Gabrielle Lamb wrote:This is what I'm wondering about though, using the Drake as an example, imagining that you added a Caldari Navy Drake with one extra mid and low. Possibly one extra launcher but I think that would be a bad idea.
Given the Battlecruisers beeing somewhat slow by design, and having less defense / offense then a battleship but with better damage projection vs different sizes of targets. Would an experienced pilot use this over a Tengu or a Raven / CNR?
Yes. Add a mid
and a low and you're looking at an insane nanoDrake with extra tank and extra speed/agility. Either slot alone would be pushing it but both together is definitely not sane.
Gabrielle Lamb wrote:Then take the Myrmidion, add 25 MB Drone Bandwidth, 50 m3 Drone Capacity and a low slot. It would still be a relatively low ship, it would have less Drone Bandwidth then an Ishtar or Domi, and lower defenses then a Proteus. Thereby providing an alternative without directly competing with either.
Extra low plus bandwidth means more room for a DDA to support an ASB fit or more resists to support a dual/triple rep fit. It isn't inherently overpowered, but that has more to do with the current odd scaling of drone ships in the first place. But no, it wouldn't impinge on Ishtar territory. It would see heavy duty use in small gangs though.
Gabrielle Lamb wrote:Take the Cane, add an extra Turret Hardpoint (goes at the expense of a Neut or Missile launcher so this should be okey), and add a low or mid slot. Would an experienced pilot fly one over a Sleipnir or Loki?
Good god yes. Adding a turret slot to a Hurricane translates to giving it 11.7 effective turrets (up from 10). If it costs less than a Sleipnir it
will see use.
Gabrielle Lamb wrote:Amarr I don't really know so can't speak about it, but as far as I can see, faction Battlecruisers could be an exception to Malcanis' Law because they're designed to be a part of a numbers game. Adding a faction variant would increase performance, but you'd still have better alternatives if you were a high-SP experienced pilot, so it wouldn't nessecarily screw anyone over.
No, it won't work out that way. Either 1) these faction variants are comparable to CSs but cheaper, in which case they'll see heavy use, 2) faction variants are comparable to CSs but more expensive, in which case no one will really want anything to do with them including new players, 3) they are more powerful to CSs but cheaper, in which case they are directly competitive with T3s for a lower cost, or 4) they are more powerful than CSs but more expensive, in which case T3s are a better train anyhow.
I'm not inherently opposed to the idea of new ships to fill new roles, including roles that will help newer players play more meaningful roles in both PvE and PvP, but building improved versions of the most popular class of ships in the game is just asking for trouble.