Just as a disclaimer because I won't talk about it too much, HAC's across the board are getting a boost to their sensor strengths to bring them in line with t1 battleships in the 20-24 range it appears. Now this is a huge improvement across the board in response to EWAR so it does make a big difference, but I just don't want to have to circle around and mention it every time. They are also receiving a role bonus that provides a 50% reduction in MWD signature radius penalty (bloom). This is also quite significant, but mostly brings into question if AHAC doctrines will become MWD doctrines instead. Additionally HAC's got a bonus to their capacitor recharge rates and capacitor amounts in order to hopefully allow more cap hungry setups.
Let's take a look at Minnie HAC changes first and then move on to their CS changes.
Heavy Assault Cruisers
VAGABONDI kept hoping this ship would be made relevant again, so let's see if these changes actually take steps towards making the Vagabond a solidly better choice than either the inexpensive Stabber or the Cynabal.
Role Bonus: 50% reduction in MicroWarpdrive signature radius penalty
Minmatar Cruiser Bonuses:
5% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret rate of fire
7.5% bonus to shield boost amount (was 5% bonus to max velocity)
Heavy Assault Cruiser Bonuses:
10% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret falloff
5% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret damage
Slot layout: 6H, 4M, 5L; 5 turrets, 1 launchers(-1)
Fittings: 900 PWG(+45), 400 CPU(+5)
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 1750(+97) / 1400(+63) / 980(-4)
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / cap/s) : 1200(+137.5) / 245s (-90s) / 4.9/s (+1.7)
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 295(+56) / .504 / 11590000 / 8.1s
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 25 / 25
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 70km(+20km) / 330 / 6(+1)
Sensor strength: 21 Ladar(+7)
Signature radius: 115
The Vagabond has most noticeably had it's max velocity bonus removed replaced both with a significant base speed buff, up to 295 m/s base, and the bonus replacing the velocity change is going to be a shield boost amount bonus. Overall I'm pretty underwhelmed by what is the largest change to the ship. Active shield boosting with ASB's can be very nice, and this change would be great, if the Vagabond could fit a XLASB, and dual 180mm t2 guns without having to use an ACR or fitting modules to make it happen, but as it stands, even with a solid PG boost and tiny CPU boost we still won't being seeing that configuration all too often as you will need both the usual co-pro and ACR to make it happen.
The overall here is that the Vagabond is becoming less buffer-skirmish and more active-skirmish. It won't have the tank and DPS combo to go face to face with much in the way of fleets, it retains most* of it's speed so it can still be a viable heavy tackle ship, but in large, in my opinion, it fails to provide a demonstrable advantage over the cheaper stabber or the on par Cynabal. In the Stabber you are still able to do 90% of what the Vagabond is going to do, for a fraction of the cost. Other options still include flying the Vagabond without taking advantage of the active boosting bonus, and still flying via buffer tank, here the extra Power grid could make fitting 425's an easier option to increase potential range and damage both at range and up close. Bottom line is that even with the t2 resist profile and baseline EM resist common to Minmatar t2 ships, the Vagabond is still going to be squishy, lacks the capacitor to effectively run a large or XL shield tank, and even after local rep changes, I just do not see MSB or even faction Small shield boosters giving this enough tank to last in a brawler type fight.
* - 5% bonus turns out ot be a little bit faster than the baseline 295 they have given the Vagabond here.
MUNINN
Role Bonus: 50% reduction in MicroWarpdrive signature radius penalty
Minmatar Cruiser Bonuses:
5% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret rate of fire
5% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret damage
Heavy Assault Cruiser Bonuses:
10% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret optimal range
7.5% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret tracking speed
Slot layout: 6H(-1), 3M, 6L(+1); 5 turrets, 1 launchers(-2)
Fittings: 1160 PWG, 355 CPU
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 1580(-2) / 2000(-4) / 1400(-6)
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / cap/s) : 1300(+50) / 255s (-80s) / 5.1/s (+1.4)
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 210(+14) / .571 / 11750000 / 9.3s
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 25 / 25
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 80km(+25km) / 294 / 6(+1)
Sensor strength: 21 Ladar(+8)
Signature radius: 125(-5)
Ahhh the Muninn. When I first got access to HAC's I bought a single Muninn along with about 2-3 Vagabonds. After all it's still a HAC, it can't be THAT bad right? Well I think everyone already knows the answer to that, except in a few niche situations, a-la Black Legion in a big enough fleet of this sexy ship fit with arty, there was never a huge demand for this t2 spanish Galleon. Has the rebalance changed this?
The main changes on the Muninn appear to be the loss of one high in favor of another low. Wow, that's a seriously good change for the Muninn. Before there was always questions about what to do with the 'extra' high slots of the Muninn after you fit your 5x 720mm t2 arty. Now with the loss of that extra high and the addition of it as a low it's going to change this ship greatly for the better. The muninn still retains it's optimal range bonus, so lends itself towards arty, especially with the rail and Arty changes and the Muninn's other bonus to turret tracking could make it quite a sexy new FOTM (because I need more reasons to fly Minmatar). Further helping the Arty fit for the Muninn is a new +25km lock range bonus giving it a base range of 80km! Finally enough to not need a sebo just to use this ship in medium ranged engagements.
With that extra low, the often maligned autoMuninn might just gain the extra tank needed to move it from the "not really viable but people fly the unexpected" over to the "Mainline fitting doctrine." With 6 lows the Muninn will now be a viable addition to AHAC or MWDHAC fleets and be able to stand and fight with a similar tank to a Deimos or Ishtar, if fewer of those two ships inherent upsides. The muninn also retains it's 25m3 drone bay and bandwidth.
Command Ships
Now over to the Minmatar Command ships. Previously the Claymore was another projectile based ship with the Sleipnir being the 7 gunned steed of gods. Overall their changes move them both apart from each other and distinctly enhances each.
SleipnirMinmatar Battlecruiser skill bonuses:
10% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret damage (was 5% RoF)
7.5% bonus to shield boosting amount
Command Ships skill bonuses:
10%(+5) bonus to Medium Projectile Turret damage
10% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret falloff
3% bonus to strength of Siege Warfare and Skirmish Warfare links
Fixed Bonus:
Can fit up to three Warfare Link modules
Slot layout: 7 H (-1), 5 M, 5 L, 5 turrets (-2), 2 Launchers (-1)
Fittings: 1300 PWG (-160), 475 CPU
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 4500(+176) / 3600(-244) / 3500(+137)
Base shield resistances (EM/Therm/Kin/Exp): 75(+12.5) / 60(+10) / 40 / 50
Base armor resistances (EM/Therm/Kin/Exp): 90(+5) / 67.5(+8.13) / 25 / 10
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 2625 / 583s / 4.5
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 165 / 0.704 / 12800000(+300000) / 12.49s (+0.3)
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 25(-15) / 25(-15)
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 70km (+25) / 220 / 7(+1)
Sensor strength: 20 Ladar (+4)
Signature radius: 240
Cargo capacity: 475
Right away we see that the bonuses have been changed around on the Sleipnir and then we drag our eyes down to the all important 7 guns and find them nerfed down to 5!!! OMG WORLD ENDING...
Oh, right back to the bonuses to figure this all out.... Look, it's not the end of the world. The Sleipnir is still the bullet spewing beast it ever was, it's just trying to save you on ammo costs! The new bonuses make up for the loss of two turrets by dramatically increasing the damage output of the remaining guns, giving 10 percent bonus to damage in both the BC skill bonus AND the Command ships Skill bonuses. Otherwise the changes show a loss of the RoF bonus (replaced with the 10% damage bonus) and a new change that gives a 3% bonus to the strength of Siege Warfare AND Skirmish Warfare links! Sweet.
So now Command ships aren't just giving a bonus to one type of link, they are giving a better bonus than the T3 command cruisers end up with. About time! Other changes include the loss of a single high (7h), a slight nerf to powergrid to make up for those two lost guns, but retains it's CPU... An addition to the mass of the ship, making it slower to align and get into warp, combined with a nerf down to 25m3 for the drone bay. CCP Rise and Fozzy must not like the 40m3 bandwidth ships, I keep seeing them getting knocked off one by one. Fair enough. These are offset by bonuses to Sensor Strength, longer lock range, out to 70km, and more locked targets.
Something of an overlooked change is the Sleipnir's Shield and armor resists have actually been increased to match the, up until now, tankier Claymore's bonuses. This is huge because it allows the Sleipnir to have even more inherent tank. More tank means more time on field and more time on the field means more rounds fired.
Overall, will the Sleipnir be changed? Yes, of course, it won't be the dominant Autocannon spewing machine of death that it was before, but now it will have the ability to fit Autocannons, links and a strong tank (as always) OR be able to fit a decent artillery broadside witch will be devastating at range given the bonuses to turret damage. Good changes here.
Claymore:
Minmatar Battlecruiser skill bonuses:
5% bonus to Heavy Missile and Heavy Assault Missile rate of fire (was MPT RoF)
7.5% bonus to shield boosting amount
Command Ships skill bonuses:
5% bonus to Heavy Missile and Heavy Assault Missile rate of fire (was link bonus)
5% bonus to Heavy Missile and Heavy Assault Missile explosion velocity (was MPT tracking)
3% bonus to strength of Siege Warfare and Skirmish Warfare links
Fixed Bonus:
Can fit up to three Warfare Link modules
Slot layout: 7 H (-1), 6 M, 4 L, 2 turrets (-3), 5 Launchers (+2)
Fittings: 1100 PWG (-290), 525 CPU (+10)
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 4700(+376) / 3800(-44) / 3400(+37)
Base shield resistances (EM/Therm/Kin/Exp): 75 / 60 / 40 / 50
Base armor resistances (EM/Therm/Kin/Exp): 90 / 67.5 / 25 / 10
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 2625 / 583s / 4.5
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 170 / 0.7(-0.004) / 12500000 / 12.13s (-0.07)
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 50(+10) / 75(+35)
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 65km (+20) / 220 / 7(+1)
Sensor strength: 22 Ladar (+6)
Signature radius: 240
Cargo capacity: 575 (+100)
The Claymore has undergone some serious refactoring in this patch. Looking we can see it is now a heavy missile and HAM platform instead of another Projectile weapon based ship. It's lost two turrets, but gained 2 more launchers, bringing it up to 5 Launchers and 2 turrets. Enough to fill it's new loadout of 7 highslots with bristling weapon systems, but let's face it, those last two slots are often going to be links and the Claymore doesn't dissapoint here either, fielding the same new bonus sported by the Sleipnir, that is a 3 percent bonus to Siege Warfare and Skirmish Warfare links!
The Claymore's newer bonuses help those 5 new launchers become something really quite terrifying, especially if you happen to be approaching it in a smaller ship. 5% bonus to rate of fire comes from the BC skill so a automatic boost of 25% RoF will have missiles screaming out of their launchers already, and another possible 25% bonus from the Command BC skill will leave a terrifying swarm of missiles headed in your direction. Combine that with a Command BC bonus to explosion velocity and nobody's going to be safe from either the HML or HAM version of this ship.
Recap
Well honestly it would be a clean sweep if only the Vagabond was able to return to it's former glory in some aspect. But overall it's making me wonder just how my wallet is going to handle all these ships I'm going to want to buy. Most market hubs have already gone crazy with speculation.
CS changes
Armor Rep Changes
Domi Tracking bonus change
Gang bonus changes
Rail/Arty Changes
Source links
HAC changesCS changes
Armor Rep Changes
Domi Tracking bonus change
Gang bonus changes
Rail/Arty Changes
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