LawOfUnpredictability

The Law Of Unpredictability-Small Appendix on PVP strategy

This article is a small piece of information for the average PVPer. It is more likely to be of use to people who have had some PVP experiences, even though it could be almost as helpful to who never tried his hand at PVP, or to who, albeit in a lesser way, has already fought a large number of battles.

This article, as suggested by the title, talks about something which some may consider obvious, but which infact, is not: that is, being unpredictable.

A Universe Without Mysteries

EVE Online does not have an enormous amount of ships, let alone a grat amount of ships flown in PVP. This means that when a user engages in combat another one, he/she probably knows what are the weak points of the enemy, what game he/she will play given what the ship he/she is using is best at doing. In return, the adversary is theoretically in the same situation. This almost "kills" a relevant part of fighting: unpredictability. This leaves skills(both in terms of SP and of user ability in making the right decisions in a fight) and strategy to compensate the gap.

[e.g. almost everyone knows an Imperial Navy Slicer will probably orbit the target at a high speed around 18-22km away from it, that it uses speed to compensate the low amount of hps, and that it's 2 medium slots allow it to have just about the space for a tackle and a microwarpdrive.]

What "Mysteries" remain

In a world like this, you are the one who has to make the "Mysteries". Because of what explained above, the only room left for unpredictability is the fitting, and the strategy derived from it. When a player engages another player, he/she has seen what ship he is using, and thinks he/she will use a certain strategy which he has prepared(or not) to counter. Thus, if a player uses a strategy the other player doesn't think he would use, he will not be prepared to counter it(or to do so efficiently). Taken that into account, even if a strategy is statistically more efficient than another one, it will be more efficient in a given situation to make use of a strategy the enemy doesn't think you will use.

Still, if the use of certain ships, is linked by the great majority of players to certain uses of them, it's for a reason. That reason is all ships were designed with their strengths and weaknesses, none of the which are difficult to see. So, exchanging a part of a fit or a strategy's efficiency in return for the unpredictability of your tactics, is not commonly done, for it is a bit of a leap of faith.

In the end, that is what it is: relying a bit on the hope the enemy doesnt know what you will do. Sometimes this may be a considerable advantage, other times it can just be intentionally looking for a failure. That is when your undeniable ability to choose what you want to do kicks in.

-ScarredEye