The new expansion will put more structures in space in null sec, which means there will (hopefully) be more PVP content coming with it. Taking this into account and the recent release of faction dreadnoughts now might be a good time to split dreadnought hulls (especially if carriers will remain the near useless ships they are now).
This idea is similar to the attack/combat battlecruiser tiericide released a few years ago. One type will stay mostly as they currently are and the other type is designed to hit below their class.
Attack dreadnoughts
Existing dreadnoughts should be renamed to this type. They keep everything they have at the moment with one key exception:
- The tech 1 versions can not fit high-angle weapons (HAW)
This might get a lot of negative feedback but will also allow navy dreadnoughts (which are already a favorite) to get a new (albeit existing) bonus and a HAW focus:
- Can fit high-angle weapons
- Bonus % rate of fire, damage or range when using HAW weapons
This allows for keeping existing dreadnoughts mostly as-is and pushing players to the faction versions if they want to fit HAW weapons.
Combat dreadnoughts
These will be new capitals designed for taking on hulls below them with the following key features:
- Can fit high-angle weapons only
- Has the same base jump range as Titans (they should be smaller than a carrier)
- Has a small drone bay to kill tackle
- Can not fit a siege module
- Can fit a new Capital Bastion Module (to bring their DPS above Marauders)
- Bonus to local armor/shield repairers
- Build cost should be around 50% to 70% of a dreadnought in order to not replace Marauders completely
Conclusion
This hull is basically a Marauder with a jump drive and should be used for when you need more DPS than a Marauder but with more tank to better survive bigger gangs. As there is no siege timer to keep them in place for 5 minutes these hulls are perfect for dropping in on small gangs or as a counter to the Marauder-based home defense fleets.
They are also meant to act as invaders when it comes to robbing Skyhooks/Metenox Moon Drills for the new valuable resources which can be looted while giving both the ability to surprise attack a defense fleet or to get the loot out.
Countering bigger battleship fleets with dreadnoughts will require a faction dreadnought which can tank a lot more but also put out much more damage (even though the meta at the moment is using capital guns at range on battleship fleets).
Tech 2
If they should rather be built as tech 2 then the following key feature can be added:
- Can fit a new Capital Assault Damage Control
- Has tech 2 resistances
- Gets a range bonus for HAW weapons