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EVE Evolved: Unleash your inner space janitor

Brendan Drain — Sun, 22 Dec 2013 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Economy, Game Mechanics, PvP, Endgame, Opinion, Hands-On, EVE Evolved, Guides, Sandbox, Player-Generated Content

Did you know that people leave perfectly good stuff just lying around in space? Between abandoned starbases, safespotted containers, floating wrecks, and lost drones, there's a real mess out there in space that somebody aught to clean the hell up. So why doesn't someone get out there with a dustpan and brush and vacuum up everything valuable that isn't bolted down? That's what I've been up to for the past week, and I've found it surprisingly enjoyable and profitable. Building on my recent article on staying safe in lowsec, I put together a strategic cruiser setup designed for rapidly searching through lowsec and nullsec for the goodies others leave behind or don't notice.

What surprised me the most about my journey across the wilderness of nullsec is how many starbase owners allowed their towers to run out of fuel and shut down. Using just the directional scanner, I was able to locate and destroy dozens of unprotected starbase structures, including research labs, ship hangars, corp hangar arrays, and factories. The main target of my exploration escapades was actually the new Ghost Sites introduced in Rubicon, which spawn randomly throughout space and usually end up migrating to systems that aren't frequently used. The ISK per hour may not be very good in hunting these sites, but the payoff of finding the rare Ascendancy Omega blueprint would make it all worthwhile.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I delve into the wonderful world of interstellar trash reclamation and asset liberation. I explain how to find abandoned starbases to loot, and I share some tips on locating and tackling the elusive Ghost Sites.

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EVE Evolved: Unleash your inner space janitor originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 22 Dec 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting Heavy Assault Cruisers in Odyssey 1.1, part 2

Brendan Drain — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Classes, Expansions, Game Mechanics, Patches, PvP, Opinion, Hands-On, EVE Evolved, Guides, Sandbox, Subscription

EVE Online recently revamped all of the Heavy Assault Cruisers in its Odyssey 1.1 update, in addition to buffing active shield boosters and armour repairers and rebalancing medium beam lasers and railguns. Last week I put together a new brawler setup for the recently revamped Deimos, a sentry drone sniper fitting for the Ishtar, an extremely effective anti-frigate Cerberus setup, and a sadly underwhelming railgun Eagle. This week I've turned my attention toward the Amarr and Minmatar HACs, with some surprising results. The Zealot and Sacrilege are still as powerful as ever, and the Muninn may see some use as a tactical frigate sniper, but this patch could see many players retiring their Vagabonds.

The nano-fit Vagabond was once the unrivaled number one ship for lone pirates, able to speed-tank anything larger than a frigate and still deal over 500 DPS. It engaged safely from outside web range, moved too fast for turrets to track, and absorbed any attacks that did hit with its sizable buffer tank. When CCP made warp scramblers knock out microwarpdrives, Vagabond pilots adapted with dual propulsion module fits that use a microwarpdrive to approach the target and an afterburner to orbit. Unfortunately, the Vagabond didn't fare well in the Odyssey 1.1 patch and players aren't sure if they can adapt this time.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I put together PvP setups for the at the Zealot, Sacrilege, Muninn, and Vagabond Heavy Assault Cruisers.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: Fitting Heavy Assault Cruisers in Odyssey 1.1, part 2

EVE Evolved: Fitting Heavy Assault Cruisers in Odyssey 1.1, part 2 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Sep 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting Heavy Assault Cruisers in Odyssey 1.1

Brendan Drain — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Classes, Expansions, Game Mechanics, Patches, PvP, Opinion, Hands-On, EVE Evolved, Guides, Sandbox

The Odyssey 1.1 patch landed this week in EVE Online, introducing several highly requested PvP tweaks and overhauling all of the Command Ships and Heavy Assault Ships. Active shield boosters, armour repairers and medium-sized long range turrets all received sizable buffs, but it's the newly updated Heavy Assault Cruisers that really took my interest. They've historically been used as highly mobile damage-dealers for fleet warfare, but now each has been targeted at a specific combat niche. The Deimos is a brawler for small-scale gang warfare, the Ishtar is a heavy drone platform, the Cerberus turns frigates into molten poop, and the Eagle is... well, nobody can really figure out what to do with the Eagle yet.

All of the HACs have been augmented with a new role bonus that reduces the signature radius penalty of activating a microwarpdrive by 50%. This may seem pretty weak, but in practice it makes the ships a lot more viable in PvP. Activating your microwarpdrive will normally increase your signature radius size by 500%, making you a hell of a lot easier to hit and increasing the damage you take from missiles. The speed boost will counteract this to some degree, but it takes a while to reach that speed, and you're very vulnerable in the interim. Reducing this to only 250% means you get all the defensive benefit of the speed increase without much of the vulnerability. In most cases, you'll actually take less damage with the microwarpdrive on than off.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I put together PvP setups for the at the newly revamped Deimos, Ishtar, Cerberus, and Eagle Heavy Assault Cruisers.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting Heavy Assault Cruisers in Odyssey 1.1 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 08 Sep 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting battleships for PvP in Odyssey, part 2

Brendan Drain — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Classes, Expansions, Game Mechanics, Patches, PvP, Endgame, Opinion, Hands-On, EVE Evolved, Guides, Sandbox, Subscription

Battleships used to be the backbone of every major PvP fleet in EVE Online, but recent years have seen them increasingly overtaken by more mobile Battlecruisers, Heavy Assault Cruisers, and tech 3 Strategic Cruisers. Armour buffered battleships are still used in carrier-supported fleets and for a while nullsec played host to huge missile-spamming Maelstrom blobs of unholy death, but many of the battleships just haven't been worth using. Developers saught to rectify that in the recent Odyssey expansion with a complete balance overhaul of the standard tech 1 battleships, and it's starting to pay off.

In last week's EVE Evolved, I looked at how Odyssey buffed the tier one Dominix, Scorpion, Typhoon, and Armageddon beyond all recognition and experimented with new PvP setups for each of them. This week I've turned my attention toward the tier 2 battleships, which turned out to be equally versatile and deadly. Now officially falling under the umbrella of "Combat Battleships," the Megathron, Raven, Apocalypse, and Tempest have become powerful damage-dealing platforms for fleet warfare. Each of them can now fulfill sniper or close-range damage roles and carry a spare flight of Warrior II drones to bat off tacklers, but what's impressed me the most is the sheer level of damage and tank they can achieve.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I experiment with setups for the recently revamped Megathron, Raven, Apocalypse, and Tempest tier 2 battleships. These setups may require Advanced Weapon Upgrades 4 and a cheap 1-3% powergrid or CPU implant.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: Fitting battleships for PvP in Odyssey, part 2

EVE Evolved: Fitting battleships for PvP in Odyssey, part 2 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 23 Jun 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting battleships for PvP in Odyssey

Brendan Drain — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game Mechanics, Patches, PvP, Endgame, Opinion, Hands-On, EVE Evolved, Guides, Sandbox

Tech 1 ships in EVE Online used to be arranged in tiers that determined the cost and power of the ship and what level of the appropriate skill was required to fly it. This gave a sense of progression back in 2004 when all we had was frigates, cruisers, and battleships, but developers have since filled in the gaps between ship classes with destroyers, battlecruisers, strategic cruisers, and tech 2 ships of all shapes and sizes. In a recent game design initiative, CCP has been removing the tiers from within each tech 1 ship class by buffing the lower-tier ships up to the same rough power level as the largest ship in its class.

The recent Odyssey expansion saw the humble battleship buffed beyond all recognition. The Megathron, Raven, Tempest, and Apocalypse all became extreme damage-dealing powerhouses, but the Dominix, Scorpion, Typhoon, and Armageddon were buffed the most. Each of them can now fit several monster setups, dealing upward of 1,000 damage per second or completely disabling enemy ships with energy neutralisers and electronic warfare. The build costs of these tier one battleships were more than doubled in the expansion, but prices are only slowly rising due to the existing stock on the market. That makes the tier one battleships incredibly cost-effective PvP powerhouses at the moment, and players are beginning to take advantage of it.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I experiment with PvP setups for the newly revamped Typhoon, Armageddon, Scorpion, and Dominix battleships.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting battleships for PvP in Odyssey originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Five years of EVE Evolved

Brendan Drain — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Contests, Culture, Expansions, Game Mechanics, Lore, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Massively Meta, Hands-On, MMOFPS, EVE Evolved, DUST 514, Guides, Sandbox, Anniversaries

About five years ago, on April 27th, 2008, I joined the Massively team and wrote the very first issue of the EVE Evolved column. Five years later, the column is still going strong and delivering its weekly dose of EVE Online to thousands of readers. I used to worry about running out of ideas to write about, but regular game updates and hilarious player shenanigans mean there's always something interesting going on in New Eden. When EVE hits its 10th anniversary in May, this column will have been running for just over half of the game's lifetime. In that time, I've written over 250 in-depth articles, guides, in-game stories and opinion pieces on EVE Online and a few on DUST 514.

As usual, I'll be celebrating this anniversary by rounding up this year's column highlights and giving away two 30-day Pilot's License Extensions to two lucky readers. To enter the competition, write a comment explaining which EVE Evolved articles from this year you liked best and what topics you'd like to see covered in the coming year. You will need an active EVE account to claim the prize, so be sure to include your character name in your comment if you want to be in with a chance. If you'd rather not give out your character name or don't have an EVE account but would like to give the game a go, you can sign up a new trial account and use the name of your new character.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I look back at the highlights from the column's fifth year!

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EVE Evolved: Five years of EVE Evolved originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting Minmatar cruisers for PvP in Retribution

Brendan Drain — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game Mechanics, PvP, Opinion, EVE Evolved, Guides, Sandbox

Ever since EVE Online's PvP-focused Retribution expansion landed last month, I've spent most of my play time hunting for kills in cheap PvP cruisers and loving every moment of it. The standard tech 1 cruisers used to be underpowered ships that new players used as a stepping stone into more capable battlecruisers or tech 2 cruisers, but Retribution buffed them to ridiculous proportions. Every tech 1 cruiser was given extra module slots and stats, and the low-tier cruisers were buffed up to the same level as the highest-tier hulls. Believe it or not, these cheap ships that new players can comfortably fly with just a week of skill training have become competitive PvP ships.

In the first two editions of this ship fitting series, I put together new ship setups for each of the Amarr and Gallente tech 1 cruisers. This week, I've been zipping about the universe at high speed in the Minmatar cruisers and putting together effective ship setups that can take down some huge prey. The Stabber has been transformed into a competent miniature Vagabond that can keep enemies at arm's length and nibble them to death, and the tanky Rupture remains a highly effective close-range brawler. The Bellicose now excels in an anti-tackler role, and the Scythe is a throwaway remote repair platform that uses speed to stay safe on the battlefield.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I give PvP setups for the four recently revamped Minmatar tech 1 cruisers.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting Minmatar cruisers for PvP in Retribution originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 06 Jan 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting Amarr cruisers for PvP in Retribution

Brendan Drain — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Game Mechanics, PvP, Opinion, EVE Evolved, Guides, Sandbox

EVE Online's recent Retribution expansion overhauled many of the game's old PvP mechanics and rebalanced all of the tech 1 frigates and cruisers. These are the first ships new players get into when they start playing, and many found they just couldn't compete with more expensive ships in combat. In Retribution, the basic tech 1 cruisers have been buffed beyond all recognition and now stand a serious chance against battlecruisers and tech 2 ships. New players and veterans alike have found the updated tech 1 cruisers to be a lot more fun to fly and more effective in solo PvP and small fleet warfare.

Two weeks ago, I started a new series of ship fitting guides with effective PvP setups for each of the four Gallente tech 1 cruisers. In between hilarious sessions of baiting gankers with my ECM Vexor, I've recently been been getting to grips with the updated Amarr cruisers. The Omen is now a fast tackler that can project damage over 25km, the Maller is a fantastic support DPS platform for fleet warfare, and the Arbitrator has become a great anti-frigate platform. Even the humble Augoror should now be a welcome sight in PvP fleets, repairing almost as much as a Guardian at only a fraction of the cost.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I give new PvP ship setups for EVE's recently buffed Amarr tech 1 cruisers.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting Amarr cruisers for PvP in Retribution originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 30 Dec 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting Gallente cruisers for PvP in Retribution

Brendan Drain — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game Mechanics, PvP, Opinion, EVE Evolved, Guides, Sandbox

In last week's article, I mentioned that one of my favourite parts of the Retribution expansion was the tech 1 cruiser revamp that buffed all of EVE Online's cruisers to the same rough power level. Before the update, cruisers were arranged in a tiered system that gave higher-tier ships extra stats and module slots. As a result, only a few cruisers were actually viable in PvP, and the others served very little purpose elsewhere in the game. The Caldari Caracal was too slow to tackle anyone, the Amarr Omen couldn't easily fit a rack of full-sized guns, and don't get me started on the state of the tech 1 remote repair cruisers.

Retribution abolished those tiers, buffing every underpowered cruiser up to the same level of power as the previous top-tier version. The Caracal got that speed it always needed, and the Omen got enough powergrid to fit a full rack of guns, but what really impressed me was what CCP did to the Vexor. With its extra module slots and the recent addition of drone damage amplifier modules, the Vexor has been transformed from a poor man's Thorax to an absolute monster that can stand toe-to-toe with battlecruisers. The Exequror and Celestis have been similarly buffed but are still specialised into logistics and electronic warfare roles.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I give new PvP ship setups for each of the Gallente tech 1 cruisers buffed in Retribution, including a setup that will make you think twice about engaging a lone Vexor.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting Gallente cruisers for PvP in Retribution originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting a brawler frigate for PvP

Brendan Drain — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Game Mechanics, Professions, PvP, Endgame, Opinion, EVE Evolved, Guides, Sandbox

EVE Online's PvP usually has more in common with a game of chess than a dogfight; it helps to have more pieces on the board than the other guys, and tactics usually play a more important role than the size or cost of your ship. You can't automatically win by bringing a gun to a knife fight in EVE, but you can win by being better with a knife than the other guy or by bringing a dozen knives and just flinging them all over the place. The lowly tech 1 frigate may not seem so ferocious on its own, but a hundred frigates can smash even capital ships to bits.

Despite the advantage of bringing more pilots to a fight, the frigate is also one of the best ships for soliciting solo PvP. Its superior speed and maneuverability will help you avoid groups of enemy ships and pursue individual targets. It's most common to find lone players in faction warfare areas and the borders of nullsec, and there are even dedicated wardec corps that will let you find solo PvP in highsec. Frigate duels can provide a fun and much more twitch-based style of combat than you'll find elsewhere in EVE, and a well-designed frigate can punch far above its own weight. The Rifter has always been the ship of choice for close-range frigate PvP, but Inferno 1.1 gave all four races an equivalent option.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I give close-range PvP setups for the Minmatar Rifter, Amarr Punisher, Gallente Incursus and Caldari Merlin that make full use of the Inferno 1.1 overhaul.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting a brawler frigate for PvP originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 02 Sep 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: How to fit the Enyo and Ishkur

Brendan Drain — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Game Mechanics, PvP, PvE, Opinion, EVE Evolved, Guides, Sandbox

When tech 2 ships were first introduced to EVE Online, the first models off the production line were interceptors and assault ships. Interceptors served as agile tacklers with unmatched speed and maneuverability, while assault ships provided a slower but tankier option. Each race's assault ship had a bonus to its racial resistances, making it an incredible tank against certain damage types. This made it great for ninja-ratting in nullsec or tackling larger ships of a particular race. When subsequently released ships were also given this racial resistance bonus, the assault frigate lost part of what made it so useful. Players have begged for an assault ship buff for years, and in Crucible, it finally arrived.

The Gallente Ishkur and Enyo have always been capable PvE ships for speed-running low-level missions or ninja-ratting in nullsec, but with Crucible, they've become absolute monsters in both PvE and PvP. With the maneuverability and signature radius of a frigate but more tank and damage output than a tech 1 cruiser, both ships are incredibly fun to fly. Drone users will probably prefer the Ishkur, but the Enyo's raw damage output and buffer tank are truly terrifying.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I offer PvE and PvP setups for the Gallente Ishkur and Enyo to help you get the most out of these incredible revamped ships.

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EVE Evolved: How to fit the Enyo and Ishkur originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting the Gallente Talos

Brendan Drain — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game Mechanics, PvP, Opinion, Hands-On, EVE Evolved, Guides, Sandbox

Among the hundreds of changes brought by EVE Online's recent Crucible expansion, the new tier 3 battlecruisers certainly rank as player favourites. Rather than giving each race a bigger, tougher battlecruiser, CCP gave the new ships the ability to fit battleship-class weapons but heavily limited their defensive capabilities. All four tier 3 battlecruisers are turret-based, letting them output massive damage with close-range guns or hit for solid damage at battleship sniping distances.

As with all new ships, it can be difficult to figure out how to fit the new tier 3 battlecruisers to make full use of their unique combination of high damage output and high mobility. Last week I looked at three viable setups for the Caldari Naga, which proved to be an absolute monster with 1,000-1500 DPS when using close-range blaster setups and a terrifying 650 DPS when sniping at 100km-130km. This week I take a similar look at the Gallente Talos, a ship designed specifically for close-range combat. I explore a traditional armour-tanked blaster fitting with dual webs, a shield-based variant that packs a huge 1,500 DPS punch, and two long-range blaster fits that give the Naga a run for its money.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I explore four solid PvP fittings for the Talos, with both shield and armour setups.

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EVE Evolved: Fitting the Gallente Talos originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: The Industrial-Sized Knowledgebase

Brendan Drain — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Culture, Professions, PvE, Opinion, Hands-On, EVE Evolved, Guides

The EVE Evolved column has been home to dozens of in-depth guides on various aspects of EVE Online. Over the past two years, I've written multi-part guides to many industrial and PvP-oriented topics. On the topic of research and development, we've covered tech 1 research, invention, reverse engineering and five top tips for researchers. Perhaps more useful was the three part series on trading, which first covered the basics before delving into advanced trading strategies and a few useful tips. Other guides which have proven popular among newer players included our three-part guide to mission-running, and the recent three-page guide to exploration.

Members of the EVE community regularly produce new guides and tools to help players make the most of their time in New Eden. This week, EVE player Laci surprised the EVE community with the release of an impressive new guide aimed at new players and industralists. The comprehensive 416-page Industrial-Sized Knowledgebase (or ISK for short) covers practically everything a new player could want to know about the game. Until now, the guide had been available only in Hungarian. After intensive translation and design work, the full guide has been released in English.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I take a look at this impressive guide and ask its creator Laci a few questions about it.

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EVE Evolved: The Industrial-Sized Knowledgebase originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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