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Capsuleers!
EVE Online: Havoc – the second major expansion for EVE in 2023 – is almost here! Continuing the Havoc in Focus series, this fourth and final installment gives you early insight into more specific details of the expansion due 14 November.
Havoc will further enhance organizations by integrating payments into Corporation Projects, adding new types and a new project manager role, improving AIR Opportunities and the AIR NPE, adding further UI personalization options, and more. The changes to Loyalty Point and EverMark donations will also feature in this article.
The enhancements to Corp Projects, AIR Opportunities, and the AIR NPE were unveiled in detail at EVE Fanfest 2023, and now you can get the lowdown on these upcoming feature updates as they are discussed throughout this article, in the video below, as well as on stream via CCP TV at 16:00 UTC on 2 November!
HARDER, BETTER, FASTER, STRONGER – CORPORATION PROJECTS
EVE Online’s capsuleers have banded together to form organizations and groups since before the game officially launched! These corporations and alliances are where the magic has happened in EVE for over 20 years now, with friendships, communities, and empires of lasting impact being born. Giving corporations and alliances the right avenues and freedom to strengthen their organizations remains key to their success, their expansion, and their continuing ability to facilitate the star-spanning stories that both veteran and rookie capsuleers weave under these banners.
Corporation Projects that give capsuleers within organizations goals and rewards are the first pillar to be put down in keeping corporations efficient and enjoyable. This adds to the meaningful experience of being in a corp, building on what the EVE community and countless CSMs have said over the years.
Organizations in EVE, like corporations and alliances, can contain hundreds of capsuleers that help to run them, with many tasks, plans, and priorities that can make the efficient operation of such organizations taxing. Continuing the work started in the Viridian expansion, Havoc will continue to enhance the lives of corporation owners and members, making the building and growing of these communities easier.
In the Havoc expansion, automatic ISK payouts for Corporation Projects will be introduced, rewarding members for their contributions. This means that corp management will no longer need to manually send ISK to capsuleers that contribute to the active goals of the organization, reducing the need to focus on which wallet is being used and which members have contributed.
A ‘clone project’ option is also being introduced so that pre-existing and recurring projects can be copied, increasing how rapidly new projects can be set up. Furthermore, a new corporation project manager role is being added that will allow CEOs and directors to delegate project management with the organization to other members, spreading the organizational load and offering more opportunities for responsibility and ownership to spread within corps and alliances. Both project cloning and the new project manager role are elements that the community wanted to see incorporated into Corp Projects and continues the goal of empowering groups of all sizes, so it’s exciting to bring them to capsuleers in November!
To further recognize, reward, and incentivize the contributions of different types of capsuleer within a corporation, seven new contribution methods are being added to Corporation Projects when Havoc launches. These include Scan Signature, Capture and Defend Factional Warfare Complex, Destroy Capsuleer’s Ship, Manufacture Item, and the popular Remote Repair Armor and Remote Boost Shield.
Scan Signature will allow corporations to reward their members for scanning cosmic signatures in systems. It will be especially valuable for corps that are on the lookout for valuable wormhole connections and want to incentivize their members to find them, as well as bringing well deserved recognition and rewards to members who enjoy exploration gameplay.
The Destroy Capsuleer’s Ship project type is an addition to the already existing project for dealing damage to capsuleers. Not only will participation in combat be recognized and rewarded, but the actual killer can be recognized as well. This, in practice, allows corps to sponsor their top killers or to put a bounty on members of a faction, alliance, corporation, or on a particular capsuleer.
Capture and Defend Factional Warfare Complex projects continue the enhancements to Factional Warfare gameplay, allowing FW-active corps to clearly declare and communicate current objectives to their members, and to reward them for their efforts in defending or taking enemy space. This adds to the types of gameplay in EVE that Corp Projects can incentivize and reward members for, once more strengthening the sense of belonging and visible contribution to an organization’s success.
The Manufacture Item project type will be useful for industrial corporations as it will allow corps to prioritize and organize builds more easily. Combined with the Deliver Item project that could be used to source the materials, it will make it easier for the corp to communicate what needs to be built and what materials are needed.
Last and by no means least, the Remote Repair Armor and Remote Boost Shields project types – much to the joy of the Fanfest 2023 audience - will allow the corporations to recognize the efforts of their logi pilots and reward them for it. Playing a hugely important role in a great many battles, capsuleers flying logi will now have their contributions to corp success acknowledged with tangible rewards. The repair projects can be general, rewarding any remote repair activity, or targeted to incentivize logi pilots to support the fleet in specific solar systems, or to support specific types of ships, or a chosen organization.
With these upcoming changes to Corp Projects, the aim is to move organizations closer to a place where the universe is at your fingertips, giving you the control mechanism to influence warfare, to move the markets, forge destinies, and shape New Eden. The addition of new contribution methods, automatic ISK payments, copying of projects, and the addition of the project manager role, that experience gets one step closer.
WHO’S AFRAID OF THE SCC? – LOYALTY POINT & EVERMARK DONATIONS
With the Angel Cartel and Guristas increasing their pirate activity and influence among capsuleers in New Eden, money laundering in the cluster has risen to unprecedented levels. Illegal transfers made by these groups have become harder to track for the authorities as a result of the recently enabled trading of Loyalty Points.
To clamp down on this disruption to New Eden’s economy, CONCORD’s Secure Commerce Commission (SCC) will temporarily ban the transfer of Loyalty Points and EverMarks by any entity other than the issuing corporation, meaning that individual-to-corp and corp-to-corp trading of LP and EverMarks will be shut down on 14 November. With Havoc and the imminent pirate chaos coming to New Eden, the market will be monitored closely after its launch and the donation of LP will be revisited in the future, but the donation of EverMarks will be coming back before the end of this year.
SURFACING AIR – AIR OPPORTUNITIES & NPE
It’s of paramount importance to the future of New Eden that capsuleers fresh out of the AIR academy – otherwise known as brand-new players – find something to do and be involved in. Finding a greater purpose in EVE can begin with the identification of activities that are relevant to the path that they want to follow in EVE, something that they are interested in that is also meaningful to them and potentially the group of capsuleers they are involved with. This will continue to have a positive knock-on effect for veteran capsuleers, too, who will reap the benefits of fresh recruits who can bring more value to their organizations.
In the Havoc expansion, there will be an important upgrade to the AIR new player experience (NPE). Currently, capsuleers have been able to start the NPE, embark on an exciting adventure through space, but with limited options of leaving that adventure until it's finished, and they haven’t been able to return to it. When Havoc lands, a fork in the road will be introduced into that experience. If capsuleers are interested in doing something else right away, they can open the AIR Opportunities portal, which will allow them to see all the different opportunities with different segments of the game and the variety of career paths that they can follow. They can start experiencing these opportunities, but always go back and continue their NPE journey when they choose to.
This means that capsuleers will have a lot more freedom over how they start their journey into EVE, at what pace they experience various elements, and when they do it. This also opens up opportunities in the future for the potential addition of other story segments into the NPE journey, allowing them to fit in more naturally when experienced from a story perspective.
Further adding to capsuleers’ ability to find things to do on a daily basis in New Eden, Havoc will see the introduction of the new AIR Daily Goals system in December 2023, which will build upon the current daily challenges. This system will give capsuleers a selection of four tasks every day but will require only two of them to be completed for the main reward to be given. This offers capsuleers a choice of which challenges to pursue, depending on their proficiency in specific areas of the game, be it PvE or PvP combat, industry, or exploration. Rewards will also allow capsuleers to obtain Skill Points every day from completing two out of the four AIR Daily Goals, but also EverMarks and ISK will be awarded for each of the goals completed.
The new types of Corp Projects and the improvements to the daily goals system will provide everyone with better ways of finding things to do, grow in confidence when it comes to various in-game skills and abilities, and ultimately increase their earning potential in EVE while building a more accessible path for them to join capsuleer organizations like corporations and alliances.
FLYING COLORS – EMBLEMS & UI PERSONALIZATION
In the spirit of strengthening organizations and making life for capsuleers in (and out) of corps easier, better accessibility to features and gameplay in the Havoc expansion will also come in the form of improvements to the Photon UI interface. Omega capsuleers will be able to customize the individual colors in their UI color scheme, creating a theme that is much more personalized based on their preferences. These custom themes will also be shareable between Omega capsuleers. Alpha capsuleers will also receive the pre-made themes currently only available to Omega capsuleers, consisting of the four main empire themes and also “Photon.” Personalized color theming of the UI may also help capsuleers distinguish between multiple clients running simultaneously at a glance.
The settings menu has also been updated, presenting a more modernized look consistent with the rest of Photon UI, including the addition of two new font sizes. This will happen at the same time as bumping up the default font size available in the client, so for example the new ‘Tiny’ font size will correspond to the current ‘Small’, and a new ‘Huge’ font size will be added as well. Capsuleers will not need to change any current setting as they will be moved over by default.
Speaking of personalization, Havoc will also see the release of corporation and alliance emblems for the new ships coming with this expansion, specifically the Mekubal, Mamba, Khizriel, Alligator, and Azariel. So even if you are aligning with pirates, you can still proudly fly your organization’s colors!
There’s even more on the horizon in 2024 for personalization of ships and structures, as mentioned at EVE Fanfest 2023!
The enhancements that are coming with the Havoc expansion to Corp Projects, AIR Opportunities, and the AIR NPE will touch every single capsuleer who is a member of a corporation or thinking of joining. Corps will have the tools that they have been asking for to make running organizations easier, allowing them to focus even more on planning and flying. From the individual new player all the way up to the fleet commanders, small groups and big organizations, capsuleers will find opportunities to partake in activities, enjoy forming bonds with other capsuleers and groups, and have the chance to enjoy meaningful experiences that make a lasting impact on them and the universe as part of something greater than themselves.