joomla alacard
Indifferent Bastards
7
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Posted - 2011.11.16 20:29:00 -
[1] - Quote
(Note: please excuse the base stats if they are off - hopefully not drastically so - but I think I did the math right)
The Javelin improvement is definitely the shining star; however, even though I was initially very excited to hear about the hybrid turret changes, and ship velocity/inertia changes, the fittings that I can think of off the top of my head for a number of ships still seem to be limited damage-wise.
For example, in a ship like the ferox, turrets are it's life-blood, but fitting all h.n. blasters has been possible, but at the cost of multiple lows just for enough powergrid when also concerned about having a decent passive shield. However, even when trying to maximize damage at the cost of ehp, the dps & ehp combo is not on par with other ships of the class.
Hybrids will definitely be more effective as far as tracking and cap consumption is concerned (which is a blessing!) I was intrigued to see the difference this would make, so I looked up the base stats of two turrets to compare; heavy neutron blaster II and 425 autocannon II. According to EVElopedia, a comparison of the tracking of the HNBII vs 425ACII looks like this:
HNB II: 0.1000 rad/s --> (tracking 5) --> 0.1250 rad/s
425 AC II: 0.1056 rad/s --> 0.1320 rad/s (+ 5.6% speed of HNBII)
...not much of a difference. And honestly, I always thought of the superior tracking as insult on top of injury, since BC vs BC at a standstill; ACs slap harder and because of sig radius/terrible agility/velocity, outside of a couple ships, breaking their tracking isn't even an option, since the hybrids would break first (not to mention, sometimes you encounter 220 vulcans).
With the tracking boost to the HNBII, it gets a little more interesting:
HNB II: 0.1000 rad/s --> 0.1200 (+20%) --> (tracking 5) --> 0.1500 rad/s (+ 13.7% speed of 425ACII)
425 AC II: 0.1056 rad/s --> 0.1320 rad/s
Wait...agile hybrid turrets?! Nice.
Now, let's look at frigate-class turrets: Light Neutron Blaster II vs 200mm Autocannon II...
LNB II: 0.3165 rad/s --> (tracking 5) --> 0.3956 --> 0.3956 rad/s
200 AC II: 0.3150 rad/s --> 0.3938 --> (+7.5%/lvl * 5 = 37.5%) --> 0.5414 rad/s (+36.86% faster!)
Wow. I, for one, didn't realize how much faster the rifter and dramiel track compared to their caldari/gallente antitheses. And let's be honest with ourselves... that's what most pvp frigate lone wolfs (wolves?) fly.
After the +20% (0.3165 --> 0.3798 rad/s):
LNB II: 0.3798 rad/s --> (tracking 5) --> 0.4748 --> 0.4748 rad/s
200 AC II: 0.3150 rad/s --> 0.3938 --> (+7.5%/lvl * 5 = 37.5%) --> 0.5414 rad/s (+14.03% faster)
Hmm...autocannons on certain ships (the typical contenders) are still quite a bit faster, but not nearly as big of a difference as before. Take into account the speed boost and/or inertia decrease on some ships, and they might turn out to be more of a threat.
Also, notice that the tracking of the LNB II is now 20.57% faster than the comparable AC without the 7.5%/lvl tracking boost  !
Even with these changes, I am skeptical that this will do much to shake up the current pecking order of base bc ship hulls, but it might have a moderate effect for cruisers. Like i'm sure many others have said, some ships just don't have a niche cut out for them. (You can polish a turd all you want, but in the end, you still want to flush it down the toilet.) However, the affect on the frig vs frig arena could be substantial. Aside from hybrid vs projectile, I am also curious to see what will happen to the potential for a nos/neut to be squeezed in to some fits that have up until now seemed to be stuck at 90% of potential. Also, wondering if that nos/neut will actually be effective at all, given far less cap use and MUCH better (comparatively) tracking.
Not to put a sour note at the end, but none of these changes seem to make a dent in the sense of security passive fit/missile users have ...dra...*cough*...kes...*cough*.
Get ready for a Dramiel black friday sale. Okay, these changes aren't really going to make anyone in their right mind want to abandon their little cheap-as-hell machine gun hummingbirds, but certain other ships are definitely going to start looking good. (Like greasy fast food at an inebriated 1am good.) |