Force Auxiliary Balance Proposal

EVE Technology and Research Center Upcoming Features & Changes
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Hello pilots!

Today we’re going to talk about Force Auxiliaries (FAX). The big space healers are due for some changes and we want to hear from you!

The CSM has been very outspoken about the unhealthy state of FAXs and most of their feedback is centered in two major areas:

  • FAX repair numbers are just too high. The amount of DPS that can be neutralized by one FAX (either locally or remotely) is simply too much, especially considering the relatively low cost of a FAX after insurance
  • Counterplay options are too limited. Their cap stability, immunity to ewar, and lack of anti-logi options leave few strategies to opponents outside of bringing more numbers

We agree on both counts, but in this proposal we will be focusing on the first point. We hope to bring the raw numbers down to a place that feels healthier, then explore counterplay options in the future.

Our specific goals here are:

  • Reduce remote rep/s from triage substantially
  • Increase duration for remote reps (to create larger time windows for target switching)
  • Reduce local rep/s from triage substantially

Proposed Changes (all changes are listed based on tech II module variations and will be extended at same % values to other meta variations where appropriate):

Triage:

  • Remote Rep Duration (all) reduced to 65% (was 75%)
  • Remote Rep Amount (all) increased to 500% (was 450%)
  • Local Rep Amount (armor/shield) reduced to 75% (was 120%)

Capital Remote Armor Repairer:

  • Duration increased to 15s (was 12s)
  • Capacitor Need increased to 2440 (was 1950)

Capital Remote Shield Booster:

  • Duration increased to 20s (was 16s)
  • Capacitor Need increased to 3300 (was 2640)

note: Capacitor need increase is to keep cap cost per second consistent with current values

Overall, these changes would result in roughly 37% reduction in both remote and local rep output for FAX with almost double the cycle time for remote reps in triage. This is a very large change, but internal investigation and CSM input indicate it is warranted.

Now, we want to hear from you. This is not set in stone and before we move forward we want to validate the need for such a large change with the community as a whole. Let us know how this would affect you and whether or not it would be positive.

Thanks for reading!

15 Likes
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Praise Bob!

4 Likes
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Pretty excessive, as if the capacitor issues on a mino wasn’t bad enough

17 Likes
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Active tank FAX was not the problem lmao

EDIT: Look at all the suicide FAX and see how many of them have reps in their lows. I swear you guys never open killboards.

Edit 2: Better yet, I bet you guys looked at the lossmail usage and thought “mhmmm all these Fax are dying without local rep, they must be terrible” and completely missed the point of the issue with fax blobs.

22 Likes
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So just bring more Fax’s then. Ok.

4 Likes
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I embrace the expansion of the dread meta

6 Likes
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note: Capacitor need increase is to keep cap cost per second consistent with current values

4 Likes
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Since when you are listening to players’ feedback? some Fax types are garbage already. That much local rep reduction? wow. I gotta sell my Mino asap.

ur making me angry again
ibDdMkf

21 Likes
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I would be more in favor of a different approach to re-balancing faxes. A rep debuff of this magnitude would wreck them.

Possibly removing their invulnerability to ewar? Something along that line of reasoning, rather than a numbers tweak.

Of course, I’d be more in favor of just leaving them the way they are, but if you’re frothing at the mouth to nerf them, something like that please.

7 Likes
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This way dreads can be the counter for subcap fleets, cap fleets, and super fleets. Sell your faxes and buy dreads. EZPZ

3 Likes
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Active triage isn’t a problem lmao, I don’t agree with nerfing active tank. I like the remote nerfs though, those are for sure warranted with the current state of supercap fights.

3 Likes
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More than likely, that nerf was aimed at use of active rep FAX in wormholes.

9 Likes
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I don’t see anything regarding remote capacitor transfer. That would need a similar if not larger change as the remote and local reps.

1 Like
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Great idea. All that’s left is to maybe make the hulls smaller. :slight_smile:

2 Likes
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yes exactly, current values for minos are garbage.

2 Likes
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As a regular Force Aux pilot, are there any changes proposed to make force aux pilots game play more interesting, enabling new, non-repair abilities, or other “buffs” to having fun flying these ships?

Or is this seen as a pure nerf?

7 Likes
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so i am reading this as a “Shields need to burn” RIP mino’s and Lifs are only now half as useful so Nina’s are gonna be useful i guess.

1 Like
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even better: plex more fax account. CCP 2018

1 Like
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No one should care about WHs ever in balance updates. Always balance blob first then the rest just magically trickles down and works. When you focus minority up, everything just breaks

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So let me get this right. The widely acclaimed problem is the buffer on faxes and the power that cap boosters give armor over shield, so you are nerfing local rep and just ruining shield. I mean shield is trash, so I support this, but all this addresses is wh faxes and the ability for shield triage to be used.