The 6 at STD, 7 at ADV, 8 at PRO mod slot plan would make mediums competitive, & slayer brick-tanked scouts won't be able to out-tank and outperform medium frames at their own jobs. There is no need to nerf scouts, simply raise mod slot count on medium suits and the brick-tanked scouts won't be an issue. This thread was created before the brick-tanked scout problem, but I strongly believe my proposed slot layout solution for mediums will solve the issue. Read on, I will explain.




There are big problems with the medium frame slot layouts that need to be addressed. "Too long; didn't read" (TL;DR) version on post 2 (click here).



Slayer logi issue originates from the logis to tank more HP than their assault counterparts, allowing them to be more survivable killing platforms. This problem won't truly go away until the slots are handled correctly, just right now brick-tank scouts are bigger issue.

Logis sacrifice sidearms, mobility, & base HP in exchange for for 2-3 more equipment (equip) slots than their assault counterparts. That seems like a fair deal, but on top of the 2 or 3 more equip slots, there is some crazy weirdness with the slot layouts that leads to imbalance.

- At standard (STD) tier all logis (with the odd exception of the Amarr (Am) one) have inferior module (mod) slot layouts compared to the STD assault counterparts.
- Advanced (ADV) tier logis either get equal or superior mod slot layouts compared to their ADV assault counterparts.
- Prototype (PRO) tier logis all gain an extra low slot than their PRO assault counterpart, the caldari one also gains an extra high slot also.

Summary: logis underpowered (UP) at STD tier, balanced or overpowered (OP) at ADV, & all OP at PRO.

No reason for the Caldari (Cal) logi only having 2 equip at STD instead of 3; it isn't gaining anything extra compared to other STD logis or its assault counterpart for the sacrifice. The STD Cal logi is UP even compared to the other UP STD logis.

There is also the issue of the Am medium slot layouts. 1.8 has Am mediums shifting from hybrid tanking (equal shields & armor) to predominantly having armor; this requires a slot layout change of more low slots for effective armor tanking. Right now the progression of Am mediums is odd, they start with more high slots (2 at militia (MLT) & STD).

Am assault has less mod slots than other assaults. Yes it has a tiny 30 more base HP than the Caldari and Gallente assault, a small advantage already countered by being the slowest assault. It should be noted that the Am scout, Am sentinel, & Am commando also has more base HP compared to the other races' dropsuits of the same roles, yet these other Am suits aren't forced to give up a slot; they shouldn't have to give up a slot, and neither should the Am assault since the extra HP is already balanced by the speed loss. This problem makes the Am assault suffer the most from the brick-tanked scout problem, since the Am scout has more mod slots at STD-ADV than the assault, and same mod slot count at PRO; this allows the Am scout to surpass the Am assault in HP, while being faster, having a 2nd equip, stealthier, etc.

Part 1: assault & logi

Give the Cal logistics 3 equip slots at STD. Also 4 equip at PRO (reduce mod slot from 9 to 8 in exchange).

Give all assaults the same number of mod slots.

Equalize the mod slot layouts for assaults & logis of the same race & tier:

Assault & logi STD (high/low)
Am: 2/4
Ga: 2/4
Ca: 4/2 (+1 equip for logi)
Min: 3/3

Assault & logi ADV
Am: 2/5
Ga: 3/4
Ca: 5/2
Min: 4/3

Assault & logi PRO
Am: 3/5
Ga: 3/5
Ca: 5/3 (+1 equip for logi)
Min: 4/4

[ REMOVED BASIC MEDIUM STUFF TO SAVE SPACE ]

Obviously PG/CPU should be tweaked

When 1.8 launched, I kept my Gal scout and Amarr logi each at level 3, and decided to train both Min and Cal assault to 3, so I could play around with shield tanking, work on my gun game, and start running frontline.

Of course, I didn't get the memo, re: Cal scouts are the premier shields tankers ATM. Typical...

Anyway, I don't care about that--my gun game is definitely improving, so I'll consider that a fair exchange. What baffles me is:

Gal scout has 3hp/s passive armor reps, Gal assault has 2hp/s;
Cal scout has a 3s/4s shield recharge delay/depleted delay with 50hp/s, Cal assault has 4s/5s and recovers 30hp/s;
Min scout has 225 max stamina @ 60/s, Min assault has 200 @ 50/s;
Amarr scout versus the Amarr assault is mostly a choice of more EHP or speed+stamina, but because the Amarr scout has the extra low slot, it can armor tank almost as effectively as the assault and still outdo it on speed/stamina/shield recovery, etc.

Other than the Amarr suits, all the race's advanced scout and assault suits have the same high/low slot layouts. The scouts suits not only have an extra equipment slot and higher PG/CPU, they have vastly superior regen rates across the board as compared to the assault suits.

Whatever else might be done to rectify the situation, swapping the regen rates and shield recharge delays between scouts and assaults would go quite a way toward helping the problem because:

1. Scouts have much less EHP by default so it takes much less time to recover than does the greater EHP of assault suits; couple this with the 20% - 50% improved regen rates/delay times, and assaults can't compete;
2. Scouts are intended as fragile, quick, stealth/covops suits (***NOTE: I am not saying they can't be used for anything else, which is precisely the point of this post; I am merely speaking to their in-game description, which itself speaks to the fact that these suits were designed with something particular in mind***) and therefore shouldn't be rewarded for running frontline by having vastly superior regens/delay times;
3. Assaults are frontline fighters and don't have the option/luxury of hanging back or sneaking around; as such, they should have better regen and delay times, to increase their survivability on the frontlines.

Considering that scan profile has to do with noise, and that scout suits are so compact, it doesn't make sense for scouts to have better regen equipment in their suits by default, since this would both add mass to the suit and increase the suit's scan signature (since electronics are used to power armor/shield systems, more of them = more EM noise = greater scan profile).