10-Level is an Army term for stuff that any idiot who has been around for 5 minutes ought to know. Of course the reason there’s a term for it is that people fuck up this type of thing all the time. Even really skilled people who demonstrably DO know better. There’s a lot of reasons that these things don’t happen all the time. Laziness. Drunkenness. Apathy. Even actual ignorance in the case of some people. I myself have messed some of these up quite recently and noticed others around me doing the same.

Pick a Tank

Just one. No going crazy with multiple tanks. Shield, Armor, Speed, or DPS. Pick your poison and live or die by it.

Fucking Move

I’ve been on a lot of gates lately waiting to jump. I see a lot of frigates not moving. This is completely stupid. Orbit inside jump range. A frigate with 0 transversal is a dead frigate. Speed is life.

Shoot the Primary

Seriously. The only person that should ever be shooting anyone else is the guy tackling the secondary. Spread DPS means more enemy ships live longer to kill friendly ships. If the primary is Hong Weighloh in a Dominix then by god Hong had better be screaming in panic and no one else.

Know your Range

Guns hit targets in a torus (doughnut for the fat and slow among us) around the ship. Outside the max range and the guns cannot reach. Too close in and they cannot track the targets they are going for.

Know what you can hit and what you can’t. Know how far to stay from the primary to ensure you are contributing.

Know your Ammo

I’m guilty of this one myself. Figure out what type of ammo you want to use against what targets in what circumstances. You shouldn’t be in warp to a fight when the FC says “Long range ammo” and trying to remember… Barrage? Hail? Especially when you are using Artillery. Also, Republic EMP L is not long range ammo for anything.

Fly What You can Handle

Got 250k skillpoints? Sure you can sit in a battlecruiser. You are better off in a frigate or destroyer. Fleet asking for logistics? We love you for Xing up but logi 3 doesn’t cut it. Blame CCP. Everyone in a fleet is appreciated. You actually contribute more in a fast tackle frigate than you do in a half-assed harbinger with half the tank and a quarter the DPS of a pilot able to sit in and fit the ship right.

Get Good Advice

Fitting a new ship? Got something you want to try? Ask around. Find other people that use the same ship. Check the killboards and TALK to people. Remember fits you find on killboards got killed.

You Undocked. It Died. These Things Happen.

Seriously you hit that button you lose your ship. Bringing it back is just awesome. Even when it’s a Navy Mega with no kills to its name.