Thank the Gods for drones

So this Sacrilege (Heavy Assault Ship) enters the system. I've always wanted to test myself against a 'Sac', so I fly to a belt and wait for her (Weirda). I'm in my Thorax cruiser, and I'm aligned to a stargate - just in case she brings friends.

So she warps in eventually, and she's 54km away. I'm just travelling outwards from the belt, and she starts moving towards me. I take no evasive action, just slowly moving away at 240m/s, to all intents and purposes, maybe even looking like I'm AFK.

At around 20km she target locks me, and I quickly spring into action. I release my ECM drones and have them engage her. I set my orbit at 1,000m and activate my MWD to close the gap. My shields drop to about 20% but then the incoming fire stops as the ECM drones dampen her down.

I get in close, activate the blasters, and watch the damage start piling up on her ship. Her shields are down! To about 85%. And then the ECM cycle ends, and I start taking damage again.

My shields disappear, and my armor gets blasted off as the Sacrilege fires at me again. The armor is now down to about 30%, and then she stops firing again, and her warp disruptor field disappears from around my ship.

Smiling, I click on the 'warp to' button and leave the field of battle. She can have the drones, I don't need them any more - they saved my arse!

In local, we said 'gf' (good fight) to each other, and she lamented that I wasn't carrying damage-dealing drones. I would have died if I was. But then, I wouldn't have engaged her either.

Thank the Gods for drones. Especially ECM drones when you want to get yourself out of a tight situation!

So now I know that ECM drones are good to allow you to get away, but not so much for a constant dampening effect on a target's targeting systems. Since I downgraded my armor plating for an extra magnetic stabilizer (to increase damage output), I think I might return to the heavier plate... for those times that the ECM doesn't work.

I like learning new lessons - and surviving the process!