Revelations II

19 June 2007

• Heat
  
  Adding a new dimension to space combat in EVE, Revelations 2.0 brings you Heat: the ability to overload starship modules for a temporary boost in performance, but at the risk of damaging the module.
  
  Performance overloads are temporary attribute increases for selected active modules, covering everything from firepower and defenses to propulsion and electronics. While the benefits of overheating are specific to the module, the cost-heat buildup-is cumulative to the rack that the module resides in, which has a fixed heat dissipation rate.
  
  Overheating a single module therefore risks damaging every other module that shares the same rack-low, medium, or high-and each module has a maximum number of hit points it can withstand before failing. Modules that succumb to heat become unusable during combat, but can be repaired when-or if-the ship makes it back to a station.
  
  
• Anti-Fleet Warfare
  
  Revelations II will introduce new tactics for dispersing large concentrations of ships. Motherships will be able to equip a Remote ECM Burst module that will jam the sensors of any ship within the effect radius of the target. Stealth bombers can be armed with six different AOE (area-of-effect) Bombs that damage everything-friend and foe alike-within their blast radius. In addition to the four primary damage types, two additional ordinance variants include capacitor draining and target lock breaking bombs. Carriers will be able to revert to triage mode, in which its logistic and defensive capabilities are greatly enhanced at the expense of nearly all of its firepower.
  
  
• Structure Warfare Enhancements
  
  Revelations II will significantly expand the opportunities for strategic operations between fixed structures in space by encouraging siege-type game play, enabling attrition warfare, providing tactical objectives for smaller attack forces, and improving the economic vitality of outposts. Specific game play element additions include:
  
  
  • Starbase Warfare
    
    New Starbase Tactics. Factionalized Structures such as Serpentis Control Towers and Domination Autocannon Batteries, each with unique looks and bonus attributes; Energy Neutralizing Arrays that can drain capacitor reserves from attacking fleets; Scanner Arrays that perform localized scanning for the presence of ships; Jump Towers that allow players to jump instantaneously between starbases owned by the same corporation; Cynosural Field Generators that can quickly bring capital ships to the battlefield; and Cynosural Field Jammers to prevent them from coming in.
    
    Exposed Starbase Assets. We are opening up the tactical opportunities for smaller attack groups by moving some starbase structures beyond the protective force field. All such eligible structures will receive significant hit point increases, which will include all firepower, electronic warfare, and scanning arrays; cynosural field jammers and generators; and jump bridge towers.
    
    Improved Defenses. Structures can now be anchored when the host control tower is in reinforced mode, forcing attack groups to patrol the tower until it is destroyed while giving the owner a chance to recover from assaults. Most importantly, players will now get direct command of starbase weapons, allowing them to control individual assets such as turrets, missile batteries, and stasis webifiers.
    
    
  • Outpost Warfare
    
    Targetable Outpost Services. Individual services offered by outposts are now vulnerable to precision strikes. Attacking players will see a list of "opportunity targets" in their overview as they approach these stations, each of which will have different hit point values depending on their importance. Services-including any jobs running at the time of attack-will become unavailable for outpost residents as they are destroyed, but can be restored once selective criteria are met.
    
    
  • Outpost Upgrades
    
    Tiered Improvement Opportunities. Hierarchal "construction paths" for increasing the economic vitality of outposts will be implemented. These station improvements must be purchased as construction platforms, anchored at the outpost site, and supplied with the requisite materials. Once built, these upgrades are permanent, even if the outpost is lost. Possible improvements include the addition of office, factory, or research slots; increasing the efficiency of reprocessing and manufacturing facilities; or adding these services to the outpost. The upgrade level of the outpost determines the total number of improvements that can be made, the greatest of which are functions of race and sovereignty conditions.
    
    
• Expanding the Frontiers of Exploration
  
  Revelations II will significantly expand the content for solo exploration, increasing the chances of discovering in-space encounters and hidden deadspace pockets of varying difficulties-including greater rewards through rare NPC commander spawns. The balance of escalation will also be improved, with an emphasis on creating a more gradual difficulty progression through encounter stages and. Finally, a built-in scanner that has no requirements for additional skills or modules will be added to assist with finding low-risk encounters.
  
  
• Agent Mission Improvements
  
  Revelations II will introduce Level 5 Agents, and with them the most challenging PVE encounters for players yet in EVE. These missions are designed for capital ships or small gangs, who will face NPC elements that include dreadnoughts, carriers, and other mammoth adversaries that require vast amounts of firepower to take down.
  
  To encourage group participation for tackling agent missions of any difficulty, gang support for missions will also be added, splitting the bounty for success evenly between participants. As for the actual rewards, the agent offer system is being enhanced in two ways: loyalty points will now be cumulative towards the issuing corporation of the agent, not the individual agents themselves; and with the addition of a new loyalty point store, in which players can view the entire list of available corporation reward offers and select which ones to accept as determined by their affordability in loyalty points and/or merchandise.
  
  
• Broader Sovereignty Scope
  
  Revelations II will make sovereignty more modular by adding four different tiers of ownership and broadening its scope to the constellation level. Structured incentives and intermediary objectives-with unique benefits offered at each tier-will be available for alliances to pursue, but with the added challenge of contending with the tactical changes to starbase warfare. The benefits at each tier include which outpost upgrades can be added, what structures can be anchored around starbases, and how much fuel is required to sustain them.
  
  Sovereignty tiers include Territory, Protectorate, Province, and Constellation Capital. The latter is achievable through Constellation Sovereignty, which is reached when half of the systems in a given constellation become official "territories" of the same alliance; three or more outposts and/or conquerable stations reside with the constellation; and at least one system is a Province-the alliance-declared capital system of that constellation.
  
  
• Improved Corporation & Alliance Management
  
  Revelations II will deliver significant enhancements to the management tools for corporations and alliances-the cornerstone organizations of EVE. These include the additions of:
  
  
  • An alliance standing tab, which will give directors the ability to set and adjust corporation standings with other alliances;
  • A starbase fuel technician role, which will allow players to perform basic starbase maintenance tasks but prevent them from damaging the base through resource theft or other means;
  • Seven divisional wallets for corporations, which will give directors the ability to uniquely categorize corporate finances however they fit;
  • A transaction log for each divisional wallet, identical in functionality to personal wallets;
  • An export manager that will allow players with an accountant role to export corporate data to file, and all players to export their personal wallets to file;
  • Remote search functionality of corporate hangars and manipulation of corporate assets, such as moving items between hangars and stacking;
  • An alliance history tab similar to the character employment history tab; and
  • Detailed shareholder reports, which lists individual member ownership of corporation-issued stock to players with an accountant or director role.
• Need for Speed™
  
  Revelations II advances our commitment to improving the performance of EVE Online. With significant CPU and dogma optimizations launched in this release, Revelations will also set the initial groundwork to provide full Vista support for future expansions. Also integral to our Need for Speed initiative is the continuous refinement of our Core Technology, the foundation infrastructure for EVE.
  
  
• Immersive New Player Experience
  
  To better acclimate new players to EVE, the rookie tutorial experience will spawn directly in space beginning with Revelations II, inside a protected dungeon inaccessible to all but the new player.
  
  
• General Improvements
  
  Dozens of enhancements will be included with Revelations II, ranging from adding faction missiles to loot drops; the introduction of Tech II Sentry and Logistics drones; giving commanders the ability to transfer their gang-boosting role to another pilot; seeding the market with more gas cloud harvesters to encourage booster production; adding rogue drone commanders to exploration complexes; plus many more unique improvements to better the EVE experience for new and veteran players alike.