If you've been following EVE Online this week, you might have noticed something unique. In a world where we talk mostly about the player war and the great player-run corporations of EVE Online, it's not everyday we see NPC factions bombarding each other. Yet twice this week capsuleers have been treated to these events.
On Tuesday, EVE Online saw a flurry of activity as Naglfar-class dreadnoughts from the Minmatar Republic started to bombard the planet of Tanoo II, the capital planet of the Ammatar Mandate. The three Naglfar dreads were destroyed by capsuleers who rushed to the defense of Tanoo II and it led to some speculation as to what could possibly be going on behind the scenes at CCP Games, the developer behind EVE Online.
Today, we saw quite a few Moros-class dreadnoughts use a cynosural field to warp into Girani-Fa and bombard the third planet of the system. Girani-Fa is a border system in the long-running dispute between the Gallente Federation and the Amarr Empire, two of EVE Online's NPC Empires.
Yesterday a mysterious group of Naglfar-class dreadnoughts appeared in the skies over Tanoo II and began bombarding the surface of the planet. Capsuleers rallied to defend and before long the attacking force was wiped out. The Minmatar Republic denies involvement. #tweetfleet pic.twitter.com/aaU0Z3Nem6
— EVE Online (@EveOnline) April 28, 2021
The speculation has continued, mainly because of one interesting piece of information: one of the NPC corps involved is best associated with CCP's old FPS: Dust514. One prolific EVE Online player, Uriel Anteovnuecci, speculated that this could be a tease of the "return of certain cross-game interactions with CCP's upcoming EVE shooter MMO."
Dreadnoughts under the control of Brutor Vanguard are performing orbital bombardment in Tanoo - given the fact that they’re an NPC DUST Corp, might this event be a tease for a return of certain cross-game interactions with CCP’s upcoming EVE shooter MMO? #tweetfleet pic.twitter.com/X5VJ9PYGJ4
— Uriel Anteovnuecci // Nick (@anteovnuecci) April 27, 2021
Another lore-heavy player, Ashterothi, has been chronicling the event from the other day, talking about the connection between the NPC corps The Brutor Vanguard and the Krusual Covert Operators and their significance within Dust.
Whether this means that we could be seeing a hard announcement from CCP about their upcoming plans with their in-progress MMO, or if this is a tease of future content within EVE Online itself remains to be fully seen. CCP themselves are definitely promoting the event, with their in-universe news team, The Scope, covering the aftermath in a report yesterday, describing the situation between the Amarr Empire and Minmatar Republic in detail.
In the aftermath of the attack today on Girani-Fa, it looks like the Amarr Empire is putting themselves on high alert, invoking "wartime status for their fief troops."
If you're interested in the lore behind EVE Online, right now might be an exciting time to start hopping in, as based on the recent community posts, it doesn't seem to be ratcheting down. It's definitely making EVE's 18th birthday a bit more interesting as well.