Wrote this on the alliance FC Command section:
These are what I think are the most important for a successful FC to have. Gleaned over the years playing EVE (Hell Ive done things in other MMO's that even have a bearing - be it Planetside or WoW or WAR).
1. Stay Calm. There is NEVER a need to RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE. Regardless of how bad a situation looks. You want people to have confidence in you, to know you keep it together whatever is happening.
2. Be confident in yourself and the fleet with pick up on this.
3. Understand that ships will be lost, people WILL bitch about it, will blame you etc. Go out on Ops with an idea that you'll all die, so that when good stuff happens, you'll have things to cheer about and keep the fleet motivated. Dont treat losses as personal, dont let whiners get to you.
4. Be prepared. Its YOUR OP so be on time, be in the right ship for the job you want to do, be in position and have a fleet up and running in the manager with a sensible description. Have a secondary sorting fleet composition while you review any intel on possible targets and routes with your scouts.
5. Have GOOD scouts and make sure they are in the right ships for the job: Recons, Covops, even an Inty. If you have to, buy them a ship out of your own pocket! DO NOT be the scout.
6. INTEL INTEL INTEL (No its not inside!). Know who/what you COULD face in a given area. Even if it means flying solo runs through an area a few days in advance. Get a feel for the best places to rest up and the nearest GTFO routes.
7. Stay Calm. There is NEVER a need to RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE. Regardless of how bad a situation looks. You want people to have confidence in you, to know you keep it together whatever is happening. (Yes its a repeat!)
8. Never take time to make a decision. Make it snappy and sharpish, situations change too fast in EVE to do otherwise. If people cannot keep up with changes in plans etc then its down to THEM, not any percieved FC failure.
9. Understand the make up of your fleet and what it does well/poorly. Play to its strengths DONT worry about its weaknesses too much, that will rub off on your gang and it wont go well. As long as you know what the weaknesses are, you can try and counter them when you come across their antithesis.
10. Try and FC varying types and sizes of gangs/fleets. Dont get pigeonholed into 1 type of OP. You'll never face the perfect opponent in this game, so make sure you are able to react well to whatever IS thrown at you.
11. People will backseat FC. Be it in chat or even on Voice. Dont put up with it. Remove them from fleet, message them to knock it off till the AAR, or even POD them. Just dont let them keep doing it, as it will undermine your authority in fleet and the fleets overall confidence. Just dont RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE at them to STFU NUB MINUS 50 DKP Style.
12. While fucking about on Voice isnt recommended, have some "apt" songs and sound clips ready to blast over Voice at the right time. Done well it can break the tension or lift the mood as people will know you arent stressed so why should they be!
13. Don't be afraid to take risks. People would often rather have a reasonably :goodfight: than sit docked/in a POS for four hours. Even if you all die horribly, YOU (and hopefully they) will have learned something from the encounter you can carry forward to the next OP.
14. Dont fly something that WILL be primaried first, as a dead FC who got popped first isnt a good thing. Fly something disgustingly tanked if you have too. Dont go cloaky unless the MAJORITY of the gang is doing the same (ie in a BS group dont fly the recon, in an stealth gang dont fly the Black ops etc).
15. Solo PVP, Solo Roam. Just do stuff by yourself, get used to knowing your OWN strengths and weakness. :Learn: from every loss and every victory. If someone fucks you over in a gang or solo, convo/mail them and if they are normal you may get some advice you can then use in a gang situation. However you do it, get EXPERIENCE.
16. Keep up to date on ships, bugs, patch changes. Anything that can give you an edge over potential opponents. Im not saying exploit, but understand what are bugs and how they can affect a situation - be it in your favour or not.
17. Dont watch the news/read a book/fap/text/forum post while leading Op's unless its a mining op. Stay frosty, stay sharp, stay focused. STAY CALM! (Ask those I played WoW with about my Raid Leading style when combined with being Main Tank. I often posted, answered threads all while tanking a boss on the same monitor!)
18. Understand local and regional politics for where you roam, dont necessarily worry about giving the alliance diplo's a headache, but dont purposely try to make their lives hell. (Im aiming this at myself here as its 100% certain i'll do it).
19. Remember the time you want an OP to start ISNT the rule. Its just when people will log in. It'll always start 20-30minutes later after stragglers have figured out voice, got in the right ships, JC'd and the paladins have their buf - oh wait.
20. JUMP IS A STUPID WORD AND WILL CAUSE YOU TO MENTALLY RAAAAAAAAAAAAGE AT HOW RETARDED SOME PEOPLE CAN BE. Live with it. They'll eventually learn the hardway. 1 misjump is forgiveable, 2 is asking to be popped by the camp on the other side while the fleet goes somewhere else.
21. Never get distracted by idiocy. Bottle the anger, focus it on the task at hand. Dont raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaage, stay calm, keep focused on the fights and the targets.
22. Stick to the essence of your plan. If its to kill a pos, they stick to it and get the job done, then go kill something fun. If its to smartbomb that mining op that pisses you off, then stick to it until its done. Only deviate if you have a 100% chance of doing something MAJOR. Like breaking off killing a ratter because some dick has dropped a cap into local and a hictor has it bubbled
23. 7. Stay Calm. There is NEVER a need to RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE. Regardless of how bad a situation looks. You want people to have confidence in you, to know you keep it together whatever is happening. I cannot stress this enough.
24. English, however heavily accented is THE language of EVE. Make sure you have a sufficient grasp of it at a spoken level. Oh and its Har-bing-er.
25. Know this, its the year 10191. The known - nvm
People will fall behind, will not listen on Voice, will need sheperding ALOT at first, but as you get more competent at leading and more confident at it, they will get better at following and at knowing just how you'll react in a given circumstance.
26. So what, you killed a titan while in x alliance. That doesnt matter, all that matters is NOW and how you'll get it through the fight in front of you. What you did yesterday isnt an issue to anyone except as an understanding of you as a FC and how you came to be where you are. Arrogance is a tool to be employed when needed, not a permament state of being and being the arrogant prick who killed a titan once and never shuts up about it, wont get you the respect of your gang.
27. If you do score some HUGE kills, dont gush about them in chat/voice. This isnt Hallé Berry at the Oscars, or Kanye at the VMA's. If you start slacking and whooping it up, fleet discipline is soon lost.
28. INTEL INTEL INTEL (No its not inside!). Know who/what you COULD face in a given area. Even if it means flying solo runs through an area a few days in advance. Get a feel for the best places to rest up and the nearest GTFO routes.
29. Dont dwell on failure, potential or otherwise. Stay upbeat at all times, always find a silver lining in a situation, even if its just the "what did we learn" moments.
30. Run "Comedy" Ops from time to time. Basically take a group of shitfit ships, or ships that arent seen as good and go and get into some trouble with them. You'll always get one or two kills and maybe learn a thing or two about the ships you never really knew. Comedy ops are good stress relievers too, break down the rules abit, use local as an intel channel and so on. Let people go a little bit crazy, cut loose a ways.
31. Alternate to 30 are THEME nights. Not comedy, however everyone has to be in the same type of ship with the same fits give or take ewar differences to ensure stuff gets locked down fast, and then go and have a blast and see what shit you get into. Can be either a great stress reliever, or a way to move a group towards a common goal skills wise for a short time.
Starting to repeat alot now, but I think I have a good few here!
