Hetzer's School of Unsportsmanlike Conduct

[Korgmeister]

One of the most important, and oft ill considered aspects of ToS fighting is the pre match negotiation. It is imperative to bargain your competitor into accepting terms and conditions which are favourable to yourself.

In particular in this match I managed to persuade Hetzer to a duel using Light Titans and normal terrain. Most unusual in the fact that most people consider such an environment to be a bit 'boring' but it is the one at which I have the most experience. So, with such an arrangement in mind I decided to take temporary leave from my retirement due to short attention span and begin the duel.

Hetzer was piloting a Slugger, myself at the helm of an Exhuminator (A Hetz design, I do believe) and a mountain range between us. The terrain generator was favourable to me. Nearby was an excellent vantage point from which to laziily rain down firey LRM death upon my hapless opponent.

I reached it quickly, crouched and proceeded to merrily plug away at Hetz, who was attempting to close the gap, as distance would work in my favour.

He made it to the forest, the trees provided excellent cover from my missles. However, they failed to elude my sensors, which gained a green scan and allowed me to ascertain that my missiles were as yet causing negligable damage to his superior armour.

For a few moments he was able to elude my detection by scrambling into a forest which was additionally hidden behind a large hill. I took the time to relocate to a better vantage point and cool down. Then I waited patiently. He would reveal himself in time. And then it was a matter of being able to wear him down enough before he closed in for the kill.

And then, there he was! Charging out of the forest I released a barrage of missiles which pelted him like shot. One telling blow struck Hetzer's ToS to the ground, but by the time the next missile was loaded into the lauch tube and locked, he was already on his feet again with murder in his eyes.

Desperately, Hetzer dashed out of the forest, now fully exposed. However my targeting computers struggled to compute the appropriate firing arcs as he now closed within minimum optimal range of my missiles. My small laser point defense system aquired a lock and I supplemeted my increasingly inaccurate missile fire with sporadic bursts of green light.

Slowly, however, my attacks were beggining to wear down his armour, although the functioning of his Titan was unimpeded, I saw weaknesses beginning to reveal themselves. Terrain, however was my greatest allay in this fight. I was in a higher position than Hetzer could easily run to. To reach me, he would either have to risk a DFA or take an exceedingly long time to close to HtH combat distance, and his armour was now thinning to almost nothing.

Perhaps with my reputation for lousy luck in mind (which was thus far most definately not coming into play) Hetz ran into prime position for me to DFA his titan. For about 20 nerve racking seconds I was in the air, exposed and heating up. However, despite the shells repeatedly slamming into my titans nether negions, I was able to keep the craft steady and slam it into his titan with a nervewracking tearing of metal.

However, I had reached the limit of my piloting skills, as I found the titan veering out of control after the collision. For a moment, I almost had the titan balanced for touchdown, then overcontrolled by just enough to send me slamming onto my head in such a way as to make everything vibrate for several seconds.

I hauled the titan up to it's feet again, enduring punches,kicks and all form of punishment, my armour nearing depletion itself. But stand up I did. With barely any protection for my systems left, I activated my point defense system, which severed Hetzer's leg with a beam of green light, sending him crashing to earth. With a few punches and kicks to seal the indignity, Hetzer's titan was proclaimed disabled and myself the victor.

A heady triumph indeed. But attributable to luck and shrewd negotiations more than battle skill. Let this be a lession to you rookies out there. There is more to winning battles than being in the cockpit. Those who neglect other skills not directly related to Titan combat do so at their peril and risk being shamed by one of mediocre battlefield skill such as myself.

[Thorgrim]

The Exhuminator is one of the original VB designs...

[LarkinVB]

.... created by Kai Sausmikat ....

[tarendelcymir]

Nice job, managing a win against Hetz. Nice job writing about it, too.