Introduction

This guide will be mostly shield fleet focused.  I’m sure many of the general LC concepts apply to an armor fleet, but I would encourage the armor logistics to continue to contribute their knowledge to the community. This guide is also aimed at the needs of logistics commanders rather than individual pilots. Logistics pilots might like to review Basilisk Logistics 101 by Tavarus Excavar, or Armor Logistics 101 by Jinn Rhohas.

What does a Logistics Commander do?

In a shield HQ or Assault fleet, the primary responsibility of the LC is to sort the Basilisk cap chain using the Basilisk chat channel.  The LC will also inform the FC on the overall health of the logistics squad and if the logistics pilots are able to keep up with incoming DPS and the rotation of targets.  The LC will also keep track of the number and fits of the logistics pilots in fleet and on grid so the FC can focus on the remainder of the fleet.  In a shield fleet, this is almost always a Basilisk because of the Basilisk chat, but it’s not truly mandatory.  It’s also a good practice for the LC to have voice comms just for the speed of information transfer.  The Logistics Commander also needs to quickly get up to speed someone who hasn’t flown as a logistics in a HQ before.  Regardless, if the LC can keep the fleet moving by keeping the cap chain sorted, that can be enough…the other items are details.

Shield Logistics Ship Types

There are guides out there that do fits.  There’s a database of good fits and articles with good fits linked right here on The Incursion Guide.   Jester has some awesome logistics blogs and fitting advice on his site as well as yet more Incursion advice and anecdotes.   As an LC you should also get into the practice of getting into the squad leader position and reviewing fits of the pilots in your squad.  You don’t want to be surprised later.   The things I look for on the Basilisks are LARGE shield extender(s,) 2 Invuls and a Photon in the mids, and a Damage Control in lows…all T2’s.  Then, I check how many reppers and cap transfers they are fit with.  For Scimitars, as long as they have 4 reppers and some tank, the rest of the Scimitar’s fit is often very individualized.
Basilisk Fundamentals
There are 3 Basilisk general fit patterns that we see, and as an LC, you need to know how those fits affect how you setup for a site.

• 4/2 – This is, by far the most common fit in HQ fleets.   4 reppers (T2 or M4) and 2 Cap Transfers (almost always M4).  If your entire Basilisk team is 4/2 fit, it makes organizing the cap chain easier and more consistent and can provide more overall utility to the fleet.

• 4/1 – This is a Logistics Level V fit.  Because a Logistics V Basilisk pilot can remain ‘Cap-Stable’ with only 1 incoming cap transfer, you use this fit to pair with another Logistics V pilot.  Most often you see this fit in VG fleets.  In most cases, the 5/1 pairs will work outside of the normal Basilisk chat.

• The 6/0 Basilisk –This is a fairly rare fit but can provide excellent repair capacity with 6 reppers fitted.  Again, I just don’t have that pilot in Basilisk chat because he’s not part of the cap chain.

The Basilisk Chat

What is this “Basilisk chat” that I’ve mentioned?  The Basilisk chat is a dedicated chat channel that the 4/2 Basilisks join.  The LC runs this chat and organizes the cap chain.  When there are only 4/2 Basilisks in the channel, it makes it easy to organize this.  I also check cap stability in this channel by asking the pilots to ‘s’ up when they’re linked up with their cap buddies and are still cap stable running reppers and hardeners.   Once that’s sorted, I review the Logistics levels in the chat to determine who is Logi V and who is Logi IV.    From that list, I can determine who can service cap requests in-combat.  I mentioned above that a Logistics V pilot can remain cap stable with only 1 incoming Cap transfer.  Essentially those pilots with a Logi V as their down link can service in-combat cap requests.  In my fleets, only the down link moves around.  You keep your up-link on your cap buddy at all times.
Readjusting quickly is a sign of an experienced basi team.  When I notice something has changed…I’ll put a ‘readjust’ in Basilisk chat and/or call for it over coms.  Individual pilots need to regularly check the chain and to make sure they are themselves stable again/still.  Making the fleet sit on a gate while the Basilisks sort out who’s not linking to who is no fun for anyone.

Scimitar Fundamentals

In many ways, Scimitars are easier than Basilisks.  There’s no cap chain to sort.  While Basilisks bring additional utility to the fleet in the form of their cap transfers, Scimitars bring additional utility in the form of tracking links.  Unfortunately the cost of that utility is tank or resists.  I will generally recommend to a new-to-incursions Scimitar pilot to run with all tank and no links till they get a feel for how incursions work.  Only then do I encourage them to start trading out tank or hardeners for links.

In combat, the Scimitars are essentially independent agents.  They just need to watch broadcast history and listen for verbal orders from the FC/LC.

Watch List Configuration

Basilisk pilots will need to have their cap buddies watch-listed to aid in quick targeting.   All Logistics pilots will be asked to watch-list several others who may not be able to broadcast because of other fleet duties, or that are extraordinarily squishy but allowed into fleet as well.  FC-Fleet Commander.  TTT-Tagger.  JJJ-Jammer (I’ll talk about special considerations for Jammers in HQ fleets later).  AAA- Anchor, or LLL/CCC Logistics and Combat-DPS anchor respectively, and SSS-Squishy are the common people asked to be watch-listed.  These pilots are asked to ‘tag’ up in fleet chat with their role, and I often will repeat them in Basilisk chat to make sure everyone has seen them.  As a Logistics, those people should be watch-listed to ensure they get reps no matter if they broadcast or not.  Keep in mind, the watch-list is delayed.  I use the watch-list to easily target a pilot, but I only watch for their name to flash red…I don’t look at the damage scales at all.  Some LC’s ask that you watch-list other Logistics’ of the same ship type.  For instance a Basilisk pilot might watch-list 1 and 2 up and 1 and 2 down from them in case the on-the-fly readjust is needed…that second pilot is already watch-listed.  I consider this a personal preference.

Bug-out considerations

This is something that no fleet wants to consider, but can happen is a bug-out from an incomplete site.  At what point do you bug-out of a site to stop ships from being destroyed verses trying to struggle on is sometimes a fine line to judge.  It is a rare circumstance in HQ’s and Assault fleets.   There are considerations that need to be made if the LC or the FC wishes to decide on a warp out with minimum loss.  If I were to decide, for example,  that the fleet is taking more damage than available Logistics can repair (i.e. the loss of ¼ or more of the Logistics squad), I would clear all coms, ask for battle coms and suggest to the FC to begin aligning the fleet to a celestial to prepare for a possible warp-out.  That’s really the only circumstance where I would as LC suggest a bug-out.  If the FC pulls the fleet out from the site, the LC just needs to ensure that reps stay organized till the field is clear and that all the Logistics get out cleanly.

Logistics Drones

When I LC, I request that the Basilisks put their shield drones on their down-link cap buddy unless there’s a Jammer in the fleet, who would get all rep drones at all times.  That serves a couple of purposes.  If the Logistics are jammed or EMP’d, it keeps the equivalent of a repper and a bit on each of the Basilisks till everyone can get their locks back up.  It also gets the repair drones out and flying at speed so they can be re-directed to another pilot in dire distress with a simple right-click. I sometimes ask that the Scimitar pilots put their drones on their tracking link partners to again get the drones out and able to be redirected quickly to a pilot in need.
In a Shield fleet, I recommend checking to see if you have any ships in the fleet with Armor drones available.  In the case of a ship dipping into armor, it’s the LC responsibility to call for any Armor drones on XXX to get EHP back onto the pilot’s ship, then call for the drones to be recalled when the repairs are completed.

Jammers in fleet

Jammers are special ships in the fleet that can be great force multipliers.  But they are also incredible aggro-magnets and are generally somewhat squishy as well.  So when I LC and have a Jammer in the fleet I change the rules up some.  The jammer must be watch-listed by all Logistics.   The Jammer must be locked by all Logistics at all times.  All shield drones should be on the Jammer at all times.  If I have it available for when I expect Otuni’s, I put a full time cap-transfer on the Jammer or even 2, even if the Jammer has a cap buddy.   Primarily this is most needed on TCRC’s.  Less so in a NRF and is overkill in a TPPH.  We don’t generally have active Jamming in a MOM or Assault fleet.

Overview Settings

Overview settings are a really personal thing, but I’ll go over how I set mine up to LC a fleet as it enables me to keep on top of all Logistic-centric situations while in combat or waiting on the gate.  I have 4 incursion tabs, then my default which is set to show everything that might ever be interesting in an incursion site.

#1 – Fleet only.   I use this to count what’s on grid as well as a way to quickly lock up someone who didn’t broadcast.  You’ll also want speed and distance columns on so you can see who is moving and who is in your rep range.
#2 – Logistics and Sancha.  I use this tab mainly just to see how many Logistics are on grid with me. So, you just need to check the already present ‘Logistics’ box in your overview settings.  I don’t generally use it in combat much anymore other than a quick flip to count Logistics are on grid, but occasionally if I’m watching new Logistics closely I’ll use this one instead of my combat tab which is why the Sancha are on this one too.  The last thing on this tab is I show pods.  If I see a pod, then I know we’ve had a problem.
#3 – Sancha only.  This is my combat tab regardless if I’m flying DPS, Logistics, Jammer or whatever.  It shows only Sancha and gates.  Pretty much the only overview thing I do in combat is look to see if I’m being targeted.  My main focus is on my watch list and the broadcast history window.
#4 – Celestials only.  Gates, beacons and stations.  I use this to warp around as the other incursion tabs don’t have them on at all and the default tab for me is a bit of a mess.

Starting a site

As I mentioned above, being able to keep the fleet moving is important.  If pilots think there’s going to be a long delay they drop fleet or go AFK causing a domino effect.  One way that you as LC can help prevent this is to be on the ball.  Encourage your Basilisk pilots that whenever they’re standing on a gate to be running their caps and reppers and verifying stability.  Your goal as LC is to be able to snap back a response to the FC query of Logistics status that the Basilisks are cap stable and ready to go and there are X Logistics on grid.  The FC will then usually call for all Logistics to ‘L’ up in fleet chat.  As LC, it’s your job to count these L’s with the FC and also to map out who’s missing and call them out over coms.  Waiting on the Logistics is as painful as it is necessary so as LC you need to keep that wait to a minimum.

In-Position Broadcasting

Once per site I remind the fleet to broadcast ‘In Position’ once they are no longer taking damage as it makes it easier for the less-experienced Logistics to keep up.   I don’t make a big deal of this as I don’t actually pay a lot of attention to In-Position broadcasts anyway.  I just watch who is taking damage, and take the repper(s) off to see if they’re no longer targeted.  My reasoning is that I far more trust a pilot to broadcast they need reps again regardless if they’ve given an in-position if aggression comes back on them, than I do for them to broadcast in position in the first place.  Some LC’s make a bigger deal and I agree that it’s a good practice for pilots to broadcast; I just don’t push it very hard.

TCRCs

The difficulty with a TCRC is that the alpha strike on warp-in is brutal.  What typically happens is that the Anchor will receive the initial alpha damage, then the first target-switch will be to a Logistics ship.  You have to be prepared for this. Since it is likely there haven’t been any Sansha removed from the field yet, that Logistics will take heavy damage.  Calling out over comms when the target should be switching to remind the Logistics to watch their overview and broadcast if necessary helps avoid stupid losses. Once the first few Sansha are off the field, TCRCs are like any other site.

MOMs

The difference in a MOM is the bomber wave.  Periodically in the MOM encounter 10 ‘Lirsautton Parachiya’ bombers will appear.  Hopefully they’ll be targeted and killed immediately by the cruisers.  You have the normal yellow-box targeting warning.  So, as a Logistics pilot, you need to split your vision on a bomber wave.  One eye needs to watch the broadcast history to find out who is going to get it in the face, the other eye needs to watch your overview to make sure it’s not you.
The other thing an LC needs to consider on the MOM site is the periodic remote ECM burst it does.  Logistics pilots need to quickly relock their cap buddies as well as get reps back on pilots who have broadcasted recently.  And there’s an added twist.  If there is a ECM burst immediately after the bomber wave, there’s not really a lot to be done.  This is one of the reasons why on a MOM fleet there are separate Combat and Logistics anchors separated by 30KM with the DPS in front.  The radius of the blast is 20km, so if the ECM is centered on the DPS, only they will get the blast.

The Save!

Big, awesome, splashy ‘Saves’ of a ship deep into armor or structure will, almost invariably, pull aggression onto a Logistics, especially if Logistics have been overheating.  Again, be ready for this.  I watch who we’re doing the saving of, and when I believe we’ve turned the corner I call out over coms again for Logistics to watch broadcast and overview because one of them is going to get it next.  Same thing again when we fail to save someone, it will almost invariably go to a Logistics pilot next.  This is one of the reasons you often see kills in pairs or triplets.  The second one is a Logistics; the third one can be any ship that was a target of opportunity resulting from the chaos of a broken cap chain, fewer Logistics on the field and probably messy coms.

The Combat Cycle

Once we’re on grid and stable, as LC I start a process that is repeated as long as I’m in combat.
Obviously, I’m checking history and watch-list constantly.  As mentioned earlier I ignore the damage rectangles in the watch-list, and just look to see if any of the names are blinking red.  On the history tab, I’m checking that shield and cap requests are being handled.  I explained my process for repping above, so I’m managing my repping –vs- locked targets.   One thing that I never do is lock target #10.  As an LC, I feel that I have to be among the first to lock any target so that I can call for emergency reps if I have to.  So I always lock first, before unlocking someone, which requires I keep a slot available. It’s similar to keeping a repper available, so I always have one to drop on someone without waiting for a cycle to end.
In between each of those ‘cycles’ there are several things I check as well.  On my Logistics overview tab, I recount to make sure I have the quantity of Logistics I expect on grid and that they’re all in cap range of me.  That view also shows pods, so I’ll see if we’ve lost a ship.  Then I’ll flip to my fleet tab and check distances to see if anyone is out of my rep range that need to be called back.
As we get to the end of each wave or room in a site, I will check the tag list for the next wave or next room to verify what challenges Logistics are facing.  I’m looking for an Otuni spawn for the heavy neuts mainly because whoever gets targeted by one, I’ll have to start directing more reps as well as some cap to that pilot.  The other two ship types I pay close attention to are the Arnon’s and the Niarja’s which love to jam Logistics…that breaks the cap chain and unlocks targets being repped &etc.
I hope this information has been helpful to the community at large, and especially so for Logistics and LCs.  I’m happy to hear from other pilots about their experiences and will hopefully be allowed to keep this guide up to date with new information as it’s brought to my attention.
Nomatech, with additional thanks to Chain Evolition

Hey folks.

As you might have heard, BTL Pub is running a PvP event to celebrate [christmas][hanukah][winter solstice][new year][1000 members][delete as appropriate].

What’s happening

tl;dr – kill the ops, then kill everything and win a PLEX

A fleet of channel operators will be flying around a lowsec system. Your job is simple – kick the shit out of them. They’ll be fighting back of course, and they’ll be bringing some heavy firepower to make things interesting. There’s also a special secret twist – but we aren’t going to reveal that just yet

That’s right – you get to kill the channel ops! And you’ll even get prizes for it!

Once the channel ops are sitting in pods amongst tangled wreckage, it’s every man for himself in a free-for-all fight to the death. The only rule is no warping off grid. The last pilot standing wins the Grand Prize.

Points Mean…….Prizes!

BTL is offering a full set of T3 BC’s for the occasion. Winners of the following get to pick a T3 BC from the set (in order):

1. Most kills
2. Most damage on the operators
3. Most damage on the flagship
4. Final blow on the flagship

The last man standing after the free-for-all wins the Grand Prize – a PLEX!

The Details

When: 30th December 21.00 EVE time (not 22:00, as advertised previously)
Where: Mandoo (9-10 jumps from Amarr).
Bring: Any T1 PvP fitted cruiser. Note that t1 =/= faction. To clarify – T1 cruiser refers to the hull only – T2 mods are fine and frankly a good idea.
Fitting restrictions: No ECM, neuts or sensor dampeners, including drones. We don’t want the ops don’t die TOO quickly xD
Prizes available: 4xT3 BC and a PLEX.

So you want to become a logistics pilot and fly a Guardian and/or Oneiros? That’s cool, but there are several things you need to know before stepping into the big logi shoes of the fleet.

Skills

Every logistics pilot should have Targeting V and Multitasking III trained to target 10 pilots at once. You should have all the major logistics skills at level IV or V. This includes skills that influence capacitor, powergrid, cpu, drones, and remote repair. Having Logistics V is not a requirement, Logistics IV is workable, but having Logistics V makes repairing less capacitor-intensive and lets you provide more means to support your fleet and fit more tank modules. Pilots with Logistics IV require more attention in terms of acheiving stability, and often have to sacrifice 1-2 slots to grid/cap soundness in order to compensate for what a Logi V pilot can fit.

Editors note: This is true of all logistics ships, not just armor logistics. Train logi V!

The Basics

Becoming a great logi pilot requires several key things:

• Listen to the FC. Pay attention to what your FC demands of the fleet and logis in order to keep the Incursion machine running well. Rep your broadcasts and volunteer for ore-drops. Smooth operations makes more money!

• The right modules. Tank, rep, energy transfers [guardian], ab, cap [onerios], support like tracking links and remote sensor boosters. Faction and Complex modules can be very useful as they offer lower fitting requirements and greater bonuses. Although you may be saying “nah… faction is too expensive,” keep in mind that faction gear such as the INEANM is [currently] 40m… that’s only 4 Vanguard sites.

• Watchlist. In Vanguards, most fleets take 10-11 pilots. Every single [active] pilot needs to be placed on the watchlist, with your fellow logistics and anchor being located at the top or bottom for easy access.

• Broadcast window. Watch it! This is what you should be looking at 90% of the time. If needed, remind your fleet to broadcast fast and once only.

• Orbit. Once on site, locate your anchor (using your watchlist, which you have set up with the anchor at the top or bottom, right?), turn on your AB and orbit. I usually orbit at 4000m because I reach near-max velocity with an AB, making me hard for the Sansha to track. Speed tanking is very important for your relatively fragile logistics ship.

• Press Keys F1-F4. Once you’re setup with your orbit, your cap chains, your drones, your support mods, all you have to do is pay attention. Watch both the broadcast window and watchlist and remote rep when your fleetmates need it.

• No wardecs/looting. For the sake of the fleet, don’t rep a wartarget unless agreed before the site by the fleet/FC. If they didn’t announce it earlier, don’t rep them!

Practice makes perfect. Learn from the experiences (and horror stories) of other logistics pilots and what mods they normally fit. Learn as much as you can from Vanguard sites before you try to tackle the tougher Assault, HQ, and mom sites.

When stuff hits the fan

Disconnections
People disconnect from EVE all the time. When a DPS pilot does, the fleet isn’t as immediately handicapped compared to when a logi pilot disconnects. The important thing to remember is to stay calm and know your backup plan (you do have one, right?). The worst type of armor logistics ship that can disconnect is a Guardian pilot. Why? Because their chain affects other pilots, namely fellow Guardians. Thankfully, some DPS pilots carry large cap transfers on them; the majority are Maurader pilots such as the Paladin. Know which pilots in your fleet are carrying large cap transfers, so that you can transfer cap with them if your partner disconnects in order to keep repping.

Unwanted Spawns
Sometimes, DPS pilots get a little too trigger happy (or their drones get too pewpew) and extra spawns appear. This increase of incoming damage should not be taken lightly. Sometimes, full aggro goes to a pilot and as hard as you rep, their armor just keeps going lower and lower and lower. This is the time to overheat your reps in order to spew more hp/s onto their hulls. Cycle those overheated modules only a few times: do not burn out your modules! After the site, remember to repair your heated modules with either a station repair or nanite repair paste, and tell the FC that you are doing so.

Popped pilots
Hopefully this situation won’t happen to you, but occasionally it happens. When a pilot pops for one reason or another, just remain calm and don’t warp off. Leaving your fleet high and dry will get you blacklisted and banned, and it’s just a jackass thing to do. Listen to your FC. Once again: do not warp off unless ordered!

Vanguards (VG)

The average fleet size for a VG site is 10-11 pilots (10 being the max Incursion payout, often 11 in order to blitz through VGs faster, whilst having a minimal penalty to isk/lp.)

Armor Vanguard fleets combine logis in one of three ways:

• 3 Guardians,
• 3 Oneiros (ideal)
• 2 Guardians + 1 Oneiros.

Notably, Oneirios’s are more popular in Vanguards than Guardians because of tracking link bonuses and a larger drone bay.

3 Guardians. If some of you are blessed with Logistics V, you’ve opened up some great opportunities for your fleet. Logi V pilots only require 1 cap xfer in order to be stable. The other cap xfer can be feed cap to DPS ships who require it. If feeling generous, that same pilot could constantly feed cap-hungry Amarr ships such as Navygeddons, Abaddons, and Bhaalgorns.

3 Oneiros. Lazy mode on! Properly fit, the Oni is cap stable by itself, meaning no fussing about getting those cap chains up. A typical Oni pilot will have 1-3 tracking links making your fleet even deadlier by increasing its ability to project damage onto smaller targets. Three oneiros’s with three tracking links each gives tracking bonuses to every DPS pilot.

2 Guardians + 1 Oneiros. This setup allows you to combine the bonuses of each ship when one or both Guardians are logi V.  By having one guardian constantly feed cap to the Oni, he is able to fit an AB and 4 tracking links (or even 5 tracking links) in his midlsots, providing bonuses for many DPS pilots (who will love you long time).

Remember to keep a cool composure and lead by example, i.e. don’t spam “need armor” and yell over comms “OMGZ I need reppppss!” Just chill out, relax, make ISK, talk about wutevs, and have fun!

Before going into sites, each logistics pilot should determine each other’s level and form chains as needed. Remember, a Logi IV Guardian must receive 2 capxfers, and a Logi V Guardian only needs 1 capxfer. Oneiros pilots should be stable. Also, if your logistics ship has support modules such as tracking links and remote sensor boosters, determine which fleet members you’re going to boost. With tracking links, generally, battleship-class ships could use tracking speed scripts, while cruiser-class ships could use optimal scripts. If you are not sure which pilot could use which script, just ask!

A channel devoted to logistics is not necessary because there are only three pilots. Setup your watchlist to first have the other logistics pilots and the anchor, then fill the rest. You should be able to have all active pilots on your watchlist. Likewise, logistics ships are able to target 10 pilots, so you should have Targeting V+ Multitasking III trained enough to be able to target that many.

Once your fleet arrives at the site’s gate, it is polite (and often required) for logistics to X up, signifying that you are ready to enter the site. Follow the anchor into the site and once inside, locate your anchor and begin to orbit him/her; a small orbit between 500m-5000m is good. 99% of the time the anchor should be primaried first and will be taking heavy damage from Sansha. Immediately target him and start throwing reps on him. In the short few seconds to follow, begin locking up all other fleet members.If you have support modules, start activating them now.

When everything is setup and running, all you have to do is pay attention to the FC, the watchlist, and broadcasts. Throw reps on pilots when they start dipping into armor, even if they forgot to broadcast for it. Once the initial heavy damage dissipates as each logi adds their reps, you are able to turn off some of your reps in preparation of the new broadcasts to follow soon.

When your fleet finds its groove in the right balance between logistics support, hard DPS, and webs, and bonuses, sites will melt like freshly buttered pancakes in the hot July summer. Typically in an optimized fleet, Vanguard sites each take between 3-8 minutes. Optimized blitzing fleets can tackle 12 sites or more in an hour.

Assaults, HQs, Moms, and you.

Only take on these fleets when you have had ample experience running VG logistics. Often, these sites need 6-12 logistics pilots (the mom needing 12-20 logis). Add other logistics pilots and anyone else the FC may want placed on that list, such as the DPS-anchor or Scorpions

For these types of fleets, a dedicated logistics channel is required. If you are experienced enough and know your facts, often speaking up and taking initiative gives you the Logistics Commander (LC) role. The LC’s job is to ensure the logistics wing operates smoothly. This is a critical role, as failure can mean the loss of the fleet. To learn more about logistics commanders, click here (coming soon).

Mothership Tactics

It is vital you listen to the directions of both the FC and LC (Logi Commander). Often, there will be both a DPS-anchor and a Logi-anchor. Make sure you are always orbiting the logi-anchor. Keep your cap partner(s) and the logi-anchor on your watchlist as primary. Add other logistics pilots and anyone else the FC may want placed on that list, such as the DPS-anchor or Scorpions.

The most important thing to be aware of is the Lirsautton Parichaya’s (fighter-bombers).

The FC will announce when bombers spawn, at which point you as a logistics pilot need to be pay attention to your overview. These bombers are able to instapop logistics not specifically tanked to survive them . Please be aware of when these spawn and where your closest warp-to is. If you do warp off, be sure to warp back into the site as soon as possible and re-establish your cap chains.

Just like VG sites, each logistics pilot needs watch the broadcast window. Your watchlist should be populated with your immediate cap partners and the anchor. Keep calm and remember that these types of sites are basically VGs, only tougher.

I’d like to give a quick update on what’s going on with the website and what might happen over the next few weeks.

I’ve been working on shifting the website to fit better with modern incursion running – blitzing rather than just completing. To do this, there’s now three new articles dedicated to blitzing which you can find on their own page as well as on the right hand bar.

While I update all our articles as we work out new and better ways to run sites, articles that I feel need a little touching up include the three vanguard articles (to fit better with blitzing) and the basilisk guide. I’ve also cleaned out all of the articles which related to BTL rather than incursion sites: while this has been a very convenient place to put them, it’s time for a cleanup and I’m trying to get away from politics. The only exception is my own resignation, which I’ll leave up for the moment.

I’ll also be adding a new article which aims to give people as much of the information from Incursions 101 as possible while being quick, concise and to the point. There may also be an article on flying Guardians up in a few days time.

If you like the website, please give us a friendly bump on the shiny new forums to spread the word.

There’s two main reasons.

• Real life, as usual. This is the big one. Eve in general, and BTL to be specific, take more time than I should be giving, and that’s a mistake that I’ll regret if it keeps going. There’s stuff that I haven’t been managing to get done that I should have. I’m doing it wrong.
• Quit while I’m ahead. There’s a saying that there is old pilots, and there is bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots. I think the same is true in leadership. BTL is wildly successful, and if I’m going to cash my chips then this is as good a time as any.

A brief history of me and BTL

I was there when BTL Pub was formed so very long ago, and I had channel operator from the beginning. The other channel ops were mostly busy with BTL Alliance, and I gradually became responsible to the eventual alliance leader for maintaining the public channel while they focused on other things.

I kicked off BTL into growing as fast as possible, because I saw that the way to win motherships was not with the best ships but with the fastest formup. At the time, TDF was invite only still and we rapidly caught up and overtook them on numbers. We began winning more motherships, and each mothership we won we used as a recruitment opportunity to continue that growth.

Me, Lord Galrton (TDF founder) and Ammzi established the first agreement – we took advantage of a glitch that made the mom unkillable for a few hours and ran with it, telling people they should avoid killing the mom until CCP have fixed it (although we knew they already had).

I almost tore the channel apart when I took us out of the agreement, and it hurt to be hated so much by the people you are trying to help. Luckily, the gamble paid off and it turned out to be one of the most successful things we ever did.

I lost channel op at one point, and the support I received was quite touching. Thankfully it got restored once that public opinion was realized.

Myself, StyphonUK (and the rest of the fearless bears) and Ammzi brought pvp to BTL, with great support from Green Pimp and in particular Princess Haruka. We’ve been to lowsec incursion 4 times with up to 60 people, roamed a good portion of the lowsec in the game, got hotdropped twice and got welped more times than I can count. And enjoyed every second of it xD

Here we are half a year later, with just under a thousand accounts using the BTL group at peak times, winning pretty much every contested mom (TDF hardly even bother any more). We even killed a lowsec mothership, much to the rage of goons (props HTIDRaver, you beat me to it by two days, well played xD) I really love this community and I’m very proud of what we’ve built together.

Who Next

This isn’t a dynasty, I’m not gonna tell you who’s taking over next! I’ve passed the reimbursement fund to Phattecia (I don’t have sticky fingers) but don’t take that as me picking him next, he’s just the least likely to take it and run xD

Now what?

This isn’t goodbye, not really. I’ve plexed my account for about a year and though I haven’t decided if I’m going to play or not, I’ll be on to change skills and catch up. I just won’t be yelling at anyone any more xD As for BTL, I wish I could continue doing what I do, and working with all you guys, but I really can’t. I’ve got no doubt that such a great bunch of people will do just fine without me.

As Phatt would say,

♥

Hardin

P.S

For those who asked, I’m 17.

Override Transfer Array

The override transfer array used to be a big pain in the ass the first few months of incursions. After the fleets really began to become efficient and recently with the buff made by CCP of the OTA, these can be done in less than 4 min.

The strategy (must have 3 very trusted and efficient logistics with a heavy amount of DPS):

• Warp the fleet in and primary the Deltole Tegmentum.
• Tag 2 of the Tama Cerebellums that will spawn a short time afterwards and let the fleet lock them up and web them.
• Once Deltole is down, kill the tamas and tag the Auga Hypophisis that have spawned 60-80 km away from the fleet.
• Once the 2 Tamas and 2 Augas are down there is a 50-50 chance that a 3^rd wave will spawn. If the 3^rd wave does not spawn you will primary the Deltole.
• When the 3^rd wave spawns, primary the Deltole Tegmentum that has spawned together with the 3^rd wave. Pop it and warp off.

As you can imagine, this strategy is risky because of the high amount of DPS you allow on the field. It is perfectly doable though. You can even let the primaries be Deltole->Deltole->Deltole and never primary any of the Augas – bringing the hostile DPS at almost a maximum.

Nation Mining Colony

Always have the ships in your fleet filled with lyavite so you can continue dropping ore without having to go pick more up or needing to mine. Depending on how quick your dedicated ore-runner is you can do this in 2 different ways.

1st strategy (if the ore dropper is slower than 900 m/s):

Warp in your fleet and let them all orbit an anchor while the anchor is slow-boating towards the Asteroid Colony where the cargo container will spawn.

• If you have a few long range DPS, let them primary the Mara Paleo, if not ignore it.
• The rest of the fleet will primary the Schmael Medula and afterwards the Romi Thalamus in a tagged order.
• Once the 4^th Romi pops, 2^nd wave will spawn. Primaries are here only Niarjas and Tamas. At some point you will want your ore-dropper to position himself/herself at the Asteroid Colony.
• Once the last Tama is dead the final wave will spawn. Full fleet primary are Niarjas, followed by the Romi Thalamus and then Tamas. Let short range DPS hit the Tamas while the Romi is getting closer.
• Pop the Romi, drop the ore and warp off.

The reason you will want your fleet to follow the ore-dropper is because the risk of a spawn attacking the ore-dropper who will be 50-60 km away from the main fleet when he/she is in position, thereby totally eliminating the possibility for short range DPS to hit anything and slowing your fleet down.

2^nd strategy (if the ore dropper is quicker than 900 m/s):

Here you can let your fleet stand still instead of moving. The primaries are still the same and the ore-dropper can run for the Asteroid Colony once the 3^rd wave has arrived.

The difference between these two strategies is really the tracking of your pilots. It might be a bit worse when they are orbiting the anchor, and therefore making them follow/keep at range of the anchor might be better.

Nation Commander Outpost

This should not need much explanation. Primaries are prioritized from left to right.

Niarjas>Schmael>Tamas>Eysturs

And that’s it! I strongly suggest having dedicated webbers in fleet with bonuses to the range of the webifiers if your fleet is battleship heavy.

If you’ve come to learn how to FC vanguard fleets, or to improve on your current skills,  then you’ve come to the right place. While most people agree that vanguards are the easiest incursion sites to FC (well, except scouts) it does take a great deal of experience to run them efficiently and achieve an income of 70-120 mil/hour.

Now this will be a rather extensive article, so make sure you have some time on your hands and keep in mind that this is EVE: most come here to relax and have fun, so lets try and deliver that to the incursion runners.

The job of the Fleet Commander basically boils down to keeping the fleet running smoothly, avoiding catastrophes and directing them to where most ISK/fun can be found. Part of that is finding a good location to stage the fleet and form up. Usually this will be at a vanguard system on a planet or another celestial that is easily accessible. Especially keep in mind of the amount of pilots in local, having more than 3 competing fleets in a vanguard system will affect your income. So pick a constellation/system with a minor amount of pilots and begin gathering your fleet there until you are ready to roll out.

Different sites and fleet composition

It goes without saying you must know all the site triggers, waves, etc by heart. I need to be able to wake you up 3 AM and ask about the site triggers of an NCO and you answering right away. So look at the walkthroughs of the sites and learn them. You will thank yourself later.

Now to the hard part: the fleet composition. OTA’s (long/short range) have battleships and cruisers on grid and are therefore great for fleets with a majority of battleships in fleet and less suited for lighter fleets. NMC’s (long/short range) have a lot of cruisers, but ton of frigates as well and the NCO’s (short range) are purely frigates and close range.

What you need to be able to do is perfectly balance out your fleet with short/long-range, webifiers, DPS, logistics. Make sure to read through the fittings of pilots before you invite them to your fleet. An overtanked ship is useless for your fleet if it has low dps and can’t contribute webs/painters/remote sebo’s etc.
The more battleships you have in fleet, the more webifiers you need added to be able to do sites such as the NCO and NMC that have a ton of frigates. Long range webifiers such as the bhaalgorn, loki, rapier and huginn are a great  help to a battleship heavy fleet. Offgrid boosters with interdiction maneuver links will also greatly improve your fleet’s ability to handle frigates.

10-11 man fleets, 2-3 logistics?

When forming up the fleet you have a choice to run an 11-man fleet with a minor reduced payout. This can be an advantage and a disadvantage. Yes, you will have a reduced payout (750.000 ISK less per site), but on the other hand, you will be able to fit more DPS into the fleet and be able to run the sites a bit quicker, which could even that out. It is also an advantage if finding replacements takes more time than you’d like – you can run with 10 again while you find the 11th.

Now while I definitely recommend 3 logistics for armor fleets, shield fleet commanders have the choice of having 2 or 3 logistics when running sites. Personally I recommend 3 logistics.

• The issues with losing a logistic for a DC (disconnect) are greatly minimized when having 3 logistics in your fleet. With two logistics, if one disconnects and the other is primaried, there is no-one to rep him. Having 3 logistics avoids this.
• Pilots will be more willing to refit for a lower ehp fit with more damage modules in the lows and more e-war on the med slots.
• With 3 logistics you are able to blitz the OTA’s by only killing 2 augas, 2 tamas and 3 deltoles thereby ignoring and effectively tanking the remaining DPS, achieving a very short site completion timer

Nonetheless, this should not prevent you from choosing to have 2 logistics (as a shield fleet) if you are convinced the pilots do not have disconnect issues and are experienced and good logistic pilots. You can even have your basilisks setup a 5-1 setup (5 shield transporters and 1 energy transfer) if they are logistics V.

Use your fleet properly

Look at your fleet and learn how to use their advantages to make the sites run quicker. If you have long range DPS, kill the Mara Paleo in the NMC so it won’t RR Sansha. If you have ships with AB’s/MWD’s equip them with 255 unites of Lyavite and make them run for the asteroid colony so they can drop the ore in as soon as the Romi Thalamus of the last wave pops. If you have vindicators or similar webbing ships let them take care of the Tamas in the OTA and let the rest of your fleet focus at the deltole/augas. Make sure your logistics have remote sensor boosters or remote tracking links to boost the efficiency of your battleships.

In addition make sure your pilots have their EVE client set up according to what their task is. Logistics should keep everyone on watchlist. The FC  should as well to see who is not on-grid yet and why that person isn’t. One of the most important factors is to have all DPS in your fleet add the velocity or transversal velocity column to their overview so they can read which frigates have been webbed and are ready to be taken down.

Make sure you have tagged the targets in the various sites (except NCO) so your fleet won’t have to wait for you and waste valuable time. For example, remind your fleet of locking up tamas when they appear in the OTA so the battleships won’t waste 10 seconds before they can start adding damage to those pesky frigates.

If you know your fleet can’t do the NCO’s quick enough because a lack of webs, then don’t do them. Do the sites that assure a smooth and easy completion. There’s nothing worse than having your fleet trying to take down the last Eystur in the NCO, but no one is able hit it…

Keep your fleet on the run

This is probably one of the key elements in a quick fleet. Keep your fleet moving! This will save you up to minute on each site if you have your fleet aligned and ready to warp as soon as the payout has been put out. Broadcast a site, tell everyone to align and pull in drones. Wait for the last few Sansha to pop and then warp when the “site completion” message pops up. Why would anyone ever want to sit and wait for people to pull in drones and align before warp? Screw that, keep your fleet moving.

This is particularly essential in the NMC. When your fleet lands in the site, make them orbit an anchor and let the anchor head for the spawn-location of the can. At some point halfway through the site, let the pilot with the Lyavite burn towards where the can will be and have them ready to dump the ore in. Get the fleet aligned once the Romi Thalamus and all the Tama’s are dead. With a balanced fleet NMC’s should take no longer than 5 minutes between payouts.

With a quick fleet the chance of warping into a site before the logis are ready / on-grid grows. Therefore it is a good idea to have the logis they an L, or “L-up” in fleet chat when they are on grid at the acceleration gate. You can also simply have them broadcast in position or similar when they are good to go.

Tell the pilots in your fleet to announce their departure 2-3 sites before they are leaving so you have enough time to find a replacement or plan a bio/break and keep the fleet at sufficient numbers.

To read more specifics on how to blitz each particular vanguard fleet, click here.

This document may change frequently and without notice because CCP are gigantic trolls and change the way live events work constantly. It is intended for maximum distribution with emphasis on BTL Pub.

Live Events 101

What is a live event?

A live event is a spawn of sansha NPC’s controlled by a CCP Dev. They will appear from a wormhole and will last for at least one hour. They often appear and leave without warning. They are rare and extremely fun.

You may see coloured text in fleet and local – these are CCP Dev’s roleplaying as characters.

What do I bring?

Scimitar > Basilisk > Field Command Ships > T1 Battleships > T1 Battlecruisers

Turret ships > Missile and drone ships. These NPC’s are very weak and missiles may not have time to impact and apply damage before the target is destroyed. Missiles and drones may be focused onto the supercarrier – listen to your FC.

How do I fit?

Fit the same as for a mothership fleet.

• High tank, buffer and resists
• Speed tank is effective
• Fitting database is available here.

What tactics will be used?

If you’ve been in a mothership fleet, you should be set for a live event.

• Targets will be tagged. There may be multiple primaries – just pick one and shoot it.
• 3 anchors will be used. One (DDD) will orbit at point blank from the hostiles, two (LLL) will maintain 25-50k seperation. If range allows, use LLL’s.
• Turn brackets and effects off or you may experience significant lag.

I’ve seen a lot of bad fleet commanders flying in incursions. Most people think that
just like missions you can read and follow the guides written by myself and fellow
FCs and you’ll be fine. Unfortunately with Incursions that’s simply just not the case.
Incursions have been compared to PVP quite a lot and it’s true, they are the closest
to PVP you can get whilst still PVE’ing in EVE. Another aspect that’s similar to PVP
is the way you FC the sites.

Although the guides are a good start there is no one way to FC a single site. There
are random triggers in some and it’s not going to hurt you too much if you stray a
little from the guide in others. They are only guides after all. But some FC’s are
becoming dependent on these guides and that’s dangerous.

Being a good FC isn’t about knowing how to run a site when everything is going
well. It’s about knowing what to do when things go wrong. You need to be able
to analyse the situation quickly, keep cool, and most importantly keep your fleet cool.
The first thing that will happen when something goes wrong is everyone will start
panicking and talking over coms. As an FC you need to take control, shut everyone
up and start calling targets in a cool, efficient manner. If you show confidence in
your abilities others will follow your lead.

When things go wrong it happens fast and the first thing you need to do is make a very simple call – warp out or carry on. Many times there are lots of scrammers on the field and the decision is made for you, you stay. If you decide to go you need to clear all the scrammers off the field as fast as possible. While you do this have everyone align out and then fleet warp out of the site once all scrammers are down. Ignore drones: they are easily replaced.

If you decide to stay then you need to be aware of two things. Firstly, what’s the
trigger? The very last thing you need to happen when you’re trying to regroup is
have another wave spawn in. Make sure you know what the trigger is and make
sure everyone in the fleet knows not to shoot it. Secondly, throw the rest of the
guide out of the window. You’ll need to prioritize targets on the fly. This is where true FC skill comes into practice.

To be able to call targets efficiently you need to know what each enemy ship does.
Below I have the ships you encounter on a day-to-day basis as an FC. Memorize
what each one does and you’ll be able to determine which is the most dangerous
for any given circumstance. The ships are listed in alphabetical order for ease of
reference.

Sansha Shiptypes

Antem Neo [cruiser]: These ships are long range snipers. They sit up to 150Km away from
the fleet and do a moderate amount of DPS.They are cruiser sized and have high resistances, requiring roughly as much damage to kill as a Yulai Crus Cerebi.

Arnon Epithalamus [cruiser]: These ships are electronic warfare cruisers. Their closest
equivalent is recon ships. They jam and scram, making them very dangerous to the
logistics cap chain. They also put out some DPS.

Auga Hypophysis [cruiser]: They scram and web as well as providing quite a lot of DPS but are fairly easy to kill, making them a good choice of target.

Deltole Tegmentum [battleship]: They fire Banshee Torpedo’s, doing an average amount of DPS. They also have medium neutralizers and carry target painters and warp scramblers. They have an
average tank.

Eystur Rhomben [frigate]: These ships are especially good at killing drones. They have an
average tank but fly exceedingly fast. They have a high DPS for a frigate.

Intaki Colliculus [battleship]: The ships are at the lower end of the Sansha’s ships for DPS and tank, firing cruise missiles. However they provide some logistics support to other
Sansha’s ships. One thing to note is their small signature radius, which falls roughly between a cruiser and battleship.

Mara Paleo [cruiser]: These ships fill a logistics role in the Sansha’s fleets. They have high
resistances and provide a small amount of reps to the enemy ships.

Niarja Myelen [frigate]: These ships are ewar frigates. They jam and neut, making them
exceedingly dangerous to Logistics cap chains. Luckily they don’t do any DPS and
they have virtually no tank.

Ostingele Tectums [battleship]: They put out the most DPS of any Sansha ship. They also have an above average tank,
making them difficult to kill.

Outuni Mesen [battleship]: These ships are ewar battleships. They web, scram and neut
heavily. They also put out a small amount of DPS and have an average tank. They
are highly dangerous to all ships and are often the primary target.

Renyn Meten [frigate]: These ships are at the bottom scale of the Sansha’s ships. They
provide very little DPS and have a small tank. The only thing of note is that they also web ships.

Romi Thalamus [cruiser]: These ships fill a middle of the road role in Sansha fleets.
They provide an average amount of DPS and have an average tank for a cruiser.
They are completely unremarkable.

Sansha’s Nation Commander [frigate]: These ships are command ships that boosts the
enemy fleet as well as scramming. It has a soft tank but puts out a lot of DPS.

Schmaeel Medulla [frigate]: These ships are tacklers. They web and scram whilst doing a
small amount of DPS. They only have a small tank but they do go exceedingly fast,
meaning most ships will have to web them before being able to hit them.

Tama Cerebellum [frigate]: These ships are stealth bombers. They scram targets and fire
torpedoes, making them very dangerous. They have a soft tank but are often the
target of enemy remote reps.

Vylade Dien [cruiser]: These ships are command ships. They provide boosts to the entire
enemy fleet whilst also having one of the highest resistances and tanks of the
Sansha’s ships. While the nature of the boost is still unclear, its thought that they increase Sansha resistances.

Yulai Crus Cerebi [battleship]: These ships are long range snipers. They orbit at up to
120Km away and do an above average amount of DPS. They have a reasonable
amount of tank but are otherwise unremarkable.

With this guide I hope you can become a better FC. Full details of all known ship
statistics can be found here.