Warfare & Tactics

Hi everyone,


So is it fair to say that a large number of solo frig pvp'ers in FW space fly kitey fits?

Is it also fair to say that the majority of small engagements in FW space take place in plexes?


If so, why are the kitey pvp'ers of FW space being forced to begin the majority of their fights at 0 on the warp-in rather than have the ability to chose their initial engagement range like the pilot waiting inside the plex does?

When a kiting ship lands at 0 in a plex, a brawling frig can lock, scram and web down any frigate before he has time to break scram range literally 9 out of 10 times, even if the kiting frig overheats MWD while spamming the keep at range button.

I understand that this may originally have been a way to give the home team an advantage and make it tougher for any attacking fleets, but from my humble observations this mechanic just completely discourages the use of solo kitey ships in FW space.

If kiting ships are a predominantly solo thing, and if kiting ships are also useless due to plex mechanics, then is CCP discouraging solo PVP in these areas of space?

Someone please tell me i'm wrong or that I'm doing it wrong. I haven't been in LS for a long time, but it seems that for every 10 fights I take, of the 2 or 3 that don't want a fight and warp out, 5 or 6 just lock me down and kill me, and I end up leaving system with a "GF, thought I could break scram range before getting scrammed. Guess not." The other 2 or 3 are ships that I can take or break range from before being locked, like dessies or other kiting frigs.


Just to be clear, I'm talking about point-range kiters here. Ships like the shield Tristan or the Slicer. I don't fly with links, boosts or implants and while I see lots of others that do, that's not the issue here.

Just wondering if there's anything I should be doing differently or what your opinions about this mechanic are...And don't say "Fly a brawly ship."

Edit:
Thanks for the replies everyone. Questions have been answered but feel free to continue the conversation.

That is true, it can go both ways, but then think about it this way: I am not in FW, cannot capture plexes and therefore don't really have much reason to be in one unless warping in on someone who is already there (Who is in FW) and is attempting to capture said plex. 90% of the time I spend in plexes is a result of having d-scanned someone in there, and going in after them.

It is, indeed, home field advantage. First person in the plex gets to pick engagement range which will always give them the advantage. This isn't a kitey/brawly thing, since as said either you enter a plex as a kiter with a brawler inside and get scrammed/webbed, or you enter a plex as a brawler with a kiter inside and never get in range to do anything.

First person inside has the advantage. And that's fine. And if it discourages kitey ships... oh well? Kitey ships are the main ship to use in solo/small gang null, so it is good that there is an environment like FW that promotes AB brawlers. And there are plenty of AB soloers in FW.

And to note, this is speaking as someone who mainly flies kitey. I don't see anything wrong with the state of affairs. Plex mechanics are basically one of the only things that gives AB brawlers the ability to fight back against kiters.

The main thing I have found when flying kitey ships into a plex that you expect to be camped by a brawler is not to try and burn away from them but to just burn straight ahead with an OH MWD. You probably will still be scrammed and webbed etc but if you have a defensive web you have a chance to coast out of scram and reactivate your MWD.

This I have found works for me and I'm in Australia with a laggy connection most of the time.

Try dual prop. Also, had you stayed in BLFOX you could have just asked in Corp/Alliance chat.

Yep, pressing keep range wont send you burning off in the direction you are pointing when you land.


Also, why do you need to go inside all of the time? Nowt wrong with flying a kite outside the plex at range of the accel gate and catch something as it comes in (yeah some but not all pilots slide before you can get them).

So that you can get a curse to come join your fight? Unless you are flying a kiting cruiser, I say best to stick to the inside of small and novice plexes.

I did ask. and the information I received basically confirmed my OP; It's very difficult for kiting frigs to slide out of scram range before getting scrammed.

I came here because I wanted to present this question to a wider knowledge base.

This is the truth, especially if you fly without links or implants. There are tactics like picking the right angle to burn to based on your opponents ship, location, and velocity, etc. However at the end of the day if you are only pulling 4.5k heated a lot of stuff is going to catch you before you can pull out of heated scram and web range.

Many pilots that will stick around to fight a nano Slicer warping in on them figure they have a very good chance of catching said Slicer. I nabbed a Malediction the other day in my Algos, and it's been a long time since anything doing less than 9k a second has pulled range on me at a plex warp in (I don't fly AB fit ships very often). On the flip side, if I'm flying around in a kite ship and see lots of AB fits on someones kill board I generally won't give a second though to sliding the gate and trying to pull range.

And what do you fly, may I ask?

My Slicer has 2 Nanofibers in the lows and get somewhere around 5.6km/s OH.