The Unsung Hero

Good evening, friends.  After a week of blowing up random red assets in the south, I've decided to take a quick reprieve back north to kill more rats, and chase my tail a little bit when hostile interceptors enter our space.  I'm still trying to come up with a valid counter, but a few things have really stood out.  For example, interceptors really hate any form of electronic warfare.  This has caused the usage of electronic attack frigates to climb in recent weeks, particularly in low-sec, where there is little risk of interdiction.  I, for one, am happy with this, as my secret love affair with the Sentinel is now reasonably validated by its mild usefulness.  I never thought I'd see the day where I could fly a Sentinel and be effective, but if I hop in a Vengenance, I'm about as useful as tits on a boar.  Sure, tracking disruption doesn't bode well against missile ships, but neutralizers and vampires are absolutely genocidal to speed tanks, and my EAF specializes in it.  Overall, I'm happy right now about this, although I do feel the rush of wind from the nerf bat may be around the corner for the interceptors, as they're still not being used in the role they were designed to fill.  Anyhow, I didn't want to dedicate too much time to this topic again, so let's move on.

Friday night was E-P-I-C!  Of course, I started in an interceptor (Crusader lolololol), and ended up being on point for the good part of the fleet.  Good fights were had, until we ran into the mother-of-all-gatecamps.  Look, I know about gatecamps, and here's the criteria I use to determine how bad things are about to go.  First, look at the damage dealing ships.  How much shiny stuff do you see?  Heavy assault cruisers, recons, command ships on grid with you?  All of the above?  Check.  Secondly, examine the enemy fleet's logistics capability.  Are then in frigate, cruisers, or actual tech 2 logistics ships?  The cluster of Oneiroses was a pretty good sign.  So, there we are, me and another scout in a small fast ship, basically repeating Carlin's seven words in TeamSpeak, and the FC calls "jump"...  I'm sure you can imagine how this ended.  Much love, Val!

Then, the mother of all awesomeness began.  A few weeks ago, I had a chat with the powers that be, and they decided to let me do a little fleet commanding.  Now, keep in mind, I've FC'ed well over 100 fleets, but it's been a long time, and never with anyone but EVE University.  The FC told me to "get in something that's not an interceptor"...hrmmm...what to fly?  Well, seeing as we like to keep it small, cruiser and below, what would be a good ship to FC from?  Then, like a light bulb clicking on, only to immediately burn out, it came to me...

Augoror Navy Issue!











This ship actually came with a wallet...

So, I fit my ANI up, pulse fit, Conflag and Scorch at the ready, some heat sinks, and armor...GLORIOUS ARMOR!  I proceeded to take the fleet down a stretch we don't normally run, and voila!  My scouts have found a juicy target for us to take complete advantage of, kinda like that chick at the party when you were a teenager.  You know, she's kinda hot, but not super hot, but what do you care?  You've had 9 really crappy beers, and she's looking like Kim Kardashian (well, before you knew she was sleeping with Kanye), and she's starting with the band camp stories.  Make your move now, or sit in self-loathing pity regretting your indecision...

Wait, where was I?  Oh yeah, the target!

So, I manage to get everyone on grid, calling primaries as we warp in.  I can feel the juices flowing.  Multiple hostiles.  During the warp, I hear, "POINT!"  Shit...just...got...real.  There's at least 5 on grid, and the tackle is outnumbered, but not to fear, the big boys are right behind.  Well, what we ran into was a bunch of faction warfare guys, and apparently, they love warp core stabilizers.  We did manage to tackle and blow up 2 of them before the rest bailed.  Once I pressed F1, I discovered what a few of you already knew.  The Augoror Navy Issue really is a bad ass ship, and not a bad bang-for-buck either.  I paid around 50 million in Jita for the hull, and probably under 100 million for everything, including some T1 rigs.  All-in-all, I'll be keeping one or two of these around for these fleets.  I'm in love with a ship, and it's been under my nose for a year or so, but that's the beauty of the discovery.  I would have never really considered buying one of these if it wasn't for a drunken fun fleet, but I'm grateful that I did.  Amarr pilots and friends, please do yourselves a favor, and give this often overlooked ship a shot.  You won't be disappointed.

Also, because I promised on Twitter, a little teaser of an upcoming contest.  Guys and gals, I'm going to have a contest here shortly, and I intend to give away some PLEX.  If you'd like to contribute some ISK to the cause, please contact me in-game via mail.  I will make sure you get mentioned.  This isn't a skill-based competition, so all will be invited to participate, new and oldbros alike.  Please, I can't float all of this on my own, and I promise you, it will be tons of fun, and should provide some laughs.

Also, as a quick footnote, and it has to be a footnote, because he'll f**king kill me if he actually read this, my long time pilot buddy Atlas Tartarus decided to help me out in a big way.  We help each other out, and he's never been one to shy away from that.  So, I just needed to let him know how much I appreciate his friendship.

That's it for this week folks.  Please remember to check back periodically, and follow me on Twitter @MedLacroix.

Fly it like you stole it.

o7

Med