Three days. That's how long my "Learning to Fly" post lasted before CCP clipped my wings.
I'd just finished writing about the Sunesis — my fast-align small hauler, Athena's Wings — and how she could haul almost 1,200 m³ of cargo while warping in 1.75 seconds. Sub-two. Practically uncatchable. The whole point of the ship.
Then the Catalyst major update dropped on March 18th, and CCP decided the Sunesis had been having too much fun.
What changed
The short version: CCP bumped the Sunesis's base inertia modifier from 2.0x to 2.85x and cut the base cargo bay from 600 m³ to 450 m³ (see the patch notes here). Their reasoning? SoCT ships were too dominant for their cost and skill requirements. The Sunesis in particular had become the default answer to too many problems — hauling, utility, the SOE epic arc, you name it.
Bla bla bla...
Even if they were right — they're the Devs ok, I know — it certainly doesn't mean I have to like it.
And I certainly don't, or did not...
With this nerf and my existing fit — 3x Inertial Stabilizers II and all three rig slots burned on Cargohold Optimization — Athena's Wings now aligns in 2.58 seconds and carries about 872 m³. Both numbers are worse than what they used to be in every way that matters. The cargo is livable — sorta . The align time isn't. 2.58 seconds is above the magic two-second threshold, which means the whole premise of the ship — warp before anyone can lock you — is gone.
Athena's Wings is grounded.
Rethinking the Sunesis
Here's the thing, though. Look at what CCP actually nerfed — and what they didn't.
The turret and missile role bonuses dropped from 25% to 20%. The cargo bay got slashed. The inertia modifier got hammered. But the drone bonus? Untouched. The Sunesis still gets a 50% bonus to drone hitpoints and damage. It still has 25 Mbit/s of bandwidth and a 25 m³ drone bay — enough for a full flight of five light drones. And it still has that 37.5% bonus to Core and Combat Scanner Probe strength.
Now read what CCP's own description says the ship is for: "It serves well in research and exploration but truly comes into its own in combat." Not hauling. Not logistics. Research. Exploration. Combat.
So the question isn't whether the Sunesis is dead. It's whether it still has its use for what I want to do after this latest nerfing.
The answer is probably yes, or more accurately maybe, it depends. Instead of a hauler that avoids fights, I'll try turning it into an exploration ship that picks them.
That's the "hope".
The refit: Artemis' Hounds
New role, new name. Athena's Wings was about speed and evasion — a goddess of strategy taking flight. Artemis' Hounds is about the hunt. Probing down sites, cracking cans, and letting loose a pack of drones on anything that objects. Artemis was the huntress, and in this fit, the drones are her hounds.
The general idea: a Core Probe Launcher and scanning rigs to lean into that 37.5% probe strength bonus. Data and Relic analyzers for cracking sites. Light missiles for supplemental damage. A cloak for the MWD-cloak trick through sketchy gates — this ship is still going to low-sec, after all. A Nanofiber to claw back some of the agility CCP took away. And five Hobgoblin IIs filling that 25 m³ drone bay, hitting well above their weight class thanks to the 50% damage bonus.
I haven't nailed down the exact fit yet.
The Sunesis has 218.8 CPU and 78.8 powergrid to work with, which is... not a lot when you're trying to cram a probe launcher, analyzers, weapons, and combat drones into the same hull. Something's going to have to give — probably T2 modules downgraded to compact variants, or the shield extender dropped entirely. I'll figure it out in the fitting window.
And honestly? I might be completely wrong about the combat angle. The Sunesis might work better as a pure exploration platform — probes, analyzers, cloak, and drones strictly for site defense rather than going looking for trouble. The "teeth" might end up being more like "a polite suggestion to leave me alone."
This is definitely part of the fun for me. Figuring these things out, one module at the time.
We'll see where this takes us.
The honest assessment
Let's not pretend this is an upgrade. Athena's Wings was a purpose-built machine — she did one thing and did it perfectly. For the moment Artemis' Hounds is just an idea.
CCP was clear about what they wanted: the Sunesis should stop being the answer to every logistics problem. Fine. I'll stop using it as a hauler. I don't really have a choice do I.
The Sunesis got to be what CCP always said it was. Right there in the description: "...a ship that shows its value when understanding the universe requires a strong hand as well as a sharp mind." The drones will have to be the strong hand — let's just hope I can be the sharp mind.
What's next
But not quite yet. I've got a six-day skill queue standing between me and the Hecate I recently picked up — more on that later.
Then I'll work on fitting Artemis' Hounds with the above fitting I mentioned. In the meantime, I've slipped back into my trusty Merlin and I'm hoping to head out with my EVE Uni corpmates for some PvP training flights.
Because apparently my skill queue isn't the only thing having an identity crisis.
Different wings. Same pilot. Still learning to fly!
CK out...
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