31 Jan 2011

Fireball Rifter Squadron (part I)

Five Glorious Rifters named Fireball. Five hastily put together dual-repping Rifters made up from the most part, bits of spare loot and reconditioned parts-bin modules that some second-rate repair man has soldered back together with his magic plasma soldering wand. Five platinum insurance deals to make for one happy insurance broker.

I fully expect these Rifters to die a glorious death, each and every one of them will be ripped into fragments of rust and heat, warped metal that would no longer resemble the ship it once was. I just hope that I can drag a few ships down into the junk yard with me as we go kicking and screaming, hulls on fire. No holds barred.

I had hoped that this experiment wouldn't take too long, I wanted to undock, get into fights and then write about my adventures and failings. It didn't quite work out that way and I will be splitting the stories into 5 separate posts. For the most part of two hours I sat in asteroid belts, watched as people warped in at range and then warped off. I chased down targets in belts that ran off and basically got quite frustrated at the lack of action I had in the hours I was out in space.

A tasty looking Thrasher and a Rifter that were still with their original owners names plastered across their hulls encouraged me to pop a Standard Exile as I warped in head first, reppers overheated, guns warming nicely ready for the onslaught. On landing at the belt the two ships were already in warp out of there, I caught a glance of them heading off to the high-sec out-gate. No fun to be had here and as I regained my senses from the sudden rush of the booster that I had just injected into my brain, I realised that I had took a tracking penalty for my troubles, lame.



Over in Gulmorogod I chanced upon a Jaguar pilot ratting in one of the belts, there were a good five or six in local but I decided on blasting on in and introducing myself in the only way I knew how - pleased to meet you sir, here's a 200mm autocannon, take that- bam (the rush from the booster had hazed my thoughts somewhat). I landed right on top of the Jaguar and began taking chunks out of his shield. I say chunks, but really I mean little nibbles - like a mouse nibbling on a block of cheese that was a bit too big for it perhaps.

I was trying to keep some range the best I could, after all this tracking penalty wasn't ideal. It seemed like my own shields disappeared in an instant as my overheated dual reppers kicked into life as hot as hell nano-assemblers raced to patch up the holes that were fast appearing in my ships armour. Slowly bits of shield from the Jaguar began to weaken, very slowly, but the incoming damage was being tanked quite well. As my capacitor reserves dropped to almost empty I fired up my capacitor booster and injected some much needed life into the heart of my ship and then I began the rep cycles again, the reppers now in full flow with not much time in between to rest. I was now confident that careful capacitor, range and overheat management would bring this Jaguar to its knees. I was wrong . . . . .



Right on top of me landed an Enyo, a mate of the Jaguar pilot perhaps? Most certainly a party pooper! The Enyo took a dislike to my frigate and as blaster fire rained in on the now damaged hull my reppers just couldn't cope with the multiple damage and it was a quick death for Fireball 1. A last glance at the Jaguar saw it just enter armour, if it wasn't for the Enyo I was pretty sure it would have resulted in a victory.  It would have been a close call, for sure.

In the ensuing mayhem my escape systems decided to freeze and my low-grade snake powered clone was fried to a pulp in the harsh blackness of space. As I woke in the medical centre in Molden Heath I swilled on the cup of water by the side of my cloning table, jumped up, shrugged and made my way over to my lockers where I had a new pair of black aviator shades waiting for me.

Stats:

Number of Ships Killed - 0
Number of pills popped - 1
Penalties from drug use - 1 (tracking)
Headaches Induced - 1
Number of ships that ran away - Lost count.
Expensive clones lost - 1
Ship Lifespan - approx 2 hours.
Number of Exotic Dancers Killed - 1
Number of Exotic Dancers Escaped - 1 (missing in action)
Tins of Long-Limb Roes Lost - Epic proportions, the wealthy elite express anger and outrage at the waste.

Here's hoping for more luck in part II. Stay tuned.

MB.

9 comments:

  1. Unorothdox, but interesting fitting for a Rifter. I'd be too worried about not having a web. So, in short, your balls are moar Iron then mine.

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  2. I also tried the dual SAR fit once. While it was certainly a funny experience for my opponents to see me repairing from half armor to full armor in a cycle I didn't use it much since then. I found micro managing repairers and cap boosters a little annoying at that time (still hate all those tiny buttons with a passion!) and also I had the feeling the armor buffer was too small to be kept alive continuously. But if your experiment goes well I'll definitely give it another shot.

    God speed Rifter Boy!

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  3. Vas - Yeah it's a bit of a mental ship to fly. I think it has about 12 seconds of cap if I remember correctly. Certainly not a ship to fly if you don't like losing often :p

    Sob - Yeah, I understand your feelings there. It's a ship that doesn't live long once structure starts bleeding badly. The buffer just isn't quite good enough. Although I once killed a Taranis and various other odd mwd inties with it, you do tend to lose more fights than you win.

    MB.

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  4. I'm also laughing that the drugs you're using cost nearly as much as the ship. =)

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  5. Yep, was good stuff. I've got quite a bit of them going spare after a bulk order a while ago from my dealer. =)

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  6. Same thing happened to me in the same system yesterday!
    I was out there for three days, following your (great!) roaming guide, but space was empty and no food for my guns. Then I finaly scanned down a lonely Thrasher ratting in a belt. I engaged, hungry to get my hands wet with first blood. Scrammed, webbed, Nos running and in perfect toe to toe range for my guns I nibbled down his shield and blasted through his armour. I took heavy damadge from his guns while my cap was running empty (does my Nos suck and should I use Cap booster instead?) but I went through his armour pretty fast so I knew it's close but I will win. Finaly he popped in a wonderful explosion right before my nose when all of a sudden a guy named "Sun White" warped in with his Enyo and insta scrammed me. Heavy in structure I stood no chance and the party pooper did what he does best.
    Well, I like the taste of blood, be it my own or the enemys, and I have a large amount of rifters ready to fight. So I'll be out there today trying to catch the pooper...

    CU there wild Bull.
    Fly reckless and free.
    Ras Murdok

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  7. Awesome post. Interresting fit.

    AFAIK the aux nano pumps are stacking penalized. So maybe putting exp and kin hardeners instead of aux nanos would server you better by increasing EHP and rep efficiency.

    I'm really tempted to try the fit....but the low EHP really scares me. Looking forward for next part.

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  8. You lost a lowgrade Snake clone for 800mio and took it that easy? Man, you must have loved those Tins of Long-Limb Roes!

    I recently got myself a set of Snakes aswell, to be used only when my internet connection has proven itself to run stable after extensive and close monitoring. Also, the moon must be in it's 3/5th phase. Songsbirds must sing not too silent, not too loud. The neighbors cat has to sit on the 3rd tree from the right. None of my dogs must snore.

    And then, when I undock and still lose this expensive pile of hardware I'll be sure to post an outrageous comment here again. For the screaming alone, the text capacity will probably not suffice.

    So I can only imagine how you felt about those long-limb roes.

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