Battlecruiser Burner Tests, Round 1 - Sacri vs. Talos

I was lucky to pull the Burner Talos today from one of my old agents on SISI:

Ignore the low LP payout, they will self-adjust upwards once live.

Bad news first:  The Talos hits very hard. He starts about 245km from you.  He orbits you at 120km at between 1600 and 2000m/s.  His armor rep can regain about 50% of his armor in one gulp.  He has two frigate friends (tristan hull) that damp you, so kiting is out.  There is a field of sentries that seem to aggro you around 30-45km.  And he's a jerk, and he smells funny.

Good news (what there is of it):  He doesn't scram you immediately, that seems to happen at around 30km, give or take.  But he hates drones and will swap targets to them -- so, with drones out, you can probably abort a run if you are paying attention.  This generally isn't possible with Frigate burners and thinner hulls. (With an AF fit costing 20-50M or a HAC/BC running 250-750M, some hope of getting out of a botched run is a good thing).

Also, the Tristans either can't keep up with a mwd or don't chase you.  For my brawler fits, they really didn't seem to play into the fight.

NOTE:  All testing was done w/o a link ship, no significant implants, and no Fleet buffs. 

To me, this feels a lot like the Burner Worm encounter.  Get in tight under his barrage of fire, web his butt to the floor, and have at it.

This is SISI, the realm of fantasy fits, and the notion that you can try stuff you've never been able/willing to afford before and throwing it away for giggles.  But I was time limited tonight and wanted some structure around how I went about testing the new content.

So, I decided that first I should go with a hull that I had a lot of experience with so that I could compare the damage to what I normally see in lvl4s.  I wanted something fast, fairly tanky, cap stable without cap boosters, and an armor tank.  I can complete most lvl4s in a Sacri these days, and wanted to see how one of my favorite fits (modified slightly) would hold up under the new challenge.

Attempt #1 - Took damage early (like at 180km), panicked, and overheated the reppers to keep up.  Launched bait drones and got my armor repped up, but got my reppers out of synch when I de-heated and ended up popping.  My fault.

Attempt #2 - Fit Heavy Missiles, Hornet EC-300s for bait, and Hob2's for dps.  Launched the EC-300s upon landing and made the dash to the target.  I had a Sebo fit for combat range but couldn't nail him down enough to deal dps with the launchers.  Barely got through his shields but drones were dying in fiery death.  I wasn't scram'd so I aborted to refit.

Attempt #3 - Fit HAMs and changed the sebo for a web.  Approached, launched EC-300s, and closed the distance.  EC-300s did their thing and I was able to get within 10km to web him down without taking much damage.  As he killed EC-300s, I launched Hobgoblins to replace and damage initially looked really good.  I had him nearly into structure but my Hobs started dying, but then magically his armor went almost back to full.  I weighed my options and aborted. 

I only have shields because the Talos hates my drones.

Things I learned:

a) No, Command Ships are NOT allowed.  I tried to get a Sleip in and was declined.

b) Yes, Navy BCs ARE allowed (I hopped in briefly with a naked fit Navy Brutix).

c) A t2 fit Sacri is still too thin (not enough buffer, and not enough reps) to sustain heavy fire without bait drones to distract the target.

d) Sacri + HAMS alone wasn't enough to break the Talos tank.  

I'm torn. I could eek some more dps out of this fit if I refit for cap boosters and dps rigs.  Or I could look at an actual BC hull.  Will rub my chin some more and try again soon.