How did this finally happen? As you know I am not afraid of sharing, so here is the tale of how I finally lost a Dramiel in combat.
Only a few of us were left on the Gate when Miss Dante was reported in the next door system. I was, of course, in my Dramiel. Neon was in his Deimos and LJB was in a Falcon. We had a bigger gang earlier but most of them had left by this time. JEK was getting into a Cane, but he hadn't arrived yet. I burned towards the Gate and jumped through. The Thrasher was on Gate and I engaged, pointed and started shooting. The Thrasher burned towards the Gate and jumped through.
So I had aggression, LJB had come in and he was off gate and there was very little chance the Deimos would catch anything. Not due to skill or anything, but the ship is a short-range beast, not a tackle.
Once aggro was over I jumped thru and warped off to the next gate. I landed in the drag bubble, but burned straight for the Gate. I knew this 2007 DarkSide pilot wasn't going to be dumb enough to land in the drag. Sure enough, Thrasher landed on the Gate. I told the gang to meet me in the next system and I jumped after the Thrasher.
So far, up to this point, everything was going perfectly. With Falcon and Deimos support the Thrasher was a goner. And so those that rely on pre-supposition are doomed toward frustration, because we all know nothing ever goes as planned.
Meanwhile I grab the Thrasher and start point, orbit, shoot, drop off the MWD and switch to the AB. I'm doing good damage but so is the Thrasher. I figure it's AC fitted, cause it is hitting me pretty good. Although once the AB catches up the damage slows down. We dance.
Then I hear the Falcon warped to the wrong gate. An overview bug. We've been having a lot of those lately. The Deimos got caught in the drag and is burning and the Cane is not at the gate yet. I decide to overheat my guns and discover that the overview bug has struck me as well. My crosshairs won't go away! My guns, my scram and my AB are active, but I can't get the damn crosshairs to disappear so I can overheat.
At this point I decide to stay and fight. I could have escaped. I had already launched my ECM drones and I wasn't being pointed, but even if I was I could have easily burned off. I don't like to do that. So I stayed and fought it out. It was close, extremely close. The Thrasher and I raced each other thru the levels of our defense, I got it thru shields and then thru armor before my shield tank finally broke. This was the moment of truth however, could I burn thru its structure before my non-existent armor and structure gave way?
Despite bringing the Thrasher down to about 20% structure, I obviously wasn't successful.
The Falcon, Deimos and Cane arrived and my pod was able to escape. Good fight in local. And my heart started beating once more.
Yes I lost a very expensive ship. I don't like that part. But this is exactly why I play Eve, to get into good fights against good pilots. This one I lost. I'll win others.
And anyway, I have another Dramiel in station ready to go.