Mission fleets
Spider Fleet / Standings Fleet
A standings fleet (sometimes called a spider fleet) is the name for a corporate mission running fleet in which each member runs whatever missions they have independently from each other. The members of the fleet share the mission rewards when a mission is turned in.
Each mission reward of ISK, loyalty points, and corporation standings are divided equally amongst all members of the fleet. An additional benefit of spider fleets is that if you run into trouble finishing a mission, the missions chat is ready made to ask for assistance. However, faction standing changes are not shared including those obtained through faction missions or killing enemy faction ships. Bounties are also not shared unless two or more fleet members are on the same grid. Loot and salvage are also not shared. Please note that rewards only share between a maximum of 10 members in a fleet. If there are more than 10 members interested in a spider fleet, create two separate fleets until the number goes down to 10 or less and then consolidate the fleets.
To join the Spider fleet, make sure to be in the missions.e-uni channel and read the rules in the Message of the Day.
Choose the Fleet NeoCom button, go to the Fleet Finder tab, then select "get fleet" button. You will be given a search box that allows you to select certain restrictions and parameters. You want to select Corporation fleet but do not select any other more restrictive criteria. If there is an existing Spider fleet it will come up with some welcome message. Select join and your request to join will be sent to the Fleet boss. Once your request has been accepted you will be added to the fleet and a fleet chat window will be opened.
Once in the fleet, you are expected to be missioning. Freeloading in this fleet will be considered corp theft. Use some common sense. You do not need to drop from fleet while salvaging. If you're going to change locations and not be missioning for 20 jumps, leave the fleet and rejoin when you reach your destination. Run your missions and when you do your turn in you will be given a window that asks if you want to share rewards with fleet members or to claim them for yourself. Choose the top option which is to share the rewards.
In the event you find no fleet available, it pays to ask in the missions.e-uni channel if there is a spider fleet in case the person who formed the fleet did not know the proper way to list it under the fleet finder.
If there is no existing fleet, just start it up yourself. To start a standings fleet, open the Fleet window from the NeoCom, go to the My Fleet tab, and press the "Form Fleet" button. Afterwards, you need to list it in the Fleet Finder. Select the "Fleet Finder" tab, then the subtab "My Advert" and then "Create Advert". A window will open and you should fill it in as you want. Mentioning the fact that it's a Standings Fleet it probably a good idea, and be sure to set it to Corporation only.
See the Fleet User Interface article for more detailed information.
Fleet Protocol
After joining or creating the fleet, you're obligated to run missions; no moochers! Upon completion of a mission, you should notify the others using the "Missions.E-UNI" channel with the following syntax: [$$$$$][CORP]
[$$$$$]implies a dollar sign for each level of the mission[CORP]implies the corp's ticker name you ran the mission for.
For example, after completing a level 2 mission for Minmitar Mining Corporation (MMC) you should say the following in Missions.E-UNI: $$ MMC. This is so all fleet members can ensure everyone is contributing.
All fleet related chat should be kept to the Missions.E-UNI channel to minimize window swapping, but follow your fleet boss instructions on this as location specific information should be restricted to fleet chat. Also, your fleet boss may ask you to post the ISK value of your mission in fleet chat so that they can keep a record of total rewards achieved during the fleet.
The Mumble channel is normally open comms but follow your fleet boss instructions and stop chatting if a fleet member calls "Break, Break, Break".
Settings
When you complete a mission while you are in a fleet, Eve asks you if you want to share the rewards. While flying in a Spider / Standings Fleet you should answer this question with: Yes.
If you don't remember seeing this message, quite likely that in the the past you have chosen for the option to remember your preference. Use the Esc key and go to the "Reset Settings" tab. Look for the line "Mission Reward Sharing Preference". Press Reset to remove this preference and you get the question again. Best to check this before you join the fleet.
Locust Fleet
A locust fleet is a fleet of many players all completing the same (commonly level 4) mission together. Upon completion of a mission, the mission owner will choose the option to split the mission rewards among all fleet members. This equally splits the mission's reward, bonus, loyalty point payout, and standings increase among up to 10 fleet members. Additionally, bounties are split among everyone at the combat site.
Locust fleets should use their fleet chat or Mumble to coordinate, not the missions.e-uni channel.
Roles and Guidelines
A common question is what should you bring to a locust fleet. Here are some general roles and guidelines, but keep in mind that everyone who runs a locust fleet runs it their own way.
- Tank: A ship designated to receive aggression from the NPCs, the tank is usually a battleship or better ship (for level 4 missions) capable of permanently tanking the mission it is running. There are usually 1-3 tanks per 10 person fleet, but it never hurts to have more.
- Damage Dealers (DD): The DD role is to kill as many enemy ships as quickly as possible. DD ships are usually battlecruiser or better for level 4 missions. DD ships must still be capable of tanking due to aggro sometimes splitting up from NPCs, but it should not be their primary role. There are usually 6-8 DD per 10 person fleet.
- Salvagers: A salvager is a person who stays behind the fleet, collecting loot and salvaging NPC wrecks. This is an ideal role for a newer player looking to earn isk and standings, since it can be done with a destroyer. It is normally not advised that the salvager go to the combat site with the main fleet until all NPCs have been destroyed. There are usually 1-2 salvagers per 10 person fleet.
If you want to bring a smaller ship or you are unsure about what to bring, ask whoever is running the fleet.
Joining a Locust Fleet
To join a locust fleet, you can usually find it through the fleet finder via the NeoCom Fleet icon (red background with gold chevrons and stars). If there is no fleet posted, or you are having trouble locating the fleet finder, ask in "missions.e-uni".
If no locust fleet is running and you have access to lucrative missions, you're welcome to start a locust fleet of your own.
If you want to run a locust fleet in an area near an Eve University campus during wartime then it is suggested you co-ordinate with Operation Fortress. You could be a part of the actual Fortress fleet, however in that case you might not want to share mission rewards since those would just be shared with the first 10 people in the fleet in alphabetical order (this does not affect bounty payouts though as those are shared with everyone who is actually in the mission site).
If you actually want to share the mission payouts as well you'll have to set up a separate fleet, however you could still stay in touch with the Fortress fleet: Join Operation Fortress before setting up the mission fleet and let them know what you are doing. You could also open a private conversation with the Fortress fleet boss and explain that you would like to keep the convo open while you are missioning for ease of communications between the 2 fleets and update him / her with your fleet location as you move around the area.
After leaving the Op Fort fleet change mumble channel to one of the Ivy League Navy channels and start a fleet for the mission. Then use the missions chat channel to sign up fleet members and the fleet chat channel to organize the fleet.
You could use a dedicated salvager as your eyes on intel while you are in action so that you can monitor the WT situation.
At the end of your fleet let the Op Fort fleet boss know that you are docked up and sign off.
Loot
Loot and salvage should be equally split among all fleet members.
This can become complicated, since members tend to come and go over the course of the fleet. The easiest way to resolve this is to have the salvager(s) keep a tally of "shares" per participant (including themselves), usually in the form of a share per mission run. After the fleet has finished, the loot is sold or reprocessed and the salvager(s) give each player their portion of the earnings based on their shares.
An option for selling the loot is for one of the members of the fleet to offer to buy all the loot at total estimated value less 15% for handling and trading the loot.
See Eve Refinery on how to decide what to sell and what to reprocess.
Mission Rewards in a Fleet
When doing missions in a fleet, you can share isk and standings after completing a mission for an agent. What's nice about this is that people can gain enough standing to use that agent without grinding standings through the faction/corporation.
