[AAR] NoP Monday Roam! - 2017.10.17

[Reise Amatin]

FCC FEEDBACK
If you participated in the fleet, please leave feedback in the FCC Feedback form. The information you provide me will help me improve and lead better fleets, which leads to more fun for everyone.


FCC Feedback Form


ACTIONABLE GOALS
Improvement items to work on from my last fleet (2017.09.12):

• Pre-Roam Planning.
• Decision Making.
• Command Chatter.

PARTICIPANTS
Amira Evolta – Logi
Arashi Shizukana – Vanguard
Beavis Alland – Skirmish Scout
Calder Ormand
DevlinR
Etchard Yarghol
Gemma Solett
Gerrath Sabrinn
Harai Rex
I Skip Legday
Kontxesi Buchanan – Logi
Lady Hestia
Mal Kard
Marn Vermuldir – Logi
Mike North
Nacilen Stenier-Tian
Phaethonx Brutor
Reise Amatin
Rider Isleman
Rohan Amadeus – 3IC
Snuffleupagus
Sonic Reducer – Vanguard
Space Warfare Development
Tariq Nolm – Vanguard
Thrane Moraius
Tsuwen Sun
Tyler Arnoux – 2IC, Vanguard
Wheat Fields
Z0X Ambrye
gaheris Anninen – Skirmish Scout
lswjnek Oxkold


OBSERVATIONS
I have no idea why someone was in a plex in a Stratios, but they were. Scout got initial tackle with Vanguard support, and when the fleet arrived they were a bit off the beacon so we had some MWDing to do. He was rather upset in local, and for good reason. We only lost one of the Vanguard ships in that encounter, which is amazing. Didn't fare so well against a Confessor/Stiletto pair a bit later, but the Stratios was to be a tone-setter for the rest of the evening.

(02:11:12Z) Oicx
Tristan -4m
Stratios +439.88m
Kestrel -9.36m
Capsule -4.75m

Coaxster had been following along behind us all the way from Stac, and I guess he just got froggy and wanted to shoot something. The gate guns helped a lot, and he didn't manage to kill anyone before we killed him.

(02:27:50Z) Eha
Confessor +92.33m

Tone-setter. Things were mostly quiet all the way down to Aki. Had a few targets that we couldn't catch, but that happens. Scout found a Thorax in a Medium, and we had to burn out to them (seemed to be a theme, us having to chase things down). Time for a break!

(02:46:09Z) Akidagi
Thorax +35.02m

Tone-setter! We finally managed to grab a Confessor, and it turned out that the pilot had DC'd while trying to evade our scout. Oh well, still a great kill, we just didn't have the expected losses.

(03:06:16Z) Nennamaila
Confessor +70.07m

The remaining trip through Nenn and into the back pocket leading to Tama was not so good, to say the least. Lots of content floating about, just nothing we could reasonably kill without heavy losses. At one point we had a Phoenix sitting on gate with us, and that went worse than not so good

(03:12:53Z) Nennamaila, Pynekastoh, Akidagi
Atron -0.71m
Capsule -0.01m
Atron -4.76m
Maulus -7.78m
Kestrel -5.86m

Nothing in the Okkamon pocket, and it was getting late, so we started swinging back through Pyn/Hik/Nenn on our way home. Found a Tristan in Reitsato outside a plex, and we blobbed all over it. There was a Thrasher inside the complex, but he wisely took off before we could slide.

(03:30:54Z) Reitsato
Tristan +5.9m
Capsule +0.01m

Totally made up for the earlier losses in Pyn in spades! Scout found a Myrmidon and a Rupture beating on each other in a Large, and we HAD to 3rd party that. We had great EWAR and Logi support, so we were able to take the Rupture down, and switch to the Myrm, getting both of them with NO losses. Within seconds, as we were scooping loot, an Orthrus/Malediction/Rupture decided to 3rd party on us, and we said NO! We went to a Medium to try to lure them in, but they weren't taking it. They managed to chase us through a few plexes and into the next system, and we took a few losses, but nothing compared to what we killed to get us into that position. Eventually we out-distanced them because we weren't going to get them into a position where we had the upper hand.

(03:48:48Z) Pynekastoh
Rupture +50.84m
Myrmidon +105.46m
Griffin -3.45m
Tristan -3.98m
Kestrel -5.88m

The remaining trip back to Stacmon was uneventful. Had a few targets show up but nothing that we could catch.


Stats
ISK Destroyed: 799,505,855.89
ISK Lost: 50,545,773.41
ISK Delta: 748,960,082.48
Efficiency: 94.054%


PERFORMANCE REVIEW AND SUMMARY
My biggest take-away for this fleet is that it's REALLY difficult to run a doctrine that needs "micro managing" in a mostly NewBro fleet. I suspected as much last week when we ran this doctrine, and this week cemented that thought. We did great, don't get me wrong, but this fleet's primary method of dealing damage is negated a great deal when you have a lot of Alpha clones who can't fly the doctrine ship. I like the quick, kitey nature of the doctrine, but damage application when half the fleet is not flying a missile boat is lackluster. And it is very difficult to get everyone to hold for an Alpha strike when a good portion of the fleet is new and the FC is just learning the ins and outs of the doctrine.

Everyone did a great job. Got a bit sloppy in places with holding fire and comms discipline, but overall a great run. I am super happy with the way things went and with everyone's excitement and enthusiasm.

Review/Attainment of Actionable Goals:

• Pre-Roam Planning. - Check.
• Decision Making. - Check.
• Command Chatter. - Check-minus. I can do better
• Keep LEARNING! - Check. This one just lives on this list - it's why we're doing the FCC, right?

Quality Improvement Actions for Next Fleet:

• Pre-Roam Planning.
• Decision Making.
• Command Chatter.

[DevlinR]

Had a great time! Will definitely be going every Monday I can.

[Kive Dian]

FCC FEEDBACK
My biggest take-away for this fleet is that it's REALLY difficult to run a doctrine that needs "micro managing" in a mostly NewBro fleet. I suspected as much last week when we ran this doctrine, and this week cemented that thought. We did great, don't get me wrong, but this fleet's primary method of dealing damage is negated a great deal when you have a lot of Alpha clones who can't fly the doctrine ship. I like the quick, kitey nature of the doctrine, but damage application when half the fleet is not flying a missile boat is lackluster. And it is very difficult to get everyone to hold for an Alpha strike when a good portion of the fleet is new and the FC is just learning the ins and outs of the doctrine.

Everyone did a great job. Got a bit sloppy in places with holding fire and comms discipline, but overall a great run. I am super happy with the way things went and with everyone's excitement and enthusiasm.

[note: I was not on this fleet]

You're right -- micromanaging kitchen sink fleets is challenging. But you went that route, so you already decided to sacrifice an awful lot of efficiency, right? I don't mean that as a bad thing, it's just the nature of kitchen sink fleets. The strength in an that sort of fleet comes from:

[*] Agility and Flexibility in the fleet organization and movement sense. You're not waiting for any stars to align, you don't need to refit or change out mods, it takes moments to throw together since there's no fitting requirements.
[*] Having semi-experienced FC, WC, SC's and Scouts that are dedicating to teaching and finding easy fights.
[*] Having dozens of disposable ships ready to throw at a lone ship, and the variety of capabilities mean that while inefficient, there is actually a lot that you can kill by throwing that blob at the enemy.

It looks like you buffered that kitchen sink fleet very well with solid scouts, vanguard, logi, having complimentary ewar, etc. I was really happy to read from this and other recent fleets that folks are including 2IC/3IC as a matter of practice nowadays -- I've seen 100+ person fleets fail spectacularly because of a lack of that, or from the 2IC/3IC disappearing at an inopportune time. It looks like you did a really good job and a fun fleet was had!

Your analysis is spot on, so let me offer the flip-side of that thinking, as those negatives can be positives:

Don't think of a kitchen sink as a fleet that will dominate by doctrine, but rather by sheer superior numbers. Change your expectations more towards it being a teaching fleet -- you teaching and developing your WC/SC's and giving exposure and fun to all the newbros, and your learning WC/SC's actually doing the small gang teaching and chatting, specifically.

Actionable suggestions:

[*] Since there is less doctrine in use, there is less opsec risk: Keep your command channels, but have everyone in command share and make decision in fleet so all the newbros can hear. It makes it really fun for them.
[*] Use command chat instead to teach your SC's and WC. Enablement is the mission -- this is their best fleet type to learn in: basic SC skills come from this kind of fleet far faster than any kind. It's the same challenge you have, but with 10 or less newbros, it's an achievable challenge in their case if you give up the control and don't attempt to micromanage it yourself.
[*] Make sure skills are solid and everyone is getting 5* across the board. Apples to apples, this will level the playing field a bit as most of your enemies will not be in fleets, and even if they are, they won't be receiving bonuses.
[*] I personally also like to develop 2IC and 3IC skills during these kinds of fleets. We'll usually rotate the fleet "caller" role between us to improve their confidence levels and help them grow.
[*] Take regular opportunities to loosen up fleet chat if you don't keep it loose to begin with. If you assume this is more of a fleet 101 nature fleet in the first place, lots of questions and interruptions is good, especially while your scouts are a couple of systems out looking for opportunities.
[*] With kitchen sink fleets, teaching opportunities are just as present with choices not to fight something as they are with fighting targets. Even if something was an even fight, decide to not take someone on and have everyone go running for their lives for a little bit. It'll expose new folks to rolling safes, scatter commands, and overall chaos. The next doctrine fleet you run might have someone that now knows because you prioritize training these situations in a kitchen sink fleet.

I'll keep an eye out for future Monday NoP fleets, I'd be happy to join in on some of those.

[Coaxster]

ribbit.

[Reise Amatin]

ribbit.

Totally made my day, cheers Coaxster!


Kive, I appreciate the feedback, I just need to digest it. Very good points in your post, especially concerning development of 2 and 3ICs.


R