Warfare & Tactics

me and some friends of mine are interested in joining up with Red vs Blue for some pvp, can someone please point me in the right direction on how exactly to join up?

They have a website with their rules and guidelines that they encourage pilots interested in joining to read before applying. I'm sure a google search or something would easily find it.

You can also look up the corps in game (Red Federation and Blue Republic) and apply that way.

thanks for the info guys...i mostly didnt know what the actual names for the corps were, thanks

Join in-game channel R-V-B for info and general questions

To start with once you've picked your side it is best to move the assets you want there before you start. Both bases are a few jumps from Jita so a contracted Freighter Trip of packaged ships and mods will get you setup. RvB Markets are pretty well stocked but there is an insane markup anything from 20% to 100% and they don't always carry every ship. So if you want to fly something you will often find they don't have the ship, a mod or two or you are paying a markup. I only use the local market when I need a certain module on the fly. I set up a same account alt in Jita to purchase and contracted a freighter if I needed resupply but I was well supplied from the start.

A beginner and costly mistake I once made is to not take proper inventory when purchasing your fleet. How to get around it is to use EFT to build the fits you want and mark them as RvB and the number of them you want in the fit name for a visual reference. Then count up mods of each type and list them in notepad, there is your shopping list. That way you don't buy 24 Medium CDFE Rigs when you only bought ships for 18 or are ready to take out a Coercer and realized you never bought faction crystals and scorch. I know it sounds silly but when buying 50-80 ships, 900 mods and ammo and drones for all of them it can become an issue.

Import the dozens of fits into EVE's fit database and you can auto assemble your fleet in minutes, just remember to put in Ammo. I have almost flown into battle a couple of times without ammo because I didn't load up the entire fleet right off the bat. For short range I usually do 1 clip of faction -50%, 1 clip of alternate damage type faction for projectiles, 3 loads of dirt cheap T1 ammo -50% and one load of T2 LR Ammo. For long range guns I take a clip of faction for 2-3 ranges, 1 clip of both T2 Ammo types and clips of T1 for different ranges. For Missiles 1 faction clip for one Dmg type, a clip of both T2's and clips of all types in T1. All together ship ammo costs 500k - 2 mil per ship below Battleships. I keep a small stock pile of different ammo's on hand for refills after fights, Drones too.

Some cost saving tips. If you have the CPU then Meta 4 Dmg mods for guns are about half the cost of T2 and the only difference is +9.8% vs +10% Dmg which = about 1 DPS. Fitting some fleet ships that don't rely on Drone DPS with ECM Drones saves 500k per Warrior, 775k per Hammerhead. For 1v1 or very small gangs a T2 fit Frigate / Destroyers are a big difference but for mindless 20-30+ man Cruiser down swarms you can go meta, efficiency goes down by 10% but they cost only about 30% of a T2 fit.

Examples of cheap fleet ships.

[Merlin, Cheap: 3 million ISK / 6000 EHP / 154 DPS]
Gauss Field Balancer I
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Emergency Damage Control I

Medium Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Patterned Stasis Web I

Anode Light Ion Particle Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Anode Light Ion Particle Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Anode Light Ion Particle Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S

Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I

[Thrasher, Cheap: 6 million ISK / 7400 EHP / 285 DPS]
Emergency Damage Control I
Counterbalanced Weapon Mounts I

Medium Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

200mm Light Prototype Automatic Cannon, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
200mm Light Prototype Automatic Cannon, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
200mm Light Prototype Automatic Cannon, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
200mm Light Prototype Automatic Cannon, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
200mm Light Prototype Automatic Cannon, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
200mm Light Prototype Automatic Cannon, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
200mm Light Prototype Automatic Cannon, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S
5W Infectious Power System Malfunction

Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I

So if you are playing all day and there are lots of big if you're primary you're dead swarm fights you can toss these babies at them all day and not make a serious dent in your wallet reserving your 10 mil T2 fit Frigates and 15mil T2 fit Destroyers for fights where 10% more DPS or tank means victory or defeat. I do fly better ships in Swarms but be mindful of flying low tanked faction ships or T2 ships that will get you atomized pretty quick. Destroyers tend to be primary because of their high DPS, low tank and med sig rad so be aware when using them in big fights, you're helping your fleet with that Dmg but you will die quick, it is why I prefer Cruisers over Destroyers, high Dmg, more tank, but more expensive.

Now personally I never liked those arranged you have to have equal numbers, wait 30min till we get our ducks in a row, don't shoot the FC fights. There is always drama and complaints to those fights. I preferred breaking station camps and gate camps or camping for a fight kind of fights and hunter groups. The best fights are rolling fights where 100+ people are bashing it out for 15-20min in all sizes of ships and re-shipping to fight more. So a great tip for enjoying a truly big fight is to stash cheap type meta fit ships in the enemy HQ, more around the system in other stations and stations in the pipelines between the two HQ's. No matter what system you are in if there is a long fight going on from your ship exploding to locking your next target you should never be more then two warps and a weapons timer away, max.

Low Sec Roams are a lot of fun as well, one of the reasons I didn't load up on expensive implants. So is hunting and popping War Targets. I highly recommend both whenever you can. One implant I got a few of was the +3 PG implant, it is a life saver for fits.

Otela(red) or Liekuri(blue), apply and get a fight in 5 mintues.

RvB is a great place to drop an alt with a few billion, get drunk off your ass, and shoot anything blinky...

Don't expect anything else...