[AAR] Soli/NSC Ferox Firestorm (Nov 18 2100)

[Yuri Levnik]

Howdy y'all,
Hoo buddy, this was a big one! We undocked after a leisurely form-up with over 40 pilots in fleet and terrorized Syndicate. Unfortunately, our fleet was too big to be engageable for any of the usual Syndicate scrubs so we ended up having to work to catch targets. After about two hours with no real content (apologies!), we had finally gotten back into our nullsec groove. We busted a four-man battleship group that was undoubtedly up to no good in the NSC pocket and grabbed a Gila as an extra bonus.

Special thanks to Anna Iwaira for making this fleet possible. If you bought a Ferox, Osprey or Blackbird in Gravity Well you bought it from him - he stocked Gravity Well with battlecruiser and cruiser contracts at his own expense. He sold around 1.2BN in contracted ships when we shipped out our fleet, including 12 Feroxes. That's more ISK than I've ever had at one time!!! So say "howdy" to Anna if you see him in space or place a 1,337 ISK bounty on him as a thank you (;

(Shout out to NSC for having Feroxes on contract as well, I know your pilots appreciate it!!!)

Feroxi Firestormers:

Spoiler

(Note, Yuri can't remember what everyone flew)
Alto DeRaqwar - Interdictor
Amira Evolta - EWAR
Anna Iwaira - Logi+
Arashi Shizukana - DD (bomber)
Ary Alduin - Tackle
Azalee Madeveda - Logi
Barrett Chanlin - DD
Blind Scion - DD (Battleship)
Crimson Herring - Scout
Decklin Quark Reiger - 2IC, DD
Derek Jalarr - Tackle
Dominic Altol - Interdictor
dominique Rotineque - DD
DonkeyPunch Udan - DD
Dunar Dolorgiet - DD?
Edward Audeles - DD (Ferox)
Erwin Madelung - Logi
geldy - Least lucky pilot ); ); );
Gunman Aldent
Hillybilly Hinken - DD
Kai-Alon Deninard - DD
Keuthein - DD (Ferox)
Kontxesi Buchanan - Logi
Kora K - Logi WC
Lanik Solette
Marn Vermuldir - DD
Maximus Hert - Logi
Mongo the Mechanic
Nunnery Michigan - Scout
Oh' Leeador - Interdictor
Omnicious Shardani
Ra'zok Zateki
Raxon Noseworthy - Scout
Razer Thukkerkin - DD
Rebulah Conundrum - DD Ferox
Sturym - DD
Sugar Magnolia
The Jojosh - Logi
Tom Endares - EWAR?
Trillian Arnolles
Tyler Arnoux - Logi
Union Pivo - Scout
Yuri Levnik - FC

We started out from Gravity Well with a number of pilots in PC9-AY. It took us about 30 minutes to get out the door from Gravity Well, which is longer than I would like, but given that nobody had flown this doctrine we all had to ship up and get sorted. On the way up to PC9-AY we ran into a Filthy Peasant camping the 97X gate in Y9G in a Cerberus. He promptly dispatched all of the tackle that we had at the time:
(21:40:35Z) Y9G-KS
Executioner -5.11m
Condor -1.7m

While our tackle bros reshipped, we ended up waiting around a bit as I decided to stick to protocol and not jump blind. Nunnery ended up coming down to us in an interceptor and guiding us to PC9. We passed a scattered set of Cavemen on the way who were taken aback by the size of our fleet and assumed we were on some kind of op.

We grouped up with the PC9 folks around 21:40 and headed out into space. We played around with a Tempest for a couple shortly after undocking and nearly caught him but the pilot warped to a station, sat on the undock and heckled us. We tried alpha-ing the Tempest in case it was active repper fit and got it to 2/3 armor in seconds but the pilot docked. We moved on. Footnote, a command dessie would have been the only option here, though the pilot almost definitely would have seen the boosh incoming.

We headed toward FD- as there were kills up there. We passed a Rupture gang but it got eyes on us early via a Hyena scout and they had no intention of engaging. I had not yet fully remembered how to catch folks in nullsec and was unsuccessful at grabbing anything before they docked up or warped to deep safes.

We made our way around to FD- but again, nobody was willing to fight us. We did manage to get a huge 270k Navitas kill when a Navitas jumped past us. At +90 minutes, that was our only kill so far. Very frustrating. My apologies to the fleet; I had expected about 20 pilots, which is engageable for several Syndicate groups. I think the 40 of us were straight up too scary for anyone to want to fight in Syndicate and I did not have a plan for heading to Horde or other Sov Null territory to draw a QRF.

(22:32:46Z) PF-346
Navitas +0.27m
Capsule +0.05m

Somewhat discouraged, we headed back toward PC9. A very unlucky Hookbill tried to jump past us and we caught it in a bubble. It was quick and our tackle pilots chased with some difficulty, dropping bubbles on the way that prevented the rest of us from warping up. However, we had enough tackle to hold scram and Hillybilly and a couple other Feroxi got a better angle to warp up to the tackle pilots and get the kill.
Also, Oh'Leeador popped a noobship that was carrying some ice mining gear.
(23:16:12Z) M2-CF1, MHC-R3
Reaper +6.01m
Capsule +0.01m
Condor -1.67m
Caldari Navy Hookbill +38.33m
Capsule +0.01m

As we were making our way back to eastern Syndicate Union Pivo had called out a battleship gang of Megathron Navy Issue/ Hyperion/ Abbadon/ Bhaalgorn/ Malediction arriving from Harroule. They warped off the Harroule gate in MHC and... disappeared. I sent scouts in all directions but nobody could find them. We wrote them off and killed the aforementioned Hookbill. At some point the battleships reappeared in JH-, having apparently no idea that we were in space. Mwhahaha

We let them jump into PC9 and had our spais/eyes monitor as they went deeper into the pocket. After they moved to X-P I jumped the fleet to PC9 to close the trap. We moved into X-P after they moved into ZN0. Concerned that they might be moving ships in to dock up and log, I split the fleet and sent a Vanguard in to ZN0 under Decklin's command. It's not every day that you can send a vanguard that can realistically engage four battleships (; (; (;

The battleships finally caught wind that we were after them. I held the main fleet in X-P on the ZN0 gate to keep them from escaping as their Malediction frantically jumped back and forth. Meanwhile, Decklin and the vanguard caught their Abaddon. Alas, many of us did not get on the killmail, but we would be rewarded later...
(23:40:08Z) ZN0-SR
Abaddon +295.85m

After they lost their Abaddon, the Malediction moved to JH- and the other pilots docked up. After some debate, I decided to take us back to PC9 since they had no eyes there and could not escape without going through. We heard about a fairly stable gate camp sitting in 97X and Y9G (alas, via a pilot who had dropped fleet and got caught on the way home). I decided to go take a swipe at them and moved the fleet. We lost another of Crimson's tackle boats and most of the gate campers were smart enough to not get caught by our bubbles, but we did catch a Gila who made the mistake of jumping into 97X to "escape", warping to the M2- gate, getting bubbled, then crashing gate only to find *another* bubble on the other side along with our main damage wing. RIP.

(00:00:12Z) Y9G-KS
Condor -1.7m
Capsule -0.01m

(00:06:50Z) M2-CF1
Gila +287.07m
Capsule +0.01m

Meanwhile, our eyes reported that the battleships had undocked and the Malediction had gone to join them. Puzzled by their eyes leaving JH-, but not about to leave such a gift on the table, I moved the fleet back to JH- and sat us on the PC9 gate. I sent a trusty interdictor pilot to sit on the X-P gate in PC9 and another dictor and some tackle into system. My plan was to catch them either on the X-P gate in PC9 or the PC9 gate in JH-. At this point, the battleships made a pair of fatal mistakes. First, they jumped into PC9 and warped to a tactical above the JH- gate instead of tethering up and letting their eyes check JH-. That was an avoidable mistake. Second, the tactical they warped to was near one of the NSC bro's tacticals. Our tackle pilots got on the two battleships that were in system and dropped multiple bubbles, then scrammed them to a standstill. I jumped the fleet in and intentionally landed us in the bubbles. Our numbers had dwindled to around 20 but we still easily melted the modestly fit battleships for a couple of nice kills.
(00:19:43Z) PC9-AY
Bhaalgorn +345.79m
Hyperion +529.83m
Capsule +0.7m
Capsule +0.01m

We called the fleet shortly after those nice kills, with most of us leaving our Feroxes in PC9 for future adventures (see combat fleet post for details!!!)

Stats
ISK Destroyed: 1,503,926,214.62
ISK Lost: 10,198,056.64
ISK Delta: 1,493,728,157.98
Efficiency: 99.326%

Losses joining/leaving fleet:

Spoiler

(21:08:15Z) MHC-R3
Ibis -0.03m

(21:17:41Z) 97X-CH
Capsule -0.01m

(22:24:00Z) 97X-CH
Ferox -87.13m
Capsule -0.01m

(23:14:11Z) Y9G-KS
Bellicose -42.26m
Capsule -0.01m
Ferox -95.34m
Capsule -0.01m

Stats
ISK Destroyed: 0
ISK Lost: 224,799,596.27
ISK Delta: -224,799,596.27
Efficiency: 0%

What went well:

• -Thanks to Anna Iwaira's contracts and all of you brave pilots, we had a huge showing for the FCC Feroxes' inaugural fleet. I was blown away by the turnout (as were several battleships!). Feroxes will fly again by popular demand!
  -We flew well. The fleet was where I needed y'all when I needed you, even during some rather lively maneuvers. I was impressed and pleased, thanks y'all!
  -We had three interdictors and lots of tackle. Having three bubblers was luxurious for me - I could keep a dictor with the fleet, send one to the other side of the gate and still have a third for sneaky stuff. Amazing!!! The wealth of tackle also helped us catch the Hookbill and Gila and lock down the battleships.
  -We had a full logi wing who provided excellent support. If we had gotten into a fleet fight we would have been hard to break without caps. I am afraid I didn't find anything to challenge your rep though );
  -The Feroxes were more nimble than I expected. They certainly aren't Derpatrons, but they were easier to get around in than BLAP Vexors due to better align time, sub-warp speed and lack of drones to deploy/recall.
  -The Feroxes also delivered solid damage and tank. Our *vanguard* killed a battleship. How cool is that?
  -Our NSC buddies brought along great complements to the comp, notably the interdictors and tackle ships and later a couple of shiny battleships for extra DPS.
  -Even including the losses from folks trying to join or leave fleet, we were 86% ISK positive. Looking at strictly kills/losses on grid with the fleet we killed 1.5BN with only 10MN in losses.
  -We owned Syndicate! And even more importantly, we found out we can undock a 40 person battlecruiser fleet. You can do all kinds of fun stuff with that many pilots in BCs
  -I had a heap and a half of fun!

What could have gone better:

• -I failed to catch any content for us for two full hours. Now, granted there wasn't much in space, but if I had applied tackle/bubbles better we probably could have caught that Tempest or part of the Rupture gang. I was rusty with bubbles and didn't get warmed up until around 23:00. My apologies especially to those who left after two hours when we only had a Navitas kill );
  -Formup was slow. I think part of this was due to us leaving from Soli/PC9 and a lot of folks having to make the hard trip down from HSC/LSC. It was also probably partly due to everyone having to ship into the doctrine for the first time, meaning lots of questions about fits and "what should I fly", etc... I managed to offload some of the questions on to Decklin but probably could have used a dedicated "doctrine assistant" to help folks with boats.
  -A command destroyer would have come in handy on multiple occasions, notably with the Tempest but also with other boats that we could have tried to keep from crashing gates.
  -Combat probes would have given us a better shot at the Rupture gang and Caveman gate camp.
  -We lost some folks trying to join or leave fleet. Sorry y'all, Syndicate is dangerous on Saturdays and we were not there to help ); ); );

What I have mixed feelings about:

• -Comms were frequently cluttered. As I have mentioned previously in other posts, I am enthusiastically committed to open comms. With 40 of us in fleet, and scouts in multiple directions, I think the comm clutter was inevitable and I think we did well overall. So, no changes suggested, just something to keep in mind for future large fleets.

Overall, a great end to the fleet, though I am still a little bummed about how things got started. Many thanks to everyone who came out - pew pew pew!!!
Yuri

[Anna Iwaira]

It sounded like fun was had from my "tactical command centre"

[The Jojosh]

Thank you for the fleet, Yuri.

CONS - Went to bed at 4 am
PROS - With a big smile on my face

See you next time!

[Edward Audeles]

This Solitude carebear had fun flying around Syndicate, even if the opposition was limited. I'm just sorry that Real Life forced me to drop fleet all too abruptly after two hours.

Thanks to Yuri for organizing the fleet and kudos to Anna for the logistics

[Azalee Madeveda]

I've had loads of fun and am looking forward for the next we undock this doctrine.
Thanks FC and everyone involved.

As a logi, I really should use a drone to ping at the opponents and get on the killmails though.

[Crimson Herring]

I had a lot of fun as scout/tackle. The fact that condors are so cheap means I am willing to take pretty significant risks to get tackle, but going for the Cerebus was a mistake. First of all, I didn't really think about the fact that he was probably RLML fit, and the fact that he just killed our other tackle scout, and that I was probably just throwing my ship away. Secondly, the real cost here was not the 1.6M ISK to replace the Condor, but that fact that the fleet was potentially without scouts for ten minutes. Fortunately Nunnery was there to pick up the slack.

Hookbill was totaly werf tho.

[Rebulah Conundrum]

Had a lot of fun on the fleet - not our fault that we were just too scary!! One thing i might look at is more tackle - I will examine a training plan for myself to let me contribute more on such fleets, as if had had more tackle we would have caught more targets and with that fleet there is only one outcome...

[Calder Ormand]

Pretty peeved I missed this. Seems like it was a fun inaugural fleet for the Feroxes

[Decklin Quark Reiger]

Two things about this fleet really stand out for me:

1. At the start of the fleet before we joined up, we really lacked the tackle ships that the doctrine needs to be effective. Losing our first two tackle frigates really disabled our ability to grab targets. I'm really glad that the NSC folks added extra support in this way.

2. The intel and scouting we got was great. We had a number of scouts out in different directions from the fleet, and this gave us the ability to trap those battleships. Also, I'm really glad the discipline of holding the fleet back from the Abaddon kill paid off, and you guys were able to catch the rest of the gang way to go!

[Yuri Levnik]

Speaking of battleships, our NSC buddies got the Megathron Navy Issue today https://zkillboard.com/kill/66071096/

[Sturym]

As always, I try to give good input on these... but you summed it up really well. The fleet was fantastic. Despite a few losses off the bat (which happened to be tackle), I think we had a fantastic end to the fleet. I really enjoyed flying a Ferox (though Drakes are better q.q). Here's the only "feedback" I suggest.

- Maybe we need to have a "form up" time followed by a "fleet movement" time. I say this, because we mention to everyone "Undocking at 2100 Eve time" but this is almost always 15-30 minutes prior to our actual undock. If we had a "Form-up at 2030, Undock at 2100" then there's the clear expectation that you should be there by 2030... especially if you want to get the convoy brief. This allows us to get the brief out of the way between 2040 and 2100. Final staging would take place around 2055, with the official undock at 2100. If you're not there at 2100, then you understand you are solely responsible for getting yourself to the fleet if you wish to join.

Maybe that's the wrong answer, but it helps to get people on-board as soon as possible. Additionally, it allows for "late comers" to show up at 2045 and still not be late for undock, versus 2115 and we've already undocked.

As always, I had a blast and was SUPER ecstatic about taking down those BSs.

Sturym o7

[Anna Iwaira]

the comms clutter was an issue and as well, getting people to freefire just before needing to move through a gate meaning all of your tackle and all but a couple of your DD was stuck on the other side was not optimal...only things i really picked up on

[Space Warfare Development]

With 40 ships in fleet spiking local, it is enough to scare off any target.
Recommend splitting the fleet into 20-20 or 10-10-20, spike target system with the slower-warp 20, leave the faster-warp 20 ships a system behind, calculate the time it would take the faster-20 to dash two systems in, spike the target system and land on the battle grid. To the enemy who is not aware that three groups are converging on one location to third-party. Oh surprise, it's all UNI !