Player Features and Ideas Discussion

currently i think that the existing command ships are not the most useful here's why;

1. T3 ships are better at the job

Asarte vs Proteus - Proteus can have, more HP, move faster, better resists, the same drones, and an added utility

Absolution vs legion - Legion has much greater buffer and tanks better in every way, absolution gains about 150 DPS and moderately better resists

Loki vs Slephnir - other than the epic solo tanking abilities of the slep you cant really separate these 2 ships, its a choice webs or shield tank.

Tengu vs Nighthawk - yes the nighthawk hits smaller things easier but its so much less mobile has less damage and less tank

2. T3 ships give a better fleet bonus than commands

I don't mind the 5% bonus per level i think its a great thing but i think that it should be the same between both ships or a fleet command ship should get a 50% bonus to its link bonus if they are on the same grid as the people who it is supplying them to.

What id like to see change personally

Either get rid of the current crop of ships to replace with or introduce a T2 version of the tier 2 BCs

so the comparison in ships would be like the below

Proteus vs T2 Myrm drone power with a damage and number deploy bonus

Legion vs T2 Harby add more damage to the absolution remove resistance bonus add turret cap reduction

Loki vs T2 Hurricane personally i dont think this one will work the sleph is too good to be replaced, t2 cane could just be a fascistic armour ship

Tengu vs T2 drake noone wants a t2 drake but its only fair, compared to the night hawk i think it should gain a launcher the rest of the sats are ok

these ships should be combat command ships and not give a bonus to the links or allow them to fit, perhaps they could give a small bonus to fleet, in the same style as a titan, ie amarr one 1% per level bonus to armour HP and scale it correctly for the others.

I know other people feel these ships aren't balanced as well so id like to hear anyone else's ideas on what they would do to change it

Vulfen

Ummmmm... you are aware that you are using Field Command ships and not the Fleet command ships in your comparison... right? The Field Command ships typically don't carry links.

CCP has mentioned that they intend on nerfing T3 command processors... probably by swtching their bonuses with those on Fleet Command Ships.

if you wish to rival a proteus with an astarte you can end up using the same amount of isk - less the cost for faction pionts
There is no need to change T1 BS the current crop is relatively balanced

ShahFluffers - yea sorry got them the wrong way around. i dont think that switching the link bonuses of the 2 ships will really work which is why id rather see another reason for placing a ship on the field in danger

Gogela - fitting oversized mods to a tier3 bc hull is a trait for those glass cannons a tech 2 ship with this ability would have more of a tank and therefore should not be done

Let me elaborate...

Eventually CCP will get around to Command ships and T3s and overhaul them as they have with Frigates and Cruisers so far.
The only details they've given with regards to these two ships is that they want Command Ships to be "better" at providing bonuses than T3 ships... which falls into their "T2 is specialty, T3 a bit more generalized" mantra. The only way I can think of them being able to do this is by switching their respective boost bonuses.

I must point out though that the NighthawkVulture and Damnation are VERY tanky for their class... far more so than the Tengu and Legion are... while providing boosts. So you can already take them into the thick of combat.

Do you mean Vulture there? Because the Nighthawk doesn't really have the PG to fit a link very easily, and you acknowledge above that people don't generally fit links on NHs.

The field CS problem is that they have no role. The fleet CS problem is the existence of T3s, their bonuses to link strength, off-grid boosting and dodgy tanks on two of them.

Give field CS the fittings they need to run a single link (or a bonus to fitting a link).
Remove Command Processors.
Replace active tank bonuses on fleet CS with EHP bonuses, HIC style.
Remove bonus to link strength on T3s.
Remove off-grid boosting.
Rework links themselves - skirmish links are horribly overpowered for a start.

I think the best answer to the off grid booster problem is to give it a falloff of 3-5 AU This gives the advantage to the FC who has the balls to field an on grid command ship but leaves the possibility open for an off grid booster.

CCP broke the game with t3s, the death of field cs was just the first symptom.

Look at the one field CS that is still awesome - the sleipnir. Why use a sleipnir over a loki? Because loki has no shield boost sub system. Says it all really.

Field CS will be helped by skill changes so it isn't completely pointles sto train them in comparison to t3s. What they really need is a role though. They all suffer from damage projection issues (except nh) so that would be a good place to start. Really you want a ship that can bbq cruiser sized hulls without having to be on top of them.

Fleet CS are actually decent and any move to nerf off grid boosters will bring them right back. The damage bonuses they get are kinda pointless, in my view they should have all bonuses focussed on being a fleet command ship. So obviously link bonuses and a massive tank but maybe also electronics bonuses so they can be used as a good fc ship. How about high number of locked targets and immune to ewar? Or given how probing is so important these days a probing bonus/fiting bonus to probe launcher?