Let's give this a go. I'm not trying to troll here, I just recognize the hardships the devs and the community are going through balancing this weird weapon system. Below is an amalgamation of ideas I've picked up from others players reading the forums over the last week or two, and a few of my own.
The Blaster PredicamentNo matter how you buff these guns, they will always be inferior to pulses, AC's and missiles, which are balanced well. Instead of mucking around trying to change each blaster boat, or nerfing the other three weapon systems, try this.
Rail Changes- Rails become an energy pulse "autocannon": high rof, high tracking, high range; extremely low close-range damage, low fall-off, adjustable optimals via ammo
- Rail damage evens out with other weapon systems as the range increases (for example, 500dps at 80km or something)
- Low fall-off supports an existing mechanic: kiting in order to maintain the ideal optimal range, maybe like arties and lasers? (instead of wildly spraying the space in front of you like AC boats do)
- Rail range and damage ratios are adjusted through hybrid ammo: 80/20 kin/therm, 50/50, etc.
- Blasters are removed. Completely. **** them in the ass.
Drone Changes-
Drones do the blasting. give drones some love, add/modify mods and rigs to give players the freedom to customize drone tracking, damage and speed; Gallente ships innately have the space to use them
- Only the combat drone range of operation is drastically reduced; they are only to be released to supplement the rail damage up close. As the distance increases, rail boats will gain gun dps, and will never receive drone damage bonuses or be able to use combat drones over longer distances.
- if someone tries to kite the drones, rail boats will gain an increase in gun damage as distance increases, and drone boats can use sentries
Specialized Ships- Eos, Domi, Ishtar unique bonus: Sentry drones move at 20/40/60/80/100% of ship speed per command ship/BS/HAC level.
- the above ships will never be able to fit a full rack of rails, or even come close to it. nerf PG if needed.
Conclusion- you dont have to muck around nerfing AC's, pulse lasers, etc.
- you dont have to muck around trying to make the baster philosophy and its boats viable
- you dont have to introduce new things (maybe some drone rigs, and change the mods)
- you dont have to mess around with webs!
- you'll revitalize a dead race