Difference between revisions of "Skirmishing"

Revision as of 15:57, 19 January 2009

Scanning & Skirmishing Scout 101 By Killa Bee ©2007 Edited by Admiral Phobos / Secluse

Introduction

This document covers the basics of scanning, and will guide you into becoming an effective Skirmishing Scout.

A Skirmishing Scout if the FC's extra set of eyes in the next system. He should be fast with the scanner, finding and warping to a target in 30 to 45 seconds.

The only way to do this, is to practice, practice, and practice. It is the only way of becoming fast, effective, and growing into the role so it becomes second nature.

A Skirmishing Scout thinks on his own and anticipates the FC (this is something that grows over time when flying regularly with the FC). The Skirmisher Scout does NOT wait for the FC's commands before making the next move, jumping into next system or scanning out a possible target. While autonomous, the FC has the final say, he is the BOSS and may decide otherwise.

The skirmishing Scout role is often underestimated. A gang with an outstanding FC and XO is merely a patrolling gang if they have a Scout that isn't able to scan out a target and lock it down.

Scanning and your Overview

Refer to the overview document: Overview Setup, if you require some knowledge of setting your overview. For the purposes of scouting, the key is to be able to get into a system and effectively scout through the system for a target as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Having the right overview is critical to avoid cluttering the information. Each scout will have their preferences, however a good start for a comprehensive "scouting" overview tab is to include:

• All ships
• Planets
• Asteroid Belts
• Towers (for POS)
• Stations
• Stargates
• Wrecks
• Mobile Warp Disruptors

Basics of the Ship Scanner

The scanner can be accessed through Ctrl+F11. A quick summary of using the scanner:

• Use the "Directional Scan" tab
• Use range as required (input 999999999999+ to set to max, which is a little over 14AU)
• Use the Angle to determine where the ship is scanning
• The "Use Active Overview Settings" checkbox, if set, will filter the results by your overview settings above. If unchecked, it will return all objects
• The Directional Scanner's angle is based on your camera facing, centered on the exact middle of your screen (on your ship). To best take advantage of this, you're going to want to zoom out a bit and click on your ship which will provide a white box, that is *usually* the exact center of scan, there are a few bugged models.

Basics of Scanning

Upon entering a system take a peek at local. If local is empty or friendly, there is not much point in scanning ships down. If you see some neuts and you are scouting, peek at the grid, and then at your overview, and assess how best to tackle scanning the system. Remember, scouting is often about speed, so it's about scanning as much of the system as possible within a reasonable amount of time.

Step 1: Situation Assessment

Take a look at your overview, and if required F11, to get a quick overview of the system. For example, I am scouting in Hemin and have just jumped through the Jorund gate, there are several neuts in local. Grid is empty (not camps). A quick peek of my overview shows the following:

• This tells me that a scan will provide feedback up to and including Planet VI.
• Planet VII and beyond is beyond 14AU, the maximum of my ship scanner
• This leaves a few Asteriod Belts not included, and the RMOC gate. I would need to warp to a nearby planet if I wanted to scout this out
• Hit 'Scan'

Step 2: Initial Scan

After hitting the scan button, my directional scanner comes back with the following:

• Immediately I see an Apoc on scan, with wrecks.
• However, the wrecks on scan are not rats (Sansha rats in Curse), they are mission rats, so it appears it's a missioner and without a probe, not much I can do

Step 3: Next Steps

Scanning down a ship boils down to one simple concept, you are attempting to get the ship contact returned with only one other celestial. If you are successful, the ship is more than likely at the celestial returned, however there is always a chance he's in open space (which can improved by have very specific filters, however this is slower). There are three ways of filtering down the results:

• Setting range (not my preference)
• Setting angle
• Changing your overview settings (to filter out wrecks)

My recommendation is to change the angle. There are some important things to understand about using the angle:

• A 360 degree scan scans as a bubble around your ship
• All other scans scan as a cone. Since EVE is 3D, if you are on a 60 degree scan, you need to be aware of the vertical plane. Most EVE systems are on a flat plane, however there are a few exceptions to the rule, usually stargates.

Now, the angle of the scan is based upon which way your camera is facing, not where your ship is facing. If you use F11, you can see how your screens FOV and the Ship Scanner correlates:

• The ship scanner angle has been set to 90 degrees
• The white cone on the F11 panel shows my screen POV
• The green cone on the F11 panel shows what my scanner POV
• If I were to rescan with a reduced angle, the results would only include those objects within my cone

Step 4: Wrapping up

Think of scanning as cutting up a pizza. On the pizza is a single anchovy, and we are at the exact center of the pizza. The initial 360 scan shows that we have a hit on the anchovy. My next step is to usually immediately drop to a 90 degree scan and perform 4 scans (1 north, 1 west, 1 south, 1 east), i.e. I have divided the pizza into 4 slices. If the anchovy shows on the southern slice, I reassess what other celestials are returned.

If there is only a single celestial on scan, I have probably found my target. If it returns a single planet and 10 asteriods, I will warp to the planet so I can better scan the asteriods. It's a simple process of elimination, and every pilot has their own preferences. The key is to be as quick as possible, and it comes best with practice.

Summary of Key Scanning Keys:

• F11: This will open the System Overview, focus only on the bottom most box the System Display
• CTRL+F11: Opens up the Ship Scanner
• ALT: Press and hold this key, it will give you a sort of Cross Hair square in the middle of your ship which represents the scanning centre of you ship (i.e. helps you establish where the center of scanning cone is). It will also show the Moons in space.

Skirmishing

Finding the target is only step 1, the next step is to get the tackle and to get your gang mates to you. Some key concepts to considering about each of these is:

Tackle

With the introduction of Quantum Rise, there are a few new things to consider, namely that:

• Warp Scrams now deactivate MWD's
• Webs have been reduced, making a ship burning back to the gate difficult to hold with a single web
• Agility has been increased, making ships warp a lot quicker. Getting a lock and point on a target is key

Obviously the above are important dependent on scenario, if you catch a target in a belt a point is sufficient. If you are attempting to tackle on a gate, disruptors are important to get the point on to prevent the cold warp, but a scram and web is key to prevent burning back to the gate. Think about fits, think about flying with a gang mate, bubbles have become more important.

Communication

Communicate to your FC as clearly and concisely as possible. There are several threads about this, however spend an extra few seconds to consolidate that data you wish to communicate. If there are 50 ships, spamming vent with each and every ship type when you are in a 5 man frig gang is not necessary, a summarized "50 man HAC / battleship gang" is sufficient. The FC has a lot of intel to process, help him by being as succinct as possible.

Target Assessment

Someone is hopefully assigned with target calling duties, and this is more of an art than a science. However, scouts and skirmishers also have to perform a risk assessment to help feed the FC with key data. In summarizing your data, help your FC out by calling out key tactical targets that could be key to his decisions, for example:

• If there are HICs, Dictors or mobile warp disruptors on scan
• Key recons (Curses, Rapiers, Arazu's, Falcons, etc.)
• Other key strategic targets (high value or high risk, such as capitals, T2 battleships, etc.)

To summarize, you are trying to summarize the information as much as possible, while still calling out strategic targets to help the FC calculate the risk / reward statement. Every FC will be different so styles may vary, but from my perspective a scout is only as good as their ability to communicate what they see, and a skirmisher is only as good as their ability to tackle. Work on developing a communication style and you will only become a better skirmisher.

Scout Scanning vs. Probe Scanning:

Pros

- can be a lot faster then using scan probes, which has a fixed time based on the skills you have - players can't see that you are scanning them out, a scan probe can been seen and they usually either safe spot, bounce between spots or cloak - everyone can do it where scan probes need skills and takes up a high slot

Cons

- you can't find players when they are in a safe spot while a scan probe could - less accurate, you can't warp in a 0 or 10km

Skirmishing & Scouting

The Scouts main objectives are to find targets and keep the gang out of harms way.

Like i have said before the Scouts is the extra set of eyes of the FC and you need to anticipate his needs. Stay 1 system ahead, usually you jump into the next system when the jump command is given to the main force, report the FC into what system you are going.

Skirmishing Scout vs. CovOps:

Pros

- a Scout goes in to tackle the target himself, where a CovOps has to align the target so that it can be ganked by warping to the CovOps at a surten distance ... target has time to warp off to a safe when local spikes - with good scanning skills you can pin down a target fast, where the CovOps looses time to align properly

Cons

- you are visible on scan where a CovOps can move around unseen

When entering a system give a short report of local and if there are multiple players check their Corp / Alliance name (<5 check all, >5 check a few randomly), right click their avatars in local and select 'Show Info'. Do this immediately on entering a new system, your scanner won't work for a few seconds due to loading lag so use this time effectively but don't spend too much time on it since time is crucial for scanning out a target.

Scanning part starts which is explained in previous section.

Report and action examples

Reporting should be short but should also contain as much useful info as possible.

"Scout moving into LTS, friendly out" Report to make the gang aware that intel on next system is coming = hold comm. chatter

"Scout, LTS is clear moving to next gate" Obvious, the gang will move to the gate of that system and jump

"Scout, LTS has 2 in local" (while saying that open their 'Show Info'), "1 NPC and 1 Tri" (you scan 360) "nothing on scan" When there are more in local then just a few you change the order and priority of things and might say something like this: "Scout, LTS has 7 in local" (you scan 360) "Vaga and Domi on scan, checking Corp / Alliance" Now you do a randomly check of a few players by looking at their 'Show Info' and report that again: "Scout, local has 6 Tri and 1 unknown"

When a system has multiple players in local your priority is getting the gang in and through that system safely, go to a tactical of the gate (or warp to a planet and power away) and keep scanning, report changes. When the gang jumps in you go to the next gate and keep scanning while you warp off, report changes. At the tactical (or Planet) of the next gate you report if it is clear or camped. Depending on what is on the gate (no bubble or Dictor) you go to and through the gate and report it by saying: "Scout moving into LTS, friendly out" Once you and the gang are out of all imminent danger and have moved a few systems you can get back to the finding targets.

"Scout, Raven on 5 degrees toward belt moving in" Yay you found target, this report is to get the gang ready for action and we now have battlecomms

"Scout, point on target warp to Piwata Bee .... warp to Piwata Bee" YARR!! oke we got ourselves a victim, you are orbiting between 17 and 20 Km (if you have a 24km point) and started shooting (in my case Javelin Rockets for distance). Gang is informed you have a point on him and to whom they need to warp to, the FC orders the gang to jump and either warps the gang or let them warp on their own towards you. When the gang arrives you start orbiting closer to be able to engage you shorter range weapons, unless you have Arty's ofcourse.

Behavior examples

When entering a system where the clusters and gates are far away you warp towards a central Planet, in-flight you keep spamming the scan button and if a ship shows up while the clusters and gates are still out of scan range it usually means that this ship is warping towards the gate you just left. Report this immediately and make sure the gang gets ready to engage. It could also be a gang is warping in which forms a threat for the gang so always report numbers and composition of ships in that gang.

When the Agony gang is in combat go back to the gate where the gang is and power a few hundred Km out but stay on grid and keep an eye on the scanner and gate to make sure there is nothing coming to ambush them. NEVER EVER jump back into the system the gang is fighting in (unless you are in a dead end system which is empty), the scout doesn't bring that not much more DPS and having eyes in another system can be crucial ! I have had large forces move to the gate and go through in an effort to help the guy that was under Agony attack. By reporting that and telling them to disengage and warp off everyone stayed out of harms way.

When jumping into a gate camp take your time to zoom out and report what ships there are, if there is a bubble report type and its size. Next look at the best way to power out of the bubble but if there are Battleships they might NOS* you before you are able to warp off or are out of their range, in that case powering back to the gate might be your best option.

Ask the FC for a new destination if you are 2 to 3 jumps out of your final destination, this gives the FC plenty of time to set a new one.

• NOS is a joke right now so no danger at all, a NEUT on the other hand is still a danger !

Scout Examples

Example 1

Ok I jump into a new System, local has 2 including myself so i start with my report by saying:

• "Scout/Recon, my name in LTS. 3 in local, 2 neuts."
• While saying that you scan 360 and get a hit on a Raven. "Nothing on grid, Raven on scan"
• By the time I have said this I have hit with my other hand the F11 key to open the System Overview and focus on the bottom most box, the System Display. It will show you where the Planets, Belts and Gates are located, USE this tool .... it will save time when you get used to it.
• After looking on the System Display, in combination with the Gate distances shown on your overview, you have seen that all Planets, Belts and Gates are way out of scan range except 3 Belts and a Planet right next to the Gate.
• A quick look around your ship showed you that the Belts are nicely spaced out so you immediately drop to a 15 degree scan angle, press and hold the ALT key so that a sort of Cross Hair square shows up in the middle of your ship, align this square close to the Triangle which represents a Belt and scan again.
• Nothing shows up on the 1st scan, proceed and scan the next Belt .... BINGO Raven, right click this Belt and select "Warp to 0", report back to the FC by saying:
• "Scout/Recon, my name in LTS, Raven on 15 degrees toward belt moving in"
• (Personally use 5 degrees because i have done it so many times i can get the scan square on the Belt, Moon etc fast and pretty accurate)

Now this was a lucky situation that he was close to a Gate with just a few Belts near it, but i have had this luck and locked the target within matter of seconds from entering a system.

Example 2

Ok again I jump into a new System, local has 2 including myself so i start with my report by saying;

• While saying that open you scan 360 and get a hit on a Raven. "Nothing on grid, nothing on scan, scouting planets / belts
• Inspect your overview and F11, find which planets and belts are out of initial scan range, and if there is a big clump, select a planet and warp to it at between 50 and 100km, in flight keep scanning at 180 degrees towards the cluster you are going to.
• Sometimes when you fly towards a cluster you see Planets, Belts and Gates pass you left and right. What you should do is scan both sides repeatedly on 90 (or 180 for ease) degrees by looking to the left or right of your ships, somewhere in between the front side of your ship and your wing so to speak (45 degrees |/ where you wing is at 90 degrees |_).
• If one of the sides gives you a target try to keep a focus on that point and move your view accordingly while you fly by, keep scanning and adjust view if needed. Once out of warp try to pin point him out as described before.
• Drop to a 15 degree scan angle, press and hold the ALT key so that a sort of Cross Hair square shows up in the middle of your ship, align this square close to the Triangle which represents a Belt and scan again.
• Nothing shows up on the 1st scan, proceed and scan the next Belt .... BINGO Raven, right click this Belt and select "Warp to 0", report back to the FC by saying: "Scout, Raven on 15 degrees toward belt moving in"

Every system is different from another, comming in a same System from another Gate and it could well be that scanning from that point is a lot harder since the alignments are different.

Main thing is keep it simple and efficient, start scanning at a higher number of degrees and when you gain experience you will notice that you go down fast, i usually start off at 360, then 90, 30 or 15 and end up at 5 or sometime not even bother with 5 degrees. It all depends on the system layout and the space in between Belts etc etc.

Practice practice and practice some more.

Happy hunting, Killa Bee