Command Bursts
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. The item description for all Warfare Links states, "Warfare links are dedicated fleet command systems designed for use on battlecruisers and advanced command class ships. While only one of these units can normally be operated at any given time, certain advanced units allow the use of multiple systems." As noted, 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.
Warfare Link Modules
In the Eve markets, Warfare Links are found under the name "Fleet Assistance Modules" in the Ship Equipment category. Other fleet assistance modules include items such as a Cynosural Field Generator and a Clone Vat Bay.
Warfare links are high slot, active modules that emit a fleet-wide bonus to one or more attributes for as long as they are active. The pilot operating the warfare link(s) only provide Warfare Link bonuses to other fleet members when:
- he has the Booster role, and
- the fleet chain of command is complete, and
- the pilot providing boosts and the required fleet command structure are in the same system, and
- the pilot providing boosts is not in warp (Warfare Links do not operate while the ship is in warp), and
- the pilot providing boosts is not inside a starbase forcefield (Warfare Links do not operate inside a starbase forcefield, except for Mining Foreman links).
Warfare Links are classified by the five leadership skill categories required to operate them. The actual Warfare Link module names all begin with "X Warfare Link," as shown below. A module's base bonus level is referred to as its Command Bonus. While the Command Bonus of any warfare link appears to be rather small, these are significantly multiplied by skills, select ships, and Slot 10 implants known as "Mindlinks." See Warfare links#Command Bonus Multipliers for additional information on how Command Bonuses work in practice.
As of January 2012, Warfare Links became available in both Tech 1 and Tech 2 versions. The key skill prerequisite for the Tech 2 links is {Type of Link} Warfare Specialist V (e.g., Armored Warfare Specialist V) as opposed to lower levels of training for that skill. Tech 2 Warfare Links provide greater Command Bonuses but require additional power grid and CPU for fitting purposes.
Armored Warfare Links
Provide bonuses to support armor-based defense of the fleet, including remote armor repair. For Armored Warfare Links, the command bonuses show as negative because they improve resists, increase repair speed, or lower capacitor need.The item descriptions for these modules state:
- Damage Control -- Reduces the capacitor need of the fleet's personal and targeted armor repair systems.
- Passive Defense -- Grants a bonus to the fleet's armor resistances.
- Rapid Repair -- Increases the speed of the fleet's personal and targeted armor repair systems.
The base Command Bonuses for the T1 and T2 modules are -4.8% / -6%, respectively.
Information Warfare Links
Provide bonuses to improve the effectiveness of e-war and sensor strength of the fleet.The item descriptions for the Information Warfare Link modules state:
- Electronic Superiority -- Boosts the strength of the fleet's electronic warfare modules.
- Recon Operation -- Increases range of modules requiring Electronic Warfare, Sensor Linking, Target Painting or Weapon Disruption for all ships in the fleet.
- Sensor Integrity -- Boosts sensor strengths and lock ranges for all of the fleet's ships.
The base Command Bonuses for the Tech 1 and Tech 2 version of each module type are:
- Electronic Superiority (to module strength):
- Target Painting 6.4% / 8%
- ECM 6.4% / 8%
- Tracking Disruption 4% / 5%
- Remote Sensor Dampening 4% / 5%
- Target Painting 6.4% / 8%
- Recon Operation (to module range) 6.4% / 2.5%
- Sensor Integrity (to sensor strength and lock range) 9.6% / 12%
Siege Warfare Links
Provide bonuses to improve shield-based defenses of the fleet, including remote shield repair. For Siege Warfare Links, the command bonuses show as negative because they improve resists, increase repair speed, or lower capacitor need. The item descriptions for the Siege Warfare Link modules state:
- Active Shielding -- Increases the speed of the fleet's shield boosters and decreases the duration of shield transporters.
- Shield Efficiency -- Reduces the capacitor need of the fleet's shield boosters and shield transporters.
- Shield Harmonizing -- Boosts all shield resistances for the fleet's ships.
The base Command Bonuses for the Tech 1 and Tech 2 versions of each module type are -4.8% and -6%, respectively.
Skirmish Warfare Links
Provide bonuses to a fleet's speed, speed tanking, and tackling capabilities. The item descriptions for these modules state:
- Evasive Maneuvers -- Lowers the signature radius of ships in the fleet.
- Interdiction Maneuvers -- Boosts the range of the fleet's propulsion jamming modules, except for Warp Disruption Field Generators.
- Rapid Deployment -- Increases the speed of the fleet's afterburner and microwarpdrive modules.
The base Command Bonuses for the Tech 1 and Tech 2 versions of each module type are:
- Evasive Maneuvers -6.4% / -8%
- Interdiction Maneuvers 6.4% / 8%
- Rapid Deployment 5.6% / 7%
Mining Foreman Links
Provide bonuses to mining activity.The item descriptions for these modules state:
- Harvester Capacitor Efficiency -- Decreases the capacitor need of mining lasers, gas harvesters and ice harvesters.
- Laser Optimization -- Decreases mining laser, gas harvester and ice harvester duration.
- Mining Laser Field Enhancement -- Increases the range of the fleet's mining lasers, gas harvesters and ice harvesters.
The base Command Bonuses for the Tech 1 and Tech 2 versions of each module type are:
- Harvestor Capacitor Efficiency -6% / -7.5%
- Laser Optimization -6% / -7.5%
- Mining Laser Field Enhancement 13.6% / 17%
Ships and Fitting
Warfare Link modules can only be fit on Battlecruisers (Tiers 1 and 2 only), Command Ships, Industrial Command Ships, Capital Industrial Ships, Strategic Cruisers, Carriers, Supercarriers, and Titans. This is enforced by all the listed ships having a role bonus of 'Can fit warfare link modules' or 'Can use 3 Warfare Link modules simultaneously' and all warfare link modules having a 'Can be fitted to' attribute.
- Strategic Cruisers - 1 active Warfare Link
- Battlecruisers - 1 active Warfare Link
- Field Command Ships - 1 active Warfare Link
- Fleet Command Ships - 3 active Warfare Links
- Industrial Command Ship - 3 active Warfare Links
- Capital Industrial - 3 active Warfare Links
- Carriers - 1 active Warfare Link
- Supercarriers - 1 active Warfare Link plus 1 per level of the Carrier skill.
- Titans - 1 active Warfare Link plus 1 per level of the Titan skill.
Note: Strategic Cruisers can only operate a Warfare Link when configured with the Defensive Subsystem - Warfare Processor subsystem.
Any of these ships may fit a Command Processor I (mid slot module) which, when fit, allows the ship to activate one additional Warfare Link. In fact, as long as the ship has sufficient CPU, a pilot can fit as many Command Processors as he wishes and activate that many additional gang modules at once. Typically, one or more co-processor modules will be required to fit multiple Command Processors on a ship. Using a Command Processor also requires the skill Leadership Warfare Link Specialist.
Select ships among this eligible ship group provide additional bonuses to Warfare Links. These are discussed in the next section.
Command Bonus Multipliers
As noted previously, the base Command Bonus of any Warfare Link appears to be insignificant. By itself, it is. Typically, Command Bonuses are multipled by the boosting pilot's skills, his ship bonuses, and one of his implants. This section demonstrates the potentially powerful effects of Warfare Links when bonuses are compounded in this manner.
The Math of Warfare Link Bonuses
Four different bonuses are incorporated into the total bonus provided by a Warfare Link (or group of Warfare Links). These are the:
- Specialist skill bonus
- Warfare Link Specialist skill bonus
- Ship bonus for certain ships
- Mindlink implant bonus.
These bonuses are multiplicative, not additive, so the formula for the total fleet boost is:
- Bonus = Specialist Skill bonus * Warfare Link Specialist bonus * Ship bonus * Mindlink bonus
An example of the bonus calculation is woven into the bonus descriptions below.
Specialist Skill Bonus
Two advanced leadership skills (known as "specialist" skills) significantly impact the bonuses provided by any Warfare Link. The first is the level of training for the related link itself (e.g., Siege Warfare Specialist). The other related skill is Leadership Warfare Link Specialist. Throughout this section, the Siege (shield) bonuses using a T2 Warfare Link and all Level V skills are calculated for illustrative purposes. To determine the actual bonuses of any one pilot, substitute the appropriate bonuses for the module used and his skills into the formulas provided here.
The Siege Warfare Specialist states that it "Boosts the effectiveness of siege warfare link modules by 20% per skill level." The module requires level 1 of this specialist skill to fit it at all, and with that the Tech 1 module only provides a -5.76% (-4.8 * 1.2) Command Bonus (T2 module not available to this pilot). At level 2 the skill would give a 40% bonus to the base 4.8% effect, resulting in a -6.72% Command Bonus. The actual formula becomes obvious:
- Actual Command Bonus = Base Command Bonus * (1 + 0.2 * Level of Specialist skill).
A pilot with Leadership Siege Warfare Specialist using a Tech 2 Siege Warfare Link would therefore provide an actual Command Bonus of:
- Bonus = -6% * 2 = -12%
Remember that siege bonuses are negative. Other specialist skill bonuses will be positive.
Warfare Link Specialist Skill Bonus
The Warfare Link Specialist skill "boosts effectiveness of all warfare link and mining foreman modules by 10% per level." This is added as a percentage of the initial Command Bonus, as calculated above. A pilot with Warfare Link Specialist V receives a 50% increase. The updated bonus result is:
- Bonus = Actual Specialist Skill Bonus * (1 + 0.1 * Level of Warfare Link Specialist Skill), which in this example is:
- Bonus = -12% * 1.5 or -18%
Special Ship Bonuses
Command Ships give a 3% bonus per level of Command Ship to increase gang modules appropriate to its race.
The Rorqual gives a 10% bonus per level of Capital Industrial Ships to increase Mining Foreman Links.
Strategic Cruisers give a 2% bonus per level of Defensive Subsystem skill to increase gang modules appropriate to its race, but only when fitting the Warfare Processor Subsystem.
Amarr
- Damnation and Absolution: 3% bonus to effectiveness of Armored Warfare and Information Warfare Links per level
- Legion: 2% bonus to effectiveness of Armored Warfare, Information Warfare, and Skirmish Warfare Links per subsystem skill level
Caldari
- Vulture and Nighthawk: 3% bonus to effectiveness of Siege Warfare and Information Warfare Links per level
- Tengu: 2% bonus to effectiveness of Siege Warfare, Information Warfare, and Skirmish Warfare Links per subsystem skill level
Gallente
- Eos and Astarte: 3% bonus to effectiveness of Armored Warfare and Skirmish Warfare Links per level
- Proteus: 2% bonus to effectiveness of Armored Warfare, Skirmish Warfare, and Information Warfare Links per subsystem skill level
Minmatar
- Claymore and Sleipnir: 3% bonus to effectiveness of Siege Warfare and Skirmish Warfare Links per level
- [[Loki]: 2% bonus to effectiveness of Skirmish Warfare, Siege Warfare, and Armored Links per subsystem skill level
ORE
- Orca: 3% bonus to effectiveness of Mining Foreman Links per level
- Rorqual: 10% bonus to effectiveness of Mining Foreman Links per level when in deployed mode
Ship Bonus Example
We can see from the example above that the Actual Command bonus from Siege Warfare Links due to max pilot skills is -18%. Adding the ship bonus, which is multiplicative, is straightforward. One command ship that provides bonuses to Siege Warfare Links is a Vulture, which boosts by 3% per level.The updated bonus formula now becomes:
- Actual Bonus = Total Bonus Due to Skills * (1+ 0.03 * Level of Command Ships Skill), which in this example equals:
- Bonus = -18% * 1.15 or -20.7%
In previous expansions this bonus would have been higher if a Tech 3 ship, the Tengu, was used instead of a Vulture. In Odyssey 1.1 however the level of bonus that all Tech 3 ships provide was reduced to 2% while each race's Tech 3 ship was given the ability to apply the bonus to a third class of warfare link. The key boosting benefit of a Command ship is that it allows for three warfare links to be fit, activated, and bonused without the need for fitting Command Processors. The actual "ideal" ship choice used for fleet boosting therefore depends on the circumstances of the expected battle and on fleet composition.
Mindlink Bonus
The last increase that can be applied to this bonus is achieved by the boosting pilot plugging in a Mindlink, a slot 10 implant that requires Science Cybernetics to use. There are nine possible Mindlinks, one for each category of Warfare Links (Armor, Information, Siege, Skirmish, and Mining) and four Navy Mindlinks, each of which provide bonuses to two categories of Warfare Links. Only one Mindlink can be applied per clone, as they all use the same slot.
A Mindlink provides two significant bonuses. The first is unrelated to calculating the Warfare Link bonus formula, but it is still extremely powerful. The first Mndlink bonus increases the effect of the related tier 1 skill (or two related skills in the case of navy mindlinks) by 50%. In other words, a Siege Warfare Mindlink replaces the 10% bonus to the fleet's shield capacity normally provided by the booster having Siege Warfare V and increases this bonus to 15%.
Mindlinks also increase their related warfare link modules Command Bonuses by 25%. In the example used throughout this section, the Total Siege Warfare Bonus to all modules becomes:
- Total Siege Bonus = (Bonus from Skills and Ships) * (1 + Mindlink Bonus), which is:
- Total Siege Bonus = -20.7% * 1.25 or -25.9% (rounded)
Total Command Bonus
Note that this Total Command Bonus from the Siege Warfare Links bonus is very significant. When applying the -25.9% bonus from the Tech 2 Shield Harmonizing module, for example, the benefit is almost as much as adding an extra Adaptive Invulnerability Field II to every member of the fleet! Since this resistance bonus is applied as if it were another module fit on each ship, normal stacking penalties apply -- so a savvy fleet commander could choose to ask his fleet to each eliminate one Adaptive Invulnerability Field II and fit another module in its place.
