why a bonus to TPs?

if it's for missions, TPs are a major PITA.

if it's for PVP, a mael is better anyway :/

Target Painters help with Missiles.

Armor Boats generally need their Rig Slots for Active Tank Rigs or Capacitor so you can fit max BCU's meaning no 3 Rigors like the Raven. TP's allow you to hit Cruiser sized targets with Cruise Missiles effectively.

Did your Crystal Ball tell you all the other stats they are planing on rebalancing on and with the Phoon.

Large Missiles especially Torpedo's are getting a look as well as Armor Tanking and the Phoon will be getting improvements its own stats in Tieracide which will probably include more Launchers in its conversion to a full Missile Ship.

Mael is good at a lot of things but not all the things a Phoon is good at. Its Dmg Projection tanks in Falloff, No Neutralyzer slots, its slow. A full line Missile Ship with the proper buffs would not be such a bad thing and TP's will help more then a range or gun bonus in most situations.

Split damage bonus ? You mean, like a Dominix or a Vexor ?

With a gank fit, you can get more damage out of it than any other subcap.

You don't hear much about the typhoon, not because it is sub par or even mediocre. It is because it takes very good skills to truly unlock its potential. It is a ship for high skill point higher experienced players. These are not the player who plague the forums with complaints, and nerf this/buff that threads. Those who fly typhoons are beyond such noob behavior.

You need high gunnery skills, missile skills, and drone skills, for this ship to really shine DPS wise. You also really need to know what you are doing setting up your tank as there is no room for wasted slots on this ship.

If you are fitting it focused on a single weapon system or even two out of the three you may do ok, but have missed the nieche this ship really excels in. This ship requires the use of all 3 weapon systems Guns, missiles, and drones, to take full advantage of all it offers, and this is the main driver for its increased SP requirement to make good use of it.

I have recently switched over to a typhoon as my primary lvl 4 mission ship and have no regrets. The way I fly this ship there are basically two general fits I use. the individual modules can vary a fair bit, but I either pair artties/torps/heavy drones or AC/cruise/sentry drones. I get great DPS with both it just depends what range I need which I will fit. My typhoon pilot has just shy of 40 mil SP and can use T2 AC's, T2 Artties, T2 Cruise, T2 Torps, T2 sentries, and T2 heavy drones

Considering that this ship uses three weapon systems, there is not much point in fitting weapon specific damage mods. if you do they only affect 1/3 of your DPS so I believe it is just a waste. I generally armor tank this ship as it can fit a hell of a mean tank. I don't fit plates, as the power grid is very tight for most of my fits, but 4-6 active armor hardeners, a LAR and some PDII you are good to go. I generally stick to TP and targeting mods in the mids occasionally swapped out for cap mods for harder/longer missions. My paper DPS some times seems a little low but applied DPS has yet to let me down. This ship absolutely rocks and I am looking forward to playing around with the fleet version.

You don't hear much about the typhoon, not because it is sub par or even mediocre. It is because it takes very good skills to truly unlock its potential. It is a ship for high skill point higher experienced players. These are not the player who plague the forums with complaints, and nerf this/buff that threads. Those who fly typhoons are beyond such noob behavior.

You need high gunnery skills, missile skills, and drone skills, for this ship to really shine DPS wise. You also really need to know what you are doing setting up your tank as there is no room for wasted slots on this ship.

If you are fitting it focused on a single weapon system or even two out of the three you may do ok, but have missed the nieche this ship really excels in. This ship requires the use of all 3 weapon systems Guns, missiles, and drones, to take full advantage of all it offers, and this is the main driver for its increased SP requirement to make good use of it.

I have recently switched over to a typhoon as my primary lvl 4 mission ship and have no regrets. The way I fly this ship there are basically two general fits I use. the individual modules can vary a fair bit, but I either pair artties/torps/heavy drones or AC/cruise/sentry drones. I get great DPS with both it just depends what range I need which I will fit. My typhoon pilot has just shy of 40 mil SP and can use T2 AC's, T2 Artties, T2 Cruise, T2 Torps, T2 sentries, and T2 heavy drones

Considering that this ship uses three weapon systems, there is not much point in fitting weapon specific damage mods. if you do they only affect 1/3 of your DPS so I believe it is just a waste. I generally armor tank this ship as it can fit a hell of a mean tank. I don't fit plates, as the power grid is very tight for most of my fits, but 4-6 active armor hardeners, a LAR and some PDII you are good to go. I generally stick to TP and targeting mods in the mids occasionally swapped out for cap mods for harder/longer missions. My paper DPS some times seems a little low but applied DPS has yet to let me down. This ship absolutely rocks and I am looking forward to playing around with the fleet version.

I think the Devs said they were thinking about making it a full Minmatar Missile Ship with the gun bonus being replaced by a Target Painter bonus.

They were also saying they were thinking of doing the same to the Cyclone but were on the fence about that. If you look at the new Breacher stats, Launcher Turrets / Missile Bonus / Active Tank, there is a good bet that that is the future of the Cyclone.

[...]
[Typhoon Fleet Issue, New Setup 3]
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Damage Control II

Gist A-Type X-Large Shield Booster
Pith A-Type EM Ward Field
Pith A-Type Thermic Dissipation Field
Federation Navy Omnidirectional Tracking Link

Caldari Navy Cruise Missile Launcher, Mjolnir Cruise Missile
Caldari Navy Cruise Missile Launcher, Mjolnir Cruise Missile
Caldari Navy Cruise Missile Launcher, Mjolnir Cruise Missile
Caldari Navy Cruise Missile Launcher, Mjolnir Cruise Missile
Caldari Navy Cruise Missile Launcher, Mjolnir Cruise Missile
Republic Fleet 800mm Repeating Artillery, EMP L
Republic Fleet 800mm Repeating Artillery, EMP L
Republic Fleet 800mm Repeating Artillery, EMP L

Large Capacitor Control Circuit II
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I


Garde II x5

[...]

Target Painters help with Missiles.

Armor Boats generally need their Rig Slots for Active Tank Rigs or Capacitor so you can fit max BCU's meaning no 3 Rigors like the Raven. TP's allow you to hit Cruiser sized targets with Cruise Missiles effectively.

Did your Crystal Ball tell you all the other stats they are planing on rebalancing on and with the Phoon.

Large Missiles especially Torpedo's are getting a look as well as Armor Tanking and the Phoon will be getting improvements its own stats in Tieracide which will probably include more Launchers in its conversion to a full Missile Ship.

Mael is good at a lot of things but not all the things a Phoon is good at. Its Dmg Projection tanks in Falloff, No Neutralyzer slots, its slow. A full line Missile Ship with the proper buffs would not be such a bad thing and TP's will help more then a range or gun bonus in most situations.

You don't use target painters do you. The golem w/it's TP bonus requires 3 to hit cruisers effectively. With their pathetic range, the phoon will require prop mods and tackle to hit anything with torps, and I doubt CCP is bringing back the 90k torps. (Don't forget it's tiny PG, as 5xtorp II's, 3xHeavy Unstable's and a 100 MWD II doesn't fit w/o a fitting mod). Here's a thought CCP, drop the gun bonus and give the phoon a neut amount bonus.......

1. CCP is planning to rebalance large Missiles so that 3 TP requirement will most likely be gone.

2. It is a Battleship have other people in your gang Tackle for you if need be. It might get more Mids away or even become a Shield Ship since that is where Minmatar are heading Logi wise.

3. Cruise Missiles are the range one remember it is becoming a full Missile Ship.

4. Tiny Grid will be changed just like every ship they rebalanced before this one.

5. It will most likely lose some Neut Slots anyway for more Launchers.

I love the Phoon, few years ago I used to have a char that actually flew it perfectly (still regret giving it back xD) and it can be a beast. I'd love to see it slightly buffed though, it's probably the single most SP intensive subcap ship in EVE. I hope they buff it, but keep the weapon distribution. Pref even go back to 4\4.

The Typhoon is the ultimate brawler BS, bar none. The only "downside" is the split bonus/high'ish skill requirement, but that point was almost made invalid when it got 5/5 instead of the old 4/4.

If you haven't tried or fought against it in a brawler config you have been missing out. Screw the traditional Minmatar "Run Away!" paradigm, you go in and outlast the enemy with room to spare .. like a proper soldier.

PS: Three bloody utilities is HUGE!
PPS: Have your alt in the Shakorite militia (you know you have one .. everyone does) get you some RF Phoons and laugh as nothing has a hope in hell of chewing through your tank before they die horribly.