Please give the Ares 3 missile and 3 turret slots! Like you did on the Scythe Fleet Issue. I hoped this is the new approach for dual weapon bonus :(

To go full damage on the Ares I'd need to fit different damage modules, which would gimp my fit. But being able to choose to go full missiles or turrets would offer some nice options/unpredictability/flexibility - the Gallente way.

In my book Gallente combat philosophy is about flexibility. If you refer to the missile bonus itself...I for one would like 3 turret slots and no missile bonus/slot at all more that the current half-and-half concept.

But isn't , for example, the Ares supposed to be specialize for that (although Rubicon seems to be changing that)? Not that I consider interceptors to be cheap... but given that they are tech II ships, I would expect a better performance given the cost and training effort.

Except the Taranis isn't a fleet interceptor. It doesn't tackle any better than a lot of the T1 frigs and as already stated it's even not that good at fighting T1 frigs after their remake. So what exactly is it's T2 specialisation?

I think it needs to be either faster so it can perform better than its t1 coutnerparts as an anti-kite or anti-fleet ceptor support OR unnerf the EHP and possibly even give it slightly more hull to maintain its prior viability as a fast brawler. For anyone who actually flies the Taranis, they know its past reputation no longer holds true as it is.

You constantly talk about fleet interceptors and their role in large scale combat, there are other ways to play the game and the changes small gang interceptor pilots are asking for won't affect your gameplay. When it comes to the role of combat interceptors you seem rather deluded, when was the last time you saw a taranis or crusader as a fleet tackler?

screams and indignation

Its not nullbears that are getting hit the hardest by nullified intys. Its small gang pvp! Read the posts on this page!

EXACLTY. So why give them nullification and turn them in to nullbear shuttles?

And no! Remote sebo'd ships will not catch intys due to module delay. To catch a inty, even with a insta lock, you need 1 sec for the server tick to apply the warp disrupter. 99% of intys will be long gone by time the server applies the disrupter.

If you don't understand what I am talking about I suggest you go pvp for a while before trying to sound smart again!

...

Let me introduce you to the post rubicon crow fleet: a 5kms uncatchable gang of talwars with 650 alpha per crow. They can speed tank pretty much anything, go straight through bubbles, actually fight other fleets if you've got a competent anchor and target caller(you cant rely on 1 dude to manually pilot a crow and call targets at the same time). With 15 crows you got 1500 dps and approx 9,5k alpha strike that can be applied to anything within 60km. They can realistically only be killed by smartbomb bses or specialized counters like rail taranis, even in the latter case the crows can just bail like they don't give a damn.

I had great fun flying talwar fleets in pizza, there were alot of people who underestimated the fleets enough to welp solo cynabals and vagabonds and what not thinking "it's just destroyers". A solo cerberus does not apply much damage to an MWDing crow moving at close to max speed, and if I have to sacrifice one for a cerberus kill then I think the only one who will be dissapointed would be the cerberus pilot. As for keeping targets tackled, did you suppose the crows would be alone? You can just add a bunch of tackle ceptors for the people that cant use missiles well and you'll have a completely bubble immune gang that could potentially kill ratting carriers and what not.

I feel that they either need to have their interdiction nullification removed or the mechanics of the game, and mainly the nature of server ticks need fixing to give people a chance to still catch them, it's not hard to burn out of bubbles in a 'ceptor to begin with, but it atleast gives them a vulnerability when moving around.

Which is why it is stupid. This bubble immunity is used as an argument against buffing interceptors to the level of having good combat stats, because ships that warp through bubbles and have good combat capability are OP. I think we can all agree on that CCP should ditch bubble immunity and give the interceptors proper stats.

You truly are delusional, look at AFs alright, they're just slightly over interceptors price wise. Most of the AFs have awesome stats and performance, does that make t1 combat frigates worthless?

No it doesn't. Why? Because of the following:

• Combat frigates are alot cheaper, so in certain cases like you mentioned yourself you'd go with the t1 version even if you can fly an AF, (I personally do this alot even if I can fly all frigates)
• They can go into FW novice plexes
• They are less scary than AFs, thereby getting more fights
• Alot of the combat frigates differ from AFs in bonuses and slot layouts, giving them separate niches that the AF's do not fill

Bare this in mind when you balance interceptors (especially the combat ones) and I believe they'll get the buff they deserve. The attack frigates are all super strong when flown properly, the interceptors as they are on sisi currently have yet to reach that level.

So disallow anchoring bubbles within 40km of gates akin to how you can't anchor GSC's within X km of gates. Nullification doesn't "solve" bubble bunkers, if it had, nullified tech 3's would have solved them a long time ago.

Mobile Large Warp Disruptor II = 40km width across. Anchored 40km from a gate, it will not cover the spawn radius of a gate, even if you put them all the way around a gate. You will spawn outside of a bubble and be able to warp.

So yes, restricting mobile bubbles from being anchored within 40km of a gate would prevent bubble bunkers and would be a much more artful and comprehensive solution to the problem of hell-bubbling a gate than giving interceptors nullification.

We're talking about so called "rapecages" or "ratting shields" which basically cover the entire gate and its spawn radius all the way out to 50km+ with bubbles. The former is usually used on active regional gates for gate camping, the latter is usually used in deadend pockets to stall invaders so that mining ops and ratting capitals have time to safe up before they arrive.

It doesn't matter if they place bubbles at the celestials. When you go to ratterville, you go to gank ratters. Which means you're going to anomalies. Sure, miners might throw bubbles up in mining anoms since they last a day or two, but ratters aren't throwing drags up in combat anomalies.

So your argument is misinformed. The real problem are bubble bunkers on gates, so nerfing those rather than empowering interceptors to screw over every small gang FC that roams null-sec in non-Combat Interceptor fleets would be the best solution.

But CCP won't do that, because it takes an act of god to get them to admit a planning mistake. I honestly believe they'd rather break the game for small gangs than to say "Yeah, that idea wasn't completely thought through."

Within 4AU

You don't warp a planet shotgunning a system, hell anymore you don't have to scan.

....and I will tell you now people are already planning their roaming fits.

Bubble immunity is drastic change. Fun, but drastic. It was real challenge to kill interceptor crashing back to gate. Now they are cut loose.

Imagine 20-50-150 intie roaming gangs will be a norm. Anyone who think inties dont have DPS take a look at crusader or claw. Hint: They designed not to tackle, but to kill, outside of smartbomb range (only taranis need to go in close).

Only few in fleet will need MWD - to establish initial tackle, rest can go with AB+max damage, no need to move really fast when you immune to bubbles and can bounce off planet/back to fleet in 20 seconds.

With mix on EWAR fitted on some of those ceptors, they can easily jam/damp/TD/kill even carriers. They can easily cut their losses and escape back to where they came from, at any time. Hard to probe down, fast as lightning, and has built-in Tech3 subsystem. Has both DPS and tackling variations. Easy to find/pick your ganks (no fights, they will easily escape from those, so no losses, or just few ones).
No other ship class provides that functionality (and at what price!), so inties will be OP for nullsec roaming, no questions here.

If you decide to wreck stuff up a bit more, bring boosting loki (warps kinda slower, but still immune to bubbles (same Tech3 as inties lol)). Now those EWAR inties can mow down even hurricanes and cynabals (hint: they have trouble tracking stuff once scrammed, even without EWAR applied).

The only thing i waiting from this thread is a counter for that madness.
This is sandbox, right?
There supposed to be a counter, right? RIGHT?

I wish one of the "OMG INTERCEPTORS GETTING NULLIFICATION! GREAT!" people would answer why it's better to have nullification on interceptors rather than dealing with the bubble bunker problem directly. Restricting the size of anchored bubbles and removing the ability to anchor them within 50km of a gate would do far more to open up null-sec than creating one ungankable class of ship. No more passive camps on regional gates, no more giant bubble spam.