Personally, I don't really care about the argument of the T3 vs. the HAC. I care about the argument of the T3 vs. the damn command ship...

Lets compare fits that are generally designed to be equivalent (aka, not worrying about interdiction nullification, covops cloaking, scanning, and command links, which CCP already is planning to address).

Loki v Slepnir
Loki:
can be effectively armor tanked
can have web range bonus
speed/agility advantage
sig advantage
better EHP
Slepnir:
more dps
a better active tank (maybe...)

In this comparison, the big thing that needs to change is that the slepnir should be able to manage better EHP than the loki. Maybe it should have to choose between having more EHP or more DPS than the loki, and only get 1 or the other, but as it is if you want EHP to see you through a fight, you fly a loki. It is slower, hit harder (with its larger sig), and the loki can have the web range bonus. I'm not sure whether or not the slepnir should have the opportunity to armor tank.

Proteus V Astarte
Proteus:
more ehp
point/scram range bonus
smaller sig
more agility/speed
better active tank
Astarte:
more dps

umm... well. Why the hell would you ever fly an astarte? Actually, I can't tell you the last time I saw one. And the additional dps of the astarte is kind of lost with the reduction in the ability to get in range to apply it (and of course the significanly less EHP available to survive getting in range). Once again, the astarte needs to have SOME reason to make it worth flying over flying a proteus.

Nighthawk V tengu
Tengu
dps is about even with missile fit
can actually fit HAM's
missile range bonus
speed/agility
sig radius
active tank
EHP (this is kind of close, but the tengu can generally manage better EHP)
Nighthawk:
Has drones...

Ok, so the nighthawk barely compares favorably even to a drake, and can't really even fit HAM's either. It really is an insult to even try to compare it to the tengu - lets just leave it at the nighthawk needs ALOT of love, but it really needs the ability to actually put HAM's on a viable fit, and it really needs to be able to manage either noticeably more dps and/or noticeably more tank than the tengu.

Lastly, Legion V Absolution
Legion:
Range
speed/agility
sig radius
active tank
buffer tank
Absolution:
Dps
drones

In this case, you may actually manage to get an absolution with better EHP than a legion (though it will loose its dps advantage if it attempts to do so). This may or may not be acceptible. However, the absolution encounters difficulties in actually applying its dps, as it suffers from 50% less range than the legion, as well as less maneuverability. Absolutions are at least more common to see than astarte's, though I still can't remember the last time I actually saw one being used. The absolution needs a buff, but probably less so than either the astarte or the nighthawk.

Conclusion - I don't care if the T3's are better than HAC's at everything. What needs to change is the T3's being better than command ships at pretty much everything. The command ships niche got pushed back with the introduction of teir 2 BC's, but it got absolutely destroyed by the introduction of T3's. I believe that it is far past time to bring them back.

Ok, I will admit though, I do have command ship 5 because of slepnir... and I hate flying T3's due to that possibility of skillpoint loss.

-Arazel

When will people get this:
Price is not a balancing factor!
Especially not in a playerdriven economy with functioning supply/demand.
Otherwise we would still have titans with aoe-doomsday.

Not sure if NPC trolling or just too insanly stupid to get how economy or even just this game works.