Commander's Log: 11 October, 3302: The Ballista
11 Oct 2016Cartlidge1000
I bought the Orca today. She flies shockingly well and I am excited to see how she fights, but this update is not for the Orca. Today I want to recall the last few moments of the Ballista.
As I had planned, I took off with the Ballista in search of a Haz Rez site. She was tough, but she wasn’t combat zone tough. It took a few jumps to find the site, but once I did things grew tense. Just about every ship I encountered was at least expert in rank, often at the level of dangerous or higher. I persevered nonetheless, taking out multiple Asps, a Vulture, too many Eagles to count, a couple Diamondbacks, a Python, a Clipper, a Federal Assault Ship, and an Anaconda. Things were going well, until I encountered a wing involving a Gunship and Eagle.
My usual strategy for wings involved taking out the weakest targets first so I could limit the amount of damage I took overall. The problem was I aggressively underestimated the sheer firepower a Gunship carried, and was forced to flee, not willing to let my adventure end early. Eventually I managed to return and kill the Eagle, but the Gunship was nowhere to be seen, so I took out my frustration on a nearby Dropship. The ship carried mostly kinetic weapons, but my shields were still low, so the battle was still quite tense.
After a few minutes of trading blows, my shields finally dropped. I braced for the painful rattle of the Ballista’s hull as the Dropship’s kinetic weapons made contact, but the attack never came. Confused, I checked my target. The powerplant had gone just as he had killed my shields.
I moved on after finishing the Dropship, where I found a trio of Cobras. This was my second major mistake during the experience, as I had drastically underestimated the combat capabilities of a trio of high ranking Cobras.
With my shields once again down, I fled, feeling nothing but frustration and regret as I was chased down by two of the three angry cobras. After a few minutes of boosting away and an internal debate on whether or not to leave, one of the cobras crashed into an asteroid, dropping his shields. It was then that I made my third big mistake by turning to try and take advantage.
Instant regret
I had forgotten that an A-tier Cobra’s strength was in its armor, not its shields. As I flew back, both Cobras happily turned their guns back on me, riddling my hull with burns and bullet holes. By the time I managed to get away the third time, my thrusters had been completely ruined, forcing me to reboot my ship in the hope of starting the ship’s auxiliary thrusters. With 1% thrusters, 68% power plant, 73% canopy, and 30% hull overall, I decided it was time to go home.
I managed to gather approximately 870,000 in bounties when I returned to the station. Ironically just after landing an Orca landed on the pad next to me.
It was a stressful day, but I was happy to do it, and even in the end, the Ballista managed once again to bring be back home safe and sound.
I’ll write an update on my new Orca in the near future.
--Commander Cartlidge