They were announced at Fanfest last month, and have been hinted at further in recent DevBlogs, but now CCP is sharing specific details as the release date for Into the Abyss draws closer.
All Triglavian ships and modules are governed by a new skill category called “Precursor” skills. The Triglavians are described as a “precursor race,” making one wonder – will we see more of such precursors in future releases?
For now, though, we’ll stick with what we know:
The Ships
The Triglavian Frigate is the Damavik, with a 3/2/4 slot layout and bonuses to damage and optimal range for the light version of the Triglavians’ new weapon type, Entropic Disintegrators (more on that in a bit).
The Triglavian Cruiser is the Vedmak, with a 4/4/6 slot layout and bonuses to Heavy Entropic Disintegrator damage and tracking speed.
The Triglavian Battleship is the Leshak, with a 5/4/8 slot layout and bonuses to Supratidal Entropic Disintegrator damage and rate of fire.
All ships come with reduced capacitor drain from Neuts, Smartbombs, and Remote Armor Repairers, as well as a bonus to Remote Armor Repairer range.
CCP notes that additional details and attributes are live on Singularity, and that patch notes will be available soon.
The Weapons
The new Triglavian weapons system, Entropic Disintegrators, are unique to New Eden. The most important feature is that these weapons will charge up over time-on-target, doing more damage the longer they continue to cycle on a single target. At maximum charge, they will do 2.5 times their base damage, resulting in the Leshak Battleship dishing out more than 2500 DPS fully charged.
That massive damage output is balanced by several factors. CCP estimates that frigates will take around 80 seconds to reach full charge. Cruisers are estimated to take around 120 seconds, and Battleships with their inherent rate-of-fire bonus will take around 140 seconds. Importantly, any weapon deactivation – whether due to pilot action, ECM, or falling out of range – will reset damage to the base amount and require starting the charge over from scratch. That last factor, range, will be absolutely key for both those flying and opposing Triglavian ships, because Entropic Disintegrators have no falloff range. It’s optimal range, or nothing. If the target exceeds optimal range, the weapon deactivates, resetting the charge back to base damage.
Entropic Radiation Sinks will also be introduced to upgrade the damage and rate of fire of Entropic Disintegrators. The new weapons use only a single turret hardpoint. With the configurations above, that means two extra high slots for the Damavik, three for the Vedmak, and four for the Leshak. CCP says that NPC Triglavians will typically favor remote armor repair to fill in these utility slots, but players are free to choose other capabilities like smart bombs, probe launchers, or cap warfare modules.
All in all, these are clearly advanced ships for advanced pilots, requiring new tactics and skills (complete with skillbooks to be found in Abyssal Deadspace). CCP anticipates that Triglavian ships, with their bonuses to remote armor repair, will be particularly valuable in drawn out engagements like small gang fights and factional warfare. They also hint at future developments, noting that the precursor skillset will be further expanded in the future to include additional new ships and weapons.
And as always, notes CCP, they fully expect that players will come up with their own innovations for these new tools, including new wrinkles that the developers can’t possibly anticipate until they happen. Because after all, this is Eve Online, and that’s what we do here.
