Welcome to the eleventh installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other EVE Blog Banterarticles at the bottom of this post!
This month's banter comes to us from Joe Brusati a long time reader of CrazyKinux's Musing, who asks the following: CCP states that T3 Strategic Cruisers are just the start for the T3 line-up. In future Eve expansions what would you like to see as the next T3 ship type. Please be specific on details about what role this ship would play, cost of manufacturing, and the different modules that would be available for it, and of course you must give your T3 ship a name!
I apologize for the Lolcats headline, I blame it on a complete lapse in creativity. In my defense I have been cooped up here in the airport with nothing better to do than entertain my girlfriend (mostly myself) with time wasting website a la Icanhascheeseburger.com.
But as the title suggests I think that Tech 3 battleships are the way to go for the next T3 advancement. Yes it’s the obvious choice, but I also believe it’s the best choice. This isn’t to say that I think that we shouldn’t explore things like tech 3 frigates, but I believe the next iteration of battleships would have a much more profound impact on Eve.
Battleships are the current staple of any large fleet engagement, and they are also the ship of choice for level 4 mission runners. By introducing the next level of battleships to the player base, I believe it could spice up the combat quite dramatically.
As far as tech 3 cruisers go, I think the design principles were on the right track. Obviously it’s still taking a while for prices to stabilize, but otherwise I think we can consider them a success. Once wormhole operations, such a Mynxee's wormhole base, become more prevalent throughout Eve the prices should come down considerably. I believe 200 million Isk was what CCP intended for the final prices.
A tech 3 battleship should have a price point right around a billion isk. The tricky part is trying to design tech 3 battleships that don’t replace Marauders. Sure Marauders are great for killing and salvaging, but if a Tech 3 ship can run mission faster I’m sure that players would quickly make the switch. Perhaps I am taking this consideration the wrong way.
Eve is not like other games, where each item and tool needs to serve a useful function. It’s more like the real world. If new technology emerges that makes old technology obsolete, then that’s that. Similarly in Eve, the emergence of Hulks made the Covetor obsolete.
Ok so what should Tech 3 Battleships do? Well, much like Tech 3 cruisers are more powerful and more customizable that regular cruisers, Tech 3 Battleships should serve the same function. However, I think that CCP played it too safe with strategic cruisers. All of the new abilities we’re pretty much what players were expecting. More powerful versions of what they already had. Excluding the addition of a module that negated the jamming effects of interdiction spheres, nothing new what added through these ships.
With Tech 3 battleships I want CCP to design modules that allow players to create ships that will be flown unlike any other ship. Here are a couple ideas for spicing up Tech 3 battleships.
Gallente – Some galllente modules would provide great increases to drone damage. If built correctly, players could out damage a Dominix in drone firepower. However, if built this way players would be severely limited with high slots. Maybe only one or two high slots with no turret or missile launchers, making it a true drone boat.
Minmatar – Players should be able to create a battleship with frightening speed. Not a tackler battleship, but something that could hit 4 km a sec, with decent agility. To get a ship this fast and agile would require a huge sacrifice in armor modules.
Caldari – Perhaps several modules that allow battleship pilots to fire cruiser sized missiles with massive damage bonuses to allow battleships to maintain their current damage output, but also engage smaller craft effectively.
These are just few ideas to get people thinking. I’m not particularly committed to any of these examples, but I am committed to the idea of creating ships that are unlike anything we have ever flown before. If CCP is going to take the time to create an entirely new line of ships then I think it would be well worth the effort to spice up our combat options as well.
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Nice one mate. Will adding your Banter to the list. If you could please add the intro with all the links that would be very appreciated.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you want the heads-up for the next Banter, then just email me and I'll add you to the mailing list (crazykinux[at]gmail.com).
Cheers!
"The tricky part is trying to design tech 3 battleships that don’t replace Marauders."
ReplyDeleteAmen to that. I'm currently flying a Golem and loving it, and my alt is ready to jump into a Kronos - but I *really* don't want to drop 1.1bil on a Marauder (excluding fittings...), only to have T3 battleships appear in the next expansion and instantly send the value of Marauders through the floor.
On the other hand, I'd also expect a T3 BS to be better than its T2 counterpart, simply because... well... it's Tech 3!
Hopefully CCP will make things clearer in a dev blog sooner rather than later.
Excellent ideas for the bonuses to each race. I assume you left Amarr out because they'd obviousely have a subsystem which would give them a retardedly good tank. I'd also like to put in my vote for the Gallente t3 BS to be called a "Poseidon" which would be sick... And call the Amarr a Salvation?
ReplyDeleteAs for naming. I think the name "Poseidon" rocks for Gallente t3 BS. I want the Amarr to be called "Leviticus", let's face it, the books of the Bible is a logical naming trend, and it's the coolest sounding of the names. For Minmatar I say it should be called "Kopesh" after the Egyptian sword and lastly the Caldari ship should be named "Eagle" as they tend to go for heraldic creatures (Manicore, Wyvern, Rook, Raven) and it's the last major one barring Unicorn that hasn't been used yet.
ReplyDeleteHow about giving the Caldari t3 battleship insane EW abilities, IE make it able to lock down huge portions of enemy fleets.
ReplyDeleteA slightly more damaging Commandship isnt the best idea ive ever seen. No offense
I agree with the above phrase, with the EW BS. So far we have yet to see any EW ship more useful than a recon ship. And I personally vote for the names for the Caldari ship as the "Medusa" and the minmatar ship as the "Firestorm". And for once in my life, I'd like to see a decent looking minmatar ship, reminiscent of the Maelstrom.
ReplyDelete