User:Frandetta
[CLASS] Recognizing, Avoiding, and Countering: Kites, disegages, bait. First I'll just mention the rules of the class. Unless otherwise specified TS is to be kept clear of chat. Second, we'll be taking a fleet to practice some of these tactics, so I'll ask you guys to pick a tackler of choice to fly. We'll be staying within the Aldrat pocket, so rest assured the rules are being followed.
Welcome to Advanced PVP Tactics, where we'll be discussing how to recognize, avoid, and counter kites, disengages, and bait.
These are three of the most common tactics that you'll see used, and so it's vital to be able to discern when they're being used, and know how to counter them.
So first up I'll talk about kiting. Kiting is the practice of drawing an enemy ship along as you dictate range and the terms of engagement. In short: you make someone chase you. The inherent danger of being kited is two-fold: first is having 0 angular velocity so that you're easy to hit even in a frigate, and the second is being separated from the main force of a fleet. The danger is compounded since ships that will kite will also typically have a greater range.
So how do you recognize when you're being kited? If a ship is running from you in a straight line and his speed is either greater than yours or only slightly below yours: you're being kited. This is especially true when you're chasing a larger ship, for example chasing a BS with a cruiser. A key number to look for is your angular velocity on the overview. If you're chasing in a straight line, your angular velocity will drop to near 0 and you will be a huge target for even the slowest tracking guns. Always fly at angles to close distance.
How do you avoid being kited? As I mentioned you should always fly at an angle to close distance in order to keep angular velocity high. But if the difference in speed between your ship and the target's is not great enough, your angular will remain low even if you fly at an angle. In these cases, your best course of action is to simply disengage. It's the hardest thing to do for even experienced pilots, but in this case and several more that you'll see: discretion is truly the better part of valor.
So let's say you know you're up against a kiting ship. What are the tools you can use against it? Well the first: if you know you can close the distance, is to have the enemy ship ECMed. He will pose no risk to you if he can't lock you and fire on you. So if you ECM him, you'll be able to tackle him and bring in the cavalry. A note though, that if all you have is a web, and he's using a MWD, main forces will often not be able to catch up. (Imagine an interceptor at 4km/s, and now that speed is only 20%, that's still 800m/s, much faster than many ships). Sometimes a scramble is worth fitting if you know you might need to counter very fast ships.
The second method of countering a kite is to simply snipe. In the uni, there are few pilots with the skills to snipe effectively, but this is a strong counter to the kite. Often if nobody is chasing, a kiting ship will fly in straight lines towards or away from fleets to taunt them. At this point the angular velocity is low and a few well placed volleys will kill the ships.
Are there any questions about kiting?
Alright, the next topic we'll be touching on is non-engagements or disengagements. I would define it as an enemy ship ceasing hostile actions in an attempt to either dock up, or jump through a gate. So to understand that, ships cannot use gates or dock for 60 seconds after using a module against another ship. That includes ECM, tackling, DD, and a variety of other modules. This tactic is extremely common and is the #1 reason that I've seen for fleets missing kills.
Recognizing a non-engage is simple, as a target that isn't flashy will not become flashy, or because no fleet member will have been aggressed (communication within a fleet is vital to find out if someone has been engaged). Recognizing disengages can be much more difficult. It too requires communication. The person who had been under attack from the target must recognize that the target is no longer attacking, and must try to relay that information.
Countering both non-engages and disengages is nearly the same. A tackler guarding the other side of a gate will be able to tackle a lone ship trying to align and warp off on the other side. For non-engages an FC may elect to simply split the fleet in half. With one half engaging on the current side of the gate, and the other half jumping through in anticipation. The most difficult part of this, is convincing fleet members to not engage, as everyone wants to be on the killmail. But as I'll demonstrate in the practical, when everyone engages, nobody gets on the killmail.
A subset of disengages and non-engages that I'm not as knowledgeable about, but will discuss briefly, is station games. This is when a target choses to undock and allow themselves to be aggressed with the purpose of determining an enemy fleet's disposition. If you do not know a system, do not play docking games there. There are multiple kinds of stations. Some will undock you within the docking range and some outside of it. What this means in practice is that you may end up having to travel back towards a station before being able to dock again (very risky proposition unless you're in a heavily tanked ship). So this is a case where information is power, and if you don't know the station, don't play the game there.
Are there any questions about disengages and non-engages?
The last topic we'll be covering is bait.
Briefly, bait is a heavily tanked ship acting as a lure for others to attack while a main force lies in wait to counter.
There are several ships that are common bait. Essentially any ship with bonuses to resists are often used as bait. Uncommon bait can come in many forms, so there's not usually a surefire way to know if someone is looking for a fight alone, or is acting as bait.
Avoiding and countering bait is all about intelligence. Not yours, the military kind. You need to know how many players in the surrounding systems are in the same corp or alliance as the person you're thinking about jumping. To avoid being baited the simplest thing to do is simply not attack. But without ever attacking a ship, you'll never really get fights. So the best option is to assume a ship is bait at first, and prepare a counter. Countering can involve bringing in a very large amount of DPS in order to kill the bait and warp out as quickly as possible, or to keep part of a fleet in reserve in order to jump in when the bait's main force arrives.
Are there any questions about baiting?
Alright, so to those who are here strictly for the theory, thank you for coming, and you're free to remain in the chat channel and continue to ask questions as they arise. I'll now be stopping the recording as the practical aspect of the class doesn't lend itself well to recording.
