Gladiatorial Capsuleers,
Alliance Tournament XVIII is fast approaching! This weekend, the qualified teams have been practicing hard to prepare for the annual bloodbath in the arena that will take place as the first of two weekends of combat, but before gazing at the explosions, it’s time to look at the epic prizes that are up for grabs this year – both for the competitors, and for those cheering on their teams.
Prize Ships
We know you’ve all been itching to see specifics for the prize ships for this year’s tournament. Earlier we had announced that we would rerelease the Mimir and the Freki and we still withhold that as a future possibility. However, the rewards this year will be two entirely new ships that take inspiration from the iconic Mimir and Freki and we’re delighted to be able to share their stats with you here today:
Geri:
Assault Frigate 5-4-4, 3 Missiles, 2 Turrets
10mbit bandwidth, 50m3 bay
Assault Frigate Bonuses per level:
- 7.5% bonus to Light Missile and Rocket Explosion Velocity
- 7.5% bonus to Light Missile and Rocket RoF
Frigate Bonuses per level:
- 7.5% bonus to Light Missile and Rocket Damage
- 7.5% bonus to Shield Booster and Armor Repairer effectiveness
Role Bonuses:
- 400% bonus to Stasis Webifier Drone factor of velocity decrease
- 25% bonus to Statis Webifier Drone velocity
- 50% reduction in MWD signature radius penalty
- Can fit Assault Damage Control
Bestla:
Heavy Assault Cruiser 6-5-5, 4 Missiles, 2 Turrets
20mbit bandwidth. 125m3 bay
Heavy Assault Cruiser Bonuses:
- 7.5% bonus to Heavy and Heavy Assault Missile Explosion Velocity
- 7.5% bonus to Heavy, Heavy Assault, and Rapid Light launcher RoF
Cruiser Bonuses:
- 7.5% bonus to Light, Heavy, Heavy Assault Missile Damage
- 7.5% bonus to Shield Booster and Armor Repairer effectiveness
Role Bonuses:
- 400% bonus to Stasis Webifier Drone factor of velocity decrease
- 25% bonus to Statis Webifier Drone velocity
- 50% bonus to drone hitpoints
- Can fit Assault Damage Control
PRIZE FORMAT
Prize Ships
Last year, we introduced a revised distribution pattern for Alliance Tournament ships, broadening the recipients of the prizes from the top 4 teams to the top 16 – with each team’s allocation based on where they exited the bracket after their second loss. This has resulted in far broader usage of prize ships across New Eden in the year since, and a result of this revision’s success, we’ve elected to use the same distribution pattern for ATXVIII’s prizes:
- 1st (winner of finals): 40x Geri, 40x Bestla
- 2nd (loser of winner’s bracket): 20x Geri, 20x Bestla
- 3rd (loser of match 61): 16x Geri, 16x Bestla
- 4th (loser of match 60): 12x Geri, 12x Bestla
- Top 6 (2 teams, K.O. in losers round 6): 8x Geri, 8x Bestla
- Top 8 (2 teams, K.O. in losers round 5): 6x Geri, 6x Bestla
- Top 12 (4 teams, K.O. in losers round 4): 4x Geri, 4x Bestla
- Top 16 (4 teams, K.O. in losers round 3): 2x Geri, 2x Bestla
- Total of 140 of each ship rewarded
Teams will only receive the highest bracket of prizes they have earned. For example, a team which leaves the bracket in losers round 6 will get the top 8 prize (6x Geri, 6x Bestla), but will not also receive the top 12 and top 16 prizes.
Prize SKINs
Of course, ships aren’t the only prize of the Alliance Tournament. Back in 2015, when SKINs were first introduced, there had already been 13 Tournaments hosted – so to go along with our plans to update legacy ships & themes from ATVII onwards for future Tournaments starting this year, you can look forward to the introduction of special Tournament SKINs each year going forward!
For the ATs of recent years, sponsored by New Eden’s pirate factions, releasing Tournament SKINs for each faction has been simple – as pirate factions have only a few ships each. This year, however, the significantly larger number of ships in the Minmatar Republic’s lineup would be impossible to fully accommodate, necessitating a more exclusive selection. Mirroring the Seven Tribes of Matar, we’ve settled on 7 lucky ships to paint in the colors of victory this year:
- Tempest Fleet Issue
- Typhoon Fleet Issue
- Hurricane Fleet Issue
- Stabber Fleet Issue
- Vigil Fleet Issue
- Wolf
- Scimitar (Needed to give our Logi bros some love!)
Our always-wonderful art team has also put together a demo reel of these new SKINs:
10 SKINs will be awarded for each match win a team claims in the Tournament.
Schedule and How to Tune In:
The tournament will take place over the next two weekends with all the matches broadcast live on Twitch. The first match between 'Truth Honor Light' vs 'Ah Hail Nah' starts at 15:00 UTC on Saturday 12th November.
he full schedule of the matches can be found at Alliance Tournament XVIII Schedule, and will be updated as the tournament progresses.
Join the stream to watch CCP developers and a panel of player commentators for in-depth insights into team tactics (assuming they exist), expert PvP advice for participants as well as a chance to win ship SKINs.
Flagships Go Boom:
Since the last update the teams have declared their flagships. Flagships are Battleship class ships that can ignore some of the fitting restrictions imposed on other tournament ships. Each team may choose to field one flagship but since the matches are happening on Tranquility server if they are destroyed they are lost for good!
You can find a list of the teams and the flagships they have declared on the official EVE Online forums.
Twitch Match Predictions
The main event will also leverage Twitch’s predictions functionality to let viewers vote on who they predict will crush their opponents in each match, and hundreds of prizes including GalNet StreamCast Unit SKINs, Integral Reality Labs EVE Ship models, EVE watches, and vouchers for EVE Store Merchandise will be up for grabs each day of the tournament.
Predictions will be activated at different intervals throughout the day – so tune in on Twitch to join in the excitement, and stick around for the entire tournament stream to maximize your chances of claiming a prize!
Jump to the Tournament Discussion section of the forums or join the official EVE Online Discord if you want to join the dicussion.
Prepare for an action-packed tournament, capsuleers – we’ll see you in the arena!
o7