Defiance Fleet - Kittens Making Kills

Tonight was guest FC night and the goal was kiting frigates and Wex volunteered to Fleet Command. 

We're halfway through the war dec and things are going well in my opinion. Well enough that I accepted Wex's offer to give me a night off and run the roam. He spent enough time in the militia that he is well acquainted to newbies. I decided to trust in them and trust that I've given them the foundation that they need to not be utterly confused and learn new things.

I also had some assistance. I had one volunteer who asked to come along on the roams and provide neutral logistics if we got into a high sec fight. I then had other members of Snuff overcome by curiosity on what was happening on coms dragged into the circle of helping newbies.

You see, Wex didn't want to use Eve voice. It created an opportunity to use and discuss Teamspeak and Mumble and its uses for Eve corporations. Most of them have already become used to chatting to each other so now comes are exciting. Setup took a bit but we got everyone into microwarpdrive frigates with long range guns. Our little fleet was meeting Wex's little fleet in low sec. We took a pitstop in Dodixie when Rykki managed to escape from work and catch up to us. We then lost a member to a real life interruption but picked him back up and got him scouted in.

Things are a bit different. We're moving a bit faster and our rate of losing people is increasing but our abilities are also increasing. Everything is going pretty well and a few systems in our scout managed to grab a Comet. We then blobbed the Comet. I felt a bit bad but being able to get my newbies a killmail was important. It is similar to mother cat's crippling their prey for their kittens I guess. 

I am sorry to blob you brave, solo pilot but it is for the better good of targets tomorrow.

I remember how fast the killing was when I first started and how often I missed the mails. Little things like targeting speed mean a lot. Our second pounce and kill died faster. However, Rykki joined me on the second mail. We lost Goodeius at some point. The commands were coming a bit faster and Wex does not do the repetition like I have. I found myself fretting a little bit but we managed to get focused and together to land our third kill of the night.

We learned that Sean has trained Advanced Looting to V, managing to scoop almost all of the wrecks. 

Our commands are adding up. We've gone to aligning, and cycling prop mods. Commands are run together, jump in, warp to fleetmate, activate gate, go to battle and they are getting done. There is still so much for me to learn too. But, each day gets better for all ofus.

In general, I expected to be a bit more embarrassed as the members of Snuff listened to me herd them through high sec. But I wasn't. Even when I was teased at my butchering and rearranging of the system names. I really do. Its awful. I'm normally proud of my dictation but that all jumps right out the window with system names in Eve. And, I don't care. Focusing on getting people where they belong is to important.

The end result was a good fleet where we blobbed people and our members learned something new and got some killmails. Some people may not approve of it but, again, I don't care. We're out here learning. They were able to feel what it is like when you don't die to everything you engage and I think that's important. I know that I worry they will become demoralized if all we do is die as we fight back.

It is daunting to try to carry other peoples gaming on your shoulder. I in no way feel casual about this particular responsibility. I'm happy that I was able to show them something more than what I have been able to. And what happens further down this learning road.

I may have some more help for the weekend since I will be at work. I'll see how things flesh out and we'll cruise through the weekend and finish out this war dec.