52 replies to this topic

[glepp]

Grepp

Grepp

Oh no, now the boys have another nickname for me...

As if gleep wasn't bad enough!

[Dior Saursi]

Grepp

Grepp

Oh no, now the boys have another nickname for me...

As if gleep wasn't bad enough!

I am really trying to tie in some kind of unix joke about being able to grep an fc or some such, but it just isn't working.

[Sadamu]

As for Day two, being a UAS Operator and NATOPS Instructor for the US Marine Corps, I must say I was very impressed with the professionalism, and the timely and accurate tactical picture painted by the fleet's CovOps pilots. Seriously, you guys have inspired me to go CovOps that much more since taking this class. Major props to dzu, Taron, and the other CovOps pilots for being the unseen eyes and ears of the fleet. In addition, the FC Grepps, and 'Bait Commander' Caldak have set the bar for all future Commanders. Zero hesitation, amazing situational awareness, good judgment/forethought, and an excellent job directing a fleet of ~80 frigates for maximum effect.
O'Kais

A big 'hear, hear' from me on this point as well. The communications, command, control, and intelligence were nearly flawless and made everything hum. The roam was an amazing experience, and I learned a ton about some of the finer points of fleet ops just by osmosis. And the experience of the die-hard fleet was phenomenal -- fast, decisive, and the most fun I've had dying in a long time. I'm not sure a 9-hour roam could work as the *standard* for PVP-BASIC, but everyone should be so lucky.

The class material was excellent as well. One item that seemed to cause a little confusion on the roam was the aggression mechanics (yellow/red-boxing) and might be helpful to emphasize briefly in the classroom session.

Overall, the class FAR exceeded my already-high expectations.

Kudos to all the AGONY folks who made it possible -- instructors, FCs, skirmishers, bait, and especially the incredible scouts. o7

[glepp]

Are the skirmishers like scouts, but not flying around in covops, looking to get into fights and providing recon? Were they flying mostly dictors or just normal frigs/assault ships?

We actually use the following terms for different fleet roles:

1. Scouts/ covops: Covert ops pilots, flying independently, finding targets, following them, getting warpins etc.
2. Skirmishers: Fleet interceptors, fit with a Warp Disruptor. They either fly independently looking for targets or 1-2 gates ahead of or behind the fleet, looking for and tackling targets of opportunity. Good skirmishers, like good covops pilots are worth their weight in Technetium and are often vital in dictating the engagement. We have a separate class for skirmishing, PVP SKIRMISH (very advanced class, given rarely)
3. Chaser Tackle. Dramiels, MWD Assault frigs, fitted with a warp scrambler. Burn after MWDing targets to get a scram on them and prevent them from running. Stay with the fleet and act relatively independently.
4. Dictors: Light interdictors, popping bubbles and stuff. Vital to dictate engagements and prevent targets from running. We tried but failed at setting so-called bubble traps a couple of times on the roam.

The bait squad kinda meant we didn't use skirmishers to the same extent we usually do, but you may have noticed that during engagements, our experienced skirmishers were on the other side of gates, or getting recon from surrounding systems. They also tackled escaping targets and that sniping Eagle in PC9. I was very happy with them last night.

[Vayio]

Are the skirmishers like scouts, but not flying around in covops, looking to get into fights and providing recon? Were they flying mostly dictors or just normal frigs/assault ships?

We actually use the following terms for different fleet roles:

1. Scouts/ covops: Covert ops pilots, flying independently, finding targets, following them, getting warpins etc.
2. Skirmishers: Fleet interceptors, fit with a Warp Disruptor. They either fly independently looking for targets or 1-2 gates ahead of or behind the fleet, looking for and tackling targets of opportunity. Good skirmishers, like good covops pilots are worth their weight in Technetium and are often vital in dictating the engagement. We have a separate class for skirmishing, PVP SKIRMISH (very advanced class, given rarely)
3. Chaser Tackle. Dramiels, MWD Assault frigs, fitted with a warp scrambler. Burn after MWDing targets to get a scram on them and prevent them from running. Stay with the fleet and act relatively independently.
4. Dictors: Light interdictors, popping bubbles and stuff. Vital to dictate engagements and prevent targets from running. We tried but failed at setting so-called bubble traps a couple of times on the roam.

The bait squad kinda meant we didn't use skirmishers to the same extent we usually do, but you may have noticed that during engagements, our experienced skirmishers were on the other side of gates, or getting recon from surrounding systems. They also tackled escaping targets and that sniping Eagle in PC9. I was very happy with them last night.

Thanks for the clarification and I now see how scouts and skirmishers are the eyes and fingers of the FC. I just found the Teadaze/Spin audio lectures on FC/Skrimishing off the Agony wiki and will be studying those lectures today. Thanks again for the FCing the roam. o7

[syrus]

Thanks Guys, had a blast Have joined Red V Blue to carry on my "training" and hope to join you as Alumni on some future roams. looking forward to signing up for more classes too! syrus PS. shut up going on about the "last few fights"!....... I had to go around 01.00

[Gavin]

I'm not sure a 9-hour roam could work as the *standard* for PVP-BASIC, but everyone should be so lucky.

I was under the impression that if Caldak is involved, 8+ hours IS the standard!

[John McGuirk]

Can I get a re-invite to this roam? It's still going, right? This was my third roam, and by far the best. First, a big thank you to anyone not part of the main force that works to make these roams possible. From the out-of-game administrative junk to the scouts who have to tirelessly slog through system after system without seeing combat, or simply keep eyes on a small gatecamp for 4 hours... you guys (and gals) are truly my heros for what you do. It's not thankless work if you get thanked, right? Second, thanks to the agony FCs, skirmishers, and support. Lastly, thanks to the folks in the bait squad. I'm glad I didn't get volunteered, and my Kitsune somehow survived. I second the suggestion to include yellow- and red-boxing when talking about aggression mechanics. To be fair, I only listened to half the class this week, and it's been almost a year since my first class, but I basically learned that the real definition of aggressed was red-boxing when it was discussed on this roam. This might be useful to add to one of the wiki articles. Comms discipline was excellent, for the most part it seemed like students did an admirable job following orders. I particularly liked the use of "With glepp, {orders}" format (as I was, in fact, with glepp). This was fairly new to me. I also strongly encourage the enforcement of "no I or me" on comms. Looking forward to Wolfpacks and CovOps. John McGuirk

[Manic M1ner]

It was one of the best Agony roams I have been on for a long time, plenty to shoot at. Being part of the bait squad was cool, I expected to loose a ship or two but I didn’t. I did however miss the warp a few times and had to play catch up, but that was a good experience too. I’ll be trading my TeaDaze mug for a Caldak one, my new hero

[O'Kais]

Haha, sorry about that. Had a few drinks, and we have a guy in our unit named Grebbs so I must've mixed the two up.

[Petra]

and I used to play with UNIX years ago so thats my excuse sorry gLepp

[dzu]

Thanks for the terrific After Action Report gleep, err, grepp, I mean, glepp - I can add (with confidence) that our frigates owned Syndicate last Saturday. For 8 or 9 hours there was not a single gang of more than 5 pilots in region that escaped our notice or our guns.

to the scouts who have to tirelessly slog through system after system without seeing combat, or simply keep eyes on a small gatecamp for 4 hours...

That sounds awful! who would volunteer to do that? On the contrary, CovOps is great fun . . . acting independently, setting traps, sneaking around dangerous gangs, and most satisfying (to me) - working closely with the FC to get the fleet on top of the targets. As Toran said after the first big engagement of the day:

Ah. It feels so rewarding finding a camp like that and see it ripped apart

I hope some of you will join us for the CovOps seminar after Wolfpacks.

[Capranger]

Hey Guys, Great class and very informative with so many things I just didn't know about that could mean the difference between going home in a ship or a pod (or worse). I'm just bummed that I missed the roam, some real life stuff came up and was unable to attend this one but ill be sure I make the next one. I can seriously say I am def going to take up your offer of the next Wolfpack course and the CovOps when you run it. I think I gained a new love for scouting and intel. Any way thanks again to Corywyn, Esbear and Dzu much appreciated Kyuss Blackblade

[John McGuirk]

That sounds awful! who would volunteer to do that?

This guy:

Looking forward to Wolfpacks and CovOps.
John McGuirk

Making Dzu's wishes come true since "as soon as I can get a Wolfpacks class to align with my schedule."

JM

[Sadamu]

That sounds awful! who would volunteer to do that?

This guy:

Looking forward to Wolfpacks and CovOps.
John McGuirk

This guy too.

I've had a Cheetah stashed in a hangar for months waiting for me to get a clue how to fly it well. Of course, I left the cloak running last time I took it out, so I'm having trouble finding where I parked it.... ;-)

[ToranBrades]

Dzu was rather refering to herself as she volunteered as the first pilot for that "awful task"

[John McGuirk]

Of course! I think she's scouted for every BASIC roam I've been on

[dzu]

. . . I didn't want to leave anyone with the impression that running recon is pure drudgery. Shooting stuff is fun. Finding and sneaking up on stuff to shoot is fun, too

Thank you for the feedback on the class, all. See you for Wolfpacks soon^TM

[Tako Yaki]

Thank you all for the educational class and excellent roam! Some feedback: Class: - basic class was comprehensive and well orchestrated - fleet tool needs updated instructions, a bit of confusion about how to add your fit - suggest adding a "what is aggro" section, as this came up (red vs yellow box confusion) during the roam. Roam: - pro scouting, fc'ing, and baiting. Great to see pilots who excel at their roles making the "whole greater than the sum of its parts". - many more targets than expected! kudos to scouts. - a tactical debriefing (during breaks) might be very helpful to the newest players. I wonder if some of them didn't quite understand what was going on, why bubbles were being set in certain positions, why you split aggro, etc.. All in all a superb experience, and I look forward to taking additional classes.

[glepp]

- a tactical debriefing (during breaks) might be very helpful to the newest players. I wonder if some of them didn't quite understand what was going on, why bubbles were being set in certain positions, why you split aggro, etc..

Yes, fully agree. I was actually intending to do it and even discussed it with Bamar during the first break. But then my bloodlust got the better of me, and I forgot. Will ammend in future classes.

[ToranBrades]

.. I want to see the class response to "Hey guys, do you want me to debrief you on what happened 5minutes ago, or bust the gate camp in 6-C, dunno how long they will sit there?"

[Petra]

I am now waiting for the WOLFPACKS Then on to Cov-ops which is really where I want to go ( I love sneaking about watching things )

[Othran]

I am now waiting for the WOLFPACKS Then on to Cov-ops which is really where I want to go ( I love sneaking about watching things )

I'd advise doing PvP-Advanced before covops - or whatever the class is where target calling is discussed and students have a go at calling targets themselves (in the theory section ). You'll be far more effective in covops if you have more understanding of how to prioritise threats - nothing an FC likes more than having the covops pilot know what the likely drop is.

[Othran]

.. I want to see the class response to "Hey guys, do you want me to debrief you on what happened 5minutes ago, or bust the gate camp in 6-C, dunno how long they will sit there?"

That'll depend how long it was since the last bio-break Been a fair few times on roams I've had to think of other things - and I know I wasn't the only one as vent (as was) went dead instantly when people docked

[Sadamu]

That'll depend how long it was since the last bio-break

The *advanced* covops class covers not needing bio-breaks.... that way you can keep eyes on the target and not give yourself away.