Post by jhester on Aug 17, 2014 13:02:15 GMT -5
It was our own fault, really. We were somewhat lax in our cleanup of the Jeez after we finished purging Ihaca-3. My wingman and I were on a patrol around the perimeter of the main battle zone, dodging debris fields and just generally ignoring the most basic rules of combat. Honestly, who would have expected a fully intact and battle-ready missile cruiser to pop up from behind those asteroids like that? A Jyeeta missile attack ship, a big one. It had to be at least a Class 4, able to hang toe to toe with one of our new Dreadnaught-class battlecruisers. Almost before we could even register the ship's appearance, a flight of missiles was inbound. My wingman disintegrated in a flash of light, bits of his fighter pattering against my hull while I juked like a maniac. Somehow, all the rest of the missiles found nothing but empty space. Instinct and training kicked in well before common sense did. I turned to attack formation, ready to start my run at the big bastard. By the time it occurred to me that I was actually taking my Marauder-class fighter head-on against a massive missile cruiser, I was committed. Nothing to do now but rely on my not-inconsiderable skill and this shiny new ship of mine. Some desk jockey back on De Valtos Prime had decided that it would be a good idea to make a flying cannon. Take the biggest gun that a fighter power plant could support, give it a few nuts and bolts to hold it all together and see how it worked. Armor? Phah. My little ground scoot back home on Ryeline had more protection than this thing did. But the Marauder was well named. It might not have had thick skin, but it had teeth. Big, sharp teeth. I was going to need them against this opponent. I figured my odds of surviving my first pass about one in five, diminishing with every moment. I decided to concentrate my fire on the engines and hope for a disabling shot that might give me the edge I needed to tuck tail and run for the safety of the rest of the fleet. Still juking wildly, I spiralled in towards the missile cruiser and swung wide at the last moment. I needed a better angle to rake his engines, which I did with a precision salvo, well-grouped exactly as I wanted them. I figured a slightly weaker but more accurate hail of gunfire was in order. As I streaked over the top of the superstructure, I was blinded by a huge flash of light. If there had been anything to propagate a blast wave, I would have been done for. After a moment or two, I realized that I wasn't being fired on any more. I banked around for another pass, getting ready to select my next target and I found...nothing. Nothing but another debris field and a few wildly spinning bits of what may have once been missile tubes. As I set my course back towards my support carrier, I pondered just what had happened to that cruiser....
I was inspired to write this little dramatization when I scored a crit on a cruiser. I was surprised at how much damage my little fighter did and I thought it would be interesting to start a thread for folks to brag about their biggest critical hit. My biggest so far to date was this one I have just described. Marauder-class Strike Fighter, rocking a Fast Reactor 7 with a Heavy Long Gun. No armor, Precision Barrage 3 with a Reactor Spike Controller upgrade. My crit was 133 dmg and took out a level 4 missile ship in one round.
I was inspired to write this little dramatization when I scored a crit on a cruiser. I was surprised at how much damage my little fighter did and I thought it would be interesting to start a thread for folks to brag about their biggest critical hit. My biggest so far to date was this one I have just described. Marauder-class Strike Fighter, rocking a Fast Reactor 7 with a Heavy Long Gun. No armor, Precision Barrage 3 with a Reactor Spike Controller upgrade. My crit was 133 dmg and took out a level 4 missile ship in one round.
