Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Currently, on almost all ships, it is not viable to mix different types of turrets and/or missiles because ships have bonuses to certain one type only and coupled with the fact that weapon upgrades also target only one type of turret/missile, it makes mixing them kind of gimped. This limits both the enjoyment and the tactical setups of ships in the game.

To remedy this, two things needs to be done:

• Add ship bonuses to more than one type of weapon type.
• Introduce modules which has bonuses to more than one weapon type

Obviously it needs to be balanced but imo that would make ship setups much more interesting and space combat would reflect sci-fi combat which you see in many popular franchises such as Star Trek.

yeah we have these already

Split weapons are a horrible nightmare. That's why they were removed from Minmatar ships and the Fleet versions given the upgraded version of it that they have today.

Why are they a nightmare? I've used both but am not familiar with why a hybrid system isn't a good idea.

Generally it's because of the way modules enhance weapon properties, when using two weapon systems you will also need two types of enhancers.

Especially problematic in the case of guns and missiles combined you will get many issues with sub par performance because you now need the double amount of damage enhancers/projection mods/rigs to keep both weapon systems properly functional costing overall effectiveness.

Also there is the factor of different weapon characteristics when using them, usually it is much more effective to just have one kind of weapon system and pilot your ship accordingly to apply the damage, when you have two different weapon systems you must(optimally) allow both to do damage somehow to stay highly effective and that can prove literally impossible in many cases as your weapons will be completely different in their properties.


In most cases you will only have effective use for one weapon system at a time and that is quite far from optimal making the other half of your weapon systems utterly wasted, of course having access to two different weapon systems creates an advantage that you can nearly always do at least something, but also you're doing it at half effect or some such; Rarely is that beneficial in actuality in EVE, especially when you do have an option to always be optimal with a single weapon system the flexibility is simply too costly in every way.


An advantageous secondary weapon system even when it is unbonused is the drone, because they provide a solution to a multitude of problems, whereas alternative secondary weapons such as missiles/guns rarely do anything significant and you're almost always better off just fitting something else in those slots, like neuts or almost anything really.


There are rare situations where you can have somewhat of a use for a secondary unbonused weapon single or pair of guns or launchers, to enhance damage output, to use defender missiles(very poor), pick off frigates with guns or possibly a fleet doctrine with a few extra launchers, but that is rare and the same sort of niche use I mentioned before.


Generally, it isn't very beneficial to use multiple weapon systems, generic unbonused drones being excluded somewhat from that, also because they come really without a fitting cost for the pilot.

Even if it split-weapon were viable for all ships... mono-weapon setups would still be preferred due to their ease of use and consistency in dealing damage.


Plus there are other problems to consider.

- A damage mod that gives bonuses to multiple weapon systems will quickly become the preferred mod in all situations (especially for 0.0 groups that do their own industry).
The only way to mitigate this is by making it more expensive and lowering the bonuses this multi-weapon mod gives... but this has its own set of issues because if 2 of such a mod provide the same bonuses as 1 of each "specialized" mod... it will not be preferred.
example: Multi-spectral ECM is not preferred in almost all cases because the racial specific jammers have a higher signal strength.

- ships have roles and weapon specialties for a reason... to force greater tactical options.
I know this seems counter-intuitive... but the idea of allowing all ships to use all weapons with equal proficiency actually does the opposite of "make things more varied."
What players do instead is use the weapon system that is most optimal for their preferred tactic... rather than use more varied tactics to work with their preferred (or only) weapon system.
This same principle can be applied to ships as well.

- most ships have some sort of "split weapon system."
Some examples:
----- with the exception of the Vexor Navy, Worm, and Gila... most drone-boats are "split systems" that rely equally on drones and an on-board weapon system.
----- most ships cruiser-sized and larger rely on drones as supplemental damage and point-defense.

- consider that there are people that UTTERLY HATE split weapon systems on principle (either for lore, cost, or OCD reasons).

still if you fly RF ships you usually pick one weapon and focus on that one, while the other highs are usually best used with neutralizers.

Torps on a macheriel. :D trolling for days.

Just a wild thought here.
How about using drones, they are the most flexible weapons system in the game, at least they are for now.=

-1 to your idea because of the possibility of some seriously OP setups.

Well there is quite a few of ships with multiple weapon bonuses, mainly the Gallente drone boats and the Guristas lines. And of course our own old friend, Gnosis.
Tristan, Algos and Vexor (Hybrid + Drones)
Worm, Gila and Rattlesnake (Missiles + Drones)
Gnosis (Bonus all the turrets!)

I know it's not exactly what you're asking for, but just pointing out that ships with bonus to more than 1 weapon system (yes, drones is a weapons system) does exist.
As for being turret based only, have you ever tried fitting Dragoon, Arbitrator or Armageddon? Despite Dragoon and Arbitrator having hardpoint layout for a 50/50 (Turret/Launcher) with no weapon bonus, the effect would be the same (If Geddon were to follow the pattern, it would have a 3/3 layout or 4/4 with 8 highs, which would be horrible). You would simple pick either and use the rest of the highs for utility.