# Dreadnaught is badly broken (and not in a good way) **URL:** \ **Category:** Assembly Hall\ **Created:** [September 12, 2026, 7:15pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142 "2026-09-12T19:15:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mecrotic](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/mecrotic/32/453993_2.png) [@mecrotic](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/mecrotic)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 9:39pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/22 "2026-09-21T21:39:01Z")
> [@Rxagnar](#): > > Forgetting speed for a moment, I am also a bit bothered by the abiltiy of a small ship to tackle a dread or even a Titan with the same (if not more ease) they tackle frigate… The vulnerability of these massive ships with massive price tags to be disabled by tiny ships is also very unrealistic and breaks emersion at a minimum. Smaller ships/objects are often the most threat to larger targets… even in real life… Small fast ships/missiles/torpedos can/are meant to take out much larger targets. ---
**Author:** ![Syzygium](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/syzygium/32/510263_2.png) [@Syzygium](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Syzygium)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 9:45pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/23 "2026-09-21T21:45:31Z")
Million dollar vehicles or aircraft are often critically damaged or destroyed by some-thousand dollar mines, missiles, drones. Everyday business even in the real world. _Capital Ships should always be used with a support fleet of subcapitals_. Else they are very vulnerable. Thats a key part of their design. And thats good. ---
**Author:** ![Lucy\_Alfrir](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/lucy_alfrir/32/382506_2.png) [@Lucy\_Alfrir](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Lucy_Alfrir)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 9:37am UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/24 "2026-09-22T09:37:17Z")
> [@Geo\_Eclipse\_Oksaras](#): > > EVE’s movement model behaves much more like submarines moving through a fluid. Kinda, but also not. See the thing is that drag versus engine power scales poorly for small ships. The drag is essentially proportional to the surface area so scales with r^2 but engine power scales with the volume of the engine, which is proportional to r^3, and thus engine power scales much quicker than drag and thus large ships should always be faster. I don’t have, and can’t be arsed to research, the relative speeds of large and small submarines, but the early C20th subs where ~20m and modern ones are \>200m so there’s only an order of magnitude there, which is peanuts compared to the difference between a corvette ~50m and a Dread ~11,000m Dreads should be 220 times faster than corvettes if we were modelling drag and engine power ‘correctly’ But of course that doesn’t make for good game mechanics, where having trade-offs between power and speed has always been a balance. Plate armour does not encumber the way D&D models it. Big people are not necessarily slow. But having a trade between speed and power is a proven game mechanic which is so common as to be almost ubiquitous. ---
**Author:** ![Geo\_Eclipse\_Oksaras](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/geo_eclipse_oksaras/32/500781_2.png) [@Geo\_Eclipse\_Oksaras](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Geo_Eclipse_Oksaras)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 4:42pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/25 "2026-09-22T16:42:03Z")
That’s kind of my point, though. I’m not saying EVE is literally doing a hydrodynamic simulation and FC calculated the drag coefficient of a Revelation. 😂 I’m saying its movement model behaves more like objects moving through a medium than spacecraft moving through a vacuum. Ships have a maximum velocity, they slow down when propulsion stops, and larger/more massive ships generally accelerate and maneuver more slowly. And I don’t think you can get from “engine volume scales with r^3 while surface area scales with r^2” to “therefore a dread should be 220x faster.” Hydrodynamic resistance isn’t simply proportional to surface area independent of velocity, and engine volume isn’t automatically proportional to usable propulsive power. But your last paragraph is really the important part anyway: it’s a game mechanic. EVE deliberately trades mobility for power. A frigate gets speed and maneuverability. A dread gets enormous DPS and tank, and siege pushes that tradeoff even further by effectively saying, “You want this ridiculous combat power? Fine. You’re committing to this grid for five minutes.” That’s not broken physics accidentally ruining dreadnoughts. That’s the gameplay tradeoff. ---
**Author:** ![Lucy\_Alfrir](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/lucy_alfrir/32/382506_2.png) [@Lucy\_Alfrir](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Lucy_Alfrir)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 10:33pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/26 "2026-09-22T22:33:50Z")
Yes I wasn’t disagreeing with you, just clarifying some of the engineering/science behind it. My approximation is not entirely realistic, but it is broadly so, and I’ll warrant I’m within an order of magnitude of the correct answer. In reality big ships go faster, and this is likely to hold for all kinds of practical space flight as well as surface and submarine vessels. There’s a lovely bit about this in Iain M Banks’ book Excession, which you should read if you haven’t. But that would be a terrible game mechanic; bigger == better == win isn’t fun to play. ---
**Author:** ![Anna\_Dyneaux](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/anna_dyneaux/32/510758_2.png) [@Anna\_Dyneaux](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Anna_Dyneaux)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 1:51am UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/27 "2026-09-23T01:51:19Z")
> [@Lucy\_Alfrir](#): > > There’s a lovely bit about this in Iain M Banks’ book Excession, which you should read if you haven’t. It’s not just in Excession, it’s a general thing in the setting. Bigger ship means bigger engines, and speed is limited almost exclusively by engine size. So small ships are on the whole slower than larger ships unless they were very specifically built for both speed and small size (ie superlifters and ROUs), in which case they have to make sacrifices elsewhere that a plain large ship wouldn’t need to. Not that anything in EVE is even remotely close to the level of the Culture, so a comparison can’t really be made. Like ships don’t even need to have hulls and components in that setting, components can be virtual or superdimensional and held together with force fields. I suppose possibly the Talocan are on par in some narrow fields. ---
**Author:** ![mecrotic](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/mecrotic/32/453993_2.png) [@mecrotic](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/mecrotic)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 2:04pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/28 "2026-09-23T14:04:53Z")
> [@Rxagnar](#): > > Forgetting speed for a moment, I am also a bit bothered by the abiltiy of a small ship to tackle a dread or even a Titan with the same (if not more ease) they tackle frigate… The vulnerability of these massive ships with massive price tags to be disabled by tiny ships is also very unrealistic and breaks emersion at a minimum. ```markdown Smaller ships/objects are often the most threat to larger targets... even in real life... Small fast ships/missiles/torpedos can/are meant to take out much larger targets. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Kane\_Carnifex](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/kane_carnifex/32/474576_2.png) [@Kane\_Carnifex](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Kane_Carnifex)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 7:13pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/29 "2026-09-23T19:13:56Z")
> [@mecrotic](#): > > Smaller ships/objects are often the most threat to larger targets… even in real life… > Small fast ships/missiles/torpedos can/are meant to take out much larger targets. You should and can´t compare current Military strategic Technology with an SPACE RPG. If you can´t make the adjustment into the Future… and add the RPG element of a futuristic game in it you have a super heavy lack of vision… ☹ We have **[Standup Point Defense Battery](https://everef.net/types/35926)** (PDB) **Why is there no CAPITAL “mobile” VERSION of it?=** In diffrent sizes for different Capitals? Yes, correct it would MAYBE to OP. But you get the idea how it could look like… Starwars has these bad bois here, which are MONSTERS. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/original/4X/1/5/3/153905ed3d8b5b5dfa13ec92861c9b8f949086b9.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Anna\_Dyneaux](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/anna_dyneaux/32/510758_2.png) [@Anna\_Dyneaux](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Anna_Dyneaux)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 8:50pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/30 "2026-09-23T20:50:35Z")
> [@Rxagnar](#): > > I am also a bit bothered by the abiltiy of a small ship to tackle a dread or even a Titan with the same (if not more ease) they tackle frigate… They don’t. You either need a scripted dictor, in which case you’re specifically fitting to tackle dreads, or you need to bring up to 51 points worth of tackle since titans get 10 warp core strength per level of hull skill. ---
**Author:** ![Kane\_Carnifex](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/kane_carnifex/32/474576_2.png) [@Kane\_Carnifex](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Kane_Carnifex)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 9:07am UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/31 "2026-09-24T09:07:08Z")
> [@Anna\_Dyneaux](#): > > or you need to bring up to 51 points worth of tackle since titans get 10 warp core strength per level of hull skill. let me add up some information here to be fullfill the post better. 1 Point for all Dreads (inc. Faction, T2), Carriers (inc. T2 Commands) & Faxes (Factions). 26 Points for Super Carriers 51 Points for Titan Alternative for all of these is bubble (either dic or hic or super module) ---
**Author:** ![Rxagnar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/rxagnar/32/510844_2.png) [@Rxagnar](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Rxagnar)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 11:33pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/32 "2026-10-05T23:33:32Z")
Lots of interesting answers but I still stand by two main points. -Capitals (Dread up thru Titan) are relatively boring to play… need a better/exanded game play loop outside of just large PvP battles against other capitals, maybe add some PvE options for players to complete with them. -Capitals move entirely too slowly… I get being slow to accelerate and decelerate, I get being slower than zippy Corvettes or Destroyers for the purposes of this game, but their top speed is insanely and cartoonishly slow… It takes a typical capital minutes to move its own body length, that’s just boring AF. ---
**Author:** ![Rxagnar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/rxagnar/32/510844_2.png) [@Rxagnar](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Rxagnar)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 4:23pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/33 "2026-10-06T16:23:12Z")
btw, these guys who have FAR more time in this game that I ever will said it best at 35:12 [![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/original/4X/8/7/c/87c03adb915ad18426e41dedd954ae5225cb6b55.jpeg "The Meta Show S2 Ep28 - Is the War Over?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Z2dXfSypA) ---
**Author:** ![Syzygium](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/syzygium/32/510263_2.png) [@Syzygium](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Syzygium)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 4:25pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/34 "2026-10-06T16:25:04Z")
> [@Rxagnar](#): > > but their top speed is insanely and cartoonishly slow… Abaddon enters the room. Seriously, an Abaddon with 2x 1600er Plates (which is a rather standard PvP fit) has ~110m/s top speed. Capitals have around 100m/s top speed out of siege. Same Abaddon with 500MN MWD running ends up making 780m/s, a Capital with 50.000MN MWD makes ~600-700 depending on the fit, but seriously would you want to fit an MWD on a Dread? Funny enough, there are Rolling Carriers in WHs that are _faster_ than Rolling Battleships… _by a lot_. Looks to me either Battleships are way too slow on grid or Capitals are still too fast? ---
**Author:** ![Namdor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/namdor/32/396179_2.png) [@Namdor](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Namdor)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 4:43pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/35 "2026-10-06T16:43:45Z")
> [@Rxagnar](#): > > btw, these guys who have FAR more time in this game that I ever will said it best at 35:12 These guys in this five year old video are talking about the environment in June of 2021 during a period called “Scarcity” (which they mention by name), when dreads were pushing 5 billion for the hull. Scarcity ended not long after. Nothing they’re saying here has been relevant for ~4 years. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Lord\_Trump](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/dark_lord_trump/32/411482_2.png) [@Dark\_Lord\_Trump](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Dark_Lord_Trump)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 12:09am UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/36 "2026-10-07T00:09:21Z")
> [@Rxagnar](#): > > maybe add some PvE options for players to complete with them. Just because you’re too lazy to research them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. CRAB beacons High-class WH ratting Capital escalations Technically PvP but ganking JFs with a lancer. ---
**Author:** ![Rxagnar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/rxagnar/32/510844_2.png) [@Rxagnar](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Rxagnar)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 4:28pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/37 "2026-10-09T16:28:25Z")
The crowd in here reminds me of the “white knights” in the Roberts Space Industries /Star Citizen version of this place, which is to say, don’t you dare criticize the game in any way… I guess it makes sense to find the great defenders of the status quo here.. I’m pissing in the wind. Cool, yep… Basically I’m completely wrong, the game is perfect, needs no adjustment or tweaking… leave it as is.. it’s flawless.. Let’s let this thread die on the vine then. ---
**Author:** ![Namdor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/namdor/32/396179_2.png) [@Namdor](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Namdor)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 6:58pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/38 "2026-10-09T18:58:09Z")
> [@Rxagnar](#): > > Basically I’m completely wrong I don’t think you should find that surprising given your complete lack of expertise or even the vaguest of first-hand experience. ---
**Author:** ![Gerard\_Amatin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/gerard_amatin/32/481361_2.png) [@Gerard\_Amatin](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Gerard_Amatin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 8:09pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/39 "2026-10-09T20:09:53Z")
> [@Rxagnar](#): > > Cool, yep… Basically I’m completely wrong, the game is perfect, needs no adjustment or tweaking… leave it as is.. it’s flawless.. Nobody is saying the game is perfect though. But you’re completely wrong indeed about dreadnoughts. ---
**Author:** ![Syzygium](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/syzygium/32/510263_2.png) [@Syzygium](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Syzygium)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 6:43pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142/40 "2026-10-12T18:43:27Z")
> [@Rxagnar](#): > > Basically I’m completely wrong With your idea about Capitals? Yes. Because your basic assumption that they are underused and boring is just wrong. People are using them every day, in almost any region of the game, for many different purposes. And they are doing what they are doing pretty well. > [@Rxagnar](#): > > the game is perfect, needs no adjustment or tweaking… leave it as is.. it’s flawless.. Nobody said that here, but nice strawman. Given both points above, it’s no wonder you don’t get much positive feedback. [Previous page](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/dreadnaught-is-badly-broken-and-not-in-a-good-way/518142.md?page=1)