[AAR] First Response Fleet NSC 2017.8.8 04:23

[K950]

Greetings.

First call out
As I was unloading some exploration loot in highsec I got a report in PC9-AY that there was some local gangsters with some decent ships onboard -- normally, the kind I like to not fight. They consisted of: Gila, Deimos, Malediction (who came late), Sacrelige, Brutix, Vexor Navy Issue and a Loki.

The Plan
Some suggestions were tossed about: should we try to snipe them, should be brawl them, should we kite them, should we ... try something else. Eventually we kind of settled on RLML Caracals, and went with that.

I stepped forward to FC the skirmish and set us out. First I had people warp to instant warp outs, then gather up on me in a safe spot.

The Plan was to have a heavy interdiction cruiser bubble the gate, so that the chaps who were within 1 AU off top station (Planet III) would land in the bubble, but we would be off the bubble behind it. This would position them where they would be concentrated, and would have to burn through the bubble to catch any of us, and then they could be kited and shot.

Sometimes it works
I had us align to the JH- gate, directed Lanik to warp to the gate and bubble it. When he warped off the station I warped us to a tactical off the gate, then bounced behind the bubble and waited. About 30 seconds later guess who shows up - A Malediction. I though oh no, he'll tell his mates and the plan will be ruined.

Instead the fleet landed right behind him in the bubble, as planned. Lanik got a bucketload of drone damage at first, but I still needed him, so I called for a freefire on drones. Then the first to get primaried was a brave soul who burned through the bubble in his Loki, which I was hoping was shield fit -- nope, brick tanked armor. Hmmm well at least I spooked him away from us. The Deimos then got a little brave, got within Rapid Light range, and got destroyed.

https://zkillboard.com/kill/63942264/ +643m

The pod was floating around the bubble, and that got popped too:

https://zkillboard.com/kill/63942272/ +179m

I think he had more than that equipped...

From there I think my leadership started to falter. Our Caracals started to fail behind the anchor (me) and spread out a bit. This could leave us vulnerable. This is where I felt I wasn't really in control of the grid as before, and I started double think myself. Targets started to spread out a bit. Then I burnt my guns out. This disoriented me because I needed myself to orient the fleet as to what we could shoot at. A Malediction burned into us and was shot and exploded. Shortly thereafter Lanik indicated he was going down.

https://zkillboard.com/kill/63942293/ +33m

Time to Bail
It was a short skirmish. In the midst of the madness, we lost a Hyena (who I directed to try to screen targets for us), and a Caracal. I noticed the drones being tossed out onto the Hyena and kind of expected the Hyena pilot to sort out the DPS on him, but also that we could have done other things better. Having notice our fleet scattered out a bit, I called for warp off and disengagement.


https://zkillboard.com/kill/63942297/ -28m
https://zkillboard.com/kill/63942310/ -291m
https://zkillboard.com/kill/63942328/ -41m

We docked and immediately sorted out what we did well and what we missed. I think there was a general concurrence that we did acceptably well given the odds and the usual chaos. For my part, I felt that:

1) I could have anchored better (calling out prop mods on and all that)
2) My guns burning out disoriented me too much
3) We didn't engage more than we could have because I failed to curtail all of us into a need package
4) We did a good job of setting up the engagement and the minute or two thereafter
5) We had a plan, and we did what we could to execute it
6) Our participation and focus was good
7) We could have killed more if I was able to do better at directing the engagement

More skirmishes follow in the future. I learned some things from this engagement, and I guess you learn a little bit each time. Which is nice. This is only one of many. Until next time...