[FLEET] Arbitrator fleet wins a fleet fight

[Kora K]

o/

I had an Arbitrator hull in Stacmon, and I wanted to try out the last changes. But why die alone in a silly ship instead of having a full fleet with you The fit was this one :

Spoiler

[Arbitrator, Amarr Neutor - T2]

Damage Control II
1600mm Crystalline Carbonide Restrained Plates
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Drone Damage Amplifier II

50MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Small Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Navy Cap Booster 400
Warp Disruptor II
Tracking Disruptor II

Rapid Light Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Nova Light Missile
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Nova Light Missile
Rapid Light Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Nova Light Missile
Small Energy Neutralizer II

Medium Anti-Explosive Pump I
Medium Anti-Kinetic Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I


Warrior II x5
Hobgoblin II x5
Hammerhead II x5
Hammerhead II x5


Optimal Range Disruption Script x1
Tracking Speed Disruption Script x1

The goal was to use the drones as main DPS, and the RLML as additional DPS + small ship hazing. We also had the classic TD/GD, and some points and scram in the mids. The neut is there if we're brawling or need to shut down reps. Even if the tank or DPS are not that great, I hoped the TD/GD would protect us during a fleet fight. I also wanted 1-2 full neuting arbis. I knew I'd have a small number in fleet (around 10), so it was more of a relax fleet than a proper one.

Roam members (13) - NOTE: This section is NOT usually included in AARs.

Spoiler

Decklin Quark Reiger
Eddie Dante
Jax Renalard
Kirsi Isrik
Kora K
Raijin Naom
Rebulah Conundrum
Rider Isleman
The Jojosh
Trillian Ituin
Union Pivo
Zarquu Fussuhfusus
Zeon Alabel

We had 13 people, so more than expected \o/ Thanks guys for joining me We had 2 Augs (Decklin and The Jojosh), Jax in a full neuting Arbi, Zeon and Eddie as scouts and 8 Arbitrators (2 scrams, 6 points, 6 TDs, 2 GDs). Our first destination was Nennamalia. We tried to catch stuffs on the way, but it was mostly empty. When we arrived in Nenn, the lowsec gods smiled on us and we had a similarly sized fleet in Akidagi. So we went on the Aki gate, and got intel that this fleet was on the other side :

Broadsword
2 Ospreys
Hecate
Brutix
Caracal
Exequror NI
Vexor
VNI

We were a bit more, but they had more tank/DPS/agility overall. My strategy was to avoid the armour ships at first, kill the Ospreys before they killed our Augorors (since we had 2 on each side, I guessed they would do the same and it'd be a DPS race), and start killing the shield ships (Broadsword, VNI, Caracal, Vexor). Then once the shield ships were down, we could go after the Brutix and then Exequror NI. Regarding EWAR mids, the goal was to spread them as we should, and hope it'd help us. I went for range script on the TD/GD.

I wanted to wait a bit on the gate, hoping we could surprise them and start grinding their logi before they cap chain. Only one jumped at first, and it was their Broadsword. He was promptly tackle, and we started going at it. They were on for a fight against our Arbi, so they jumped the rest of the fleet in. As soon as the first Osprey decloaked, we went for him. We killed him, then the other one pretty quicly, while only losing an Arbi. At this point they started to primary an Augoror, but we were ahead on the race.
SInce the broadsword was half shield and without support, I chose him next (he was also close). Without any logi, he went down also quickly, while we lost our Augoror. The second one popped shortly after we killed the Broadsword.
The VNI was our next primary, but he was pulling range fast. We decided to chase him, but he was getting too far away without our drones, so we switched to their Vexor. The VNI was almostdown tho, some webs would have been nice. Anyway, the Vexor died in exchange of one of our Arbis.
We tried to go after the Caracal, but he warped off, so I switched to the Brutix. At this point I was getting primaried, and some ECM were on me. The Brutix was half armor when jams landed, so Union took over. He managed to finish the Brutix and the Exequror NI, and he was ready to go after the Caracal or Hecate, but something bad landed on us (don't remember what). Scatter was called, and I managed to escape with 1/3 hull \o/

We docked at a citadel to regroup and repair.

Kills and Losses
(20:00:24Z) Nennamaila
Arbitrator -38.62m
Osprey +27.83m
Osprey +28.8m
Augoror -33.91m
Broadsword +448.25m
Augoror -27.55m
Arbitrator -43.17m
Vexor +31.85m
Arbitrator -31.73m
Brutix +92.83m
Exequror Navy Issue +92.89m

So, it was not a big fleet fight, but a nice even one, quite fast (3-4 mn in total), and very fun in those arbis Thoughs :
- We were short on number, so I did not call for an Hyena or some webs during form-up. As usual in this kind of fleet, it is vital to have something to slow down the primary, since we're not that fast. An Hyena will be there next time.
- I don't know the impact of TD/GD, but according to my logs, it seems it helped enough to finish on top of the fight. Good job spreading them guys.
- Any additional remarks on fittings and using this "doctrine" are welcome. I though it'd be a 1 time thing, but I will take them out again.


Stats
ISK Destroyed: 722,449,953.51
ISK Lost: 174,981,892
ISK Delta: 547,468,061.51
Efficiency: 80.502%

After taking a short break and sorting out reshipping, we decided to regroup in Akidagi. Unfortunaly a murder of Jackdaws landed on us at the Aki gate, and jumped with us at the same time. We got blasted by a thousand bees, and the hype went from 100% to 0% in about a second :

(20:14:40Z) Akidagi
Arbitrator -47.7m
Arbitrator -43.09m
Arbitrator -44.01m
Arbitrator -53.92m
Capsule -0.01m


Stats
ISK Destroyed: 0
ISK Lost: 188,725,251.37
ISK Delta: -188,725,251.37
Efficiency: 0%

After that, I ended the Arbi fleet, and invited those who wanted to reship in frigates. We went on a small frigate roam around BR while coming back to Uphallant :
(20:33:03Z) Akidagi, Nennamaila
Tristan -6.5m
Caldari Navy Hookbill -27.15m
Tristan -10.48m
Capsule -0.01m
Capsule -0.01m
Slasher -19.68m
Thrasher +15.91m
Capsule +48.5m
Coercer +26.77m

(21:05:58Z) Indregulle
Tristan -10.61m
Condor -5.89m

(21:19:42Z) Agoze
Caldari Navy Hookbill -26.77m
Burst -7.37m


Stats
ISK Destroyed: 91,178,627.32
ISK Lost: 114,463,048.48
ISK Delta: -23,284,421.16
Efficiency: 44.339%

Thanks everyone for joining again. For those who didn't, Arbis are actually fun to fly, so see you next time.

[Zarquu Fussuhfusus]

So one of the issues with this fleet is that you do need some heavy tackle to hold stuff. In the first major engagement its telling that Jax and I (the two with Scrams rather than points) were traded for the engagement as soon as logi was felled. This isn't a bad thing, but it meant that as we were close in to the enemy blob (holding tackle), we had no chance of extraction when the call to disengage came. Worse, because of the need to keep scrams in the fight, we can't risk capacitor run-out so need to keep pumping charges and keeping range with the scrammed target.

For myself, the entire engagement was spent with me holding the broadsword and then trying to keep the Exeq Navy pinned down while all the DPS was send the Ospreys and then Brutixes way . Without webs on field I also had no way of breaking away later or moving out of the blaster range of the Exeq Navy.

So, yeah, more webs

[Budda Sereda]

Kora, do you think that if you had BLAP Vexor that fleet engagement would end-up differently? You would have lower mobilidy, but higher DPS...
What if you had Tweet Thoraxes? Would you still hit them effectively with Blasters?