And i was wrong, it hits up to 260 dps at 57km w/o rigs/TCs

Ironically, this thing post changes is going to come awfully close to the drake in both dps and range with far less training time

I also noticed that I now have a reason to train Light Missiles.

if only there were light sentry drones :)

No, I've used them constantly, and then they get left at gates, or blown up, or the spend 90% of the fight chasing a frigate that is barely moving but won't drop out of their MWD orbit so they can actually track/shoot the stupid thing.

If drones could produce reliable, delayed DPS like missiles do, they would be much more viable, as is, they are ridiculous.

I'm worried about server overload with this easy of a ship to get into and 10 drones. It would be better with a good damage bonus and drone tracking bonus

Since we are thinking out of the box on these destroyers...

Ship bonuses:
+10% to drone HP per level
+5% to drone damage per level
Role bonus:
Can fit Drone Control Units (reduced fitting cost)
Slot layout: 5 H, 3 M, 3 L, 0 turrets, 0 launchers
Fittings: 55 PWG, 150 CPU
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 800 / 850 / 950
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 550 / 350s / 1.57s
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 240 / 2.45 / 1800000 / 4.46s
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 50 / 50
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 42km / 500 / 7
Sensor strength: 11 magnetometric
Signature radius: 72
Cargo capacity: 350

5 medium drones dps is not equal to 10 light drone dps
using hobgoblins and hammerheads with max skills
10 hobgoblins 297dps
5 hammerheads 237.6 dps
i am most worried about server load and not dps difference, plus medium drones track for crap.
if the server can handle it the gallente bonuses would be great as such
+10% drone damage and hitpoints
+10% drone tracking and optimum range
role bonus +5 drone control

I don't think you really understand how hard of a counter we are talking about here. Let's compare it to some ships that are commonly considered "frigate munchers" to such a degree that it's widely considered to be 100% impossible for a frigate to win the fight.

If we compare the Caldari destroyer to today's AML Caracal, we will see that it gets 40% more DPS and 80% more volley damage on top of significantly better damage application. Comparing it to today's 280mm Arty Thrasher, we see that it has the same volley, similar DPS, significantly better general damage application, no tracking problems, and 5x the range.

I mean, I'm all for having ships that are 'strong' against another ship class. But this isn't an example of that.

-Liang

Ed: Honestly, this feels like CCP throwing the Caldari a bone over the HML nerf. "Look, we don't hate Caldari! You guys have the only Destroyer worth flying anymore!"

And let's not forget the Badger. So, we could see a Wolverine.
.