Vengeance vs 2x Republic Fleet Firetail and Rifter

Look at the title. I know, right? Totally scary. To me it is, considering the pilots are all Black Rebels and well, they're scary.

Anyhow, After jumping my 29 jumps from Jan to Heild last night, I didnt find much in the way of a fight. A few ships, as in mostly dramiels, that I knew would just kite me, I wasnt going to engage. Several others, I saw and they had a few bigger friends, so meh...I just didnt fight a battle I knew I would lose.

So today, I log in, jumping around Molden Heath and someone calls out for a 1v1. I and another ask what and where. Me being in my one and only vengeance within 25+ jumps, I was pretty limited. He wanted a t1 frig, so meh, I let the other guy have it; but I did let it be known in a casual manner that I was sitting at the sun in Bosena and Heild. Soon enough (10 or so mins later), I had a friend warp in at 100km.

A Republic Fleet Firetail. Oooo, perdy faction ship. So flying towards him, I adjust my trajectory to assist in keeping transversal high for him. Autocannons track pretty damn well as is and a quick look at the firetail info showed they get a bonus to tracking. I needed all the help I could get on this. I was pretty sure my opponent was using an AB due to the 1k-ish velocity showing in my overview. Once I got within 30km, I adjusted to an upwards angle for transversal. I assume he was using the approach command, because he continued straight at me.

Now within range, I activated my web and scram. Avoiding the orbit button, I kept within range of him, but it seemed pretty easy; maybe he was orbiting me? However, as his shields melted (yay t2 thermal rockets), another Firetail popped on my overview. And then a Rifter. I was like, "Omg, how many friends is this guy gonna bring?!" My next thoughts were going to make or break this fight for me. Should I stay and fight or try to escape? Well, with three attackers, I need an escape plan either way. With three webs, I wasnt going to run anywhere. I say fuck it, overheat my AB and align. They wont have any issue keeping up with me, but Im not going to just give them a flying brick, Im going to take one of them down too!

Targeting the second Firetail and Rifter, I adjust my flight again to keep in missile range. And then I watch my overheated rockets finish off the first Firetail. Ignoring the pod that popped up, I start firing at the second one. The rifter is a danger, but being a t1 ship, Im not too worried about his damage as I am the faction ship's output. I get him to low armor and guess what happens....Come on, take a guess.

Yeah, BOTH my AB and scram burnt out. I think I may have OH'd my scram also at some point to prevent them getting out of my 10km range. So with both my ab and scram burnt out, the Firetail turns tail and warps out. I continue firing on the Rifter with OH'd launchers and drop him to structure. Then he warps out. Omg, I just survived a 3v1!!!

I dont care that I didnt get all three and after the first popped, I tried to escape. Turning back and keeping them in range, messing up my warp out alignment just felt greedy trying for the kill and is not something I should do often, but I was no where near being hurt; I dont think my armor dropped below 50%. Not bragging or anything, but at the same time I am. I freakin survived a 3v1 against one of the better pirate corp members. Yes, I am going to let this go to my head for the weekend!

Anyways, what did I learn this fight? Well, I learned that I really need to not OH my AB or scram unless either myself or my opponent are running away. With their speed, I think they would have had me if I wasnt able to web them, causing my rockets to do less, or little, damage. I also learned that even though it was a 3v1, my Vengeances tank is insane. Im not there yet, but maybe soon I will consider switching out my rigs for more offensive ones. Looking up the Firetail, I noticed it has an explosive hole, as most Minmatar ships seem to have. With that in mind, I should have switched my missiles, but that reload time was just too much considering how fast the shields fell.

And finally, the killmail. Only one out of three due to burning out my scram, but like I said, "fuck it, I lived through a 3v1!!" One thing I do need to do though, is loot the freakin wrecks. I forgot to this time, but in the future, I need to make an attempt to get the loot. One comment on his fit however, because he had fit a TD. Lucky for me tbh, as those have no effect at all on missiles, causing him to have a wasted midslot that could have been used to increase something else. I dont know what though, so w/e.

Firetail Fired!