Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Inspired by ancient myths of those days when the Navies of governments sailed the high seas rather than the desolate stretches of space, an idea which was long lost is being evaluated for Space Faring usage by the various factions of Eve.

Increasingly irritated by the grievous losses and damages inflicted upon their supply chains by roving gangs of pirates and marauders, ship builders are beginning to design what would have been known as Q-ships in the distant past. These vessels bear outward resemblance to various industrial ships, most commonly freighters. However, this is merely a clever facade constructed around the design of a purely combat oriented ship. Highly advanced IFF's mimic those of their industrial cousins to avoid tipping off eager pirates who rely solely on their overviews, and cargo holds can be configured to appear to be holding valuable goods. These vessels are at home as advanced parties who travel ahead of convoys in order to preemptively spring any traps which may be set around gates, or mixed in with the convoy itself as wolves in sheep's clothing.

Their bulkheads conceal armaments rivaling those of battlecruisers and even battleships, and what they lose in maneuverability, they make up for in their ability to withstand blistering incoming fire, with the false exteriors and cargo bays of the ship providing buffer zones to critical systems. This comes at the cost of being unable to easily flee an engagement which proves to be too much of a challenge for their abilities, and the crews on board know it. Their sole purpose and duty is to either defeat those who would harm them or their merchant brethren, or at least to fight to the bitter end and perhaps allow their convoy to escape.

It is predicted that these ships, if adopted, will quickly become a mainstay for any merchants or governments wishing to move high value cargo through dangerous reaches of the void.

Or.... We could take a page from the days of the spanish main. And stop insisting industrials must be flimsy targets fit only for ganking and cowering in fear.
Instead we decide what size vessel they are equivalent to and give them base EHP and fittings to match up to and including unbonused turrets/launchers in the same number as standard for vessels of that size, and then sit back and watch all the emergent game play surrounding them emerge.
Caveat on this to make it practical is Cargo extenders would need to get stacking penalties added so that 50% of the cargo isn't in the 6th extender you fit.

Except EVE mechanics would make such a nightmare since each ship class needs unique hull ID's and the like.
Fixing the base Industrial ships to not be such stupid hulls would be a better fit. People should consider taking them along in larger fleets for resupply for example, they should be able to fit prop mods, tank, and even some guns/launchers appropriate to their size.
Personally I'd take them as BC sized vessels, but cruiser would also be fine, or make the tanky hull one size and the squishy hull the other (Tanky cruiser, squishy BC but with same base EHP as the cruiser for the extra space). Suddenly they no longer are stupid, you can choose to fit them decently rather than not even having the fitting room for a sensible prop mod, you can even fit them as a bait Q ship if you want then.

So it becomes all about the way you fit them rather than hard baked uselessness.
And then we can all laugh at the pure cargo fits trying to take Niarja on as foolish, since there will actually be viable options. And convoys of pure haulers all being productive will be able to fight back, without needing to have escorts 'just in case' since they are their own escorts (Think WWII bomber convoys when the fighters didn't have the range to stay with them to escort).

I actually don't even fly industrial most of the time. And you have to admit that those fits arent nearly as effective as dedicated battleships or battlecruisers. The entire point of this is one that can hold its own in a fight and even come out on top if the odds aren't too stacked against it, while appearing to present a tempting target for gate camps. It's basically a way to hunt the hunters.

So what you're saying is that you want a bastion-mode Marauder with an industrial skin so you can die to slightly more ganking dessies once you realize you can't escape?

TL:DR give DST 4 turret slots and 5% bonus to racial weapons

Industrial ships that were designed more along the lines of a Spanish Galleon or Dutch East Indiamen would be a lot more interesting than the loot pinata designs we currently have in Eve.

As I see it, the Galleon type ships would hold more but be less combat capable than a T1 cruiser. The East Indiamen types would hold less, but be as combat capable as a T1 cruiser.

With that said, it is still of limited utility, since the best tank/gank combination would always be a scout. Most of the time if I am actually hauling something, I don't want to get caught. I want to evade as much as possible. If I do get caught in an industrial, it's because I royally screwed up, or I am bait.

Q ships would be hillarious i'd be SO GAME for freighters with scary broadside weapons bays...

Sounds like another combat Orca.

You should also mention the use of Q ships wasn't very successful historically.