The YC118.3 Update in New Eden

I think I liked it better when CCP was assigning names to their monthly updates.  It was easier to come up with titles when I wrote about them.  I suppose I could have gone with something about Catherine of Bologna, it being her feast day and all. (Bologna feast!) But that might be working too hard for a poor joke based on an obscure reference, so I will just say that today is the day, and the March 2016 update for EVE Online, delayed a day, is now live on Tranquility.  And, as usual, there are a number of things on the change list.

We might as well put Project Discovery at the top.

It’s science, bitches!

Project Discovery is the in-game mini-game thing that, in playing it, will earn you rewards with the Sisters of EVE and help advance the Human Protein Atlas database.  I do wonder if CCP will feel bad banning anybody who bots the mini-game.  Stop it, you’re unfairly advancing the course of scientific discovery!

Then there are the new updates to Drifter hive sites that are springing up around New Eden, waiting for players to come explore and get blown up.

The Drifter menace continues

Those sites will drop five new legal booster drugs for capsuleers.

• Antipharmakon Aeolis
  Booster slot 1
  Capacitor Modifier: 8%
  Booster Duration: 30 minutes
• Antipharmakon Iokira
  Booster slot 2
  Tracking Speed Bonus: 8%
  Booster Duration: 30 minutes
• Antipharmakon Kosybo
  Booster slot 1
  Armor Repair Bonus: 8%
  Booster Duration: 30 minutes
• Antipharmakon Thureo
  Booster slot 1
  Shield Boost Bonus: 8%
  Booster Duration: 30 minutes
• Antipharmakon Toxot
  Booster slot 3
  Flight Time Bonus: 8%
  Booster Duration: 30 minutes

Look for those to be over-priced on the Jita market by the end of the day.

Probably the biggest, and most annoying to summarize, set of changes coming with this release is the massive module tiericied pass that is showing up today.  I’m just going to post links to the various sections of it.

• Target Painters
• Sensor Dampeners
• ECM and Burst Jammers
• Tracking Upgrades
• Damage Upgrades
• Stasis Webifiers
• Warp Disruptors and Scramblers
• Sensor and ECCM Modules
• Cap Batteries
• Damage Controls

That is a lot of modules changing today.  I suspect that the people who manage Pyfa and the EVE Fitting Tool are working hard to get all of that updated.

Of particular note in all of that, the one change that people have been talking about, is the update to Damage Control modules.  They are changing, being made passive and, as part of the whole pass, the hull resistance bonus they used to impart are being made standard to all ship hulls.  So every ship just got a 33% hull resistance bonus and the EHP that goes with it.

This has people talking, in part, because it looks to be a direct swipe at suicide ganking.

I’m not particularly bothered by it, and not simply because I am not much on the suicide ganking front.  (I’ve been both a ganker and gankee.)  Suicide ganking in high sec has become a pretty “by the numbers” routine.  You scan the freighter, you assess the cargo value and how much is likely to drop, you bump it to keep it from warping off, you apply the requisite number of Catalysts to the target, and you scoop up the loot.  It has as much like parsing an actuarial table as it is like space piracy.  So a bit of change there is probably good, even if all the spreadsheets will be updated and profit calculations set by the day after tomorrow.  At least shippers will be able to carry a bit more cargo without becoming targets.

Then there is the Watch List, which is now being called the Buddy List, because we also have a Watch List window in fleets.  From now on you won’t get a notification that somebody on your Buddy List is logging on or off unless you have each other listed.  This is to kill off the massive early warning system that has emerged with people putting every known FC and super capital pilot on their Buddy List so they can respond and start warming up their own FCs and super capital pilots, which they sparks a reaction from the other side.  I am told whole battles have been avoided just by putting out a call to have super pilots log in, creating doubt in the minds of the other side.

So, from now on, only your real buddies will be need to be on your Buddy List, and I am sure a lot of super pilots have spent time clearing their lists, lest they accidentally find themselves in a reciprocal buddy situation with a foe.

Then there are all the other things, like fixes to the new camera, new skills being introduced in anticipation of citadels, changes to fuel blocks, which will now have strontium as part of their production requirements, the new Stasis Grappler module for battleships and capitals, and fixes to graphical and UI glitches in various parts of the game.

Most of this is summed up in the Patch Notes and on the Updates page.

(Also, word is that CCP borked something so that silos don’t show the bonuses they are supposed to be giving for reaction towers. This is supposed to just be a UI problem and the bonuses just aren’t getting shown. Something to be updated soon.)

And, of course, there is some music.  It isn’t a real release without a song.