Running Incursions

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This is a page of considerations and tactics when running incursions. It is primarily aimed at people leading incursion fleets in high sec space, but there is information useful to regular incursion fleet members as well.

Fleet Composition

Incursion fleets use logistics ships for repairs. As such, any incursion fleet should be all shield or all armor.

Vanguards

A typical vanguard fleet is 2 logistics ships and 9 damage dealers or 3 logistics and 8 damage dealers. The damage dealers can either be battlecruisers, battleships or elite cruisers. All ships that must be destroyed in vanguards fly around the fleet at 30k or less, so damage dealers should aim for a first falloff of 20k or more. If the fleet has 3 logistics the damage will be lower, leading to longer sites and less profit, but in compensation the fleet will be much safer to field. If competition for sites is fierce then it's up the FC to decide between speed or raw damage to counter the competing fleets. One ship should be picked as the Anchor, usually a battleship with a decent tank. This ship goes in first and will often be jammed, so do not pick a ship that is energy transferring with a logi.

Assaults

Assaults have more exacting requirements than vanguards. A fleet should have 5-6 logistics with up to 4-5 snipers and 9-11 brawlers, for a maximum of 20 ships, though it can be done with less. The sniper ships should be able to shoot out to 150k, while still fulfilling the tanking requirements. The brawlers should aim for a slightly longer range than vanguard sites, 30k first falloff is a good target. In addition, if the fleet wants to do Nation Consolidation Networks then 4-5 of the brawlers should be cruiser class. Because of the extra requirements and the logistical problems of organizing twice as many players, assault fleets are considerably more difficult to set up and run then vanguard fleets, and do not give much more isk/hour, but assault fleets will have little to no competition, so the extra effort can pay off if you are losing vanguard sites to competition. Like vanguards, pick a well tanked ship as an anchor.

Finding a Site

Competition

In high sec, sites are often contested. If two or more fleets warp in to an incursion site, only the fleet that does the highest amount of damage to the enemy as a whole will be given the reward; the others will get nothing. If you trained Thermodynamics skill be sure to overheat your weapons when competing for a site.

Scanning a Site

After picking a site and warping to it you should determine if the site is occupied before entering it. Set your D-scan to a range of 10,000km and scan when your fleet is on the gate, If ships show up with a - in the range column then the site is occupied. If you wish to compete for the site then switch your overview to show wrecks and d-scan again to see how many wrecks there are in the site. If few then the other fleet has only just started and your chances of taking the site from them are higher.

To increase fleet speed (and thus isk/hour) set the range to about 200,000km and an angle of 90 degrees. Scan towards the site as you approach in warp, checking for ships and wrecks. You'll know if the site is clear before you land at the acceleration gate.

Running Sites

Entering the Site

Once the fleet is assembled at the acceleration gate the FC should instruct them to align down the gate, and for logis to L up and anchor to A up. To align down the gate double click in space behind the gate. This will make your ship move at full speed in that direction, which means you will warp immediately upon using the gate, letting everyone warp in to the site at the same time. Logistics and Anchor should only signal ready once they are aligned. Once the logistics and anchor are aligned the FC will tell the anchor to go, and when you see him warp, you can follow.

Encourage newer players to read Incursion Maneuvers

Killing Stuff

Once in the site, consult a guide for that specific site and tag targets in the order to kill. If the targets are a wave of frigates then it can be easier to announce over voice comms the group to attack i.e. "Niarjas followed by Tamas".

To make the most of drone damage it is common to designate a ship with fast locking time as "drone bunny". All drones are commanded to assist this target so that drones attack a new wave quickly rather than waiting for battleships to lock them up. This also makes it easier to sick drones on small frigates without wasting the the main fleet on them.

Not Dying

See Incursion Fitting for fits that meet the minimum tank requirements for incursions.

In vanguards the logistics ships will keep the entire fleet locked up and on their watch list. This allows them to see easily if someone is taking damage and repair them, so broadcasting isn't strictly necessary (though feel free anyway because it's good practice).

In assaults things are more difficult. The logistics can't keep the entire fleet on their watchlist or locked up, so they will not be aware of someone taking damage unless told about it. To do this, when a damage dealer is shot at by the sansha they must broadcast for shield or armor or they probably won't get it. Once you no longer need repairs broadcast In Position to indicate that you're safe. Sanshas will keep you locked up after they've stopped shooting you, so watch for them changing from red boxed to yellow boxed on your overview.

Emergency Procedures

Disconnections do happen, and when they happen to a fleet's logistics ship in an Incursion site it can spell doom. Be mindful of your fleet watchlist (everyone should be on it for Vanguard sites). If you see glaring holes, or someone vanishes from it, speak up as soon as you notice this so the fleet can respond. If a logistics ship dc's, or is about to be destroyed you should immediately switch to your shield maintenance drones and prepare to repair fellow fleet members.

Don't forget to overheat your defense modules when you are taking damage (you did remember to train Thermodynamics skill, right?) if logistic ships are not running at optimal. The extra damage reduction helps immensely.

Positioning

In many sites there is a direction the anchor should move in to make the site easier or more efficient, such as towards the station in Nation Commander Outposts and to the left of the battle platform in Nation Mining Colonies.

Battleships who are not the anchor usually follow the anchor using Keep At Range if the anchor is moving or sit still if the site does not require the fleet to move. Logistics cruisers should orbit the anchor to ensure they are always moving to reduce the damage they take from torpedoes and battleship class sanshas. Similarly, battlecruisers and damage dealing cruisers should ensure they are always moving, either following or orbiting the anchor. If you are in a battlecruiser or damage dealing cruiser it can be acceptable to charge around to close range for more damage if you know what you are doing.

The anchor should stay 10k away from collidable objects so that orbiting ships don't get stuck on them.

Disengaging

If something goes wrong, or another fleet warps in to your site and you think they will beat you, then you have the option to disengage from the site. Many sanshas warp scramble so simply ordering your fleet to warp out of a site is not likely to end well. To disengage from a site you must know which ships in the site warp scramble. If you happen to be at a point where no scrambling ships are up (for example the first wave of a Nation Mining Colony after the Schmaeel Medulla has been destroyed), then you can just warp your fleet out. If warp scramblers are present, then it can still be possible to disengage between waves using the following procedure:

1. Align the fleet to a celestial.
2. Mark all warp scrambling ships in the wave for destruction.
3. Once all warp scrambling ships are gone (be sure!) gang warp the fleet out. When the next wave spawns it will take 2-3 seconds for them to lock on and warp scramble, so you have that short window to leave without losses.