[AAR] Solitude Caracal Carnage (July 20 02:00)

[Yuri Levnik]

Howdy all,
We took our large gang/small fleet out on a roam through Solitude. We didn't find much in space, but we killed a few clone troopers and then finished our night with an impromptu fight against the Cavemen wherein we came out slightly ahead. Overall, a good night out for our quiet (but soon to be WT infested) part of space.

Roam members:

Spoiler

Yuri Levnik - FC, Caracal
Archemide- Logi, Osprey
Calder Ormand - DD, Caracal
Elihugh Beecher - DD, Caracal
Glen Burney - Scout, Stiletto
Kirsid Tannaway - DD, Caracal
Sophia Canarius - Logi, Osprey

Our initial roam turned up no targets that waited around to fight, despite Glen's talented scouting. We passed a Tengu and a couple other targets, but everyone cloaked up or left system at our approach. Apparently they thought we were going to drop caps, - Glen found a flashy Nidhoggur and blingy Machariel in Babirmoult, piloted by the same player, and he wouldn't fight us in the Machariel. We politely declined to fight the Nidhoggur. Macharial fit - very blingy!

Spoiler

[Machariel, Machariel]
Republic Fleet Tracking Enhancer
Republic Fleet Tracking Enhancer
Republic Fleet Tracking Enhancer
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer

Gist B-Type Thermal Dissipation Field
Republic Fleet 500MN Microwarpdrive
Gist X-Type X-Large Shield Booster
Pith A-Type Shield Boost Amplifier
Pithum C-Type Adaptive Invulnerability Field

Corpus X-Type Heavy Energy Nosferatu
800mm Repeating Cannon II
800mm Repeating Cannon II
800mm Repeating Cannon II
800mm Repeating Cannon II
800mm Repeating Cannon II
800mm Repeating Cannon II
800mm Repeating Cannon II

Large Semiconductor Memory Cell I
Large Semiconductor Memory Cell I
Large Semiconductor Memory Cell II

Federation Navy Ogre x5
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma L x18607

We carried on into Aridia and killed a clone trooper on our way to Hier. The LSH pickets were in Hier as usual, but not on DSCAN so we decided to head home, hunting clones along the way. We found a couple rats and Glen got a nasty reminder that, despite how quiet it was, we were still in low sec when he pointed a Stratios on a gate and nearly died from gate guns (;

As we got close to home, I convo'd a Caveman who was in space in hopes of arranging a fight. The Cavemen reshipped and met us in Bhaalgorn/Brutix/Vexor at the sun in Yveve. Honorable combat at the sun - as it should be! We landed at the edge of RLML range (thanks Glen!) and I called the Vexor as primary. The opposing fleet blapped our logi very quickly, the Bhaalgorn being ideally suited to doing so, but we got the Vexor just as our RLML clips ran out. I called for the fleet to scatter during reload. Our clips full, I called for the fleet to reengage, hoping against hope that we could take the Brutix. Glen gave us a warp in and tackled our target. We lost another Caracal, but improbably took out the Brutix, again on the last missile in our clips. At that point I called for the fleet to scatter, knowing our odds of taking the battleship were approximately zero with three RLML Caracals and a Stiletto. Unfortunately, I was not paying attention to my range to the Bhaalgorn and got tackled and blown to bits as the rest of the fleet escaped.

04:16 Yveve
Vexor +18.5MN
Osprey -10.1MN
Osprey -9.1MN
Caracal -29.5MN
Brutix +85.2MN
Caracal -22.7MN

Following the fight most of us were in pods so Glen led us home.

Stats
ISK Destroyed: 103.7MN
ISK Lost: 71.4MN
ISK Delta: +32.3MN
Efficiency: 59%

We came out slightly positive, but the numbers are deceptive. We very nearly went into RLML reload without killing the Brutix, and we would have been down quite a ways without that kill. Praise be to Bob for our kills, and many thanks to the Cavemen for coming out to meet us in honorable combat at the sun!

What went well:
Unsurprisingly, Glen did a fantastic job scouting and tackling. Landing in a good position vs the Cavemen and holding tackle on our targets was absolutely essential to getting kills since the rest of the fleet had literally no tackle. Glen also did an excellent job of helping his relatively green FC, scouting on his initiative and advising me on what fights we should try to take and what we should leave.
Our logi wing were heroes. They kept us up fighting clones and they died honorably on the field of battle vs. the Cavemen. Thanks logi buddies!
The entire fleet did an excellent job of keeping up with fleet commands. I think we may have had two lemmings the entire fleet, one of whom was the FC. We landed on grid in a timely fashion for our fight, shot the correct target, scattered when instructed, and generally flew like we knew what we were doing. Great job all!
I think I did a decent job using the DD wing in our fight. We landed at a good range, engaged targets we could kill and scattered when we hit reload.
We finished positive on security status again (;

What I could have done better:
I did a poor job of positioning our logi wing. There's no reason I should have landed them within the Bhaalgorn's range. They should have been at least 20km further out from the rest of the fleet, well out of harm's way. Sorry guys.
I did a poor job of kiting. I was theoretically the anchor, but I got tackled and blown up after straying far closer than I should have to the Bhaalgorn. I did call for a separate anchor at the start of the fleet but had no takers, so I took the job myself. Didn't work out so great.

Overall, lots of fun. Thanks to everyone who came out!
Yuri