Faction navy battlecruiser details.

A new dev blog came out with some information about the faction navy tiericide. The second half details new faction battlecruisers.

Frigate changes (https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=214283) are minor with the most important one the Republic Fleet Firetail which sees it's damage bonus increased from 20 to 25% per level.

When asked why these ships didn't get an 11th slot Fozzie replied: As before they straddle the line between Interceptors and AFs in many ways, tougher than Inties and faster then AFs. In general I'm quite confident that we can ensure that they remain worth the cost premium over T1 without needing to give them the extra slot.

Cruiser changes (https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=219607) are little more extensive.

Within themselves there is a split between the more speed oriented (Omen, Osprey, Exequror, Scythe) and more tank oriented (Augoror, Caracal, Vexor, Stabber) but considering their excellent agility and general playstyle we'll probably toss them all under the "Attack" line whenever the ship lines come up.
Navy ships are agile, aligning just a bit slower as a destroyer for the speed oriented ones. Even the slowest navy cruiser has an unskilled align time of less as 7 seconds. In comparison an unskilled Thrasher, Thorax and Rupture align at 6.21, 7.66 and 8.46 seconds respectively.

Omen Navy Issue
Changes from 5 turrets with a 7.5% RoF bonus to 4 turrets with a 10% damage bonus while changing the cap recharge to an optimal range bonus. Drone bandwidth and bay size is also doubled to 50/50.

Osprey Navy Issue
Changes from a RoF bonus to a 10% kinetic and 5% EM/Explosive/Thermal damage bonus.
It gains a utility high plus a low and mid slot. Almost every statistic receives at least a small buff.

Exequror Navy Issue
Gains a high slot and turret hardpoint to give more damage amplified by a double damage bonus.

Scythe Fleet Issue
Remains a split weapon system, it does however get a double strength damage bonus. 10% Bonus to projectile RoF and 10% bonus to missile damage. With 5 high slots and 5 launcher and turret hardpoints you won't be forced to use two weapon systems though, you get offered a choice.
Like the Osprey (and Exequror) almsot every stat receives at least a small buff. Gaining among other things 1 mid and 2 low slots.

Auguror Navy Issue
Loses 2 turret hardpoints but gains a whopping 25% damage bonus to compensate, going from 5 to 6,75 effective turrets at skill level 5.

Caracal Navy Issue
Changes a range and kinetic damage bonus for a 5% RoF bonus and a 5% heavy assault and heavy missile explosion radius. It loses its drone bay completely.

Vexor Navy Issue
Turns into a pure drone boat, exchanging the hybrid bonus for a drone velocity and tracking bonus. Its drone bay doubles in size while it's bandwidth gets upgraded to 125 Mbit.

Stabber Fleet Issue
As "the current gold standard in Navy cruisers" it sees little change but gets a small mass increase.

Navy Battlecruisers
The Harbinger gets another mid slot, the Hurricane an utility high, the Brutix a low slot and the drake get an additional launcher hardpoint. As any navy vessel they have 50% more shield, armor and hull points and have slightly more powergrid and cpu to use the additional slot they gained.

The brutix and drake gains a little maneuverability while the drake also gets a 10 m/s speed bonus.  Sensor strength has been increased by 4 for all four ships as well compared to the regular version.

Harbinger Navy Issue
The cap bonus is gone and replaced by a tracking bonus. The drone bay has been reduced to 50m3 again though.

• Amarr Battlecruiser skill bonuses: +10% medium energy turret damage and +7.5% to medium energy turret tracking per level
• Slot layout: 7 H, 5 M, 6 L, 6 turrets

Hurricane Fleet Issue
Ow look, 8 high slots, two utility slots, reminds us of something?

• Minmatar Battlecruiser skill bonuses: +5% to medium projectile damage and 5% bonus to medium projectile rate of fire per level
• Slot layout: 8 H, 4 M, 6 L, 6 turrets, 3 launchers

Brutix Navy Issue
Gone is the PVE active rep bonus, instead we see another tracking bonus. Are we getting nervous yet about flying T1 frigate and cruiser gangs yet?

• Gallente Battlecruiser skill bonuses: +10% to medium hybrid turret damage and 7.5% bonus to medium hybrid turret tracking per level
• Slot layout: 7 H, 4 M, 7 L, 6 turrets 

Drake Navy Issue
Two new bonuses to replace the old ones. Gone are the shield resistances that would finally give this baby a nice buffer tank if you wanted to solo a small frigate fleet with your navy drake. Gone is also the 50% bonus to a single damage type. Instead we get better damage application with a bonus to missile explosion radius and more range with a missile velocity bonus.

• Caldari Battlecruiser skill bonuses: +10% to heavy missile and heavy assault missile velocity and 5% bonus to explosion radius of heavy missile and heavy assault missile per level
• Slot layout: 8 H, 6 M, 4 L, 8 launchers 

With all the bonuses to tracking or missile explosion radius we see on bigger ship classes those tech1 frigate and cruiser gangs can no longer chew up those bigger ships as easily.

I look forward to the navy drake most of all but think I am going to start collecting all navy and faction ships. Which navy battlecruiser do you like the most? Will you fly it?