HSC Saturday Mission Fleet AAR [31.03.2018 19:00]

[Quinn Sinjin]

HSC Saturday Mission Fleet 19:00 31/03/18 – Training/Practice fleet

19:00 started forming up, newbro speech
19:30 undocked
21:00 end of fleet

3 missions were completed: 2 in Amygnon and 1 in Jufvitte.
Fleet basics that were covered: We practiced aligning and fleet warping, individual warping to fleet members, sliding through gates in the correct order (DPS first then logi), anchoring to FC/LC, setting up watchlists, how to broadcast for reps, logi cap chaining, comms etiquette, the role of a fleet salvager, and general mission running.

FC notes:
The fleet went well, everyone did exactly as I asked and performed their roles well, and comms etiquette was followed.
However, this was my first time as FC and so this was as much training for me as it was for newbros we had in fleet; I was very nervous about speaking in front of the group and taking charge. I think I have a lot of areas to improve on and remember for next time. I tried to prepare as best I could well in advance, but I found that several times my mind blanked and so there were things that in hindsight I could have done better:

1. FC commands: Several times I forgot to use the correct terminology/phrasing for giving a command. So for example, I would say “Okay everyone; take this warp” instead of “Fleet take this warp”. It’s a small thing, but in a serious PvP fleet proper phrasing is important.

2. Newbro speech: I think I rushed through this a bit, my mind completely blanked. Nobody had any questions and performed well, but I think my spiel could be better.

3. Fleet positioning: As we were using Vexors I should have asked everyone for their maximum drone range at the start of the fleet in order to get us correctly positioned. This was actually something I had planned to do beforehand, but sadly forgot on the day. As it was, the issue came up after the first mission was run, so I asked everyone to give me their ranges in fleet chat and was able to adjust my fleet movement for the next mission.

4. Management of people coming into the fleet late and/or management skills generally: I had advertised the fleet as a strict ‘no latecomers’ thing as I wanted to get people in the mindset of preparing themselves for fleet ops in advance. Also, on a PvP fleet usually you can’t join halfway through for obvious reasons. So I was in this frame of mind when a player asked to join us whilst I was halfway through a mission and I denied him coming along quite abruptly. I was given private feedback by another fleet member who pointed out that perhaps I should reconsider due to the fact that this was a newbro and that normally latecomers can join up in-between missions. This is a very fair point and after realising that I had perhaps been a bit harsh I messaged the newbro, apologised and invited him to the fleet. I think the lesson I can learn from this is to be more flexible in future within the context of the fleet. As this was a newbro-friendly mission training fleet I shouldn’t be so strict and I should expect to make adjustments to fleet composition during the op.


Overall the fleet was good, I hope everyone had a good time and learnt something – I know I certainly did. Thank you to everyone that came along – you were all lovely! Thank you to all the newbros that came along and bore with me – when you are new it can be a bit daunting joining a fleet, but well done for jumping in and getting involved. Thank you to the Logi wing - Nelliver Cadigal, Kelle Damage and Weadj - who performed admirably as always (yes, I’m still biased about Logi pilots being generally awesome!). Thank you to our special guest Willow K for providing boosts and moral support. Thank you to Malaki Stern for taking the salvager role so we could gather more ISKies for fleet members. And special thanks to my 2IC Airsick Lowlander for filling in with useful information when my mind went blank, tagging for me, and generally helping out with every request I had.

Any comments or feedback about this fleet are welcome below.

[D'ameni Holmes]

Quinn,

You did a great job leading your first fleet. It was informative for those who had never participated and you clearly told all what you wanted and how we were to execute things.

I'll come again next time if we aren't doing goo!

D'ameni

[Endaras Oramara]

Thanks Quinn, hope you continue to FC on a regular basis. Event was clearly well planned, you communicated well, and had a confident and fun style, despite any first time nerves you may have felt.

Will definitely attend again.

[JohnPlayerNotSpecial]

I had advertised the fleet as a strict ‘no latecomers’ thing as I wanted to get people in the mindset of preparing themselves for fleet ops in advance. Also, on a PvP fleet usually you can’t join halfway through for obvious reasons. So I was in this frame of mind when a player asked to join us whilst I was halfway through a mission and I denied him coming along quite abruptly.

Yes there's this joke with "oh there's an uni fleet @ 18h00, i can show up at 18h40 and my very first question will be does anyone have a ship for me". Which can and will be stressful or annoying for the FC. The information is posted days or even weeks beforehand, yet still some are completely unprepared and then simply expect to get included. That is mainly because of the nature of the Uni as in being inclusive. But imHo your approach is also fine. If you're not on time and/or unprepared, you dont take part. Dont feel too bad about this.