I sadly was on an EVE-break during blackout so I never experienced it, although it sounds fun to me.
However, it was widely unpopular and I can see why. While there are some ways to deal with having no idea of which ships are in local with you (see wormholes and Pochven) it’s unrealistic for players to deal with the dangers of no local while jump drives exist in the same space which bypass any gate camps and scouting you set up to make space safer.
Wormholes can be rolled, Pochven can bubble camp or scout gates. Neither allow jump drives.
Maybe if jump drives were removed I could see blackout in null sec be reasonable, but I don’t think removal of jump drives is a good change for the game.
With jump drives existing I cannot see how adapting to blackout is reasonable, so even though I think the concept of blackout is interesting I don’t think it’s good for the game.
These new weapons seem interesting and we have no experience with them yet, so I cannot tell whether the counterplay options are reasonable or not.
So I’d like to wait and see what happens once they are released.
Considering the 15 second targeting delay after decloaking, I think it is more then fair to state that the cloaked ambush fears are adressed and the ships are in a balanced state on that front. The other stats also seem fair and we now have confirmation that the 1st showing during the AT was with max skills.
Things look good based on the revealed stats and I am looking forward to getting my hands on it all and test it out in space.
Keep in mind that the ‘cloak reactivation delay’ is not the same as ‘targeting delay after decloaking’.
Default cloak reactivation delay is 30 seconds I think, which is the time after which you can cloak up again if you decloaked.
Targeting delay after decloaking is 10 seconds before you can start locking someone after you decloaked, or 5 seconds with max cloaking skill.
I haven’t seen anything that makes these ships different than other covops ships, so I assume they have the regular 5 second targeting delay at max skills.
Yes to breacher pods… they are as overpowered as stealth bombers in Tama
To make you even more mad, and foam moar, those 75 secs of DoT can be extended indefinitely by other pilots locking on to same target and firing additional pods at it. Those additional pods will “queue” on the target, continuing dealing DoT when the previous pod expires (Source: Revenant: Expansion Notes | EVE Online)
Easiest way to deal with Breacher Pod ships = dont let them get within 6km from you. Done. Easy peesy.
Only the two new ships can use them. So they will be easy to avoid. Players arent going to be using them without friends to back them up because these ships will be expensive to create.
Just keep your distance and avoid them when you are in a weak ship and they shouldnt be a problem
What battleship goes into warp during this time? Machariel with nanks? That is, a frigate with a jammer and a new ship are enough for any ship, from a shuttle to a capital, to literally die on the spot. And what to do in VH if you only have POS? Or in a hostile space? Die on the spot or in the warp?
If you’re not aligned after you see a potential hostile player in local you’re taking unnecessary risks.
Capital ships won’t ‘die on the spot’ to an application of this new weapon.
At max skills it kills 75% of a subcaps hitpoints at most over 75 seconds, but has a damage cap which means it’s not nearly as impactful against capital ships.
You can simply decloak and hit it once it’s tackled and can’t move anyway. I mean, this is a Weapon System for brawling fights, all those so-clever ideas of being alinged or warping out or staying on speed are completely unrealistic. The horrible truth is, that fights that look engagable on first sight will turn into complete one-sided massacres if one side decloaks and throws in 2-3 of these DOT ships. So far, not a single scenario has been pointed out where this system would achieve something good or “solve a problem” (again: what problem?).
Oh no, are you saying these ships are strong when you’re being held down by other ships already and are fighting outnumbered?
So overpowered! /s
I don’t think it’s much different than if one side suddenly decloaks a bunch of bombers to hit you from afar while you are tackled, or say, jumps in a dread.
I’m not against breacher pods, although I’d like to see another option in addition or variety in pods options in time. Like a reverse DOT pod, call it a Repair Pod or something that heals armor and/or hull over time.
Can’t wait for the new meta: Fitting Cargoexpanders to Battleships, so you can carry enough Marines to block breaching attempts. Oh wait, a Battleship already has like a crew of like 8.000, so some soldiers in a breacher pod already couldn’t achieve anything when boarding, especially not applying an unstoppable damage effect that removes like 50% of the hitpoints of said ship. Oh well, now we are back at how nonsensical this mechanic is. Damn it.
Not Necessarily, marine detachments could be a skill item, a single mid or low slot add’s
a detachment and your skill level at using them determines their ability to reduce the
damage from such an attack.
Honestly, this would fit straight into EVE’s lock and key play style while adding a new
element to it.
