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EVE Evolved: Features coming in Oceanus and beyond
It's been almost four months since EVE Online switched from publishing two major expansions per year to releasing ten smaller updates, and so far it looks like the new schedule has been a huge success. Rather than forcing the industry overhaul out the door in Kronos before it was ready, CCP was able to push it forward to the Crius release window seven weeks later and the extra development time meant the feature launched in a very polished state. It may be too early to tell if the new schedule's success can be seen in the concurrent player graph for Tranquility, but the numbers have remained steady for the past few months in what is typically the annual low-point for player activity. The Oceanus update is scheduled to go live in just two day's time, adding several graphical upgrades, more difficult burner missions, an experimental new notification feature, and other small improvements. The scale of the update seems to be on par with the recent Hyperion release, consisting of mostly small features and minor iterations on gameplay. While we're told that CCP is still working on large projects behind the scenes, the new release schedule means they won't be rushed out the door and so we may not see them for some time. In this edition of EVE Evolved, I summarise everything we know about Tuesday's Oceanus update, and take a look at what's to come in further releases.
EVE's Oceanus laying the groundwork for visual ship customization
EVE Online's next release is called Oceanus, and it's coming to a PC near you on September 30th. CCP has published a feature overview dev blog in case you're not up to speed. Major tweaks include French language support, new cloak effects, and a "big visual update" for wormhole space. There's a substantial under-the-hood update, too, and it has to do with how CCP stores and manages ship visual data. The dev blog says that this particular tweak is necessary "for being able to deliver visual customization of ships in the future." You can read about the rest of Oceanus via the links below.
EVE Evolved: Rubicon 1.3 and repainting ships
EVE Online's recently released Rubicon expansion was an important first step toward a truly player-run universe for everyone, allowing corporations to wage empire wars over planetary customs offices and introducing a series of new personal deployable structures. The initial release was a little light on content, but developers have since expanded on it significantly with three major point releases. Rubicon 1.3 went live this week, and the changes seem pretty good all around. This release overhauled the directional scanner, buffed the SoE Nestor battleship's capacitor recharge rate and remote repair range, and nerfed remote sensor dampeners into the ground. Large corporations like EVE University were pleased to hear that the limit on the size of corporations has been increased to 12,600 thanks to changes to the corporation management skills. And in response to an emerging trend in fleet warfare involving hordes of drone ships assigning their drones to an interceptor, developers have also limited the number of drones that can be assigned to another ship to 50. The 1.29 GB patch also included several overhauled ship models and new ship shaders, but the new feature I see the most potential in is the ability to finally repaint our ships. This could eventually help corporations establish their own visual identities and might even link into gameplay or EVE's spying metagame. In this edition of EVE Evolved, I look at some of the Rubicon 1.3 changes and how repainting your ship could become more than simply a cosmetic upgrade.
Ship painting is coming to EVE Online
For some people, the idea of painting the outside of your ship in EVE Online is pointlessly frivolous. For others, it's the cue to immediately get out some swatches and start talking about how nice a battlecruiser would look in hot pink and safety orange. The bad news for players in the latter camp is that those aren't available colors, but an early test version of ship painting will be introduced with the game's next major patch. Nine total paint schemes are being introduced: eight available for Aurum and one available via in-game acievements. This is an intentionally narrow field, as the developers want to see what kind of player interest exists and whether or not having custom-painted ships will affect play patterns. For more details on exactly how you can space-pimp your space-ride, take a look at the full rundown on the pilot program. And be sure to ask for that pink-and-orange number with the next wave.
Pimp your space ride with Star Citizen's customization systems
Star Citizen is shaping up to be a lot of things, but at its core it's a spaceship game. As such, Cloud Imperium has released a meaty new FAQ designed to introduce ship components and the mechanics that tie them together. It's a dense read thanks to all of the systems involved (hull, avionics, power plant, thrusters, and intakes, just to name a few), and it's clear that both resource management and a certain amount of micromanagement are major design goals. Interestingly, though, Chris Roberts and company say that drilling down deep into the ship mechanics is optional. "If you're itching to get out there and fight or explore or trade, grab a factory model, add the few parts that you absolutely need, and head for the stars," the update explains. If you do decide to do a bit of research and customization alongside your flying and fighting, Cloud Imperium says that you'll end up with a singular ship of dreams. "When you build a ship, we want you to feel like that ship is yours; that it's not just a carbon copy of every other Aurora or Freelancer that you encounter," the company says. "You will have a sense of pride when you pilot your craft, knowing that while there may be many like it, this one is your own, unique in the universe."
Hands-on with Star Trek Online's early levels
There's been a lot of Star Trek Online coverage lately here at Massively, which is only normal given the looming early February release date. This particular feature is a look at the game over the course of around seven or eight "levels" of play. Sadly, that means I haven't acquired my first non-starter ship, although that goal will soon be reached even if it costs me more sleep. Still, you should check out the brand new beta gallery, because I was still able to catch plenty of cool stuff -- plus a classic Enterprise. Now, onto the preview!%Gallery-81223%
