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you will be able to spread out easily afterwards too.

Yes it is, but there is a clear exploit going to be available here. People who attack FW plexes are still going to be setting up dedicated off grid boosters. A Claymore with a set of 3 boosting rigs and 6 boosting modules for example. The attacking fleet warps to the gate and aligns. FC calls fleet in, Claymore fires off all 6 boosts and then warps to safety. Throw in a second booster alt and you can apply all 12 boosts.

Yes it only applies for one minute (or slightly more depending on skills), but the attacker also has the advantage of deciding whether to take the fight or not. He simply doesn't activate the gate if he hasn't got an overwhelming advantage and is sure he can break the enemy in that first minute.

If anything this will make offgrid boosting safer. At least in the current system it is possible to hunt them down. But the new system allows them to bounce to a safe and cloak up or simply bounce between safes.

Edit: Looks like the maximum number of boosts a command ship can carry will be 5, but still a valid concern.

Please remove the industrial core from the game, or at least its "pinned down in space for 5 mins"

super defensive weapon all shiny and stuff, but that it is mandatory because this flippin slow giant has to wait out the timer is a joke.

Oh and that i manually have to press the boosts every 1-2 minutes? - seriously?

World of Warcraft Classic Paladin sends his greetings, please get a nice cloth dress for the rorqual *sarcasm*

There are people that are mad here because they like the play style in its current form, but I think most of these posts are aimed at the whole sweeping rework of mechanics that seems frankly unnecessary.

Personally, I have no issue bringing a command ship on grid. Super easy.

But lets look at a couple of scenarios? PVP and PVE.
PVE:
C4 site running -
So we get newbros that want to site run, and we'll often provide boosts to make c4s even easier. Most of the time the fleet gets pretty spread out because you'll have pilots at varying level of skill and preference (cruisers and BCs are expecially prone here). So as a booster (or 2) there's no way I'm going to keep boosts on my fleet, and chances are good that the guys that need it (working out towards 1x falloff for shield reps) aren't going to get it.
*Conclusion: It's just inconvenient, adds a frustration to an already low paying pve activity, that's more meant to get people used to working as a group and taking squad warps than it is to make any real isk. It also means, that in 99% of the situations we would just forego boosts and use that person as a scout or additional DPS.
*Alternatively: If command links had a longer range, (100-200km?) we would hold onto them as a useful addition.

C5 site running:
Here the effect is much less pronounced mostly because the sleepers come into much closer ranges. The isk is better, we would probably still keep a command ship on field. But, at that point you may as well just have 3 basi's other than the point/web utility for the drifter battleship that spawns at the end.
*conclusion - minimal impact but it'd be a toss up if you just bring extra reps (since they'll have more range) or the command ship for a bit of utility.

PVP:
Armor WH Brawls: Really no change. We'll be fighting at 0 w/an EOS or Damnation if we're getting boosts (which is rare). Although, being able to 'apply links' before the fleet jumps through the next hole into the fight is an interesting mechanic. EDIT: I SEE THAT IS NOT THE CASE, changing systems will negate the boosts. Thanks for the correction. It'll let the command ship hold cloak to avoid being the target of nuets and let him get his next set of links off. Although, more likely he'll just uncloak and burn to tackle something.
*conclusion: no real change in gameplay.

Shield fights: This is where it gets tricky. A lot of times you're playing with a single scimitar, DPS, and some nuets. You'll generally have people at multiple ranges depending on preference (tackle, if you bring jams). If you're fighting on a hole - you maybe have something with a long point (rapier?) to grab some tackle, or a brawling gila. My point - your fleet is going to be spread out. The pilots are going to be making their own decisions on position. Commands on whether you follow enemies through or try to pull them out will be given directionally but it's on the team to figure out how to make them happen. For ganks, this doesn't really change anything - you just follow the sabre and apply dps.
Conclusion: Inconvenient, doesn't give the command ship a clear role - stay closer to the hole to apply boosts to everyone? stay near logi? It's a reasonable trade-off but it seems like it gives armor fleets a clear advantage because their fleet is going to be set up to brawl and isn't going to worry about disengaging. I'd say that it's a clear pain in the ass and likely you'll see less command ships being flown in that capacity. It's especially frustrating if you have a rapier or long points because while dictating range and disengagement will be key - getting you command ship in position to boost the right people at the right times is just going to be frustrating especially when people are calling for reps, numbers of enemies, and directing ewar.

Overall, it seems like there's LESS of a reason to bring a command ship in wormhole space than their was before after the changes. Most of those changes are a direct effect of range.

Also, what about people that want to train INTO command ships? That what 18-30km initial command range is just going to be garbage. The only people you'll get training is alts, or people that already have everything they want because otherwise the time to train is too steep (for casual players). When I first trained into my command ship, I was popping T1 links in and knew I was making a difference.

My solution would be - increase the range dramatically. I really don't understand the need for a consumable ammo, but if it's gotta be there whatever. I hope that boosts just show up as one icon on your hud because you already have a bunch if your in pvp/pve as a group (nos, scram, cap transfer, shield transfer/armor transfer) I feel like it could be overload in certain situations.

This is a huge improvement in overall balance.

If you want the power offered by a Moros in an operation, you need to put the Moros on grid and at risk.

Now, the same is true for the power offered by a command ship, or the very different type of power offered by a Rorqual. Want the rewards? Take the risks. Don't think the rewards are worth risking expensive ships? Then field a budget alternative, just as you might field Rattlesnakes or Megathrons instead of dreadnoughts if the mission was high risk.

The range numbers should be seriously thought out - I'm not going to comment on whether 15km is right or not without trying it. Even if another number would be better - 15km is the proposed rule for both sides.

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That said, one point: Command ships probably need the capacity to fit more tank (while still boosting) to remain viable. They've been OK in the past with their paper thin tanks but this hasn't actually been a case of good balance, it's been underpowered ships whose weaknesses were masked by overpowered mechanics.

I believe that a command ship which fits command bursts and totally eschews all offense should have comparable tank to a tech 1 battleship (whether this be active armor, active shield, buffer armor, buffer shield or passive shield, as long as you compare like for like).

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Finally, Crimewatch. As much as it pains me to say this, the suspect flag (and not the criminal flag) should be inherited when you boost someone, unless that person is cloaked. I will abuse the hell out of consequence-free boosting, and I will *certainly* abuse the hell out of any criminal flag transferring, but it is a broken mechanic.

In light of your response for the following skills

Leadership
Wing Command
Fleet Command

Are you saying that these skills (be it renamed) will still be required to build a fleet?

So for a basic example to apply the links to the full squad currently you require leadership 5 and a 'Booster' in either Squad/Wing/Fleet Command . Am I correct in saying that with the propsed system you will still need to have a person in squad command with the correct skills to allow the full squad to recieve the 'Boost' but it doesn't require the 'Booster' to be in a command postion?

changing system removes the buff again.

To offset the reduced yield you have by fitting tank? stop making it sound like you are the only person affected. Everyone will be affected. If you are purely fitted for yield, then it only makes sense to go that way in a hostile environment when you can offset the losses you suffered from not tanking with that extra yield. For some this calculation works. For others, it doesn't.

Again, for all those who didn't get it; everyone will be affected. If something so all-encompassing is touched, then everyone feels it. So you can't even really talk about a nerf to boosts, as everyone is affected evenly. It's not a nerf to you if someone else can pilot that ship better than you. It's just that you have to step up your game in order to remain competitive. The notion that some seem to express as to how some people magically are not affected by the nerfs is beyond me.

Anyway, wait for the damn Industry boosting devblog that comes up next. Gosh.

Sitting in station, watching your ship collection spin and Avatar sitting in station while sipping on a beer and talk to your pals while clicking through Project Discovery maps.
What? You only asked for one example.

You infer they're selling the product instead of using it for themselves, or rather, their corporation. You also infer they would be selling it themselves, and not give it to another trader to take care of it.
Really, both of you circlejerk around. Yes, a lot of eve is PvP. Not all of it is. Yes, there is more to PvP than ship PvP. Yes, there is a chance that PvP is being forced upon you (in other forms than ganking) which increases the level of PvP participation on a statistical figure. But it never goes up to something like "everything" or 95%. Both are ridiculous figures and everyone knows it.
Lots of people also mistake actual happening PvP with possibilities for PvP. You can mitigate tons of risks and exposures with ease.

Exchanges like these grant me great deals of amusement but I prefer if folks have less one-sided views and more agile minds.

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but 25 pages is too much to read... The issues I would see are as follows:

Cyclical PANIC: Not really a criticism but an obvious tactic... Multiple Rorquals periodically re-upping PANIC. If the module burns out, they can probably survive long enough for a refit between cycles, or obviously a fleet of say 12 rorquals can PANIC for at least an hour. This should be plenty of time to get a fleet together, but it's also enough time to bubble all of the Rorquals.

AFK Mining: I'm still not sure this will get the Rorquals out into the belts in Null as the limitation of liability is a big thing in mining. Many null miners don't even use T2 miners, preferring the Procurer, to make less interesting targets so they can AFK mine. I don't think active mining will ever be "fun" which means that you won't have fixed what was broken with it in the first place that makes everyone want to AFK. I can see Rorquals being used heavily in hi-sec and low-sec like this because bubbles aren't an issue.

Speed Differentials: Many fleets rely on speed and kiting tactics. Command ships are not fast and won't be able to keep up with cruiser fleets very well. A Sleipnir, one of the fastest command ships, has to pulse MWD occasionally to keep up with a Cerberus fleet that has it's MWDs off. During a prolonged kite burn, there's no way for the Command ship to keep in range of the fleet so kiting fleets will need to rely on small booster ships. I'm not sure if this is desired tactic or if you plan to fix it, but it makes Skirmish boosts almost exclusively the realm of small probably shield-tankedships like Command Destroyers. This might result in greater emergence of Command Ship fleets or weird tactics like boost ping bouncing--bounce to fleet boost, bounce to ping, back and forth..., keeping command ship in warp to protect it. You mentioned wanting to up command ship pilot skill, ping bouncing doesn't seem like the direction you were going, but it seems like a direction in which a command ship will be able to successfully apply boosts over a long battle.

These changes massively affect PVE players, possibly more than pvp players.

I would have preferred lower system wide boosts, while giving on grid boosts a bonus.
so 50% for system wide, 100 to 125% for on grid.

I hope we will get skill point refund.
i have 90m skill points invested into boosting toons that are going from being used all day for the benefit of a 600 man corp, to wondering if i should even sub them anymore.

This changes benefit a few people in lowsec, but screw over a very large group of people elsewhere. This is yet another Nerf to the "home advantage".

This also Buffs cloaky camping. i hope this will also be resolved in the same patch to compensate.