Roam members (20)
Spoiler
Asuka Rossi - Griffin
Auric Fulcrum - Phantasm
Callum Aishai - Merlin
Edhin Delphiki - Merlin
Esca Sinak - Merlin
Ievos - Condor
Ithugor Wells - Burst
Jack Heck - Merlin
Jehoshaphat Ambraelle - Merlin
Kashug Sotken - Merlin
Ky Hanomaa - Merlin
Loron Garns - Merlin
Maddice Russier - Slasher
Mike Kingswell - Merlin
Rouqaren Volant - Merlin
StoopKid Hakaari - Merlin
Sydanten Taksikuski - Merlin
Urban Oxide - Burst, Ibis
Zako Maken - Merlin
During our Travel Fleet from Amygnon to Archavoinet we already encountered our first baiting ceptor, a flashy Malediction sitting on a gate. We engaged it and actually almost got if we could haved applied scrams for just 1 more cycle. Unfortunately it managed to coast out of scram range and warp off - it followed us for the rest of the route to our Form-Up Location though.
That was bait-ceptor #1
At one of our first gates into the roam we had a Badger land on us and act afk. At first I gave the order to ignore it, due to not wanting any attention by gate guns, but he just sat there doing nothing. I quickly changed my mind and told everyone to lock up the Badger and align to a close celestial, as I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to practice bouncing and playing around gate gun mechanics - that's when a Stratios flashed up on my Overview for a split-second. That was a big "nope" sign for me and I ordered the fleet to re-approach gate and ignore the Badger. We sat there for another 30 seconds during which the the Badger started slowboating around the gate trying to look juicy - that just confirmed my suspicions.
Our scouts found us a Tristan and an Atron in a Novice in Oicx. They called tackle and we spiked system. When we landed, I called to spread tackle across the two of them and especially get a scram on the Tristan. The Atron died rather quickly so we focused our attention on the Tristan. Jams and Logi kept our scouts alive. The Tristan's drones were set to passive, as they just sat there once the scout they were attacking bounced. We managed to apply scram and the "EWAR only" command was actually being followed for the most part. A handful of members ended up interpreting my "Alright..." in comms as a go-ahead to blap him. Most of us were on the KM though. Some of us quickly docked up to repair and we moved on.
(18:57:04) Oicx
Atron +2.6m
Tristan +4.73m
Meanwhile, our scouts tackled a Malediction outside another Plex. I was already skeptical at this point, as Ceptors don't tend to get "caught" but I figured we're just 5 Jumps out from each of our reship-points, so why not go for it. We landed just as our scouts lost tackle on it and seconds after a destroyer fleet landed. That was the moment where I made a critical mistake in warping the fleet to a safe instead of calling scatter. 3 ships got caught, due to slow align times and more importantly due to bouncing off the acceleration gate, by the fast-locking Thrashers. Urban took this chance to leave for dinner, leaving us with 2 logi.
That was bait-ceptor #2
(19:04:03) Oicx
Burst -3.4m
Merlin -7.83m
Burst -6.11m
Capsule -0.01m
Capsule -0.01m
Scouts reported a flashy Slicer landing with them at distance on the celestial they were at. I ordered them to try and get tackle, but advised them to not directly approach but try to spiral in on it to decrease the incoming damage. We lost Ievos and the Slicer warped off the second we landed.
Somewhere around here we encountered a flashy Stiletto on a gate. When he landed and seemed afk I ordered the fleet to just tackle and shoot him. He jumped and I warped the fleet to safe, fearing it might want to bait us into sitting on the gate with a weapons timer. My suspicions were confirmed after just a few seconds when system spiked with flashies. I ordered the scout to get to a safe and wait for these guys to pass by. I also detected combat scanner probes and ordered the fleet to anchor up on me for a rolling safe.
That was bait-ceptor #3
(19:09:48) Eha
Condor -7.32m
Scouts managed to tackle a Hookbill. We spiked system, warped to the PLEX and applied our EWAR. The hookill spilled some ECM-Salt in local and we blapped him.
After sending our scouts to +1 into Pavanakka, we got company by another flashy Stiletto on the gate. This time I ordered the fleet to ignore it. We noticed a spike in local and a Fleet of flashy Cynnabals and Osprey Navy Issues decloaked on the Kinakka gate 9000km off of us. I immediately gave the order to jump and scatter on the other side. The Cynnabals managed to warp to us and jump at almost the same time as we did - however no-one got caught. We regrouped at a safe and I quickly decided it was time for a 10 Minute Bio. We docked up at the NPC-Station in system and waited out the 10 Minutes of suspect timer we had left.
And that was bait-ceptor #4
(19:27:28) Innia
Caldari Navy Hookbill +14.54m
We quickly passed through Pavanakka and Aivonen without finding content. The second we jumped from Aivonen to Akidagi 2 members of my fleet alerted me about a new Plex that opened while we were jumping. Turns out a Drake decided to sit in a Large, I believe, and wanted to fight us. After confirming the intel by sending back a scout I had the fleet jump back into Aivonen and the scouts tackle the Drake. He had a flight of Acolyte IIs out when we landed, so I opted for defanging him and ordered our Griffin to focus his spare Jams on the Drones while we take them out. I also strictly ordered to turn off all MWDs as soon as the Merlins were on target to minimize the incoming damage from the Drake's Heavy Missiles. We managed to take him down without any losses and got his capsule as well after exchanging "GF"s in local.
(19:57:29) Aivonen
Drake +75.89m
Capsule +0.01m
Our scouts found us a condor in a Novice in Nennamaila. As per usual we spiked system as soon as scouts called tackle, moved in, Jam this, Logi that, Antimatter to face, "REEEE"s - uh, I mean "GF"s in local. Nice. The capsule didn't warp off immediately, so we tackled it and got a bunch of our dudes on the KM. Turns out it was blingy. Whut. ISK-Positive. YEET
I called for anyone who needed reps to dock up and the rest to stay there for now, as a Novice is rather safe. 2 of our guys didn't know where to go after repping and decided to warp back to the Novice, where a small fleet of Gnosises...Gnosi...Gnoses? Well...a bunch of those along with Assault Frigates and Scalpels waited outside.
(Please speak up if you don't know where you're supposed to go)
(20:11:11) Nennamaila
Condor +15.44m
Capsule +193.82m
Merlin -6.7m
Merlin -8.88m
I received word that Lauralite from UNF was looking for a fight in her Deimos in Eugales, so I had the fleet clear their waypoints and set destination to Eugales.
On the way back, our scouts found a Firetail in a Plex in Vlillirier. We picked it up along the way and moved on.
(20:22:14) Vlillirier
Republic Fleet Firetail +31.25m
Along the way I was in a convo with Lauralite about the terms of our fight. She asked about our numbers, to which I replied we were 19 in fleet (by then) and that 1 of us was flying a Griffin. She was ok with that, saying it'll die anyways. I offered her another chance to fight us without the Griffin, where he'd just jam once to get on the KM and then stay away from the fight. She said he can stay. When we finally reached Eugales, I asked her 1 final time, whether she really wanted to fight us with the Griffin on field. She replied with "Do it".
We engaged, with Mike having caught up to us and Auric watching us in his Phantasm. We quickly broke through the Deimos' shields and went on to break it's armor. I suppose 1 Jam-cycle didn't land, so we lost 1 Merlin to its blasters. Suddenly reps started catching and our damage decreased. She activated her ADCU. Throughout the entire fight, I was wondering where its drones were, as I was planning to have the Griffin use his spare Jams on them and have the fleet defang the Deimos while his ADCU was active. Once cycle was over, we broke through the tank and took it down. Turns out she forgot about her drones, she also took her drugs last second and, most importantly, she didn't anticipate the Griffin landing at range and just assumed it would land with the rest of the fleet.
While chatting about the fight, we had a rogue campus manager attack one of our fleet members in an Ibis. When I received confirmation by my comrade, Mike Kingswell, that the insurgent has been identified as Urban Oxide, LSC Campus Manager, I granted him permission to open fire.
This really shouldn't count as a loss.
(20:34:15) Eugales
Merlin -6.91m
Deimos +322.89m
Ibis -0.03m
Stats
ISK Destroyed: 661,165,640.32
ISK Lost: 47,204,400.3
ISK Delta: 613,961,240.02
Efficiency: 93.336%
Overall evaluation
- ✔ (Positive stuff)
- Great atmosphere
- Scouts did an excellent job
- ISK-Positive (duh!)
- People followed commands without discussion
- We killed Urban
✘ (Negative stuff)
- I need to work on my decision-making, the 3 losses to the destroyer-gang could have been avoided by opting for a scatter instead of a fleet warp
- I kept warping the fleet at 0 on acceleration-gates, which resulted in a part of the fleet bouncing off the gate at times