A small, but very insightful excursion
21 Jan 2021DragoCubX
On the 21st of January, a day like any other with not much going on, I unexpectedly got to know again how valuable good wingmates are and how great it is to be with the 6th Interstellar Corps.In the evening of that day, while doing my routine daily work for our faction, I happened upon a contract for a wing to procure 784 tons of Bertrandite, with a reward of 50 million credits. After a quick check I confirmed that this would a be short 2 back-and-forth trips in my trusty Type-9 Heavy, so I accepted the offer and immediately spread it to the whole squadron. But on that specific night, nobody happened to be available at all. So naturally, I checked with my friends outside the squadron and sure enough, CMDR Imo immediately responded and sent me a wing invite.
Imo is a long-time friend, one of the few connections I've made before coming across the 6IC, so I was very thrilled to have some contact again, given that we had little chance to interact in the last few years.
Upon entering the wing, he also shared a wing mission of his own with me. "We're fighting a war for the Brotherhood of the Void in Ao Kond, so let me share some of the spoils with you!"
I gladly accepted and went on to complete the Bertrandite delivery. In the meantime, Imo and his other wingmates seemingly struggled more than expected and had a hard time killing enemy ships.
"I just checked, it's only 8 jumps in my warship, let me come over and lend you a hand", I said, having completed my daily quota and wishing to get the 33 million from Imo's contract before calling it a day.
8 jumps and a short reorganisation later, I entered a high intensity conflict zone with Imo's wingmate - Imo was slightly delayed as he needed to get his repairs done after his last engagement.
Since I was the "guest" in this case, I opted for the proven standard tactic of the 6IC, electing him as the lead and following his target. I'd quickly have to learn that he had no concept of such tactics, which were the basics for me by now:
Every time I started my support fire, he would abandon the fight and go after a different target as long as he wasn't under heavy fire. This of course left me alone with his original adversary, drastically dropping our effectiveness as neither of us could quickly finish our foes quickly on our own.
But it got even worse. Out of the speakers blared the combat coordinator's voice: "We've got enemy spec ops in the area!"
At the same time, I came to understand that our side only got a captain vessel as support, putting our side in a very disadvantageous decision.
Not to mention that the Spec Ops, compared to my wingmate, knew about wing tactics and would focus fire on their target if the situation allows it.
In short terms, if the targeted one of us two, we'd be in a lot of trouble!
Thankfully, the worst case didn't come to be, and I could safely finish off the Viper I was engaging. At about the same time, however, my wingmate entered the spec ops' crosshairs, and their shields started dwindling rapidly. In a stroke of luck, or maybe they realized their situation, I managed to coordinate and focus our fire on one of the spec ops ships, quickly sending them to the afterlife. Following this, we also managed to quickly dispatch the leader of the spec ops wing, partly also thanks to Imo who had finally made it back to us, and seemed to have more understanding of the importance of cooperation.
This cooperation, however, was to be short-lived. Because the other guy constantly got himself into trouble, Imo was constantly preoccupied with saving his ass, leaving me all alone with a Python and a Spec Ops Asp Explorer relentlessly attacking me. It would take me the rest of the fight to just take care of those two, with Imo and his friend, despite numerous occasions to do so, opting not to help me out.
On this day, I've learned that a coordinated wing is not a given, and how a lack of coordination makes a wing almost as weak as single ships. And I also decided to not go fight alongside Imo & company out of my own volition anymore. If he asks me for help, I'll comply, but I feel no need to put my ass in danger on my own. Danger comes to me enough already after all
