YuuKnow
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Posted - 2004.03.23 01:36:00 -
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Edited by: YuuKnow on 23/03/2004 01:41:41
Hello all,
We are all aware of the continual post from power players complaining that they want more cruiser and frigate involvement, and demanding Tomb and the rest of development team make cruisers more powerful simply because they're bored with battleship fleets. And from what I hear, it seems like the developers are going to try to accommodate these wishes. However, I think that there are economical key-points of this issue that we all should remember which argue for keeping battleships at their current superiority.
To start, the cost of a battleship is tremendous! Yes, itÆs true that there are mega rich players and corps that can buy battleships like candy, but for the majority of us a BS is a hefty investment for starting corps and players. If you look at the numbers you can see that:
1. The cost of the worst battleship is still 10x times the cost of the best cruiser.
2. The cost of the best battleships is 14x times the cost of the best cruiser.
3. The cost of a Moa cruiser (arguably the best cruiser) is 35x times the cost of the best frigates.
(Example numbers include: 100mil for a Megathron/Apoc, 60mil for a Armageddon/Scorpion, 6.5mil for a Moa/Maller, 200k for a Tristan/Merlin/Punisher)
This means that:
-For every 1 megathron you buy, you could have bought 14 MOA!!!
-For every 1 megathron you buy, you could have bought 500+ frigates!!!!!!!!! Yes 500!!!!!!!!! (If you don't believe me, divide 100mil by 200k)
-A fleet of 10 uber battleships would equal the cost of a fleet of 5000 frigates!!!!!!!!!! Could you image what a fleet of 5000 frigates would do to a fleet of 10 battleships?!!! It would be a massacre! Granted, this would never happen because of the impossible task of organizing such a fleet as well as the fact that the servers would probably blow up, buts itÆs still important to realize this to understand the economical investment that is a battleship.
From these realizations, it is clear that the true power of the cruiser and frigate are not in their turret size nor should not be. The true power of the cruiser is in its cost effectiveness.
One could even say that battleships are already at a disadvantage to cruisers and frigates. Assuming equally skilled pilots, 14 Moa's will consistently wipe the floor with 1 battleship. 35 frigates will trounce a cruiser. 500 frigates will invariably annihilate 1 battleship.
A battleship exists sole for the reasons of battlefield superiority. You sacrifice the isk of all the cruisers and frigates that you could have bought in exchange for one ship that displays a reasonable (but a markedly depleted) fraction of that battlefield effectiveness. That is its only reason for its existence. If you reduce the effectiveness of a battleship against frigates/cruisers than youÆve transformed the battleship into nothing more than a severe financial blunder. Although there are power players out there that have isk pouring out of their exhaust fumes with fleets of bs, the economical and financial investment of a battleship must be maintained or there will be a severe cost/benefit imbalance in the game.
We all have faith in Tomb and the development team to make changes that will improve gameplay. In fact, they have hinted at these issues by suggesting increased cost for the new ôeliteö cruisers and frigates under construction. But I thought it is still important to emphasize that the financial/economical balance of the game is cruicial and must be considered before we request changes. Questions like:
-Should a 100mil isk bs be outmatched by a 60mil isk bs + one or two 3mil isk ôeliteö frigate? (3mil is just hypothetical).
-Should a 60mil isk bs be outmatched by two 25mil isk ôeliteö cruisers? What about two 25mil cruisers and one 3mil isk frigate?
-Etc.
are all important in questions that I think we need to consider when asking for more cruiser/frigate changes. My opinion is that battleship superiority should be maintained (especially not tweaked just for the sake of tweaking) as the cost/benefit ratio would be blatantly retarded if battleships were made less effective.
Questions, opinions, counter arguments??
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