Voice procedure
Voice procedure describes the discipline used in situations such as military, aviation or maritime radio traffic. It can be usefully applied to voice communications via the in-game voice system or Mumble.
General principles
The guidelines below apply to formal E-Uni fleets in wartime or in high intensity situations such as low-sec rampages. They need not be adhered to by peacetime missioning fleets in high-sec although they will probably help!
- Apart from the exceptions below, only the Fleet Commander (FC) is allowed to speak while the fleet is live. After the fleet is docked up at the end of the mission the FC may give permission for free talk.
- Note: Aside from fleet members in command positions and scouts a mic is not required in order to paricipate in a fleet. All fleet members should have a PTT key(s) set.
- The main exception is that anyone spotting a target, being targetted or scanned or coming under fire should break radio silence to report the fact (see detailed procedure below).
- Apart from contact reports as in (2) above, all communications in Fleet channel by anyone other than the FC should normally be typed into Fleet chat.
- The FC, Wing Commander/s, Scout/s and (possibly) Squad Commanders will have a separate Command channel set up which will not normally be heard by the rest of the fleet. Occasionally for training purposes, a single channel is used so that fleet members can hear the Command discussions.
- All transmissions use the absolute shortest form, eliminate all unnecessary words and last the briefest possible time.
Syntax for voice messages
Voice messages are sent in the form <Receiving Channel>,<Transmitting Pilot>:<Message>. For example if Hawkeye is the +1 scout for a Uni fleet, he might report to the Command channel in the form: Command, Hawkeye: Eygfe gate in Aldrat is clear. The reason for saying the channel name is that the FC, scouts and so on are listening to two channels. They need to know which channel a message is coming in on in order to be able to respond appropriately.
By convention the FC does not usually need to announce his or her identity as most of the time s/he is the only person speaking. A typical message from the FC might therefore be: Fleet: Align to Eygfe gate. There is normally no need for anyone to reply over voice with a Roger, Copy or Wilco - if the FC wants to check you have heard and understood s/he will ask at the end of the transmission ... do you copy?
Occasionally the FC might want to pass instructions to an individual or to a subgroup of the Fleet. They will normally do this in Fleet channel, for example: Squad 1: Warp to Fredagod gate and establish defensive gatecamp. Although everyone in Fleet hears this, the Squad 1 prefix makes it clear that only a portion of the fleet is to comply.
Radio checks
When first joining the fleet's Mumble channel, if you want to check the functioning of your microphone it is acceptable to ask for a radio check in the format Fleet, <Your name>: radio check?. If you can be heard a friendly fleet mate will likely respond by voice or in fleet chat. If no response is forthcoming, do not keep calling: type into fleet chat asking if anyone heard your call. Do not ask for a radio check if you join Mumble after the fleet has undocked, unless you have positive reason to believe that your microphone is not working.
Contact reports
Anyone in the Fleet, at any time, who spots a red flashy, is targetted or comes under fire must immediately make a contact report. If others are broadcasting the pilot may broadcast Break, break! and all other traffic will immediately cease.
If in a hot contact and you have minimal time, the first contact report need only be in the form <Transmitting Pilot>, <Contact, Wait>. So our scout from the section above, having jumped through the Eygfe gate and being immediately targetted, might say in Fleet: Break, break! Hawkeye, contact, wait. All other traffic must stop and nobody will transmit until further information is received. As soon as possible, the pilot in contact must give the FC and Fleet as a whole more information, including: <Transmitting Pilot>, <contact>, <location>, <details of target (activity, pilot name, ship class)>, <own actions>.
An example of a full contact report would therefore be: Fleet, Hawkeye: Contact at Aldrat gate in Eygfe. War target Biffo targetted me with his Rifter. Have warped off to safe spot.
Prowords
Fleet commanders and others may use procedure words (known as prowords) which are short words or phrases used in a standardised way to communicate a fuller meaning. Some prowords (roger; over) will be familiar from so-called real life: others (jump, jump, jump; hold on contact) will only be heard in Eve. Examples of both types are given below. Further examples of verbal (or written) commands can be found under Fleet Terminology. Note that the prowords Over and Out should not normally be used in E-Uni fleets. They add little extra information and use up valuable airtime.
Conventional prowords
| Proword | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Break, break! | This is important, stop talking and let me speak! | Used to clear comms when you have important information to deliver to the FC. Break break, I have a red flashy on the Eygfe gate in Aldrat! |
| Contact | Enemy spotted. | |
| Correct | You are correct, or what you have transmitted is correct. | |
| Correction | I have made a mistake in transmission. Will restart with the last correct word. | Fleet, warp Fredagod, correction, warp Eygfe |
| Do you copy | Have you received and understood my message? | |
| Exempt | The addressees immediately following are exempted from the collective call. | Fleet, all squads exempt squad 2 warp to zero on target and engage |
| Figures | Numbers follow | Command, Hawkeye: War target is at figures one five zero from the gate |
| I say again | Repetition for emphasis | Fleet, lock target but do not open fire, I say again do not open fire. |
| I spell | I am about to spell out a word in the phonetic alphabet. | Command, Hawkeye: war target has jumped to system, I spell, Charlie dash Victor Golf Yankee Oscar. |
| Roger | Acknowledged, okay, orders received. | |
| Say again | I did not hear/understand your message clearly, please repeat | Command, Hawkeye, say again destination? |
| Wait | I must wait to continue this message, leave airwaves clear for my continuation. | Command, Hawkeye: Jumping into Rancer, wait.......... far side of gate is clear. |
| Wait out | I must wait some time to continue, others may transmit in the intervening period. | Command, Hawkeye: Warping to gate, wait out. |
| Wilco | I have understood and will comply with your instruction. |
Eve-specific prowords
| Proword | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Align | Align to given destination but do not warp. | Fleet, Align Eygfe gate. |
| Defensive gate camp | Orbit gate at optimal range for task (tackler, direct damage etc). More details about Gatecamps here | |
| Hold on contact | On arrival at gate, do not jump through. In the absence of further instructions, establish offensive gate camp. | |
| Hold cloak | After jumping through gate, do not align, warp or move in any way. This is thje default action on jumping unless ordered otherwise. | |
| Jump, jump, jump | Jump through gate and hold cloak on far side. | |
| Offensive gatecamp | Orbit gate within jumping distance (2500m) but do not jump yet. Unless ordered otherwise, this is the default instruction on arriving at a gate. More details about Gatecamps here | |
| Warp | Warp to given destination. | Fleet, warp to Eygfe gate. |
| Warp to (figure) | Warp to within given distance of destination. | Fleet, warp to Hawkeye at 50. |
Phonetics
Letters
In the case of unusual names (eg for systems or pilots) it may be necessary to spell out a word. The table below shows the internationally agreed phonetic alphabet which may be useful. Words are spelled out letter by letter, so for example Eygfe is spelled out Echo, Yankee, Golf, Foxtrot, Echo (and not E-Echo, Y-Yankee, G-Golf etc...) If you are about to spell out a name, it may be helpful to use the proword I spell to warn people that phonetic alphabet is coming, thus: Warp to Eygfe, I spell: Echo, Yankee, Golf...
| Letter | Code word | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| A | Alfa | AL FAH |
| B | Bravo | BRAH VOH |
| C | Charlie | CHAR LEE or SHAR LEE |
| D | Delta | DELL TAH |
| E | Echo | ECK OH |
| F | Foxtrot | FOKS TROT |
| G | Golf | GOLF |
| H | Hotel | HO TELL |
| I | India | IN DEE AH |
| J | Juliett | JEW LEE ETT |
| K | Kilo | KEY LOH |
| L | Lima | LEE MAH |
| M | Mike | MIKE |
| N | November | NO VEM BER |
| O | Oscar | OSS CAH |
| P | Papa | PAH PAH |
| Q | Quebec | KEH BECK |
| R | Romeo | ROW ME OH |
| S | Sierra | SEE AIR RAH |
| T | Tango | TANG GO |
| U | Uniform | YOU NEE FORM |
| V | Victor | VIK TAH |
| W | Whiskey | WISS KEY |
| X | X-ray | ECKS RAY |
| Y | Yankee | YANG KEY |
| Z | Zulu | ZOO LOO |
Numbers
Numbers are pronounced in the folowing way, preceded by the proword Figures.
| Number | Code word | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Zero (not "Nought" or "Oh") | ZEE ROH |
| 1 | One | WUN |
| 2 | Two | TOO |
| 3 | Three | TREE |
| 4 | Four | FOR |
| 5 | Five | FIFE |
| 6* | Six | SICKS |
| 7 | Seven | SE VUN |
| 8 | Eight | AIT |
| 9 | Nine | NAI NER |
- NB, in this case (only) there really IS a 6!
