We have several players who can't use mics, and that's fine, they just don't get to FC/scout. People will say no as a rule of thumb for all kinds of reasons, but it's really just laziness.

Everyone knows the best way to have fleet coms is everyone talking over each other, while somones mic is being keyed up by their incredibly loud stereo, while someone else is trying to be a fleet DJ, while 3 other people are talking about missioning, 4 drunk people are repeatedly belching into the mic, 32 people are repeatedly screaming that their dead, 2 people are talking about their dinner, and the FCs just log off.

This thread came up a couple days ago and was brought to my mind again last night after flying for a little while in a FW PVP fleet. I have been kicked from fleets before for not having a microphone set up, due to the fact that because of my living circumstances I cannot always be talking down a mic.

But I flew in this fleet last night despite that, and actually found that even with all of our other members having active voice comms, the coherence of the fleet during combat was still pretty diabolical. For example, at one point we had the FC screaming at us to "kill the Thorax" whilst half of us were in one system, and half of us were in another, and people's voices were tripping over each other for priority, my ears were getting blown up from mic feedback, and the FC generally had a noisy garbled mic.

Would it have been such a backwards step to instead have used the broadcast system for fleet movement and cohesion, or to simply link the system? The broadcast system is there, it is good, but no-one I ever come across seems to know how to set it up properly and use it.

Players without the ability to always use a mic seem to be stigmatized in a PVP fleet setting and considered not viable, but would an extra voice really add so much to fleet cohesion, or would proper use of linking-in-chat and broadcasts actually bring more concise information to the attention of the FC, without so much confusion?

OP

I take it you've never been in an actual tactical, dynamic, or emergency situation. That's alright, no biggie. But if you had been, I feel like questioning the usefulness of radio/mic communication would have never crossed your mind.

In situations where **** hits the fan, the only thing that is more important than accountability of your squad/fleet/co-workers/whatever, is COMMUNICATION.

Communication must be continous to provide accurate intelligence of developing situations. It must be brief, clear, and concise. Brevity codes come in handy, and most PVP fleets probably use them without even knowing it.

As for people stepping on each other over the mic; that is bound to happen in hectic situations. Perfect and proper radio discipline only comes with practice and exposure to dynamic situations.


Hope this helps to clear up the matter for you.

I would disagree. For most it would be a matter of trust. When someone says they canGÇÖt get on voice my first thought is they are afraid someone will recognize their voice and thus be revealed as a SPY.

it could be, but not necessary.

I cannot talk on comms 95% of the time due to rl restrictions, while i do have a mic.

but if i can play EVE in office, my corpmates might prob hear me talkin all day long

see the difference? rl does matter and ppl shoulda accept that.

as it looks most people just too stupid/lazy to write and read.
They can only speak and listen (sometimes)....

That's why you need voice comms for fleet ops.