It needs a lot of things. In theory, it'd be decent for bearing... but everyone uses Tengus for that now anyways.

The real problem is that the NH has an extremely strong competitor in the Claymore. It ends up being close to an apples-to-apples comparison:

Both are tech 2 BCs
Both are shield tanked. They even have similar resists; the NH gets a resist bonus, while the Claymore has absurdly good base resists.
(The NH has higher base shields though; it has more raw shield HP with an LSE than the Claymore gets with two LSEs.)
Both have five missile hardpoints and a bonus to a missile soft stat.
(NH has exp radius, while Clay has exp velocity; the former is technically better, but they're both pretty good.


The biggest differences end up being:

Claymore: 7/6/4 and 1400m/s, 5 med drones, decent missile bonuses. +200 grid advantage over the NH.
Nighthawk: 7/5/5 and 1000m/s, 5 light drones, sicknastyop missile bonuses. +30 cpu advantage over the Claymore.


Nighthawk has GREAT missile DPS, but it's slow as **** -- even with a nano fitted, an active-tank Hyperion will outrun it, as will a single-plate two-trimark Megathron. And five mids forces you to make a terrible choice in terms of tank versus tackle.

Claymore is absurdly faster -- 500m/s faster with a reasonable fit, 800m/s faster if you use one of the Claymore option highs for a Rapid Deployment link. While its tank is slightly thinner, it gets to either fit an extra tank mod, or fit a web. Its lower missile DPS gets offset by the fact that it can carry a full set of Valks, plus a spare set of Warriors as well.

You can make the argument that the NH makes a better buffer-tanked largefleet ship due to its higher buffer; however, in that case, 4-5 HMLs is really not doing that much for you. You're better off assuming that you're going to be primary. It's a Vulture with no cyno, no smarties, and half the tank. Not really selling itself to me. It comes down to this, once both ships have their own links:

HAM Claymore: 95k EHP, 1800m/s, 460dps @ 20km with CN Scourge + 128dps from Valks = 600dps. Can pack either a web or an extra invuln (+10k EHP)
HAM Nighthawk: 108k EHP, 1100m/s, 650dps @ 20km with CN Scourge + 80dps from Warriors = 730dps. Longpoint or TP only
HML Nighthawk: 108k EHP, 1100m/s, 475dps @ 63km with CN Scourge + 80dps from Warriors = 550dps. Longpoint or TP only.

As far as XLASB solo fits go, the Claymore wins hands down. The active tank bonus goes a lot farther, it's got the web, and the extra 200 grid allows it to pack a medium neut.

In summary:

The Nighthawk doesn't have a niche. The Vulture outperforms it for a large-fleet FC platform. The Tengu outperforms it for a large-fleet missile platform. The Claymore outperforms it for small-gang and solo PvP. The Tengu outperforms it for PvE.