Viking Burial

Since moving into my current home things have been pretty sweet. One rather odd hangover of evicting the old tenants however is what to do with these damn Archons we inherited. Initially I thought they could be useful for solo ratting the Sleeper Radar Data sites as they can be quite a handful in even a Rattlesnake, and indeed I did use one of them for that purpose a few times. But it's tiresome and slow and even with good hole control, you're going to get caught one day. I could just strip them down and self destruct them for the insurance but it's just not my style, I'd much rather use them to create some content for my fellow pilots and see them die gloriously in battle, guaranteeing their path through the gates of Valhalla. I revealed my idea to Trinkets friend and he put the ball in motion, offering the prospect of a good fight to Maythorn. They outnumber us pretty comprehensively, but the goal was to see the carriers die and have a fun fight, not necessarily win the battle.

Time lines were established and The Maythorn agreed to be the meat in our Archon sandwich, turning up on time for the most part, although losing a Paladin en route to a duel in Jita. The two Archons were set up for Triage and capacitor regeneration, predictably. Throw into the mix a support fleet of two neut Armageddons, a pair of Scorpions and an assortment of other DPS Battleships and subcaps, it promised to be a good brawl. Unfortunately however, The Maythorn were a little under represented. They brought along a trio of Guardians, a Bhaalgorn, three neut Armageddons, a curse and a few T1 or faction Armour Cruisers. Honestly, even without the support fleet I think they may have had a hell of a time breaking the two Triage Archons. No fault of the leadership of course, all you can do is make your members aware of content being created, it's up to them to actually log on and make the effort.

Being good sports, they didn't just turn tail and bail out and, without going into the gritty detail, it didn't pan out too well for them. There were some accidental poddings from Smart Bomb spam [it is a Red Giant, after all] and despite the result, it was a good fight that probably wasn't as one sided as it might appear on the killboard.

I was particularly pleased with something of an experimental Armageddon fit for the fight too.

[Armageddon, Neuting Pairs]

Damage Control II
1600mm Steel Plates II
1600mm Steel Plates II
Corelum C-Type Energized Thermic Membrane
Corelum C-Type Energized Kinetic Membrane
Corelum C-Type Energized Explosive Membrane
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II

Large Micro Jump Drive
100MN Afterburner II
ECCM - Radar II
ECCM - Radar II

Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II
Large Remote Capacitor Transmitter II

Large Trimark Armor Pump I
Large Trimark Armor Pump I
Large Trimark Armor Pump I

Berserker II x5
Bouncer II x5
Praetor EV-900 x5

Clearly we were expecting some Falcons that didn't eventuate, but the goal was to allow enough cargo space for a refit of Smart Bombs, Nosferatus or Cap Regeneration, should the situation demand it. Being able to refit off a carrier is a rare privilege for me, so the space the cap boosters would take up just wouldn't do. I could've just loaded up the Archons with those items of course, but it felt like I was leaving my destiny in someone elses hands a little more than I'm comfortable with. Paired with another Armageddon of the same fit, you can keep all 5 Neuts going for around 5 minutes and we were able to stress their Neuting and DPS ships throughout the fight without bothering the Archons for capacitor every thirty seconds.

There will be another attempt at seeing these carriers die in glory soon, hopefully the first conflict will whet the appetite of our friends at Maythorn. I'll keep you posted.