Intergalactic Summit

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There is naught a sight more beautiful in all New Eden than a fleet of golden hulls arriving on-field, in unison.

Although what happens next as they obliterate targets in coordinated fire is a close-second for me.

As one who studies a wide variety of hulls for their potential use in both small- and intermediate-scale capsuleer-on-capsuleer combat, the Amarrian lineup has both intrigued and frustrated me at various times. I will first speak to several points Vikarion has raised, then raise a few issues of my own with Amarrian starship design philosphy.

It is indeed true that Amarrian antimatter reactors, combined with the use of a tesseract capacitor to smooth their naturally unstable power flow, deliver the best power/m3 and power/kg out of any of the power-generation technologies available in the cluster. In addition, something I have noticed in particular is that tesseract capacitor banks seem to handle the occasional storage-element failure rather gracefully, without the need for an extensive protective relay system "added on" to prevent the bank from being overcharged, overdischarged, or excessively unbalanced. It is possible to match this power output with fusion reactors, but only at a severe cost in space aboard the ship; the Maelstrom indeed does exactly this, as its reactor takes up vastly more shipboard real estate than the Abaddon's in order to match its power output.

If the tesseract capacitor represents Imperial elegance, then their computing systems, however, represent its dark side. Although capable of supporting the automation aboard Amarrian ships, this often leads to severe compromises in available processing power and efficiency; Amarrian nano-electrical computers are some of the worst heat-generators I have seen, which leads to nagging reliability issues and spurious ship and automation behavior due to the inability of the onboard electronics cooling systems to exhaust heat efficiently, especially in heavily armored configurations. There are some prototype modifications to laser-equipped Amarrian vessels that feed focusing-lens coolant through a heat-exchanger before feeding it to the turrets in order to pick up some of that heat and send it out during the firing cycle; however, for ships that rely on drones, missiles, energy/electronic warfare, or a covert cloak, this is not a feasible solution.

Fortunately, with the exception of the cooling and computer deficiencies, Amarrian ships are all-around robust designs, with a stout superstructure that can be easily altered as-needed; excellent armor systems (and even passable shield systems in some cases, such as the Harbinger, Arbitrator, Curse, and Apocalypse); a superb power grid to support their reactors, capacitor arrays, and weaponry; and even a robust set of base thrusters and solidly constructed warp drives (while Amarr ships are not often asked to 'go fast', Amarrian thruster technology is certainly capable of delivering on such a demand, and is also remarkably tolerant to abuse). A good example of this surprising 'hackability' is the Devoter I fly, which is able to maintain flawless power-grid operation despite the use of battleship-sized thrusters and thicknesses of armor plating more typically found on an Apocalypse or Abaddon. Furthermore, the straight-forward nature of the design allowed it to be modified extensively to fit the needs of Anoikis life; something that can be more difficult to accomplish on a more sophisticated ship.

The bad news for capsuleers though is that Amarrian design philosophy is only beginning to catch up with capsuleer demands, as the relative recency of the upgrades to the Retribution, Coercer, and Omen shows. Many early Amarrian thinkers seemed to have disregarded the capsuleer's need to prevent his or her targets from escaping, instead focusing on fleet engagements conducted according to the Amarrian "fight to the death" philosophy, where the matter of tackle is swept under the rug by simply punishing those who flee the battlefield. This resulted (and sometimes continues to result) in a shortage of medium-power slots in Amarrian hulls; the Retribution and Coercer especially were victims of it due to having to make a difficult decision between being able to catch up to prey or tackle it. The Armageddon suffers from this fault as well, having one too few medium power slots to be even a remotely serviceable close-range fleet battleship in capsuleer contexts, where enhanced drive systems, warp disruption capability, the ability to keep capacitor-fed systems running in the face of hostile energy warfare, and counter-electronic-warfare capabilities all compete for valuable medium power slots. This is aggravated by the poor performance of Amarrian targeting computers, often requiring additional assistance in the form of stasis webifiers or auxiliary tracking computers to hit small targets at very close range.

Another unfortunate issue for Amarrians (and especially the Amarr Navy) is that their indigenous scout drone designs possess good speed and resilience, but startlingly poor raw firepower, to the point where they are a running joke among capsuleers. This issue has hampered the Arbitrator and its derivatives in naval operations, so much so that naval Arbitrator, Pilgrim, and Curse captains will often try to procure Matari- or Gallente- built scout drones to replace the woefully inadequate flights of Acolytes and Infiltrators that their ships were issued with. This issue also has the unfortunate side effect of rendering Amarrian battleships vulnerable to swarming attacks from small, fast ships, despite their generally adequate support for drone usage. While Amarrian fleet deployments generally counter this with an ample supply of fighter frigates such as Executioners and Slicers, such swarm attacks can be devastating when they are able to pick off battleships behind the Amarrian frontline, or worse yet, when carried out by Rogue Drones, which often pose special difficulties for Amarrian task groups due to their combination of small size, speed, and numbers.

Other race's vessels might be all find and good for various special 'tasks' and skirmish warfare...

but when it comes to large fleet engagements one only need look at which vessels capsuleers prefer.

It's no coincidence the larger capsuleer engagements almost always feature large numbers of Abaddon and "Navy" Armageddon Hulls.

None can match our combination of durability and damage projection at multiple ranges.

Vikarion-haan has created an engaging, fascinating and above all useful series of articles here.

I look forward to further installments!

Gallente ships go pew-pew-pew.

Minmatar ships go dakka-dakka-dakka.

Caldari ships go woosh-woosh-woosh.

Amarr ships go BZZOZOORORRORRMRMRMRMRMRMRZZZZZZ.

The Pettiest IGS Post contest isn't for another month, Birdy. This could get you disqualified.

Wind your neck in. Vikarion-Haan has already done his post, in a most respectful tone on the Matari ships. Try to educate yourself in future.

On topic: I found this a very interesting read. I have no personal experience flying Amarr vessels and doubt I will for some time, but will bear the lessons above in mind for when I eventually do.

I'm mostly surprised someone can really think saying amarrian ships are more beautiful than those of the Federation is an attack of any kind. I'd recommend you'd check the databases on both ships, and you'll see the undeniable truth that the Golden Fleet is the most beautiful by far. And that's something most pilots I've talked to agree, including non-amarrians such as this case.

So I believe you are seeing specific attacks where there was none. Your hatred for captain Vikarion may have its reasons, but is clearly out of place here.

I've actually met a few people like this, they got tired of arguing with me.

Regardless, I submit that your point is a valid one and your frustration and trepidation is understandable.