Congratulations on a successful rescue, Fuel Rat!
Now the client has fuel, we want to make sure they can continue on their journey and reach their destination or another place they can refuel, and ideally won't need our services again. We do this through an in-game "debriefing" or "db" of the client, giving them some pointers that hopefully helps them understand the fuel mechanics in Elite: Dangerous better.
No one has to stay for a lecture, if the client wants to get going that’s up to them.
The debriefing can be performed in voice chat, in-game text chat, or if needed, the #debrief channel on IRC. The #debrief channel is primarily for use with players who speak a language that uses a character set that Elite: Dangerous does not support, such as Russian. It can also be used if the debrief is being conducted by someone other than the rat(s) involved in the rescue who don't speak the client's native language or if google translate is too clunky to use in-game because of copy pasting issues.
Generally, the rat who got the first limpet will do the debrief. Please refrain from interrupting the rat doing the debrief, as this could be confusing to the client.
Each client will be different, some might need a lot of help while others are experienced players who made a mistake and just need a few limpets and will tell you when they’re good to go. Advising a client who is stuck 250Ly from a station to buy a fuel scoop is all well and good, but if you don’t ensure they have enough fuel to reach a station first, they’ll still be in the same situation once you leave them. Some things to consider are:
- Combat rank
- Ship type
- Modules (Are they flying a stock ship or have advanced augments like guardian modules?)
- Stranded location (Are they out in the dark or near popular newbie systems, e.g Matet?)
What do they really need?
For those who want some advice, consider their needs, and prioritize what is important in their current situation.
Important!
Using !kgbfoam does not count as teaching your client the key points of a debrief!
How to do a stellar debrief:
There is no one right way to do a debrief, but there are definitely plenty of wrong ways.
Conversation is a plus!
Conduct your debrief in a conversational manner!
No one likes to be lectured about a topic for 20 minutes straight, so make sure your debrief doesn’t bore the client. Try to ask questions, they can both start the debrief in a friendly manner and extract information about the experience level of the client.
Maybe don't spam the chat
Try to keep your instructions in one message!
Especially when you are debriefing in-game, keep in mind the client cannot have both the galaxy map and the text box open at the same time, so keep your instructions in one single message for ease of reading.
The End of the Road
You have completed your debrief and your client is on their way, good job! It is a good idea however, to keep an eye on your client and make sure they reach their destination safely. If you have time, keep an eye on the comms panel for your client’s whereabouts and see if they are on track! Good job fuel rat! Fly-safe!
- Hi commander, you can enable your modules now. What brings you out to Deciat? Trying to get some engineering?
- Hey there, please enable your modules now. I see you have a mining rig, trying to sell some minerals?
These are great ways to start a debrief because they create a conversational tone and extract valuable information on their experience which you can then use to tailor their debrief to their needs.
- Hi commander, do you know about fuel scoops?
- Hi, I see you are flying a sidewinder, there is a way for you to not run out of fuel again, you should set an Economy filter…
Asking Yes/No questions or starting an info dump right off the bat is a bad way to start your debrief off as it does not allow you to get information from your client as efficiently, and likely will make some run for the metaphorical hills!
5 Comments
Grawmad
This is excellent, thanks! Small quibble, though: in the Potential Debriefing Topics infographic, I think "Dotted vs, Dashed lines" should be "Solid vs, Dotted/Dashed lines".
Delryn
To save space and make the formatting nicer, I would just call it "dashed' since they are, in fact, dashes.
Terekhov
I think mention of "Apply filter to route" would be more appropriate in the box that talks about the star class filter.
Marc13
A lot better than the last debriefing guide! Great job. But, yeah, "Dotted vs Solid lines" would be better.
Delryn
They're dashes, not dots!!
Don't really care. Should just pick one.