Yeah, this would work generally.
I disagree with a couple though - Gallente are meant to be armour tankers. The only reason they might appear to be shield tankers as well is due to the tank type imbalance - it becomes more effective to shield tank them, though they're not intended for that purpose. I'd go for damage bonuses - Gallente are meant to be up-close gank types. I see you've assigned this to the Amarr - I'd instead recommend additional tank bonuses, as Amarr have a tendency to be extremely tanky.
That's up for debate though, and it's not like CCP are likely to implement this exactly (or at all) anyway.


Like tracking computers in EvE? I quite like this idea. It would help, but it might create new problems similar to sharpshooter with complex modules being better than the basics to the point where older characters can become completely untouchable to newer players by stacking range modules.
Amarr are actually quite good with their damage projection - thematically, range increases don't fit in with the Galente as much.
In EvE, damage modules are actually in the low slots (contributing to an armour/shield imbalance there, as well) but the better range modules are in the midslots.

This idea is a bit more meh than the others in the end. It brings back problems with sharpshooter, and it seems like a placeholder for other highslots modules.
Even so, there is a distinct lack of useful highslot modules other than shield and damage modules.

Thanks for the feedback - It was useful, and I'll update the OP(s) to reflect this.

Confirmed for SoxFour read:
[17:55] <@[CCP]FoxFour> Yup, I read it yesterday but decided that I really shouldn't respond in my intoxicated state
[18:01] <@[CCP]FoxFour> Yea, my response is mainly "holy **** I know understand things better, but I don't handle this stuff so let me pass this thread on to those who do this stuff"

I say we increase all Gallente dropsuits' walking/sprint speed to compensate just like their HAVs!!

I say we increase all Gallente dropsuits' walking/sprint speed to compensate just like their HAVs!!

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic due to the HAV imbalance, but I don't think that alone is the solution.

Actually that was a solution I posted a while back, increasing the Gallente speed by about 6% actually mitigates the speed penalty enough that stacking an extra armor module is worthwhile and balances the builds in terms of total EHP, but as a negative it leaves us with one less low slot.

High slot passive armor damage reduction could help fix this

If my caldari assault loses armor, I won't get that back unless I stumble across a repair tool.

Gallente, unless they for some reason forego reppers, will always reach full health again.

That's a huge advantage. Actually... I may try fitting a repper. Many times I die when having my meager armor at 100 instead of at 30 may have saved me. Every time you end an encounter at 50 armor, know that you will not survive another encounter identical to that.

That said, I think armor plate speed reduction should be reduced slightly (2/3 of what it is now?) And reppers boosted by about 1 or 2 HP / second.

Just looking at stats I'd guess that they're balanced when you can fit good reppers (at least 15 / second) but are weak at basic and questionable at advanced until you skill up.

I don't think devs read these posts as much as they should :(

I am going to be honest, I learnt a fair bit reading this post. I actually asked Arkena to make this post as he was explaining armor tanking to me in IRC.

I can't really comment on this very much though as it is not an area I work on. I can and will say however that those that do work on this stuff have read this thread. It actually made it into our weekly community report today that gets sent around to everyone working on DUST.

Thank you very much for this post. :D

I am going to be honest, I learnt a fair bit reading this post. I actually asked Arkena to make this post as he was explaining armor tanking to me in IRC.

I can't really comment on this very much though as it is not an area I work on. I can and will say however that those that do work on this stuff have read this thread. It actually made it into our weekly community report today that gets sent around to everyone working on DUST.

Thank you very much for this post. :D

What I don't get is why don't shield extenders increase your sig radius? Shields should make you easy to spot on the minimap. The bigger your shield the harder it is to hide.

Also proposed numbers...

Standard Armor rep +4 hp/sec
Enhanced +8 hp/sec
Complex +12 hp/sec

Also why did CCP pick bonuses out of a hat for dropsuits? Eve online has been going through a huge overhaul of all ships bonuses. Yet in dust they can't even get that right?

I am going to be honest, I learnt a fair bit reading this post. I actually asked Arkena to make this post as he was explaining armor tanking to me in IRC.

I can't really comment on this very much though as it is not an area I work on. I can and will say however that those that do work on this stuff have read this thread. It actually made it into our weekly community report today that gets sent around to everyone working on DUST.

Thank you very much for this post. :D

After having thought about this some more... I think i'm starting to get a feel for what CCP intends with armor tanking.

First off, buff armor tanking, dont nerf shield tanking!! Shield tanking is in a great spot right now in terms of TTK.

Just a few small changes that would make armor tanking completely viable.

First... I think enhanced shield extender should be 44 hp, to make it 22-44-66. Not bringing complex down to 22-33-44

Now, I think they need to buff armor plates hp a lot while changing the speed penalty to 6-8-10%. Probably have armor plates with triple the HP of shield extender. So... 66-132-198 armor per plate. This leaves higher tech plates more efficient, and crazy EHP. The idea behind these plates is... medium suits should not want to use them. These should be for armor tanking heavies that dont feel the move speed penalty so badly, and get high EHP for their money. However, if a medium suits wants to take the move speed hit, they can get some nice ehp as well. However, for medium suits.. move speed is king/

Next, introduce the ferroscale plates. These should have no move speed penalty at all, and be at 2x shield extender hp which puts it at 44-88-122 hp. These are the medium suit's desired low slot extender.

Next, passive armor reps in high slots. This allows armor tanks to fit both plates and reps at the cost of neither. And also have room for a cpu/pg upgrade as needed. Change armor reps to 2-4-6 per second, they should rep slowly. Shield tanks should have burst regen at the cost of EHP.

Finally, reactive plates, which give reduced hp with armor regen. This is for shield tankers, when we want small passive reps to slowly bring back that armor we cant passively rep anymore due to armor reps being a high slot item. Reactive plates will have 'around' the same hp as shield extender, not even gonna bother with numbers, and have small hp rep... probably 2-2-3 per second or so.

This makes armor tanks absolutely viable and effective.

I'm sure its where CCP intends to go, but they just haven't coded it yet. Another example of balancing against items that are not yet in game.

Yeah fair enough, shield tankers have to go between rechargers and extenders too, its just not that big of a deal with the passive recharge that comes with the suit.

Maybe moving all EWAR modules to high slots would be the better way to do it.

That way shield tankers have to decide between profile dampening vs shield mods and armor tankers have to decide between sta/speed mods and armor mods. Lending to each types inherent weakness in EVE.