Smart Fights = Best Fights

Last night I hopped onto EVE after work and some errands. I got hammered in command immediately to get into a fast moving BC fleet that was just moving out from X-7. So I paid a couple bills online and jumped into a gank Harbinger and hurried to catch up with the gang.

I was about 2j behind when the gang jumped into O-Y from KQK. Easley was scouting for the gang and had reported one red in local with no visual and was moving on. As gang jumped in, that one red in local de-cloaked and lit a cyno. I listened to it go down on comms and frowned. Approximately 60-70 NC jumped in as well as their titan. We never did figure out if the titan was an accident or just showing off, but the reality is that a titan doesn't really do anything to a bc gang. The other guys that bridged through, however, were more than effective. We took heavy losses.

This was no coincidence... a cyno ship waiting in system on our intended route of travel. Our intel later reported that the formup on their titan started when our gang started forming. TS spies most certainly relayed our destination and allowed for the trap to be set and sprung. Our USTZ FC's, myself included, need to expect and plan for the presence of NC spies in our gangs. This isn't to say we don't have our own spies in NC, but with our time zone it can be utter devestation. Why were we in BC/HACs? To avoid the blobs and heavy manpower that NC can bring our way. When that advantage is negated we are in dire straights indeed. When we have their intel during USTZ, it can give us the perfect tool for hit and run. Their FCs are subpar and their fleets are hectic and disorgarnized. Problem is, this matters not at all when they have twice your numbers and a spy in your ts. During European spies suck and can be disastrous,  but even numbers still favor the better FC and more disciplined fleet. You both know you have gangs and you are both doing the dance.

Anyways.

The remnants of our gang hobbled into X-7. I checked fleets and saw SoHo had an advert up for a Drake and Scimi gang.

Jackpot.

For those who aren't aware (as I wasn't until I checked in command channel) SoHo is a long time PVPer of EVE who is excellent in solo, small, and medium sized gang warfare. I immediately bought a Drake and after fitting undocked into his fleet. Our target was the gang that had just hot dropped the IT gang.

I am not one to heap praise on anyone or anything, but I was immediately impressed with SoHos no bullshit attitude. Very much in the same style as myself, he was quick, clear, and concise with what he wanted done and didn't tolerate chatter or disobedience. Throughout the events of the evening (which I will write about) I was impressed with his quick decisions and professional attitude.

So.

We undocked and headed into KLY, then 7RM to the F-N gate. The hostile fleet was in B-9 on the F-N gate. We waited a minute or so and jumped into F-N and aligned B-9. SoHo gave us the word to warp in to B-9 at 50 with our logistics at 90. The NC fleet must have had eyes on us because they jumped in as soon as we initiated warp.

Perfect.

As they jumped in and loaded grid we were landing 50km off of them with logstics out of harms way 90km off of them. We aligned off to the sun and as their fleet started de cloaking SoHo called primaries. It was pretty cool to see a massive volley of heavy missiles streak towards the respective targets each time a primary was called. I had my missile launchers grouped in 4 and 3. Fury (damage) loaded into the 4 and Precision (small targets) loaded into the 3. My Furies were volleyed into our primaries while my Precision's and Warrior IIs hit the small tackle and Blackbirds on the field. This tactic worked especially well (many of the Drakes were operating in a similar fashion, especially with the drones). Interceptor, assault frigs, ecm boats, dictors, and recons were all melting as they tried to get a warp in on us. After a bunch of their ships went down they warped off the gate. We skirmished with them in system a couple more times, inflicting heavy casualties while taking almost no losses. Then they bailed into B-9, and moved into P-2. We formed up on the B-9 gate while getting intel. SoHo was still as calm as can be, and a bit fired up (as was everyone else). We had just taken on a gang (that had just hot dropped/blobbed us) with twice our numbers and dominated due to good warp ins and logistics.

Beautiful.

After a minute or so we jumped into B-9 and warped straight to the P-2 gate. There we sat, at 0. SoHo repeated the command NOT to jump several times. Amazingly, no one jumped. Which was good as the entire NC gang (minus the 20-30 ships they had just lost) was sitting on the other side.

Who would blink?

We decided to and jumped straight into their gang. We held cloak until all members of our fleet had loaded grid, then broke cloak and started unloading. Primaries were called, primaries died, and it was slaughter. Gentleman's Club had a smaller bs gang running around and joined in towards the end of the fireworks. The engagement ended when the last bits of the NC Fleet (approximately 20) deaggressed and jumped out of P-2 back into B-9. Those that weren't caught warped off into safes. The engagement afteraction report was a decisive 35 kills to 0 losses. The state of their fleet was complete chaos, and it cost them. Had they been able to focus fire on one primary they would have at least made a few killls. Due to our excellent Scimitar pilots and the nature of the Drake, the unfocused and scattered fire from the NC gang was ineffective. Their FC was reported afterwards as calling his entire gang "fu%#@in nuggets", and that there was "nothing he could do, their gang was blobbed".

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

If you say so. I would say that tactics were bad, and the FC was very much at fault. I'm not saying this as an insult to the NC, they have taken advantage of our FC screwups as well. But this FC was wrong. He got his gang killed due to lack of tactfulness and horrible target calling. This is never good, but sometimes happens even to the best FCs. What I find completely unacceptable is that he screamed at his fleetmembers using vulgar insults and flinging accusations. It was not their fault they died, they were just following orders (when orders were actually given). I may seem a bit emo-rantish here, and I am. I am disgusted with this kind of behavior from someone who is trusted to be responsible and lead fleets. I don't care if its the enemy. In the long run I can thank him if he gets more of his people killed but they don't deserve it. When you get your gang killed you should apologize and accept resonsibility for your actions, not blame them for your faults and scream at them. There is not a quicker way to see participation in your fleets drop and trust from your fleet members wane and dissapear. If you make a mistake, admit it. You don't need to dwell, but at least tell your fleet what went wrong. This shows you accept responsibility and understand what went wrong. Naturally this means that you will avoid that kind of mistake in the future. Belligerent bellowing points to the obvious conclusion that you will make the same mistake again and again.

Besides, who can trust an FC who fits his Tempest like this? :->

So, we looted field and moved back to X-7. After a short break SoHo reformed gang and after a small deliberation we stayed with the Drake/Logistics configuration.

Destination?

The Hornet's Nest.

So we set out to H-W in Tribute. Burning quickly we encountered absolutely no opposition. Popped a Drake on the way in, he was melted insanely fast. In H-W we parked above the station. The NC Defense fleet had formed and was sitting at a POS in system. They undocked some carriers, and we shot them. They docked in low shield (they were Chimeras).

This went on for a good ten minutes, and we did kill a few ships that warped in to the station and didn't dock in time. The moment of truth came when their gang warped to the station. We barely missed them with a pull bubble from our dictor. If we had caught them they would have been slaughtered (again), but luck was with them and they landed in docking range of the station.

We proceeded to play docking games for the next twenty minutes with them, which allowed us to kill a few idiots who decided to aggress. As soon as someone red boxed they were called primary and pop they went. The shield reps of the carriers (seven were outside the station) weren't enough to keep the armor tanking battleships alive. In fact its kind of stupid to do that, think of it like this. Shield repping carrier is a hose trying to fill a shot glass that is the Megathron's/Apoc's shield tank. That hose is much better suited filling the barrel that is Rokh/Raven's shield tank. The alpha from volley after volley would hit the ships right out of shields and eat armor and then structure. Not able to dock, POP!

These games got real boring, and even the local smack was starting to die down. Homo Erectus (those in IT or NC know who he is) kept it going as long as he could but one can only prop up a dead man for so long. So off we went to X-7 so the European boys could catch some Zzzzzs.

More action reports to come...

That is all.