[AAR] The Battle of the Cloud
Posted: 2018.06.28 23:15
You can read the whole thing or just the part about the battle, depending on what interests you. I went into detail about the whole encounter to share our thought process throughout with other Unistas but I also want to catalogue my early PVP experiences. Enjoy!
The story before the action...
Yesterday, we were looking for some C5 content: combat sites or at least some gas. So we decided to roll our static connection.
We rolled into a C5 system with a lone Venture that we presumed was huffing gas. During the process of probing the system, the Venture left the system and we confirmed that he was huffing an Instrumental gas site (the best kind, of course). However, we also realized that this site was cleared of NPCs meaning that the entire cloud was available for the taking. With that knowledge, I guessed that our Venture friend might not give up so easily, especially if he was the one to put in the effort to clear the site.
The system had a C5 static and another C5 connection (inbound). I visited both and confirmed that our Venture friend came from the inbound. Seeing that there is only 1 person in their citadel, I set up camp in the C5 with the gas site on the wormhole leading to the Venture's home system.
The guerilla warfare attempts before the battle...
My suspicions were confirmed when a Sabre entered and immediately warped to the Instrumental gas site. I notified my huffing compatriot, Genairik, and he managed to warp before the bubble hit. The Sabre returned to his home and Genairik returned to huffing. I had a hunch that he wouldn't give up so easily but I had to go AFK for 10 minutes and docked up in our home system.
Upon my return, I read messages saying we have an Astero flying around, likely scouting out the area to make another run at our gas huffers. By this point, Derby Dank joined Genairik at the gas site. Also, Sagittarius Griffins logged on. I reshipped into a Stratios and waited for the Astero to show up. We confirmed that the Astero left and I decided to camp out in my original location: the entrance to the enemy's home system.
I figured he might take another Sabre run at our gas huffers so I came up with a simple plan: upon confirming that the Sabre is warping to the gas site, both Sagittarius and I will warp to it in pursuit to try to counter-gank him. Our gas huffers were now bait. Only ten minutes later, the Sabre emerged for attempt number two. We executed the plan but failed to catch the Sabre and he returned to his home.
The battle begins...
At this point, we were hungry for a fight. I entered the enemy's system, cloaked up, and reported that they were forming up but it was only two pilots at this point in a Brutix and a Gnosis. Sagittarius, in an Osprey Navy Issue, and myself in a Stratios, decided we could take this fight if we managed to separate them. We saw this opportunity when the Gnosis warped back to his citadel and we began our assault.
Another comrade logged on, John Jones, and we told him to come to us in a VNI as soon as possible. Sagittarius and I were putting the pain down on the Brutix and during this point I lost my drones without noticing (mistake by me in my excitement) but I kept the bait going by deliberately dropping into low armour to ensure the enemy's commitment. The Gnosis pilot came back in a Corax which Sagittarius promptly murdered.
+11M - Corax
This pilot reshipped again into a Confessor and returned and they made a concerted effort to put the pain on me. I warped out temporarily because of a panic alpha that scared me a little (pls don't make fun ._.) but John Jones entered the fight roughly around this time. The Brutix jumped into the gas site system and warped out once he saw John's VNI but the Confessor was quickly wiped off the battlefield.
+82M - Confessor
I returned to the battle cloaked; a new Confessor pilot warped onto grid with a kitey fit that made killing it difficult. It's DPS started to take its toll on John's buffer tanked VNI so he jumped back out to the gas system and warped home. We had eyes in the gas system and knew that the Brutix was still there, likely trying to find its way back home. We knew that it couldn't warp off before we scrammed it which is why the new Confessor pilot stayed to try to force us off the hole.
I told Sagittarius that I will try to slowboat to it cloaked and surprise it once once in range of scram. However, Sagittarius had a trick up his sleeve called overheating your MWD and managed to point it at range. We made short work of it at this point.
+73M - Confessor
The aftermath...
By this time, I had run out of nanite repair paste, John had to leave, and we didn't want to get greedy. These pilots were Russian and it was the beginning of Russian prime time. In all likelihood, they were already alerting their corp mates to log on and fight the intruders so we made the decision to end the fight at this point. The Brutix got away because of this but we made out with more than 160M in killmails.
Our adversaries later message Genairik and asked to fight again but we were not in a position to accept by this point anyway. They were very respectful and told us they were rolling their connection to the gas site which we confirmed. I have to say, I am continually impressed by this game's community.
But in other words, we emerged victorious in The Battle of the Cloud!
Learning outcomes...
I came out with some important lessons learned:
Thank you to Sagittarius Griffins and John Jones for being capable fleetmates during the battle and Genairik and Derby Dank for providing valuable intel as well as acting as bait.
The story before the action...
Yesterday, we were looking for some C5 content: combat sites or at least some gas. So we decided to roll our static connection.
We rolled into a C5 system with a lone Venture that we presumed was huffing gas. During the process of probing the system, the Venture left the system and we confirmed that he was huffing an Instrumental gas site (the best kind, of course). However, we also realized that this site was cleared of NPCs meaning that the entire cloud was available for the taking. With that knowledge, I guessed that our Venture friend might not give up so easily, especially if he was the one to put in the effort to clear the site.
The system had a C5 static and another C5 connection (inbound). I visited both and confirmed that our Venture friend came from the inbound. Seeing that there is only 1 person in their citadel, I set up camp in the C5 with the gas site on the wormhole leading to the Venture's home system.
The guerilla warfare attempts before the battle...
My suspicions were confirmed when a Sabre entered and immediately warped to the Instrumental gas site. I notified my huffing compatriot, Genairik, and he managed to warp before the bubble hit. The Sabre returned to his home and Genairik returned to huffing. I had a hunch that he wouldn't give up so easily but I had to go AFK for 10 minutes and docked up in our home system.
Upon my return, I read messages saying we have an Astero flying around, likely scouting out the area to make another run at our gas huffers. By this point, Derby Dank joined Genairik at the gas site. Also, Sagittarius Griffins logged on. I reshipped into a Stratios and waited for the Astero to show up. We confirmed that the Astero left and I decided to camp out in my original location: the entrance to the enemy's home system.
I figured he might take another Sabre run at our gas huffers so I came up with a simple plan: upon confirming that the Sabre is warping to the gas site, both Sagittarius and I will warp to it in pursuit to try to counter-gank him. Our gas huffers were now bait. Only ten minutes later, the Sabre emerged for attempt number two. We executed the plan but failed to catch the Sabre and he returned to his home.
The battle begins...
At this point, we were hungry for a fight. I entered the enemy's system, cloaked up, and reported that they were forming up but it was only two pilots at this point in a Brutix and a Gnosis. Sagittarius, in an Osprey Navy Issue, and myself in a Stratios, decided we could take this fight if we managed to separate them. We saw this opportunity when the Gnosis warped back to his citadel and we began our assault.
Another comrade logged on, John Jones, and we told him to come to us in a VNI as soon as possible. Sagittarius and I were putting the pain down on the Brutix and during this point I lost my drones without noticing (mistake by me in my excitement) but I kept the bait going by deliberately dropping into low armour to ensure the enemy's commitment. The Gnosis pilot came back in a Corax which Sagittarius promptly murdered.
+11M - Corax
This pilot reshipped again into a Confessor and returned and they made a concerted effort to put the pain on me. I warped out temporarily because of a panic alpha that scared me a little (pls don't make fun ._.) but John Jones entered the fight roughly around this time. The Brutix jumped into the gas site system and warped out once he saw John's VNI but the Confessor was quickly wiped off the battlefield.
+82M - Confessor
I returned to the battle cloaked; a new Confessor pilot warped onto grid with a kitey fit that made killing it difficult. It's DPS started to take its toll on John's buffer tanked VNI so he jumped back out to the gas system and warped home. We had eyes in the gas system and knew that the Brutix was still there, likely trying to find its way back home. We knew that it couldn't warp off before we scrammed it which is why the new Confessor pilot stayed to try to force us off the hole.
I told Sagittarius that I will try to slowboat to it cloaked and surprise it once once in range of scram. However, Sagittarius had a trick up his sleeve called overheating your MWD and managed to point it at range. We made short work of it at this point.
+73M - Confessor
The aftermath...
By this time, I had run out of nanite repair paste, John had to leave, and we didn't want to get greedy. These pilots were Russian and it was the beginning of Russian prime time. In all likelihood, they were already alerting their corp mates to log on and fight the intruders so we made the decision to end the fight at this point. The Brutix got away because of this but we made out with more than 160M in killmails.
Our adversaries later message Genairik and asked to fight again but we were not in a position to accept by this point anyway. They were very respectful and told us they were rolling their connection to the gas site which we confirmed. I have to say, I am continually impressed by this game's community.
But in other words, we emerged victorious in The Battle of the Cloud!
Learning outcomes...
I came out with some important lessons learned:
- My drones died and I didn't realize it for far too long. We may have been able to kill the Brutix if I realized earlier.
- I was not as tactically aware because my Overview settings were suited for large fleets; I could only see fleet mates or enemies at any one time but it would be very useful to see both on the same Overview tab
- Both of these issues could be solved by creating a dedicated small gang PVP tab
- I warped off when I didn't need to; this didn't really impact things too much but perhaps the Brutix would have died if I chased him instead
Thank you to Sagittarius Griffins and John Jones for being capable fleetmates during the battle and Genairik and Derby Dank for providing valuable intel as well as acting as bait.