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EVE Vegas 2014: December's Rhea update adds tech 3 destroyers
During the Keynote speech at EVE Vegas 2014, EVE Online developers revealed some big news for the game's next two major updates. We heard the broad strokes of CCP's plans at the latest EVE Fanfest back in March, when it was revealed that the company would switch from releasing two expansions per year to around ten smaller releases. The upcoming Phoebe release planned for November 4th will improve Tech 2 Invention, improve life in the lawless nullsec regions with heavy nerfs to capital ship movement, and introduce a highly requested unlimited length skill queue system. While players are certainly looking forward to Phoebe, it's December's Rhea update that will really pack a punch. The Blackbird, Falcon, and Rook electronic warfare ships will get new models, and a new type of freighter codenamed the "Tug" will be introduced that can move large numbers of fitted ships around the game. But the big news coming out of EVE Vegas 2014 today is that a completely new set of tech 3 ships will be added for the first time since 2009's Apocrypha expansion. The new ships are tactical destroyer, and they aren't just smaller versions of the tech 3 strategic cruisers. Instead of being built out of a set of subsystems, tactical destroyers will have the ability to switch between several modes on the fly, transforming them from snipers or tanks to speed demons as required. If you've ever wanted to transfer full power to your engines or shields like something out of Star Trek, these new ships are for you. Thanks to winning a recent research race event, the Amarr version of the ship will be released before the other races.
EVE Evolved: Temporarily fixing starbases
With its exploration-focused Odyssey expansion on the way, EVE Online is about to be hit with a deluge of players (new and old) venturing into the unknown. The expansion will introduce the yet-to-be-revealed Discovery Scanner and will add a ton of new exploration content all across New Eden. Odyssey aims to follow the lead of 2009's Apocrypha expansion, which saw hundreds of corporations lead lucrative expeditions into uncharted wormhole systems. We don't yet know whether the expansion will open new systems for exploration, but when Odyssey goes live, the race will be on to find and lay claim to all the goodies hidden in deep space. With no stations to dock at in wormhole space, corps currently have to store everything in destructible starbases that aren't really up to the task. Player-owned starbases were released in 2004 as sandbox-style tools for tech 2 industry and alliance territorial warfare. They were never intended to be the sole base of operations for an entire corporation, so they suffer from some pretty severe security and usability flaws as a result. Theft from ship and item hangars in wormhole space is commonplace, setting up corp roles for them is a nightmare, and living exclusively in a starbase provides a daily dose of frustration players could seriously do without. CCP has been planning to completely overhaul player-owned starbases for years, but some of today's issues can't afford to wait any longer. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at some of the chronic problems faced by starbase-dwelling explorers and how CCP plans to temporarily fix some of them for Odyssey.
EVE Evolved: Expanding on wormholes
It's no secret that I'm nuts about wormholes! Last week I looked at the reasons why EVE Online's Apocrypha expansion was such a big success and rejoiced at the recent announcement that CCP will be developing similar laterally designed expansions from now on. In the announcement, developers wrote that they would ideally have liked to iterate on Apocrypha's wormhole gameplay for several releases, which got me thinking about how that gameplay could be expanded on now. Wormholes were a massive catalyst for exploration, small-scale colonisation, industry and PvP, but would it be possible to recapture that magic in an expansion? The Sleeper storyline certainly evolved with the Incursion expansion as it became known that Sansha forces were able to control wormholes and had invaded Jovian space, but that story sadly didn't translate into gameplay for people living inside wormholes. There's no risk of running into the Sansha home system on your travels, and Sansha forces will never lock down a wormhole system and attack your starbase. That feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity to me, and I worry that a new wormhole expansion could similarly pass up the opportunity to add interesting new gameplay. Adding more hidden wormhole systems and combat sites would be fun for a while, but the underlying wormhole mechanics and NPC capabilities are already common knowledge. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at various ways that a future wormhole expansion for EVE could recapture the magic of Sleeper space.
EON Magazine issue 24 looks back at EVE Online's Apocrypha expansion
Issue 24 of EVE Online's quarterly official magazine EON hit the shelves this month, bringing a fresh dose of internet spaceships to coffee tables and bathrooms everywhere. Produced by MMM Publishing and written by a growing cast of writers from within the EVE community, EON provides something solid for fans of EVE to hold on to and acts as a snapshot in time or record of the game as it evolves. Recent big news stories and nullsec wars are detailed in each issue, along with editorial pieces, fiction, interviews and guides. The latest issue is a wormhole special, with a huge focus on 2009's incredibly successful Apocrypha expansion and the hidden wormhole systems it brought to EVE. In addition to the second part of Pottsey's background on the ancient Sleeper race locked away in wormhole systems, the magazine contains testflights of the four strategic cruisers produced from materials discovered in wormhole space. A fantastically insightful article on the making of Apocrypha also delves into the gritty details of how CCP put its entire weight behind one incredible expansion during a time of real world economic turmoil. Skip past the cut for a breakdown of everything in EON Issue 24 and my impressions from reading through it.
EVE Evolved: Research: Reverse Engineering and Tech 3, part 2
To install a reverse engineering job, you'll need more than just the relic. A hybrid tech decryptor for one of EVE's four races is required to specify which race of hull or subsystem your blueprint will be for. For example, using an Amarr hybrid tech decryptor will make the subsystem or hull blueprint it produces an Amarr Legion one.
EVE Evolved: Research: Reverse Engineering and Tech 3
In the first two parts of this guide to Research in EVE Online, I covered the basics of Tech 1 blueprint research and the "Invention" system that allows players to make their own Tech 2 blueprint copies. The reverse engineering process used to make Tech 3 blueprints is a lot like invention except with a new set of materials, equipment and skills. Though the process used to create it will be familiar to inventors, the end product is a strange beast. Unlike Tech 2, Tech 3 isn't just a straight improvement over lower tech levels and doesn't use Tech 1 or 2 as a base. Instead, it's an entirely new technology used to make custom, modular ships. At the moment, the only Tech 3 products we have are the modular "Strategic Cruiser" class but more is planned for future patches. Tech 3 frigates are rumoured to be next on the development table and it's entirely possible that we'll see strange new Tech 3 modules thrown into the mix too at some point. In today's part of this bumper guide to research, I look into EVE's newest addition to the researcher's repertoire as I examine Tech 3 and "Reverse Engineering". I'll look at how it all fits together to make a finished product, what's required to get involved and best practices for staying profitable in what has become a very competitive marketplace.
EVE Evolved: Tech 3 Strategic Cruisers
With EVE Online's Apocrypha expansion came an entire new class of ship. Tech 3 Strategic Cruisers represent a new wave of technology in EVE. Rather than being simply improved versions of the existing Tech 2 ships, Strategic Cruisers are modular ships reverse engineered from ancient Sleeper and Talocan components. They allow players to design their own ship from a base hull and a set of five subsystems. Each subsystem has four options, with a fifth possibly in the works. Original designs called for the ship to improve as it was used, but this was replaced with a set of rank 1 skills and you lose a level of one of them if your ship is destroyed. A fully fit Tech 3 ship originally would have cost you upwards of two billion isk but prices have since dropped to around the 600 million mark and they're still falling. As these ships have become more affordable, I've had a chance to see some of them in action and see first hand what they can do.Join me in this visual gallery article where I dish out some information on Strategic Cruisers and then examine a few of the different ways these ships can be fit to fulfill different roles. If you have a particularly inventive setup, feel free to post it as a comment. %Gallery-71984%
EVE Fanfest PvP tournament to have free-for-all and Tech III matches
The Drone Bay podcast returned recently with an EVE Online Fanfest preview. The podcast's hosts Crovan and Alsedrech got air time with EVE developers CCP Tyr and CCP Claw, as well as StevieSG from EVE TV. In addition to dropping more info about the sixth annual Fanfest and some of the options players will have for excursions in Iceland beyond the player gathering itself (which will be October 1 - 3), they discuss the Fanfest PvP tournament. The Fanfest PvP tournament is a major draw to the event. The Fanfest tournament differs from the Alliance PvP Tournament (which will be held earlier in the year, in September) in some noticeable ways. Where the Alliance tournament is taken very seriously by most competitors who spend weeks in preparation -- after all, a substantial part of the game's playerbase are watching or listening to the event live -- the Fanfest PvP tournament is meant to allow for more impromptu, spontaneous match-ups. Indeed, some winning teams at the Fanfest tournament were comprised of virtual strangers who joined up at the last minute, and the rules can lead to some... unusual scenarios. In keeping with this spirit of mixing it up, CCP has decided to hold free-for-all PvP matches at Fanfest 2009.
Next EVE Online patch will boost Tech III production
The Apocrypha expansion for EVE Online introduced wormhole exploration to the game and with it, the potential to reverse engineer advanced technology from the Sleeper NPC race. The goal for many such explorers is ultimately to produce the next iteration of ship technology in the game; these Tech III strategic cruisers feature modular designs that can accomplish some impressive things. This, coupled with their rarity and sky high prices make Tech III ships into everybody's favorite multi-billion ISK gankmagnets, and it's that scarcity that EVE game designer CCP Chronotis addresses in his latest dev blog.He writes that CCP Games will make some changes in the next Apocrypha patch that will affect the supply of Tech III materials. Specifically, they're going to boost reverse engineering while also balancing out the types of salvage gained from Sleeper NPC wrecks, and increase the availability of Tech III production materials in general. If you're involved in wormhole exploration or Tech III production, consider this dev blog from CCP Chronotis a heads up as to the changes on the way.
EVE Online video shows off design evolution of Tech III ships
The CCP Games art team is behind the latest EVE Online dev blog, one that focuses on the game's newest ship class, the Tech III 'strategic cruisers', as well as the EVE's updated effects. Tech III has brought modular ship designs to the sci-fi title, introducing a new level of flexibility and complexity to the game. EVE developer CCP jBot writes that the hundreds of potential configurations available when the Apocrypha expansion launched has expanded into the thousands (4096 to be precise) with the introduction of the fourth Tech III subsystem. The versatility of strategic cruisers impressive but presently, as with anything new in EVE, their extreme costs make them a rarity in the game until prices reach something resembling equilibrium. Still, even ISK-challenged capsuleers dare to dream; CCP Games has put together a video that shows off the evolution of Tech III from the design sketches to blockout models, and right through paintovers to the the finished art assets. We've got it embedded for you below, best viewed in fullscreen HD.
Massively's Apocrypha expansion hands-on: Epic Mission Arcs and Tech III
Epic Mission Arcs and Lore EVE Online's setting of New Eden is one with a rich backstory, which is always being fleshed out further through regular Chronicles (short stories found on the game's official site), video footage tied into the game's lore and, as of last year, brought to life in the Empyrean Age novel. While not all players opt to delve into this aspect of the game, the content is there to immerse yourself in. The problem is that there's a disconnect between the story and gameplay because of how mission running (quests) work in EVE and the repetition that characterizes them.
EVE Online launches Apocrypha expansion site
EVE Online developers CCP Games have launched a new site for the sci-fi game's Apocrypha expansion, slated for a March 10th launch. The site has a teaser trailer, screenshots, wallpapers, and concept art related to Apocrypha. In addition, there are brief video presentations from three key developers involved with the expansion: Lead Game Designer Noah Ward (CCP Hammerhead), Associate Producer Arend Stührmann (CCP Whisper), and Senior Producer Torfi Frans Olaffson (CCP Torfifrans). Their presentations range from discussion of Tech III to how wormhole exploration and the New Player Experience will add something fresh to the game:
Video shows EVE Online's Sleeper NPC race in action
The ancient NPC race in EVE Online known as the Sleepers will soon come into conflict with EVE's capsuleers in the Apocrypha expansion, only a few weeks from now. Explorers willing to discover wormholes and take the risk of engaging the Sleepers within will be able to obtain some of their technology, provided they manage to survive the encounter. This could bring wealth by selling the tech outright, or reverse engineering it to create EVE's strategic "Tech III" cruisers -- modular ship designs based in part off of Sleeper technology. CCP Games has said that the Sleepers will be unlike any NPC type that pilots in the game have ever faced, and that was no exaggeration. Their AI makes fighting these particular NPCs more like fighting other players. That is to say, they react to immediate threats and change their tactics to counter what's thrown at them, to some degree. The video embedded below (captured on the Singularity test server) shows what the Sleepers are capable of against a mixed fleet of players -- with capital ships no less -- that had great difficulty withstanding the ancients. Check out the raw power of the Sleepers in fullscreen HD, with their sizzling blue beams and warheads absolutely melting battleships and any other threat that demands their attention:
EVE Online developer explains how to build Tech III strategic cruisers
For many players of massively multiplayer online titles, the crafting side of these games is especially appealing. Quite a number of EVE Online's players are drawn to the crafting side of this particular sci-fi MMO, and those in large corporations and alliances have learned how their collective efforts can allow them to produce vast quantities of items and reap equally vast sums of ISK.EVE's crafting system is also very much the backbone of the game. Almost every ship and module used by players in the game was created by another player. Those who are into the combat aspects of the game are reliant upon the producers to supply their tools of destruction, and that destruction in turn creates demand (and fuels profits) for EVE's industrialists. It's an interesting bit of symbiosis (despite that animosity towards those on the other side of the fence) that keeps New Eden thriving.
EVE Online developer explains major new feature: Tech III
The dev blog many EVE Online players have been waiting for was published today. Tech III ships have been the subject of a great deal of excitement and no small amount of trepidation from the game's players. EVE developer CCP Nozh introduces the playerbase to "the dark delights of Tech 3 ships" in his dev blog "Strategic Cruisers: A New Breed." This moniker "Strategic Cruisers" is a fitting one, as they certainly are a new breed of ship, and one that requires some explanation. Nozh writes, "The elation of happening upon a unique fit, some fresh and clever setup, has always been a very appealing aspect of EVE. One of our primary goals for the Tech 3 ships was to bring this customization to a whole new level. The new ships are a fundamental departure from the tried and tested, offering such unparalleled customization that discussing them on the same terms as previous ships belies their true extent -- we're talking full-fledged, independent systems within the system. A little bit scary, really."
