A video of the fight
Written by Elli Ann, Video by Spyderbytee
Arty Canes, Logistics, Dictors and Tackle (with a shiney or two)
As FORMUP started, just a little before 00:30 I was amazed at the level of commitment from our members. As i joined the fleet I noticed we had 4, and within a minute it was 24, and shortly after we had numbers joining in their droves, okay so It wasn't a 100 man fleet but the nature of the eagerness and effort shown, it may well have been. I don't know the right numbers, but it was high 40's if it wasn't over 50. I actually felt really good about the Op, and when we were told it wasn't another POS BASH we all cheered in unison! Although I am pretty sure if we were POS BASHING we would have had the same level of performance!
When we set off, (i had turned down the drunk xanista) comms where very good, and we all seemed to be listening to Jigro. Calling gates, warping us to Jump Bridges, and generally making sure everyone got to where they were supposed to be. As Logi anchor, I had us in a squad of our own which is what I think works best, it allowed us to have our Watch Lists right, with FC, Secondary FC, Tertiary FC and the Shineys + Logi on there. We were a tight unit, and I think the clear and concise comms, due to Jigro being clear on everything he wanted us to do, helped us keep just as calm as our FC.
So, when DID the shit hit the fan?!
We ran into an AF fleet of goons, and with an Instant Jigro had our fast tackle burn pings. We warped around as the enemy popped in, teasing them enough for a lot of smacktalk in local. We jumped a few gates, aligned and burned for gates or the sun as Jigro called, all as the fast tackle where popping around getting pings and keeping the whole of the fleet safe. We were frustrating the goons, and I actually think they got it wrong. They thought we were running from them, but our FC was just getting the fleet to engage on his terms. When we did engage, oh boy did we do it with style.
I cannot quite remember how it happened, but we engaged with aplomb on a gate. I got our logi together as best I could, and with the Watch List set up I was keeping an eye on that, and watching for broadcasts. As the Primary and Secondary targets where called, our arty canes started alphaing them one by one. We had a few minor scrapes and some people needed locked and healed up but as the calls kept coming, the DPS Arty Canes and the shineys we had (having a Huginn in fleet really helped, especially as I assigned my drones to him) did their job and popped the incoming DPS before it got too much for the Logi to handle. The fight was over fairly quickly as I remember with very few losses, and lots of GF's in local. We were happy to have had the fight and even happier to have won the ISK war so comprehensively.
We reformed and got the fleet together and as we reapproached the gate on which we were fighting, Jigro out of nowhere called "BURN TO THE GATE NOW, MWD ON" with no panic at all, but with all the authority in the world. I rapped my MWD on, with the Logi anchoring and headed for gate as a ton of neuts showed up and either started decloaking or landed on the gate (which im sure happened but it was all so quick). All the other guys had done the exact same and I was thinking, "We are going to have to jump out here" and I actually thought that what was going to happen. However, Jigro felt we could win this fight too.
The new enemy fleet had emerged onto the field , Vagabonds, Oracles, Naga's the lot. They also had a smidge of Logistics... We engaged, with cries of "DRONES BACK OUT GUYS". Jigro's calling was relentless, and I mean that in a good way. He called targets constantly and repeatedly. All the DPS'ers knew what they had to do and as we burned them down, with some eventual losses, I realised that as a fleet, we had just kicked the arses of two enemy fleets without so much of a thought. We just kept on going, Logi kept on repping and the tackle and DPS just kept on getting the neuts locked down and popped without any hassle.
Now, I started this Battle Report not to brag of our wonderful fight and us winning the ISK war, but it was to share a few views with the Alliance as a whole. And here are my thoughts..
Jigro was awesome. As an FC he has all the right skills, his tactics are extremely sound and he kept calm under pressure and he didnt falter in his stewardship of our wonderful fleet. This allowed our full fleet to engage without fear, and this meant the decisions they made in the heat of the moment were rightfully correct and ended up in us winning with so much swagger, that every one of us, even those who died could only have felt euphoric in the last few moments as our enemies fell.
Second of all, the mood on teamspeak and in fleet chat reminded me of Cheers, The Wonder Years and maybe even Stand by Me. I have never felt anything like it, not in a game. And I guess thats what I am getting at. This is a game, but when you play the game with the right people, then it becomes more. In the end it was about more than handing out a severe "doing" to Goons and -A-, It was about us. Spaceship Samurai.
Second Video of the Same Fight + Naga Fight:
No comments:
Post a Comment