[LSC] Jyo Cbip's solo AARs for Kelon's May Competition

[Jyo Cbip]

Here are my compiled AARs for Kelon's May solo competition.

I've been flying a pretty limited selection of fits for the past few weeks in LSC, out of a desire to learn in-depth the piloting techniques and engagement profile required of each fit. So far in my EVE career, I am almost exclusively a frigate pilot, and judging by the time I've spent on very few hulls and fits, I could keep doing that for a long time.

This AAR is going to focus on my time with the Caldari Navy Hookbill, fit with rockets, dual webs, AB, a SAAR and one of a variety of useful modules filling the extra mid-slot. I first started flying the Hookbill with dual webs, scram, ab, and MSE in the mids, but I have since learned exactly the benefits of the SAAR fit and how it can extend this useful ship's engagement profile. With the extra mid free, you can fit a tracking disruptor, a guidance disruptor, a third web (I hear it goes great with succubi) and even a MASB in addition to the SAAR. Thanks to Breeze One and others on the LSC slack for giving me some ideas and leading me to realize why almost every Hookbill in lowsec has some variation of this fit.

------

The first fight I took in this fit was against a JAWS pilot in a beam tormentor. We both slid into a plex in Uphallant at the same time. Once inside, I was easily able to pull to an orbit of ~6000 meters. It was just sheer dumb luck on my part that I had a tracking speed disruption script loaded and he had Aurora crystals in- he could not track and hit me at all. I'm still pretty unfamiliar with Amarr frigs and common energy turret fits so I cannot take credit for anticipating that.
https://zkillboard.com/kill/62124278/

------

The next interesting fight was a couple days later in Agoze. I had been following this Stay Frosty pilot in a Rifter from Ouletta. I had given him a couple chances to engage me, which he had not taken. So, I was pretty suprised when he landed on me at a gate to a novice plex- doesn't help that my mind was a little distracted, chatting and preparing for a fleet formup. I locked and scram/webbed him but immediately saw I was being neuted. I hadn't thought of this fit as requiring lots of cap management compared to other frigates I have flown, but I saw now how vulnerable it was to neut pressure. Soon everything but my missiles were turned off and I could no longer rep or control range. I was getting burned down through armor and he was close behind- then I remembered to overheat my rockets! It was a narrow win- I was left in 13% structure, I think we were both pretty suprised.
https://zkillboard.com/kill/62173344/


mining nereus interlude
https://zkillboard.com/kill/62172311/

Followed by an unremarkable alpha fit blaster atron kill
https://zkillboard.com/kill/62173630/

------

The next day I went roaming a few hours later than I normally do, and found many pilots in pirate frigates around Placid and Black Rise. Nothing looked too engageable, but I decided to slide in on a Daredevil in Nennamaila. I quickly found out another weakness of this fit- ships with web effectiveness bonuses. There was no way I could keep range and I was burned down quickly. Pod express home for the night.
https://zkillboard.com/kill/62195734/
https://zkillboard.com/kill/62195750/

------

Today I decided to roam up through Verge Vendor, Essence, Black Rise and Lonetrek

I started out the roam with some catch and release of warp stabbed Epithals doing pickups at POCOs in Harroule and Hevrice. After the last of these docked up in Hevrice, I noticed that a fairly new character had jumped into system a couple minutes before without showing up on DSCAN. There was one belt off dscan range from me, so I YOLO warped to it and landed at 0 on an Algos. Poor guy, didn't even yellowbox, so I had no chance to test the MASB + AAR tank I had fit. I sent him on his way 2mil isk richer and hopefully with a new appreciation of the dangers of belt ratting with others in local.
https://zkillboard.com/kill/62212778/

About this time, I noticed a Thorax moving through Hevrice. I quickly docked and refit from MASB in my mid to a tracking disruptor, surmising I could easily get under a rail Thorax's guns or kite out a blaster fit. By the time I had undocked he had left system. I jumped to Jovainnon and he was the only other in local. By the time I had warped from the gate, he was gone from system so I proceeded to Aeschee. There he was in Aeschee local, along with the typical load of Shadow Cartel members. I quickly made a safe near the center of the system and waited- nothing else on dscan. After a couple minutes, the Thorax appeared on dscan. I quickly narrowed it down to a belt and landed right on top of him as he began to burn towards the rats. Scrammed, webbed and pulled range to 7500 meters, set tracking disruptor to the optimal range script and he could not touch me. I began to burn through his tank. He was not repping but I was getting more and more nervous that Shadow Cartel was going to undock something on me. When I am almost through his armor, a Malediction appears 100k off. He dawdles at range, pulling away then closing back in. Finally, the Thorax pops just as I see the Malediction burning full speed at me and a Barghest on short dscan. I warp off and jump away, no time for a pod kill or to loot the wreck.
https://zkillboard.com/kill/62212954/

I continued through through Black Rise towards Mara, refitting to MASB from TD. An alpha fit Kestrel goes down quickly, requiring only a couple shield reps.
https://zkillboard.com/kill/62213438/

After reaching Mara, some intuion causes me to refit TD and I head back. In Okkamon I see a small group on Dscan- a Comet, Confessor, a Harpy and a couple Punishers warping around. I slide into a novice and the Comet follows. It's blaster fit and goes down quickly, only drones can touch me when I turn on optimal range disruption.
https://zkillboard.com/kill/62213716/
I'm feeling confident at this point and try to bait the Confessor and scattered Punishers to a fight, but they are not interested so I continue back to Placid.

I follow a belt ratting Comet for a couple systems but cannot catch him. Eventually we land on the Agoze gate in Intaki at the same time and jump through together. I yellowbox and burn towards him as soon as he decloaks, hoping he will aggress (neither of us are flashy). He burns back at me and I pull range. We stay locked together for a couple minutes(!!) this way, drifting away from the gate. I watch the range from the gate and for any redbox. Once we reach 150km from the gate he warps away immediately. Cute trick, but I could have done without him convoing me after to get all smug about not dealing with pirates. Whatever dude.

Right after the Comet disappears, an Algos shows up. I'm still TD fit and figure I can avoid the guns and out-dps the drones. It's close, but he brings a neut to the fight which makes the difference. As in my earlier fight against the Rifter, this shows how neut pressure is one of the weaknesses of this fit. If I had been able to rep it would have been an easy win- maybe the MASB would have been a better choice over the TD here. Or single web, MASB and TD?
https://zkillboard.com/kill/62214162/ This killmail shows my current preferred version of this hookbill fit, complete with refits in cargo. Any criticism welcome.

------

That's all so far, but I'm going to continue flying this fit and updating this thread. These past few days showed the strength of the tracking disruptor variant, but I'm hoping to get more chances to test out the other variants- guidance disruptor, MASB, and triple web. I'm particularly curious about the guidance disruptor- since rocket and missile range is usually significantly longer than scram and point range respectively, it seems like it's best use would be to reduce incoming dps with the explosion radius script, but I'm not sure how much of a difference that would actually make. Hopefully I won't lose too many Hookbills finding out.

Let me know what you think!

[Trixie Lapin]

Nice kills! Both your Tormentor and Hookbill are great ships, great fits. I love them both.

Just a few thoughts:
1. Those mwd Comets are extremely vulnerable to both scram kiting fits. Always engage them because you have excellent range control and win the dps race from range. Your guy should have switched to null, but even if he does, you still win with the TD. But you could also win that fight with your Tormentor. If you pyfa Comet fits, you'll see that with null loaded, they are still pretty dangerous to T1 scram kiters. In that case, you want to be as far from them as possible without losing tackle. Orbit doesn't help vs. their tracking so feel free to use Keep at Range if you find it works for you. If you're in a Tormentor, AB blaster Comets are more dangerous because they will be faster than the Torm, but you can still beat them if you get the fight started from the edge of scram range: they will close in on you doing increasing damage as they do, but they aren't closing very fast and will die first if you start the fight from enough distance. Don't fight Hamul Jinn's Comet (he's Stay Frosty, lives in Ouellette) with a Tormentor because he fits 2x overdrives and will close with you too quickly.

2. You're absolutely right about vulnerability to neuts, especially in the Tormentor since its guns are dependent. Versus small neuts, your counter is range once again. If you can get out to 8km before they wipe out your cap, you should be fine. But you really need to be that far away. Risk losing tackle, but do not risk getting capped out.

3. The guidance disruptor on the Hookbill can be extremely effective. My usual approach (which may be different from Breeze's) is to load the precision script and orbit at 5km to keep up speed. Heat on either the AB or the GD (or both, but don't burn anything out!) is helpful. Many of your opponents will load rage rockets and the GD nerfs their dps into the ground. You can kill dual MASB Hawks this way. But if they load faction ammo, the GD is far less effective. In fact, for fighting other Hookbills I always load faction ammo now in case the other Hookbill is fit the same way. Hawks with faction ammo loaded will win, even with the GD, so pay attention to the incoming dps to see whether he's getting good application. If he is, use your dual webs to disengage.

[Jyo Cbip]

Thanks for the comments Trixie. Interesting to hear about the guidance disruptor. I am seeing Hawks out and about so I will have to take some fights using this strategy.
Also, sorry I seem to have been unclear- I haven't yet flown a Tormentor, that was just my first victim with this Hookbill fit. Someday soon I will train small energy turret to V and take one for a spin!

[Trixie Lapin]

Thanks for the comments Trixie. Interesting to hear about the guidance disruptor. I am seeing Hawks out and about so I will have to take some fights using this strategy.
Also, sorry I seem to have been unclear- I haven't yet flown a Tormentor, that was just my first victim with this Hookbill fit. Someday soon I will train small energy turret to V and take one for a spin!

Oh, sorry! Yeah, first cup of coffee this morning...

[Kelon Darklight]

So there is a really evil way to kill that dd with your hookbill. With triple overheated jams, you will have a 72% chance to jam him for 20 seconds, a lifetime in frigate pvp.

Anyway, this comet kill will get you Its the police!, though instead of 5 comets i can give you hookbills instead? (sorry trixie, but I wanted a real comet kill for it! none of that he killed himself on gate guns)

[Trixie Lapin]

(sorry trixie, but I wanted a real comet kill for it! none of that he killed himself on gate guns)

Haha! Fair enough.

[Jyo Cbip]

So there is a really evil way to kill that dd with your hookbill. With triple overheated jams, you will have a 72% chance to jam him for 20 seconds, a lifetime in frigate pvp.

Anyway, this comet kill will get you Its the police!, though instead of 5 comets i can give you hookbills instead? (sorry trixie, but I wanted a real comet kill for it! none of that he killed himself on gate guns)

I am honored to receive this prize and would gladly accept more Hookbills!