Ships & Modules

I've been eyeing up the two Caldari command ships as part of my command burst training program. From a command burst perspective, the Nighthawk and the Vulture are very similar ships. The significant differences between them are:

1. Weapon System of choice (Missiles vs Hybrids)
2. Powergird (The Vulture has more)
3. Slot layout (Nighthawk +1 mid, Vulture +1 low)

As I see it, the Nighthawk is the ideal burst platform - The extra mid slot permits a stronger tank and higher survivability, reasonable skills negate the power-grid difference, and weapons are a secondary consideration for a command ship.

The capsuleers of New Eden seem to disagree with me: The Vulture sells for almost twice the price of the Nighthawk, suggesting the Vulture is in far higher demand.

My corp-mates concluded that the difference was based on weapon systems. We believed that only the more dedicated Caldari enthusiasts would train missile skills to the level necessary to lever the full power of the Nighthawk, creating less demand for it. Along these lines, I would have thought the Damnation's oddball Khanid Missile systems would have even less demand from Amarr pilots who don't have a single T1 missile hull. Yet, the Damnation is the most expensive of all command ships, apparently in the highest demand.

I'd like to start discussion on the relative merits of the Nighthawk and Vulture. Do you think the price difference comes down to weapons systems, or does a deeper factor hold the Nighthawk back?

what do little said OP.
you confused the slot layouts.

vulture gets more tank, aka is a better platform for links.
same reasons why damnation >absolution! way more tanky
same with astarte>eos

afaik nighthawk is generally considered to be among the worst ships in eve, I can't think of a single reason to use one. Vultures at least can be part of a rail doctrine.

well I'm a bad caldari and it took me years to go back to even think about doing missile skills. These days small and medium hybrids are far more viable than in the past and it is very possible that the pilot will have hybrids trained. also on a CS level training plan the difference between weapon systems is pretty small.

for most tasks I'd prefer a tengu to a nighthawk by a fairly large margin. and I believe the vulture is the tanker of the two so I'd go with that for CS level boosting.

It's not a Muninn? At least it has that going for it.

Before the introduction of the Tengu and revamps of the Rattlesnake it was a pretty solid mission ship that could basically snooze through L4s, at least on par with the Raven/CNR. But then heavy missile had their teeth kicked in and the rest is history.

Moving a low to a mid would certainly open up some options but I have to wonder if the bonuses are even right at this point.