EVE Online: RED MOON RISING | EVE Online

EVE Online: RED MOON RISING

2005-12-16 - By CCP CAPSLOCK

EVE Online: Red Moon Rising

The Blood Moon of War is waxing as the technological advances of Alliances rival those of the Empires. New implements of destruction force battle lines to be redrawn. Research, Manufacturing and Resource Gathering have advanced to keep up with the appetite of War. Alliances are bending the Empires to their will with the encroachment of Starbases into what was previously secure space and Pilots are taking protection of themselves and their assets into their own hands. This is not an easy fight, as Factions turn their weapons of war against the Alliances, Corporations and Pilots of EVE. The Red Moon is Rising; Death follows in its path.
Features

  • 39 new ships, including:
  • Players are able to control more of the EVE Universe, as Starbase Structures may be deployed in higher security space than before.
  • Technological advances have been made in Weapons & Modules, Drones, Cloning, Research & Manufacturing and Mining.
  • 4 new bloodlines are available, one for each Empire race.
  • New COSMOS Constellations have been added to the Amarr Empire and Gallente Federation.
  • Players are able to take matters into their own hands to protect themselves and their resources with the 'Eye for an Eye' and JetCan flagging changes.
  • NPCs are more able to protect themselves with the introduction of Elite NPC module use.
  • Combat revisions, Optimization changes, Tractor beams and much, much more await you!

Content, Fixes and Improvements Ships

  • Tech level 1 ships have received an overhaul. Frigates, Destroyers, Cruisers and Battlecruisers now have more defined roles in combat. You can read more about the changes in this forum post.
  • With the changes made to tech level 1 ships, Faction ships have also received an overhaul. More on the changes to faction ships can be found in this forum post.
  • The hit points of all ships have been increased by 25%.
  • The capacity of the Battlecruiser capacitor has been increased by 25%.
  • The Battlecruiser info text displayed an incorrect bonus for Warfare Link modules.
  • The Rattlesnake had an incorrect description. It receives a 5% damage bonus on hybrids rather than a 10% range bonus per level of Gallente Battleship.
  • The mass of Covert Ops ships were incorrect, mass of Anathema has been decreased to 1.81 million kg and Helios to 1.79 million kg.
  • The instances where initiating warp from zero velocity would result in a drained cap, but starting initiating warp from a velocity greater than zero would not drain the cap, has been resolved.
  • Base range of Jump Drives has been doubled, with range skills maximized for jump drive operation jumps of up to 12.5 light years are possible.
  • Stealth Bombers no longer receive a targeting delay when decloaking and receive a 5 second reactivation delay on cloaking devices.
  • If you are in a gang and warping seperately from your gang, you will not participate in any gang warp initiated during your warp travel.
  • If you are warping lose connection, you will still enter an emergency warp. When you connect again, you should be warped to the original warp destination.
  • A certain icon of the holidays may appear in the EVE world.

Weapons and Drones

  • Drones have received a major overhaul; Drones are more robust and able to deal more damage, but players can control less numbers. For further information on the changes made to the Drone system, please read the Dev Blogs found here and here.
  • The volume of Torpedoes and Cruise missiles has been reduced by two-thirds, as have Siege and Cruise missile launchers. Heavy missile and Heavy missile launcher volume has been reduced by three-fifths.
  • Small, medium and heavy drones have received an increase to their damage.
  • Medium and Heavy Drones now have a higher signature resolution.
  • Heavy drones have received a tracking boost.
  • Drones are no longer able to lock on a control tower, move through a force field and continue actions, like repair, even if they were launched by a player with force field access.
  • Siege Mode damage has been increased by 25%.
  • Odd things will happen to the effects of certain weapon systems during the holiday season.

Modules

  • The calculation method used when stacking multiple modules of same type has changed. More information can be found in this Dev Blog.
  • Invulnerability Field (Multi-Shield Hardener) requires less capacitor for activation.
  • Damage Control has been improved, the module now requires activation and gives resistance bonuses to all hit point layers.
  • Increased damage output of heavy missile launchers.
  • You are now able to create Cynosural fields in 0.4 security systems.
  • Siege Warfare Link - Active Shielding and Siege Warfare Link - Shield Efficiency now give also give bonuses to shield transporters.
  • Small drones no longer appear to be micro-warping at all times. They can be tracked and destroyed as intended.
  • Capital Armor Repairers and Shield Boosters have their proper bonuses applied.
  • Caldari Navy Control System renamed to Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System.
  • ScanResolution receives the proper stacking penalties.
  • Projected ECCM no longer needs the ship with the module fitted to have higher sensor strength than the ship that it is boosting.
  • Reinforced bulkheads have all been given a flat +5% more structure bonus. Some meta types now give less speed reduction.
  • Shield Extenders now require 1/2 as much grid but give a slight signature radius penalty.
  • Armor plating now adds a slight mass increase for the proper sized ship. This will be more noticeable when fitting oversized plates to smaller ships.
  • Freight Containers have been added. These Freighter-only containers allow in-ship sorting and organization. They cannot be jettisoned.
  • A module fitted in-space via a maintenance bay or maintenance array will be brought online without consumption of capacitor energy.

Skills and Implants

  • In an effort to curb Trial account abuses, it is no longer be possible to train piloting skills other than [Race] Frigates, [Race] Cruisers, Destroyers and Spaceship Command on Trial accounts, nor will it be possible to pilot ships other than these classes on Trial accounts. Subscription accounts have no such limitation on training or piloting.
  • Some Missile Specialization skills were giving a bonus to launchers that did not require the skill. Now they only give a bonus to modules that require the skill.
  • Target Painter II requires Target Painting at lvl 4.
  • Changed description on Michi's mining implant so it's clear that it only applies to mining lasers.

NPCs

  • The names for various NPC Pirates have changed. For a complete list, please read this forum post.
  • All NPC Pirate Factions have been upgraded with 34 new NPC types, these are: 6 new destroyers, 6 new elite frigates, 6 new battlecruisers, 8 new elite cruisers and 6 new battleships per faction. Commander versions have also been added for all these new NPCs. Read more about these new NPCs in this Dev Blog.
  • NPC Elite Frigates capable of Warp Scrambling have invaded 0.3 space.
  • NPC Pirate Mining teams will now attack players mining their ore. No claim jumping!
  • NPC spawns in asteroid belt have changed so higher number of larger NPCs and fewer small vessels appear. This means an average "battleship spawn" might have 2-3 battleships with 2-3 cruisers - instead of 1-2 battleships with 4-6 cruisers.
  • Loot Tables have been adjusted. Basic modules and "named basic modules" should no longer be found in loot cans. Also small and medium sized modules should not drop anymore from battleship NPCs.
  • NPC "boss" types are now immune to all effects but damage. These include named officers in asteroid belts, end bosses in deadspace complexes and various mission NPCs.
  • Nosferatus and Energy Neutralizers now affect the armor repair or shield boost rate of NPCs.

Deadspace Complexes and Missions

  • Blueprint copies for faction ships now only drops of NPCs in the end rooms of complexes.
  • At least one mission sequence, consisting of 3-5 missions, has been added to each Empire faction block for level 2, 3 and 4 agents. The Empire faction blocks are Amarr/Caldari and Gallente/Minmatar.
  • 6 new Cold War theme generic missions have been created, as well as 20 new Cold War theme COSMOS missions, which are placed in the Audesder / Kenobanala systems.
  • The first two Amarr Block Cold War Edition in-space missions have had their difficulty increased to be more in-line with their intended difficulty level.
  • The Acceleration Gates in the deadspace exercise complexes are closer to the locations where they are actually needed to exit.
  • Modified the agent dialogue/briefing for the final Angel/Guristas Strike missions to avoid a vague term causing a misconception. Also modified the hint text in the journal.
  • "Screaming" Dewak has upgraded the security measures in his establishment, the Pith's Penal Complex.
  • Loot for Station Ultima is now a little more "Ultima". After it has been destroyed, the Centus Sansha are not as quick to rebuild it as they have been.
  • The damage output of Station Ultima has been slightly reduced.
  • Station Ultima has a chance to be stocked a bit more frequently with valuables.
  • The Serpentis Fleet Shipyard (10/10 complex) has been made much harder and should be at least closer to the difficulty level it was intended to be. You have been warned! Among other changes made, its main overseer is also better equipped than before. However, taking him out could prove more lucrative.
  • When the deadspace overseer "Serpentis Fleet Stronghold" has been taken down, it will now stay down for a bit longer than it did - more in line with what was intended.
  • The Centus Sansha have had problems with the security in their Centus Assembly T.P. deadspace complex, rated 10/10 by DED. They have therefore recalibrated some of the acceleration gates and made the complex harder to get through. Amongst other things, reports indicate that the last gate calls for more than one key to be in a pilot's cargo for him to get through.
  • The overseer in the Sansha’s Command Relay Outpost has recalibrated some sentry guns, but also been forced to downgrade some of them to a weaker module.
  • The defenses in the Sansha War Supply Complex and the Angel Cartel Naval Shipyard have been slightly modified and made harder.
  • A new “contested” complex has seen the light of day, without the typical agent/mission setup. It is more akin to Angel’s Red Light district and the other “static” complexes except it is only found in one location.
  • The Rogue Drones have given up rebuilding their base in Sobaseki. Screeching noises coming from their hive conscioiusness have been deciphered as: "Too much trouble."
  • Ceaseless combats have forced the Pith Guristas to back out of Sobaseki and move move their embattled deadspace depot to the Uosusuokko system in Lonetrek.
  • Bonus rewards in the 'Revenge is Sweet" mission were being over written and default ISK or commodities were being given instead. This has been fixed.
  • Changed the missions allocated on Taspar Zolankor and Nikmar Jyran so that they ask for 5 Sansha copper tags instead of Blood Raider copper tags.
  • Commanders no longer spawn at the wrong stage of the 'Gone Berserk' mission.
  • Incoming Transmission messages now appear when using the acceleration gates in the 'Human Cattle' agent mission.
  • The COSMOS mission, 'Pilgrim - Festival' has had its cargo database entry corrected. Players accepting this mission will now transport the proper cargo.
  • The Damsel is no longer in distress. She was rescued enough times that she got the hint and installed better security systems at home. However, the Seven's Commanders are still a threat and need to be taken care of.
  • Certain COSMOS missions mistakenly required collateral. These missions have been fixed.
  • It is possible to cancel research with an agent if your standing drops below the agent's minimum requirement.

New Player Experience and Tutorial

  • The new player experience has been improved again. The ship computer's tutorials are shorter and more numerous, a number of text/audio clarifications have been added, unclear information either cut or improved, more pictures added and Aura has new voice controls in "her" interface. All known bugs with resetting/replaying and shutting the tutorials off are resolved. Generally, the tutorials run more smoothly and are more easily manageable.
  • A volume slider, 'Replay', and 'Pause' buttons have been added to Aura's Interface.
  • Aura's graphical representations during the tutorials are better integrated and more clear.
  • An advanced Communications tutorial has been added.
  • An advanced Fittings tutorial has been added.
  • New players will automatically join Help and Rookie Help Chat channels. Experienced players may elect to depart from these channels when they desire.
  • Veldspar asteroids in the deadspace training complexes Warp-In points contain less veldspar than before. The veldspar in the "Mining" pocket however, accessible to rookie ships only, is all in all more plentiful.
  • The Station and Flight tutorials have received some audio upgrades.
  • Skipping forward through the tutorial no longer causes an exception error.
  • Aura and other Tutorial Icons no longer flash at an annoyingly fast rate.
  • It is possible to close Aura's window during the 'Losing a ship' and other tutorials by using the close window [X] icon.
  • Slash commands have been made useable during the playback of tutorials.
  • Cruiser crosshairs no longer display when targeting the frigate-class Gisti Training Vessel in the tutorial and all NPC Pirates appear in the Overview as they should.
  • The New Player Experience Agent tutorial Agent no longer refers to the Address book, but to People and Places as intended.
  • Selecting Tutorials from the Help menu has been updated to show all tutorials available.
  • ISD volunteers in Polaris Frigates will be able to follow new players through acceleration gates to continue assisting the New Player Experience.

Player Owned Structures

  • Starbase structures may be anchored in higher security space, as long as certain prerequisites are met. These are as follows:
    • Security level 0.4 space requires 4.0 corporation standing towards the system Sovereign.
    • Security level 0.5 space requires 5.0 corporation standing towards the system Sovereign.
    • Security level 0.6 space requires 6.0 corporation standing towards the system Sovereign.
    • Security level 0.7 space requires 7.0 corporation standing towards the system Sovereign.
    • Starbase structures may not be anchored in 0.8 space or higher. No changes have been made to anchoring starbase structures in 0.3 or lower space.In addition, a 'Starbase Charter' must be purchased from the system Sovereign. Starbase Charters must be on hand for the following:
    • To anchor a Control Tower in 0.4 to 0.7 space, and
    • One Starbase Charter must be loaded into the Control Tower for every hour it is online. If no Charters are available during the Control Tower consumption cycle, the Control Tower will enter an offline state.
  • Using the 'Set Password' control tower context menu option no longer resets other options.
  • 'Control tower anchored' notification eve-mails are sent as intended.
  • The range limitation to open the Control Tower management interface has been removed from the context menu.
  • The Control Tower management interface now displays shield and armor status.
  • The progress bar displayed in the control tower management screen no longer overlaps text when bringing a POS array online.
  • Starbase access roles have been increased. Now the owner of a starbase can choose to allow access to ship maintenance bays and other services.
  • Structures now have a higher signature radius so they will be easier to target and will take more damage.
  • It is now possible to partially load and unload sentry guns requiring ammunition.
  • Large Beam Laser Sentry requires Anchoring 1 like all other structures.
  • Broker fees from using markets in player owned stations and outposts should now be paid to the owner.
  • It will not be possible to use POS shields to protect oneself from a CONCORD response after committing an act that results in a criminal flag.

Market and Manufacturing More information regarding the new Research & Manufacturing system will be added to this section on 10 December.

  • Corporation members with the 'Trader' role who sell corporation items will no longer receive the proceeds of the sale in their personal wallets. The ISK from the sale will automatically deposit into the corporation wallet.
  • You should now see the name of traders associated with market transactions made in the name of the corporation in the corporation wallet.
  • Players with role 'Accountant' should be able to see all active market orders issued in the name of the corporation. However, they are not able to cancel or modify them.
  • You should now be able to sell items when you have the 'Trader' role.
  • Closing the confirmation window resulting from an attempt to sell an item no longer sells the item.
  • The Market browse tree no longer collapses after purchasing an item from it. For example, if a skill in the Gunnery category is purchased, the tree no longer collapses.
  • Ship blueprints installed into a factory display the proper icon, not just a blue square.
  • Command Processor I Blueprint added to the market.
  • Revelation BP copy times have been corrected.
  • Vespa II and Valkyrie II drones did not require Morphite to produce.
  • New ship classes: "Carrier", "Titan" and "Interplanetary Fighter Drones" can now be bought of the market in the form of blueprints. The fighter drones are only usable with the new "Carrier" ship class.
  • A new module has hit the market; the module is called "Interdiction Sphere Launcher" which allows usage of "Warp Disrupt Probes". The module can only be used by Tech II Destroyer class called "Interdictors".
  • New defensive skills are available on the market. These skills improve the resistances given by passive defensive modules, and give a small passive resistance bonus for activation modules while they are not activated.
  • Due to the changes made to the Research & Manufacturing system, the build costs of some tech level 2 blueprints have changed. The changes are small and mainly related to efficiency calculations.

UI, Graphics & Visual Additions, Changes and Fixes

  • Advanced Camera Options, 'Set as Parent' and 'Set as Interest' can now be enabled via the ESC menu option 'Enable Advanced Camera Options' checkbox. Please note that these options are not useful for general game play.
  • "Remove from Buddylist" makes a return to the UI after a long absence.
  • Using the delete key when entering user name or password at the log-in screen works properly.
  • Pressing Alt + Enter when docked, with the station environment disabled, no longer makes your active ship disappear.
  • Pressing the '/' key, then 'enter' will provide a list of all available commands useable.
  • Using Control+V to paste items into the IGB works as intended.
  • Chat text justifies to the top of character portraits in EVE chat, instead of at the bottom.
  • A slider has been added that will affect small size font width.
  • Using Control + Left Click to target will also halt target lock if used a second time on the same target.
  • All NPC Overview icons display according to ship class, i.e. Cruiser, Battleship, etc.
  • Booster effects display for all ships.
  • Criminal flagging displays have been added.
  • Sentry Guns now explode when destroyed.
  • Brackets will not display around Large Collidable Structures unless the LCS is moused over.
  • The Overview no longer jumps if a selected item disappears via warping, destruction, docking, etc.
  • Scrolling through the Moon Mining interface no longer generates an error.
  • Client-side lag caused by opening the Log no longer occurs.
  • Double clicking the empty area of the Repair Shop no longer generates an error.
  • Entering non-existent dates into the Wallet Journal tab will no longer hang the client.
  • Initiating a stargate jump outside of the maximum activation range will result in a pop-up window informing how close to the stargate you have to travel to initiate the jump.
  • Standings transactions display properly in the hover text and in the transactions log.
  • Recycle option has been removed from the right click menu belonging to the active docked ship.
  • Searching for corporation members in the 'All Hangars' list will display all names in order, regardless of the capitalization (or lack thereof) of the member's names.
  • After completing a mission and talking to the agent, the Journal and People & Places information will update faster.
  • The Augmentation Character Sheet tab displays implant slots.
  • 'Show Info' on a landmark displays an icon in addition to text about the landmark.
  • 'Show Info' on an item now features a new 'Variations' tab which shows all Meta-types of that module.
  • The attribute tab now features a ships’ structure hit points to cope with the changed behavior of “Damage Control Units”.
  • Right click context menus can be accessed when a pilot is not on board a ship.

Typographical Fixes

  • A number of text alignment issues (overlapping text, missing or occluded text, etc.) have been resolved.
  • A number of window scaling and resizing issues (text boxes incorrectly located or sized) have been resolved.
  • A number of menu handling optimizations have been made. Right click menus should appear and respond to player input faster.
  • All entity and description errors reported for dead space complexes have been resolved.
  • World Map Control Panel option "Try to avoid pod killing zones" has been changed to "Avoid systems where pod killing has recently occurred." and the selection box is no longer checked as a default. Instead, a pop-up window warning of longer travel times displays with a verification query.
  • A typographical error in the 'Azure Canyon' mission briefing has been fixed.
  • Typographical errors in the following ECM module descriptions have been fixed: FZ-3 Subversive Spatial Destabilizer, FZ-3a Disruptive Spatial Destabilizer, CZ-4 Concussive Spatial Destabilizer and BZ-5 Neutralizing Spatial Destabilizer.
  • Typographical error in the Information Warfare Mindlink description has been fixed.
  • 'Reprocess' is replacing 'Recycle' in the Reprocess plant menus and tool tips.
  • Description changes and fixes have been made to the following skills: Controlled Bursts, Electronic Warfare, Long Distance Jamming, Propulsion Jamming, Sensor Linking, Target Painting, Weapon Disruption, Energy Emission Systems, Shield Emission Systems, Shield Management, Sharpshooter, Motion Prediction, Remote Armor Repair Systems, Repair Systems, Missile Bombardment, Navigation, Fuel Conservation, Evasive Maneuvering, Advanced Spaceship Command and Spaceship Command.

Server Changes and Optimizations

  • A number of server side optimizations have been made in an effort to decrease lag, reduce start-up time and improve cluster management.
  • Addition of code for a 'Server Shutdown Timer". This Timer will count down the time remaining before a shutdown of the server. This feature will be added after the deployment of Red Moon Rising.
  • Testing of Dual CPU Opteron and Xeon server blades has commenced, as well as testing of 32 and 64 bit Server Operating Systems. This is an attempt to determine the optimal hardware and OS combination for future deployment.

Miscellaneous

  • Characters being transferred through the Character transfer service cannot be transferred while a member of a player corporation.
  • In an effort to curb Trial account abuse, Trial accounts are no longer able to donate ISK to other accounts, nor create courier or escrow contracts.
  • On freshly installed clients, EVE will start in Full Screen. Changing settings via the ESC menu will override this default setting.
  • The Introduction video will run only after a major game update is deployed, not smaller patches.
  • Agent generated bookmarks no longer duplicate themselves in People & Places.
  • Due to Unicode changes, a maximum character limit of 3,500 characters has been added to killmails. This is to prevent errors and lack of receipt of a killmail when a mails length exceeded the limit.
  • Account and character security have been improved.
  • Client side bookmark handling has been changed when right clicking in-space. The menu should appear much faster.
  • Jumping or docking while reloading charges should no longer consume the charges, nor should firing the weapon during loading.

Please note that the patch notes are still undergoing additions and changes as Quality Assurance on Red Moon Rising continues. Items recently added to the patch notes will be in italics.

Essential Posts