Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Well, we are more than happy to pay 50+x the cost for a few percentage points or a few extra meters (gotta have Da Bling!), goes for PvE as well as PvP so by all means fly the Stabber over the Vagabond if you want but say a 50/50 win/loss ratio might have been 80/20 instead if you had chosen to fork out the cash

Either way, the argument and indeed the entire scenario is fubar as logic dictates that the derived T2 hulls will get a bump when Fozzie/Ytterbium get that far .. in the meantime I suggest you enjoy some high performance and dirt cheap (comparatively) pew.

Don't know if this was asked elsewhere in the thread but, what are the plans for Faction cruisers? just general improvement over T1 and if so what about faction cruisers that are completely different to their T1 counterparts eg. Navy exequror is a combat cruiser as supposed to a logistics ship, perhaps im jumping the gun slightly but would be interested to know.

Pashan's Turret Handling Mindlink would like a word with you . . .
As would the Eifyr and Co. 'Gunslinger' Medium Projectile Turret MP-806

The first one is a 7% damage bonus to turrets, and sells on contracts for around 1.6 billion

The second one is a 6% damage bonus to medium projectile turrets and sells for around 450 million in Jita

the former will only ever give you 250 DPS on a dreadnaught or titan, and the latter will never give you 250 DPS

Vaga still has the better resists.

But as a general PSA, don't forget that T2 ships will also get their attention once T1 is through. But even with that said, a crapton of T1 ships were practically ignored or never really used, always being in the shadow of everything else. Time to change that and I'm glad how things are rolling in, so I'm going to say: Keep it coming, CCP.

Brutix does more damage than shield Cane at all ranges, while having more EHP. It dies to the neuts, however, unless it uses ECMs and gets to pump Void at close range.

Standard thron fits get 900 dps at maxed skills, I'm talking armor tank not shield. AKA full rack of neutrons and two damage mods /w neut.

Drake can get 70% resists across the board making that only around 150 dps and passive recharge can get up to 500hp/s, that's what I'm talking about.

Regarding both Caracal/Stabber:

Drones add utility to a hull. A full flight of lights/mediums can add another 90/150 dps (and be of use vs. frigates) or be used for light EWAR (not only referring to ECM drones; I understand there are plans to do something with ECM in general at some point; good). The lack of any real dronebay on both the Caracal and the Stabber will likely put them at a disadvantage for small gang/solo compared to the Omen/Thorax, and steer them more towards "specialist" roles, if any (mostly Caracal; you get to spam heavies from range, THAT sounds like fun. Stabber I'm not sure about). I was at some point told Tech I was supposed to be more "generalist", not sure if this still stands?

Caracal: Previous posters have voiced their concerns about the Caracal and the high PG requirements of HAMLs compared HMLs, and I agree that the current PG on the Caracal seems too tight for HAMs. Likely to especially be a problem for new players. Also, there is no option to "downgrade guns" when it comes to missile launchers. Its either "yes" or "no, fit a completely different launcher type". Since lasers/artillery are now being looked into, it might be an idea to do that with missile launchers as well?

Stabber: I disagree with the 6 highslot/4 turrets/2 launcher layout, especially coupled with the meager 7,5% per level falloff bonus. It seems to lack "sting", and the launchers aren't likely to help with that. If anything, perhaps drop the velocity to a point where it is faster than the rest of the attack cruisers, without being "extremely" fast, add a turret. maybe look into the falloff bonus. The way I read the stats it seems its geared towards kiting/"skirmishing".

Thorax: Looking forward to this, though; removing hitpoints just to get even numbers?

Omen: I don't fly them; don't know enough to comment, especially with the laser changes.

I think that would be the 200mm rail brutix....but those are quite rare......and why are all discussions on other weapon platforms and ships coming back to battlecruisers??

I'm banking on there being more Bellicose use in most practical LM situations. It has the full fight of Warriors and Painter Bonus with the same Mid / Low Setup and greater speed. Missile Velocity seems to be the Caracals only big advantage in this situation which might help attack frigates. That and competition from the new Cal / Min Missile Destroyers which I think I read somewhere that CCP said would be taking the major role of the AML Caracal should drive down its use in that role primarily. As for Heavy Missiles I don't know, probaby for most uses inside Drone Range, probably kiting HAM's too.

Personally I am hoping CCP does away with the heavy hand to Cal / Min Drones and gives the Caracal a new Osprey sized bay (20m3) and the Stabber the Ruptures Bay. That would probably lead to more HAM Caracals which despite what people say only need one ACR to fit.

The Caracal's damage potential isn't even close to the others. With 2 BCS, max damage will be around 400. And that's with T2 ammo, which will not be hitting for full effect unless the enemy is moving less than 139 m/s. Dreadnoughts beware!

I can understand keeping the Stabber's damage potential low, since it has the highest speed and lowest signature radius. I'm with you there. But the Caracal has the slowest base speed and highest signature radius!

Compare it to the thorax. Neutrons, two mag stabs, Thorax does a maximum of 520 DPS before drones (680 with). With a tracking bonus, it will be doing full damage at close range. Also, thorax is faster, has a lower signature radius, more total hitpoints, higher scan resolution, more capacitor and 40m3 more drone bay/bandwidth.

The current stats are a step in the right direction for the caracal, but it still comes up way short. If it's supposed to be an attack cruiser, it should be capable of dealing some real damage, not a puny 400.

To close the gap, I'd say at least 6th launcher (and extra fitting room for it), and 4 light drones are necessary. Even still, it would be doing about 150 less DPS than the thorax.

edit - I'd also like to add that the range bonus is absolutely useless. Let's say you want to kite at point range, you now don't have a web on your target. Kiting ships often project very well because their target tries to approach them, lowering transversal. This will not be the case for the caracal! Since missile damage is based on target velocity, not transversal, an enemy approaching you at 800 m/s will be taking only a small portion of your already-anaemic 400 dps. Oh, and that's before his resistances are applied. Might as well just use a condor...?