What does this mean for a HAC though? What exactly are they supposed to be specialized for?
I believe he’s referring to their HAC and Role bonus which are intended to be unique and specific to their ship class, making them excel at a particular role.
E.g. The Eagle and Cerb are designed for long range “sniping” while the Deimos and Ishtar are designed for close range “brawling”. The Vaga is a mid range kiter while the Muninn is a mid range sniper.
However, the Ishtar is actually quite versatile (as it can also be nano-fit) as are the Zealot and Sacrilege, so this “specialisation” mantra only really applies to the Caldari ships.
T2 usually have less utility highs. Just this already makes them not “better” than the T1s.
When considering the HACs, this is False.
The Sac has 1 more hi-slot than the Maller.
The Zealot has the same hi-slot layout as the Omen.
The Cerb has 1 more hi-slot than the Cara.
The Eagle has the same hi-slot layout as the Moa.
The Deimos has the same hi-slot layout as the Thorax.
The Ishtar has the same hi-slot layout as the Vexor.
The Vaga has the same number of hi-slots as the Stabber
but an extra turret rather than a launcher.
The Muninn has the same number of hi-slots as the Rupture
but an extra turret.
ALL 6 (?) of the Navy Issue Cruisers have the same or more number of hi-slots as their T1 equivalents and you can’t really compare T1 cruisers with Pirate variants as they’re hybrids, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.
uh what?
They are Heavy Assault Cruisers, there’s no command in the name…
They should be cruisers that are made to survive in the thick of things, the “shock troops” of a fleet, and as such have great dps, tank and cap. It’s kind of where they are, and the ADC did help, but it is not quite enough for many. In theory, they are supposed to be going through a full rebalance like assault frigates did, since the devs stated they did not have time to complete it last time.
Command ships are pretty good brawlers, except you should want your command elements further from the thick of things. A bit of a buff to range engagements would make them more sensible ships, but that’s another topic entirely.
You mean you already call them “dumb command cruisers” and as such would like them to have a command module?
Or you think that having a command module would make them worthy of being “heavy” and/or “assault” cruisers?
There are already a lot of ships with command modules. A straight up buff in the “heavy” (as in heavy infantry, or heavy armour, not as in slow and cumbersome) and/or “assault” (straight up damage potential at short range, either via better application or raw numbers) would keep them in their niche instead of overlapping with other ships.
HACs need damage. Give them their own damage mod low slots, for example… Cerberus can have a low that reduces missile flight time by 20% and gives twice as much damage as a BCU. Three of these turns heavy assaults into pretty much super accurate torpedoes. Same mods for laser hybrid etc. Make HACs scary again. At their current price they should be.
They don’t seem balanced to me. They have less dps than tech 3 and none of the cloak, interdiction nullifying, probing etc and are just slower. All for about the same price now. Assault damage control isn’t really that special in the longer cruiser fights, you may even lose ehp from the lesser resist profile if it goes on long enough.
So re-bifurcate the command ships?
For each race, there is (was) a field command ship and a fleet command ship; the former (field command) being able to fit one command module without using a command co-proc, and having more dps, application, and slightly less tank than fleet command ships, which were able to fit three command modules without using command co-procs.
The sleipnir, astarte, and absolution were field command ships, the claymore, damnation, and eos were fleet command. I can’t remember which caldari CS was which, I felt they were lackluster compared to the alternatives.
The field command ships definitely lost quite a bit of dps when CS’ got rebalanced. Getting 1200-1300 dps out of an astarte and 900-1100 out of the sleip and abso wasn’t uncommon. I felt that fitting neuts in the utility highs of field command ships generally made more sense than using a command module due to the amount of dps and application they had.
Without the ability to fit something on my phone from memory you can push the performance of a hac far further. You can throw either less tank on or more tank and you’re ahead of the curve either way. Only ships you need to worry about are your natural counters or bigger stuff.
[Ishtar,]
Assault Damage Control II
Power Diagnostic System II
Power Diagnostic System II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
100MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Thukker Large Cap Battery
Caldari Navy Warp Scrambler
Pith X-Type Large Shield Booster
Small Focused Pulse Laser II
Small Focused Pulse Laser II
Small Focused Pulse Laser II
Small Focused Pulse Laser II
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer II
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer II
Caldari Navy Wasp x5
Imperial Navy Praetor x4
Ogre II x5