
Last week a healthy discussion had been generated in the EVE-O forums regarding the upcoming Marauder changes for the Rubicon Expansion, today CCP Ytterbium posted this interesting Q&A regarding the frequently asked questions on this topic, I would recommend you to take a look.
Dev Post: Q&A on the Marauder’s Changes…
Alright, as promised, we are having a small iteration on the hulls themselves:
Capacitor has been decreased from 8000 to 7500 on the Paladin.
Drone bay has been restored to 75m3 on the Paladin and Golem, 125m3 on the Kronos and 75m3 on the Vargur.
Max Velocity has been increased to 100m/s on the Paladin and Golem, 105 on the Kronos and 110 on the Vargur.
Mass has been reduced to 92,245,000 kg on the Paladin, 94,335,000 kg on the Golem, 93,480,000 kg on the Kronos and 96,520,000 kg on the Vargur.
Shield HP has been increased from 6300 to 6900 on the Paladin, 8000 to 8800 on the Golem, 6600 to 7300 on the Kronos, 7500 to 8300 on the Vargur.
Armor HP has been increased from 8000 to 8800 on the Paladin, 6100 to 6700 on the Golem, 7200 to 7900 on the Kronos, 6600 to 7300 on the Vargur.
Hull HP has been increased from 7700 to 8500 on the Paladin, 7000 to 7700 on the Golem, 8600 to 9500 on the Kronos, 6300 to 6900 on the Vargur.
Why buffing those hulls?
As mentioned here and based on your feedback, we realized the hulls have been overnerfed in iteration 1 next to the benefits given by Bastion.
Why restoring their drone bay to their original values, but keeping the nerfs to the bandwidth?
Mainly because those hulls are not supposed to use large drones, especially sentries in combat. They are supposed to use their main turrets / launchers, combined with Bastion mode to deliver damage, and use MJD to move around the battlefield. On those vessels, drones are limited to a support role, indicated by the low bandwidth. However, we have nothing against keeping a bit of flexibility by having high drone bays to allow replacement waves.
Why removing the web bonuses?
As we realized when internally playtesting iteration 2, web bonuses don’t combine that well with hulls using MJDs to move around or increased projection in Bastion. When we gave them web bonuses we had to nerf them from 10% to 7.5% per level not to overstep on ships like the Vindicator, which by itself was a sign that we were trying to take over a role already fulfilled by the Pirate Battleships. Marauders are not supposed to fill the same niche than their Pirate counterpart, which led us to remove those web bonuses and revert back to iteration 1. Trying to hit orbiting NPC frigates at close range with those hulls is not a good idea either, just use your MJD and snipe them before they can come back in range. If you wish to hit close range targets, the Vindicator is much better for that purpose, as it is tailored for Blasters.
Why having a slighly nerfed max velocity next their tech I counterparts?
Those hulls are the very epitome of tanking, through the Bastion module. For balance purposes, they have to pay for that somehow. Max velocity nerf is a good way to compensate, especially when considering the fact they have MJDs at their disposal to hop around the battlefield. However, the first speed nerf was a bit harsh, which is why we are mitigating it by increasing their max velocity a bit next to iteration 1.
Why do those hulls have lower mass next to their tech I counterparts?
Having less mass help with max MWD velocity and align time. The first one partially helps to compensate the Max Velocity nerf (they’re not as mobile than tech I, we estimate their top speed to be 10% slower with MWDs), the second one helps to make those hulls less vulnerable when coming out of bastion mode to align and warp out. Aligning is especially important for MJDs, and we estimated it was a good aspect to preserve.
Why buffing the EHP?
For being the epitome of tanking, they shouldn’t have reduced EHP next to their tech I, Navy or Pirate counterpart. We wanted to avoid giving them full Tech II resists outside Basion Mode to avoid broad use in RR fleets, but we still felt the need to give them some buffer to help survivability as a whole. In practice, that means the Marauders now have 39-41k raw EHP, which compares favorably next to Navy Battleships (35-41k) or Pirate Battleships (34-41k).
Why nerfing the capacitor on the Paladin?
Combined with the Capacitor bonus it gets it was just too high before. It’s not much of a nerf however, but it helps with the general balance of those hulls.
Why didn’t you buff the fittings?
We estimate the CPU / PWG on them to be adequate. We are aware of some tight fittings, but we don’t want those hulls to be able to easily fit a full rack of top tier turrets / launchers with Energy Neutralizers plus a full tank, as it would be quite over the top.
Why not moving a high-slot to med or low?
We feel like the extra high-slot to be needed to compensate for the use of the Bastion module – adding an extra med or low slot could make those hulls quite too much powerful in combat situations.
Why not adding damage to the Bastion mode?
Those hulls are not supposed to be outdamaging competition, as this would be favoring the power-creep. They are supposed to fulfill a different role / niche through their high tanks, stable weapon platforms (EW immunity, increase damage projection) and MJDs. It’s all about trade-offs; if you wish more damaging hulls, then look for Pirate Battleships / Navy Battleships for that particular purpose, knowing full well you will pay for it in other areas.
Why keeping the damage projection in Bastion stacking penalized?
We want to keep the projection in check. A Paladin with Scorch can already reach insane ranges (to the point where Beams are quite redundant on it), so we are not willing to remove the stacking penalty for now. Or at least not until we are seeing some hard use numbers on TQ first.
What’s the point of keeping tractor bonuses with the new deployable structure?
The new structure might not have the same attributes than the Marauders – it will only tractor one item at a time and while the tractor range will be longer than the Marauders, it won’t be as fast (no tractor beam velocity bonus). I’ll let CCP Fozzie explain the details.
Why would I want to use Marauders in Incursions now that the web bonus is gone?
There are other advantages to Marauders – internal play tests have shown us than kitting through the MJD bonus is very effective, as NPC warp scramblers don’t stop you from using it. Plus their tank is good enough not to require Logistic support. Bottom line is, we are not willing to leave a web bonus on Marauders to cater to ultra-specialized Incursion fittings when that conflicts with our design goals and their role as a whole. Especially when alternative tactics exist that make them still very effective in Incursions.
So, wait – no damage bonus with Bastion? What’s the point, then?
To tank and never fear the dam FALCON
and suffer permatackle by a frigate with a scram (happy you have drones now)
In Bastion mode, YOU CAN NOT BE SCRAMED DUMB ASS. Also, I Wonder what I can put in the 3/4 utility high slots. Oh I know, Some Nuets maybe?
mjd has a spool up time, unless you can spool up while still in bastion.
the obvious counter to the mobility of these is going to be squads of frigates. + tier 3 BCs
they’ve expressed that they do not want to cater to the full tank+neut+gun platform
Yes, But the new marauders have a bonus to MJD spool up time (about 2/3 seconds with max skills), So as long as the pilot is not a duffass. He/she should be about to neut out a few frigs that are close an then MJD away to start all over again or run the fuck away.
The point is projection and tank (and ew immunity)
http://i.imgur.com/oZKuUlM.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/gayXpuI.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/tI5BlOT.jpg
Does that answer your question?
http://i.imgur.com/5snPSlL.jpg
Here, have a completely overpowered tank.
Yes, it only costs upwards of 5b, plus 2-3b in implants, with a booster with high risks of severe side effects and no doubt a Tengu boosting.
Ignoring ALL OF THAT, and the fact nobody would fly it because it is total gank bait, it’s totally OP as hell.
Hell yeah, say hello to my ten-man ISboxed tornado fleet
Fuck ISbox.
^ This, rofl.
http://i.imgur.com/5snPSlL.jpg
Also, this.
You will laugh when you will get dropped, while being in Bastion mode. Not so much after that. That’s the point. We will see a lot of hilarious frigate-on-marauder kills, i bet.
Likely BLOP’d, since the deployable cyno jammer.
No direct bonus, but people like me will be able to pull off the t2 rep rig for damage rig, potential resist mod for cap mod and pull CCC for second damage rig
The EHP + Tank it gives, means less tank mods and more damage mods while retaining more survivability than most ships. Combine that with some defenses against being dropped by cynos, and it makes an interesting doctrine.
Only the most elite off players will understand this ships. There is only one alliance in the CFC who is good enough to fly them and only one alliance outside the CFC. Anyone else should not even think about flying this ship unless you want to pad the hell out of our KBs.
you funny bro..lol
One of those alliances is FA, but which one is the other?
Only when FCd by Pearcy obv.
Still no reason to own one of these hangar trophies…
Basssssss Tion…
Looks like I’ll need a new incursion boat.
Marauders weren’t especially great at it to begin with, when considering Macharial or other boats.
Shield bonus staying!!!!
so less people will use them i guess.
its the new ccp thing nerf everything to shit.
lolwut? were you even around for the ship rebalances? Silly Bitter vets
Lucky I didn’t get too excited and started training BS5 already.