[AAR] What does a Leshak do?

[Amoni Panala]

I could not get the fancy AAR report generator thing to work despite my best efforts (yes, I tried incognito mode). This was all manually put in from the chat log. If I missed you, please let me know (and what you were flying).

QRF Members

Spoiler

Macilles Deacon
Willuw Everquest Imperial Navy Slicer
Charlotte Talvanen Imperial Navy Slicer
Macilles Enyo
Ana'ander Lamora Jaguar
Ran Rotsuda Retribution
Jeracho Dorne Enyo
xtx loki Imperial Navy Slicer
Kranamor Andedare Enyo
Jonathan Wolf Deacon
Drak N' Gol Confessor

We had been fighting two different corps all morning (or at least it was morning in the US). Two separate corps from two separate chains. Our previous engagements had not been all that successful, but they were still begging us for a fight with a Typhoon on a hisec connection. Our eyes in the hisec side told us they had two Leshaks on standby. Troven had FC'd our last engagement from logi and it was a disaster, but nobody had stepped up. This is not a "Troven is a bad FC" criticism, moreover Troven tried to warn us that if he had to FC while also doing logi that it would be bad and he was correct. Trying to FC a fleet while also doing logi is a bad idea. Troven was once again ready to fly logi and this time was adamant he could not FC and fly logi. Someone needed to switch to logi or step up to FC. Once we had determined that this time we were going to engage in small ships to avoid feeding too much, I stepped up to FC because I felt much more comfortable FCing that than some of our larger ship fleets where the number of things to consider multiplies as things like boosts, cap chains, and mass become a factor.

I called for undock and did the classic new FC thing of warping myself instead of the fleet. I know it happens to even the most seasoned FCs, but goodness does it make me feel stupid when it happens to me (and I usually don't mess it up). We locked up the Typhoon and started to break his armor and as was reported, two Leshaks jumped through and sat there. I wasn't worried about Leshaks since we seemed to be holding just fine. There was a problem... We were holding, but so were they. What do we do? We started losing ships, including our initial tackler due to the massive drone damage. I ordered someone in a Slicer or Retribution to redirect their attention to drones. Once the drones were gone, we were back to the stalemate. What gives? I know Typhoons can be tanky as ever, but what do we do?

That's when Troven advised me that Leshaks have a ton of utility, including the ability to remote repair and cap chain with each other. There was nothing we could do to break the Typhoon while those two Leshaks were on field. We tried bumping them apart, but our frigates just couldn't make enough of an impact. Troven suggested having someone reship into a boosher in order to separate the two Leshaks and thereby cut off the Tempest from its reps. I asked who could. After some role swapping, we had a boosher pilot reshipping. I made the unfortunate mistake of not clarifying that I wanted the boosher to reship and return as quickly as possible, so our boosher was simply sitting docked up waiting for the order to undock and warp to someone. After the boosher undocked, the Tempest and two Leshaks jumped into hisec and away they went.

Ships lost:
Enyo
Enyo
Confessor

Positives
+ I'm glad I stepped up this time.
+ Fleet was very responsive to commands and didn't hesitate.
+ Fleet was incredibly forgiving of my little mistakes like warping myself.
+ Assigning someone to defang reduced a significant amount of their effective DPS.

Negatives
- Not knowing what Leshaks can and cannot do seriously hindered my ability to command effectively and probably cost us those ships.
- Having a non-doctrine ship on field was a liability. I should have paid more attention to the fact that it was still on grid and called for them to reship or stay docked.
- I need to be more confident in my command. In my mind, that would have meant deciding for myself that we weren't breaking the Typhoon and changing tactics. I shouldn't have waited for Troven's gentle prodding suggestion. Even though I didn't know what to do, calling it earlier might have saved our ships and I could have gotten that boosher on field sooner.

Edit: Mistakenly identified the ship as a Tempest when it was in fact a Typhoon. Updated the post to reflect the correct ship.
Edit 2: Removed my commentary about being in fleet and on Mumble since it comes across judgmental. The real reason this was important was because I, as a new FC, did not know the capabilities of a Confessor and therefore could not utilize it properly. Pilot was stuck in hisec and once they made it through I should have asked them to reship and join the fight. Staying on grid in the non-doctrine ship wasn't pilot error, it was FC error. I don't want anyone thinking I blame the pilot.

[Troven Smalvard]

Amoni,

great job, and thanks for stepping up, had lost two fleets already that evening (one as you mentioned i was most pissed by breaking my own rules (twice) just to take a fight and so wasn't in best mood )
- i hope you
1. enjoyed it &
2. got some learning to boot!, sound like you did.


- we all do the warp instead of fleet warp in the heat of the moment, won't be the last time i still do it all the time - main thing is you noticed and called the self warp as soon as, which is the most important thing.

- nice and calm on field, and good job switching to defang, + reminding the fleet which ships should be defanging ( retri and slicers)

- not knowing enemy ships (especially ones we don't fly regularly) will just get better engagement by engagement - happened to me at the weekend same with DNI's

- the reshipping up a logi replacement and making sure they on field so Mac could get a boosher went smooth
there was a lot going on in comms getting people set and making sure scrams on right target etc - i know at the time i snapped a bit, that call had been given but put that down to me still being pissed on the previous 2 engagements, i would have been easy to not hear the call in the moise and wasn't repeated untill asked if you were landing.

- since they were fighting on a high sec hole, expect they were always waiting on a boosher and nothing we can do they jumped as soon as they saw it on dscan

- once you have your main fleet set and enough to take the engagement, as long as you have announced doctrine if people not in it that's not on you, have enough going on on field
... in this case as it was confessor it fits well in the comp, and i know they were stuck out in eggs before fight started and believe they were the one that spotted the leshaks before we started and i'm sure i said they were fine to join in it once fight started early on when we were forming - so will give drak a pass


Non FC stuff,
- as logi did feel like we were getting some very late broadcasts and where we had T2s locked they were holding up fine - however as i was watching Amoni as well i may not have been as quick, will let other logi' decide if they felt same
-larger numbers you gotta repeat broadcast if you've been switched off and back on to get a sure re-lock,
-at least this time people were jumping out if felt not holding so thats ok, there were some jumping when we had them but its better to learn and that will come over all participation and some def we were not going to catch and did right thing disengaging




-------------------

I know you are going down FCC pathway, so please keep stepping up for QRF in WHC, happy to back seat you anytime you wanna take it ( we have cheap comps and SRP for a reason, would rather take a fight that might be good than worry about being isk efficent)

WH fights in the chain are a very different beast to the scheduling roaming Low Sec fleets as i'm sure you have gathered and getting a bit of both will be great

[Troven Smalvard]

- I need to be more confident in my command. In my mind, that would have meant deciding for myself that we weren't breaking the Tempest and changing tactics. I shouldn't have waited for Troven's gentle prodding suggestion. Even though I didn't know what to do, calling it earlier might have saved our ships and I could have gotten that boosher on field sooner.

i'm sure you feel people sense if you are not confident more than people actually notice, always the internal voice can be harshest. But FCing more will see you face more opponents and confidence grow, its the same as starting solo, when people tell you to buy 10 shipos and just go die, once your past the pixels its easier :0

just on this, and goes for any fc-ing, just keep giving orders, even if its just repeating previous to "stay on x" or "keep shooting drone" etc
silence is deadly and if your talking people know your still in control (even if you feel you are not)

that said, if you are really stuck for next step, no problem with asking for ideas
failing that planning an extraction is also fine if its stalemate and you think nothing else coming that might change that

[Macilles]

I have to agree with Troven on the broadcasts.
We had more pilots than able to lock, so when you are half way through shields before broadcasting, you are likely dead or jumping.
Once we see the broadcast, we have to lock up before repping and that valuable like lost (unavoidable). The sooner the broadcast the better.

I also feel (I might be wrong btw) that some of the kills were two-three shirted. Or so it felt. That’s only possible with low transversal.

Apologies for the Booshing palava. I was sat listening to the scram readjustment and waiting for the call. I got the instruction of what to do, but assumed it was instruction, not the actual call (purely due to the scram setup still being called). I know for next tine.

Just my two cents.

[Amoni Panala]

Apologies for the Booshing palava. I was sat listening to the scram readjustment and waiting for the call. I got the instruction of what to do, but assumed it was instruction, not the actual call (purely due to the scram setup still being called). I know for next tine.

I take full responsibility for this one. There was no clear direction for you to follow. All I told you was that I wanted you to reship into a boosher. Even though it seemed obvious to me at the time what I wanted you to do, there's something to be said for giving clear and direct instructions. After reading Troven's feedback, it seems like regardless of when you undocked or when I had called for a boosher, they would have jumped into hisec. They knew they were never in a ton of danger and there wasn't a good way to surprise them. They were likely waiting on us to try something like booshing before jumping.