Circle in Space (AAR)

Task: Conduct solo patrol of Auner space for familiarization and experience.

Conditions: Using Hawk AF with long point move around the Auner area looking for possible engagements.

Standards: Have fun and ensure pod is removed from fight if at all possible.

Summary:  This is a short note, I didn't engage in a fight but I did have a situation occur worth writing about.  I was in my Hawk and orbiting a gate in the Auner system when a red security status Megathron jumped into system.  My first instinct was to prepare for warp off in case he locked me so I aligned to a station.  Nothing happened though and he left the area.

Personal Notes:  I have no illusions that my Hawk could have broken the tank on the Mega before he could get back to the gate.  Calling in friendlies was a possibility, but I wasn't expecting to engage anything that big so I hadn't arranged for support.  I also wasn't sure if the gate guns would engage me for starting the fight but I found out later they wouldn't.  The more I thought about the encounter the more I thought I could have done things differently.

  At a minimum I should have locked him as soon as I saw he was low security status.  Whether I wanted to engage or not the time wasted locking could have been critical, and it's a good habit to get into.  Second instead of moving away from the BS I should have closed range to put him in a tight orbit by manually flying in an arc towards him.  Finally picking a warp out point that was on the overview and doesn't require clicking on the screen would have made more sense.

  Improves-
Locking pirates whenever I'm not cloaked is a good idea, no requirement to engage them
Plan some possible reactions for different size ships whenever I setup a patrol to help initial decisions occur faster
Practice aligning to smart warp outs instead of panic selecting where to go

  Sustains-
Continue getting out into space
Finding answers to questions

Flight of the Rumble Bees (AAR)

Task:  
Fleet: Conduct anti-piracy roam
Personal: Use tackle frigate to better understand tackle role

Conditions: 

Fleet: Given low security space in small fleet setting with frigate class combat ships
Personal: Utilize an AC equipped Rifter with AB and Scram to conduct short range tackle

Standards: 

Fleet: Engage only pirate or GCC targets, follow FC commands, have fun
Personal: Tackle at least one enemy ship, preferably being the tackle that holds the ship in place for great justice

Personal notes:  Several kills were made during this roam, and a few losses as well.  The losses were expected considering the choice of light ships.  Overall was fun trying out a different fleet mix and I'm looking forward to the next roam.  I'll detail the overall fleet activity first and then my personal performance before getting into the sustains and improves.

  I flew a Rifter for the first time ever because I failed to plan my JC's last night to coincide with the roam today.  My ECM character was in his PVE clone and wouldn't be able to jump until over an hour after the roam started.  In addition I'm out of EAS so I needed to spend 30mil or so to get a good ship to fly tonite.  I might have gone with a griffin but neither of the alts with accessible JC's is trained in EW warfare.

  The Rifter was shield tanked with 200mm AC II's, an AB, scram, DC II and MSE II for tank, a TE to boost falloff, nano II, and resists coming from the rigs.  I know most PVP Rifters are armor tanked but every fit I came up with using armor had a speed less than 1k mps which I felt was too low when using a close range ship.  I put on the scram to offset the use of an AB and I figured our primary targets would be cruiser or BC class.  If I could get in range of the scram I wanted the AB to keep my transversal up.  I knew I'd have trouble tackling frigate sized targets but we had inties for the speedsters.