In yesterday’s article we looked at the world of science fiction movies and how EVE: Valkyrie is building on that great body of work. Today we turn our attention briefly to games, and more fundamentally, sci-fi literature to celebrate the art that has inspired Valkyrie’s enthusiastic team of VR explorers.
A Galaxy of Our Own
The truth is, when it comes examining EVE: Valkyrie’s place in the history of gaming, it sort of begins and ends with our very own EVE Online. It’s true the maps in Valkyrie don’t appear physically in its parent game, but everything about your favorite multi-player online VR dogfighter is informed by the EVE universe and its rich history of science fiction lore.
It’s coming up to 14 years since EVE Online first gave players the chance to explore a whole new galaxy, and with a game on this epic a scale, it’s no surprise that the Valkyrie has benefited from its vast wealth of not only assets, but its history and the many conflicts and stories that have played out over the years.
For the uninitiated, EVE Online is a vast enterprise in which players can create and decide their own destiny in a galaxy full of pirate, merchant, military and political factions. The basic premise is that thousands of years before the current EVE universe's setting, a wormhole opened up in space linking our own Milky Way to a whole new galaxy, later to become known as New Eden.
The various warring human factions came together to build a warp gate around the wormhole and a new era of intergalactic trade and exploration developed. When the gate catastrophically collapsed, many of the factions were trapped in New Eden, and over the centuries they formed into a variety of factions who survived and indeed thrived. It’s these factions among which the players of EVE Online write their stories. While EVE Online is a dense, long-term strategy role-playing experience featuring trading and industry elements and battles between huge capital ships, Valkyrie enables players to finally climb inside the cockpit of a single fighter and experience New Eden’s conflicts through the eyes of the pilot.
Anyone who tries to create a science-fiction vision of their own has to doff their cap to the many space combat and sci-fi games that have inspired and entertained us over the decades. One particular noteworthy example would have to be Halo and the incredible mix of weaponry providing a balance of real ammunition and lasers. The visceral combat that emerges from such a varied weapons loadout is certainly something that Valkyrie also strives to deliver on.
So, what of the Valkyrie’s literary ancestry? Well, before we tap that particularly rich vein regarding Valkyrie, it seems only appropriate to stay with EVE Online for just a moment more and give a shout out to Frank Herbert’s massively popular space opera Dune, which takes pride of place on any self-respecting sci-fi fanatic’s bookshelves. The grand sweep of its tale of interstellar trading and conflict has been igniting the imaginations of creative people in all forms of media since the 1960s and there can be few creators of sci-fi themed games that haven’t been inspired by it.
Technology Meets Biology
One of the most intriguing aspects of EVE: Valkyrie is how technology and humanity are combined in the form of cloned pilots. In the case of Valkyrie’s pilots this is something of a mixed blessing. It’s true that the clones are able to effectively return from the dead with their cerebral functions transplanted into a whole new body. This could point to a future in which we are for all intents and purposes immortal, but let’s not forget that the route to becoming a Valkyrie pilot was via the massively unethical activities of Fatal in targeting pilots and transplanting their consciousnesses after their deaths.
These themes are explored extensively in sci-fi literature. For example, Japanese manga comic series Ghost in the Shell plays with the idea that members of the public can adapt their physical brains with technological implants, enabling them to interface with computer networks. It can be done to varying degrees and combined with artificial prostheses, a person might become a cyborg. But in integrating technology into the body, a risk of physical harm from hackers becomes a reality.
What’s particularly exciting is that ideas of escaping the limitations of our own bodies by inhabiting a shared virtual space – like the ‘metaverse’ depicted in Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crash – are now possible through games like EVE: Valkyrie.
Old and New Testaments
Visit any developer working in VR and with a passion for cutting edge technology and you will doubtless find the two testaments of their sci-fi bible.
The first is, of course, William Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer. It follows the (mis)fortunes of former computer hacker Henry Case, who has had his central nervous system chemically damaged to prevent him entering Cyberspace, which is a virtual reality dataspace called the Matrix. Doubtless from that one sentence synopsis alone, you can appreciate the relevance of the work. For coining the word Cyberspace and inspiring the Wachowskis to make sci-fi movie classic The Matrix, Gibson gets maximum props, and his seminal novel continues to inspire each new generation of avid readers.
The second must-read is Ready Player One, a novel by Ernest Cline, published in 2011. It takes place in a dystopian future where the world has basically gone to crap, suffering an energy crisis and economic meltdown, so the members of society escape their woes by entering virtual reality simulator OASIS. It’s a go-to for anyone working or playing in VR, and while the story takes place in 2044, its subject matter sits uncomfortably close to home.
In closing it’s worth reflecting on the fact that as is the nature of such things, art forms feed upon themselves and evolve over time. Just as a multitude of great science fiction works have inspired EVE Online’s developers, so EVE: Valkyrie inspires other. If you want to find out about the books and comics based on EVE: Valkyrie, simply head over to our recently published article on evevalkyrie.com
EVE: Valkyrie’s Sci-fi Ancestry – Part 1
Science fiction has long been a mainstay of popular fiction, cinema and videogames. In some (dare we say, ignorant) quarters it’s seen as pure entertainment, simply an author’s flight of fancy speculating on cool future technology and bizarre alien civilisations. But at its best, science fiction is an exploration of the human condition, what makes us tick, the constant urge to find answers and the sometimes terrible consequences of our actions in the face of the unknown. EVE: Valkyrie is no exception and while we will stop short of debating the game’s philosophical merits here, we thought it might be enjoyable to examine its rich sci-fi (and not-so-sci-fi) ancestry.
For this first part we’ll take a look at cinematic science fiction and the relationship between Valkyrie and the silver screen.
Good Versus Evil
Any great sci-fi story is underpinned by a good versus evil moral dilemma. Sometimes that’s a subtle, cerebral meditation on mankind’s ability to make the right choices in difficult situations, and it’s not always obvious who we should be rooting for. In other instances, the distinction is clear. Which brings us to Star Wars.
In Star Wars, young Luke Skywalker’s foster aunt and uncle get murdered and he embarks on a journey that sees him transformed from naive farm boy to hero. He then joins a rebel alliance and takes on the might of an evil empire. He has special powers, a sword made of light and a group of friends that includes a big hairy thing and a couple of robots. There’s also a bit of awkwardness with a princess before he discovers she’s his sister… but we digress.
At the heart of the story sit the good guys, the Rebel Alliance, and the bad guys, the Empire. In Valkyrie, it’s Rán’s Valkyrie versus Fatal’s Schism. As a foundation for conflict it’s pretty cool, right? But the connection goes a little deeper than that as it also brings into play a classic dramatic trope… the ‘impossible shot’.
In the case of Valkyrie, we are of course talking about that final run to destroy the core in Carrier Assault mode. Having bravely fought against the odds to break down the defences of a superior force, it is now up to a small band of heroes to finish the job and emerge victorious. In Star Wars, Luke’s final assault on the Empire’s Death Star is a similarly miraculous victory. Even though the climax to George Lucas’s groundbreaking space opera seemed like something gob-smackingly new, it had its roots firmly planted in the real world. Look back to 1955’s Dambusters, a movie based on real events, and you'll see a small band of allied scientists and pilots attempting to achieve the seemingly impossible, delivering explosives to the foot of a strategically important dam from low flying aircraft inside a tight window of opportunity. While sci-fi tries to predict the future, it just as often draws its inspiration from, and tries to make sense of, the past.
Survival and Conflict
One way or another, we all know humanity is doomed. Whether it’s a giant asteroid that does for us, an invasion by malevolent alien species or just the slow, sputtering death of our sun, it’s all going to be over at some point.
The caveat, though, is that we believe we can escape our fate. Why else would we travel to the Moon, study the universe, or set our sights on colonizing Mars if we didn’t believe it was a starting point to extra-galactic exploration and a furtherance of our species? And nowhere is this drive for survival more thoroughly explored than in science fiction.
A wonderful recent televisual example is the reboot of the Battlestar Galactica franchise that launched in 2004 and ran for four glorious seasons. It followed the fate of humans who had colonized a distant star system and lived on a group of planets known as the Twelve Colonies. They were all but wiped out during an attack by Cylons, a cybernetic race of beings that mankind itself created. Silly old mankind. The remnants of humanity, aboard a small fleet of ships, headed off to find the fabled thirteenth colony known as Earth. This constant struggle for survival is echoed in our own EVE Online role-playing epic and filters down to the individual struggles of pilots in EVE: Valkyrie.
More directly important to players, perhaps, is that the Battlestar Galactica series featured some phenomenally visceral space combat sequences that EVE: Valkyrie has made flesh. You want to actually blast a Cylon out of the sky? Well, you can’t. But Valkyrie is about as close as you can get.
An even more direct connection comes in the form of Katee Sackhoff, who played ace pilot Starbuck in the TV show and provides the voice of Rán Kavik in Valkyrie.
A Tantalizing Glimpse
Let’s leave aside the political and ethical issues surrounding mankind’s distant future and get back to the really fun stuff… the gadgets. Take a look back over the years of sci-fi cinema and you can see a few missteps when it comes to predicting the future. Star Trek was ahead of its time when addressing how we might deal with space travel and encountering new lifeforms, but Uhura’s crude scope and the Enterprise’s banks of analogue buttons failed to anticipate the touchscreens and haptic feedback that we are now enjoying on our mobile phones. That said, take a look at Ender’s Game, Prometheus and Minority report and you can see that there’s an ongoing process of looking to the future of interaction with machines. Valkyrie’s holographic heads-up displays, head-tracked missiles and floating menus are cool, but precursors to technologies that are not that far off becoming a reality.
One Foot in Reality
OK, so some science fiction is based in a far distant future or past and in truth, there is no way of knowing what has been or what might come. That’s why the best sci-fi roots itself in the present, if not in terms of its premise, then in the reality it presents to the viewer.
Joss Whedon’s knockabout sci-fi TV series and movie, Firefly and Serenity respectively, focused on the activities of a crew of misfits who travel from planet to planet picking up jobs where they can, whether they might be perfectly legit or a bit on the wrong side of the law. They are constantly pursued by the authorities and tend to be excellent at improvising solutions to tricky situations. Not only did the feisty band of outlaws provide some excellent eye candy for male and female viewers alike, but their irrepressible enthusiasm was infectious, as was their refusal to play by the rules. Crucially, they used spacecraft assembled from former military vehicles and salvage, much like the Valkyrie. The same can be said of the Nostromo in Ridley Scott’s Alien. The human/computer interfaces might seem a little crude by today’s standards, but the industrial aesthetic of the ship, like those customised pirate ships in Valkyrie, give an authenticity that appeals to a 21st century audience.
Food for thought. Next time we’ll dig into the sci-fi works of literature and games that have informed the thinking of the team when developing VR’s greatest multi-player space rumble.
If you want to find out more about the EVE universe and Valkyrie's place within it, take a look at our brief history of EVE over on evevalkyrie.com
The Great EVE: Valkyrie Challenge #2
We had such a great response to our New Year Challenge that we thought, what the heck, we’ll run one every month. This month we have some corkers for you. The challenges can be pretty tough but no matter what your level of expertise, we still want to see how well you did in the attempt.
As before, we have three challenges for you. You can attempt any or all of them and we want you to share screens and vids of your attempts over on our offical forums at evevalkyrie.com and via twitter using #evevalkyrie.
OK, enough waffle, it’s time to test your mettle.
Challenge #1 – Perform a WOST
If you’re a regular visitor to our website, you will remember a recent article in which we showcased a spectacular combat move executed by ace pilot Nydwen. Using the Maelstrom, he initiated his microwarpdrive, launching himself at a distant enemy. He dropped out of warp just a few feet from his foe, triggered his EMS and let fly with the mortar weapon, gaining a one-shot kill. We dubbed it the Warp One Shot Takedown and we want you to replicate it. Capturing the proof can be a tricky affair, so if you can’t provide proof of the whole thing, just get us a shot of part of the attack and we’ll take it on good faith that you’re being honest with us.
Challenge #2 – Test Arena Takedown
Ah yes, the wonderful Test Arena, a place where you can take out AI-controlled enemy ships safe in the knowledge that they won’t be fighting back. Chaos with impunity. Love it. Your task here is to take out as many enemy ships as you can within one minute. Your time starts the moment you emerge from the launch tube. Choose any ship you like, just get out there and raise hell.
Challenge #3 – Gateway Deadly Dash
We love the Gateway map in all its warpy glory, so this is the location for our third challenge and it takes place in Survival Mode. When you first emerge into space, head up to the top end of the structure. We want you to travel all the way through the middle of the structure, fully emerge from the other end, then re-enter it and travel all the way back. Once you have left the structure again, you have to get yourself killed. So, the sequence is: launch, travel down the gate, back up the gate and get yourself killed. You have to do this as quickly as possible.
Your target time is three minutes, which is extremely generous, but we want to see you all playing off against one another and shaving vital seconds off your times over the coming month.
You can choose any ship you want. Obviously, the heavies have the MWD for extra speed, but then they’re harder to kill, so it’ll be interesting to see which ships are best suited to the task.
That’s it pilots. You have your orders, now jump to it.
Pilot Props, All the Feels!
Are you a new Valkyrie pilot? If the answer is ‘yes’, have you joined our official forums yet? If the answer to that is ‘no’ we would urge you to do so right now. Quite apart from the forums being a place of lively debate, shared experience, gossip and gameplay advice, they're also an area where the Valkyrie community can get together and just generally be nice to one another.
And let’s be frank, in a world of uncertainty it’s pretty cool to find a place where people actually get along well.
Here’s a case in point: Valkyrie pilot and forum stalwart NativeComplex has just recently set up a brand new forum thread, the sole purpose of which is to enable pilots to send out well-deserved props to any teammates or valiant opponents they’ve been flying with.
Using his own experience as a starting point, Mr Complex shares the love, stating:
“Played solo last night and had some great games, but I would have died several times more if it weren't for a random friendly @Raziugde for the heals at the most desperate times. Big ups for finding me at the right time!”.
It wasn’t long before a whole bunch of like-minded individuals waded in to add their experiences and messages of gratitude to the mix.
This sort of thing is precisely why we think our Valkyrie player community is off-the-scale awesome.
So, if you haven’t done so already, scoot over to the forums, get signed up and join the conversation.
Fly together, say ‘Hi’ together!
Takedown of the Month!
We wouldn’t normally flag up a single 30 second vid but this one refers back to a Pro Tips article we ran on evevalkyrie.com a few days ago. Plus, it’s awesome. In the guide (which offered advice on tackling support ships with heavies) our ace Valkyrie pilot Nydwen outlined an expert level move that, for our purposes here, we are going to call the ‘Warp One-Shot Takedown’ or 'WOST'.
To be attempted only while flying a Maelstrom, it involves initiating the Microwarpdrive (MWD) to launch you towards the target, dropping out of warp just a few feet from the enemy, activating EMS then letting fly with the mortar.
It is incredibly tough to get it all spot on and land the shot, but if you do, you will have taken down your quarry with a single shot. You could almost say that they've been WOSTed. Also, you look like a boss while pulling it off.
If it’s hard to perform a WOST, it’s even harder to catch it actually happening on video, but Nydwen’s fellow pilot VegaNavarre has done just that. The streamed images are fairly low-res but we simply had to show you such a rare move being spotted in the wild, as it were. Let’s take you through it.
Yee-haw!
You’re looking at the ship in front of Vega’s. As you can see, he’s just triggered his MWD.
Wait… wait… NOW!
Our ace pilot waits until the very last minute and drops his Maelstrom out of warp while triggering his EMS.
What the…?
The pilot in the target ship will have absolutely no idea what is happening as our flyboy deploys his mortar. The victim will be left utterly bewildered by the whole affair, and of course, dead.
Take a look at the move in action in the Twitch.TV stream here: https://clips.twitch.tv/veganavarre/AnnoyingDinosaurWTRuck
You’ll find the key footage between 18s and 20s in.
If anyone else out there ever captures a similarly impressive move, be sure to share it with us over on the forums or tweet them using #evevalkyrie.
Fly safe!
Pro Tips: Master the Fighter Class in Gateway
EVE: Valkyrie’s latest map, Gateway, is proving to be something of a hit with the pilots of New Eden. If you’re new to the game you might want a few tips on how best to exploit this complex and deeply satisfying environment. We asked ace Valkyrie pilot General Stargazer to give us the lowdown on taking on the Gateway map with fighter class ships.
The stage is yours, General.
The Gateway Map – An Overview
When the Gateway map was delivered to us I was excited for several reasons. Firstly, because I love the lore and backstory from New Eden and the trailer the map featured in made me wonder what the Echoes would reveal! When it arrived, I wasn’t disappointed. The first thing I did was load up the map on Scout Mode to have a listen to the Echoes/story that concerned this battleground, a new ‘hypergate’ that was under construction in an iceteroid field. How awesome is that!? As a fighter pilot and EVE Online player a few words triggered my excitement.
Stargate – Gates in EVE Online are big structures, normally quite complex in design, meaning lots of places to dodge duck and dive where big ships won’t be able to chase me!
Under Construction – Under construction also means lots of space scaffolding, meaning lots of line of sight breaks! Who needs ECM to destroy incoming missiles when you can navigate scaffold and get the missiles off you the old-fashioned way
Frostline – More ships, probably miners, but more ships. Yay! I’m a massive fan of what I’ve come to call ‘Dynamic Action’ maps (I don’t know if CCP have an actual term, but that sounds good to me). These are maps like Shipyard, Forge and to a lesser extent, Necropolis where ships are moving through the map while you’re playing. They add an interesting dynamic, cover that is essentially moving constantly, or alternatively, a nice trap for an unsuspecting pilot that can be lured into a flight path and kept distracted, or at the opportune moment, EMP’d to get ploughed down by the incoming ship.
Ice Asteroids – Come on, this is too cool not to mention. Everyone knows what an asteroid looks like, but New Eden has ice belts. I was so hyped to see these come to Valkyrie. I initially hoped that they’d be reflective/refractive as I thought that this would have introduced an interesting dynamic, but instead they were opaque material, still very cool to fly around at high speed.
Gateway as a fighter pilot is easily my favourite map. It's a bit of a dream for anyone who loves evasive flying like myself.
Control Mode/Carrier Assault
The orientation of the stargate on this map is primarily vertical, with three nodes along the primary gate on the map. Points A and C at the furthest ends of the stargate are fairly clear of any scaffolding around them and, better yet, have boost gates going from one end to the other. This gate is essentially a one-way portal at each end that will take you about 80% of the distance required. So, you can’t boost to one end and immediately turn and take the gate back. You still have a small distance to cover before you can turn and re-enter. This also makes it handy if you want to take the gate then hold down the brakes as you approach the center and go for the capture on point B.
One thing to be aware of is that the warp tunnel is virtually a clear line of space from one end of the map to the other, so if you have incoming fire that you need to dodge, you’re going to have to navigate through the scaffolding that makes up the tunnel, otherwise you'll have a hard time evading anything!
One other thing to consider, especially if you are near the tunnel at point B, is that incoming ships have right of way! Anything that goes through the warp gate at either end is going to (potentially) be traversing at such a high velocity that it may take you, or both of you, out at the same time. Remember too, that steering at high warp speeds is more nudging than turning, so where possible, I’d recommend avoiding fighting in the center of the tunnel!
There's a lot of cover around point B. There's a lot of scaffolding and it's also the best place to enter the gate rings. There are many areas on this map that are solid on one side and scaffolding on the other with small triangular holes that are typically big enough for fighters and support to get into, but heavies have to align themselves reasonably well to enter. These are great places to run if you think you’ve got more capacitor than your opponent. Yes, they are fairly tight to get into and once you're in, there's not much you can do in the way of moving around inside, but they are a constant curve so you can break line of sight pretty quickly and achieving a firing angle on a ship that's constantly banking isn’t the easiest thing to do, not to mention impossible for missiles guidance systems to kick in.
Towards the main body of the warp tunnel there are several overlapping solid parts to the stargate. These are very well suited to the flat nature of fighters for moving through. Missiles and heavies again have a very hard time in these areas and will typically be waiting where areas open back up into empty space instead.
Point B is your best bet to encounter the wandering Primae ships on the map. If you're caught exposed on the outside in the open space, keep an eye out for one for some handy cover. If there's a lot of incoming fire between your carrier and the stargate they are useful as cover to get you over to the main stargate and into the scaffolding network.
Point B is also where the warp gates exclusive to Carrier Assault are closest to, so after capturing this point, it's normally pretty easy to move out of the main structure, hit a warp gate and get right on top of the target carrier!
Cover around point C is fairly sparse. There is some scaffolding, but it's probably the most exposed of all the points. It’s one of the points that seems to attract the most heavies awaiting to commence pounding a fighter before it can reach cover. I’d recommend just visually inspecting the area before you attempt to go for capturing this point. Hug the structure as best you can to throw off any heavies and then move in when you think you’ve got a good attack angle or approach on the point.
Point A features dense scaffolding meaning lots of great places to duck and dive in and out for taking the point. Stick to the yellow scaffolding to once again break line of site as best as you can. Also, depending on how the fight is panning out, you can redirect the action to the nearby iceteroids. They are great fun to fight around and have holes in them in some spots that you can zip through to adjust the direction of a fight.
Team Deathmatch
In Team Deathmatch, the majority of the fight tends to happen around where point B is on the map, as it’s typically where both sides gravitate to and clash at the start. Depending on how the initial engagement goes, it normally then moves to the open space between the carrier and the structure. Only if someone does a runner does it end up moving to points A and C… Some pilots just have to go for using those boost gates!
Gateway is one of the maps I’d really recommend having a good look around on Scout Mode. There are some really great spots in which to hide as well as duck and dive.
It’s also great to grab your ship of choice and practice moving in and out of scaffolding. With enough practice you can do it at higher speeds to really evade anyone chasing you!
A big thank you to General Stargazer for the sort of solid-gold expert advice we’ve come to expect from one of the best pilots out there.
If you want to know how best to handle the heavies on the Gateway map, warp over to pilot Nydwen’s in-depth guide on evevalkyrie.com
Raise hell, pilots!
Scheduled downtime 23 January 2017
Hi Pilots,
In order to perform some routine maintenance, EVE: Valkyrie will have a scheduled downtime on 23 January 2017 between 09:00 - 10:00 UTC. This will not affect or change any game features across platforms.
Users will not be able to log in during this time period, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. We advise players not to file support tickets relating to login issues during this time, and that pilots who experience any issues outside the time period specified file a ticket via our support center.
Fly safe,
CCP Redcape
Bonus Double XP Weekend and ‘Sanguine’ Paint Job Giveaway
We've decided to run an impromptu Double XP event this weekend!
We’re also pleased to announce that as of today we’re giving away the exclusive ‘Sanguine’ Paint Job for anyone who plays EVE: Valkyrie between today and 3rd January. Join in the holiday spirit by blasting your friends, and look great doing it too! The Paint Job will be awarded to pilots at 9:00 GMT each day until 3rd January.
The Double XP weekend runs from 9:00 GMT on Friday 16 December to 9:00 GMT on Monday 19 December and during that time you will be awarded double experience for every battle you participate in. So the more you play, the more you gain.
New players might also like to know that if you set yourself up with a CCP account and link it to your pilot, you will receive a seven day XP boost via an in-game implant. Best of all both of these offers can be taken advantage of at the same time so if you trigger the XP boost this weekend you will get a double hit of glorious extra XP.
You can find out how to get the XP boost in our pilot-linking guide.
We’ll see you at the weekend pilots.
Gatecrash Double XP Weekend!
The Gatecrash update is live and our faithful EVE: Valkyrie pilots finally get the chance to explore our new Gateway map.
To celebrate the Gatecrash update we’ve arranged for one of our Double XP Weekend events to run from Friday December 9 to Monday December 12. The fun starts at 9:00am GMT on Friday and you will be awarded double XP after every battle you participate in right up until 9:00am GMT on Monday.
If you’re new to Valkyrie you might also be interested to learn that by registering with us and linking your pilot with a CCP account you can get more free stuff. First there’s the cool Ember paint job for your ship. But you also get a seven-day XP boost via an in-game implant. The great thing is you can use it at the same time as taking advantage of the Double XP Weekend. So, link your account by the weekend and you can clean up when it comes to gathering all that extra experience.
Find out how to register and link your pilot to a CCP account in our recently published guide on evevalkyrie.com
Enjoy Gateway, pilots, and fly safe!
Gatecrash Is Here!
2016 has been an incredible year with the launch of EVE: Valkyrie on three different VR platforms, official- and player-organized events happening around the globe and the organic growth of a gaming community like no other. What better way to round off such a good year than with the release of our most ambitious Valkyrie update yet?
Gatecrash has literally ‘gatecrashed’ the Valkyrie party and you can download it now. Here are three rock-solid reasons why you should do so.
Reason Number One: Icy-Cool New Map
The new Gateway map is all kinds of cool. Not least because it is located just outside an ice planet surrounded by a belt of ‘Ice-teroids’. That’s asteroids made of ice. What makes it all-the-more interesting is that it features a massive warp gate. The warp gate is under construction but you can explore its intricate structure in team deathmatch and single player scout modes to pick up some extra echoes and salvage. Noice.
Reason Number Two: Pilot Customization
Bored of wearing the same old threads? The new Gatecrash update gives you the opportunity to switch out your helmet and spacesuit. If you want to find out more about our amazing pilot customization options you can do so right here.
Reason Number three: Ship Balancing
We have shaken up the ships in a big way to see out the year. The heavies can now dish out more damage so it’s not wise to head for them face-on. Get the better of them and approach them from behind, though, and you can reap the rewards.
If you want to find out more about the update and ship balancing adjustments head over to our developer blog on evevalkyrie.com
