Summary of Combat Training

I aim after each training op to provide a summary of the areas covered as some of the things that are covered within the training are often done in haste, or forgotten due to the number of points that need to be raised.

In addition, if you joined the op after it had started you may have missed some of the training, and this will allow you to see what was covered.

These are not necessarily in the order that we covered them, and if there are any areas that I have missed please let me know.

After each op I will update the main points and re-issue.

Overview Tabs & Overview Settings

I think you’ve all seen one before, but here’s your standard overview:

It is separated out into two parts, “Selected Item” and the “Overview”.

Last night we concentrated on the Overview part.

Settings

In order to access the settings menu for the overview, simply right click on the triangle next to the word “Overview” and select Access Overview Settings.

There are a number of tabs on the menu that pops up and we need to focus on just two of these: Filter and Columns.

Filter

Go into the filter tab and you will see a list of options that should be ticked. These denote what types and states of pilot will appear in your overview. For fleet ops you should un-tick the “Pilot is in your fleet”, “Pilot is in your corporation” and “Pilot is in your gang”.

This will mean in your overview you should only have the following things appear:

- Pilots with Neutral standings to your corp/alliance

- Stargates

If you have any other objects I would advise you remove them as during combat the last thing you need is distractions from the primary target.

Columns

Under the same options as the filter tab is the columns tab. Click on this and you are provided with a list of options that you can select which will give you details about objects within your overview.

For Fleet ops you will need to ensure the following are ticked:

Icon – This shows what size ship you are facing

Distance – Pretty obvious

Name – Name of the pilot

Ally – What alliance the pilot is in

Type – What ship the pilot is in, very useful if you are solo

Velocity – This will tell you if your target needs to be webbed, or if they’re stationary.

Feel free to select the others, but unless you specifically need to know the transversal of an enemy I’d try and keep it as uncluttered as poss.

Aligning & Fleet Warp

During fleet ops it is essential that, wherever possible, the main body of the fleet remains together. The exceptions to this are scouts, which often are several systems ahead or behind.

The main reason for this is that it is easy for a hostile to pick off a straggler, before the rest of the fleet can get help to them. In addition, if the fleet rushes to the aid of one individual then they themselves may end up separated due to different warping speeds and so in effect endangering the whole group.

Remaining together, whilst slower, is essential to reduce the number of losses a fleet will incur.

The method by which this is done is referred to as “Fleet Warping”, and in order for it to be successful the Squad Commander who is initiating the warp must have all ships aligned in the target direction, and at full speed (AB’s or MWD’s do not need to be activated).

N.B. You will need to have stargate’s appear in your overview. Right click on one in space and select “Add Stargates to Overview”

Aligning for warp is normally used when moving between gates, although it’s best practise to try and stick to it whenever the fleet is going to be warping.

When the FC gives the order to align for the next gate, left click on the stargate in your overview. This will then highlight it in your main view, and you should see somewhere on your screen “Stargate (xxxx) xx,xxxKM”. This may be right on the edge of your screen so you will have to look carefully for it.

Then simply rotate your view (hold down left mouse button in space, and move the mouse) until the stargate can be seen in the distance.

Double click in space just next to the icon and your ship will start to move in that direction.

In order to enter warp you only have to be over 75% of your base speed. Experienced FC’s will be able to see on their overview when most members are at this threshold, but in big fleets the emphasis will be on you to get aligned as quickly as possible.

Remember, stragglers endanger a fleet.

Overall last night the fleet warping and aligning was very good, but we did have a few people left behind on a number of occasions.

Practise definitely makes perfect as by the end they were much smoother.

Lag Reduction

Lag kills.

It’s every EVE pilot’s worst nightmare and has resulted in innumerable losses, mainly in fleet battles when your client struggles to process all the information it’s sent.

As such the best thing you can do is reduce the amount of info that the EVE servers need to send to you.

There are several ways to do this, and we covered the three main ones, although I am sure that people will be able to add to this list:

Turning Effects Off – Press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E to disable all the EVE game effects. This does mean that EVE isn’t quite as pretty to look at, but it also means you get to enjoy the look of your ship for longer.

Turning Turrets Off - Press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+T to disable turret tracking. This will mean yours, and other pilots, turrets will appear fixed in place and not rotate to follow their target. You’ll have bigger things to worry about to be honest.

Turn off Premium Content – Again, it looks pretty but the additional load could cause lag at an inopportune moment. Load up the classic graphics instead. You will have to access this via the in game menu (accessed by pressing escape).

Cache Size – If you have 1GB of RAM or less you will need to adjust the “cache size” under the escape menu. Simply press escape and on the “Generic” tab make sure that Cache size is set to low.

If you do have a machine that can handle battles whilst these options are turned on then by all means leave them on, but most people will find that even in medium sized conflicts you will have some form of lag and finding anyway to reduce it is vital if your fleet is to stand the best chance of victory.

EVE Voice

It’s not the best, and there are still bugs in this but until we get a Ventrilo server setup let’s make sure as many of us as possible are on here.

Go to the escape menu (Press escape) and make sure the “Activate EVE voice” option is ticked.

Then change the input and output options to match your requirements. For instance, I have a headset, so my input and output are set as “Headset”.

Also make sure you have set a talk button, I use the Right Alt key for mine.

Then simply re-start the EVE client and when you log in right click on the tab at the top of the channel that you wish to join, and click “Join Audio”. A little orange light should then appear next to the channel name indicating this is your speaking channel.

If you wish to activate multiple channels, simply right click on those and click “Join Audio”. A little blue light will appear next to the channels that you have activated audio on, but that are not your speaking channel (in other words you’ll be able to hear what is said in there but not talk).

Broadcasts

When you are in a fleet there should be a box that appears in the bottom right of your screen called “Broadcasts”. This is where your Squad Commander, Wing Commander or Fleet Commander can send messages out to indicate what he wants the fleet to do. It can also be used for you to request help, but we will cover that another time.

Keep this box up when you are in a fleet because it will enable you to tell which gate the fleet is aligning to, for instance, if you can’t hear the command clearly over comms.

It’s also handy if you crash, as you can catch up to the fleet by watching which gates they are aligning to heading there.

Basic Fleet Skills

Anyone can be of use in a PVP gang. Don’t think that just because you are new and can only fly frigates you will be of no use.

There are a number of basic skills, which if you get trained up, mean that you can be of help in a fleet:

Propulsion Jamming 1+
Afterburner 1+
Caldari, Amarr, Gallente or Minmatar Frigate 1+
Sensor Linking 1+
Warp Drive Operation 3+
Target Painting 1+
Weapon Disruption 1+
Electronic Warfare 1+

These will allow an FC to assign a specific role to you.

If you have these trained up let me know and I will mark you down as having passed the “Basic Fleet Skills Trained” section of the combat training.

Pod Escape and evade

The aim of this is to allow you to practise your emergency pod warping in the event that you lose your ship.

When (rather than if) you are about to lose your ship rotate your view around so that you can see a celestial object in front of you. This will be where you want to warp to after you lose your ship. Moons are good, as are planets. Stargates are ok, as long as you are sure that there are no hostile ships where you are heading.

When your ship goes pop, re-select the celestial object again and click “warp to within 0km” on your “Selected Item” part of the overview. This should take you away to safety pretty quickly as pods don’t have to align for warp.