Learning fleet ops

First of all, I'm having a blast taking part in this community!

Last weekend I took part in fleet fights (8-12 on each side) for the first time and I have some questions.
- I'm in a MWD frigate with scram, primary is called and it is 30 km from me, should I burn to it no matter what or just pick something closer (primary is usually dead before I'm in a scram range if it was 30 km away)?
- when FC says "spread your points" does it mean that I should scram a random ship in range while still applying DPS to the primary?
- in 1v1 I'm trying to manually orbit other ship but I have no idea what maneuvers should I do in 12 vs 12 fight...
- is it ok to warp off and come back when I'm being targetted and not scrammed yet? or is desertion?
- is warp scrambler or warp disruptor preferred for a tackling T1 frigate in a fleet?
- what amarr T1 ship is a preferred tackler for fleets at the moment?
- can you suggest any reading about fleet ops that would be useful for me?

Oh and I also noticed that in a frigate I can be in one of two states: happily fighting, being a primary which equals to a burning wreck.

Few more random questions:
- what are minimum skills to fly T1 amarr logi in RvB fleet (in RvB ganked for example)? I can fit every T2 medium mod, but Amarr Cruiser is lvl 3 at the moment.
- I was one of two cruisers in a fleet and I was quite lost and quickly went down in flames - should I follow primary called by FC even if it is a frigate orbitting me (I won't hit it)? or should I always target something of my size?

Thanks!

Hey Khargar,

Welcome to RvB and great questions! I'll try to answer them in order, and to the best of my ability.

- Yes, typically primary is primary for everyone unless FC otherwise tells frigates to tackle ships close to them. Usually it should be the FC's job to get your fleet into position close enough for all ships to engage. However this does not always pan out. Just burn towards the primary and you will likely also burn towards the enemy fleet, putting you in range of future primaries.

- Yes, spread your points is usually called when enemy fleet appears to be losing, and will likely begin retreating. It literally means "grab anything you can and lock it down" while still engaging the primary target. There is typically a *little* leeway here for a frigate such as yourself to disengage primary if you happen to be close to another enemy ship, and tackle it so the fleet can move on to your tackled target after primary is destroyed. In general though it's good to stick with whatever the FC calls direction-by-direction. That way if an error occurs, it's on his shoulders and not yours.

- In a fleet fight, it depends on what ship you're flying. Fleet fights involve much more multitasking. In general you need to be watching your ships weapons/modules, orbiting or manually flying around your target at your optimal and prepare to move close to the secondary target so you can switch seamlessly when primary is destroyed. It gets tricky, and sometimes concluded, but after a few fights you get pretty swift at managing everything.

- Yes, warping off is generally considered fine if you're not scrammed. Generally warping to a station, repairing quickly and coming straight back is the best option. There is no reason you should be penalized for the enemy fleets failure to tackle you. No one *should* give you the stink eye for warping off. We've all done it. We all do it. Whether people admit it or not.

*Alternative: You can be discreet and say something like "AW man! Out of cap boosters! Gotta go grab some more." or you can say "Scorch crystal broke! Crap! out of ammo!". Usually works. #FakeCombat

- In a T1 Frigate it's highly dependent. Usually on a punisher I fit a 25km disruptor, because i'm typically too slow to get within scram range of a target, but I can at least lock fast enough to prevent a ship from uncloaking and warping away immediately. Rifters and faster frigates probably use scrams to shut down MWD targets. Im not a tackle frigate expert though, someone can challenge me on that.

- Punishers are good, they can take a decent beating. Tormentors are also decent for MWD'ing and disrupting at 22-25km while applying drone DPS. Other amarr frigates generally suck.

- I cant suggest any reading at the moment, though google EvE University. That may help, they have some solid articles in a WIKI about all aspects of the game. Also the forums here may have more info as well.

- Minimum skills to fly a T1 Logi are generally rather low. You should train Amarr Cruiser 4 whenever you get the chance, it will help quite a bit. If you can fit all T2 mods, have Cruiser 3-4, and have decent capacitor skills in general you should be fine. You will be chained together with other logi, so your individual skills will only be a part of the equation. Cap skills are generally important though, for logi and for combat, so those should be high anyways.

- If you're one of just a handful of cruisers in a fleet, you will likely get primaried quickly. ESPECIALLY if you're in a high DPS/low EHP ship like an Omen or Thorax. The goal of an FC is to get DPS off the field as quickly as possible, and a DPS ship will quickly be dispatched. You should still follow primary targets though, even if you feel like you are going to die to a frigate orbiting you.

This is my personal opinion, this may not apply to all FC's. Whenever I FC a fleet, I call primaries. HOWEVER, if I only have 2 omens in my fleet, and one of them is being taken down by a rogue frigate orbiting them, I WANT that Omen pilot to *quickly* let me know who the target is. I may decide to switch primary, or make that frigate secondary in an effort to save one of my 2 cruisers on field.

It's FC's preference, but I'm generally open to decisions like that. By saving your ship I may end up gaining the victory by keeping a heavy ship on field.

Hope this all helps, and isn't a bore to read! These are mostly my opinions. They are free to be challenged by others.

#1 Khargar Umid

#2 Korrey

#3 Khargar Umid

#4 Korrey

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