Fleet Navigation in 0.0

Original text by Penork Nif, Aether.
Copyright Agony Unleashed

Introduction

When taking part in an Agony course you will be in a fleet of 50 or more frigates with additional agony skirmishers and recon pilots. The roaming section of the course can cover a fairly large area. The fleet will progress through low sec space, where your flight commander might find targets of opportunity, as well as through multiple 0.0 regions.

The fleet will be most effective if it is able to move smoothly as directed by your FC and change direction without delays where required. This Wiki article will go through some of the basic things to keep in mind when moving together with Agony 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 at the top of the Broadcast window.

Right click on the system name in fleet chat or the yellow "Travel to" option and select "Set Destination" as shown on the picture below. Once you have set destination you can see the number of jumps and the route your fleet is currently on by opening the map. You will also see the next stargate en route highlighted in yellow on your overview.

Watch List

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 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". Make sure to add the fleet commander to your watch list as well.

Watch list can only hold 10 members. If there are more support members than 10, 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 anyhow).

Another use for watch list is that if you have been to a station or a safe spot to repair and need to return to fleet or just catch up your position in system, you can open your watch list select your FC, right click and select warp to member.

In the picture below I am adding Neo to my watch list and have already added in Aether. Now I can quickly select "warp to member" by r-clicking on Aether's name on my watch list. "Warp to member" command will warp you to 0 meters. However 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.

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 hear a characteristic "jump, jump!" command. Do not jump without hearing this order first!

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, or when you are leaving the fleet.

"Friendly Out/In"

Agony scouts and alumi 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.

If you have to activate a gate on which your fleet is sitting inform others about it on Ventrilo by saying loudly and clearly: "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 fleet's movements to find the actual targets.

Also please refrain from saying "jump" on Ventrilo. This word is reserved for FC use only when directing the fleet to activate gate; other members of the fleet should use other words and phrases to describe their movements.

Fleet Warping

The fleet commander is able to warp the entire fleet to a particular celestial object or bookmark within system using the "warp fleet" option shown on the picture below. During the 0.0 roam this will be the main method for moving the fleet. Sometimes, prior to warping the fleet the FC will give orders to align to the destination and sometimes he or she will simply cold warp the fleet without prior alignment. What 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 within 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 75% of your ship's maximum velocity. The goal of alignment is for all ships to achieve this, such that when FC warps the fleet all ships will warp together and instantaneously.

You can align to destination by either selecting the item from your overview, right clicking and selecting align or by clicking on "Align To" button in 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 take 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 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 warp) all ships in the group will warp at the lowest 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. If the FC cold warps the fleet, the interceptors will arrive at the destination long before the other ships. This is because not only do the more agile ships generally enter warp quicker, but since the fleet is not warping as a group every ship will travel at it's own warp velocity.

Cold warping is used when the fleet has to move quickly. In such situations, it becomes easy to miss the fleet warp that FC issues, especially if you didn't make haste coming through the gate from previous system. To not get lost listen carefully to instructions of 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).

Gate Protocols

To make things easier for the FC, we have default orders for both arriving at a gate, and entering a new system. If your are in either of these situations and no order has been given yet, you should follow the default order.

When arriving at a gate, the default order is to 'hold on gate', which means you do not jump through, and to orbit the gate at 500m. Your fleet commander will not tell you to do this over Vent every time; you will just have to remember to do it automatically whenever you are halting 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 to jump.

When orbiting the gate you should take care to keep within its 2,500 meter activation perimeter (gate activation range). Turn your afterburner on only if your can keep your ship within this distance. In fact, it is preferable to orbit the gate with your afterburner on, because in case the fleet gets bombed by a stealth bomber you will take less damage from it than you would if you did not have it running.

Sometimes the FC will order you to "jump on contact". This will indicate that the fleet is moving quickly, to catch a target for example, and you are to activate the gate as soon as you arrive on it.

Once you come through a gate, your default order is to 'hold cloak', which means you should do nothing until you hear further orders - this means that your ship will remain cloaked. The gate cloak will last for 30 seconds. Once the whole fleet is through the gate and your FC has assessed the situation, they will give you 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, or if your FC orders you to 'power reapproach' the gate, you should return as fast as possible to the gate and as before, orbit it at 500 meters.

If you do accidentally move through a gate or are catching up to the fleet it is important that you announce this on ventrilo by saying "friendly out" or "friendly in". In fact in general, if you make a mistake such as this it is much better to achnowledge it and let your FC know what has occurred, rather than just keeping quiet and hoping nobody will notice - the latter can often get you, or worse your gang, killed.

Stealth Bombers and Bombs

Enterprising 0.0 stealth bomber pilots will very soon take note of a passing frigate fleet and will start trailing it and making bombing passes when fleet is holding on a gate. This happens during almost every 0.0 PVP-BASIC roam.

Stealth bombers are frigate-sized ships capable of warping around under cloak and launching torpedoes as well as bombs. While torpedoes are of little consequence to other small ships, bombs are definitely something frigate-hull pilots should be conscious of. Bombs are a weapon type that has characteristics of both smartbombs and missiles. The stealth bomber does not have to be on grid for bomb to go off and will always attempt to warp away right after launching one. Bombs have a flight time of 15 seconds during which time they cover 30km from the point that they were launched. After which they explode doing damage to everything within 15km radius of the explosion. Damage from bombs is reduced by having a small signature radius.

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

1. First make sure you have bombs enabled on your overview under "Charge" section. Otherwise you won't see them!
2. Once you see the bomb icon pictured below, do not active a microwarpdrive. Pick up speed and try to move out of its range.
3. Alternatively, start approaching and locking the stealth bomber. If it is not aligned very well you might as well catch it.

Bombs will often 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 5x making it be almost the size of a battlecruiser so it will receive a much higher damage payload. Otherwise, a single bomb will usually not kill a single frigate, but it can still do significant damage. Multiple bombers can attack at once at which point you are free to warp out in order to save your ship unless given order by FC to engage them.

Broadcasting For Repairs

Very often after being hit by a bomb you will find yourself in armor or even hull. If you have taken damage and cannot repair yourself, use the Broadcast window to broadcast for repairs. With broadcasts, other members of the fleet who have brought remote armor repairers and maintenance bot drones will be able to see you requesting help. 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 Ventrilo. 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. It will be up to the pilot who has been dropped out of the fleet to catch up in such a situation.

If you have lost connection, indicate so on Ventrilo 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 on Ventrilo "<your name> has disconnected". If you dropped from Ventrilo 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 AU_PVP_University channel.

After the Roam

You may leave the fleet freely whenever you find that it is time for you to go. Sometimes the FC will indicate when the fleet is passing near empire for members of the fleet to make a safer trip back. You can use these instances to make your way back.

Once you have sat through the lecture, you have graduated the class and can come to any subsequent classes of the same type as you attended free of charge. 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 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, which would be 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.

Summary of This Article

• Make sure to add fleet scouts and 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.
• Never say "jump" on Vent - only FC can use this word.
• Use Broadcasts to request remote repairs.
• Enable bombs on your overview. When you see them do not activate a mwd. You may pick up speed on afterburner to move out of their range.
• The default order when holding on a gate is to orbit it at 500-1000 meters, making sure you keep within 2,500 meter activation perimeter.
• After activating gate, hold cloak until you hear further orders on the other side. If no orders have been given and your cloak has dropped, re-approach gate and start orbiting it at 500-1000 meters.
• If you have accidentally activated a gate which is on grid with the fleet, say "friendly out" on Vent. Alternatively listen to others saying "friendly out" to determine whether the gate activation you just saw is friendly or if it is a target that just came into system and needs to be shot at.
• If you have disconnected say so on Vent. Indicate what ship people should not be shooting at (i.e. "<your name> has disconnected, please do not shoot at the Kestrel").
• Optional: print out maps to follow fleet movements.

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.