Rupture Ruins Rifter

Starwalker joined another couple of Rebels cruising around Onne looking for trouble. It was quiet and the search began to spread to other systems. In Lisbaetanne a Stabber Fleet Issue came up on d-scan and the Rebels decided that three Rifters might just bring it down. That chance was enough to start the hunt.

The Rebels might have been looking for the Stabber but the Stabber pilot seemed to only want to play cat and mouse or perhaps pick off an individual Rifter. After what seemed like a long time of bouncing around celestials the Stabber simply left the system. However, one door closes and another one opens - as a Rupture entered system looking for a fight.

Agreed tactics for the Rupture were to orbit close and kill the drones first. Starwalker arrived at a belt based on d-scan and within seconds the Rupture was engaged. Close orbit was established, along with point and then the call for backup. Starwalker moved to his overview to set it for drones but it was not there! Quickly checking through the other overview settings it became clear that this was a new machine and it had not been setup with the latest configuration. Damn.

After wasting precious seconds and realising the mistake Starwalker decided to shoot the Rupture and overheated the guns. Those wasted seconds were costing the Rifter dearly as the drones and Rupture guns tore holes in the shiny new Rifter. It was not looking good either for the Rifter or the chances of survival. The other Rebels were now also engaged and Zodiac Black was shouting for the drones to be killed first. But it was too late for Starwalker the shield fit Rifter was entering armour and then exploded into a ruin (http://r1fta.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10352852) of metal and flames.

The Rupture pilot, Dale LoMass claimed another Rifter (http://r1fta.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10352952) and the final Rebel retreated to safety. Good fights were exchanged but the Rebels knew that an opportunity had been missed. Starwalker had enjoyed the fight but was disappointed in his pilot skills. The good news was the Rifter was lost in a fight rather than to sentry guns the bad news was Starwalker should have:

·         Checked his overview settings before engaging in combat

·         Tried to manually select the drones rather than rely exclusively on the overview

·         Alerted the gang that he was targeting the Rupture and not the drones

Starwalker headed back to base to review recent losses and to learn some lessons for next time.