Some incomplete feedback:
I did not examine Blackrock as much as I did the Templars, since Blackrock is a bigger mod, and I have memory problems when I run this with Nexerelin, but here goes...
Out of all of the faction mods available, Blackrock is probably the best overall long-standing quality mod. It has a distinct style, has plenty of quality custom content, is reasonably balanced, and it has not died (yet).
Weapons:The biggest winner are the Argus beam series. Burst PD on a budget, and excellent missile defense, especially with Advanced Optics. Micro PD is even available in Open Market, and a great buy for those with Advanced Optics.
The other standout is Scalaron repeater, which is destructive and fills a niche none of the standard weapons do - a high-performance, high DPS medium weapon. Its lesser cousin, the blaster, would be lackluster if it did not behave like an unlimited antimatter blaster. Good when you need spike damage, but not as much as standard blasters for general brawling.
Most of the weapons, whatever they are, are slightly inferior alternatives of standard weapons. Either they underperform in some way (range or DPS) or cost more OP than necessary. If I have a choice between standard or Blackrock, I choose standard. However, many Blackrock weapons are acceptable alternatives when standard weapons are unavailable. For example, I want railgun but have none, I use shard cannon. I want light assault gun, but have none, I use INM.
None of the Blackrock missiles stand out, and since none of them regenerate or outperform Reapers, I have no reason to use them over standard missiles, ever.
Some Blackrock weapons are real losers:
- Shredder MG is generally rubbish. It is a Vulcan without the continuous firing, making it unreliable as missile-defense. Higher OP cost than the superior Vulcan makes the Shredder even worse. Its only saving grace is it is sold in open market.
- Shard Gun (not Shard Cannon) has terrible range. I prefer Light (Dual) AC over this for more range and cheaper OP cost, despite awful accuracy.
- The shotguns (Volley Gun and Ironweaver) have terrible range. If I spend top OP for weapons, I better get something good out of it, but was... disappointed with the results.
- Sunfire is outclassed by Phase Lance. I tried both on a Nevermore, and Phase Lance outperformed for less.
Ships:Aside from performance, the ships have a distinct style. They appear as enemy bug ships you expect to see from Namco's Galaxian/Galaga series.
I did not play with every one since I did not have enough weapons for all, and did not spend much time grinding for goodies. The Blackrock ships I like to play with most so far are Nevermore and (especially) Asura.
Asura has excellent stats and mounts. I was skeptical about its ship system (Flux Ejector), but after a few fights, it proved its worth. it is very powerful if you need to remove flux at a critical time but cannot waste time to vent. Pop off some tanks, and it is ready to fight some more.
Nevermore feels fast and strong for a cruiser, but not too overpowered, and is surprisingly fragile if I am not careful. It feels like an Aurora that does not need Reapers to devastate fleets.
Gonodactylus is strange but effective. Feels like an alternative Enforcer or Hammerhead. Give it light assault guns on its left, railguns in the front and back, and Salamanders on its right, and it can brutalize ships.
I thought I might have fun piloting an Imaginos, but discovered that ship is a pain to pilot. Its main weapon is slow, short-ranged, and an overall pain to use. Not much can be done to customize the Imaginos. I just mount a railgun and the usual best standard hullmods (Augmented Engines, ITU, the usual suspects) and call it a day. It may seem like a Hyperion clone, but it is not. The rejector special is novel (and cutting-edge when introduced), but not very useful as a trump card.
Question: Why do the capitals have unlimited peak performance? Ships like Karkinos can guarantee a win by fleeing and outlasting any ship it cannot outgun until the enemy rots from CR decay.
I read things about Desdinova, but did not get a chance to test drive it due to lack of weapons. No more comments on ships for now.
Hullmods:I have little use for the custom hullmods that can be bought. Targeting Suite guts shot range, a big no-no (except maybe if I use standard long-ranged ballistics like HVD or Gauss). Assault Fitting seems okay, but I need the OP more than its benefits.
I generally stick with Augmented Engines, Hardened Subsystems, ITU, and Resistant Flux Conduits for just about anything with OP to spare.