Ships & Modules

I would probably start EFT and take a look, comparing old EFT stats with the new ones. To save you some time the absolution did get a higher damage bonus to archive a similar dps with less turrets, this was done to make more room for warfare links or utility.

Active armor tanking got some significant boosts over the last year, increasing the speed by reduced mass on plates, higher rep/s(similar stuff was done to shield boosters) and removing the speed penalty on active armor tanking rigs. So yes if it was viable to you back then it still should be now.

Non mini/gallente drones are still bad, not as bad as before the changes, but still bad by the lack of a real niche and more general use cases in pvp. Currently mostly the most flown classes are Cruisers, HACs and Frigs in solo small gang by the warp changes and a lot of work on the T1 and T2 Cruisers. BCs and CS are vieable but a lot slower in practial use for roaming and therefore not as dominant as they where once.

Most bc class hulls got fewer turret slots and higher damage bonuses to compensate. You will be doing the same damage as before or more. Heavy pulses and med reppers sound fine, what are you using it for?

I have yet to use them since the update and I can't seem to find a dev blog of how exactly they have changed, I do know that Amarr have the most HP but what is the niche for Caldari

I tend to favour drones that are opposite of my gun/missile damage to counter RAH and exploit certain resist holes. Caldari drones still seem a bit PvE-ish as the resist hole is mostly EM or Explosive.

You are aware of the fact that Acolytes are applying way better than warriors now (optimal range is a lot better than tracking) while losing just a tiny percentage of speed. Whereas Caldari drones are now pretty much what gallente ones are. But faster. (and again more optimal IIRC)

The application part gets silly enough that a Worm can 1 to 2 shot a MWDing Atron at full speed with Acolytes.

Also your argument pretty much "I bet you are just another of these speed and dps is everything guys" but in your first post basically say "only the top speed and the top DPS drones are good the rest is ****" - so don't give me **** about trolling you, you asked for it pretty much with your enlightening PvP experience and detailed first post.

I think you lack understanding of how the tracking and drone mechanics work against mobile targets. The base optimal of warriors is 2100 while it is 2400 for Acolyte, while falloff is not affected by a drone skill, what makes the overall difference in range very small(375m with drone sharpshooting at 5 compared to a effective 50% falloff range of 4000m vs 3625m) and far over the respective orbit ranges of the drones most of the time in pvp. What happens against a fast target is that it pushes the drone out of the orbit by its movement creating in a eclipse like orbit for the drone(the only situation outside getting hits on approach where the extra range comes in play). The reason why a drone with can do more damage with a bit higher optimal is by not getting pushed far enough off it. However once the drone falls out of orbit, it tries to catch up again, during mwd up and down cycles most volleys are lost by creating to much transversal between the two objects and therefore the drone with the higher speed wins out in damage applied because it can catch up again faster, accelerate faster, stay in hit range longer and tracks better(what is more often then not the major bottleneck against moving targets at close range). What changes this perception for you is probably the point that most of the targets you shoot are not armor tanked(or tanked at all) and the higher effective damage on the target by Acolyte against the base shield resists or are so low tanked that the few volley on approach of the drone have a bigger effect on the overall damage done than sustained dps once in orbit or during multiple times the drone needs to catch up to hit the target.

The speed of gallente drones doesn't matter that much, because you intent to use them against a tackled target in the first place(what is mostly the decision between gallente/minmatar drones).

Amarr vs Minmatar drones differ in the effect against targets mostly by damage types, but since most bigger hulls close the explosive or EM hole with at least a rig, the difference is not that big in the grand scheme of things, probably most noticeable in Frig pvp(with lots of holes and low use of tanking modules) while its fairly negotiable in BC and BS pvp. The Difference between Gallente and Caldari Drones is even lower, because both damage types tend to be in the mid range of resists(compared to EM/Explo what are most of the time the highest or lowest) and the most common hulls at point blank have 100% balanced kinetic and thermal base armor resists.



No my argument is that you post stuff with zero substance just to insult others, and that it makes you look hilarious for anybody that is older than 12 years. This also shows in your posting where you try to point out your own perceptions(discussions purely based on perception are a wast of time, especially in MMOs), while your not relaying on the game mechanics underneath to explain why some drones are situational better then others in a specific situation, to form up a perception based argument that you defend mostly on the "I am right, you are wrong!" basis of thinking, creating a discussion that would be pointless to begin with.

My argument is that there in the great picture, considering all use cases, not much changed(a bit did, for the better as I stated in the first post) and a another kind of balance approach would have been much better for drones to create more diversity and adding extra advantages for the "in the middle" drones what gives them good roles and a bigger field of use, equal to the others without directly creating a situation that one is better than other other in a general sense of purpose.

It got hit with the ugly hammer. :(