Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Ok, so while this thread will pertain to a drone focused and bonused ship, this is NOT a mini-carrier or transport carrier.

They would not be capable of fielding fighters or fighter bombers.



T2 class Battleships based off tier 3 hull designs, but modified for drone utility, at the expense of weapons bays being modified to house more drones/drone computing relays(tm).

These hulls WOULD NOT be drone damage focused ships, and will not receive a drone damage bonus, though they will be capable of considerable damage, if focused on damage.


So, lets get into some ideas based on bonuses

Class specific bonus (pick a name) - Can field 1 addl drone per level... Addl drone capability would give a meaningful reason to train to lvl 5, which is different from a lot of ships in game, where lvl 5 bonuses are out weighed by training time.

Racial Battleship bonus - My idea is that this bonus would be focused on tanking capability

High end drone skill bonus(pick one) - Bonus to drone velocity

Racial drone skill Bonus - Bonus to the effectiveness of racial ewar drones

Role Bonuses - Can fit a Bastion Module
Bonus to the effectiveness of shield or Armor transfer drones (race specific)

Bastion Bonuses - Ewar immune (still susceptible to cap warfare)
Drone control range buff
Tanking buff


The only stat I am specific on for these ships is Drone Bandwidth... Limiting them to a fleet of 10 medium drones (or lights if best suited). So, they'd be capable of 10 light/medium, but wouldn't be able to field even a fleet of 5 heavy/sentry.

Balance - Obviously fitting capability would limit balance..

Perhaps, due to power requirements, these ships would have a somewhat nerfed Drone control range, when outside of Bastion, making them still useful, but giving a purpose for using Bastion.(likely the most debatable part)

If attempting to buff damage output, you would hender yourself on tanking capability, though there may have to be discussion on how to balance this, as shield tanks would be less hendered. (perhaps introducing new armor passive tanking modules to Eve (needed anyway) and allowing these ships to focus on passive tanking, which requires substantially more low and midslot dedication to tank.

No bonus to drone attack range which will make these ships easier to counter with smart bombs.




I'm sure there's more I'm missing, but that's what discussions on the forums are all about.

As far as the most commonly asked questions, being "role" and "why do we need it"


Role - BS class support ship, which is overall generally missing from the game for at least two races. People have been asking for a ship to fill the gap between a carrier and a logistics ship.
This ship would not only fill that gap in logistics, but also fill the gap between sub-cap drone boats and carriers.

Why do we need it - Well, my first argument to this is, if we only implemented what we "needed" in game, there wouldn't be a game to begin with.

As far as a more literal argument to why we need it -
This is somewhat summed up in the Role... There's currently a gap between drone boats and carriers, as well as a gap between logistics and carriers. These ships would fill that gap, and if done right, in a way that allows logistics and carriers to both still be viable (though I would argue on the viability of carriers as more than POS reps.)

Another argument to the Why we need it point would be perhaps a bonus to these ships that makes them an effective ship against capitals that doesn't require the full dedication of a massive fleet.
Their DPS against capitals wouldn't be something special, but perhaps bastion give them some sort of bonus that counters the effectiveness of capital weapons/drones??? (this is another topic of debate, and basically just a random idea I threw in)


I would very much like to have a discussion on this idea that doesn't become a topic of "No, cause I said No."

I have no idea what the nestor is capable of... Haven't gotten the chance to pilot one.

However, as far as the rest of your comments, that's why it's a discussion topic..

How can we take this general concept and balance it a bit better?

I don't know, that's why we're having a discussion, on, if we were to introduce a ship class like this, how would we balance it and still make it viable?

tldr:

- OP wants a drone based Marauder that does less DPS than an actual Marauder and is bonused toward using drone types that are useless (even with the bonuses)... just because he wants to be able to field more than 5 drones.

- OP feels that there is a "gap" between drone battleships and carriers... there isn't. They both use the same mechanics. The only difference between them is...
------- the number of drones that can be used (which, when taking subcapital droneboat bonuses into account, is effectively the same in terms of stats)
------- Fighters use (which are basically beefier drones with warp capability),
------- EHP (generic difference... look at the disparity between frigate EHP and battleship EHP)
------- and jump capability (purely capital aspect outside of Blops).

- OP doesn't understand seem to understand how "weak" Bastion Mode is in PvP (hint: it is like a Carrier/Dred using Triage/Siege Mode... you are dead unless you have support nearby).

- OP doesn't know how to balance. Just wants "cool" and "everything else be damned."


Sometimes there are ideas that just aren't good in concept.

I like the concept of a heavy support ship.

Drone focus would/should be only about what a Dominix has interms of damage and drone bay and bandwidth, maybe a bonus to logistic drones.

RR support should be balanced around 60~70km at max skills.

But none of this matters as long as logistic cruisers have the ability to use large RR modules.

1st new BS idea i don't have a problem with could be interesting to see a ship with Ewar drone bonus +1