War Diary - 2010.10.09 2313

[Posting delayed for security purposes.]

Finally got out on another roam with the squadron. This time we were a battlecruiser fleet.

In our first attempt at finding action, we found an Armageddon battleship hanging out at a gate. We warped off to a belt, hoping to encourage an attack, but he just hung around while our scout reported that other members of his fleet were massing on the opposite side of the gate. Eventually, that fleet got so large it would be hopeless to take them on, so the FC decided it was time for us to leave. They chased us all the way to hisec without incident.

Later, in another part of space, we ran into some flashies who seemed interested. They turned out to have a Thanatos carrier with them, so we hid in a safe spot for a while and then moved off. They followed us for a few jumps, and this time the FC decided we should stop and ambush their lead element, which turned out to be an Absolution command ship.

We primaried it, but it jumped back, so we primaried a Drake battlecruiser instead. It was out of range of my HAMS, so I lit off the MWD to close. I picked an orbit and started firing. As I was doing this, a couple more bars of the overview went flashy. Then again a few seconds later, a few more flashy ships showed up, making the total about 7 or 8, including the Thanatos. That's when the FC ordered us to scatter. I picked a planet off my Bugout tab and spammed warp. In the main view, there was flashing red everywhere. I could see the "External forces..." message telling me that I was pointed, and there was an EWAR icon on the overview. I reported the point in TS, and the FC responded, "Sorry Ork."

Well, nothing for it but to keep spamming the Warp button. At least my pod should escape. Click click click click click click click click click click click and suddenly I was warping away!

I still had the MWD running from closing to the target, and I had apparently run out of range of the ships that had tackled me. I've never put an MWD on a BC before, always preferring to fit maximum tank and gank. But since we were in a small gang, I decided to fit an MWD to get better control over the decision to engage. I guess it worked.

Lesson learned, me: You got to respect the MWD.

Lesson learned, them: You can't use battleships to tackle battlecruisers.