Defiance Fleet - First Roam

I managed to lead a group of people to their deaths while talking a mile of a minute and they thanked me for it. This fleet command thing is very, very odd.

I got home and logged in to see if we had developed a sudden wave of war targets yet. So far, a known scout hangs around system but that is it. With the evening open to me but my energy level not very low I said that we'd go on a roam. I wanted to check on TCS and respond to some eve-mails before we went. 

Rykki, their CEO has been amazing. She (yes she don't be like me and say he because you have terrible habits) has kept them organized doing PvE and practicing their fleet maneuvers. Yesterday sank in and stayed. Everyone is smoother and more organized and happy to get out in space.

I decided on a very short roam, about 15 systems in both directions. We're still going through our paces and it will be very, very easy to move to quickly and leave people confused. I personally hated being confused when I was just starting PvP. I'd miss orders and ether be told to ask in corp chat or just be to embarrassed to say I didn't know what was going on. I've been working to not have that happen here. While I feel we are going slow I know that it feels a bit faster on their side.

And planning a roam? Me? Urp! Okay! I dipped us into Minmatar space because we were near the edge. I also knew we wouldn't be moving overly fast. However, we'd get into low sec. We would get into plexes. We'd look for a fight.

The War Targets logged on as we were getting ready to head out. They were after a group that was looking for a fight. The smack talk in the low sec pocket started. We rolled our eyes and headed to faction warfare space.

The dip into low sec was fine. There was an AFK Imicis on the gate that I almost ordered us to attack. I remembered that we were in T1 frigates with t1 fits and no logi. I bit it back and passed the Imicis. I was not going to have the fleet die to gateguns two seconds into low sec. I explained the entire situation to them as we went along.

Rykki was my eyes which was nice. We were moving unscouted and I was trying to keep track of my ducklings. We learned about warping to plex gates at 10k. We chased a few solo ships out of their plexes. We didn't move fast enough to catch them. But we tried. We hung out in some novices and decided to pass up on an Algos, Algos, Talwar in a small complex.

Our path twisted through Auga and into Amamake. As we jumped one gate a fleet landed on it. Everyone held gatecloak until I announced a warp once we saw the fleet was not moving. Good job for everyone. No one derped and was caught. 

Back over in the war target system they are still smack talking the other fleet and nether party is engaging the other.

We took a quick break in a high sec system. With no fights presenting I said I was happy to take the next available fight such as that destroyer fleet. I felt that we had a chance of taking at least one ship out if we made a focused effort and we could warp out if we couldn't make a difference. The fleet agreed and we headed back.

I'm starting to drop some of the length of the orders as they are getting used to doing the right thing. My concept is on structure. I am not teaching them to align and then warp because I do not want that to become a habit. We will align at different times to practice it. However, I want them comfortable with getting these ships off gate and moving through space.

We made it back to the destroyers only it had become an Algos and a Griffin. Okay. Ugh. Well, maybe with six of us we can make it work. 

This is where things messed up a bit. The medium we were warping to was very close to another and one member got separated. I'm not fleet warping them. They need to learn to fly their own ships and develop their individual forms of spacial awareness. When I realized what happened I tried to get the fleet to warp to the lost member. We hadn't practiced that and it didn't work out well. Our single member wound up dying by himself. We got him safe and rallied on the gate of the plex he died in.

My Maulus had orders to come in a breath behind so that he was not the instant primary. We went in and the Griffin jammed everyone. There was also a hookbill there. I tried to nab the hookbill but he took range while we were jammed and confused. Two ships down and perma jammed I started tanking as they shot me. I ordered the fleet to scatter. Rykki got caught just as she hit warp. The Maulus and I got out. We got everyone safe and out of low sec and then discussed things.

I explained what happened and the confusion. I apologized for things getting a bit messy with the gates. We learned about jams and how much they suck. The one Griffin immobilized the entire fleet. I knew it might happen but it was worth the try.

And that was tonight. I dismissed the fleet. I'm worn out again. I'm going to spend most of this week hoping that I am doing the right thing. But for now, sleep.