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Post:
So I was out last night with my Fleet of Echoes, and we had a really interesting fight that I’d love some input on.

We had a new multiboxer join us—first time doing combat multiboxing. Thanks to the 10,000 daily SP, he managed to get multiple characters into Merlins really quickly, which was awesome to see.

Fleet stats:

• 10 pilots
• 31.2M ISK destroyed
• 35.7M ISK lost

The Fight

Our first real engagement was in R10 against a Cyclone.

I deliberately held back slightly to bait him into jumping into G4, and it worked—he took the gate, and I let the fleet follow while I held the engagement timer. The fleet executed well here: they burned in, orbited at 7.5km, MWDs on, and were ready for him as he decloaked.

So far, so good.

Once the fight started, I made the call to defang the drones. That’s where things started to go wrong.

I didn’t call for an ammo change, and because of that, we struggled to apply damage properly to the drones. We couldn’t clear them fast enough, and he started picking us off one by one.

We reshipped quickly and came back, but the pilot was clearly experienced—he disengaged cleanly and got safe one system over.

Honestly, hats off to him—very well flown and he absolutely kicked off the night.

My Thoughts After

Looking back at the fit (from zKill/EVE Workbench), it looks like we got him to about ¾ through his shield, which seems to be where most of his tank was.

That’s what’s got me thinking:

• If we had stayed on the Cyclone, could we have broken him?
• Or was killing drones first still the right call, just executed poorly?

What Went Well

• Successfully baited the gate jump
• Fleet followed through cleanly without hesitation
• Good positioning and initial engagement setup
• Quick reship and willingness to re-engage

What Went Wrong

• Called drones without supporting it properly (ammo switch)
• Lost momentum during the fight
• Possibly split damage at the wrong time

The Bigger Picture

We did end the night slightly ISK negative, but that’s not really the goal for me.

I’m building these fleets to:

• Learn FCing
• Take fights
• Help newer players get experience

And honestly, we learn way more from fights like this than easy wins.

The Question

For those more experienced:

👉 In this situation, would you:

• Commit to killing drones first, then switch back?
• Or ignore drones and go all-in on the Cyclone?

And more importantly—what would you have done differently as FC to turn this into a win?

o7
IGN: Red Rum Murder
We strike like whispers, vanish like echoes.