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Fleet strategy

I putting this on The Bridge and maybe it belongs in Fleet Central (although that really just looks more like a recruitment center for fleets). Feel free to move it if so inclined, admins.

When I first started I joined any old fleet because they didn't seem to have much impact on the game. Then along came starbases. It was obvious that an active fleet was important. So I ditched the squad I had started, ditched the fleet I was in. I joined a slightly more active fleet and started a new squad there. Fast foward a few months. The fleet is now less active. Over half the people haven't played in over a month and even my squad is not playing as much.

It's clear that it's time for me to move on.

However, I have two choices. I can join a very active fleet, there are plenty recruiting.
Or I can start my own, on the premise that members must be active (whatever that means).

What has been your experience starting a fleet and recruiting active members? Have you tossed members for not being active? How much work is it to manage a fleet? Would I be better off joining an active one already in place? Thoughts are appreciated.
Drunken Dahar Masters is recruiting active players.
PM for details.

So long and thanks for all the fish.
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Comments

  • I did the same thing a while back, and started my own fleet, Mariners. Started with no level limits and only the comment be active. We have been full or nearly so for a long time. Currently the fleet is still open, when there is a spot. Level is limited to 30 or higher. I define active depending on a persons level. under 40 once a week, over 40 once every 2 weeks. This last weekend we ended up with three people being removed for inactivity. The spots were filled quickly. Might have a few spots opening in later this week.
  • Matt_DeckerMatt_Decker ✭✭✭✭✭
    You could join us in The Nimble Klingon!

    But, if you want to start your own fleet, at least try to recruit a handful of committed, active players first. The fleet I'm in was started by a friend from the first fleet I joined. That old fleet also had participation drop off. So my friend -- now our Admiral -- recruited the 5 or 6 of us who were active to start a new fleet. Then he set a high threshold for new members to join. He's also now vigilant about kicking players who don't sign in for a couple weeks (unless they notify him of vacation plans in advance). While not every squad is as high-ranking as the one in which I participate, most of our fleet members are active and we achieve almost all the fleet rewards each day.
    Fleet: Starship Trista
    Captain Level: 95
    VIP Level: 12
    Unique Crew Immortalized: 525
    Collections Completed: Vulcan, Ferengi, Borg, Romulan, Cardassian, Uncommon, Rare, Veteran, Common, Engineered, Physician, Innovator, Inspiring, Diplomat, Jury Rigger, Gauntlet Legends
  • AmphistaffAmphistaff ✭✭✭✭✭
    In terms of gameplay it makes much more sense to join an established fleet for multiple reasons. First and foremost, you'll get immediate bonuses to your crew from starbases. Second, and maybe more applicable to you, if you join an existing fleet you are mostly guaranteed that they will remain active. If you start your own you have to do EVERYTHING yourself such as recruiting, vetting, and checking in with members to make sure they're actually active.
  • In my Fleet I started out by having everyone log in at least once every 2 weeks. As the Fleet got more members, we switched that requirement to logging in at least once per week. We're running around 45 members or so. Seems like every time we get close to having the Fleet full, someone drops or is removed for inactivity. There is a bit of work involved in managing a Fleet, but once your Fleet is mostly full, it's not too bad. Good luck if you start a new Fleet, join Edmonton Trekkies if you don't! ;)
    Fleet Admiral - Edmonton Trekkies [ET] | Squadron Leader - 1701'ers
    Join us! We have cheesecake!! | Fleet Central Information
  • FlemmingFlemming ✭✭✭✭✭
    While all the above advice is great and constructive, there is the part of me that likes building something from the ground up. (And creating a new fleet satisfies that for me)
    Intentionally Left Blank
  • PallidynePallidyne ✭✭✭✭✭
    Managing a fleet is a lot easier if you build or have good officers... our squads are static and that takes a lot of burden off the admiral on the day to day dealing with individual members sometimes.
  • Princess TristaPrincess Trista ✭✭✭✭✭
    My fleets have been fun because I have made so many friends.So the best advice I can give you is keep the game for what it is, and that is a game <3 this way you or your officers won't get burnout
  • Hungry Dog DDMHungry Dog DDM ✭✭✭✭
    Gib wrote: »
    I did the same thing a while back, and started my own fleet, Mariners. Started with no level limits and only the comment be active. We have been full or nearly so for a long time. Currently the fleet is still open, when there is a spot. Level is limited to 30 or higher. I define active depending on a persons level. under 40 once a week, over 40 once every 2 weeks. This last weekend we ended up with three people being removed for inactivity. The spots were filled quickly. Might have a few spots opening in later this week.

    I feel like once a week is a pretty good standard for "active". But I would hope that during events, particularly for squad purposes, that they would be more active than that.
    You could join us in The Nimble Klingon!

    But, if you want to start your own fleet, at least try to recruit a handful of committed, active players first. The fleet I'm in was started by a friend from the first fleet I joined. That old fleet also had participation drop off. So my friend -- now our Admiral -- recruited the 5 or 6 of us who were active to start a new fleet. Then he set a high threshold for new members to join. He's also now vigilant about kicking players who don't sign in for a couple weeks (unless they notify him of vacation plans in advance). While not every squad is as high-ranking as the one in which I participate, most of our fleet members are active and we achieve almost all the fleet rewards each day.

    I was wondering if I should bring some people along with me. Last time I tried to bring my squad with me and none of them cared to, or at least they didn't respond.
    Amphistaff wrote: »
    In terms of gameplay it makes much more sense to join an established fleet for multiple reasons. First and foremost, you'll get immediate bonuses to your crew from starbases. Second, and maybe more applicable to you, if you join an existing fleet you are mostly guaranteed that they will remain active. If you start your own you have to do EVERYTHING yourself such as recruiting, vetting, and checking in with members to make sure they're actually active.

    I get that. Obviously jumping into a fleet that has a lvl 96 starbase is going to be advantageous immediately. But then, their squads are probably full or near full. I kind of like the idea of being at least a squad leader for the advantages that brings in Faction events. But the work of standing up a fleet does make me pause.
    Flemming wrote: »
    While all the above advice is great and constructive, there is the part of me that likes building something from the ground up. (And creating a new fleet satisfies that for me)

    And that's the thing. I've accomplished what I think is a fair amount in this game. And it's still fun. But I'm wondering if I can get more out of it. And I'm wondering if that path to getting more is in starting my own fleet.
    My fleets have been fun because I have made so many friends.So the best advice I can give you is keep the game for what it is, and that is a game <3 this way you or your officers won't get burnout

    It's always a game at the end of the day. And if games aren't kept fun, then they aren't a game.
    Drunken Dahar Masters is recruiting active players.
    PM for details.

    So long and thanks for all the fish.
  • If you just want the bonuses, joining an existing fleet is far easier. But if you want to build a community, creating a fleet makes sense. One thing that is about an absolute requirement is an external chat program, like Discord. The in-game chat is way too unreliable, it eats messages and you never know why someone didn't respond, maybe they didn't get your message, or you didn't get theirs.. it's impossible in the long run to manage a fleet like that.
    [9RS | Combs] Kilana
    9RS fleet is recruiting, PM me for more information!
  • Hungry Dog DDMHungry Dog DDM ✭✭✭✭
    If you just want the bonuses, joining an existing fleet is far easier. But if you want to build a community, creating a fleet makes sense. One thing that is about an absolute requirement is an external chat program, like Discord. The in-game chat is way too unreliable, it eats messages and you never know why someone didn't respond, maybe they didn't get your message, or you didn't get theirs.. it's impossible in the long run to manage a fleet like that.

    I hadn't considered that. Thank you.
    Drunken Dahar Masters is recruiting active players.
    PM for details.

    So long and thanks for all the fish.
  • Hungry Dog,

    I agree it is a game and when is is not fun people stop playing. I use my method of under and over 40 because the more someone has invested, the less likely they will completely abandon the game.
  • Hungry Dog DDMHungry Dog DDM ✭✭✭✭
    Gib wrote: »
    Hungry Dog,

    I agree it is a game and when is is not fun people stop playing. I use my method of under and over 40 because the more someone has invested, the less likely they will completely abandon the game.

    That is true. And people have lives, and things happen, and we certainly need to be considerate of that. And heck there are events that we just don't care for, so we skip 'em.
    Drunken Dahar Masters is recruiting active players.
    PM for details.

    So long and thanks for all the fish.
  • [KM]Videm[KM]Videm ✭✭✭
    I've been in two fleets in my time in game (I've been playing since closed beta) The first one I joined was about six months into the game. I quickly became squad lead and I was sharing FF 4*. I was typically ranking top 1K in some events, mostly shuttles. One day I was contacted by the admiral of KM and asked if I was interested in changing. We chatted a bit about and I joined KM as a squad member. I've had my ups and downs, been squad lead a handful of times when the regular lead needed a break. We have requirements of game play, but we have always tempered that with understanding that real life comes first and do our best to help each other out as we can.
    We are recruiting for our sister fleet, Mirror Klingon Marauders! Contact me via private message if interested
  • Hungry Dog,

    I had one squad member who wanted to take the weekend off. I said not a problem, but I was interested in the crew. He ended up playing the event anyway. Not worried if he had not.

    There are many members of the fleet who ranked 0 (did not enter). The fleet was still ranked in 373.
  • We finished as the number one fleet this week.
    • We don't rotate squads
    • We don't use Discord, Line, or GroupMe.

    Just show up and play / participate style. And we have been a Top Ten Fleet just about all year long.

    Different strokes, for different folks.
    “You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain”
    ― Musashi, Japan's Greatest Swordsman and Samurai
  • Princess TristaPrincess Trista ✭✭✭✭✭
    ....and if you are looking for a fleet.....ummm....

    :)
  • Data1001Data1001 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2018
    Some of this has already been said, but I'll add my 2 strips of latinum...

    Starting a new fleet is easy. Making it strong is a challenge. It's going to be difficult for a new fleet, even with one or two strong players, to attract quality recruits. My main fleet started a sister fleet late last year, and it was very slow going at first (even just inviting level 20 newbies, I kept getting responses like, "What's in it for me?"). We built it up a bit starting with secondary accounts of folks in our main fleet, and then a few enterprising members did big-time recruiting drives in UC, and eventually we got mostly full up. A few months later, we started doing decently in events, and we had built up our starbase a wee bit, and suddenly it was much easier to attract decent players.

    We only requested a few things from new recruits — mainly that they be active, that they be communicative, and that they have fun. Our fleet leaders worked with lower-level players to give them advice on how to grow more quickly and efficiently, but we did end up releasing a number of folks from the fleet along the way.

    We've got some very strong players in that fleet now (including one who took 1st in a recent event), and the fleet as a whole has placed in the top 100 in several events. But there's still some work to be done, and probably a few players who may be sent on their way for lack of activity and/or communication. So, it can be done, but it's a rather daunting task unless you've got a group of good folks who are willing to devote a lot of time and effort to helping to grow the fleet. Without that, I'd suggest it's far more painless to join an existing fleet. ;)


    Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
    ~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
  • Travis S McClainTravis S McClain ✭✭✭✭✭
    I created my fleet back when squadrons were introduced just so my friend and I could be in one together. I honestly never envisioned we'd even get to a full five person squadron. We have instead had a fleet that has remained full or very nearly full pretty much the whole time. Our policies are simple:

    No pressure - We don't care what anyone's VIP or captain levels are, don't care what kind of crew you have, don't care what your average event rank is.

    No required socializing - If a player just wants to log in, collect bonuses, and play the game, that's cool. We have members who seldom, if ever, chat. We do have an external site set up for certain things, but it's not used much and it certainly isn't required for anyone to use.

    Participation - Our only actual requirement for fleet membership is that the player intends to participate in most events. We all skip some from time to time, and that's cool. We just don't want someone sitting out all of them.

    Absenteeism - We give a one-week grace period in the event we don't know anything and a player hasn't logged in. After that, it's up to that player's squadron to decide whether to continue waiting or remove them and try to recruit a replacement. If a player knows ahead of time they'll be gone for awhile (say, extended vacation), we hold their place for however long they tell us it'll take before they return.

    We've maintained a chill atmosphere, managed to be competitive enough, and are perfectly content with the way things have been. Only once has my squadron changed leader, and that was because one of the other members is a really big fan of Seven of Nine and I wanted to try to help her get a 4/4 Tsunkatse Seven in that event. It worked, which was nice. Otherwise, we don't do things like rotate membership just to improve our squadron or fleet ranks.

    I personally believe that these conditions are why we've remained full and active. But this is the kind of fleet that our members want to be in. Other players have different priorities.

    [Incidentally, we have two vacancies at present we'd like to fill before this week's event, hint, hint!]
  • Travis S McClainTravis S McClain ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thurthorad wrote: »
    Am I the only one who thinks, once a week is essentially inactive? I am thinking that someone who misses more than a few days every now and then is obviously helping the fleet as much as they could. How hard is it to log in once a day?

    As I said above, there are varying priorities among players. Our fleet is lax about it because our core view is that this is just a game and not terribly important. People have unusual work schedules, kids involved with extracurricular activities, volunteer commitments, etc. Could they squeeze in a log-in to the game? Sure. Is it important to our fleet that they do? No. On any given day, we'll have a few players who don't log in. We still hit all our starbase targets for the day. Why sweat it?
  • edited May 2018
    I've recently taken Orcas as the old admiral wasn't as active. A group of us have been around/playing since the early days of the game.

    As admiral I'm finding it challenging to recruit new members that will be active and contribute. Any recommendations or advice to be helpful.

    If anyone would like to join us you would be welcome.
  • Hungry Dog DDMHungry Dog DDM ✭✭✭✭
    Data1001 wrote: »
    Some of this has already been said, but I'll add my 2 strips of latinum...

    Starting a new fleet is easy. Making it strong is a challenge.

    That's definitely becoming clear. But it still might be worth it to me.

    Travis S McClain - I feel like I would have similar policies for my fleet, if I start one. The one thing about participation, the more I think about... Events are clearly important on the squad level, which means participating at least weekly, depending on the event. But max daily rewards mean, well, daily participation. And I don't want to pressure people to play daily. If I can even get enough people in a fleet to reach the max daily rewards. I'm sure that will take a little bit of time.


    Thurthorad wrote: »
    Am I the only one who thinks, once a week is essentially inactive? I am thinking that someone who misses more than a few days every now and then is obviously helping the fleet as much as they could. How hard is it to log in once a day?

    Usually it's not that hard, but I've certainly had days - maybe even a few days in a row, where it just wasn't possible.
    I've recently taken Orcas as the old admiral wasn't as active. A group of us have been around/playing since the early days of the game.

    As admiral I'm finding it challenging to recruit new members that will be active and contribute. Any recommendations or advice to be helpful.

    If anyone would like to join us you would be welcome.

    I've also considered asking the current admiral of my fleet if they would just hand me the reins. They are active, but not very. I've been playing since closed beta and while I don't know very many players I would be perfectly happy with group of 49 brand new players if they all played on a daily basis.
    Drunken Dahar Masters is recruiting active players.
    PM for details.

    So long and thanks for all the fish.
  • If you would like to be Admiral the easiest way would be to take over from your current admiral. In Orcas we have 48 people in the fleet, some aren't very active. We have chats using BBM and those of us that are in it usually make fleet decisions together.
  • AviTrekAviTrek ✭✭✭✭✭
    For a group of active players, hitting dailies is doable with a lot less than 50 players. As long as you have enough players being active on a daily basis, you can be more flexible for everyone.
  • Commander SinclairCommander Sinclair ✭✭✭✭✭
    I got lucky when I joined the fleet I am in. The Admiral has a policy if you don't actively contribute by a certain amount of time, (usually 2 weeks) you are out. Most of the fleet has been there for over a year, and we exchange quips, strategies and just have fun chatting. We are not the most active, so we rarely hit the extra 50 chrons bonus, but we get the rest and it is a good group.
    I want to become a Dilionaire...
  • Hungry Dog DDMHungry Dog DDM ✭✭✭✭
    AviTrek wrote: »
    For a group of active players, hitting dailies is doable with a lot less than 50 players. As long as you have enough players being active on a daily basis, you can be more flexible for everyone.

    Good to know
    Drunken Dahar Masters is recruiting active players.
    PM for details.

    So long and thanks for all the fish.
  • Hungry Dog DDMHungry Dog DDM ✭✭✭✭
    I dropped a message to my squad and my fleet admiral. No responses so far. If I get nothing back by tomorrow then I think I will step out after this event, probably start my own just for kicks. If it doesn't go well then I can always just move to an established fleet. Thank you all.
    Drunken Dahar Masters is recruiting active players.
    PM for details.

    So long and thanks for all the fish.
  • PallidynePallidyne ✭✭✭✭✭
    Good luck!
  • Good Luck to you, I found that just simply sending an in game message once to the admiral isn't enough. You'll have to catch them online as the messages in game chat seem to disappear. It took my fleet and I a couple weeks to actually get a reply.
  • Hungry Dog DDMHungry Dog DDM ✭✭✭✭
    Good Luck to you, I found that just simply sending an in game message once to the admiral isn't enough. You'll have to catch them online as the messages in game chat seem to disappear. It took my fleet and I a couple weeks to actually get a reply.

    The one to the admiral did disappear. I'll keep that in mind.
    Drunken Dahar Masters is recruiting active players.
    PM for details.

    So long and thanks for all the fish.
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