AAR: BLAP Merlins HSC Roam 06/30/2019 0015

[Gergoran Moussou]

Well, I decided to run my first fleet due to the lack of events occurring at times when I was available. I got some people who thought that it was a good idea. We caused some exploding spaceships

Unfortunately, had to parse chat logs without the tool that Esca gave me at https://laserbeam3.github.io/EveRoamReport/ because it seems broken right now. Rayanth assisted me, I sent the .txt chat file out to him and he used Excel to parse it.

FC: Gergoran Moussou
Scouts: Auric Fulcrum, Ky Hanomaa (Geollen Smith stepped up as scout Merlin guiding us back to hisec because the two scouts died in Tama)
Logi: Laethe Fooswa, Drachs, Torr Victros
DD: Esca Sinak, MIkadwi Oo, Sirix Haneri, Musashi Kensei, Etri Orlenard, Geollen Smith, manda doomsslayer, Neemo Beer (joined a bit after we got into lowsec).

We initially took a route which Mike Kingswell suggested to me, but after encountering some trouble, we regrouped at Ichoriya and went down to Tama.

Link for what I'm what will be HSC buyback contract of the loot brought back to HSC: https://evepraisal.com/a/ms8vj
Haven't put up the contract yet because I'm having trouble repairing/repackaging/stacking them.
That loot will be divided from that total after I log back into the game. The loot which I left in Ichoriya will go to E-Uni (would be nice if someone higher up could tell me who to give it to) to help restock the reships since we took the last four Merlin contracts out of Ichoriya after our encounter with the Rorqual fleet and the Nisuwa incident. It included some T2 charges and modules, but is somewhat less valuable than what's in HSC.

Lossmails:
Burst-Laethe-Vlillirier: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77546524/
Merlin-Gergoran-Pynekastoh: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77546856/
Atron-Ky-Nisuwa: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77546882/
Burst-Drachs-Nisuwa: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77546891/
Merlin-Geollen-Nisuwa: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77546894/
FedNavy Comet-Neemo-Nisuwa: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77546899/
Merlin-Sirix-Nisuwa: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77546901/
Merlin-Musashi-Nisuwa: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77546903/
Atron-Etri-Tama: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77547327/
Slasher-Auric-Tama: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77547342/

Killmails:
Incursus-Kelon Darklight-Vlillirier: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77546525/
Capsule-Kelon Darklight-Vlillirier: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77546553/
Condor-Calstin Audene-Oicx: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77546612/
Capsule-Calstin Audene-Oicx: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77546630/
Enyo-Zhora Shopkin-Tama: https://zkillboard.com/kill/77547346/

Kill total: 64.0600
Loss total: 89.0611
Efficiency ratio: 0.719281563

The Nisuwa incident occurred on the way back to Ichoriya. I'm bad with connecting voices to names, but I believe Ky took 2IC temporary command after I lost my ship to stumbling upon a Rorqual fleet from Snuffed Out since after getting everyone away (I fleet warped when I saw that I was taking damage so that I could get everyone out), I detached myself for a reship. Unfortunately, while I was detached, the rest of the fleet encountered some trouble in Nisuwa from a Curse and a Comet. After things calmed down, I gave the order to rejoin me in Ichoriya to reship. Once we handled that (with two pilots leaving), I set a course for Tama.

Evaluation:
1. Was a lot of fun. Certainly felt good to step up into FC for the first time. I feel a bit more exhausted than I have after previous fleets, though.
2. I should have been more careful about making sure that everyone was flying the doctrine ships. I didn't mind scouts bringing their own ships that weren't the fleet tackle Atrons up on contract in Amygnon that I gave as my example fit (since that was only because I knew that it was an easily available ship for the role). We had already undocked and started our journey when Neemo applied on my advert, and Neemo wasn't in-system, so I didn't know that he was flying a Comet rather than a doctrine ship (I just assumed that since my advert said BLAP Merlins, people would bring ships from that doctrine). Had I made sure that everyone in DD was flying a BLAP Merlin, the Nisuwa losses wouldn't have devastated the ISK efficiency as badly.
3. We had a decent number of new people in the fleet. Also a decent number of experienced LSC people. Was a good learning experience for me as FC and for the new guys.
4. Comms discipline is important. While forming up, I had to make sure that everyone in fleet was in Mumble and everyone in Mumble was in fleet. I saw that Mumble had more people than were in fleet, so I had to figure out who the extra people were. I recognized the name Urban Oxide and decided that I didn't mind him listening in. The other was a newbro who was listening in to get an idea of what a fleet is like. He stuck around for the forming up and newbro speech, but before we warped off from 101, I politely asked him to leave the channel for OpSec reasons. A few times during the fleet, I ended up having to remind the LSC people to keep combat comms and limit the banter to text chat. I think I handled this pretty well since kept it from getting too distracting while I didn't go overboard and have a no-fun fleet.
5. While I don't think I made any significant tactical errors (I am ultimately responsible for the Nisuwa losses, but they occurred when it was necessary to delegate tactical command to someone else), I made some operational mistakes. I forgot to include instructions on safety color (yellow) or route preference (shorter). While no problems occurred due to someone having green and not being able to engage, someone did get lost because I didn't remind everyone to prefer shorter route. I delegated some of the newbro fleet intro speech stuff to the more experienced people. Esca linked the Intro to Fleets chat channel which we made use of, I made sure that everyone could demonstrate a broadcast and what the various orders that I'd give were (such as "align align"), and the LSC people provided additional advice that I didn't think of.
6. Logi is a wonderful thing. I love logi. I thought that the Enyo would kill me. I was down to below 30% hull because I took too long to broadcast, but I survived that fight, we repaired at Lich, and then set a course for Amygnon. Unfortunately, we engaged a Worm as a target of opportunity before leaving the system and it took out both of our scouts before MWDing away. The Enyo's salt in local was entertaining. The scouts took their pods home from Tama and Geollen scouted the way back to HighSec, when I gave the order to make best speed for 101 and deliver the loot to me.
7. When I got back into HSC general Mumble, someone mentioned that E-Uni logistics people had discussed using my fleet as an escort to get supplies to Archavoinet since I mentioned not having decided upon a route yet, but never had the opportunity to ask me. I would have said yes. If anyone wants to coordinate a convoy escort fleet with me in the future, I'd be up for it (I'd prefer to use an armor frigate doctrine, but this one was short notice so I was going with what's up on contract in HSC).
8. I got to say "Lock S-foils in attack position." I've always wanted to say that. I'm not sure that it makes as much sense for Merlins as it does with some other ships (Slashers definitely do have S-foils considering the animation of them transitioning between warp and normal, Caracals and Moas/Gilas have similar animations). But Star Wars is an excellent universe with plenty of great quotes, all six movies and vastly more material. Shame that Disney butchered it.

[Drachs]

I had all three of my repers on you, watching you go into structure anyway, when I remembered I could overheat my rack. Then I watched you go full shields. Overheat is a wonderful thing.

[Dexyr Sulvara]

Congrats on your 1st FC, looks like it was a lot of fun!
In regards to the AAR generator, for whatever reason I find it only works if my browser is in incognito. If not it just endlessly generates (I assume its a browser plugin issue, might be the same for you).

[Fedo Moo Moo]

Congrats on your first fleet! Wish I could have made it. I'm hoping to learn how to FC myself one day. Thanks for taking the initiative.

[Gergoran Moussou]

Thanks for taking the initiative.

No, I didn't take them on. Biggest alliance that I encountered was Snuffed Out (yes, I know what you actually meant).

[Gergoran Moussou]

Roam members (14)

Spoiler

Auric Fulcrum - Slasher
Drachs - Burst
Esca Sinak - Merlin
Etri Orlenard - Atron
Geollen Smith - Merlin
Gergoran Moussou - Merlin
Ky Hanomaa - Atron, Slasher
Laethe Fooswa - Burst
Musashi Kensei - Merlin
Neemo Beer - Federation Navy Comet
Sirix Haneri - Merlin
Torr Victros
manda doomsslayer - Merlin
mikadwi Oo

Kills and Losses

(01:09:31) Vlillirier
Burst -5.54m
Incursus +11.09m
Capsule +0.01m

(01:18:01) Oicx
Condor +6.81m
Capsule +0.01m

(01:41:23) Pynekastoh
Merlin -7.32m

(01:43:42) Nisuwa
Atron -1.99m
Burst -5.55m
Merlin -11.8m
Federation Navy Comet -31m
Merlin -6.9m
Merlin -6.93m

(02:25:26) Tama
Slasher -2.98m
Atron -0.93m
Enyo +46.15m

Stats
ISK Destroyed: 64,070,667.86
ISK Lost: 80,931,527.66
ISK Delta: -16,860,859.8
Efficiency: 44.186%

Overall evaluation

• ✔ (Positive stuff)
  ✘ (Negative stuff)

Incognito stuff worked, Dexyr. Odd. I've been taking the Google IT Support Professional certification lately and the software for that doesn't work in an incognito window even though they tell you to do that.

[mikadwi Oo]

Thanks for organising that. Learnt a lot.

First encounter I couldn't work out where everyone was. Warping to member didn't work half the time. After the battle I discovered what "slide" meant. Lol.

Second encounter got lock on target but my guns and disruptor wouldn't work. After the battle I discover about safety. Lol.

Third encounter. Got everything working. Landing hits, when the call goes to scatter. Somehow managed to be one not to die. Lol.

Final encounter. Locked on, firing, all good. Enyo dies. I'm not in the kill report. ALL my shots missed. Time to work on Gunnery then. Lol.

So basically, lots of lols had. Hopefully will do better next time. Maybe die a little too...

[Gergoran Moussou]

Thanks for organising that. Learnt a lot.

First encounter I couldn't work out where everyone was. Warping to member didn't work half the time. After the battle I discovered what "slide" meant. Lol.

Second encounter got lock on target but my guns and disruptor wouldn't work. After the battle I discover about safety. Lol.

Third encounter. Got everything working. Landing hits, when the call goes to scatter. Somehow managed to be one not to die. Lol.

Final encounter. Locked on, firing, all good. Enyo dies. I'm not in the kill report. ALL my shots missed. Time to work on Gunnery then. Lol.

So basically, lots of lols had. Hopefully will do better next time. Maybe die a little too...

The shots missing is why I had a standing order which I reminded everyone a few times about to orbit target at 500m. That's the optimal range of the weapons on a BLAP Merlin when loaded with the ammunition that the doctrine uses. Perhaps I should have specifically said "engage at 500" in each contact rather than just when going over standing orders. Accuracy drops off after extremely close range.

But yeah. I learned from this fleet. I need to be more clear about what I'm expecting people to do, especially with new people who haven't been on many fleets. I didn't go over safety color or route settings in the beginning, I should have.

[Laethe Fooswa]

Love to see this AAR - and new pilots as well as new FCs learning from the process
Glad I was able to make it and congratulations on taking the massive first step.

[mikadwi Oo]

The shots missing is why I had a standing order which I reminded everyone a few times about to orbit target at 500m. That's the optimal range of the weapons on a BLAP Merlin when loaded with the ammunition that the doctrine uses. Perhaps I should have specifically said "engage at 500" in each contact rather than just when going over standing orders. Accuracy drops off after extremely close range.

But yeah. I learned from this fleet. I need to be more clear about what I'm expecting people to do, especially with new people who haven't been on many fleets. I didn't go over safety color or route settings in the beginning, I should have.

MotD had orbit instructions etc, so I was at optimal range, just somehow managed to not land a hit. I've just completed the BLAP skills, so need to see if there's anything I'm missing to shoot better. I'm pretty sure it's not due to my eyes being closed the whole time.

I thought it was called well, and managed to pretty much keep up, except for a couple of calls missed due to crosstalk. Was very interesting listening to the scouting reports. Still learning the lingo, but that will come from experience. The Intro channel was useful. And I'm proud to say I wasn't a Lemming...

Also appreciated a fleet that was friendly for the weekend for my AUTZ.

[Gergoran Moussou]

The shots missing is why I had a standing order which I reminded everyone a few times about to orbit target at 500m. That's the optimal range of the weapons on a BLAP Merlin when loaded with the ammunition that the doctrine uses. Perhaps I should have specifically said "engage at 500" in each contact rather than just when going over standing orders. Accuracy drops off after extremely close range.

But yeah. I learned from this fleet. I need to be more clear about what I'm expecting people to do, especially with new people who haven't been on many fleets. I didn't go over safety color or route settings in the beginning, I should have.

MotD had orbit instructions etc, so I was at optimal range, just somehow managed to not land a hit. I've just completed the BLAP skills, so need to see if there's anything I'm missing to shoot better. I'm pretty sure it's not due to my eyes being closed the whole time.

I thought it was called well, and managed to pretty much keep up, except for a couple of calls missed due to crosstalk. Was very interesting listening to the scouting reports. Still learning the lingo, but that will come from experience. The Intro channel was useful. And I'm proud to say I wasn't a Lemming...

Also appreciated a fleet that was friendly for the weekend for my AUTZ.

In that case, turret tracking and falloff are definitely the things to improve. The wiki indicates that speed is the biggest issue with the doctrine, but I think range is what makes speed such a problem. If you can't get a web on the target, it's not hard for an afterburner ship to stay just beyond antimatter blaster range.

[Durnik Risalo]

While this will work for fleet/gang tactics, it won't for solo since you are always red boxed by your adversary:

When you orbit, you should lower your speed which lowers your angular/transversal which improves your tracking which improves your damage. I like about 20% - 30% max speed (or really about 100 to 200 m/s). Just make sure that if you become the target that you go to max speed and let your fleet mates work on damage while you speed tank the adversary. If you get yellow boxed, then maybe increase your speed some to be ready to go to max if he red boxes you.

This tactic is especially important for lower skills characters. Also, when I FC NoP Fleets, I use a Target Painter to help the fleet members with tracking/damage. And like was mentioned, webs help the whole fleet also for tracking/damage, as well as encounter control.

tldr - low speed/low transversal for offense and high speed/high transversal for defense; let your adversaries dictate which you are and let your fleet mates prioritize damage application. Fleet members that are red boxed should be speed tanking and all other members should be going slow for tracking/damage.

[mikadwi Oo]

Thanks for the tips. I'm used to solo PvE where you're always red boxed so had my speed high as a matter of habit. I've also queued higher levels of appropriate gunnery skills which won't take too long to learn.