It is possible to play the game through the use of a Windows compatibility layer such as [[Cedega]] or [[Wine (software)|Wine]]. CCP does not officially support EVE under this sort of configuration, but both [[Transgaming]], the backer of Cedega, and CCP have suggested the companies cooperate to address functionality issues post-patch for GNU/Linux users.<ref name="transgaming_coop">[http://www.transgaming.com/showthread.php?news=220 Transgaming Support for EVE With Assistance From CCP]</ref>
It is possible to play the game through the use of a Windows compatibility layer such as [[Cedega]] or [[Wine (software)|Wine]]. CCP does not officially support EVE under this sort of configuration, but both [[Transgaming]], the backer of Cedega, and CCP have suggested the companies cooperate to address functionality issues post-patch for GNU/Linux users.<ref name="transgaming_coop">[http://www.transgaming.com/showthread.php?news=220 Transgaming Support for EVE With Assistance From CCP]</ref>
CPP has stated they have a working [[GNU/Linux]] client on a [http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=574782 thread] in their forums. As of August 16, 2007, CPP is rounding up beta testers for the client. It has been stated that the software used to create this port would be winelib (citation needed), which are libraries from the [[WINE (software)]] project used to create native clients of a program under Linux, or other supported [[Operating System|OS]]'s.
CPP has stated they have a working [[GNU/Linux]] client on a [http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=574782 thread] in their forums. As of August 16, 2007, CPP is rounding up beta testers for the client. It has been stated that the software used to create this port would be winelib {{Fact:Aug2007}}, which are libraries from the [[WINE]] project used to create native clients of a program under Linux, or other supported [[Operating System|OS]]'s.
The fictional background story[4] for EVE Online explains that long ago, humankind, having used up most of the Earth's resources, had started colonizing the rest of the Milky Way to sustain itself. Eventually, humans had expanded to most of the galaxy, resources became contested and war broke out. However, one day, a stable natural wormhole was discovered. Because it was known that the wormhole would collapse, construction began on the EVE Gate, an artificial wormhole generator that would link the galaxies after the natural one closed, Unfortunately, after several years the wormhole collapsed completely destroying the wormhole and the star system of New Eden including the EVE Gate, wherein most of the government of the new galaxy had been based. With the wormhole closed, and the Gate destroyed, the colonists were completely cut off from their previous homes and much needed supplies. Only five known colonies would ever return to any kind of prominence again, eventually rebuilding society together. These make up the five major empires in EVE: the Amarr Empire, the Gallente Federation, the Minmatar Republic, the Caldari State and the Jovian Empire. Players may choose from four of these races (Amarr, Gallente, Caldari, Minmatar) when creating a new character. The fifth race (Jove) are not currently playable, though CCP have said they intend to use the race within the EVE storyline.[5]
Races
The Amarr, a group descendant from a splinter group of the United Catholic Church called the Conformists,[6] were the first of the playable races to rediscover interstellar and faster-than-light travel.[7] Armed with this new technology, they set about expanding their empire, enslaving several races in the process, focusing heavily on the primitive Minmatar[8] race who had only just invented space flight for themselves.[9] The Amarr Empire found its expansionist vigor through the Reclaiming, a crusade to bring their own ideals to the galaxy. This was swiftly ended after their confrontations with the Gallente and, most notably, the Jove. After the destruction of an Imperial Navy task force in conflict with a single Jovian mothership, the Minmatar rebelled against their masters and broke off to form their own faction in the EVE universe. The Minmatar are the downtrodden of the galaxy, holding the least number of star systems while much of their populace are still enslaved in the Amarr Empire or refugee members of the Gallente Federation.
The Gallente[10][11] and the Caldari[12][13] homeworlds were situated in the same star system. The Gallente homeworld was originally settled by French colonists from Tau Ceti, while the planet that would later become Caldari Prime was purchased by a mega-corporation, which began to terraform it. However, the process was incomplete at the time of the gate collapse, and Caldari Prime remained environmentally inhospitable for millennia, delaying the rise of advanced society. The Gallente, with a more hospitable homeworld, restored a working civilization some hundred years before the Caldari, building the first democratic republic of the new era. However, the Caldari were able to reverse-engineer the terraforming equipment, giving their technology a substantial boost.
The Jovians[14] (currently a non-playable race) were, like the other races, a human colony. After the collapse of the gate and the crumbling of interstellar trade and travel-ways, the Jovians were able to revive their civilization almost immediately, losing very little time and very little information thanks to the relative shortness of their "Dark Age". For years they expanded outward and explored their sector of space as the other races still huddled, overcrowded in their isolated home systems. Eventually, the Jovians turned to wide-spread genetic engineering in order to mold themselves into a people more suited to deep space life and long range interstellar exploration. Through their history there have been two previous Jove empires, located in different sectors of space than their current holdings. The Jove abandoned their last empire in the Curse region (now populated by the pirate faction, the "Angels") after their genetic experimentation resulted in the deadly "Jovian Disease", a condition that causes a depression so deep the inflicted lose all will to live. Little is known about the Jovians, except for the fact that they posses extremely advanced technology (The Jove being the ones that gave the Caldari P.O.D. technology) and are very secretive (having severed all stargate connections to their space).
EVE Online runs on a large supercomputing cluster known as "Tranquility", claimed to be the most powerful supercomputer in the gaming industry.[15] Several smaller clusters are used for public and in-house testing including the public test servers "Singularity" and "Multiplicity". The servers require a daily downtime for maintenance and updates.; Tranquility's downtime is scheduled between 11:00 and 12:00 GMT.[16]
Advancement
A Gallente-constructed "Catalyst"-class Destroyer leaving an Amarr space station.
EVE Online is different from MMOGs such as World of Warcraft, Guild Wars and EverQuest II because the player characters do not gain experience points through actions or by completing tasks. Instead, the player learns skills by training a specific skill over time, a passive process that occurs in real world time so that the learning process will continue even if the player is not logged in. As a result, new players are generally unable to gain more skillpoints than existing players who continue to train[17] but this is reduced somewhat by a diminishing returns policy for training higher skill levels. Each skill has 5 steps, or levels and the time required to train a skill to a particular level is determined by the player's attributes and how many skill points a certain skill requires, determined by a skills rank. The skill training system is connected with five attributes: Intelligence, Perception, Charisma, Willpower and Memory. Each skill has a primary and secondary attribute, thus the higher these attributes, the faster skills that use them are trained. There are also skills and implants that can increase attributes.
All players start with a small number of core skills (depending on choices made during the character creation process) and need to buy skill books in order to acquire new skills. Each skill has a different multiplier, or "rank", that determines how long each subsequent level takes to train. For example, the basic skills, with low ranks, may take the player 10 minutes to train to the first level, while high-ranking skills like Capital Ships take months to train to the highest level. Each skill may have pre-requisites - a requirement that other skills must be trained to a specific level before it can be trained.
Training Time
Training within the game occurs in real time whether the user is logged in or not. The time it takes to train a skill varies depending upon an attribute known as its "rank." Low-rank skills trained to a low level may represent a few minutes of training whereas high levels of high-rank skills may represent several months of training.
Since training time is directly related to a character's attributes, a player can lower the training time of skills by training "Learning" skills, as well as by using Implants to boost attributes.
Due to the sheer number of skills available to characters, it is not realistic for a character to acquire perfect skills with all ships and weapons systems. As each skill level takes five times longer than the previous (a geometric progression) while the bonus it provides almost always scales linearly, a new player has the option to either acquire acceptable skills in many fields, or perfect skills in a relative few.[18]
Economy
An example of EVE Online's in-game market screen.
There is a single currency unit in EVE Online, the Inter Stellar Kredit (ISK), which takes its name from the Icelandic króna, whose ISO code is ISK. Players can barter between themselves for items, or may use the extensive in-game market system for ISK-based transactions. A large proportion of the in-game economy is player driven; NPC merchants supply some basic blueprints, items and trade goods.
Players, through the use of blueprints and in-game skills, can gain the ability to build items ranging from basic ammunition to cutting-edge capital ship hulls, and manufacture them for personal use or for sale. Pricing and availability of goods varies from region to region within the EVE universe. These aspects contribute to an economic environment influenced by factors like scarcity of resources, specialization of labor and supply/demand dynamics.[19] The economy is closely tied with the (also player driven) political aspect of the game. Player corporations (the EVE equivalent of guilds) rise and fall as they struggle for market dominance as well as territorial control.
From a technical point of view, the economy in EVE is known as an open economy, that is there is no fixed amount of money or materials in the universe. CCP did attempt to implement a closed economy (that is an economy where there is a fixed amount of currency and therefore materials) early on in the game's existence; however, it proved too difficult to balance the effects of new players entering the game with the capabilities of older players able to earn more ISK or obtaining more materials. The current Open economy is automatically balanced by introducing extra materials in underpopulated areas to encourage an even spread of players.[20]
On 27 June2007 CCP announced that an economist had been employed[21] to assist in the development of the economic side of the game. Dr. Guðmundsson's has stated that he will be responsible for compiling quarterly economic reports for the community and provide ongoing analysis of the economic facets of EVE, along with coordinating research with other interested parties.[22]
In the most recent release, Revelations II, the concept of a "Loyalty Points" (LP) store,[23] where one can use non-transferable "LP's" in combination with other assets (items or ISK) to purchase standard items at a reduced ISK price or otherwise unattainable items.
EVE's EULA forbids the exchange of ISK for real currency, however there is an open market for "Game Time Codes" (GTC) in exchange for in game currency.
Combat
Combat in EVE is a mixture of both tactical intelligence and spontaneous decision-making using a Point-and-click interface. While every race has certain tendencies for different battle tactics, a character's combat capabilities are determined by skill levels, the ship being piloted and various hardware modules fitted into it.
An example of combat in EVE. The squares are ships, while the "X"s are drones.
EVE's combat system allows ships of all sizes to be useful in combat. Large ships such as battleships are typically outfitted with heavy weapons allowing them to battle other ships of their size. Such weapons however do not have the accuracy to effectively damage smaller, faster ships like frigates.[24] While a large ship can equip smaller weapons designed for attacking smaller targets, this leaves them at a disadvantage versus other large ships. Small ships such as frigates may be unable to do significant damage to larger ships on their own, but can greatly affect the outcome of small group battles by employing tactics such as disrupting the engines of enemies (reducing mobility or chance to escape) and jamming enemy sensors or by attacking a larger ship as a pack.
The open player versus player combat system, and the fact that ships frequently "drop" some of their cargo and equipment when destroyed, provides incentive for player piracy. There are various piracy tactics, most commonly they roam space in small gangs looking for targets. In turn, pirates risk being branded criminals by CONCORD and thus becoming open targets to all other players, as well as being unable to access high security systems. Players may even place a bounty on another player's head, providing work for bounty hunters.[25]
At the strategic level, the rich resources available in low security space reward large co-operative groups. Usually formed when several player-owned-and-operated corporations (similar to guilds, in other MMORPGs) band together, these "alliances" can vary widely in size and strength. The network of jumpgates, which allows travel between star systems, includes a multitude of choke points, which careful alliances can garrison to restrict access to claimed 0.0 systems. Moreover, corporations and alliances have the ability to manufacture Player-Operated Starbases (POS) that mine resources from moons in a system. Each POS requires substantial logistical support to remain in operation, but once an alliance mounts and maintains such facilities at the majority of moons in a system, it achieves the status of sovereignty and remains so until an enemy destroys enough POSs and replaces them with its own.[26]
Security Index System
CONCORD patrol ships.
EVE features an open PvP system where combat between players can occur anywhere within the EVE Universe. To balance this "free aggression", EVE has implemented a "security index system". Every solar system in the EVE universe has a public security status which ranges from 0.0 to 1.0. The lowest end of the scale is lawless space, and rules are set and enforced by player run alliances. The highest end of the scale affords protection from sentry guns and CONCORD, the NPC 'police'.[27]
Players committing illegal actions within "empire" systems (security status between 0.1 and 1.0) lose personal security standings with CONCORD. Loss of Security status varies depending on the crime. Showing aggression will only result in a minor loss of standings, while the act of killing a ship that has not defended itself will result in a further drop in standings, and the largest loss of standings occurs with the intentional destruction of a player's 'pod'.[27] As a player loses security status, their ability to enter certain levels of secured space becomes more and more limited.[28]
While breaking the law in high-security systems (that is, those with a security of 0.5 to 1.0) means almost certain death for the offender, this does not guarantee the absolute safety of the victim: a well-planned suicide attack can still successfully destroy a ship before CONCORD and sentry guns can neutralize the aggressor.
In lawless space (0.0), CONCORD has no influence and the dynamics for player interactions change. Corporations band together into alliances in order to defend a region of space to which they claim. These alliances often fight wars for contested systems and send gangs to raid each other. Although lawless space is dangerous and difficult to defend the rewards are much higher. Asteroids contain far more valuable ore and pirates in lawless space carry far higher bounties.
Warfare
While attacking another player in high security space will result in a loss of security standing and the risk of the attacker losing his ship to CONCORD there is a way to conduct warfare in high security space. A corporation or alliance can declare war on another corporation/alliance (at the cost of a weekly fee), thus allowing for combat in all regions of space without the fear of standing loss or the intervention of security services.[29]
Death
A pod floating in space after a player's ship has been destroyed.
In the event that a player's ship is destroyed, a wreck is left behind. Any cargo hold contents, ship modules, drones and ammunition that were not destroyed in the explosion can be recovered by any player, and additional components of the structure of the ship can be retrieved by a player with the correct "salvaging" modules and skills. These components can be used to build ship enhancement modules known as 'rigs'. To (partially or fully) mitigate the loss of an expensive vessel, ships can be insured against destruction. Insurance payouts are based strictly on material build costs;[30] the market value of the ship is not taken into account. Some ships have a market value that is dozens, if not hundreds of times as much as the ship's build cost - as a result, a player who loses such a ship may lose a large investment, with no possibility of indemnification. Modules, installed upgrades and cargo cannot be insured; these items may have a market value much higher than the ship itself.
When a ship is destroyed, the player is ejected in their pod. This pod may be destroyed as well, if a player chooses to open fire on it. In this case, the player character will die and be revived as a clone at a pre-determined cloning facility. This player death is known as "pod killing" or "podding". Non-player characters will not attack a pod. Any implants installed on a player will be irrevocably lost when he or she is pod killed. Implants cannot be insured.[17]
Players may purchase an upgraded clone which is used in the event of pod death. The cost of a clone depends on how many skill points it can hold - the more skill points, the more expensive the clone becomes. When the player dies and is revived in his or her clone, if this clone holds a number of skill points lower than the number the player had at the time of death, then the player will lose a varying amount of skill points.[17] In some cases, this represents more than a month's worth of training time. Therefore, players who value their skill points purchase upgraded clones sufficient to hold all their skill points. This is known as "keeping your clone up-to-date".
Expanding the cloning system further, Jump Clones were added in Red Moon Rising, and enhanced in Revelations to allow advanced players to mitigate risking their cybernetic implants by using the Infomorph Psychology skill to jump into a cloned body in another station, without requiring their existing body to die to achieve this. The original body (complete with its cybernetic implants) remains stored in the original station and may be returned to via another clone jump (after a 24-hour waiting period).[31] This method offers a way for developed characters to use expensive implants for skill training or economic pursuits, while still having the option to engage in dangerous combat operations without the risk of losing them or by creating jump clones with different groups of implants that control other aspects of the game such as shield support, enhanced damage capabilities or better targeting abilities.
Cost
EVE currently costs €14,95 / $14.95 a month (however the first monthly payment is a one off fee of €19,95 / $19.95) (the European cost includes VAT).[32] Like other MMOGs, the cost can be reduced by paying for larger subscription intervals. Players can pay via online payment services or by mail order. The mail order costs more than online payment, though the large subscription discount still applies.
Those who are playing EVE Online can send 14-day trials to their friends via the 'Buddy Program',[33][34] available from the EVE Online website. A trial account is able to perform almost all of the same functions as a full account with the exception of training certain skills (such as industrial ships), using the contract system, and transferring ISK to other players. If the buddy upgrades their trial account to a paying account, the person who sent the invitation will be entered into a monthly raffle for various prizes.
It is also possible to pay for a subscription through the in game purchase of ETC (EVE time cards) using ISK (in game currency). This system was instituted by CCP and the transactions are protected by CCP staff.[35][36] This allows more advanced players able to generate the needed ISK to pay for their characters without any real money. ETCs come in 30-50-90-100-180 day increments, and are treated just like normal subscriptions in every way.
Demographics
As of October 2006 the average age of an EVE Player was 27 of which 95% male, and 5% female.
The average weekly playtime is 17 hours, or just under 2.5 hours per day.[20]
Gemini was not actually a content patch, but is included here for the sake of completeness. When EVE Online: The Second Genesis[37] was released, the base was codenamed Gemini, version 1.00.0000.
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.[38]
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.[39] Prior to its official release, this expansion was codenamed "Shiva".
Freighter class ships, such as the Caldari "Charon" seen in this image, were introduced with the Cold War Edition content patch. Cold War Edition contained an extensive new tutorial sequence and a storyline background introduction. Challenging "level 4" agent missions were added for experienced players, 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. [40] This expansion also added Unicode chat support, allowing communication in Asian, Cyrillic, and Greek languages.
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.[41] 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 is the codename for the small content patch that enabled players to create the new character "bloodline" with an Asian appearance.[42]
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.
Dragon
This milestone patch brought together the code base from the Chinese server (Serenity) and the main server (Tranquility), but otherwise contained little added content and only minor bug fixes. With this patch, EVE could no longer be played on Windows 95 / 98 / ME or Windows 2000 Service Pack 1.[43]
Revelations is the second major game expansion of EVE Online. Previously known by the codename "Kali", Revelations is slated 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. [44][45][46][47]
Recently EVE voice was integrated into EVE as part of Revelations content patch 1.4 , it had been due for Revelations Revelations II previously. EVE voice is a voice communication tool integrated into the EVE-Online client, the software is licensed by CCP from Vivox.
Revelations II is the second of three expansions, designed to show the increased tensions between the empires within the game universe.[48] Several new features were introduced; including a mechanism for overloading modules[49] and area of effectbombs.[50] A number of existing features have been extended including Level 5 agents,[51] changes to sovereignty[52], starbases[53] outposts,[54] and balancing changes to the Amarr race.[55] 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.[23]
Revelations III CCP expects to publish the final part of this expansion during 2007.
Planned Future Developments
CCP have recently begun work on implementing a game feature that will allow players to "Step out" of their pods and interact with other player avatars in the communal setting of the interior of a station.[56] CCP have not yet formally speculated on a release date for this feature. In March 2007, Ten Ton Hammer released in-development game footage of this feature, videotaped at GDC 2007 with the approval of CCP's CMO, Magnus Bergsson.[57]
The ability to enter a planet's atmosphere (planetary flight) and to interact with the surface is also mentioned as one of the future development plans. In EVE Fanfest 2005, a working prototype was demonstrated in which a Caldari "Crow" interceptor could be seen flying around over a planet surface. However CCP stated that full-scale integration of such features to the game requires an enormous effort and is only planned for post-Revelations production phases.[58]
EVE Online in China
Beginning in March 2006, CCP and its partner Optic Communications started working to bring EVE Online to the Chinese gaming audience. Closed alpha testing was held on a small cluster for some time, with about 3,000 players chosen from an initial pool of 50,000.[59] The Chinese open beta test began on June 13, 2006, and proved to be very popular, gaining numbers comparable to EVE Online's main server cluster.[60]
The code base between Serenity(China) and Tranquility(Iceland) is strictly in sync, so that software development is distributed to both server clusters, however the game worlds are not connected. EVE Online fully supports Unicode and has a back-end system to enable localization of each and every aspect of the game's content and UI. [61]
Graphics Engine and Windows Vista
On March 14, 2006, the EVE Online development team announced that they would be upgrading the graphics engine of EVE Online to a DirectX 10 / Windows Vista graphics platform.[62] Revelations patch 1.4 had patch notes quoted as saying that the current EVE client should work in Vista "as well as it does in XP". [63]
GNU/Linux Support
It is possible to play the game through the use of a Windows compatibility layer such as Cedega or Wine. CCP does not officially support EVE under this sort of configuration, but both Transgaming, the backer of Cedega, and CCP have suggested the companies cooperate to address functionality issues post-patch for GNU/Linux users.[64]
CPP has stated they have a working GNU/Linux client on a thread in their forums. As of August 16, 2007, CPP is rounding up beta testers for the client. It has been stated that the software used to create this port would be winelib Template:Fact:Aug2007, which are libraries from the WINE project used to create native clients of a program under Linux, or other supported OS's.
Technical milestones
On January 14, 2007, EVE Online achieved a new record for the maximum number of simultaneous pilots online with 34,420 concurrent accounts logged on to the same server.[65]
As of June 2007, EVE Online has 172,250 active subscriptions and 31,330 active trial accounts.[66]
During two weekends in July 2006, a live streaming video production called EveTV[67][68] covered the events of the 2nd Caldari Alliance Tournament. The tournament pitted five-man teams from the top alliances against each other. EveTV provided live in-game footage of the battles along with expert commentary. Analysis of the teams and strategies, interviews with CCP staff and behind-the-scenes specials were also aired between battles. EveTV was produced and hosted primarily by DJs[67] from EVE-Radio (a player-run streaming radio station) with resources provided by CCP. A total of 95 matches were scheduled, with the Band of Brothers[69] alliance emerging the winner on the final day.[70] Recordings of the event are now available via BitTorrent[71] and on EVE Files.[72] Additionally, a better quality DVD is available through the EVE Online Webstore.[73]
The first two weekends in December 2006 saw the 3rd Alliance tournament. This was once again broadcast via live streaming video by EveTV[68] The tournament saw 40 Alliances[74] pitting five-man teams against each other. Once again, the Band of Brothers[69] alliance emerged as the winner. Of particular note in this tournament, was the fielding of an Imperial Apocalypse by the Interstellar Alcohol Conglomerate; one of only four that have been manufactured.[citation needed] The ship was destroyed in the semi-finals of the tournament.
Third-Party Applications and The EVE API Project
A large number of third-party applications have arisen to supplement a player's EVE Online experience. Some of these, such as automated applications designed to claim publicly-available contracts accidentally put up without an associated cost, will result in a ban if discovered, but many others are endorsed, tacitly or explicitly, by CCP. EVEMon—a .NET application that monitors and forecasts skill training times—is one example of an explicitly-authorized external application.[75][76] In May, 2005, CCP announced the EVE API Project; in the future, third-party utilities such as EVEMon will interface with character data, market, and other data through an API.[77]
Ships in the EVE universe are organized into a variety of different classes, varying from minute frigates to titans thousands of times larger. Each of these types has its own advantages and disadvantages in the game. One should not simply assume that the bigger a ship is, the better. For instance, a frigate is incredibly small compared to a battleship, but many users outfit these smaller ships with equipment that impairs the abilities of the battleship. This leaves the battleship vulnerable to attack from other ships. However, some of the weapons available to the battleship could destroy that frigate in a few shots. The balance between ships is also maintained by the implementation of the signature radius. The smaller an object (ship or otherwise) is, the harder it is to target or damage, especially with the larger cruiser and battleship-sized weaponry.
The enormous scale of some of the newer vessels in the EVE universe can been seen in this ship scale comparison chart.
Using the Caldari fleet as an example, the ten smallest vessels in the top right of the chart are Frigates, along with the Shuttle and Destroyer. Moving counter-clockwise around the Caldari fleet, the next four vessels are Cruisers, while the following is a Battlecruiser. Following the Battlecruiser are the two Battleships, then the Carrier, Mothership, Titan, Freighter, three Industrials, and finally the Dreadnought. The Eiffel Tower, for comparison, can be seen in the far bottom left hand corner. Another useful frame of reference for the scale of EVE online is to realise that the Minmatar "Rifter"-class frigate has approximately the same dimensions as a Boeing 747. [citation needed]
Weapons
Weapons in EVE are divided into five types: turrets, launchers, drones, smartbombs and bomb launchers . Each type requires a different set of skills in order to use effectively, and have distinctive behaviors and tactical uses. Each of the four playable races favor a different subcategory of these weapon types; missile launchers (Caldari and Minmatar), energy turrets (Amarr), hybrid turrets (Gallente and Caldari), projectile turrets (Minmatar)and drones (Gallente). Additionally, certain modules have an important effect on tactics used in combat including warp scramblers/disruptors (and their counter, warp stabilizers), webifiers, energy vampires and energy destabilizers.
Every weapon has its advantages and disadvantages. Missiles are available that do different types of damage, and many launchers can use more than one type of missile. Slower missiles, such as torpedoes, tend to do more damage to large targets. Drones follow the target, and shoot at it, causing different types of damage based on drone type. Smartbombs are area-of-effect weapons that deal damage to any target within a certain radius of the ship, available in three sizes to reflect powergrid/CPU use and net damage, and also different types that deal specific kinds of damage.
Skills and implants can enhance the effectiveness of weapons by increasing the damage of the ammunition, the effective range, tracking speed or firing rate of the weapon, reducing the effect of the targets velocity, or reducing the weapon's power or CPU usage.
Quafe is both the name of a popular drink in EVE[78] and the name of the corporation which produces it.[79] On October 22, 2004, CCP made a marketing first when they launched the virtual drink for sale in the real world.[80] CCP sold the drink from their website for $1.50 (USD) for a single bottle, or $15.10 for a multi-pack, but sales of this drink have since ceased. The real-world Quafe soft drink had a lemon-lime taste.[citation needed]
Criticism
CCP's approach to managing the in-game economy has also come under fire for allowing in-game "criminal" activity. Piracy (in the ship-to-ship sense) is a fact of life, as is protection racketeering and theft.
One example is the corporate heist perpetrated by the in-game assassin's guild Guiding Hand Social Club. The GHSC infiltrated a target corporation over the course of nearly a year before performing a virtual assassination on the target's CEO and stealing or destroying billions of credits' worth of property.[81]
Events of this nature are debated both inside the game world and in the media[82].
Developer Misconduct
Since the release of EVE Online there has been several allegations of developer as well as player-corporation misconduct. To date the most noteworthy allegation of developer misconduct is the "t20 Incident".
In February 2007, a player using the alias "Kugutsumen" posted allegations of developer misconduct in relation to one of the ingame alliances, Band of Brothers. Later that week, CCP admitted that they had in fact known of the wrongdoing for over 6 months[83] and apologized for it.
The incident involved t20 (one of the software developers) allegedly using his developer access to obtain valuable in-game items to benefit Band of Brothers, in which he was part of the leadership. CCP CEO Hilmar Pétursson stated that any conduct of this sort would result in immediate termination[citation needed], but as (unnamed) disciplinary measures had already been taken against t20, it would not be fair to discipline him a second time. CCP banned Kugutsumen's accounts for posting real-life info of the developer in question and the use of possibly illegal means to retrieve the information[citation needed]. Kugutsumen replied to the accusations of using hacking as means of retrieving the information. CCP's final input in the matter was that Kugutsumen caused CCP unwanted work-load (technically, a violation of the end-user license agreement) and that was enough reason to ban him.
Kugutsumen has since continued to post material on his website, and there is considerable debate amongst the player base as to the appropriateness of CCP's response.[84][85]
In response to the allegations, CCP set up an Internal Affairs division headed up by Ari Eldon, better known in-game as Arkanon, whose responsibility is to monitor the activities of both privileged and player accounts operated by CCP Staff in-game.[86]
In early June 2007, CCP announced that the players will be given the opportunity to elect an oversight committee from the player base itself.[87] The members of this committee would be flown to Iceland regularly to audit CCP's operations and report back to the community.
May 6, 2003
May 6, 2003
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June 12, 2006
