The Forcast Calls For Cyclones

Does CCP read my blog?  On Friday I wrote about needing to change the ships I fly (Hurricane and Maelstrom) and four days later CCP Fozzie comes out with a post on the Eve Online forums about the initial tiericide changes to battlecruisers.  But CCP Fozzie obviously likes me and doesn't want me to fly a Drake because he is turning the Cyclone into a missile boat.  Yay!

Admittedly I use battlecruisers a little differently than most.  Battlecruisers can run one gang link and in the doctrine I'm putting together for running missions I use that link to augment the resists of the DPS ship (usually a battleship) in my two-ship gangs.  The Hurricane I currently use is fit with autocannons and orbits the Maelstrom soaking up incoming fire while taking care of anything that gets within 15 km of the battleship.  I think with the change to the new Cyclone I can still fit the gang link with a nos and take care of any tacklers with heavy assault missiles.  I remember when I first flew a Cyclone that the ship could soak up some damage with an active shield repair.  I wonder if the same will hold true after the changes.

I am looking forward to the changes to the Cyclone for another reason.  Up until now I hesitated on purchasing a battlecruiser BPO.  Did I get the Hurricane for every day use or the Cyclone to possibly build command ships?  Now the decision is easy.  I get the Cyclone BPO because even if I don't manufacture command ships I can still manufacture ships that I fly on a regular basis.  I'm pretty sure that once the Hurricane is nerfed that I'll fly Cyclones for the forseeable future.

I have to admit this does change my skill planning.  My battlecruiser pilot cannot use missiles right now but by the time the next expansion hits she'll have all the skills needed to use tech 2 missile bays.  One embarrassing skill I found that all my pilots lack is Cybernetics V.  I really never thought about the usefulness of implants for industrial uses but I plan on making up for that now.  Something about having a lot of unused loyalty points sitting in my journal just has me wanting to spend them.

Am I running around with rose-colored glasses?  Perhaps.  But I'm starting to like missiles and with all the mixed armament ships turning into missile platforms I see a bright future ahead.