Citadels are one step closer to entering New Eden. CCP held a mass test on the Singularity server today, and has announced a second round of testing for Friday. In today’s test, players joined fleets and were warped to a citadel to test tethering, docking, and other aspects of the new structure.
“We were testing for bugs as usual, but mostly to test the weapon systems of the citadel to make sure we have the stats ok. and we’ll be making some changes based on the test I think” – CCP Nullarbor on Tweetfleet Slack
One of the most impressive weapon systems were the flack-cannon-like effects of the Point Defense Battery. Space ships everywhere were taking damage from the smartbomb-esque area-of-effect-weapon, but the graphics made the scene look like a proper battle zone, with lasers and blasts firing in all directions.
At the end of the test, the citadel was self-destructed by CCP Nullarbor. Unlike the explosions of ships, this one was awe-inspiring and huge. CCP reports that the effect is still being worked on. If you look closely, you can see the explosion is made of several explosions, and pours out like a fountain of fire before spewing massive chunks of debris everywhere.
Not to be outdone, the citadel’s doomsday weapon was used on neaby capital ships. This weapon was designed after the one used in the Empyrean Age trailer, where Empress Jamyl destroyed the Minmatar Elder Fleet.
Also on the test server were the BPOs for the citadels, their component structures, modules, and rigs. Much like capital ships, the citadels are partially made out of components, and those are in turn made from a mixture of Planetary Interaction materials and minerals. Miners will have plenty of work to do.
Expect a bump in the market for minerals, PI materials, and salvage in mid-2016 and beyond. Prospectors are poring over the requirements to see where the supply bottlenecks will be. Will robotics rule like they do for T2 production? To spot the bottlenecks, brave space accountants are taking into account how many structures draw on the PI material and how common the component will be. Most bottlenecks will be a layer or two down, where a single PI material is drawn in many different directions.
The modules, which are the citadels “powers,” are based on minerals only, and the rigs are built with salvage. T2 version of rigs will demand massive amounts of salvage. Ratters rejoice! When Hulks and Orcas were introduced, Tritanium prices climbed to 12 ISK per unit. These structures will take much more ore than those, leading to a spike in demand. On top of that, it is likely that many players extracted their mining skills a few weeks back!
The BPOs are separated, but can be found under the outpost section, while the citadel BPOs are listed under structures.
CSM member and third-party developer Steve Ronuken has already added the citadels to his blueprint calculator. Dev blogs for the citadels have additional information on production.
On an interesting note, ships can jump into the tethering safe zone of a citadel and immediately tether. This means, for now, Jump Freighters will still be able to jump to structures safely.
Citadels are almost here, and they look great. The next round of tests should be today, so treat yourself to a sneak preview.
