Laid Low in Ladistier

The Rifter banked smoothly between the asteroid belts as Starwalker tested the agility of this 400mm armour fit. It was not as fast or agile as the shield fit Rifter but it had been successful recently. Whilst a full bank balance meant that any of the frigates in the market place were potential new purchases it needed careful consideration. No point in buying ships and equipment and finding that the wrong choice had been made.

So Starwalker was currently roaming in the ever-faithful Rifter with few targets and even fewer engagements recently. That was a strong reason why the challenge from Tawa Suyo in his Rifter was accepted. An opportunity to fight Tawa Suyo had presented itself a few weeks ago in Heimatar but Starwalker had moved on. The main reason had been because Tawa Suyo had a much better killboard and so Starwalker had looked elsewhere.

So what was different this time? Starwalker had decided that it was time to take more risks. If he was serious about becoming a better pilot then he had to engage more targets – even if that meant losing more often. No guts no glory.

The challenge was accepted and Starwalker arrived at Moon 2 about 50km away from Tawa Suyo. Very quickly the Rifters were locked in combat with death being spat from the guns. It was clear very quickly that the opponent had an armour fit and a good repair cycle going as all the damage was quickly repaired. Meanwhile Starwalker’s armour was slowly being torn away, with the 400mm buffer providing some extra time and the small armour repair fighting a losing battle against the incoming damage.

Tawa Suyo applied the neutralisers and Starwalker responded with the capacitor boosters. Suddenly, the enemy Rifter went into structure and Starwalker thought he was about to win, assuming that Tawa Suyo was capped out. It was not to be, the repair cycle kicked back in and nearly repaired all the armour damage. Starwalker’s armour was finally torn away and then the structure. Starwalker’s Rifter exploded (http://www.r1fta.killmail.org/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10611340) and before the light show finished his pod was warping away to safety.

Good fights were exchanged and then for the first time outside of the R1FTA corporation a post mortem was held about the fight and fit. It was a really interesting discussion and Starwalker felt that he had learnt some more and whilst his Rifter had been laid low in Ladistier his spirits were high.

Late Night in Ladistier

Starwalker was roaming the star systems looking for trouble but it all seemed very quiet. There was a big gate camp of around 15 battlecruisers and similar in Aeschee from Onne but the Rifter passed through without incident. Jumping into Ladistier there was only one other pilot in local. This might be interesting, time to look for him and say “hello” – with 150mm autocannons and a few rockets for good measure.

Selecting a random asteroid belt, Starwalker warped in to settle into using d-scan and also to setup a safe. There were three rats: battleship and two cruisers but they were not the prize. D-scan came back with nothing and the reason became obvious quickly, Starwalker was alone in Ladistier with only some rats to keep him company.

By now, the rats were showing some interest and started to target the Rifter. Starwalker hadn’t come for rats but decided that the battleship might drop something worthwhile and so waited for the two cruisers to arrive but they were not coming to play – they had warped away and now the battleship was too. Presumably they were on a timer roaming between the belts.

Starwalker warped to another random belt looking for the rats and there was the Serpentis battleship. The battleship was completely ineffectual and the only task for Starwalker was to reload the rockets as this was consuming lots of ammunition. It was clear that non-faction ammunition would be better for ratting for the more cost conscious.

Local increased by one and the battleship was still only in shields - Starwalker checked a nearby celestial to warp away to if needed and spammed d-scan. No point in trying to fight both at the same time. Starwalker would fight but not at a disadvantage by choice. Local decreased by one, just passing through.

As the battleship was halfway through armour another pilot came into Ladistier and this time they stayed, in a Hawk. Then another Rifter and a Wolf came in too. Starwalker felt vulnerable ratting but also relished the opportunity of a fight. The Hawk would be missile fit, probably try to kite around 15km or more to avoid close combat but it could easily succumb to the Rifter in close quarters. The other Rifter would be a slugfest to the last man standing and the Wolf would be avoided. However, were any of these pilots together? 2v1 was not good odds.

Finally, Starwalker was able to loot the wreck and turned to find the Rifter or Hawk but they had all gone. What a disappointment. He wanted a real fight but instead he found the remaining two cruisers. They were a little harder to kill and inflicted some minor damage but nothing serious or anything that would change the outcome. It was now late and Starwalker headed back with a full load of loot and nearly a million ISK from bounties.