Where to start.
When we landed I felt extremely confident that we had the match. Obviously with a strong stealth bomber support wing their initial damage was going to be very high. But our support wing was very, very good. So I knew we'd clear the bombers in no time. The issue would eventually come down to the two Vindis and two Bargs. If our dps core could survive long enough to take down one of the Vindi's then we'd have control of the match. The rest would simply be avoiding the remaining Vindi's web bonus and using small ships to kill the Rapid Heavy Bargs, not an impossible order.
Right off the bat several things happened that forced our hand. Our Curse, under mwd, was blapped off the field early by the bombers, before we could kill them. And our Logi pilot, extremely skilled but also very nervous, was unable to land reps on our Phobos' in time. In addition, one of our Heretics was working with two off-lined mods, which could not be repaired before the match. They had been working fine in station.
We brought the correct comp to defeat the other team. And we should have won. That is what makes it a tough loss for us. Granted, first time out and nerves were probably an issue for all of us. I know I made a mistake or two myself that I wish I could have back. So you have to know that is going to happen and just deal with it. The same things happen in any fight, you suck it up and move on.
I'm extremely proud of our team, they all fought until the last second. Even with all the mistakes, we had a chance to win right up until the buzzer. You can't ask for more than that. Kudos to Joffy for landing top damage on one of the Vindi's in his Confessor, a tad over 30k deeps on that one kill. And for managing to stay alive. Well done.
Well done to all of our team. We will pick ourselves up and show up tomorrow smarter, wiser and more experienced for what happened today. Despite the loss I remain as confident in our guys as I was this morning. Nothing has changed.
We've been bloodied. Now our backs are against the wall. As usual.
Onward and Upward.
Here is a view from Oddsodz in the heretic:
Comments
1) The overriding thing is that your guys seemed to be thinking "what do I want to do and never thinking "what does the other guy want to do?" There are multiple instances of this, the rush as the start (which allowed you to kill their bombers which is what you wanted but which fed them 3 of your big ships which is what you guys probably didn't consider) and the point at 7.38 onwards. It's 59-43 to them but with only small stuff left they can't kill any of you unless you go within 13km of a Vindi. Which one by one all your pilots did. Assuming they are beam confessors and LML heretics that's criminal. The Cruor can web to 20km, why did he get caught? Remember what they want to do is be close, you have to counter that. Otherwise with several minutes left, lots of small kitey ships and a surviving logi you could have plinked down a BS, there's no need to dive in.
2) I didn't see your name. I commented at the time that in an alliance built around a charismatic FC they will really hurt without him. Were you on an alt?
3) I don't get Phobos. HICs are bad. Especially when they do nothing but sit next to a Vindi and die.
4) You warped too close. Half of your comp is delicate finesse stuff that doesn't want be close.
5) Bans seem bad. Did you really feel ONI was the worst thing that could happen? Do you still feel that way?
OK, pleasure seeing you play, I always like to see ABA/Stay Frosty fighting whether it's in the AT or chasing my merlin out of a plex. Good luck tomorrow!
He's 9km off a Barghest that was doing 200 m/s.
Also your logi seemed a bit slow off the mark - I get with armor reps you need to pre-rep small stuff to give them a chance but at one point he was repping two ships taking no dps for about 10 seconds while the cruor was getting it in the neck.
That you still killed a lot even with the errors at the start is actually pretty good work.
Remember the Vindi gets a web bonus as well, plus the Bargs where sitting right on top of the Vindis for most of the match. That combination made it difficult for some of the support to apply damage. With the mwd on the Bargs Heavies hurt, without it the Vindi's web got me.
I'm no huge fan of the Phobos either, but if our logi had landed more initial reps at least one of them would have lived past the second Vindi dying.
I think we warped in perfectly tbh. Sadly that put our support a tad far from their bomber wing, so it took more time to get them off the field.
We had a very, very nervous ban situation happen which was a total derp. It was unfortunate but we had to deal with it.
You seem very angry about this loss. Not sure why it means so much to you.