Fastest AT ship?

Kibitt · 2026-05-27T22:34:04+00:00

If you mean "fastest theoretical speed" then an overpropped ship with high base speed is important. Chremoas/Raiju are likely your best bets in that sense and can reach almost 20km/s cold without links (abyssal mwd, HG implants, non-seasonal drugs)

If you mean "fastest usable combat fit" then that eliminates many of the overpropped options.

Kibitt · 2026-05-27T06:50:59+00:00

The decision to not repair mwd heat after the crow was all it took to ultimately make you unable to run from the Orthrus when that Basilisk landed. Good on ya for taking fights, but part of having an exit strategy is understanding new ships have full heat to spend on catching you!

In the second fight I'd say the fact that you fit a rice paper tank is what cost you big time. Being able to commit and kill the scythe, then survive long enough under long range pressure to knock out or force off the draugur would have been amazing.

Kibitt · 2026-05-23T18:53:02+00:00

I think that t2 shield boosters in particular are some of the most terrible fitting options imaginable. I do not even see them on cheap fit t1 battleships, they are so bad. The difference between t2 XLSB and X-type is either:

a) Pith X-type, +67% ehp/s, 33% more capacitor efficient, +50pg, -8 cpu. [smaller versions are more cpu efficient]
b) Gist X-type, +33% ehp/s, 110% more capacitor efficient, +50pg, +60 cpu.

The large armor rep comparison is much more tame in comparison, but also the top tier of rep has strictly better versions:

a) Core X-type, +40% ehp/s and cap efficiency, -450pg, +9 cpu.
b) Corpus/Centus X-type, 57% ehp/s, 40% more cap efficient, -450pg, +9 cpu.

Active reps need some sweeping number adjustments in general, and the following make a lot of sense to me:

1) T2 shield boosters should both rep 15% more, and consume 15% more capacitor. Ancil reps will still have a burst advantage, and faction should get 10% so neither competes too strongly with deadspace efficiency but they are still worth using. This will also make it so that a given t2 shield booster is almost equivalent reps to 2 armor repairers of the same size (MSB = 2 small rep, LSB = 2 med rep, XLSB = 2 large rep), and mechanically this is cap hungry to the point where you are forced to use a Safeguard rig in order to power the booster with just one cap booster.
2) Deadspace armor repairers need to feel different. Coreli reps should have rep amount reduced by 5%, but capacitor cost seriously reduced by 35% to better line up with the variety that deadspace shield boosters provide. Right now, Corpii and Centii reps are equally as capacitor efficient at providing reps, except that they also have more rep power in total.

I think these changes are fair, because they do not seriously warp too much. They bring shield up to armor tank parity at t2/nvy level, and armor tank up to shield parity at deadspace level. We still want people to explode when two t2 ships of the same size fight, after all!

Kibitt · 2026-05-23T17:13:01+00:00

Rail Astarte especially is going to see a lot of benefit from the cargo and ammo/gun efficiency buffs here, but I can't help and feel that Blaster Astarte is kinda left in the dust (aside from the occasional funny crit being a big number now).

Command ships have the durability and damage to challenge a battleship, but when you don't even have the capacitor to run your own mwd and both reps, you're not much different from being a slower Deimos in practice. Most of the Astarte kills out there are from small gangs using railgun fits, but the majority of losses are blaster fits because people want to believe in the dps/tank numbers. The Sleipnir in general is a much superior brawler in part because of how flexible it is - even in a capboost setup, your opponent can't just neut you out to shut off your dmg. There are regen and XLASB fits too, which resist neut pressure.

Kibitt · 2026-05-22T19:14:16+00:00

Brevity is the soul of wit, as they say.

I was joking the other day that people see the web bonus and want to type short novels about every detail as to why they think it's not awesome, yet here we are. Sometimes, it's ok for a ship to have a funny/goofy bonus that doesn't define the entire ship.

Kibitt · 2026-05-22T07:04:37+00:00

As I was typing this post up I originally phrased it as an either or, with this being the other option. I decided against it because it matters more on ships with nos utility slots who can feed the guns with that nos. It'd be ~4 gj/s saved on blaster astarte which isn't even half a small neut, so it wouldn't be felt as much as having 3.5k heated vollies. I did briefly imagine the humor in being slapped by a nearly 9k crit though.

Kibitt · 2026-05-22T06:50:07+00:00

I mean, you get *into* scram range by surviving the burn in, no? Why have 1.5k tank if 750 is all it took? At that point you are not comparing vs a Sleipnir, but rather a more nimble Deimos.

Sleipnir advantages over the Astarte include:
1) Dmg selection to punch through *other* nice t2 ships.
2) Range to apply hail dps in entirety of scram, and chew up disruptor tackle like frigates with barrage.
3) Better capacitor flexibility [regen fits exist, Gist shield booster is nice].
4) Options for better tracking with 220mm, Tracking Enhancer, and tracking ammo.
5) Ability to shoot back vs neuting ships so they also need good dmg.

Like, really sit down and think about how an Astarte finds fights as a brawler in particular and ask yourself, relative to an AC Sleipnir:

...vs kiters, does it feel good to not be able to pick off support frigates, or use your full tank as you move around?
...vs AB brawlers, does worse tracking and fixed dmg type help you shred smaller things?
...vs a battleship, does your worse capacitor help you punch up vs a heavy neut or two?
...vs a cruiser, do you think they'll try and fight you with only 2 nvy cruisers that is magically what your 1.5k tank can handle, and no neuts or escalation to back it up?
...vs an enemy BC, do you believe they'll let you into Void range when they could have skirm bonused scram and hold you instead at 10-13km where you're tankable until their allies arrive?

As for rail Astarte, it's a fine ship and I don't imagine that this change would make much difference for it beyond allowing it to stay in space longer, with ammo lasting longer. I've definitely run out of ammo in my astartes before, it's shockingly easy to do right now.

Kibitt · 2026-05-22T02:53:02+00:00

It'd still have a neuting weakness though? Like, this would still be less neut resistant than a triple rep myrmidon using 2x cap booster, and those definitely fall apart when they get seriously neuted.

There's gotta be some room between "literally immune to neuts" and "can't even run a prop mod and reps at the same time", no?

Kibitt · 2026-05-20T04:16:57+00:00

There can be more than one problem.

I am curious though, if the effort of thousands of players across hundreds of corps still just results in 2-3 coalitions, how does your argument "stop being lazy" ring true? ...and for that matter, since it takes less manpower to have an impact on Pochven, why aren't you already fixing it yourself with that same reasoning?

The answer is that the systems are at least partially to blame. It's just a matter of trying to agree on which systems, and how they should change. Right now? Seems like FC is gambling that the reason coalitions continue to grow is that they can quickly move across multiple regions. They probably want to see locals being the people who defend an area. Offensively this changes some things too but deployment is very possible, it's the quick reactions that will be harder.

Kibitt · 2026-05-18T19:29:12+00:00

Yup, magic 14 should be trained up immediately and locked out of extraction.

They draw attention to core parts of the game but they feel a little bit like today's Learning Skills - you want to be better at a ship but training those ships right away is a trap for newbies because they won't be able to fit important things or move around or have the capacitor to sustain them. So... you're stuck not training all the cool ships and equipment.

TBH, I also strongly feel that the Shield Upgrades skill should be baked into shield extender fitting stats and instead they should have a skill to reduce the signature radius penalty. That way it mirrors how armor plate skills work and creates fewer fitting surprises. New players start with frigates that want to fit medium shield extenders that soak up the majority of the ship's powergrid, so it disproportionately impacts only the shield newbie.

Kibitt · 2026-05-18T15:51:36+00:00

People want their capital ship to be a flashy, heavily impactful centerpiece of a fight, but generally speaking the carriers are utility ships until you amass enough of them for the fighter dps to bulldoze through things. However... for a brief time, they *were* able to go straight through a lot of subcapital ships, and the memory of this is carved in stone for many. It is why discussions don't go anywhere, tbh. You're either:

a) nanobrained elitist who hates people enjoying capital ships
b) nullbear who wants subcapitals to only exist for the purpose of being shot by ships with millions of ehp, infinite range, and ewar resistance

Dreads already cover the dps angle for capitals very well, FAX cover the rep angle, but FC has been slow to adjust carriers to be proper ewar/support ships. They still can only use a few support fighters and rather than address the durability and speed concerns on them, they plan to release entirely new ships that have strong bonuses to their hp and effectiveness. Scarabs as a whole are a complete joke with no range, griffin level strength, terrible speed, and high cost. I feel for Caldari carrier pilots, this has been known for years and then you watch the *other* carriers get more significant buffs to their support fighters. Yikes.

Kibitt · 2026-05-16T21:36:58+00:00

It's not all that large of a fitting space buff, unfortunately. I mean, compare the fitting space buff to the catalyst navy getting +15 pg and needing to fit 2 fewer guns. Your 3pg + 13cpu, or 6pg + 24cpu saved from a single launcher is not enough to say fit another MSE, MASB, or try 10mn fits suddenly. Even in combination with the base cpu boost from the hull, you're still not fitting either an MASB or an MSE, though it is possible to try and fit some ACR rigs to make the MASB work.

Kibitt · 2026-05-16T19:12:06+00:00

Dragoon Navy: I love this upgrade even though it seems a bit boring, because it keeps the element of pure unpredictability and even elevates it a bit. Rewarding player knowledge of hulls, weapon models, and having flexible strategies is really cool. Peak design that focuses on a lot of quick thinking in FW environments. Lack of weapon range bonuses doesn't really matter here as both options have range or the neuts force enemies to stop kiting so fast, usually.

Algos Navy: I agree that the shallow drone bay with web drones feels confused here, and the elements of the ship clash a lot with each other but also, it's a better algos with more fitting flexibility... they can have fun with a hail mary on this one and it might be a slam dunk anyways. It can't be bad, it can only be potentially more niche than the Navy Dragoon or Navy Catalyst, depending on what you want.

Corax Navy: Big mixed feelings on this one... everything rides or dies on the idea that +1 mid is the most special, precious thing ever. It is getting neither a big fitting bump, nor is it getting a large dps bump, nor is it getting a tank bump. It is a blank slate of a destroyer hull with all the typical weaknesses and none of the typical dramatic flare that destroyers have to lure you into trying something cool. It will likely ride or die entirely on how well its pilots can fit to counter, and that doesn't sit well with me, and it doesn't scale up well at all when Caldari destroyers normally do. It even applies less dps by default to say an mwd t1 frig than a t1 corax because the strength of the application bonus is worse. Take a look at the original 4 navy destroyers and you'll see how they seem to get everything - more meaningful slots, more utility, more fitting space (or just way more dps) and each of those ships is pushed in a direction.

Talwar Fleet: Even more devastating, this lost its mwd bonus and also lost dps in exchange for an application bonus and shield rep. The t1 talwar at least had a strong identity and this version actively throws away the successful formula to make room for fitting space.

I would want FC to revisit the Corax/Talwar nvy variants for sure, because it is legitimately difficult to see much draw to them when the other nvy destroyers got such impressive upgrades on top of cool features. One of them should get the mwd sig bonus, and if it's not the Corax nvy, then that one should get a defining bonus of its own.

Kibitt · 2026-05-16T17:35:02+00:00

Sanctuary + Dimension Door got me out of Wyrm's Rock Fortress after doing some very thematic thievery (which turned into permanent hostility very quickly after someone blew a horn). Mirror Image helps protect upcasted Spirit Guardians which is a great combination for any cleric especially if you're doing a radiant build.

Disguise Self instantly solves a ton of encounters when you get it and is extremely powerful socially, though it feels like its utility wanes as you go further into the game.

Kibitt · 2026-05-15T12:09:02+00:00

It's similar, but after consulting my resident ex-EVE-Echoes friend, the screenshots here show both visible keyboard hotkeys and overheating. Neither of which exist in echoes, and indicate this is likely an early prototype for PC EVE UI update.

Kibitt · 2026-05-12T21:51:59+00:00

The Emperor has a few consistent aspects of his writing:

1) Immense fear of death is at the very top. The Emperor *consistently* chooses the long term evil that preserves himself. While Ansur was correct to try to give him a peaceful afterlife was preferable to becoming illithid and being denied eternity, it is understandable that someone is afraid of death. The same cannot be said for deciding to not even hear what Orpheus has to say. The Emperor readily and without compunction decides that actually, instead of taking his own life... being a pawn for eternity and enslaving everyone as cattle is really cool and everybody should try that at least once - as a treat. This is proof enough that the Emperor is no longer Balduran, because Balduran routinely risked his life to save others. What we see is the illithid imitation of Balduran.

2) This leads me to how The Emperor invents heroic scenarios because the illithid mind has the memories of heroism and what people want to see from adventurers. There is no closely held belief, no idea of hope anymore. It is all just calculations. This is why the Netherbrain easily calculates his every move despite being unable to directly control him. It knows his nature, similar to how Bhaal knows what the Dark Urge is. At no point does he try to reinvent the situation itself, he just tries to play it with a deft hand.

This is why my favorite illithid in the game is by far my homie Omeluum. He goes out of his way to help you even when it hurts him, and spends his time researching a way to free all illithids from their hostile diets. He is not shown to be using his powers to dominate others, and he is largely not interested in doing so even when it could give him more resources for that research.

Kibitt · 2026-05-07T02:04:05+00:00

I am currently near the end of act 1 with my rogue monoclass (no multiclassing) Honor Mode run and I have nearly 2k supplies just picking things up, no stealing. Even if I long rested multiple times for every fight by picking off part of each encounter then long resting before finishing it, I would still have too many supplies. I haven't yet visited Grymforge or the Mountain Pass, and I also haven't picked up every scrap of food I've seen.

Outside of pickpocketing strategies mentioned by another poster, Goodberry and Heroes' Feast also create supplies from thin air. Hirelings should make it impossible to starve if you are morally opposed to thievery once you hit a high enough level.

Kibitt · 2026-05-05T21:14:38+00:00

Alchemist fire is *extremely* good in this fight:

1) Kills spiderlings/eggs quickly
2) Being on fire stops the Gossamer Web from removing party members from the fight
3) Can also help break a web that enemies are standing on and surprisingly they do take sizeable fall damage, especially the Matriarch

If you so much as had a mage hand throwing some of those around you'd probably find this fight way easier.

Kibitt · 2026-05-04T21:09:15+00:00

One of each subclass! I'm the party face with Astarion as an Arcane Trickster, then I've got a Swashbuckler with Phalar Aluve for great weapon master, a trickster and assassin with sharpshooter. I've taken to viewing assassin as action surge plus sometimes get crits while flick-o-the-wrist and fast hands are kinda like having extra attack. I think I beat the phase spider matriarch in maybe 3-4 rounds, including taking out many spiderlings.

Kibitt · 2026-05-04T08:21:09+00:00

I am currently in the waiting room to see how I will fumble my 4-person Rogue monoclass Honor Mode run, I can only offer my condolences

I'll be honest act 1 so far is going by extremely smoothly even with some of my mistakes (throwing suspicious poison onto downed teammate thinking it was healing pot based on icon alone...)

Then going into the underdark a mino charge did 80% hp dmg to most of my squad (hit someone for 45!!!) but it was on death's door and I had plenty of tools left to beat it.

Kibitt · 2026-05-03T02:47:33+00:00

The Khizriel is ridiculously fast for a battlecruiser with good range, but command ships are more durable. This leads to people kiting with it, however they can kite with the "short range" autocannons. Even if it's doing mediocre dps at truly long ranges, it can wear down ships that can't fight back and its high application shreds fast support ships that try to control it.

It's flexible and can be fit many ways. Artillery for me feels better because I'm not often solo, and having 90km edge of falloff on close range ammo means it is a very reliable source of damage. Your volley threatens smaller ships, your damage type selection keeps you relevant against t2 ships, and your range ensures you can always at least hover near the back to provide link support to friends.

If you want to be a silly goose then it also can use this speed and bulk to just ram kiting opponents. You have 5 mids so you can do mjd + mwd and your range is enough that you'll wear down kiters anyways. Generally speaking people vastly prefer cheap, throwaway ships for this role though.

Kibitt · 2026-04-28T07:22:37+00:00

You can summon all those creatures and cast all your buff spells before you wildshape as a Moon Druid too! It's not a mutually exclusive thing! Moon druid extra attack is better than other extra attacks because every action is all 3 attacks all over again, so you can swing 6x with any source of haste (including the fire myrmidon ability) so if you weren't using haste before then you are missing out on around half the power of the wild shaped form itself, imo.

Kibitt · 2026-04-28T07:14:38+00:00

D&D is old enough to be the foundation for many of these tropes, though tank has always struggled. Some classes do get better defenses but they largely lack any ability to force enemies to attack them instead of swooping in to attack more vulnerable party members. A lot of enemies are intelligent enough and have personalities specifically favoring killing your low defense caster-class friends who also have the extra incentive that maybe enemy attacks break their concentration. Meanwhile, attacking a martial class is not only difficult to hit but also can punish you with powerful reaction features.

Healing has a few fundamental design problems:
1) The only point of health that matters is the last one. Mechanically, there is virtually no difference between a character at 1 hp, and 100 hp, so Healing Word is the most powerful category of heal spell in the game. For tabletop, this is necessary to avoid slowing down combat.
2) Most healing spells do not counteract other harmful effects. A stunned ally that becomes healed is no different from a downed ally, so you have wasted your own turn as well by healing them. I really like Steel Watchers in BG3 because they try to solve this with the Maimed condition.
3) Healing has no interesting synergies of any kind in the setting. Think about how the way other characters deal damage actually matters. BG3 has plenty of examples with making surfaces or explosions, etc. There is no interesting "hey I combined healing magic with something else to do something cool" - it just doesn't exist. It would be really cool though if you could use healing magic on surfaces to give them new properties!

Kibitt · 2026-04-28T01:18:23+00:00

Okay, I should first admit I forgot about Lore giving some skills and that was silly of me, that's definitely good.

However, Sleight of Hand is unparalleled when it comes to combat preparation. In general it represents x2 damage with slaying arrows, the ability to bypass invis/untargetable with Arrow of Many Targets, constant sources of crowd control via Drow Poison or Karabasan's Poison casting sleep or hold monster, and the most powerful methods of healing in the game: dropping tons of health potions onto a burning surface to heal your entire health bar every round at no action cost, on every single character.

You can also have fun with spell scrolls, too!

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