Don't spread, please

Last week, while patrolling the pipe between HED-GP and GE-8JV with a couple of other LEGIO pilots, we  ran into a sizeable enemy fleet. From the beginning it was doubtful whether we could win this engagement, but there wasn't much to do but fight, as the enemy was already engaging us. Quickly the FC ordered us into position; the skirmish was on.

The FC called targets, beginning with the enemy logistics: Scimitar primary! As I was about to fire the first round of missiles, an enemy Ishkur targeted and scrammed me; he also fired his few tiny guns at me. Instead of following the FC's orders, I loaded precision missiles, determined to kill this Ishkur first, before attending to the FC's orders. The first volleys hit the Ishkur where it hurt, but I didn't quite succeed in breaking his tank. And so I kept firing at him, when my DPS was badly needed elsewhere.

When you are targeted, and someone begins to do nasty stuff to you, your first, primitive, instinctive response is to kill it. The drive for self preservation is usually strong in humans! And yet, what I did was stupid..

The skirmish got ugly, for us; we lost one ship, then another one, and then a third one got down. By now the FC was clearly agitated, as he noticed us doing a little bit of damage here and a little bit of damage there, instead of focusing our fire. Apparently I wasn't the only one shooting at the only ship that was actively targeting me. Of course I was way out of line, here, and so were my fleet mates. We misbehaved like a bunch of n00bs!

The problem is: when people focus on shooting just the ships targeting them, few enemy ships will die. Spreading the damage over multiple targets, means that hostile ships aren't damaged too bad, and get a chance to repair themselves, either through remote repairs by their logistics, or through their own ship's self repair.
Also, ten ships in half shield can still fire their guns: they can apply the full amount of their dps on you. Now focus your fire and kill one of them; that's 10% less damage that comes your way. Kill another one.. you get the picture.
This may all be very obvious to many a PVP pilot out there, but it's a lesson I forgot and had to learn again. Which I did.

Ironically, if you want to survive such a skirmish, the wise thing to do is follow the FC's orders, ignore who's targeting you, and kill enemy ships as fast as possible. And get that reptilian, instinctive self preservation mechanism under control! Otherwise you'll lose your ship.. just like I did. Yes, I lost my Drake that evening, and deservedly so.