Player Features and Ideas Discussion

My thoughts:

- Get rid of the cap use / lvl bonus on the Omen and swap it for something useful (optimal range, perhaps?) while buffing the capacitor so the ship can use its guns without wasting a bonus on it

- Swap the tracking speed bonus on the Thorax for falloff (blasters are more likely to be used on a fast, agile cruiser than railguns, and blasters don't really befit from extra tracking)

When these hit SiSi, i am going to spend a week on there fluffaluffing about, and then make my comments fo reelz. For now...preliminary waffle.

Caracal looks good. Finally a ganky kitey missile cruiser - fit a LASB, HML's, buttloads of BCU's, and a MWD and try to stay out of trouble. The missile velocity bonus is boss.

Omen looks good for a cheap man's A(HA)C. Nubs will be able to practise AHACs on the Training Omen. Calls for more optimal ignore Scorch already has OMFG range.

Stabber is now like a mini Cyclone. A buffer Cyclone, that is. Fly it like a Vaga and train up for HAM/HML's instead of mainlining AC's and dropping yourself directly into a Ruppy/Cane. Though, one light drone really is pissweak. May as well get rid of it and give the Stabber more PG to fit smartbombs, ffs.

Thorax. Well, everyne complains that Gal blaster boats are slow as pus and hopeless, so this looks like a capitulation to the shield-nano fits, because you sure as hell don't want to try plating the balls off it now. Which is fine. Also the tracking bonus is beastly...I can see people fitting TCs and Electrons to this and wilfully tangling with AFs. Excellent.

Was this nerf to HML designed to give CFC and HBC complete control over null-sec, because that's what it's going to achieve? The damage reduction to HML's will completely destroy the Thundercat doctrine which is currently one of the only reasonably successful doctrines that can can be used to counter huge blobs. Yes Goon and Test Drake fleets will be hit by the changes too, however they have such overwhelming numbers anyway that it will make hardly any difference to them, whereas any fleet fighting in Thundercats will now have no chance of breaking their opponent tanks (as if it wasn't hard enough already). The CFC and HBC are already on the verge of taking complete control over null-sec and this Winter nerf basically hands them complete victory on a platter, which while making Goons and Test extremely happy is hardly going to be good for the future of EVE. When the entirety of null-sec is owned by one power-bloc who are in an unassailable position, what is the point of continuing playing?

Check which browser tab you're on before spamming some stupid tinfoil reply?

Interesting set of changes.

To begin with I'd like to point out to those complaining about the thorax hull being used here instead of the vexor hull that their arguments will obviously be reversed for the combat ships - if a thorax hull needs more mins to build this class of ship, then they will have the opposite advantage in the combat class; equally to most of the other arguments about keeping the ships alongside their current tier counterparts.

As for detail about these ship changes -

Omen I think looks good alongside the laser changes, it should have theoretical options to either kite with beams or tank and close with pulses; the big problem about this is the continued problem armour tanking presents to speed which may well make the pulse/tank option unrealistic.

Caracal looks fair at first sight but I'd need to fly it with the changed HMLs before I could really say if the missile changes were a bit OTT.

Thorax seems to be pushed towards blasters again. Given that the new beam lasers have reduced fittings and the Omen has a much healthier PG than the Thorax, trying to fit 250mm rails to this ship will be unworkable I suspect. Please, can't Gallente ships be given even an outside chance of using rails on their (potentially) kiting ships? Also, the 4th mid is very good for this ship but, as above with the Omen, the speed issue with armour tanking will push this heavily in the direction of shield tanking with the ASB. I struggle to see the ship balancing of classes above destroyer being truly workable until this armour tank flaw is resolved somehow.

Stabber has a huge speed advantage over the other cruisers in this class. Combined with the falloff bonus I'd be careful about creating a new fotm speed tank alternative to the hurricane within a given ship class. On the downside, the split weapon system remains to haunt Minmatar pilots.

This goes beyond politics idiot, it's about the future of EVE. I happen to like null-sec warfare and I don't want to see it stagnate and die. No-one joins EVE because they've read about how great carebearing is or how fantastic life in low-sec is, they join because they hear about the huge battles between alliances for null-sec sov that you don't get in other games. When that disappears so will the incentive for many people to play.

and while it may go beyond politics and whatnot its still in the wrong thread. we're talking cruisers here mate please take heavy missile complaints to the threadnought next door ^_^


over all changes i'm seeing for the attack crusiers? excellent!

while the caracal is now very much up for debate over heavy missile effectiveness thanks to the OTHER thread the prospects of a decent HAM caracal are pretty damn good with 30km bacon goodness and the prospects of TE's and tracking comps to improve their hit rate I no doubt we'll see 30-40km "dps support" caracals in RVB play using hams and range to help take down brawlers. while by no means the solo boats the thorax and the stabber will no doubtly serve in the same enviroment.

the thorax is looking joyous for me, absolutely nothing wrong here 1 extra slot in the mids opens up all kinds of options for supplimentary Ewar support (dual webs being my obvious choice on armour fits) or as many have mentioned shield kite fits akin to the talos.

the omen is getting a lot of needed love and will probably fill in the same roll as the caracal as a mid range dps support boat to a pre existing fleet with tackle and "combat" ships leading the charge. 6 lows opens up a lot of options for glass cannon facemelt akin to the destroyer class coercer, only a good thing.

the stabber looks awesome all round, as i've previously mentioned it doesn't need more guns as the "dps" fits will chose to fit missile launchers in one form or another and with the additional fitting provided along side the fall off bonus, the extra mid and the extra low the stabber should have little to no problems competing with its rupture counterpart as a kiting boat with significantly more applied dps and the speed to ensure it maintains range. this will of course be offset with a relatively weaker tank to its counterparts and i would argue that the significantly weaker dronebay is to serve as a weakness so groups of particularly fast frigates can catch and engage the stabber, eventually destroying it. atron wolfpacks would be an ideal example of such a group.

Have you any idea how many times this crap has been spouted?

Didn't the Stabber already have 13 sensor strength (so it is not +3) ?

The other cruisers gets 5 bonused turrets and the stabber gets 4 + 2 missile launchers, if you want to give it a fifth slot you will have to remove the launcher altogether to balance it and that just makes it the same as the others.
I like this mix and think it should stay. Remember that 4 turrets + 2 neuts is also very powerful.