A flash of red and gold

Earlier this week, I got around to finishing off Small Pulse Laser Specialisation IV, which is my "point" for allowing myself to use that weapon system. (e.g I get T2 weapon skills to IV, minimum, before I use them). I of course decided to fit up the brawling Retribution fit I mentioned at the bottom of this earlier post

So I ran out into LowSec, and while looking for targets, I tried my guns out on belt rats. Frankly I wasn't too impressed. With only 600m of falloff I spent half my time changing crystals to keep my damage running. And the lack of a web made tracking smaller targets (like frigates) an arse. Even so, I hoped it would prove itself in a real PvP situation. And as luck would have it, while I was docked up in Daran messing in EFT trying to improve my brawler, someone jumped into system. I watched them for a while in Local. They didn't jump out, so I assumed they were either looking for me or ratting. I was happy either way, so I undocked and hit D-Scan.

Actually, would this thing work solo? Must try it...

A Crusader, aptly named "Crusader" appeared. I narrowed him down to a belt, and switched filters. Two wrecks appeared. Winning! I warped to the belt, and landed only a few kilometres off the Crusader. I started spamming my scram and approaching him. The problem was that even though I managed to scram him, an AB fitted Interceptor is much faster than an AB fitted Assault Frigate (obviously), and a lack of a web meant he was swiftly over 30km from me and warping away. Well crap.


I'd realised the problem with this fit within about ten seconds of using it in "live" combat. A Wolf can get away without a web, because with decent skills, you can reach to the edge of scram range with pretty much any standard "PvP" ammo, like EMP or Fusion (in falloff) and still apply damage, while Barrage will make kiters think twice (at the very least). A Retribution, on the other hand, has to switch crystals every five seconds as the other guy weaves in and out of range if you want any sort of decent damage application, which is obviously a problem.

So I went on the internet and found myself a new fit, a weird mix between a brawler and a kiter. I was intrigued, so I went back to Amarr, got myself another Retribution, fitted it up and went back to Daran. As luck would have it, the Crusader pilot from earlier was still in system. Could I catch him now, with a long point and MWD? Within a few minutes, I  found myself dropping out of warp right next to him (again?), and straight away he was burning off at over 1km/s. I smirked and lit my MWD while activating my disruptor. I soon hit almost 2.4km/s and was basically ramming the Crusader right up his tail. With Multifrequency loaded, he melted fairly fast. Success!

I looted his wreck, raised my eyebrow at the pure number of conflag crystals that dropped, and kept on roaming. A few jumps later, I caught sight of a Retribution on D-Scan in Bantish, who also appeared to be ratting.


I'd just like to mention, for those that don't know, Bantish has upwards of twenty-five asteroid belts split into three "clusters" (as I call them), all of which are out of D-Scan range from each other. Suffice to say, it took a long, long time to find him. I think I spent upwards of half an hour trying to scan him down, since he'd disappear off D-Scan as soon as he appeared. Eventually though, I landed about 10km off him, while he was pewing away at rats. I don't think he even realised I was hunting him. This time however, I was more cautious, and started holding him at range while firing Scorch into his armour. The Retribution's EM hole was quickly apparent, and he exploded. Second kill!

Lasers are almost as pretty as rockets

Feeling slightly lucky so far, I decided to keep roaming, and found a Punisher, also ratting. God, they're everywhere this evening. He was much easier to find compared to hunting that Retribution, and I essentially vaporised him with the local belt rats lending a hand. His pod didn't instantly warp out, so I decided to try and ransom him. What I didn't realise at the time, was that he was a four day old player. I felt slightly bad for what I did next.


[19:43:01] EVE System > Channel changed to Local : Jeni
[19:45:43] Seraph Minayin > your money or your life
[19:46:05] Kiro Overson > -_- ass
[19:46:09] Seraph Minayin > life it is

Oh dear :(

I'm a bad person, I know.


So after a fairly successful solo roam, I decided not to push my luck and started heading back to to my new home in Irnin, since the faction police seem to get a little mad at me in 1.0 space.

And on the way home, I caught sight of an Apocalypse on D-Scan. Flown by a two week old player. Uhhhhhm?

I started following him as he warped from gate to gate. It seemed utterly random, as at some points we headed through systems we had jumped out of not two minutes ago. I hoped he would warp to a belt, or try and engage me on gate, but no such luck. I kept following him until he jumped back into HighSec (seemingly by chance), and imparted some friendly advice.

You can see how confused I was in corp chat...

Private Conversation

Seraph Minayin > hey o/
Andr Loz > hi
Seraph Minayin > this may be an odd question, but what the hell are you doing?
Seraph Minayin > ah now you find highsec ;)
Andr Loz > my english is bad
Seraph Minayin > well, basically the systems you were in were dangerous :)
Seraph Minayin > just make sure you avoid low security space for a while ;)
Seraph Minayin > fly safe o/
Andr Loz > o/


My personal karma restored, I flew back to Irnin and counted my loot. Not a bad haul in my opinion (worth around 15mil). Maybe if I can keep this running, I can make my PvP profitable!

Fly safe :)