Earlier this week, the http://www.schildwall.info/sisi site pulled from a new chaos build listed as 970471 a set of 8 new items showing as Frigates, one set were logistics frigates and the other appeared to be Navy variants of each races electronic warfare frigates.
Speculation on the navy versions were of course mixed with some wondering whether they are actually going to be electronic warfare platforms or if are they going to be like some of the other navy variants, some of which share little with their tech 1 original.
But with the run up to Vegas now in full swing and a deluge of Devblogs coming out in preparation before CCP Fozzie posted to the EvE forums a preliminary set of stats for the recently discovered Navy Frigates.
Hello one and all! We are planning a big set of ship and module updates for this Winter, including 13 new ships, module tiericide and much more. This thread will introduce 4 of the new ships, a new line of Empire Navy Ewar Frigates.
These ships are designed to use their racial ewar bonuses (primary ewar for Amarr and Caldari, secondary for Gallente and Minmatar) in unusual ways, skewed towards solo and microgang combat. Overall we don’t expect these ships to eclipse Electronic Attack Frigates for fleet support roles, but the combination of ewar with significant frigate damage puts them into their own category.
These ships will be available in all standard combat LP stores for their respective factions.
So lets have a look at the ships in more detail. Pictures of the frigates were made using Caldari Prime Pony Club’s ship viewing site and may not be representative of the final models for these ships.
Crucifier Navy Issue
Amarr Frigate bonuses (per skill level):
20% bonus to Small Energy Turret damage
7.5% bonus to Weapon Disruptor effectiveness
Misc Bonus:
-85% penalty to Weapon Disruptor optimal range and falloff
-50% reduction to Weapon Disruptor activation cost
Slot layout: 3 H, 4 M, 3 L, 2 Turret
3 Rig Slots, 400 Calibration
Fittings: 42 PWG, 180 CPU
Defense (shields / armour / hull): 375 / 600 / 525
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 500 / 250s / 2
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / warp speed / align time): 340 / 3.35 / 1,064,000 / 5 / 4.94s
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 10 / 20
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 64km / 640 / 5
Sensor strength: 14 Radar
Signature radius: 38
In comparison to the Crucifier, the Navy variant shares the 3 High, 4 Medium and 3 low slot configuration of it’s Tech 1 version. But unlike the Tech 1 it has a significantly larger powergrid (155%) but reduced CPU Output (75%). It also has a 150% bump to overall hit points from 1,000 across shield, armor and hull to 1,500 and an improved capacitor. Add in the shorter tracking disruptor range, the reduced cost of activation, and the huge increase in damage from the 20% per level turret bonus this ship immediately indicates that it is an up close and personal brawler ship with extra survivability than its original.
Griffin Navy Issue
Caldari Frigate bonuses (per skill level):
20% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret damage
20% bonus to ECM strength
Misc Bonus:
-85% penalty to ECM optimal range and falloff
-50% reduction to ECM Jammer activation cost
Slot layout: 3 H, 5 M, 2 L, 2 Turret, 1 Launcher
3 Rig Slots, 400 Calibration
Fittings: 40 PWG, 200 CPU
Defense (shields / armour / hull): 650 / 400 / 400
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 425 / 212.5s / 2
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / warp speed / align time): 325 / 3.45 / 1,056,000 / 5 / 5.05s
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 5 / 5
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 65km / 600 / 5
Sensor strength: 17 Gravimetric
Signature radius: 40
The Griffin Navy Issue is very similar to the Crucifier. Improved powergrid / lower CPU, higher damage and ECM with lower activation costs. It does however have some interesting differences to the original – an extra highslot, a hybrid weapon bonus and turret fittings rather than missile launchers. Add in the extra hit points it has as well again it appears to be an up close and personal brawling ship with additional survivability.
Maulus Navy Issue
Gallente Frigate bonuses (per skill level):
10% bonus to Drone tracking and hitpoints
10% bonus to Warp Scrambler range (This bonus does not apply to Warp Disruptors)
Misc Bonus:
+1 scramble strength to all Warp Scramblers (This bonus does not apply to Warp Disruptors)
Slot layout: 2 H, 3 M, 4 L, 2 Turret
3 Rig Slots, 400 Calibration
Fittings: 35 PWG, 150 CPU
Defense (shields / armour / hull): 450 / 525 / 600
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 330 / 165s / 2
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / warp speed / align time): 325 / 3.35 / 1,063,000 / 5 / 4.94s
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 25 / 50
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 64.5km / 620 / 5
Sensor strength: 16 Magnetometric
Signature radius: 42
The Navy Maulus is perhaps the most interesting of all the proposed Navy E-War frigates. It has the same damage bonus, improved tank, power-grid – But rather than a range decrease it has a range bonus for warp scramblers (but not disruptors) and rather than a reduced activation cost, it gets a +1 bonus to scramble strength. This means that it will be able to scramble ships at a longer range with enough power to rival a ship fitted with a faction scrambler. Amazingly, if you’re willing to sacrifice all your mid-slots and spend the ISK to fit faction scramblers it could theoretically have a scramble strength of 12 points (Although there is a hard argument why you would do this). Other than super carriers and titans which are immune to scramblers and disruptors there will quite literally be no ship capable of escaping this frigate – something that faction warfare pilots and pirates will be rejoicing about no doubt.
Vigil Fleet Issue
Minmatar Frigate bonuses (per skill level):
5% bonus to Rocket and Light Missile explosion velocity
25% bonus to explosive missile damage, 20% bonus to em, thermal and kinetic missile damage
Misc Bonus:
+50% Stasis Webifier range
Slot layout: 3 H, 4 M, 3 L, 1 Turret, 2 Launchers
3 Rig Slots, 400 Calibration
Fittings: 38 PWG, 190 CPU
Defense (shields / armour / hull): 525 / 525 / 425
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 300 / 150s / 2
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / warp speed / align time): 400 / 3.2 / 1,080,000 / 5 / 4.79s
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 15 / 15
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 65km / 660 / 5
Sensor strength: 13 Ladar
Signature radius: 34
The Vigil Fleet Issue again follows the same line of thought as the Crucifier and Griffin but swaps its activation cost bonus for a missile damage and range bonuses to allow it to hit out further and match the bonus to its web range.
These ships are clearly to fill a few holes in the roles that ECM traditionally is unable to fill by itself, these ships are designed to get in up close with a small gang fleet rather than sit out on the sidelines. Of course these ships are still subject to change, but it is clear they will add an extra option to small gang fleets.
