One thing I realized while cleansing my stockpiles of ships laying in hangers all over New Eden, was my love of Rifters was causing me to close my eyes to the other T1 frigates. I've started experimenting with others, having had lots of fun with the Merlin especially. There was one T1 frigate that I just couldn't best with the Merlin however, the ship that caught my eye since I got into my first pod, the Tristan. I fitted one up and went on a roam, and it wasn't long before I found my first fight.
There was an Incursus on scan towards a novice plex. A worthy foe, I thought, and warped straight to it. Once inside, the battle was on. I fit my Tristan with a tracking disruptor instead of a web, had a short point with a microwarpdrive (hoping to catch a kiter) and boosted my armour resistances and increased the amount of armor with plates and rigs. The Incursus came in close and personal, but with my TD I kept the damage to a minimum while my drones started eating him up. My electron blasters also had a better time hitting him and with the nuets I thought I'd destroy his armor repping capabilities. It didn't. The fight went on longer than T1 frig fights usually do, I started bleeding damage through his armor into his structure before his dual reps kicked in, but now things started turning sour on my side. My armor was destroyed, the bits of damage he got through added up nicely. Knowing this fight was now going one way, I attempted an escape, something that wasn't about to happen without my MWD and a heavy tank. This brought my transversal to a minimum, and one volley later, I was warping my pod to safety. After the fight I realized that should I have overheated my neut, I might have drained enough energy so his cap boosters couldn't keep up with his power hungry reppers. All in all though, it was a very good fight, and I was impressed with the way the Tristan performed.
I headed to the closest market hub and got myself another one, trading the MWD with an afterburner this time, also allowing me to upgrade my blasters to Ion Blasters. Ready to take on the next challenger, I headed back into low sec, but one jump in, I was greeted by a gate camp.
One trip to the market hub later I was back in a Tristan and reached my roaming grounds successfully. My first opponent, Kabuh Wai in a Merlin, didn't put up much of a fight and his Merlin was soon a wreck. I noticed Elder Amarrian in a Punisher at a novice plex next. I warped in and burned towards him, but after pointing him he warped away. I hate stabbed ships, but I noticed Death ToU, ex-R1FTA, in a Slasher and I forgot all about the stabbed Punisher. I stayed in the novice plex and hoped he'd show up for a fight. He did and we didn't waste any time to start shooting. We were up close and personal, this time I had an afterburner myself, and with his TD and my TD, we weren't doing much damage to one another. I, on the other hand, had drones, and they did get to do some damage. He was soon in armor, but I noticed him repping up. Then the effects of my neut kicked in and pretty soon my drones finished off the Slasher. Good fight with a pilot I looked up to when I first joined R1FTA. Elder Amarrian returned just then, as I was scooping up my loot, and he locked me up and started shooting. I returned the favour, but only got two volleys from my blasters into him before he warped away again. The nerve! I headed to Evati, my temporary base, and fitted another scram instead of the TD.
When I went back, Elder Amarrian was still in the plex with another Slasher. They were in the same militia, but I figured Elder Amarrian wasn't about to lend too much of a hand to his brother in arms. It was risky, but I warped in and immediatly got to work on the Slasher. It was fitted with a medium auxiliary shield booster, which proved to be difficult to beat. Also, I had two scrams installed, leaving me without a TD or web to help me in this fight. Elder Amarrian did nothing to help, as expected, just hovering out of my reach. The Slasher went down after a very close fight and Elder Amarrian warped off. Anaxanamaximus Dimaloun exchanged a gf in local, as well as some words to his yellow bellied comrade. I threw the loot into the closest station, repaired the damaged Tristan and warped to the plex where Elder was idling once again. Once again I approached him, he didn't bother to try and run, so sure that his stabs would save him. This time it didn't, and his pod was also lost in the process. Next on the hit list was Johra Coll in a Republic Fleet Firetail. I mustered some courage and engaged it, if only to see how the Tristan would fare. Johra didn't sport the best fitted Firetail however, and he soon exploded.
It was a new day and an incursion arrived in the constellation. I knew the dangers but continued to roam. In Arnher, Roi Hurutara was flying an Incursus, his dual reps was proving to be a challenge. My nuets caught up with his cap booster though, and soon I had him warping his pod to safety. Then calamity befell my Tristan. Incursion rats had my Tristan pointed, nueted scrammed and webbed at a gate. There was nothing I could do to save it. Deciding that playing with Sansha slaves wasn't for me, I hopped to a clone in Essence, and grabbed my Merlin for the rest of the night.
I spent most of the weekend shopping in Jita, included in the shopping list was a few Tristans. I do enjoy the flexibility of this ship. I might even try and make this my first ever kiter. As a brawler though, these little beasts can take on anything its size as long as it's not kiting. All in all, I'm just happy to fly one of the prettiest T1 frigates out there.
Till next time! If ya see me in space, come out and play!
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