HACing Around

So, Odyssey 1.1 deployed today and overall I'm not overly excited for it.

What I mean to say is I liked a lot of the changes included in the patch and I'm curious about the applications of the new HACs, Command Ships, nosferatu and repper changes; but overall its not going to change much for me.

One of the major downsides of Faction Warfare for me is that there is not much call for flying bigger tech 2 ships. You see Assault Frigs and Interceptors, but beyond that the violent and sudden nature of low sec combined with the decent cost effectiveness of Tech 1 cruisers after the rebalance dictates that most fleets call for Vexors over Ishtars and Caracals over Cerberuses.

Now, the HACs have been updated for the Tiericide initiative and they may see more use in the Faction Warfare meta, especially since they can enter the same plexes as their Tech I predecessors can. But as long as the cost of the hull for these ships is more than ten times as much I suspect they will continue to be fringe players overall.

That being said, here are the ships I'm most excited about.

Cerberus

HAM Cerberus

The thought of having Heavy Assault Missiles that fly out out over 40km makes me a little giddy. This ship is a straight up skirmisher meant to run away while heaving missiles to the aft as she goes. Probably some better fits with Heavy Launchers but I like the "ouch" factor that the shorter ranged missiles present.

Ishtar

Ishtar

 The Ishtar is the main reason I started training Gallente all those years ago in the first place. The flexibility of a massive drone bay like the Dominix in a smalled and harder form? Yes please! The changes in this patch have only increased the drone applications of this ship and I'm so glad I already have one in the hanger.

No, its not fast, but when it catches something in the double webs it doesn't have to be. God help you if you have to try and run away though.

Tomorrow I'll take a look at the command ships and see what appeals there.