The Rookie's Guide to Fleet Ops

This guide was written by Flay Geobukseon, but was not copied here by him. Please direct any comments to him via this thread, or via forum PM or in-game mail.

There's been a few ops where rookies participated who didnt have a chance to assist the fleet op training class yet. I'm writing this as a quick guide for other rookies who wish to participate in fleet ops, and it is not meant as an actual replacement for a fleet op class.

Please let me know of any mistakes, and make suggestions on things to add, or that should be removed.

Updated for wartime.

Abbreviations

• FC: Fleet Commander
• WC: Wing Commander
• SC: Squad Commander
• POS: Player Owned Structure
• WT: War Targets
• DD: Damage Dealer
• EW: Electronic Warfare
• T: Tackler
• PVP: Player vs Player
• PVE: Player vs Environment
• TS: Teamspeak
• AB: Afterburner
• MWD: Microwarp Drive

War Intel

Do not ask for information about the fleet location, nor destination. Intel is on a need-to-know basis. If you don't know, you probably don't need to. So don't ask. Don't answer questions about intel either.

Do not give out your location in Alliance or Corp channels. You may specify your location in the squad channel, and if the rally point is in a different system, ask your squad commander for instructions.

Pre-Op Checklist

1. Make sure your medical clone is up to date. Having your medical clone set to Aldrat can be helpful during war.
2. Get ready to be podded. If you have implants, either make sure you can afford to lose them, or get into a jump clone.
   
   We have enough standing with one of the Khanid corps, Khanid Innovation and one of the Caldari corps, Wiyrkomi Peace Corps.
   
   Do not do any missions for Khanid Innovation OR Wiyrkomi Peace Corps. Do NOT talk to the agents in these stations.
   
   Jump Clone Stations
   • Lonetrek/Okunda/Ossa/Ossa VII - Moon 11 - Wiyrkomi Peace Corps Logistic Support lowsec travel warning
   • Lonetrek/Haurala/Erenta/Erenta V - Wiyrkomi Peace Corps Logistic Support - 10 jumps from Korsiki
   • Lonetrek/Kaala/Akonoinen/Akonoinen VI - Wiyrkomi Peace Corps Logistic Support - 9 jumps from Korsiki
   • Lonetrek/Makiriemi/Isikano/Isikano IX - Moon 11 - Wiyrkomi Peace Corps Logistic Support - 9 jumps from Korsiki
   • Khanid / Nohshayess / Khanid Prime / Khanid Prime V - Moon 1 - Khanid Innovation Factory - 24 jumps from Korsiki
     
     
3. Get into a ship you can fly well in pvp, and can afford to lose. If you're a rookie, that is probably a frigate. You can fly a frigate and still contribute significantly if you have the skills and modules necessary to tackle or EW. Even if you're young and dont have the skills yet, dont worry about it and come along in a cheap frigate for the experience. Tacklers and EW frigates are effective with cheap tech 1 modules fitted. Destroyers can be used in specialized fleets, but in most Uni fleets a frigate tackler or EW would be preferrable if you cant handle a DD cruiser yet. Take note that flying a Damage Dealer ship for PVP requires more skills than for PVE. Flying a DD cruiser well means having the cruiser skill at 4, and the relevant gunnery or missile support skills at 3 or 4.
   
   Make sure your ship is insured.
   
   The exception to this is EW cruisers, they have lower skill requirements than DD cruisers.
   • Tackling 101 Guide
   • The Tackling Program
   • Electronic Warfare 101 guide
   • The Definitive Guide to Electronic Warfare
     
     
4. Rename your ship. The default ship names are "Player's Name Ship Type", for example "Flay's Incursus". This will make it easier for enemies to find you when scanning, so you should rename it to something that will not be able to associate the ship to your name.
   
   
5. Get over to Aldrat. Either docked or at the POS inside the bubble is usually fine. When the FC is ready, he will give instructions on where to rally.
   
   During wartime, do not undock until you are given authorization by the FC, or your SC.
   
   
6. Get on teamspeak. Probably in the PVP Waiting Room. You really need to be on Teamspeak for fleet ops. The FC doesnt have the time to type out everything in fleet chat. If you're not on teamspeak, you will not be able to follow the fleet. There's sometimes a bit of chatting in the PVP waiting room, but once invites start getting sent, stop talking. The commanders will move people to the PVP Op room. Stay silent until the op is over and the Fleet Commander declares open mic. Make sure your teamspeak settings are set up correctly. This mostly means you have a push-to-talk button and not voice-activated.
   
   Also, make sure your push-to-talk button isnt Ctrl, or any other button you would use for anything else. And remember Alt is often used to Alt-tab out or Alt-Enter for windowed mode. Shift is used for caps so it is another bad choice. The F9 key is not used for anything in the Eve Client, nor for most other software you might operate, so it is a good choice until you can figure out which key would be best. We don't have to hear you breathing. We don't want to hear the clicking of your keyboard when you type an email either. Set your push-to-talk key correctly.
   
   Disable Teamspeak sound notifications. Settings menu > Options > Sound Notifications > check the 'Disable All sounds' box. Sound notifications can be loud and prevent you from hearing the FC, especially with a lot of people in teamspeak connecting and disconnecting. And the occasionnal griefer spamming the Docking Bay.
   
   Dierdra's comprehensive noob-proof teamspeak guide
   
   I recommend using VoiceOverlay if you want to see who's talking on your game screen. Not to be confused with Teamspeak Overlay, which doesnt work well with Vista.
   
   Do not talk on Teamspeak unless you have authorization during a fleet op. Unless you were given authorization by the FC, you probably don't have it. If you wish to ask for authorization to talk on teamspeak, type your request in the fleet channel, although it will probably be ignored because the FC is too busy.
   
   
7. Your overview needs to be set up properly. There's Rombles Detailed Overview Configuration class, and a 10 minute summary by Chks in the media archive. They're a bit outdated, and replacements will be made eventully. It is recommended that you also check 'type' in the Columns tab of the overview settings, since many FCs call primary by ship type instead of player name. Eve University Media Archive
   
   I've also exported my overview settings to Eve-Files.
   
   You should have tabs with 1 PVP, 3 PVP + Travel, and Pod Saver set at least. The remainder 2 tabs can be set to show Alliance ships, and 2 PVP + Drones. I recommend having only planets in the Pod Saver tab. Moons can have hostile POS, and gates can be camped. Also, having less items in the overview makes for less lag, which is especially important for pod saving.
   
   
8. If you have questions, ask in the corp channel, not the alliance channel.
   
   
9. Disable auto lock. Press the Escape key to go into the game's configuration panel > general settings > inflight section > Auto target back: select 0 targets.

Fleet Invites

Do not ask in Alliance channel if there is a fleet being formed. If you want to know if a fleet is currently being formed, and what roles are currently being called for, ask in Corp chat.

Forming a fleet takes a long time. Usually around 30 to 45 minutes. The FC needs to figure out how to set up his wings and squads, and make sure the entire fleet gets gang bonuses, and that all his squad leaders know their responsibilities. Plus a million other things. The FC is a busy person.

The Fleet Commander will ask for different roles in the Alliance Channel. He'll probably start with Wing Commanders, Squadron Commanders, and Scouts. If you're a rookie, forget about filling any of those roles. Fleet Commanders all have their own way of doing invites, most will ask to X up. This means you get to type "X - Role - Ship type" when he asks for the role you want to fill.

For example, when he asks for tacklers to X up:

X - Tackler - Incursus

Some FCs will ask for a different presentation. The FC might ask tacklers to prefix the ship type with T, for example:

T - Merlin

If you're really new, you might only have a DD frigate to offer. If you want to contribute during war, spending from a few hours to a day or two to train tackling or EW is a good idea. Some FCs may not accept DD frigates during war.

Wait until he names your role before you X up. Whatever you do, don't spam your X up repeatedly. This will mess up the assignments to squads. If you were passed over, be patient. The FC will make a last call before leaving if there is time and space left in the fleet. You can then X up again.

Once you've been invited to the fleet and placed in a squad, your squad leader should invite you into a channel seperate from the fleet channel. The squad channel is where you can chat. If you have questions, or have comments, or whatever, squad chat is where to type it. Not all fleets are strict about this, and there will sometimes be chatter in the fleet channel. But it is usually best to keep the chattering to squad channel.

You should keep the Squad and Fleet channel windows seperate so you can watch both without tabbing. You can seperate them by clicking the tab and dragging it off. I usually keep my Fleet and Squad channel windows 6 portraits high, both on the left side of the screen, fleet at the bottom, squad a bit higher.

Do not X up unless your role was called, or if last call is made. Keep all chatter out of the Alliance channel.

During the Op

Sometimes the FC will broadcast commands to the broadcast window, sometimes he wont. Sometimes he'll remind everyone what they're supposed to be doing, sometimes he'll be too busy doing other stuff.

Don't say anything in local at all during fleet ops, unless your FC gives permission.

If the FC sets a destination, make sure you have the same autopilot setting. If he doesnt specify, ask in fleet chat if autopilot setting should be 'Short' or Safe'. You can change Autopilot setting by pressing F10 to access the map, Autopilot tab, Settings tab.

Add to Watchlist: The watchlist is mostly used by rookies to warp to the fleet when you're lost. Your squad commander will let you know if he wants you to put anyone specific in the watchlist. You may want to add the FC and squad commander to the list and leave other spots open.

You can add people to the watchlist by right-clicking their name in the fleet overview window, then select 'Add to Watchlist'. You can warp to people by right-clicking their name in the watchlist.

Don't attack unless the FC gives the order. If you attack when you shouldnt, you could get stuck on the wrong side of a gate if the FC decides he'd rather have the fleet elsewhere. The Primary is the target you should be shooting and/or tackling. The Secondary is usually next in line to get blown up.

Sometimes the FC will give order to attack any flashy at will. During war he may order you to shoot WT flashies, but not Outlaw flashies. Pay attention to icons if so.

If your ship is destroyed, remember the Pod Saver tab in the overview, pick a planet at random, and mash the warp button. Once you're warped out, let the squad commander know you've lost your ship, and wether you've been podded or not.

If you get lost, ask your squad commander where to go. If you need to take a quick break due to real life, let your squad commander know, and dock up at the nearest station. The fleet wont stop for you, and if it is possible, your squad commander will instruct you on how to rejoin the fleet, or perhaps he will ask that you plot a course for highsec and run for it, depending on the circumstances.

After a fight, only loot or salvage if the FC says so. He may want specific individuals to loot. Salvaging T2 wrecks requires the Salvaging skill at 3, so it might be best to let someone with high salvage to do so.

If your client crashes, log back in, and let your squad commander know. X up in alliance with a note saying you crashed also. If you lost connection, you'll need to ask in the fleet chat for a TS drag into the PvP Operations room.

If you go AFK while undocked during wartime, the FC will pod you.

Fleet Maneuvers

Align The FC will tell the fleet to align to stargates, and once everyone is aligned, will jump the whole fleet himself. The align button is right next to the 'Warp To 0' button in the Selected Item window. Make sure you don't confuse the two.

Jump On Contact / Gate is Green This means when you drop out of warp, immediatelly jump into the next system when you reach the stargate.

Hold On Contact / Gate is Red This means do NOT jump into the next system when you drop out of warp. The FC may be waiting for additional intel from the scouts.

Hug the Gate or Orbit the Gate When waiting at a gate, it is usually best to be mobile, so that enemy attacks can do less damage. However, some bigger ships can get bumped out of jumping range when orbiting. Some FCs will ask that frigates orbit within Jumping range (easiest to righ-click the gate and select orbit at 1 km, do not select orbit at 2.5 km or you will be thrown out of jump range), and bigger ships hug the gate at 0.

Make Best Speed / Best Speed To This order means the fleet is no longer trying to move as a complete blob. When chasing WTs, the FC could give tacklers the order to make best speed for a destination to catch them, before the slower ships can catch up. The Make Best Speed order can also be given when the op is finished, and destination is set for home.

Scatter / Disperse / Get Out! This is for when things go horribly, horribly wrong. The FC can give the order for the whole fleet to scatter. Go to your Pod Saver tab, select a random planet, and warp out.

There is usually a standing order to save yourself when you are taking heavy damage. If you see your shields and armor getting smoked, feel free to bug out. Denying the enemy the kill is usually more important than whatever you're doing, except perhaps if you're the only tackler on the primary and you'd like to risk waiting for other tacklers to catch up.

Hold Cloak When you jump into a system through a stargate, you stay cloaked for 30 seconds. It is important not to move until the FC gives the order to align, orbit, or whatever else.

Rookie Tackler Tips

Set your default orbiting distance to 7500m. You can do this when undocked, select an object in the overview that is nearby, and the right-click the Orbit button in the 'Selected Item' window. Having a default orbit of 7.5 km will keep you out of most smartbomb range, but withing Stasis Web and Warp Disruptor range. If you have intel that target has no smartbombs, feel free to close distance to use Nosferatu, and increase angular velocity to be harder to hit. Some faction smartbombs have a range greater than 7.5 km but they are very expensive and I have never seen them used against a Uni fleet.

Dont shoot cap while tackling. If you have guns that use cap, dont shoot them while tackling, or if you'll need to tackle soon. Missiles and projectile turrets don't require cap. This advice can be ignored if you have verified you are cap stable with guns blazing.

Don't use AB or MWD while camping a gate, nor when aligning. Use AB and MWD to approach targets, or to get away from them if they have smartbombs. Use MWD while orbiting a target only if you're cap stable with it activated. Using AB should be fine while orbiting a target, but it depends a lot on your skills and the ship you're flying.

After the Op

If you got podded, buy a new medical clone before leaving the station.

If you picked up loot or salvage, it is your responsibility to put it in the correct place. Loot picked up during fleet ops belongs to the ILN. It is always placed in the ILN Hangar at HQ.

If you got killmail, post it to the killboard. Killmails do not get sent to eve-mail, they are available in the character sheet, in the Combat Log section.

If the FC asked you to change autopilot settings to Shorter, make sure you change it back to Safer.

Leave the Teamspeak PvP Operations channel. If you wish to join more fleet ops, move to the PvP waiting room. If you want to chill out, move to the Common Room.

Leave the fleet.

The FC will write a report in the After Action Report forum when he has time.