Good Fights: Try to kite me willya?

So yesterday I log on for a few minutes to drive over to upgrade my clone, training Recon V over the Holiday put me over yet another clone. I figure I'll take the Dramiel and maybe find a decent fight, see what the changes to the ship have wrought and generally just be on for a few minutes.

To the Rifter pilot in Lisbo that said Howdy to me in local, stay frosty my friend. I wasn't trying real hard to kill you, since you said hi in local and all. But if I had landed just a tad closer, I would have. Just so you know.

Anyway, Itsme and Monty asked if I'd be interested in joining them for a quick jaunt around the neighborhood. Duh.

Itsme was in a Hyperion and Monty was driving a Myrm ( don't ask! ), so I figured this would be a good time to fly one of the new 3BCs. But which one? Since they were both flying what I figured would be short range ships, I'd bring the Tornado along to hit a bit further out. Since I haven't had the chance to fly the Tornado in combat yet, my fit is still in the prototype stage. Oh sure, it is an excellent fit. But I don't consider a fit to be combat proven until I prove it in combat. So I didn't fit a point, although I had one loaded up in my hanger.

Fast forward thru the frustrating bits of system after system with no one around and eventually we found ourselves up near Kinakka. Nice sounding five man gang hanging out in a safe spot above the high-sec gate. I don't remember the exact ships they had, but they outnumbered us and they had a Curse. So we decided to see if they'd attack us. Being in big, dumb, slow ships like we were, maybe they would?

So Itsme warps on them in his Hyperion and they are all aligned except for the Ferox. Somehow he manages to get point and the rest of us jump in, while we are in warp their Curse decides to try and help the Ferox. Nothing much to report from that part of the fight, once we landed and got points, the poor Ferox and Curse sploded nicely.

While we were looting the field and getting ourselves nice and spread out ( which is a tactic to encourage someone to try and attack you btw ), a Cynabal landed about 40k from my Tornado. I was certain he'd made a mistake and would warp off, but instead he locked me up and started shooting. I liked the guy instantly.

Itsme and Monty were too far away to help much, but they sent their drones in, which was a huge help. Knowing the Cynabal like I do I figured his tactic would be to kite me from range and use his speed to stay alive. Not sure if he'd tried this with a Tornado before or not, but I suspect he was counting on a glass tank. Which I didn't have. (35k with nice resists!) And as expected he started doing just that.

So here is what I did. I went along with it. At various times in his orbit Monty was able to get point on the Cynabal. When this happened the first time I left my leisurely drive back towards my friends and burned straight at the Cynabal with my MWD overheated. The first time it worked like a charm and I managed to burn almost all the way thru his shield. I back off the MWD and waited as he pulled range again. At this point he should have turned tail and ran, so credit where credit is due, he stayed and fought. Remember, I didn't have a point fitted.

So I continued to pick at his tank, his kite range was still inside my own optimal, so I was hitting for decent damage. And then his cap started running low again and Monty called point and I burned straight for him again... when WAM!! he exploded. I alpha'd the rest of his tank in one shot, I think I hit for like 1,400 or something insane on that last volley.

Good fight.

So far I like the Tornado. I did dock up and put the point on, but we couldn't find any one else to fight us. In a gang situation I'm leaning towards not fitting the point, but I haven't decided yet. The increased buffer kept me alive against the Cynabal, I only got down to about half shields, so there is that. But flying a ship into combat without a point... well, that just isn't done. lol.