DISCLAIMER:My thoughts are firing faster then my typing so some of this may bounce around and may seem jumbled and cryptic...for this I apologize. And yes I know this has nothing to do with Eve.
So I am kind of in this place bordering depression and curiosity. Recent and possible future events have me wondering what it is I want to do with life and what I would like to accomplish in it.
Now here comes the part with the scoffs, eye rolls and ridicule :). I have been a fan of the Harry Potter movies since 2002 and have looked forward to every release since. I haven't read the books and had been waiting to see Deathly Hallows Pt 2 to start, not wanting to ruin the story and magic of the big screen. Well, I watched Pt 2 on Sunday and needless to say it was bittersweet. No new releases. No wondering what happens next (well there is plenty of wondering, but doubtful anything will come of it). It made me stop and think. We have watched the actors grow up before our very eyes. To some of as as children, to others as peers. My own daughter is 9, born the year The Chamber of Secrets released. Since the 1920's movies have shaped generations. Will we ever see another series of movies that capture a generation the way the HP movies did?
I am going on 31. My dad will probably not make it through next year. My mom passed away in 2004. I feel confronted by my own mortality, and not sure how I like it. I have many regrets in life, far to many to list. My life was a fucked up mess from 13-28. I made more mistakes in that time frame then 10 people do in their lifetime. I now feel confronted with figuring out what I want to do with myself. I have worked for a major company in one of their foundries since 2004. It is honorable enough work, but it is not something I see myself doing for 30+ years. I have a degree in Microbiology, but since I never pursued it as a career(due to a mistake made in life) I am far to rusty on the knowledge to apply it.
I am now in the process of reevaluating my life and where I want to be. I do not want to look back on a life full of regrets. I need to figure what is important, really important, to me and pursue it. Life is only so long and the decisions and actions you make shape generations.
SO where does that leave me? I am going to go back to school. For what yet I am unsure, but I am going anyway. I am sure I will eventually figure it out.
I am going to take care of my family. I have a wonderful wife and two beautiful children that I want to do right by.
I am going to quit smoking, change my diet, ad start working out again. We have one body, one life. I no longer intend on shortening it by damaging it. I have partied like a musician(which I also am) for the last 17 years and it is taking its toll.
Stop looking and worrying about the past and future. One we can no longer control, the other we can shape. We shape our futures in the present. If I always worry about what is to come, I will miss what is already here.
So with that I will leave you with this philosophical tirade lol. Remember that life is short and it is NEVER too late to make changes and go after the stars.
Funny that a movie series makes you realize that and opens your eyes to your potential, eh?
In life
Rylia
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
So You Want To FC, Eh? Part 2 - Fight on YOUR terms!
One of the most difficult things for a budding FC to learn, at least in my mind as it is something I struggle with, is understanding different ways that you can force a fight onto you terms. Oddly enough, this isn't as difficult as one would think. The hardest part, in my opinion, is being able to do it quickly and under pressure. I am going to provide just a few of the myriad of ways you go about doing this. Keep in mind though that tactics are being used against someone who may not play the way you want them too!
There a about as many ways to bait and goad your opponent as you can imagine but we are only going to go over a handful of them here. Some of the more popular tactics include Psyops, pincher, turn and burn, bubbles, and using dictors.
PSYOPS
Psyops is the art of using psychological warfare against your opponent. Methods of doing this are: Making the enemy believe you have less numbers then you do, making them believe you are scared (by running away to a predetermined trap point), making them think you have different shiptypes, and just all around making them believe they have the upper hand.
There are several ways to instigate most of this methods.
1. Numbers.
Lets say you are taking your fleet back home from a prolonged roam. Your scout, who is +2, J's into a gate camp. Your fleet comp is 8 shield BC's, a falcon, 2 Skirmish inties, 1 jag(chaser tackle), a sabre, 2 scimis and 2 vagas. The recon report comes in: Gizz in XX-XXX on XX gate. 13 in local and I have 13 on grid. 6 Canes, a sabre, 2 vagas, 2 scimis, a dram, and a Stiletto. The idea is to bait them into thinking they outmatch you and to therefore get them to come to you and engage.
The Execute: you can tell you skirmish to either get safe in local or burn back to gate. You would then have only half of your force go into the next system, thus allowing their scout(assuming they are smart and have one, most do) to see your numbers. Hopefully you can get them in position on the next gate and they will take the bait, J into your system and engage not knowing that the other half of your force is incoming. When they do it will be too late(hopefully...shit happens :) )
2. Running scared.
Same situation as above..but lets they have the numbers this time. You can still get a good fight this way, it just takes a little patience. The idea is to have them think you don't want to fight because you think or "know" you will lose. How do we do this? Running!
The Execute: Your scout gives his report and you send the fleet into system -1 from scout. Warp everyone to gate at about 20km and as soon as you exit warp realign the ingate you entered in. Give it about 30 secs so they think you are discussing it and then burn back to other gate. If it works a couple of them(or hell the whole force) should come in and give chase. Now there are a few things you can do here. I am only going to cover two, as some of the others will be covered in their own section. What you do here is up to you..as I am not going to reveal the actual methods you can use(so you can use them against me lol)
PINCER
The purpose of this is having two forces to trap your opponent with, one being the one engaged the other the back up.
This section is going to be pretty short, as I am not going to be putting in actual tactics used, just giving the idea. The idea is to either split your force, know you have back up somewhere, or know backup can respond if needed. Then you just engage on a gate, and when back up arrives it cuts off their escape.
TURN AND BURN
I already went into this in some detail.
The tactic: To make look like your running or to split up faster ships from slower ships
The execute: It is what it is. Just turn and align to a gate or celestial and burn for a bit til they give chase. You then warp off and pick off the ones who come after you.
Bubbles, Interdictors, and Gate camping
I am also not going to go into too many details on these subjects even though they are viable tactics to giving you the higher ground.
Bubbles: Bubbles are anchorable objects that, like dictor spheres, disrupt warp off all ships it is aligned to(meaning celestials it is aligned to but ships taking the aligned path) and drops them in your lap.
Interdictors: Two classes, standard and Heavy. Standard, or light, Interdictors are destroyer class vessels that equip an Interdiction Sphere Launcher to drop Interdiction probes in space. Heavy interdictors are even more unique as they equip a Warp Disruption Field Generator. This allows HICs to quite literally be the center of their bubble and move around with it.
Gate Camping: We all know this one. Sitting at a gate for hours on end in a busy pipe and waiting for unsuspecting travelers and gangs to come through.
In closing I hope you all received a little more insight into ways to turn the hand. Veterans know most of this stuff, however, I hope that maybe they were refreshed or have a new perspective on the subject. Sorry to all my readers for this one being two weeks late. I have had some shit dropped on me in life lately and it has been hard to get a handle on my writing.
Until next fly dangerously! o7
There a about as many ways to bait and goad your opponent as you can imagine but we are only going to go over a handful of them here. Some of the more popular tactics include Psyops, pincher, turn and burn, bubbles, and using dictors.
PSYOPS
Psyops is the art of using psychological warfare against your opponent. Methods of doing this are: Making the enemy believe you have less numbers then you do, making them believe you are scared (by running away to a predetermined trap point), making them think you have different shiptypes, and just all around making them believe they have the upper hand.
There are several ways to instigate most of this methods.
1. Numbers.
Lets say you are taking your fleet back home from a prolonged roam. Your scout, who is +2, J's into a gate camp. Your fleet comp is 8 shield BC's, a falcon, 2 Skirmish inties, 1 jag(chaser tackle), a sabre, 2 scimis and 2 vagas. The recon report comes in: Gizz in XX-XXX on XX gate. 13 in local and I have 13 on grid. 6 Canes, a sabre, 2 vagas, 2 scimis, a dram, and a Stiletto. The idea is to bait them into thinking they outmatch you and to therefore get them to come to you and engage.
The Execute: you can tell you skirmish to either get safe in local or burn back to gate. You would then have only half of your force go into the next system, thus allowing their scout(assuming they are smart and have one, most do) to see your numbers. Hopefully you can get them in position on the next gate and they will take the bait, J into your system and engage not knowing that the other half of your force is incoming. When they do it will be too late(hopefully...shit happens :) )
2. Running scared.
Same situation as above..but lets they have the numbers this time. You can still get a good fight this way, it just takes a little patience. The idea is to have them think you don't want to fight because you think or "know" you will lose. How do we do this? Running!
The Execute: Your scout gives his report and you send the fleet into system -1 from scout. Warp everyone to gate at about 20km and as soon as you exit warp realign the ingate you entered in. Give it about 30 secs so they think you are discussing it and then burn back to other gate. If it works a couple of them(or hell the whole force) should come in and give chase. Now there are a few things you can do here. I am only going to cover two, as some of the others will be covered in their own section. What you do here is up to you..as I am not going to reveal the actual methods you can use(so you can use them against me lol)
PINCER
The purpose of this is having two forces to trap your opponent with, one being the one engaged the other the back up.
This section is going to be pretty short, as I am not going to be putting in actual tactics used, just giving the idea. The idea is to either split your force, know you have back up somewhere, or know backup can respond if needed. Then you just engage on a gate, and when back up arrives it cuts off their escape.
TURN AND BURN
I already went into this in some detail.
The tactic: To make look like your running or to split up faster ships from slower ships
The execute: It is what it is. Just turn and align to a gate or celestial and burn for a bit til they give chase. You then warp off and pick off the ones who come after you.
Bubbles, Interdictors, and Gate camping
I am also not going to go into too many details on these subjects even though they are viable tactics to giving you the higher ground.
Bubbles: Bubbles are anchorable objects that, like dictor spheres, disrupt warp off all ships it is aligned to(meaning celestials it is aligned to but ships taking the aligned path) and drops them in your lap.
Interdictors: Two classes, standard and Heavy. Standard, or light, Interdictors are destroyer class vessels that equip an Interdiction Sphere Launcher to drop Interdiction probes in space. Heavy interdictors are even more unique as they equip a Warp Disruption Field Generator. This allows HICs to quite literally be the center of their bubble and move around with it.
Gate Camping: We all know this one. Sitting at a gate for hours on end in a busy pipe and waiting for unsuspecting travelers and gangs to come through.
In closing I hope you all received a little more insight into ways to turn the hand. Veterans know most of this stuff, however, I hope that maybe they were refreshed or have a new perspective on the subject. Sorry to all my readers for this one being two weeks late. I have had some shit dropped on me in life lately and it has been hard to get a handle on my writing.
Until next fly dangerously! o7
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Upcoming changes, The T1 Project, and FCing...all rolled into one spot!
As I had stated in my note yesterday, I have been extremely busy as of late. With having been said, there are some excellent things going on in the world of New Eden which also make for a good series of topics to write on.
First off we are going to start with the upcoming changes in the Winter Expansion. I am only going to give my opinion on them as Azual already has an excellent breakdown and analysis of them here. I think this is going to be freaking awesome! New ships, Hybrid weaps adjustment, hybrid boats adjustment, new T2 items? I mean come on, short of the Dramiel rebalancing(i refuse to call it a nerf because it is still fittable and still the fastest.) who wouldn't love all this? Caldari and Gallente ships have needed some bringing up to par for awhile now, especially in the pvp department. Seeing what the Talos and Naga are bring to the table almost makes me giggle like a Brony out of happiness. The fact the speed, agility, and hybrid buff also helps the Deimos, Thorax, Brutix, Eagle, Moa, Rohk, Hyperion, and Megathron makes my spine shiver! TARANIS"S OF EPIC DOOM ANYONE? I suspect all off these will get balanced out as time goes on, but expect hybrid boats to be a little more OP out of the gate.
The Destroyer buff also makes me real happy. A morph from glass pea-shooter to glass cannon? YES PLEASE! This will give an entire new meaning to the term Wolfpack! Hmmm, that reminds me that I had better stock up on some of these ships before the prices skyrocket lol.
Oneiros. I am really just taking peoples word for it that the buffs are kickass as I don't fly Logi yet. With that said I am looking forward to flying them here in the not too distant future!
The T1 Frig Project
Ok so I have been a little lazy in the last week. I have gone out a couple of times and found nothing to fight except large gangs and gatecamps. I am also making up an order for the rest of my ships and modules and that will motivate me further.
FC Update
Next installment will be up possibly tonight but more than likely tomorrow. Will be a nice ditty about how to force a fight onto your terms. Exciting stuff indeed!
So until next time take care readers and fly dangerously! Talos and Naga inc!
First off we are going to start with the upcoming changes in the Winter Expansion. I am only going to give my opinion on them as Azual already has an excellent breakdown and analysis of them here. I think this is going to be freaking awesome! New ships, Hybrid weaps adjustment, hybrid boats adjustment, new T2 items? I mean come on, short of the Dramiel rebalancing(i refuse to call it a nerf because it is still fittable and still the fastest.) who wouldn't love all this? Caldari and Gallente ships have needed some bringing up to par for awhile now, especially in the pvp department. Seeing what the Talos and Naga are bring to the table almost makes me giggle like a Brony out of happiness. The fact the speed, agility, and hybrid buff also helps the Deimos, Thorax, Brutix, Eagle, Moa, Rohk, Hyperion, and Megathron makes my spine shiver! TARANIS"S OF EPIC DOOM ANYONE? I suspect all off these will get balanced out as time goes on, but expect hybrid boats to be a little more OP out of the gate.
The Destroyer buff also makes me real happy. A morph from glass pea-shooter to glass cannon? YES PLEASE! This will give an entire new meaning to the term Wolfpack! Hmmm, that reminds me that I had better stock up on some of these ships before the prices skyrocket lol.
Oneiros. I am really just taking peoples word for it that the buffs are kickass as I don't fly Logi yet. With that said I am looking forward to flying them here in the not too distant future!
The T1 Frig Project
Ok so I have been a little lazy in the last week. I have gone out a couple of times and found nothing to fight except large gangs and gatecamps. I am also making up an order for the rest of my ships and modules and that will motivate me further.
FC Update
Next installment will be up possibly tonight but more than likely tomorrow. Will be a nice ditty about how to force a fight onto your terms. Exciting stuff indeed!
So until next time take care readers and fly dangerously! Talos and Naga inc!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Holy Crap!
Been real busy so haven't had time to write much. Expect an article on the new upcoming changes, the current CCP restructuring, and Tier 3 battlecruisers. Also next installment of my FC series will be posted this week!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
The T1 Frig Project - Day 1
I do not plan on writing an AAR a day for each of the ships but doing a weekly synapses of all the fights. With that said, Day 1 was defenitely worth it!
Started out in Rifter #1 and decided to head to western Syndi to look around there. Got into 3KNK and say a Punisher from The Ronin sitting at a tac about 218km off of the gate. Asked for a 1v1 in local with no response, so I started burning towards him hoping he was AFK. About 110km from the gate he warped down to me at range (100km off of gate so 10 from me) and accepted the 1v1 in local. Fight on! Was a pretty close fight tbh. We were both neck and neck into structure when his dual box alt battle buzz uncloaked and atrted blowing my face in with rockets :(. This is where it got interesting.
After being podded I burned back to 3KNK in a Ranis hoping to get sweet revenge. Sure as shit there he was, fully repped and waiting 100km off the gate. Not able to pass it up i burned to him and started round 2. 2/3 of the way into his armor the buzz uncloaked like I thought it would. Unfortunately, I over thought my capabilities and blew up, but not before killing the punisher pilot and getting the buzz into structure(should have brought an ishkur instead :P ).
I headed back to 31- in my pod fully intending to taske a break. After a talk with a corpmate decided on taking out my ishkur for a little roam to the north. No Dice. With it being pretty quiet I headed back home and take a little break.
About an hour later I cam back and shipped up in another Ranis and decided to head ack to 3KNK. As soon as I entered the system I recieved a friendly invite to 1v1. Was nervous at first as the buzzard pilot was in system and he was of same corp/alliance, but he assured me it would be a honored 1v1. We fleeted up and made a midsafe to battle at. As I was in warp I casually hit DScan to see what he was flying. Shit. A Sentinal. TBH I do not know a lot about this ship other then its nickname, the Baby Curse. Well honor is honor :). I dropped out of warp 17km off and started my habitual spiral to the target. I had just entered scram/web range, applied both, applied nos and fired one volley when I was capped out. Oh great, here we go, or so I thought! After about 4 minutes of me getting just enough cap to shoot once, rescram, and rep once I caught a break. He ran out of cap! And that is all it took. 1-0 Rylia!
He quickly asked me to repair and let him reship for round two(think Ronin bases there some times) which I happily oblidged. He undocked and headed to the midsafe again and I quickly followed. This time he opted for a Jaguar, which made me a little nervous since they have 50 ways you can fit one lol. I dropped out 10km off of him and immediately applied scram/web and tried getting some transversal. This fight didn't last but a minute as I completely annihilated him. I was a little confused as I had just started dipping into structure when he popped. Figured it would hurt more I guess haha.
I was surprised when he asked for round three! This time he wanted to do it off the undock of one station in system, as when we had our last fight a small nano cruiser gang had come through. I was a little nervous thinking him to be mad, but seeing only us in local figured, what the hell. I sat offgrid of the chosen station and waited for him to give green light and warped in. His final ship choice? A Vengeance. Now i was a little concerned lol as missiles (or rockets for that matter) hit no matter what and I knew this would hurt. I let him get first engage on this one and promptly lost all shields. I overheated everything dropped my pair of drones and lit him up. I was at 30% structure when he started dipping into it and gritting my teeth, popped him! Structure tanks for the win! Rylia 3 enemy-0.
So even though I got pwned in my rifter, it turned into a very productive night of 1v1 in my Inty, which is one of my ships of choice. More to come here soon!
PS. Boomrider!!! Great fights and great conversation afterword! See ya in my sights soon!
Started out in Rifter #1 and decided to head to western Syndi to look around there. Got into 3KNK and say a Punisher from The Ronin sitting at a tac about 218km off of the gate. Asked for a 1v1 in local with no response, so I started burning towards him hoping he was AFK. About 110km from the gate he warped down to me at range (100km off of gate so 10 from me) and accepted the 1v1 in local. Fight on! Was a pretty close fight tbh. We were both neck and neck into structure when his dual box alt battle buzz uncloaked and atrted blowing my face in with rockets :(. This is where it got interesting.
After being podded I burned back to 3KNK in a Ranis hoping to get sweet revenge. Sure as shit there he was, fully repped and waiting 100km off the gate. Not able to pass it up i burned to him and started round 2. 2/3 of the way into his armor the buzz uncloaked like I thought it would. Unfortunately, I over thought my capabilities and blew up, but not before killing the punisher pilot and getting the buzz into structure(should have brought an ishkur instead :P ).
I headed back to 31- in my pod fully intending to taske a break. After a talk with a corpmate decided on taking out my ishkur for a little roam to the north. No Dice. With it being pretty quiet I headed back home and take a little break.
About an hour later I cam back and shipped up in another Ranis and decided to head ack to 3KNK. As soon as I entered the system I recieved a friendly invite to 1v1. Was nervous at first as the buzzard pilot was in system and he was of same corp/alliance, but he assured me it would be a honored 1v1. We fleeted up and made a midsafe to battle at. As I was in warp I casually hit DScan to see what he was flying. Shit. A Sentinal. TBH I do not know a lot about this ship other then its nickname, the Baby Curse. Well honor is honor :). I dropped out of warp 17km off and started my habitual spiral to the target. I had just entered scram/web range, applied both, applied nos and fired one volley when I was capped out. Oh great, here we go, or so I thought! After about 4 minutes of me getting just enough cap to shoot once, rescram, and rep once I caught a break. He ran out of cap! And that is all it took. 1-0 Rylia!
He quickly asked me to repair and let him reship for round two(think Ronin bases there some times) which I happily oblidged. He undocked and headed to the midsafe again and I quickly followed. This time he opted for a Jaguar, which made me a little nervous since they have 50 ways you can fit one lol. I dropped out 10km off of him and immediately applied scram/web and tried getting some transversal. This fight didn't last but a minute as I completely annihilated him. I was a little confused as I had just started dipping into structure when he popped. Figured it would hurt more I guess haha.
I was surprised when he asked for round three! This time he wanted to do it off the undock of one station in system, as when we had our last fight a small nano cruiser gang had come through. I was a little nervous thinking him to be mad, but seeing only us in local figured, what the hell. I sat offgrid of the chosen station and waited for him to give green light and warped in. His final ship choice? A Vengeance. Now i was a little concerned lol as missiles (or rockets for that matter) hit no matter what and I knew this would hurt. I let him get first engage on this one and promptly lost all shields. I overheated everything dropped my pair of drones and lit him up. I was at 30% structure when he started dipping into it and gritting my teeth, popped him! Structure tanks for the win! Rylia 3 enemy-0.
So even though I got pwned in my rifter, it turned into a very productive night of 1v1 in my Inty, which is one of my ships of choice. More to come here soon!
PS. Boomrider!!! Great fights and great conversation afterword! See ya in my sights soon!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
The T1 Frigate Project
Well I have been trying to finish a T1 frig project now for the last couple months and seem to always find a distraction. Time to get serious!
The Project
50 frigates! That's right 50. Five zero. 10 Rifters, 10 Tristans, 10 Merlins, 10 Punishers, and 10 Kestrals.
The Purpose
To lose all of these ships and learn a lot along the way.
The Method
Going to take 1 ship out a day and go solo roaming. Hopefully will be able to have some fun 1v1s! Going to do this until all ships are gone
The Education
I am going to post an AAR for every ship I lose so that the knowledge can be passed on to all of you! This will be an excellent opportunity for everyone to learn a little something something and maybe share insights along the way!
So be on the lookout as the project kicks off tomorrow with the Rifters! Also be on the lookout for the next chapter of "So You Want To FC, Eh?"!
The Project
50 frigates! That's right 50. Five zero. 10 Rifters, 10 Tristans, 10 Merlins, 10 Punishers, and 10 Kestrals.
The Purpose
To lose all of these ships and learn a lot along the way.
The Method
Going to take 1 ship out a day and go solo roaming. Hopefully will be able to have some fun 1v1s! Going to do this until all ships are gone
The Education
I am going to post an AAR for every ship I lose so that the knowledge can be passed on to all of you! This will be an excellent opportunity for everyone to learn a little something something and maybe share insights along the way!
So be on the lookout as the project kicks off tomorrow with the Rifters! Also be on the lookout for the next chapter of "So You Want To FC, Eh?"!
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Monday, October 10, 2011
AAR's and You!
This is going to be a kinda indirect article of my "So You Want To FC, Eh?" series as I pretty much have most of Part 2 written already :P. So we will call this...part 1.5 haha. Anyway...
If you recall, in part one I briefly touched on AAR's and their importance. Since it is a highly important part of PvP I decided it needed a dedicated article to go more in depth on the subject.
So what exactly is an AAR? Some corps and alliances have different terms for them, but for our purposes an AAR is an After Action Report. AAR's are extremely vital to the success of any form of PvPs overall success in a corp or alliance setting. They allow you to convey the events of a roam and any subsequent engagements, thus allowing others who weren't there to see what happened and provide input.
There are two types of AAR's; verbal and written. Verbal AAR's are usually done post roam right after docking up, but before disbanding or dismissing the fleet, This gives the FC the opportunity to go over the things that went wrong, things that went right, and things that can be improved upon in the future with the gang. It is important to remember to not take criticism in a bad light as it is usually all directed into making everyone a better pilot or FC. However, it is important to note that finger pointing or direct blame should be withheld. Criticism in that neighborhood should be left to 1 on 1 discussion. It is fine to say something as such, "We lost that fight due to jams not being applied". Not this; "Johnson314 didn't apply jams and therefore we couldn't suppress dps..what a noob". Crushing someones morale or cause conflict like that helps no one and, as said, should remain private between the parties.
Written AAR's are just that, written out and usually posted on the Corp or alliance forums board for all to read. This allows those not present on the roam to have in essence a play by play from start to finish of travel and engagements. Some things to remember are: Include what the plan was, who went along, ship types you were flying, anything intel related(ie enemy movements, someone cynoing in something etc etc), detailed explanation of engagements, where you went, and things that could have been improved upon(usually like a posted version of went went on in the verbal AAR).
So do not forget this valuable tool. It helps us learn from our mistakes, gives insight into FCing, and is a valuable communication tool. So the next time you take out a fleet remember this; Discuss and pass it on!
If you recall, in part one I briefly touched on AAR's and their importance. Since it is a highly important part of PvP I decided it needed a dedicated article to go more in depth on the subject.
So what exactly is an AAR? Some corps and alliances have different terms for them, but for our purposes an AAR is an After Action Report. AAR's are extremely vital to the success of any form of PvPs overall success in a corp or alliance setting. They allow you to convey the events of a roam and any subsequent engagements, thus allowing others who weren't there to see what happened and provide input.
There are two types of AAR's; verbal and written. Verbal AAR's are usually done post roam right after docking up, but before disbanding or dismissing the fleet, This gives the FC the opportunity to go over the things that went wrong, things that went right, and things that can be improved upon in the future with the gang. It is important to remember to not take criticism in a bad light as it is usually all directed into making everyone a better pilot or FC. However, it is important to note that finger pointing or direct blame should be withheld. Criticism in that neighborhood should be left to 1 on 1 discussion. It is fine to say something as such, "We lost that fight due to jams not being applied". Not this; "Johnson314 didn't apply jams and therefore we couldn't suppress dps..what a noob". Crushing someones morale or cause conflict like that helps no one and, as said, should remain private between the parties.
Written AAR's are just that, written out and usually posted on the Corp or alliance forums board for all to read. This allows those not present on the roam to have in essence a play by play from start to finish of travel and engagements. Some things to remember are: Include what the plan was, who went along, ship types you were flying, anything intel related(ie enemy movements, someone cynoing in something etc etc), detailed explanation of engagements, where you went, and things that could have been improved upon(usually like a posted version of went went on in the verbal AAR).
So do not forget this valuable tool. It helps us learn from our mistakes, gives insight into FCing, and is a valuable communication tool. So the next time you take out a fleet remember this; Discuss and pass it on!
Monday, October 3, 2011
So You Want To FC, Eh? Part 1-The Basics
In a similar light to Azual's Know Your Enemy Series(starting here with T1 Frigates), I am going to attempt to break down FCing. I know what is being thought, "FCing is dependent on each person and differs as such." True. "This subject has been beaten into the ground." Also True. However, There are still basic principles and guidelines that are universal to FCing, that and it doesn't hurt to revisit the basics.
The basics to FCing, or Fleet Command for newer people to Eve, are fairly straight forward. You have your fleet composition and knowing its strengths and weaknesses, situational awareness, willingness to act, communication, tactical assessment ability, and the ability to learn from you mistakes.
Fleet Composition
One of the things I personally think about when running a fleet is "What ship types do I want to utilize?" Now nothing can be as fun as just grabbing a group of people, forming a gang, and saying bring what you want to bring. The thing to remember is knowing what they DO bring. More on that scenario in a bit. Different gang comps have different strengths and weaknesses, as do most ships. For example: Nanoshag gangs, which utilize speed and agility over pure firepower, are excellent kiters but not the best brawlers due to their more fragile nature. Not knowing this, and say taking a Nanoshag gang into a brawl with Battleships or Battlecruisers can be deadly. This not to say it is not doable, again I get ahead of myself lol.
So whether you are taking out a Themed gang(like say Toads and Lizards, which if you want to know what that is come on out to Syndicate and we will show ya :D) or just the flavor of everyones hour, knowing what you have and how it can perform against possible opposition is detrimental to increasing the odds of bringing everyone back safely with stories of the kills verses dying in a ball of flame and cursing incompetence.
Situational Awareness
All of these topics are very important pieces of the FC puzzle, but probably none are as important as Situational Awareness.
I don't believe there is anything that has gotten more gangs decimated then a FC not knowing everything that is going on during the fight and missing that critical piece of information. Know who is on grid, what reinforcements are on their way, who has been killed and what ships you still have at your disposal(ie do you still have tacklers or heavy dps?), what ewar or logi the enemy has at their disposal. All of these things and more constitute SA. I am probably going to do a more dedicated post on this subject in the future, as there is a host of information out there on SA and ways to ease the burden.
The Willingness to Act
This is another one of those things that can make or break a FC. I probably wont go into depth on this subject as it is fairly self explanatory. Basically it comes down to finding a balance between timid and suicidal, also known as cautious and aggressive lol. It basically boils down to this: Do not be to timid and bore your fleet to death, but also do not throw them into fire and death. I am not afraid to suicide a fleet, but only if i know that we will win the isk war in the end. For example, I would not take a 9 person Hornet Fleet and throw them at a 20 man Nanoshag fleet with logi and T3/command support. I would however throw them at a 10 man Nanoshag hoping to take out 2-3 of their ships first...so long as a ton of canes and curses are not on the field lol. 2 vagas in my mind make up for 3-4 AFs, and it really pisses the opposition off :) .
Communication
By and far tied with SA on most important aspect to a fleet. If you cant communicate properly then you might as well afk the fleet on a gate in a busy pipe. Know when to make battlecomms and always enforce them. Know what pieces of information are immediately vital and what info you can tuck away til later. Make sure your fleet communicates as well. One of Agony's best FC's (imho), Glepp, said it best. If you are going to do an action say so. If not, also say so, so as not to provide confusion. Make sure Recon reports are kept short and to the point, it speeds up reaction time. If you ask for a fleet member to do an action make sure you get a confirmation, do not assume that they heard you and are doing it. REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT. Always repeat orders, as often as necessary. Always repeat orders, as often as necessary. Always repeat orders, as often as necessary. You know by doing so that the order has been heard by enough people to make it worthwhile to proceed. Broadcast actions. A lot of people forget that this is a valid form of communication. It clears comms up for more critical information verses having 10 people calling out for reps and trying to figure out who said what. It is also good for setting destinations for those too busy to read fleet chat. Anger on comms. We all get frustrated. The drake that we should have tackled and killed somehow gets away, that one person who doesn't listen and constantly needs prodded, lack of targets or even lack of sleep. It happens to all for all of us. The most important thing to remember is try not to yell. It is best to approach the situation with a calm, yet stern voice, not
Tactical Assessment
This is a tricky subject, one that I have issues with because of lack of experience. That is exactly how this is learned as well, experience. Every fight is different. Do you opt to kill the Falcon that is 80km away yet jamming everyone, or do you try and kill some of the dps that is slowly wheedling down your fleet. It all depends and I can't tell you what s best. AT least not yet. I will provide a reference link to a blog post by Azual on this subject that is far more in depth then I can provide atm.
Learn From Your Mistakes
Mistake. We all make them. The best FC in the game makes them. The only thing we can do is own up to the mistakes we make, and learn from them. Hold Verbal AARs after every gang. Make sure to go over anything that could be improved upon. Make thorough written AARs for the same reason, so other people in your corp or alliance can learn from your mistakes. Understand what is was that went wrong. The number one thing is do not get discouraged. Just know that shit happens, pick yourself up dust off, and move on!
That pretty much wraps up my first installment on FCing. Part two will cover a subject that I think is important(others might disagree). What ship should I fly when I FC? So stay tuned!
References for Tactical Assessment
Azual's personal Threat Assessments
Threat Assessment-What Makes a Good Primary
Article on FCing, written by Agony CEO, Christina Bamar
FCing-The Softer SIde
The basics to FCing, or Fleet Command for newer people to Eve, are fairly straight forward. You have your fleet composition and knowing its strengths and weaknesses, situational awareness, willingness to act, communication, tactical assessment ability, and the ability to learn from you mistakes.
Fleet Composition
One of the things I personally think about when running a fleet is "What ship types do I want to utilize?" Now nothing can be as fun as just grabbing a group of people, forming a gang, and saying bring what you want to bring. The thing to remember is knowing what they DO bring. More on that scenario in a bit. Different gang comps have different strengths and weaknesses, as do most ships. For example: Nanoshag gangs, which utilize speed and agility over pure firepower, are excellent kiters but not the best brawlers due to their more fragile nature. Not knowing this, and say taking a Nanoshag gang into a brawl with Battleships or Battlecruisers can be deadly. This not to say it is not doable, again I get ahead of myself lol.
So whether you are taking out a Themed gang(like say Toads and Lizards, which if you want to know what that is come on out to Syndicate and we will show ya :D) or just the flavor of everyones hour, knowing what you have and how it can perform against possible opposition is detrimental to increasing the odds of bringing everyone back safely with stories of the kills verses dying in a ball of flame and cursing incompetence.
Situational Awareness
All of these topics are very important pieces of the FC puzzle, but probably none are as important as Situational Awareness.
I don't believe there is anything that has gotten more gangs decimated then a FC not knowing everything that is going on during the fight and missing that critical piece of information. Know who is on grid, what reinforcements are on their way, who has been killed and what ships you still have at your disposal(ie do you still have tacklers or heavy dps?), what ewar or logi the enemy has at their disposal. All of these things and more constitute SA. I am probably going to do a more dedicated post on this subject in the future, as there is a host of information out there on SA and ways to ease the burden.
The Willingness to Act
This is another one of those things that can make or break a FC. I probably wont go into depth on this subject as it is fairly self explanatory. Basically it comes down to finding a balance between timid and suicidal, also known as cautious and aggressive lol. It basically boils down to this: Do not be to timid and bore your fleet to death, but also do not throw them into fire and death. I am not afraid to suicide a fleet, but only if i know that we will win the isk war in the end. For example, I would not take a 9 person Hornet Fleet and throw them at a 20 man Nanoshag fleet with logi and T3/command support. I would however throw them at a 10 man Nanoshag hoping to take out 2-3 of their ships first...so long as a ton of canes and curses are not on the field lol. 2 vagas in my mind make up for 3-4 AFs, and it really pisses the opposition off :) .
Communication
By and far tied with SA on most important aspect to a fleet. If you cant communicate properly then you might as well afk the fleet on a gate in a busy pipe. Know when to make battlecomms and always enforce them. Know what pieces of information are immediately vital and what info you can tuck away til later. Make sure your fleet communicates as well. One of Agony's best FC's (imho), Glepp, said it best. If you are going to do an action say so. If not, also say so, so as not to provide confusion. Make sure Recon reports are kept short and to the point, it speeds up reaction time. If you ask for a fleet member to do an action make sure you get a confirmation, do not assume that they heard you and are doing it. REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT. Always repeat orders, as often as necessary. Always repeat orders, as often as necessary. Always repeat orders, as often as necessary. You know by doing so that the order has been heard by enough people to make it worthwhile to proceed. Broadcast actions. A lot of people forget that this is a valid form of communication. It clears comms up for more critical information verses having 10 people calling out for reps and trying to figure out who said what. It is also good for setting destinations for those too busy to read fleet chat. Anger on comms. We all get frustrated. The drake that we should have tackled and killed somehow gets away, that one person who doesn't listen and constantly needs prodded, lack of targets or even lack of sleep. It happens to all for all of us. The most important thing to remember is try not to yell. It is best to approach the situation with a calm, yet stern voice, not
Tactical Assessment
This is a tricky subject, one that I have issues with because of lack of experience. That is exactly how this is learned as well, experience. Every fight is different. Do you opt to kill the Falcon that is 80km away yet jamming everyone, or do you try and kill some of the dps that is slowly wheedling down your fleet. It all depends and I can't tell you what s best. AT least not yet. I will provide a reference link to a blog post by Azual on this subject that is far more in depth then I can provide atm.
Learn From Your Mistakes
Mistake. We all make them. The best FC in the game makes them. The only thing we can do is own up to the mistakes we make, and learn from them. Hold Verbal AARs after every gang. Make sure to go over anything that could be improved upon. Make thorough written AARs for the same reason, so other people in your corp or alliance can learn from your mistakes. Understand what is was that went wrong. The number one thing is do not get discouraged. Just know that shit happens, pick yourself up dust off, and move on!
That pretty much wraps up my first installment on FCing. Part two will cover a subject that I think is important(others might disagree). What ship should I fly when I FC? So stay tuned!
References for Tactical Assessment
Azual's personal Threat Assessments
Threat Assessment-What Makes a Good Primary
Article on FCing, written by Agony CEO, Christina Bamar
FCing-The Softer SIde
Sunday, October 2, 2011
And now for a taste of things to come...
So here..we...go! Okay, so that is a semi cheesy intro to start a blog. Oh well going to run with it haha!
The plan I had when starting this is fairly simple. To be able to relate my own experiences in Eve and to also perhaps make my own mark in the world with my own guides and tips. Bear with my grammer as I have not written anything remotely serious in almost 2 decades. I will get better with time, just expect a sloppy start lol.
Here is a little history on myself. I have been playing Eve on and off since 2008, with a more hardcore surge earlier this year after my retirement from WoW. My original plan was to be an industrialist and miner, with an eventual branch into PvP. Little did I realize that branch wold come far sooner then I expected lol. Like a lot of new players I started out in E-UNI(Eve University for those rare souls who do not know). Played there for a few months, made some new friends, and ultimately started looking fr a 0.0 pvp corp after a few Ops here. In March of this year made the move to Syndax a newer corp formed of veteran players in the long standing X-Legio alliance. Had some fun in the Great Wildlands Coalition, but like in the past with other games I came just as it was all crumbling into fodder. After wa brief search of pvp corperations to try out i ultimately decided to apply to Agony Unleashed.
I have learned a ridiculous amount of stuff since starting my trial almost 3 months ago and will share some of my insights and ideas along with some of my personal(alothough not fight changing lol) tactics and ship ideas in testing phases. Hopefully I make Core here in next couple weeks and will be able to continue to provide some good reads. I plan on doing so anyway, however if I have to move on it will be awhile bfore another post.
Be n the lookout for new posts and updates. The idea is to make this weekly(biweekly at the most). Already working on my first major post..an indepth look at Droneboats! So stay turned and prepare to learn the very fine art of dying!
Rylia
The plan I had when starting this is fairly simple. To be able to relate my own experiences in Eve and to also perhaps make my own mark in the world with my own guides and tips. Bear with my grammer as I have not written anything remotely serious in almost 2 decades. I will get better with time, just expect a sloppy start lol.
Here is a little history on myself. I have been playing Eve on and off since 2008, with a more hardcore surge earlier this year after my retirement from WoW. My original plan was to be an industrialist and miner, with an eventual branch into PvP. Little did I realize that branch wold come far sooner then I expected lol. Like a lot of new players I started out in E-UNI(Eve University for those rare souls who do not know). Played there for a few months, made some new friends, and ultimately started looking fr a 0.0 pvp corp after a few Ops here. In March of this year made the move to Syndax a newer corp formed of veteran players in the long standing X-Legio alliance. Had some fun in the Great Wildlands Coalition, but like in the past with other games I came just as it was all crumbling into fodder. After wa brief search of pvp corperations to try out i ultimately decided to apply to Agony Unleashed.
I have learned a ridiculous amount of stuff since starting my trial almost 3 months ago and will share some of my insights and ideas along with some of my personal(alothough not fight changing lol) tactics and ship ideas in testing phases. Hopefully I make Core here in next couple weeks and will be able to continue to provide some good reads. I plan on doing so anyway, however if I have to move on it will be awhile bfore another post.
Be n the lookout for new posts and updates. The idea is to make this weekly(biweekly at the most). Already working on my first major post..an indepth look at Droneboats! So stay turned and prepare to learn the very fine art of dying!
Rylia
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