But, I am experienced enough with FCing to know that it
takes an incredible amount of attention and focus to keep everything running
smoothly. Understanding what the
hostiles are doing, what your scouts are telling you, and how soon your fleet
is going to land, mixed with trying to remember exactly what bonuses a Celestis
gets so you can primary your targets in the right order… it’s a lot of work.
And, of course, you want to get on the kills yourself. Typically, the FC flies an easy-to-fly ship
(F1 only, please) that can endure for a while, but it’s still another set of
procedures to keep in mind. You need to
lock and broadcast every target, while also stating the target aloud on
comms. Then you need to choose the
secondary, then promote as the primary goes down, while still locking and
broadcasting. There are a lot of steps
to forget, particularly as the circumstances of the battle evolve.
Apparently, roaming with your wife when she’s still
learning Eve is identical in its complexity.
This Friday night, my wife came along on the first part of
the roam. She was in a Jaguar, and I was
in a probing Rapier. Let me tell you, my
ship selection was not the wisest. It
involved too many steps on its own. But
I also had to explain how to manage all the steps to accomplish the FC’s
orders, as well as explain why we were doing what we were doing.
It was impossible, at least for me. At one point, we caught up with a -10 sec
Brutix at a gate (obvious bait, right?) and our scout on the other side told us
he had a Harpy and a Jaguar on that side, with nothing else on dscan, so we
engaged. I had to engage for myself (I
was preventing him from burning back to gate with my Rapier) while I walked my
wife through engaging with the Jaguar.
When hostile logi landed on our side of the gate and
immediately pulled range, we disengaged since we couldn’t break his tank. Everyone aligned out, I kept my web on the Brutix
to prevent him from burning down any of our people, and we warped. My wife hadn’t even gotten into the fight by
the time we left. I had to engage for
myself, then instruct her on the steps to engage him as well. It just took too much time.
Afterwards, while we were in warp, I explained why we
disengaged… we couldn’t break the reps the Brutix was receiving. Being the insightful person she was, she
asked why we didn’t kill the logi, and I explained how he immediately pulled
range and we’d have had to burn too far, putting us in range of the Brutix and
his two AF friends (we were all in very squishy ships).
Fortunately, the mistake of splitting my attention too many
ways didn’t result in any losses between the two of us. But, I think next week, I’ll just assist over
her shoulder while she joins the roam. That
way, I can focus solely on helping her.
Probably a lot wiser than trying to tag-team it.
But that’s an important lesson. When faced with any situation in Eve, face
the reality of your own limitations.
It’s better to take a step back than set yourself up for certain
failure. In this case, it means shelving
my ship while she learns the ropes of PvP with hands-on experience. In yours, it might mean not flying a certain
ship or flying style until you see it in action, as flown by another, a bit
longer. Try fighting a few Cynabals
first, then fly a few cheaper ships (Stabber, certain fits of a Rupture) before
flying a Cynabal.
Incidentally, this is where newer players have an advantage
over older players. Low-SP PvPers
naturally tend to start with cheaper ships and modules, and they learn the
ropes through smaller losses. Older
players who decide to start PvPing tend to start with T2 ships before they
really know how to use them in PvP, and their losses are larger.
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you can do it
well at first try.
And I’m just no good at simultaneously teaching and doing.
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