Mar vel
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Posted - 2005.09.02 17:38:00 -
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Edited by: Mar vel on 02/09/2005 17:49:35
Edited by: Mar vel on 02/09/2005 17:45:44
Stealth Bomber is an Oxymoron. Like Jumbo Shrimp.
Limitations that prohibit this ship from be useful:
1. Can't cloak if someone is targeting you - so fire and cloak is a forgone conclusion.
2. Where are the shield/armour bonuses that we see with other T2 frigs?
3. 5th slot on manticore is all but useless unless you have extreme engineering and weapons fitting skillpoints.
4. Lack of using the Covert Ops cloak makes this nothing more than a Kessie on steroids (holdover from Pre-Castor days? - why not just allow fitting heavy/cruise on kessies again?)
5. No bonus (or counter-effect) to the penalty of using the Cloak means that for the most part your prey is escaping. I had 2x f-90 (60% ea), and it was 8+ seconds to lock an NPC cruiser.
6. The alternative (which is not present) would be to make this ship be able to sit in a fight at close range - which it cannot do against anything.
7. The idea of stealth bomber implies that (much like the B-2) it can fire while cloaked. Obviously this is not the case.
8. Cannot use ab while cloaked. Duh. @ 270 km / sec, and no way to warp while cloaked, you might as well grab your T1 frigate. At least then you won't be upset when it gets popped. @ 25m, a Manticore is a sizable investment. Especially since they cost a fraction of that to make.
Honestly, save your iskies.
I can get the same results with a Kessie. Using Std Missles 5 / Std Missle Specialization, and dropping a launcher for the cloak -the net result is the same. - the only difference is the range, which is moot. If your going to attack anything from 100k km - why would you be doing it in a Stealth Bomber. You might as well be doing it from the safety of a Scorp/Raven, and actually be able to take a hit. Fleet engagements are likewise no better. A rear guard? Why? it won;t take a massive hit, which means it has to rely on range or stealth. Stealth is kaput because no warp while cloaked. Range is moot, because other ships do better damage from that range. As a gank ship it's useless because of the cloak penalty for locking times. SO net/net is it looked great on paper, but it's not much of anything - except for expensive.
This ship, in it's current configuration(s), serves no practical purpose that cannot be done with a T1 ship, or with the Covert Ops scout ship.
Just curious - this ship's layout looks to me like it was the product of something bigger that got extreme nerfed in review - or that it is the product of 2 different developers. How about overhauling it? Couldn't be that difficult...
Overhaul:
1 simple, and potentially devastating overhaul would make this ship the butt-kicker it should be: fire while cloaked. The it would be a stealth bomber, and it would be a feared weapon. That would rule.
'Natch, that'll never happen.
But sure would be nice.
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