Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Small drones are used because they may actually make it to the target.

Overshoot is really hear nor there, the simple fact is that as a primary weapon system drones are so so at best, and taking off the second high slot is even more pants on head, because that means using a link augmentor and a repper is out of the question.

The changes I propose should by no means be taken literally, all the numbers I have made are arbitrary but the ideas behind them are not.
Obligatory: "You're a noob sftu."

After looking at the HAC's and what they mean to me i came to a conclusion. Keeping the line for specialization but also making each unique, this is what i propose. Each faction line group should get a heavy brawler up close in your face and a kiting ship that keeps range from the fight and apply DPS at a safe distance. Without further wait. . .

AMARR
Slow ships that have more armor than the rest. Lower damage

Sacrilege
Amarr's up close and tackler with a healthy tank and minimal dps.
Role Bonus: 50% Reduction in EWAR effectiveness against this ship.
Amarr Cruiser Skill: 10% Armor and 5% rate of fire for HAM's per level
Heavy Assault Cruiser: 5% reduction in cap recharge and 4% armor resists per level

Zealot
Built around keeping range
Role Bonus: 50% Reduction in MWD sig radius increase
Amarr Cruiser: 10% reduction to medium beams cap usage and 5% medium beam damage per level.
Heavy Assault Cruiser: 10% bonus to beam optimal range and 5% tracking speed per level.


Caldari
For shield i wanted them to be slower but more EHP, lower damage

Cerebus
Giving the ship some needed love. I wanted to make the missiles reach their target quickly without
sacrificing the range of heavy missiles
Role Bonus: 50% Reduction in MWD sig radius increase
Caldari Cruiser: 10% Kinetic heavy missile damage and 15% heavy missile velocity per level.
Heavy Assault Cruiser: 5% reduction in mwd cap usage and 5% heavy missile rate of fire.

Eagle
Role Bonus: 50% Reduction in EWAR effectiveness against this ship.
Caldari Cruiser: 10% shield hp and 15% bonus to blaster range per level
Heavy Assault Cruiser: 4% shield resists and 5% bonus blaster damage per level


Gallente
A little fun for the gallente folks. more DPS focused

Deimos
Just applying that DPS from range
Role Bonus: 50% Reduction in MWD sig radius increase
Gallente Cruiser: 10% bonus medium railgun damage and 5% increase to MWD capacitor bonus per level.
Heavy Assault Cruiser: 10% bonus to medium railgun falloff and 5% medium rail tracking per level.

Ishtar
Close range brawler that relys on drones for damage and increased scram range to keep people in place.
Role Bonus: 50% Reduction in EWAR effectivness against this ship.
Gallente Cruiser: 10% bonus to drone hitpoints and damage per level
Heavy Assault Cruiser: 10% warp scram range bonus and 10% armor repair bonus per level.

Minmatar:
Very quick ships that have more fire power than the others.

Muinn
I wanted to keep the minmatar more open and versatile
Role Bonus: 50% Reduction in EWAR effectiveness against this ship.
Minmatar Cruiser: 5% bonus to medium projectile rate of fire and 10% bonus to shield booster per level
Assault Cruiser: 10% bonus to autocannon rate of fire and 10% bonus to stasis webifier power.

Vagabond
Shoot all the things, but weak tank (lower resists)
Role Bonus: 50% Reduction in MWD sig radius increase
Minmatar Cruiser: 15% bonus to medium projectile damage per level
Assault Cruiser: 10% bonus to medium projectile rate of fire and 10% increase to MWD capacitor bonus per level.

T3s outclass HACs in every way, but also cost 3x more and have an SP penalty. That is called "balancing".

T3s are not OP because they are the doctrine of W-Space. That is like saying that Rokhs are OP because all nullsec alliances have a Rokh doctrine.

Your citing of a W-Space battle report to prove T3s are all around overpowered is ludicrous. Wormholes are an extremely specialized environment, where fleets are usually 30 men or less, fleets are limited in mass, and there are no supercaps. Dreadnoughts are our Doomsday. Triage carriers are our Guardian blobs. T3s are our EWAR, our DPS, and our Tackle. Nothing else fills the role a T3 does in a wormhole.

In wormholes, an area you don't have the right to comment on since you and your alliance live in nullsec, T3s fit the bill perfectly.

What is needed for a W-Space fleet:

1) Low mass
2) High DPS
3) Ewar
4) Low sig/high speed (to prevent dread blapping)

T3s are the only ship that fits all of those requirements. Recons would be killed too fast. HACs are terrible at what they do. Battleships have too high a mass and could be blapped by a dread without a web ship.

So you see, T3s are not OP. They do not dominate the killboards. They are not dumpstering all other fleets. They do not outclass HACs.

HACs are fast light DPS boats. T3s are a jack of all trades. HACs and T3s can be filled by similar roles, but they do not.

Next to nobody flies a T3 in lowsec/nullsec small gang PVP. Next to nobody flies a HAC in lowsec/nullsec small gang PVP.
The reason nobody flies T3s is because of the SP loss, and the cost. The reason nobody flies HACs is because they SUCK. Buff HACs more than is currently being proposed by CCP, leave T3s alone, and all will be fine.

What role does a HAC have?

It is not an PvE ship! T3s does that a lot better.
It is not a good mining ship. (sorry couldn*t resist).
It is a PvP ship.

It should be an specialisation of Attack and Combat Cruisers.
Against whom?

T3 Fleets?
T1 Cruiser Fleets?
Battleships?

Fleet Doctrin in big fleets include enough webbers to make all signature tanking void.
The 50% MWD signature reduction on Assault Frigs is nice, but AFs are not "fleet" ships, they are roamers.

So, while T1 Cruisers can become fleet ships, thanks to cost effective, T2 cannot. The MWD signature increase makes only sense if you are beyond Webber Range (60km). But for snipping, the Naga/Oracle are far superior, while cheaper and can be insured.

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The 50% MWD signature reduction is useless on Cruiser hulls, used for fleet duties.
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1. Change
Let all T2s become insureable. That stuff is expensive. T1 is to close in performance and completly superior cost-effectie through insurance. It is an outdated Idea.

2. In case, no insurrance, HACs need an rolebonus that helps them specialises against their natural enemy.
The Battleship-Fleet with webber support.
The enemy of signature tanking is the webber. So, rolebonus, Webber are only 25% effective against the HAC.

Harsh, but for ships costing close to an BS with no insurance, there must be some specilisation as BS hunters.
You can even split up the HACs in a Fleet and a Roaming HAC Line. One with MWD Signature reduction, one with Webber-resistance.

Well i view HAC's as either lonewolfs or a pack of wolves if in a fleet ...

so a web resistance role bonus along with the MWD role bonus would be great as a anti recon ship.. Also nerf scrams, webs and OP recon bonuses and links.

I would also suggest making dual prop much easier to fit on these ships aswell as buffing AB's

an overheat bonus (stronger than T3's get mind) would fit into the analogy of keeping pace with the targets and then springing into action.. another way you could specialize HACS without having to make them faster or massively buffed over the precious T1 cruisers you're fighting so hard to protect..

EW drones should be removed completely from the game, but I guess that is for another thread.

well at the very least nerf ecm drones and maybe make e-war drones more specific to e-war ships that could bonus them and have specific e-war drone-bays.

making more drone bays is not the answer

Good thing this was addressed. I was beginning to worry that the balance pass might have some positive effect on HAC usage. Better nickel and dime those hitpoints even more when you've already HACs are already some of the most expensive yet comparatively fragile hulls in the game.

OMG will you stop calling it the Ishkur. It's hard to take you seriously when you can't even talk about the correct ship.