Difference between revisions of "Voice Communications in PvP"

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(Going through a gate)
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=== Going through a gate ===
 
=== Going through a gate ===
  
When you approach a gate, the Gang Leader will give you your orders. If he's busy and doesn't give orders, the default instruction is to orbit at 500m (1000m if previously directed). If you don't hear any orders, go with the default. If you think you missed or aren't sure you heard the order, ask "orders on the gate?" There were a few standard orders used in the class but they can also be mix and match depending on the Gang Leader.
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When you approach a gate, the Fleet Commander will give you your orders. If he's busy and doesn't give orders, the default instruction is to '''Hold on Gate''', meaning you should orbit at 500m/1000m (i.e. well within jump range, which is 2500m). If you don't hear any orders, go with the default. If you think you missed or aren't sure you heard the order, ask "orders on the gate?". Other orders your FC is likely to use are:
  
 
'''Jump on contact''' - go through the gate as soon as you are out of warp<br>
 
'''Jump on contact''' - go through the gate as soon as you are out of warp<br>
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'''Jump, Jump''' - go through the gate immediately
 
'''Jump, Jump''' - go through the gate immediately
  
The default for arriving on the other side without orders is to "Orbit 1000 and cycle weapons and ewar", so you are as ready as possible. Just make sure you didn't miss the "stay cloaked command or you could ruin your ambush. Personally, if I'm not 100% sure, I stay cloaked and ask. That said, usually the FC will say "reapproach" or "power reapproach" at least three or four times so you aren't likely to miss it.
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The default for arriving on the other side after you've reapproached the gate is to orbit the gate within jump range and cycle weapons and ewar, so you are as ready as possible. Just make sure you didn't miss the "stay cloaked command or you could ruin your ambush. Personally, if I'm not 100% sure, I stay cloaked and ask. That said, usually the FC will say "reapproach" or "power reapproach" at least three or four times so you aren't likely to miss it.
  
 
Do not shoot the gate. When cycling weapons and ewar, it is vital that you don't shoot the gate. If you do, you can end up aggressed and unable to go through on the FC's orders. This can hold up the class, or ruin an ambush, or get you podded, and you'll have to make a long run to catch up. If this happens, stay calm and make a report. You'll be given instructions. If the FC is busy in an attack and you're in immediate danger, warp away to stay safe and then catch up when you can. The instructors will help you as soon as they can. They really do want you to live, learn and kick butt during this class.
 
Do not shoot the gate. When cycling weapons and ewar, it is vital that you don't shoot the gate. If you do, you can end up aggressed and unable to go through on the FC's orders. This can hold up the class, or ruin an ambush, or get you podded, and you'll have to make a long run to catch up. If this happens, stay calm and make a report. You'll be given instructions. If the FC is busy in an attack and you're in immediate danger, warp away to stay safe and then catch up when you can. The instructors will help you as soon as they can. They really do want you to live, learn and kick butt during this class.

Revision as of 17:58, 22 January 2011

Original text by Spinward
Copyright Agony Unleashed


Communications in PvP

Introduction

This is a really well written article that covers the topic of voice communications in PVP University fleets. It was written by a student, Spinward who is now a member of Agony, for other students, in an effort to make some of the jargon and concepts easier to get to grips with. Don't be too concerned if you don't understand some of what is written here. When the class start on its 0.0 roam it will all fall into place once you experience it firsthand.

First, the disclaimer: I'm not Agony. I'm not an instructor. I'm a week one noob who took a class!!!

I just finished the accelerated PVP Basic course last night and thought I would share some of my notes with future students. Reading this post might make you a little more confident and save some time in class. Have a great time; I did.

After attending a few more PVP-BASIC courses as alumni, I'm now a three month noob! I have added a little more info and re-arranged the post to make it flow a little better. Even so, there's a lot of information here and it may take a few reads before it sinks in, but you're paying a lot to attend this class (ISK and time) and I think this will help you make the most of your investment. Besides, the more you know when you arrive, the easier it will be to focus on the fun stuff: bringing death and destruction to the enemy!

General

Voice communications is an invaluable resource for a fleet. It allows you to act and react faster than the enemy. Good disciplined comms lets the Hydra Fleet to maximize its effectiveness because the FC (Fleet Commander) can coordinate the weight of weapons and EWAR on the enemy's vulnerabilities. The Fleet depends on mobility and surprise; both of these are hard to maintain without voice commsunication.

Voice Comms vs Text Chat

There tends to be some confusion about when you should use voice comms and when you should use text chat. In general, voice is used in the theory section for answering questions and having a proper discussion with the instructor. Text chat can be used for administrative things such as late arrivals (try to avoid this), Ventrilo problems (there are always a few) and asking for links to the Agony Fleet Manager Tool (you'll love this application when you see it).

During the practical section in lowsec, you can still ask questions and carry on a discussion with the instructor over Vent. However, if the fleet is approaching a gate, don't use voice for questions so that the FC can listen for recon and intelligence reports. You always want to know what's on the other side of the gate and sometime reports come in at the last second. Keep using text chat for admin and easy to answer shorter questions. If you raise an important point in text, the instructor or one of the agony members will bring it up on vent so that everyone can benefit.

In 0.0, you have to be selective about when to talk on vent. However, it is your class so don't be afraid to use Vent to ask questions. Just listen before you key your microphone so that you don't "step on" someone else's question. If you hear "break break", "recon" or "battlecomms", stay quiet until the urgency passes. The word "urgency" is really the key to using vent. Voice comms are used when things are urgent because seconds count and typing is too slow. If there's nothing "urgent" going on, get your questions going. These instructors have tons of information for you so dig it out of them.

Battle comms: When the FC (or for the purposes of a class, anyone) calls battlecomms, all members of the fleet should be quiet and listen for orders. During this time, the FC will be hearing reports, issuing orders or just taking a moment to think. It's our time, as students, to hold questions on vent. If it is something urgent, you can still use gang or squad chat to type your question.

Break Break: Someone has urgent information on the fleet's tactical situation for the FC. Everyone listen up; hopefully it's about your next victim.

Recon: The scouts that are flying ahead or behind the gang will start their report by saying "recon". The FC needs to hear this info, so save your questions for later or type them into fleet chat.

You, Me and I

Don't use these pronouns. Instead always identify yourself with your character's name. Refer to yourself in the third person (like that Seinfeld episode) "George is getting angry" and "Jimmie needs a new pair of shoes". It definitely feels weird at first, but start doing it every time you talk, even in the theory section. Just say "This is George. Why should jammers be on manual?" It makes it easier for the instructors to keep track of who's asking (they do watch the Vent as well) but it also helps people get into the right mindset for when they get into 0.0 space. Now in 0.0, it becomes much more important. The FC needs will sometimes need to know who is talking. By not identifying yourself you are wasting valuable seconds of your FC's time by forcing him or her to ask "who said that??".

Once you have some more PvP experience, you should be able to get around 0.0 by yourself and may not need help from the FC. If that is the case and Vent is busy, just type your report/info into gang chat and say something along the lines of "no assistance needed". The FC may come pick you up anyway because he wants to look after all his students but he may not be able to because there are 29 other students to look after as well.

Here's a couple examples of brevity or the lack thereof:

Wrong: Did you jump? I think I missed the jump. The lag is killing me. Is everyone lagged?
Better: (if you need help): George is still in E-3 at the D-0 gate. Lagged. Request orders.
Best: (you don't need any help): George is lagged OR George is behind.

Now that's not the only right way to phrase this report, but I hope it is a good example of brevity, precision, use of 3rd person when speaking on Vent. It also leads me right to my next few points.

Brevity and Precision

Be precise when you make a report. Tell the FC who, where, and what, but keep it as short as possible. If you practice PVP quite a bit and often fly with a particular gang in game, those players will come to remember your voice and you can cut your reporting down even more. However, in class, nobody knows your voice and the instructor is trying to keep 30 students on the move (read herding cats).

Be very careful confusing warp and jump, especially if you are providing intel. Providing bad intel gets FCs ticked off very quickly.

Don't Be a "Narrator"

In these examples, Jimmie is the tackler and George is in our fleet; Easy Meat is the target ship.

Jimmie: "one point Easy Meat"
FC: "everyone warp to Jimmie"
George: "ok, I'm warping to the gate..... got him locked and webbed... ok missiles away... he's targetting me now.... he's shooting...I'm tanking pretty well, at 80% shields...into armor now....he's into structure...muhahaha I do crazy dps....he's dead"

All the details are interesting to you, but there's zero reason to be broadcasting them on vent. Comms should be limited only those details that are significant to the FC.

A better example might be:

Jimmie: "one point Easy Meat"
FC: "everyone warp to Jimmie"
George: "web"...."Easy Meat is aggressed"
FC: "get the pod"

This way, the FC knows that the target has a web on it and, since he has aggressed, cannot go through the gate. You haven't used up much time on Vent, so the FC is free to be thinking and listening for intel to plan the next steps.

Saying the J word

Jump is an order to be given by the Fleet Commander only.

As a student, I pretty clearly understood that there's no need for a student to ever say the J word. Try not to say it five times while talking back to the instructor about how "warping off instead of going through the gate wasn't your fault" ... yeesh ... it was not pretty. If there's time, the instructor will usually play it out to see how many times you'll say the J word before you realize it. I'm not sure but they may have a bet going every class!

There is a good reason for avoiding the J word. Imagine you are on a gate waiting for your scout to tackle someone on the other side. You are keyed up with the excitement of the upcoming kill (the adrenalin really starts flowing on those first few kills) and someone says "So when do we jump?". What your mouse finger heard was JUMP and you are gone, gone, gone. No calling it back; your brain is still translating the "blah blah blah JUMP" but not fast enough to stop that damn finger.

There are some euphemisms you can use instead of the J word: "We are 7 systems from our destination", "The target went out the gate", "go through the gate", "four gates to go" etc.

Someone does this every class so try not to let it be you by starting the habit now! (It does become a habit...I'm even hesitating before I type the J word in these notes)

The J word vs Warp

Warping is done within a system, while you have to use a gate to Jump. Don't get them mixed up when talking to the FC. It can be a completely different tactical situation when you report that the ship you are targeting "warped off" or "went through the gate".

Chatting and Talking Back

There's probably going to be a good amount of Vent chit chat going on between the instructor, the Agony pilots, and some alumni. They know when to chat and when to keep their mouths shut. I didn't so I kept mine shut unless I had a question. If you have a question, ask it; if you have it, I'll bet at least one or two other people have the same one but are afraid to ask.

This is the "talking back" portion. The instructors expect mistakes to happen. Why else would we be in the class? More important than any mistake is how you handle yourself afterwards. So if you do make a mistake, identify yourself and get to where you are supposed to be. It had to happen to someone and this time it's you. No big deal, next time it'll be someone else. If you need help, you'll get it (the other Agony pilots were a great help) but don't talk back or try to launch into a long explanation of what happened and how it isn't your fault. They've been teaching a long time an know that 'stuff' happens so just say "on my way" and get on with the grunt. That next kill might be just through the gate and we all want a piece of it.

Students Chatting and Vent -> By chatting, I mean shooting the sh... er... breeze (idle chit chat about pizza or WoW or whatever). You can do it at the right times but if you can keep it in the text chat, you will keep your FC happy. The FC will call battlecomms if he or she needs vent clear.

Going through a gate

When you approach a gate, the Fleet Commander will give you your orders. If he's busy and doesn't give orders, the default instruction is to Hold on Gate, meaning you should orbit at 500m/1000m (i.e. well within jump range, which is 2500m). If you don't hear any orders, go with the default. If you think you missed or aren't sure you heard the order, ask "orders on the gate?". Other orders your FC is likely to use are:

Jump on contact - go through the gate as soon as you are out of warp
Jump and hold cloak - go through the gate immediately but do nothing to break your cloak on the other side. That means don't move or cycle weapons/ewar. The priority is keeping your cloak up so that you don't betray the fleet's position.
Align - bring your ship around to point at the next stargate (normally double click beside the gate. If everyone is heading the right direction, the warp looks fast and tight)
Jump and Align - go through the gate and quickly align to the next stargate
Jump and Re-approach - go through, break cloak and use afterburner to get to the gate. Orbit at 500/1000m
Jump, Jump - go through the gate immediately

The default for arriving on the other side after you've reapproached the gate is to orbit the gate within jump range and cycle weapons and ewar, so you are as ready as possible. Just make sure you didn't miss the "stay cloaked command or you could ruin your ambush. Personally, if I'm not 100% sure, I stay cloaked and ask. That said, usually the FC will say "reapproach" or "power reapproach" at least three or four times so you aren't likely to miss it.

Do not shoot the gate. When cycling weapons and ewar, it is vital that you don't shoot the gate. If you do, you can end up aggressed and unable to go through on the FC's orders. This can hold up the class, or ruin an ambush, or get you podded, and you'll have to make a long run to catch up. If this happens, stay calm and make a report. You'll be given instructions. If the FC is busy in an attack and you're in immediate danger, warp away to stay safe and then catch up when you can. The instructors will help you as soon as they can. They really do want you to live, learn and kick butt during this class.

If you do end up aggressed and alone on a gate with enemies inbound, the best place you can warp to is an asteroid belt, planet, or the star. On the way there, create a midsafe bookmark, and when you land immediately initiate warp to it. You will be safer at this safespot than if you stuck around sitting at a celestial object.

If you end up going through a gate alone and there's nothing but the enemy on the other side and have no idea what to do next, here's your plan. Don't break cloak. Do a scan. Then warp out fast. (If you can warp out to a place that you are already aligned to, you're ahead of the game.) As soon as you arrive, warp to another location in system again to confound pursuit. While you're warping, read your scan and make a good report to the FC. For example, "Recon, two Ravens, Hurricane, and two Raptors in K-T 100km off 7-U gate". After your second warp (third if you're worried), put your speed on so no one drops right on top of you and figure out your next move.

If you are late going through a gate or joining the gang say "Friendly incoming" just to avoid an uncool panic or friendly fire accident. Actually, if vent is clear, you can start saying "Friendly incoming to X-70" as soon as you start getting close to catching up, so the FC can keep track of where you are. He may have orders for you or ask for information.

Electronic Warfare Orders and Reporting

The fleet will be broken up into several EWAR groups: Track Groups (ships with tracking disruptors) and Damp Groups (ships with sensor dampeners). When you go into battle, your group will be given targets for weapons and EWAR modules. Here's a quick list of the voice calls that you use when a module is active on your assigned target. Don't make the call until your module is active but if you can't hold the module on target (ie running out of cap) let the EWAR leader know before it drops.

Active Module - what you say
Warp Disruptor - Point
Warp Scrambler - Scram
Sensor Dampener - Damp
Stasis Webifier - Web
Track Disruptor - Track
Target Painter - Paint
Jammer - Jam

You might also hear such things as "Easy Meat is primary" or "get a point on him" or "web him". Most of the communications was pretty self explanatory but that list above was just the one word. When you're in Track Group One and you hear "Track Group One on Easy Meat", target Easy Meat's ship and put your TD on it. Once you see the icon on the target, say "Track". One exception is for Jammers. You are not actually jamming until you see the grey countdown bar underneath the locked target. That's when you call "Jam".

You may end up being engaged by more than one target. The procedures are the same but now the FC has to order and hear reports on more than one target. For two targets, the orders might be "Easy Meat is primary. Damp Group Two on Easy Money." Everyone will be engaging Easy Meat except that Damp Group Two will be attacking Easy Meat while locking Remote Damps on Easy Money. This means that EWAR reports need to include the name of the target pilot. For example, you might hear the following reports: "Point on Easy Meat; Web on Easy Meat, Damp on Easy Money" and so on.... I think this is beyond the Basic class but you can see that it would be impossible for the FC to keep track of the situation without including the target's name in EWAR reports.

Now if you lose track, run out of cap, have to warp away or get podded, you have to inform the Gang that the EWAR module is down. That's when you would say "Minus one point" or "Lost damp". You'll also need to tell the leader if you are out of the fight or coming back. If possible, try to make the report before you actually lose track or run out of cap. Once again, jamming is a little different. Remember to call "lost jam" before the countdown timer runs out. That way another pilot can try to replace you before the point or web or damp is actually lost.

For example, Jimmie has been targeted by the Vagabond your fleet is killing:

Jimmie: "Warping out, minus one point, will return"

Remember there are no reports for locking target, firing, losing shield or getting into armor. It seems to happen all the time and you can't take up time on Vent that's needed to coordinate the battle.

Broadcast - the red-headed step child of Eve Communications

People don't talk much about broadcast but it's used every gang. The broadcast window appears on the lower right hand portion of the overview underneath the Fleet Window. In PvP Basic, it is used primarily to send navigation orders.

The FC will say "destination broadcast" (or something like that) so you find it, right click and select set destination. Alternatively, the FC may say "waypoint broadcast". Now a waypoint and a destination look the same in the broadcast window so you have to listen. If the FC says "waypoint" you, find it, right click and select set waypoint.

There can be problems sometimes so here's a few tips. If you try to set destination and you get the error message "cannot set the same destination", don't stop there. Go back to the broadcast, right click the destination, select remove waypoint. Then try setting the destination again.

The other problem I've seen is when a destination and a couple waypoints are broadcast at the same time. Sometimes people set them in the wrong order and confusion sets in. Normally, the first one is the destination and the rest are waypoints. So set the first as destination, then set the next one above as a waypoint, then the one above that and so on. If you have any doubts, use gang text chat to confirm that the the destination is (for example) x-70 and there are 9 systems to go. If you're wrong it, you can sort it out before you align to the wrong gate and are tackled because incorrect alignment slowed down your warp.

Duties - just the basics

There are a few of the duties that you'll hear about. It's unlikely you'll get one but it's nice to know what they are all about.

XO - Executive Officer. A second in command who deals with administration, squads, damp/track groups etc. This frees up the FC to think about tactics. In Basic, this is an assistant instructor and the XO term may not even be used.

EWO or EWARO - Electronic Warfare Officer. If the Fleet is big enough you might have one of these who coordinates the ewar groups for the FC.

Scout, Recon, Skirmisher - these guys all do different things depending on their ships and skills but, for our purposes, they are all eyes in other systems finding us targets. Listening to how they report and the questions the FC asks them has really helped me.

360 Scan - An agony pilot or alumni or two will be assigned the duty of constantly scanning for threats. Everyone should be doing this on a regular basis but by assigning the duty, the FC is just making sure he's always got someone scanning for targets/threats.

Local - An agony pilot or alumni will be watching local to see if the number goes up or down in your system. He or she will also try to find the incoming pilot's information for the FC. Ideally, the local pilot reports one new pilot in system, their name and alliance to the FC at the same time that the 360 scan pilot reports a new Iteron in system.

Probe Scan - Normally agony or alumni assigned to scan for probes that may be used to track down your fleet when in a safe. Alternatively, detecting these probes gives us the info that a cloaked covops is in system.

Rear Guard - Normally an agony pilot assigned to follow the gang last through a gate. He's kind of the herder to bug you if you're slow to go through and to tell the FC when everyone is in the next system.


That's all folks. Hope it was of some value.

Cheers. I hope to see you in my sights soon as you try to warp your pod away from my Rifter of Doom! Enjoy PvP; I am.