- Siege Frigates:
-Build costs decreased by ~15%.
Won't really help them since they'll still take a huge toll on fleet size.
-Top speed decreased from 800 to 500.
Wow. Now the 6 carriers(3 caps & 3 cruisers) can actually outrun LR frigates, making Fighter attacks more effective. And the anti-capital deadliness of LRFs goes out the window as well now that we'll have Kols actually being able to simply fly away from Javs at will(without getting chased down and assassinated as before).
The low speed, low durability aspect now makes LRFs directly analogous to self-propelled howitzers. Light frigs being mechanized infantry, heavy cruisers being main battle tanks, support cruisers being engineers, etc.
- Illuminator:
-Hull points increased from 520 to 620.
-Shield points increased from 450 to 550.
-Attack type changed from CAPITALSHIP to ANTIMEDIUM.
-Front bank damage increased from 33.8 to 65.
-Side banks damage decreased from 33.8 to 26.
With 620 Hulls + 550 Shields + 2 Light Armor + Deceptive Illusion, Illuminators will be tough targets. They'll also be doing 10 DPS from the front-mounted particle beam, and 4 DPS from each of the side-mounted beams, that too, with a more powerful and more versatile damage type than they had before.
Since they still have much shorter range(5520) compared to the Jav and Kanrak, but much higher durability and multiple weapons, Illuminators can't really be classified as "Long-Range Frigates". They're something more like "Heavy Frigates" instead. Or "Destroyers".
- Defense Vessel:
-Reduced cooldown by 45%, damage reduced proportionally to maintain DPS.
The higher shot frequency makes them more Flak-like(i.e, like the Garda). Makes them more effective against strike craft since a missed shot now means less of a damage loss.
-Attack types
-AntiVeryLight chance to hit bombers decreased from 85% to 75%.
-AntiVeryLight damage vs Light armor decreased from 100% to 75%.
Flaks' effectiveness in shooting Fighters remains unchanged by this. But against Bombers, flaks are now clearly superseded by Fighters.
Fighters use AntiLight damage, not AntiVeryLight, and so their hit chances and damage are not affected at all by this small nerf. Since LRMs have been slowed down to the point that they can no longer catch and kill Carrier Cruisers and Capital Carriers, it all rounds up to a
buff for Fighters. They now become superior hard counters against Bombers and LR Frigates.
In fact, Fighters will now be better than flak at everything
except for the destruction of
other fighters. The extra effectiveness well makes up for the extra cost and supply requirement of Carrier Cruisers.
I will bet anyone Ten Internet Dollars* that LRMs are still going to be overpowered in 1.04.*Internet Dollars redeemable for nothing
Now the counters to Javelis/Kanrak missile frigates is obvious. Here they are:
TEC - Javelis LRM Frigate (LRM vs. LRM)
Vasari - Kanrak Assailant (LRM vs. LRM)
Advent - Aeria Drone Host (Carrier vs. LRM)
The TEC/Advent counters are available at Tier 2 Military/Hostility. The Vasari counter is available at Tier 1 Warfare. The shiny tin-can Aerias needn't worry about getting shot up now since they can just outrun enemy LRMs.
