Industrial Rebalance

There's been a lot of talk lately about the upcoming industrial rebalance. CCP Rise says they intend to make a fast, tanky hauler and a max cargo capacity hauler.

I think that's a bad idea. The fast, tanky hauler will be popular (very) but the max cargo hauler won't get used much. If one hauler has the best tank, the highest speed and the fastest alignment time there's almost no reason to use the other unless it's a lot cheaper and will be operating exclusively in "safe" areas.

What I'd like to see instead is 3 different types of industrials.

1. A fast hauler with good speed, good alignment time, 9 Au warp speed, low sig radius and a smallish cargo hold. Similar to blockade runners except they wouldn't be able to use covert ops cloaks and can be cargo scanned. Suitable for quick trips to or through dangerous systems.

If you can catch it, you can kill it.

2. A tanky hauler that's slow, has a longer alignment time, lots of mid / low slots and 2 high slots. Similar to existing T1 Industrials but with much heavier tank. Suitable for extended operations in dangerous areas and could even be used as combat haulers.

You can catch it easily, but can you kill it quickly enough and even then is it worth the trouble?

3. Max cargo hauler, inexpensive, slow, long align time, poor tank, very large cargo hold. More economical to purchase than the other 2 but really only suitable for hauling large loads of bulky cargo in less dangerous  areas.

You can catch and kill it easily enough but the cargo probably isn't worth it (bulky and low value).


The fast haulers would get a speed and/or agility bonus, the tanky haulers a shield or armor bonus and the max cargo haulers a cargo capacity bonus. Racial variations could include things like tractor or salvage bonuses.

Deep space transports should also be buffed though that's beyond the scope of this article.

And please, no ships with specialized cargo holds.