03 October - WHC Vs. Ronin ONE

[Lucius Septimus Severus]

03 October 01:00 Eve Time

I settle in to my capsule and prepare for a relaxed WHC evening. Log into comms, nothing much going on. I see that 1 Y1 is the Sentinel Drifter hole with an ungodly amount of signatures (64). I hop into my Anathema and proceed to start scanning all of those holes down, with 64 possible connections, surely there would be content to be had...

So I'm a half hour in moving / sizing probes etc. when the wife comes over local comms: "Tomorrow's trash day can you help me move the cans to the road" to which "Yes, dear" I reply... I cross dimesionally time warp back to real life and attend to the matter at hand.

1st round: Occator

I return to my capsule only to hear in the words "Occator tackled in 2 B1 need deeps stat". So I pull probes warp to Innu and begin to reship. All the while hearing, we need heavy dps. So I hop in an ABC an undock. In route to bacon I hear, Occator down. Bummer, I missed that one (me 0 wifey 1):

https://zkillboard.com/kill/79213192/

I'm a bit blurry on this next bit, I believe we headed home and continued scouting. However, next thing I know I hear "Thanny on the hole"

So, I ping for Heavy Armor, we start formup, but don't really have the critical mass of ships needed. While this was going reports were coming in regarding smaller ships, Retri, Jackdaw, Svipul at one point etc. So we decide to ship for the occasion, knowing a Thanny was on grid.

2nd Round: Small Ships vs Thanny and Friends

Small Ships form up, I requested 3 deacons, me being one. A Kitsune was offered for jams (I hear raspberry flavor is best). Also request a couple fast tackle and we get a firetail and a slicer. Amoni volunteers to FC. Undock is called and we warp to 2 B1. Marcus is cloaked in a Heretic on *2 B1 and calls that the Thanny is 80k of and aligned. He repositions and drops a bubble as we hop into system.

Amoni calls for fleet to burn towards Thanny and Marcus drops a bubble. First person to take damage is Ana'ander. I didn't notice until she was half armor and was slow to lock for reps. (She'll claim it was her slow broadcast). Needless to say she pops early, gets her pod out and goes to reship.

https://zkillboard.com/kill/79213340/

Next Amoni takes heavy damage and decides to warp off. I logi FC and we prepare to defang the Thanny. The kitsunes jams really help out here and incoming DPS is nill for a bit. With Thanny properly contained, it becomes a question of his tank vs. our dps. We begin to fire away when (did we really think he was alone) we spy 2 nestors and assorted thugs on D-Scan. With bubbles still up I call for everyone to burn back to the hole.

At 80ish km from the hole in our own bubble I figure keeping the fleet together would be best option. A scatter call here would result in some losses. One of the many beauties of our SS doctrine is most ships are roughly the same speed. Aside from the fast tackles. So I call for everyone to burn with props on back to the hole.

We begin to evac, Nestor drones and fighters following suit at close range looking for the straggler that gets too far behind for logi reps. Loron calls on comms that he's burnt his prop mod. I rep as long as I can but eventually he falls to far behind, loses reps and pops.

Everyone is instructed to wait on the hole until we are all within jump range. Thanks everybody for obeying this, we may have lost another one or two if we'd of jumped as soon as we got to the hole.

In hindsight we could have stayed as logi was perfectly stable. However, with the Nestor reps we lost all ability to secure kills and would of bled here and there until well lost critical mass and then dropped hard. So getting out of system was a proper call.

We jump the hole and I instruct everone to warp to "Star" fully understanding my command. However we had one warp to the sun. I should of called "warp to star bacon". Cantbi was caught, but provided valuable intel in the process.

https://zkillboard.com/kill/79213436/

Cantbi read out the ships that were there to get in on his kill. I forget the exact comp at this point, but I know it included a Vindi. A suggestion is made to switch to Light Armor and reengage. I really hesitated at this moment as I felt that with the Nestors on grid, we'd struggle to output enough damage to overcome the reps, Plus a vindi should be able to melt our mainline LA ships. Jams can work, but Nestors are often fit with ECCM to counter jams so could be a toss up on whether that would work or not.

We decide to go for it anyways. I ask for 4 augs, 2 aug navies, 2 jammers, and the rest in mainline. To my surprise we ended up with 6 or 7 Bruti and 2 Prophecies. Undock is called and back into the frey we go.

3rd Round: Light Armor vs Vindis, Bhall, Raven, Guardians, and Friends

We warp to .2 B1 and note that the hole is now shrink. No really worries for our LA fleet, but does have potential restrictions for how many Battleships they can bring to us. We wait on the hole. Someone (sorry I forget who) Mentioned that the highsec hole in bacon is close to Jita and Ronin ONE may have another connection down the chain. I ask for a volunteer to go sit on the High and Ana'ander volunteers.

Meanwhile in WifeAggro Land: "Hey honey, the timer on the stove is about to go off, when it does can you pull dinner out of the oven?" To which I reply "... you bet.." Now back to our regularly scheduled entertainment.

She get's to the high and then aligns to fleet. Marcus offers to jump 2 B1 and provide intel / bait on their side. He does so and a stale mate ensues.

"Ding Timer is done, 2IC take over for a bit"

Eventually a Stilletto jumps in from the high and goes for Ana'ander, she warps to fleet. Stilletto follows and stays at range on the fleet. Ana'ander logs in Petite to continue eyes on the high sec hole. All the while Marcus is on the otherside...

Reports come in from Marcus that a Vindi has landed on grid at 80, is potshotting and moving in. Marcus stays, Vindi closes to 0 and forces Marcus to jump. He jumps in recieves reps and then (ever the scout / content creator) polarizes himself by going back in, but not before a plan is hatched.

I was concerned about cross jumping with battleships on the other side leading to us being rolled into their hole. We decide we would send in 4 of the Bruti and have logi at 0 on standby, thoughts being if it was too much to take, we could rejoin the fleet and then only take a fight on the * side.

Our four brave Brutix pilots jump in. Report is that only the Vindi is on grid. I call for logi support to jump. A Bhaalgorn and a Raven are spotted on D. I decide to go all in and ask the rest of the fleet to join in. We didn't see any logi at the moment in their fleet.

The rest of the fleet jumps in and Vindi is tackled and called primary. Bhaalgorn and Raven land, I ask for a volunteer to secure tackle on each. The request was immediately filled (You guys Rock!!!). With all 3 Battleships tackled we chew through them in order, Vindi first, followed by the Bhaal and then the Raven.

https://zkillboard.com/kill/79213861/
https://zkillboard.com/kill/79213938/
https://zkillboard.com/kill/79213351/

At this point a Ninazu and friends arrive on grid. We LOL Nope this and I call for everyone back on the hole. With everyone in range I call for us to jump back with props on for mass, thinking that would be the end of engagement....

To my delighted surprise the hole went crit upon our return. Now they were severely limited in what they could bring through. I thought lets sit here a moment and see what happens. Then Boom multiple hole activations!! Love that you can count flashes now... I counted 5... and the hole collapses!!

To start another Vindi decloaks. I call primary and ask for tackle. Point is called in return. Next two Guardians decloak. A suggestion was made to switch to them before they could burn range. I asked for who ever had tackle on the Vindi to stay and everyone else spread tackle to the Guards. Somewhere along the way a Drekavec also decloaks and is summarily dispatched of. Once again everyone was on point and both were tackled and went down in short order.. Had they gotten range, we would of struggled. With guards tackled a Vexor Navy decloaks, I call for tackle but he MWD's his way to safety..

I didn't realize at the time, but we had only a point on the Vindicator, he was able to MWD and pull range and we lost tackle and ultimately made it to the high sec hole. Our consolation prize was two Guards and the drek:

https://zkillboard.com/kill/79213944/
https://zkillboard.com/kill/79213953/
https://zkillboard.com/kill/79213961/

All said and Done:
E-UNI: 79.23m Isk lost, Efficiency: 97.9%, 3 Ships lost
Ronin ONE: 3.7b Isk lost, Efficiency: 2.1%, 5 Ships and 1 Pod + 1 drekavec that didn't appear on the battle report.

Full Battle Report:

https://br.inyour.space/?s=1001797,1002 ... 120,90&t=r

Huge thanks to everyone for participating, and more importantly, flying independently, stepping up and fulfilling FC requests and what not. You all made this fight into an overwhelming success!!

I'd really love to hear other viewpoints of the fight as well!

/L

[Marcus Arilia]

I can add a little to the beginning part. I had been headed back from getting my alt back to innu after helping Pink on a project a night or two before. On the way I saw an Occator on D. From the earlier Slack stuff I knew Ronin was in the chain, and figured I’d reship for fun and sit on their hole. Mentioned what I was doing in fleet chat, and Willuw said he’d stay close, and a few others said they’d reship. Within 20 sec of cloaking (before anyone had a chance to do anything) I hear an activation. Sure enough, it’s the Occator. Well I had no support yet, but a Heretic is only 100 mil, so I bubbled and tackled it and furiously typed in fleet chat. He jumped, and I followed. Another bubble up and got scram. He throws out a depot but burns away before it’s active. Another bubble up. I knew he’d be hard to hold with his natural stab. He’s still burning out and I see friendlies coming in. At this point he just stops and gives up. Then I notice a thanny on D. Wreck is mostly PI so I call to burn back and pop the wreck. By now my bubbles reloaded. Thanny lands at 0 and I bubble it and bounce to a planet. He’s burning out, another bubble. Fighters are starting to get to me, I’m in 1/4 Hull. By now the fleet was close so I abandon the thanny and jump. Wait a couple and they land, I get some reps. I hop back in. Thanny is 100 off but in line with their forti. I bounce to it and back and another bubble up. Throw some scram on the Thanny and let the fleet kill the fighters. He eventually pulls them back as I continue bubbling as he gets to the edges. Fleet starts heading my way, which is good cause I need reps again. Eventually he gets friends and in come two Nestor’s so we head to the hole and I leave up a D bubble to catch them and another on the hole in case they bounce. Head to *bacon and throw another there to catch anyone dumb enough to warp to it. Unfortunately they warped to poor Canbti instead. And the rest is in the AAR.

Also, this was my first time bubbling, and bubble feedback is highly appreciated (good or bad).

I also wanted to mention the amazing effect of having jams on grid. I made the guard chain melt.

[Lucius Septimus Severus]

Bubbles were on point through out the engagement. Great job!

[Vincemt' Night]

Point of View from the ECM Wing:

Receive a Ping "Thanny in 2B1 forming HA" I hop in and jump into my neut legion. We receive new intel and we are forming up small ships. As seeing they have the Thanny, Retri and a couple T3Ds I offer my Kitsune.

Once at 2B1, I immediately start burning tacs around the hole in case we engage on this side. Being sure that each tac is within warp distance of each other. The call to jump is issued. I wait 30seconds after the fleet has jumped, and jump in.

Seeing the Thanny off 80km, I lock up the Thanny and begin locking up Fighters. I spread my Jams, while creating Tactical and staying at range from the Thanny and Retribution. A couple fighters get jammed, and the Thanny gets jammed occasionally. I have to bounce a couple times during this engagement as the Thanny Pilot would occasionally send his fighters at me, but this proved good for the fleet as it took some of the dps off them.

When the call to evac begins, I bounce to a tactical and warp back in on the hole. I try to provide jam support but since I fitted all mag ecm (gallente jams) my jams are missing on a few key targets and we loose Loron. The retribution at this point becomes jammed and decided to burn at me, nearly getting me into hull. I jump the hole and warp to a tact.

The call to warp to star is given. I warp and burn tacticals. The call for LA is given and I request to stay on Kitsune. I know if the nestors are anything like our fits, they would have eccm. But even with the eccm, my kitsune has a 52.6% chance of getting 1 jammed. In addition, I request to bring my alt in on more ECM. The request is granted. We all reship, and I fit the blackbird with a full rack of mag jams. Using both the Kitsune and Blackbird I can jam out both Nestors with 45.0% chance or jam out 1 Nestor with a 70.2% chance.

We warp back to .2B1 and I get to my tacs and wait.

The call to jump is issued. I leave the blackbird on this side of the whole, its a bigger ship and slower so it wont be able to warp to tacts much less burn to them due to its size. So I jump in with my kitsune and decide to hug the hole in case I need to jump. I see the Vindi, Bhaalgorn and Raven. I spread jams over the Vindi and Bhaalgorn as these are the biggest threats for our fleet. Vindi (82.8%) and Bhaalgorn (25.9%) both get jammed.

The call to jump is made. I jump and get to my Tac. I decide to warp the ECM off grid and off D-scan and wait at a Safe until the fleet engages. I did this because they brought in a stiletto to keep eyes on us.

Hole activation(s) are called over comms. I wait till 1 target is called. I warp the ECM wing back to my tacts. I see a vindi. I lock up with Kitsune and place 2 jams on it. Its jammed. Guards and a Drekavac uncloak. I swap and put the blackbird on the Vindicator and Drekavac and my Kitsune on both guards.

Vindicator jammed (47.2%), Drekavac jammed (21.3%), both guards jammed (16.7%).

As more things were popped, I moved more jams onto the remaining targets. I was able to jam to VNI, but it got away.

Some self reflection:
- I should put Solstist into an additional Kitsune this will make his jams stronger and more likely to land.
- Since I was running 1 flavor (gallente) my jams were much weaker compared to if I had gone rainbow. I had my mobile depot and all fittings for any flavor, so when in doubt of fleet comp, I should always switch to rainbow.

I really appreciate both Lucius and Amoni (original FC to call form up) for allowing me to run ECM. <3

*Percents mean my chance to jam with Fit used and #of jam modules applied.

[Ana'ander Lamora]

Marcus, Vincemt' - very interesting to also get AARs from your specialized POV, thanks for adding that in! I want to add, you both mentioned some of your decision-making in fleet chat/coms, for which I'm glad, because I think we all learned more about those roles just by hearing it.

[Marcus Arilia]

That’s actually a really good point Ana’ander. I think one gap we sometimes have is all from FCs perspective, and not necessarily from more of the more unique/snowflake roles. I’m guessing we’ve got some people that would love to do them but are slightly more risk averse than I, and may want to know how/understand the decision making vs. diving in and praying you tread water. May be good to add these perspectives in the future when the more specialized roles are doing a lot.

[Amoni Panala]

So I'm really embarrassed, but I don't want to take away from everyone else's feeling of victory here.

I choked. I've never faced a Thanatos as an FC and I didn't really know what to do. I was practically relieved when the Raven landed on grid because I know how to deal with that, but capitals and supercapitals are beyond me. I went through this before when I was still learning about how Triglavian ships work, but now it's facing caps and supercaps. In general, I think caps don't really belong in WH space, but I understand why Ronin ONE would have them. I was frustrated because I didn't know what was needed to take one down and I didn't know what to watch out for, which is the opposite of how I am with subcaps.

Thank you, Lucius, for stepping up when I had to warp off grid. I still have have a lot to learn and I'm sorry you ended up FC'ing from logi, but you clearly knew more about what we were facing and hopefully I can come into our next engagement like this one with eyes wide open.

[Laethe Fooswa]

This has been a complete pleasure to read.
Hearing from so many people involved with different roles, and how critically each of you were focused on what you could do to help the team.

Wormhole space is not space for 200 doods and an F1 key. It is the space where you learn to fly as a team. This AAR was brought to you by "Team WHC".

Opportunities are there in every engagement to find a way to distinguish yourself and benefit the team no matter who the FC is, and the trust between multiple FCs and multiple Snowflakes is what really gels a team together.

Thanks Lucius for FCing and writing an AAR.
You summed up every successful move in this engagement with this line...

Huge thanks to everyone for participating, and more importantly, flying independently, stepping up and fulfilling FC requests and what not. You all made this fight into an overwhelming success!!

[Celine en Chasteaux]

This has been a complete pleasure to read.
Hearing from so many people involved with different roles, and how critically each of you were focused on what you could do to help the team.

Seconded, thanks very much for the write up. This level of detail is a goldmine of information for newbies like me. Thanks!