December Recap

So, I've scored 53 kills this month and 18 losses. Some have been more memorable than others.

Expensive Toys
The first place goes to a fight against two Tech 2 frigates: a Manticore stealth bomber assisted by an Ares interceptor. I was scanning Amamake belts as usual when I noticed a Manticore in one of them. It disappeared from the scanner soon, but did not show up elsewhere so I decided it might have cloaked in the belt. From my previous Manticore kill (assisted by a Falcon who just happened to be there, so not a clean one) I knew it would not be able to kill me quickly. I warped to the belt and waited. Just as I had expected, the Manticore decloaked and started shooting me with cruise missiles. No worries, I can tank that, I thought as I sped up towards the target. Lock, scram, web and I started to return fire. But then the third ship showed up in the belt and started locking me. Damn, I'm still going to kill that bomber. So I did and by the time it popped I still had enough armor and cap to repair it. I switched to the second target, an Ares interceptor, whose pilot made a mistake by getting too close to me. He died just as quickly. I snatched his pod, too, and asked for ransom. He refused and was sent to a cloning vat.
That was easily my best fight in terms of isk destroyed, but I still don't understand what those guys' plan was? Maybe they hoped to kill a noob or two.

Griffin Power
I think I've boasted in my first post about not losing to a Tech 1 frig for a long time. Well I got punished for that (no, not by a Punisher). During one of my roams, I spotted a Griffin at a Faction Warfare complex in Amamake and decided to kill it. I jumped in and we started approaching each other. I got the lock and opened fire, but then the Griffin jammed me. OK, I thought, this is not a Falcon, he can't do that forever.
Turned out he could. The Caldari frig permajammed me and I could not even escape as he and his drones slowly chewed at my armour. A good fight and a good lesson.

Bits and Pieces
I also engaged two Hurricanes this month in my Rifter, both controlled by unexperienced pilots which allowed me to tank them easily. The problem was, I could not break their tank. In both cases, I had to let them go and retreat when someone else showed up in the same belts. Maybe when I train up for a Jaguar things will change.
Cruisers have been easier targets: I caught one Navy Issue Caracal and got it into structure when the pilot offered me a 10 million ransom. I should have asked for more, but it just happened so that I needed to leave my ship's control console so I accepted the deal.
Also, to take on bigger targets I ganged up with other Amamake pirates on a few occasions. To make things easier, I've set up a chat channel for us criminals. Convo or eve-mail me to join.