Springtime Prizefighter
22 May 2022Streya Jormagdnir
After our squadron was done raiding enemy space, I took some time to relax and focus on upgrading my personal weaponry; there was an upcoming mercenary tournament and I wanted to bring my Sunday best. In a small bend of fate, the galactic news cycle had other plans in the form of the Trask faction rising up against Pirate King Archon Delaine. Fortunately these upstarts failed, but the Pirate King wasn't going to take an attempted stab to the back laying down. He issued kill orders against the Trask Death Corsairs in the HIP 10792 system, to support the Kumo Council. Wasting no time, I set out in a thick-shielded Anaconda to begin racking up the combat bonds. I'm not nearly as lethal in space as I am with my own two hands, but the Anaconda is endlessly forgiving.
The timing for these events was unfortunate because they coincided with the EOFCC Tournament, and I hadn't quite finished polishing off my AR-50 and other weaponry. But not wanting to turn a good challenge down, I fought in some 3v3 and 4v4 warmup matches before facing CMDR Kreuzberg in combat in the 1v1 tournament. The EOFCC assesses combatant performance by watching helmet-cam footage. Since Pilots Fed mercs have access to the best medical treatment, we can just keep going. Convening in the Jeschke Hub station in the war-torn Eluscap system, our host and tournament organizer CMDR Ryox began matchmaking and explaining the rules.
The 1v1 G5 tournament rules are simple: both combatants may use Grade 5 weaponry and suits, and must complete the usual battle objective of depleting the enemy's reinforcements. Combatants wait in the boarding area of their dropship and enter at the same time so as to prevent too uneven a head-start. The winner is the best two out of three rounds of combat. For our 1v1 we chose Ren Agricultural Facility on the first planet. Like most agricultural facilities, this one was spread out quite a bit between composting areas and various storage and industrial buildings.
During the first round, I made the mistake of trying to engage CMDR Kreuzberg directly too often. I noted his equipment: a TK Zenith pistol, AR-50 rifle, and Karma L6 launcher just like myself. From our warmup session I had learned he also uses Combat Movement Speed on his Dominator suit, as well as Improved Jump Assistance. My own high-mobility Dominator also utilizes those mods, but also uses Increased Sprint Duration and Faster Shield Regen for an overall fast-paced suit that can cross the battlefield quickly. CMDR Kreuzberg's suit seemed to be able to take a bit more punishment, though I never confirmed with him whether he had slapped on extra armor with Damage Resistances. The first round was close, but overall my opponent's raw power was overwhelming my seemingly lighter suit despite the similar weaponry. Reeling in defeat from the first round, I began to doubt myself and my loadout. Was it my equipment? No, I decided, it was such a close round that something else was key.
For the second round, instead of switching loadouts I switched strategies. Certainly, if I ran into my enemy CMDR I would fight him, but I began to focus more on capturing strategic points and depleting enemy troop levels while protecting my own. This time I wasn't afraid to disengage if the shootout wasn't going my way with Kreuzberg, and instead a tactical retreat to find medpacks/ammo/charge and capture points was warranted from time to time. This approach was much more effective, and by constantly engaging and disengaging I think I was able to keep him on his toes a bit and distracted from the overall objectives.
I won the second round, and employed the same approach for the third. I could sense CMDR Kreuzberg was intensifying to match my own rising ferocity, so there were times where I even had to use shield projectors to cover myself while capturing some points (and other mercs will tell you how infrequently I pop grenades of any kind!). Even using tactics and a more strategic mindset to win the third round and overall match, I admitted to Kreuzberg that in a straight fight to the death he'd probably win. He was definitely more accurate with his AR-50 (it seems even with Stability on mine, my weaker upper body does not serve me well). But by using your environment and hit-and-run tactics to mess with a stronger opponent's head, you can win! I look forward to future fights with CMDR Kreuzberg as we all grow in power as professional mercenaries!
With the match won, I've headed back to HIP 10792 to finish the fight against the Trask Death Corsairs. With a spring this hot and heavy with conflict, we should be wary of spicier conflicts to come!