The Winter expansion for EVE is warping in this November. Rubicon will offer a whole host of new narrative elements, ships, player abilities and tweaks that will impact heavily the existing EVE universe.
Rubicon focuses on the Capsuleers gaining power in the EVE universe, expanding their horizons and exploring new technology. Immortality looks to be a large overarching theme, with a Cylon-like resurrection system seen in the trailer.
Rubicon will introduce four new personal structures for players to build in the game, offering special abilities and useful functions. A Siphon Unit can be latched onto starbases to leach resources such as moon mining ore. The unit can be deployed and left for a period, with players returning to collected the leached items. The Siphon unit can be accessed by anyone though, so other players can loot the unit if you don’t keep a close eye on it.
A Depot will also be available, which acts as a little static home for the player. A cheap entry level structure, the Depot can be used for storage.
A new tractor beam will be able to gather debris together into a big lump that can be the easily accessed, salvaged and looted for valuables.
A Sino jammer will block Sino signals in an approximate 100km radius to help turn the tide in battle.
The oft-noted problem with EVE’s warp speeds is finally being addressed, as CCP have tweaked the acceleration rates of individual ships. Where before all ships accelerated at the same pace, now smaller ships will be nippier and bigger ships much slower. This makes small ships much more useful as interceptors, and can even warp to a larger target’s destination before them, lying in wait to ambush their target.
Existing ships will undergo a massive balancing act to ensure the game is in a much better position. Notable ships undergoing changes include the Marauder, which will transform between two different modes – the Bastion mode which is stationary and offers massive tanking potential, and the normal, much more maneuverable mode. Electronic Attack Ships are also receiving an overhaul, offering double range on secondary effects, bringing them closer to the recon class than frigate.
Two new ships have been revealed, belonging to the new Sisters of EVE faction. Based around the pirate theme, the ships possess drone and exploration bonuses to encourage sabotage and other pirate-like activities.
CCP are also including Twitch.tv functionality to allow live streaming of all EVE Online activity.
EVE Rubicon will launch November 19th. More details can be found on the EVE Rubicon website.