21 replies to this topic

[Weeks]

Let us know what you think! Constructive criticism is always welcome, but keep things constructive.

[Meldgaard]

Thanks for a fun class, to bad we did not get the 3 carriers, but i think we gave them a bit of a scare

[Roland]

That was pretty cool getting to see those 3 Carriers. It was fun watching their whole support fleet pop in seconds upon arrival. Props to the guys camping the Torrinos gate all day long - you gave us plenty of kills (some of them hilarious), and plenty of laughs, too. All in all a good class. Thanks very much to all the pilots who make this possible for us students, from the head of Agony, to the coordinators of the class, to the FCs who directed us, to the Agony pilots who scouted for us. It's given me a new love for a ship I've always wanted to enjoy more of (and get more out of).

[Eddie Org]

You guys totally rock. The class was very well organized and I learned a lot about dismantling gatecamps and about punting, which was totally new for me. Thanks to IRON as well for insisting to keep the gatecamp up for so long Will see you again soon in Advanced and Flybys

[Firelok]

the best class out of the two I've taken. Can't wait to see what PVP Advanced holds. These classes should be required for every pilot after they finish the Tutorials. Any Corp. that doesn't require their new PVP pilots to take these classes, needs to elect a new CEO, because they are very enlightening. They will help to prepare a new pilot to PVP to handle the rush and not panic when you see a screen full of of flashing red's. Can't wait for PVP Advanced.

[Deckerd]

a bit of a shaky start but more than made up for by the end of the roam - wow! lost two catalysts and one pod; traded them for 12 km's and a whole bunch of valuable training. kudos (sp?) to the entire Agony group for an excellent delivery. u make it look easy (and i am begining to understand just how much that is not true). scouts and skirmishers are awesome.

[Paskis]

Wish I could have stayed for the roaming part. Popping morons on a gate camp is only slightly more fun than being IN the camp. *old and jaded*. Oh hay though, great job Madorris, I still say Agony target calling is particularly weak but you're better than most. At least you give ship types along with the names. now I just have to train you to give the initial 2 letters as well.. !

[Libitina]

Great class i learned a lot GJ agony!

[SilverWyrm]

Wow! What a fantastic class. Who would have ever thought the lowly destroyer could be that much fun? Braeden did an awesome job of subbing for Weeks, the class was paced well and everything seemed to move smoothly. Even after we had three carriers warp in on top of us! Thanks again Agony for a fantastic job.

[-PRCP- Shias]

Good class. Unfortunately after the first jump in the roam I lost the power to my computer, as the whole neighbourhood lost the electrical supply. Glad I passed the theory portion of the class, but sad that I missed the roam, hopefully I can get on the next, as an Alumni if space permits it. I tell you when you experience being without electricity, you really come to know how dependant you are upon it. I had to go to bed and read a book with a flashlight in my hand. All the high rise residential buildings where blacked out, the road lighting system blacked out. Only light outside was the headlights of cars and busses. everything else was BLACK. The power came back in about 1 hour. But then the computer started in fail safe, and I was in such a bad mood, that I didnt felt like rejoining the roaming gang. Fortunately this kind of thing doesnt happen often. Thanks for class and see you soon Regards Shias.

[DaDutchDude]

Again Agony Unleashed created a great class, and it was a good "repeat the old and add some new in" session. I certainly felt more relaxed, my mind more adjusted to the situation, my senses filtering the chatter better, etc. This made the repeating of the old useful because the context was more there. Added to that were some very useful and some quite specific new bits of information. The pace was good, the instructions were clear, the organization was good. I think the 'answering in fleet' worked better then on voice comm.

One thing I'd love an addition on in the theory portion of the class is an article about the several timers, when they come into play and what effect they have. Understanding of these mechanics in detail seems required knowledge, esp. when you get in a jam. Also, the piece about bookmarks could do with a picture (since they proverbially speak more then a thousand words) of a solar system with some well placed bookmarks drawn in, to add to the understanding of where well placed bookmarks could/should be.

The roam was great fun: I loved tearing the Torrinos camp to pieces, and chasing the campers off to high sec at the end was just icing on the cake. Towards the start, it was a bit tense, towards the end, people were obviously more relaxed but also quite tired. There were a number of mistakes made, but most of them were the kind of mistakes that you learn from and/or laugh about, and caused by either being a bit new at something, being a bit tense, being very tired or just being human. Particularly epic was the XYZ has started to warp scramble gate ABC followed by a "I don't think that gate's going anywhere XYZ" on voice comm, but my own attempt at repairing somebody's armor by tracking disrupting him followed by a "DaDutchDude, please stop aggressing me" was right up there as well. Again, sorry 'bout that. I did regret that my only attempt at grabbing a piece of loot was blown (quite literally) by a fleet mate, but hey ... stuff happens.

On a personal note, I was quite happy with my performance, I did get on a whole load of kill mails, if only with one shot off, but it all counted. I even got to post not one but two single shot pops on a pod on the kill board. And boy, I love seeing stuff melt the way it did to brutal alpha strikes from these little machines, so the slogan for this class should be "Agony Unleashed at over 9000 degrees: melting stuff at the speed of light". I felt more relaxed and I felt more of a sense of routine kicking in, which only goes to show the training really works. I only lost one ship at the Torrinos gate when I was primaried and shot instantly by a Vaga, a Zealot and some Hobgoblin IIs (but got my pod out), which I consider an inevitable loss through no fault of my own, and definitely worth it considering the stuff we ripped to pieces.

A big 'thank you' goes to the instructor, the FC, the scouts and skirmishers and to all my class mates for providing me with hours of fun and valuable experience. !lol

[b1zz]

Total value wiped out: 4,441,580,457isk
Total kills: 35
Most expensive ship kill: 353,687,884isk Ishtar
3 cariiers engaged...at the same time!

It was an epic roam.

Some more pics:
19.38
19.44
21.22
21.23
00.01
00.02

[Vampire Hitman]

Great class. I would recommend placing the initial review info in the pre-reading pack, in order to get down to business a little faster. Also, though I'm a big fan of having one FC making the calls, we were totally owning that gate camp. I think it was quite obvious that nearly everyone in the fleet wanted to continue picking them apart. We still had more than enough ships to dismantle them, ship by ship. It took a while to find some action after that. Overall- well done. Big damage inflicted with small, inexpensive ships. What more could we ask for? I have already recommended this class to many people. Keep up the great work!

[Madorris]

I would just like to say sorry for the start of the practicle, i was very nervous as it was my first time as FC for a public class and so i made a few mistakes (we are only human). But after a couple of beers and getting most of the gang killed we went on to have alot of fun and get alot of nice kills.

Thanks to all who attended.

Also, though I'm a big fan of having one FC making the calls, we were totally owning that gate camp. I think it was quite obvious that nearly everyone in the fleet wanted to continue picking them apart. We still had more than enough ships to dismantle them, ship by ship. It took a while to find some action after that.

I was more than happy to stay attacking the camp but they had all moved down onto the gate so that if we fired on any of them they could just jump into high sec, that is why we went out for a roam.

[DarkDragonMyth]

Great class really enjoyed it, think I'll keep my spare ships in Saranen though next time . And hats off to Brae and Mad for their superb performance, was fun watching Mad say his gonna fleet warp then warp off alone !lol

[Sanpaku Deska]

This letter is all about reinforcement, because I see AU has found a successful formula. First, thanks to Breanen -- excellent instructional job. Next to Mor-- Loved your lead, and I want to explain why. Von Klausewitz said, "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy" and he was right. I don't count the deaths as mistakes in this case - the economics bear me out. And your orders were splendidly clear. Also - you avoided the ultmate sin of losing your temper --excellent roam. And we knew who we were fighting, where we were going... I was a lot more oriented than in the 1st class. I loved the review at the beginning. I knew it, but this brought it fresh to mind. Like Dutch, I'd enjoyu some pics for bokmarks.I think I got it but, as it's a visual medium, it's hard to do in just words. I don't have anything Ican say was needing a repair or insufficient. Again, excellent job gentlemen.

[Kieler]

Awesome job by all of Agony. Skirmishers, Recon, Instructors, FC, everyone involved did excellent work. You guys are pros, that's why I'll keep coming back. Thanks again and see you next week

[Vora]

That was a great night again! Worth every ISK and a hell lot more...
Braeden as a teacher was flawless, easily comprehensible, right pace, his pop quizzes lightened up the lecture and kept the students at attention.

Madorris and his skirmishers showed an awe-inspiring precision, obviously showing the high Agony standard since Bamar and his guys have already impressed the shit out of me the week before...

The first half of the practical part consisted of picking up stragglers from the IRON camp at the Torrinos gate. I strongly suspect that this was a short glimpse of the upcoming FLYBY class (good for me since unfortunately I missed the enrollment).
I did miss a lot from this phase since I was podded twice there (I even strongly suspect that I was the very first casualty of this class ). The reason I did not get a shot at the primary was that I was totally preoccupied with finding the primary in the first place. The problem might be that my native tongue is not English. Although I speak English every day over the phone and several times a month over the radio as a pilot I still have problems with spelling fantasy names. Did it start with 'c', 's' or 'z'? Was ist "Chimco", "Gimco", "Jimco" or "Shimco"? Over Vetrillo I could not distinguish between voiced 'g' and 'j' or unvoiced 'ch' or 'sh', a.s.o.
I had the overview sorted by alphabet and according to AGONY guidelines but still had to scroll through the loooong target list at the Torrinos gate. Until the time I had finally found the primary it had already melted under concentrated dessy fire. So my suggestion is this: if you engage a gang of more than ten targets make the primary call either together with the ship type so we can sort the overview by type (Madorris did this actually at some point), or spell the first two letters, e.g. "primary is Shamis, S-H, secondary is Ingriddy, I-N".
If I ever get to lead a gang against a big camp in the distant future I know I will spell the first syllable in ICAO alphabet (a.k.a. NATO alphabet) like this: "primary is Zimco, that's zulu-india, secondary is Chorna, charlie-hotel-oscar" (ofc that's because I do know that alphabet by heart) .

The second half was a roam into Fade and that was the most exciting part for me. Just listening to the conversation between the FC and his skirmishers, with a map in front of you, brought out all my hunter instincts. This 'situational awareness' very much reminded me of entering a clogged airspace over an airport where you have to develop a 3-D picture of the situation just with the help of an approach chart and the radio calls you hear. That is actually more exciting for me that zooming in for the kill itself... yeah, roaming gangs are definitely my kind of PvP .

Conclusion: this night makes it extremely hard for me to wait two weeks for the ADVANCED class.... :amazed:

[Raan Kor]

Well done - Learned a lot, "punting" = sweet. Braeden took the class through materials at a good pace & went back as needed w/o a twitch. Madorris- your 1st time! Good job m8, I had no idea it was your first, great roam. See you all again in Advanced. Fly safe

[Deckerd]

....
If I ever get to lead a gang against a big camp in the distant future I know I will spell the first syllable in ICAO alphabet (a.k.a. NATO alphabet) like this: "primary is Zimco, that's zulu-india, secondary is Chorna, charlie-hotel-oscar" (ofc that's because I do know that alphabet by heart) .
....

good idea :!

ICAO Alphabet

[Kieler]

....
If I ever get to lead a gang against a big camp in the distant future I know I will spell the first syllable in ICAO alphabet (a.k.a. NATO alphabet) like this: "primary is Zimco, that's zulu-india, secondary is Chorna, charlie-hotel-oscar" (ofc that's because I do know that alphabet by heart) .
....

good idea :!

ICAO Alphabet

Vent gets confusing at times with voices stepping on each other. Adding this would probably make it even worse.

I can see it now, FC calls "primary is Zimco, that's zulu-india, secondary is Chorna, charlie-hotel-oscar" and somebody will start looking for targets named "Zulu-India" and "Charlie-Hotel-Oscar" and wind up lost.

Besides that, it becomes another topic of instruction. Something else to learn and teach. I'm former military so it's no biggie for someone like me, but it took practice for it to become second nature in hearing the phonetic alphabet and translating it internally.

[rogueweapon]

thanks to agony for the course , it was a blast and i learned a lot . thanks to the skirmishes behind the scenes for teing up the kills in torronis and for doing the hard yards on the roam to get us on to targets. without the scouts it wouldnt have been possible to be as succesful as we were . thanks to braedan and madoris for taking on the responsibility of teaching us the course material and for putting up with some of the students poor comments and mistakes. overall excellent course. again Thanks agony very much.