Command Bursts
Based on an article by Patrick Scott at GameFaqs.com.
Credit to Jen Loo, who dug up this info and made it known on the forums.
Warfare Links
see also Fleet Leadership.
see also Skills:Leadership.
This is the way it should work on paper.
1. Introduction [INTRO]
This guide is currently being rewritten to focus on a very detailed discussion about how Warfare Links function in Eve. Warfare Links are ship modules that provide specific bonuses to a fleet or wing that add to the combat or mining effectiveness of all fleet / wing members. Warfare links can be fit only on certain ships, and operating a warfare link requires training of advanced leadership skills. Please refer to the Skills:Leadership and Fleet Leadership guides for more detailed information about those related topics.
3. Gang Assist Modules [MODS]
The effects of gang modules do not make or break battles, they do not turn the tide of wars, and they do not make poor pilots better. They are the icing on the cake, they are an edge in combat, and they make skilled pilots smile :)
Gang modules are hi slot, active modules that emit a fleet wide bonus to an attribute for as long as it is active. You can only provide this bonus to others provided you have the Booster role, and the fleet chain of command is complete. They fall into 5 categories closely linked to the skills required to operate them. The actual module names all begin with "X Warfare Link -" so I've condensed the names on this list. I also note the base percentage bonus of the module in brackets following the description, the modules bonus is referred to as it's Command Bonus.
I. Armoured Warfare Links [ARMD]
Provide bonuses to support armour based activity. They all require Leadership 5 and at least Armoured Warfare Specialist 1.
- Damage Control -- Reduces the capacitor need of the gang's personal and targeted armour repair systems. (2%)
- Passive Defence -- Grants a bonus to the gang's armour resistances. (2%)
- Rapid Repair -- Increases the speed of the gang's personal and targeted armour repair systems. (2%)
II. Information Warfare Links [INFO]
Provide bonuses to support electronic warfare and ship sensors. They all require Leadership 5 and at least Information Warfare Specialist 1.
- Electronic Superiority - Boosts the strength of the gang's electronic warfare modules. (2%)
- Recon Operation - Boosts the range of the gang's electronic warfare modules. (2%)
- Sensor Integrity - Boosts sensor strengths for all of the gang's ships. (3%)
III. Siege Warfare Links [SIEG]
Provide bonuses to shield based activity. They all require Leadership 5 and at least Siege Warfare Specialist 1.
- Active Shielding - Increases the speed of the gang's shield boosters and decreases the speed of shield transporters. (2%)
- Shield Efficiency - Reduces the capacitor need of the gang's shield boosters and shield transporters. (2%)
- Shield Harmonizing - Boosts all shield resistances for the gang's ships. (2%)
IV. Skirmish Warfare Links [SKRM]
Provide bonuses to speed based activity. They all require Leadership 5 and at least Skirmish Warfare Specialist 1.
- Evasive Manoeuvres - Lowers the signature radius of ships in the gang. (2%)
- Interdiction Manoeuvres - Boosts the range of the gang's propulsion jamming modules. (3%)
- Rapid Deployment - Increases the speed of the gang's afterburner and microwarpdrive modules.(3%)
V. Mining Foreman Links [MINE]
Provide bonuses to mining activity. They all require Leadership 5 and at least Mining Director 1.
- Harvester Capacitor Efficiency - Decreases the capacitor need of mining lasers, gas harvesters and ice harvesters. (2%)
- Laser Optimization - Decreases mining lasers/ gas harvester and ice harvester duration. (2%)
- Mining Laser Field Enhancement - Increases the range of the gang's mining lasers, gas harvesters and ice harvesters. (4.5%)
VI. Fitting [FIT]
Warfare link modules can only be fit on Battlecruisers, Command Ships, Industrial Command Ships, Capital Industrial Ships, Carriers, Motherships, and Titans. This is enforced by all gang modules requiring 5000 CPU to fit, and those ships I listed all have the role bonus "99% reduction in Warfare Link module CPU need", so a gang module only takes up 50 CPU on one of them. Any of these ships can fit as many as they are able, but there are restrictions on how many they can activate at once.
- Strategic Cruisers - 1 active gang module
- Battlecruisers - 1 active gang module
- Field Command Ships - 1 active gang module
- Fleet Command Ships - 3 active gang modules
- Industrial Command Ship - 3 active gang modules
- Capital Industrial - 3 active gang modules
- Carriers - 1 active gang module
- Motherships - 1 active gang module plus 1 per level of the Carrier skill.
- Titans - 1 active gang module plus 1 per level of the Titan skill.
Note: Strategic Cruisers can only run a gang link when configured with the Defensive Subsystem - Warfare Processor subsystem.
Any of these ships may fit a Command Processor (mid slot module) which, when fit, allows the ship to activate one additional gang module. In fact, as long as you have the CPU to do it (believe me it will be the CPU that stops you), you can fit as many Command Processors as you like and activate that many additional gang modules at once. The Command Processor also requires Warfare Link Specialist 5.
VII. Bonuses [BONUS]
The Command Bonuses provided by gang modules only come into play if the person running them has one of the 'Booster' roles in the fleet, the fleet's chain of command is complete, and you are in space in system with other pilots of the fleet. That may sound like a very narrow field of use, but when we cover fleet structure later I hope you'll see how easy it really is.
The Math!, or Lots of Small Bonuses Make Big Numbers
Now on to the numbers! If you've never dealt with them before, at first, that 2% Command Bonus looks really crappy, but hang on that's just the base value. The base value is heavily modified by skills, ships, and implants. All gang modules rely on the Specialist skill for which it is named to determine its actual bonus, then that number has several percentage based variables applied to further increase it. I'll use a Siege Warfare Link - Shield Harmonizing(2%) module for this example.
Siege Warfare Specialist states that it gives a "100% bonus to effectiveness of siege warfare link modules per level". The module requires level 1 of this specialist skill to fit it at all, and with that level 1 the module only provides the 2% Command Bonus. At level 2 the skill would give 200% of that base 2% effect, making for and actual 4% Command Bonus. You can easily see what follows: Actual Command Bonus = Base Command Bonus * Level of Specialist skill. So my shield module here it's got a 2% base Command Bonus, and I have Siege Warfare Specialist 5, so I get 2% * 5 = 10% Command Bonus. Ok, 10% is a lot better than 2%, right? Yes, but we're far from finished.
Carrying on from that 10%, you can then add the Warfare Link Specialist skill. This skill gives an additional 10% per level to the modules effect. Unfortunately this is not added directly, but a percent of the current Command Bonus. If I have Warfare Link Specialist 5 That a 50% increase, or Actual Command Bonus = (Base Command Bonus * Level of Specialist Skill) * Percent of Warfare Link Specialist. e.g. (2% * 5) * 1.5 = 15%. Now we're getting somewhere.
Field Command Ships give a 3% bonus per level of Command Ship to increase gang modules appropriate to its race. The Rorqual gives a 5% bonus per level of Capital Industrial Ships to increase Mining Foreman Links. Strategic Cruisers give a 5% bonus per level of Defensive Subsystem skill to increase gang modules appropriate to it's race, but only when fitting the Warfare Processor Subsystem.
Amarr
- Damnation - 3% bonus to effectiveness of Armored Warfare Links per level
- Legion - 5% bonus to effectiveness of Armored Warfare Links per subsystem
skill level
Caldari
- Vulture - 3% bonus to effectiveness of Siege Warfare Links per level
- Tengu - 5% bonus to effectiveness of Siege Warfare Links per subsystem skill
level
Gallente
- Eos - 3% bonus to effectiveness of Information Warfare Links per level
- Proteus - 5% bonus to effectiveness of Information Warfare Links per subsystem
skill level
Minmatar
- Claymore - 3% bonus to effectiveness of Skirmish Warfare Links per level
- Loki - 5% bonus to effectiveness of Skirmish Warfare Links per subsystem skill
level
ORE
- Orca - 3% bonus to effectiveness of Mining Foreman Links per level
- Rorqual - 5% bonus to effectiveness of Mining Foreman Links per level when
in deployed mode
Continuing my example from 15%: my Command Ships level is 4, meaning my Vulture gives its own 12% bonus to just siege modules. That's 12% of the 15% so, 15% * 1.12 = 16.8%. The small extended bonus given by Command Ships is not really their strength, but these are the ships that can run 3 gang modules at once as a role bonus, with no additional help, good stuff.
The final increase we can apply to this bonus is by plugging in a Mindlink. There are 5 possible Mindlinks, one for each category of Gang modules (Armour, Information, Siege, Skirmish, and Mining). A Mindlink will do two really great things, they increase the effect of the related tier 1 skill 50% and they increase their related gang modules Command Bonuses by 50%. The effect on the tier 1 skill means if you have Mining Foreman 5 (+10% yield) the mindlink would add 50% to that effect (+15% yield). Sadly all of the mindlinks are implant slot 10, so you can only plug in a single one per clone.
For the Command Bonus part that's a further 50% to the existing 16.8% Command Bonus we have running: 16.8 * 1.5 = 25.2%. That number represents a 25.2% bonus to all shield resistances possibly across an entire fleet. This resistance bonus is applied as if it were another module fit on each ship so normal stacking nerf applies.
This is a chart of each possible Base Command Bonus and I have applied the most common escalation of bonuses to them to demonstrate what is possible rounded off to one decimal point. This certainly does not represent the many combinations of skills and skill levels that are possible when working out your Command Bonus.
| 2% | 10% | 15% |22.5%|25.9%|28.1%|
| 3% | 15% |22.5%|33.7%|38.8%|42.2%|
| 4.5% |22.5%|33.7%|50.6%|58.2%|63.3%|
| | | | | |
Base Command Bonus of the Module ----------| | | | | |
'X' Warfare Specialist 5 (500% of Base) ---------| | | | |
Warfare Link Specialist 5 (+50%) ----------------------| | | |
With X Warfare Mindlink plugged in (+50%) -------------------| | |
With Command Ships 5 racial module type only (+15%) (or Orca)------| |
With Capital Industrial Ships 5 instead (Rorqual only, +25%) ------------|
With Defensive Subsystem 5 (Strategic Cruisers only, 25%) ---------------|
Note: EVE calculates these bonuses to two decimal places; I rounded them up.
4. Fleet Structure [FLEET]
I love Leadership and Fleet structure, but even I'm not going to lie. Properly organizing a fleet can be a huge pain in the ass.
Speaking from experience, I find this most often comes from the fact that whoever the op FC is feels the need to also hold the in game Fleet Commander title as well as Boss. This either makes their life hell, or means some things don't get done because they have bigger fish to fry.
Organizing a fleet structure cannot be done on the fly, it must be done in advance of battle or just agreed to be ignored for the moment. Again, as much as I love this area of EVE, DO NOT be that annoying guy bitching "I have skill X I should be a commander", or "I need to be in wing x squad x now!" when your command has better things to do. FC's will usually ask for people when they need certain roles filled, and when you ask for invites you should state your preferences for bonuses.
To largely avoid this issue there are now a few new tools to help manage fleets and invites. If you are the fleet Boss, you can right click the small white arrow in the upper left corner of the fleet interface for a small context menu. The two options I want to point out here are 'Self Invite' and 'Self Move'.
Self Invite - This comes in two flavors: Self Invite(Corporation) and Self Invite(Alliance). When you enable either of these, any member of the fleet can post invite links into a chat channel, and any member of their corporation or alliance (as you enabled) can click that link and it gets them into the fleet. A fleet member can right click on their own portrait in any chat channel and from the context menu select 'Channel > Post Fleet Invitation'. This will put a yellow highlighted link in the chat channel 'Fleet Invitation (Corporation)' or 'Fleet Invitation(Alliance)'. Any members of that corp or alliance not already in the fleet can click the chat link and get themselves in.
Self Move - When the Boss enables self move, fleet members may move themselves from squad to squad, or make them selves Squad Commander if the squad does not already have one. Once enabled a fleet member only needs to right click themselves in the fleet interface then from the context menu select 'Move' and follow the drop downs through the wings and squads available to move to. If the squad does not yet have a squad commander, the option to become the squad commander will also appear in the 'Move' menu. Fleet members cannot move themselves up to Wing Commanders or Fleet Commander, only the FC and Boss can promote Wing Commanders, only the Boss can promote the FC.
To make these features more effective, create as many wings and squads as you think you'll need in advance. Only the Boss or FC can create new wings and squads and if there are no extras, incoming members will have nowhere to go, or be unable to move themselves around. Also, wings and squads can be renamed, with the name appearing in the fleet interface. Naming wings and squads based on the leadership bonuses available or the roles they are meant to fill gives everyone a clear idea of where they ought to be, and makes the best use of 'Self Move'. To do this, right click the wing or squad in the fleet interface and select 'Change Name'.
There are several Roles in a fleet, beyond just being a member of the fleet. Unless you are otherwise promoted (by the Boss or Commanders) you are considered a Squad Member. The squad you are in may be part of a Wing, but you are still represented to the fleet as a member of the squad itself. The hierarchy is as follows:
- Squad Member - You are the soldiers, highly trained and motivated; you act on your commander's orders precisely, and not before
- Squad Commander(SC) - With Leadership 5 you can Command a Squad of up to 10 pilots (this includes yourself). You may invite people only into your Squad.
- Wing Commander(WC) - With Wing Command 5 you may Command a Wing of up to 5 Squads (each with their own SC). You may invite or move people in any Squad in your Wing. You can promote or demote SC's in the squads of your Wing.
- Fleet Commander(FC) - With Fleet Command 5 you may lead a fleet of up to 5 Wings (each with their own WC's and SC's). You may invite or move people in any part of the fleet. You may promote or demote WC's and SC's in any part of the fleet.
Also, any member of the fleet can also be a Scout, Booster, or the Boss. Scout is simply a way to designate which players are scouting for the fleet.
Scouts move around up to several systems away from the main fleet to be eyes and ears for the fleet.
The Booster role is why I started this guide; boosters provide gang bonuses to the fleet. People with the Booster role are usually encouraged to bring gang modules suited to benefit certain types of ships, and are then made Booster for a Squad or Wing made up of those ship types.
The Boss role is exactly what it sounds like, the Boss. Even if the person with the Boss role is not the Fleet Commander, they still have all of the powers needed to manage the fleet, from inviting people into any Squad or Wing, moving people to and from Squads, promoting and demoting Commanders of any rank, The Boss.
I feel it's best if the actual op FC retains the Boss title, as they need that absolute control, but they do NOT have to be the Fleet Commander in game as well. If possible the Fleet Commander position should be given to someone with the Fleet Command skill and who is capable enough to manage invites, Commanders, and members and organize the fleet structure to make best use of the available bonuses. If this is simply not possible, then actual op leaders should only do this organization when well out of danger. It is simply not a priority if they are trying to plan the actions and movements of the fleet to also be answering every cry to be moved by Squad Members.
There are 3 types of Booster: Squad Booster, Wing Booster, and Fleet Booster, this is shown as a letter in brackets after the players name (S), (W), or (F). A Squad Booster can only give gang bonuses to other members of their own Squad. A Wing Booster can give bonuses to other pilots in their entire Wing. Of course the Fleet Booster provides gang bonuses across the entire fleet. Whether these bonuses are received by anyone depends on the fleet's chain of command being complete. What this refers to is that the people in the Squad, Wing, and Fleet Commander positions have the necessary skills for the fleet they are leading. Anyone can occupy any of these positions, but without the proper skills, no bonuses can be passed down through the fleet. The Boosters can have any place in the fleet structure; being a Booster simply means they are the source of the gang bonuses for part of the fleet, nothing more. Boosters do not even need to have Wing Command or Fleet Command skills -- even as a Squad Member they can be set as a Fleet Booster and provide the bonuses fleet wide.
___________________________________________________________________________ | FC (skilled) | |______________________________Fleet Bonuses________________________________| | WC 1 (skilled) | WC 2 (unskilled) | |____Fleet + Wing Bonuses____________|___________No Bonuses_________________| | SC 1 (skilled) | SC 2 (unskilled) | SC 3 (skilled) | SC 4 (unskilled) | |___All Bonuses___|____No Bonuses____|__Squad Bonuses_|_____No Bonuses______|
Having an FC with the Fleet Command skill means that some people can benefit from the bonuses of the Fleet Booster, as long as the other Commanders are also skilled. Wing 1 has a skilled Commander, so Squads below him may receive bonuses of both the Fleet Booster and Wing Booster (yes AND -- I'll get to that). Squad 1, having a skilled SC, can get bonuses from the Fleet, Wing, and Squad Boosters -- awesome. Squad 2, having an unskilled SC (or no SC at all, same effect) gets no bonuses from any Boosters. Due to Wing 2 having an unskilled WC, squads in this Wing cannot get either Fleet or Wing Booster bonuses -- they are cut off by the lack of command skills. Squad 3 is fortunate to have a skilled SC since they can at least get the Squad Booster's bonuses. Squad 4 is screwed.
As previously stated the Boosters can be anywhere in the fleet structure -- they do not have to occupy the Commander positions. In order for a Squad to get any bonuses, the SC of that squad must have Leadership at a high enough level to support the numbers in the Squad (10 members at level 5). To get Wing bonuses, the WC must have the Wing Command skill level high enough to support the number of Squads they have (5 Squads in a Wing at level 5). For Fleet bonuses to work, the FC must have Fleet Command trained to support the number of Wings they command (5 Wings in a fleet at level 5). The Commanders DO NOT have to have the skills or modules that provide the bonuses. Rather, they only need to have Leadership, Wing Command, or Fleet Command to ensure the bonuses of the Boosters are passed along. Likewise the Boosters DO NOT need to have Wing Command or Fleet Command to be a Booster for those ranks (they just cannot hold the Commander position). Of course, it is very convenient if you are 'the whole package'.
Now the best part: EVE will blend the best bonuses of all of the Boosters and give them ALL to the Squads. Assuming you have a completely skilled set of commanders, the members of a Squad will get the bonuses of the Fleet, Wing AND Squad Boosters. Note that if two Boosters are running the same module, only the best effect is given to the fleet, and the other is ignored.
What this means is while most fleets divvy up into Shield, Armour, and Speed Wings, you can still pump more bonuses into them at the Fleet and Squad levels.
At the end of the day, with a dedicated group of Boosters and Commanders you can provide a wide range of really solid bonuses to a fleet.
