Fleet Warfare

The corporation I am a member of in Eve Online is currently at war. In all of my prior Eve experience, I had never participated in the PvP side of the game. It is actually quite involved and interesting. The largest grouping (raid) is called a Fleet. The fleet (or gang) is basically a hierarchy made up of the following.

• Fleet Commander. The leader of the fleet, also called the FC.
• Wings. Each wing is lead by a Wing Commander (WC). I always think of the video game. I miss the space flight sim days like X-Wing.
• Squads. Each Squad is lead by a Squad Commander (SC), and is the smallest unit.

Eve has leadership skills which must be learned. They allow bonus to be filtered down the hierarchy and are very important. Also important are the actual skills of the commanders, as they are usually responsible for directing their subordinates during the fleet action.

An effective fleet requires four different roles for the pilots.

• Tackler. This is most similar to a Crown Control (CC) class. Small fast ships fitted with equipment (Warp Disrupters and Scramblers) used to keep the enemy from escaping. So instead of keeping them out of the fight, your goal is to keep them in the fight.
  
• EWAR. Eve has an Electronic Warfare system and ships that specialize in it. Basically, EWAR's job is silence the enemy, or prevent your side from being silenced. If your enemy cannot fire at you and cannot escape, odds are they will lose.
• Damage Dealer. Confusingly referred to as DD (there are Destroyers in Eve). These are the DPS of Eve, they are the ones who are responsible for blowing the heck out of the target.
• Scouts. Intelligence is paramount in fighting a war, and Eve is no different. Often times scouts are Covert Op ships equipped with cloaking devices. They spread out along the route your fleet may take and watch for the enemy (War Target, WT). When one is seen, they report the location back to the fleet.

All of the roles are critical when forming an effective fleet. One nice thing about Eve is the way it handles Fleet movement. At each hierarchy level, the commander can warp all of the people under him/her to a destination. This ensures you can stay together (mostly).

Posted in: Eve,Fleets