Daredevil VS Hookbill

My 21 Killmark DD in action

My favorite Frigate to fly in Eve has been the Daredevil for as long as I can remember. So long in fact that I created the rail Daredevil and get zero credit for doing so. My Daredevils are always named Murdock, and have been since before most people got that joke. In other words, I love the ship and what it is capable of doing. I've used it to destroy 153 other ships (it ranks #7 on my all-time list) and I'd use it more often - but I rarely get fights with it. The one I was flying last night is the less blingy version of the three DDs currently fitted in my hangar. It had 21 killmarks on it. The last one sadly was a poor noob I ambushed, I ended up sending him some iskies and a note.

I took it out last night mostly because I was too lazy to fit up anything and everything that I did have fitted just wasn't inspiring me. This after having flown 4 other ships beforehand and having zero luck. As usual, lots of people running away from me. A typical night for the Pirate Lord of Low Sec.

On my way back home I noticed the Hookbill following me. So I jumped into system and slide into a Novice plex. I've killed Hookbills with the DD before, but they are always tough fights. I've also lost a few DDs to Hookbill fights, it all depends on the opposing pilot. This guy enters local and takes his time getting around to sliding into me. So I figure that he is doing the old dock and re-fit trick. He probably keeps a TD in his cargo and is changing it out on me. Those previous HB losses happened because they had TDs fitted. They are the bane of rail guns everywhere. I was going to take the fight anyway, but just to be extra prepared I popped a 20% rep bonus pill. Hopefully that would even things out a bit.

And yes, this is exactly the kind of thinking that goes into almost every fight. Eve is freakishly complicated.

And so we danced. It was a long fight. So long that my cap came into play at the end and that rarely happens in a DD. I still think if I hadn't missed two volleys at the end that he would have exploded, but instead I did. In hindsight I probably could have done a few things differently, I haven't flown the DD solo in a long time. But I'm not making excuses, he won fair and square. Once I docked up I realized that he had also exploded, thanks to some pilot in local flying an Enyo. So that all worked out ok. Not great. But ok.

What the fight made me realize however was important. I tend to forget that having a hangar full of ships results in an interesting problem. Especially when so many of them are fitted. That DD might have been several years old. In fact, I know that certain ships in my hangar are possibly older than Stay Frosty - which makes them almost six years old. And while their age isn't an issue here, the fits they are sporting could be. I honestly hadn't considered that, or at least not to the level of importance that it probably demands to be considered.

And while I always review a ships fit before undocking in it, maybe I need to take a good hard look now. A lot has changed, and continues to change, in Eve. So time for a fitting party in my hangar tonight.

Anyway, good fight.