Some elements of my play last night were quite sad. For example taking delight and being pleased with myself for destroying a Catalyst undocking from a station with my Drake. I had been feeling that low after losing three ships (Jaguar, Rupture & Hurricane) in a row that any kill of any description felt good! Adding to the hardly exciting or meaningful kills were an Executioner in a belt & an Iteron undocking from another station. I did manage to snag all three Pods though which I was rather impressed with as I was in a battlecruiser. So all in all my evening was not a waste but not terribly exciting either.
That is until I noticed a Hurricane arrive in top belt in Adirain, he killed the single rat in the belt and sat there. Could this be a second trap of the day for Kirith to spring? I kind of sensed that it would be, but I figured i'd have a go. Warping in with my Drake I landed 13km from him. Lock, missiles away, point, close the distance, double webs. Unsure whether he's armour or shield tanked I'm using navy scourge heavy missiles, his shields are gone in a couple of volleys and then I hit armour, looks like he's triple trimark armour tank soo this'll take a while. Cue, local spike by about 8. I align out and overheat MWD, his fleet of cruisers & battlecruisers lands and I'm burning away. I notice an Ares with them too and think I'm not getting out. 30km from the Hurricane bait ship and my warp drive engages. Suprised much? Yes me too! Sadly lost five drones but I saved the ship
I dock up and log as it's time to pick up the girlfriend. So, what have I been thinking since? Could I have taken any of his fleet down and survived? I firmly beleive that had the Ares not been there then I could, unfortunately he was so I can sleep soundly knowing that I did all I could, saved my ship and got away from the trap.
So far my opinion of the PODLA setup Drake....pretty damn good thank you very much.
Vak'Atioth | A Documentary Short
3 days ago
The PODLA drake is certainly effective, but charging in and webbing a hurricane isn't really the optimal way to use it (especially if the cane turns out to be armor tanked!). What you want to do is use it as a kiting ship, with the webs having the following purposes:
ReplyDelete1.) Killing tacklers, especially frigates that close in for a scram. Dual-webbed frigates will get hit hard by your HMLs, freeing you to resume MWDing around
2.) Keeping heavier, faster tacklers at arm's length - if something like another battlecruiser is charging at you, hit him with an overheated web while burning with your MWD on to prevent him from catching up and applying damage.
3.) Being decorative and rounding out your midslots
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12478239.) Voluntarily getting close to other HACs/BCs/BS in order to curtail their mobility.
In other words, the webs are mostly for defensive purposes - i.e. maintaining your own mobility - rather than for offensive purposes - i.e. restricting the mobility of others. That's not to say you *can't* use them offensively under the right circumstances (got a vaga that's come to close? slap them both on him and laugh as he tries to run while you pound him with CN Scourge), but your primary objective when flying it should be to avoid getting scrambled and webbed yourself.
What you want to do when engaging other BCs is to kite at 20 km or so (assuming you're not receiving bonuses from a Loki booster, in which case you can sit further out). Your enemy will be in deep falloff, your missiles will still be hitting for full damage, and you'll be able to whittle him down.