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EVE Evolved: Fitting the Gallente Talos

Brendan Drain — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, PvP, Opinion, Hands-on, EVE Evolved, Guides, Sandbox

Among the hundreds of changes brought by EVE Online's recent Crucible expansion, the new tier 3 battlecruisers certainly rank as player favourites. Rather than giving each race a bigger, tougher battlecruiser, CCP gave the new ships the ability to fit battleship-class weapons but heavily limited their defensive capabilities. All four tier 3 battlecruisers are turret-based, letting them output massive damage with close-range guns or hit for solid damage at battleship sniping distances.

As with all new ships, it can be difficult to figure out how to fit the new tier 3 battlecruisers to make full use of their unique combination of high damage output and high mobility. Last week I looked at three viable setups for the Caldari Naga, which proved to be an absolute monster with 1,000-1500 DPS when using close-range blaster setups and a terrifying 650 DPS when sniping at 100km-130km. This week I take a similar look at the Gallente Talos, a ship designed specifically for close-range combat. I explore a traditional armour-tanked blaster fitting with dual webs, a shield-based variant that packs a huge 1,500 DPS punch, and two long-range blaster fits that give the Naga a run for its money.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I explore four solid PvP fittings for the Talos, with both shield and armour setups.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting the Gallente Talos originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting the Caldari Naga

Brendan Drain — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, PvP, Hands-on, EVE Evolved, Guides, Sandbox

While EVE Online's recent Crucible expansion brought us over a hundred small features, balance tweaks, and graphical updates, its headline feature was undoubtedly the four new tier 3 battlecruisers. It's been several years since a new combat ship was added to EVE, and combat had begun to get a little stale. Most of EVE's ships follow a logical design progression, with larger ships having more tank and higher damage output. CCP turned that concept on its head with the new tier 3 battlecruisers, which deal battleship-class damage but have both the agility and paper-thin tank of a tech 1 cruiser.

The Caldari Naga is the very definition of a glass cannon, able to output more damage than a Megathron or Rokh but at the cost of having practically no tank. It can be sniper-fit to deal around 650 DPS at ranges of 100-130km, blaster-fit to output a raw 1,500 DPS at ranges below 10km, or even set up to fight effectively with blasters outside web range. Its high top speed and cruiser-like agility add new gameplay options to existing sniper and heavy damage-dealer fleet roles, providing battleship-class damage for roaming cruiser gangs. It's a potential game-changer for nullsec alliances engaging in hit-and-run style warfare, but as with all new ships it can be difficult to figure out an effective ship fitting.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I explore three solid fittings for the Naga designed to fill common PvP roles.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting the Caldari Naga originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Gallente and hybrid balance

Brendan Drain — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, Patches, PvP, PvE, Opinion, EVE Evolved, Sandbox

It's been another week filled with announcements and positive news for EVE Online, with CCP showing off EVE's new nebulae and revealing the Amarr and Caldari tier 3 battlecruisers. For Gallente pilots, no news was celebrated more than the rebalancing of hybrid weapons and ships that specialise in their use. Short-range blasters can technically deliver the highest damage output of any turret, but their extremely short optimal range means they deal a smaller fraction of their maximum damage in most fights than other ships. Blaster ships have to spend valuable travel time closing into weapons range, and once up close, targets are hard to track.

Although railguns were designed by the Caldari, they're hybrid weapons just like blasters, and so they are the long-range weapon of choice for Gallente sniping and mission-running ships. They have good range and tracking speed but have always suffered from slightly worse damage output and alpha strike than beam lasers and artillery cannons of the same size. Countless suggestions for fixes to blasters and railguns have appeared on the forum over the years, but until now they've remained unchanged. As a Gallente pilot and avid Thorax and Dominix fan, I'm very excited by the hybrid balance changes coming this winter.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I take a break from the new player experience experiment to take a look at the impact of the upcoming hybrid balance patch and why the announced changes are needed.

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EVE Evolved: Gallente and hybrid balance originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 06 Nov 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Details of EVE's long-awaited hybrid balance patch revealed

Brendan Drain — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, Patches, PvP, News items, Dev Diaries, Sandbox

Balancing combat in a PvP-centric game like EVE Online is a tricky business. In a sandbox universe that pits fleets of hundreds of ships against each other in a struggle for territorial dominance, balance changes can alter the PvP landscape. Unfortunately, hybrid weapons have always received the short end of the stick in balancing efforts, leaving Gallente turret ships like the Deimos and Megathron behind their Amarr and Minmatar counterparts.

In a new devblog, CCP Tallest adds a major Hybrid weapon rework to the growing list of long-awaited features finally making an appearance in EVE's coming winter expansion. Blasters will be receiving some much-needed CPU and powergrid reductions, a 30% reduction on capacitor usage and a huge 20% bonus to tracking speed. Railguns receive the same CPU, powergrid and capacitor reduction as blasters, in addition to a straight 10% damage increase. All ships typically fit with blasters will also be getting speed bonuses to help them get into blaster range, and tech II ammo for all turrets is due for an update.

Details of EVE's long-awaited hybrid balance patch revealed originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Mild-Mannered Reporter: In the case of Blasters

Eliot Lefebvre — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Classes, Game mechanics, Opinion, A Mild-Mannered Reporter

In a way, there's a unique glory to unrepentant damage-dealing classes. Let the other characters focus on having unique and subtle hybrid style, through which every movement builds into some arcane methodology. That's all well and good, but you need to have a character option whose sole purpose in life is destruction. The sort of class whose idea of subtlety is shooting the target, shooting it again, and setting it on fire, and if there's anything left after all of that, maybe you'll ask it a question or two.

A hammer is an excellent tool when you just want something smashed, after all.

Blasters fill the role of unmitigated damage dealer in City of Heroes, and that makes them a joy to write about because they are focused without being monodimensional. Whether you're new to the game as a whole or just new to playing a ranged damage machine, read on for a discussion of the archetype, its abilities, and what can be expected when you decide to just blast everything into oblivion.

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A Mild-Mannered Reporter: In the case of Blasters originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Speed rebalanced

Brendan Drain — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, Patches, PvP, Opinion, EVE Evolved

In a previous article, I examined the nano craze and how speed-fit setups were taking over EVE Online's PvP landscape. In a recent devblog on the issue, CCP developer Nozh makes it clear that the nano craze will soon be coming to an abrupt end. In his blog post, Nozh outlined the current problems with speed setups and laid out his plans to address those issues. The proposed changes cover everything from stasis webs and microwarpdrives to warp scramblers and nanofibres.

The nano solution?:
The essence of the nano problem is that speed fittings allow some larger ships to perform the roles of smaller, more specialised ships. Heavy assault cruisers are routinely spotted using their speed as a complete defence, something ordinarily reserved for fragile interceptors. One of the core design goals of the change is to eliminate this ability entirely, forcing pilots that want high speed to use ships that were designed to have it. As was the case before the nano craze took hold of EVE, the new kings of speed will be interceptors and frigates rather than expensive heavy assault cruisers and recon ships.

With this potential solution to the nano problem on the horizon, PvP in EVE is facing some major changes. In this speculative article, I analyse how the upcoming changes will affect PvP if implemented.

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EVE Evolved: Speed rebalanced originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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