Alliance Tournament IX - Ship Point Changes

I was just about to consider quitting EVE when along comes the ever exciting Alliance Tournament. WHoooo Hoooo. Personally I consider the Alliance tournament to be a whole lot of fun. Regrettably I have never been able to participate it beyond helping with some training and a lot of Forum Whoring.

This year there are a lot of rule changes, some more controversial than others. In today's post I will look at the changes to points.

Ship Type	Points
	AT 7	AT 8	AT 9
Battleship, Faction	21	21	21
Marauder	19	19	18
Battleship	18	18	18
Black Ops Battleship	18	18	18
Command Ship	16	16	16
Strategic Cruiser	16	16	16
Cruiser, Faction	13	14	14
Heavy Assault Cruiser	15	14	13
Battlecruiser (Tier 2)	13	13	13
Recon Ship	13	13	13
Heavy Interdictor	13	13	13
Logistics Cruiser	12	12	12
Battlecruiser (Tier 1)	11	11	10
Cruiser	11	9	8
Bomber	6	6	6
Electronic Attack Frigate	5	5	5
Frigate, Faction	4	4	4
Assault Frigate	4	4	4
Interdictor	3	3	3
Interceptor	3	3	3
Frigate	3	3	3
Hauler	3	3	3
Destroyer	2	2	2

I have highlighted the changes for AT-9 in RED. As you can see Tier 1 Battlecruisers, Cruisers and HACS have all had their point values lowered. Marauders also have been lowered. Tier-1 BCs are particularly interesting since they are now worth 10 points, the average number of points per ship allowed on a team. Especially with the new (and controversial) banning rule (edit: Banning rule has been removed), a team of Tier-1 BCs would have no one ship worth more than another, and thus no obvious ship to ban. I expect to see lots of Cyclones, Brutix, Ferox and Prophesies being fielded. Also interesting are HACS which are now worth a full two points less then in AT-7. In AT-7 they were almost totally absent due to being worth more than a faction cruiser. In AT-8 they were worth the same but now they are worth less. I expect to see a lot of Ishtars and Vagabonds being fielded. Maybe even an Armour-HAC gang of Zealots. The Cerberus also now makes a viable lighter alternative to the ever present Tengu from AT-8.

Marauders are pretty rare in tournament mainly due to their massive shortcoming of low sensor strength. I am not sure if the one point drop in value is enough to remedy this. Also, with the banning rule in effect, it would be pretty risky to put 18 points into a ship that the other team can simply remove.