Ships & Modules

TL;DR: Destroyers are notably absent from the Faction ship lineup, and could (should) serve as a strong answer to recent buffs in Interceptors and Pirate Frigates. If you agree, please indicate so and help discuss how to make this work.


I still find it strange that Destroyers are the only ship class between Frigates and Battleships that don't have a Navy Faction variant. I know I'm not the first to post about this, so let's see what propositions we can put forth to CCP to get the ball rolling on filling this obvious gap.

The progression of ship size/power is as follows:
T1 Frigates > Navy Frigates > T1 Destroyers > Assault/Pirate Frigates > (T2 Destroyers) > Cruisers > ect.

I put Interdictors in parentheses because they are almost nonexistent outside of Nullsec, and serve only an extremely niche role out there. They are indeed faster and do more damage than the T1 destroyers, but at literally 30-50x the cost for just the hull. They also require several skills at lvl5 which are only really useful beyond lvl4 for the purpose of flying the interdictors.

T1 Destroyers are purpose built for killing frigates, and yet they are just over half the speed of any given frigate and will loose probably 7/10 times to a properly flown assault or pirate frigate. For this reason, I think there's more than enough room for and cause to have a fraction destroyer that fits in between AFs and Cruisers.

So what would they be like?

Navy frigates combine the best of that empire's T1 frigates. The Comet, for example, is about as fast as an Atron, about as tanky as the Incursus, and about as flexible (kitey or Brawley) as the Tristan, with a few drones to resemble that part.

Ergo, Navy Destroyers should be a hybrid of the two dessys of each empire. Speed, in particular, is a concern since most destroyers have a hard time keeping up with Cruisers, much less their intended prey. A tiny bump in damage output and defense along with a significant bump in speed would be well worth the additional cost. Somewhere around 20-25k loyalty points, plus cash and a hull, or 25-40m ISK at market sounds pretty reasonable compared to the cost of a 'dictor.

Let's see if a reasonable argument for these could actually get CCP's attention.... Thoughts?

I don't know, given the rise of the interceptor meta it might be worth considering a role for a boosted destroyer group focused with catching, holding, and destroying them. Bonus to scan resolution for fast locking and disruptor range. MWD speed bonus but without a SIG bloom bonus so that anything with a medium weapon will essentily volley them so that they can not suplant those same interceptors job at holding down subcaps that are larger.

What is it you want a Navy BC for that a Command Ship can't already do?
What is it you want a Navy Cruiser for that a HAC can't already do?

Daredevils are trash what are you talking about m8.

The Comet is a slightly faster, slightly punchier Incursus. It doesn't combine several, it's just a slight upgrade to one.

The Navy Faction Catalyst therefore should be slightly faster and (as slightly punchier than 700DPS is probably pushing things for frigate weapons) probably slightly tankier than the T1; with slightly improved fittings, HP...etc.
Tank bonus would be active rep (because that's the Gallente way) so the current (tracking and falloff?) bonuses would have to be squeezed up to make room.
Reduce the mass a little to improve MWD performance, increase the base speed and voila.

The general rule for improvements is T1 -> Faction -> Pirate while T2 mean specialization.

What I would like to see is navy destroyers to follow the path of navy battlecruisers.

My idea is make them with extreme tank and damage application (range and/or tracking) but reduce their speed and agility significantly. They would serve like nearly stationary platforms which would kill any frigate that would get close enough.

The only problem I can see with this concept is the small FW plex where this shoup would be extremely powerful

Tech I Interdictors.

this. even if its just a 3/3/3 slot layout.

You're thinking in line with "it flies like an upgraded incursus" which is incorrect.

Comet carries the tracking bonus of the Tristan plus three of its drones, the same slot layout of the Incursus -without- the armor repair bonus, and splits the speed/agility of the Atron/Incursus.

Hookbill has the slot layout of the Merlin plus one mid slot, the damage projection of the Kestrel, and splits the speed/agility of the Condor and Kestrel.

All of the faction frigates follow this trend, and if we want to legitimately pitch this as a petition to CCP, we have to follow suite.

So, everyone, what base stats should Navy Destroyers carry in order to fill this apparent role as an answer to interceptors and pirate/assault frigates? I have some specific ideas, but I would love to see what everyone has to say (those of you who are actuallyfamiliar with faction frigate PvP especially ).

Aren't Navy Battlecruisers one of the LEAST popular ship classes to use given that...

- they are nowhere near as beefy or provide as much support as command ships
- they don't deal much more dps than a regular combat BC
- they still have all the weaknesses of BCs
- the only thing they have over regular BCs is an extra slot and more HP


I would think Navy Destroyers would have the same problems. If anything... navy BCs should be removed from the game.