[Small Gang Thursday] VI - T3Ds in low-sec

[Budda Sereda]

As part of "Small Gang Thursday" initiative (https://forum.eveuniversity.org/viewtop ... 4&t=107273) we had another Armor Brawly T3D fleet (https://forum.eveuniversity.org/viewtop ... 6&t=107556).

It was an interesting fleet with quite a good turnaround as for Thursday. The fleet was rather quick because eventually we were caught and whelped majority of us.

I got 2 T2 logies, ceptor Scout, 7-ish T3Ds, Magus with Armor Burst and MJFG, Maulus for EWar, and few T1 frigates and dessies, totally 17 members:

Spoiler

Atticus Vex
Auric Fulcrum
Brejik Haumaan
Budda Sereda
Ca'ain
Cheradenine Zakalve
Dj UNOHOO
Drake Shea
Gemma Solett
Glen Burney
KPYTOE KOPOBO
Omnicious Shardani
Raxon Noseworthy
Rohan Amadeus
Space Warfare Development
Tyler Arnoux
Z0X Ambrye

Funny thing, I pulled Atticus in a fleet while he was travelling through Ost: we where ganking another ship on Agoze gate and as I invited he reshiped into another T3D and joined us.

It was interesting and reach-ish for the content fleet. We even had a chance to practice booshing, though somehow it did not work. Twice time we have met REALLY big hostile fleets (consisting of few dozens of faction BSs like Macherial, T2 DD/Logies). We also picked up 2 Geckos from a killed Myrmidon (which I now need to bring to the trade hub, together with loot from few dozens of other fleets Below are a list of kills.

(03:35:40) Melmaniel
Arbitrator +50.3m

(03:41:40) Melmaniel
Myrmidon +111.42m

(03:54:02) Ladistier
Megathron +265.87m
Capsule +0.01m

(04:38:14) Nisuwa, Kedama
Federation Navy Comet +31.67m
Harbinger +89.82m

Till this moment we lost nothing! Was interesting. And at some point while we were trying to catch a flashy Macherial we got additionally Sacrilege landing on a grid. I did fell a trap and kept d-scanning, but we agressed sacrilege.
First sign of danger was landing Guardian. Because Sacrilege was taking damage and Guard was a bit far I decided to try probing the Sacriledge's tank and switch to Guardian a bit later.

But, I failed to keep dscanning and we were surronded by a few dozens of different ships from dessies till BSs, I called people to allign to the sun and try to burn out of the blob, but it did not work, at some point I gave up and call people to warp to the sun, but only 4 of us escaped:

(04:52:43) Tama
Maulus -2.57m
Algos -12.3m
Hecate -81.52m
Deacon -58.3m
Atron +3.29m
Hecate -75.65m
Ishkur -45.51m
Confessor -86.76m
Confessor -66.99m
Confessor -64.72m

As it was already 2 hours in space and we lost the majority of the fleet I called it a night and went back to HS and Stacmon.

ISK Destroyed: 552,379,169.19
ISK Lost: 494,338,061.99
ISK Delta: 58,041,107.2
Efficiency: 52.773%

Learned points:
1. Orientation in space after boosh: I often lost in understanding who exactly was booshed. I believe I can come up with a strategy: look for the nearest immovable object (gate, station) and notice if your distance was changed. If yes - you were bushed. 2nd - has the distance to prey been changed? If it is 100km from you then bad luck

2. Somehow, the fleet should not only fight on grid, but also keep d-scanning CONSTANTLY. I guess FC should assign a person responsible for this and remind/check periodically.

Thanks for coming guys and hope to see you again! Please do fill-in the FCC Feedback form and let me know how did I perform and what I can improve.

P.S. Extended SRP was paid for logy loss.

P.P.S. I will have a NewBro friendly Brawly Cruiser fleet on Saturday: https://forum.eveuniversity.org/viewtop ... 6&t=107812 Please consider joining.

[Ca'ain]

I enjoyed this roam. It was pretty fast paced which was great. I really liked how everyone was asking questions and getting answers. It was fun chasing the Rokh; sorry for my bad pronunciation . We lost him because he was warp core stabed right? Could we have done anything different there?

A couple of times I locked up a fleetmate and started repping, and they bounced. Maybe if they stayed on grid we might have done a bit better on a couple of fights. What is the best way for that to be communicated? Comms - "Logi repping X now"? I feel a pilot should best determine if they bounce.

[Drake Shea]

Looks like I picked a good time to leave before the fleet welped Fun fleet, I would definitely fly out again.

Edit: Was also a very good learning experience for flying boosts and booshing

[Budda Sereda]

A couple of times I locked up a fleetmate and started repping, and they bounced. Maybe if they stayed on grid we might have done a bit better on a couple of fights. What is the best way for that to be communicated? Comms - "Logi repping X now"? I feel a pilot should best determine if they bounce.

I guess the answer is it depends.
Fighting a single ship in a T3D with 2 logies you probably are safe to stay under the gate guns fire. But only if it is not escalated. If the prey will get 1-2 more pilots to help, logies won't be able to hold reps. So in general, I would recommend to bounce and remove DPS from the gate guns.

Edit: Was also a very good learning experience for flying boosts and booshing

I'm curious what did happen when you booshed that ships (Megathrone), but it did not work. Where you too far from it or it was scrammed by somebody?

[Drake Shea]

I'm curious what did happen when you booshed that ships (Megathrone), but it did not work. Where you too far from it or it was scrammed by somebody?

I think it was because he was scammed because I was sitting under 5km from him. Hopefully it was a learning experience for all

[Raxon Noseworthy]

i lived lol i usually die thanks for fleet was fun i got out cause when ship landed i aligned right away

[Decklin Quark Reiger]

A couple of times I locked up a fleetmate and started repping, and they bounced. Maybe if they stayed on grid we might have done a bit better on a couple of fights. What is the best way for that to be communicated? Comms - "Logi repping X now"? I feel a pilot should best determine if they bounce.

Yeah, 2 Deacons can easily sustain an assault frigate or T3D under gate guns. The key is communicating clearly with your teammates, both in advance and in the moment.

In a small gang like this especially, there is a lot of value in concise communication like this. The main thing is be very wary of contradicting each other or talking over each other, since that confusion is deadly and bad for morale.

Sometimes having a tanky ship stay on grid to tank gate guns will be a good thing, because then 1) your ewar and lighter ships aren't taking them and 2) you have more DPS on your target to kill it quickly.

If a pilot does need to warp off, it's good to warn your small gang, something as quick and simple as "Decklin bouncing, logi be ready for switch" will work.

Similarly for logi, you can reassure a pilot, "Fred, logi's got you, you're fine." So he knows he can stay.

If the FC gets intel that an escalation is about to happen that you can't stay for, then of course they'll call for the gang to disengage. In general here, a controlled disengage ( via align and fleet warp) is preferable to a panicked "scatter", so that 1) gate guns don't switch unexpectedly to a target and 2) your gang is together when you exit warp, ready to fight or move on. Sometimes scatter is appropriate, just make sure you don't fleet warp after calling for one, since people will be aligned out in different directions.

Really, these communication skills are what make or break a small gang. Good question

Edit: auto correct typo corrections.

[Budda Sereda]

I forgot to post a reference to the feedback form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... rm?c=0&w=1
please do post if there is anything you guys want to share additionally.