Assault Ships - Thoughts and Ideas

Yesterday we looked at the small combat ship meta and agreed that Assault ships currently are squeezed out of their role as a small hard hitting frigate by the presence of the overpowered Tech III Tactical Destroyers.

For example, compare this Enyo kitted out for damage with this Hecate also kitted out for damage:

[Enyo, enyo]
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Tracking Enhancer II

5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
[empty med slot]

Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
[empty high slot]

Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I

Hornet II x1

And:

[Hecate, Hecate]
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II

5MN Microwarpdrive II
Sensor Booster II, Scan Resolution Script
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I

Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Core Probe Launcher I, Core Scanner Probe I

Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
Small Algid Hybrid Administrations Unit I
Small Ancillary Current Router II

In propulsion mode, the Hecate is going 2.50 km/sec compared to 2.63 km/sec for the Enyo, but does 664 DPS to 354 DPS and has 6.5 EHP compared to 6.8 EHP. Defense mode slows it down to around 1.5 km/sec but boosts the EHP to over 9K. The estimated price is about 76 million compared to 31 million for the Enyo.

I realize there are soft factors like signature, agility, etc, and the role bonus of assault ships getting half the signature bloom with the Micro Warp Drive definitely is something to consider in favour of the beleaguered class. But the extra slots, more fitting options, unique ability to switch modes on the fly, and better hard stats for damage (especially damage) and defense all for a price total only twice that of an assault ship certainly gives the advantage to the larger vessel. And if price is really a concern, there is the perfectly capable Tech I destroyers or even Tech I combat frigates that perform adequately in many situations for a fraction of the price.

Simply put, Assault Ships are squeezed from both sides on the price spectrum.

Now we now Tech III Tactical Destroyers are being looked at by CCP via a focus group of expert players so its safe to say a change is incoming that will impact negatively on them. If T3 Dessies were banned from Small faction warfare complexes and their stats were nerfed a bit AND their price saw an increase of about 20%, I could see Assault ships perhaps making a niche between Tech I and Tech III destroyers as an alternative.

But do we really need yet another small combat ships? The meta is overloaded at this end between the basic frigates, faction frigates, destroyers and Tactical Destroyers. Here are some ideas for making Assault Frigates more viable in the current meta.

1) Boost Stats - make them do a little more damage, have a little more tank, and a bit more speed so that they are more comparable to Tech III destroyers. Simple, yet does not remove the log jam of options.

2) Increase Role Bonus from 50% smaller signature radius under MWD to 25% - this would significantly increase their survivability while making them unique in the meta. Downside, would it make a difference with all the scrams out there able to catch them at the ranges they can fight at? I'm looking at the new Navy Maulus and it should make a lot of MWD kiters nervous.

3) Revamp with pure range bonuses - essentially make them all act like snipers with longer range and targeting then even the Tactical Destroyers on sharpshooter mode. A unique niche but boring.

4) Leave them as they are except change the role bonus so that a scram does not turn off the MWD (but still prevents warp out). This would turn them into a unique ship type for hunting kiting ships but would not make them overpowered (possibly, I'm writing without a seat belt here!).

Any other ideas?