BB71: A Cornucopia of Spaceships

Thanks to @CPPC_Tamber
Welcome to the continuing monthly EVE Blog Banters and our 71st edition! For more details about what the blog banters are please visit the Blog Banter page.

We all like important internet spaceships right? The more spaceships the better right? Or are we getting too many to be easily to remember them all. A Mastodon on scan? That the hell is that and what does it do? Oh! Never mind!

Are we getting too many ships. Is it too complicated to remember them all and what their traits are? Do FC's these days need an encyclopedic knowledge of ship types unless they want their fleet to DIAF. With more and more ships being released each year will we ever reach "too many" or do you think there can never be too many important internet spaceship types?

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It finally happened. After eight years of playing Eve a ship appeared on d-scan that I did not know. Let's be clear, I knew it was a transport of some kind. But which one? No idea. I actually used the "Show Info" function on a ship. Ahh, that one. I found it at a Command Office along with a Lachesis. A slightly different spin on the Recon Trap. Well played.

You may not be aware of my interest in spaceships, I know I keep it very subtle and low-key around here. So let me come out of the closet right now and tell you my secret, I LOVE SPACESHIPS! Ok, that might be the worst secret ever. Anyone that even has the slightest passing knowledge about me would probably say, "Isn't he the guy that draws those spaceships?" Yes, yes, that is me alright. (And you can buy those for yourself right here! Shameless plug.)

The number of spaceships available to fly has approximately tripled since I started playing back in 2008. We now have entire ship classes that didn't even exist way back in those Dark Ages. Like T3 Cruisers. And more Frigates, and more Pirate Faction ships, and more SOE Ships! And that pancake flipper ship! And those white ones... oh man those are very nice. And those Tornadoes!! And the Amarr one. And that Gallente one that looks like a 1950's Chevy. The Talos. Man, when was the last time I flew a Talos? Sheesh. And Ventures, and those blue Ventures. And that other Venture. And the Assault Frigates that need to be seriously helped. And that doesn't even mention Ship Skins! And those awesome new V3 Effects, and the rust and dust! Oh man.

We do have a lot of ships in Eve. But we will never have enough. And we are getting even more here shortly with the new Capitals being introduced. Which look amazing by the way. So what is the point of this post? We have a lot of ships, we need more?

Thing is, back in the day, there were a lot of useless ships sitting in hangars never being used. The refrain echoed throughout New Eden, "You don't want to fly that!", "If you want to start PvPing train Minmatar!" or whatever the flavor of the month was at the time. Since then Fozzie and Rise and the Five-O Team have accomplished nothing short of miraculous results with their balancing efforts. Not only do we have more ships, but we have more ships that actually DO SOMETHING. There are few remaining useless, or rarely flown, ships in our hangars. We are not done, not by a long shot. Assault Frigates need some serious love, as do Command Ships. Even so, we've made significant progress.

In many, many ways, it is far easier today. While we may have more ships available, those ships are easily classified into Classes. And those classes have clearly defined roles on the battlefield. So it is far easier to group knowledge about them than it used to be. To make assumptions, to anticipate roles, to address large groups than ever before. While our options have expanded and continue to do so, our ability to understand where each ship falls in that pecking order has also increased.

It sure is a great time to be playing Eve.

For more on this subject, please check out the Blog Banter page here.