Difference between revisions of "Fleet Navigation in 0.0"

Latest revision as of 17:32, 5 March 2016

Introduction

When taking part in an Agony course you will be in a fleet of 50 or more frigates along with Agony skirmishers and scouting pilots. The roaming section of the course can cover a fairly large area. The fleet will progress through low sec space into multiple nullsec regions.

The fleet will be most effective if it is able to move quickly and smoothly as directed by your FC, changing direction without delays when required. This Wiki article will go through some of the basic things to keep in mind when moving together as a large Hydra fleet.

Prior to the start of the roam

Setting Destination

When the FC chooses a route he or she will usually set a destination to a particular system. The destination will be typed and linked into fleet chat, as well as broadcasted in your Fleet window.

Right click on the system name in fleet chat or the "Travel to" broadcast shown at the bottom of your Fleet window then select "Set Destination." Once you have set destination you can see the number of systems and the route your fleet is currently at the upper-right corner of your client's screen. You will also see the next stargate en route highlighted yellow on your overview (we often refer to the yellow stargates as "following the yellow brick road").

Watch List

A Watch List allows you to quickly warp to a member of your gang. In a fleet of 60-70 ships if a member whose name starts with an 'S' relays to the gang that he or she has a target tackled, you will have to scroll the fleet window all the way down to letter 'S' before you can right click on that member's name. Watch list allows you to have that member's name always visible such that you're always ready to warp to him or her.

Before the 0.0 roam begins you will be instructed to add certain pilots to your watch list. Their names will either be typed into fleet chat, linked in fleet chat, or they will be asked to X-up. To add somebody to your watch list simply right click on their name in fleet window then select "fleet" option and then "add to watch list". You can also simply click-and-drag them from chat (or the Fleet window) into your Watch List window, once the Watch list window is open. Make sure you add the fleet commander to your watch list as well.

A watch list can only hold 15 pilots. If there are more support members than 15, you can omit those players whose names start with the beginning letters of the alphabet and instead proceed to warp to them through the fleet widow (since they will be at the top).

In the picture below I am adding Neo to my watch list and have already added Aether. Now I can quickly select "warp to member" by right-clicking on Aether's name on my watch list. "Warp to member" command will warp you at zero, but you can also pick to warp to member at another distance, which for example might be needed if that player is in a covops ship and should not get decloaked.

Note that this image is outdated, but the current Eve client contains the same functionality displayed in this image, even though it looks somewhat different now.

During The 0.0 Roam

Listening to FC's Orders

The fleet commander will give specific orders on what actions he or she wants the fleet members to take. During the roam, you should not be activating gates and initiating warp anywhere without hearing FC's instructions to do so first. When FC wants you to activate the gate and come into the next system you will typically hear a "Jump, Jump!" command. Do not jump without hearing this order first!

The only time you should warp around independently is when you have gotten lost or lost your ship and are trying to reconnect with the fleet, when you are "bouncing" out of a battle to save your ship, or when you are leaving the fleet.

"Friendly In/Out"

Agony scouts and Alumni who volunteer to fly in support of the main fleet are permitted to move around independently. When activating a gate on which the fleet will be sitting, they will say "friendly out" or "friendly in" to indicate a friendly activation. This way the rest of the fleet knows that it is friendlies coming through the gate. If you saw a gate activate but did not hear "Jump, Jump!" command from your FC, do not assume that you need to active the gate also and go to the next system (don't be a lemming!)

If you have to activate a gate on which the fleet is sitting, or if you accidentally activate the gate, inform others about it in voice by saying: "friendly out" or "friendly in". This way the fleet knows that activation is friendly and doesn't proceed to throw a bubble on the gate and sit on it waiting for a neutral to show up, which will delay the fleet's movements to find the actual targets. By announcing friendly activations, you also help reduce or avoid the possibility that others will follow you thinking they missed an order.

NEVER say "jump" in TeamSpeak (Voice). This word (often called "the J word") is reserved for FC use only. NOBODY but the FC should ever say the J word. Instead, use words like "hop," "system," "going through," or anything OTHER than "jump."

Fleet Warping

The fleet commander is able to warp the entire fleet to a particular celestial object within a system using the "warp fleet" option shown in the picture below. During the 0.0 roam this will be the main method for moving the fleet. Most of the time, prior to warping the fleet, the FC will give orders to align to the destination first before warping the fleet. Sometimes he or she will simply "cold warp" the fleet without prior alignment. What the FC chooses to do will depend on whether the fleet has to move fast or can take its time to move more cohesively. It also depends on the ship composition of the fleet. In PVP-BASIC everyone will be in frigates that align and warp quickly and at approximately the same time, such that fleet cohesiveness will not suffer much from cold warping.

Aligned Warps

Before entering warp your ship must be within 5 degrees of your destination and at 75% of your ship's maximum velocity. The goal of alignment is for all ships to achieve this, so that when the FC warps the fleet all ships will warp together and instantaneously.

You can align to a destination by either selecting the item from your overview, right clicking and selecting align or by clicking on "Align To" button in the Selected Item window. Often you will be aligning to the next gate on your route in yellow, but sometimes you will be changing direction to travel to a target of opportunity so do listen carefully to the instructions of the FC.

Cold Warping

If your FC does not give the order to align and instead cold warps the fleet, ships will be entering the warp at slightly different times depending on how fast they can align and accelerate to 75% of their max speed. You will see that your fleet mates warp off in smaller groups based on their ships and skills.

Not only will the ships enter warp at slightly different times, but they also have the potential of warping through the system at different rates and arriving at the destination at slightly different times. All T1 frigates warp at the speed of 6 AU/sec, interdictors warp at 9 AU/sec, and interceptors warp at 13 AU/sec. When a fleet of ships warp together (i.e. in the same warp bubble, such as when performing an aligned fleet warp) all ships in the group will warp at the LOWEST warp speed of a member of a fleet. A group of interceptors will all warp together at speed of 13 AU/sec; a group of T1 frigates and interceptors will warp at 6 AU/sec because the slowest ship in the fleet is the T1 frigates.

Cold warping is used when the fleet has to move quickly. In such situations, it becomes easy to miss the fleet warp that the FC issued, especially if you didn't make haste coming through the gate from previous system. To not get lost listen carefully to the instructions of the FC as to where the fleet is proceeding and warp there independently if you did not catch the fleet warp. It is also generally only used with fleets of relatively agile ships (if you cold warped a mixed fleet with battleships in it, all the other ships would leave the scene long before the heavies would, leaving your big guns very exposed).

Default Orders

To make things easier for you, as a new fleet member, Agony fleets fly under a number of default orders. Unless otherwise ordered by the FC, always follow these default orders:

• When landing on a gate, the default order is to 'Hold on Gate', which means do not jump through the gate. Sit on the gate and orbit it at 500m with your afterburner OFF. Your fleet commander will not tell you to do this over voice every time; you will just have to remember to do it automatically whenever you are waiting near a gate. The FC has to receive intel from the next system and make sure that all of the fleet or at least most of it has arrived at the gate before ordering everyone to activate the gate and move to the next system. When orbiting the gate you should take care to keep within its 2,500 meter activation range.

• Once you move through a stargate, your default order is to 'hold cloak.' This means go through the gate, then when the next system loads, DO NOTHING. Every time you travel through a stargate, you are automatically cloaked and invincible for 60 seconds. We call this a "gate cloak." Once the whole fleet is through the gate and your FC has assessed the situation, you will be given a new order (usually to align, unless there are targets present). If your gate cloak runs out and you still have not received any orders, you should 'power reapproach' the gate (activate your afterburner and approach the gate) then orbit it at 500m until the FC orders otherwise. Do NOT do this while you are under gate cloak unless ordered otherwise.

Stealth Bombers and Bombs

Stealth bomber pilots love to follow our fleets and making bombing runs at us when our fleet is holding still. This happens on almost every 0.0 PVP-BASIC roam. You need to make sure that you are prepared and aware of the threat that bombs present to small ships.

Stealth bombers are T2 frigate-sized ships capable of warping around under cloak, launching bombs and torpedoes. While torpedoes are of little consequence to other small ships, bombs are definitely something frigate and destroyer-hull pilots should be concerned about. Bombs are a type of weapon that has the characteristics of both smartbombs and missiles (consider them to be flying mega-smartbombs). They have a flight time of 10 seconds during which time they will cover a distance of 30km from the point that they were launched. After this time they explode, doing damage to everything within a 15km radius of the explosion center. The stealth bomber pilot does not have to be on grid for the bomb to explode; typically they will always attempt to cloak up and warp away right after launching their bomb.

The only thing that reduces the damage done by a bomb is the signature radius of a ship.

To avoid losing your ship to a bomb do the following:

1. Enable bombs in your overview. This can be done under "Charge" section. Otherwise you won't see them!

1. Fit a damage control on your ship. Don't forget to activate it when fleet is in warp or orbiting a gate. Most frigates and destroyers will survive 2 bombing attempts with a damage control on (Griffins are an exception) whereas without a DCU they won't survive a second bomb.
2. If there is just one bomber throwing a bomb, start locking it and destroy it. If a stealth bomber is blown up before its bomb explodes, the bomb WILL NOT explode. NOTE: Some FCs will assign a specific group of pilots to be on "bomber duty" - these pilots will be responsible for blowing up bombers on grid with our fleet. When the FC does this, DO NOT agress any bombers unless the FC specifically orders you to do so.
3. You can move to any point greater than 45km away from the stealth bomber.
4. If you are under gate cloak, STAY CLOAKED. Bombs cannot touch you while you are under gate cloak.
5. If you are not under gate cloak but sitting on the gate, go through the gate.
6. If you see three or more bombs flying your way, warp away or go through the gate! Once you escape immediately try to rejoin fleet.

Bombs will usually instantly kill frigate and destroyer-sized ships that are running a microwarpdrive. This is because a microwarpdrive will boost a small ship's signature radius 6x making it about the size of a battlecruiser, resulting in much higher damage received. A single bomb will usually not kill one frigate or destroyer, but it can still do significant damage. If multiple bombers attack at once, you are free to warp out or move through the gate in order to save your ship, unless given order by the FC to do otherwise.

Broadcasting For Repairs

Very often after being hit by a bomb or after a fight your ship will have armor (or even hull) damage. If you have taken damage and cannot repair yourself (such as when we are in sovereign space), use the Broadcast window to broadcast for repairs. With broadcasts, other members of the fleet who have brought remote armor repairers and armor maintenance drones will be able to see you and repair you. To broadcast for repairs utilize the buttons located at the bottom of the Broadcast window, as is shown on the picture below. Do not ask for repairs over voice, and do not broadcast for repairs in the middle of a fight. Generally, repairs will be done after a fight, not during. If you are taking damage during a fight, it is best to get yourself to safety, and broadcast for repairs once the fleet is at a safespot.

Disconnecting

The fleet will not wait for members who have disconnected from the game (although we will try to slow down a bit if it is possible). It will be up to the pilot who has dropped out of the fleet to catch up in such a situation.

If you have lost connection, indicate so in voice to the rest of the fleet, as briefly as possible. Other students will suddenly see you appear on their overview as a neutral and may occasionally proceed to shoot your ship. To avoid incidents like this, report in voice "<your name> in <frig type> has disconnected" or "<your ship type> is friendly". If you dropped from voice too, get back on it as soon as possible to hear what the fleet is doing and where it is going. Then log back into the game and x-up for a fleet re-invite in the Agony Public chat channel.

After the Roam

You may leave the fleet whenever it is time for you to go. Sometimes the FC will indicate when the fleet is passing near low or high sec for members of the fleet to make a safer trip back.

Once you have sat through the lecture, you have graduated the class and can come to any future classes of the same type as you attended free of charge, and are more than welcome to join future class roams as an Alumni. This means that you can fly on as many roams with Agony classes as you wish as well as re-attend the lecture. For more information about this please read the following article: Alumni.

Maps

It is a good idea to have maps of the regions you're traveling through open during the 0.0 roam. You can then see for yourself how the fleet is moving through the territory. This is particularly interesting to an aspiring gang leader or FC and useful in case you have to leave the fleet soon or if you get lost or disconnected and have to catch up. You can print the maps out or alternatively have them open on your browser in the background.

Links to EVE maps: Ombey's 2D Maps and Dotlan EveMaps. Dotlan provides a "radar tracking" service that you can learn about here: Dotlan Radar Tracking

Summary of This Article

• Make sure to add skirmishers, scouts and the fleet commander to your watch list.
• Watch the Broadcast window for new destination broadcasts.
• Do not go through gates without hearing your FC say "jump jump" first.
• Do not independently warp anywhere without an order from FC.
• Do not independently engage anything without an order from FC.
• Never say "jump" - only the FC can use this word!
• Use Broadcasts to request armor repair.
• Enable bombs on your overview.
• The default order when holding on a gate is to orbit it at 500m.
• The default order when moving through a gate is to hold cloak.
• If you have accidentally activated a gate which is on grid with the fleet, say "friendly out" in voice.

That's it. Good luck! And as the saying goes in Amarr: may you never lack targets for as long as you live and your life be as long as that of the Emperor.