RISK Assessment

Pod Pilot Advice: Agatir Solenth – RISK ASSESSMENT

Greetings my fellow pod pilots and blog readers!!!

Before any Fleet Commander (FC) commits his forces to an engagement or begins an operation he should first assess the risk involved.  This need not be a long drawn out process.  On the contrary a competent FC should be able to quickly assess the risk variables and make the decision to engage or not within seconds.  If time permits I highly recommend that these items be discussed by the entire fleet, each pilot voicing their concerns and/or rating of risk involved.

Listed below are the variables that should be taken into consideration, and a brief description of each.  

1.          FLEET LEADERSHIP – How experienced is the FC and any leadership roles assigned (e.g. Leaders of Logistics, ECM, Scouts, etc)?
2.          FLEET SKILL – How experienced are the fleet members, as a whole, at the task at hand?
3.          LOCATION – Where will the engagement take place?
4.          PLAN – How sound is the plan the FC intends to employ?
5.          THE UNKNOWN  – What is the threat of variables that cannot be accounted for? (ex. Enemy fleet size or composition is unknown)

Each variable should be rated one of three ways: Good, Risky, or Unsafe.

GOOD = Your fleet has the advantage, or the risk is within acceptable limits

Examples:

·         Fleet Leadership – FC is very experienced leading a particular operation or engagement.

·         Fleet Skill – Your fleet members are experienced pod pilots, and know the FCs expectations.

·         Location – The location of the engagement favors your fleet, or offers the enemy no benefits.

·         Plan – The chosen plan has proven success rate in a given situation.

·         The Unknown – There is little to no information lacking to what the fleet will encounter during the engagement.

RISKY = The fleet’s advantage cannot be gauged due to lack of information, or conditions exist that would lend a belief that an engagement will not be successful.

Examples:

·         Fleet Leadership – FC is very experienced player but might not have FC experience in a particular operation or engagement.

·         Fleet Skill – Your fleet members are not experienced pod pilots or limited in skill points. 

·         Location – It is unknown if the location of the engagement favors your fleet, or the enemy fleet.

·         Plan – Fleet members are unaware of the plan, or FCs expectations for the engagement.  Fleet members are not able to field all the required ships &/or fits requested by the FC.

·         The Unknown – There is some information lacking to what the fleet will encounter during the engagement, but there is a general feeling that the risk may be acceptable. (e.g. Engaging in a scouted wormhole – You can determine what is coming in or out of system, but the lack of local denies you the ability to know how many enemies are currently in system)

UNSAFE = The opposing force/fleet has the advantage, OR the lack of information or conditions that exist would lend a belief that an engagement will fail resulting in a series loss (total whelping of the fleet).

Examples:

·         Fleet Leadership – FC has no experience leading a particular operation or engagement, and has no experienced FCs to mentor the operation.

·         Fleet Skill – Your fleet members are inexperienced pod pilots.

·         Location – The location of the engagement favors the enemy fleet.

·         Plan – There is no plan AND the fleet is unaware of the FC’s plan.  The plan may have proven record of failing.

·         The Unknown – There is a great deal of information lacking to what the fleet will encounter during the engagement.  The lack of such knowledge greatly increases the risk of the fleet getting whelped! (e.g. Blindly jumping a fleet into a hostile home system deep in null sec space)

Once each variable has been assessed any listed as Risky or Unsafe should be evaluated, and the FC should make every effort to take the appropriate steps to improve the situation to reduce the risk involved. (example – the LOCATION is UNSAFE as a short range gang awaits a their sniper fleet on the opposite side of a gate.  The FC could attempt to bait the enemy fleet to jump to his LOCATION allowing for his fleet to remain at optimal range making it SAFE!)

However the mere fact that a variable may be deemed to be Unsafe need not prohibit a fleet from engaging.  The FC and the fleet may deem that the risk worth the reward.  (A Tech One roam of doom is always fun, even knowing the fleet will eventually get whelped along the way!)  However if three or more variables are deemed to be Risky &/or Unsafe a FC would be wise not to engage the enemy at that time without attempting to mitigate the threat to the fleet first.

Until next time…

Be Bold…