Pilot Error and Evolution of Ship Selection and Fitting

Starwalker’s ship fitting philosophy had evolved over time:

1. Initial focus was on kill or be killed – a simple damage race, who will be the first to get the kill. Emphasis on using simple cookie cutter builds but not really appreciating the reasons behind the fit 
2. Next evolution was that survival is needed to apply damage, so tank is fitted first and damage second. In short, no damage if dead, so fit tank before guns 
3. Current focus was on relative superiority – define a ship fit to counter most likely ships encountered and their methods of attack. Maximize intelligence to gain relative superiority in selection of tactics, ammunition and range  

Starwalker was still trying to fit for relative superiority but had recently added a tweak – also select ships and fit to compensate for pilot weaknesses. Selecting ships and fittings based on exploiting strengths would be better but Starwalker was not good enough yet to have pilot strengths.

Pilot weaknesses were easy to identify:

• Being distracted by trivia such as looking at the chat channel whilst losing this Hawk in an asteroid belt
• Not selecting the right ammunition to maximize damage as demonstrated when losing this Rifter
• Not using the right range and ammunition that works at that range, which was one of many factors that led to this Hookbill exploding
• Poor manual piloting skills (could not effectively do a slingshot) against a kiting ship like this Slicer
• Not knowing, understanding or remembering New Eden mechanics such as warp-in in a deadspace complex
• Lack of knowledge or common sense when fighting or in this case not engaging when needed and appropriate
• Being impatient (and not cautious) led to this Rifter loss

These traits were starting to lead towards preferring Caldari ships, like the Hawk using the kinetic damage type, and rockets (or missiles) to avoid considering optimal, falloff and tracking. To prefer selecting and fitting a ship for brawling in scramble range because the greater tank, compared to a kiting ship, gave more time to react to the situation.

This preference had its own problems such as restricting the choice of ships but Starwalker was happy at this time to focus on the Rifter and Hawk and perhaps later add the Drake. He also knew that his losses were more a result of his pilot errors than any limitations of the ship he flew or the trained skills he had.