What a week. The War of Sovless Aggression (yes, it’s changed, and I await your comments about this fact) has continued at full steam. Every day has brought more destruction, more drama, and more renewed interest in EVE.
Staff Spotlight
As word spreads about the war, eyes turn towards New Eden, including other media outlets. Our very own Siaka Stevens has published his second article at PC Gamer, and will be writing a monthly column on our favourite internet spaceships game. On behalf of the editorial team, well done, and we look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!
We’ve also welcomed Feiryred and Finn Ravenna to our editorial team. Feiryred has been producing excellent science content at TMC for quite some time now, and will now also lend her talents to overseeing new articles on the roleplay community, and other subjects. You can also expect a new series of articles covering space questions from the readers, so stay tuned!
Finn Ravenna is a new addition to the team, and we’re excited to have her on board helping us from the editorial side. Having worked with TMC for years, I have full confidence in our new team members. I’m looking forward to great things coming in our future, and better content for our readers.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled news.
EVE Online
Circle-of-Two (CO2) broke away from the Imperium a few weeks ago following a massive battle in which the Imperium defended CO2. Anschau has tossed his hat into the ring as, in an opinion article, he outlined a few possible outcomes and his own thoughts on the future fate of the alliance, which has already seen some cracks such as the purging of a 200-man corporation.
The Mittani addressed the Imperium in the latest GSF CEO update. As the disclaimer says, these articles are aimed at an internal audience and will always have a completely different tone and content from our regular features. Regardless of the side you support, it is still a great insight into the feelings of The Imperium regarding the ongoing events.
EVE: Gunjack made its way to the HTC Vive this week. This announcement came just as Vive units made their way to consumers, and Valve officially launched the Steam VR platform. EVE: Valkyrie will make its way to the Vive some time later this year.
In a great display of initiative, Anschau organised a round table discussion featuring FCs from several major alliances. The group interview covered a broad range of topics on the art of commanding internet spaceships. It’s a solid read, and one that provides a bit of insight into how different groups accomplish something so core to our game.
Due to a mishap with permissions, Hole Violence – a Goonswarm Federation member corp focussing on wormholes – had its Siggy access revoked for a brief window. While this was resolved by the Siggy staff, it does highlight the possibilities of denying an enemy necessary services, and comes with a great history lesson on when the US military tried to do the same thing with GPS.
Intense fighting took place across Fade, Tribute, and Pure Blind. The theatre of the War of Sovless Aggression, and the various gains and losses of the Band of Backstabbers/Moneybadger Coalition are highlighted, along with a number of smaller battles that occurred around the time of publication.
The new player experience in EVE has always been problematic. Even with the new Opportunities system (which will be expanded to cover daily opportunities in the near future), players are only vaguely pushed in the right direction. Even with hints, there are many things that can only be learned from other players. Enter Roland Cassidy’s Object Lessons: What the New Player Experience Doesn’t Teach. If you’re a new player, or wanting to brush up on tips and tricks, this is a must-read.
Imperium forces lost heavily in Pure Blind. Over fifty billion ISK worth of capital fleet was destroyed, while only a little over four billion ISK was destroyed. The ill-fated conflict was sparked when the Imperium tried to down a Hel piloted by a member of Psychotic Tendencies (TISHU), and the battle escalated from there.
And lastly in EVE news, Sister Bliss of The Initiative announced the formation of a new fleet doctrine. Early indications are that the ‘Snatch Fleet’ is successful, having netted far more loot than the cost of each deployment.
New World of Virtual Space
Along with welcoming Feiryred to the editorial team, we welcomed back This Week in Space! This week, we had plenty of fascinating news about exoplanets, and the initial flash of a supernova was caughtas it happened! It’s been a great week for astronomers and those of us curious about what lies out there in space.
As mentioned earlier, the SteamVR platform was officially launched this week. The Vive head-mounted display is now in the hands of consumers, and Valve has put together a number of videos showing off the device’s capabilities. On top of that, the Steam storefront now has a section for all your VR needs.
And capping off our week of non-EVE coverage, the lead Storyteller for the upcoming Madison Under Siege event, wrote an excellent article covering the World of Darkness. If you have even the slightest bit of curiosity about role-playing games, you should check out this different kind of dev blog.
Update: An astronomy error was corrected
This article originally appeared on TheMittani.com, written by Ryan Vincent.
