Forgetfulness can lead to Loss

A timely reminder happened today, the reminder was quite simple. Know your ship, know your fit and more importantly remember these things in the heat of battle.

It was tower day, I needed to empty my towers prior to filling them up with input materials. It doesn't take very long but it does require me to move between a couple of systems. 

So precautions are needed and revolve around having a scout, the hauler and "backup". The scout is a cloaky interceptor, but with some bite, and the "backup" is a combat ship who will remain a mystery as I didn't need to show it at the time and it's useful to have an Ace.

Average Day

I use an Impel to do my tower hauling as the Fleet Hanger provides at least twice the cargo capacity that T1 haulers have the reduction in "ferrying" is a trade of I'm happy to make. 

I'd successfully moved into system, emptied my towers, watched a 20 man gang pass through and was left with a couple of reds. My scout was already back in the home system and waiting just off the gate.

D-scan did not show anything so I warped to my gate to return home.

Battlestations

D-scan was still clear as I entered warp but as I landed on gate the "oh shit" moment happened. There was a Svipul there, and he was a red. 

He jumped, I jumped. 

There was no way he did not see an Impel landing on the gate, we both jumped.

He did not immediately appear, I held cloak.

Scout was switched to and made ready to decloak and provide "interference" and "backup" was warped to the gate.

Warp to bookmark, activate MWD. deactivate MWD and switch to Scout. Svipul appears on grid and I'm yellow boxed.

(combat) Warp scramble attempt from Svipul [ A.4.D] Tukuarikan Nells Bells to you!

At this point I was resigned to losing the ship. The cargo wasn't huge but combined with the ship it was a noticeable dent to the wallet. 

I switch to my scout and I can see both the Svipul and my Impel in the overview. Then there is only the Svipul, so I hold my decloaking and switch back to my hauler.

He's still alive, he has an Aggression timer but that's it, Impel still alive and no need for me to do the "pee vee pee" thing, today.

Wait. What Happened?

I'd done the right thing, using the warp/MWD trick but I had forgotten the Role bonus of the Impel:

2+ bonus to ship warp core strength

Warp scramblers have a strength of 2 and the Role bonus of the Impel means that you need two or more warp disruption modules to successfully "scram or point" the ship. The Svipul seems to have only had one scram so the +2 was reduced to 0 but because it wasn't negative, thus I was able to escape.

Of course I didn't recall this at the time and honestly it was only typing the details into chat with my CEO that I realised what had happened. I'm thankful I didn't have to call on my "pee vee pee" skills, I probably would have lost three ships but it's possible I may not have. Confidence in my skills is something I'm yet to develop.

"Backup" is still a secret and I didn't have to shoot anyone. I'm quite happy with that, but I'm certainly going to refresh my memory of the Role and Bonuses of each ship I fly.