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Eve Vegas 2015 - Capital Round Table

This was well attended and well recorded. My notes are notes as always. Scrawled at full speed. I suggest you watch or listen to the Capital Session that preceded the round table. I missed some stuff. There were a staggering amount of questions.

Please visit the dev blog: Reworking Capital Ships.

From what I understand CCP is putting together a focus group similar to their one for tech 3 destroyers. It is not a CSM project. The CSM was going to put together a similar focus group before CCP decided to do so. That will allow us to share some ideas and potential participants if CCP wishes to accept any of those parties.

I arrived early because I wanted a good seat. It had the side effect of allowing me to listen to the conversations in the room from other early arrivals. I wrote a list of complaints that I heard. Most held a frigid, bitter quality to them that was reinforced by a bit of posturing. “Oh! We have killed you forever!” says one group to another. It taints their conversation and after a while I stop listening. The bit that i did pick up wound up being answered during the course of the talk.

CCP Larrikin is leading the Capital Rebalance. CCP Punkturis was also there to answer questions about the new fighter system. CCP Nullarbor was also there in case there was a cross over into structures. This caused a bit of confusion as someone asked why only Larrikin was answering most of the questions.

As I wrote my notes I did not understand some chunks of what I short handed. With the recordings available and the notes, hopefully super capital knowledgeable people can create the full discussion. It may come to bite me in the ass for admitting my ignorance of the fine details of super combat. I decided to leave in the pieces that confuse me, with a note of my confusion for those who understand the context where I do not. As I often say when listening to people discuss the movements of null sec life, “I understand all of these words but have no idea what they mean.”

Q: Super capital hunting before downtime will be affected by the cap changes of the doomsday.
A: The regular doomsday is not getting the drain so head shotting is not going away.

Q: Dreads have siege. Auxiliary will have triage. Can carriers have something for their resists maybe?
A: Right now, no

Q: signature resolution for XL guns for regular dreads. It is like Titan guns?
A: Yes

Q: The amount of damage these guns produce should be higher than 2k
A: We have been thinking about that. The numbers are not set yet

Q: Can you carry more fighters?
A: Yes. You will have extra in your cargo hold. You manage them through your inventory.

Q: Logistic capital skills?
A: Have not decided

Q: Looking like the XL guns will not hitting webbed things? (I believe this was about Vindi webbed subcaps still not being targets)
A: Yes. What they can shoot is based on the sig

Q: This question was a concern about sub capital fleets in wormhole space
A: We think there will be some interesting gameplay related to this

Q: Faction and capital mods. Current officer mods that are only used for capitals will need to be rebalanced
A: Some things are turning into capital mods
(NOTE: I did not fully understand this question as I heard it as that I’ve never even personally sniffed an officer mod and I have no idea what it takes to fit a super/titan)

Q: Will the costs of the ships be the same?
A: Yes

Q: The capital cargo bays need to be increased so that they can carry more than 2 capital modules
A: We have not decided.

Q: Can you give an idea of the HP differences?
A: We do not have exact numbers yet. That will be part of the capital focus group

Q: This question I have written as, “With the change to weapons systems. Looking at the damage of the Leviathan”
A: Sounds good
(Note: This is one of those questions that super users will understand. It was a much longer question that went into the Leviathan’s damage ability vs other Titans. It was long, it was said quickly, and I am again not knowledgeable enough about Leviathan damage potential.)

Q: Are there scripts for the new Doomsday damage types
A: They will be modules not scripts.

Q: Bastion gives a weapons timer for PvE
A: That has come up and we are going to have to look at it

Q: Scripting AOE Doomsdays?
A: Not yet

Q: Will Auxiliary's get remote assistance in triage?
A: Nope. No reps or cap in triage/siege

Q: Will logistic ships get weapon timers?
A: While in triage you can’t refit. But refitting is fun. Maybe they will gain the weapon timers.

Q: Fighter bombers. Plans to make flights into light or heavy or reimburse?
A: They will be transitioning over into the new type. The new type will also be built.

A short discussion about them. Fighters don’t behave like drones. Different AI. Different UI.

Q: Have you thought of new ways for the ships to manage their cap better?
A: Interesting question
Note: This was a suggestion said quite fast so I did not catch all of the pieces. It was about allowing more flexibility of capacitor depending on modules instead of straight positive or negative increases.

Q: Are you changing the grid
A: (CCP Larrikin looks at CCP Nullarbor. CCP Nullarbor has been examining grid sizes as part of Citadel development) We are looking at the grid size. It turns out there is not a reason for them to be small. We are investigating it due to other reasons. We are investigating the lock range, camera, and adding more UI to control at distances and such.

Q: Dreads and Titans only have three locks and with the new guns and all...
A: There is no reason to leave them stuck to three targets. They will also lock faster

There is a wide range of fighters coming in. They will be in the double digits. What you assign to them will be what they can do. It will be more of a mix and match and create your perfect groups.

Q: Combat . Have you considered cutting down the timer?
A: No? (To the room)Should we consider it? (Mixed responses)

There was a discussion about making the beam wider and slimmer so people could choose its size. CCP Larrikin said that while it sounds cool, everyone would make it wide. Then they’d just jump in one Titan after another and it would be a min/max situation at all times.

Q: Size and mass?
A: New dreads are similar in size and mass when it comes to Wormholes

Q: Are supers losing their logistics?
A: Yes

Q: Are the Auxiliary's going to be individual enough?
A: They will all be unique and match their race.

Q: Will the AoE stuff hit cloaked things?
A: No

Q: Does the 10 minute Doomsday timer count as a weapons timer for refiting?
A: Not sure. That is an interesting idea. (Comment here about people stripping and refitting their Doomsdays to avoid timers being a factor)

Q: Are Jump freighters in the HP Rebalance
A: Not sure

Q: WIll the Rorqual have industrial restrictions?
A: We are looking into relaxing that and allowing them to use their bay freely

Q: Manufacturing: Anyway to build supers in station?
A: You can build them in assembly structures. Not in Citadels. Sov restrictions are staying
(Note: This player was quite unhappy and ended by saying that “PL and the Imperium will still have super building dominance then)

Q: Will there be a way to have better hull reps?
A: CCP Fozzie loves hull reps per CCP Larrikin. However, nothing is promised.
(AUthors Note: Unrelated to Eve Vegas. There has been some discussion over how to make hull reps better and more combat viable. Potential improvements would probably roll over into capitals)

Q: Big grids would be fun. How do I alpha ships that can warp away?
A: Friends? Specialized e-war fighters?

Q: So putting dreads in a fight is still a guarantied bil in the trash
A: We are giving more options. I’m not against caps dying

Player Comment: I believe siege mode dreads should still be able to get cap.

Q: Any plans of combat dreads with no jump ability?
(entire room stares at him)
A: Nope

Q: Dev blog?
A: Later today

Q: Existing or new Doomsdays vs CItadels
A: (CCP Nullarbor) Yeah, why not? No bombs or smart bombs however

Q: Will fighter squads be able to be tackled or neutered?
A: Well they don’t warp. But webbed, and jammed. Damps may not be useful.

Q: New Doomsdays act as a cap neutralizer for subcaps?
A: Yes. They may cap a capital but not as much as a fleet of rifters.

Rebalancing hitpoints. Looking at reps. Looking to do changes to scan rez. No drone deploying in triage.

Q: Give dreads reps in siege?
A: We have not decided

Fighter squads must be launched in groups. You can’t send out more members to fill a hole to a partially damaged group.

Q: Shadow Cartel uses a refitting tactic. Why do you think that subcaps should lose this tactic when you are adding it to control caps. When we have a mach fleet we can refit to counter.
A: It is an interesting combat choice. We want consistency instead of special exemptions.

Q: Fighters: Will they keep doing their command or will you have to tell them each time?
A: Depends on the ability
There was a bit of discussion about how some things you want done over and some you don’t and that they will have a UI that helps you manage them better.

Q: Capital Smart Bombs?
A: No

Q: Bumping and capital positioning. These are problem areas for anyone trying to move a fleet of capitals.
A: No changes are planned at the moment. It is a known problem

Q: Slow cats. Their ability to put out tons of drones is one reason they were such a  problem. Will there be any iteration?
A: Carriers would launch drones. Fighters are going to be the new things. Currently they are playing with how many the ship will be able to hold and launch.

Q: Stacking penalties. Reps and resists. Looked at addressing reps with fall off.
A: Yes. There are technical issues. Also counters that create weird things when it comes to resits.

Q: Carriers and supers - can you set way points for the fighters?
A: You will be able to give way points for movement.

Q: Can we get a notification of when the fighter arrives at the way point or target?
A: There is new UI. Play testing will let us know if that is what we want it to be

The T2 cap skills will need level 5 cap skills to train.

Q: Can we lift cargo restrictions on ship maintenance arrays?
A: Will check with people.

Q: Planning on putting in new high slot modules?
A: Yes. We are not read to discuss it

A player had the opinion that supers should be restricted to null only. There are two large low sec groups that are oppressive with their supers.

Q: Why was the Rorqual put to the side?
A: We know it needs attention. We have ideas. We have ideas we are not ready to share yet.

Q: Super capital logistic ship?
There wasn’t really an answer that I caught.

Suggestion: Put a jump drive in the Bowhead? (Followed by T2 Bowheads calls)

Q: Modules that apply damage to sub capitals. What is the point of sub capitals in a capital fight?
A: KIlling capitals. Sub Capitals will have a larger impact in capital fights with the changes.

Opinion: Wormhole capital mass should be flattened like the DPS to give more game play options.

Q: Wormhole capital escalations in this new age of capital changes?
A: We are aware of the way the changes will affect wormholes. Watch this place. (lots of people made “Oh” noises)

Q: Rebalancing local capital repairs due to the triage changes?
A: Yes. We are looking at this

Someone did not like the name of the new guns. This called for CCP Larrikin to explain where it came from. Nit picking ensued.

Q: There is now no defense for wormholers. They will now die in their sites.
A: CCP Larrikin did not agree and said that there was more to come for wormholers.

Q: Decrease the time it takes to build them.
A: Maybe

Q: You have to bring down the cost, time, and components. More will die. Not enough will be able to be built to replace them. We will run out of capitals.
A: We have looked into the numbers. It has come up. We are not planning to bring down these numbers for now.

And that is that. I’ve done my best to faithfully reproduce the questions and answers. They are often short handed versions..

Comments

  1. I have a question about Capitals...

    Are they a part of the nullsec reworks? Or a part of the sovereignty reworks? Or are a completely different matter which happens to overlap with the changes to null/sov?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All are inextricably linked. A rework of Sov is a rework of Nullsec. Couple that Sov/Null rework with up coming player structure rework and the extraordinary structure bashing capabilities of Capitals and Supercapitals feels nearly irrelevant. Something had to be done to reintroduce relevancy.

      Conceptual distinctions, while often illuminating, rarely pan out so cleanly in real or virtual life.

      Delete
  2. Thank you for posting these recaps of the EVE Vegas panel discussions, Sugar. They are super-useful and informative. Nice job capturing all the pertinent points for those of us who could not attend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Q: Shadow Cartel uses a refitting tactic. Why do you think that subcaps should lose this tactic when you are adding it to control caps. When we have a mach fleet we can refit to counter.
    A: It is an interesting combat choice. We want consistency instead of special exemptions."

    An expansion on why consistency instead of exemptions is something I should like. Eve is full of 'special exemptions'. Hictors and Dictors are the only ships that can use Focussed Points and Interdiction Probe Launchers. Dreads can use Siege Modules, Carriers Triage. Titans can Doomsday. Need I go on?

    These are all specialisations or special exemptions. They provide valuable flavour and meaning to Eve.

    More importantly, mid-combat refitting is a prime example of where actual player skill and preparation can influence a fight in (what I feel is) an excellent example of how Eve should play. Skill intensive, challenging play that can really make a fleet punch above their weight.

    I don't feel that removing mid-combat refitting for sub-caps is a good choice by CCP. I've stated why I think it is a good tactic, and so I'd like to see a really good reason for removing it.

    I am not opposed to removing capital refitting. I think that the ability of Supercapitals (We really need a new word for Titans and Supercarriers as a class) and Capitals to gain millions of EHP is overpowered and should be nerfed. I'm not one for perfect solutions, but a change so that you can't refit off fleet hangers would be a way of targeting this without targeting sub-capitals. It would certainly please mobile depot builders!

    Q: Any plans of combat dreads with no jump ability?
    (entire room stares at him)
    A: Nope

    You know, I don't think this is actually such a bad idea. A Monitor-type ship would be interesting, and could provide a high dps, low mobility alternative to Dreads.


    Q: Manufacturing: Anyway to build supers in station?
    A: You can build them in assembly structures. Not in Citadels. Sov restrictions are staying
    (Note: This player was quite unhappy and ended by saying that “PL and the Imperium will still have super building dominance then)

    He has a point. I agree with him, but it presents a challenge to building up a challenge to the old, entrenched powers.

    "A player had the opinion that supers should be restricted to null only. There are two large low sec groups that are oppressive with their supers."

    This deserves the derisive laugh I hope it attracted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And now I'm done with the response to the post, I'd like to say a massive thank you, Sugar. From someone who couldn't be there, you've really brought us into the conversation that, otherwise, we wouldn't be part of.

      Many thanks and much love <3.

      Rob.

      Delete

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