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I agree with the posts stressing the need for a specific role for hybrids. Now what was that supposed to be again?

Looking at hybrids in RL, they have primarily one damage type - kinetic and due to their nature are somewhat simpler by design than e.g. traditional projective weapons (i.e. fewer parts, not necessarily easier to build though). Since they can use smaller caliber ammo for the same damage than projectiles, they would likely have (much) better tracking at the cost of increased power needs. Rails have long effective range and thus accuracy and damage retention, while blasters have short range but cause huge damage. Thus a possible positioning could be the ‘reversal’ of autocannons & artys (rails - higher ROF, long range, low alpha vs. blasters - lower ROF, high alpha, short range):

Blasters – the ultimate close range weapon of doom:
- comparable if not better tracking than autocannons (should comfortably hit ships half class smaller)
- low optimal and falloff (fire field contained particle charges), but definitely higher optimal than now
- very high volley damage (high energy and mass = massive damage)
- comparably high DPS (compensates for short range, i.e. time spent on getting into range)
- lower ROF than autocannons and lasers due to need of energizing the charges
- relatively high cap use
Bottom line: if you get into blaster range, you should wish you’d never be born in the first place.

Rails – the ultimate sniper’s choice:
- have decent tracking, e.g. half-way between lasers and projectiles
- have very high optimal, reasonable falloff (maybe reverse optimal/falloff from artys?)
- less volley damage than both projectiles and lasers
- comparable DPS at a given range
- decent ROF, better than lasers and much better than artillery
- medium cap use
Bottom line: reliable and consistent long-range power projection & damage retention

To differentiate ammo types, hybrids should have better damage retention over their effective range compared to both projectiles and lasers (missiles have perfect damage retention). They should stick with THERMAL/KINETIC damage and instead of making damage variable, the different charges might have different EWAR effects on targets for a short period of time (think different warheads). E.g., antimatter increasing armor/structure damage, plutonium dissipating capacitor, lead slowing ships down, thorium disrupting sensors, iridium increasing shield damage.

Does this fix hybrids? Maybe yes and maybe not, since one may argue that this was their purpose all along. I believe that any changes to hybrids will necessitate changes to ship stats to make them effective.

Personally I want to see blaster boats viciously fry anything they get on top off and snipers hurt and confuse enemies at long range. The same blaster boats however should be somewhat more resilient such as to have a chance to get there but being armor tanked, should be less agile. Designated blaster boats might get AB/MWD bonuses to get on top faster – think a surprise gank attack, but should again be more sluggish once there, i.e. not outmaneuver minnie ships. These might, if clever enough try to get away using their superior speed. Alternatively, some Gallente ships might get web range bonuses to pin those kiting Minnie ships down and leave them the choice of warping out, or biting the dust if they tally for too long.

Wellcome

I generally like the first iteration of the changes.

Only question i would like to ask is why Hyperion gets only 5 m/s speed boost While Megathron 10m/s? Hyperion always was the slowest to align Gallente battleship but the fastest one. Now Megathron is as fast as hype while having better agility and tracking bonus. In my opinion Hyperion lost one of its few advantages over mega. Small one but still...

With regards
Darnok Iksnibiks

Also X-L Blasters really do need the 20% tracking tbh!!

The listed changes look fine imo, I don't rly think blasters are so much worse off than the rest tbh. I think most people are underestimating the fitting buff which will give blasters more range/dps generally. There might be a few ships that could still use a slight PG boost though, like the proteus.

My thoughts summed up:

-Rails need a larger bump in damage, otherwise players still have no reason to use them over artillery
-Don't decrease the powergrid for rails as much because the point of sniping is to sacrifice a TON of tank for dps at range
-Change the T2 ammo for rails so that they offer unique bonuses instead of generic trading of range for dps/dps for range
-Assault cruisers like the Eagle and Demios still have no place in a fleet, whether it be null sec or low sec warfare.

Other than me griping about rails still being terrible, the blaster side of the hybrids looks GREAT!

Good start to changes, but not enough. Range is still awful, and the speed boost just isnt enough, I sure hope this list is just tentative.

Got through about 1/2 of the posts here, and I think many of you need to get on EFT and try some new loadouts, using the new stats, before you rant and rave about the proposed rebalancing.

The real problem with Gallente ships has been the combined high PG reqs of both hybrid guns and armor plates, which made balancing gank vs tank difficult. In addition, after the previous across-the-board speed rebalancing, Gallente ships were running a bit too slow, due to the speed/agility penalty from armor plates and armor rigs.

The proposed reduction in PG reqs for hybrid guns means that many of the Gallente blaster ships will be able to fit a full rack of higher grade guns, while maintaining the same amount of tank - ie. instead of electron blasters, you can now fit ion blasters. This is equivalent to giving a massive damage buff to both blasters and railguns. For example, upgrading from T2 medium electron blasters to T2 medium ion blasters, is a 60% boost in damage. Railguns get an additional 10% damage buff, on top of the ability fo upgrade to higher grade guns - from the old T2 350mm rails to the new T2 425mm rails, we're talking about a 50% boost in damage. So, what are you complaining about?

However, the PG reduction is even better than a simple damage buff. Why? Because you can also opt to keep the same gank, and use the extra PG to upgrade your tank instead.

For example, the PG req for an 400mm plate is 30, whereas the PG req for an 800mm plate is 200. In many cases, due to the high PG of the hybrid guns, Gallente ships have been a bit short on PG for the 800mm plate and thus forced to use the 400mm plate. Now, with the lower PG of the guns, you will be able to upgrade many ships to the 800mm plate, which has 100% more armor HP than the 400mm plate. So, armor tanking gets a bit of love out of this hybrid rebalance, too.

But, we don't stop here. Currently, if you want a beefer armor tank, you might opt to use two (2) 400mm plates, or one (1) 800mm plate + RC/PDS module or ACR rig (to boost the PG). The reduction of the gun PG reqs means that you will be able to fit the single 800mm plate, without a PG upgrade, to get the identical tank. This effectively frees up either a low slot or a rig slot - which can be used for an additional damage mod/rig, a tanking mod/rig, or even a speed mod/rig. Yeah, baby!

Next, the buff to Gallente ship max velocity/agility helps to take the edge off of the armor plate penalty. For example, the Incursus (new speed 344 m/s) is now only a hair slower than the Rifter (353 m/s), and likely more agile. With faster tracking blasters, the upgraded Incursus just might be the new FOTM for solo PvP frigs... hmm.

And, finally, the substantial reduction in cap use of the hybrid guns reduces the need for cap rechargers, cap boosters, nosferatus, and CCC rigs. Again, we''re talking about freeing up mod/rig slots which can be used to improve gank, tank, or speed.

Spoken like someone who's got no experience flying a hybrid platform.

This is the ******* point, boys.
I'm still thinking in a shield active tanking Megathron, favored now than they will lower the capacitor use...

Railguns really deserves more than 10% damage buff. Other changes sounds pretty sweet!

When we are talking about weapon balance, Tachyon Lasers need some balance too.
Compared to Megabeam laser, they offer only tiny damage boost but with huge PG stress.

8x Megabeam II vs. 8x Tachyon II on abaddon with 3xHeat sink II, All level 5 skill and Multifreq. L crystals:

Tachyons will get you 56 more DPS, 3+5 better optimal + falloff and much higher alpha at the cost of 3600 more PG usage and 30 more CPU usage with lower tracking

Compared to insange PG/CPU/Cap usage, the advantage of Tachs vs. Megabeams is very small.

Tachs should use some damage boost or decrease of CPU/PG.