Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Hello there, I would like to discuss the current state of the Raptor, which I believe is inferior to the other 3 Combat Interceptors (Taranis, Crusader, and Claw). The Raptor was improved a lot from it's pre-Rubicon state, however it still holds the title of the worst Combat Interceptor in the game, and I'm going to tell you why it's the worst Interceptor in the game, and how we can hopefully change that for the better.

The Raptor loses to every other combat Interceptor at all ranges, there is no unique area where the Raptor excels at which the other Interceptors do not completely destroy it at. All 3 other Interceptors have winning plays against each-other (Claw vs Ranis, kite as long as possible, apply neut pressure) (Claw vs Crusader, get as close as possible, apply neut pressure) (Taranis vs Crusader, Heat AB get on top of it) (Taranis vs Claw, Heat AB get on top of it) (Crusader vs Ranis, Scorch kite as long as possible) (Crusader vs Claw Scorch kite outside neut range).

TL:DR the other 3 Interceptors are balanced and win/loses in duels between the 3 depend on piloting. How it should be. The Raptor loses to all 3 other interceptors just in EFT based exchanges at the most optimal conditions for the Raptor. So despite how good you are in a Raptor and how badly your opponent misplays, you will never ever kill an equally skilled (Skillpoints) opponent in a Raptor.

Blaster Dual-Prop (Taranis Clone Raptor).
VS Taranis: The Taranis out damages the Raptor at almost all ranges despite the fact the the Raptor has a Optimal Range bonus, even if you use Null and try and kite, the Raptor only outdamages the Taranis past 7km and loses to the Taranis again <9km, at it's peak, the Raptor deals an OUTSTANDING 9 more DPS than the Taranis (Both heating) or 5 DPS Cold , . The reason for this is because of the Taranis' Drones and also just flat out having superior damage over the Raptor. The Taranis also has more EHP than the Raptor does. A maxed out Taranis vs a maxed out Raptor with the Raptor having 100% optimal conditions, piloting and play will still lose to the Taranis. The Taranis also has a tracking bonus where as the Raptor does not, so in all likely cases, the Raptor is going to deal less damage to the Taranis, there is no situation with maxed out characters where the Raptor can win even if the Raptor outplays the Taranis and kites at 8km the whole fight (which won't happen in a real engagement).
VS Crusader: The Crusader has more Actual-EHP (From the Ancillary Repper), and outdamages the Raptor at all ranges, and despite the Crusader using highest tier lasers (Small Focused Pulse) vs the Raptor's blasters, the Crusader out-tracks the Raptor because of the tracking bonus. Again, even in optimal conditions, The Raptor loading Void and tracking not being an issue at point blank, and the Crusader being an idiot and fighting you at 0km, the Crusader still wins. TL;DR Raptor can never beat a Crusader, ever, even if Crusader misplays/Raptor outplays.
VS Claw: The Claw simply has much more EHP, A neut which will take it's toll on the Raptor in an extended engagement, and similar damage. The Raptor's best play against the Claw is to fight it at 7km-9km to stay outside neut range and force him to fight with falloff (It is not best to use void because the Claw wins harder at 1km due to applying his full DPS and his utility neut, also, the Claws low base 30m sig and his tracking bonus will likely cause you to lose DPS, he can actually out-track you using Hail vs your Fed Antimatter). The Raptor does approx 45 more DPS than the Claw at peak outside neut range, however, the Claw has significantly more EHP, an ancillary rep, better tracking, it will win the fight.

But uncle Suitonia! There is more than 1 way to fit a ship! Stop trying to fly it like a Taranis!!
The Raptor loses in a variety of fits.

Neutrons+MSE fit
vs Taranis, Taranis overheats AB and orbits you, screwing up your tracking, and you don't have a tracking bonus. The Taranis wins.
vs Crusader, Crusader kites you at 8-9km with Scorch. You are slower than him and with MSE in 3rd mid you have no way to gap-close vs his higher base speed. Crusader wins. Your tracking is also **** and he can outdamage you by loading CR ammo, so even if you somehow manage to get on top of him, he can still win there by slowboating away and shooting you.
Vs Claw, this is a bit closer now, but Claw has superior damage at range now (You don't have locus rig or Rocket launcher), and he has a rep and you don't. The Claw will win if he kites you at 7km~ with barrage and slowly chew through you while repping damage with his charges, Claw can permatank Raptor at range while it has charges, and it will simply win the Rep+EHP vs EHP war.

I mean technically the MSE+Neutron Raptor can win if your opponent plays badly and approachs you in Claw/Crusader/Taranis, but that should never be the balancing factor of a ship! The reason why the blaster Taranis works is that it can be dual-prop and get on top of Claw/Crusader in 5-6 seconds with heated AB, the MSE Raptor has absolutely no-way to get on Claw/Crusader, and the Taranis can abuse the Raptors lack of a tracking bonus if the Raptor doesn't have a 3rd mid for range control (ab or web).

Playing around with some napkin math, this makes it very very slightly better at full t2, and rapidly lose that advantage with the use of cheaper faction modules, but gets back up to slightly better with expensive faction or lowend deadspace. +1.

I think swapping the roles back how they were would be good, and then just cover the raptor in range and damage bonuses until it can kite. massive nerfs to light missiles pls.

pretty sure caldari are not 'supposed' to do blasters.

I do agree with the POST, something has to be done as the raptor is now got its name back as craptor.

? What about T2 ammo is broken?

... I'm not quite sure where to start on what a mess this argument is, but it really needs to be taken to another thread as it's well outside the scope of fixing the Craptor.

Raptor has the sickness called "Shield resist bonus on a ship with 3 meds". Needs to be remedied by high slot ->med slot switch, followed by a CPU and pg boost. It has a very nice hybrid range bonus and can be used as a rail kiter. You need to forget about orbitting though. You'll outtrack yourself.

Right now Raptor cannot compete with taranis as an hybrid weapon ceptor. It can mayybe compete with Atron.

definitely move the utility high to a mid .. so you can actually fit .. MSE II web, scram/disruptor and mwd

utilty highs are generally garbage for frig on frig. not even close to being as good as a mid or low. but I don't want to **** up your thread further with more 'big eve balance problems'.

The DPS output would be very similar (because the PG increase means you aren't paying for a Micro Auxillary Power Core)