Here’s an idea for two sets of ships for each of the four races (Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, Minmatar):
1.) Capital Ships that utilize and grant bonuses to a weapon system that is not considered the primary weapon system of each race. These ships would be a new type of ship all on their own, like how Titans are “Titans,” Dreadnoughts are “Dreadnoughts,” Frigates are "Frigates,’ etc. The weapon systems for each race could be:
The idea behind this is having high-damage Capital Ships that are not as strong or as large as Titans, and use Extra Large weapon systems (with bonuses) that are either native or rare/unused to the race. Amarr have some ships with Launcher Hardpoints; Caldari use Hybrid Turrets as a secondary; Gallente don’t use Missiles besides the Stealth Bomber (Torpedoes); Minmatar use Missiles as a secondary.
2.) Battleships that utilize and grant bonuses to weapon system that is not considered the primary weapon system of each race. The weapon systems for each race could be:
The idea behind this is having high-damage Battleships that use weapon systems (with bonuses) that are either native or rare/unused to the race. Amarr have some ships with Launcher Hardpoints, but none that are Missile-specialized; Caldari have few ships with drone bays and none of them are specialized; Gallente don’t use Missiles besides the Stealth Bomber (Torpedoes); Minmatar have some ships with Drone Bays but are not specialized.
Geddon says Hi, Rokh says Hi. Gal already have two weapon systems and you could call Drones their main system so Blasters are their secondary, so Mega says hi, Typhoon says hi
You really have not explored the current options at all.
Armageddon has Launcher Hardpoints but it is specialized for Drones, not Missiles. Rokh has Hybrid Turret specialization but it is for Large modules, not Extra Large (Capital) modules, which could be a good niche considering Caldari have Hybrid Turrets as their secondary; Rokh has a Drone Bay but it is not specialized for Drones. It is true that Gallente already has two weapon systems but giving them another one might not be out-of-balance, especially if every race’s Capital Ships (and perhaps Battleships) has access to all three weapon systems (Turrets, Missiles, Drones/Fighters). The Typhoon has a Drone Bay but it is not specialized for Drones.
Nevyn is right. We already have battleships using both of each races weapon type.
Both minmatar and ammar tend to have missile/drone hybrid ships, though amarr have a slight bias towards drones and minmatar a slight bias towards missiles. And caldari use drones as little as possible. It’s not even a secondary weapon for them. Gallente use missiles as little as possible.
You’re trying too hard to make new ships for new ships sake. It’s just not a well thought idea.
Try to have a role in mind for each ship, not just a weapon system, a ROLE which sets them apart from other ships and that makes it a worthy addition to the game.
The role in subject is combat/attack ship, and the idea is to have subroles that are constituted from weapon system specializations, which could open up doors for the races of New Eden to build new ships. The bias is retained at smaller ships. Amarr does not have a missile bonused ship; Some Caldari ships have Drone Bays, just like Minimatar, but they are not bonused, which seems a little lackluster because they both have their own racial drones. For the Gallente to have missile ships is a sense of balance, because the other three races have missile use more common.
I don’t get it. Each race (and pirate faction) has a preferred set of weapons and tank. Why do you want to throw that out? Is it just this “a sense of balance”?
Perhaps in a sense of lore in the evolution of New Eden, the factions - be they racial or pirate - tend to learn new techniques and strategies based on the performances of their adversaries. Additionally, these minds are capable of making discoveries of how they can perform themselves even without prolonged warefare. It is possibly a matter of time before the factions learn to use weapon systems that other factions might normally use.
It’s not fundamentally a bad idea. Except maybe at the capital level. It would serve as an SP sink (a mostly Gallente pilot might currently only train basic missile skills, but this would give them a reason to really max them out.) It would throw in some variety. However, any new idea needs a cost/benefit estimate for development. Would these add enough value to the game to be worth the cost of development and maintenance? Compared to other ship additions, adding pirate capitals won’t have much maintenance costs. Adding new T3’s would build enthusiasm in the playerbase. This idea? It might not be bad, but it’s also fairly bland. Borderline.
The blanks would still be clear in other areas, like smaller ships, but a race’s ability to fill in the blanks on the larger scale could be part of that race’s technological evolution.
Why? Why lose the character of each race at large sizes?
There’s a few flaws to you’re thinking.
First, it’s a game. There is no real technological advancement. Ships are data written by devs on a spread sheet manifested by the client and server.
Two, technological advancements isn’t only about size.
Three, forget your ‘lore’ reasoning for this idea. All that matters is gameplay. If you can’t think of a gameplay reason as to why this should happen your idea is a non-starter. ‘lore’ can be filled in as and when after you come up with a worthwhile idea.
Then you don’t understand what i mean by gameplay.
Gameplay is not ‘add more stuff for the sake of more stuff’. That’s literally the only reason you’ve given for this idea and it doesn’t make sense to put the work in on that alone. In fact it would detract from other ships.
I’m thinking of how to spell it out to you;
Like what can a caldari drone boat do that a shield domi, shield navy domi or a rattler, navy phoon or geddon already does? And if your caldari drone boat does a better job than any of these it will have then taken away some of the reasons for using these ships.
Does that make sense?
Edit-
Or perhaps to put it another way;
Without saying, ‘because we don’t have one yet’ why do we need a caldari drone boat?
Other ships have different defensive mechanics, bonuses, and fittings. New ships add different perspectives to the game because the combinations of ships and specifications have never been used before. The ships that already exist could still occupy their existing niches. For example:
A Caldari Drone boat - as well its racially appropriate Caldari Drones - would have different defensive mechanics because they would have more Shields, yet less Armor, than a Dominix/Typhoon/Armageddon and their respective racial drones, thus also having different resistances for their total hitpoints. Furthermore, because Caldari ships are specialized for Shields, it would be able to accomplish more shield tanking than a Shield-fitted Dominix. If I can further explain this example:
It doesn’t necessarily have to do a “better job” so much as it has to fill its own niche. The Dominix has bonuses to Drone hitpoints and damage, and Drone optimal range and tracking speed, whilst the Armageddon has bonuses to Drone hitpoints and damage, as well as Energy Nosferatu/Neutralizers, therefore the two ships have their own niches. A Caldari Drone boat could fill another niche on its own with a new combination of ship bonuses. Each ship could remain specialized.
The Rattlesnake is indeed a Drone boat, but it is atypical. It has a lower bandwith with high bonuses, basically using two Heavy Combat Drones at a time instead of five (and still doing excellent damage), but it simply does not have the mechanics of a typical Drone boat that uses five Heavy Drones at a time. Also, because it is a Pirate faction ship, I think something supplementary could be doable. Plus a different Caldari Drone boat could have a different bonus (besides Kinetic and Thermal Missile damage) in addition to Drone bonuses, like the Armageddon and Dominix.
