Ships & Modules

It doesn't have to be useless, it just has to be balanced. Balance imply tolerable differences, not perfect equilibrium.

In effect that means the game need more alternatives to interact with one another that create content not bound by amassing numbers and resources (to burn through an hp-pool effectively).

Time and cumber are common, and among my preferences as well (flag-capture, hacking, spool-up, weight-resource consumption or delay etc).

It's me being idealistic, but i belive only a slightly better balance will allow the community to begin sorting problems out itself (like your immune-system react to medicines). I could yet again give you a number of examples instead of throwing big abstract words around, if that helps. Until there's demand for more specific examples or discussion though, just keep your eyes open in general.

Read the forums, read FHC and Kcom, listen to podcasts (Bring solo back #6 discuss options specificly at length), read blogs, follow CSM candidates etc. The discourse is out there, it's just a shame it's not given more attention over the "nerf Drakes, Titans, buff Gallente" stupidity. I do realize this is the ships and modules forum, but the attention span over everything as well. I target these recurring, ongoing "larger discussion" threads for a reason.

Going back to the medical metaphores: The problem i see is that design trend still look at treating symptoms rather than illness (such as demanding buffs for Gallente because they're not trendy in Dominion-sov blobs).

Well never said that, and before being in a Noble, mighty 0.0 empire, i pretty much soloed through lowsec and not only at High-end Amamake, but i think you mean that's where "most of the PVP happens" right?

EDIT: Im tired and have nothing useful or constructive to say. I dont know why I hit the post button.

Well, at least you quoted the only lucid question I asked. I deleted it because discussion of the Omen was OT in a Gallente thread, but thanks for the answer anyway. ;)

So, it cant fit a 800 or 1600mm plate + the smallest medium guns with an ACR rig? I have to use fitting ACR rigs on both the Thorax and Vexor to fit plates + medium electrons.

Where is all this stuff about Gallente being good for small gang coming from? The day I see a gang of 25-30 gallente ships win a fight with a similarly sized opponent is yet to come, though I think rails are more or less ok these days, provided you have a way to counteract logi. Close range PVP, which is what Gallente are for, is still deader than dead, and most people are either blind to it or don't care because they can fly kitey set ups already.

The fact is that there is something fundamentally wrong with some of the slowest ships having the shortest range guns. What person when asked to design a game would choose to design a race like that? It should be obvious to everyone that this doesn't work, and yet we still have certain players actually resisting a fix on the ships.

I just don't get it.

For me Gallente is good in small gang because they are flexible. A small gang cannot afford pilots for dedicated, narrow roles. I see it in FW every day. One day I fit against frig size and encounter BC and HACs only..and vice versa. In a small fleet (or solo) I miss out fights when I focus. In best case...in worst case I just die ^^

Gallente are much more capable to adapt to unpredictable situations while having not the fleet (numbers) to handle such situations with specialists. Minmatar ships are the other example which are good in this regard.

To be honest with you... the Stabber is better than the Rupture. With an AB / shield fit with 180s, you are as fast as a frigate with more DPS / EHP and two neuts. Ruptures and Thoraxes can't hit it, and when they can, it is ridiculously easy to escape with the AB overheated. I don't think I've ever lost my Stabber to another solo pilot before, and that's saying something.

Gallente are the second fastest until you consider the fact that you have to armor tank them to get any sort of decent tank on them. Add in the rigs and the plates and they become the second slowest, if not the slowest ships around, depending on which ship class we're talking about. Then everyone says shield tank it except you're taking something with either paper EHP or virtually no tackle into the range of every other hostile ship out there. You have no web, so even with tracking enhancers, you're doing about as much dps as an armor tanked ship with a web, but with less survivability. And if you try and use a nano Gallente ship like any other race's nano setups, it will fail because it simply cannot fit as much tank and its applied dps is horrible because of the gun range on blasters (rail nano setups fail because of less dps than pulses or ACs, and tracking issues on top of already inferior dps).

The Talos is the exception to the rule, and it isn't even that great because of the tracking issues with large guns. You can only mitigate them so much, especially when you have to fight anything smaller than a BC. The only reason its popular is because of the base range of large blasters and the limitations that you have to fight within point range, most of the time.

1. AFAIK, sentries are far shorter range than most fleet setups, and are bad at fleet ops as they don't move (and when they do, they move exactly how you don't want them to).
2. PL is running Rokh fleets. Rails are not the problem, the lack of optimal range bonus on Gallente ships is the problem. Falloff is nice, but rails have low DPS to start with, and firing them in falloff only makes them suck more. Therefore Gallente suck at sniping with rails.
3. HMLs are far better at BC work than sentries. Sentries have the equivalent of large gun tracking, which means they will miss a lot.
4. You got that right.

Gallente can be made to work for sniper fleets, but you need a special composition thought of ahead of time -- which is more effort than most care to put out. However, in short range brawling, Gallente are unparalleled. Megathron, Hyperion and Talos are fearsome damageboats, and neut-Domi can seriously mess people up.

The trend is carried by smaller ships, too. With the exception of a few ships that can nano effectively, Gallente are best when they get in people's faces and fill them with antimatter and drones -- either with shield+gank setups, or with tank+EWAR setups.

This does mean that Gallente are more balls-in than other races, because GTFO-ability is reduced. Flying Gallente, you will likely end up with lower ~KB numbers~ due to the extra losses. Flying Gallente also requires some unique piloting skill and "tricks", which is more than the average F1-er can handle.

tl;dr: Gallente is cool and powerful if used right. A Myrm is not a Drake, which is not a Hurricane, which is not a Harbinger. They are different ships with different uses, and do not work the same way. Just like trying to passive tank a Hurricane is pointless, or trying to alpha frigates in a Drake is pointless, trying to use the Myrm as you would a Drake or a Hurricane is folly.

For whatever it's worth I still think Gallente need tweaks: remove speed penalty for armor REP rigs, fix blaster tracking (still needs a small buff), maybe a fitting tweak on rails, up the bonus on damp boats, etc.

I do think, at least in my limited experience, gallente boats are viable in FW. I also think that people need to rethink the viability of certain Gal boats in Fleet warfare. Rails, though they still need tweaks, are better after the patch.

Just IMHO.