Anyone who’s been around long enough has heard this ad nauseum from people who first wanted battleships nerfed into the dirt, and for the past number of years, capships. “Bigger should not mean better!” Well, it shouldn’t mean worse either.
I want to know in what way bigger is better in this game. Every capship I see docks up at the first sign of a neutral frigate in pocket. The ones that don’t? They die. No, not to big ships, but to small ones. Like, 10-20 stealth bombers, which if you added up the cost, wouldn’t come close to the cost of the capship they just killed, nevermind the skilling requirements. I’ve been told point blank by multiple standing fleet FCs and supercap umbrella FCs from multiple alliances not to even bother calling for help if 20 stealth bombers attack my capship. They say they’ll never arrive in time, and that capships go down way too fast to a fleet of frigates for a response to even happen. I have been left wondering why I’m even supposed to be on coms then, and in standing fleet.
I ask you, are capships better in terms of cost? Skilling required? Mobility? Are they better in the risk incurred in deploying one? Because my capships mostly gather dust in hangars, because neut frigates roam the space at all hours of the day, and ratting most likely equals instant death. Every time I log in, I see where a Thanatos just went down in our space to a group of stealth bombers, or a Hel. No, not to other capships, but to frigates.
Are capships better at hitting targets, and applying damage to those targets, with the big weapons that they use? Small weapons can hit ANYTHING. And they apply damage perfectly. When I ratted in a dreadnought, do you think I cared one iota about the bigger ships that spawned on grid, including carrier and dreadnought spawns? No. What I cared about was a frigate rat getting under my guns. If I didn’t have some 150 mil ISK XL smart bomb fitted, or a set of small guns I could refit into, I was toast.
Are capships better in terms of access to space? Because they sure as hell aren’t allowed in highsec.
Are capships better in terms of transporting themselves? Because most people would rather do anything rather than move the things. I have several capships in asset safety because they just couldn’t be moved. They’ve been sitting there for years. And the same with my friends who play.
Are capships better in terms of speed? In terms of acceleration? In terms of warp speed? In terms of agility? How about signature resolution… are they better in terms of that?
If bigger shouldn’t be better, then it shouldn’t be worse either. So drop the price of capships, drop the risk in using them, drop the skilling requirements, drop the restrictions on highsec, make them hit targets better and apply damage better, etc. etc. etc.
