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Friday, September 14, 2012

My First Loss - Hindsight

So I was thinking back to my loss yesterday, and I realized something important, yet potentially fatal for my future. After I lost the ship, I went back and fitted up another Condor, with the exact same fit... No recalling the fight and deciding what I could have done better, nothing. So that is what I am doing now. BEFORE I lose my next ship, which I inevitably will until I get a fit I like.

Let me begin with why I chose the Condor to begin with. It really all boils down to how I want to win in a dogfight. I primarily want to lock down an opponent in any and all ways possible, that way I can render their ship useless in some way (whether this is destroying it or through other means). When they can't fight back, I can effectively begin ransoming procedures.

The Condor gets two bonuses.

Caldari Frigate Skill Bonus:
10% bonus to light missile and rocket kinetic damage per skill level.
Role bonus:
80% reduction in propulsion Jamming systems activation cost.

Well, I like missiles because they give me a range advantage over other weapons at my current level. Propulsion jamming, such as Webifiers and Disruptors help me lock down an opponent and keep them from getting away. As seen last night however, this isn't really enough (and a tech 1 shield booster really doesn't help against bigger better guns on an opposing frigate, as I saw yesterday).

So My first question I must ask myself. Is the Condor class frigate really the best Caldari frigate for what I want to do? The answer to this is actually kind of fuzzy. I say that because though propulsion jamming is nice, how much does that lessened activation cost really help me? When I look at the other frigates available I found the Griffin class. So lets compare the two, in raw numbers from the ships manuals 1v1.

Fitting Space:

Condor:
   4 Highslots (3 launcher hardpoints and one extra)
   4 Medium Slots
   2 Low Slots

Griffin:
   3 High Slots (2 launcher 1 Turret)
   4 Medium Slots
   1 Low Slot

The Condor can fit more of the launchers that I like, granted its by a grand total of one. It also has an extra Low slot, which is also good. Now I don't use the fourth slot on my Condor, so in effect the Condor essentially wins the Slot space race in two different spots. An extra launcher hardpoint, and an extra Low slot.

Bonuses:

Condor:

   Caldari Frigate Skill Bonus:
   10% bonus to light missile and rocket kinetic damage per skill level.
   Role bonus:
   80% reduction in propulsion Jamming systems activation cost.

Griffin:

   Caldari Frigate Skill Bonus:
   15% bonus to ECM Target Jammer strength and 10% bonus to ECM Target Jammers' capacitor need per level.

Now lets assume I have Caldari frigate trained all the way.

Condor:
 50% bonus to light missile and rocket kinetic damage.
80% reduction in Prop jamming systems activation cost

Griffith:
75% Bonus to ECM Target Jammer Strength and 50% bonus to ECM Target Jammer's cap need (I assume the latter means each level makes it need LESS cap, even though its worded the other way around.)

So looking at those number, I am actually leaning towards the Griffin on this one. If my target can't hit me, then I don't need to worry about damage (The missing launcher hardpoint now makes sense). This also means I have less need of a low slot for extra damage from launchers, I can fit the Damage control, in the low slot and be fine.

Power/CPU

Condor:
   35MW
   185tf
  
Griffin:
   25MW
   225tf

So, they both have a good side and a bad side... One has more power, while the other has more CPU. However, with that extra CPU, that also means I get more Cap, which is good. I wont however judge this on either side until I find out how the fits differ and their individual power/CPU requirements. I don't know why I put this section in here at all, because it really doesn't matter all that much when comparing two different ships made for two different things.

Anyhow lets move on.

So far, the Griffin has come out on top. Now I suppose later today once I get back out into space, I'll have to get Selena to go haul me in some Griffin hulls with modules so I can test them out and see if I like them more or not.

Now to my analysis of my fight with the Incursus. It obviously went badly, and went badly fast. My first response is the typical cop out "I didn't expect to win in the first place". Here is the problem with that. I don't have to expect to win, but I should expect to do my damnedest to bring the opponent so close to their breaking point they start sweating veldspar. So that excuse is thrown out the window. I do give myself credit, however, for giving it a shot in the first place. Normally I wouldn't have engaged until I had a tech 2 fit on my ship and had a better chance of surviving. That's carebear mentality. I'm am not a Carebear. I am a pirate. It's about time I started acting like one. Now to the real meat and potatoes of the fight if you will. I started off the fight with my brain in a clusterfuck. When his one volley nearly took me into armor, I panicked. Mistake number one. I turned EVERYTHING ON. Shield booster, afterburner, web, disruptor, you name it it was on. The customs station got in my way. Mistake number two. Location location location. I picked a spot that in the end screwed me over. I need to find a spot that I will utilize as a spot to bring people for 1v1, somewhere that evens the playing field, ie somewhere a good distance from any large objects. Those things combined all resulted in my three-four volley death.

So things to learn.
   1) Focus, don't panic. Keep your head in the game. The moment you panic the fight is lost.
   2) Location Location Location. I need to pick my fights in better locations.
   3) Do not let overwhelming odds turn me away from a fight. (The only exception to this is destroyer class ships. They were built specifically to destroy frigates like mine. I'm not going to challenge one will-nilly.)

Well, there you have it. My 20-20 hindsight kicks in runs me over for a while, then looks at me and asks what I'm going to do about it. Well, I'm going to fit up another ship and get right back out there and find me a fight!

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