ELECTR0FREAK
Eye of God
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Posted - 2011.06.11 15:33:00 -
[1]
Edited by: ELECTR0FREAK on 11/06/2011 15:36:19
There is a problem with Supercarriers, and its not with the ships themselves, but the game mechanic around them.
The problem is that they aren't subject to the Rock-Paper-Scissors effect like the rest of EVE.
They need to be particularly susceptible to a certain kind of ship type for it to be balanced.
Here's how it should work:
- Titans should be support, (through fleet bonuses) anti-capital and anti-subcap weapons. Somewhat ineffective versus Supercapitals.
- Supercarriers should be support (via Projected ECM and RR ability) anti-capital and anti-supercapital weapons. Fairly ineffective versus subcaps.
- Carriers should be support (via RR and Triage mode), and anti-subcap weapons. Somewhat effective versus capitals, very ineffective versus supercapitals.
- Dreadnoughts should be anti-POS and anti-supercap weapons (in siege mode). Somewhat effective versus capitals (out of siege mode), very ineffective versus subcapitals.
In addition, changes should be made to Siege mode and Triage mode.
Triage Mode: When the carrier goes into Triage, it onlines a suite of sophisticated electronics to aid in its remote support duties. This causes signature radius to expand significantly, making the ship much more susceptible to attacks by supercapitals. However, it also offers a small additional improvement to capacitor recharge rate.
Siege Mode: When the dreadnought goes into Siege mode, it shuts down all non-essential electronics to devote all available power to the XL turrets and repair systems. This causes signature radius to decrease significantly, making the ship much less susceptible to attacks by supercapitals.
So lets go through what this means for capital ships:
- Titans remain largely the same.
- SuperCarriers don't change a whole lot either.
- Carriers gain a small improvement in damage output versus capitals and subcaps but become more vulnerable versus supercaps and have a small improvement in cap recharge rate when in Triage mode.(Basically, Carrier in Triage = supercarrier gank bait, but slightly better neut resistance and tank sustainability.)
- Dreadnoughts gain a significant damage improvement versus supercapitals when in Siege mode and a significant improvement to damage done versus capital ships when not in Siege mode. In addition, they become less vulnerable versus supercapitals when in Siege mode. (Supercapitals have to beware Dreads in Siege mode, subcap blobs can easily kill them though.)
For the sake of full disclosure, I've been playing since early 2004, I've been a carrier pilot since early 2006 and flew a dreadnought from 2007-2009 through the worst of EVE's POS warfare.
Discoverer of the Original Missile Damage Formula |