Quote:
Originally Posted by Wouter
You should know your members after so many rounds and know which ones show up when. So you could use the right ships for the right calls.
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It's been almost a decade since I last DC'ed an alliance (god I'm old), but the technical work of taking offered fleets and assigning them to cover incs is pretty easy. You open a bunch of bcalcs and work from there. If you know the stats well enough, you don't even need to do that. Just cover incomings by gut feeling, by using the fleets that are only available for a couple of minutes. Double-check later in the tick with the bcalc, then plug the holes you left with one of the handful of fleets that are around all night long.
That's all you need to be a good DC, really. Keep in mind, you need more than just a good DC to defend effectively: you need a responsive player base. If your DC has to spend all tick spamcalling people to try to get them to wake up, you won't get anything done. Great DC + useless players = useless alliance (the ROCK syndrome). Mediocre DC + available players = good alliance.
The step from good DC to great DC is harder. It's knowing who to call when. That's not about figuring out who has ships and fleets free, you can see that ingame (nowadays). It's knowing that you don't need to wake up person A, because they get up in 10-20 minutes anyway, but only on weekdays. It's knowing that calling person B is alright, but if you do it more than once a week, you'll piss them off. It's knowing that person C can be asked in advance to check on PA at a certain time so they'll show up when you need them. It's knowing that if person D has sent a fleet to an uncovered inc, it's time to panic, because their morning response time is approximately a million ticks. It's knowing that person E may never grace the top 50 but is consistent as ****, and you don't ever have to worry about them doing anything dumb. It's knowing that person F is ready to take one for the team if you send them on an incoming that's only just covered, and a land would hurt on all sides. There's 60+ people in your alliance, and you need to understand their quirks well enough to work with them efficiently.
I've played with 500+ people over the years. Out of all of them, I can think of exactly 2 people I'd call 'great DCs'. I'm sure there's a few others, but I'm sure no more than a handful ever played PA.
P.S. You kids have it so easy these days. I used to have to keep a notepad open at all times to keep track of shit, but the ingame defense tools are really nice, so that's not needed any more. And remember when you had no way of knowing if someone sent or not until after the tick? And callbots? Back in my day, DCs would have to chisel IRC highlights out of solid granite tablets, then deliver them to the players
in person. Going uphill both ways! Get the **** off my lawn.