[LSC] Frigate Fun - the Derptron variety

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Decklin Quark Reiger
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[LSC] Frigate Fun - the Derptron variety

Post by Decklin Quark Reiger »

There was a kitchen-sink frigate fleet scheduled for this afternoon, but the organiser has moved on from the Uni, and so we had a fleet with no FC.

I don't really like taking out kitchen sink fleets, so decided to pick a doctrine. Initially there were about 11 people in fleet, so at first I was thinking of Hyperkittens, which do really well in this size of fleet. However, as the numbers grew to around 25, I decided to switch to Derptrons instead, since in larger numbers the Derptrons scale better.

We had a couple of Maulus pilots, a Crucifier pilot, and a couple of our alpha-bros were flying a fast tackle Executioner and a Magic Merlin. I chose a handful of pilots to swap their scrams to webs.
Spoiler
Alf Saissore
Ann'Dra Padecain
Breeze One ( Maulus )
Burak Oz
Coaxster
DeanSherman
Decklin Quark Reiger ( FC )
Dgdsgy Foobar ( Maulus )
Eddie Dante
Kirsi Isrik
LECAGO ( Magic Merlin - brand new bro ) :)
Lothar Nugola ( Scout )
Muzzy Chuck
Oh' Leeador
Professor Academiac
Rider Isleman
Rikali Laru
SMBEHJ
Sioban Mernher ( 2IC )
Tiberius NoVegas
Tlymphocyte ( Crucifier )
Union Pivo ( Scout )
Wokum
Z0X Ambrye
ashahara
geldy

At first, we travelled towards Oueletta to meet up with one of our newbros who had been getting his ship from Amygnon.

In Agoze, we ganked an Algos, who managed to take down two of our Atrons before we got him. On the plus side, we got his pod:

(16:12:20) Agoze
Atron -4.1m
Atron -3.96m
Algos +12.01m
Capsule +56.99m

Due to a bit of miscommunication, LECAGO had arrived in Uphallant by the time we arrived in Oueletta with the modules for his Merlin.

However, in Oueletta, we spotted Brisecul Anne entering Oueletta from Loes. She engaged Coaxter on the in-gate, while the fleet was at the Jufvitte gate. Coaxter disengaged just as the fleet was arriving to kill her. As we landed, Brisecul warped off to the station, but wasn't able to dock yet, because of her weapon timer. We pursued, and caught Brisecul. She went down without killing any of us, thanks in large part to Tlyhpocyte's Crucifier which disrupted the Sleipnir's tracking. After the fight, Brisecul said that she thought she had more tank:

(16:24:00) Ouelletta
Sleipnir +434.61m

After this, we travelled back to Ostingele where we delivered LECAGO the modules for his Merlin, and then we travelled up towards Nennamaila.

In Aubenall / Ouelley we had a quick look around at Black Flag. We were able to catch and kill one of their Executioners:

(16:53:57) Aubenall
Executioner +3.11m

However, the rest of their corp didn't come out to fight this time. They were mostly flying T2 cruisers, plus a Naga and a Bhaalgorn, so I didn't mind too much. We couldn't really take on a coordinated fight from them anyway.

In Nennaamaila, Union spotted a small gang of destroyers and T2 frigates (about 5-6 in the gang). Our vanguard went in first, and did a great job of getting tackle, calling secondary tackle, and disengaging when needed, so we didn't take any losses. I suspect that some of these guys were fighting each other, so weren't solely focused on us, but even so - great job vanguard and scouts!!

We caught one Flycatcher, but everything else got away:
(17:15:53) Nennamaila
Flycatcher +79.6m

While we regrouped, we spotted a Harbinger and Brutix together at the large plex in Nennamila. I wasn't sure at first if we could take the fight, but Coaxter assured me we could, so long as we landed at zero on them, and didn't have a delay in applying our damage. Breeze got intel for us on their positioning, and in we went. As we landed, an Imperial navy slicer also arrived at range, and tried to harass us. Our two Maulus' damped the Slicer so he couldn't hurt us, while our Crucifier applied tracking disruption to the battlecruisers. We focused the Harbinger first, simply because we were closer to it when we landed. We focused our damage effectively, and once the Harbinger went down, we switched to the Brutix. Again TLymphocyte's tracking disruption meant that the Brutix only got a couple of frigates before going down, while the Slicer couldn't lock us.

Once we finished the Brutix, I burned to the Slicer and caught him (Yay damps! - thanks Breeze and Dgdsgy Foobar)

Just as we killed the Slicer, a gang of 3 cruisers landed at the large - a Caracal, Vexor, and Thorax. Our Atrons were a bit spread out but thankfully we are FAST (4.2 km/s). I called for the fleet to anchor on myself, and started to spiral in on them, from about 50 km away. Our Maulii and Crucifier again applied ewar, and we got a great fight out of it. The Vexor got his drones on to me, and while outrunning the drones, I accidentally overshot the Caracal, which was what I wanted to kill first. However, we were on top of the Thorax, so we killed that first. I went down just before the Thorax, and called for Coaxter to take over shot calling. Our fleet took out the Vexor first, since we were nearest to it, and the Caracal after that. Meanwhile a Confessor had arrived on grid, and was sniping us from afar. (His sharpshooter mode meant that our damps would not really affect him much.) Looking at the losses though, I can see that the Caracal wasn't able to do any damage to us at all. Way to go ewar!!

(17:19:22) Nennamaila
Atron -4.01m
Merlin -4.16m
Harbinger +96.93m
Atron -4.14m
Executioner -1.66m
Atron -3.06m
Brutix +92.25m
Imperial Navy Slicer +29.48m
Atron -35.47m
Thorax +35.48m
Slasher -7.67m
Atron -4.05m
Vexor +42.85m
Caracal +31.1m

(My loss mail was stupidly expensive because I had just looted 400 nanite paste from one of the kills we got.. oops)

This was a fantastic fight, and really shows just how powerful the cheap Derptrons are in large numbers, especially when backed up by ewar. The cruiser pilots were really grateful for the good fight, and thanked us for it.

We took a short break in Ichoriya for people to reship, and have a bio break. From there we headed east towards Okkamon, where Union found us a small gang, including a Hookbill, Cormorant, Retribution, Condor and Kestrel. Again our vanguard went for the fight, with the Crucifier for extra backup, to defend against the Cormorant in particular. Unfortunately, this gang killed three of our Atrons, and most of them escaped as we killed the Cormorant.

(18:08:09) Okkamon
Atron -4.15m
Atron -4.08m
Atron -4.44m
Cormorant +3.19m

From here, we took a shortcut through high sec, towards Kinakka, which looked busy.

In Kinakka, we joined in on a fight, just as Gnosis and Kestrel were fighting a Confessor. All hail the mighty Derptron blob:
(18:22:17) Kinakka
Confessor +120.98m
Kestrel +1.31m
Executioner -1.65m
Gnosis +87.04m
Capsule +0.01m
Capsule +0.01m


After that we started to make our way back home, and got a couple of ganks on the way, without losses:

(18:42:49) Eha
Catalyst +7.09m
Capsule +30.57m

(19:05:44) Annancale
Algos +15.02m

Along the way, we killed a Mordus battleship that Rider had found previously, and a Clone Soldier while we were at it, to help with our security status.


Stats
ISK Destroyed: 1,179,642,426.52
ISK Lost: 86,603,059.62
ISK Delta: 1,093,039,366.9
Efficiency: 93.161%
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Decklin Quark Reiger
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Re: [LSC] Frigate Fun - the Derptron variety

Post by Decklin Quark Reiger »

Overall, I have to say I *love* the Derptron fleet for what it is - the Zergling swarm of EVE Online. Backed up by some smart ewar pilots, it's extremely powerful, *especially* against larger targets. The Derptron speed also means we can catch things like Slicers that we wouldn't be able to catch in a Punisher, Merlin, or Hyperkitten fleet.

Great job scouts, vanguard and ewar - you guys rocked! Also thank you very much Coaxter for your advice on judging if we could engage the Harbinger and Brutix, as well as for shot calling the second part of that fight when I went down.

Also, way to go Siobhan with directing the fleet during our travels towards the latter part of the fleet :)
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Tlymphocyte
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Re: [LSC] Frigate Fun - the Derptron variety

Post by Tlymphocyte »

Great fleet, FC! :D

You're giving me too much credit - especially during the fight with the small cruiser gang. If you look at the killmail with the Caracal, you'll see it was fitted with prototype cloak (?), meaning it locked at battleship speeds! Adding in Breeze and Foobar's damps and I'm surprised it even managed to fire. Breeze and Foobar also managed to stay on grid the entire time, after the Confessor and Caracal forced me off grid in structure. Being primaried is terrifying!

I'm also glad we managed to at least kill a cormorant in that skirmish with CalMil, even though we took heavy losses in scouts (got out in structure again, barely). Their FC, MantelGlobalIndustries, is a seasoned veteran in FW and I've seen him frequently roam in small gangs all through Placid and Black Rise.

Cheers, guys! Everyone did well.
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DeanSherman
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Re: [LSC] Frigate Fun - the Derptron variety

Post by DeanSherman »

This fleet i learned that you do more damage as frigate if you 'keep at range' than if you 'orbit'. I thought that blasters have no problems with tracking targets like cruiser and bigger.
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Muzzy Chuck
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Re: [LSC] Frigate Fun - the Derptron variety

Post by Muzzy Chuck »

I also learned the 'keep at range' tactic thing here, and I'll try to remember to apply it more often. I say 'try' in much the same way as I 'try' to remember to overheat my guns, which doesn't always work unless it's being shouted by the FC :wink:
Another good fleet. Never having come across it before I particularly like the Derptron doctrine because of the speed, and those little Atrons just look like a load of angry hamsters when they come piling on-grid. Cuteness overload!

Thanks for stepping-up to take the fleet in the absence of the AWOL FC, Decklin, and particular credit has to go to Sioban for dealing with the ninja-FC situation later on. To be perfectly honest had I been landed with that I'd have probably logged - way too stressful IMO, especially if you're not prepared, experienced or ready enough to do it... just my opinion, of course.
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