Truly an amusing little project the rebels have been working on. Perhaps it will help turn the tide in their war.
This data was forwarded to Margrave xer Qosh several hours ago. Let’s hope we can make better use of it.
Who the hell looks at a Probe and thinks, “Hmm, yes, this really should be a more combat oriented hull.”
2 Likes
to be fair, there have been some interesting combat builds on many of the tech 1 exploration vessels.
My personal wager is to increase combat scout viability in forward maneuvers. Not something especially common in capsuleer tactics, but capsuleers tend to twist how combat functions play out in ways that are surprising.
Rapid launching rocket pods can also be useful in close support roles in planetary operations, it bears some mention
No, really, who the hell looks at a PROBE and thinks ‘Hey, you know what’d be great? If we made one of the covops precursors a combat-capable missile boat?’ without getting slapped by literally EVERY DAMNED BREACHER PILOT in the cluster?
Seriously. One of these ships gets upgraded into a stealth bomber. The other is… ‘Hey, let’s make that into a missile boat’?
Someone needs to be sacked for this.
1 Like
You’re also assuming this would be the only update set to come, chances are, I’d wager this is but one of many…
No, I’m assuming that whatever other updates are coming, this one is particularly ■■■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■ stupid.
How very… capsuleer, of you.
Yes, I’m sure it takes a capsuleer, and especially one who has spent almost a decade as a specialist in fleet doctrine design and fitting, to spot ‘YOU ALREADY HAVE SHIPS FOR THAT WEAPON’. Baseliners are completely incapable of noticing things, and none of them could ever conceive of the idea that one particular decision is particularly boneheaded.
You are a specialist in fleet design doctrine, yes. But a specialist in capsuleer fleet design doctrine. Mission profiles for ship specifications often exceed what Capusleers consider the optimal design setup.
And, based on the data available, being whatever drive was pulled, its a feasibility study and not quite a final design template. There’s still room for it to be changed, but all the same, I think you’re overreacting.
Perhaps the strategy is to make it look like such a low-value target that it just gets ignored on the battlefield. You could power the whole thing down and hide it amongst the wrecks to set up an ambush.
Not going to get too cocky though because knowing my luck someone will pod me next week while flying one of these.
That’s fine, you’re allowed to be wrong. 
Hm. Any chance it’s a Condor/Kestrel sort of thing where one is better suited to long tackle and kiting while the other is more of a brawler? I see maximum velocity’s among the things being modified.
Honestly, I am just happy Arrendis is yelling at someone other than an Amarr or Caldari.
I am certain the Minmatar R&D engineers are heartened by the good faith constructive criticism.
I’m sure they are. After all, we’re not expected to kowtow to people claiming to be our betters and never dare to disagree with them.
1 Like
Ah, there’s the barrel of sunshine we all know and love!
Go sit on a cactus and stick your face in a fireplace; it will do far more effective redesign work than this travesty, am I right?
1 Like
Once upon a time, your taunts made sense.
I have a hunch it was a Thukker doing this feasibility study, as in my experience it usually does involve strapping on a few extra missile launchers even when it is beyond feasible.
I actually like the Probe, and I’m not liking the removal of the drone bay. Don’t make much sense to me.
Maybe they thought it would be cool to name it Combat Probe. 
2 Likes
Never enough Launcher Frigates in the cluster. I hope there will be modified versions of the Heron to match.