Originally by: Malcanis

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As we're all constantly hearing, Hybrids just aren't very good right now. Blasters suffer from lack of range as well as inadequate tracking within that range. Rails suffer from heavy cap use, mediocre DPS, weak alpha, and poor tracking - all of which is supposed to be compensated by extreme range - currently useless in today's fast-probing combat environment. Either lasers or projectiles are more effective in just about any high probability combat environment.

Time for a fix.

In order for a fix to be implemented, it needs above all to be easy for CCP to implement. The fewer things it changes, the more likely to be implemented.

We also need to avoid making hybrids a pale copy of either of the other two kinds of turrets. We don't want "lasers with ammo", or "cap-using autcannons". Ideally, hybrids should be as distinctive from lasers and projectiles as they are from each other, not a pointless halfway house.

With all that in mind, here is my proposal.

Currently, hybrid ammo, like the other types is ranged on a damage vs range continuum. Lower range = higher damage, and vice versa. My proposal is that we change that to a tracking vs damage continuum. All T1 hybrid ammo would have a 0% range modifier, with the lower damage ammo having a higher tracking bonus, and vice versa.

Rails:

This will have a dramatic effect on railguns. They'll be doing their best damage to the most distant targets, but they'll lose effectiveness as targets close in. It'll be a little harder to get completely "under the guns" of a railboat because they can switch to high tracking ammo, but they'll sacrifice a lot of DPS to do so. What we'll see is almost a reverse of fall-off. They wont obsolete arty, because arty will retain the advantage of high alpha. They wont obsolete beams because beams wont lose tracking/DPS as they close in. This change will restore rails as the kings of extreme range turret combat, but it will redefine that range to be within the paramaters of fights that actually occur these days.

Blasters:
This change will solve (or at least mitigate) the two biggest problems that blasters currently have: range and tracking. By switching to a lower damage ammo, the baster user will be more able to hit similar - or even smaller - size targets. With no range penalties, BS sized blasters at least will start to have a somewhat useful range. A Rokh with no range mods will have a 7+13Km range; this will put it within 50% falloff on jumping in from a gate even using Antimatter. With tracking enhancers, we'll see blaster BS actually be able to usefully engage outside web range.
On a personal side note, the poor old Megathron, with it's whopping tracking bonus, will once again become awesome with these changes.

Tracking mods - Tracking enhancers, tracking computers and target painters - will become as useful to hybrids boats as they currently are to projectile platforms.

It is also worth noting that if it becomes difficult to balance rails with blasters (egL the one becomes overpowered with ammo bonuses that are appropriate to the other) we could also add a falloff modifier to the ammo as well as the tracking modifier. Ideally I would prefer not to do this, as projectiles are supposed to be the falloff weapon. But the option is there.

I have deliberately avoided putting any specific numbers in to my proposal, because really that kind of detail is for the balance teams to work out. But I think the core of my proposal could be at least a good starting point to reviving the poor, neglected hybrid turrets. (For instance blaster boats could still need some tweaking with respect to agility or mass to be effective.)

Comments and suggestions?

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