…coming soon in Rubicon Point-Release

With the new year break now over, Rubicon 1.1 is looming closer. If you’ve enjoyed the new deployables in Rubicon, you will certainly like the two new ones coming in this point release!

Rubicon 1.1 will be deployed on January 28th, 2014.

Mobile Micro Jump Unit

  • single use structure
  • can’t be placed:
    • within 20km of gates or stations,
    • within 40km of a starbase tower
    • within 10km of another MJU
  • you have to be in range (within 5000m) to start spool-up
  • spool-up of 12s, skills are not taken into account
  • no cooldown – can immediately use a MJD or another MJU
  • anchor time 60s
  • lifetime 48hr
  • 5k EHP
  • can be used by friends and foes alike
  • 50m3 volume
  • 1M ISK build cost

If it could only be used by friends, it would be a major game changer, but it would also be overpowered a lot. With the approach CCP took, it seems much more balanced. Use cases? Quick spread-out to avoid getting bombed (MJU does not determine the direction of the micro jump). Will also allow a lot of cat & mouse games if you put enough of those around a reinforced tower. And yes, this structure is very similar to an acceleration gate (well, it does not determine the direction, though). Fun to be had!

Mobile Scan Inhibitor

  • single use structure
  • Can’t be placed:
    • within 75km of gates, wormholes or stations,
    • within 40km of control towers
    • within 100km of another scan inhibitor – MSIs can’t cloak each other
  • Hides everything within 30km radius from
    • d-scan
    • combat probes
    • itself it can be probed pretty easily
    • you only know something is hidden, but you don’t know WHAT
  • Ships inside 30km radius of MSI cannot use d-scan o probes
  • anchor time 60s
  • lifetime 1hr
  • 45k EHP
  • 100m3 volume
  • 15M ISK build cost

Again, not a major game changer, but allows to hide fleet composition from dcsan, which can be pretty useful. 30km range means that even if hidden ships are orbiting at 29,5km from the structure, it should be quite easy to catch them. Ceptors, arazus/lachesis’/proteus’ should be able to do that nearly instantly. HICs however would not be able to bubble everything just after dropping, though. Again, it gives a twist, but is not a major game changer.

Ships

More?

Well, if you log in to the Singularity test server, there is even more point-release things to see:

  • Little things by CCP karkur
  • Resists in Show Info are in one row now
  • Redesigned Station models (in space)
  • Redesigned Capital wrecks (WiP)
  • Rendered icons are now part of the patch

More reading: CCP Fozzie forum post, CCP Habakuk forum post

A drive that should not be tampered with

Undisclosed location in Essence region,
POS owned by Aideron Technologies

Research log, 23rd of December, YC115. I will be attempting to disassemble external compression dishes of new Sisters of EVE warp drive. Both armor and external hull have been stripped. Dishes are made of unknown, possibly fullerene material and are consisting of two 120 degree arcs on both sides of the hull. Arcs are fitted with a grid of graviton emitters and are bearing the logo of Propel Dynamics. Power coupling which connects compression dishes to ships powergrid is of Caldari origin as well and is based on graviton technology. There is an electronic interface on the bottom of the starboard arc.

astero-drydockRox was still amazed how Sisters of EVE were able to convince several companies around New Eden, from all four factions that are currently at war with each other, to cooperate and provide components for the new ships. Astero was half disassembled already, and only vaguely reminded of it’s original shape. With the armor plates removed, most of the ship was made of light grey tritanium alloy, full of sticking I-beams, wires and tubes interconnecting all the ships systems. The drydock assembly array was normally used by Aideron Technologies to produce tech II ships, but it was just as useful to disassemble them and analyze their inner workings. Powerful stasis field kept the ship in place, while robotic arms removed components part by part, like a surgeon operating on a beating heart. Lukas was just outside the structure in a small Gallente shuttle. It was curious how the Sisters managed to move one of the crucial warp drive components from the inside of the ship to the external, ringlike structures outside of the ships hull. This mechnism is what made these ships able to use covert-ops cloaks, without the need for advanced quantum computers and huge cooling systems normally required to keep them operational.

Now attempting to remove the compression dish control electronics.

Robotic arm reached for a small piece of electronics attached to the bottom of the right arc. Reverse engineering these chips would probably yield insights into how exactly the drive operates. Just after the device was removed, the grid on both arcs began to glow. It was a dim blue light at first, but it was becoming brighter and more intense with every second.

Graviton levels are off the scale, removing the control circuitry from the drive has caused some kind of runaway reaction. Aura, signal the CEO, we might have to evacuate…

Rox did not finish his command. Half-disassembled Astero collapsed violently as if sucked by a black hole. The surrounding assembly array followed the implosion, pulling all the robotics, then the dry dock, and the assembly array hangar inside. Rox willed his shuttle away from the structure, but it was too late. The implosion suddenly reversed, releasing bright white light that enveloped the tiny craft, obliterating it instantly. The capsule, even though well shielded, crumbled under the intense pressure and heat. The ectoplasmic gel, which normally fills the capsule began to heat and then boil, making Rox twitch in pain. The pain was so intense, that he wanted to scream, but the tracheal tube would not allow it. You see, in space, no one can hear you scream. The blast damaged the surrounding Mobile Laboratories disabling half a dozen of them immediately, and it made the POS shield flicker for a several seconds. And then everything went dark. At least as far as Rox was concerned.

***

Lukas was expecting to see white light; it’s normal, because new clones never used their eyes before, making them very sensitive for the first couple of minutes.

Instead, his body was still in dull pain. But pain meant he was alive. The capsule did not feed anything into his brain socket, so it must have been seriously damaged.

– Lukas, can you hear me? – a voice said – Are you all right? Listen, we’ve received a notification that POS is under attack. Are you ok?

– I will live – Rox willed his thoughts through the barely operational FTL radio. – Lukas realized it was Razeu, who came to check up on the explosion.

– I am repairing your pod, it caught fire. You should be able to fly back to station… right now.

Rox was weak, and couldn’t feel his limbs, but willed the capsule into warp. Medical personel was waiting on the docking ramp already.

***

Undisclosed station in Essence region
Poteque Pharmaceuticals property

– We are sorry – said a doctor in a white robe – but we were unable to save your left arm.

– It’s all right – Rox replied – it will only have to do until next time I die.

– Well, technically yes. But until then, you have been given a Phanca arm prosthesis. We were also able to treat all 12 broken bones and severe burns that you’ve survived. We did what we could about the scars, but I’m afraid they will still be visible. Of course since you are an empyrean, all these are permanent, but for this clone only.

– How long until I can get back to work? – Rox inquired

– You should rest at least a week before going back into capsule. We will monitor your vitals, but they should remain stable. – doctor replied

– I would probably be more lucky if the pod blew. – Rox said

– Not quite – the doctor said – You will have to ask your technicians, because I don’t know the details, but it seems the explosion disabled all FTL comms for a moment. That would include brain scan from your capsule.

A shiver went down Rox’s spine. That was close!

– It seems I should’ve listened to that note and not tamper with it. – Rox said to himself.

– Excuse me? – asked the doctor

A little Panzer Orca that could…

Some time ago I saw this sad video on Twitch TV

(Scroll to 1:48 to see the action, otherwise bear with ice mining for nearly 2 minutes)


Watch live video from x3aro on TwitchTV

Ganking is of course part of the game, and CCP is unlikely to do anything about it. Why? If ships are not blown up, nobody would buy new ships to replace them, and mineral prices would plummet quickly. I’m sure that would make miners way more sorry than ganking.

So, can an Orca survive a gank? Can Orca make it harder for the gankers?

When fitting a ship in EVE one always has a choice: more DPS, more tank or more mining laser output. Ships have limited number of slots, so they cannot be fit to excell at everything. As a high-sec miner, one would immediately assume that he should fit for mining laser output, whereas Orca pilot would fit to expand the cargohold as much as possible. Why would they fit any tank if they don’t anticipate any combat?

See, the problem is that even if miners don’t intend to fight, someone else might want to fight them. When fitting Orcas and mining ships, the real question should be:

Is the extra cargo space/mining output worth losing Orcas and Hulks? Does the margin gained by fitting 100% towards mining output or cargo capacity cover the losses? If your answer to this question is “yes, my profit margins are so great that I don’t care about losing a few Orcas”, then go ahead, fit for cargo space, and stop reading right here. However if the margins over untanked ships don’t come close to the price of your Orca, read on.

What I should do to make my Orca harder to gank?

– Fit a Panzer Orca of course:

tanky-view

tanky-fittingWhile this fitting won’t prevent a gank from happening, it forces the gankers to use five time as many ships to perform the gank (cargo expanded Orca only has 64,8k EHP, because Cargo Expanders and Cargo Rigs reduce hull and armor respectively). Unless someone is really determined to gank your Panzer Orca (which, knowing James315 is of course entirely possible), gankers will most likely ignore it and look for an easier target.

282k EHP with base Tech II fitting, Tech I rigs and Shield Harmonizing link II. This fit can be further improved by using Tech II rigs and deadspace mods, but the latter would again encourage the gank, so I don’t really recommend it, but yes, it’s doable.

  • Adding Tech II rigs will increase the EHP to 294k
  • Adding A-Type Invulns and X-Type EM/Therm hardeners will further increase EHP to 363,000
  • With Estamel’s hardeners, the EHP reaches mind-blowing 380,000, but 2 billion worth of officer modules will more than likely encourage the gankers to kill the ship for loot.

Granted, Panzer Orca pilot will have to warp back to station much more often, but as I said, that’s the choice:

  • excell at cargo and add lost ships into running costs,

or

  • have less cargo, but reduce probability of losing the ship by a substantial margin.

There is one more advantage to this fit: it increases EHP of all barges and exhumers in the fleet. It works as if they had one more Tech I Invulnerability Field. Pretty neat, eh?

Is there anything else I could do?

Of course there is! First off, watch local. While it was not initially intended to be an intel tool, it has quickly become one and you should make the best possible use of it. If local is at lets say 15 pilots, and then out of a sudden a ship warps to your belt and local jumps to 30, this is a sign of incoming danger. I would warp out if I were you, just in case. Better safe than sorry!

Every player in EVE who did any PVP is also very familiar to the directional scanner. It’s basically a magic radar that tells you what ships and other items are in space in a given range and angle from your ship. If you have ever mined or missioned in low sec you have most likely used it as well. Yes, you have to actively scan every x seconds, and if you see a group of ships like Tornado, Brutix, Catalysts or Thrashers showing up on radar all at once, it’s better to warp out.

You can keep an align to a station or celestial, but this means your ship will be moving. Depending on how you mine, this might be a serious disadvantage. What does it do? It allows for a very quick warp out in case of danger – just hit WARP and you will be on your way.

TL; DR

Always anticipate PVP in EVE. Fit tank on your Orcas, fly tanky Skiffs for mining. Take the game mechanics available to you in your hands and play them to your advantage!

By using the fit above you agree that author of this post will not be held responsible if you lost your Orca despite fitting Panzer Orca fit. Sufficiently determined group of pilots will always be able to gank any ship in high sec, including famous Chribba’s Veldnaught. It’s only a matter of determination and amount of combat ships involved.

My Fedo… my little Fedo!

fedo_bigIf you were lucky (or unlucky depending on the perspective) to get a Fedo instead of other Yule Lad gifts, you probably wonder what to do with it? Well, the sad part is… you can either keep it, or trade it, because it doesn’t do anything else. But what if it COULD do something else?

I got two Fedos, and I came up with an idea. I left my Fedos in the same hangar overnight, hoping they would breed. When I got back the next day, except for the foul smell, I found the same two Fedos I put there earlier.

What if Fedos actually did that? Wouldn’t it be fun if there was Easter Eggs in EVE like that?

Some other ideas:

  • make it a deployable. Once you deploy Fedo in space it will attach to your ships hull and will happily rove on it. Just don’t keep it in space for too long or it dies!
  • make it “a furniture” in CQ – if you have a Fedo in your hangar, it automatically appears in CQ as a 3D model. It would eat the leftover dinner and quafe cans
  • let Fedos breed! If there is more than one in a hangar, there is a chance that more will spawn over time.

EVE already has easter eggs!Yes, after 8 years of playing I know EVE is about blowing up spaceships (preferably not your own), but there’s nothing wrong in a bit of fun here and there. Especially if it is just a few days of development time for one programmer and one 3d artist (and one or two testers). Fedo is just one example, but I wouldn’t say no to a nice 3D Villard Wheel in my CQ. I would finally have a reason to enable the CQ mode at all 😉

There’s plenty easter eggs in the game already (just have a look at the monolith on the left). Not to mention Magic Crystall Ball, A Big Red Button, Scotty the Docking Manager’s Clone or Band of Brothers Director Access Key.

More reading:

Yule Lads are back! Celebrate EVE Holiday season 2013

If you logged on to Account Management page yesterday, you would have noticed a brand new Advent Calendar with Yule Lads!

yule-ladsEach day starting December 12th a new gift will be unlocked – simply click the number next to one of the Yule Lads. Each of them will bring you a few items – some of which are guaranteed, and some are completely random. Some players complain that the holiday gifts in EVE are more less worthless, but imho it’s not the point. Last years Festival Launchers, Snowballs and Fireworks were great fun, even if their market value was just a couple million ISK. Speaking of useful gifts, the Gnosis, which was given away for free for the 10th year anniversary, makes a great PVE and PVP ship.

I don’t won’t to spoil the surprise, so I will not tell you what today’s gift is. Will there be any ships to be given away this year? I hope so, because I have recently found a speedy Leopard shuttle in the Crystal Ball Static Data Dump, and I would be more than happy to give it a speedy spin! Let the gift hunting season begin!

Grab your gifts here


I don’t care about surprises, show me what gifts can I get!

Sisters of EVE Battleship announced: please welcome the ‘Nestor’

Yesterday afternoon CCP Rise has posted the proposed stats for the SoE battleship, the Nestor. For those who expected the first Covert Ops battleship: sorry, not this time. The rumors about Clone Vat Bay turned out to be false as well. The ship has some other traits though, most noticeably its mass, which is about 56% of other Battleships mass. It also has the exploration and hacking bonuses that its smaller siblings have. The initial review is “hmmm… that’s interesting, but…”

Let’s have a look at the tables first

Nestor
SOE_Nestor_Battleship_FinalConcept_lrg
3D webgl preview

Role bonus:

50% bonus to remote repair amount

100% bonus to remote repair range

50% bonus to large energy turret optimal range

50% increased strength for scan probes

+10 virus strength for relic and data analyzers

Amarr Battleship Bonuses:

4% Armor resistances per level

Gallente Battleship Bonuses:

10% drone damage and hitpoints per level

Slot layout: 7/6/6
5 turrets, 0 launcher
Fittings: 11250MW, 680tf
Shields: 8900
Armor: 9950
Hull: 9900
Capacitor: 6200
Cap Recharge: 1044
Max Velocity: 92 m/s
Drone bandwidth: 125
Drone bay: 500
Targeting range: 75 km
Scan Resolution: 85
Max Locked targets: 7
Sensor strength: 24
Signature radius: 465
Cargo capacity: 700

As you can see, it has quite a set of bonuses. We’ve got armor resists, we’ve got drones HP and DPS, we’ve got exploration and hacking and instead of Covert Ops cloak expected by some players, we’ve got 50% to remote armor rep amount. With 4 Large remote reps and 3 cap transfers, Nestor would dwarf Guardian and Oneiros. But there is one issue: Large Remote Armor Reps have slightly over 8km range. Question that is currently open is: will it be better to drop the 50% rep amount bonus for a 100% rep range bonus? Or should it have both? This question is a tough one to answer, because with both bonuses this ship would be seriously overpowered, and better specialized at remote reps than dedicated ship class (Logistics). On the other hand, in it’s current iteration it would be rather vulnerable to bombs.

UPDATE: CCP Rise added 100% remote armor rep bonus. Is this the first ship with 5 role bonuses?

Nestor’s stats also make it a decent PVE boat, rather similar to the Rattlesnake (but the latter can be 100% passively shield tanked). It also seems at least partially useful for Incursions, where crazy remote reps and high resists would be very useful (but to be honest I don’t know if Incursion doctrine is still all around shields, as it used to be when I last played with them. Can anyone shed some light on the current state of affairs?).

It’s going to be expensive

Now let’s have a look at the LP store price tag. It won’t be cheap I’m afraid:

Item Sisters of EVE (hi-sec) The Sanctuary (0.0)
LP cost ISK cost LP cost ISK cost

Nestor BPC (1 run)
Nestor BPC (1 run)
600,000 LP 150,000,000 ISK 400,000 LP 100,000,000 ISK

Nestor pre-built
Nestor pre-built
1,000,000 LP 100,000,000 ISK 800,000 LP 80,000,000 ISK

If we assumed the LP rate for SoE loyalty points at 1,000 ISK / LP (typical exchange ratio), the blueprint-made version would cost around 985M isk, and the pre-built one would be 1,100M (rather cost-ineffective). But that is a very optiomistic scenario. For example, Stratios currently sells for 435M ISK, and takes 120,000LP, 30M ISK and 10M in minerals to produce. That leaves us with 120,000LP = 395M ISK equation, which brings the SoE LP ratio close to 3,291 ISK / LP. Nestor’s initial prices will be counted in billions for sure.

 

nestor-02  nestor-05 nestor-showinfo-traits nestor-showinfo-description

More reading:

Leopard, a Speedy Gonzales variation of Minmatar shuttle

I spent some time today browsing the Static Data Dump (aka Crystal Ball). I was looking for clues about Nestor, the Sisters of EVE unique battleship (CCP has shown two images of it on their Facebook profile).

I found something else entirely:

Leopard-shuttleLooks like a Minmatar Shuttle, right? Well, yeah, almost. It’s slightly darker, but apart from that, it looks just like a regular shuttle.

Description does not shed much light either:

Rumor has it the Leopard originated as a secret project in the Minmatar Republic. In their endless battle against enslavement by the Amarr Empire, the Minmatar have had to develop ways not only to liberate large masses of their people, but also to sneak in and capture individuals of high strategic importance.

These kinds of black ops search-and-rescue missions might be executed for key people who were held by the enemy and possessed either special qualities the resistance needed, or information the Republic couldn’t afford having tortured out of them. It’s notable that these individuals might not all have been Minmatar, and that the resistance movement is unlikely to have restrained itself from using the same methods on key Amarr people they’d captured with the help of the Leopard.

It is an extremely fast ship, meant for quick and stealthy getaways, and while its origins are covered in rumors, chances are the Minmatar leaked it to the capsuleers in order to curry favor with them.

Still following me? At this point I thought there is nothing special about this ship, besides it’s darker skin. And then I looked at the statistics, and I was literally blown away:

Ship warp speed: 20.00 AU/s

 

Damn, that thing is lightning fast! Tech II rigged interceptors (w/o implants) can reach 12,5 AU/s top speed, and this incredibly fast already. This shuttle is still another 50% faster!

I don’t know about you guys, but I definitely want one!

More reading:

The Sanctuary has reached a breakthrough

This post is a fan-fic lore oriented article written from in-character perspective ((IC)).

Last week the scientific community of New Eden cluster has been surprised by the uncommon design of newly unveiled, capsule-fitted ships designed by The Sanctuary (Sisters of EVE), which allows said ships to enter faster-than-light speeds while cloaked, without the need for sophisticated quantum computer hardware.

Crielere Cloaking technology vs. warp drives

Classic Sotiyo-Urbaata based warp drive uses two polar dishes inside of the ship’s warp core to compress the vacuum and create a depleted vacuum bubble around the vessel. This is the simplest and most efficient design, and is used by all starships currently in operation, both capsule fitted or not. Hundreds of years have proven this is the best possible approach, because:

  1. Warp core is hid deep inside the ship, making it well shielded from damage and unwanted interference
  2. Placing the warp core in the geometric center of the ship allows creation of the smallest possible depleted vacuum bubble, which makes it energy efficient.

Graviton Pulse GeneratorEngineers at Project Crielere have proven, that this warp drive design creates too much interference for cloaking devices to operate properly at FTL speeds. First stealth generators used meta-materials to make the ship invisible in a specific band of electromagnetic spectrum (usually infrared or visible light). The ship was however still visible in other EM bands, for example microwave or gamma. Historically the second and currently used approach relies on a series of graviton pulse generators in order to create a gravity lens around the ship. This causes all electromagnetic radiation to be bent around the vessel, making it undetectable in any and all EM bands. The effect of the lens also shields the ship emissions by containing them inside the graviton bubble (using complete internal reflection). In order to keep the graviton generators synchronised and create a stable lens around the ship, ship’s computer must calculate the model of the gravity lens in real time. While the model is rather simple when the ship is stationary, it becomes increasingly difficult when the vessel begins to move. All matter that comes through the graviton bubble, including space dust and the ship thruster emissions causes unwanted interference, which ship’s computer needs to take into account when calculating the bubble model. However, when the ship enters the depleted vacuum bubble,  the equations in the model change in an non-linear way, making it impossible for classic and photonic electronics to provide a solution.

Quantum MicroprocessorEngineers at Project Crielere eventually came up with an elegant quantum algorithm that can still provide a solution at FTL speeds, but it means a quantum computer hardware is required to solve the equations. This specialized hardware has been successfully installed into several classes of ships, including Recon cruisers and Blockade Runner industrials, but is generally unsuitable for most vessels, because it requires substantial customization. It also makes it nearly impossible to use on bigger ships, such as Black Ops battleships.

The Sanctuary has reached a technological breakthrough

Stratios CruiserBy moving the warp drive polar dishes outside of the hull into a circular ring-like structure, Sanctuary engineers have removed the effect of depleted vacuum from the graviton bubble equations, making it possible to be calculated without specialized hardware. It is still unknown how exactly this circular structure actually creates depleted vacuum, because the electronics which does all the calculations is protected by advanced tamper-proof chips. Sisters of EVE also forbid the owners from tampering with the technology, voiding the warranty if external tampering is detected, and stating it that using the drive after it was modified will cause fatal injuries to those on board. I however believe it is only a matter of time until some intrepid hacker jailbreaks the electronic systems in the ring polar dishes, and reverse engineers the mathematics that make it work. This lets me believe that by applying this technology to a battleship-class hull could allow even the biggest of vessels to use cloaking technology at FTL speeds. It opens the possibility for The Sanctuary to develop a covert battleship vessel as well, which is currently unconfirmed, but theoretically possible.

One of the downsides of The Sanctuary approach is that the use of a quantum computer would also allow a rapid restart of a cloaking device, which is currently impossible with classic electronics. It means that the Sisters ships are forced to go through a complete startup procedure of a cloaking device, which takes up to 30 seconds, rendering the ship vulnerable during that period.

More reading:

Author
Lukas Rox is a veteran capsuleer with PhD in Graviton Physics, currently working in Aideron Technologies as a Director, also an Expert in Cloaking Technology and a GalNet Software Architect.
More information is available in the CONCORD dossier.

How to revert a broken Launcher update

Today’s patch is going smoothly – at least on CCP side. For players the first available Windows version of EVE Lanucher build was broken (probably missing some files). If your launcher update failed, and you can’t start it now, getting this message instead:

launcher-errors

Don’t worry, there is a simple fix:

  1. Go to your EVE folder, enter “launcher” directory.
  2. Once there, you’ll find “launcher.exe” and “launcher.old.exe”
  3. Remove launcher.exe
  4. Rename launcher.old.exe to launcher.exe
  5. Then go to “appdata” directory.
  6. Remove “EVE_Online_Launcher-2.1.643940.win32”
  7. Keep the “EVE_Online_Launcher-2.1.613956.win32” one

Now don’t run the update again until CCP fixes the Launcher. Patiently watch #tweetfleet for an update from CCP_Goliath or other CCPers.

UPDATE: the Windows Launcher has been fixed. It’s safe to update now!

Mac users will be happy to know their version works just fine.

More reading:

Giveaway winners announced!

Three weeks ago my site has hit another visit milestone, and I’ve started this giveaway to celebrate with you!

Today Rubicon goes live on Tranquility, but three pilots will have one more reason to be happy 😉

The winners are

*** FANFARE ***

Maximus Aerelius

1st prize – Megathron Navy Issue

1st_767215551_1024 navy-mega

DoStuffz

2nd prize – Rattlesnake

2nd_1191844552_1024 rattlesnake

Ziffallo

3rd prize – Sacrilege

3rd_1972446352_1024 sacrilege

Congratulations!

Contracts will be up shortly. Thank you everyone for taking part in the giveaway!

tickets | chribba dice ]