Carrier Change: Method for proper manned fighter craft

EVE Technology and Research Center Player Features & Ideas
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Carrier has no drones/fighters/guns.

Each carrier can invite a sub-capital ship on grid to become a ‘FIGHTER’, occupying a ‘FIGHTER’ slot. Each slot can have limitations to the type of sub-capital ship that can be assigned to it. When the carrier attacks a target with a fighter, the target is broadcasted to that individual pilot. The fighter pilot gains a significant damage bonus ONLY when attacking their broadcasted target.

This damage bonus is lost in the following conditions:
-The carrier pilot unassigns the fighter
-The ‘FIGHTER’ pilot unassigns themselves
-The carrier pilot exceeds it’s max range to the target
-The carrier pilot exceeds it’s max range to the fighter
-The carrier is destroyed
-The ‘FIGHTER’ is destroyed

Optional:
Once a carrier loses a fighter that slot becomes locked/ after losing a certain number of fighters that slot becomes locked.

Damage mod equipment and hull bonuses instead apply these bonuses to their ‘FIGHTER’. The damage bonus can result in an absolute damage increase in-line with current carrier damage. Super-carriers are capable of assigning more ships and larger ships with mildly superior bonuses. Other potential bonuses to ‘FIGHTER’ craft include universal hitpoint bonus, velocity bonus, and other bonuses typically attributed to fighters.

Something like:
Supercarriers can support 3 battleship or smaller class vessels. and 2 cruiser or smaller class vessels. The maximum attainable damage bonus is a 100% bonus to weapon damage. The maximum target and ‘FIGHTER’ range is 500 km. Optional: Losing 1 fighter locks that fighter slot for 1 hour

Assumed maximum battleship dps = 2000 dps, maximum cruiser dps = 1000 dps, aggregate dps generated by Super = 8000 dps

Carriers can support 3 cruiser or smaller class vessels, and 2 frigate or smaller class vessels. The maximum attainable damage bonus is a 75% bonus to weapon damage. The maximum target and ‘FIGHTER’ range is 500 km. Optional: Losing 1 fighter locks that fighter slot for 1 hour.

Assumed maximum frigate dps = 400 dps, aggregate dps generated by Carrier = 2850 dps

Balance Notes:
-Carriers would be significantly weaker for anti-capital purposes, making dreads and titans the premiere anti-capital ship
-This would represent a substantial buff to carrier damage application and make them substantially harder to defang. The optional suggestion would help to reward defanging a carrier, but would require some thought to avoid gimic strategies involving unassigning primaried fighters.
-Carrier ratting would depend on having an actual group of pilots, and would become powerful flagships when in a fleet.

I believe this would be a great way to bring carriers back to their former position as sub-capital, fleet-oriented powerhouses. Also I think it would be great if the bonus damage dealt is reported to both the fighter pilots and the carrier pilot. I think it will be super satisfying for the fighter pilots to watch their ships rail at ridiculous dps, and satisfying for carrier pilots to get feedback on their battle contribution. I think having 5 fighters per carrier is a good balance between capital/sub-capital ratio and providing a satisfying and noticeable damage bonus to fighter pilots.

Please leave your thoughts! Also comments on how implementable this is!

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Well, no, you can already exceed 2000 damage on battleships even without this carrier system, which would mean that any DPS bonus would necessarily make the carrier as strong, or even stronger, than dreadnoughts.

Worse yet, these would be comparable to HAW dreadnoughts, since they are battleship-sized guns, allowing them to better apply damage to both subcap and capitals.

So your idea basically makes these the premier anti-capital and anti-subcap weapons.

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Yea, I didn’t put a tremendous amount of effort into the example numbers. But yes intentionally they would outclass dreads in terms of subcap application although I would hesitate to say they are outclassing dreads in anti-cap application. Since having the same number of pilots on dreads would do more damage in anti-cap setups.
I was determining these numbers loosely on the glass canon stats of current super/carrier stats. 8000dps being slightly higher than the max anti-sub damage a super can put out, but substantially lower than their max anti-cap damage (which is closer to 24K dps) especially because a glass canon battleship is going to have less tracking than modern anti-sub fighters.
Also I would consider applying damage through other fleet mates a drawback as part of the balancing act.

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