Originally by: j0sephine

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Edited by: j0sephine on 22/09/2005 02:15:26

"the question being: Why? Why alter more ships to further support a nearly non existent segment of the EVE population."

Two reasons, mainly... or maybe, two aspects of single issue. First, these ships don't appear to make any noticeable part of combat statistics as they currently are. And second, it's because of what you say -- the logistics segment is currently nearly non-existent ^^

The first issue -- tier.1 cruisers don't really seem to make a very viable 'standard' combat platform. When people ask for advice on what cruiser to get for missions or pvp, they are told to get pretty much anything *but* these ships... stabbers are fine, blackbirds are fine, mallers are fine, thoraxes are fine, ruptures are fine... osprey, scythe? no, "they suck, stick to mining". The gallente ship is nice hauler and loot carrier. Augoror seems to be a "wtf" ship that few even know exists.

Now obviously, it'd be rather pointless to try to improve combat abilities of these ships, so anyone would actually consider using them over tier.2 or 3 cruisers. Even tier.2 find use more as 'trick' ships, rather than something that engages in regular slug fest... so that leaves us with giving them unique role instead, as 'niche' ships. Which brings us to logistics and second half of issue.

Logistics ships are, like you say, very underutilized. This imo stems from: the time needed to train all skills necessary to fly tech.2 logistics ship. The price of this ship. The lack of previous experience with logistics of the pilot who tries to utilize such ship. And finally, because tech.2 logistics are so rare, they have basically a huge "meeeee! am primary target!!!!" painted all over them. Which means someone buying such ship is going to have it blown up really quick, making their high price simply too high.

But a cheap logistics ship doesn't suffer from these drawbacks. It can be fully insured. It costs little, making it possible for one to buy these ships and cheaply gain experience in using them. It allows the new players to still participate and add something unique in the battle, even when their ship managing skills aren't up to par and if they cannot afford more expensive cruisers. And finally, it makes the logistics ships way more common, allowing people to learn how/if they can be useful in specific situations.

All this while not losing any of industrial strength these small cruisers currently have. So why not? ^^;;

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