EVE General Discussion

It seems to me that the reason Split-weaponsystems-ship like: merlin, tristan,ferox,rokh etc that can have half guns half launcher DO NOT have a ship bonus towards said weaponsystems at the moment is that CCP is afraid that one ship will have more hull-bonuses then the other?

As I've seen mentioned around here it is just plain stupid that this isn't fixed yet. These Split-weaponsystems-ships REQUIRE ship bonuses to both missiles and guns in order to have the same damage output as streamlined ships with only launcher or only guns.

I for one like the idea that when you face an enemy you should not be able to pre-engagement know What his ship is outfitted with.

It would add diversity, and almost every caldari ship have split weaponsystems right now.

Split weaponsystems without split weaponbonuses that is. So in effect Caldari ship are **** because they receive only 50% of the bonuses if you count their weaponslots.

Right now as I find myself typing this I came to think of how boring it is that there are so few "Fittings that work", and how often I find an enemy on D-scan and can tell beforehand if I will be able to kill him or not - because I've spent months in EFT and battleclinic and pretty much know his fitting inside out.

What if we could have modular items to each and every ship, and not only the T3 cruisers?

They could be Race and role specific, so that you can modular your ship into different roles, and then you get many ships that can fit different roles. Ofcourse this should not be taken to the extreme so that you will have a fleet made up of only 1 hull.

Rigs for example is a good idea, that should be expanded upon. Modular items.

The Ferox, Rokh, and other "split weapon system" ships don't really have split weapon systems. They have enough slots to fit a full rack of their primary weapon (hybrids for Ferox and Rokh), and then some missile slots on top of that, plus an utility slot or two, for whatever strange reason. Most ships have a "primary" weapon that is bonused, and possibly auxiliary weapons, or slots for neut/nos, etc.

For example, the Rifter has 4 high slots, with 3 turret hardpoints and 2 missile hardpoints. That doesn't mean it has a split weapon system. It gets autocannon bonuses, so you fit 3 autocannons, and either a rocket launcher, nos, or neut. The Hurricane gets 8 high slots, with 6 turret and 3 missile hardpoints. It's not a split weapon ship either.

The Bellicose (plus Huginn) and Typhoon are the only ships with real "split weapon" systems, arguably followed by the Merlin and Tristan. These ships do not have an obvious bias for a particular weapon system. They are largely fine, though. Your two examples, the Merlin and Tristan, are particularly okay. The Merlin has an astounding tank due to its resistance bonus, and despite its low-ish DPS, it is a very good brawling frigate. The Tristan may do less damage than the Incursus, but it is far more survivable, and the rockets grant it range flexibility that the Incursus does not have.

The fact that a ship has both turret and missile hardpoints doesn't make it a "split weapon" ship. It just means it can fit secondary, unbonused weapons. Or, in the case of something like the Vengeance or Malediction, fit turrets instead of the bonused rockets for ease of fitting.

tl;dr: working as intended.

And yet the Merlin can win almost any 1v1 fight with another frigate. I wonder why.

Oh yeah! Tank! Don't discount it. It's what the Merlin is for. If you want high damage, get a Kestrel.

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That is actually a tiering/role issue. Gallente are a bit screwed up there: they don' t have a missile frigate (like the Kestrel, Inquisitor, or Breacher), but they have the Tristan instead, which is like a Merlin with more gank and less tank.