Why is the Comet so ridiculously overpowered? The Hookbill struggles with speed, the Firetail with tank and dps, and the Slicer with control. The Comet, especially the rail one, has all of this in excess. I have an idea to make the Comet less oppressive and give a tiny balance to the faction frigate lineup.
Hookbill: It’s honestly in a decent spot, I don’t know how to change it. Less CPU makes the classic MSE fit fall apart, lower speed makes the entire point of the ship worthless, and lower armor hp just feels weird. My best solution is to decrease its agility a little so it can’t mitigate damage in a tight orbit as well and also takes longer to accelerate. Change Inertia Modifier to 3.4 from 3.3. Another possible idea is to decrease its capacitor bay by around 10%.
Firetail: It’s fast, but how does it actually use that speed? Autocannon neut fits rely on tight orbits but can only fit one web. Armor autocannon ones get the double web but are extremely vulnerable to neuts themselves, as well as having a pretty flimsy tank. With only three lows, the brawling Firetail really can’t afford an Overdrive (believe me, I’ve tried), so ends up slower than the ships it’s supposed to be faster than. Firetail should be faster than the Vigil Fleet and I want to make it easier for the ship to have the control it deserves. I’m suggesting adding between 5 and 10 CPU, increasing the Maximum Velocity from 410 to 420, and decreasing the mass from 1,098,000 kg to 1,050,000 kg. This will help differentiate the Firetail from the blaster Comet and make it a solid faction frigate. I was also toying with instead making the signature radius smaller, but I think it’s already set apart there.
Slicer: It’s perfect. Don’t change it.
Comet: Way too powerful. Highest dps, highest tank, highest speed, no contest. 1.8k in hull on a frigate is insane and the lack of speed penalties on the transverse bulkhead rigs makes this ship a true nightmare to deal with. With enough CPU to comfortably fit an overdrive rail Comet with full T2 mods, no ship can approach the slot efficacy of the Comet. It needs to be brought down in a way that lets other frigates shine while not simply transferring the frigate dominance crown straight to the Hookbill. Have many of you even seen an Imicus Navy Issue?
Annoying Comet pilots often bring ECM drones as their second flight, so let’s remove the second flight. This will make them slightly nicer to fight with sigtanking ships like TD Slashers. Gallente use drones, so I don’t think it’s too bad to keep the drone bay.
No other faction frigate gets the luxury of a full T2 fit so easily, and that needs to change. I want to subtract 10 CPU from the ship, forcing the pilot to drop the neut/nos, downgrade a midslot, or bling the ship. Any of those I’m ok with.
The Comet’s gimmick of ridiculous speed, ridiculous damage, and ridiculous hull HP is an awesome concept, but the ship should not have such amazing other stats. Great capacitor, lenient fitting, great agility, a sizeable drone bay with a spare flight, it’s just too much. Other ships known for their control have significant weaknesses, most notably the Vigil Fleet and its lack of DPS and significant capacitor problems.
Summary of Suggestions
Hookbill: Inertia Modifier increased from 3.3 to 3.4
Comet: Drone Bay decreased from 30m3 to 15m3, CPU decreased from 160tf to 150tf
Firetail: Maximum Velocity increased from 410m/s to 420m/s, CPU increased from 150tf to 155 tf, Mass decreased from 1098000kg to 1050000kg
Slicer: No change
Thoughts? I’ve been in FW low for a long time, so that’s my area of expertise. How would this affect other areas of space? Are these reasonable changes?
Other random thoughts:
Crucifier Navy needs more capacitor.
Probe Fleet needs a little more dps.
Imicus Navy needs a little more hull HP or a little more capacitor.
Heron Navy needs a little less DPS or CPU.
Griffin Navy needs more capacitor.