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[Seriphyn]

Fun fact - I have noticed, in my time in the militias, that there are far more Americans in the Gallente militia, and far more Finns, Norwegians and Eastern Europeans in the Caldari militia. Going from bios and activity times especially.

[Desiderya]

Well... Read the Federation description, hardly a wonder there! 

Really on topic:
Exceptional read, thank you for the work you've put in!
Having almost finished TEA I can only say: Too bad TonyG didn't bother researching. 

[Dirk Smacker]

Good exploration in this thread, Hamish.

But I do agree with your disclaimer that CCP didn't base the Caldari fleet designs on this, rather they were the "missile race" and developed backwards from there.

[Hamish Grayson]

Good exploration in this thread, Hamish.

But I do agree with your disclaimer that CCP didn't base the Caldari fleet designs on this, rather they were the "missile race" and developed backwards from there.

I'm not sure if you mean that you don't think CCP put that much thought into the PF, or if you don't think the principles of Maneuver Conflict are applicable to missile ships in Eve.   If it's the former, then I'd say you might be right.  If it's the latter then I’d say I’ve done a rather poor job of explaining the concept.

Maneuver warfare is not about the tactics or techniques used in employing a specific weapon system.   It’s about war-fighting strategy and can be used with if you’re fielding spears, muskets, tanks, nukes or playing chess.

Leon 026 of Veto corp once wrote a guide to flying the crow class interceptor on the now defunct eve-greifer website that was a perfect example of a single pilot using maneuver warfare concepts.  The specific tactics have changed due to the micro-warpdrive/ warp disruptor changes – but things like figuring out the other guys exact fit based on his speed alone is still applicable.  I may have a surviving copy on a thumb drive somewhere that I’ll share with you if I find it.

While Leon's guide is an example of a single pilot applying the theory (even if he didn’t know it) – what I’m getting at here it's scaled up to organizational level and how doing just that affected Caldari culture.  Maneuver warfare It’s about being more agile than your opponent.

In the case of two frigate pilots squaring off, agility in this context is not about which frigate is faster.  It’s about which pilot can figure out what he needs to do to beat the other guy first.   If a Crow pilot sees that the other guy is in a wolf traveling at 600ms and realizes that it’s fit with an afterburner, plate,  ACs, and a scram and thus can easily be kited by his own rocket crow before the other guy realizes that the Caldari guy isn’t a total fucking moron for bringing a Crow into PVP after all then he has moved through the first OODA-loop faster.

I’m not done with this thread, I still have some more things to post.   However, I intended to break down each of the tenets of maneuver warfare I listed above, but it's clear now that I need to delve into OODA loops and agility first.

[Hamish Grayson]

The OODA Loop model was developed by Col. John Boyd, USAF (Ret) during the Korean War. It is a concept consisting of the following four actions:

-Observe
-Orient
-Decide
-Act

The premise of the model is that decision-making is the result of rational behavior in which problems are viewed as a cycle of Observation, Orientation (situational awareness), Decision Making, and Action.

An entity (whether an individual or an organization) that can process this cycle more quickly than an opponent can “get inside” the opponent's decision cycle and gain the advantage.

Observation
Scan the environment and gather information from it.

Orientation
Use the information to form a mental image of the circumstances. That is, synthesize the data into information. As more information is received, you "deconstruct" old images and then "create" new images.

Decision
Consider options and select a subsequent course of action.

Action
Carry out the conceived decision. Once the result of the action is observed, you start over. Note that in combat (or competing against the competition), you want to cycle through the four steps faster and better than the enemy, hence, it is a loop.

The loop doesn't mean that individuals or organizations have to observe, orient, decide, and act, in the order as shown in the diagram above. Rather, picture the loop as an interactive web with orientation at the core, as shown in the diagram below. Orientation is how we interpret a situation, based on culture, experience, new information, analysis, synthesis, and heritage

[Hamish Grayson]

As a fighter pilot during the Korean conflict, and afterward an instructor at the US Air Force Fighter Weapons School, Boyd wondered why the F-86 `Sabre' had managed to compile a 10:1 victory ratio over the MiG-15 in Korea, despite the fact that the Russian fighter was by most measures the superior plane.

It could fly higher and farther, turn tighter, and climb and accelerate faster than its American opponent. Boyd concluded that the F-86's hydraulic controls, which allowed a pilot to transition more quickly from one manoeuvre to another, also enabled him to neutralize and overcome what should have been the MiG's technical superiority. This conclusion led Boyd in turn to a theory of energy as the crucial factor in aerial combat, a finding that is now the basis of fighter pilot training throughout the world.

It also guided the development of the follow-on McDonnell-Douglas F-15 `Eagle' and especially the small, lightweight, and comparatively inexpensive General Dynamics F-16 `Fighting Falcon', now flown by 25 air forces.

The American pilot also benefited from the F-86's bubble canopy, which gave him greater situational awareness than his adversary. Not only was his aircraft faster to react, but he was better able to see what the other pilot was doing-an advantage that eventually led Boyd to realize that all combat involves a cycle of Observation, Orientation, Decision, and Action.

[Casiella]

I like that graph visualization, though for reasons unrelated to EVE.

[Hamish Grayson]

Observation

Observation is about sensing information about the environment your conflict is taking place in.
For pilots dogfighting over MIG ally during the Korean war the shape of your canapé meant you could either see what the enemy pilot on your six was doing or you couldn’t.     

Similarly, while dogfighting outside Jita 4-4 (best place for 1v1s btw) your overview settings, visually looking at the guns on his ship, and the age of the character play a huge part in determining what information you have about your opponents fit and how you will choose to proceed.     If one pilot has his overview set up poorly, he’ll be at a disadvantage to one who doesn’t.

In a fleet however; the quality and number of scouts you have, the way in which you communicate with the scout, the orders you give them, and your intelligence channels are the source of information you have about the environment.     If you have one scout, you are FCing via text, don’t have access to local intel channels, and don’t give clear tasking to him then you won’t have as much information about the environment as other FCs.

None of these have anything to do with whether you are using missiles or autocannons.

[Hamish Grayson]

-- Disclaimer : The following is an attempted guide to interceptor combat, specifically dogfighting. I wont presume to know everything about it, so I want as much input from other people as possible to compile a fairly effective and efficient 'manual' to give new interceptor dogfighters a general idea to aim for. More complicated maneuvers, fittings etc should be in 202 and not 101. --



- Goal -

Purpose of this interceptor dogfighting manual is to give the student and learner a basic understanding of what it means to dogfight, how to dogfight, and how to prepare oneself for dogfighting maneuvers.

* Dogfighting 101
...will cover domain awareness and initial preperation for dogfighting through the usage of overview settings to understand the enemy maneuvers and decipher opponent attack strategies that are to be countered.

* Dogfighting 202
...will delve more into overall combat strategies, and very general fitting advise to combat the hostile interceptor in a dogfight.

* Dogfighting 303
(coming 'soon') will explore aerial combat maneuvers through usage of feints, and other manually flown combat strategies


-- Dogfighting 101 --


Awareness
Awareness is probably one of the most important part of dogfighting. Without domain awareness, you wont function to the best of your abilities.

Most important rule : Always check your six.
Too many times people are overly concentrated on their prey that they dont check their six, or let alone monitor their overview enough. Happened to me previously where I was too focused on a target, that I didnt noticed the cruiser MWDing behind me. Needlessly to say I got killed quickly. With the way interceptors work, most of the time you'll be looking 180 degrees infront, very rare that you'll be looking behind you unless your target has evaded and attempted to get on your six where you have trouble seeing. Constantly monitoring the overview is essential to surviving.


Distance
Distance, key to survival and actual killing. Without knowing distance you cant operate. Without knowing the distance, you cant accurately fire your weapons for full effect. Without knowing distance, you wont know how to evade, what to evade and when to evade.

Important things to remember, standard web is 10km, medium nos is 12km, and heavy nos is 21-24km. Know your weapons, know the enemy's weapons.

You will need to memorize your ship's equipment, optimal range, max range, minimum range.

You wont have to go as far as to say "max range of enemy crow is 14.8474km", but you will need to know YOUR own engagement, and with a rough idea of the enemy range. Claw standard skills is 4-8km (4 with any ammo, 8 with Barrage) for exmaple, blasteranis is similar at 1-2km, railranis is 8-14km typical range, pulse sader is under 5k, beam sader is 15-20km with aurora S, rocket crow is 13-15km, and typical light missile crow is 30-35km. Know the range of the enemy weapon and learn how to evade and/or get under his guns.


Ship
Like above, knowing the enemy ship, is half the battle. Most ships have typical setups. You wont see a crow with x2 blasters for example, nor will you see a taranis with artillery mounted. Common sense? Perhaps, but you will still need to check the enemy ship if you plan on engaging.

Knowing the enemy ship also brings in possible options of enemy attack patterns. If the guy is a missile crow, he'll try and kite you and lead you into his missiles. If the guy is a blasterranis, he'll try and get right on top of you. Learn the enemy ship and learn possible enemy interceptor strategies (covered later in 202 and 303) to evade and engage the hostile with minimum personal risk.



Target velocity
Overlooked, but THE most important part of interceptor combat. How so? First of all, velocity allows you to know whos faster than who. Velocity is the key to survival in combat, the faster you are, the better you are at dictating speed. Perhaps you are in an AB std missile crow that uses his low velocity to 'bait' the enemy into coming in, velocity still plays a hugely important part.

Velocity will tell you and force you to ask these questions :
- Is he using plates?
- Is he using nanofibers?
- Is he using a t2 or good microwarpdrive?
- Is he using gistii?
- Is he using implants?
- Is he using any of the above?
- Is he using all of the above?
- Or even, are his skills any decent?


5,000m/s.

What does that number tell you? Whats the first thing that you think of?

"Wow thats fast"?

Wrong question.

5,000m/s .... question should be HOW and WHY is he going at that speed?

Instantly that number alone should tell you he is either using a gistii MWD with no implants, or a T2 MWD with implants, or possibly using a mixture of T2 and implants with low skills.


3,200 m/s

What should be the first thing you notice? Relative low speed can mean he's got crappy navigation skills. Perhaps, but more realistically, he's using a 400mm plate with a T1/named MWD. T2 MWD with plate? You're looking at 3,800 - 4,000.

As a rule of thumb, your interceptor velocity should aim for at least 4,000m/s. 4,000m/s is slightly above 'average' interceptor speeds. Gurus that fly at 6,700m/s.... well you should know the answer 



Target transversal velocity
This is more important for your survival than actual killing the enemy, while also is important. Low transveral, means larger and bigger guns have more of a chance to hit you.

Ever get told never fly straight towards a battleship? Good reason not to. 0m/s transversal towards a battleship means you'll be one volleyed with little effort if he decides to fire at you. That goes for both moving in and moving out of hostile combat range. Moving to 250km above the fleet in a straight line means you'll be killed. Rather, you'll have to 'spiral' up while keeping high transversal to evade fire. This also includes going in. If the enemy is already engage, then you dont have to worry as much, you should however, if the enemy has a lock on you.

In which case, you'll have to zig-zag towards the enemy at an angle to increase your transversal to 800+ to evade fire properly.

Transversal is life. Get it too low, and you blow up.





Comments, questions, constructive criticism and etc is most welcome. I need more input!



-Leon

[Z.Sinraali]

Observation
For pilots dogfighting over MIG ally during the Korean war the shape of your canapé meant you could either see what the enemy pilot on your six was doing or you couldn’t.     

My canapé is shaped like a sword! Om nom garde!

[Hamish Grayson]

[Seriphyn]

The Science of Never Again

"The truce that left Caldari Prime—once the home world for millions of Caldari—legally in the hands of the Gallente Federation was the breaking point"

2003 chronicle, but only reference for exact population.

[Dirk Smacker]

I'm not sure if you mean that you don't think CCP put that much thought into the PF, or if you don't think the principles of Maneuver Conflict are applicable to missile ships in Eve.   If it's the former, then I'd say you might be right.  If it's the latter then I’d say I’ve done a rather poor job of explaining the concept.

I'm saying they very likely came up with what they would shoot first, then based speed and agility on what they needed to be in order to balance the game.  To allow maneuver warfare for the Caldari and Minmatar if you will.   

[Hamish Grayson]

You can't "allow" a certain race to use maneuver warfare by make their ships faster and more agile.  It has nothing to do with physical speed and agility.