EVE Online's next expansion, Havoc, launches next month, and the team at CCP Games is pulling the veil back on one of its major features, explaining how working with New Eden's pirate factions will work.
The upcoming expansion, which debuted at EVE Fanfest and launches on November 14th, brings a new wrinkle into the faction warfare system. By allowing players to align with pirate factions for the first time in EVE's history, a new battleground will open up in the existing factional warfare systems that pilots will need to contend with.
Pirate-aligned players will be able to establish forward operating bases in faction warfare systems, priming them to spread corruption throughout. Capsuleers unaligned with the pirates will need to fight off this threat, suppressing the corruption as it seeks to gain a foothold in the system.
As Jessica "CCP Aurora" Kenyon states in the video, by spreading corruption, the space will gain bonuses thanks to that heightened level of corruption found throughout.
"These could range from very simple effects, such as players dropping more loot when they explode, or more complicated effects, such as the system almost dropping in a security status," Aurora explains in the video.
Aurora uses the example of a low sec system at maximum corruption starting to feel more like null sec, even if the security status doesn't exactly drop itself. Aurora says that this feeling will be accomplished by effects such as allowing the use of heavy interdictor bubbles, bomb launchers, and more.
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The corruption can spill into high security systems as well, with a maximum corruption level seeing them start to feel like the wild west of low sec. This is done by allowing player aggression against each other to result in a simple suspect timer and not a criminal timer - meaning Concord won't butt in if you decide to tackle another player in the system.
The upcoming changes are slated to hit when Havoc arrives next month. You can check out the full video in the embed above. Recently, EVE Online players were treated to a bit more of the storytelling that is unfolding with EVE Online Havoc with a recent video all about the new region of Zarzakh and the Deathless Circle.
