Personally, I don't think its really that bad at the moment. I fly a fighter, a bomber and a cruiser. In the fighter, if I'm solo (which is how I usually am) and a battleship pops up I scramble. Isn't that how it should be?
In the bomber I might mess with the battleship for a little while, before making a run for it. If I'm in a bomber wing however, I'd go full offensive against the battleship.
In my cruiser I'm set up to fight bombers and gunboats, so I'd only tackle a battleship as a support craft, or as a meatshield for bombers.
To all of my ships, battleships are fairly scary things as they should be, but I always have the ability to run. Denying battleships engagements encourages the pilots to use other classes of ships. The problem, as I see it, in New York is the glut of targets for capital ships. Suicide runs by xenos and rogues mean the battleships are viable. If however, those xenos and rogues attacked the outlying systems even more frequently in fast hit and run raids on traders and police patrols, then the battleships would have to be split up. Some remaining in new york, others moving to colorado, california, texas etc.
As it is, rogues executing police and navy officers on live broadcast in New York (an example), is designed to provoke an excessive reaction from the navy. Thus, battleships. If you don't want to be chased by caps, don't piss off the navy. If you want to be chased by caps, lead them to where they are less effective.
With regard to cap ship rp. Very viable, easier than fighter rp (no worry of death by npc because you stopped dodging to type a sentence), and allows for the involvement of a whole crew. I try to make the Sicarius as whole a ship as possible, not just a metal hull with guns strapped to it.
![[Image: greyscaleplanets.jpg]](http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv75/locusani/greyscaleplanets.jpg)