6 months in a leaky boat

Fleets, great fun but a sod to manage. An FC (Fleet Commander) has their work cut out and is very reliant on people behaving correctly in fleet. So much so that they rely on a few key people and most people in fleet switch off and just trundle along in the mob. I think it’s why small gangs are so much more fun, you know what’s going on. You know who is doing what in fleet and you can stay in touch with the action and the nuances so much better.

As an FC you are often asking questions of fleet ‘X up’ in the fleet channel if you can do ‘blah’. So one of my visions is to give fleets some love. After all they are supposed to be a key part of the PVP EVE experience.

So here’s a rough model:

You can assign roles, so everyone knows who to follow. Maybe everyone could also be on the watch list in each panel, so you don’t need calls to go out for reps’ you simply pay attention. Drag and drop roles, being able to simply move fleet roles would be a blessing. Add another dozen icons that some windows could have could also be interesting. If for example you have the wing commander position you get more icons allowing you to drag tackle, bubble, web, nosf/neut, logistics, DPS, etcetera, icons onto various people in fleet so you know who fills what roles and what you may be missing or have in fleet. This updates to the FC’s window, so they can shift people around and manage fleets easily.
Also when actvities happen of note a highlight can flash around the pilots box, such as they are being shot, typing in fleet, speaking in fleet chat (in game comms). So instead of having to learn peoples voices you know who is what, where and what might be going on with them.

Then allow wing warping as well, so you can send your scout/bomber/bait wing commander off with all his squad would be nice. Delegated control of some aspects would also mean less work for the FC and more relevance for wing commanders in managing fleets. The ships people are in are also coloured by race to help identify who might be who and possible roles, for quick ID.

A radical option could be fleet formations, which a wing commander can learn various tactical operations and fleets warp into set formations. You could have a dozen formation types and maybe some skill bonuses and now you fleet can be mapped out better. Tackle up front, logistics lurking at the back, AHACs surrounding your fleet core, Alpha artillery forming a back line, stealth bombers on the flank – all from a formation warp in.

That’s part of my vision for EVE, more tactical command, reduced work load on FC’s, more clarity in operations, battlefield tactics (formations). All this means better PVP, a core aim of CCP I would hope.