Noisrevbus
Caldari
Breams Gone Wild
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Posted - 2010.03.14 20:33:00 -
[1]
 Originally by: Reem Fairchild
There's only three things Heavy Assaults have going for them, and one of those things only apply to some of them. That is: speed, agility, and range
Problem is, speed and agility doesn't count for quite as much as it used to, and only some of them have range bonuses.
In every other way, battlecruisers are equal or superior, and they are a hell of a lot cheaper. I think it's just the fact that the heavy assault ships are more expensive and need more character skill training that makes people think that they somehow must be better.
This, in essence.
There are a couple of other things, but Reem is onto something here. Most of the things the HAC have going for itself are small details, situational or in other ways diffuse. That's the best way to sum it up, the advantages are diffuse. Other things not yet included are resists over buffer in what make up the EHP, and signature out of it. They fall under the same conditions where they are not always concrete, not easily measurable, can sometimes be situational or at other times details overlooked in the transition from theory to practise. In any situation with active or remote repairs though, on two ships with similar EHP, having a larger part of that attributed to your resistances will be an advantage. Mitigation (indirectly-) increase the relative value of repair you recieve (while volume do not). Signature may have very little impact on effective damage in some situations, but make a substantial difference in other situations.
Especially when roaming since your control over any adaptation to what you face is limited. You have your gang, it needs to be flexible and you need to have a plan on how to deal with anything thrown at you. Someone might say that fighting Battleships with HACs is a poor idea, and that you simply shouldn't do that so signature won't matter. If instead, you are forced to deal with Battleships for whatever reason, the HACs will begin to enjoy some advantages over a BC gang. Wether that is range, speed, agility, nominal amount repaired or the contribution of a lower signature (both in terms of tanking, and targetting). One of the most common problems on this forum is that people make up straight comparison. They compare HAC to BC and BC to HAC, without looking at the larger picture where HAC deal better with both larger (mitigate, escape) and smaller ships (isloate, catch).
What the BC have going for them is primarily the price, and how the adaptation is usually near enough. That's not to be mistaken with BC being better or even as good though. They are not just that far behind to warrant the difference in price for alot of players/groups. Some of them put the advantage to good use though and the price may be well worth it. BC are never so far behind that they fall out of the role they are supposed to carry out though. Then, as some other people have pointed out - there are some HACs that carry out their role better than other. That's what you tend to call balance and the ships that don't carry out their role very well might be a subject for future improvement (often those ships that have little to nothing over similarily bonused BC).
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