WWI Flying Aces, Dog-Fights, Aerial Combat, The Peanuts, Red Baron, Monty Python, Star Wars - so many historical and cultural references are tied up in my brain when it comes to why I am so passionate about solo and small gang warfare in Eve Online. It's in my blood. Tales of daring, adventure, courage, all pushed into my mind when I was young and impressionable. And refused to let go. Every time I undock into space I hope to capture just a little of that thrill and excitement. At least as much as Eve will allow.
Almost two years ago now I started committing to FC'ing regular Saturday fleets - what I've come to call our Flying Circus fleets. This was a relatively new idea inside of Stay Frosty. Of course we'd had fleets before, but the idea of regularly scheduled weekly fleets was something new for us. My life was too chaotic beforehand to allow for it. These fleets took time to grow and develop, and back in those early days I used them mainly to help teach fleet tactics and strategy to our members. Over time however the teaching has been replaced with doctrines and more refined strategies. Due in large part to the growing experience and skill of our pilots.
Other players were not overly enthusiastic about these changes in our Corporation. And back then we'd get a lot of angry comments from other players. For some reason Stay Frosty wasn't allowed to be organized, or disciplined, or effective. In their minds we had a lane and we were damned well supposed to stay in that lane. All of which is hilarious of course. Like I said, this was nothing new - it was just that now we were doing it more often than before.
While we were well-known for our kitchen sink approach in the past, we also often would fly doctrine fleets as well. Most of those stemmed from our long tournament history in the various tournaments and organized events around the community. But we'd primarily relegate those to defensive actions and structure defenses typically. But then other FCs in Stay Frosty would also put together structured fleets from time to time, such as Prda's Null Sec roams and others. Inside of Stay Frosty it has always been my goal to encourage anyone to step up and put something together they are interested in trying - so why not take my own advice?
This Saturday's fleet was a lot of fun as you can see from this Battle Report. It isn't often we come back home to find a Kronos on scan. Especially one willing to stick around and fight.
These regular fleets are something I look forward to each week and I think they have also helped me to become an even better FC. Which has also had a positive effect on my regular flying as well. My history in Eve has been rather chaotic over the years and it was often challenging to find time to play on a regular schedule. So it has been really great to be able to find a more regular schedule over the past two years.
A week ago we welcomed pilots from Eve University into our fleet. And we regularly have guests join us on these roams. Pilots from Mass Hysteria, the Potato Alliance, and others often join up with us on our Saturday roams. If that sounds like fun to you feel free to contact one of us in-game in the EVEOGANDA public channel, or send me an eve mail, or join my new Discord to talk about it.
As always Stay Frosty is constantly looking for new pilots to join us and YARRR around the universe. Just like those flying aces of lore. Except we can't be killed and this is just a game. But, other than that, just like them.