Ecliptic Rift

Rounding out the upgrades to the navy frigates, today we’ll look at the Amarr Navy Slicer (now the Imperial Navy Slicer), the little sniper that could.

Gunboat

The Slicer’s previous design allowed it to function quite effectively as a small gunboat with capacitor efficiency bonuses and three turrets. The changes coming with Dominion, however, remove one turret and the energy turret capacitor bonus. Instead, the Slicer will have only two turrets but the bonus to small energy turret damage per Amarr Frigate skill level increases from 5 to 25%. Additionally, CCP will give it a 10% range bonus.

This could end up turning the ship into something like a tiny sniper, with a 50% range bonus when the skill is maxed, and those two turrets get a 125% damage bonus. A mini-marauder, if you will.

Design

Other changes lessen whatever nerfing some pilots might perceive. Despite the removal of the capacitor usage bonus, the capacitor itself increases 33% from 375 to 500 GJ (more than offsetting the loss of the skill bonus). However, recharge time also increases about 20% from 234 to 281 seconds. The layout changes only slightly, removing one high slot from the old 4/2/5 setup in favor of a 3/2/5  design. The Slicer should continue to maintain an excellent tank and the high slot removal essentially only takes away the third turret, instead improving the damage of the other two.

This becomes even more useful when combined with the 36% base speed increase from 287 to 390 m/s, though the inertia modifier will increase slightly from 2.1 to 3.3 to compensate. A fast sniper can then maintain range and continue to hit hard over the longer distance.

Unlike the other naval frigate changes, the fitting statistics actually decrease somewhat. Powergrid loses 10 MW, from 47 to 37 MW, and the CPU also gets downgraded from 125 to 115 tf. With one turret removed, however, this probably should not present great problems for pilots looking to keep their damage going.

Like the other naval frigates, the Slicer should end up seeing lots of use in factional warfare, as pilots can sit at range from the beacons inside complexes and pick off enemies as they arrive.

Tomorrow: Wrap-up of all four and a special bonus.

After my examination of the Firetail, let’s take a look at the changes to the Caldari Navy Hookbill coming in the Dominion expansion. Like the Firetail, the Hookbill will get major changes to its bonuses and thus role: primarily it will become a missile boat rather than tanking with split damage.

Missiles

Prior to Dominion, the Hookbill has a 10% shield capacity bonus and 10% small hybrid turret falloff bonus, each per level of Caldari Frigate skill. These bonuses will get removed in favor of missile damage and velocity bonuses: 20% kinetic missile damage, 10% other missile damage, and 10% missile velocity. To go along with this, the ship will no longer have any turrets, only 3 launchers.

This compares favorably with the other Caldari missile frigate, the Kestrel. This ship has one extra launcher but half the damage bonus (10% to kinetic, 5% to other) and no velocity bonus. The Minmatar missile frigate, the Breacher, gets 3 launchers, similar bonuses to the Kestrel (though the 10% is for explosive damage rather than kinetic), and a turret.

In fact, this starts to look more like the Hawk assault frigate, though without the shield boost bonus.

Design

Despite the loss of the shield capacity bonus, the Hookbill still will have a decent tank. Instead of the old 4/4/3 setup, the new Hookbill will have a 3/5/2 layout, allowing for more shield tanking modules in the mid slots. A 10% boost in the powergrid (from 150 to 165 MW) will help with the fitting, of course.

Similar to the Firetail, the revised frigate will have less capacitance but faster recharge (362 to 281 GJ but 234 to 187.5 seconds). The scan resolution will also increase from 550 to 600 mm, which won’t completely change anyone’s life but is welcome anyway. And while the Hookbill won’t start winning any races, the nearly 40% speed increase from 268 to 370 m/s shouldn’t go unnoticed. Slightly offsetting this, CCP will increase the inertia modifier by about 35%, from 2.44 to 3.3.

Overall, the new ship might not score a lot of points with Caldari hybrid pilots, but in general the ship becomes a far nastier mission ship. While regular level 1s might not pay out well enough to justify the expense, the revised Hookbill could see some use by militia units in the State Protectorate.

Next: the Gallente Navy Comet

As promised, I took a deeper look at the navy frigate changes coming with Dominion, the EVE Online expansion in winter 2009. CCP wants to beef them up and turn them into something like a hybrid of assault frigates and interceptors. Due to the depth of the analysis, I’ve chosen to break it up into four separate articles. This first article will examine the Republic Fleet Firetail.

Speed Considerations

Historically, the Firetail has been one of the fastest T1 frigates around, and its popularity largely rested on this (in addition to the aesthetic appeal).

The old base speed of 357 m/s and 5% bonus per level of Minmatar Frigate gave it a top speed of about 446 m/s with Minmatar Frigate V (not counting additional navigation skills or equipment). In Dominion, CCP will remove the speed bonus but boost the base speed to 410 m/s, faster than all the other naval frigates. The Firetail also will get a slightly higher inertia modifier (3.2 instead of 3.1), which keeps it as one of the more ponderous frigates in terms of align time.

Other Minmatar T1 frigates will beat it, though not by much: the Slasher has a base speed of 419 m/s, and the Vigil has a 5% bonus per level to boost its 353 m/s speed, so it tops out at about 441 m/s. Additionally, the Atron only loses 1 m/s to the new Firetail, but has about 2/3 the inertia, so it’s a good bit quicker. This drops the Firetail to third in terms of raw speed among all T1 frigate hulls, with the Atron close on its heels in a fight. Then again, none of those ships can match the Firetail in sheer firepower.

Design

CCP will drop a high slot and add a medium slot on the Firetail, so that the ship will end up having a 3/4/3 layout. With the addition of a full 20% damage per level, those two turrets effectively become 4, though. This ends up giving the Firetail more firepower than the long-time favorite Rifter, with its relatively-paltry 5% bonus per level. A substantial boost in CPU (125 to 140 TF) and minor powergrid upgrade (38 to 39 MW) will also allow a great deal more flexibility in the fitting. Perhaps pilots will add a bit of shield tank  (e.g. afterburner, stasis webifier, warp scrambler, and shield booster in the mids) and add some propulsion boosts like inertia stabilizers,  ODIs, or nanofiber internal structures in the lows. The capacitor drops from 325 to 250 GJ, but recharge time also drops from 234.38 to 187.5 seconds.

Time will tell whether Minmatar militia pilots end up using these gems in greater numbers, as they have costs similar to T2 frigates but can enter minor facilities. Essentially, she won’t be quite as quick but even meaner than before, so the cost/benefit ratio will improve considerably.

Tomorrow: the Caldari Navy Hookbill.