Ships & Modules

RLML's used to be called assault missile launchers. They were designed as a cruiser mounted counter to blobs of small things. Well someone at CCP (probably Rise) thought that they applied dps too well and overshadowed the now nerf'ed heavy missiles and heavy assault missiles.

So when he had the chance he decided to go the ASB route with a primary weapons system. They increased the RoF (front loading the damage more...so dps increase) and they reduced magazine size. Initially it was a 40 second reload time. Now I think it is 30.

So they took away the damage flexibility of missiles in general with the new reload timer as well.

So now what I am gathering that they want you to do is...STOP USING RAPID LIGHT MISSILE LAUNCHERS. That is one of two conclusions. The other is that they want you to only use them as a support weapon on those ships that have say a majority turrets but *happen* to have 2 launcher slots. Go ahead put them on there so you can feel more secure about engaging amidst light tackle.

The problem is widespread in the missile ecosystem:
Frigates:
Light missiles[/u:] are fine (high volley, slower RoF but excellent range and damage application).
Rockets: High Rof, low volley, good though not great damage application (webs and painters help quite a bit) and very short range.

Cruisers:
Heavy Missile: Range nerf'd to compete more directly with all other long-range weapons...also resulted in damage nerf since tracking is irrelevant. Altogether a poorly performing weapons system now after medium long-range systems were buffed in turret terms. Get ready for heavy missiles to be tweaked...or the launchers but likely not both.
[u]Rapid Light: excellent damage application...began scaling beyond linear. They could deal full dps on any cruiser hull and higher (500 dps for some ships). In addition to T1 cruiser buffs this made the Caracal a fearsome beast...which people were not used to (OMG a Caldari ship that doesn't just sit still and die!) So the RLML became kind of like a commonly available pith-a type small shield booster. It was easy to fit, did better than average damage on everything and generally made all other systems look useless thanks to a great engagement range of out to 63km without rigs or implants.
Heavy Assault: High RoF and below average damage application (missiles are the inverse of turrets as close range systems require more assistance to hit because *shrug*. They also have terrible range on ships not specialized to them (under 20K) and prior to the heavy missile nerf were useless in pvp except on the Tengu. the Tengu btw is an example of an outlier amongst ships.

Battleships:
Cruise Missile: Excellent damage application for its class, reduced travel time for use in kiting engagements and increased damage over previous generation. Painters and webs still help against sub BS hulls. BS hulls more or less take most of the damage thanks to target navigation prediction skills applying. Extreme range...almost too much to be practical since damage application isn't instant like artillery or railguns.

Torpedoes: amazing damage. Absolutely takes apart everything except blasters. Poor damage application, moderate rate of fire and atrocious range. Probably needs the ammunition stats looked at...citadel Torpedoes most of all.

Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher (NEW): Featuring heavy missile range (70 ish km) between cruise and torpedo, damage application superior to that of cruise missiles and a high enough physical dps that the theoretical damage curve closely approaches the physical maximum for intended targets and for classes higher than cruiser/BC. Like the RLML it was feared that it would replace the cruise missile launcher. So the reload timer was added as a downside. It is in groups still better than the cruise missile launcher on most hulls thanks to also reduced fitting requirements. This leaves you able to fit more tank, ecm/eccm, whatever.

So what used to be a main weapons system is now a support system. There is no anti-tackle specialized cruiser for rapid lights (yet). The closest is the nighthawk which gets an explosion velocity bonus. I suggest people try a RLML nighthawk for giggles with a 130K ehp buffer or a 900 dps passive recharge tank. Its fun!