Mission fleets
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Missions are often seen as a solo activity, but they can also be done as part of a fleet. Broadly there are two different types of mission fleet: Spider fleets and Locust fleets.
Contents
Spider Fleet
A spider fleet (sometimes known as a 'standings fleet') is the name for a fleet in which each member independently runs their own missions, while in a fleet with other members doing the same thing.
Benefits of spider fleets
The benefit to this is that mission rewards and standings can be divided equally among all the members of the fleet, up to a maximum of ten members. This means that members of the fleet can build up standings in particular with several different NPC corporations at the same time.
An additional benefit of spider fleets is that if a members is struggling with a particular a mission, there is a fleet channel for members to easily ask other mission runners for assistance.
Sharing rewards
The following rewards are shared:
The following rewards are not shared:
- Faction standings
- Bounties (unless another fleet member is on grid)
- Loot and salvage
Finding and joining spider fleets
EVE University members running spider fleets may list them in the Fleet Finder. On the NeoCom, go to the E in the top right, then to Social and select the 
Fleet button. Select the Fleet Finder tab, then select the Find Fleets button. If there is an existing spider fleet it will be listed here. Right click the spider fleet and select Join and the request to join will be sent to the Fleet boss. Once the request has been accepted the member will be added to the fleet and a fleet chat window will be opened.
In the event that there is no existing spider fleet available, members can start a new spider fleet. To do this, click the Fleet button from the Neocom, right click the four bars to the top right of the Fleet window and select Form Fleet. Afterwards, the member will need to put up an advert to allow people to join. Select the Fleet Finder tab, then the subtab My Advert and then select Create Advert. A window will open and the member should fill it in with details of the fleet. Ensure it is set to Corporation and that you mention in the name that it is a spider fleet for missions.
See the Fleet User Interface article for more detailed information on the Fleet window
Fleet Protocol
Once a member is in the fleet, they are expected to be doing missions. If they are not actively doing missions, but still knowingly claiming rewards from others this is considered theft, and is contrary to the EVE University Rules. Discretion is advised, for example a quick break from doing missions to salvage a site would be okay, but if a member is moving to a new location or going AFK it would be better for them to drop from the fleet until they are back doing missions again.
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.
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.
