[AAR] Three Tristans and a Griffin Roaming Through Low Sec

[Luca Goh]

A few of us on comms in the wee hours Eve time June 10 opted to go for a roam. I’ve been really interested in drumming up learning opportunities in PvP as of late: it can be hard to find viable fights as a newbro with less than 3 million skill points to my name, so running with a small group like this was something I was really keen to do. Especially with several players who are far more experienced than myself.

Jim Electron braved a slightly testy null sec route to meet up with us in a jam-tastic Griffin. Ca’ain and myself were flying kiting Tristans, and Birdinator Wyld was manning a neut Tristan. It was a bit of a motley crew, but that was part of the fun of it.

Much of our roam was quiet. There weren’t a lot of plausible targets out last night. We chased a few frigates into a novice plex at one point only to be pounced on by a small fleet. Luckily Bird spotted them right away on the D scan and we were able to warp off unharmed as they landed on us.

Finally after roaming for about an hour we found a few apparently-lone frigates in Hikkoken. I warped to a novice with the intention of entering the plex and hopefully providing bait. However a Daredevil had a similar idea simultaneously and landed on the gate at the same time I did.

Surprised, I did my best to catch them in my Warp Disruptor while getting my drones out and pulling range. The Daredevil got on me quickly though and there was little I could do. By the time the others were exiting warp I was down and out.

https://zkillboard.com/kill/62842201/ - 7.38 m

I managed to get my pod away, at least, which served as a moral victory if nothing else.

Jim managed to jam the Daredevil but Bird slid the gate upon landing so one of our two remaining damage dealers was delayed from entering the fray. This enabled the Daredevil to engage the remaining members of our little band individually, in obvious supreme advantage to it. It took care of Jim and Ca’aine, podding the latter.

https://zkillboard.com/kill/62842223/ - 2.00 m
https://zkillboard.com/kill/62842260/ - .76 m

Bird managed to put up a solid fight once he got out of the plex and back to the action, neuting the Daredevil and bringing it into hull. Unfortunately though I don’t believe he had a scram – we were all sharing tackling duties – so the Daredevil managed to slip away. He even PMed Bird with a little “haha” to rub it in. At least one of us survived with their hull.

Total losses: - 10.14 m isk

We had a solid post-fight debrief. Upon further reflection I really feel as though I could have made a more concerted effort to clearly articulate that I was still on the gate and hadn’t slid into the plex. This would have prevented Bird from making the reasonable assumption that that was where the fight was taking place and would have given us a fighting chance at taking down the Daredevil. I’ve already noticed how important clear, decisive communication is during the few larger fleets I’ve run in, and here was a operative lesson in how much rests on that clarity, especially when under fire.

I’ve also wondered if I should have slid the gate upon landing and seeing the Daredevil landing too. I’m not sure it would have made a difference, but if anyone has any input on this I would love to hear it.

So a humble AAR for a humble little roam, but I wanted to record the experience for posterity while reflecting a bit more. I’m committed and super keen to become a better PvPer, and this seemed good for the process. I don’t mind taking my lumps at this early stage of my life in Eve, and all the help and advice I’ve gotten from fellow Unistas thus far has gone a long way towards smoothing over the growth process. My intention is to learn all I can while my skills and bank account grow so that when I have the budget and in-character skills to be more competitive my gameplay abilities and knowledge will be more than up to the task.

If anyone happens to have any input I would welcome it.

[Birdinator Wyld]

First off, nice write up to summarize a mostly dull hour or so lol. While we did have some tense moments, we really had a hard time catching a break early on. We got a bit separated and unfortunately I was not paying much attention and just got a little too excited.
Probably would of gotten him but who knows, nice fight anyway and glad to find someone who wasnt a bot

[Ca'ain]

https://zkillboard.com/kill/62842260/ - .76 m
https://zkillboard.com/kill/62842282/ - .01 m

I took the pod express home.

I have to say; for the fight - it ended up being my best solo pvp fight yet. I had a hard time keeping in range for my web, but usually, when I go solo I'm killed almost instantly.

If we had all jumped in at the same time (maybe taking a fleet warp) would have helped too.

In the end; this was a good fun roam.

[Luca Goh]

I took the pod express home.

Even better!

I have to say; for the fight - it ended up being my best solo pvp fight yet. I had a hard time keeping in range for my web, but usually, when I go solo I'm killed almost instantly.

In the end; this was a good fun roam.

That's very cool to hear; I enjoyed the trip and the scrapping for sure, too.

If we had all jumped in at the same time (maybe taking a fleet warp) would have helped too.

I think this speaks to the very unfortunate timing of our actions versus the Daredevil's actions. If he warps in 60 seconds later, I've already slid into the plex and set up as bait 20 km off the beacon with my drones already out. In this case I'm able to put up a much better fight and y'all have ample time to come in as reinforcements. If he warps in 60 seconds sooner, then absolutely, we all warp in together and can engage simultaneously. So the fact both the Daredevil and myself warped to the gate at more or less the same time was what really skewed the engagement in its favor.