[AAR][SOLI] Solitude Vexor Vengeance 22JUN

[Elihugh Beecher]

Well, in my previous AAR, I predicted that the time was coming soon when I'd have to explain some losses. Looks like I was right, though I had hoped that there would be a few more kills to offset them.

Anyhoo, the fleet was set for BLAP Vexor doctrine, and previous experience had prepared me for having around ten pilots show[1]. Ten is definitely light for the doctrine, and in this case we had only nine, but we had two logi to six DD, so we went for it. Undocked GW at 0215.

Roam members (9)

Spoiler

Almasy Seifer
Elihugh Beecher
Floki Askold
Kai-Alon Deninard
Luca Goh
Sioban Mernher
Tasha Menne
Exorcist Wraith
Yuri Levnik

Taking a WH from Aeter to Labapi (Minmatar/Amarr FW zone), we found the pockets populated, but few pilots actually out in space. I was banking on this area not seeing frequent Uni visits to be a help in finding content, as not as many folks would recognize a Uni scout appearing in local. I still think that's a valid tactic, but we were getting no action apart from a couple gate-crashing VNIs and a number of fast-aligning frigates which we couldn't catch[3].

Dotlan was showing some recent action up ahead in Kourmonen, so I gave the scout the heads up, and within seconds of jumping in, he reported two destroyers in a Medium Outpost. I opined in Mumble regarding the probability of this being bait, with which the 2IC agreed wholeheartedly, but as our F1 fingers were getting itchy, I had the scout head in for tackle, and jumped the fleet when he announced that he was sliding the gate. Did I mention we figured it was a trap?

When the fleet landed on the gate, imagine our surprise to find an Eos there, still decelerating from its own warp. I had about a third of a second to evaluate this data before the Barghest and Keres landed in company. While sliding the gate into the medium would have been a valid option, I scattered the fleet instead, and we managed to evade and escape into the next system, suffering little more than some salt in Local from our new playmates. I did not want a fight with these three, despite their insistence that the Eos carried no boosts, the Barghest was totally fail-fit, and my two T1-fit Augorors could easily rep twice the damage they could project. I was resolute, that I wouldn't fall for that, no matter how many systems they followed us into while repeating it (correct answer: four).

In Sahtogas, they managed to catch one of us at the gate. While leaving him to suffer an ignominious fate would have been the smart thing to do... It isn't what we did.

We went back in, and landed at a really poor position relative to the hostiles. The Barghest was closest, and I was able to put point on him right away, so naturally he became the primary, despite me knowing that he could slip away without even overheating. Which he did. We had the Eos damped eight ways to Sunday but he had had time to get his drones to work already. And after switching targets, we found ourselves unable to break his local reps. Then their Blackbird showed up on grid, and I bailed what was left of my command. But I gave them some praise in Local as we warped out. More salt followed.

Kills and Losses
(03:16:58) Sahtogas
Vexor -17.2m
Vexor -18.46m
Augoror -12.25m
Vexor -16.46m
Capsule -0.01m

With no cap chain to support my remaining Augorer, we took the three jumps back to our WH system, to reship or call the fleet, and since a couple pilots were getting close to their drop times, we disbanded back at GW at roughly 0340.

Lessons Learned:
1. This may be a bad timeslot to run fleets out of Solitude, or perhaps the 10-12 pilots we've been getting is pretty much the hard limit based on campus population. I can and will mess with fleet times to see if I can find improvements in the numbers, but probably...
2. I should not have undocked a cruiser fleet this small. The Vexors are a versatile and powerful doctrine, but they aren't for small gangs. When Titus says 20 ships is the effective minimum, he knows of which he speaks. Frigates would have been a better choice.
3. More tackle, more tackle, more tackle.
4. Stick with your first instinct. I didn't want to take this fight when I had something resembling good positioning back there at the outpost, so why in the world did I take it when they had the initiative and the "wind gauge"? Honest answer: I'd gotten tired of running. And that was the real trap they'd set.
5. Primary selection was backward. My thinking at the time was I knew that Eos was going to be tanky, and also I fell into the "if it is pointed, kill it" mode. A better choice would have been to take the Eos's drones first. The best choice would have been to withdraw as soon as it was clear the Barghest was going to pull range (this was clear within the first five seconds of the fight).
6. I've been in Uni long enough to know better than post a #6.
7. My situational awareness was plain awful. I didn't even notice the Blackbird on grid until logi called out that they were jammed. Target fixation is a problem in the real world, too.

What went well:
1. We got Exo's blingy ship back home.
2. Everyone had fun. Even me, to be absolutely honest.
3. I got the chance to make a bunch of mistakes. I'll make fewer (and almost certainly different ones) next week.





Stats
ISK Destroyed: 0
ISK Lost: 64,393,300.06
ISK Delta: -64,393,300.06
Efficiency: 0%

[Luca Goh]

Honestly, I do not consider the fact that I was caught was due to "straggling." Perhaps I should have aligned to the out gate without FC orders to do so, and if that's an unspoken given then I'll take blame and lesson learned. Maybe my two months worth of IC skills lead me to have a slightly slower align time than most. But otherwise I was waiting for FC command and initiated warp the moment I received it. It just came too late, well after we had lost our gate cloak and with the hostiles already cozying up to our position. I feel as though there was at least some responsibility on the part of the FC in terms of indecision or waiting until the last possible moment to give an order post losing gate cloak.

I don't mind losing a ship and I hate that I was the one to get caught, as well as the fact that the fleet attempting to come to my aid was what led to its downfall. But I find it bothersome and inaccurate to be labeled lackadaisical when I did all I could to act once given the order to do so.

[Yuri Levnik]

Let's see, checklist...
1) Flew around in space with my buddies - check!
2) Shot at things - check!
3) Got shot at - definitely check!
4) Blew things up - not check );
5) Made money anyway - check! Thanks, insurance + SRP!

I had fun flying out to a part of space I had never visited, and I honestly was glad we got a fleet-vs-fleet fight. On my last three fleets, all we've been able to do is gank individual PVPers or newbros who were too slow to get off grid when we jumped 'em. That's all well and good, but there's something special about engaging a real fleet and getting your nose bloody. I learned a lot in the 40 seconds or so it took me to get blown up. Good times. Thanks for the fleet, FC!

Elihugh, I do think you're onto something when you say the Vexors don't work with our smaller fleet size. Notably, having two logi pilots with cap-chain dependent logi really didn't work out for us. First I was out of position and couldn't send Kai-Alon cap, then the blackbird effectively shut down our entire logi wing, and I actually got blown up because I capped myself out repairing and couldn't warp out when I got primaried. I really wanted to fly logi for the fleet, but based on our experience last night I'd say if we're going to undock Vexors again, we should omit logi completely unless we have a large enough fleet for three logi (preferably four). Alternatively, we could fly Exequrors instead of Augorors since Exeqs are (kind of) cap stable. Obviously, that takes us off BLAP for logi, but as you mentioned BLAP is better suited for 20 ships and we haven't been getting those numbers. Your suggestion to take frigates out is also a good 'un - I know we'd talked about Golden Punishers, which would probably scale down well. We do also have Catalysts on contract if we want to fly destroyers.

For FCC and cross-campus initiative notes, Exorcist Wraith scouted, Kai-Alon Deninard and I flew logi and I was logi FC/Acting 2IC. Almasy Seifer joined us from NSC.

Pew pew pew!
Yuri

[Elihugh Beecher]

I don't mind losing a ship and I hate that I was the one to get caught, as well as the fact that the fleet attempting to come to my aid was what led to its downfall. But I find it bothersome and inaccurate to be labeled lackadaisical when I did all I could to act once given the order to do so.

You misunderstand. I was placing no fault and absolutely no responsibility on anyone but myself, and did not intend to imply any "lackadaisicality" (I think we just invented a word). In this case, 'straggler' simply meant 'last one there' and was used without prejudice, but I shall reword the post with apologies.

[Exorcist Wraith]

Eli,

Thanks for the fleet, now I'm off to get my D-Scan skills up - again

[Sioban Mernher]

It was my 1st vexor experience, from getting used to the ship, band traveling through wormholes and seeing stratios, eos, barghest, etc., for the 1st time also, it was a really good experience.

From the 5-6 fleets I've done so far, I can see the challenge and knowledge required to FC, it is very impressive. As commented by the team, I also got the feeling during the event that a doctrine requires very specific conditions to work effectively. I definitely looking forward to the next vexor event ! Bring'em on !

cheers,
Siob.

[Budda Sereda]

Honestly, I do not consider the fact that I was caught was due to "straggling." Perhaps I should have aligned to the out gate without FC orders to do so, and if that's an unspoken given then I'll take blame and lesson learned. Maybe my two months worth of IC skills lead me to have a slightly slower align time than most. But otherwise I was waiting for FC command and initiated warp the moment I received it. It just came too late, well after we had lost our gate cloak and with the hostiles already cozying up to our position. I feel as though there was at least some responsibility on the part of the FC in terms of indecision or waiting until the last possible moment to give an order post losing gate cloak.

I don't mind losing a ship and I hate that I was the one to get caught, as well as the fact that the fleet attempting to come to my aid was what led to its downfall. But I find it bothersome and inaccurate to be labeled lackadaisical when I did all I could to act once given the order to do so.

I was not with you guys, but assume it was Keres who followed you and waited for you at the gate?

I believe, Luca, you did right waiting for FC to command. It is his responsibility and his pain to make a call. It could be he was indecisive, but this is a part of learning. What is a good thing to do is to remind FC that your gate cloak is been expiring and it is time to take actions.

I assume Elihugh Beecher does not have a great experience, and if so, the fleet would benefit from having more experienced FC who can help in a difficult situation. You can put this in your advertisement about fleet, or ask somebody from campus to join to help: sometimes people don't consider joining the fleet on their own, but if asked to assist they do.

If I were in a similar situation and if it was a Keres only on the gate who was waiting for you I would call to align all to the same celestial, overheat prop modules and push out of the gate. If Keres nearby push him out with light drones or maybe just dumps. Make a safe BM in space, warp back to it. And think more if needed.
If you had Keres and Eos on the grid... after jumping through 4 systems, then fleet was moving too slow: I can't imagine Eos aligns and warps quicker than you are. While running from big boys, you could make a trap for Keres: if you feel big boys are 1-2 jumps back you could try tackling Keres and kill it before big boys arrive. I guess you would need a tackle ship with both scram and web.

Hope this is helpful. Would like to hear comments on my thoughts from more experienced FCs and pilots.

[Arrek Lemmont]

Sound like it was a great fleet.

3. More tackle, more tackle, more tackle.

BLAP Vexors come with a sensor dampener and a point fitted, and with extra EWAR modules in the cargohold: a scram, a web, a sensor booster, a remote sebo, and a second damp. The FC should order pilots to fit appropriate pairs of EWAR modules to their Vexors get the mix s/he wants.