Like...yikes. Flying on eggshells in probably the only place in the Bubble where repair is more than 5 jumps away.
Thanks to some really bad decision-making, ED's infuriating AI and overconfidence, I wound up limping to the repair bay so close to going 'foom' I had to take a pic.
Here's what happened:
I've been having FAR too much fun grinding Imp ranks, with several stacked link-missions. These follow-on missions - required to get the new rank - are generally either scanning the same Hi Sec planetary base over and over or going out to murder some poor schmuck that the Empire has decided it wants to introduce to the Undiscovered Country.
All good - pretty much in my wheelhouse; except...
First, I unloaded the G5 modules from my Python and stuffed them into my Krait II for the sole reason that the Krait looks cool. It's so close to a Python in so many ways; just a bit quicker - she's a blast to fly.
I just haven't flown her in months - I'm out of practice.
(She's gorgeous - if a bit psychedelic.
)
Anyway - I head off and scan the same planetary base for the umpteenth time. Fly back, get my rank. Scan it AGAIN, get my rank. I'm then given a kill order...cool.
So far, these poor schmucks have been easy pickings. 'Expert's' in Adders usually. No problem!
Guy turned out to be an Elite Anaconda.
OK - one-on-one, I've no real worries. To make things better, there are a couple of Authority vessels in there too...they'll help.
Except...
I target the guy, take position and open up.
The cop ships promptly book...thanks for the help, guys. Still, I'm all over the dude. His plasmas and lasers are pumping out seemingly endless fire, stripping my shields; I need to pop 2 SCB's to keep them hot. Meanwhile my G5 Multis are chewing this guy like a dog on a bone and the Large pulse lasers (unengineered - just took them to fill out slots) are lighting him up like a Christmas tree. All is going well.
Then..."SURGE DETECTED" Oh you...
I put all pips into WEP, HAMMER him from <1Km, the Connie's huge hull toughness goes down...slowly...to 22%. then FOOM! He's gone.
.
I stay in real-space until my shields charge back up, accelerate and leap into SC.
WHAM! I barely had time to blink before he was Interdicting me. Hull back to 100% of course.
And this is where I made my mistake: I let him.
Hey - in my 'Vette, you wanna interdict me? OK. But I'm not in my 'Vette. And while Xeno's Paradox is a tough bird with solid core armour and module protection, she's no Core Dynamics murderboat.
So - second battle with this guy. It was tense. Plasma and collimated light stripping my shields, I pop SCB's...uh....heat? Yup - out of heatsinks. I wince, watch the heat soar and just keep firing, careful not to touch any metal surfaces for a few seconds. More shield damage; he's just hosing me down while I try to boost under his belly - and keep failing, I'm out of practice. SCB's again...
They're empty. AAACK!
BUT - this time that hull is coming down. I time his end-of-charge turnaway almost perfectly and just pour fire into his belly. His hull drops...63%...46%...9%...2%....2%....2%....2%...
I HATE that...the last 2% is solid adamantuim, apparently. He's got my range now; shields gone, modules crashing, weapons malfunctioning. My own hull dropping FAST....then... he FINALLY drops to zero, begins rolling out of control. Still firing and still hitting me, taking forever to go boom! But finally, he did and I was left with...
Like...yikes. I know enough to not take additional missions when taking a kill order, but man Devo, remember to recharge them SCB's!
I had tons of time to synthesize heatsinks too. Dummy!
The good side is that I have about 300 rebuys for this thing but that was way too close! And a serious reminder about how much I still need to learn about combat.
Cheers!
Thanks to some really bad decision-making, ED's infuriating AI and overconfidence, I wound up limping to the repair bay so close to going 'foom' I had to take a pic.
Here's what happened:
I've been having FAR too much fun grinding Imp ranks, with several stacked link-missions. These follow-on missions - required to get the new rank - are generally either scanning the same Hi Sec planetary base over and over or going out to murder some poor schmuck that the Empire has decided it wants to introduce to the Undiscovered Country.
All good - pretty much in my wheelhouse; except...
First, I unloaded the G5 modules from my Python and stuffed them into my Krait II for the sole reason that the Krait looks cool. It's so close to a Python in so many ways; just a bit quicker - she's a blast to fly.
I just haven't flown her in months - I'm out of practice.
(She's gorgeous - if a bit psychedelic.
)Anyway - I head off and scan the same planetary base for the umpteenth time. Fly back, get my rank. Scan it AGAIN, get my rank. I'm then given a kill order...cool.
So far, these poor schmucks have been easy pickings. 'Expert's' in Adders usually. No problem!
Guy turned out to be an Elite Anaconda.
OK - one-on-one, I've no real worries. To make things better, there are a couple of Authority vessels in there too...they'll help.
Except...
I target the guy, take position and open up.
The cop ships promptly book...thanks for the help, guys. Still, I'm all over the dude. His plasmas and lasers are pumping out seemingly endless fire, stripping my shields; I need to pop 2 SCB's to keep them hot. Meanwhile my G5 Multis are chewing this guy like a dog on a bone and the Large pulse lasers (unengineered - just took them to fill out slots) are lighting him up like a Christmas tree. All is going well.
Then..."SURGE DETECTED" Oh you...
I put all pips into WEP, HAMMER him from <1Km, the Connie's huge hull toughness goes down...slowly...to 22%. then FOOM! He's gone.
.
I stay in real-space until my shields charge back up, accelerate and leap into SC.
WHAM! I barely had time to blink before he was Interdicting me. Hull back to 100% of course.
And this is where I made my mistake: I let him.
Hey - in my 'Vette, you wanna interdict me? OK. But I'm not in my 'Vette. And while Xeno's Paradox is a tough bird with solid core armour and module protection, she's no Core Dynamics murderboat.
So - second battle with this guy. It was tense. Plasma and collimated light stripping my shields, I pop SCB's...uh....heat? Yup - out of heatsinks. I wince, watch the heat soar and just keep firing, careful not to touch any metal surfaces for a few seconds. More shield damage; he's just hosing me down while I try to boost under his belly - and keep failing, I'm out of practice. SCB's again...
They're empty. AAACK!
BUT - this time that hull is coming down. I time his end-of-charge turnaway almost perfectly and just pour fire into his belly. His hull drops...63%...46%...9%...2%....2%....2%....2%...
I HATE that...the last 2% is solid adamantuim, apparently. He's got my range now; shields gone, modules crashing, weapons malfunctioning. My own hull dropping FAST....then... he FINALLY drops to zero, begins rolling out of control. Still firing and still hitting me, taking forever to go boom! But finally, he did and I was left with...
Like...yikes. I know enough to not take additional missions when taking a kill order, but man Devo, remember to recharge them SCB's!
I had tons of time to synthesize heatsinks too. Dummy!
The good side is that I have about 300 rebuys for this thing but that was way too close! And a serious reminder about how much I still need to learn about combat.
Cheers!
