I log in an hour later than usual yesterday and immediately I see a Vagabond on scan in local. Luckily there is already a fleet up and running, so I pop in and we start trying to figure out what to do. There are only two of us locally at the time, but with Ninouh and me on the case we can figure something out. The Vaga is in the Crimson site so not only do you have to deal with the ship, but you also have to deal with all the NPCs. Even though we are trying to save them, they will still shoot us. Don't ask me, I don't make the rules around here.
As Ninouh goes to get tackle I settle on an Arty Tempest as a quick way to take care of the ship and the rats. But then I start worrying about the lack of speed on the Pest. Honestly I have way too many choices and sometimes the plethora of ships I have fitted and ready is a problem. The Vagabond runs away from tackle anyway, so for the moment it doesn't matter. But that's when he docks up in one of the stations. So I quickly grab something more fun to play with. And I warp over to the station in my Nightmare. I can't even remember the last time I undocked in this thing. I love this ship and I rarely get to fly it these days.
Long story short, the Vaga eventually gets caught between us on a gate. But we really need one more ship to make this work. Another Stay Frosty pilot is on the way in a Proteus. But then a random Gila jumps through the gate and lands on my side. Foolishly I try to tackle it, but it is just outside my range. Although I'm pumping deeps into it, I can't hold it. Which is when the Vaga jumps through, lands 40k from me and warps off. Grumble grumble. Bob must figure I need some good news at that point, so a Badger lands on the gate and I one shot it into a wreck.
(I'm not linking kills today since zKill is still bonkers.)
I jump into my trusty Comet and go hunting. In one system I notice three mining ships on scan. They see me on scan and they all vanish, local drops, and within the span of one minute I am all alone in system. I'm used to this and move on. Over the course of the next hour I desperately hunt for opportunities for a few good fights. I am out and about totally solo and have to be careful what I get myself into. These days every gate jump is potentially a gate camp, just the day before I lost a newly fitted Hookbill to an unreported Goon camp (4 Gnosis, Rook, Keres = no hope). Low sec is very dangerous.
I had eight potential engagements result in either the target running away, or being in a kiting ship that simply decides to leave the fight. It is starting to look like another frustrating night. But I learned a long time ago that patience is the key, and so I continue hunting. Eventually I find a Corax willing to not run away and, sadly, not shoot back. In another system I spot a Covetor on scan and spend the next ten minutes trying to find it only to have it dock up. Which is when I spot the Procurer on scan next door. My immediate thought is that it must be a trap. This is a popular system along a well-worn FW pipeline. No one could just be out mining, could they?
What followed was an awesome engagement. I give this miner full credit here, his ship was well-fitted and he came armed with a flight of Hobs and Hammers. Procs can be extremely tanky, especially if you happen to just have a Comet. So I point him and start shooting. The drones are dealt with one at a time with my Web and my own drones. Which is not a quick process. In any long engagement eventually cap becomes an issue. So I couldn't run my repper or use my AB constantly. It became a game of watching my cap, managing my mods, and keeping the ship locked down so he didn't slip away. All while tanking his ever decreasing drone supply.
I love this kind of stuff. I'm sure he wouldn't agree, but this is bread and butter fighting. If he had been paying closer attention he could have escaped a few times along the way, but he didn't notice the dropped point. I exploded his ship with 34% structure damage on my Comet.
Headed home for the night I noticed a Cat Navy in a belt and warped in and killed it. The pilot and I ended up talking afterwards and this was his first time out ratting with the ship. So I sent him some iskies and gave him some advice. Good stuff.
And that was my day yesterday in Eve Online. I could write a post like this after every day.