Telvani
Crouching Woman Hidden Cucumber
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Posted - 2011.07.18 15:39:00 -
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Everyone can see the super carrier problem and I think I can narrow it down to a few points.
A) Super carrier DPS, in their current state a supercarrier deals 10 X the DPS of a carrier, this is a staggering amount and alone could be less of an issue but coupled with their other traits makes a fleet of them like a DD machine gun.
B) Ease of GTFO and mobility, Super carriers can easily be dropped over a long range and if they get counter dropped their large eHP allows them to log off in relative safety. They can be kept in a deathstar and be dropped in a moments notice on 100s of nearby systems
C) High survivability in low-sec, without bubbles super carriers require a tailored fleet to even catch, never mind kill. A team of HICs (as some will be neuted/drop point for reps) are need to hold just 1 and these will need guardian support to keep up.
D) Safe building, how many super carriers are lost during builds? In the early days of super capitals there were large risks involved with building super capitals, this has largely disappeared for many reasons.
Fixes.
To address the low sec issue I suggest super carriers be unable to launch fighter bombers in low sec, these are weapons of sovereignty, not something to drop on a small gate camp. Although this would still make them hard to tackle it would reduce their effectiveness to make them comparable to other capitals.
To address the log off issue I suggest ANY ship tackled by a focused HIC point not disappear when logged off, when you commit super carriers to a fight they should remain committed, not safe to leave as they fancy.
I also suggest a reduced jump range to make these ships require a greater logistical network and to reduce the use of them for cheap ganks, now they can drop on a small fleet within a large area at a moments notice, they should have to make an effort to travel space and make sure they are only worth bringing to the fights they are meant to fight. A jump limit would also be nice, limiting how frequently super capitals can jump.
Super capitals must be more vunerable / take longer / be generally harder to build, the rate at which they are turned out at the moment is shocking, the same is true for titans to a lesser extent. I don't have a fix in mind for this but I'm sure there are plenty available.
and lastly the DPS issue, I suggest a slight reduction in DPS (not drastic) but enough to give normal capital fleets a chance
This changes retain the super carrier as a huge force in big fights but stops them being hot dropped freely and easily on small gangs. It allows smaller ships to tackle and kill a super carrier after it logs off (at the moment they are only really vulnerable to other super capital fleets)
The super carrier will retains its combat prowess (mostly) and will be now more limited to the type of combat it is used for, this should keep the owners happy and allow them to actually be killed when they should be.
To anyone saying 'waa I spent 20bn I should have an I-win button'. Look at faction ships vs T1, does a vigilant (which costs around 50X more than a thorax, much more than your supercarrier vs carrier) deal 10X the dps of a thorax? and have 20X the eHP? before even thinking about ewar immunity and all the rest, no it doesn't so there is clearly an imbalance. You have no argument, 20bn is not a huge amount of ISK anymore.
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