Warfare & Tactics

The militia sure has changed for the past year. This guide is for the people considering joining the Almighty Frog Armada or have already and found themselves lost. Don't worry, we've all been there. I've tried to keep this guide as simple as possible for advanced and specialized stuff look elsewhere.


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▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░ Better dead than squid.

(Bonus points when you paste that in local after a particularly good fight with the squids.)

The Slightly Updated List of Militia Jargon:

FW = Us and them. Not a particular person or organization but rather all of factional warfare and it's mechanics.
Supers = Anything larger than caps. (warp out)
Dread = Dreadnaught
Cap = capital ships, mostly used in plural [caps] (carriers and dreads mostly)
Sub cap = Anything smaller than caps.
BS = Battleship
BC = Battlecruiser
Frigs = Frigates
Dessies = Destroyers
HACs = Heavy Assault Cruisers (Also AHACs for the armor variety)
HICS = Heavy Interdictors
Cyno = cynosural field, allows capitals to jump into its location and enables titan bridging
Hard cyno = a ship with hopefully a strong tank that can keep a cyno 'lit' while under fire
Soft cyno = expendable cheap ship that lights cynos, pretty much its only purpose.
Bridge = Titan bridge. A cyno is lit and the titan bridges the sub cap fleet over long distances.
WT = War target.
Squids = The Caldari. Direct all pew pew and local smack talking towards these guys
Minnies = The Minmatar are great allies and they never turn down a good fight
Pie = Pirate
Eyes = A pilot with visual confirmation of a fleet's identity, composition, destination. Also called a scout. There's also the Cloaky variety.
Cloaky = A ship with a cloak.
Shiny = Expensive ships. Best bait.
+1= The pilot that stays one jump ahead of the fleet for scouting purposes.
-1 = Alternatively the pilot that stays one jump behind.
Long point = Warp Disruptor
Scram = Warp Scrambler
Fleet Tackler = Properly fitted Ares or Stilleto.
Points hot = Prepare to point target (overheat)
Hold Point = Do not point. Generally for interceptors and other frigates to avoid aggression and jump after the target.
Force him through = One person should point the target and force the target to jump through the gate.
Secondary Point = Indicates another fleet member has pointed the target. This also means the person that had the initial point is clear do disengage.
Gate Activation = When the gate lights up when someone jumps through with hopefully something the fleet can gank
Gate is hot = The gate has hostiles
Deagress = Cease aggression. Generally used when you or the fleet is planning to jump out of combat.
Yellowbox = Locking/Being locked
Redbox = Attacked/Attacking
Comms = Ventrilo, Teamspeak
Vent= Ventrillo
TS, TS3 = Teamspeak
Battlecomms = Alternative way of telling people to shut up
Intel = Information regarding a system or targets. Comes in the good, old and bad variety.
Friendly Intel = Is intel regarding a friendly player or fleet. Avoid doing this at all costs. If in doubt, best zip it.
Intel Channel = If you've been invited to one then it means you've shown yourself to be slightly trustworthy. The enemies have eyes everywhere though, so be careful
Booster = Provides useful boosts to the fleet it's in
FC = Fleet commander. While you are in his fleet you should listen fully to everything he says and follow his commands to the letter. A little organization and obedience is worth it for a good fight, also important to win it.
Target Caller = Exactly what it means. This guy is responsible for calling targets when the FC has too much on his hands
Primary = This is your target. Shoot it. Primaries will be called either by name or ship type or a combination of both. Secondary and tertiary come next
Logi= AKA Logistics. AKA people that keep you alive. Any ship with logistic bonus such as armor repping and shield xfering are legit logi these days, especially when plexing.

Important Systems:

Dodixie: The Militia's favorite location for quick shopping. Pricing of modules can be from competitive to ridiculous sometimes, depending on how exotic are the things you are looking for.

Villore: Your last stop before low sec. The system also has some useful things for sale if you can't get to Dodixie. A 0.5 system like Villore is the easiest high sec for you to be ganked in. You will get ganked if you are not careful, I have warned you. People like to spend their hard earned LP here and use an alt to ship their earnings out, as should you.

Old Man Star: Generally your next jump. I strongly urge you to not jump into Old Man Star from Villore unless you are in a fast ship or have done some propper reconnaissance beforehand. Villore gate is generally camped by pirates or squids.

Heydieles: This used to be the nerve center of our militia but these days we're more spread out. Still a good place to live in until you find your clique as in someone like you that is just starting out.

Nisuwa: There are old tales in the militia about the bitter vets and drunkards that reside in Nisuwa.

Nennamaila: One of our deepest hubs in Caldari space. Good if you like having constant view to the action.

Tama: The Squid equivalent of Old Man Star. The pies around here are a lot more ballsy than the OMS offspring.

Aeschee: The last militia haven until Minmatar space. The area is populated with well organized pirates some friendly and some not, so be on your toes.

Overview settings: How to make a warzone a lot less confusing!

A properly set overview is very important. Not only it will help you sort through your targets better will also avoid accidents such as friendly fire.

Open your overview settings and uncheck these options:

Pilot is in your alliance
Pilot is in your corporation
Pilot is in your militia
Pilot is in your fleet.

Your overview will only display pilots that are either neutral or aggressive towards you now. In case you want to see your comrades on your overview you can make a new tab with these options checked and other options unchecked. A quick way to inspect the fleet you are with. Don't be shy to make as many tabs as you'd like. I personally use a 'Travel', PVP, Drones, Fleet and Mission tabs. Using your PVP tab while directional scanning with active overview settings check will make it less confusing as well. You can optionally also uncheck targets that have good standing to you or your corp.

When you are very satified with your overview settings remember to save them. You never know when you might need them again. This will save you a lot of time and make you feel a little bit less naked at your next undock.

Shaalira D'arc's Intel Tips:

One thing I'd like to add: a format for reporting intel in fleets. I actually picked this up from an Agony Unleashed class, so credit goes to them. It's worked fairly well in FW.

When reporting intelligence to your FC, it's useful to include certain details. The following should be included:

- Who is speaking (when you're reporting over voice)
- Where you are (system and gate/station/celestial)
- Local count. This includes the # of WTs and Pies in local.
- What's on grid.
- What's on scan. (This will take some discretion and experience, as a lot of your scan results will be POS'ed up, no threat, or are ships that are always in system.)

To make life easier on the FC, it's good to be consistent in how you report it. Giving the above details in that order every time is a good way of keeping comms clear, especially when multiple scouts are reporting intel from different systems. Too often, precious time is wasted by back-and-forth questions like "Who's speaking?" or "Where are you?" Blurting out randomly "I've got a bunch of WTs here" is next to useless.

Examples of good reporting:

"Bob here in Oinasiken on the Pyne gate. Ten war targets in local. Three drakes and a dram on grid. Nothing else on scan."
"Jane in Kedama on the Nisuwa gate. Three in local, one pie. Nothing on grid. Hurricane on scan towards the Hirri gate."

Examples of bad reporting:

"Uh, I've got a bunch of reds here on gate with me. They're shooting."
"Some war targets just jumped."
"****, there's a gatecamp."
"Check! Check check check .... I'm dead."

Certain details can be ommitted sometimes. For example, if a system is empty, there's usually no need to report that nothing's on grid or on scan. Example:

"Bob here. Abune's clear."

When giving intel, be prepared for follow-up questions. The FC, for example, will often ask about the corporation that the WTs or Pies belong to. The FC may also ask you to check another gate or direct your scans somewhere specific.

Lastly, and this is easier said than done, try not to panic. It's usually not just the FC hearing your report but the entire fleet. Shouting and cursing won't help fleet organization any. Giving calm, level-headed reports goes a long way to keeping fleet comms efficient.

Nice thread. Gallente seem to be handling things rather well anyway, but nice thread all the same.

Another tip that might be useful for new players is neutrals coming into plexes. If someone that isn't in your militia, or the enemy militia, comes into your plex. They aren't lost. They aren't exploring. They aren't there to be your friend. They aren't there to buy you a beer. They're there to kill you. Either shoot first, get out, or die.

I suppose the same could be said with friendly militia you don't know, with all the AWOXing that people have been complaining about.

FW in a Nutshell

Introduction

Faction war is PvP with objectives. When you join FW, you join a militia affiliated with one of the four major nations of EVE. The goal of your militia is to defend friendly territory and conquer enemy territory. Sounds simple, right? Read on for the details.


The Warzone

Not all of each empire's territory is up for grabs. The systems that the militia fight over are all within low-sec space. These systems are collectively known as the 'warzone.' Warzones are located at the border between opposing nations. Currently, the active warzones are:

- Caldari State versus Gallente Federation
- Amarrian Empire versus Minmatar Republic

There are two ways of viewing the warzone. The first uses the starmap filters. The second uses the Faction War UI available in the EVE Menu.


The Starmap and FW

The World Map Control Panel is one of the default menu buttons - "Map." You can also access it by pressing F10. If you're not already familiar with it, I suggest getting to know it well. It's one of the most useful in-game tools you have.

Open the map and make sure you're in the Star Map (as opposed to the Solar System Map). Go to the Star Map tab, then the Stars sub-tab. Scroll down to the Sovereignty folder and you'll find a variety of filters in the Factional War subfolder.

These filters will allow you to view the warzone systems, whether in their entirety or by specific faction. The size of the colored dot marking each system reflects how contested that system is. More on this later.


The Faction War UI

Faction War comes with its own information panel. To access it, open the EVE Menu (the EVE icon that is, by default, in the upper left of your screen). Faction War is located under the Business folder. You can make this button one of the default menu options if you so choose.

There are three tabs to the Factional Warfare panel: Warzone Control, Statistics, and Rules of Engagement. The first tab - Warfare Control - is the most useful, and we'll focus on that. But before we dive into it, let's cover some basics about system occupancy, control, and the tier system.


System Occupancy

A system starts out as 0% contested, a state known as 'stable.' This means that the owning faction exerts total control over the system.

As the opposing side begins 'contesting,' or attempting to conquer, the system, this value rises gradually up to 100%. This is done through 'plexing.' The defending side can attempt to reduce the contested state, bringing it back closer to 0% or stable. This is called 'deplexing.'

Each faction war system has an I-Hub (sometimes referred to by its older name of 'bunker'). Normally, this structure is un-targetable and invincible. When the system's contested state reaches 100%, the system is 'vulnerable.' When that occurs, the I-Hub is targetable and can be shot. The structure has a fair amount of HP and usually requires a fleet's DPS to reduce below peak shield recharge.

Once an I-Hub is reduced to structure, it goes invincible again. At that point, the system is 'Lost.' After the next downtime, it will change ownership to the conquering faction and reset as Stable, or 0% contested.


Plexing and Deplexing

Pushing a system's contested state one way or another involves running faction war complexes. Doing this to conquer a system is generally known as 'offensive plexing' or just 'plexing.' Defending a system controlled by your faction is 'defensive plexing' or 'deplexing.'

Faction war complexes (predictably shortened to 'plexes') are deadspace areas with acceleration gates. Tactical warping is not possible either on grid of or beyond the accel gate, nor is warping to a fleet member from outside the deadspace area (you always arrive as if warping to the gate). You can, however, warp to a complex at range, thus landing a distance outside the accel gate.

If all of the above paragraph was greek to you, don't worry too much about it at this point. Just make a mental note to read up on dead space and tactical warping - it will come up sooner rather than later.

Capturing a plex involves activating the acceleration gate, and staying within 30km of the outpost within until the timer runs down to 0. If you are offensively plexing, you need to destroy the defending NPC, otherwise the timer will not run down. If an enemy militia member is also within range of the outpost, the timer will not run down; you must drive them off or destroy them. Remember: If you are defensively plexing, you need not destroy the defending NPC. In fact, it will help you (a tiny, tiny bit) against enemy militia members.

The default warp-in after activating the acceleration gate is within 10km of the outpost structure. Once you've entered, take note of the beacon marking that spot.

The length of the timer depends on the 'size' of the complex. The size of the complex also determines what ships can activate the acceleration gate. Larger plexes also have more powerful defending NPCs, which have significant active tanks.

The plex sizes are as follows:

• Novice Complex - 10 minute timer. T1 and Faction frigates only. Defended by a weak frigate NPC.
• Small Complex - 15 minute timer. All frigates, including T2, and destroyers permitted. Defended by a destroyer NPC.
• Medium Complex - 20 minute timer. All ships sized cruiser and smaller may enter (but not T3). Defended by a cruiser NPC.
• Large Complex - 25 minute timer. Unrestricted in access. Defended by a battlecruiser NPC (note: 300 or more DPS required to get past this NPC's active tank)

The larger the complex, the more Loyalty Points you will earn upon completing them. However, all complexes regardless of size affect a system's contested state equally.

( Thanks for keeping this guide updated, Mekhana. I threw together a new section for the Post-Retribution era.)