Project Cruiser, Pt. 2

(Continued from here)

The Project Cruiser Rupture is great fun, but it does take some smart flying and target-choosing. Things like multiple targets, or targets with obvious RR are pretty much a no-go with the ruppy, just in terms of survivability and possible fielded DPS. But, as myself and a couple other ninjas who’ve jumped on Solo’s Cynabal bandwagon have found out, multiple targets and shitty odds are things this thing eats for breakfast.

After getting myself acquainted with my new shiny death-machine, I decided to put it to the true test again some mission runners. In shorter time than even I’d expect, I scanned down and got aggro from a Maelstrom in Illinfrik. The Cynabal Cool-Machine leapt into action, and this was basically in the bag except for an absolutely ridiculous active shield tank. I’d whittle him down to 50% shield before I’d have to reload, at which point he’d boost it back up. Poo.

BM Doublyoo however, was nearby and on the scene in a flash to rep my undamaged awesome-mobile for aggro-garnering purposes. Sure enough, our Mael pilot shot him too. Why Orgosch Mauerbrech decided to shoot at a second ninja, the world may never know, but it was his undoing as our combined DPS took care of that aggravating active tank and down he went.

The next test came in the form of a Typhoon, who went down so quickly I was almost convinced my client was bugged. The phoon’s stupidly large drone bay presented a new challenge, but 850 damage volleys from the Cynabal quickly made him cry uncle.

Hungry for some real trouble, I jumped into a mission directly with the Cynabal and just started looting in front of 4 MRs of mixed NPC corps doing one mission. I was instantly locked up by the Abaddon who’s mission it was and he immediately turned red to me. Also immediately red to me was the Guardian pilot who’d been busy repping the baddon when he decided to shoot. Now THIS was a challenge. I pointed the baddon, and then started to lay into the Guardian, with the plan of forcing him off the field, and then dealing with the baddon before he could return. Sure enough, the Guardian fled the scene, and I was left to start laying into the now floundering Abaddon.

Sometimes though, a Ninja just can’t catch a break, as right when the Guardian ran away, the Dominix also in the mission turned red as he ALSO started repping the baddon. I was still taking absolutely no damage, but I was also lamenting not having two points.

While I was considering my dilemma, Spuddles21, a non SN-ninja who hangs out in the area pipped up that he was available for rr if needed. Again, in the interest of Spuddles possibly grabbing aggro as well, I had him jump in and sic some shield bots on me. Without fail, we now had an extra set of hands to work with as the baddon switched targets, and Spuddles ran off to grab his Cane.

As he came back in, two things happened: the Domi went back to neutral having apparently stopped repping his friend, and the Guardian pilot came back as well…still in his Guardian, and STILL with no point (really?). Spuddles took some heavy damage on the approach, but went into an orbit pointing the baddon while I pointed the Guardian, who for some inexplicable reason, was completely ignoring his ships role bonuses and was orbiting his ailing comrade at 2000 meters, rather than the 65 kilometers that the Guardian should be flown at. Drones and 425mms started to lay in the hurt on the little logistics cruiser, who then tried to flee and learned a very real lesson in transversals as his dropped to zero and he was insta-popped by Spuddles and myself.

With that nuisance out of the way, we were ready to demolish our rr-heavy Abaddon friend, and we both started to lay into him. Predictably enough, the Domi started repping again, and I switched point to him. Spuddles unfortunately had somehow aggressed both of them at this point, and they started concentrating their fire on him. Going down fast but determined to hold onto the baddon, Spuddles, in a blaze of balls-out ninja-Valhalla glory, held on through his burning structure as we finally took down the Abaddon. Screaming the lyrics to “The Star Spangled Banner” (or it very well could have been “God Save the Queen”), Spuddles’ Hurricane went down in an explosion of true ninja glory in the line of duty.

Now it was me and the Dominix. I’d take a fair amount of damage during the fight so far, and Spuddles was now 4 gates out from his RR-boat sitting in his Orca in the room with me. Regardless, I was determined to take this Domi down too. Ogre II’s however, hurt, and with only 3 drones left, I was having some issues popping them fast enough. The Domi and I were going toe-to-toe as we both dropped shields and went into armor together.

At this point, it was 3:45 am, and I was out of my chair, standing over my keyboard grinning like a crazy-person. With all my mods overheating, we both entered structure together…dipping…dipping..until finally I forced my sleep-deprived self to realize that there was no way he was going down before me. Deciding that 50% structure was slightly outside my comfort-zone for a 400mil isk cruiser, I bailed 😦 .

So sadly, the Domi got away, but not without a thorough spanking he won’t soon forget. Repping back up, I went back to the scene of the crime to find that the 4th MR who had never even targeted me had cleaned up all the loot and bounced. Wuss. Salvaging the fail-Guardian wreck did net me 65 mil in t2 salvage, which I donated to Spuddles for his ship loss during his truly awesome and rock-anthem-inspiring heroics. The other fun bit was finding that after all that trouble, they’d forgotten their Ship’s Crew ;).

Many thanks to Spuddles21 for his Die Hard II-esque heroics, as well as for putting up with my alcohol-and-lack-of-sleep-fueled horrible FCing.

o7,

-Aiden

~ by Aiden Mourn on October 10, 2010.