I really like everything I read in that blogpost but what I really,
really adore is how the new hulls
neatly fit into the low-tech Domain design doctrine.Fluff for various hulls mentions the "battle-line doctrine" of the old Domain and many low-tech ships reflect that in their design and positioning of mounts; the Dominator being a classic example (and the Champion being a classic example of a mid-tech take on Domain doctrine.) The biggest hurdle to making low-tech ships work in this game has been, to me, the disconnect between the "battle line doctrine" and the AI's ability to actually
realize that doctrine. Burn Drive being interruptable should be a huge effective improvement in the AI's ability to actually move around and make good on their various escort orders, or the checkerboard "defend here" patterns some players use to keep their low-tech fleets in a rough battle line. It certainly increases the value for the player as well, and as someone who tends to fly Onslaughts as much as possible, I can attest that it
really needed that. Even after the significant buffs in the last version, the Onslaught
is still a tricky ship to fly sometimes, even with the experience I've had with it, because getting that burn drive timing right and eyeballing the distance is important. And sometimes you have to bite your lip and accept the Bonk - despite the damage it does to your precious forward armor - because it's either that or let an enemy capital back off and vent. (And god forbid if you lay on the trigger a little too hard and it blows up in your face before you can raise shields. Oi.) Burn drive is going to be a
lot more useful now, but honestly, that still just feels like bringing it up to parity. I think I speak for many of us when I say that on low-tech ships we often find Harpoons to be important bordering on mandatory so we can confirm kills on runners; because the burn drive isn't really an option half the time it
should be.
Most importantly, burn drive is still... well, burn drive. It's
not the equivalent of high tech mobility systems, as those are actually optimized for hit-and-run tactics. Burn drive won't get you out of the fight, but it can get you into the fight - which is why it was so frequently either a suicide button or just not worth the risk. Now it gets you into the
right place in the fight which is essential for low-tech doctrine.
... which brings me to the other two new hulls and why I like them - low-tech is a doctrine that more or less embraces specialization. (This is accurate to real life; if you compare US WWII "fleet boats" to their inter-war brethren, you can see how the idealized all-round fleet submarine only came about due to technological advances, and how earlier submarine concepts had to make essential trade-offs to be effective at a smaller number of roles; further requiring a diversified fleet working in concert to cover every role sufficiently.) As Alex said, the Lasher - despite being an excellent little gunboat for frigate/destroyer fights - just doesn't have the speed or short-term tank required to do frigate things in large battles; and even in the Old Domain Era a frigate's role in a large battle would be essentially the same. Thus one would
expect the Domain to have fielded a frigate variant meant specifically to operate with large battlewagon fleets.
The Eradicator also fits into "battle-line doctrine" as a great ship for protecting flanks. Accelerated Ammo Feeder is
by far my favorite ship system; pushing that button and watching a ship buzz-saw through hostiles is
amazing. As a flank protector, it makes sense that it'd trade burst speed (burn drive) for sustained higher speed and horrific burst firepower; if you think of it as a ship meant to protect the ends of a battle-line formed by Onslaughts and Dominators, that's exactly the kind of ship you'd want.
Adding this to pirate fleets is also VERY nice. I second whoever said that they're sick and tired of fighting Ventures. The best part is that a burn-drive ship with the standard generous low-tech missile slot allotment makes for a
perfect pirate-doctrine ship, much like the Falcon(P); focused on overwhelming burst firepower to end fights quickly and the speed to take advantage of opportunities to deliver it.
Lastly, I really like the Tempest change. The Tempest is
fun to fly, and the DP cost of a destroyer means we've always had to pay more or less what its worth, too. I can see the problem you had with High Energy Focus. It's a flat boost to the ship's burst damage output - which is always good and is necessary for frigates in big fights if they want to make a difference without torpedoes loaded - but it also regenerates and works great against other frigates too, which, combined with all its other strong points, makes it just a little too much. But making the damage more compartmentalized in its utility would require reworking weapon slots and such and those work pretty well as-is. Plus, it'd diminish what makes the Tempest so fun (and what makes it worth the staggering DP cost) - the versatility.
The drone missile system is a
regenerating missile weapon on a frigate which is hands-down great - especially because it's somewhat unique in the HP of the drone (which I'm going to wager is better than a great many missiles) and that it can also shoot while inbound, so maybe it can plow through rocket spam whereas no other missile weapon really can. And yet, it imposes a direct cost on the ship, by denying it a drone for a while, and costing it fighter replacement rate (which also gives it a semi-limited pool that needs to regenerate, a bit like charges.) It keeps the hallmark flexibility of the hull while adding a resource cost (and associated opportunity cost) for using it, which keeps it from being hands-down insane.
Also, it's pretty cool.
Overall these sound like great changes; I can't wait to play with them.