On October 15, CCP announced a change to warp speeds for cruisers through to battleships, to be deployed directly to the live Tranquility server. CCP finally listened to the group of solo and small gang pvpers who found roaming in slow warping battleships irritating, and felt that this warp speed alone was a deterrence from using the ship class if you had to go more than 3 jumps. The implemented change was more than just a battleship change, however – CCP addressed the majority of subcapital ships by buffing everything from cruisers to battleships.
The New Speeds
T1/Faction Cruisers/T3 Cruisers – 4 AU/s (Cynabal – 6 AU/s)
T2 Cruisers – 4.5 AU/s
T1/Faction Battlecruisers – 3.5 AU/s
T2 Battlecruisers – 4 AU/s
T1/Faction Battleships – 3 AU/s (Machariel – 4.5 AU/s)
T2 Battleships – 3.5 AU/s
Please Note: Tech 3 Cruisers will warp faster given particular subsystems.
For Comparison
T1/Faction Battleships warped at 2 AU/s, and T2 Battleships warped at 2.3 AU/s
T1/Faction Battlecruisers warped at 2.7 AU/s, and T2 Battlecruisers warped at 3 AU/s
T1/Faction/Tech 3 Cruisers warped at 3 AU/s, and T2 Cruisers warped at 3.3 AU/s
In Conclusion
As a result, this change has made all cruisers, battlecruisers and battleships significantly faster in warp, which will be positive for all affected ships, and especially for nullsec cruiser through battleship doctrines.
Overall these changes will definitely help battleships and battlecruisers see more use for roaming solo and in small gangs. Previously, they were considered niche ships for roaming, with their slow warp and align speeds. For comparison, battleships will now warp as fast as Tech 1 cruisers previously, which will lead to increased use in fights where on-grid mobility isn’t as necessary – for example, when taking objectives like citadels. The changes to battleships and battlecruisers are well received overall, making both ship classes far more interesting for small gang and solo use, without disrupting the fleet meta badly as the classes still have distinct strengths and weaknesses.
The cruiser changes meanwhile are causing significantly more mixed reception amongst the community. Many feel these cruiser changes are too much in the present context, and that these changes will make dealing with enemy response fleets harder. While the positives appear to outweigh the negatives in the general community, many still feel like the change is somewhat shortsighted. One very obvious opinion is that these changes will drive all destroyers further into irrelevancy, as T2 cruisers like the Muninn now warp as quickly as all destroyers, as well as the Cynabal now being able to outpace all frigates except Interceptors.
Do you have any opinions regarding these warp speed changes? Are you shocked by the immediate game update to Tranquility instead of the Singularity process? Let us know in the comments below!
