Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Hello again! Now we turn to Deep Space Transports.

These ships have been largely overshadowed by Orcas and high capacity T1 haulers for heavy duty hauling, and of course they cannot compete with the amazing evasion abilities of Blockade Runners.

So our plan for revamping them is to give them a strong and stable carrying capacity in the form of a large fleet hangar. Besides creating interesting options for group play, this fleet hangar does not pressure a pilot into fitting rigs or expanded cargoholds for max carrying capacity.

The fleet hangar is intended to make DSTs a viable choice for many hauling situations, and allowed us to then add a series of options to the DST defensive toolbox. We know that once people start using a ship it will be inevitable that they get into bad situations with them and that it can be immensely fun gameplay to escape a dangerous situation when you have no guarantee of survival. For this purpose we have provided the Deep Space Transports with defensive tools that are much less consistent than the covert cloak on the Blockade Runners but that are powerful nonetheless.

The key new addition is a role bonus that doubles the benefits from overheating tanking modules and propulsion modules. This means that Deep Space Transports can have obscene tanks for short periods of time and gain strong bursts of mobility, especially useful for fighting your way back to a stargate (or for playing bait).

They are also gaining the ability to use the new Medium Micro Jump Drive modules for extra escape and bubble evasion options.


IMPEL

Amarr Industrial Bonus per level:
+7.5% Armor Repairer Effectiveness
+5% Velocity

Transport Ships Bonus per level:
+5% Fleet Hangar capacity
+4% Armor Resistances

Role Bonuses:
+2 Warp Core Strength
+100% bonus to the benefits of overheating Afterburners, Microwarpdrives, Local Repair Modules, and Resistance Modules

Note: Can fit Medium Micro Jump Drives

Slot layout: 2(+1)H, 2(+1)M, 7L; 2(+2) launchers
Fittings: 330(+80) PWG, 240(+65) CPU
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 2000(-109) / 4300(+81) / 4500
Capacitor (amount / recharge / cap per second) : 3500(+2250) / 875(+563)s / 4
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 90(+10) / 1 / 19,500,000(+500,000) / 27.03s
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 0 / 0
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 45km / 205 / 3(+1)
Sensor strength: 16
Signature radius: 160
Assembled Volume: 400000(+100000)
Cargo Hold: 3100(-900)m3
Fleet Hangar: 50000m3


BUSTARD

Caldari Industrial Bonus per level:
+7.5% Shield Booster Effectiveness
+5% Velocity

Transport Ships Bonus per level:
+5% Fleet Hangar capacity
+4% Shield Resistances

Role Bonuses:
+2 Warp Core Strength
+100% bonus to the benefits of overheating Afterburners, Microwarpdrives, Local Repair Modules, and Resistance Modules

Note: Can fit Medium Micro Jump Drives

Slot layout: 2(+1)H, 6(+3)M, 3(-2)L; 2(+2) launchers
Fittings: 200 PWG, 290(+40) CPU
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 4300(+784) / 2300(-91) / 4000(+62)
Capacitor (amount / recharge / cap per second) : 2900(+1806.25) / 725(+456)s / 4
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 80() / 1(+0.07) / 20,000,000 / 27.73s
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 0 / 0
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 55km / 195 / 3(+1)
Sensor strength: 20
Signature radius: 165
Assembled Volume: 390000(+100000)
Cargo Hold: 5000(-500)m3
Fleet Hangar: 50000m3


OCCATOR

Gallente Industrial Bonus per level:
+7.5% Armor Repairer Effectiveness
+5% Velocity

Transport Ships Bonus per level:
+5% Fleet Hangar capacity
+4% Armor Resistances

Role Bonuses:
+2 Warp Core Strength
+100% bonus to the benefits of overheating Afterburners, Microwarpdrives, Local Repair Modules, and Resistance Modules

Note: Can fit Medium Micro Jump Drives

Slot layout: 2(+1)H, 3(+1)M, 6L; 2(+2) turrets
Fittings: 290(+45) PWG, 260(+60) CPU
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 2400(-131) / 4000(+203) / 5000(-203)
Capacitor (amount / recharge / cap per second) : 3100(+1943.75) / 775(+281)s / 4
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 110(+20) / 1 / 19,000,000(-500,000) / 26.34s
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 0 / 0
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 50km / 200 / 3(+1)
Sensor strength: 18
Signature radius: 165
Assembled Volume: 390000(+100000)
Cargo Hold: 3900(-1100)m3
Fleet Hangar: 50000m3


MASTODON

Minmatar Industrial Bonus per level:
+7.5% Shield Booster Effectiveness
+5% Velocity

Transport Ships Bonus per level:
+5% Fleet Hangar capacity
+4% Shield Resistances

Role Bonuses:
+2 Warp Core Strength
+100% bonus to the benefits of overheating Afterburners, Microwarpdrives, Local Repair Modules, and Resistance Modules

Note: Can fit Medium Micro Jump Drives

Slot layout: 2(+1)H, 5(+2)M, 4(-1)L; 2(+2) turrets
Fittings: 230(+15) PWG, 270(+80) CPU
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 4000(+906) / 2800(-13) / 3100()
Capacitor (amount / recharge / cap per second) : 2700(+1700) / 675(+425)s / 4
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 120(+20) / 1 / 19,200,000(700,000) / 26.62s
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 0 / 0
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 40km / 210 / 3(+1)
Sensor strength: 14
Signature radius: 150
Assembled Volume: 385000(+100000)
Cargo Hold: 4500(-750)m3
Fleet Hangar: 50000m3

well that's sure a thing, i have absolutely no idea what role that thing will play

will be interesting to see how it shakes out

Looks great!

Looks pretty solid, though I don't see the micro jump drive getting a lot of use on DSTs with the current spool up time. A DST will most likely always be near a gate, within close closing range of tacklers. Maybe if they got a role bonus to spool up speed it might see some use in that use case.

This ship is now my medium volume hauler of choice. It only needs to survive some 10 seconds in a gank instead of having to wait for CONCORD.

Are you going to fix their awful align

i like the changes, they're good.

however have you considered the fact that since these have a FLEET hangar, and can fit tractor beams, there's now even less reason to bring an orca and/or a rorqual on grid? if you want those two ships on grid, these changes are like a nail in the coffin to achieving that end. especially in the more dangerous areas of space.

aside from that minor and somewhat irrelevant point. these changes look solid and have a nice twist.

They can tank 2-3k dps

While this looks interesting for getting in and out of trouble, the Fleet Hangar change really limits the DST in useful things like POS work. With a cargo hold of 1000 - 3000, you cant even scoop or launch a large tower, or most pos mods. To make it work, you would need to make it capable of launching items from the fleet hangar as well as scoop to the fleet hangar.

For POS work in null sec, orcas arent an option for getting around, and BRs are just too small even after your proposed buff. Now the only real option is a rorqual or JF which takes setting up a POS out of the picture for the average player.

Can they tank like that until the next downtime? Because with a scram+web they ain't going anywhere but a killboard.