Who are these Drifters?
Drifters, a mysterious invading faction, first entered New Eden in early YC117 (2015). Capsuleers began to engage them after their assassination of the Amarr Empress, Jamyl I.
They continued to attack different regions of empire space, and all attempts at communication with them have failed. Experts hypothesized that Drifters are members of the Jove race, although we do not know if they evolved from the Jovian race or if they exterminated them. Now they are targeting nullsec, and maybe it is our turn…
Drifters’ Null sec invasion
Twenty-four hours ago, Drifters began to attack Capsuleer structures in nullsec. Since then, various theories have arisen as to what is going on. While it was first thought to be a glitch, an urgent fireside chat called by The Mittani confirmed that the Drifter attack in nullsec is not a glitch and all gameplay is working as intended at present, as stated by a GM Telomer in a facebook group chat. However, we need to be cautious about what GM Telomer stated as it is clear that sometimes, like in every organization, communication errors can occur. However, the silence of CCP is overwhelming as numerous nullsec alliances engaged in conflicts are now rushing home to defend their space. Maybe in the coming days some alliances will be able to take to their advantage the Drifter invasion.
The Mittani’s official statement on the Drifter invasion
“The Imperium was in the midst of prosecuting a war involving tens of thousands of real players. We are annoyed that we had to stop our player vs player warfare and grind through what amounts to World of Warcraft-style raid content, but we have already broken down how the Drifter AI works and have successfully defended all of our structures thus far – I look forward to going back to real player vs player content, which is why I quit WoW for Eve in the first place.”
So it seems that we have PvP, PvE and now DvS (Drifter versus Structure) content in the game, with this new threat to nullsec apparently breaking new ground in CCP’s policy around sandbox intervention.
This is what we know so far
Alliances rallied their forces to try to defend their structures as alerts came of each attack. Various fleets were sent out and were lost as players tried to figure out what exactly was going on. The invaders are from vigilant Tyrannos corporation (Drifters). Defending fleets reported that they were unable to D-scan or probe them. This affected the capacities of the fleet commander to determine the exact fleet size, and its composition was not known until it arrived on grid.
Drifters are Killing capitals
Ships were lost across nullsec, and many a heroic Capsuleer died defending their structures. Drifters responded harshly to the defending forces across New Eden. They did not hesitate to attack capital ships either, killing a Nidhoggur flown by Sadus and a Chimera piloted by GySgt Kossori in the first 24 hours of activity.
GySgt Kossori, who is a member of Evictus. Alliance, undocked his carrier to defend his home Fortizar in QN-6J2 from a 20-Drifter battleship fleet with support. GySgt Kossori told me that Drifters were acting like normal PVP players, anchoring on what seemed to be a fleet commander and coordinating their attack. Battleships were at 170 km from his Chimera. First, they yellow boxed him, and then the first salvos of lasers hit his ship. The battlecruisers webbed and scrambled him, making him unable to tether or dock back up. In a few seconds, the Drifter’s coordinated attack dealt massive damage and killed his carrier, having dealt around 385,000 points of damage in under one minute. Then they continued hitting the Fortizar and reinforced it. While other structures around the universe were also put into their reinforcement timers, there is no complete list of affected structures at present.
Will New Eden stand still and be annihilated by this Drifter menace? Will alliances put their agendas aside to defend their collective existence? Or will they end up assisting the Drifters? Here at INN, we can’t wait to see how this plays out – after all, there is always a traitor somewhere.
chimpy
Interesting times 🙂
June 28, 2019 at 1:26 PMFroggy Storm
Sigh,
Here I have been quietly winning Eve and this comes up.
This sure does look and feel like my proposed Eve endgame scenario though. Without some of the fanfare to make it clear that it is happening.
If anything was likely to get my resub, this could be it.
June 28, 2019 at 5:38 PMFroggy Storm Froggy Storm
Shameless thread Necro
https://imperium.news/eve-online-story-telling-end/
June 28, 2019 at 5:46 PMGuilford Australis Froggy Storm
Very cool read – thanks for linking.
My sense from the Reddit crowd (yeah, I know) is that everyone assumes the Drifter invasion is an apocalyptic event intended to burn nullsec to the ground so that all things can be remade anew. I… think that assessment is 90% wish-projection and 10% overconfidence in CCP’s vision for the future of EVE.
But it is interesting to think about what the ‘end’ of EVE might look like, should CCP decide to give the game a proper send-off one day rather than letting it die quietly, as most online multiplayer games do, through long, slow player attrition. An unstoppable NPC invasion that forces players and alliances to abandon their historical grievances and fight back-to-back until they have no ships left to undock would certainly be memorable.
June 28, 2019 at 6:50 PMLrrp Guilford Australis
You kinda beat me to it. Does anyone else see the north/south alliances call a truce to fight this scourge? Or will PL become a npc station based alliance aiding the Drifters where ever they can?
June 29, 2019 at 2:57 PMGarreth Vlox Lrrp
The alliance has apparently already been called with everyone teaming up to share drifter intel and plan an assault on highsec
July 1, 2019 at 8:27 AMWilhelm Arcturus
Did you know that Sadus was the first person to have his ship blow up by Drifters?
June 28, 2019 at 8:34 PMJohn Newell
This is a huge mistake. Sadly its going to be misconstrued as a huge success due to its popularity.
There are comments of resubbing everywhere.
Too bad they coulden’t garner interest without taking this massive step towards being a wow clone.
Next expansion, Eve Online: NGE
June 29, 2019 at 1:32 AMGarreth Vlox John Newell
its only popular because misinformed people think the drifters are following up on timers which they do not seem to be doing.
June 29, 2019 at 7:32 AMSeraph IX Basarab
Krabs Mad
June 29, 2019 at 11:22 PMKrabs Mad
Krabs Mad
Krabs Mad
Krabs Mad
Moomin Amatin Seraph IX Basarab
You have just been arguing, in over 100 comments, that The Imperium is a massive PvP entity that vastly out number PanFam. Now you seem to be saying that The Imperium is just all “krabs”.
You really should get help.
June 30, 2019 at 7:14 AMSeraph IX Basarab Moomin Amatin
-I didn’t name any names
July 1, 2019 at 5:06 AM-I never called the Imperium a “PvP entity”
-Never said anyone specific were Krabs just that krabs were mad
-learn 2 read
Moomin Amatin Seraph IX Basarab
Anyone foolish enough to read the reams of what you have written can make up their own minds.
July 1, 2019 at 8:16 AMSeraph IX Basarab Moomin Amatin
lol okay stay mad
July 1, 2019 at 3:05 PMMoomin Amatin Seraph IX Basarab
Mad? I think you are projecting again dear.
You see all of null seems to be coming together. The blue donut is finally real. Their intent is to be directed at hisec. So not sure what I would have to be mad about. I mean it is not like I have gone off to write a terrible blog post pushing silly suggestions now is it?
July 1, 2019 at 5:06 PMSeraph IX Basarab Moomin Amatin
^still madposting lulz
July 1, 2019 at 5:25 PMGarreth Vlox Seraph IX Basarab
“-I didn’t name any names
-I never called the Imperium a “PvP entity”
-Never said anyone specific were Krabs just that krabs were mad”
All that makes you is a fence riding idiot scared to be right or wrong, man up or fuck off.
July 1, 2019 at 8:26 AMSeraph IX Basarab Garreth Vlox
>”YOU SAID X Y AND Z”
Uh I never said any of those things
>”THAT’S CUZ UR A FENCE RIDING IDIOT SCARED TO BE RIGHT OR WRONG!!!!”
Literally what…
July 1, 2019 at 3:04 PMScott Wilson
Can somebody meet me in Ironforge? I need some new armor.
July 1, 2019 at 6:06 AM