A couple of responses to previous posts, and then I'll do my feedback on the roam:
Vjorn, on 21 November 2011 - 10:38 PM, said:
To be honest, when Cr8r started the Covop class back up...I did the exact same thing. It is sloooow going burning out to 1k for an off-grid tac whilst cloaked, isn't it heheheh
However, there is a quicker (and cheaper) ship to use for making your INITIAL on/off-grid gate tacs.....a cheap t1 frig such as the vigil. This is what I now use:
The Vigil works well (tho my fit is much cheaper than yours! I pretty much only fit a T1 MWD and 3 overdrives!), but another trick you can use (stolen shamelessly from Azual's blog on bms) is to log off and then on again. When you log back in, you'll be 1m km from the gate in a random direction, and you just need to drop an off grid tac as you warp back to the gate. You can also bounce off the tac three times to easily create a 300km on grid bm, and best of all you can do it all while cloaked and in a ship without any speed mods at all.
The only downside you need to be aware of is that you will drop cloak as soon as you log out, and you'll be vulnerable to being pointed for as long as it takes your ship to warp, so don't do it when there are hostiles on grid. Overall though, I find it definitely the fastest way of creating an on and off grid tacs at gates.
Othran, on 23 November 2011 - 02:33 PM, said:
The wheel is very nice and is the only one I haven't seen/worked out before. It looks quite easy to screw up with current decloak mechanics but if whats on sisi makes it to TQ...

Clever stuff and annoyingly I don't think I'd ever have thought of it.
I agree that it's a very clever idea, but as far as I can see, these techniques (i.e. the ones on that wiki page) are largely designed to get around the problems of bombers decloaking each other, and they will all be largely obsolete next week. With the new expansion, you can simply warp your wing of bombers in to 30-40km off the enemy fleet and bomb them. You no longer need clever techniques to leave everyone spaced out but in the right ranges, which was the main goal of each approach on that page. Maybe there's a case for some of them to be adapted for fleets with multiple squads (each will need it's own spot), but the fact that everyone can find them cloaked means the whole thing will be far less complex - KISS, remember?
Feedback:
I enjoyed the roam, and learnt a lot from it, but I also felt there were several things which largely detracted from it, mostly due to bad luck.
I thought the practical task of getting to 31- at the beginning was very useful, and was a good opportunity to practice gate camping. We got to see some torpedo combat, though unfortunately the only time we got set up for bombing runs, the target didn't bite. I've never done hotdropping before, so it was interesting to see how that worked (a lot of sitting around hoping for good intel from scouts!)
I think it was really unfortunate that so many people had to drop out at the last minute, including Dzu. While Caldak is an outstanding FC, I think he understandably found trying to manage two very specialised classes, one of which was a completely new class, very difficult. The general lack of targets also added to this, and increased the level of pressure both on him and the scouts.
If the roam were to be run again in future (and I really running the two classes simultaneously is a great idea - there are lots of very useful synergies to be exploited), it might work well to do the following:
- Have a list of modules that people should bring (similar to basic, though obviously far fewer). Bombers can stick their current fits in the fleet manager, and then fly independently (but while on coms) to 31-. While the class is doing this, the FC can sort people into the right groups for bombers, and make a list of the fitting changes he wants to make (Pilot A swap a damp for a point, Pilot B swap a painter for a ship scanner) once the class reaches 31-. Everyone can load the right bombs for their squad once they reach 31- (supplied by Agony?).
- Covops can be out looking for targets during this time, and scounting the bombers through at the same time. Perhaps it would be a good idea for the Covops instructor to be in a "scout master" type role. I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the covops guys who were enthusiastic and trying to give recon reports at perhaps not the best times, or at points when the FC had a bunch of other things to deal with. A scoutmaster would allow maximum practice at recon reports for covops pilots, while having someone experienced to gather and filter that information and feed the useful stuff at the right time to the FC. Managing a stealth bomber fleet is a lot of work in itself, especially when most of the fleet has little experience bombing or hotdropping, and having someone else to manage the intel would allow the FC to focus on that.
PS: A couple of people followed up (I think) on my previous point about moving all the module discussion in the theory part of the course to written material students could look at beforehand. My intention with that wasn't that it shouldn't be discussed at all, but that there might be an approach similar to basic, where the pluses and minuses of different modules are outlined in the material, and then covered in class in a more practical manner (what would be good modules for a solo fit/fleet with arazu support/single squad of 6 bombers/etc.)