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First of all, why now that I finally have trained all missile and gunnery skills to 5 do you plan on introducing new gunnery and missile skills after all these years Nah I'll survive its just more stuff to rain on this character

I am not so sure giving capitals more content is the solution to the broken game that is 0.0 warfare. The big problem is the huge armies of capitals that the power blocks can bring to bear on any would be opponent. The N+1 tactic will not be removed, the only thing is that it will give the mathematicians of EVE a week or two of entertainment as they workout which components make up the most powerful blob now that we have a few more variables.

Capital warfare is broken, 0.0 is broken and neither will be fixed by the currently proposed changes.

The problem is that CCP has allowed a handful of people to get so very powerful within the game that short of them leaving the game there is no way to stop them from ruining the game for most of us. The huge power blocks make for a boring game play where most end up just picking up the scraps that are left to them after the big boys have taken everything else. Every step CCP has taken to try and reduce their power is countered by a step like this to give them more power then ever before...

At the moment all I see here is the power blocks demanding CCP puts in more content for their members, not looking at game play not looking at the possible results in the game just looking at making the handful of uber powerful players and their armies happy and allowing them to consolidate their current positions even further.
These capital changes are pointless as the power blocks have the resources to adopt everyone else is left in the dust again...

Why not create stacking penalties for number of damage sources?
Say if a certain number of guns shoot at a small ship the incoming projectiles have a chance of taking each other out before they hit. This makes bigger ships weaker against smaller once and reduces the constant N+1 game play requiring ever larger ships. It makes fighting much more affordable and fun as well as keeping the big blocks happy because their numbers still make a difference, just not in such a big way.
Capitals where a bad idea from the start, they have failed since their introduction and for a large part have led to the current stale boring 0.0 game play we see all over new eden.

I strongly oppose the current proposed changes but know that they are going to make it in anyway, I hope that CCP will finally accept that their game is broken and that as long as they keep on doing what those that are the cause of the break demand from them there is no fixing it.

I'll confess that this is the single most baffling thing I have ever seen. The best weapon the no-skill F1 Blob ever had was the Boot Archon (aka slowcat). So, why are those advocating "skilled" PVP in favor of it? Using the Boot Archon fleet is really quite simple:

1. Get 250 identical ships with large buffer tanks and high resistances.
2. Set up capacitor transfer chain.
3. Drop sentries, delegate them.
4. Let one skilled person make all the targeting decisions.
5. If someone actually shows up to shoot at you, broadcast for reps. No one dies (except maybe a Nidhoggur that forgot to broadcast).
6. Win the strategic objective.
7. Count killmails.
8. Profit.

I've received some really adorable hate mail from people who do not understand the new Fleet Auxiliary ships. I quote:



Perhaps some of the fitting masters from the large capital alliances can weigh in? Is this the new meta? Instead of 250 Boot Archons (aka slowcats), that can all do damage, and can all repair each other, we are going to have fleets of 100 Fleet Auxiliary ships (formerly known as Triage Carriers), which have minimal drones for self-defense, and cannot repair each other effectively (and not at all if they go into Triage mode). Or is the idea that these 100 Fleet Auxiliary ships will be supporting a fleet of 150 Supercarriers and Titans?

I understood that the politics were stagnant pre-phoebe and pre-fozzie sov. Two blocs controlling the entire map is what one could call relatively boring and stagnant.

What I don't see is why people are still stuck on this mentality that nullsec is stagnant, nothing is happening and of course that the people owning Deklein are the ones to blame.
We aren't involved in the catastrophic (but active, I guess) political states in the south, we are not even involved in anything southern of Cloud Ring anymore. Phoebe made it impossible for any bloc to move vast numbers of capitals anywhere else than where they're living. Still, it's the big blocs that ruin the game, but now they do so by staying at home. Some sort of doublethink here.

When you look on the maps, stuff does happen a lot. Yeah I know, Fozzie Sov is fun and everyone of us who ever was working with that stuff knows how encouraging it is to hack things and take their space, just to have more things to hack.
Still, in comparison to what we had before, stuff is nothing but stagnant anymore and these capital changes will neither turn us back into the direction of going to a cold-war state of two blocs not fighting each other nor will it make hacking nodes to gain space you don't want any less (or more) motivating and fun.

The only thing stagnant here is the thinking of people who keep on pressing replay in their minds to continously repeat what people say and blame since 2005.

can i has 5000MN MWD Battleships??? (You read correctly, that's oversized prop mod on a battleship)

While not a Capital Group 'fitting master', I think experience as a dedicated Capital pilot can allow me a shot at answering this:

There is no denying that this is the correct overview of Boot/Slowcat Archon fleets. However, it should be noted that because these fleets routinely do not encounter other Capital fleets, if and when sub-capitals decide to attempt to out DPS the repair broadcasts, yes ultimately Killmails are counted (partly because we support our Carriers with Sub-capitals that can chase them when they realize it's time to run!) - And because of course as I have pointed out "subcapitals are not a counter to Capitals", holds true currently. If proper counters were employed, then the 1-8 order you've put together might work out a bit differently.

But instead the ships are blamed, instead of the combatant that decided not to commit the proper counter to these larger ships. We saw this with NCdock multiple times, where they refused to commit their Capital forces do to concerns of loosing their fleet vs. whether or not it would be effective against other capitals.

The new meta will not be 100 Fleet Auxiliary ships instead, because they will not be able to provide damage projection from appropriate operational ranges using their 'self defense' oriented abilities. Instead we will more than likely see a 'cruiser + logi' style Capital fleet where strategists will have planned out the most efficient ratio of Combat Carriers to Logistics Carriers (Force Auxiliaries). Another reason you will not see exclusively Force Auxiliary fleets, is because the majority of Carrier pilots consider themselves "Combat" pilots, and loath using a Triage style Carrier. Force Aux. are even worse than current Triage due to the lack of damage projection abilities.

In the end, other people can blame us for 'ruining the game', in reality they fail to grasp that this is still a sandbox, and we're just better at it than you are - that does not mean we are the reason your game play is less than you wish it to be. Survival of the fittest is simply what you are experiencing ingame.

CCP may attempt to curb N+1, but in reality we will simply find a way to turn it into N+10 if necessary... We play to win. So folks the genie has already been let out of the bottle; Pandora long ago opened her box; and 12 years on BoB is not coming back to save you, so you'll just have to accept that there is nothing CCP is going to do that will make us go away...

Outside of Triage, current Triage Carriers can still repair, they can use fighters and sentries - and can reconnect to them after coming out of defensive triage, and still apply standard unbonused repairs effectively.

Force Auxiliaries will have zero damage projection as they will always need to be in Triage to have effective repairs. Nullifying any ability to use drones offensively.

That's the distinction I was trying to highlight.

It is called a Nestor.

Only real issue with them is, they cost as much as a carrier and aren't all that effective unless you have 2 or more.

We used up our one coupon for big fights I guess.

Unless you get another sov bill mistake then perhaps

I agree with reducing the power of the slowcats, as I think most cap pilots also think is good. The only real concerns I have, and what seems to be the predominate issue, is that Triage and the FAX is going to be such a major nerf to capital logi capabilities. Currently Triage is a death sentence unless you have skill and 1-2 other Triage pilots who are skilled.

This is because, you need to be able to refit, bait tank and some other fairly decent skilled tactics to be able to survive. The refitting nerf, functional reps only in Triage, and such all combine into some very serious limitations that will make the FAX nearly unusable as it is being proposed. Now don't get me wrong, a single FAX with a small gang will still massively increase the small gang, up until it is dropped. This is the way it goes now and that is cool, but loosing its function in med to large fleet warfair is not cool.

This is going to make large fleet warfair a matter of Dreads/Titans with some minor Super support. With FAX being presumably laughable in large fleets, carriers will suffer as inferior to supers and inability to self tank those numbers. This effectively takes both out of large fights. This really sucks because there is a lot of potential for large dynamic fights if all the caps are viable for combat, but this won't happen unless FAX can receive remote assistance or have the current proportional level of non triage RR power.

If FAX become combat viable, the carriers will be effective on grid and we will see fights that are dynamic and amazing to be in. This is what I want to see, as do many others, viability for all caps to be on grid with a solid role and balance features not based on crappy penalties, but rather proper balance and function.

I think you are missing the point. It has nothing to do with loosing a ship. If you can't afford to loose it, don't own it. My issue, which seems to be a common one here, is that a capital ship should not be a one time use item. If that is what I felt like flying for the day I will take out my Sabre. Capital ships should be something that when used properly have a chance to survive. This does not seem to be the case here. These FAX are basically being designed on the idea that they should die in every engagement, regardless of skill. That is a bad concept. On the other hand, if I fly a FAX and it is a functional capital, then when I die, so be it, good fight.

Designing a rather costly ship, that is only partially functional, is just bad design. Designing a fully function ship, that is equally susceptible to death as all other capitals, that is good design.

Fleet make-up and effectiveness are what makes the choice between killing the Dominix or the Guardian an important call for an FC. This should also apply on the capital level, where the choice for target calling, should be something that is not just a matter of kill A first, then B, C, D... That is how it works right now and it is boring and broken. Making it a matter of effectiveness and fleet comp verse the FC making good calls, is what makes for engaging and skilled fights, where lesser forces with great leadership can defeat larger forces with only avg leadership.