Things I want to try with the new destroyers

December 4th is like Christmas for the EVE player that likes small scale ship explosions. With the majority of frigates, cruisers and destroyers getting seriously retouched, things are going to be very exciting for awhile. Additionally, CCP seems to have finally made the commitment to ongoing ship tweaks so if any of these initial tweaks really miss the boat (by either being too good or too weak) then future fixes are likely. With that being said, the things that really intrigue me are the new destroyers. These ships are designed to be seriously brutal, particularly against frigates but also against cruisers if uncountered. I expect destroyers to be called primary in a lot of fights now and small scale engagements are going to get very interesting as a result.

They haven't announced names yet so it's hard to reference them by much other than "Caldari Destroyer, etc" but here goes

"Caldari Destroyer" (Should REALLY get the name Peregrine)
This will be the longest range of all the new destroyers with the ability to project damage out to about 60k if I'm doing my math right. The most likely build with this will be something like this:
7x Light Missile II
MWD II
Warp Disruptor II
Sensor Booster II
2x Ballistic Control II

it will have a pitiful tank but the alpha from 7 missile will insta-kill any frigate short of an interceptor without a tank and two shot any frigs with a tank regardless of other factors. I expect to see this ship used as a second wave of attack by clever fleets. Warp in the heavy tackle and/or speed tanking ships then warp these guys in 30 seconds later after your opponent has called primary. The sensor booster is necessary to be able to target out to their max engagement range (~63k without rigs... not factoring for missile acceleration which is supposed to drop to near instant come December). If you rig the thing up, you should be able to get nearly 83k of distance out of the thing (you'll need a scripted Sensor Booster II to manage this). Is there a an interceptor that can cross that distance fast enough? You'll probably get two volleys off on an interceptor burning straight at you... So just as the interceptor is pointing you, he'll explode. If you're fighting largely one v one or even one v two, this ship should be absolutely WICKED. Note that 83k is outside the range of a lot of cruisers too. That gives it a lot of game against those ships as well. Drone boats that can burn to within 50k will be dangerous because they can dictate an engagement window that's bad for you but most cruisers can't take more than 5 or six volleys of LMLs anyways...

"Minmatar Destroyer"
Where the Caldari ship is all about range, this ship is a speed tanking destroyer. Yeah. I'm intrigued and frightened all at the same time. This one seems like the most likely to scare the crap out of cruisers because it might not be hittable by them. With the bonus to MWD sig bloom diminished by 3/4ths, this ship could still be small enough and fast enough to avoid fire from Cruisers. Testing will tell us whether that's true or not but I expect many ships to die finding out.
7x Rocket Launcher II
1x MWD II
1x Warp Jammer
1x Target Painter or Named Shield booster
1x Power Diagnostic II
2x Ballistic Control System II

This little guy will put out over 300 dps at 12k and be nearly unhittable and, against anything except an Afterburnered Interceptor or T2 ship, completely able to dictate range. The option is also there to drop the BCSs (cutting DPS to more like 250) and instead fit a modest armor tank. I don't like that but in the roll of frigate killer, the damage might be overkill and, therefore, lost a lot of the time so it could work better that way.

"Amarr Destroyer"
The weirdest ship by far. 3 Turrets and 3 Launchers but with a range boost on NOS / NEUTS. It really wants you to field 3 cap destroyers. This ship might be the most powerful in 1v1 because of its ability to fit a wicked tank and just wear down frigates and, possibly, even destroyers. I think they have to give up on the idea of tackle (maybe a web?) and just kill things and/or hope they can neut them to where they can't warp out. Even with the range boost to the Neuts, your'e still going to be engaging at around 10-15k. A webifier might work to keep MWD brawlers at arms length or a tracking disruptor could help against things with similar engagement range... Not clear what's best. This ship is also ridiculously cap stable due to the weapon loadout so it can fit a pretty wicked tank.
3x Neut
3x Rocket Launcher II
1x Afterburner II
1x Webifier / Tracking Disruptor
1x Damage Control II
1x Drone Damage
1x EANM
1x Armor Repairer II

"Gallente Destroyer"
Gallente's get another drone boat with a tracking bonus for their 5 turrets. Kind of an odd ship and feels like it somewhat counterfeits the Catalyst (although they've said they're going to tweak the Catalyst now... ) Given that the tracking bonus is basically wasted on blasters, it seems like the bang for your buck is to kite at range with something like:
5x 125mm railgun II
I have no idea for the utility high... NOS / NEUT seems useless because you should be pushing optimal of over 20k with Spike ammo. There's some discussion on the Jester's blog about keeping empty spots in the middle of the gun racks to cut down on heat damage... Not sure if that's still valid info but might actually be the best choice. Barring that, small remote armor rep to fix drones and help other ships in a pinch might be right.
1x Afterburner II
1x Sensor Dampener
1x Webifier
1x EANM II
1x Damage Control II
1x Named Explosive Hardener

Like the Minmatar destroyer, there's also the possibility of "cross" tanking this ship in a fleet environment where tackle isn't important. Namely this,
Railguns
MWD (or AB)
EM Hardener
Shield Booster
Drone Damage Mod x 4 (or x3 with Damage Control II)
That has some pretty wicked DPS (I haven't done the math but it has to be through the roof)

Anyways, at some point, I'm sure I'll end up flying all of these, they all look awesome and should produce quite a splash on small scale PvP and even some larger fleet ops given that the engagement envelope on a couple of the ships pushes well into acceptable doctrinal ranges (particularly the Caldari ship)