Anyone who plays EVE Online knows that they are going to lose ships. Even if you are intentionally avoiding the dangers of PVP, missions pose the risk of ship loss and there’s no way to avoid combat if another player is bent on initiating combat with you. Prudent players keep their ships and themselves insured against loss but it still sucks the first few times you loss a ship. I especially hate losing a ship to something stupid on my part.
For the past few days I’ve been doing my level 1 missions in a Tristan instead of the limousine comfort of my Vexor. The reason behind the change was twofold. First was a desire to become more familiar with combat in the ship I was going to use for my introductory foray into Faction Warfare PVP. Secondly, I wanted more challenge in completing missions. Doing them in a cruiser I was able to, well, cruise through them which wasn’t always fun in small missions with only a few ships to fight.
Shortly after making the choice to fly the Tristan instead of the Vexor, I received a mission that warned using a Frigate would require a WELL outfitted frigate. To me this was NPC-speak for flying an entry level frigate was not advised. It was toward the end of my gaming evening so I decided to do it in my cruiser and be done with it. Unfortunately, the mission’s acceleration gate (access gate) didn’t allow cruiser class ships. Based on the ships listed, it was preferable to use something bigger than a frigate but must be smaller than a cruiser. Basically, a ship I didn't own.
After reviewing information on the NPC’s I’d encounter during the mission I upgraded my Tristan to all named modules. I changed my armor plating to resist the type of weaponry I’d encounter. I purchased missiles and ammunition that the NPC’s would have the least resistance against and set out. Dealing with the first and second wave of NPC s wasn’t easy but do-able. I’d learned from my second time playing EVE that not all ships are appropriate as shield tanks. Consequently, I adjusted my Gallente ships to a more appropriate armor tank configuration. This change necessitates an emotional adjustment to watching the first ring of protection between you and decimation, your shield, disintegrate while remaining calm.
I didn’t panic as my shield melted away. I activated damage control, armor plating and armor repair modules and kept fighting. I was rattled as the modules slowly drained my capacitor and my armor hit 50%. I wanted to flee when it drained completely and my armor dipped below 40%. However, there were so few ships left that I continued fighting. As the capacitor replenished, I turned modules on and off just enough to keep my armor percentage decent and finished eliminating enemy ships except for the transport ship, which was the actual mission target. When that was the last ship remaining, I warped out to the nearest station and regrouped. I had defeated many ships in a single onslaught and felt confident that I could go back and get the transport ship.
I tried twice and I couldn’t make a dent of damage to the transport ship. Its focused attack was eating through my shield and armor at an alarming rate. I warped out to recoup and went back again without any better success. The problem was that I wasn’t doing enough damage to kill him before he would be able to kill me. I didn’t know what else to do having fitted the ship with the appropriate resistances and was using the best ammunition possible for my level. I got jumpy the next time at how quickly I was being nuked while doing so little damage that I fat-fingered my attempt at retrieving my drone before warping out of the area. Making the choice to get the drone cost me my whole ship. I was accelerating to warp speed when the killing blow landed. I haven’t lost enough ships yet to remove the initial moment of shock when you go boom! Deflated, I floated back to my home-base as a pod.
I didn’t think about signing off in disgust or disappointment. My chief concern was how long it would be before the transport’s escort ships re-spawned, had I lost the opportunity for the bonus reward and more importantly, what the heck was I going to do to defeat a ship that I’d barely scratched. I couldn’t upgrade my shields or armor anymore than I already had, so I was seriously at a loss for how to proceed and I wanted to do it quickly. I already had another Tristan in my hanger. I purposefully keep two copies of my ships and store their fittings in the game's Notepad. Rummaging through my extensive collection of looted ship items, I replaced everything with unnamed (standard) versions at no cost.
Searching the EVE Online forums, I found a thread several pages long of other players who'd posted for help on this particular mission, when flying a frigate class ship. Like my experience they’d handled the waves of escorts but were being killed by the transport ship itself. I’d fitted my ship similar to what others had tried. It wasn’t until deep in the thread that someone had come up with the solution which wouldn’t be very obvious to newer players. The solution was to quickly get inside the ammo range of the transport. Engage in a close range fight, moving quickly around it to avoid taking damage. Larger ships move slower and it was recommended that you impede the transport’s mobility even further by using a webifier. It was further suggested that a disruptor be used to de-buff its targeting ability while you get in close range as fast as possible.
I knew the purpose of disruptors and webifiers. I have a hanger full of various ship fittings that I’ve never used. I keep items 3 to 4 copies deep as replacement options. I'm also hording ship fittings for when I start doing PVP, where I will lose many ships.
Based on the role of these two modules I’d relegated them to my PVP appropriate container. I’d never fitted either of them to one of my ships but did so now. I had to sacrifice one capacitor generator and a small shield extender. To be honest, I wasn’t feeling confident about the idea because it didn’t address the fact that I wasn’t doing much damage to the transport but it was the best advice I found on the mission so I went forward.
I returned to the encounter and was relieved to find the escort ships all still dead. I approached the transport. At 40KM I activated the disruptor. Around 10KM I turned on the webifier, activated my afterburner and moved in for close range combat. I locked on and circled the transport at 2500 KM. I got to see my missiles hitting at relatively close range, my turrets fire and the drone engage. There was nothing quick about this fight. I wasn’t doing more damage than before but I was sustaining considerably less in return. My shield never dropped below 40% as I went round and round fighting. This was definitely the longest single ship fight I’d experienced so far. When I had to reload missiles the transport ship’s armor made a small recovery but over time, I got the job done and took it down.
I returned the agent and was very happy when I received both the standard and bonus rewards. I hopped into my salvaging ship and returned to the location to recover salvage from the NPC ships, as well as my own destroyed Tristan. Between the insurance, reward and salvage, I didn’t lose any money by having lost a ship. I was a little rattled by the course of events but it was definitely a learning experience. I’ve learned about the use of de-buffing modules while doing PVE content. And I’m glad that I didn’t rush out to purchase a Destroyer for this one mission, even though I might need one in the future. I have time now to make a more informed decision.
