Outnumbered, but not Outgunned

I've had a couple of complaints about this blog. Not quite to the degree that Red Coat Conspiracy (RIP) or indeed Brawls Deep (RIP) complained, but complaints nonetheless. To prove I take reader satisfaction very seriously I am now going to address those complaints.

The first complaint is from Thornir. Hewas bemoaning that fact that he hasn't been mentioned thus far. Which thereby resolves the complaint. And if no one knows who Thornir is, just try to imagine a window-licking, Danish AliG. Just less funny.

The other complaint is from Utari. Apparently, I don't update this enough. By virtue of mentioning this fact, I am now considering this complaint resolved. While waiting for any subsequent instalments, he's tried to fill the apparent blog-void by writing his own. I've been assured that there's no need to worry about there being crossover in what I'll be writing as it's 'in-character'. As soon as he'd said that I accused him of reading a certain Dussette's blog, to which he pleaded guilty. So far, no one believes that this very blog is all very much in-character. I'm not actually smug at all in real life. In any case, onceyou are done here, Utari's blog is certainly worth a read.

As for my lack of updates, it's not like things have been slow. Just real busy! While recruitment has dropped off, PvP content has picked up quite well. It's also inadvertently given us a new question to ask prospective recruits; "You've got 7 guys online - would you fleet up to provoke a 28 man fleet into a fight?"

Our scouts had been watching a C4 connected to the same static C5 we had. I've got to say, C4 space has become a lot more interesting lately. I'm sure the capital restrictions are a draw for some of the newer corporations and players as much as the dual statics. The way connections and population is at the moment, that's potentially a ridiculous number of systems to scout and keep tabs in the signatures in. They certainly hadn't checked the adjoining C5 thoroughly. Enough to be sending a Venture in to scoop gas while their PvP fleet roamed out of their other static, but not enough to bookmark or scout Lazarus, where we were lurking.

The reports on numbers were a bit sketchy with so many of the Unseen Wolves (the C4 residents) moving around, but it was in excess of 20. They were well equipped too. At least 4 guardians supporting their T3's. As things stood, we had 7 guys. If we had opted to bring a decent number of our own logistics, we wouldn't be able to field enough dps to cut the proverbial mustard. With options so limited, choices tend to make themselves, but choosing to roll to find something different wasn't on the cards - But making it look like we were rolling definitely was.

E'lone and myself logged in a second toon each as Utari did his best to do an impression of a beleaguered rolling Archon while our flotilla waited on the home side of the H296 while the carrier slowboated back to the K162, well within D-scan range of the Venture. The bait had the desired effect and almost instantly, a loki jumped from their C4 home and dropped combat probes.

Utari > This guy is taking ages. I'm almost at zero on the hole

Jay > Burn away for a little bit. When he warps, head back to the hole so it doesn't look too much like a trap.

The intrepid scanner did eventually manage to scan down our capital ship bait and was soon on grid to tackle it. A sabre arrived next, and as the rest of their fleet followed, our own fleet jumped through to meet them. The interdiction probes that the sabre dropped caused the guardians to land conveniently close to our ships and the combination of neuts and ecm made sure their guardians couldn't establish a cap chain effectively and we blitzed through three of them as a fourth scrambled for range. Aware of our range from the carrier, we did not pursue. The other thing I was aware of was that this was the first time most of our fleet had flown together in this kind of engagement. And for Zerolaws, it was the first time he'd ever been in fleet PvP.

It was something that showed. He was eager to prove he could cut it when it came down to a fight and had charged off after a Proteus, perhaps hoping his actions might help turn the tide in our favour. His enthusiasm took him outside of the carrier's rep range, losing him both the ship and his pod.

Utari's carrier was having no trouble keeping the rest of the fleet alive, and with their logi as good as negligible, we were laying down fire on the main body of their fleet, starting with their Armageddon. Their final guardian had put some distance between himself and our fleet, leaving the armageddon in dire straits. In desperation, the geddon's neuts switched to the tacklers and he managed to warp away in low armour. We switched to a Loki but our low numbers saw our tackle neuted away by Unseen Wolves' Legions and another of their ships escaped in the nick of time.

With the Archon feeding cap to the tacklers, we downed a Legion before the Wolves could land more Guardians. Another three joined the fight and far out of our range. We would have to be patient before we could break any of their ships again as the sensor damps forced their logi closer.

The Wolves noticed an error and switched dps to our own armageddon which had drifted out of the Archon's rep range. Solara drifted slowly back but neither fast nor far enough for his ship to make it. With ships down, breaking their fleet would be difficult if not impossible and I called the fleet to burn the 40 clicks back to the WH. As I did, the Unseen Wolves decided to target the Archon, while putting webs and scrams on our retreating ships. Each kilometre ticked by painfully slowly, and as the Archon's capacitor reservoir depleted, the Wolves started to target the Eos. With no reps available, the only choice was to jump home, depriving our fleet of armour links and therefore a big chunk or EHP. The Wolves turned their attention to the rest of the retreating ships who one by one crawled slowly back to jump range, with the exception of Thornir's Tengu (look at that - mentioned twice in one post).

The only remaining question was whether the Archon could last the triage cycle. Utari seemed confident, and none of their fleet had pursued our ships back into Lazarus, opting to focus on the Archon, but as the triage module deactivated, Utari jumped home, putting the wormhole on the verge of collapse and ending the fight.

The battle report suggests that Unseen Wolves won the ISK war, but at 9 vs. 28, I'll happily take the moral victory and the fact that we killed 4 ships while losing 3. All in all, a decent smash and grab but what was encouraging, our new guys enjoyed a good fight and were eager to learn from the experience.