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Expansions of Eve Online

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Eve Online
Eve Online Logo
Eve Online Logo
Developer(s)CCP Games
Publisher(s)SSI (expired)
CCP Games
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux (Official Linux support discontinued at Apocrypha expansion)
Release
  • UK: May 6, 2003

Genre(s)MMORPG Space simulation
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Eve Online is a player-driven persistent-world massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in a science fiction space setting. Since its release on May 6, 2003 the developer CCP Games has added a total of twelve expansions to the game. CCP provides expansions free of charge to its subscribers.[1] This article highlights the expansions and the changes they introduced to the game.

Released expansions

Castor

Release date: December 18, 2003

Castor was the first major content addition. It focused on refining current functions along with adding "Tech 2" elite components and ships. With its release, Eve players saw conquerable stations in 0.0 (deep space) security systems, the introduction of the agent mission running system, the introduction of research agents, and many other features released between the launch of Castor and its follower, Exodus.[2]

Exodus

Release date: November 17, 2004

Exodus is considered by the developers to be the first major game expansion. The expansion added multi-level "deadspace" scenarios, new environments and ships, better handling of conflicts, additional market functionality, user interface improvements, and an updated in-game web browser. A formalized method for alliances between corporations and the ability to claim sovereignty of a solar system via new "player owned starbases" was also added.[3] Prior to its official release, this expansion was codenamed "Shiva."

Exodus: Cold War

Release date: June 29, 2005

Cold War Edition contained an extensive new tutorial sequence and a storyline background introduction. "Level 4" agent missions were added to create a way to grind for money at little risk in amounts that rival high-risk ventures, as well as "COSMOS" constellations where in-space agents began giving out story-driven missions and unique rewards. The freighter and dreadnaught capital ships, full-fledged player-owned "outposts," and improved NPC pirate factions brought deep space play to a new level.[4] This expansion also added Unicode chat support, allowing communication in Asian, Cyrillic, and Greek languages.

Exodus: Red Moon Rising

Release date: December 16, 2005

Red Moon Rising was split off from the "Kali" expansion in order to maintain a more regular patch schedule. It included many performance optimizations and updates to combat, research, and manufacturing gameplay.[5] The expansion continued the focus on attracting new international players as four new "bloodlines" were introduced with Asian features and a boost in starting skills. Unicode support was also expanded from the chat system to game-wide. A major focus of the expansion was revamping existing ships and adding many additional ship classes. Twenty-three new Tech 2 ships were added including Exhumers, Force Recon cruisers, Command ships, Interdictors, and most notably the capital ships Carrier, Mothership, and Titan. (See Spaceships of Eve Online for descriptions)

Bloodlines

Release date: March 2, 2006

Bloodlines is the codename for the content patch that enabled players to create the new character "bloodline" with an Asian appearance.[6]

  • Achura, citizens of the Caldari State and expert scientists
  • Jin-Mei, members of the Gallente Federation renowned for their legendary leadership traits
  • Khanid of the Amarr Empire, the primary fighter-warriors of their culture
  • Vherokior of the Minmatar Republic, the established manufacturers and engineers of the tribes.

Revelations I

Release date: November 29, 2006

Revelations is the second major game expansion of Eve Online. Previously known by the codename "Kali," Revelations was scheduled to be released in three parts. Major features of this expansion include an exploration / scan probe system, a formalized contract system, the invention replacement for the Tech 2 research lottery, ship customization with "rigs," and temporary "combat boosters." Existing features expanded include a "new player experience" that grants new players a large head start in capabilities, an upgraded fleet system, eight new deepspace regions, a new map that zooms from ship to galaxy seamlessly, popular new battlecruisers and battleships, and many more.[7][8][9][10]

Eve Voice was integrated as part of Revelations content patch 1.4, it had initially been planned for release with Revelations II. Eve Voice is a Voice over IP tool integrated into the Eve Online client, the software is licensed by CCP from Vivox.[11]

Revelations II

Release date: June 19, 2007

Revelations II is the second of three expansions, designed to show the increased tensions between the empires within the game universe.[12] Several new features were introduced; including a mechanism for overloading modules[13] and area of effect bombs.[14] A number of existing features have been extended including Level 5 agents,[15] changes to sovereignty[16], starbases[17] outposts,[18] and balancing changes to the Amarr race.[19] Revelations II also changed the way new players start the game, in addition to new optional tutorials the existing tutorial has been shortened and refined, and players now start in a private dungeon to allow new players to get used to the controls in a protective environment.[20]

Trinity

Release date: December 5, 2007[21]

Features include an updated graphics engine and 5 new ship classes totalling 20 new ships. The 5 classes are interdictor cruisers (Heavy Interdictors) and electronic warfare frigates (Electronic Attack Ships) as well as battleships (Black Ops, designed for covert operations and Marauders, designed for long-range deployment) and freighters (Jump Freighters).[22] Although "Factional Warfare," a major addition to game mechanics, had been planned for this patch it was later announced that it would be included in a future patch,[23] along with Ambulation (walking in stations and Full Human Representation, announced on the Eve Online Fanfest 2007). Starting with the release of Trinity CCP offers two editions of the Eve Online client. One with regular graphics content, called Trinity 1.0 Classic, and one with updated graphics, called Trinity 1.0, also referred to as Premium.[24] Players who run a Shader Model 3-capable graphics card can choose whether they want the Classic or Premium content. Without such a graphics card the client uses the Classic content.

The initial version of the Trinity patch could under certain circumstances delete the player's operating system's boot.ini file, thus rendering the operating system unbootable.[25] Six hours after the release of this faulty patch CCP fixed the issue. While the number of affected players is unknown, 215 had specifically asked CCP for assistance.[26]

Empyrean Age

Release date: June 10, 2008

Empyrean Age, previously named Kali 4, is the name of the ninth expansion of Eve Online and the last one in the Kali tetralogy.[27][28][29] CCP has included Factional Warfare in this release.[27][29] In this expansion the in-game story plays a key role and the situation in the game reflects events depicted in the novel of the same title by Tony Gonzales.[27] The expansion allows both individual players and whole corporations to fight for certain NPC factions and battle for control of certain regions of space.[27][30] Agents provide missions and objectives which alter player and corporation standings with the factions accordingly.[30]

Quantum Rise

Release date: November 11, 2008.

The Quantum Rise expansion includes features such as a new certificate system that allows verification of a player's proficiency in certain defined groups of skills by other players[31] and a medal system for awards by corporations. Industrial ships were rebalanced and optimized, with addition of the Orca-class ship, "a sub-capital logistical ship with a mining command focus."[32] The staged delivery of the expansion began with the recent implementation of new technology such as StacklessIO[33] and EVE64[34] which upgraded the server hardware and streamlined communication between server and client to reduce lag. These improvements provide performance allowing for player vs. player battles with thousands of participants. Further hardware and software improvements are planned.[35] Other features of the expansion include further graphics updates as started in the Trinity expansion; the ability for players to group their vessels' weapons for easier interaction;[36] changes to autopilot routes and avoidance of player-defined solar systems. This patch also brought a controversial overhaul of the speed system.[citation needed]

Apocrypha

Release date: March 10, 2009.

At Fanfest 2008 it was announced that instead of a six-month gap between expansions the subsequent expansion to Quantum Rise, Apocrypha, would be released on March 10, 2009. This expansion included a training queue, Tech 3 vessels, and exploration of uncharted space through unstable wormholes.[37][38] Apocrypha has improved NPCs' artificial intelligence and has added a new NPC faction to the game, the Sleepers.[39]

Apocrypha 1.5 was released on August 20, 2009 and considered by CCP to be a mini-expansion. CCP felt that Apocrypha was released very early for a Summer expansion, and that they had enough content ready to go for it to be classified as more than a patch.[40] The new mini-expansion brought to EVE four more epic mission arcs, new rig sizes, specialized cargo bays for specific ships, and performance enhancements for their Factional Warfare.

More detailed information about Apocrypha can be found on the EVE Online website EVE Online: Apocrypha

Dominion

Release date: December 1st, 2009.[41].

The main focus of Dominion, the 12th expansion, is an overhaul in the alliance warfare sovereignty mechanics. It also includes the introduction of pirate epic arcs, an artistic redesign of planets and a social networking platform called COSMOS[41] (previously called New Eden). Dominion updates the In Game Browser (IGB) with Chromium's toolkit, allowing the IGB to behave more like a true browser and properly render HTML, javascript and stylesheets. (From: [1])

More detailed information about this expansion can be found on the EVE Online website EVE Online: Dominion

Tyrannis

Release date: Q2 2010.

Tyrannis is the 13th expansion to EVE Online, and will focus heavily on planetary interaction. Players will be able to take advantage of deposits minerals and other raw materials found on the planets of EVE. To that end they will be given the ability to build infrastructure for harvesting, storage and processing of these materials.

The previously revealed out of game community site allowing players to interact with EVE through a regular web browser has been renamed EVE Gate. EVE Gate will feature EVE Mail, in and out of game calendars and contacts and updates for players, corporations and alliances. The expansion will also focus on other optimizations and improvements throughout the game, such as reducing fleet lag and load handling.

More detailed information about this expansion can be found on the EVE Online website EVE Online: Dominion

References

  1. ^ CCP Games. "Eve Online Features". eve-online.com. CCP Games. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
  2. ^ Features of the Castor content expansion.
  3. ^ Features of the Exodus content expansion.
  4. ^ Features of the Cold War content expansion.
  5. ^ Features of the Red Moon Rising content expansion.
  6. ^ Eve Online Version 3896 (Bloodlines) Patchnotes
  7. ^ CCP Games Press Release: Eve Online Reveals the Path to Kali
  8. ^ Developer Blog by Oveur: The Path Forward - Eve Voice, Lite, Vista, Kali and World Domination
  9. ^ Eve Developer Skellibjalla responds to questions about the nature of a advert run in PCGamer
  10. ^ Features of the Revelations game expansion
  11. ^ "Eve Voice". Eve Online Website. Retrieved 2007-08-23.
  12. ^ Features of the Revelations II game expansion
  13. ^ "Can you feel the heat?" a Live Dev Blog
  14. ^ "It's getting hot in here" a Dev Blog by CCP Tuxford
  15. ^ "Hell is Freezing Ove(u)r, Revelations 2 is Coming" a Dev Blog by Oveur
  16. ^ "building up your realm, one sovereignty at a time" a Dev Blog by LeMousse
  17. ^ "In da starbase - a warfare revamp" a Dev Blog by TomB
  18. ^ Revelations II Features Page: Combat
  19. ^ "Balancing changes for Revelations Two" a Dev Blog by Fendahl
  20. ^ Eve Online Version 33752 (Revelations II) Patchnotes
  21. ^ Phil, Elliott (2007-11-05). "Latest expansion for sci-fi MMO dated; supercomputer under construction". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  22. ^ CCP. "Trinity features overview". CCP Games. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
  23. ^ CCP Ginger (September 14, 2007). "War Is Divine". Eve-Online.com. CCP Games. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  24. ^ CCP 2Kay (October 16, 2007). "Dev blog "Delivering Trinity"". CCP Games. Retrieved 2007-12-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ CCP Atropos (December 6, 2007). "Forum topic "Rebooting your PC post upgrade (boot.ini issue)"". CCP Games. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
  26. ^ CCP Explorer (December 11, 2007). "Dev blog "About the boot.ini Issue"". CCP Games. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
  27. ^ a b c d Massey, Dana. "WarCry article "EVE Online: Five Years and Counting, Interview with Valerie Massey"". warcry.com. WarCry (website). Retrieved 2008-04-19. {{cite web}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  28. ^ CCP Wrangler (2008-05-10). "Eve Online forums topic "Live Dev Blog on Empyrean Age, Thursday 15 May, 20.00 to 21.00 GMT"". eve-online.com. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
  29. ^ a b CCP Explorer (2007-10-31). "Eve Online forum post: Revelations 2.3 Patch Deployment on Tues, 6 Nov from 1100 to 1400 GMT". CCP Games. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
  30. ^ a b Wood, Jon (2008-04-24). "MMORPG.com article "New York Comic Con: EVE Online - The Empyrean Age Expansion"". MMORPG.com. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  31. ^ CCP Greyscale (October 13, 2008). "Dev blog "Certificates: Planning the future"". CCP Games. Retrieved 2008-10-16.
  32. ^ CCP (October 15, 2008). "Dev blog "The Orca"". CCP Games. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  33. ^ CCP Explorer (September 26, 2008). "Dev blog "StacklessIO"". CCP Games. Retrieved 2008-10-16.
  34. ^ CCP Explorer (October 1, 2008). "Dev blog "EVE64"". CCP Games. Retrieved 2008-10-16.
  35. ^ CCP (October 15, 2008). "Press release "EVE Online: Quantum Rise Multiplies MMO Power"". CCP Games. Retrieved 2008-10-16.
  36. ^ CCP Ytterbium (October 23, 2008). "Dev blog "Weapon Grouping"". CCP Games. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  37. ^ Egan, James (November 8, 2008). "News article "CCP reveals Tech 3 coming in EVE's March expansion"". massively.com. massively.com. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
  38. ^ CCP Games. "Press release "EVE Online: Apocrypha Uncovers a New Version of the Universe Itself"". eve-online.com. CCP Games. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
  39. ^ CCP Ytterbium. "When Evolution Leaps Forward". eve-online.com. CCP Games. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
  40. ^ CCP t0rfifrans. "Apocrypha 1.5 this august". eve-online.com. CCP Games. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); Unknown parameter |http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a= ignored (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  41. ^ a b CCP Manifest. "Dominion set for winter 2009". eve-online.com. CCP Games. Retrieved 2009-08-31.
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