Sansha's MOM has got it going on (AAR)

  Yesterday I was in an incursion fleet working vanguard sites when word came down the MOM was up for our system and a fleet was forming to take it out.  Fortunately for me the FC of my fleet was some kind of head honcho type for the incursions so I got a backstage pass if I wanted to help out.  I was in my Basilisk and agreed to go along and help heal.  We got word on what system to head to, got into the new fleet and I was invited into the basilisk channel.  I thought I was all set for the fight when the guy who formed the channel says we need to have two LSE's or we won't survive the bombers.

  I searched the market, found an LSE but realized I can't swap the module around without dropping my T2 reppers down to meta 4 to free up PG.  I ask if there's time to refit and head off four jumps where all of my spare parts are at and swap modules around.  I decide to bring everything with me just in case there is some other change needed to be made and head back as fast as I can go.  Two jumps out I get a conversation request from the gentleman who got us all the invites in the first place telling me to go to P2.  I told him I was on my way but left out that still had a few jumps to go.  I finally arrive to the form up spot, get my cap chain established and everything seems to be fine.

  One interesting point to note would be the way the cap chain was established.  All of the Basi pilots were invited into an incursion channel with a nice MOTD and everything.  Once all pilots were present the cap chain was created by splitting the two required energy transfers one to the person above you on the list and one to the person below you.  Drones were to be placed on the person below you.  In addition your alternate cap partner was the 2nd person up and the 2nd person down in case your primary was lost in the fight.  This seemed a rather simple method of organizing a potentially complicated evolution and it worked very well.  I put my primary and alternate cap partners on the watchlist along with the Logi anchor.  I filled the rest of the watch list with people up and down from me on the list just in case.

  Once all of the administrative details were handled we moved to the entrance gate for the site.  We were told to maneuver away from the main body and NOT to bump and of the BS.  I did manage to tag a Maelstrom parked right on top of me as my ship spun around but after that I dodged and weaved like Muhammad Ali while navigating around the horde.  This was one of the few times that I've actually had to manually fly my ship around and was surprisingly fun.  Finally everything was settled and the command to warp was given.

  I was running my PVP tab to cut down on lag but I forgot that I didn't have any of the Sasha ships for that overview display.  I hopped back and targetted a cruiser and frigate from my PVE tab and I could atleast see the bombers now.  I didn't see any BS or the Carrier on the overview, but I guess I didn't really need them after all.  I think not having Sansha ships show up as a default is horrible planning and I hope they add the option to select in overview, and not from targeting, somewhere down the road.

  The fight was tense but well coordinated.  I repped the people calling for reps, watched to see if I was getting agro, and targeted my watchlist when the MOM fired it's ECM burst.  We lost one Basilisk due to an unfortunate timing of bomber wave and ECM.  He called for shields, we started to rep him, ECM burst cleared our target list, and by the time we got him locked he was in his pod.  Had the ECM waited a few more seconds I think he would have survived the damage.

  We got the kill and our fleet managed to scoop the loot from the wreck before the cluster of plooters could get into the can.  Apparently there are several people that frequently try to steal the can contents.  I know Eve is all about letting people resolve issues on their own, but the point of incursions was to create content similiar to other MMO's that offer an instanced group setting for challenging and rewarding play.  Nothing is more frustrating than getting a group of people together to defeat a tough scenario and then have someone else run off with the hard earned rewards.  I know many Eve players will disagree with me but I think the Incursion loot should be put into a locked container that only members of the Incursion fleet are allowed to access.  There is still low and null sec out there for people to try and gank the looter and get away with the contents and allow people to get their grief on if they so choose.

  A frigate BP and a PDS module dropped and were auctioned off within the fleet.  Everyone thanked the FC' and Logi boss and I took that as my cue to move along.

  I had a lot of fun at the incursion this weekend and I'm looking forward to another high sec area spawning for more pinata bashing.  I've got a couple of new fits, to include a 4 T2 rep build, and hopefully no one will get as close as one Mach did during an OTA mission.  We decided to try the toughest vanguard with only two logi and at the time I wasn't running full T2 reps.  The final wave all agroed a Machariel and I had to overheat all of my reps to stop the damage bleed at about 10% shield or so.  The final trigger was killed and the enemy fleet warped off about the time I was at 50% OH damage.  Afterward the other basi pilot linked me a T2 fit and I adjusted my build after downtime.