FLEETS102 - Fleet Comms

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Contents 1 Syllabus 2 Teaching Guide 2.1 Class Information 2.1.1 General Information 2.2 Teaching Notes 2.3 Class Contents 2.3.1 Introduction 2.3.2 Comms Discipline 2.3.3 Open and Closed Comms 2.3.4 The Message 2.4 Chat Channels 2.4.1 Class Wrap-up

Syllabus

• Communication skills
• Types of Fleet Comms
• The Message

Teaching Guide

Class Information

This chapter contains the standard information of this class pertaining to scheduling and class contents. The General Information should be sufficient to create a proper class topic for scheduling on the Eve University forum. Additional information relevant to the teacher is listed under Notes for the Teacher.

General Information

Illustration link for class description on the Eve University forum: http://www.studentsworkshop.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/communication-skills.jpg

A short lecture on fleet communication followed by a small hi-sec roam to put it into practice.

• Duration: 40 Minutes
• Location: Docked up safely in a station in Aldrat

Class contents:

• Communication skills
  
• Types of Fleet Coms
  
• The Message
  
• Q&A

Student requirements:

• Mumble registration and access - make sure you have Mumble sorted out and operational well before the class begins. Use this guide for set-up: http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Mumble
• Access to the Class.E-UNI in-game chat channel

Any ship for the optional practical exercise

Additional information: This class is primarily lecture delivered in the Class.E-UNI channel in Mumble, followed by Q&A. [An optional practical exercise follows.]

Teaching Notes

Required materials:

• Class.E-UNI chat channel, to receive questions and post relevant links
• No special ships or fittings required

Class Contents

Introduction

Welcome to this class on Fleet Communications,

This course is designed primarily for everyone who participates in fleets or any operation that requires communication over Mumble. It is designed to cover the etiquette of Fleet Comms and prepare the capsuleer to participate effectively in fleets.

Over the 20 minutes or so, we shall cover the types of communications used in fleets, when you can and can't talk, open comms etiquette and closed comms etiquette.

We will also look at the content of the communication and what information will make it effective or ineffective.

(Instructor should then introduce himself or herself - covering relevant experience level and background.)

We have a few ground rules for this class:

• Please put your Mumble settings on "Push to Talk" if you have not already done so.
• Feel free to type any questions in the Class.E-UNI chat channel as we proceed - I will try to answer your questions as they come during the class. [At the end of my lecture, we'll open Mumble for any further questions or general discussion.]
• The practical part of this class will require you to be in Aldrat so please start docked in station.

Everyone ready? OK, then - let's begin....

Comms Discipline

During a fleet there are so many pieces of information flying about that it is often difficult to sort out the wheat from the chaff, If you are about to be hot dropped by a fleet of carriers and you miss the message because one of the fleet members is talking animatedly about the size of the biscuit he is eating the result can be disastrous and avoidable.

In the University we encourage people to make friends and to communicate with each other to enrich the game, however we also need to respect that there are good and bad times to do these things.

Open and Closed Comms

There are three basic types of coms scenario used in fleets:

• Open Comms
  • More conversational
  • Members may talk freely
  • Must respect others dont talk over people
  • "Break Break" means shut up instantly as something important is about to be said
  • Observe social etiquette don't be rude

• Closed Comms
  • Much more Formal
  • Only command staff may talk in command channel, and only FC (or designate) talks in fleet channel
  • if you have something vital to say use a predefined sign such as x in fleet to indicate you want to talk and wait to be asked to contribute
  • Be concise and deliver the facts

• Open Command
  • This is for education, fast moving fleets and when fleet members should be aware about what is going on in command
  • Only command staff may talk in fleet channel
  • if you have something vital to say use a predefined sign such as x in fleet to indicate you want to talk and wait to be asked to contribute
  • Be concise and deliver the facts

The Message

• The Message content is vital
  • Be concise and accurate
  • Only deliver facts
  • Only deliver opinion if asked
  • If reporting on a situation remember state your name, your location (system) and where you are E.G Admiral Silentbrick in aldrat on the eygfe gate,
  • Then deliver the content of the message E.G. 2 Orange flashy targets One Hurricane one Riffter
  • Somtimes you may need to deliver the corp or aliance in the message too

• The method of message delivery is also important
  • Don't panic
  • Relax
  • Breathe
  • Don't be overly excited, it tends to raise the volume and pitch of your voice and will make you less intelligible
  • Don't scream or yell, it tends to increase the loudness of the message which in turn leads to distortion and incomplete information
  • Try to sound bored or uninterested, this will keep your voice steady to relay the message
  • Keeping your voice steady will cause people to need to pay attention to your message since they will need to listen carefully, thus leading to a more successful delivery of the message
  • Try to pronounce words carefully and clearly, even if the language is not your first, try it anyway
  • Speak slowly and clearly, cultural backgrounds influence the speed of speech, keep it slow enough so that everyone can understand you.
  • Complete the message once you've started the message delivery
  • Avoid expletives, slang and colloquialisms they clutter the message and you are dealing with a multicultural community

In short this is called the triple W: Who is reporting, Where are you and What is up?

(Potentially give an example of a bad comm, we've all heard them "Warp to me I am being attacked" sorta thing!)

The messgae should follow the 6 C's of communication

• Clear
• Concise
• Correct
• Coherent
• Complete

and

• Courteous

Chat Channels

• Sometimes its better to just type a message, in fact most of the time its better to put it down in text so that the FC can react in their own time
• Fleets will consist of a fleet window, where you can deliver messages to the entire fleet (try to use this only for important or relevant information)
• A Squad window these can be less formal and allow you to discuss tactics and actions with your squad mates, you will also see a good squad leader echoing the fleet spoken commands here such as:
  • jjj - Jump through the gate
  • joc - Jump on contact i.e. jump as soon as you fall out of warp on a gate
  • a {some gate} - Align to the stated gate
  • ogc - Form an offensive gate camp
  • dgc - Form a Defensive gate Camp
  • SCATTER - run for the hills were all going to die (well get out before we die)

Class Wrap-up

• Thanks for attending this class!
  • I would appreciate any feedback from people on how to improve the class
• Questions ?

[* Practical exercise: ....]

• Form up at the POS in Aldrat
• Announce open comms
• Take the fleet to the Eygfe gate encourage chatter
• Call break break
• Announce closed comms
• Invite students one by one to report the gate status
• Take the fleet on a small roam in hi-sec and get a different student to report the gate status at each jump
• You may like to send students to different celestials and report the status there or even run d scan and report what they see
• Emphasise discipline in coms make sure students onlt talk when requested too.