Player Features and Ideas Discussion

there were some good ideas in here.
i dont think they need more fire power, 4 t2 x2 is damage enough.
(of course, the vargur is in need of power).

1.if they need to be in hostile territory as the description implies, they need scanning bonuses.

2.sensor str needs to be better than any other bs out there, period. from a mission stand point.

3.i still like the salvage ability, so we need to keep the large cargo holds.

4. give them a bonus to salvage drones % and an extra drone bay to hold 5 salvage drones.

5.i REALLY like the idea of having the assault launchers in 1 high slot. give them 1 assault launcher and give it the x2 weap bonus so it can fend off pesky drones and frigs (or a small turret slot if its a turret based ship).

6.resists...the dang thing needs resists. the actve rep bonus is nice, but its even better when you can resist the damage to begin with. maybe the lighter ones like on the field command ship (absolution or zealot, not the damnaiton and sacrilege).

7. better scan resolution. if this were just a ship they built for massive damage and cleaning up the field, it would have better damage bonuses than a tier 3 bc or any pirate bs. it isnt, its a utility ship. needs good range and great scan res.

8.i love my web bonus on my paladin, dont do away with that. but even with it, i cant hit frigs with mega pulse.

what about a speed bonus? they could be light weight, fast striking. that could give it a little unique bonus. maybe 5% or 7.5% to burner speeds or something. they come in, destroy everything, loot the field and then burn out before anyone knows they were there.

the problem is, ccp designed them to not be "overpowered" and then went and made everything else over powered around it and when we speak of buffing them up like they should be, people freak out because they think it would be OP when in reality, what is OP anymore? there are A LOT of powerful craft out there to choose from, we need a good utility craft that can hold its own.
the marauder needs to be buff (6 pack abs buff). it doesnt need more fire power, it just needs to get rid of the gimpy sensors, get some resists and a more modern bonus pack. the scan probe bonus would be nice. make it as good as a cov ops since it has more room for better equipment and its designed for "deep space operations behind enemy lines".

normally, i would be against the whole cloaking bonus idea, but the point was made that since they do survive behind enemy lines, and that got me to thinking. a unique cloaking bonus would be that they could they get a scan resolution penalty reduction (20% at marauder 1-100% at marauder 5) and the cloaking delay is removed like on a bomber (maybe 20-100% depending on marauder skill level). marauders could throw on a normal cloak, would slow to whatever the cloak says % wise, once the threat is gone, decloak and start raiding the sanctum again without having double gimped scan str. no flying cloaked, no speed bonus while cloaked, none of that black ops stuff, just the ability to disappear and then come back and continue on.

or they could gain an ability towards the micro jump drive or something. that would be a kewl new niche. a % to jump distance or reduction in power needs to they could fit a burner and mjd. or, a reduction in the time it takes to activate it, so u could mwj out, then cloak up and slow boat away. the time delay reduction would be nice. 10% per level... could make the marauder an escape artist, or ebul in pvp.

these are just ideas, no need to bash em. im not asking for anything, just throwing it out there so you guys might come up with something creative based off of them.. =)

bs 5, plus marauder 10x skill, it deserves some nice bonuses. its beyond a bs.
i dont think it needs any more firepower personally, but it needs something else besides a small bone. and its tank isnt the best, my damnation will kick its butt.
a scan res bonus will not make it any beter than a pirate bs. it has a specific role to play. it needs bonuses to fullfill it. why dont we get rid of all the bonuses and just make it a t2 shiney bs? that costs 850m, and has the firepower of a tier 3 bc.
better scan res and better sensor str is a start. but its an exploration/combat ship. it needs exploration bonuses.

the exploration niche would deffinately be good.

now, the idea of a point blank that uses ammo but no slot? thats something to think about.
i would know how to implement it nor having a restriction to allow multiple sized launchers.
i know the caracal gets bonuses for small and medium missiles, but nothing is limiting the size, its player choice.

i really dont think ccp would want to spend the time to develope the code for it tho.

but, yes, thats why we have drones. webs and drones.

back to the exploration side, a bs sized ship that can scan plexes or sanctums, cloak when needed, has a large bay for loot and salvage would REALLY be nice. plus, maybe its own ammo bay so the loot isnt hampered by the ammount of ammo you havent used yet.

ok so,
cov ops scan bonus
moderate resist boost (maybe slightly less armor to make up for the repper/resist bonus)
web bonus (for the 2/tracking and missile bonus for the other 2)
cloaking bonus to scan res (maybe lock delay/scan reduction with level)
large cargo/ammo hold
repper bonus increase

plus the other bonus i am forgetting.

this sounds like a fun worm hole ship.

what about an rr bonus? if you are out with friends pillaging and plundering, doing what marauders do, a good rr bonus would deffinately come in handy. maybe range bonus, doesnt have to be ammount 3x range or something only marauders have...

what do ya think?

Let them equip a siege module! /end-troll

Seriously though, what's wrong with making them slow battleships with large tanks and high damage? Pirate BSs should all receive a speed/agility boost (to about the level of the Machariel, maybe a bit less) and they can be the fast battleships, and have the Marauders be the big, slow guns.

Doesn't that kind of kill the whole 'lone wolf' concept that the ship is based on?

sounds good. as far as an rr bonus, it would defeat the lone wolf play. but the cloak thing really isnt an issue. we can fit em now. just get rid of the scan penalty. the delay doesnt matter to me. just an idea to help survivability.
and they wouldnt come close to blops.
not looking to go down that road.

maybe another utility slot and block the use of neuts.
4 guns/4 utility
scanning, cloaking, tractor, salvage
if it had bonuses to these, it would be a very useful wh or pve ship.

I really hated the fact these were designed in the first place with the notion of being 'PVE boats', particularly given the Kronos is the coolest looking Megathron hull ever, but also because this goes against the whole grain of Eve. I also despise the fact that this is the only option for a true non-Serpentis blasterboat, as it's the only one that retains actual webs....

Anyhow, this now no longer chimes with the aspiration of making PVE 'shooting activites'/fits more aligned/akin to PVP, so I really think they (that's you Rise/Fozzie) should take a long hard look at what the actual role for Marauders should be - nothing in Eve that fires a weapon should be stovepiped into 'PVE' because if you make it right from the start, the mission fits will naturally evolve (look at the evolution of incursion fits on pirate BS's).

First off, get rid of the absurdly low sensor strength. Secondly, bin the tractor bonus (salvaging mechanics need looking at seperately re: wreck ownership), then look at where these ships could actually fit into each races doctrine.

I could not agree with you more.
Even before Marauders were released, CCP always liked to drive home the fact that EVE is a PVP game first and foremost and the PVE aspect is ultimately a means to an end (isk for pew pew so to speak), but then they went ahead and released T2 Battleships and decided to make them PVE focused by giving them huge sensor strength holes.

Like you said, it goes against EVE. Ships with damage or combat bonuses should never be designed with PVE in mind.

first time I've heard probing on a BS

I like +1

i still like the idea of the MJD bonus. they can have a reduction to cut the time in 1/2 or more, or increase the distance up to like 150 or something. maybe the delay could be dropped down by 15% per level to 3 seconds, minus the 5% per level from mjd. that would give someone around 2 seconds to lock you before you blink. easy for ceptors and whatnot, but other ships start to run short on time. or like an extra 10% range per level too. when you are trying to run that blockaide, you can jump in a gate, mjd, pop out 100km-150km behind the bubble before you get locked by the interlopers and align and warp out. if yer gettin pummeled in sanctums or wh space, u can pop yer mjd and try to get out assuming yer not pointed.

make em lighter, less armor, but better resistance so the EHP is about the same but the weight is different. these should NOT be (IMO) heavy azzed bombardment boats. they should be fast, nimble, hard hitting but still be able to take a hit or 2. they should be able to locate enemies and warp to them. locate roid belts and go in and clear the belt of hostiles for the miners to follow. they shouldnt be jammed by rats very easily.



Run away: +aoe ecm and/or +warp stab
Hide: +agility and/or the ability to effectively cloak in order to keep bouncing or wait out the armada over his/her head to pass by
Collect its loot with ease: tractor and salvage bonuses
Survive: A strong active tank with a substantial amount of base buffer
Engage targets small and large: weapons with enough firepower to take down npc BS's relatively quick + ewar or small weapons to take down the smaller targets
Operate for extended periods of time alone: ++cargo bay and +capacitor recharge rate to avoid the need to use cap rechargers
Engage gurista rats: fix the sensor strength problem


this is REALLY close to the ship i am collecting input to help design.
the mjd would help escape
the cloak would definately help hide
tractor/salvage bonus is nice to include the use of drones
strong active tank-yes, but one doesnt need buffer if u have resists. lessen the ammount to lighten the ship for fast strikes but still have the same EHP

limit its use of weapons like neuts or whatever.

personally, i agree with strong..."Personally, I'm hoping CCP will make Marauders more viable for PvP - the battleship-sized versions of Assault ships/Heavy assault ships. And again, changing the tractor bonus would barely impact its PVE capabilities given the existence of the Noctis and salvage drones."