Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Here's my in depth analysis of the problem regarding Gallente Battleships.

I will focus on one of the most important roles, if not the primary role, of Battleships - Fleet Line DPS. I say this because Battleships are far too vulnerable to smaller ships to be viable solo, and are of limited use in small gang engagements, where they are outshined by Battlecruisers in most aspects. Their roles basically boil down to fleet warfare and PvE.

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Because of this fact, drone DPS will not be included in the following analysis.

Another such property is the ranges at which fleet combat take place. Short range combat simply is not a viable option, for two reasons - fleets are not singular points, so when each ships optimal is in the 10-15km range, any primary called is likely outside a good chunk of the fleet's optimal (or even range altogether), severely limiting a fleet's ability to coordinate and apply it's full power. The second reason that short range fleets are not really a viable option is bubbles - when bubbling your enemy means bubbling yourself as well, the tactical advantage they represent is severely diminished.

Because of this, fleet combat tends to take place at medium to long ranges. Long rage combat is dominated by the "Tier 3" Battlecruisers, as their layouts, bonuses and speed allow them to kite while applying high damage far more effectively than any Battleship could ever hope to. This brings us to the aspect of PvP where Battleships truly shine - medium range line DPS. In this role, a ship must be able to dish out severe punishment while having enough staying power for friendly logistics to keep it up. The latter involves having very high, balanced resist profiles. Battleships fill this role better than any other subcap class in EVE, with the possible exception of Tech 3 Cruisers in very specific cases.

Now, let's look at the stats on three common ships used to fill this role: the Alpha Maelstrom, Fleet Rokh and Hellcat Abaddon.

Alpha Maelstrom:
DPS: 600 @ 40km, 400 @ 70km
EHP: 123k
Resists: 71 / 77 / 83 / 70
Bonus Perk: Extreme Alpha

This ship is an all around solid choice, even with a completely wasted ship bonus. I won't go into too much depth, but resist bonuses are completely superior to active bonuses because they benefit both active and buffer tanks. Let's lose them if we can.

Fleet Rokh:
DPS: 540 @ 60km, 300 @ 140km
EHP: 133k
Resists: 78 / 83 / 73 / 77
Bonus Perk: Extreme Range Flexibility

This ship not only has a fantastic tank, but it can actually compete with Tier 3 Battlecruisers that attempt to harass it. It fills its role incredibly well, and there is a reason the HBC relies on it primarily today.

Hellcat Abaddon:
DPS: 650 @ 60km
EHP: 125k
Resists: 68 / 79 / 79 / 77
Bonus Perk: Extremely High Tracking

This is not as common today, but served its role as a line DPS Battleship not long ago. Its tank is roughly average for the role, resist profile decent, and its range is severely capped, but its tracking is so high it can dismantle support ships in the hostile fleet without relying on friendly support to do so. Not to be underestimated.

Gallente has not had a fleet-viable Battleship for many years now. Because the Hyperion's slot layout and bonuses are so terrible, trying to be in between two roles and as a result filling neither even remotely well, it simply is not an option. The Dominix is too drone-focused to be fleet viable except in very specific roles. That leaves only the Megathron, which simply cannot even hope to match the stats represented by the other three races' line DPS Battleships. This is the best it can do, using railguns for very obvious reasons:

Megathron:
DPS: 495 @ 40km, 370 @ 70km
EHP: 105k
Resists: 71 / 63 / 63 / 49
Bonus Perk: None

This ship is using a CPU rig, yet still cannot fit hardeners, meaning it is incapable of overheating its tank in case of being called primary or being bombed. This is already a liability brought on by its low CPU. Its tank may have some meat to it, but it remains very low by Battleship standards, and its resist profile is absolutely abysmal. This makes it extremely difficult to keep up under hostile fire, and gives it a resist hole very easy for hostiles to exploit. And the final nail in the coffin is its completely lackluster DPS - while it can do somewhat respectable DPS at 40km (it is still low), it completely falls off the radar any farther out.

Tiericide was an opportunity to fix this problem. By removing the whole tier system, a formerly tier 2 Battleship like the Megathron could be elevated to the fleet effectiveness every other race has. All it would take is another lowslot, potentially an 8th turret slot (though this is less important). If I had been the one doing the first draft, it would have lost the utility high, gained a low and CPU, and had its base armor HP buffed somewhat.

Instead, we got a Megathron trying really hard to be a Hyperion, and as a result failing horrendously for the exact same reasons today's Hyperion does - the slot layout does not allow it to excel in any role. It is either a fast shield tanked bullseye or a fast armor tanked bullseye. This is frankly a terrible direction to take this ship.

So, CCP, all I ask of you is this: let Gallente have a line DPS Battleship. Please.

I also want to add that the new domi will be very strong. For everyones whining the new range and tracking for sentries will be awesome. As some have said 750 dps GARDES @ 78km yes yes please. A solid pve platform or bait ship or sentry sniper or mini slowcat, nuet boat etc. yah 25% less blaster DPS but who cares when we actually have some dammed ranged/tracking drones. Oh no i cant use my extremely niches 1400 dps 25km or less brawling domi, now

But please tell me how is the Hyperion useful (ask why is the maelstrom a mainline ship but not the Hyperion neither use there rep bonus) or Megathron? What situations do you see these being used over other BS's? (hint no one here knows) and why should Gallente not have a main line dps BS as above statement?

Honestly guys domi is good (they will come around), but the other two you made worse.

Now, let's look at the stats on three common ships used to fill this role: the Alpha Maelstrom, Fleet Rokh and Hellcat Abaddon.

Alpha Maelstrom:
DPS: 600 @ 40km, 400 @ 70km
EHP: 123k
Resists: 71 / 77 / 83 / 70
Bonus Perk: Extreme Alpha

This ship is an all around solid choice, even with a completely wasted ship bonus. I won't go into too much depth, but resist bonuses are completely superior to active bonuses because they benefit both active and buffer tanks. Let's lose them if we can.

Fleet Rokh:
DPS: 540 @ 60km, 300 @ 140km
EHP: 133k
Resists: 78 / 83 / 73 / 77
Bonus Perk: Extreme Range Flexibility

This ship not only has a fantastic tank, but it can actually compete with Tier 3 Battlecruisers that attempt to harass it. It fills its role incredibly well, and there is a reason the HBC relies on it primarily today.

Hellcat Abaddon:
DPS: 650 @ 60km
EHP: 125k
Resists: 68 / 79 / 79 / 77
Bonus Perk: Extremely High Tracking

This is not as common today, but served its role as a line DPS Battleship not long ago. Its tank is roughly average for the role, resist profile decent, and its range is severely capped, but its tracking is so high it can dismantle support ships in the hostile fleet without relying on friendly support to do so. Not to be underestimated.

Gallente has not had a fleet-viable Battleship for many years now. Because the Hyperion's slot layout and bonuses are so terrible, trying to be in between two roles and as a result filling neither even remotely well, it simply is not an option. The Dominix is too drone-focused to be fleet viable except in very specific roles. That leaves only the Megathron, which simply cannot even hope to match the stats represented by the other three races' line DPS Battleships. This is the best it can do, using railguns for very obvious reasons:

Megathron:
DPS: 495 @ 40km, 370 @ 70km
EHP: 105k
Resists: 71 / 63 / 63 / 49
Bonus Perk: None

This ship is using a CPU rig, yet still cannot fit hardeners, meaning it is incapable of overheating its tank in case of being called primary or being bombed. This is already a liability brought on by its low CPU. Its tank may have some meat to it, but it remains very low by Battleship standards, and its resist profile is absolutely abysmal. This makes it extremely difficult to keep up under hostile fire, and gives it a resist hole very easy for hostiles to exploit. And the final nail in the coffin is its completely lackluster DPS - while it can do somewhat respectable DPS at 40km (it is still low), it completely falls off the radar any farther out.

Tiericide was an opportunity to fix this problem. By removing the whole tier system, a formerly tier 2 Battleship like the Megathron could be elevated to the fleet effectiveness every other race has. All it would take is another lowslot, potentially an 8th turret slot (though this is less important). If I had been the one doing the first draft, it would have lost the utility high, gained a low and CPU, and had its base armor HP buffed somewhat.

Instead, we got a Megathron trying really hard to be a Hyperion, and as a result failing horrendously for the exact same reasons today's Hyperion does - the slot layout does not allow it to excel in any role. It is either a fast shield tanked bullseye or a fast armor tanked bullseye. This is frankly a terrible direction to take this ship.

So, CCP, all I ask of you is this: let Gallente have a line DPS Battleship. Please.

Obviously, hyper needs 5 mids (point, web, prop, dual cap boosters), otherwise it have useless rep bonus.
Mega need 7 lows... 6 lows is not enough for passive armor BS. But now mega can be fitted with active armor
Domi... strange fixes, but not so useless as mega\hyper changes. Need drone control range bonus.

Right on, the changes is good.

And i also expect to more fundamental changes in base game mechanics, now is 3d magic game with leveling. I hope it happens soon after WoD release.