Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The Comet that Changed the World


It was like pvping for the first time. Do you remember? Your heart beating so hard it felt like it would jump out of your body and onto the desk in front of you –your hands shaking ever so slightly—and a small laugh of embarrassment that you’re reacting in such a way to an internet spaceship battle.

It was getting late, so I was checking a few last systems for targets before docking up my Condor for the night and going to bed. I was in a good mood after a steady stream of pvp—a common theme for Late Night as of late. Between Amarr groups, neutrals groups, pirates, and the occasional highsec ganking, it’s infrequent there is simply nothing to do.

After d-scanning around Kamela a bit, I headed for my last stop –Sosala. Coms were a bit chaotic –but it was a happy chaos that comes from friends chatting about ship fittings, gang theory, and various methods of ganking larger things in highsec. I was somewhat tuned out.

Local revealed one hostile in local, and a couple blues. I quickly whipped out my D-Scan, thanking whoever in CCP invented the tracking feature, and ran through all the plexes and celestials in range. There was a lone Navy Comet in the small plex – a promising prospect.

I quickly warped to ten of the gate, and activated, hoping it wasn't a blue.

Please don't be blue!

It wasn't blue.

I quickly double clicked in space straight ahead of me as soon as I landed. Thankfully, I came in at about 10K of the Comet, so was outside of scram range. I learned from an engagement with a daredevil earlier in the day that getting my untanked Condor scrammed is not particularly good for its health.

It didn't take long to slap my long point, and fall into a shorter orbit –around 15K. I find that larger obits are sometimes hard to manage— I've lost more than one hostile after accidentally slipping outside the range of my disruptor.

Hmm should I call for backup? I was not particularly familiar with Comets, having never flown one. Was it even reasonable to think I could kill it in my Condor? Or was I about to turned into mincemeat? What the heck, it’s just a Condor, right? Fully fit, I’d only be out around 15 million ISK.

Are Comets long range or short range? Shield or armor? Would my tracking disruptors help me at all? I really need to research more of the Amarr ships –the race I’m most unfamiliar with, ships wise.

I didn't expect the drones.

Three warrior IIs plopped out of his bay and made a beeline for me, quickly doing a significant amount of damage to my shields. And, well, shields are pretty important on a Condor.

I quickly switched to by drone tab, very glad I had made one recently, and locked up the drones. I should eliminate the DPS –that seemed like a good plan. But, would my missiles even hit fast moving warriors?

An NPC spawned and started shooting me –a further nuisance.

I killed his last drone and switched back to the Comet, nipping away at his armor once again.

More drones.

What was this? A Mary Poppins ship? How big WAS that little frigate’s drone bay, anyway?

I had a decision to make. The Comet was clearly dying, but I was already through my shields—and the damage to my armor was a bit uncomfortable. Could I kill him before his drones ate me for lunch? We’d been fighting a long time, and he was badly damaged. There was another hostile in system –was he coming in to support his friend?

I killed the drones –but only two before switching back to the Comet. I overheated my missile bays. It was all or nothing time.

I never even saw him enter hull. As soon as his armor was gone he seemed to insta-explode.
And a pretty explosion it was. As I glanced down at my shaking hands, and nervously laughed as I checked the overview to make sure he was indeed dead,  I realized a few things had died with the Comet. The creeping, constricting tendrils of bitter vet syndrome seemed surprisingly missing –along with the cold, always present pressure of impending boredom--Gone.

All I knew was that I would lose a thousand ships, roam a hundred jumps, and take an insurmountable number of risks to have a fight like that again.

I had to resist the urge to package away my badly damaged ship. I could put it in a container, and label it as the vessel by which I was delivered into the realm of solo pvp. If only I could frame it somehow. Like a business owner’s first dollar, or a physician’s medical degree—a symbol of the beginning of something good.

Naw. I think I’ll get it blown up. 

This Condor’s made for killing.

13 comments:

  1. Chills.. Goram chills went down my back on that one. Made me remember my first solo kill. Way back. Little executioner it was. Great little ship. I had just managed (through many many losses) to find a way to keep it at over 3k/s and still keep point and damage on target. The Rifter at the other end of my lazorz gave me a good run for my money. But Somehow I came out on top, at about half structure. Will never forget that fight. Thanks for bringing me back to that memory. I think I'll take out my new shiny Slasher and find out what dents I can bring it back with.

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  2. Been flying the Condor a lot lately, it is an extremely fun and engaging little ship. Reading your account made me wonder what you are fitting in the mids? mwd and long point obvious, but the other two are crucial. Some say TD and Web or a SE, but having tried several combinations I've personally landed on TD and ASB. The asb has given the ship the ability to survive longer especially against tougher opponents. Try it out and see what you think. You can easily see my own fit on my losses :)

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    Replies
    1. In that fight I had two TDs. I know people who fly them with two damps also.

      I'm definitely going to try your ASB fit...I was kind of toying with the idea of putting an ASB on it.

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  3. "I really need to research more of the Amarr ships –the race I’m most unfamiliar with, ships wise."

    Comet is Gallente. Great story! even better kill. Nice piloting.

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  4. Seems like it was a good fight! But just as a small note, the comet is of the Gallente ship line :)
    I am glad that I still get the shakes after pretty much every fight I am in. Good times!

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  5. "I quickly whipped out my D-Scan ..."

    I've learned a disturbing thing about you today. :)

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  6. I guess Amarr frigates aren't the only ones i need to brush up on. :p

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    Replies
    1. You're killing stuff, who cares if you call it the wrong name! :)

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  7. Good story and fight. It can be hard to maintain the orbit long enough.


    Thats why I always used to plex. IMO all plex fights are good fights. I hope you find many more.

    -Cearain

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  8. why ppl like so much those kiting shits , because they easy to fly. booo!

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    1. I don't think they are that easy to fly - unless you have a loki booster that allows you to disrupt from outrageous distances then yeah they are very easy to fly.

      Its easy to get scrammed and its easy to lose your target its also easy to run out of cap. Once you are in a comfortable orbit and if you can then hold it it can be easy but getting to that point is not always that easy even if you do not need to manually pilot after that.

      But I agree kiting fits with Loki boosts are definitely lame. I doubt she had a loki boost because she set her orbit at 15 - 2 km outside of overheated web range.

      If she had a loki she could set orbit at 19, hit f1, and go afk get a drink and come back to look at the killmail. Well ok she would have to kill the drones first. But there would be no concerns about losing the comet/getting scrammed while she did that.
      -Cearain

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  9. Good Story Susan. Lately i've slowed down my eve playing, But i spent much of last month roaming around in various things, mainly my fed nay comet.

    "I realized a few things had died with the Comet. The creeping, constricting tendrils of bitter vet syndrome seemed surprisingly missing –along with the cold, always present pressure of impending boredom--Gone."

    ^^ i totally relate to this, its how i felt all last month when roaming around solo. I'm glad us old school FW players haven't forgotten that thrill, and im always telling people to go out and solo a bit, i feel its good for your eve soul :)

    Hope you find many more goodfights like that and while we're talking about solo, big shout out to Dagrian Darius from IFW. He's always been a big inspiration for me to solo in FW!

    -Daisha Voluptia

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  10. You go girl...the first one is always the best. You start getting used to PVP and loose a bit of that exhileration that you used to feel. Then you get a solo kill and it's like popping a cherry you didn't even know you had....haha Before you know it you'll be scanning plexxes looking for 2 WT's to take on at the same time. Congrat's and I'm sooo proud of you ;) What out don't become an adrenaline junky, it will only take more and more to satisfy you.....hmmmm....I said that like it's a bad thing....NOT

    -Dagren Darius

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