Player Features and Ideas Discussion

:Updated with new stats as of August 14th. Details below as well as here:

Insert tired and overused Game of Thrones reference here.

Good news everyone! Now that we have Inferno 1.2 out the door we're going to start posting threads for stuff we are working on for the winter. My first set is the T1 EW frigs (Crucifier, Griffin, Maulus, Vigil). We're giving them the tiericide treatment which means that since they were formerly low-tier they are getting very significant buffs.

Our vision for these ships is that they become commonly used by newer players to take useful roles in fleets of many sizes. These changes are not being made in a vaccum, we expect to release them alongside a lot more balance changes in the Winter that should include the T1 EW cruisers and some tweaks to certain ewar mechanics themselves (among other things).

The Crucifier and Vigil are being given strong roles towards longer range disruption, and the fact that the Griffin and Maulus are more medium range oriented is intended and part of the overall environment change.

We also realize that these changes will make the current problems with EAFs even more obvious, and we're putting a lot of thought into them as well.

Like all the posts we make in this forum, these ships are a work in progress and we're looking for as much feedback as possible.

Without further ado, here's what we've got so far (last updated on August 14th with the changes posted here):

CRUCIFIER:

Frigate skill bonuses:
7.5% Bonus to Tracking Disruptor effectiveness per level
10% Bonus to Tracking Disruptor optimal range per level
Slot layout: 2 H, 4 M (+1), 3 L, 2 turrets
Fittings: 27 PWG (+2), 235 CPU (+20)
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 250(-24) / 400(+25) / 350(+21)
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / cap per second): 330 (+80)/ 180s (-7.5s)/ 1.8333333 (+0.5)
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass): 350 (+68) / 3.35(-1.09) / 1064000
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 15(+10) / 45(+40)
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 64km (+16.5) / 540 (+100) / 6
Sensor strength: 14 Radar
Signature radius: 38 (-8)
Cargo capacity: 265 (+100)


GRIFFIN:

Frigate skill bonuses (unchanged):
15% Bonus to ECM Jammer strength per level
10% Bonus to ECM Jammer cap use per level
Slot layout: 2 H (-1), 5 M (+1), 2 L (+1), 2 launchers
Fittings: 24 PWG (-1), 240 CPU (+15)
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 400(+9) / 250 / 250
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / cap per second): 245 (-5)/ 135s (-52.5s)/ 1.815 (+0.482)
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass): 325 (+38) / 3.5(+0.14) / 1056000
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 5 / 5
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 65km (+5) / 500 (+100) / 6 (+1)
Sensor strength: 17 Gravimetric
Signature radius: 42 (-8)
Cargo capacity: 260 (+100)


MAULUS:

Frigate skill bonuses:
7.5% Bonus to Sensor Damp effectiveness per level
10% reduction in Sensor Damp capacitor use per level
Slot layout: 2 H (-1), 4 M (+1), 3 L (+1), 2 turrets
Fittings: 28 PWG (+3), 230 CPU (+10)
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 300(-13) / 350(-1) / 400(+71)
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / cap per second): 275 (+25)/ 150s (-37.5s)/ 1.8333333 (+0.5)
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass): 375 (+69) / 3.25(-0.626) / 1063000
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 20(+10) / 30(+20)
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 64.5km (+14.5) / 520 (+100) / 6
Sensor strength: 16 Magnetometric
Signature radius: 40 (-8)
Cargo capacity: 275 (+100)


VIGIL:

Frigate skill bonuses:
7.5% Bonus to Target Painter effectiveness per level
10% Bonus to Target Painter optimal range per level
Slot layout: 2 H (-1), 5 M (+2), 2 L (-1), 2 launchers
Fittings: 26 PWG (+1), 225 CPU (+15)
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 350(+76) / 300(+26) / 300(+42)
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / cap per second): 235 (-15)/ 130s (-57.5s)/ 1.8077 (+0.57)
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass): 410 (+57) / 3.22 / 1080000
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 5 / 5
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 63.5km (+18.5) / 560 (+105) / 6
Sensor strength: 12 Ladar
Signature radius: 34 (-10)
Cargo capacity: 250 (+100)

Increased drone velocity is actually harmful, since it makes the drones overshoot.

Also for gods sake, fix ecm before you start buffing ecm ships.

damps are still useless. I'd still mock rookies who think flying a maulus is a good idea in any way. Fly a combat boat, or cross-train griffin.

I'll let everyone else do the necessary 'OH GOD ECM IS SO ********' posts. How about two damp bonuses on the maulus?

The cap bonus on the griffin doesn't really make sense to me. Damps use more cap than jammers, I believe, and painters use a similar amount. Is it supposed to be especially cap stable, or would giving it anything else make it more OP than you'd like?

Also, optimal bonus on painters when they are 45 optimal 90 falloff base? Maybe the ranges should be reworked, idk.

yes please

This will see the Vigil's speed bonus removed, right? Guess it's time to say good bye to the fastest T1 frigate in the game and go looking for something else that can play with the Interceptors. ;p

The new Slasher isn't quite as fast as a level 5 Vigil, but I think you'll still like it.

So then, you're saying don't fit any of those new Drone Navigation Computer II's on it?

Can we fix drones in general while we are it?

Could be worse. Like an optimal range bonus to the most useless ewar module.

Target painters do not improve damage all that much in larger engagements. It's not even enough to make annoying interceptors at 100km hitable by large artillery, and that would be a pretty niche role. And contrary to other ewar, it's not useful to spread out, so once you have 3-4 painters in the whole fleet, any others are not only of "little use", but literally useless.

What exactly do you see as the role of the Vigil in fleets? I can see useful uses for the three other frigates where a rookie can join a fleet and affect things, but the Vigil?

I'd rather make target painters good, but that's actually a fairly complex issue. (Doesn't make me any less interested in doing it, just means it might take some time)