Flying with the Wolfpack

As I've alluded to previously, it is important that the corporation you're in is the correct match for you. For me, joining The Tuskers meant that I was in a group of people who had first hand experience of the realities of solo and small gang PvP in Eve Online.

If you want to become good (or even excellent) at solo and small gang PvP, join a corporation that specializes in it and by specializes, I mean only flies <10 gangs when there are only <10 pilots on. The feedback and ideas you get during and after engaging enemy gangs with a few gangmates is truly invaluable, this is one of the reasons I like to write After Action Reports (AARs) after major fleet fights such as this one recently - they give you a real chance to examine what went wrong and how you can prevent it from happening again.

Corporations that are willing to set upper limits to fleet sizes are truly rare but will typically encounter much more PvP than corps that only fly larger gangs, simply because more enemy fleets will engage them. The majority of gang fights are consensual - both gangs scout each other out and move to engage each other. If you find yourself having to titan bridge to get fights, this should be an indicator that your gangs are getting too large for the optimal amount of pewpew available in your local area.

Now, how to find such corporations? Most of them do not openly recruit, instead recruiting through word of mouth. Thus, your best chance of finding such a corporation is to ask decent PvPers you know of any corporations they respect and then chat to their recruiters about policies etc. whilst flying in gangs with them to make sure they are "the real deal" - there are a ton of corporations (even pirates!) that advertise they are all about small gang PvP and good fights which actually translates to hours of gatecamping then docking when a challenging fight comes along.

Having a good look at killboards is the best way to figure out what kind of gangs they fly in - generally you want at least 10-15 kills a day, with most of them being in small gangs (<10 or so) or solo.

Most of these corporations typically recruit in batches - for example The Tuskers keep recruitment open until we feel we have met our target goal (X total members typically) then we close recruitment again. However, we recognize that people are looking for corporations throughout the year and keep recruitment open for a select few - typically those with references within the corporation.

A useful starting point for these corporations is below:

• The Tuskers - we're currently recruiting after all! Mostly fly <5, with the vast majority of our kills in <10 fleets. 
• Shadow Cartel - gangs are typically on the small side <10), with organized fleets being much larger (<30) 
• PODLA - infamous for their nano Drakes, these guys are the real deal. 

Even if you don't feel like changing corporations to further your PvP, you should consider joining such corporations public channels - often a hub of activity related to PvP, ranging from the latest FOTM to new fittings and tactics etc. "The Tuskers Public Channel" is ours and plays host to some fantastic discussions regarding anything from solo frigate fittings to solo Battleships.

P.S. It was my birthday yesterday, hence the delay for this post. Any gifts would be appreciated - I am currently space poor after a string of investments and any donors will receive their 15 minutes of fame on this blog.