Ships & Modules

Sorry didn't mean to offend, or start a conversation about low CPU and frig fitting. My point was that the prolific use of Machariels in the game could be attributed to as little as 1% more _____ (fill in the blank). So the Concept of nerfing it into the ground will not solve the imbalance it will just shift the imbalance to the next 1% winner.

I didn’t want to start an argument in a thread fraught with arguments, but I wouldn’t think anyone would want to play a game with all the ships ‘Balanced’

Minmitar, was faster than everything else but couldn’t take a hit,
Amarr, slow, could tank a titan, but ran out of cap so they couldn’t hit anything,
Caldari, bad mix of two races but with ECM they could afford it,
And Galente was the same thing but Drones made them... well IDK what that was supposed to be the tradeoff of :)

But anyways, if you wanted the benefits of a certain races ship you were supposed to get the disadvantages as well. But the new Homogenization of ships means that it doesn’t matter what ship you fly, or what race you train, they will all eventually be the same except for the colours; so who wants to fly the blue ship, gold ship, red ship, silver ship (Dr Suess in space)?

Or maybe we can all get colour coded fleets since race and ships type don’t matter anymore as long as you match your friends. (sounds more like a night out with the girls than ships in space)

I get your angry, it comes through in your writing, I like my mach, I also like my vindicator, never cared much for the Blaaaahorn, and the Nightmare has more potential than any other ship I fly. My concern is that when they swing the Nerf hammer I don’t want the choices to be reduced to what race of ship looks best vs. what ship is best. Leaving a large enough margin to be a clear winner, is not a bad thing, especially with the current neutering of minmitar ships, consider worst Dread, worst Titan, worst Supercarrier, worst Battleship, worst Frig? Is there any Minmitar ship going to be left that will make picking this race as a training goal a good choice?

Over the past 4 years I keep seeing Improvements to the game that continually substantiate my ‘irrational fears’. The current iteration of balancing has removed only a few months worth of training to the ‘why did I bother’ column. So yes I feel that if left unspoken I will wake up one day and be playing a game I don’t care for, and leaving friends behind feeling the same way.

Planned a long detailed explanation of T2 mach vs. T2 Gallente or Minmitar BS’s and the fact that 5 times the cost is only worth 20% better ship. And yet the masses Scream for....

Why bother, in 6 months someone will read your posts about how they screwed you in the tieracide

Gila could use a hair more cpu and/or slightly increased lock range. When trying to fit it for its niche (well tanked, shield, missiles, long range, drones) these all draw massively on its cpu.

Succubus is slower than a kestrel and less agile. It also does not have selectable damage types.

I know ccp may want to do an overall balance to the faction frigates. But I don't see how giving the succubus a bit more speed and agility would disrupt New Eden.

It would still be completely outclassed by the dram and daredevil but it would at least be able to compete with some of the navy faction frigates and dessies.

Half the high slots are utility slots so dropping at least one for another low would also be fine by me.

Long term another turret, cpu and power grid would also be interesting. Those last 2 things might actually put it in league with the daredevil and dram. But that might overdue it. It depends on the total package. But for now just some extra speed and agility would be very nice.

Actually the one that derailed the topic to begin with was the Dev as they were the ones to mention the other pirate factions ships. The rest just ran with his responses and the rest is history.

As for the phantasm... after reading thru most of the ideas here about it I dont think there is any clear cut way to improve the ship without making matching changes to the rest of the sansha line.
I highly doubt that they will add another turret to any of the ships as they already have the 100% Damage bonus (basically treating them as having twice as many guns) I dont see any frigates that can fit 6 lasers or cruisers that can fit 8 or BSs that can fit 10.
I also see no issues whatsoever with the 2x utility high slot. I actually quite enjoy being able to fit my phantasm with a probe launcher and salvage mod in the highs with my lasers to use it to run some of the DED sites and anything i scan down.
I think the best way to improve the ships is to start with increasing their speed and agility and then doing boosting their cap regen or even give them a bonus to resists or something else that can boost their tank in some way without going way overboard would be a good direction for them to move.

Just nitpicking:
Marauders and NM have 8 effective turrets, the rest ended up here correctly IIRC. Dunno about NOmen though

Guess I'm in the minority when I think that the Cynabal is in a good spot in relation to the Vaga, and not "better in every way". The cynabal has lots of grid, and the vaga has lots of CPU, making ASB fits possible, and cloaky fits easier. Vagas with 425s actually out-DPS cynabals, which is another advantage of the cloaky vaga. Plus you can skip fitting a damage control on a vaga without gimping your tank, so you can use that 5th low slot for a 3rd damage mod or a nano.

I think the Mach is popular solely because of the safety and viability of kiting setups; it makes a pretty mediocre brawler and doesn't offer utility like the bhaalgorn or vindicator does with bonused neuts and webs. If brawling were more popular and widespread, people would be whining about how the vindicator is "better in every way" than the Megathron (which is true). The fact of the matter is that the Machariel is just a Tornado that pays a billion ISK for a heavy neut, a decent tank, and a drone bay.

EDIT: Did I read Ytterbium say that the Dramiel is in a good place? Dramiels are terrible now, the only people that fly them are dudes that've activated their account for the first time in two years and aren't up to speed. They're worse than interceptors for tackle, and lose 1v1s to every other faction frig (except the firetail) , assault frig, and even a few T1 frigs. The Dramiel nerf was really poorly thought-out, instead of addressing the specific things that made the Dramiel OP in the first place (like having both a tracking and falloff bonus, meaning it can't be kited or speed-tanked), you simply made it slightly worse in every way. It's just completely unspecialized and useless now.

ughhh more active tanking bonuses.. they are crap compared to a resist bonus....

CCP really annoyed me with the incursus' bonus

The Punisher is now better to run an active tank than the incursus..