third armor gone.

I overheat the top rack. One twenty-fives can take quite a bit of heat damage even without using paste.

The damage is coming in a little slower now, which is excellent as I'm doing stupid amounts of damage compared to him. His bigger guns are having issues, my one twenty-fives are having a walk in the park. Still, this armor is taking a bit, and I find myself wondering if he's packing a four-hundred plate.

At about forty percent armor, he hits structure. When I hit twenty-two percent armor, his ship crumples in on itself, resulting in an explosion as the warp core blows.

Having aggressed, I've got the GCC. I wait it out while Swag reships. At the end of the timer, I dock up for repairs, and then return to Mara for round two. Planet two is the again agreed upon location, but a hostile cane enters system, so we fleet up and warp to a safe spot. Our duel took place there once we made range on each other.

He burns to seventy kilometers from me, and I wonder what the deal is. I suspect artillery, but I'm not sure. One thing is for sure, however, he's got a microwarpdrive. His speed is cresting thirty-five hundred, and with that speed, he's either uselessly overheating on an armor tank, or he has no tank, or he has a shield tank. EMP S fits the bill two out of three times, so I reload from the Fusion for an armor Rifter that I had prepared.

I wait him out. Patience is key. At seventy kilometers, he isn't doing anything to me, and with my four hundred plate, he's faster by far.

A minute passes. He stops skirting me at seventy and starts coming at me, microwarp off. I told him I wasn't going to blow my cap uselessly chasing him.

Another minute passes, we're within forty of each other. I set my camera bots on his ship, watching his approach, his engine flares, his speed...

Thirty seconds have passed, he's at thirty, and his approach angle is changing. I overload the microwarp on my ship and burn at him. Overheat the web and scram and guns...wait for it...I lock at twenty and my web catches him as a I zip by. I don't zip by too far, however; the overheated web is still holding him at twelve kilometers as two volleys from his guns strip my shields. I microwarp back in at him, land the scram, and set orbit for five hundred.

Up close, he has no chance of hitting me at my speed, and my guns are hitting him just fine. One twenty-fives are boss-mode. His ship makes like the big bang mere seconds after I get in close on him.

We have a good chat afterwards. I never made an attempt to catch his pod. There are multiple reasons, but the most relevant is that he's an acquaintance of Anjali's. He logged off soon afterwards.

Reviewing the first fight, I felt as though the first fight was pretty even. I was using EMP S on his armor tank with one twenty-fives, while he was using Fusion on my armor tank with tech one one-fifties. Given that his active armor tank crumbled before my four hundred plate buffer did however, I'm getting the feel that this four hundred plate microwarp combo is pretty good.

Review of the second fight is of an entirely different issue, coming down to piloting instead of effective hitpoints. By waiting him out, I forced him to approach, and at the right moment I screamed towards him and managed to catch him.


Computer: terminate recording.