So You Want to Be a Fleet Commander

Anybody can be an FC. That's what they teach you in EVE University, at any rate. Being a successful FC takes practice and experience. One of the best routes to becoming a great FC is to learn under those that are known to be great.

In the YOLOCOLO (Fweddit, In Exile, Moar Tears), we're fortunate to have a number of stellar FCs. It's where the Amarr excel over the Minmatar. Late Night Alliance holds it up as a point of pride that they don't have FCs, which explains why they get their asses handed to them consistently. A great FC can give you a 20-30% advantage over an FC that's only competent. A great FC is equivalent to the advantage off-grid boosting links can give a fleet.

It's hard to describe what makes a good FC. It's the sort of thing, after you've experienced a number of different FCs, you start to recognize the good from the bad.

In the YOLOCOLO, we have Almity of In Exile; Pinky Feldman of Moar Tears; and DurrHurrDurr and Master Zeuth of Fweddit.

Almity is the best fleet commander I've ever flown with. I would not be surprised to learn that he could hold his own with the very best in the game. Not only is he calm, cool and collected in a fight, but the man knows exactly how to roam, how to utilize his scouts, how to bait, how to keep a low-profile for his fleet until the pounce.

Don't listen to me, though, listen to ShyAsianHunny:

It was a YouTube video of Almity FC'ing that made me say "Damn, I want that guy to call all my targets."

Days later I was in Fweddit. Days after that I was in an Almity fleet. DREAMS COME TRUE IN FWEDDIT.

Hell, if you don't believe me or ShyAsianHunny, listen for yourself.



Almity is the example that should be held up to all Amarr. Great FC. Great PvPer. He cares about the warzone. He plexes. He iHub bashes. If we're at 38 systems, he wants to be at 39 systems.

***

If there's no Almity available, then some Pinky Feldman is the next best thing. He's the FC in the opening fight. You can also hear the seamless switch off between Pinky and Almity during the battle. That's another thing the Amarr are fortunate to have, FCs that work well together. (The second brawl has TechPrime in the fleet command position, and then finishing up with Almity in the third fight.)



Like Almity, Pinky is calm under the guns. If Pinky has a weakness, it's the roam. He's a lot on his plate, so calling out the wrong gate, or forgetting he didn't call a warp is not unusual. But once the fight is near, like Almity, he excels at setting and baiting the brawl. His target calling is spot on too.

Pinky, like Almity, cares about the warzone. He once dragged a fleet around under the false pretense of a big bashup, then got everyone to upgrade all the iHubs, because nobody could be trusted to do it on their own. Pinky is hilarious like that.

***

And if Almity and Pinky are off doing other things, then there's some DurrHurrDurr and Master Zeuth co-FCing magic, to keep a fleet in the black.



Now Durr is a great FC too, but it takes time for people to get used to his extra loud, yelling-into-the-mic style. His enthusiasm for large fights is infectious, though. Master Zeuth is from the calm school of FCing, but he doesn't brook newbie mistakes as well as most of our other FCs.

***

And since I was digging through the archives, here's me, back when I was Minmatar, being primaried by Fweddit. I remember this fight. We're on the acceleration gate. On the count of three, everyone is to warp in at the same time. I'm the only one who follows orders, everyone holds off on their warp for a full second. I land on grid first and am quickly volleyed off the field. Ah, good times.



***

If you see FCing in your EVE Online future, and you want to learn under some quality leadership, then consider In Exile, Moar Tears, or Fweddit as your PvP destination.