Hello Capsuleers!
We have a number of balance updates coming with the Uprising expansion which some of you noticed on Singularity yesterday (and will be returning to the test server soon).
This thread is to tell you about the changes we’re looking to make
Navy Ship Blueprint and Material Cost Updates
Along with the balance updates, we are adjusting several aspects of how these ships are acquired / created in-game to ensure they remain affordable to manufacture and fly.
- Blueprint LP Costs are reduced by 60% (for the faction Militia LP stores only)
- Blueprints for Navy ships no longer require factional Neurolink Conduits to build
Our goal is to adjust the prices involved here so that the blueprint store LP offerings are more economical than the direct ship trade-in, since there is additional time and effort involved in the manufacturing process.
Navy Ship Balance Updates
With Uprising having a focus on refreshing factional warfare, it’s thematically appropriate we review the navy ship lineup and give some love to some of the existing navy ships which were underperforming, with the goals of keeping the pvp meta fresh and adding additional value to militia LP stores for those players fighting for their empires.
Caracal Navy Issue
- Powergrid increased from 715 MW to 900 MW
- -1 low slot
- +1 mid slot
- Rate of fire increased from 5% to 6%
The Caracal Navy Issue struggled to fit Heavy Assault Missiles due to restrictive powergrid. These changes should help it to fit more easily, fit more tank with the added mid and do a bit more damage as well.
Exequror Navy Issue
- Powergrid increased from 830 MW to 1030 MW
- Base speed increased from 255 m/s to 280 m/s
- Rate of Fire bonus removed
- Damage bonus increased from 5% to 25%
- Turrets reduced from 5 to 4
- New Bonus: 10% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret falloff
- New Bonus: 15% reduction to Armor Plate mass penalty
The Exeq Navy struggled to fit much else beyond a full rack of neutrons blasters, these changes should help it to fit more comfortably for combat. Removing a turret opens up additional fitting space as well and the loss of the turret is counteracted by a larger damage bonus. Overall the goal here is to improve fitting, improve mobility and give the ship a slight bump in damage output so hopefully it will be interesting and competitive in pvp/pve.
Dominix Navy Issue
- Powergrid increased from 11,000 to 13,500
- Added Bonus: 10% bonus to Drone tracking speed
- Added Bonus: 7.5% bonus to armor repair amount
The Dominix Navy was often overlooked for its T1 variation due to its loss of drone tracking, these changes should help to keep it on par with the T1 dominix in terms of drones, so it can flex its other bonuses a bit better. The repair bonus also adds additional survivability, making this ship a menace in close-range battleship combat.
Armageddon Navy Issue
- Removed Bonus: 5% bonus to Large Energy Turret rate of fire
- Removed Bonus: 10% reduction in Large Energy Turret activation cost
- -1 high slot
- -1 low slot from 8 to 7
- +1 mid slot from 4 to 5
- -2 Turret slots
- +5 missile slots
- Added Bonus: 10% bonus to Large Energy Turret, Heavy Missile, Cruise Missile and Torpedo damage
- Added Bonus: 10% bonus to drone hitpoints and damage
- Added Bonus: 10% bonus to Energy Nosferatu and Energy Neutralizer optimal range
- Powergrid reduced from 17,500 MW to 16,000
- Drone bay capacity increased from 200 to 275 m3
The Armageddon Navy Issue, once the king of damage, has long languished in the shadow of a crowded field of large laser armor battleships. With these changes we’re looking to pull it out and make it more unique by giving it highly flexible bonuses and a return of the energy neutralizer utility which makes its T1 variation so popular.
Typhoon Fleet Issue
- Added Bonus: 7.5% bonus to Cruise Missile and Torpedo explosion velocity
- Added Bonus: 7.5% bonus to Large Projectile turret tracking
As with some of the other navy ships we’ve looked at, we’re taking some of the bonuses from the T1 variation which the navy variation was missing and adding them back in to clearly push the navy ship up above its more basic variation. In this case, giving the Typhoon Fleet back some of the application bonuses which make the Typhoon strong should broaden its use cases and make it more dangerous, particularly when punching down.
Non-Navy Ship Balance Updates
Crow
- Removed Bonus: 5% bonus to Light Missile and Rocket explosion radius
- Added Bonus: 10% bonus to shield hitpoints per level
When it comes to small weapons, application bonuses are not very impactful except in niche circumstances and as a fast tackle ship this wasn’t doing much for the Crow. By removing this and replacing it with additional survivability, the crow should be a more interesting pick for tackle in your fleets.
Bellicose
- Drone Bandwidth increased from 40 to 50 mBit/sec
- Drone Bay Capacity increased from 40 to 50 m3
- Powergrid increased from 650 to 700
The Bellicose gets picked on a bit too much and so we’ll keep buffing it until it’s the toughest kid in school (probably kidding). While support cruisers aren’t expected to be that strong in combat, the bellicose was seeing very low use compared to other support cruiser options, so we want to lift it up a bit more by giving it a little more bite. Increase in drone bandwidth makes this the only Minmatar cruiser capable of supporting a full flight of medium drones.
Proteus
- Base speed increased from 180 to 230 m/s
Stop telling me it’s slow!
Rifter
- Rate of Fire bonus increased from 5% to 7.5%
The rifter is an iconic ship which has languished a bit too long at the bottom of the kiddie pool. Improving its damage should make it a bit more competitive, particularly in areas such as novice factional warfare complexes.
Ishkur
- CPU increased from 155 to 161
- Removed Bonus: Drone tracking speed
- Added Bonus: 7.5% bonus to Armor Repairer amount
- -1 low slot from 4 to 3
- +1 mid slot from 3 to 4
The Ishkur has lived too long in the shadow of its sibling, the Enyo. Drone tracking speed is not a very impactful bonus outside of niche circumstances, so removing this and giving the Ishkur a bonus to armor repair can help to improve its survivability, while trading a low slot for a medium slot gives it a different slot layout than the enyo and helps to improve its combat utility. The loss of the low does impact tank, however with the addition of the armor repair bonus, we can perhaps consider this an even trade + the addition of a mid slot.
Heavy Assault Cruiser Updates’
Heavy assault cruisers have dominated the fleet meta for a number of years now and I know there’s desire to see this shifted. In particular, this hard handed domination of large-scale fleet combat was due to the Muninn, Eagle and Cerberus having a strong combination of:
- Extreme projection ranges
- Excellent survivabilty and tank (plus a temporary near-invulnerability)
- High Mobility (and relatively small sigs compared to BC / BS)
- Strong application
Which lead to these ships dominating fights while taking minimal losses due to their ability to engage well outside of ranges where they might be able to be pinned down.
The goal with these changes is to reign in one of the above strengths in particular: high projection ranges. By pulling in the range, we hope to bring fights closer together (and into the loving arms of your Huginn and Lachesis), so these fleets can’t bloody your nose without putting themselves at risk. In so doing, we hope to really lean into the Heavy Assault class identity of high damage and tank, just in a more engage-able form.
Muninn
- Turret slots reduced to 1
- Missile slots increased to 5
- CPU increased from 355 to 405
- Powergrid decreased from 1160 to 1000
- Base armor HP increased from 2,250 to 2,300
- Maximum Targeting Range reduced from 80,000m to 55,000m
- All bonuses removed and replaced with:
Minmatar Cruiser bonuses per level:
- 5.0% bonus to Light Missile, Heavy Missile and Heavy Assault Missile damage
- 3.0% bonus to shield and armor resistances
Heavy Assault Cruisers bonuses per level:
- 5.0% bonus to Heavy Missile and Heavy Assault Missile explosion velocity
- 5.0% bonus to Light Missile, Heavy Missile and Heavy Assault Missile launcher rate of fire
The Muninn was the most troublesome of the HACs in terms of fleet meta dominance due to its high mobility, range and alpha damage potential. After going back and forth for some time on this, it was decided that it would be better to rework the ship entirely rather than just nerf it into being useless in an attempt to dislodge HACs from the meta. As Minmatar was lacking its secondary weapons system for HACs, this was a good opportunity to give them a missile boat while hopefully keeping the Muninn interesting and fun to fly, albeit with a different weapon system.
Cerberus
- Maximum Targeting Range reduced from 95,000 to 60,000 m
- Removed: 10% bonus to missile maximum flight time
- Added Bonus: 7.5% bonus to shield booster amount
- Changed Bonus: 10% bonus to missile maximum velocity increased to 20% and changed to effect only Heavy Assault Missiles
- CPU increased from 520 to 535
- Powergrid increased from 800 to 820
This makes the Cerberus’s bonuses now
Caldari Cruiser bonuses per level:
- 5.0% bonus to kinetic Light Missile, Heavy Missile and Heavy Assault Missile damage
- 20.0% bonus to Heavy Assault Missile max velocity
Heavy Assault Cruisers bonuses per level:
- 5.0% bonus to rapid Light Missile, Heavy Missile and Heavy Assault Missile rate of fire
- 7.5% bonus to shield booster amount
Standard fleet fits for the Cerberus were often projecting to very long ranges with heavy missiles. By shifting the range bonuses to apply to HAMs only, we can give the cerberus a unique position as a long range HAM ship while bringing in its super long heavy missile ranges. To replace the lost bonus, we can give the Cerberus a shield booster bonus and some additional fitting room to ease fitting one, hopefully making it still an interesting option for mid-range skirmishes.
Eagle
- Maximum Targeting Range reduced from 90,000 to 65,000 m
- Removed: 10% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret optimal range on HAC skill
- Added: 5% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret tracking
- 10% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret optimal range on the Caldari Cruiser skill reduced to 7.5%
This makes the Eagle’s new bonuses
Caldari Cruiser Bonuses per skill level:
- 4.0% bonus to all shield resistances
- 7.5% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret optimal range
Heavy Assault Cruiser bonuses per skill level:
- 5% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret Tracking (new)
- 5% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret damage
The eagle was the worst offender when it came to range and, while it will still be the longest range of the HAC lineup, it will hopefully be at a much more reasonable distance to increase the risk of employing these as a fleet doctrine. A tracking bonus has been added to help the eagle feel better in its new range band, and perhaps open up new opportunity for blaster options as well.
Zealot
- Maximum Targeting Range reduced from 75,000 to 55,000
Small targeting range adjustment to keep the zealot in the same range band as other HACs
Vagabond
- 10% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret falloff increased to 12.5%
- Maximum Targeting Range reduced from 70,000 to 55,000 m
- Powergrid increased from 900 to 950 MW
The vagabond is getting some additional buffs to soften the landing for displaced Muninn pilots who still want to fly a projectile Minmatar HAC. We’ll be keeping an eye on this ship to ensure it doesn’t become too strong.
Ishtar
- Maximum Targeting Range decreased from 80,000 to 60,000 m
Small targeting range adjustment to keep the Ishtar in the same range band as other HACs
Sacrilege
- Maximum Targeting Range reduced from 70,000 to 65,000
- Missile Maximum Velocity bonus reduced from 10% to 7.5%
- Armor resistance bonus increased from 4% to 5%
While we’re pulling in the range of the sacrilege a little, similar to the other HACs, we’re also improving its tank potential further with an upgrade to its armor resistance bonus - which helps to keep it clearly the HAC king of armor tanking while the Muninn is getting a similar (though smaller) bonus.
Deimos
- Maximum Targeting Range reduced from 85,000 to 60,000 m
Please use this thread to discuss the above changes and note that we’re still in the process of fixing bugs and tweaking things based on your feedback.
Fly safe dangerously more closely to the enemy fleet!
