EVE Online: Retribution Status Post

Expansion name: Retribution
Expansion number: 18
Release date: December the 4th, 2012
Expansion theme: Ships and weapons rebalancing, Crimewatch (new PvP agression rules), new HUD, Factional Warfare and DUST 514 integration, Bounty Hunting
Last update of this post: 30.11.2012
SQLite Database dump: Buckingham build 454549
Patch notes: available here for build 453216

I know this post is a huge wall of text, but I’m trying to make it as complete and as accurate as humanly possible; instead of having to look for information about the new expansion in dozen different places, all you have to do is read through this post.

Table of contents (or TL;DR part)

• Blueprints for new items
• Capital ships’ Corp Hangar changes
• Crime Watch 2.0
• Bounty Hunting system 2.0
• Graphical changes & ship facelifts (new Special Edition ships, Snowballs)
• UI changes
• Ships rebalancing
• Frigate rebalancing
• Destroyers (Dragoon, Corax, Algos, Talwar)
• Cruiser rebalancing
• Hurricane balancing
• Turret sound changes
• Missile changes
• Module changes
• Officer drone upgrades
• E-War rebalancing
• ORE Mining frigate (Venture)
• NPCs AI overhaul
• Officer Rogue Drone spawns
• Faction Warfare – Warzone Control changes
• Faction Warfare – NPC changes

Blueprints and skillbooks for new items in Retribution

• New destroyer blueprints can be bought from their respective faction for 7-8 million ISK each
• Venture mining frigate blueprint may be obtained in Outer Ring in ORE faction stations
• The new Mining Frigate skill may be obtained through the regular academy stations for 36000 ISK
• Micro Jump Drive Blueprint copies drop from hacking sites and pirate commander/officer loot
• Micro Jump Drive Operation skill will be seeded on the market.
• Salvage Drone Blueprint will be seeded on market.

Corp hangars become Fleet Hangars

Some capital ships like carriers and Orca have a Corp Hangar built in: it works just like the corp hangar on a station. It has divisions, and all access rights are applied to them. These divisions however, are not very useful.

Corporation hangars on capital ships and Orcas will be converted into Fleet Hangars. These fleet hangars have no divisions and corp roles are irrelevant. The size of the fleet hangar is the same as the old corp hangar and all items will be moved from the corp hangar to the fleet hangar at deployment of the patch.

• It is always possible to use the fitting service of the Ship Maintenance Bay of a corp member and a fleet member
• Corp members can access both the SMB and the fleet hangar with the setting “Allow corp member usage”
• Fleet members can access both the SMB and the fleet hangar with the setting “Allow fleet member usage”
• Fleet hangars will now behave like normal cargo hold when it comes to ship scanners and loot drops (ie, will be scannable, and loot will drop from them)
• CCP is adding five new non-compressive containers (from 250k m3 down to 1k m3)
• Freighters will have their restrictions removed: they will be able to perform all cargo operations in space, moving things to and from containers in space, and jettisoning items.

This means that once Retribution is released, Orca will not be THE safe hauler anymore.

Instead Blockade Runners will be updated to resist cargo scanners, and will always show as empty on scans.

• The number of simultaneous users for *all* ship fitting arrays, these on ships and POSes will now be unlimited. Everyone in proper range will be able to refit.

More details is available here and here.

Source: Dev-blog, Test Servers

Crime watch 2.0

Old system:

• built upon Aggression Flags.
  • flags were between two parties (characters, corps, factions and others)
• could be triggered in a wide variety of ways
  • direct activation of guns,
  • stealing items from a container
  • being ‘observed’ by an invisible NPC controller
• sometimes the aggression flags were visible in the client, sometimes they weren’t

New system:

• There is no character-to-character flagging anymore: all flags are global
• PVP Flag: This flag is activated when one player uses offensive modules against another. The initiator of the action will get a PVP flag. If the recipient is a piloted ship, then the owner of this ship will also get a PVP flag. Having this flag will prevent a ship from being removed from space if the pilot logs off. This flag functions in all areas of space.
• NPC Flag: This flag is activated when a player uses offensive modules against an NPC (or vice-versa). Having this flag will prevent a ship from being removed from space if the pilot logs off. This flag functions in all areas of space.
• Legality Flag: This flag exists to penalize those who commit criminal/suspicious actions in Empire space (high and low sec). A character with a Legal flag is always a legal target for offense from all other players.This flag has two severity levels: SUSPECT and CRIMINAL
  • CONCORD will always attack CRIMINALS
  • Illegal attacks on ships (not capsules) in low-sec only incur a Suspect flag. No CONCORD response if the attacker subsequently jumps in to high-sec.
  • Stealing from a container will expose you to potential attacks from all players (but not from sentry guns). The existing rules for what constitutes ‘legal access’ to a container are the same.
  • Criminal flag will also award a kill-right to that person. This will happen regardless of whether or not the target ship was destroyed.
• Timer will not count down until last offensive module is shut down
• Remote assisting someone will make you inherit his flags AND timers
• Assisting an outlaw in low-sec (outside of a combat situation) will not be penalized
• Limited Engagements.Player always has a right to self-defense, even if he is A Bad Guy.
  •  LE is created when character A attacks character B, and where B is globally-attackable due to being a Suspect, Criminal or Outlaw
  • LE is ACTIVE as long as offensive actions are on-going.
  • LE gives each party a legal right to attack the other, without triggering any Legal flag.
  • If the timer expires (15 minutes but still TBC) then the LE is ended
  • Assisting someone who is engaged in an LE will cause the assistor to receive a Suspect flag. This will prevent neutral logistics interfering in combat.

CCP is also working on a replacement for the usage of thief flag as a way to initiate consensual 1v1s. (Lukas: Is CCP trying to introduce a form of DUELS to EVE?)

Source: dev blog by CCP Masterplan

Bounty Hunting system 2.0

There has been no dev blog yet, but CCP Ripley has disclosed some details in the latest In Development video by CCP. The new Bounty Hunting system will let players to hire others to settle scores. It will be possible to place bounties on individual characters, but also on corporations and whole alliances. It will be also possible to trade kill rights.

Dev blog is already up, and here’s the summary:

• Bounties will not be paid in whole anymore. Instead, 20% of the kill value will be paid (similar to LP payout for FW kills)
• Bounties will be paid for ship and pod kills equally (for pod kills, payout is based on implants value)
• Claiming a bounty is based on Final Blow. The bounty will however be shared between the fleet members.
• Bounties can now be placed on anyone, The -1 security standing requirement will be removed.
• You can track bounties you’ve placed on other players.
• Bounty pools are eliminated and a portion returned to those that contributed to the pool if the target has been inactive (unsubscribed) for a long time.
• CCP will add a Bounty Hunter rank list. Most Wanted list will get a redo as well.
• Bounties have no effect on who can be attacked legally where.
• Existing bounties will be removed when the new system is deployed in December.

 Killright changes:

• Killright is granted for agression in high sec (Criminal flag) or podding in low-sec
• Killrights don’t allow ability to shoot the offender as it is now. Instead, you can activate that kill right to make your target a suspect, so anyone in vincinity can attack him legally.
• Killrights can be opened for sale (much like an ally slot in hi sec wars) and transferred to another player.

Initial playerbase comments like this one by Poetic Stanziel are rather negative to these changes, as that new system can potentailly be gamed.

Graphical changes & ship facelifts

My speculation in this post was quite successful, because thanks to our protests and some CSM influence, Vagabond gets it’s frills back! Stabber model will receive a facelift as well. Click images for an excellent huge-res dual-head wallpaper 😉

• Megathron, one of the most iconic ships of EVE, gets a redesign, too. The new version is even more sleek and gallentish:
     
• Tempest has been redesigned as well, now looks a bit like Tornado and the new rookie ship:
    
• Winter expansion will bring one more thing: new ship explosions. It has been mentioned on edge-online.com and previously in one of the Fanfest keynotes. They are not available on Duality yet.
• Sansha’s Nation  and CONCORD ships will receive the V3 treatment:
     
  Notice the “chameleon” paint that is more green at the edges and more ammarlike in the middle. It must be some kind of nanites! 😉
  EDIT: The chameleon paint job has been changed to look more like oil film on water:
  
• Temperate Planets will have visible cities where DUST districts are. More details on that below.
  Districts have been already introduced in Inferno 1.3 
• Catalyst has received five new faction variants. Market speculators, rejoice!
  PS. Some of these faction variants are already being seeded on Tranquility. Watch for various ETC promotions!
      
  
• Four new Special Edition Frigates:
     
• All Special Edition items and ships have been reorganized in new market groups:
  
• Snowballs are likely to come back this Winter!
  

UI changes

Targeting brackets are watching at a serious overhaul coming their way. First, targets will no longer have a square icon: they will be round instead. Pretty neat, eh? This also means that HP will now be displayed as a circle, just like the readout for our own ship, i.e. the most outer circle for shields, middle for armor, and the inner circle for hull respectively.

As long as changing shapes is not a big or useful idea, this second change can provide useful. Targeting brakcets will now indicate not only if you are “yellowboxed” or “redboxed”, but also who is dealing how much damage and if the target is already in range, or not quite yet. Targeting brackets will blink bright red each time you receive damage. More damage also means a brighter shade of red. While this change might contribute to some client side lag in big fleet fights, it will for sure become useful in smaller engagements.

Source: dev-blog by CCP Karkur

The new Inventory UI has been iterated upon. For example, to switch between the new and old (pre-Inferno) hangar view, just click this small button. Compact mode is the “old” style window. But that’s not all:

New “Inventory” group has been added to the top left EVE menu containing Inventory, Item Hangar, Ship Hangar, Corporate Hangar, Deliveries and Active Ship. You can then drag any or all of those buttons to the Neocom “task bar”

• Primary (the one opened up through ALT+C or Neocom shortcut) and secondary (the ones opened up through SHIFT+click and such) inventory window pattern has been cleared up so that it makes more sense. As a result, primary and secondary windows will behave exactly the same in almost all aspects, with only one major exception:
  • The primary window will always show the entire tree view (all available inventory locations at a given time) but secondary windows will only show parts of it. So, for example, if you open up the Station Corp Hangar in a new window (you can now, you can in fact open up anything in a separate window) the tree view will only show the Corp hangar and its descendants.
• All windows will now persist all of their settings, based on what they represent. If you want to use the tree view for Corp Hangars but nothing else, you can configure it so.
• The Active Ship Cargo inventory window will now follow the active ship around when switching.
• The cargo button in the Ship HUD will now open said window instead of the primary inventory window.
• New “Compact mode” for inventory windows, which hides EVERYTHING except for the items. That’s of course persisted as well per window type and is toggled through a button in the top-right corner.
• Implemented scroll-on-drag-hover for the tree view.
• Removed switch-between-inventories-on-drag-hover feature for tree view, so no more accidental switches. (Lukas: this was actually the only thing really getting on my nerves, thanks for removing that CCP 😉 )
• Scrolling with a mouse wheel will now apply to the window under the mouse instead of the window with focus.

To prevent new players from accidently becoming criminals, a safety switch has been added. Please note this is not a PVP flag switch! It only prevents YOU from firing. You are still a valid target for everyone else, despite this setting. Think of it like a weapon safety switch.

All hardeners and resistance amplifiers will have specific damage type icons:

 Bulk LP purchasing – you will now be able to buy 100 Navy Ravens with as much as two mouse clicks (and not 200 as before)

Ships rebalancing

CCP Ytterbium has posted a dev-blog about incoming ship changes in the 18th free expansion of EVE. Guess what? Cruisers and dessies will get dev love, too.

Devs have initially only mentiones the frigate rebalancing, which I have covered in detail in one of my recent posts here. It seems however, that CCP Fozzie is a great addition to the team, because CCP has decided to go with cruiser rebalancing as well. Let’s have a look at the details:

Frigate rebalancing

Disruption frigates – dev forum post here
Weaker version of Electronic Attack Ships

CRUCIFIER: 7.5% Bonus to Tracking Disruptor effectiveness per level 10% Bonus to Tracking Disruptor optimal range per level Slot layout: 2/4/3, 2 turrets Fittings: 27MW, 235tf Shields: 250 Armor: 400 Hull: 350 Capacitor: 330 Cap Recharge: 180s Max Velocity: 350 m/s Drone bandwidth: 15 Drone bay: 45 Targeting range: 64km Scan Resolution: 540 Max Locked targets: 6 Sensor strength: 14 Signature radius: 38 Cargo capacity: 265

GRIFFIN: 15% Bonus to ECM Jammer strength per level 10% Bonus to ECM Jammer cap use per level Slot layout: 2/5/2, 2 launchers Fittings: 24MW, 240tf Shields: 400 Armor: 250 Hull: 250 Capacitor: 245 Cap Recharge: 135s Max Velocity: 325 m/s Drone bandwidth: 5 Drone bay: 5 Targeting range: 65km Scan Resolution: 500 Max Locked targets: 6 Sensor strength: 17 Signature radius: 42 Cargo capacity: 260

MAULUS: 7.5% Bonus to Sensor Damp effectiveness per level 10% reduction in Sensor Damp capacitor use per level Slot layout: 2/4/3, 2 turrets Fittings: 28MW, 230tf Shields: 300 Armor: 350 Hull: 400 Capacitor: 275 Cap Recharge: 150s Max Velocity: 375 m/s Drone bandwidth: 20 Drone bay: 30 Targeting range: 64.5km Scan Resolution: 520 Max Locked targets: 6 Sensor strength: 16 Signature radius: 40 Cargo capacity: 275

VIGIL: 7.5% Bonus to Target Painter effectiveness per level 10% Bonus to Target Painter optimal range per level Slot layout: 2/5/2, 2 launchers Fittings: 26MW, 225tf Shields: 350 Armor: 300 Hull: 300 Capacitor: 235 Cap Recharge: 130s Max Velocity: 410 m/s Drone bandwidth: 5 Drone bay: 5 Targeting range: 63.5km Scan Resolution: 560 Max Locked targets: 6 Sensor strength: 12 Signature radius: 34 Cargo capacity: 250

Exploration frigates – dev forum post here
They will receive an additional bonus to mini-professions, rather than just to probe scanning strength.

MAGNATE: 7.5% increase to scan strength of probes per level 5% bonus to Codebreaker, Analyzer and Salvager cycle time per level Slot layout: 3/3/4, 2 turrets, 2 launchers Fittings: 26MW, 230tf Shields: 250 Armor: 350 Hull: 250 Capacitor: 325 Cap Recharge: 180s Max Velocity: 350 m/s Drone bandwidth: 15 Drone bay: 40 Targeting range: 34km Scan Resolution: 445 Max Locked targets: 4 Sensor strength: 10 Signature radius: 39 Cargo capacity: 400

HERON: 7.5% increase to scan strength of probes per level 5% bonus to Codebreaker, Analyzer and Salvager cycle time per level Slot layout: 3/5/2, 2 turrets, 2 launchers Fittings: 24MW, 260tf Shields: 400 Armor: 200 Hull: 200 Capacitor: 245 Cap Recharge: 135s Max Velocity: 340 m/s Drone bandwidth: 15 Drone bay: 35 Targeting range: 37.5km Scan Resolution: 430 Max Locked targets: 4 Sensor strength: 12 Signature radius: 40 Cargo capacity: 400

IMICUS: 7.5% increase to scan strength of probes per level 5% bonus to Codebreaker, Analyzer and Salvager cycle time per level Slot layout: 3/4/3, 1 turret Fittings: 21MW, 250tf Shields: 275 Armor: 325 Hull: 275 Capacitor: 270 Cap Recharge: 135s Max Velocity: 330 m/s Drone bandwidth: 20 Drone bay: 40 Targeting range: 35km Scan Resolution: 450 Max Locked targets: 4 Sensor strength: 11 Signature radius: 41 Cargo capacity: 400

PROBE: 7.5% increase to scan strength of probes per level 5% bonus to Codebreaker, Analyzer and Salvager cycle time per level Slot layout: 4/3/3, 2 turrets, 2 launchers Fittings: 25MW, 240tf Shields: 300 Armor: 300 Hull: 225 Capacitor: 235 Cap Recharge: 130s Max Velocity: 360 m/s Drone bandwidth: 15 Drone bay: 35 Targeting range: 32.5km Scan Resolution: 465 Max Locked targets: 4 Sensor strength: 9 Signature radius: 38 Cargo capacity: 400

Logistic frigates – dev forum post here
Along with ships rebalancing, small remote assistance modules will get a slight fitting boost as well.
Maximum remote assistance range will be capped at 28,8km.

INQUISITOR: 10% bonus to Remote Armor Repair amount per level 10% reduction in Remote Armor Repair cap use per level Role Bonus: 500% bonus to the range of Remote Armor Repairers Slot layout: 3/2/4, 2 turrets Fittings: 51MW, 135tf Shields: 225 Armor: 500 Hull: 330 Capacitor: 400 Cap Recharge: 200s Max Velocity: 310 m/s Drone bandwidth: 5 Drone bay: 5 Targeting range: 36km Scan Resolution: 700 Max Locked targets: 7 Sensor strength: 10 Signature radius: 34 Cargo capacity: 250

BANTAM: 10% bonus to Shield Transporter boost amount per level 10% reduction in Shield Transporter cap use per level Role Bonus: 500% bonus to the range of Shield Transporters Slot layout: 3/4/2, 2 turrets Fittings: 39MW, 215tf Shields: 500 Armor: 225 Hull: 310 Capacitor: 380 Cap Recharge: 190s Max Velocity: 300 m/s Drone bandwidth: 5 Drone bay: 5 Targeting range: 40km Scan Resolution: 650 Max Locked targets: 7 Sensor strength: 12 Signature radius: 35 Cargo capacity: 270

NAVITAS: 10% bonus to Remote Armor Repair amount per level 10% reduction in Remote Armor Repair cap use per level Role Bonus: 500% bonus to the range of Remote Armor Repairers Slot layout: 3/3/3, 2 turrets Fittings: 49MW, 145tf Shields: 250 Armor: 400 Hull: 335 Capacitor: 390 Cap Recharge: 195s Max Velocity: 330 m/s Drone bandwidth: 5 Drone bay: 5 Targeting range: 38km Scan Resolution: 675 Max Locked targets: 7 Sensor strength: 11 Signature radius: 36 Cargo capacity: 280

BURST: 10% bonus to Shield Transporter boost amount per level 10% reduction in Shield Transporter cap use per level Role Bonus: 500% bonus to the range of Shield Transporters Slot layout: 3/3/3, 2 turrets Fittings: 40MW, 205tf Shields: 400 Armor: 250 Hull: 290 Capacitor: 370 Cap Recharge: 185s Max Velocity: 335 m/s Drone bandwidth: 5 Drone bay: 5 Targeting range: 34km Scan Resolution: 725 Max Locked targets: 7 Sensor strength: 9 Signature radius: 33 Cargo capacity: 260

More Combat frigates – dev forum post here
The Amarr have received two rebalanced combat frigates (Tormentor and Punisher) recently, so all the other races are getting a second combat frig to choose from as well.

KESTREL: 5% Bonus to all Missile damage per level 10% Bonus to Missile velocity per level Slot layout: 4/4/2, 4 launchers Fittings: 45MW, 180tf Shields: 500 Armor: 350 Hull: 350 Capacitor: 330 Cap Recharge: 165s Max Velocity: 320 m/s Drone bandwidth: – Drone bay: – Targeting range: 50km Scan Resolution: 620 Max Locked targets: 5 Sensor strength: 11 Signature radius: 38 Cargo capacity: 160

TRISTAN: 7.5% Bonus to Hybrid Turret tracking speed per level 10% Bonus to Drone tracking speed and hitpoints per level Slot layout: 3/3/3, 2 turrets Fittings: 35MW, 130tf Shields: 350 Armor: 450 Hull: 550 Capacitor: 350 Cap Recharge: 175s Max Velocity: 310 m/s Drone bandwidth: 25 Drone bay: 40 Targeting range: 40km Scan Resolution: 600 Max Locked targets: 5 Sensor strength:9 Signature radius: 41 Cargo capacity: 140

BREACHER: 5% Bonus to all Missile damage per level 7.5% Bonus to Shield boost amount per level Slot layout: 3/4/3, 3 launchers Fittings: 35MW, 180tf Shields: 500 Armor: 350 Hull: 300 Capacitor: 300 Cap Recharge: 150s Max Velocity: 350 m/s Drone bandwidth: 10 Drone bay: 10 Targeting range: 35km Scan Resolution: 650 Max Locked targets: 4 Sensor strength: 8 Signature radius: 36 Cargo capacity: 175

Destroyers

Tech I dessies have already got a buff in Crucible, and have been doing much better since then. Reduced signature and better stats make them really useful. CCP has also introduced a new set of Destroyers, which will join the fray. While the devs come up with their names, Ytterbium has mentioned that the new Dessies will have bigger singature and will be medium range missile/drone boats. While Amarr and Gallente will focus on drones (with a full flight of bonused small drones), Caldari and Minmatar will focus on spewing missiles. Slot layout of these new destroyers is unknown at the moment, but the total amount of slots will sum up to 13, just like on the existing ones.

CCP also plans to give Destroyers an extra role for Planetary Bombardment, but it will come at a later date. Dev forum post is available here.

In the meantime, let’s review the new slightly improved configuration for existing Destroyers:

COERCER: Bonuses unchanged Slot layout: 8/2/3, 8 turrets Fittings: 85MW, 168tf Shields: 700 Armor: 900 Hull: 800 Capacitor: 700 Cap Recharge: 370s Max Velocity: 255 m/s Drone bandwidth: 0 Drone bay: 0 Targeting range: 30km Scan Resolution: 525 Max Locked targets: 6 Sensor strength: 10 Signature radius: 62 Cargo capacity: 300 m3

CORMORANT: Bonuses unchanged Slot layout: 8/3/2, 7turrets, 1 launcher Fittings: 68MW, 200tf Shields: 900 Armor: 700 Hull: 700 Capacitor: 600 Cap Recharge: 320s Max Velocity: 250 m/s Drone bandwidth: 0 Drone bay: 0 Targeting range: 36km Scan Resolution: 475 Max Locked targets: 7 Sensor strength: 12 Signature radius: 65 Cargo capacity: 450 m3

CATALYST: Bonuses unchanged Slot layout: 8/2/3, 8 turrets Fittings: 60MW, 170tf Shields: 750 Armor: 800 Hull: 900 Capacitor: 650 Cap Recharge: 350s Max Velocity: 265 m/s Drone bandwidth: 5 Drone bay: 5 Targeting range: 33km Scan Resolution: 500 Max Locked targets: 7 Sensor strength: 11 Signature radius: 68 Cargo capacity: 400 m3

THRASHER: Bonuses unchanged Slot layout: 8/3/2, 8 turrets Fittings: 70MW, 170tf Shields: 800 Armor: 750 Hull: 750 Capacitor: 550 Cap Recharge: 290s Max Velocity: 270 m/s Drone bandwidth: 0 Drone bay: 0 Targeting range: 27km Scan Resolution: 550 Max Locked targets: 6 Sensor strength: 9 Signature radius: 56 Cargo capacity: 400 m3

The new destroyer stats

They have been published by CCP Ytterbium on 28th of September in this forum post.

   

DRAGOON: +10% to drone damage and hitpoint per level +20% bonus to energy vampire and energy neutralizer transfer range per level Role bonus: +25% to ship capacitor recharge rate Slot layout: 6/2/4, 3 turrets, 3 launchers Fittings: 55MW, 150tf Shields: 750 Armor: 950 Hull: 850 Capacitor: 600 Cap Recharge: 370s Max Velocity: 235 m/s Drone bandwidth: 25 Drone bay: 75 Targeting range: 39km Scan Resolution: 525 Max Locked targets: 6 Sensor strength: 10 Signature radius: 66 Cargo capacity: 300 m3

CORAX: +5% to rocket and light missile kinetic damage per level +10% to rocket and light missile explosion velocity per level Role bonus: +50% to rocket and light missile velocity Slot layout: 8/3/2, 8 launchers Fittings: 45MW, 210tf Shields: 950 Armor: 750 Hull: 750 Capacitor: 500 Cap Recharge: 320s Max Velocity: 250 m/s Drone bandwidth: 0 Drone bay: 0 Targeting range: 45km Scan Resolution: 475 Max Locked targets: 7 Sensor strength: 12 Signature radius: 69 Cargo capacity: 450 m3

ALGOS: +10% to drone damage and HP per level +5% to small hybrid turret damage per level Role bonus: +50% small hybrid turret optimal range Slot layout: 6/3/3, 4 turrets Fittings: 55MW, 150tf Shields: 800 Armor: 850 Hull: 950 Capacitor: 550 Cap Recharge: 350s Max Velocity: 240 m/s Drone bandwidth: 25 Drone bay: 50 Targeting range: 42km Scan Resolution: 500 Max Locked targets: 7 Sensor strength: 11 Signature radius: 72 Cargo capacity: 350 m3

TALWAR: +5% to rocket and light missile explosive damage per level 15% reduction in MicroWarpdrive signature radius penalty per level Role bonus: +50% to rocket and light missile velocity Slot layout: 7/3/3, 7 launchers Fittings: 48MW, 200tf Shields: 850 Armor: 800 Hull: 800 Capacitor: 450 Cap Recharge: 290s Max Velocity: 255 m/s Drone bandwidth: 0 Drone bay: 0 Targeting range: 36km Scan Resolution: 550 Max Locked targets: 6 Sensor strength: 9 Signature radius: 60 Cargo capacity: 400 m3

Cruiser rebalancing

• Support cruisers: Augoror, Osprey, Exequror, Scythe. These ships will get a new life as Tech I logistic ships. Their current mining role will be removed. Support cruisers should be useful when no one has a handy Guardian or Basilisk (or can’t fly them). A dev post about support cruisers by CCP Fozzie is already here.

AUGOROR: 15% bonus to Remote Armor Repair amount per level 5% reduction in Remote Armor Repair cap use per level Role Bonus: 1000% bonus to the range of Remote Armor Repairers and Energy Transfers 200% bonus to Energy Transfer Array transfer amount Slot layout: 5/3/5, 3 turrets Fittings: 650MW, 275tf Shields: 1000 Armor: 1650 Hull: 1550 Capacitor: 1500 Cap Recharge: 300s Max Velocity: 210 m/s Drone bandwidth: 20 Drone bay: 20 Targeting range: 62.5km Scan Resolution: 385 Max Locked targets: 8 Sensor strength: 14 Signature radius: 90 Cargo capacity: 465

OSPREY: 15% bonus to Shield Transporter boost amount per level 5% reduction in Shield Transporter cap use per level Role Bonus: 1000% bonus to the range of Shield Transporters and Energy Transfers 200% bonus to Energy Transfer Array transfer amount Slot layout: 5/5/3, 2 launchers Fittings: 425MW, 440tf Shields: 1650 Armor: 1000 Hull: 1450 Capacitor: 1375 Cap Recharge: 275s Max Velocity: 200 m/s Drone bandwidth: 20 Drone bay: 20 Targeting range: 65km Scan Resolution: 350 Max Locked targets: 8 Sensor strength: 16 Signature radius: 95 Cargo capacity: 485

EXEQUROR: 15% bonus to Remote Armor Repair amount per level 5% reduction in Remote Armor Repair cap use per level Role Bonus: 1000% bonus to the range of Remote Armor Repairers 100% bonus to Logistic Drone (both armor and shield) rep amount Slot layout: 3/4/6, 3 turrets Fittings: 610MW, 275tf Shields: 1000 Armor: 1400 Hull: 1600 Capacitor: 1375 Cap Recharge: 264s Max Velocity: 240 m/s Drone bandwidth: 50 Drone bay: 50 Targeting range: 55km Scan Resolution: 365 Max Locked targets: 8 Sensor strength: 15 Signature radius: 80 Cargo capacity: 490

SCYTHE: 15% bonus to Shield Transporter boost amount per level 5% reduction in Shield Transporter cap use per level Role Bonus: 1000% bonus to the range of Shield Transporters 100% bonus to Logistic Drone (both armor and shield) rep amount Slot layout: 3/5/5, 2 turrets, 1 launcher Fittings: 330MW, 415tf Shields: 1400 Armor: 1100 Hull: 1300 Capacitor: 1250 Cap Recharge: 240s Max Velocity: 250 m/s Drone bandwidth: 45 Drone bay: 45 Targeting range: 52.5km Scan Resolution: 400 Max Locked targets: 8 Sensor strength: 13 Signature radius: 75 Cargo capacity: 475

• Disruption cruisers: Arbitrator, Blackbird, Celestis, Bellicose. Arbitrator and Bellicose will become very much like Tech I counterpart of Combat Recons, while the Blackbird and Celestis will be tuned to be more like Force Recons. See the dev forum post here.

ARBITRATOR: 7.5% bonus to Tracking Disruptor effectiveness per level 10% bonus to drone hitpoints, damage and mining yield per level Slot layout: 4/4/5, 2 turrets, 2 launchers Fittings: 575MW, 425tf Shields: 1200 Armor: 1500 Hull: 1600 Capacitor: 1375 Cap Recharge: 490s Max Velocity: 200 m/s Drone bandwidth: 50 Drone bay: 150 Targeting range: 50km Scan Resolution: 285 Max Locked targets: 7 Sensor strength: 15 Signature radius: 130 Cargo capacity: 345 m3

BLACKBIRD: 15% bonus to ECM Target Jammer strength per level 10% bonus to ECM Target Jammer optimal range and falloff per level Slot layout: 4/6/3, 3 turrets, 3 launchers Fittings: 525MW, 425tf Shields: 1400 Armor: 1200 Hull: 1400 Capacitor: 1250 Cap Recharge: 445s Max Velocity: 190 m/s Drone bandwidth: 10 Drone bay: 10 Targeting range: 85km Scan Resolution: 230 Max Locked targets: 8 Sensor strength: 20 Signature radius: 150 Cargo capacity: 305 m3

CELESTIS: 7.5% bonus to Remote Sensor Dampener effectiveness per level 10% bonus to Remote Sensor Dampener optimal range per level Slot layout: 3/5/5, 3 turrets, 3 launchers Fittings: 575MW, 375tf Shields: 1200 Armor: 1300 Hull: 1700 Capacitor: 1300 Cap Recharge: 463s Max Velocity: 210 m/s Drone bandwidth: 50 Drone bay: 50 Targeting range: 75km Scan Resolution: 290 Max Locked targets: 8 Sensor strength: 18 Signature radius: 135 Cargo capacity: 320 m3

BELLICOSE: 7.5% bonus to Target Painter effectiveness per level 5% bonus to Rapid Light, Heavy Assault and Heavy Missile Launcher rate of fire per level Slot layout: 4/5/4, 4 launchers Fittings: 575MW, 360tf Shields: 1400 Armor: 1200 Hull: 1500 Capacitor: 1200 Cap Recharge: 427.5s Max Velocity: 240 m/s Drone bandwidth: 40 Drone bay: 40 Targeting range: 42.5km Scan Resolution: 300 Max Locked targets: 7 Sensor strength: 14 Signature radius: 120 Cargo capacity: 315 m3

• Attack cruisers: Omen, Caracal, Thorax, Stabber. These four hulls will be altered to become hit-and-run ships designed for speed and damage. The line between Combat and Attakc cruisers will not be as sharp as for frigates – Attack Cruisers are not intended to be giant tacklers – just fast and agile DPS. Check this forum post for details.
• Combat cruisers: Maller, Moa, Vexor, Rupture. Two words here: resilience and damage. Combat cruisers will be a bit weaker version of HACs, with similar resistance and damage bonuses.
• Battlecruiser changes: Hurricane is the first Battlecruiser to get the rebalancing treatment, and unfortunately that means it’s getting nerfed. Because medium weapons are getting their fitting requirements reduced, players would save a lot of PG on ships like Hurricane. Devs have decided to cut the PG of Hurri by 225MW, leaving a base of 1125 MW. Check out this forum post for details.

Ship Skilltree changes

No skilltree changes are planned for the winter expansion. Spaceship Command skill tree will be altered after devs had rebalanced Battlecruisers.

Sound changes

According to CCP Ripley, who is the host in the latest In Developmnet video by CCP, all turret sounds in EVE Online will be replaced by new ones. A new dynamic music system (most likely responding to action) is also in development.

Missile changes

In his recent forum post CCP Fozzie has outlined the plans to change the missiles (and tracking computers). First off, all missiles are getting a better acceleration. It means they will reach their top speed a bit earlier and fly a bit further away.

Secondly, Light Missiles will be better fitted to hit small targets, because their explosion radius will be reduced:

• Explosion radius reduced from 50 to 40
• Damage increased by 10% (rounded to closest digit)
• Affects all variant light missiles, including FOF.
• Decreased fitting reqs for all light launchers by 2 MW and 4 tf

Another change will be a nerf for Heavy Missiles – one that is clearly going to rise a lot of negative voices from the playerbase, as the HM are the weapon of choice for Tengus and Drakes. All weapons in EVE have either long range (and waeker DPS) or short range and high damage. Heavy Missiles had no short range counterpart for a long time. And then HAMs have been introduced. Unfortunately the damage difference between HAMs and HMs was marginal and the versatility of Heavy Missiles made them preferred.

• Base flight time reduced by 35%
• Base velocity increased by 14,66%
• In total, base range reduced by ~25%
• Damage decreased by 10% (rounded to closest digit)
• Affects all variant Heavy missiles, including FOF.
• Explosion radius increased by 12%

Heavy Assault Missile Launchers will have their PG need reduced by 10%.

Guided Missile Precision skill and all implants will affect all subcap missiles.

Finally, Tech II missiles are being looked into. The penalties for using Tech II ammo were discouraging many players from using them. At some point devs have reduced stacking of these penalties, but that did not encourage people to use them to a wider degree. This time the ship penalties are being completely removed:

• Remove ship penalties from tech two missiles (ship velocity and ship signature radius)
• Precision: Improve bonuses to explosion velocity by 20%, increase damage to match T1 missiles
• Fury: Increase damage by 35%, reduce flight time to 75% of T1, explosion radius increased by 72% and explosion velocity reduced by 16%
• Javelin: Just remove ship penalties
• Rage: increase damage by 35%, flight time unified to T1 variants, max velocity reduced 16,7%, explosion velocity reduced by 14% and explosion radius increased by 72%

Module changes

Fitting requirements will be reduced for small and medium remote assistance mods (Remote Armor Repairs and Shield Transporters): check this dev post for small and this one for medium sized modules.

Fitting requirements will be reduced for small and medium weapons (specifically lasers and artillery):

• Large Micro Jump Drive is finally making it’s way to New Eden. It will allow T1 and T2 battleships to jump 100km straight ahead, but requires a 12 second spoll-up and once used, has to cool down for 5 minutes. It grants +1 warp strength when activated, so one requires a Warp Scrambler module to stop a ship from using MJD. Micro Jump Drive also grants temporary protection from non-targeted interdiction (warp bubbles).
   Each level of Micro Jump Drive Operation skill reduces the spool-up time by 5% down to 9 seconds at level 5
• PG use of Focused Medium Pulse lasers will be reduced by 5%
• PG use of Heavy Pulse lasers will be reduced by 10%
• PG use of all cruiser sized beam lasers will be reduced by 10%
• PG use of all cruiser sized artillery will be reduced by 10%
• All light missile launcher fittings
  CPU reduced by 4, PG reduced by 2
• Drone Damage Amplifier I
  CPU increased from 27 to 30, drone damage increased from 15 to 16%
• Drone Damage Amplifier II
  CPU reduced from 32 to 30, drone damage increased from 19 to 23%
• Officer drone upgrades which will drop from officer drone spawns
• Reactive Armor Hardener will now cycle twice as fast, as well as costing less cap to activate as the Armor Resistance Phasing skill is trained higher.
• Ancillary Shield Booster  is receiving a slight nerf:
  • less capacity to hold less cap charges,
  • increased cap need when running without charges
  • increase in duration for the X-large version
• Target Spectrum Breaker is receiving a boost:
  • reduced duration
  • less severe scan resolution penalty
• Tracking/Range Mods and Ewar
  • Changes apply equally to guided and unguided missiles
  • Modify tracking enhancers and tracking computers to affect:
    • Max flight time (with optimal range script)
    • Explosion radius and explosion velocity (with tracking speed script)
  • Make TDs affect Missiles
    • Tracking speed disruption script lowers explosion velocity and increases explosion radius
    • Optimal range disruption script lowers flight time

  These changes have been moved out of the initial Retribution release.

  
  

E-War rebalancing

ECM

• 10% reduction of Optimal Range and Falloff reduced on ECM modules
• Optimal Range and Falloff bonus on ECM range bonused ships by 2.5% for the Blackbird, Kitsune and Tengu Obfuscation Manifold (bringing it to 12.5%) and 5% for the Scorpion (bringing it to 25%)
• Add four new racial sensor compensation skills that increase each type of Sensor Strength by 5% per level (Requires Electronics 4, rank 3 skills in the Electronics category)

Damps

• 20% increase to Optimal Range of all Remote Sensor Dampeners
• Dampening strength bonus on bonused ships increased to 7.5% per level

Tracking Disruptors

• Reduce TD base module effectiveness by 5%
• Increase strength bonus on all TD bonused ships to 7.5% per level

Target Painter

• Increase strength bonus on TP bonused ships to 7.5% per level for T1 and 10% per level for T2

Drone changes

Salvage drones, which were already supposed to be released in Inferno, will finally make their way to New Eden. It’s worth mentioning, that some characters have the Salvage Drones skill already trained, because at some point in the past CCP has seeded the skillbook by mistake. Salvage drones are a tiny 5 m3 intelligent drone which will work automatically! Player will be able to kill the NPCs as usual, and these little fellows will salvage everything that remains. Say “bye bye” to your Noctis and the dedicated salvage profession (one much liked especially by the new players). Source: dev blog.

ORE Mining frigate (Dasher Venture)

While Navitas, Bantam and the mining cruisers (Exequror, Scythe) will become logistic ships, there is a need for a small scale, low-SP mining specific ship. This is how Venture looks like, and thanks to this post by CCP Ytterbium, we know the stats as well.
   

Venture +5% to mining yield per level +5% to gas harvesting yield per level Role Bonus: +100% to mining yield +100% to gas harvesting yield + 2 warp core stabilizer bonus Slot layout: 3/3/1, 2 turrets Fittings: 45MW, 240tf Shields: 225 Armor: 175 Hull: 200 Capacitor: 250 Cap Recharge: 125s Max Velocity: 335 m/s Drone bandwidth: 10 Drone bay: 10 Targeting range: 15km Scan Resolution: 750 Max Locked targets: 5 Sensor strength: 4 Signature radius: 40 Cargo capacity: 50 m3 Ore bay capacity: 5000 m3

 

It seems that the new mining frigate is not just a newbie mining vessel: it is a specialized gas harvesting ship, which agility and gas harvesting bonus will be extremely useful for booster production. Additional +2 warp strength bonus is icing on the cake. Of course the ship is paper-thin, so escape is probably the best course of action when facing hostiles.

NPCs AI overhaul

In a recent dev-blog by CCP FoxFour we can also read about changes to NPC AI. To sum things up:

• All mission and belt NPCs will get the sleeper AI (known as Level One AI)
• This will be a modified template, so they are not as drone-hating as sleepers
• They will switch targets based on threat
• Initial aggro is still based on the mission

Officer Drone spawns

CCP FoxFour and his team continue their efforts by bringing the Rogue Drones in line with the rest of factions, namely:

• Adding Rogue Drone Officer spawns in Rogue Drone nullsec
• Adding officer drone mods which will drop from these spawns
• Adding hauler/harvester spawns
• Increasing drone salvage drops by 2%

DUST 514 integration

• First off, graphical changes on the planet surface. Cities will be added to reflects DUST’s districts, and if there is a fight on the planet surface, there will be flashes visible from space. The same applies if the district happens to be on the dark side of the planet. Make sure to check my recent post about Orbital Bombardment.

     

• DUST will initially be tied to Factional Warfare
• Planetary bombardment/orbital strike requires ship to bo on the district grid with special Tactical ammo loaded (currently only small variants will be available – the BPOs are actually already seeded on Tranquility). In future, Destroyers will get a special bombardment role.
• EVE Online and DUST 514 players can belong to the same corporation: blog on playstation.com.
• First public mass test took place on the test server Buckingham on September 27th, at 20:00 UTC (= EVE-time).  The tests have included new district system for DUST and related new UI, planet effects and the graphical effects for the orbital strike. Testing a bug with bigger fleets is also on the schedule. More details in official news item.

Faction Warfare – Warzone Control changes

CCP Ytterbium has posted on forums a post about System Upgrade and Warzone Mechanics. Some of the changes have been pushed early in Inferno, in order to curb the LP farming:

• Warzone control. Current mechanics encourage pushing the tier level only once in a while to cash in LP. To prevent this, CCP will remove the LP price reduction from the LP store, giving a bonus to LP gained instead.
  • Tier 1 – 50% LP reduction
  • Tier 2 – current level
  • Tier 3 – 100% bonus
  • Tier 4 – 150% bonus
  • Tier 5 – 200% bonus
• System upgrade costs will be increased:
  • Level1: 40,000
  • Level2: 60,000
  • Level3: 90,000
  • Level4: 140,000
  • Level5: 200,000
  • Buffer: 300,000
• System upgrade benefits:
  • Level1:
    • +5 station manufacturing, copy, ME, PE, Invention slots
    • 10% market tax reduction
    • 10% repair cost reduction
    • 5% manufacturing time reduction
  • Level2:
    • +10 station manufacturing, copy, ME, PE, Invention slots
    • 20% market tax reduction
    • 20% repair cost reduction
    • 10% manufacturing time reduction
  • Level3:
    • +15 station manufacturing, copy, ME, PE, Invention slots
    • 30% market tax reduction
    • 30% repair cost reduction
    • 15% manufacturing time reduction
    • 10% reduction to starbase fuel cost
  • Level4:
    • +20 station manufacturing, copy, ME, PE, Invention slots
    • 40% market tax reduction
    • 40% repair cost reduction
    • 20% manufacturing time reduction
    • 10% reduction to starbase fuel cost
  • Level5:
    • +25 station manufacturing, copy, ME, PE, Invention slots
    • 50% market tax reduction
    • 50% repair cost reduction
    • 30% manufacturing time reduction
    • 20% reduction to starbase fuel cost
    • Able to anchor Cyno Jammer
• Low sec Cyno jammer:
  • Bought from FW LP stores as 1 run BPC
  • Has only 25% hitpoints of the null-security Cyno Jammer version
  • Cyno Jammer is launched from the ship cargohold and deployed into space
  • Cyno Jammer requires a spool-up time (5 or 10 minutes)
  • Cyno Jammer automatically turns online once spool-up timer has passed, causing its effects to be activated for the specified amount of time
  • May only be anchored when Tier 5 system upgrade level has been met
  • Only one Cyno Jammer may be anchored per solar system
  • Cyno Jammer needs to be launched near the system Infrastructure Hub (between 5 and 10km)
• General system capture changes
• Reduce I-hub LP bleed from attacked complexes capturing a Major site would only remove 3,000 LPs from the I-hub instead of 15,000 as it does today.
• Defensive plexing gives LP: as title says, but not so simple. LP amount is based on contested system % to encourage offensive. A system that is 50% contested would only give 50% of the total LP amount available, with a maximum cap at 75%.
• Attacking complexes doesn’t pay anything in vulnerable systems: currently it is possibly to still gain LPs and VPs in vulnerable systems. This allows farming and will be removed.

Faction Warfare – NPC changes

CCP Ytterbium has been busy with posting on the forums, and not only the warzone control will be altered. NPCs and complexes will be changed as well:

• They will get Sleeper AI
• Revamp their attributes to be more on par with PvP fits
• Reduce respawn numbers – NPCs will only spawn if there is no PVP going on. They should not impair PVP activities
• CCP might use them to assist a losing faction; for example, stronger NPCs would spawn for a faction with lower tier number, or they would spawn at gates, attacking opposing militia (but not neutrals).

CREST API

A new set of API for third party developers. Will allow “write” access as well as “read” access that the current EVE API does. I have written a post with more details about CREST here.

CREST API documentation preview is available here.

Industry changes

All containers and survey probes (ones that you need for scanning moons) will now be seeded as blueprints for players to manufacture. This also means that containers will not be seeded by the NPCs anymore. In order for players to be able to move containers around (especially station containers), the volume of repackaged containers has been decreased substantially. Details are available here.

There is also a possiblity CCP might increase the high sec station taxes and job install costs and tie them to the militia tier level. The better the tier, lower the costs in specific faction’s high sec stations. This could also push more industrialists from high sec to low sec instead, because upgrade level will have meaningful impact on industry facilities in captured systems.

Feedback

If you find something that is not in this post or is inaccurate, or if you found something new on Duality/Buckingham/Sisi, please let me know by leaving a comment below this post. This is a source of information for the community – by the community.