The Great Battlecruiser Change

[Edited to be 40% less bitchy]

The post is out for the changes in battlecruisers headed by CCP Fozzie.  The overall first impressions are very... "Why, oh god why my ship my ship..... and the drake is still a brick tank..."  These changes are not the end stats but we can see where CCP is headed.  There will be testing and player feedback.  Please, stop by and give your opinion, hopefully politely and usefully.  I managed to make a useless post which is not my style but I was a bit floored.

Before I paste the first version of the changes let us look at what a battlecruiser is.  I understand that Eve is its own place but we base a lot of concepts off of what things should be.  We do not have Titan sized frigates and Titans were named Titans because Titans and Titans.

Battlecruisers are larger than cruisers  able to both defend and attack battleships with raw firepower but suffering for their mobility by a weaker structure.  They are their own ship class that stand between cruisers and battleships.

Before the cruiser buff, battleships ate cruisers for breakfast.  After the buff, cruiser gangs are a serious threat to battlecrusiers.  Things like capacator warfare, range management  and decision making became much, much more important with the increase for cruisers.  Cruisers went from being amusing to being a problem when Retribution came out.  Many groups, my own included, embraced the changes and cheerfully down shipped for the mobility and cheaper cost more than compensating for the gap that was left.

Is there a focus on lighter weight ships and faster fighting?  Will battlecruiser mineral costs decrease due to their loss of armor, structure and shields?  I don't know.  I suck at this.  There is an obvious push towards more secondary weapon utilization for various races.  More options for people to chose. I've never flown a Cyclone and now the chances are that I never will due to it becoming a missile ship.

I'm not in love with the changes but life will go on, I'll learn how to fly my ships under the new rules and continue to play my game.  The frustrating part about the balancing is that it is coming out piece by piece.  It is creating gaps in the way ships are used because other ships will not be balanced for an unknown period of time.  Not that I have a better suggestion. It's just a frustrating thing to wait through.

At the same time, the developers are working on this and moving it forward at a good rate. It is a massive project that they are undertaking and shakes the foundations of the game.  Spaceships are why we play and spaceship changes means that everything changes for everyone.  As much as I do not like the things that I like to be touched, I will remind myself that other games indulge themselves in resets for possessions and random wipes when they want to make changes.

Our stuff may change but we still get to keep it.  It is still our stuff.

Anyway, this is round 1.  Fozzie was very good about feeling out player feedback and adjusting things up and down last time.  I believe it will be the same way again. It is hard to accept that it won't be left alone but it won't be, no matter how much I whine about it.  Therefore, we need to put our input and testing forward to help keep our game good.  It's hard to bitch about something being bad and wrong if you don't take the time to write up why it is bad and wrong in an attempt to make your opinion heard.

Prophecy:

• Battlecruiser skill bonuses:
• 5% bonus to all Armor Resistances 
• 10% bonus to drone damage and hitpoints
• Fixed Bonus:
• 99% reduction in the CPU need of Warfare Link modules
• Slot layout: 5 H (-2), 4 M (+1), 7 L (+1), 4 turrets (-2), 4 Launchers (+3)
• Fittings: 1100 PWG (-200), 415 CPU (+75)
• Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 3000(-419) / 5500(+617) / 4250(-145)
• Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 2850(+37.5) / 750s / 3.8 (+0.05)
• Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 150 / 0.704 / 12900000 (-600,000) / 8.5s (-0.4)
• Drones (bandwidth / bay): 75 (+50) / 225 (+200)
• Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 50km / 210 / 6
• Sensor strength: 17 Radar (+1)
• Signature radius: 270 (+5)
• Cargo capacity: 400 (+50)

Harbinger:

• Battlecruiser skill bonuses:
• 10% bonus to Medium Energy Turret Damage 
• 10% bonus Medium Energy Turret capacitor use
• Fixed Bonus:
• 99% reduction in the CPU need of Warfare Link modules
• Slot layout: 7 H (-1), 4 M, 6 L, 6 turrets (-1)
• Fittings: 1325 PWG (-175), 350 CPU (-25)
• Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 3000(-516) / 5000(-469) / 4500(-188)
• Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 3125 / 822s(+72s) / 3.8 (-0.366)
• Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 150 / 0.704 / 13800000 (+300,000) / 9.1s (+0.2)
• Drones (bandwidth / bay): 50 / 75 (+25)
• Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 55km (+5) / 210 / 6
• Sensor strength: 17 Radar (+1)
• Signature radius: 270 (+5)
• Cargo capacity: 375 (+25)

Ferox:

• Battlecruiser skill bonuses:
• 5% bonus to all Shield Resistances 
• 10% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret optimal range
• Fixed Bonus:
• 99% reduction in the CPU need of Warfare Link modules
• Slot layout: 7 H, 5 M, 5 L (+1), 7 turrets (+1)
• Fittings: 1100 PWG (+25), 510 CPU (+35)
• Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 5000(+117) / 3500(+81) / 4250(+344)
• Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 2750(+250) / 723s(+56.33s) / 3.8 (+0.05)
• Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 140 / 0.65(+0.05) / 13510000 (-500,000) / 8.2s (+0.3)
• Drones (bandwidth / bay): 25 / 25
• Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 65km (+5)/ 195 / 8
• Sensor strength: 19 Gravimetric
• Signature radius: 295 (+10)
• Cargo capacity: 475 (+130)

Drake:

• Battlecruiser skill bonuses:
• 5% bonus to all Shield Resistances 
• 5% bonus to heavy and heavy assault missile kinetic damage
• Fixed Bonus:
• 99% reduction in the CPU need of Warfare Link modules
• Slot layout: 7 H (-1), 6 M, 4 L , 7 Launchers
• Fittings: 840 PWG (-10), 515 CPU (-10)
• Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 5250(-219) / 3250(-658) / 4000(+94)
• Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 2500(-312.5) / 658s(-92s) / 3.8 (+0.05)
• Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 140 / 0.64(+0.012) / 14810000 (+800,000) / 8.9s (+0.7)
• Drones (bandwidth / bay): 25 / 25
• Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 60km / 195 / 8
• Sensor strength: 19 Gravimetric
• Signature radius: 295 (+10)
• Cargo capacity: 450 (+105)

Brutix:

• Battlecruiser skill bonuses:
• 5% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret damage
• 7.5% bonus to Armor Repairer effectiveness 
• Fixed Bonus:
• 99% reduction in the CPU need of Warfare Link modules
• Slot layout: 7 H, 4 M, 6 L (+1), 7 turrets
• Fittings: 1200 PWG (+50), 435 CPU (+10)
• Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 3500(-406) / 4500(+135) / 5000(+117)
• Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 3000(+656.25) / 789s(+164s) / 3.8 (+0.05)
• Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 155 / 0.704(+0.0352) / 12250000 (-1,000,000) / 8.1s (-0.2)
• Drones (bandwidth / bay): 50 / 50
• Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 55km / 200 / 7
• Sensor strength: 18 Magnetometric
• Signature radius: 305 (+5)
• Cargo capacity: 475 (+75)

Myrmidon:

• Battlecruiser skill bonuses:
• 7.5% bonus to Armor Repairer effectiveness
• 10% bonus to drone damage and hitpoints
• Fixed Bonus:
• 99% reduction in the CPU need of Warfare Link modules
• Slot layout: 5 H (-1), 5 M, 6 L, 5 turrets (-1)
• Fittings: 1050 PWG (-125), 400 CPU
• Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 3500(-406) / 4500(-188) / 4750(+453)
• Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 2850(+37.5) / 750s(+108.75s) / 3.8 (+0.05)
• Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 145 / 0.704 / 13100000 / 8.6s (-0.1)
• Drones (bandwidth / bay): 100 (+25) / 175 (+25)
• Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 55km / 200 / 7
• Sensor strength: 18 Magnetometric 
• Signature radius: 305 (+5)
• Cargo capacity: 400

Cyclone:

• Battlecruiser skill bonuses:
• 5% bonus to Heavy Missile and Heavy Assault Missile rate of fire
• 7.5% bonus to shield boosting amount
• Fixed Bonus:
• 99% reduction in the CPU need of Warfare Link modules
• Slot layout: 7 H (-1), 5 M, 5 L (+1), 2 turrets, 5 Launchers
• Fittings: 1200 PWG (-10), 525 CPU (+100)
• Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 4750(+355) / 4000(+94) / 3500(+81)
• Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 2250(+62.5) / 592s(+8.67s) / 3.8 (+0.05)
• Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 165 / 0.704 / 12500000 / 8.2s
• Drones (bandwidth / bay): 50 (+10) / 50 (+10)
• Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 45km / 220 / 6
• Sensor strength: 16 Ladar
• Signature radius: 250 (+10)
• Cargo capacity: 450 (-25)

Hurricane:

• Battlecruiser skill bonuses:
• 5% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret damage 
• 5% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret rate of fire
• Fixed Bonus:
• 99% reduction in the CPU need of Warfare Link modules
• Slot layout: 7 H (-1), 4 M, 6 L, 6 turrets, 3 Launchers
• Fittings: 1125 PWG, 400 CPU
• Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 4250(-47) / 4500(+188) / 3500(-16)
• Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 2250(-562.5) / 592s(-158s) / 3.8 (+0.05)
• Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 165 / 0.704 / 12800000 (+300,000) / 8.4s (+0.2)
• Drones (bandwidth / bay): 30 / 30
• Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 45km / 220 / 6
• Sensor strength: 16 Ladar
• Signature radius: 250 (+10)
• Cargo capacity: 425 (-50)