CCP Says A New Age is Dawning in EVE Online: Rubicon

As an outside observer, EVE Online seems like one massive stalemate of a space sim.

Factions are so entrenched and powerful, no one wants to start trouble, less they trigger one of those rare massive battles we occasionally see on You Tube. Well, it appears the stalemate won’t last much longer.

Developer CCP has decided to shake things up with its “next several” free EVE Online expansions, the first of which is called Rubicon. It will introduce new “quick-strike” options that will encourage guerrilla-war style raids and small fleet battles that CCP says will allow players to “erode industrial power from deep behind enemy lines.”

“Rubicon represents the defining moment when the scales of intergalactic power will shift irrevocably to players, the immortal capsuleers,” CCP said in a statement. “It expands the unmatched autonomy that EVE’s pilots have over their massive game universe at the expense of its four main factions and gives them a greater arsenal with which to build up and tear down the alliances within.”

Rubicon, which is the 20th expansion in EVE’s impressive decade of life, is set for launch on November 19, and it will also introduce mobile, player-owned structures that CCP says will encourage action outside the safety of the hanger. Various ship balances and tweaks are also planned, as well as a new identification system to help newbies ID ships.

“With Rubicon we are beginning an ambitious journey for the next several expansions of EVE that will end up with players taking control of the most potent technologies in the universe and controlling space on an unprecedented scale,” Senior Producer Andie Nordgren stated. “Their insatiable desire for impact and adventure fuels both this vision and our passion for making the largest science fiction game universe.”

If you read this and thought, “This writer doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” I wouldn’t disagree. I respect EVE from a distance, but I’ve never set foot in its online universe. So for the straight scoop and additional details from CCP, check out the official EVE Online: Rubicon site.