Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Exactly, 25% range AND 10% RoF buff would be nice. Faction and Javelin torps can hit other slow BS's (mostly NPC's) with full damage but Rage is practically useless for anything smaller than a (po)CO. I don't understand what those dev guys are waiting for, why are they slower than slow? It's so easy to make torps better that one could do it in his spare time while doing other things.

The mind boggles...

Reload of 30 s and clip size of 24 gives an increase on old RLML sustained damage of 2%.

I don't think that'll happen either. With the burst damage being 58% greater than old RLML, I don't think we can expect anything but a decrease in sustained DPS. For example, to get a decrease in sustained DPS of 4%, you'd need clip 20 and 30 s reload.

Comparing different Cerb fittings I get roughly 5% decrease with clip 22 / 30 sec reload and clip 26 / 40 sec reload. I think that would be fair keeping in mind that nasty unannounced PWG nerf made some good old fits unusable.

Wow...

40 seconds reload time, when you have just 18 shots.... who envisioned this crap?
If CCP wants to kill a viable cruiser option to hit small targets with missiles, then go ahead. But this Rapid Light missile change is crap. Just crap.

If you want to f.u.c.k up this weapon system, fine. But then please check with the ships that can use it and add the corresponding damage bonus so i can use normal standard launchers on it as well.

Because that's what Caldari should be all about. Range and choosable damage type. Can't choose damage type, if it takes 40 secs to reload. After 30 seconds, your f.u.c.king ship might not be there anymore.

I've been thinking about this and decided the best way to fix RLML's is to just fix HAM's and HML's instead and let the RLML fill whatever niche it was meant for. I wouldn't expect a huge buff for HAM's or HML either, although a dps buff would be nice there is no chance of that coming so I would settle for something that makes the dps they do have apply to more than just asteroids and space stations. Everything should have a niche in pvp, and here's what I believe those niche's should be without much buffing required, only tweaking of the damage formula and adding a new module:

0-10km - Blasters, Pulse Lasers, Auto Cannons

10-25km - HAM's, HML's

25- 60km - Drones

60km and out - Long Range Turrets

It's very difficult to balance Missiles against turrets because they are not supposed to do the same things, and I understand the situation to an extent. It just seems we are trying to bring long range turrets into line with long range missiles, without making short range missiles into line with short range turrets, while drones are just allowed to step on everyone's toes. None of these things make sense. Turrets should be superior in scram range, that's where most solo and small gang pvp as I know it takes place anyway. If you know what your doing it's not hard to ensure the majority of your pvp will take place there if your flying with blasters or pulse lasers.

0-10km - Short range turrets like blasters and pulse lasers are the best in this area, they can hit any size of target and no scrammed and webbed frig will stand a chance, exactly as it should be.

In 10-25km disruptor range missiles should be best, turret players can complain about hitting frigates with large guns in disruptor range because it does suck with turrets, but if your in a ship and you can't track the target because it's too close or too far away your doing it wrong, don't get too close with rails and don't get too far with blasters and you'll be fine. This is the range a good missile pilot should be at. Blasters have little difficulty dealing with frigs if they're fit right, all it takes is 1xWeb and 1xScram and you will be able to apply dps to frigs. So 1xdisruptor and 1xtarget painter should be enough to do the same thing for missiles, not full dps but enough so that an active tanking t1 frig like the incursus can't tank Heavy Missiles for any extended period of time. This could be done with a combination of a change to Explosion Velocity, Explosion Radius and the introduction of a new heavy target painter that only works within 25km, or a script for the existing target painters that will either extend range or increase effectiveness within this range. Either way it should be calculated so that a fully skilled HML pilot can quickly kill a dual rep incursus in the envelope where the buffed TP is active but struggle outside it. If this was done right, frigs would continue to enjoy similar immunity to Heavy missiles outside the disruptor range as they do now, but inside that range no frig is safe. The TP module will be seen as just as important for Heavy Missile Users as a Web is for Blasters.

Next would be the area from 24km out to 60km and this should be where drones are superior... but how to make drones inferior to missiles within 24km but superior outside that range? They are already inferior to Blasters in scram range due to DPS, and In a way by buffing Heavy missiles with the new target painter you are automatically giving missiles a buff over drones in that 25km zone without actually making any changes to drones at all. Drone boats would still still have more dps and flexibility, but this way they shouldn't be better against both frigs and vessels the same size at all ranges, missiles will be best against smaller ships, at least between the 10-25km radius which is where a missile pilot should aim to be anyway.

To Summarise the following changes would balance medium weapons perfectly for me without tinkering with dps numbers:

1) Heavy Missile explosion velocity needs a buff so that it's not triple handicapped like it is now with low dps that dosen't apply to anything smaller than a cruiser, or anything that moves, if something small moves you might as well save your ammo.

2) The new target painter should mean that you don't have to fill your mediums with TP's to start doing some real dps against frigs. That was always unrealistic, and only missiles are impotent regardless of range, angular velocity, and fittings. With this they are well balanced between blaster boats with web and scram, and light drones which will still be better against frigs at long range.

3) Tracking computers should get a buff.

4) RLML would be a lot more palletable if ships like the Cerberus and Caracal had viable alternative weapons that were not riddled with flaws, and weaknesses. If others can see a use for them in specialized roles good, but all I can see right now is the last viable medium system being turned into a niche weapon I can't think of any use for, having 3 broken weapons systems to chose from is a bit much. If they take away the extra power grid need for them and add 2 more charges to the clip I would accept that because at least then your not prevented from fitting a good shield tank to survive the 40 second reload, and you have a chance to kill 2 frigates before reload instead of just one, it's just a few percentage points more average dps, and I think it needs at least that much.

5) Navy Issue Drake: remove the sig radius bonus and replace it with a 5% damage bonus so that it's potential DPS isn't actually lower than the standard issue.

Nothing there that will change a lot, just enable people to use Missiles that are currently useless.

-// snip //-
1. HMs need both a small explosion radius (125) and explosion velocity (100) buff. HAMs should be tweaked to (100) and (125), respectively. LMs could stand to see the explosion velocity switched with rockets (175>150) and a slight larger explosion radius (45).
2. Was there a change to TPs other than the new 5-second cycle?
3. Faction tracking computers should get a buff (not T2s).
4. RLMLs and RHMLs need a +1/3 ammunition increase if the current reload time is to be retained. Or drop the reload time to 20 seconds with the current capacity.
5. Navy Drake should get a +5% rate of fire per level in addition to the explosion radius bonus. Or a 5% kinetic damage bonus.

Yeah I'd take this either, but with a heavy target painter/script instead of just buffing sig radius, because I do think missiles should need to change their fit to get better dps against frigs, and that improved dps should only be effective in the 25km overheated disruptor radius not the full range of missiles.

Overloaded warp disruptor II is 28 km (28.8 according to EFT) so - moar range, yay...

Faction has 19, so maybe a tad more?