Scram Kitey Arty Stabber

I was flying about in a Thrasher at the end of last week when I noticed Deryn Angrard in local. He's a fellow Ex-QCat and now with Black Fox Marauders in the Gallente Militia. Deryn Angrard is a pilot I have a lot of respect for. He's a great solo'ist and good bloke. A few targeted scans with the D-Scanner showed me he was in a medium plex in a Stabber. I docked up and looked at what I have to go after him. There was a Stabber in my hanger there but it was a really weird fit. A 720mm artillery Stabber that was needed by an FC for one fleet. Other than that single time its never been used. I spot an AutoCannon Rupture and decide to use that. Warping into the plex I see Deryn Angrard there with his drones out at 20km from the warp-in. He engages but is flying a kitey AutoCannon Stabber. I cannot catch him, but at this range his DPS isn't huge. I give it a minute but my DPS isn't even tickling him out there but his DPS is slowly wearing me down. I sling-shot to get out of point range and head back to station.

I grab some long-range ammo and swap a couple of mods trying to get a fit that will counter his. I undock and go back. I'm damaging him this time but still not enough. For a second time I overheat the MWD and sling-shot back to station grumbling to myself.

Now what?

Option 1 - Ask for help.
Plenty of corpies and alliance mates in local. I could get something tackle-ish and then get the guys to blob him. No, no I couldn't. That wouldn't be right, not on Deryn. I want to solo him.

Option 2 - Get some links.
DA didn't have links so that would be a bit unfair if I got some of my own. I want a fairly fair fight with this guy (Warning - this is a rare situation. Don't expect this treatment from me for most of you! Its not that I'd happily shoot you in the back, I'd happily shoot you whilst you were on the 'job'.)

Option 3 - Try a different ship.
Most of my cruisers and higher hulls are still in Nisuwa (traded to an alt account as I cannot dock there). I'm really low on suitable ships to go up against a kitey Stabber. That Stabber I have with the 720mm's would be ideal if he stayed at 20km. However as soon as I fired and he saw that I am arty fit he'll burn in, get under my guns, swap to short range ammo and tear me a new one. So thats no good.

HANG ON A MINUTE!

That's exactly what he will do. Its what anyone would do who knows the game mechanics. So if I know what he'll do, can I use that to my advantage? Mmmmm its a crazy idea but it might just work. Where's my mid-slots can? OK, right everyone sing the A-Team theme song whilst I light this blow-torch and black-up like Mr T.

Dah, dah, dah... dah-dah.... dah.....

I undock the re-fit Stabber and warp to the medium where Deryn Angrard is still lurking. I warp in and he's again at 20km. I lock him up, fire and for the first time I put some proper DPS into him. However, I only get one good volley before he's MWD'ing towards me. As he reaches 10km I activate the scram and web and overheat the 10mn afterburner. His momentum gets him close and my next volley hardly tickles him. However I'm now gaining range slowly. His DPS is tearing me apart but my volleys from the arties are getting better as I make range away from him.

We are both in structure. Alarms are going off. My overheated mods are in danger of burning out. It is going to be epically close. The sound effect to signify de-aggression sounds meaning either I'm dead or he his. I don't know if you've noticed but that deaggression sound usually comes first before any explosions or notifications. It means your weapons are deactivated either by your ship exploding or your targets ship exploding. Which is it this time?

I wait the micro second to see if I get capsule ejected notification and a big-ass explosion. I don't. It was Deryn that popped. I scoop the loot and warp to station as I'm in bad shape and a shit-fit Ibis could probably take me down right about now.

We exchange "GF" in local followed by this that made me chuckle:-

[12:52:08] Deryn Angrard > never ever seen a scram kitey arty stabber before

He's right, its a very, very odd fit. However, just as the original ship was fitted for a specific purpose, this fit was made simply to counter Deryn Angrard's Stabber on that specific day and in that specific plex. Here is the fit I used which is a mix of the original arty stabber and the mid-slot mods I swapped out to make a fit to counter Deryn's Stabber.

4 x 720mm T2 Arty
Rapid Light Launcher

Scram
Web
Painter
10mn AB

Reactor Control
1600mm Plate
EANM
DCU

2 ACR
Trimark

Yes, its a shit-fit. Yes, I doubt it'll ever get used again. Yes, I'll probably be stripping it down and reusing the hull when needed. Yes, if I had lost it would have looked bad on my killboard.

However the moral of the story is never assume anything in Eve Online. It'll bite you in the ass.... or kill your ship using tactics that makes you go....