Today’s interview is courtesy of Waffles pilot, Yngstrom Felix, who has been playing EVE Online for several years. During the first six months of his EVE career, Yngstrom “engaged in a little bit of everything, missioning, mining and small scale pvp [before joining] a new lowsec alliance called Fortis Et Certus.” After his corporation left to join the now-defunct Cult of War, Yngstrom decided he wanted to get “much more heavily into PvP.”
He’s been a member of Sniggwaffe for almost two years, and an FC, Director, and Diplomat for the corporation for much of that time. Yngstrom says,
“Before joining Sniggwaffe, I had little PvP experience but I knew it was where I wanted to be and I have learnt almost everything I know about PvP from Waffles.”
Most recently, Yngstrom says, he was highly active during the beginning of World War Bee.
“When Waffles were deployed in X-7OMU I helped lead the coordinated assault (along with a few other Waffle FC’s) on SpaceMonkey’s Alliance wIth Pandemic Horde FC’s, along with running countless fleets against the Imperium everynight.”
Yngstrom wasn’t initially interested in being a fleet commander, noting the struggles of learning the necessary skills to do so.
“I tried FCing a bit in COW but I didn’t have many good FCs to learn from so it was hard. I had not gotten heavily into FCing until at least a few months after joining Waffles.”
He added his “regret” at not beginning his FC career sooner, noting that it takes time to build up the confidence needed to be successful.
“When FCing for the first few times everyone gets nervous, what really built up my confidence (same with anyone else) was when I starting winning T1 cruiser brawls in lowsec. As soon as you start winning fights you will start to love FCing.”
Yngstrom added that he really enjoyed these early fights, because
“In general [they were] what I find to be the most fun, both sides lose some ships and it’s not a complete welp for either side.”
Today, Yngstrom is a highly-active fleet commander in Waffles. He notes that
“My favorite roaming doctrine for a while has been armor T3D’s (Confessors/Svipuls). Not only do they hit hard but they are really fast when traveling and looking for fights or ganks and can easily run away from bigger gangs when needed. As far as heavier doctrines go I love FCing armor T3 cruisers for strategic ops.”
When asked to give advice to up-and-coming fleet commanders, Yngstrom had the following to say.
“As an FC you quickly realize that you can always get better, there is no limit to how good you can be. Whether it be positioning, target selection, correct ship fitting for a particular fight, intel gathering and communication with other groups. There is always room for improvement, even for the best FCs in the game. Doing so just takes practice and critically analyzing what you did right/wrong in your previous fight.”
Adding to this, Yngstrom pointed out that many newer FCs struggle when it comes to effective communication.
“I think the biggest mistake I see newer FCs making is that they don’t relay orders to the fleet properly. As an FC you need to be confident in what you are doing and make sure you are telling your fleet what they need to know. Too many times I see new FCs just forget to call more targets or give proper orders because their mind is set on something else, meanwhile the entire fleet is sitting there [confused].”
In order to be effective, Yngstrom says that he relies heavily on others in his fleets to play an important role.
“When FCing a fleet I love having competent pilots who can scout, gather intel and get a good warp-in to a fight. It’s very important to have people who flew for you before and can usually predict what you want to do before you even give the order, such as getting pings on gates and fights.”
Yngstrom highly recommended that newer fleet commanders
“[Take] a T1 cruiser roam into lowsec and go have fun. They are very cheap and you can learn a lot even if you welp the whole fleet. Go have fun and don’t take it too seriously until you start getting the hang of it.”
Further, he offered this advice to all EVE players:
“FC a fleet at least once. Some people might not like it which is perfectly ok, it’s not for everyone. But everyone should know what it feels like to FC a fleet, it makes you a better player, gives you a better understanding of game mechanics and allows you to understand other FCs thought processes when you go on their fleets.”
According to Yngstrom,
“The biggest influences I have had in Waffles have been Reza Najafi, XenoSzenn, Ethikos and Syss7 who are all fellow FCs that I flew under and learnt the most from about FCing. I still remember my first day in Waffles flying logistics on an Ethikos fleet and it was the most fun I had up until that point in my entire eve career.”
He praised the community of Sniggwaffe, saying,
“What I enjoy most about Sniggwaffe is the community and the bros I’ve been flying with for almost two years.”
In real life, Yngstrom recently graduated University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. When he’s not playing EVE, Yngstrom enjoys boating and waterskiing, skeet shooting, and snowboarding.
Special thanks to Yngstrom Felix of Sniggwaffe for the interview. If you know someone who deserves an FC Spotlight, you can contact me at [email protected].
