CCP Basement Ben has mentioned about changing the warp animation in one of the video dev blogs, but no one expected it was going to look this good. The warp tunnel has received a fractal kind of shader with two effects: a geometric displacement and chromatic distortion. It looks as if the space around the ship was like a liquid, constantly fluctuating and undulating while the ship is passing through. New effect has even more than that: if there is a solid body (planet or moon) on the way, the tunnel becomes dark while flying through.
The end result is simply jaw dropping, and could easily replace the tunnel effect in Stargate or Sliders. The new warp effect in EVE beats such well known sci-fi icons like Star Trek or Star Wars. Oh and by the way, the old-new engine trails which show when entering or exiting warp add even more spice to it. Very, very good job CCP!!
You can also notice the nearby star systems on the sky now, their light is dispersed by the warp tunnel, so they look more like red-to-violet streaks during faster-than-light travel.
The new tier-3 battlecruisers are still not yet ready on Singularity (they are not even textured yet), but it doesn’t stop me ( 🙂 ) from creating wallpapers based on the entries to the Create a Starship contest run by the CCP and the one run by CCP together with Deviant Art.
Both ships will be coming to your hangar soon in EVE Online: Crucible, also known as “The Winter Expansion“.
EDIT: According to the forums, the new Singularity build already has Tier 3 BC textures, so expect new wallpapers really soon!
I had some more free time recently, and spent most of it playing with Winter Expansion features and ships on Singularity. One of the tests involved the new gallente Tier-3 battlecruiser, the Talos. It is truly an amazing source of DPS, not only in the battlecruiser class, but also scores high in the battleship world as well. But lets get down to numbers:
Talos sports 8 high slots and 8 turret hardpoints, 4 med and 5 low slots. Ships core generates 1100 MW of power (1375 with skills included) and 360 tf of CPU (450 with skills). The bonus list allows Talos to fit battleship size turrets:
5% damage to Large Hybrid turrets per level
7,5% tracking to Large Hybrid turrets per level
Role bonuses:
95% reduction in the PG need of Large Hybrid turrets
50% reduction in the CPU need of Large Hybrid turrets
50% reduction in the capacitor usage of Large Hybrids
Unfortunately the HP is rather unimpressive:
2111 shield
2272 armor
So this ship will either become a sniper or close-range gank damage dealer. The sniper scenario would include 8x 425mm Railgun IIs, 3x Magnetic Field Stabilizers, Damage Control Unit II and some plating. Med slots can include tracking computers and EW mods. Unfortunately even after rebalancing, rails still lack both the range and the alpha of Artillery. So a sniper Talos is not the best way to use this ship.
First thought was to make it a gank machine
Close range fit would swap rails with 8x Neutron Blaster Cannon II, 3x Mag stabs stay where they are, DCU II and 800mm rolled tungsten will complete the low slot rack. Med slots would be swapped with 10MN MWD II, Web and Point. Since my CPU was almost gone at this point, I have chosen to put a Sensor Booster with Resolution script in the last med slot. This is a typical gank fit, dishing out 855 DPS with just regular Antimatter L rounds. This is one hell of a lot for a BC. Unfortunately, this fit does not offer much in terms of protection: only 15k EHP with 3x medium trimarks. Swapping neutrons with electrons and fitting 1600mm plates will reduce the DPS output, but will also give more EHP. Still, this makes Talos a glass cannon. Swapping Mag Stabs with EANMs II is another way to improve the defense, but will also further reduce its amazing DPS potential.
EDIT: Due to Tier 3 BCs lack of tank, their PVP use would be a fast, ranged DPS
This approach requires long range cannons – in this case Railguns, which also received a 10% damage buff in Crucible.
With 8x 425mm Railgun IIs in highs, a 10MN MWD II and 3x Magnetic Field Stabilizers II in lows we have a possibility to keep the distance, while Tracking Disruptors or Sensor Dampeners keep the enemies from shooting. Adding 2x Nanofiber Internal Structure IIs allows Talos to fly 325m/s with no speed mods on! With 10MN MWD it easily tops 1900 m/s or 700 m/s with AB. It’s small signature (200 m) would suggest it’s better to use Afterburner. Distance and speed seem to be the way to go.
Talos has a 7,5% tracking bonus per level, which greatly helps its 425mm rails hitting their target. Unfortunately, it is not the best sniper:
Faction Antimatter L – 36 km – 700,3 DPS
Javelin L – 18 km – 710,4 DPS
Spike L – 129 km – 405,9 DPS (requires sensor booster)
Additionally, Talos can use 5 small drones (25 m3 dronebay and 25 mbit bandwidth), which can help fending off frigates.
All ships will eventually receive the new “V3” shaders in EVE Online: Crucible (already mentioned it in my Crucible Status Update post). V3 shaders introduce higher resolution maps with slightly altered composition and additional faction/corp decals. Simply put, ships look more detailed and “more cool”.
This time the Singularity client update has brought a completely new skin for all Ishukone tech II ships, namely Eagle, Falcon, Buzzard and the Harpy. All said ships have received a golden-like look, similar to the famous Ishukone Watch Scorpion, and an Ishukone corporation badge:
PS. Vulture haven’t been redone yet (its shader actually looks like a Mordus Legion skin).
I had a feeling that EVE Online: Crucible is just another fake name, but the current SiSi client shows this name when you press ESC and go to “About EVE” tab.
It seems that the words of the CEO of CCP are slowly taking shape in the form of the new Winter Expansion. Dev blogs and video dev blogs are being released almost every day, and so are the updates on Singularity. Let’s sum up what was said and what is already there:
Less CPU, less PG, less cap, 20% tracking to blasters, 10% damage to railguns, 5 seconds reload instead of 10 seconds. See dev blog here, feedback thread here
Siege module II, Triage module II, Bomb Launcher II, Warp Disruption Field Generator II, Warfare links II, Expanded/Core Probe Launcher II, MAPC II, Drone upgrades II – see screenshot and a feedback thread here
Starbase logistics management
Fuel Blocks – four racial type of Fuel pellets instead of the current model. See dev-blog here.
Decreased anchor/unanchor and online/offline times for most structures.
Removed the need to enter password when using Jump Bridges.
New EWAR-Drones
no info yet
T2 Rigs manufacturing
Magnetometric sites value incresed, will now spawn T2 rig BPCs and more rig components
The new ship shaders remind me of the Trinity expansion back in 2007. As long as the poly models haven’t been touched (except for Raven and Phobos), the texture quality has been improved greatly. In one of the video dev blogs, CCP Basement Ben said that ships are now being “vee-threed”, which I understand as another iteration upon Trinity (which would be the V2) and original artwork (V1 in this example). First visible difference is the detail level (thanks to new PGS shaders – textures are the same size, but their map composition is different – see my post about PGS shaders and Scorpion model evolution here). Additional effect of the new shader is the ability to place custom decals on ships – most Gallente and Caldari models now bear either a faction logo (for T1) or R&D corporation logo (T2). Screenshots say it all:
The new nebulae look really cool and much more detailed, but some regions still need some work: for example Essence looks unfinished – there is only one cloud taking a quarter of the sky, and the rest is basically empty (black). Genesis is much better though:
There is some cosmetic changes as well: turret icons have been reverted to the custom drawn ones, which are much easier to distinguish (and take less time to load). Another change has been done to the Phobos, which now has visible large Warp Disruption Field Generators (they spin!). When we talk about HIC’s, it’s worth to mention, that WDFG has received a Tech II counterpart, which has 36km range.
I have almost forgotten about the BPOs for the new tier-3 battlecruisers: these are already available on SiSi, so all industry moguls can already start planning their mineral supply chains.
Overall impression of the development is rather good. CCP is doing lots of necessary improvements, but in a very tight timeframe (most of these changes should have been done during the past two years, not months). I am a bit afraid that pushing so many things at once will most likely result in a higher amount of bugs. Also the balance changes will surely cause a lot of discussion, especially the Supercarrier nerf.
PS. I think CCP_Soundwave summed it all up perfectly: Winter Expansion “is gonna be exciting for spaceships… If you like spaceships. If you don’t like spaceships, you’re gonna be a little disappointed”
EDIT: I have calculated the tier-3 battlecruisers build price at ME 0 (for researched BPOs it will be about 10% less). Clearly, the Talos is out of line, being almost as expensive to build as the Dominix.
BPO
Build Price
Talos (ME 0)
52 747 405,11
Tornado (ME 0)
41 597 934,74
Naga (ME 0)
47 949 742,59
Oracle (ME 0)
47 386 315,47
EDIT 2: The Winter Expansion name is “Crucible” source: evenews24.com
CCP Basement Ben has mentioned about changing the warp animation in one of the video dev blogs, but no one expected it was going to look this good. The warp tunnel has received a fractal kind of shader with two effects: a geometric displacement and chromatic distortion. It looks as if the space around the ship was like a liquid, constantly fluctuating and undulating while the ship is passing through. New effect has even more than that: if there is a solid body (planet or moon) on the way, the tunnel becomes dark while flying through.
