Contents

[P1] Dropsuit Bonuses

[P2] Slot Layouts

[P3] Health & Regeneration

[P4] Electronic Warfare

[P5] TL;DR & Justifications

Part 1: Dropsuit Bonuses

This is probably the biggest issue.

Any Dropsuit in the game with at least 3 High Slots can exceed the damage of both the Gallente and Amarr Commandos. Since they both only have one High Slot, the most amount of additional damage they can reach is +17% while the other suits can reach +18%. Given how that 1% has no significant effect on the TTK against anything, this isn’t worth the SP.

The Minmatar Commandos can exceed the damage boosts offered by other suits, but only by 5%. This is a significant boost from the Gal/AmCom’s +1%, but at the same time it’s only the benefit of an Enhanced Module and doesn’t really make a difference in terms of TTK (as noted here):

Note: Other bonuses such as Proficiency weren’t taken into account here, as both the Assault and Commando classes have access to them.

Caldari Commandos can exceed the Minmatar Commando’s damage threshold if they use all 3 High Slots, but that only leaves them with 1 Low Slot which isn’t feasible in most situations.

To solve this problem, I propose that the bonus is increased from +2% to +3% per level. This will make their +10% Damage Increase important (and exclusive) without making their TTK too short.

Another problem that I’ve seen with the Commando, is that they don’t receive a damage boost to the same amount of weapons, thus making some favorable over others (*cough* Minmatar Commando *cough*).

For example, the Gallente Commando gets these weapons:

• Burst Rifle
• Breach Rifle
• Assault Rifle
• Tactical Rifle
• Niche / AV Weapon

Meanwhile the Amarr Commando receives bonuses to these weapons:

• Assault Rifle
• Tactical Rifle
• Niche Weapon

When you’re paying the same amount of SP for these bonuses, the problem becomes even greater. However, this could be solved with CCP adding the missing variants to the “Battle Rifles” along with (hopefully) the addition of other AV weapons.

Part 2: Slot Layouts & CPU/PG Constraints

While it could be said that these sacrifices are necessary since you gain a 2nd Light Weapon, having the slot layout of a Starter Fit is not worth the extra 100-200 DPS and maybe 20m range you’d gain by using a Light Weapon over a Secondary (ie SMG).

It also makes the progression between ADV and PRO useless. Take the MinCom for example, which has a 2/1 layout at the ADV tier. Given how the PRO has a 2/2 layout, you won’t be able to expand on it other than:

• +150 Armor HP
• +0.78m/s Sprint Speed
• -2.3s / -3.9s Shield Recharge / Depleted Delay

Note: I didn’t include other modules such as Codebreakers and Profile Dampeners as placing them on a Commando isn’t very sensible. This also doesn’t include PRO Weapons or Equipment, as they can be fitted onto ADV frames.

As you can see none of these are really significant additions, except maybe the decreased Shield Delays but even then it’s underwhelming when you’re still looking at 4s/6s delays.

Here’s what I believe the slot layouts should be:

Note: I don’t use dropsuits from any race other than Minmatar, so I’m not entirely sure on what the other race’s slot layouts should be.

This properly rewards progression, and follows the +2 Slots per tier design found in other dropsuits. I’m not entirely sure what the CPU/PG increases should be, so I’ll leave that to others (or CCP).

Part 3: Health & Regeneration

This is yet another pressing issue.

Commandos have 250 less eHP than a Sentinel, yet at the same time are only 0.2m/s faster than their Sentinel counterpart. This is disproportionate when compared to the Logistics, which has 160 HP less than their Assault counterparts.

A simple fix, would to be either increase their Speed, or their HP. Given how the Commando is a Heavy Frame, I believe that their eHP should be increased by 100, so:

Note: The HP values are (Shields / Armor). The amount of HP that should be distributed between Shields and Armor was determined by comparing the current Shield : Armor ratios of each Commando.

The Commando’s regeneration is also too slow for the low HP Pools that is has, which also makes suppressing difficult since you have to spend long periods of time behind cover, 6as opposed to making your enemies hide behind cover (or try while you pelt them with MDs).

My simple fix, is to give them the same delay times as their Sentinel counterpart, a mechanic which is also found in the Assault → Logistics relationship. Though I did make slight changes which gives the MinCom better delays than the Am/GalComs.

Note: The Recharge values are (Depleted / Delay).

Part 4: Electronic Warfare

I believe that their Scan Radius is fine, 20m is plenty for a Heavy Frame and unlike the Sentinel they have the option of increasing their range by equipping an Active Scanner.

However, I believe that their Scan Profile should be reduced to 50db, allowing them the option to dodge Scanners if they choose to dedicate their fitting to (which it will, since they’ll need at least 4 dampeners to dodge 21db Scanners).

Another small change I would make, is to make their Scan Precision 50db as well, which also allows them to be effective at eWAR, should they dedicate their fits to it.

Part 5: Tl;DR & Justifications

I know that most of you probably won’t care to read through this entire thing, so I’ll list the changes proposed here:

• Increase Slots by 2
• Increase Base Health by 100 HP
• Increase Weapon Bonus to +3% per Level

• Decrease Scan Profile to 50db
• Decrease Scan Precision to 50db

Now, I shall explain why these changes are needed (in further detail).

Slot Changes

While the popular idea is currently +1 Slot, the Commandos need +2 because if the Amarr and Gallente were to have only +1 Slot, (under my proposal), the damage model would look like this:

Note: The TTK values were an example using a Duvolle PR against this dropsuit and as such It does not fully reflect the TTK in all situations. The max damage values for the Gallente Assault and Commandos are the same in their Amarr Counterparts as well.