TESF Roam

Peri Simone started the Target Everyone Somebody Fire (TESF) R1FTA roam a long time ago and when the R1DER alliance was started the invitation was extended to all alliance members. This had become a regular roam where usually Peri would FC but anyone could volunteer to FC and The Strabusiness stepped up to the plate last Tuesday.

Kane the Black and Zodiac Black performed sterling service as the scouts and The Strabusiness did a good job as the FC. The Rebels would take down any larger ships that they could find or engage other gangs but on this occasion despite the odd shenanigans there was no big fight. A couple of Coercers were the fleet victims:

1. Coercer piloted by Yoyomommy was sitting in a complex and got tackled. He died extremely quickly, so much so that a number of the gang were not able to get in on the kill
2. Coercer piloted by Dante Vicari was playing station games and had a battlecruiser with him but when the Rebels arrived they scarpered - to the sun. This was such a common escape point that it was not a good escape location and the Coercer was caught there and then left to its fate by the battlecruiser

Starwalker had docked up in Ishomilken after the TESF roam and the following day he was returning to base when he was caught by two Condors. He tried unsuccessfully to slingshot into range but the distance never closed to less than 16km and he was unable to escape the long point so his trusty Merlin was gone. Some small compensation was had by killing this Slasher with a Tristan but as Starwalker flew the Tristan he considered whether he needed to fly a frigate with a micro-warp-drive (MWD), scram and web combination to catch those pesky kiters.

The problem with using a MWD fit frigate in lowsec was that it sacrificed range control to a frigate with an afterburner, scram, web combination. Starwalker had nearly always flown with an afterburner brawler fit in lowsec and had only really used a MWD in nullsec on the rare occasions he flew in that space. He had learned the hard way that burning out of a bubble with an afterburner was painful and getting to a target fast was needed in nullsec. In short, almost everyone used a MWD in nullsec, except perhaps for surprise value or due to ignorance of nullsec bubbles. 

Using a MWD frigate within a TESF roam would be no problem and indeed Starwalker had already used one to act as fast tackle if needed. Generally in a TESF roam Starwalker had always flown with a ship that he would use solo, which seemed to be generally accepted practice. The TESF roam had always been popular within R1DER and it was largely composed of solo (frigate) pilots who came together sometimes for small gangs, so these fleets tended to be simply a collection of solo pilots looking for action together. An FC and scout/tackle would be identified and then the gang, usually composed of various frigates would head out into space.

Employing fleet doctrines, roles, ships and fits based around combining logistics, scouting (beyond +1), fleet tackle and damage dealers was largely alien to R1DER. Similarly alien was using fleet tactics such as hot drops, bombing runs, black ops or capital ship engagement. Indeed Starwalker had not actually seen a RIDER or R1FTA fleet that actually had a battleship and Starwalker was fine with that. If he wanted that experience then he would join a nullsec alliance and respond to the Call to Arms (CTA) at whatever time needed.

Starwalker liked being solo with very few real rules and with like minded people. He enjoyed the small gang culture and sometimes combining with other Rebels if they happened to be in the same area or going on a TESF roam. The composition of R1FTA and R1DER had changed over time and in particular core R1FTA members like Miura Bull, Kaeda Maxwell and Lhorenzho have recently moved on. But Starwalker felt that the core principles had remained the same

• Fly what you want, where you want, when you want and how you want
• Honor 1v1 and ransoms

Starwalker wished all ex-Rebels well and hoped to see them back in R1DER in the future.