Since Revalations chapter 1 came online I’ve found that looting is a bit of a pain in the butt.

One of the minor problems they patched, straight away, is you couldn’t tag which wrecks you’d already investigated, but one of the bigger problems, and an issue I think will affect new players, is that the ‘drop rate’ of any loot is very low.

Alongside this, they’ve introduced ’salvage’. Read the rest of this entry »

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Gallente Cruisers follow the same design principles as their Frigates, a good balance of slots, drone bays, heavy armour and a prediliction for blasters.

Celestis - The Celestis follows the same design principle as the Maulus frigate in form of its bonuses (sensor dampeners and medium hybrid turret damage). However, unlike the frigate this cruiser has a much larger drone bay, a massive 40m3; combined with a slot layout of 4,5,3 and a balance of 3 turret mounts and 2 missle mounts. Finally, with a skill requirement of Gallente Cruiser II its not hard to fly.

Exequror - Designed as a cargo cruiser, this ship was built with purpose of operating in less than friendly environments. With bonuses pushed towards cargo capacity and remote armour repair systems this ship can also support a fleet action at the front line level. It has the same drone capacity as the Celestis and has a slot layout of 4,4,3 giving it some flexibility. The Exequror can only fit turrets. This is the easiest Gallente Cruiser to fly with a skill require ment of Gallente Cruiser I.

Guardian-Vexor - This ship is no longer available on the open market, for the simple reason that it was hideous. A cruiser sized drone carrier with some truely terrifying bonuses. Notably allowing an extra drone to be controlled per cruiser level on top of the number you got with the drones skill and a bonus to medium sized hybrid turrets. Just think of it considering it has a drone capacity of 75m3. This ship has a slot layout of 5,3,4 with the fittings for 4 turrets and 1 launcher. Finally this ship has a cargo capacity of 480m3 and only required a Gallente Cruiser skill rating of II. No wonder this ship was decomissioned…

Thorax - This is the main combat cruiser design for the Gallente people; with bonuses to microwarpdrive capacitor use and a bonus to turret damage its easy to see how this ship is designed for close quarters combat. The ship has a reasonable drone bay of 50m3, good slots at 5,3,5. At Gallente Cruiser III this is the hardest cruiser to fly that the Gallente have.

Vexor - The Vexor was designed as a non-sepecific combat cruiser. Bonuses to drones in hitpoints, damage and mining yield is granted from this ship as well as bonuses to medium hybid turrets. WIth a slot layout of 5,3,4 and 4 turret hardpoints this ship can cause some chaos. She has the same drone and cargo capacity as the Guardian variant of the Vexor design as well as the same skill requirement but as replacements go, this ship is no where near as nice.

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The defining feature of Gallente ship design is the drone bay; to the Gallente people drones are the way to conduct a war. Mixed in with that they also follow a system of utilising heavy armour and throwing themselves into the fray with a predeliction of blasters. With that in mind, lets have a look at their frigates and skills required to fly them.

Atron - This ship is mainly utilised as a combat vessel and its easy to understand why. First off its the fastest frigate the Gallente have, it has the capacity of a small drone bay - no other built for speed frigate has this feature. It has well balanced slots of 2,2,2 and is very cheap to buy, factor in a required skill level of Gallente Frigate II and you can see how a few of these could overwhelm most targets. It als provides bonus to the use of small hybrid turrets, both in damage and falloff range.

Imicus - This ship has the same slot layout as the Atron but unlike the Atron is slower, has a drone bay 3 times the size of the Atron and provides bonuses to the use of sensors and drone ranges. In many respects this ship is ideal as a scout. It has skill requirement of Gallente Frigate of II.

Incursus - The Incursus is the step up from the Atron, only marginally slower but with a similar drone bay size. This ship though has a more flexible slot layout of 3,3,2 and is a fair bit tougher to kill. As the upsize model of the Atron it has the same bonuses to turrets. Unlike the Atron though you need Gallente Frigates III to fly it.

Maulus - The primary role of this frigate is electronic warfare for fleetactions. With the bonuses to turrets and sensor dampeners mixed with the same slot layout as the Incursus, this ship has some serious uses. This ship also has a reasonable drone bay at 10m3. Unlike the Incursus though you only need a Gallente Frigate of II to fly this vessel.

Navitas - This frigate is the dedicated industry frigate of the fleet, with bonuses to mining laser yield, cargo capacity and a reduction in mining laser capacitor. She has a small drone bay and a large cargo hold and like almost all other ships of Gallente design her size a slot layout of 2,2,2. At skill level of Gallente Frigate of II she is easy to fly too.

Tristan - The Tristan or ‘Fat Man’ as it is known is a whole new class of Gallente Frigate. Aimed at a more multipurpose role but primarily for combat she is capable of handling a numerous targets. WIth a slot layout of 4,3,3 with launchers and turrets in equal numbers and with a small drone capacity, this vessel is certainly capable of handling itself. Her bonuses are heavily leaned towards hybrid turret damage and tracking speeds but she does need a pilot with Gallente Frigate III to fly her.

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Blackmonday Media is now a Corporation.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 3% [?]

Hi there - my name is Meridian Harper and I’ve been contracted by the BlackmondayEve Media corporation to write all about the life of a pilot.

Currently, I’ve got a slasher - which is a gorgeously fast ship - you could say, a bit too fast, but I’ve been enjoying flying around in it since my benefactor Lady Oephelia gave me it.

In the coming weeks I’ll try and file reports whenever I can. I’ve been told they want ALL of the gory details, including what happens if I ever get podded. I hope that’s not a jiinx.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Tomorrow (Tuesday) between 11am and 3pm GMT Eve is performing extended downtime patching on Revalations. So if you feel like sharing your initial thoughts on it, comment here or come join our forum at blackmondayeve-forums

We’re also planning a Christmas competition in the near future - but for the moment - the first person to register and post 10 meaningful posts on our forum will recieve 1million ISK from me. So come on over and grab your chance at 1mil ISK

Popularity: 2% [?]

Caldari cruisers, like their frigates are heavy on the missles, ECM Warfare and shields. Again drone bays don’t feature heavily but are given some grudging space. So…what are the ships?

Blackbird - The Blackbird is a fairly new design in Caldari ships, she is designed more as an ECM Warefare specialist cruiser, and the ship’s bonus is featured heavily towards it, reducing ECM energy requirements whilst increasing ECM range. To further this support role, the Blackbird has a large number of mid level slots for a ship of it’s size and even though it only has 4 hislots you can have up to 3 launchers of 3 turrets or any combination of those. For all the support capability this ship has no drone bay but is one of the easiest to fly at Caldari Cruiser skill of 2.

Caracal - Another ship pushed towards what the Caldari race does best. This is a pure missle launching fiend of a cruiser. With 5 hislots and 5 launcher hardslots you can only imagine the devestation… the 2 turret hardpoints give you some flexibility if missles aren’t your cup of tea but given the ship specific bonuses to missles you’d be a fool to watse em on turrets. This ship also has some drone capacity (2 light or 1 medium drone can be equipted) but it does have a good sized cargo bay. With the added bonus of having a Caldari Cruiser minimum skill requirement of 2, this ship is just plain awesome to behold in action.

Moa - This is the Caldari answer to a combat frigate. Heavy shields, a good mix of turrets and launchers and an even bigger drone bay (3 light or 1 light and 1 medium). It is a bit light on the low and medium slots but is ok for hislots at 6. This ship is also a bit light on the cargo capacity considering it’s size. You will need a cruiser skill at 3 for this ship. The bonuses of this ship is the medium hybrid turret range and the shield resistances.

Osprey - This is the industrial cruiser for the Caldari people. Not to be confused with industrial ships but if there is a multipurpose ship needed and all you can fly is a Caldari cruiser then this is the ship for you. With bonuses pointing towards support roles such as shield energy transportation, shield recharge and mining laser yields. This ship is slow but has the largest drone bay of the Caldari cruisers, it also has the largest cargo capacity. It can fit up to 3 turrets or 2 launchers in its 4 hislots but has a good spread of slots overall. At Caldari Cruiser skill of 1 this is the easiest cruiser to fly.

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The thing to remember about the Caldari ships is that they love their missles. Their ships are also shield heavy and light on the armour. They favour keeping their opponents at range usually, so again Railguns are their prefered variant of Hybrid Weapon. The Caldari also seem to have more space set towards the utilisation of ECM Warfare, though this may be a byproduct of their heavier dependence on Mid-Level slots.

So without further pause….the frigates.

Bantam - This is the standard Caldari mining frigate, It will do the basics in the way of hauling and get you some minor rocks to process. Easy to fly, no launcher slots, but it does have a small drone bay which has its uses, Caldari Frigate skill of 2. This is also one of the two frigates of the Caldari that does not give a bonus to missles.

Condor - This ships is deisgned to be the fast frigat, designed to keep up with those who choose to run. It’s also easy to fly with a skill level of 2 in Caldari frigates, but its fast - 375 m/sec. It has no drone bay but can fit 2 turrets and 1 launcher, which can cause a frightening amount of damage, especially when using kinetic missles - the Caldari ones, as you get a bonus for these.

Griffin - The Griffin is a mid-slot heavy frigate designed for fleet support roles, she comes equipted with 2 launcher slots and 1 turret (again you get a missle bonus for kinetic missles to supplement this). Thsi ship does have a small drone bay. This ship gives a bonus to ECM Jammer technology by lowering the amount of power needed per tick. AGain she’s an easy ship to fly with a required skill level of 2.

Heron - This design of frigate again features more heavily on the support roles for the fleet. With the usual missle bonus and a bonus aimed at astrometrics (scanners), 2 launchers, 1 turret, another small drone bay. The Heron is tougher to destroy and faster than the Griffin. Caldari frigate skill of 2 to fly this vessel.

Kestrel - My favourite Caldari vessel. This is the missleboat frigate, she has 4 launcher slots, good shields, no drone bay, average speed and a good cargo capacity. Its the launchers though that make this a force to be reckoned with. Ok, so initially you’ll be at close range with 4 rockets but once you start getting standard missle launchers on it, you will be laughing. A bit harder to fly, but worth it - Caldari Frigates skill of 3.

Merlin - This ship is meant to be the multi-purpose combat frigate but doesn’t have the much desired missle bonus, she has 2 launchers and 2 turrets, a whole pile of shields, some reasonable armour, adequate shields, good high and mid level slots, but very poor low level ones, there is no drone bay and it doesn’t hold much in the way of cargo capacity. The skill bonuses for this vessle though are featured towards shield resistances and turret optimal ranges.

Popularity: 26% [?]

Patch your game guys and gals - Kali went online this week.
A word of warning - its 68MBs Given my first download of Eve was under ten times that, its a good sign for the major update of content they’ve added.  But, as I was offline yesterday, I haven’t actually seen it in a live environment yet.

We’re also adding a new section to the site this coming week - look out for ‘Missives from the Void’ - fics, reports and information purely from a character perspective.

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By popular request, we’ll be adding a screenshot gallery soon - it’ll be a plugin for wordpress, and we’ll announce it, on the blog as soon as we add it.

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