Honestly… just give me Covert Ops ships like the Pacifier for each Empire. Cloaky laser frigate for Amarr. Cloaky drone/hybrid frigate for Gallente. Cloaky missile frigate for Caldari. And Cloaky projectile frigate for Minmatar.
Seriously, why wouldn’t all the Empires have already created their own versions of the Pacifier?
We did get Faction destroyers and battlecruisers in early 2024 (or was it late 2023?) But yes, A T2 assault frigate, T2 cruiser and (hope!) T2 Marauder for the Pirate factions would be slick. T2 Trig Marauder would also be sweet (I believe there’s one on Serenity).
Honestly though - I’d be ecstatic with new ships (any new ships).
Missiles are a the primary armament of the Caldari, Mordus and Gurista factions. All Caldari Medium Missile Platforms, the Orthrus and the Gila have considerable HAM and HM bonuses. The recent nerfs reduced the effective ranges of heavy and (rapid) light missiles, rather then HAMs, which in case of the Cerberus even were given extra range.
Why would factions that barely use missiles need an additional t2 platform for it?
Should Caldari, Mordus and Guristas get new T2 ships with Laser and Projectile bonuses in return, too?
So basically a stealth bomber, just bigger, slower, and more expensive?
Why would you fit Rapid Heavies if you want to engage a capital? The damage provided by Rapid Heavy Missiles is not even close to the damage provided by torpedoes, even if the capital is microwarp drifting and the RHML are cycling rather then being in reload and therefore not providing damage at all. The only thing you might want RHML is to shoot at targets that are smaller then the platform you put the RHMLs on.
BC with large weapons are attack battlecruisers (ABC). Their primary role is to suicide gank, hence instant damage, provided by turrets, is superior to “standoff range” or raw dps levels that damage delayed missiles have. A potential t3 attack battlecruiser would barely have additional roles, and if it had submodules to tune between missiles and turrets people would fit turrets on it all the time. The primary tackle is always the first capsuleer engaging, therefore the first capsuleer that will be locked by gateguns, too. If t3 ABC need a bonus over t1 ABC it’s a tackle range bonus rather then a weapon range one, or they risk the target just buzzing off with the missiles still in flight once the primary tackles were wrecked by the gate guns, concord or faction navies. Or they need a speed bonus (instead of agility), so they can burn into scram range faster and bump their target harder to disrupt its’ align.
Okay, I said “like rapid heavies” in that itd have considerable burst damage but not sustained damage over time with an exceedingly long reload time. So basically a “shoot and scoot” style platform where agility and the ability/need to get out of harms way is more paramount than actual MWD/AB/Navigation skills speed. The reason I brought Tier 3 BC into it was the possibility of using larger weapons on it as an idea to spin off of as a true anticapital platform where damage application to large targets works but not to smaller ship classes.
The entire idea would hinge on the mobility piece, being able to jump into range, fire off salvos and then quickly escape to reload, rearm even, or retreat. I was toying with the idea of boosh ships in my head as well. But I wonder if thatd be too many moving parts for a single ship class. The Guided Missile Cruiser class in the real world provides a standoff capability to serious punch above its weight class in a quite maneuverable, smaller package. Think Tomahawks from hundreds of kms away.
When I began stealth bombers had cruise missiles and tremendous range and application. I used them to full effect in the AT many years ago for our team scoring several kills. Im thinking of something along those lines but in a T2 cruiser hull but reserved specifically for anticapital work in larger fleet battles or even roving gangs or hot drops, asking for BO would be too much, where a resistance/agility tanking other than sig tanks, or lock time tanks, as is the case with SB currently, or buffer tanking is the main tank.
Used in conjunction with boosh ships youd have the agility of a lower ship class but speeds of BC or BS even to get in and get out. T2 would require new skills along the ship line to train into, as well as bonus skills for weapons systems.
And thats as far as Ive gotten so far in my head with the idea. Hope it helps and clarifies some points for you.
I think it would be cool to introduce combat suits for characters. The combat suit would allow the Capsuleer to fly around in space, engage in combat against other suited Capsuleers plus mining, exploration and salvaging of wrecks. Missions could be run that would see the suited Capsuleer dock with a mission station and complete missions while collecting items along the way that would enhance their combat suit.
I can just imagine how fun it would be for thousands of Null sec Capsuleers fighting it out in combat suits. Normal PvP ships would not be able to inflict any damages on the suited Capsuleer due to the infinitely small signature.
I can also see Pods being designed to become fighter ships able to take on other Pods and suited Capsuleers with the Pod being able to be targeted and destroyed by any combat ship.
Every time we ask for something all the forum zealots pile on and tell us “no, you don’t need that”. Despite the naysayers, last year we got Pirate destroyers/battlecruisers, the new Upwell hauler line and the new Deathless ships.
I could see the “suits” being something like new advances in implant technology where you wear them in your pod and they replace the old implant sets or perhaps the old attribute implants as one coherent piece rather than a bunch of individual items, have different slots/types, etc.
Then iterating on that could eventually get them into other scenarios that you are envisioning.
That surprised me, I didn’t know Serenity had ships we didn’t have. So far I saw screens for the Gabriel, an Angel Cartel Dreadnought with a very cool name, and the Dziewanna, Leshak Maruader with the most beautiful hull I’ve seen on trig ships