Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Most people think that Assault Frigates are underpowered, and we're all waiting to see how T3D nerfs pan out, but I've taken more time since my posts (usually on r/EVE) to test and review different Assault Frigate fittings.

Here is a list of general changes that I think would put Assault Frigates into a healthier place for the game:

1. Buff their capacitor (size).
2. Buff their agility. I cannot understate this point.
3. Revisit outdated bonuses.

To expand on those points above, this is the best active tanked Ishkur brawler that I can come up with as far as MWD goes without investing into blingy modules:

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PART 1 - CAPACITOR

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[Ishkur, Dualrep Ishkur.]
Damage Control II
Small Armor Repairer II
Small Armor Repairer II
Energized Explosive Membrane II

5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Warp Scrambler II
Small Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Navy Cap Booster 400

Light Neutron Blaster II, Null S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Null S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Null S
[empty high slot]

Small Semiconductor Memory Cell II
Small Ancillary Current Router II


Warrior II x5
Acolyte II x5

It tanks less EHP/s than a dualrep MWD Incursus:

[Incursus, MWD Dualrep]
Damage Control II
Small Armor Repairer II
Small Armor Repairer II
Adaptive Nano Plating II

5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Small Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Navy Cap Booster 400
Warp Scrambler II

Light Neutron Blaster II, Null S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Null S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Null S

Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Anti-Explosive Pump I
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I


Acolyte II x1

The point here is that I have to fit a t2 semiconductor rig in order to get on a similar level of capacitor as the Incursus. Without that rig, it is not possible to sustain dualrep because you miss out on GJ thanks to the cap booster giving you 400 GJ but you can only hold an extra 340 or so at a time (allowing for some margin of error).

Jaguar is in a far worse capacitor situation. Hawks use dual MASB to avoid capacitor problems. Vengeance is the one frigate that has enough mids to cap boost and the GJ capacity to hold all of it. You'll see plenty of cap boosted fits out there as a result.

Currently, I believe that the tiny capacity of Assault Frigates chokes out active tanked fits that otherwise would be strong options. You can't try to use boosters to accommodate for this - common side effects for active tanking involve capacitor size penalties, and Mindflood has active tanking penalties. As a result, I feel that Assault Frigates lack diversity for no good reason.

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PART 2 - AGILITY // SPEED

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I've flown a lot of interceptors, and one of the biggest factors in making speed useful is agility. It doesn't take a genius to say that.

When it comes to interceptors, the times I take the most damage are when I'm trying to close range on a fast target travelling in a straight line away from me. Assault Frigates can mitigate a lot of damage by being faster than their targets, so it's important to give them just enough speed/agility to abuse their MWD sig bonus against turret platforms, but if we give them tons of speed and agility, they will become oppressive.

So, AFs are actually quite far behind their t1 counterparts in terms of speed. It's ok to be slower, but I would set 2500 m/s with MWD on as a benchmark, perhaps making Wolf/Jaguar slightly faster than they currently are. This will put them between cruisers and t1 frigates in terms of speed.

Agility is huge for me. It means I can pursue a target into warp quickly rather than spending ages aligning, or lets me use that awesome speed/signature radius I get from being a frigate. I would say AFs should sit between Harpy and Hawk in terms of align time before propulsion module. That's to say, between 3.9 to 4.3s align times after skills are applied.

Once you factor in the agility modifier, I would say that most of them need help. I would favor higher base velocity and mass with smaller agility multipliers for additional mass. They are stocky and plating an Amarrian AF should not result in plated cruiser align times. Currently, Minmatar have the smallest penalties for fitting plates, while Amarrians have the worst.

This is a compound error that rots away at the core values of an assault frigate - being a little more durable isn't worth failing to tackle cruisers, or failing to escape them either.

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PART 3 - BONUSES

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Now we look at individual ships:

1. Vengeance: Replace the capacitor recharge bonus with an application bonus for its damage. Probably range.
2. Enyo: Optimal range -> Falloff.
3. Ishkur: Consider a full rework of this ship, but the easiest change looks like -- GALLENTE FRIGATE: 5% Hybrid dmg bonus, 10% Drone HP + 5% Drone damage. ASSAULT FRIGATE: 10% Hybrid Optimal range, 5% Drone Velocity bonus.
4. Jaguar/Retribution: Buff one of the dmg bonuses to 7.5% to make them more competitive DPS wise.

I provided Ishkur as a good example of the capacitor predicament - it's got just enough GJ capacity to work, but it's still got capacitor issues even after sacrificing a rig slot. Personally, I think Ishkur is wonderful for larger engagements, if only because it can harass inty/EAS frigates while also being a durable tackler.

T3D are powerful but even setting them aside I would say that AFs have an extremely difficult job - Cruisers and frigates have become much faster over time, meaning Assault Frigates move through space more similarly to cruisers rather than frigates. That's a problem for them, since T3D and Command Destroyers fall into the in-between of cruiser and frigate, which makes them generally faster than Assault Frigates because that's where the new point of balance is.

I don't like to think along the lines, "make it gud again" so much as I want diversity. That's why I bring up points about capacitor, but the agility/speed situation is mostly to point out that it's currently garbage, but it's not too far from being acceptable.

The biggest hurdle for kiting AFs is fitting the longest range weapons to get that level of projection. Once they do, there's little room left for anything else. Part of that is because AFs have lots of weapon hardpoints.

AFs that are handed that projection for relatively little cost make decent kiters. Hawk and Retribution come to mind. Capacitor costs bite them in the butt when it comes to kiting, it's hard for them to do so without making serious compromises to their offensive or defensive power.

I'm sorry if I implied that AFs as a whole are weak, that wasn't my intention.

I fly mainly in smaller groups and I feel that AFs are limited by the factors listed in my OP. I tried to think mainly of flexibility, but in some areas I felt that a raw buff was unavoidable to gain that flexibility. Is there anything in my post that you think would make AFs too powerful?

The speed bar that I set may be a bit high, and for comparison it would take two nanos to equal the t1 frigate speeds (but beat their agility).

AF are not underpowered T3D are overpowered that's where a fix is needed

T3s need to be slower and get a sig increase so that they are vulnerable to cruisers