BLAP Caracal Mastership - II - getting better! :)

[Budda Sereda]

This is a 2nd fleet in a BLAP Caracal Mastership series (https://forum.eveuniversity.org/viewtop ... 85&start=0).

The fleet was just awesome!!! We ended up ISK negative, but only because Coaxster's fleet killed 3 "our" Dominixes

We just started forming up when BatFC spotted 3 Domies and Augoror in PC9. At that time we had only 6 DD and 2 scouts, and barely any logy... While we formed up those Domies disappered (Coaxster converted them into wreks, that's why).
Just for the history:
https://zkillboard.com/kill/63244387/
https://zkillboard.com/kill/63244392/
https://zkillboard.com/kill/63244394/
https://zkillboard.com/kill/63244397/
The way I learned about these kills is by pulling standard zkill-analyzer, which included them into a report. I guess we should thanks Z0x who got into kills in Coaxster fleet.

Today I won't be analyzing fights deeply, it will take just TOO much time.
High level: we essentially had 1 ganks and 4 different big fights. Nice content!

Form-up was slowish, but eventually I got 4 logies, 2 scouts in ceptors, rest DDs. Majority in BLAP Caracals, few guys had points. Which was not according to doctrine but really helped us to catch a couple of kills.

Spoiler

Roam members (20) - NOTE: This section is NOT usually included in AARs.
Adoulin ap Io
Aisair
Arrek Lemmont
Barrett Chanlin
BatFC
Budda Sereda
Ca'ain
Calder Ormand
Dredd Valentine
Jason Eoner
Jim Electron
Keuthein
NotA Witch
Phaethonx Brutor
Professor Academiac
Rider Isleman
SketchyManDan Williams
Vors Voorhorian
Xana McBash
Z0X Ambrye

Warm-up:

Ca'ain found a BNI (I believe he was flashy):
(02:49:26) Oulley
Caracal -36.16m - Somehow Arrek pulled too far from logies..
Brutix Navy Issue +210.98m

I believe we caught a non-flashy Slicer on the gate:
(03:10:03) Hikkoken
Imperial Navy Slicer +29.8m

1st fight:

We played with relatively big fleet. I warped us at tacktical BM, but somehow one of us was pointed by Malediction. I made mistake here and got fleet close to the gate to push the Malediction out, but at that time those guys jumped through. I decided to take the fight, but our logies were too close and died quickly, with many DDs. We could not break anything, so I called to scatter.
Mistake at my side, as a gesture of apology, logies please accept 10M additional SRP (will do tomorrow).
(03:17:03) Hikkoken
Osprey -8.9m
Osprey -9m
Caracal -28.1m
Osprey -20.71m
Caracal -14.65m
Caracal -13.75m
Caracal -29.37m
Osprey -17.23m
Capsule -0.01m

Gank did not work:
(03:26:25) Akidagi
Crow -32.55m

(03:33:50) Kedama
Capsule -0.01m

2nd fight: (https://youtu.be/KwRuQcU2tfY)
I believe it was a fight with few parties. Interesting thing is that quite a big part of the fleet we stayed with no logies and by controlling the range we were able to stay alive. Thanks to BLAP! Was quite interesting fight!
(03:55:00) Akidagi
Osprey -9.98m
Osprey -9.98m
Caracal -15.05m
Caracal -15.42m
Caracal -14.34m
Osprey -11.64m
Kestrel +3.81m
Taranis -29.61m
Crow +35.66m
Algos +6.51m
Capsule +3.77m
Merlin +2.49m
Maller +15.38m
Catalyst +3.16m
Caracal -31.92m
Caracal -42.3m
Caracal -28.31m
Osprey -9.98m

If you guys returning into the fight it would be good if you warp at tactical to the gate. This will let you decide whom to warp to. Because if you start 50-60AU warp across the system, situation can change before you land.

Random gank kill:
(04:16:24) Akidagi
Atron +2.79m

3rd fight:

Engagement with a small gank. We engaged small things, and, I don't remember for sure, but I do believe they dropped cyno and got few BSs on top of us: Raven, Rattlesnake, Nightmare. I was just ALPHAed. And should have called 'scatter', but did not really see a danger. We got unnecessary loses because I did not notice danger on time.

(04:28:11) Aivonen, Akidagi
Jackdaw +48.07m
Caracal -20.23m
Caracal -31.98m
Caracal -28.57m
Caracal -22.9m
Osprey -9.98m
Caracal -15.12m
Caracal -32.95m

4th fight: (https://youtu.be/w28xfJSk-bg)

We found 2 HFI on small plex, got on top of them, lost tackles quickly, but stayed on the grid and kept shooting small things as they landed and tried to play with us. That was a SUPER fun. In the middle of the fight, we get two unistas joining us and getting tackle on HFI so we could secure the kill!
It is unfortunate, we did not have many people left for this fight.
(04:52:13) Nennamaila
Crow -32.63m
Capsule -0.01m
Atron -13m
Talwar -6.59m
Caracal -35.12m
Osprey -9.98m
Thrasher +9.74m
Magus +99.15m
Thorax -35.91m
Hurricane Fleet Issue +221.73m
Caracal +36.09m
Bantam +1.73m
Tristan +3.8m
Crow -32.45m
Malediction +139.91m
Capsule +0.01m
Caracal -14.88m
Caldari Navy Hookbill -32.46m
Caracal -32.68m

While being in a pod I heard those guys are still fighting on plex, I put Adoulin in charge and asked them to warp at 100km. It looks like that was TOO much things and we just lost 5 caracals for nothing. That was a dumb move

(05:15:17) Nennamaila
Caracal -15.38m
Caracal -16.76m
Caracal -14.43m
Capsule -0.01m
Caracal -18.27m

Lessons learned:
1. As pilot, don't jump through the frigate/dessies gate camp in a cruiser
2. As FC, don't lose you mind when one of fleet mates tackled by Malediction. At some point I called fleet to warp at the relatively small range together with logy just because there were nothing on grid. And those guys jumped through the gate ... and should down logies quite quickly. Sorry guys. I will SRP 10M to logies for that fight. At least small compensation.
3. Don't warp fleet on grid with no scout: last 4 Caracals we lost because we wanted to join the fun going on the plex... But fleet was VERY quickly neuted and killed. that was unnecessary loses.

Many thanks from my side to:
- scouts (Ca'ain and Aisair)
- logies (BatFC, NotA Witch, Rider, Jason): with no your participation fleet would not happen!
Thanks to Adoulin ap Io for helping with anchoring: even though I admitted in the end I kind-of was ok being an anchor in last fights, you helped me to start the fleet!
Many thanks to all who showed up tonight!

I feel we are getting ready for arranged fleets...? Few more trainings and we will go!

Stats:
ISK Destroyed: 874,600,755.24
ISK Lost: 901,266,489.67
ISK Delta: -26,665,734.43
Efficiency: 49.249%
ISK negative, but so much fun!

[Budda Sereda]

Please submit your feedback: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... rm?c=0&w=1

[BatFC]

During this roam the Logi kept dying without being able to do much during the big fights. Was our repping power just not enough or is Osprey lot squishier than I thought? Brand new logi pilots (including me) contributed to logi deaths I think, but still Ospreys die way too fast. Old and experienced logi pilots please give your opinions and advices to us youngsters.

[Ca'ain]

During this roam the Logi kept dying without being able to do much during the big fights. Was our repping power just not enough or is Osprey lot squishier than I thought? Brand new logi pilots (including me) contributed to logi deaths I think, but still Ospreys die way too fast. Old and experienced logi pilots please give your opinions and advices to us youngsters.

I didn't really see what was going on in the fleet as the scout this time; but it might be Logi's were not repping themselves first. For the energy transfer chains, at least 3 of you need to allways be repping each other. The hiearchy should be fellow logis, FC, Scouts (only when you land on grid - they should bounce anyway if they start taking damage), broadcasts.

Spoiler

Energy Transfer Chains
There are a number of ways the energy transfer chain can be set up. It is for the logistics squad commander to tell you which system he wants you to use.
The simplest system is one transfer up and one transfer down in pilot name by alphabetic order. The bottom and top pilots link to complete the chain. If there are more than three logistic ships in the chain then there is an increasing risk that a break in the chain would cause a cascade failure of the whole ET chain.
The EVE University doctrine for ET chains is pairs or triplets. The logistics squad commander says who is in which pair / triplet based on trying to match experienced logistics pilots with newer logistics pilots and each pair/triplet start their own private channel for speed of communication in battle conditions. Use "ET up" to show you have your ET running, "j" for jammed, "uj" for unjammed and "d" for down (blown up or warped out). If triplet looses a ship it becomes a pair. If a pair looses a ship then the remaining pilot uses "Need ET buddy" in logi chat channel and the SC will assign the solo logi to one of the other pairs or make a new pair.

Gank did not work:
(03:26:25) Akidagi
Crow -32.55m

I almost got away; it was so close - getting better at flying the interceptor; I improved on my mistake from the last fleet and had 3 disengageements before I was caught on this one.

4th fight:

We found 2 HFI on small plex, got on top of them, lost tackles quickly, but stayed on the grid and kept shooting small things as they landed and tried to play with us. That was a SUPER fun. In the middle of the fight, we get two unistas joining us and getting tackle on HFI so we could secure the kill!
It is unfortunate, we did not have many people left for this fight.
(04:52:13) Nennamaila
Crow -32.63m

Budda and I chatted about this one post op. I landed on the HFI within 10km or so; I tried to get range so I could use my overheaded warp distrupter to keep them locked down but myself free and was shot down in about 2 shots. In hindsight, I should have orbited at 500 or 1km and used my scram and speed tanked.

In the end; good fleet again and learned more about flying a scout.

[Aisair]

As my very first fleet op after returning to the UNI from a long time away, I have to say this was a lot of fun!

I believe we caught a non-flashy Slicer on the gate:
(03:10:03) Hikkoken
Imperial Navy Slicer +29.8m

He got me by surprise just sitting there and I reacted too quick and pointed. Was closing the distance with him when the Thrasher came in and popped the guy. I actually didn't know what happened until I saw the killboard as the Thrasher had one heck of an alpha. Luckily I decided to bounce at a planet before I was next on the guy's menu hehe. I do believe he was flashy at the time, hence my quick pointy finger... but hey, was fun and I am happy to add at least something to the killboard.

4th fight:

We found 2 HFI on small plex, got on top of them, lost tackles quickly, but stayed on the grid and kept shooting small things as they landed and tried to play with us. That was a SUPER fun. In the middle of the fight, we get two unistas joining us and getting tackle on HFI so we could secure the kill!

I arrived just after Ca'ain got popped but was like 40k from the targets. I tried to burn in but before I could begin spiraling, I took an arty to the knee.

On hindsight I should have warped to Ca'ain instead of warping to the plex.

[Dredd Valentine]

Ugh, I wish I had more input.

My range was bumped up to 44km, up from 29km last week, so atleast I was able to put missiles on targets >.<

Was there for the BNI kill, as well as the near-wipe after that. Had to boogie soon after for IRL stuff.

As another newb in the fleet, and "just" another DD, I don't have much to input.

One question I do have is why don't more fleets have a -1 scout, a +2 scout, or require/ask for a second scout in general? There's so many moving parts that adding another one can be a pain, I understand that, but we are out to find a fight, and I feel like a second scout doing something would be beneficial to that plan.

[Budda Sereda]

Video of the 4th fight: https://youtu.be/w28xfJSk-bg
I believe we ROCKed! Must watch!!! Anchoring, focusing fire, good job guys!

One question I do have is why don't more fleets have a -1 scout

We are not that slow so I need to worry too much about somebody catching us from the back. There were few cases (in other fleets) when interceptors tried to engage fleet on the gate, but it did not work well as gate guns make a quick work of ceptors engaging non flashy fleet. And if we are flashy - FC can and should remove danger of 1-2 ceptor.
Flying cruisers I was not ganked by T3Ds - which would be a real threat, but I would be glad if somebody engaged us.
Also, I don't have enough numbers to scout ahead

a +2 scout, or require/ask for a second scout in general? There's so many moving parts that adding another one can be a pain, I understand that, but we are out to find a fight, and I feel like a second scout doing something would be beneficial to that plan.

Usually I do have 2, sometimes even 3 scouts, but for Caracals I called for interceptors and there are not many pilots who can fly them. Neither we get as big fleet to allow 3rd scout.
Though, in my case, I don't ask scouts to +2, but often check side pathes or help primary scout. Why? Never seen others do +2. I believe that would be more applicalbe to nul-sec.

During this roam the Logi kept dying without being able to do much during the big fights. Was our repping power just not enough or is Osprey lot squishier than I thought? Brand new logi pilots (including me) contributed to logi deaths I think, but still Ospreys die way too fast. Old and experienced logi pilots please give your opinions and advices to us youngsters.

Repping power is one thing: we clearly did not have many. But I believe there is a bigger problem: we put logies under the fire too early and don't position them properly. Usually, logies stay TOO close to the fight and are primaried. I feel it is FC who should make call for logies to not decloak and to keep them at range waiting for the engagement.

[Budda Sereda]

Ca'ain got 30M extended SRP for 3 lost Crows.
Aisair got 10M extended SRP for a lose of Taranis.

[Barrett Chanlin]

Good fleet FC, I definitely got some skill training to do to get better fits going.

[Budda Sereda]

Video of the 4th fight: https://youtu.be/w28xfJSk-bg

One more thing I would like to add is that I feel bad about not admitting the value I got from two pilots joining us during the battle and landing a point on that HFI. I believe one of them was Birdinator Wyld, don't remember the name of the 2nd pilot.

In fact, that is the way we should use tackle ships in a Caracal fleet. In big fights, if interceptors will try to take a tackle they will just die quickly bringing not much value. The same way as we killed both Thrasher and Magus early during the fight. In big fights ceptors should give fleet a warp in (not in dead pockets though), land a tackle on running opponent, mybe land a tackle on important target on the grid if (ONLY IF) FC asks for it. It is hard to execute, but that is what they are for.

Tackle are good in a fleet of frigates when every ship has either scram or point so if tackle dies another pilot can keep target on grid. That's not the case with BLAP Caracals (and many other doctrines too).