EVE Online at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

EVE Online's next expansion is almost here! Check out what's coming in our guide to the Crucible expansion for EVE Online. Crucible will be available for download November 29. Like all expansions for EVE Online, it will be free.

What's in a Name?

The name Crucible is not an accident. This is a particularly important expansion for Crowd Control Productions, or CCP, the company that makes EVE Online. Crucible could either be where CCP revives EVE Online from its recent troubles, or soars to new heights of gaming glory. With Crucible, CCP promises a renewed focus on the "flying in spaceships" aspect of their game. The expansion will contain a smorgasbord of new ships, newly iterated content, and polish for player experiences. Based on the huge slew of things they have done with a relatively limited time frame, I am betting the expansion will be a success.

New EVE Ships: Battlecruisers With A Bite

Introducing new ships is always an incredibly popular move with EVE Online's playerbase, especially when the ships are readily accessible to new players. We have seen this in the past with industrial ships like the Noctis and especially battlecruisers (like the Drake). Indeed, an expansion with new battlecruisers is almost guaranteed to be a home run.

The Crucible expansion will include four entirely new battlecruisers. Sorted by race, the new battlecruisers are:

• Amarr: The Oracle.
  
• Caldari: The Naga.
  
• Gallente: The Talos.
  
• Minmatar: The Tornado.

According to CCP, these ain't gonna be your momma's battlecruisers: instead of having an oversized tank like the last batch, these ships will be able to fit and use battleship-sized weaponry. They'll be all gank, with little tank, and that's the way we like it. When fleets of these new ships meet on the battlefield, expect heavy losses on both sides as their damage quickly out-paces any remote-repairing logistics ships. This will give a much-appreciated kick in the pants to the EVE Online economy, as each ship that explodes needs to be replaced. It could be a good time to invest in low-end minerals, if you are into that sort of thing.

The new battlecruisers also demonstrate CCP's continued willingness to experiment, especially when it comes to involving their players in the creation of their game. Case in point: CCP has crowdsourced the appearance of their newest roster of ships. Each of the ships was designed by a fan in a DeviantArt contest. Expect to see the winner's design as the Minmatar Tornado, and the three runners-up as the Amarr Oracle, the Caldari Naga, and the Gallente Talos.

Stay tuned for the exact statistics of the new ships, which are still being fine-tuned on the test server. So far, each of them appears to be a turret-using ship with seven or eight turrets capable of using battleship-sized weapons. Their ship bonuses are, of course, all bonuses to using their turrets, variously including damage, tracking, rate of fire, and capacitor cost. It is looking like the Minmatar Tornado will be the best ship, as befits the first place winner of the art contest.