Standing Fleet
Standing fleet
Standing fleet is a proud tradition based on the FIRST rule of eve: Fly what you can afford to lose.
It is a 24x7 running fleet in your space that is there to guard the wall from invaders. Different groups run standing fleet differently.
The key is to:
Fly ships you enjoy flying
Fly affordable ships. Affordability is key!
Don't have a role? Fly Tackle! And die in a fire!
Make mistakes
Look at why you died.
Get a new ship, consider the My favorite ships thread if you're part of horde. I recommend the Scythe!
Get better. :D
I've also included a guide from Marc Maven, an ex-horde guy who is a great dude. :D
This was intended as a newbro guide but it became a tips and tricks thing. Standing fleet is great. It's a way to hang out and talk to your fellow nerds while hunting for targets, trying out new ship builds and doing Gob's work defending others isk making activities. I highly suggest you read this guide from Alcoholic Satan for a overall view of standing. This is more geared towards players interested in standing pvp.
Navigation and Information - getting to the fight
First, let's get some game settings out of the way. See below for pictures.
Include jump bridges and ignore safety in route.
Set up fleet chat, intel windows and local. See below.
We are looking for people putting www (help, I am tackled) or xxx (I have something tackled) in fleet chat. They should link a system with the xxx and www which makes it easy for you to right click the system link and set destination. Start traveling there with your friends.
When in system of the action, right click the name of the person giving the WWW or XXX and warp to them at a range appropriate for your ship.
Another way is to listen to coms. If people say a three character combintation on coms they are abbreviating a system name. For example "A tack Y" is the short hand for the system A-YB15 in the context of our home region. You can navigate to it by searching it in the route tool. You can also ask them to not be a lazy bastard and link the system they are talking about.
IMPORTANT - If you have something of intel value to say in coms, no matter how chatty everyone are, the magic words are "CHECK CHECK" followed by your intel. People will listen to this call and silence up to hear intel. This is a golden rule and no one should be mad at you for using it, as long as you don't abuse it. Persons to emulate in giving effective and clear intel are the legends Gloria Kahn or JAY AMAZINGNESS. Example:
"Check, check. Make hostiles roughly 30 Goons. Mix of T2 frigates and T2 frigate logi. In TA9 warping RAI gate." I get goosebumps everytime I hear it, perfect verbal intel.
NEVER use the word "Spike in <system>" in verbal or written intel. It is a slang word bearing no useful information what so ever. It is better to say "between 20 to 30" even if there is actually 15 neuts in system.[/SPOILER]
Piloting effectively - tips and tricks
To be an effective pilot is all about training and experience - not the amount of bling on your ship. There are many guides/videos out there from people way better than me, both pedagocilcy and skill wise. However, here are some tips and tricks that might smoothen the journey to becoming experienced:
Use the tactical overlay, tactical camera and zoom out!
There is no other way to get good awareness of a battlefield than using the tactical overlay and tactical camera. You enable it by the buttons beside your capacitor. This is how I observe the battlefield during a fight.
The red dotted circle is your targeting range.
The blue line is your current trajectory
The arced lines from enemies that ends in a dot on the plane is very useful. The dot on the plane is how far they are from you.
If you hover over your guns you get a visual over your ranges. The bright enemy arc lines are in your wepon range.
The lines from the enemy ships are which direction they are heading, the size is theirs speed.
If you see red lines towards your ship from enemy ships you know that someone is burning into you.
For an awesome video guide, check out 3TEARS - Let's get tactical
Navigate using the Q-click method
When using the tactical camera its easier to navigate using the (by default) Q-click method rather than doubleclicking in space. Double clicking still works though.
Hold down Q. A line in the plane with a distance from your ship should appear. Move and click to set your radial direction.
After first click, still holding down Q,move your mouse to desired angular direction and click a second time to finish. Release Q.
Your ship will now move and stop at the blue ball in space. Your final destination will appear as an arc just as enemie lines on the tactical overview.
Once proficient at this tactic, you will be able to pilot well and still have an awareness of what is happening on the grid.
More on piloting
Choose when to "go in" and run back to friends when in danger
It is wise to bide your time if you are chasing what's commonly called "kitey bullshit" or trying catch a group taking gates. If you are a fast frigate, try flanking around the sides of the enemy gang and maybe even behind them, as I try to illustrate here. Stay on grid, go in a bit say 60km off. If they target you just burn out to 100km off of them again, if they don't try to catch something that is close to your friends. Maximize your time on grid and go for the oppertunities when they arise instead of suicide tackle all the time - let a meteor stabber handle that part.
Keeping an eye on where your friends are is cruicial as well, both on grid and while traveling. Warping off if you start taking damage is generally bad, even worse is burning a random direction, when you have the option to burn back towards your friends and potentially baiting enemies into the blob. When chasing a gang taking gates it can be worth pointing something while being aligned somewhere to lure them into shooting you. This gives standing a chanse to catch up since the enemies has a 60s weapon timer and can't take gates.
The driveby scram/web
If you are a fast tackle frig a powerful method for both keeping your ship alive AND catching the enemy is the driveby scram/web. You need to be as close as possible (60-90km) and start burning straight towards a target and in line to something you can warp off to. When close (30km ish) overheat scram and mwd. Flying by your target you apply the scram while still traveling towards your warpout. The enemy looses speed so that the main fleet can catch up and you are ready to warp out if you are taking heat. If you get scrammed you should be fine since you are swooshing by so fast that they won't hold you for long.
Ship selection for maximizing fun/h
Fly what you are comfortable loosing. This is a key aspect of the game in general but it is especially true in standing fleet. Standing fleet is chaos and caught at the wrong time you will lose your ship. There is nothing your buddies can do about it so don't hold a grudge to them.
I am not keen on telling people what ships to fly - it is a part of the game to theorycraft the ship that fits your wallet, current skills and playstyle. However, there are some numbers and pointers that can help guide people in the process:
Battleships and battlecruicers - You will be traveling a lot. This means battlecruicer and battleships will have a hard time catching up before a fight is over or dodge a fight that is not preferable. Fit for long range and use a Micro Jump Drive. You can improve your ability to get on grid in time with Hyperspatial Optimizer rigs.
Cruisers - Perfect standing dps or heavy tackle. Normal caracal and meteor stabber will do well in those roles.
Destroyers - Perfect standing dps and dictors are invaluable if they bubble enemies instead of friendlies. Normal jackdaw, or jackdaw with a sensor dampener, is very good for standing. The doctrine Cormorant is never wrong as it packs instant dps at incredible ranges.
Frigates - Has it all except for dps and tank (if not on 0). If logi tickles your fancy, try moving away from logi cruicers and into logi frigates. 90% of the time it is the hero tackle that needs the reps and you will 90% of the time be out of range or too slow on and to grid to rep those guys.
Standing fleet fits should consider this:
Damage platforms should be >2000m/s, align <7s, damage out to >70km. It rarely is used but it can be nice to put a Warp Disruptor (point) on these ships. Buffer tank is generally more effective than active tank.
Tackle ships should fit both point and scram, or just scram and web for heavy tackle, to be truly effective at the role (in my opinion).
Tackle ships should be capable of >3500m/s when overheating the micro warp drive.
A pure tackle frigate should aim for, and usually have, >3500m/s when not overheating. Speed is your tank and ability to get on/off grid.