New Love Affair - The Succubus Part 1

Today I want to talk about 2 things really.  Both of these revolve around the Succubus however as I've grown to love this ship a great deal.  Not necessarily how it looks, although it does have its own character, but rather in how it flies and what I've been able to accomplish with it.

The first point I want to talk about is my recent loss.  This fight was well played by my opponent, I have to say.  I don't know if he grew bored camping the gate in Gonditsa or if he just came on line and part of his opening routine is to scan the nearby systems for potential fights before lighting his camp fire.  I think I'll have to talk with him and ask him how him coming to Galnafsad came about as I'm quite curious.

The Story:

I'm out belt ratting in what I'm temporarily calling my home and using a blap fit oracle.  I see a new comer to local and almost immediately spot some combat probes which soon get closer.  Once I feel like they're too close I align out and leave when I feel the time is right.  What happens between me leaving and him landing is anyones guess but I come back in a cloaky just to see what I'm working against and spot the lone Incursus with _potential_ links.  I want the fight, so I decide to undock the Succubus and dive right in.

I land at the belt, fire up the AB and start to approach my target.  Very quickly, however, I noticed I'm not moving very fast... this isn't good as I'm on grid with a 0.2 Clone rat AND a blaster fit Incursus... I'm sure to melt at these kinds of speeds.  I zoom in and notice that I'm stuck on a damn asteroid and my shields are dropping.  Hit the MASB, GTFO out of my current predicament and stop the MASB when I've mitigated some incoming damage.

Damn, 2 charges left on the MASB and I still have to deal with this blastering Incursus and this clone rat.  Shields at around 3/4ths at this point and I survey the area as best I can and find a good approach vector.  Things aren't looking good for me though as I begin to pick up too much speed and let my webs drop on a couple of occasions and burn my last 2 remaining charges.  I also didn't pay enough attention to my transversal against the clone rat and probably ended up moving straight away from it.  Terrible range management and terrible transversal management lead to this succubus meeting its doom.

I want to tank you Uef RUS for the engagement and the lessons learned.  Well played sir using the clone rat to take down my succubus.  Apparently this ship was destined to be a wreck on that day but served me well.

The Ship:

As I said, I've really grown to love this ship.  I'm not entirely sure what it is at this point but how it flies and what its capable of has me very excited.  At first I saw this thing as an up close brawler due to its tracking speed bonus and its speed.  I'm changing my perspective though and seeing/using it as a mid range kiter.  Although if things get down to it, swap out the crystals and brawl away.

My current fit is what was lost except I've decided to faction the web.  Part of this is because I'm either being too lazy to manage the heat, still too tunnel visiony during a fight or because I want the buffer of 14km cold and 18km hot that the Fed Navy web affords me.  My ideal engagement range is right outside 10km to avoid THEIR webs but still apply my own.  This is a problem if they're overheating and I'm not because I'm expecting more of a long fight due to how I'm flying.

Dramiel Comparison:

I look at the Succubus much like I look at the Dram.  These ships are both VERY similar in a few ways.  Lets do a side by side comparison.

Slot layout - Exactly the same

Weapons:

     Succubus: Lazors only

     Dram: Drones, Projectiles and Missiles/Rockets

Speed:

     Succubus:

          Base:  425

          All V/Coreli A-Type 1mn AB: 2322 (cold with nano), 3250 (hot with nano)

     Dram:

          Base: 575

          All V/Coreli A-Type 1mn AB: 1,898 (cold with nano), 2,532 (hot with nano)

Hit Points:

     Succubus:

          Shield: 813

          Armor: 688

          Structure: 675

     Dram:

          Shield: 738

          Armor: 738

          Structure: 650

Sig Radius:

     Succubus: 33, 37.2 (my fit)

     Dram: 30, 39.4 (speed tank fit)

I think that covers most of the relevant stats and as you can see, they're VERY VERY similar ships.  Obviously some bonus' you can get from the Dram would be that you can change your damage types through multiple different drone choices and ammo choices and the Succubus does EM/Thermal... period...

I however am liking the ship and encourage you to pick one up, try the fit or scour zkill for another fit that might suit your flying style.  I've seen some tracking disrupting/armor tanking variants, shield buffer variants, slightly differently rigged versions of my fit, etc.  I'll have to give the td'ing/armor tanking variant a try but I'm concerned about removing one of the key features of this ship through rigs that slow me down.

What are your thoughts on this little monster?

Fly dangerous o7

EDIT: I had meant to talk about 2 points but skipped the second.  Check out what I've done with this little beauty in the follow up post