The in-game Upwell Consortium Citadel competition has been run and won.
I sent in some research components on two of my character, so I presume since they reached the 5 tier goals that those pilots will get some Upwell-branded apparel at some point in the future. If I had of thought that through I probably should have sent in some components across all of my characters.
I still like these sorts of events and am glad CCP is continuing with them.
At the bottom of the winner’s announcement was encouragement for Capsuleers to visit the prototype construction sites. I thought that maybe they had been changed so I headed over to Anjedin.
Nope – still the same.
We also got a look at what the Caldari Force Auxiliary hull – the Minokawa, might look like in a Dev Blog.
(Image from the DEV blog)
http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/reworking-capital-ships-skills-modules-and-refitting/
It is a touch unusual, but is not out of place. While I had purchased the skill books and started training for them, from a solo point of view it is highly unlikely I would ever fly one. In what seems a very unusual move CCP will be removing the just released Force Auxiliary skill books and reimbursing the purchase price and skill points trained. The Force Auxiliaries will instead use a renamed Carrier skill – as will the Carriers. I haven’t read the forums for the background on this, but given the very different role of the ship as compared to Carriers, I’m surprised at CCP’s quick change of heart. It seems to make sense having separate skills.
There is a lot of Capital related information in the Dev blog, and it is worth a close read. For example, they will be introducing Capital Ancillary Shield Boosters and Armor repairers, and Capital sized Cap Booster Charges. It will be interesting to see how they balance that.
It also covers some of the new modules – such as small, medium, large and capital Remote Ancillary Shield boosters and Armor repairers. While not something I would use – I expect they will find a niche. There’s an odd Capital Emergency Hull Energizer which can be used instead of a Damage control. It sets hull resists to 99% – but only for 20 seconds before it then burns out. You might save yourself from a Doomsday if you time it just right, but otherwise I can’t see many using that. There’s a link to the Heavy Stasis Grappler module – which will be usable on Battleships or Capitals, and are high strength very short range webs. Last they reference scriptable Capital Armor and Shield Hardeners. Maybe this is a part Olive branch for the removal of refitting while under a weapons flag? There would have to be a sweetener for using this over the current hardeners, unless you are forced to.
Last there is a spiel about that refitting nerf. This bit I found a little odd. CCP feels it is important for players to make a commitment to their decisions. Being able to refit in space removes an enormous amount of this commitment. They feel refitting through the use of a Depot, Nestor, Carrier etc is a game design flaw.
I hope this is only in reference to refitting while in combat – and not a wider held view. I have assumed it is because the nerf only relates to when you have an active weapons flag. As a solo pilot who does a lot of exploration, including long ranged, I need to maximise the flexibility of my hulls and their fits, and being able to refit out of a station is rather important.
There have been lots of recent Dev Blogs and Forum posts – often with surprising bits and pieces in them. I am viewing them with a mix of interest and despair. (The later for the requirement to yet again refit many of my ships.)
(Oh, in case it wasn’t apparent, the title is in reference to me getting my 2 Bil ISK back at some point for my skill book purchases.)
Evehermit 