This I'm fine with. Even if you have to drop turrets to balance it. They are unbonused anyway, so **** it.

Here's to the dominix; what was once an astounding ship is now mostly shite.

Seriously, if you want to turn the domi into a pure drone boat, the first step is to give it a way to do damage befitting a battleship with drones. The 800ish DPS tops that you're going to get out of it with gardes is terrible, and if you're not going to use it as a gun/drone hybrid then you'll be better off with the geddon.

Maybe replace the damage bonus with a + drone control bonus? 10 Non-damage bonused drones would give it a reasonable amount of damage (+33% over 5 with a damage bonus, or just a hair over 1k DPS with a full set of gardes + 4 DDAs) while making it FEEL like more of a drone boat, rather than the proposed change that makes it feel like a drone/hybrid mix that just got a damage bonus removed.

EDIT:
I also look forward to what happens when you rebalance the ishtar, because the new domi bonuses really are better suited for it.

Ah yes, the Armageddon vs Dominix.

Personally, I think the strength of the neut bonus is being overestimated somewhat. Its a very cool bonus, but I think the impact of the domi's added tracking and optimal will be similar in power level - we'll have to wait and see. Please keep in mind that you will lose damage on fits that used hybrids before, but the fit will still be available.

I do want to look at the dominix power grid and see if it we can't find a better balance with the Armageddon, by adjusting one or the other.

I think the drone bay thing is kind of odd. Up the ship line you have Amarr with more bay, less bandwidth and Gallente vice versa, but at the BS scale you really can't give a drone ship less than max bandwidth, and you don't gain much from having more bay than the dominix already does. I didn't want to lower the dominix bay, so we just set the armageddon equal.

One last thing to mention: Personally, I really think sentry drones should move some, even if its only to return to bay. We need to talk some more about this internally and look at ways it can actually be implemented, but a change to this effect could have a very positive impact on the Dominix and I don't think its a very unrealistic goal.

Actually, the drone tracking and optimal bonus is great for sentry-based anomaly ratting and one of the only good things about the proposed Dominix change is that there might be a reason to fly one instead of an Ishtar now.

Considering the comments, low slots are exactly as valuable as mid slots : Megathron cannot lose its low slot, it's invaluable ; Hyperion cannot lose its mid slot, it's invaluable.

I tend to analyze this as fear of change : mega pilots don't want their mega changed, and hyperion pilots don't want their hyperion changed. The only thing which would please them is a straight addition of something to make their beloved ship OP (read "have more than the others").

Once you get out of the newbie tutorial zone those domi changes help amazingly in null sec!

Higher dps sentries will be able to hit at engagement ranges associated with BS fights in null sec.

I threw some 800mm autocannons on the dominix to see what the change would do to the ship. The 2nd bonus allows you to use the navy dominix fit on the regular dominix since you don't need the extra mid for the tracking link. You lose about 100 dps and significant range, but you can fit a stronger tank and don't lose cap from guns.

[Dominix, dominix]
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Republic Fleet Gyrostabilizer
Tracking Enhancer II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Tracking Enhancer II

Gist X-Type X-Large Shield Booster
Gist C-Type Kinetic Deflection Field
Gist C-Type Thermic Dissipation Field
Gistum C-Type Adaptive Invulnerability Field
Shield Boost Amplifier II

800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
800mm Repeating Artillery II, EMP L
Black Eagle Drone Link Augmentor

Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I


Garde II x5


1100 dps
1200 dps kin/therm tank
cap lasts 3.5 minutes


Would still like extra control range.

It would be nice to see other options, and several have been brought up by players, I can't say that I like this Dominix any better than current or better than the Armageddon.

The tracking buff helps ogres hit cruisers, but it still cannot catch them, dual DNC will help with that.
A Control range boost is a must, 25% is a absolute minimum 50% would be the perferd

I would have gave the Megathron a chance, but IMO the beam + cruise rebalance just killed it for good now. There is absolutely no point for not ranged bonused railguns as a dps weapon now. Infact, the only survival railguns will be those of the Naga, with range + dmg bonus.

Problem is, at close range, tachyon are better than railguns at the cost of using more cap, and cruise missiles are now a LOT better than railguns at long range at the cost of flight time.

RIP fleet Megathron ?

What nerf? It could still use some love but there was hardly a nerf.

I agree with your first statement. The fact that the Dominix and Armageddon have the same functionally while the latter possesses more flexibility pisses me off. In my opinion, the relationship between the Dominix and Armageddon should be similar to that of the Algos and Dragoon... which brings me to your second statement...

The Algos is, hands down, one of the best destroyers out there. That 10 m/bit advantage the Algos has over the Dragoon DOES, in fact, set the two far enough apart to be distinct. It can launch 2 mediums and 3 lights and has enough drone bay for one spare flight of lights. The Dragoon can't match the Algos' 300 to 400 dps but has that extra flexibility the Algos lacks... including spare drone bay.

What should be done to keep the two ships distinct from each other...

- drop 25 m/bit from the Armageddon. This makes it consistent with the drone bandwidth increase through the Amarr classes in relation to the Gallente drone line (Tormenter, 15 m/bit... Dragoon, 25 m/bit... Arbitrator, 50 m/bit... Prophecy, 75 m/bit). In compensation, add another 75 to 100 m3 to the 'Geddon's drone bay.

- give the Dominix a slight bump in its drone damage bonus. Even adding an extra 2 or 3% will distinguish it against the Armageddon which, again, can functionally do the same thing. You can drop a turret if that helps to balance things.

Really... almost anything to distinguish the two more than they are right now will do. Because I'm having a hard time seeing why I should choose a Dominix over an Armageddon (yes... the Domi has an extra mid slot and has drones that can track better... but the Geddon has an extra high slot, can choose to utilize any weapon system in the game, and can neut better than Dominix ever could).


Actually, yes... it does. Deploying sentries in a class of ships not known for being mobile basically means losing your drones unless you are in close quarters combat.
Drones are simply not expendable on a ship that relies on them to deal most of its damage.