Last night, in a moment of crass decisiveness, I FC'd a small fleet. It has been a while since I had to look after any fleet - I usually prefer being a scout - but, in a sudden move, we all wound undocked in cruisers outside the station in Huola. As luck would have it, a particularly badly fit Abaddon unsafely far off the Otelen gate, which we quickly pounced on, as well as the Crusader accompanying it. Buoyed by this early success, I directed the fleet into Kourmonen, where a horde of Titans was found camping the Kamela gate. We thought, in our little cruisers, that we'd go rubberneck this oversized collection of Pandemic Legion vessels sitting around on a gate in low-sec.
Things began to deteriorate.
First off, embarrassingly, this happened. Then this happened to Dakuri. Not quite the sort of thing I wanted to happen in my fleet. We reshipped, and, avoiding the PL blockade, jumped into Lamaa. Dakuri, being the optimistic guy he is, had come back in a Hurricane. Shortly after arriving in Lamaa, this happened to Dakuri. Then this happened to Degnar's Arbitrator. Having now lost 4 ships, in the midst of confusion and the general scattering of the fleet, I ordered everyone to get safe.
My fleet op was over. And only 2 jumps from our start.
In hindsight, there were a few things I had failed to take into account, in the latter losses, the particular eagerness of the Amarr to, as always, engage with overwrought ships, and the dangers of rubbernecking (just as in real life, it can result in accidents). The others generally determined that it was just bad luck, but it was perhaps a reminder about how long it had been since I'd FC'd last, and how quickly, in faction warfare, you can get completely steamrolled as a result of a single bad decision.
Next time, I'll go rubberneck in a shuttle.
Sigining off,
Ed
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