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[ogredpowell]

Am I feeling these rolls correct?  Initially by description i would think the Dominator would be a better ship of the line.  however, ive found that the eagle seems to be much better in this role (moves around faster, turrets so can shoot in different directions,  more flexible and still durable) whereas the dominator is more of an artillery platform (big guns, but has to bring them to bear and smaller ships dance around them

loadouts:
Eagle XIV: ballistic mounts: 2x HAC, 1 Mauler    energy: 1 Ion beam, 2x phase lances, , 2 Tactical lasers, and point defense.   missiles: atropos pods x2
hull mods are targeting core, heavy shields

Dominator XIV: ballistic: 2 Mjolnar, 2HVD, assorted point defense w some railguns in front.   Missles: 2 Typhoon reaper and 1 medium hammer pod. (would putting the 'auxillary thrusters' hull mod help this?). Its shield just seems good for blocking missles, not much else

hull mods are armored weapons, automated repair, integrated targeting. 

[Schwartz]

Dominator gets a nod in defense, Eagle gets a nod in speed. They play differently, but both are very dangerous cruisers if they're kitted right. You'll notice they have the same flux capacity. So Dominator does have the reserves, his shield is just very meh. Both make capable AI ships, but Dominator is strongest in player hands - or using the Shield Bypass hullmod from SS+.

I would probably use HAGs or Mark IXs on the Dominator, simply because they're more flux-efficient than Mjolnirs. 3x Annihilators also make a very potent HE missile screen that gets quite nasty with skills and permits Dominator to use more Kinetics.

I don't fly the Eagle much. Couldn't tell you why, though.

[TaLaR]

AI doesn't intentionally armor tank. It only survives via armor after flux is too high, so AI Dominator doesn't make good use of it's armor advantage.

Burn Drive is high risk - medium reward ship system. AI can't use it efficiently (wrong use is suicide, not-use when needed is waste of opportunity to kill). Eagle's Maneuvering Jets is one of most AI-friendly ship systems (straight buff on short cooldown, so can't even waste it too badly).

Even properly piloted non-SO Dominator is vulnerable to capitals by design (it has capital speed, but is weaker & has shorter range). AI isn't good at piloting SO loadouts either.

Overall, Eagle is one of most AI-friendly ships (Fast, tanky, long ranged. It won't fail too badly in most situations). Dominator has only niche appeal (AI will only win against lesser opponents via sheer stat difference. It's very easily pressured by capitals or outmaneuvered by faster ships).

[xenoargh]

The Eagle's a good support boat for AI's to be given.  The Eagle's strengths are mainly that it can output pretty massive damage output while kiting / out-maneuvering slower Cruisers; it's flexible and survivable.  It is great for killing smaller ships trying to flank.  As a head-on combatant, it's outclassed by most ships in the game for the DP cost; if it wasn't for fleet size limits, its limitations would be even more relevant.

The Dominator is a great player ship, for players who put a lot of points into Combat (i.e., in the current meta, nobody) and want to spend the OPs to make it resistant to EMP (again, nobody).  It is potentially one of the hardest-hitting ships in the game for its DP cost, with two Large Ballistics and a flock of lighter weapons, and Sabot Pods make one heck of an opening act.  However, in Vanilla, it's almost absurdly vulnerable to Flux-locking, it has trouble closing in fighter-rich environments and EMP basically shuts it down.  I honestly can't recommend it for the DPs spent, in the current meta; you get far more bang for your buck out of Falcon(P).

[ogredpowell]

Thanks for the reply’s!

[SCC]

That Dominator is overburdened. Only Conquest can sustain more than a single mjolnir and Dominator shouldn't use them at all. It's better off with one Mk IX, one HAG/Hellbore (or a second Mk IX, if you're going for annihilator spam). I like to devote mediums to flaks, mainly because vulcans aren't reliable enough, especially against torpedoes, but it might be alright for an officer with AC3. I use smalls mainly for rear PD and a token railgun or two, to scare frigates away.
The point of Dominator is to serve as a mighty grinder, which is fed enemy ships by flankers and tears them apart. Too bad its hamstrung by AI being way, way too carefree with shield usage, even when it has decent point defence. Its flux stats are nothing to write home about, either, but at least it's got missiles to prop that up, for a time. I sometimes wish burn drive could be disabled prematurely again.

Eagle, in comparison, doesn't really fail at anything. Choosing to rely on shields instead of point defence isn't a big mistake and its mobility system is omnidirectional. Additionally, your fit for it is much better.

for players who put a lot of points into Combat (i.e., in the current meta, nobody)

Are we playing the same game?...

[Thaago]

Dominators are excellent vs cruisers, capitals, and stations - they have quite good firepower and capital grade armor, but don't turn very well, and if they get in a bad situation they don't have tools to get out of it themselves. I would not recommend Mjolnirs on them though - they just don't have the flux. Their missiles are a significant portion of their firepower - I recommend HE of some type, which you are using.

The downside of Eagles is low firepower. While their dissipation is ok, they have poor missiles, and half of their mounts are medium energy, which (aside from some very nice niche support) is a short ranged and inefficient weapon type. You aren't going to kill things very fast with them. However, they have good shields, good maneuverability, and can be efficient 'lock down' type ships, or good line cruisers.

[Megas]

One Mjolnir is usable on Dominator, but the other heavy mount cannot support a heavy kinetic on top of that.  Mjolnir and Heavy Needler combo in the heavy mounts is about as usable as the Mark IX and HAG combo.  Main problem with Mjolnir and Heavy Needler is the range mismatch.

[Grievous69]

To put it simply, Eagle is the jack of all trades of cruisers (you can never go wrong with one), while Dominator is a big sturdy boi who has excellent firepower for a cruiser but falls in other areas. So for AI you'd usually want to have Eagles, nothing wrong with a Dominator or two for those big fights tho.

Also one fun build for the Dominator that hasn't been mentioned yet is Safetty Overrides with a pair of Devastators in the front and a bunch of machine guns all around. It feels so wrong yet so good. > this for strictly for player use

[Daynen]

Meh, devastators suck unless you're literally kissing another ship in the ribs AND their shields are down.  That random detonation range wastes about 75% of their ordnance.  Flux friendly, but pretty garbage.

[Igncom1]

I like dominator's when they do their job properly.

They pack some serious heat with two large ballistic slots, fix forward sadly, three medium missile slots and two supporting medium ballistic slots, with a spread of small ballistic slots. In a slugging match this ship has the fire-power and armour to out-punch anything less then a capital ship in short order, with a burn drive to keep them pursuing retreating foes.

It is extensively inflexible however and loses the vast majority of it's fire power against fast foes that possess decent point defence, like most high tech ships and carriers. Which can make it a liability on the kind of battlefield where it can be surrounded and outflanked, or when facing an opponent it isn't equipped to defeat. (too much flak, or too little)

The eagle possesses far less fire-power, in my opinion, with three fixed forward medium ballistic slots, three energy mounts, two small missile mounts and a spread of small energy mounts. It doesn't really have the stats to use all of it's mediums all the time without downgrading them. It has a superior shield, but inferior armour. It worse in a direct slugging match in my opinion.

But it isn't slow as all hell, and can easily move to match the changing battlefield with the fire-power needed to at least duel most other cruisers while still out-shooting anything smaller then it. It is the best tactical cruiser in my opinion as it is a package that does it all, shoots and scoots without entirely skimping on defence. The quintessential cruiser that all others are compared too. It won't match up to a capital ship, but it also isn't going to be as easily hurt by mispositioning it's self like the dominator often does. Often the biggest advantage in a battle is being able to act and react faster then your opponent, part of which makes fast frigates and safety override'd ships so threatening, the ability to act faster then can be accounted for. The eagle certainly isn't the fastest mind, but for what it is packing in terms of attack and defence, it's the best that can be expected for a ship still carrying ballistic slots.

[Null Ganymede]

Dominator's fixed large guns mean AI is best at using burst weapons at close range. Mark IX, Hellbore - yes. Gauss, Mjolnir, Hephaestus - no.

There's a dozen loadouts to make an Eagle useful, but only two for the Dominator. Kinetic weapons + explosive torpedoes for close-range brawls, or explosive weapons + kinetic missiles for close-range brawls.

Maybe an SO flagship could work too.

[Serenitis]

Meh, devastators suck unless you're literally kissing another ship in the ribs AND their shields are down.  That random detonation range wastes about 75% of their ordnance.  Flux friendly, but pretty garbage.

Hello Sir. Might you have a moment to consider accepting Safety Overrides as your lord and saviour?

[geminitiger]

Dominators are terrabad.

[FooF]

I greatly prefer piloting Eagles to Dominators but Dominators aren't bad, they're just...one-trick ponies.

What has been said about the Eagle is very true: it's a jack-of-all trades, master-of-none generalist ship that is good at a lot but not great at anything. With the right loadouts, it's one of the best Destroyer killers out there and it can put up a fight against heavier ships but will never punch above its weight.

The Dominator is designed to be a bully. Bullies dominate (no pun intended) smaller prey but get wrecked pretty hard by anything bigger than them. The Dominator will out-muscle any other ship below it in a straight up fight but can't compete against the big boys out there. That said, in fleet actions (where its blind spot can be covered somewhat), the Dominator can put a lot of pressure on capital ships and for a lot less DP than bringing your own.