Nerf Bat on Aisle 6

Over the past few years there has been a proliferation of use of a certain class of ship in the game of EVE, Strategic Cruisers.  These ships have gone through the process of receiving some level of changes which have negated their power (nerfed).  But, as a whole they are entirely too overpowered (OP) for the game.

Tackle

Many large scale pvp organizations (I'll use CFC as an example, as I know their doctrines) will use T3 cruisers in a heavy tackle role.  The example I will refer to in this area is the Das Boot Mk II, which is a battleship heavy doctrine for the CFC.  Their tackle outside of Heavy Interdictors and Interdictors are 5x Web Lokis and 5x Point Proteus.  These ships are replacing the Huginn (Loki) and the Lachesis (Proteus), which actually used to be in the doctrine for the CFC.  The Loki and the Proteus get you the same bonus to web/point but with a outrageous tank as well.

Recon

You can fit your T3 cruiser for scout/tackle duty as well.  The tank will not be as good as the Tackle version above, but it still will be far superior to the Arazu/Falcon/Pilgrim/Rapier variant.  If you are fit with the Covert subsystem, you also can fit the Covert Cyno as well.

Many Black Operations fleets will use a T3 cloaky scout to also serve as their cyno and initial tackle member.  With a huge tank, you will not instantly be popped and you can still warp cloaked and totally fill the role of the scout.

However, there is also 2 areas where the ship is used in a non-cloaky recon role, and that is the ECMgu and the Neut Legion.  You can fit a very nice tank on your ship, go with neuts in the highs for the Legion or ECM modules in the mids for the Tengu.  You will be getting bonuses just as the Rook or Curse would be, but the tank would give you lasting power in a fight.

Exploration

We actually encourage all of our members to strive for the T3 as their primary exploration vessel.  It would allow you to explore as a T2 exploration frigate, gets you the exact same bonuses that the T2 frigate gets.  You have a much better tank, and can fit enough weapons to handle sleeper sites in the lower class holes.

Logistics

This is probably the one area of the T3 cruiser where you do not see it being utilized at all.  You can fit the proper subsystems and modules and basically become a Basilisk/Guardian/Oneiros/Scimitar, but you really would not want to.  Logistics ships rarely have uber tanks to begin with and there is no change in that with the T3 variant.  Sure, you might get a few extra thousand EHP on the T3 logistics ship but that is not worth it for the cost of the ship.

Command Ship

This is the largest area where there is a problem with the T3 cruisers.  You can fit your ship with up to 5 link modules, can fit it with covert ops ability and interdiction nullifier and get it close to unprobable.

Again, the CFC doctrine Das Boot MkII calls for:

Boosters:
1x bonus legion (armor)
5x bonus loki/tengu (skirmish)

Their doctrines used to call for Command Ships.  Not any longer.

Now, technically the other areas of the T3 you can choose to fly a T2 variant and you will be just fine.  For tackle, a Huginn or Lachesis would be great.  For a Force Recon, the Falcon/Rapier/Arazu/Pilgrim will be fine.  For exploration, a T2 frigate will work unless you have a sleeper site.  And, the Logisitcs really always should be the T2 platform.

You will very rarely see a Command Ship being flown.  If so, more than likely the pilot is not skilled for the T3, does not have the ISK for one, or got drunk and purchased the wrong hull.

The last part I will leave you with is an analogy of a Swiss Army Knife.  You see, the Swiss Army Knife is a wonderful creation that is small enough to keep in your pocket.  It has usually 2 knife blades, a screwdriver, a scissor and possibly other attachments.  However, even though it has all of these abilities in the single tool it is not superior at any of them to the original tool.  A screwdriver will be superior to the Swiss Army Knife, same with the knife blades, the scissor and any other tool.  This is where CCP has gone wrong.  The T3 cruiser is superior in every respect to the T2 hull save for the logistics.

For all of the reasons above, but especially the Swiss Army Knife, please apply the nerf bat to the strategic cruiser class.