Why Merlins? Well I thought it would be cool to score that milestone solo kill in my very first PvP ship. I rarely fly Merlins, I can't even remember the last time. So that, I thought, would be good. Turns out my eyes were bigger than my stomach, but let's save that for a bit later. First, let's talk about what happened in local.
Immediately upon logging in yesterday I see the gang of Catalysts in local. About 7 or so in the Open. There are only a few of us around, everyone else is off in other areas doing their own things. So Lufax and I grab a Prophecy each, and warp in on them. I land pretty badly at distance (The Prophecy I grabbed doesn't have a prop mod, it is literally just a tank), but I can get my drones on them. We manage to pop a couple of them before they run off. Sadly, in the milieu, Lufax lost his Prophecy. I mention this fight because they come back - this time in RR Vexors.
And this time there really is no one else around. So there are about 9 RR Vexors and a few other ships just sitting in the Open. What would you do? What I did was pull the Thanny out and warp right into the middle of them. I have a ton of options available at my fingertips in my home system and I considered them all. What it comes down to for me is, what sounds like fun at that moment. And warping a Thanatos into the middle of a gang of RR Vexors sounded fun. And it was.
Eventually more Frostians joined the party and it got a tad blobby at the end of the fight. We really don't try to blob, but sometimes it is unavoidable. Especially when the CEO is fighting alone with his Thanny. We managed to kill off a few of them, 3 or 4 I think, before they wisely split. They did manage to pop 4 of my Fighters however. So I'm pretty sure we lost the isk war on that engagement.
They came back later with RR Domis and I think they thought I'd bring the Thanny out again. Which I was going to do, but this time with backup. We had another Thanny and a Nid ready to go. But these things take time to put together and it never really worked out.
Meanwhile I'm trying to sneak in some Merlin action.
I saw another Merlin in local and that fight ended because I was unable to engage my mods due to lag. I never even moved or shot the enemy until I was already in structure. So one Merlin down.
Remember when I said my eyes were bigger than my stomach? That's when I attacked a Catalyst with another Merlin. I lost. The funny thing about that fight is that I would do it again later with a Kestrel and also lose.
I lost another Merlin to that other Merlin again. And then, as if to make its point, I went for that Merlin in my Dram. He ran off but right behind me landed a Punisher, followed by 2 Rifters, a Merlin, and a Tristan. So goodbye Dram.
Thing is, my head was not in the game yesterday. It happens. I made lousy choices and my target selection radar was obviously down for maintenance. I had fun, I always do. But it just wasn't my night.
Luckily, it is only a game.