The new Howling Interdictors update is coming on 27 October, screaming its way into EVE Online, bringing changes, variety and balance to Interdictors and Combat Interceptors!
The choice of which Interdictor to use for a specific purpose in-game becomes more interesting with changes to Power Grid and CPU usage, velocity, ship bonuses and more to some vessels in this category.
The changes in full are as follows:
Eris:
CPU increased to 250 tf (was 210)
Power Grid increased to 71 MW (was 64)
Max velocity to 316 m/s (was 305)
Signature radius to 78 m (was 85)
Mass reduced to 1,100,000 t (was 1,200,000)
Gallente Destroyer bonus changed to “5% bonus to small hybrid turret rate of fire per level” (was 10% bonus to small hybrid turret optimal range)
Interdictor bonus changed to “15% reduced mass penalty from armor plates per level” (was 5% bonus to small hybrid turret rate of fire)
Flycatcher:
CPU increased to 290 tf (was 280)
Caldari Destroyer bonus changes to “10% bonus to missile kinetic damage” (was 10% bonus to missile explosion radius)
Interdictors bonus changed to “10% increased shield HP per level” (was 10% bonus to missile kinetic damage)
Heretic:
CPU increased to 270 tf (was 240)
PG increased to 70 MW (was 60)
Amarr Destroyer bonus changed to “10% increased armor HP per level” (was 10% bonus to light missile and rocket max velocity)
The update to Combat Interceptors will see the Claw, Crusader, Taranis, and Raptor receive a 100% bonus added to the benefits of overheating Afterburners and Microwarpdrives.
A new Stasis Webification Probe will also be introduced as part of the Howling Interdictors update, acting as a new charge type that can be used in interdiction sphere launchers. When used, it will drop a probe in space with a short delay until it explodes, applying a 30% web effect to all nearby ships which lasts for 30 seconds.
These changes should be going live on Singularity today shortly so please go test things out, web bubble your friends, and let us know what you think!
Do the ammo change reload delay apply here? I assume this is the case, so you have to decide carefully what to load before a fight … or bring two dictors. A bubbler and a wubbler.
The Flycatcher does an insane amount of DPS, so the kinetic lock is justified in this case. it has 10.5 effective kinetic launchers which is higher than most cruisers in the game. The Heretic is not kinetic locked but only has 9.33 effective launchers as a result.
Great question - checking now and will update this comment momentarily once I have an answer.
Update: Because it uses the same interdiction sphere launcher module it cannot be used in lowsec (because the module simply cannot be activated in lowsec).
