Straight Outta Clone Vat

Kill & loss statistics since the last report:
- killed eight frigates, five destroyers, four cruisers, an interceptor, an assault ship, an industrial ship and five pods;
- lost five Rifters, two Wolves, one Rupture and a pod.

Ah, another week full of good fights. I'll mention just a few that have been the most interesting.
There have been a couple of good Rifter duels -- I lost the one against Arquebie and won against Switch 4. Then there was a great Wolf duel with Pax Sex. I was ahead in the damage race, but my guns were reaching critical heat levels so I toggled rack overloading. Unfortunately, this way I also overloaded my neutralizer which burnt my guns in just one cycle, allowing Pax Sex to finish me.

I also had my first fight in a Rupture last week after taking it to Egghelende. I jumped to a planet after spotting some frigate there, but it quickly warped off while another frigate, a Punisher, showed up, soon joined by a Firetail and a Rifter. I sent my ECM drones after the Firetail while focusing fire on the Punisher which soon exploded, its capacitor emptied by my neutralizer. Just when I switched fire to the Firetail, a Thorax joined the party. I refocused my fire on the cruiser, seeing it as the biggest threat, and sent the drones after him as well. My armour was melting under the combined assault of the three ships, but before going down I managed to kill the Thorax. I then tried to kill the Firetail as well and missed the chance to save my pod. Well, that just meant I made it back to Amamake a bit faster.

Another good fight was against two Ghost Festival pilots: my Rifter was able to tank and kill their Incursus class ships, both in proper PVP setups. Staying at a 7.5 kilometre orbit has helped me dodge blaster fire. Finally, there was a fight with Zombiedeadhead's Claw. He attacked me at a gate from Siseide to Amamake and I was unable to get within scram/web range so I jumped. Of course, then I just burned back towards the gate and jumped again. This time, for some reason (maybe due to bumping into the gate), he allowed me to get in close after which the Claw was doomed.

Somehow, I'm much more efficient with Rifters than with Wolves: lost the second one in a week yesterday after jumping a Harbinger which was quickly joined by a Vexor. Must be more careful with these expensive toys.