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[Valiren]

I'm not certain this is the proper place to be writing this post, but if it's not then I trust someone will relocate it for me.

I have been monitoring through the Caldari State War Academy the actions taken in combating the Incursion so far- it has been abysmal. Seven out of seven incursions remained yesterday, and the reports say over twenty thousand ships were destroyed. Not just tier one cruisers and frigates either- faction Battleships, Strategic Cruisers, and well fit ships all around.

The strategy for combating the Incursion needs to change. I have not partaken in the assault yet, as I don't have any considerable resources to do so yet. However, I have always been a strategist, and from what I have heard, here is what is going on.
The Incursion sites are surrounded by vanguards, spread through nearby solar systems. Said vanguards are all empowered by strategic starbases that in addition to providing them a bonus to all ship attributes, lower resistances on our own vessels. The more of these Vanguard sites that are active, the lower our ships power will be.

Instead of striking these sites first, fleet after fleet rushed into the enemy HQ sites and naturally were decimated. The way to fight these is simple to me, but it may not be to the community at large. It requires a great deal of coordination between multiple fleets.

The method I have in mind is thus; A fleet capable of taking sustained heavy fire moves in, covering the advance of hacker ships. Once the tower is down, the fleet can either swap out with a fresh one or simply take in reinforcements to destroy the zone. While a third fleet locks it down, the other two replenish their losses and continue to the next site. With every site that is locked down, the HQ becomes easier to assault.

The problem inherent in this strategy is coordination. This early on in the incursion, fleets are showing an utter disregard for working with one another, and losing billions of ISK in the process. Even with massive Concord fleets aiding our engagements, we're being slaughtered. So, that is my proposal here.What are thoughts, counter-strategies and criticisms?

[Esna Pitoojee]

Disclaimer: This information is based on Vanguard sites, so I'm unsure of how well it will work in Assault and HQ sites.

- Much like engaging Sleepers, ECM is abso-positively neccesary. In fact, for Vanguard stes, I reccomend two dedicated ECM boats, so if one is lost or jammed the other can try to pick up the slack.
- At this time, I reccomend at least 1/4 of any anti-incursion fleet to be logistics ships. Not RR BS - actual logistics ships.
- Be capable of altering the range you fight at (anywhere from <10 km to 50+ km). Laser, Projectile, and missile-armed ships do this best.
- As an extension of the above, be fairly mobile. At this time, people are saying armor-based HACs are best, but I could see BCs working as well (I'm looking at you, armorcane). BS support is good as well, but you BS pilots better be ready to run MWDs for a long time.
- Their response to drones is... variable. We had one guy loose all 10 Valkyrie IIs he was carrying, while other people never had their drones touched. RR drones seem to work well for topping off reps to people after the guardians have pulled them out of immediate danger.
- Having interceptors of AFs about to tackle down those faster-moving Sanshas seems to be a good idea.

[Saikoyu]

Pure theory crafting here from what I remember on SiSi, but if Vanguards are the 10 ship sites then this is what worked easily.

2-3 logistics (and with one type of tank for the fleet, mixed will not work)
1 speciality ship (for mining/hacking/whatever else needs to be done)
Rest damage (fly to your taste but have something that can kill frigates)

And as a speciality ship I'd use a Legion, since you can get a massive tank for a cruiser (active but it should still work if you don't piss off the sansha), and it can fit mining lasers, drones, hack and archology mods, and an AB.  And it can probe to find the site in the first place.  But I have a small afair with the Legion, so I'm a bit biased.  Whenever I get back and get the isk I'd be willing to fly one and find out if it really works.

For the higher sites, doubling the composition might work, but dedicated logis get hit hard in those sites, so a battleship sized buffer might work better. 

And random funny sisi story.  I forgot the name, but it was the site that is supposed to split your forces into two different rooms.  We all went one way and managed to kill everything in the first room with five logis (with damage drones) and an ECM Tengu that burned out his missiles.  It took forever, but we managed it.  Of course, the second room killed all of us, but it was fun. 

[Borza]

ECM is absolutely not needed in Vanguard sites. Webs and TPs can help a bit but not required.

We just run them with a gang of 10, mostly HACs/BCs and two Guardians. Cruisers and AFs can work too.

[Shintoko Akahoshi]

This has been discussed in other places, but it's worth pointing out.  Don't think of these sites as PVE sites.  You really have to use PVP setups.  Expect any damage type, expect highly mobile enemies, expect incoming EW, and expect very high damage.  Buffer tanks are very useful here - my Stabber took a 5005 point hit from a Sansha BS at 100km.

[Z.Sinraali]

It does make the sites themselves any easier, but...

Based on feedback from the community, we have reduced the rate at which Sansha's regain control of the constellations.

[DosTuMai]

I tried a few Vanguard sites with a fleet on SiSi. We had 2 armor buffer BS, 2 Logi, and 3 T2 Cruisers (2 HAC & a Recon) and ran the sites pretty easily. On a lowsec Incursion, we just went all-out and threw Carriers and Siege Dreads at the HQ and giggled over comms as we got torn apart. My Nyx was the only surviving ship.

[Saikoyu]

Has anyone put up a map of incursion locations to be accessed out of game? 

[DrizzCat]

Why Map them?  If you know what Conselations are Currently Being Raided you can Look them up on Dotlan.

I know when I elft for work this morning Araz in Kador was Being Raided but was at about a 50/50 point - so It may be done by now or it may have been reinforced by the sansha now.