Zanquis
Fweddit
I Whip My Slaves Back and Forth
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Posted - 2013.05.24 20:16:00 -
[1] - Quote
I feel that while these changes are a step in the right direction, the end result will still be that Caldari will be the least desirable of pvp ships. This can especially be seen when you compare the Caldari Odyssey versions against their other counterparts such as the revised Gallente.
I share you view that Caldari ships had always been on the right track with their diversity. However the main difficulty with these ships is that their intended advantages are not very pronounced and difficult to get a hold of. More detail and suggested changes I will get into with some detail.
Rokh
Role
The spirit of this ship is a tough but cumbersome boat that has the ability to use range as it's main weapon to threaten the battlefield.
Why the Rokh Needs a bit of a change
The Rokh has traditionally suffered for the impracticality of it's intended role because of the evolution of the game, and tactics. It has significant weaknesses in critical areas where it hopes to find strength and therefore find's itself a very expensive second or third choice in most scenario's. Until the evolution of the Blaster Rokh this ship found little use at all on the battlefield. In order to look at this argument further, lets examine the potential roles this ship is can be used.
The problem with the primary advantage of range...
This advantage is fantastic for ships that have the natural ability to dictate the range of the engagement. However it is out of place on a battleship class ship since they are slow and unable to dictate range. It would not be ideal to allow a battleship to have the ability to dictate range either since it would provide a significant imbalance to the game as a result.
As a Sniper
The ship has a fantastic bonus to optimal range on one of the longest range weapon systems available, Rails. However it is hampered by the nature of most sniping operations. The concept of fleet sniping in eve is to use overwhelming team Alpha strike to suddenly overwhelm a focus target's defenses before they can receive support, and keep the range advantage for safety by frequently repositioning as needed on the battlefield. This has generally made two points critical in this role; maneuverability and Alpha strike.
The Rokh has no damage bonus, and sports a weapon system that depends on Rate of Fire rather than Alpha for it's damage. Having no significant advantage in maneuverability over it's counterparts, and ranking third in Alpha strike out of 4 long ranged weapon systems, the Rokh find's itself an unlikely choice for such operations especially considering it's price tag. While it can theoretically attack from ranges far greater than any other ship in the game, that bonus is of little use since the damage is so light with very little Alpha, it finds little use in a fleet engagement especially since few ships would be able to support it due to the unique range.
As a Mid to Close range Ship of the Line
The Rokh has a great range bonus, however the two weapon systems it can be applied to are the two extremes of eve with super short range, and super long range. Since this combat generally takes place within 20-50 KM at the engagement start much of the Rokh's natural advantage seems watered down because while it does gain a range advantage over it's counterparts, it is not enough to produce a meaningful advantage.
Mid ranged fleet situations are generally dominated by close range ships who maneuver around to apply extreme dps, or long range ships that can hit the main battlefield without leaving support range of their fleet. While the Rokh would gain a natural advantage here it is not that significant since an excess of range on a Rail boat provides no advantage. With a blaster boat sustained damage is king unless you can gain a significant range advantage over your peers and a 2.3-3.2km advantage over it's Gallante counterparts makes this bonus generally wasted.
Suggested Changes
Change Bonuses to "+10% Optimal Range and Falloff per level, +4% Shield Resistances per level
(Net change +50% Falloff)
What this Does
- Improves Rokh's threat range, while it will never be the highest damage boat it would be able to apply it's damage a much larger variety of situations and makes the ship a passive anti sniper. It can also use higher damage ammo to convert some of that excess range into damage and get closer to it's peers.
- Threat range improvement would also allow Blaster Rokh to apply damage significantly sooner than it's higher dps counterparts making it more flexible in fleet situations.
- It would be possible to snipe with slightly higher damage ammo with module assistance
Technical Differences
The Rokh would gain extra falloff to further it's strength with range. With the way fall off works, on T2 450 rails that would add another 4.95 KM to the effective range (Optimal + 33% of Falloff range for a hit rate over 90%) or 15 km at first falloff (50% hit rate). For Blasters that would work out to an additional 2.58KM to the effective range of T2 Mega blasters or 7.81KM to the max range. |