Some Inferno Changes Rumored

Blake over at k162space linked a pastebin entry with a few interesting changes yesterday. Here's the link to the pastebin, which Blake said he found at Reddit.

To break it down, it looks like we have two big time (potential) changes. One is for industry and one is for combat. In combat, we've got the introduction of Micro Jump Drives (MJDs?). From what I'm reading, it seems that MJDs are a navigation system that is explicitly noted as a Battleship class module. It has a spin-up time, ie not instantaneous, but when it activates, it shoots the ship 100km in the direction it was pointing. When the ship lands it still has its same velocity. Also, there is a signature radius bloom akin to MWDs while the MJD is spinning up. Lastly, it says that ships are affected by warp scramblers and warp disruption fields. So does that mean an MJD is shut down by these? Not so sure, but it does certainly make sense.

My initial reaction to MJDs is meh. I somewhat understand the mechanics, but its not quite there yet for me. Battleships are big and slow. These new drives give them they ability to dictate range to some extent. The problem is that whole "big and slow" thing gets them caught before they get to use the new GTFO ability. Another possible thought is that the MJD could also be partially to combat Tier 3 Battlecruisers to some extent. I still see it as problematic though. By the time the BS lands on grid again after a micro jump, would it realistically be able to lock a nano BC and scram it in a reasonable amount of time? I'm still thinking no on that one.

Overall, I understand that Battleships could certainly use a buff. The 3rd Tier BCs definitely put Battleships farther away from the front lines in many cases. The Battlecruisers are faster and more agile than Battleships and they generally pump out similar damage. The MJD might be a step in the right direction, but I think to be a truly effective BS buff, the spin up time has to be relatively short, and optimally, you could choose a distance (say between 100km and 1000km) to Micro Jump to. There are certainly more potential stipulations or add-ons, but that's what jumped out at me to start.

The second major change thrown into the pastebin is that NPC drones are getting bounties put on their heads. Hopefully CCP has the good sense to take away drone alloys if this is the case. Otherwise its just a huge buff for the DRF. Regardless, this puts drones on par or better than other rats, creating uniformity to NullSec space. If the alloys are removed though, this is a huge buff for the mining profession, and you can bet on it having a huge impact on all market operations too. I'm going to send CCP Diagoras a tweet to see if he can tell us what percentage of minerals come from drone alloys. I hope he can field the question and its not too specific. If we do get an answer, it should be indicative of just how important mining is about to become.

The drone ratting change could be pretty crazy. It actually relates to something I've been thinking about in terms of botting recently too. I know people lament the amount of bots in Eve right now and many say that CCP wasn't hard enough on them with the new banning initiative. My concern is that the bots really do help prop up the economy. If the minerals they produce come back to HighSec and get turned into the ships that everyone is buying, the decreased supply of minerals is going to drive up ship prices.

 

 

Supply Shift Inward Increases Price Levels

I think such a change would probably just be for a short while, but it could be significant. Prices would probably spike for a month or two after alloys get nerfed, but then mining will become profitable enough for people to start actually doing it again. I still think that mining needs a legitimate buff in terms of the activity itself rather than a nerf on drone alloys, but its certainly a start for the mining profession. 

As a disclaimer, none of this information is official yet. Not even close. On the other hand though, I saw a similar pastebin regarding Crucible changes before they came out, and most of them were true. That one introduced Tier 3 BCs among other things, and the only legitimate changes we saw were that the Naga became a Hybrid boat and the Talos lost its web bonus and drones. Sidenote: that would have been an incredibly sexy Talos to fly. Anyway, just thought I'd be thorough and not get everyone's hopes up too much. It all looks plausible though. Waiting on the dev blog then.

RvB Membership Explosion

Members in both the Blue Republic and the Red Federation exploded almost overnight this weekend. I'm sure a few observant pilots noticed the ad for RvB at the login screen this weekend (I'm still looking for a picture of it if anyone grabbed a screenshot btw). Well you weren't the only ones. In Blue alone, there are almost 300 new members, and the average number of pilots logged in at any given time this weekend was usually around 90-100, which is almost double normal figures. Here are the respective membership charts for the two corporations, as provided by Dotlan

Blue Membership

Red Membership

I'd say the sudden growth strained the RvB directors a bit this weekend. I heard the influx of applications was pretty overwhelming, and tough to get the appropriate information out to all of the new players too. Also, our little rhythm of grabbing 15-20 pilots and meeting the Reds in Akon was a little out of whack too. It was no problem hitting 50+ fleets and often FC's had to take the advert down. 

The next couple weeks will be telling as to how appealing RvB is to the masses. If all of these new players enjoy their experience, both corporations could undergo really massive changes in trying to deal with becoming some of the larger alliances in the game. I'd love to see the two corporations start employing multiple fleets or even themed support. The first thing that came to mind was a typical Cruiser/Frig fleet supported by a group of Tier 3 BC's to warp in and snipe. Regardless, more numbers should make for more ability to pick off loners in 1v1 situations and bigger fleet fights. It should be a great thing for the corporation unless all of these new members turn into more station humpers who can't undock without overwhelming odds in their favor. Believe me, I'm hoping for the former.

Redesigning the Eagle -- A New Way of Thinking

Okay, so here's my crack at the Redesigning the Eagle Contest as sponsored by Kirith Kodachi. The basic premise is here below:

"The goal is to produce a description of how you would change the Eagle (and/or all of the Heavy Assault Cruiser class) to make it viable in the new Crucible age AS WELL AS one or more images of a hull redesign for the Moa/Eagle/Gila/Onyx ships very much like how the Scoprion and Maller have been completely redone.."

Here are my thoughts. Right now, clearly the Eagle is horrendous. Currently, it has a double bonus for range, a bonus for damage, and a bonus for shield tanking. It is still in a pretty bad state right now though. Even with the hybrid boost, the Eagle is not on par with other HACs. I used PyFA to get a look at its current state post-buff. Its currently possible to get a rack of 250mm rails and a pretty respectable shield tank. With Antimatter loaded, it hits 40.5 + 15 for 310 DPS and with the long range T2 ammo, Spike, it goes 130 + 15 for 207 DPS.

The numbers are meaningless without some comparison though. Here's the Muninn: 29.2 + 35.9 at 347 DPS with EMP and 105 + 35.9 at 232 DPS with T2 Tremor. And a sniper-fit Zealot: 29.2 + 16.4 at 436 DPS with Multifrequency and 105 + 16.4 at 290 DPS with Aurora.

Missing your undergrad calc class yet? The Eagle wins in range, but not DPS. Its also the slowest by about 300 m/s. Ouch. So it has range, but it can't maintain it? Seems like a pretty big issue.

So let's look at the state of the union then. The Eagle is the worst in its role as a sniper HAC, excelling only in range, which it can't maintain. Now we have Tier 3 BC's, and they can hit from farther range, run faster, and hit harder. Oh, and by the way, they're about a third of the cost and can be fully insured. Are you sold on the Eagle yet?

Rixx Javix wrote a little while ago about how a few HACs are "dead" after the release of Tier 3 BC's and a few other causes. For the most part, I think he's right to some extent. Especially on a cost/benefit scale, there are a lot of other options out there that fulfill the role that HACs used to have. The key is making HACs different and relevant. I don't think the Vaga has been outdone yet due to its speed. The Deimos is great close range brawler that might still be viable, and the Ishtar is certainly still a unique ship in that its a versatile drone boat. This is what the Eagle needs. It needs a role that no other ship in the game has right now.

Here's the proposal. Its not a higher DPS sniper. We've already got the Naga and the rest of the crew to do that, and the current mechanics with on grid probing/warp-to's makes pure snipers a tough place to be anyway. I'm also not suggesting a blaster Eagle. It will always be outpaced by the Deimos, among other ships.

My thought is its gotta be different. My thought is a torpedo Eagle. The only viable torp ships right now are bombers, the Phoon, and the Golem (pretty much PVE only). Add the Eagle to this list by bonusing it similar to bombers right now.

Caldari Cruiser Bonus:
20% bonus to torpedo velocity and flight time per level
5% bonus to shield resistances per level

Heavy Assault Ship Skill Bonus:
15% bonus to torpedo damage per level
5% bonus to target painter effectiveness per level

 The key to this ship, as I see it, is giving it a distinct role that gives this Heavy Assault Cruiser strong capabilities without making more ships obsolete. In this torp Eagle, I think we've achieved that. Let's keep the same slot layout as the current Eagle. Change all the turret hardpoints to missile bays, giving the Torpedo appropriate grid for Siege Missile Launcher II's. This gives the Eagle significantly more damage than Stealth Bombers can do, and yet it still has a solid tank. It must give up one of these slots for a TP if one so chooses, or you could pair up with a Huginn. Note, the bonus is less than the Huginn, giving the Minmatar Recon Ship a decided advantage in the EWAR field. I'm thinking something along the lines of the following:

High Slots
Siege Missile Launcher II (x5)
Small Energy Neutralizer

Medium Slots
Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon Microwarpdrive
Phased Weapon Navigation Array Generation Extron
Invulnerability Field II
Photon Scattering Field II
Large Shield Extender II

Low Slots
Ballistic Control Unit II (x3)
Power Diagnostic Unit II

Rigs
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I (x2)

This ship would have decided advantages and disadvantages. On the pro side, it should be able to put out quite a bit of DPS at an impressive range. It would not be up to the level of snipers, but with Javelin torpedoes, it could get out pretty far (Bombers loaded with Javelin already get ~75km without rig additions). This ship could be great for a POS bash (woohoo just what everyone wanted!). On the downside, it could be a bit susceptible to smaller ships that can signature tank the torpedoes. Target Painters will be essential for this ship to do well in fights below its weight class.

Overall its an interesting, unconventional way to look the Eagle. Caldari ships do not (and in my opinion, should not) exceed Gallente ships in Blaster technology. With the Naga, other Tier 3 BC's, and current probing mechanics, dedicated sniper platforms are a tough sell as well. My proposed changes give the Eagle an interesting ability to strike hard at a variety of ranges so long as its target is large or well painted. It provides a ship role that New Eden does not have yet today.

[Note: I'm trying to work out a new design for the Eagle, but my drawing skills are horrendous. I'll try to get something worked out. If not, I'll hit up the CAD lab when I get back to school :)   ]

-- Rollins