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Communications Discipline
Communications Discipline
This has been written by Shan Sint in 2025 Q3, and submitted for this website. https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/guide-basics-of-gathering-and-reporting-intel.4277/ has a great guide on giving good intel as well, but this is more about being precise, nice, and generally good at sharing!
Shan Sint's communication guide
Shan Sint's communication guide
So when you hear people shouting 'Comms!' or 'Battle Comms', or see it written in fleet chat, and don’t know what that means, this little guide is for you : )
Coming from different games and walks of life, there are people that just like to talk to an audience, and there are people who don’t. And while most of the times we encourage people to speak up, discipline on comms (meaning using Mumble during fleet) is a vital factor in keeping things organized.
DOES NOT APPLY TO: Interceptor scouts, Interdictors, dedicated fleet tacklers. They are part of the so called special snowflakes, with their own set of rules while being active.
PREREQUISITES: Properly set up Mumble keys (see below)
There are some easy core rules to the concept:
When the FCs talk, everyone keeps quiet until they are done. No exceptions.
It doesn’t matter if you agree or disagree with what is being said – you keep quiet. Because it’s not just you listening, and people need to hear the FCs in order for the fleet to function properly. So please, as soon as they start talking, stop pressing your whisper / shout button. Do not end your sentence / thought / rant / joke – just full stop. If you have to talk immediately, typing in chat CAN be okay, just don't take it too far.
No voice activation
Please do not use the voice activation feature on Mumble during fleet. Yes, we will hear you breathe, drink, eat, your dog and your wife in the background. No, we don’t want to. There is only one group in fleet who should use voice activation, and that’s the FCs. Setting push to talk is important.
No instashouting
People join fleets, don’t read the MotD (Message of the Day), and instantly start shouting to everyone if they could catch up, bring their totally rad Widow, etc. – DON’T. It is really annoying everyone, and a bit disrespectful. So when you join a fleet, say hello using your whisper button, read the MotD (twice), and if there are any questions left to answer, you ask your fellow fleetmates – NOT the FC. Asking in chat, looking at the 'My Fleet Members' in the map, and other options make it easy to catch up. see Horde Onboarding for how to do this.
No discussion
As long as you are not the FC, you don’t start a discussion on doctrine, targets, etc. It isn’t your fleet, it’s the FCs. And while you very well may know better, you keep it to yourself. A good FC is open to critique, improvements, etc. – after fleet. Not before, and certainly not during. While breaking rule number 3 is a bit disrespectful, this one is just plain rude as hell.
If someone yells 'Check', shut up. They're asking for clear comms. If they whisper or just say check when it's calm, a single check back works.
And if you are not the FC, you never say the J word. (Jump!) because it makes people think they missed a jump and they jump reflexively. 'Gate Status' is great.
Keep vital information short and precise
No doubt that there will be circumstances the FCs need to be made aware of. Please wait until the FCs stop talking, then key up (shouting), and present the information in as few words as possible while being as precise as you can be.
LAST - Location, Attitude, Size, Time
Recipient of information – what precisely is it you want them to know – where is it happening.
Bad examples - Good Example in text
'I’m getting shot!' - 'retri e8-4 gate aggressed'
'I’m scrammed, can’t get away! I’m fucked!' - 'warp to me e8-4, 3 of reds *puts www in chat*'
'I think there is a cap with me that we could maybe…' - 'Red aeon lurking in EX- system 10 minutes ago'
'Oh shit he’s gonna bubble us!' - 'red Sabre burning in'
'I’m done, you’re one cruiser short. I will selfdestruct to get home and…' - (just be quiet, talk about dying later. heh)
Please no word fishing
While a large part of the fleet will be native english speakers, a few of us are not. But instead of stumbling over words, we just use Google Translate and read the translation out loud. It might seem like it would take longer, but often enough it is way more helpful to make yourself understood on the first attempt.
Use the Newbie channels to ask questions
Most bigger groups / alliances provide dedicated newbie channels on Mumble for asking basic questions during fleet. [In Pandemic Horde they are called Newbean channels. There is one for every fleet comms channel (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc.).] So if you see someone in that channel, join them and ask your questions. And no, they are not just for newbies – often enough even veterans join them because they got a bit flustered and need directions. No need to bother the FC. But please: Other people may need help too. So keep it short, one question at a time, and give other people the chance to ask their questions. And if there indeed is a dedicated caretaker, please don’t interrupt or 1up them. Don’t be a dick.
If you cannot handle being told to be quiet so newies can be helped, don't hang out in that channel. :)
Quiet channels
Sometimes the main channels are a bit loud / overly enthusiastic, with the FCs not minding the chaos. But instead of shouting 'QUIET!' because you find it distracting, just join the fleets dedicated quiet channel, provided there is one. You will still hear the FCs, but not the thundering herd of fleet mates. Don’t be a party pooper. You can ask for battle comms if it's too loud but be nice about it. It's a video game!
Don’t be that guy
While quite a few have had a military career or are still in the services, most of us are not. So going full military on comms is not really helpful. 'You’ve got eight bogies on your six! Vampire! Vampire! FOX TWO!' – hold your horses Mr. TopGun. Please use plain English to make sure you are understood. That goes for roleplaying guys and movie buffs too.
We sometimes say 'Tach' instead of 'dash' or 'hyphen' because it's easier to hear over loud comms.
But the other guys…!
Yeah, sorry – there are A LOT of people not keeping proper comms discipline. But that is no excuse for you being one of them after reading this little guide.
If someone is being a real jerk, you raise the issue with professionals. In Horde, you can talk to a Sheriff, the light blue names in discord. They will listen a bit and address it.
Be Nice - Maybe the most important rule, shouldn't even need to be here.
This is the simplest thing on the list. Just be a decent person. It's a video game. Assume people are good actors, assume they are trying to help, be gracious when they are being jerks. Help people when you can. If they are panicking, get them to give you actionable intel.
If you are pretending to be a jerk or stupid, that's not pretend, that's just being a jerk. Even if it's someone you don't like.
Setting Up Mumble
Setting Up Mumble
This is your Eve Tip of the day on configuring mumble and discord. This is covered in the Corp Bulletin, but I have a few extra steps here.
Are you shouting during Standing fleet? This is how to setup your 'whisper' key. You need two buttons set, one for push to talk to everyone, and the other to talk to your current channel. Your whisper or 'local' key will be the default to use for standing fleet, for instance. There are two versions, one in a compact mode, and one in a long strip version with arrows. Both are the same, both setup below.
Below these details on setting up the two keys, push to talk (global), and whisper (local), you also want to turn off notifications. I have a picture on how to disable those, I have included mine below.
You can also setup Talking UI, as DX12 disables the overlay. Note that Talking UI is honestly way better than overlay too. I have included a picture below.
Finally in mumble, there are instructions on changing the 'skin'. I've included those below.
Concerning Discord, there are several things to note concerning it's setup. The most common 'error 500' when try to join discord is easily fixable, thank you to Storm Delay for posting this:
If you messed up and put an alt as your main and vice versus, you can swap them here: https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/eve-tip-of-the-day.3348/post-23219
Some of the sigs use multiple discords, rather than just the main one. You can join them under here. https://www.pandemic-horde.org/settings/discord/join
There are also optional discord channels you can consider that are open to join. https://www.pandemic-horde.org/settings/discord/channels
There are also open groups that you can join that will automatically add you to other discord channels https://www.pandemic-horde.org/settings/groups/open
Finally, there are closed off interest groups that all have different requirements to join. Please read the applications to the different groups before applying. https://www.pandemic-horde.org/forum/index.php?threads/bean-interest-group-megathread.3444/ has the list of interest groups. Once you realize you can be accepted, you can do https://www.pandemic-horde.org/settings/groups/apply Some, like blessed beans, can tell you in advance if you meet the requirements. https://www.pandemic-horde.org/settings/groups/apply/99/special
Anyway, pictures in this thread. :smile:
Mumble push to talk + whisper setup, compact version.
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