Tag: eve online

Posts about a massive multiplayer online game EVE Online by CCP hf.

Inferno 1.1 available for testing

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games , , , ,

CCP has deployed Inferno 1.1 on the Singularity public test server yesterday, bringing a whole batch of features that did not make it into the initial release, namely Minmatar V3 skins and a bunch of smaller adjustments to War Declaration mechanics. It seems devs didn’t like that The Star Fraction turned the war initially started by Goonswarm mutual, and then hired a number of allies for free (see this forum post).

  • Team Tri-lambda has made a tiny facelift to the Drake, to make it look better with the new missile launchers.
  • Pilots involved in Faction Warfare will welcome the removal of all E-WAR from FW NPCs. Initially this looks like a considerable boost to Gallente.
  • We will also witness a new skill for Reactive Armor Hardeners: Armor Resistance Phasing, which makes them adjust faster (and as a result – use more capacitor).
  • Incursions will see a removal of two nerfs introduced in Escalation to Inferno, namely:
    • Lowering the reward for vanguard sites by 10%
    • The system influence
  • A lot of unreleased clothing will be made available for AUR – and this time the micropayments will really be micro (prices will range btween 100, 300 and 500 AUR) Complete dev-blog is available here. Eight uniforms, two for each race will be added to FW LP store.

The complete list of changes is available in the Inferno 1.1 feedback post on the forums.

As usual, if you would like to test the new content yourself, feel free to read the Singularity guide at the bottom of this post.

Words are just words, so better have a look at the beautiful minnie ships. They don’t look “streamlined” like the Reaper; instead, they kept their rusty and menacing looks.

Inferno 1.1 will be deployed on 19th of June.

Fueling the eternal War Machine made safer.

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games , , , , , , ,

When you ask anyone who plays EVE Online, what the game is like, the immediate response is “EVE is a PVP game“. This short sentence is both true and false, depending on the point-of-view. EVE Online players rarely admit to the fact, that part of the game success is it’s player-driven economy. Those who don’t engage in PVP, and instead run missions, mine asteroids or make money in any other way are considered inferior and called “carebears” by the self-assumed “elite” players. The truth is, if EVE had no economy and everything was supplied by the NPCs, this would most likely hold true. Truth however, is not so simple.

The War Machine needs fuel!

The eternal conflict in New Eden needs fuel, and that fuel is ships and armaments, which players use to blow each other up. Manufacturing of most goods in EVE requires minerals. With the Escalation to Inferno changes (removal of mineral drops from Rogue Drones), and further nerf of meta-0 loot, the only valid source of minerals becomes, again, mining.

“Mining?! u kidding me bro? It’s boring as hell and gives no kills. And it pays almost no ISK. And Tech II ships that we elite pvpers fly don’t need minerals, right? They only need moon goo. Everyone knows that.” – said the elite pilot

“You know jack shit about how stuff is made.” replied the carebear.

“STFU*, noob! You know jack shit about PVP.”, said the angry elite egger.

*) Silence, I kill you!

Guess what? It’s our carebear, who is right in this case. Due to the Tech II manufacturing mechanics, Tech I items are still neccessary to build their Tech II versions. They are simply one of the materials used for manufacturing. What this means is, every ship in the game is made of minerals, doesn’t matter if this is Tech I, Tech II or a faction ship* Those minerals have to come from somewhere.

Without the carebears making ships, PVPers would fly Velators and Reapers and shoot civilan guns. We don’t want that, do we? Both playstyles are necessary for EVE Online to thrive.

*) faction ships are made from BPCs or require a Tech I ship trade-in.

Here come PVPers again.

Ganking can be a rather lucrative business. Killing juicy haulers in high sec is just as easy as anywhere else. The only difference is the presence of CONCORD, but it does not prevent killing. Instead, CONCORD ships only deliver a punishment by destroying the offender’s ship. Ganking can also be done for fun. Guess who’s the easiest target? Miners.

Mining ships are not even half as resilient as their combat counterparts, making them excellent prey.

“You forgot to add that carebear tears are sooooo delicious!”, said the elite pilot.

As a pilot who has been on both ends of suicide ganking (been a piwate once, but I’m teh good guy now!) I can throw my two cents.

The defense against suicide ganking is rather limited, except for simply not flying these vulnerable ships. Carebears have everything against them:

  • very limited EHP of Exhumers and Barges
  • element of surprise on gankers side
  • low agility makes it difficult to warp out quickly
  • Destroyers are cheap and powerful enough to blow up Exhumers and Barges
  • There is no defence against alpha volley, except for EHP

With that in mind, instead of whining to CCP for EHP buff, we can make ganking harder, by fitting the mining ships accordingly.

First, a few things that *will not* protect you:

  • Having friends in BS/BCs or even Falcons: because gankers rely on Alpha strike – the first volley which is usually fired the instant they lock your ship. This gives friendly pilots no time to intervene.
  • Active tank: neither shield boosters, nor armor repairers will help, exactly for the same reason.
  • Warp Core Stabilisers: because of long align times and quick alpha strike – this module is completely not viable for mining.
  • Drones: they will not have enough time to destroy the attacker, but if you fit for EHP and survive a gank attempt, Drones might give you a killmail 😉

Fly Barges instead of Exhumers

Players can easily offset the high cost of a Hulk by using a Covetor instead. With the current mineral prices, the difference between Hulk and Covetor mining output is not that much, but the difference in prices of these two ships is huge. Here’s two samples of a “Resilient” Covetor fit:

[Covetor, armor]
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II

Residual Survey Scanner I

Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II

Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

[Covetor, shield]

Damage Control II
Adaptive Nano Plating II

V-M15 Braced Multispectral Shield Matrix

Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II

Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I

Both setups offer about 12k EHP, which is… well… still not too much. But it is over twice as much as an untanked Covetor has, and it takes more than a single Dessy to kill it.

Please keep in mind, that mining in a Battleship is not a bad idea as well.

And if you really have to fly a Hulk…

Tank it as much as humanly possible! It will not guarantee 100% safety, but it will either discourage potential gankers, or even make you survive a gank (if bad guys don’t scan your ship before attacking it). When fitting a Hulk these days, survivability is the key word. Here’s an example:

[Hulk, Tanked]
Damage Control II
Reinforced Bulkheads II

Small F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Small F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction

Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal II

Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I

This setup offers 27,1k EHP, which is much better than untanked Covetor (5,5k) and untanked Hulk (9k). With someone flying a booster Tengu or Vulture in the fleet it might even be enough to actually combat gankers.

[Hulk, Tankit]
Damage Control II
Micro B88 Core Augmentation

Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Limited Adaptive Invulnerability Field I

Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal I
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal I
Modulated Strip Miner II, Veldspar Mining Crystal I

Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Ancillary Current Router I

The above setup (credit goes to Jorma Morkkis) gives 28,8 kEHP (32,8 with overheat). It will be rather hard to get it past this point without the use of faction/deadspace mods.

But what about Orca?

Orca is usually used as a giant hauler with Mining Links. This makes most people fit Orca with Large Cargohold Optimization rigs and Expanded Cargohold IIs. These players score their own goal, because both rigs and expanded cargohold mods reduce EHP. Comparison is quite simple: Tanked Orca offers 278,8k EHP versus 64,8k EHP of Cargo expanded Orca. This requires many more than 5 Tornadoes to kill. The choice (and the risk) is, of course, yours.

[Orca, Tank]

Damage Control II
Reinforced Bulkheads II

Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Heat Dissipation Field II
EM Ward Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

Mining Foreman Link – Mining Laser Field Enhancement
Small Tractor Beam I
Mining Foreman Link – Laser Optimization

Large Core Defence Field Extender I
Large Core Defence Field Extender I
Large Core Defence Field Extender I

PS. The fitting above has more EHP than a Freighter. 

Stay out of plain sight

There is one last idea to make mining a safer task: mining in Gravimetric sites and mission deadspaces. Of course gankers can scan, too, but you will notice Core/Combat probes on directional scanner long before the bad guys can warp on top of you. The rules are the same as for missioning/mining in low sec: watch local and watch directional scanner like a hawk, warp out at the first sign of trouble.

Use some out-of-character PVP skills

Staying aligned at 3/4 of max speed makes mining more difficult, but can save your life. Also try to have the destination station as selected object at all times, so all you have to do is press the “warp” button. Incoming ships are visible on overview a few sceonds before they can be a threat, but in order to see them, you will have to set up two tabs in your overview. Make one of them show asteroid (let’s call it “mining” tab) and the other one – ships (let’s assume its called “pvp” tab). When you pop a roid, switch to mining tab, lock a new rock and start mining it. Then go back to the pvp tab. Have the pvp tab open at all times. When you see a cruiser or destroyer warping in, just hit the warp button. Remember to have the station (the one you’re aligned to) selected at all times.

It takes seventeen expansions to build a game as successful as EVE Online

Lukas Rox Blog Banter, EVE Online, Games , , ,

This post is a reply to Blog Banter 36: The Expansion of EVE

Welcome to the thirty-sixth edition of the EVE Blog Banter, the community discussion that brings the collective minds of the EVE blogosphere together to chew the cud, exchange opinions or troll the world.

“With the Inferno expansion upon us, new seeds have been planted in the ongoing evolution of EVE Online. With every expansion comes new trials and challenges, game-changing mechanics and fresh ideas. After nine years and seventeen expansions, EVE has grown far more than most other MMOGs can hope for. Which expansions have brought the highs and lows, which have been the best and the worst for EVE Online?”

As the blogosphere warm themselves by the blazing Inferno, they stare wistfully into the flames and conjure memories of expansions past…

It takes a lot of bricks to build a house, and it takes 17 expansions to build a game as successful as EVE Online.

Internet Spaceships Game has received more expansions than World of Warcraft and Star Trek Online combined. When I started playing EVE, expansions were not something happening every 6 months. The amount of new content was varying from expansion to expansion as well, with one expansion that was, well… a very tiny one. Quantum Rise happened mostly on the server side (Stackless IO & EVE 64), just one new ship was introduced (the Orca) and stargate models have been iterated upon. The amount of new content, however, is not a true measure of success. Everything depends on player perception of that content.

The most epic failure, which almost everyone heard about, was the long awaited Incarna. CCP was mentioning “walking in stations” for a long time and during many events. To be honest, I’ve been waiting for this since I’ve started playing in 2005. I don’t say that EVE desperately needs avatar gameplay, because it’s a game about spaceships. I do think, however, that chatting with corp mates and other in-game friends would be done so much better in a bar scenery rather than in a hangar, while watching your ship spin. Not that ship spinning is bad, you know; I like spinning my ships, but what I really love is to fly them. Unfortunately the way Incarna delivered walking in stations, was miserable at best. Not to mention failed attempt to introduce microstransactions (wait, is 70 USD micro?) to the game. Most of us know how bad the freemium/premium model would be for established games such as EVE. I do not want to delve deep into why Incarna has received so much negative feedback from the playerbase, because 1) I have written an extensive post about Incarna backlash last summer and 2) CCP understood their mistakes and delivered two mind-blowing expansions after Incarna.

I think the best expansion of EVE Online so far was the Crucible, with Revelations, Apocrypha and Incursion as runner-ups. Crucible was successful because of many things. First off, CCP wanted to repair their public image after Incarna’s failure, so a lot of human resources have been redirected from WoD and Dust project to work on EVE instead. Second thing was a ton of small fixes, that made the game a lot better and more enjoyable to play (Loot All!!). The third reason is ships: four new ships. Crucible has delivered four new battlecruisers, very different from the ones already existing in the game. Fast and agile, but paper thin “glass cannons” with damage output comparable with the biggest Battleships.  The fourth reason is the new backgrounds and V3 shaders, that made EVE look like a real-time rendered sci-fi movie. Crucible has also delivered more walking-in-stations than Incarna did.

Apocrypha’s success was not just the Tech III modular ships; it came from added space, which is governed by a bit different rules, compared to the existing New Eden galaxy. Before Apocrypha, many players complained about Local channel being the main source of intel. Many tactics were used to circumvent Local, logon traps being the most obvious one. W-space, or Anoikis (as roleplayers call it) has a different local; one that does not give away presence (until someone speaks up). Before Apocrypha, CCP had also mentioned an idea of environmental phenomena, that would bend the rules of the game. Wormhole space was a perfect place to introduce these effects. With the Sleepers, PvE pilots have received a new AI to fight against, one that behaves more like other players rather than dumb drones.

Incursion brought even more “smart” and hard to beat NPCs, which require people to band together. The Sansha themed expansion has also removed quality of Agents, making missions more accessible and mission hubs less crowded. The main success of this expansion was the amount of rewards people could gain by running Incursions. Even though many players complained (and even tried to fight against it), majority was happy with this new steady source of ISK. Even though EVE economy suffered a bit from an additional ISK faucet, the overall community perception was positive.

When talking about new space and new ships, one can’t forget the Revelations. Surely many players like their Abaddons and Rokhs. Almost everyone loves their Drakes and Hurricanes. This is the expansion, which brought them into existence. CCP did not only deliver eight new ships; they have also opened access to eight new regions of space (now known as the Drone regions). Did you know, that prior to this expansion there were no Rigs and no ship wrecks? Both NPC and player ships would leave a Cargo Container when destroyed, which contained all the loot.

I have almost forgotten about the last one, Trinity. Trinity has delivered most of the ship models you fly these days. V3 is mostly a texture change, but it was the Trinity that brought all the new models. EVE was a completely different looking game before 2007. Fifty man-years of work have been put into re-modelling all the ships, bringing them back onto the cutting edge of graphics awesomeness. If not for this expansion, your ships would look like this:

   
   

Not that EVE was not pretty before Trinity 😉 It just got a whole lot prettier.

If CCP still has the graphical assets from the pre-Trinity EVE (which I’m sure they do) it would make a great EVE-themed tablet game. Both iPad 2 & 3 and Tegra based tablets would handle this kind of GFX easily (check out Galaxy on Fire II – it’s possible). Just an idea for the CCP 😉

As you can see, EVE Online in itself is a success. It’s an achievement that has been built with many blocks – individual expansions. It is hard to tell which one of them was the best one, because they are only parts of the whole. The game itself is a big success and I think this is all that should matter to the players. CCP’s willingness to improve and iterate and most of all – willingness to listen what community has to say is the foundation upon all these blocks are built. Take that foundation away, community will collapse, and the game will die just like many others did. Sooo… keep up the good work, CCP!

PS. Over the years I have collected EVE splash screens from each and every one EVE Online expansion – make sure to have a look 🙂

Initial feedback for new Inventory UI in Inferno

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games , , ,

Yesterday CCP has deployed long-awaited EVE Online expansion called the Inferno. It has brought many changes: new missile engine, many new models and launchers. It has also brought a new Inventory UI. In most RPG games inventory is one of the most important features, and for sure most extensively used. It is no surprise then, that some players are opposing big changes like this one.I have played a lot on Singularity over the past few weeks, so the new inventory was not a surprise for me. I have also noticed many pros of the new system:

  • It is much harder to put items accidently in a container, instead of Hangar floor,
  • It is much easier to tell which POS structure hangar I am interacting with (previous windows did not indicate the structure name),
  • It is easier to manage hangars with lots of containers (like mine)
  • You can move items by dragging them to the tree on the left
  • I now know that my entire ship collection is easily worth as much as a Nyx
  • New Inventory shows how much space would items on the hangar floor take
  • You can create your own custom filters

Unfortunately, not everything is so usable.

  • Viewing wrecks seems to be a regression; opening multiple wrecks quickly fills the tree, making it unusable. Previous approach with a small loot window and a big “Loot All” button was much better. It was not only usable, but was also pretty much consistent with many other MMO games. Of course you can still do this – if you press “Shift” when clicking “Open wreck”.
  • The currently active ship vanishes from the Ship Hangar (@CCP_Arrow has confirmed this is a bug)
  • Even though new UI shows the structure name, it becomes cluttered when managing a POS with multiple labs/manufacturing arrays
  • Managing Turret batteries has become a real pain. CCP has confirmed they 1) will group structures by type 2) will allow any structure to have a specific name

I think the solution would be to let the player configure which windows should open in new window by default, and which should open in an existing view. It would also work if the client “remembered” which windows were “detached” from the main inventory window.

The EVE blogoshpere has many different views on the topic. There are two must-reads on Unified Inventory:

To sum up what was said: the new Inventory is a brilliant idea that needs a bit of polish before it becomes just as usable as the old one. I hope CCP will use player feedback to improve and iterate on it.

“Traffic Advisory”: Datacore changes in Inferno

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games , , , ,

Ardent Defender advised #tweetfleet today to cash out their RP, because these RP will be worth much less once Inferno has been deployed on Tranquility:

Of course our friend above is correct, at least partly. Why?

Because if you read the dev-blog about Factional Warfare overhaul carefully, you would have known which datacores to cash out BEFORE Inferno, and which are better to be left until AFTER Inferno.

All Science fields in EVE used to have a multiplier on them until now, which means how fast the RP are generated by the R&D agents, and how much RP Datacores cost. The fields with multiplier of 3x would stockpile three times as fast as  fields with multiplier of one, but one Datacore from the 3x field would cost 3*50 RP (150), while the 1x field Datacore would only cost 50 RP.

Once Inferno will be deployed however, all Datacores will have a flat price of 100 RP + 10k ISK. This means that science fields with 1x and 2x multiplier are better to be cashed out before Inferno, but 150RP ones are better to be cashed out after the patch (you will get 50% more datacores at a small 10k ISK fee apiece, which is still much less than half the price of most Datacores).

CCP has promised in the Inferno patch notes, that they will not touch the amount of RP you already have in any way, so this is really the best approach.

I have shamelessly stolen the table from the dev blog mentioned above, but have highlighted which Datacores to cash out ASAP, and what to leave until after Inferno (orange: buckle up and go to your agent now! green: hold until tomorrow)

Datacores Amarr Caldari Gallente Minmatar Old field multiplier Old RP cost New field multiplier New RP cost
Amarrian Starship Engineering X 3 150 1 100
Caldari Starhip Engineering X 3 150 1 100
Electromagnetic Physics X 1 50 1 100
Electronic Engineering X 1 50 1 100
Gallentean Starship Engineering x 3 150 1 100
Graviton Physics X 2 100 1 100
High Energy Physics X 1 50 1 100
Hydromagnetic Physics X 1 50 1 100
Laser Physics X 2 100 1 100
Mechanical Engineering X 1 50 1 100
Minmatar Starship Engineering X 3 150 1 100
Molecular Engineering X 1 50 1 100
Nanite Engineering X 1 50 1 100
Nuclear Physics X 2 100 1 100
Plasma Physics X 2 100 1 100
Quantum Physics X 1 50 1 100
Rocket Science X 1 50 1 100

PS.Remember to set a long skill tonight!

Inferno introduces new mods, and… new seeding method

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games , , , ,

With Diablo III just around the corner, CCP counter-attacks and fuels their playerbase with new information regarding the new Inferno expansion, which is now just a week away (Inferno will be deployed on 22nd of May).

Team Super Friends has published a dev-blog about the new War mechanics and new modules, which I will cover in more detail below. Since I have recently joined an industrial corp, Aideron Robotics, which is focused on making things (making things go BOOM is in our portfolio as well), I will try to focus on the crafting side of EVE Online in the next couple of posts. I also think that the EVE blogging scene is dominated by PVP related blogs, so it seems to be a good idea to write about something else 😉

Armor Adaptive Hardener I – Low slot. You can use only one such mod at a time, and only Tech I version will become available in Inferno. This hardener will adapt to the incoming damage received in each cycle. Overheating will make the mod adapt faster. this kind of technology reminds me of the Borg 😉 More meta versions will follow if this becomes successful. IMHO a must have mod for armor fleets – just like the Damage Control mod.

Extrinsic Damage Amplifier I & II – Low slot. Works for all drones, but will not work for fighters or fighter bombers. I don’t know why, but the icon suggests drone recycling. Stack penalties apply, so mixing this one with a bunch of Sentry Damage Augmentors rigs is probably not the best idea. Tech 2 version will be inventable from Tech 1 BPCs. Can’t wait to lay my hands on the BPO of this!

Small/Medium/Large/X-Large Ancillary Shield Booster I. Mid slot. A shield booster that gives a better boost than its normal counterpart, and can also use Cap Charges as fuel. When you run out of cap charges, it will automatically switch to eating your capacitor, just like normal shield booster does.

MagSheath Target Breaker I – Mid slot. A must have for fleet engagements. Has a chance to break all incoming target locks based on the overall number of the number of players targeting your ship. The greater this number, the better the chance of activation. The new module has two penalties: considerable sensor resolution debuff and it breaks your own target locks as well upon successful activation. This module cannot be fitted to capital ships.

Small/Medium/Large Overclocking Processor Unit I & II – A rig that increases the CPU, ’nuff said. Hits shield regen rate as a side effect.

Light & Medium Web Drones –  what name says. These drones have huge sginature radius and are paper thin.

Capacitor Battery update – Capacitor Batteries now have an anti-vampire effect that will deflect part of the Energy Neutralizer and Nosferatu effects back to the agressor.

How to get the new shineys?

Only the drone damage mod will be seeded as Tech I BPO. Everything else will spawn as BPCs in exploration sites around the k-space. BPCs will vary from 3 to 50 runs and will also drop from officer and commander spawns. This is to prevent flooding the market by greedy industrial pilots such as myself. This gives exploration a bit more sense.

Developers also consider moving some of the new modules to LP stores, which would bring some fresh perspective into how modules come into the game. I like the idea, but if the diversification becomes too great, CCP might end up having to dumb-down the game again at some point, seeding all the items as blueprints from NPCs.

Wait, where is my Micro Jump Drive?

It is just around the corner. According to the dev-blog, CCP has a working prototype, but they were unable to get it working well enough for a production release. The same applies to Salvage Drones, although the graphics assets for both are ready. This means we will probably see them in the Inferno 1.1 or whatever CCP calls the next update.

CCP’s art department never ceases to amaze

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games , , ,

You will probably agree once you see this:

Just a month ago we were stunned with the beautiful login screen of Escalation to Inferno, and this afternoon CCP has pushed yet another patch to Singularity, bringing this burning vista. Great job guys!

If you are interested in giving Inferno a go before it’s released, feel free to read this very short and handy guide to Singularity (at the bottom of this post).

New Inferno build on Sisi available for your testing pleasure

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games , , , ,

Since yesterday evening CCP has deployed two big patches to Singularity (EVE Test Server), that collectively include the following Inferno features:

Revamped Inventory:

  • Managing corporation items in a station
  • All item management from POS structures done in space on grid
  • All Inventory management in space (wrecks, opening other ship locations, etc)
  • All Inventory management in stations (items, ships)
  • This change does NOT affect the ASSETS window itself

This is a big change: inventory is now hierarhic. The top node is your active ship (with all bays as subfolders). The next two nodes are Items and Ships. The right part of the window is the usual icon grid that we are used to. To move items, simply drag them to the appropriate tree node on the left.

The new Inventory window will show the spinning pinwheel when loading items from the server. Good news is that it is also possible to filter the assets easily. The built in filters work great, but don’t trust the “valuable” filter too much – it doesn’t show faction items for example. You can of course build your own filters, so this should not be a problem.

Inventory is loading... Ships tree in new Inventory Items tree in new Inventory

Revamped Faction Warfare:

  • LP for kills
  • Bunkers are now infrastructure hubs
  • LP for all FW actions (capturing complexes, capturing infrastructures hubs, etc)
  • New FW front page
  • Consequences for capturing systems/regions (benefits for you, grief for your enemy)
  • Capturing FW system affect SOV ownership

Graphical changes:

  • New missile launchers and launch effects
  • New missiles, trails and explosions
  • New Stealth Bombers
    • Manticore
    • Nemesis
    • Purifier
    • Hound
  • Amarr V3
    • All sub capital Amarr ships, excluding T3 cruisers.
  • 14 different skintypes have been added to the Character Creator. This allows all bloodlines to have a wide range of skincolors.

Inferno version of Hound Inferno version of Nemesis Inferno version of Manticore Inferno version of Purifier v3 skin for Abaddon New missile effects on Drake New missile effects on Drake 2 v3 skin for Damnation v3 skin for Navy Slicer v3 skin for Navy Slicer - 2 v3 skin for Cruor Missile launchers on Hawk Missile Launchers on Tengu Missile Launchers on Gila Missile Launchers on Onyx Manticore with Siege Launchers and Bomb Launcher in deployed mode Manticore new model Scourge Torpedo goes boom

I really like the way the V-threed Damnation looks now. Missile effects in few words are simply kick-ass. Good job art departament!!

Also by the look at the remodelled Cloaked Bombers you can finally tell where all these t2 materials go 😉 This change and the Deimos model change back in Crucible add a lot to the immersion factor of EVE. I hope that other t2 ships are going to get some distinctive features as well.

Did I mention that new missile effects are gorgeous?

War changes

  • Updated Kill Reports (aka Kill Mails)
  • New war cost
  • Corp CEO/Director declares wars, no voting required
  • Alliance wars transfer to corps leaving
  • No automatic war retraction by aggressor
  • Wars last for week by default
  • Either side can offer surrender in a war
  • The defending side can get allies to help
  • There is a place for people to find prospective allies/clients
  • Players can now more easily track the war in the War Report
  • All corps have publicly viewable war history

New modules & drones

  • Drone Damage module (Extrinsic Damage Amplifier)
  • CPU Rigs (Small/Medium/Large Processor Overclocking Unit)
  • Fueled Shield booster (Small/Medium/Large Ancillary Shield Booster), using Cap Boosters as charges
  • Light and Medium Web drones
  • Adaptive Armor Hardener

    

The Adaptive Armor Hardener is a very curious mod, because it is different from shield Invulnerability Field:

  1. You can only fit one such mod
  2. It adapts to the incoming damage each cycle
  3. Overheating shortens the cycle, thus making it quicker to adapt

It’s giving the armor tankers an interesting twist, both for PvE activities (less hardener swapping) and PvP activities (strong omni tank which is able to adapt to specific damage type). This hardener will quickly become a “must have” mod just like Damage Control.

How do I test these goodies myself?

A very short guide to Singularity

  • Just make a copy of your main EVE folder, name it “EVE Test” or something that lets you know it’s SiSi client
  • Make a link to eve.exe on your desktop
  • Right click that link, choose Preferences
  • Add /server:singularity after eve.exe, make sure there is a space between .exe and /

This allows you to play with the new content, but also allows participation in mass tests scheduled by the CCP every few weeks.

Why participation in mass tests is good for you?

  • Because you help CCP develop better EVE.
  • Because for each test you get free 2M SP on Singularity for your testing pleasure.
  • Because it’s a win-win secnario.

 

Inferno ship models makeover

Lukas Rox EVE Online, Games , , , , , , , ,

As I have said earlier in my post about changes coming in the newest EVE Online expansion, Inferno will bring graphical overhaul for many ships, including a full re-model of cloaked bombers.

A player nicknamed ‘sarmatiko’ has released an unofficial preview of the new models. The video is available on youtube:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lajHzl9OQrk]

I am also not surprised, that CCP will release new V3 skins for Amarr ships, to match the Gallente and Caldari skins released in Crucible. CCP has released an official preview:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rpOfEGFPU8]

I am however a bit concerned, that we will probably still have to wait for the Minmatar ships to receive the V3 love. I just hope that the delay means they will look even more awesome.