Upwell Structure Personalization

Welcome to the latest installment in the Viridian in Focus series of articles, giving you advanced insight into upcoming elements of the EVE Online: Viridian expansion due in June! Viridian will be the first of two major expansions for EVE in 2023, giving capsuleers new tools to manage their corporations and set goals, to personalize Upwell structures, and engage in socially driven gameplay. Viridian will also provide more possibilities for new and existing players to forge relationships as they fly and work together for the glory of their corp! 

A very exciting feature in the upcoming Viridian expansion as part of EVE’s Heraldry journey will be the ability for player corporations to personalize their Upwell structures, further expressing their individual – and collective – identity in New Eden. Get the details on this new addition as it is discussed throughout this article, in the video below, as well in the CCP TV stream today at 16:00 UTC. 

EXPRESS YOURSELF – HERALDRY IN EVE 

EVE’s journey into Heraldry started in 2022 with the EVE Online: Uprising expansion allowing capsuleers to display corporation and alliance emblems on their ships. This initiative is all about giving players and their organizations the ability to better express their identity in the universe and having more avenues to do that has been a long-time desire for players and corp leaders. Corporations are at the very core of the social construct of EVE Online, and this is the first step towards enabling corps to display their colors, while giving them a reason to earn (and spend) more EverMarks. 

Structures are among the most valuable assets any player corporation in EVE could own. Some are places people call home, safe havens to relax and socialize, and others can be major industrial hubs buzzing with activity. Structures are also deployed on the frontlines of warzones to serve as staging points, often bearing witness to gruesome space battles. Regardless of how long these structures endure or what their purpose may be, the corporation that owns them ought to be able to display their colors on them, cementing their identity in the landscape of New Eden. This will bring more than just increased variety and color in space, it will foster a sense of belonging to a corporation, and a feeling of pride when players see their majestic structure displaying their corporation’s colors – as well as fueling the desire to remove that of their enemy’s from the warzone! 

THE PRINCIPLES OF SKINR – NEW ROLE, NEW TOOL 

As mentioned above, the Viridian expansion opens Heraldry up to player corporations. To that end, a new in-game tool, the Super-Kerr Induced Nanocoating Resequencer - or SKINR – will be introduced. This tool will allow corporations to visually customize their Upwell structures. 

To use SKINR, each corporation will have to assign a new brand manager role, and these will be the individuals holding the keys to the visual identity of their corporation. In client, SKINR will be accessible from the NEOCOM for CEOs, directors, and any corp member with the brand manager role, which will grant full access to SKINR and the ability to spend corporation EverMarks. 

In SKINR, brand managers will start their customization journey by choosing which structure to base their design on from any of the 11 standard Upwell structures, then create and apply custom nanocoating designs to their corporation Upwell structures in exchange for EverMarks that corps have been acquiring through player contributions since the release of Uprising last year. 

Nanocoating designs will be created by choosing a combination of nanocoatings to apply to different areas of the structure. There will be over 90 nanocoatings to choose from at launch, so corporations should all be able to find a combination that fits their branding. At any point during the design creation, it will be possible to preview a design of any of the other Upwell structure types, as these nanocoating designs will not be specific to a given Upwell structure, but applicable to all.  

Once the brand manager is satisfied with their design, they may proceed to the straightforward application process. They will simply choose which of their corporation-owned structures they want to purchase a nanocoating induction license for and for how long (there will be a choice of 30, 90, and 180 days), and then pay using their corporation EverMarks. Once the purchase is complete, nanocoating designs are then automatically applied to all selected structures for all corp members to enjoy! 

When applied to a structure, a nanocoating design cannot immediately be edited or removed – for now. This is important as the nanocoating will represent a corporation’s branding that has been committed to by the brand manager and their corp. It will, however, be possible to change the nanocoating after the 30, 90, or 180 day period that it was originally purchased for, or to override the existing design with a new one by way of a new license if you should so wish. 

Almost everything in EVE Online is in the hands of the players. They build and shape a majority of the universe, with the exception of the appearance of their ships and structures. Viridian represents the first step within the Heraldry journey for corporations, giving them more control to decide how their structures are going to look. They will decide which colors go where, as well as the combination, empowering them further in expressing that visual identity within New Eden. 

As the launch of EVE Online: Viridian comes ever closer, stay tuned for the upcoming CCP TV stream on Upwell structure personalization, join the discussion on the official EVE Online Discord, and be sure to check out another Viridian in Focus article next week!