For flagship, just create clearly recognizable battleship, cruiser and frigate sized ship (stats comparable to other ships of same size but lower PWR/CPU) that gets +10% to shield/armor/hull when in FC/WC/SC position for every member in same fleet that is under his command, on grid and not in pod.
So in proper fleet position this ship would get:
FC pos. 0%-2550% extra HP
WC pos 0%-500% extra HP
SC pos. 0%-90% extra HP
But as fleet gets destroyed (ships become pods) then the bonus to FC goes down and flagship becomes easier target.
Flagship would have no high slots, only have “+10% HP Role bonus”, some extra ECM resists and bonus to Core and Combat Scanner Probe strength.
Which in turn means that only the biggest coalitions will have the chance to get a virtually indestructible fleet commander ship – or fleet anchors, which is the more important role about this whole thing --, because only they can fill fleets to capacity, while smaller groups will always have to deal with inferior ships? Sounds reasonable.
To be quite honest, the flagship discussion is moot because it not only removes an element of uncertainty from the game about who is anchor/fleet commander as well as it would replace a somewhat leveled playing field (any group can currently get a X-/A-Type tanked Legion or Loki) with a very uneven situation skewed towards biggest groups.
how about this - command ships that can be “overrepaired” and gain substantial additional HP based on exccess reps being applied, but would also have no hardpoints and a restriction that it cannot fit entosis links. That additional HP would rapidly drop off if those reps are removed.
please no. something like OP would remove so much depth from the game.
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however,…
one could buff the tank (signature, hp) or fleet capabilities of ewar-ships. (reduce unused highslots or whatever)
ewar (if used god enough) reduces the possible damage output of an enemy fleet.
therefor reducing alpha damage. therefor reducing risk of being killed.
so instead of dumbing down and make it easier to field one type of ship (boring), start to look at different options already!
example:
ecm ships have a very weak armor tank. so to bring one to a fleet (when you dare), it already needs alphareduction to even be a viable option. as an effect what we see is blackbirds(etc) at 100km trying to get lucky jams on logi and trying to bounce around for tacticals.
scorpions have another critical role.
Tracking disruption is another interesting thing. Most of the Time, it is put on unbonused well tanked ships, but one can only fit so many.
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so it should be obvious what is to be done for fights to last longer and/or have more escalation potential.
Reduce ewarships signature!
on excalation potential:
instant-cyno mechanix need a rework. maybe some duration to increase mass.
I’d rather see someone tackle the problem of creating a command link option for T1 frigates so fleet boosts can be an option for new players and people flying in novice plexes.